Free Trees - We Love Free Trees, Y'all

   It's a beautiful start to the week here in the foothills with mild, sunny weather.

 Mr. Cardinal looking for sunflower seeds beneath the hanging feeder.

 

What a face.

 

Our neighbors have a pine tree in their backyard that over hangs part of our pasture behind their house. As is the way with nature, the pine cones fall and the cycle of renewal begins, again. I love nature the way God intended it. 

 So, I recently dug up 10 free pine trees in our pasture that started from their tree. I do love free trees. I'm going to keep them in pots until fall when I can set them out along our back fence line without having to carry water to them during a long, hot summer. I might share a few, also. ;) We are still hoping to sell our house, but if that doesn't happen we will probably have new neighbors behind us, eventually. A nice row of pine trees will soften that situation a bit for us, methinks.

Update 6/9/14:   I decided to leave the trees to winter in their pots since they were so small last year.  They would have been lost in the grass at the back of the pasture so here they are a year later with nearly a foot of spring growth.  I plan to set out them out in the fall this year for sure.  The 8 that survived our bitter winter, that is.

 Love these petunias on the front porch. Nothing says welcome home to me like pink petunias.

 

Authentic Indian Chai ... our youngest granddaughter says it tastes like a good donut. I say hold the milk down to a dribble and make it spicier, but you might like it as is. Anyhoo - give it a try, you just might like it. We added a sprinkle of cinnamon on top for a little added zip. Click the link, there's a cool story about this chai recipe that I like nearly as much as the tea itself.  And did you know that a cup of chai tea will help if you're having an asthma attack?  Yes, the spices help open the airways.  

Until next time ... hope there's plenty o' lilies in all of your valleys. :)

Linking with The BackYard Farming Connection, The Art of Home-Making Mondays

Save Your Strawberries From the Birds

*waves from the hills*

We, recently, went to a farm where they grow 200 varieties of irises. (First 3 are pics from my phone, sorry.)


I bought several,  but I especially liked these purple ones called Royal Crusader. I wish I’d taken pictures of the farm because it was beautiful on the way back to the hill where these were planted, but I didn’t think they’d appreciate that. If you are near Maryville, TN and love irises you may want to visit Ferguson’s Iris as they have so many to choose from and charge only $2 for them.

 

We had gone to see the granddaughters and one of them showed me a nest that some barn swallows built on the underside of a utility trailer. That’s horse hair hanging down from the muddy nest.

Here’s the source of the hair. o.O I’ve watched birds pluck fur from a dog’s back so I reckon horses are fair game, too.


In my last post I mentioned that we had to do some preventive maintenance in order to save our strawberries. I had left several berries on the plants to ripen fully, but when I went to pick them - look at that strawberry eaten to a nub!


The Culprit. I saw this robin and a mockingbird leave the raised beds every time I looked out at the them. Cheeky isn’t he.


Goodman cut some small rebar posts in 3 sections ea., for 16 in. posts and put them in the beds to hold 1/2 in. plastic pipe in place as a frame. He used 10 pieces per bed, and they stand up about 4 inches above the soil level in the beds. The pipe was cut long enough to arch over the beds and simply placed over the posts.


We then covered the plastic piping with bird/wildlife netting.  The netting and pipe he bought at Lowe's Home Improvement Center.  The spaces in the netting are just under an inch square, big enough for the insects that pollinate the flowers to go in and out easily but too small for the birds to enter. Yay!


We used small plastic wire ties to hold the netting in place. It’s workin’.


Robin = 5 berries,  Us = 2 bowls full, so far

Have a great week, Y’all. 

Participating in Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop,  The Art of Home-Making Mondays

A Pretty Yellow Bird And A Useful Blue Rug

Goldfinches always add such a bright spot when they visit our feeder and birdbath.

Its springtime plumage wasn’t quite in when I took this picture.

As you can see better in this photo.

His little black cap is really more of a fascinator than a cap. ;)

In gardening news the strawberries in our raised beds are starting to ripen. I’ll have more on that soon as we had to do emergency prevention a few days ago in order to have a harvest.

The broccoli plants are are doing great. I’ve been feeding them a sprinkle of coffee grounds now and then.

I finished crocheting this rug recently to use in my kitchen.

I was hoping to have a tutorial up for it by now, but I’ve just been too busy with all the springtime chores. Click anywhere in this sentence to find free crochet rug patterns. 

What’s for dinner … homemade  Red Lobster Clam Chowder with cheese toast. That was good.

Peter Rabbit munching the springtime flora.

Oh yes, we have uninvited company for dinner quite often, lol.
Have a great week, Y’all!
Shared at The Art of Home-Making Mondays, Roses of Inspiration