Monthly Archives: May 2012

Made Of Dirt And Proud Of It

Farmgirls know that while ‘love makes the world go round’, it is actually dirt that literally makes the world. Dirt settles on the ocean floor and is created deep in the fiery furnace of our planet. Without fertile soil, we’d starve. The word ‘earth’ has two meanings. It is a name and it is dirt! Dirt is where much of life begins. Even we originated via a handful of dirt in the Almighty’s loving hands. Lately, I’ve been getting pretty darn dirty. Ranching is a dirty lifestyle, but, like many of you I’m also a gardener. Nowwww, we’re talking dirt! Farmgirls like the smell of earth. Good, clean dirt has a sweet and musky fragrance. When someone refers to another someone as ‘down to earth’, it is a deep compliment. So, lets get dirty, shall we?

Continue reading

End of Spring: Tips, Tricks, and Happenings

We’re rounding the corner on the end of Spring, and the start to my favorite season is upon us.   We’ve been  busy getting the yard and garden ready. Come on over, and see what’s happening in the ‘burbs.  I’ve got some great tips to share!

Continue reading

When I Grow Up

Evan and I arrived in Montana on Monday (the 21st) for nearly two weeks of vacationing through Montana, North Dakota and Minnesota! After several weeks of working our tushes off, it has been great to see the loving faces of family and friends in the lands we call home. As mentioned in my previous post, I just finished my first year of graduate school and have spent the last week and a half catching up with all that was put off during the final crunch. Evan has been working double duty with me as well—he’s a real life saver.

“Growing Up” by Jeffrey Hamilton, 1999

Continue reading

Making Hay

Boy howdy, it’s been a busy May here at the BEACH FARMGIRLS house near the sea. As the old saying goes, we’ve been “Making hay while the sun shines! “.  Whew! It feels great to sit down and ” pen ‘ this post to you today! I bet many of you have been “hard at play” in your springtime farmgirl endeavors too! I hope you don’t mind another post about FLOWERS! I haven’t been anywhere except the nursery and my yard for weeks! Wanna see the latest in my Backyard Flower Farm? Grab your garden clogs and let’s go see what’s comin’ up!!! I promise a sweet treat at the end of the tour….

Continue reading

The Surprise

This place I’ve found–our farm–is a dream come true.

It looks exactly the way it would if I had picked it right out the Sears Roebuck Christmas Wish Book. (My source for picking out Christmas presents when I was a youngun.)

I heart the old farmhouse that needs so much work.

And I heart what’s around the farmhouse.

You know. The outbuildings. The farm. The land. The dirt.

Today I’m going to take you on a tour of the outbuildings.

Continue reading

Unfinished Business

Here I am, working in my picturesque garden-yard. Birds are singing, butterflies flutter by and bees work as if they know they’ll never get ahead of their to-do list. They are at peace with that knowing. Oh, to be a bee.

Continue reading

The Greening of Things

Green. This word conjures up a handful of images. What does it make you think of? The color? An inexperienced person? Money? Envy? New growth? I, along with many of you, my fellow Farmgirls, am inextricably drawn towards shades of green.

These brussel sprouts want to be outside.

Continue reading

Meet the Hogans

A while back, my daughter got a bee in her bonnet that she wanted to go fishin’ with her grandpa in Texas.  I’m not sure from where the idea came, since she’d never been fishing, but once an idea gets in her head, it’s stuck! So on our Spring Break Texas trip, Papa Charlie was determined his granddaughter would get that dream!  Since his pond water level was so low and has only minnows and baby catfish, he called his friends from the neighboring ranch to see if we could fish at their lake.  They graciously said yes.  Head back to Texas with me, and meet the Hogans, a most inspiring couple, doing what they can to create a retreat for wild birds almost lost to the native Texas hill country.

Continue reading

Mom Moments

The child must know that he is a miracle, that since the beginning of the world there hasn’t been, and until the end of the world, there will not be another like him. (Or her) ~ Pablo Casals

Dear sisters,

Happy May! I just love this time of year don’t you? The long wait for leaves to pop and first blossoms to bloom is finally over! Now we can get down to business tending our suburban gardens and farmsteads. I’ll share my “new starts ” from the greenhouse before this post comes to an end but with Mother’s day just around the corner I can’t help thinking back on some of my most memorable

” MOM MOMENTS “.

Grab a Kleenex box and your favorite comfy chair. This post might go longer than usual and there may be some happy tears!

Continue reading

Up the Orange Stairs

Welcome, welcome, welcome!

You are such supportive and helpful friends, you’re coming in the back door today! You know that quote “Back door friends are best!” Your comments and emails and feedback are SO thoughtful and helpful to me. THANK YOU! You help me “see.” It’s nice to have some friends who share in our excitement, rather than thinking we’ve lost our minds.

Okay. Here we are right inside the back door. Remember those orange steps? Let me remind you where we are. Looking past the steps (and Blue) you see the brick fireplace that is in the kitchen.

Now, come on up! And when we’re finished, let’s sit out on the porch and visit. Tell me if you like the upstairs or the downstairs better.

Continue reading