Garden Plans

Garden Plans

I've been busy preparing for both my Fall and Spring garden and thought I'd share my plans.  I don't consider myself a radical survivalist but to quote Jason Robertson, "Food from grocery stores scares me."  I don't think we have any idea what we are eating any more.  Between the pesticides, herbicides, hybridization and genetic modifications the food we buy to eat has changed dramatically over the last fifty years.  Most of these changes were designed to improve productivity and not necessarily nutritive value.  Some may be harmful over the long term.  Anyway, I am going the heirloom and organic seed route as much as possible.

I've got about an acre inside my fence that I am preparing for the garden (includes fruits and vegetables).  A diagram of what I am working toward is shown below.  Our soil is well suited for blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, persimmon trees, figs trees, peach trees, citrus trees and any type of melon.  It needs some improvement for apples, pears, plums and most vegetables.  At the beginning of fall, I planted a mixture of oats and Austrian winter peas in all of the garden areas.  When these crops mature (around January) I will cut them down and disk them into the soil.  This will add both Nitrogen and organic material to my sandy soil.  After allowing three weeks for the soil to absorb these new nutrients, I will plant all of the berries and the fruit trees and get started on the Spring garden.   

You can see that I have divided the vegetable area into three sections.  Each is fifty feet wide by one hundred feet long.  I will rotate using them for vegetables every three years.  The other two years they will be in a cover crop or in some other phase of improvement.  This avoids overuse of the soil, allows time for soil improvement and avoidance of plant diseases (common when the same soil is overused). 

 

I did plant a small Fall salad garden (20'x20') this year.  As the soil wasn't quite right, I had some topsoil delivered and spread it around.  I planted: radishes, carrots, mixed greens, butternut lettuce, broccoli and kale.  It's been raining so everything is coming up and looking good.  With the weather patterns in south central Texas, we can have a Fall garden continuously through the "Winter" and can generally start a Spring garden in February.

 

I saw an article on the Internet recently proclaiming that Texas was the future of America.  It supported this claim with a list of ten reasons including jobs, land and housing cost, cost of living, low taxes and finally the rise of new cowboys (people moving to Texas to find a better and more self-sufficient lifestyle).  I guess I fall into that category as I wasn't born in Texas but got here as fast as I could.

I Should Have Been a Cowboy

Longhorn Visitors

I returned to Tres Colinas after a brief trip to Caldwell and found these visitors in my front pasture.

I spent most of the morning trying to determine where they came from and who owned them.  I'd not seen any Longhorns while driving up and down our road.  They aren't that common as there are much better beef breeds available.  After numerous calls to neighbors and the Sheriff (they handle wandering cattle problems), I finally identified their owner was my neighbor on my south property line.  I've never seen any activity on that property but it seems he dropped them off on Saturday and just assumed the fence was good enough to hold them.  When cows are moved to a new pasture, they often try to return to their prior home.  While they couldn't get that far, they could cross to my land. 

So, I fired up my tractor and herded them back through a small hole in the fence.  This was a little tricky as the hole was only five feet wide.  I guess their cattle drive genes kicked in as all I had to do was keep the leader moving in the right direction and the rest followed.  I did give them my best Rowdy Yates (Clint Eastwood) stare a couple of times.  I repaired the gap and thought they would stay as they had plenty of grass to eat and access to a stock tank (water) on their property.   I was wrong as I guess they prefer my grass and water.

They were back the next evening, eating my grass, drinking from my stock tank and wreaking havoc on my deer feeder (like a bad brother-in-law).  I guess they could smell the corn in it and decided it was a candy machine for them.  They knocked it over and managed to get the top off, giving them access to 150 lbs of corn that I had recently loaded.  That kept them busy (and happy) for awhile.  The dogs are keeping them from getting too close to us and Pam did yell that we were Aggie's not Longhorns (that had little affect).  I don't like to think what those horns could do to our vehicles or the RV. 

Hopefully, their owner will round them up in a day or two, although they are pretty.  Fortunately, they can't get to my black angus or I might have some Longhorngus's next year.  Yippie-ki-yo-ki-yay.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Busy September

Tres Colinas on the road less graveled

I said I would try to blog more frequently but I've been pretty busy this month. 

Patiently waiting in line to buy Kolaches

 First, we had the Kolache Festival.  It was the same weekend as the Texas A&M-Alabama Football game so the attendance was less than the typical 12,000-15,000.  Still, there was a big crowd and lots of Kolaches to sample.  I may have said this before but Caldwell was originally a Czech settlement and this festival celebrates that heritage.  It began with the singing of the National Anthem, the Texas State Song (also known as the Texas National Anthem-I like the sound of that) and finally the Czechoslovakian National Anthem.  Then you lined up to buy Kolaches.

Kolaches bagged up for sale

Personally, I went for the raspberry, blackberry, poppy seed and key lime (like a summertime party in your mouth they claimed) versions of the Czech pastry.  I had to stand in line for an hour but it was worth it.  There were also lots of arts and crafts as is typical of festivals like this all over Texas (every town seems to have some type of festival during the summer).  All are centered around some type of food (sausage, fish, beef, etc.) and/or some form of arts and crafts.  It gives us something to do instead of drink beer all the time. 

 My next big event was attending an A&M football game.  I've attended college games in several different stadiums and they all have their traditions and unique spin on how to support their football team.  After visiting Kyle field, I don't think anyone beats the Aggies.  They have the Corp of Cadets that march in and sit together, they have a military style band that plays military march songs (kind of like watching Ben Hur, Patton and a couple of WWII movies at the same time) while executing precise military march movements across the field, they have cheers led by Yell Leaders (all male) who use hand signals to tell you what to cheer (this is why they have midnight yell practice the Friday before each game), the students stand the entire game (this indicates their readiness to respond if called on to play-hence the 12th man concept, they yell "Whoop" after each first down and high five each other around the stadium with each touchdown, you kiss your date after each score, they play their fight song a couple of times and everyone sings it while swaying arm-in-arm (some schools play their fight song ad nauseam) and finally (this really wasn't an all inclusive list) the Corp members chase, catch and throw the Yell Leaders in the campus fishpond after a victory.  Between these activities and getting to watch Johnny (Football) Manziel, it was one of the best college football games I've attended (Gig'm Aggies!).

 

 

Foundation

Either side of these events I started building a well house.  I needed it to get the sun off the water tank (we essentially had hot water all the time without a water heater) and to protect the pump wiring from the dogs (who decided it was chewable).  I'd never built a building before so it was trial and error.  I built it on pier blocks to make it easy to level and because I didn't need it to have a floor.  Then I added the walls, roof joists and the siding (I also anchored it to the ground with anchor rods and straps.  Sounds simple enough but there were several "learning opportunities" at every step.  I also hadn't worked with sheet metal and learned (the hard way) a few tricks on how to handle it.  I plan to add some white trim to the door and as the shed is 8'x12' will also build some tool storage inside.  With that experience behind me, I'm ready to start on the chicken coop in a couple of weeks (have to let those metal splinter cuts heal first).   

 

Walls up

 

 

Essentially finished well house

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While all of this was going on, we were finishing the tank (pond) digging process.  The digging was completed on a Thursday afternoon and at that point it had about 2' of water from the spring seepage.  It rained 2.5" the next day which recharged the spring resulting in about 5' of water in the tank within two days.  The spring ran for another day or two and then stopped but started again the next Thursday when it rained another 2".  The spring has continued to flow into the tank filling it to overflow.  I planted both ryegrass seed and Tifton 85 sprigs and both have begun to grow with the rains.  This all happened so fast I felt like I was watching the Genesis Project (old Star Trek movie) come to life. 



Finished Digging (you can see Mattie on the right bank waiting for water)

"Where's the water you promised me I could play in?"

 

Add water and instant tank!

Hauling the granddaughters around the Fair

We wrapped up September with the Burleson County Fair.  I'll have to admit being a bit disappointed in the animal showing portion of the fair.  I expected (or at least wanted) to see a variety of breeds of cows, goats, sheep and chickens but that isn't how they do it.  There were some different breeds of cows but everything else was the same breed and color.  I don't know if this makes the judging easier or is considered a level playing field for the competitive entrants.  It was interesting to see the auction held after the judging is finished.  The top five in each category (chickens, rabbits, steers, goats, pigs, lambs, etc.) are auctioned to the highest bidder with the proceeds going to the child (typically a 4-H member) who raised the animal.  It's not unusual to see these animals sell for tens of thousands of dollars.  The buyer views it as marketing expense and a tax right-off and the seller gets a leg up on college tuition.  In total, the fair raised over $1.5 million from ticket sales and this auction (pretty impressive for a rural county).  Of course they had all the rides and fair food (red velvet funnel cake was one of Pam's favorites). 

 

The heifers are doing well (eating grass and adding weight) but we lost one of the cats.  Miss Kitty (the white one with grey spots) disappeared one day and hasn't returned.  That leaves us with the odd couple of Lilly and Matt.  They seem happy with their surroundings and Lilly captured and killed a gopher last week.  Fall arrived on the heels of a norther Saturday evening so the morning temps are in the low 50's with daytime highs in the low-mid 80's.  We are seeing several deer around the tank but haven't seen any hogs since all the tank digging started.  I expect them back any day.

 

Finally, I will end with this picture of Shane.  I said in one of my first blogs that I planned to use the dogs as a deterrent against wild hog interventions in the garden.  It's obvious that Shane took his training very seriously as he literally is using his body to protect a pile of dirt in the garden.  With that kind of dedication, the garden should be safe.

 

 

Rocky Mountain and Texas (Heat) High

Colorado Fishing (reprieve from the Texas heat) Trip

Holly's first trout on a fly rod

I ended the last blog with us leaving Palo Duro Canyon and heading toward Colorado.  We passed through northwest New Mexico without incident (for those who know, that hasn't always been the case for us) and arrived in Salida, CO.  We stayed at the Four Seasons RV park in a campsite that backed up to the Arkansas River.  As soon as I saw the river, I was concerned about our fishing trip scheduled for the next day.  It has rained (unusual for August in Colorado) and the water was both high and a little colored.  This was Holly's first fly fishing trip so I had hired a guide to help us.  We met Abe (the guide) at 6am the next morning at a parking spot in Bighorn Sheep Canyon.  He confirmed my suspicions by telling us we would be fishing mostly around the banks due to the high water.  He assured us we would still catch fish.  Fishing is an exercise in hope and even if the catching isn't great, the fishing always is.  Armed with this attitude (and a couple of fly suggestions from Abe) I set off while Abe worked with Holly.  True to his word, Holly had a nice brown trout on within a few minutes.  We fished all day long and at day's end had caught a little over thirty fish.  Most were Brown Trout but Holly caught a couple of Rainbows.  One of them was 19", so she got the "big fish bragging rights" for the day. 



A typical 16"Arkansas River Brown Trout

Holly and Abe working a section of the river

We stayed three more days with me fishing and Pam, Holly and Cora shopping around Salida.  Then we headed for Gunnison which requires driving over Monarch Pass.  It's a little nerve-wracking pulling a camper over those mountains but we made it with no problem.

View from the top of Monarch Pass

 

We arrived at the Big Texan RV park in Gunnison (so named I assume because 90% of the campers are from Texas) and met Janush (pronounced Yan-ish) the owner.  He offered to help me park the camper at our site and after taking a look at the site, I agreed.  Normally, I have no problems backing the RV into a site but this one was loaded with trees in all directions and frankly I wasn't sure it would be possible even with his help.  I underestimated the abilities of Janush.  He told me to follow his instructions (more like orders) exactly, which I promised to do.  He had me pull up past our site until my front bumper was touching a Cottonwood tree.  Then he barked a series of commands (back up turning your wheel all the way to the left, now all the way to the right, now all the way to the left (this went on for a minute or two) until finally he said "Stop, you are there."  I got out and he was right.  It looked like I had been dropped in that site with a crane.  I felt safe knowing Janush had things under control at the RV park. 

 

Gunnison is a great little town with lots to do in addition to world-class fishing.   I had looked forward to returning to Gunnison since our last visit two years ago.  I was focused on a sandwich I'd had at the Gunnisack (a local restaurant).  When we got there, the sandwich was no longer on the menu. Crestfallen, I inquired of the waiter and learned it was a sandwich they offered only a couple of times a year.  Explaining my fixation on this sandwich, he took pity on me and told the owner who had the chef prepare one just for me.  Every once in a while you get more than you deserve.  The sandwich is a filet of sockeye salmon on a sesame seed bun slathered with gunnisauce (ground hearts of artichoke, parmesan cheese and garlic in a sour cream base).  It's pretty amazing. 

I fished the Gunnison and Taylor Rivers the next few days while the girls hung out in Gunnison, Lake City and Crested Butte.  Holly was going to fish the Taylor with me but the weather didn't cooperate (went from 60's and sunny to 40's with rain and even a ten-minute hail storm).  Being less intelligent than Holly, I fished through it but did catch several trout like the one below (worth it in my estimation). 

A beautiful dark spotted 18" Brown Trout from the Taylor

 

The Gunnison just above Blue Mesa Reservoir

Before we left the Big Texan, I found one more indication of Janush's command of the RV park.  In addition to his parking expertise, he's also found the time to solve many of those nagging little problems we face in the public setting.  I'll share this notice I saw posted in one of his bathrooms as one example: 

When faced with a double toilet paper dispense, I'll always know which roll to choose.
Now that this is taken care of, Janush can focus on heavy water cold fusion development.
 

Matt and Miss Kitty rendezvousing in the barn

Meanwhile Back at the Ranch

I mentioned in the last blog that our cat Dan had disappeared so we added two more to give Lilly some company and some help on rodent patrol.  We added Matt and Miss Kitty (brother and sister of Lilly.  It only took a day or two for them to get reacquainted and comfortable with their new home. 

At night, all 3 cats like to sit on the tractor (it comes with a front end litter box)

The big project for September is digging a new tank.  Tank is the central Texas word for pond or lake.  I have two springs that cross the property on either side of the hill where we plan to build the house (and already have the RV and barn).  Both are grown up with trees and grass, so we decided to clear the larger of the two for a tank (for watering livestock and perhaps some fishing).  It had been a tank many years ago but the dam was blown out by a hurricane.  I learned from reviewing TOPO maps that it drains 1100 acres so heavy rains (10+ inches) see a lot of water come through in a hurry.  Based on this, we decided against a real dam and instead will dig it out to a depth of 10' and convert the causeway to a "mini" dam of 4'.  This should result in a 12'-14' deep tank with overflow loops on either side in the event of a major rainstorm.



View from the causeway before any clearing.



Same view after one afternoon of clearing



Every test hole dug 10' deep quickly filled with water from the spring



Pam's Dad enjoying watching the dozer & excavator

Ava, Pam, Mattie and Shane checking out the progress.

When finished the tank should be about an acre in size. 

 Since we were back in Texas, we felt the need to make a bar-b-que run.  Austin (nephew) had a 9am track meet in Lexington, so we arrive early enough to go to Snow's BBQ.  They only cook on Saturdays and open at 8am.  After being named the best bar-b-que in Texas by Texas Monthly Magazine, they usually sell out before 11am.  We got there at 8:20am and stood in line for about 30 minutes.  We got our brisket, pork ribs and pork shoulder steak, stored it in a cooler and made it in time for Austin's race. Snow's pitmaster is a 77 year-old woman named Tootsie.  She is a BBQ Jedi.



Here's Tootsie's brisket.  It was amazing-smoky, tender, juicy & flavorful.

Next weekend is the kolache festival in Caldwell (Kolache Capital of the World) with 15,000 visitors expected-kolaches are a big deal in Texas.  We also have the Alabama-A&M football game, so it should be a little busy in our quiet neck of the woods.   Finally, we have the county fair the following weekend.  I've got to get going with the chicken coop, well house and garden.  With all that going on, I'm going to try to blog more frequently with shorter blogs.

Hope you are all well.

Ranch Update

Tres Colinas on the road less graveled

 

Ranch Update

Despite my pleas, no one showed up to help so I finished digging and running the water lines by myself.  I'm happy to report we now have yard hydrants behind the barn and next to the RV Port.  We decided to name the cats Dan and Lilly but Dan must have thought better as he disappeared about a week later.  Lilly has stuck with us and we are about to add a couple of friends for her as she seems a bit lonely.  She stays in the barn all day, leaving only when I put Shane and Mattie in their pen for the night.  She seems to have made friends with them (I suspect they pestered Dan into leaving or a coyote got him) but they play a little rough and she seems to like them best from a distance.  I'm not sure what she does at night but I haven't seen any mice or other unwanted creatures around the barn so I'm happy. 

 

All the grass standing around doing nothing but growing kept bothering me so we decided to do something about it.  We picked up five black angus heifers  at the Burleson County Auction and so are in the cattle business in a manner of speaking.  Two are sisters (I assume that means having the same father) and all are very gentle.  Having cattle can certainly be a nuisance as they are not the smartest animals on the farm.  However, they offer the following benefits: mowing grass, fertilizing the ground, source of food and possible source of income.  We will see how it goes and may add a few more before the fall.   

 

More Texas Culture

 

Some neighbors are having a baby and they decided to have a "Redneck Baby Shower".  Those invited were expected to bring a package or two of diapers, dress like rednecks (not a big stretch for most of us) and eat bar-b-que and drink beer.  You can see, we pulled out our best "jorts" and had a good time.  My friends in Tennessee will be happy to see I found a good use for the "Power T" cooler that followed me to Texas.  The baby came a week or so later and at ten pounds and eight ounces (everything is bigger in Texas), I heard half the diapers had to be exchanged due to being too small. 

To prove we hadn't completely lost touch with our urban side we drove to Austin the next day to celebrate Pam's birthday.  Nicole, Pam, Holly, Cora, Ava and I had a great lunch at Counter Café (it was featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives).    

s The Dam Lakefest 

Nicole was in charge of Lakefest this year at Lake Somerville.  It is a fund raiser for the Burleson County Chamber of Commerce and was held against the backdrop of the dam (hence the catchy name).  There were lots of events (5K run, sand castle contest, music, etc.) but I focused my attention on the bar-b-que cook-off contest.  There were 38 entrants and it was sanctioned as an official Texas State cook-off.  I'm not sure exactly what that means other than the winner can claim they are State Champions (but so can some 30 others in similar events across Texas).  My biggest concern was making sure I was appointed one of the judges.  I agreed to help with the 5K race (being there at 6:30am) in exchange for my judicial appointment.  With my appointment to judge brisket securely in hand, all I had to do was wait and manage my appetite.  As luck would have it, I was offered the opportunity to also judge bar-b-qued chicken around 11am.  It's a poor relation to brisket but I agreed.  As judges, we had to eat a bite of each numbered entrant and assign a score between 1 and 10 based on appearance, aroma, tenderness and taste/flavor.  There was a variety in each case but in my opinion the 38 half chickens were scored 3 poor, 32 good and 3 excellent.  It was a good preliminary for the main event.  At 2pm, the call went out to the brisket judges.  The same judging rules applied and we were warned to pace ourselves as 38 bites of brisket would be filling.  Again, I found the same quality distribution of 3 poor, 32 good and 3 excellent (I wondered if they were the same cookers but had no way of knowing as they were only identified by number).  By good, I mean I would eat that brisket anytime but those I judged as excellent were at an even higher level.  You could recognize them as soon as you opened the sample.  They looked good (brown not gray with a thick pink smoke ring and a nice bark of the cooked in rub); smelled of salt, pepper and smoke; were moist and tender to the point of falling apart on your fork; and finally tasted great.  I think I ate about 38 ounces of brisket during that hour (along with a pickle between each bite of brisket).  After writing this, I'm ready for some more.   

Go Texan

One of the fund raising organizations in Texas is Go Texan.  They raise money for college scholarships through reverse auctions.  The Burleson County chapter had an event a couple of weeks ago.  They sell 240 tickets at $125 each.  This entitles you and a guest to a rib eye dinner, all the adult beverages you can drink and a chance to win $10,000.  The theme was Duck Dynasty.  As the dinner progresses, an MC begins calling numbers drawn from a rotating basket.  If your number is called you are eliminated.  Our number was 84.  Everyone at our table agreed to put $20 in a table pot with the last number remaining, winning the pot.  For the first hour of number calling, I paid little attention to anything but the rib eye and beer.  When they reached the half-way point and 84 was still in it, I got a little more interested.  They began selling off 10 more tickets, one at a time, to the highest bidder from those already out of the raffle.  Those tickets were selling for as much as $750 each.  After 30 more minutes, only two numbers were left at our table and about 30 in the basket for the $10,000.  This was starting to get interesting.  Then I heard the other number from our table called.  $200 was passed across the table to me.  I was starting to feel lucky.  More numbers were drawn from the basket and 84 wasn't one of them.  Suddenly, I was informed I was in the final 10 numbers.  Ten of us were moved to chairs at the front of the banquet hall, given Willie Robertson head bands, beards and a duck call to wear (picture above).  At this point, they offer our tickets for sale to the highest bidder.  The first round high bid was $1500 but none of ten would agree to sell their ticket for that amount.  The basket spun, a number was called and a man two seats down from me left unhappy.  I was really starting to believe I might win the jackpot or at least sell my ticket for $3 or $4 thousand.  The next ticket was offered $1,800 but again, no one was willing to sell.  I'll admit I was starting to get really nervous.  The basket spun and the woman sitting to my left heard her number called.  A feeling of invincibility began to come over me.  I felt destined to win the $10,000.  All I needed was the courage to hang in there.  The next ticket was offered $2,150.  Hmmm, that's not bad for a $125 investment (that had already been recouped at my table).  I only had a few seconds to make my decision.  I looked at Pam and she shook her head no.  Was I pushing luck or reaching for destiny (or was the beer impeding my judgment)?   I shook my head and the offer moved to the next person.  The basket spun and I heard 84 called.  It took a second or two to sink in as I'd gone over two hours without hearing that number.  Oh well, I got a head band, duck call and made $55 on top of that.  I ditched the beard as it reminded me too much of Crash Endo (inside joke for my work friends in Knoxville).  I did lose a little sleep that night thinking of what might have been.

 

When Texas Gets Hot, Texans Go To Colorado

Kolache a square piece of fluffy dough with a fruit-filled
depression in its middle.  They also make them with sausage
and/or cheese.  Nothing about them is depressing.

With summer heat at full force (daily highs at or above 100 degrees), like many Texans we decided it was time to go to Colorado.  Southern Colorado becomes an annexation of Texas from June through August and Coloradians return the favor from November through February.  We hitched up the RV, loaded Holly and Cora and began the long drive out of Texas.  The first stop was West, Texas.  Prior to the fertilizer plant explosion in April, West (comma) Texas, was known to most Texas as a small suburb of Waco and home of the Czech Stop, perhaps the most famous kolache bakery in Texas.  Fortified with poppy seed, apricot, peach, sausage and jalapeno kolache, we headed for the panhandle. 

We broke the drive into two legs with the first ending near Amarillo at Palo Duro Canyon State Park.  Known as the grand canyon of Texas, the park was created from the JA Ranch which at one time encompassed over 1.3 million acres and over 100,000 cattle.  The ranch manager was Charles Goodnight who with Oliver Loving blazed the Goodnight-Loving cattle trail to New Mexico.  Both were retired Texas Rangers who had gotten into the cattle business.  Loving was killed by Comanches on their first trail drive.  If this sounds vaguely familiar, it was the basis for Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove TV Miniseries.  The campground was down in the Canyon as was an amphitheater where they performed a musical show called "Texas" which offered a fictional depiction of life on the Texas panhandle during the mid-late 1800's. 

Here are more pictures of the canyon.














After two days at Palo Duro (it was still in the low 90's there), it was time to head toward New Mexico and on to Colorado but that's for the next blog.  Hope all is well with everyone.

Moon rise at the end of Route 66 in New Mexico.