Pinks Saturday in the garden...

Not pink but still fun...3 butterflies in a row...

Don't forget to visit Beverly to see all the other Pink Saturday posts
@ http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/


Blessings Kelsie

Butterflies and Watermelon

The butterfly bushes are full of blooms and butterflies...

I would have liked to share more photos of them but between their fluttering and the wind, these were the only 2 butterfly photos I could get yesterday...

Pretty Kitty AKA Piglet...
She is one the 4 "barn cats" that spend all day sleeping on the porch or inside the house whenever a door is opened...They are a little confused as to their roll around here.

Out the back the cucumbers are blooming...

The tomatoes are producing lots of fruit...

And getting quite big already...

The corn is also getting quiet tall too...It is amazing how a row of 72 plants can look so small when next to acres of watermelon plants...

I had gone out to try and get some photos of the watermelon blooms and was surprised to find there are already melons in the field...

Blessings Kelsie

Joining the following parties this week:
Cottage Flora Thursday’s @ http://fishtailcottage.blogspot.com
Farm Friendly Friday @ http://www.verdefarm.com/
Flaunt Your Flowers / Fertilizer Friday @ http://www.tootsietime.com/

Wildlife in the Garden

One of the delights of gardening, at least for me, is to see the wildlife move in and enjoy my garden with me...We of course have the usual birds, rabbits, squirrels and butterflies...and while these are lovely and I will stop what I am doing to quietly watch them, the one animal we have on our property that thrills me no end is someone a little different and special...We only get to see her during the warmer months of the year, but just knowing she is here reminds me how truly blessed we are to share our property with her...

You might recognize this stand of trees from my post a few weeks ago where hubby was clearing up the branches and chipping them with into mulch...The reason we keep the grass area clear is because our little friend struggles in under growth and we want to make sure "her" part of the property is just how she needs it to be...Later today we will be planting her 2 more berry bushes as these are amongst her favorite food...

This photo was taken from standing on my front porch, which is why it is a little blurry...We are so lucky to be able to watch her come and go from her burrow without leaving the house...It is roughly 120 feet from our front door to hers...

Because she is listed on the Endangered Species List as a Threatened Species, we keep this area not just free of debris but also of foot traffic and when we do bring in livestock they will not have access to this area either...We try to do what we can to keep her on our property and protected so she will not venture out onto the road and get killed...

Here she is a Gopher Tortoise....She is about 12inches long making her fully grown...No idea how old she is but my guess would be no less than 20yrs old because of her size....They are surprisingly fast moving and it took me over a year to get a good up close photograph of her to share...

If you would like to know more about why the Gopher Tortoise is so important to the ecosystem and other interesting facts you can visit this website http://www.gophertortoise.org/tortoise/facts.htm

Blessings Kelsie

Joining the following parties this week:
Wow Us Wednesday @ http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com/
Outdoor Wednesday @ http://asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com/
Farm Friendly Friday @ http://www.verdefarm.com/

ANZAC DAY

LEST WE FORGET...

My Grandfather Ron Lynch.
As a dashing young soldier and later wearing his WW2 metals...

Each year in Australia on the 25th of April those that have seen active service both at home and overseas are remembered...These are men are our ANZACs and for our freedom we thank you...

Blessings Kelsie

Happy Easter and Family Catch up...

I would firstly like to thank everyone for the sweet Bday wishes and welcome all my new followers this week... Did not have time to put together the post I had planned but I do have some photos highlights from this week to share...

This is the first bloom on the gardenia shrub that my in-laws gifted back to us this fall...My husband purchased it as a small potted planted a number of years back for his mom on Mothers day...It had grown so large that wintering it at their mountain home is just to hard...Now it is in it's forever home beside our house...

The next bud just waiting to open....

This little Play Dough bunny "cake" was my birthday gift made by the sweet little hands of Lil Sara all by herself.

Eggs painted by Lil Sara

Big Sissy is home for spring break...now that is the best Bday/Easter Present EVER...

It really has been a week of ups and downs here with sick ones in the house to take care of and worry about...Last week lil Sara came down with strep throat, just as she was getting over it, daddy came home from work early... "A virus" the Dr said...By mid Wednesday morning (yes my Bday) Lil Sara was running a fever as well...Tested and confirmed (despite having her shots) with Influenza A...yup Swine Flu...The only grace is that once the fever breaks she was no longer contagious and her fever broke in time for her sister to come home for spring break...

Having said that we are not out of the woods yet, since Lil Sara has a history of bad Asthma and was born premmie her lungs are not the strongest...Please keep her in your prayers over the next few weeks.

Blessings and Happy Easter Kelsie

Flowers for my Bday...

The garden fairies sent me some beautiful blooms for my birthday and I wanted to share them with yall...

The first bloom on the Climbing Pinata

A closer look...I love the vibrant colors...I hope we get more blooms from it this yr..

Butterfly Bushes are working up to quite a display...this is just the first stem of flowers to open...

Look at all those lovely tiny flowers...

Most of the stems however look like this for now...

The Mum's are starting come to life for the spring...

I scattered a mixed box of seed back in Feb, here is one of the darling little flowers that have started to open...

Yesterday morning a Blue Jay was frequenting the suitcase collecting dirt samples for back at the nest...I managed to snap this photo before one of our cats scared him away...I love it so much if you look, it is my new banner photo :)

Blessings Kelsie

Joining the following parties this week:
Wow Us Wednesday @ http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com/
Cottage Flora Thursday’s @ http://fishtailcottage.blogspot.com
Farm Friendly Friday @ http://www.verdefarm.com/
Flaunt Your Flowers / Fertilizer Friday @ http://www.tootsietime.com/

Has it really been a year already?

Next week marks one year since we got our Certificate of Occupancy for the house...

This is a photo taken from the top of the driveway...Still have lots of clearing of the rubbish bushes that flank the drive and hide the gorgeous dogwoods at the moment..

We still need grass but the garden beds is coming along nicely..

The view from the opposite side of the yard...From here it almost looks like we do have lawn, but really it is all just weeds lol...

Blessings Kelsie

Sharing today at the following Linky parties...
Mosaic Monday @ http://dearlittleredhouse.blogspot.com/
Show off your Cottage Monday @ http://houseinroses.blogspot.com/

Homemade Recycled Paper

We all have it, piles of used paper (newspaper, filled note pads, used printer paper, even bank statements or bills) we want to recycle but why just put it in a box by the road when you can recycle and reuse it yourself...And it is Soooo easy and fun...
Oh and FYI by the time you are done with it
NO-ONE will be able to get your personal information from those old bills and bank statements...


So first things first, we need to make our old paper into pulp...All you need is old paper of course, a bucket, warm water and a blender...

Tear your paper into rough square inch pieces and drop them in your bucket half filled with the warm water, let soak for about an hour...mix with your hand or a wooden spoon occasionally to make sure the paper is thoroughly wet through and begin the process of the paper breaking down...

Now we half fill the blender with the wet paper
(You can also add some flower petals at this point)
and then top off the blender with more hot water, blend for about 30seconds, now we have "pulp...Empty the pulp into a tub large enough to fit your screen into (see below)...repeat this step until your wet paper is all made into pulp...

If you are without a blender you could continue to simply mix the paper in the bucket by hand (or wooden spoon) until it completely breaks down and looks like watered down instant potatoes ....

Once all your pulp is in your tub you want to add more water, like pictured above...you can also add food coloring to create colored paper...you will need to experiment to see how much coloring you need for your tub and water level...

These are the screens I made using old photo frames with bug screen stapled to them...

Stir up the water so it is cloudy with the paper particles, then dip the frame in at an angle into the tub and hold flat at the bottom of tub for 1 to 5 minutes depending on how thick you wish your paper to be...

Being careful to hold it flat as you lift out of the water, then allow to drip dry for about 15 to 30 minutes (on a hot day)...You can use a sponge to gently soak up the excess water from beneath the frame...

When the edges of the paper begin to lift from the frame invert onto a drying rack and allow to dry until the paper completely separates from the frame without tearing...leave on drying rack until complete dried out...

You have now made your very own recycled paper....

All that is left to do is put it to use...

Water Color and Ink Rooster on Homemade Recycled Paper

Blessings Kelsie

Sharing this post for
Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop @ http://www.homemakeronadime.com/

Re-Purposed Suitcase/Foot Locker

I spent a little time today getting a few more things done in the yard...I could not wait to share with you how the footlocker turned out...I gave it a quick spray with some white paint to make it pop...then added some dirt and a couple of plants...I have some seedlings to add but they are not quite big enough yet...The phlox on the left are still droopy from being transplanted but I could not wait to give you a peek at my progress so far....

Blessings Kelsie

Sharing today for
Show and Tell Friday @ http://romantichome.blogspot.com/

Things that make me chuckle...

While I share some photos of the garden with you, I wanted to also share a couple of little stories with you...Since moving out here in the country there have been a couple of moments that have made me truly Laugh Out Loud...and reminded me just how "county" it can be around here...

Ma and Pa Bunny add a little Easter whimsy to the table on the front porch.

The first time was a couple of years back when driving through the only traffic light in town during lunch time "rush hour" in our thriving metropolis...and a tractor passed me going in the opposite direction...I know we have all seen tractors driving down the road, but how often do you see them going through a set of traffic lights ?...More often than you think here actually...I have seen it a couple more times, but the memory of that first time always makes me smile...

Someone made a mess on the front porch...

The second country chuckle is actually a couple memories, but of the same donkey...He is rather stubborn as donkey's tend to be...When the horses were still living next door to the south of us, the donkey from the farm across the road would try to come visit them...He would escape from the field he was supposed to be in and come to the gate directly across from the horses and bay like a crazy ummmm...donkey lol.

The bachelors needed to be separated...6 in one cell is just too many...the other seedlings should be fine in this tray, as I not, lil Sara planted those seed and there is only 1 or 2 per cell..

The first time we spent a couple of hours very entertained as the farm hands (3 of them) tried to get said donkey back to where he belonged...Oh we laughed so hard as he outwitted, outran and outsmart them over and over...I am sure us laughing did not make the farm hands any happier at the donkey...the best bit was when they finally got him back into his "field"... only to have about 20 head of cattle escape and if that was not amusing enough, while they are trying to get them back in guess who got out again? YUP... Just to come running straight back to the gate where he had been to start with...OH that was a funny day...why? because it was not us trying to catch the donkey...

Bachelors Buttons going into a larger tray...I hope in a week or two they will go into the garden...

The second time the donkey got out, they had melons growing in the field across from us and I woke up to see (hear) him at the same old gate...Even though it was but 5am, I knew I had to call and let them know he was in the melons...Lil Sara was but a wee baby at his time so there was nothing I could do to help actually catch him, but sit on the front porch (with my morning coffee) and watch poor Joe (neighbor) try as he might by himself to get that donkey to go with him...After awhile his wife turned up and between them and much effort and time, they did get donkey were he is supposed to be...

The Bloody Baron Corn is looking really good...

Sometimes it truly is the little things that make me chuckle...small mind maybe?...but seeing an escaped bully calf licking and smooching your mail box at the sun is barely up o'clock, on a foggy morning is one of those things...again calling poor Joe to let him know he has an escaped animal...by the time he arrived the calf had vanished into the fog and all I could tell him was...It went in that direction (pointing north)...

The onions are almost as tall as Mr Peter Rabbit...

Yesterday was another one of those small but amusing country moments for me...Driving home from town at 9am, the field workers were in the 55 acres behind our place, they have a stick with a hook on it and walk down even 3rd or 4th row and lift the melon vines back onto the plastic...This allows the "melon buses" during picking time to drive down these rows without destroying the fruit..

The peanuts are now poking their heads out of the dirt...I can almost taste the boiled peanuts hubby will make from these...yum..

What was so amusing about this?? Well as you can imagine this is boring tedious work...I happen to notice one guy walking down the row happily chatting away on his cell phone...now that is not something you see everyday...even out here lol.

Lil Sara with a bunch of wild flowers she picked during our evening walk...the old veggie garden on the other side of the property is just full of these gorgeous Phlox...

Well that about it for me this morning, the sun is now up, as is lil Sara, must be time to start the day...Hope yours is a wonderful spring day too...

Blessings Kelsie

Joining the following parties this week:
Cottage Flora Thursday’s @ http://fishtailcottage.blogspot.com
Farm Friendly Friday @ http://www.verdefarm.com/
Flaunt Your Flowers / Fertilizer Friday @ http://www.tootsietime.com/