dalthauser

We were blessed with rain this spring.  We had yet more last night.  Halleluja!
Rain means so much to me since how the plant life on the homestead fares is much influenced.  There is a difference between rain water and well or city water.  Rain water is not processed or treated, and it is designed by nature to hydrate life (mammals drink it - plants absorb it).

The homestead garden is looking gorgeous.  We've harvested a huge amount of lettuce, radishes, and swiss chard.  The summer squash, peppers, and tomatoes got a massive early boost.  The blackberries, grapes, and fruit trees also have hit the ground running.  EVERYTHING is just flourishing!

This spring we discovered that we have five total Mulberry trees.  I knew I had the one over the chicken coop.  I didn't even know I had that one until about 3 years ago.  A couple weeks ago Marcel was walking the property perimeter and found the others along the fenceline.  I don't know how I/we missed them before because they aren't babies - they must be several years old.  My only thought is that they started producing fruit when we were down in Corpus Christi.  Well, however it happened - we are thrilled.  We collected enough to make a few pints of Mulberry Jam.  Next year I am going to make syrup to add to water for drinking.

My friend Bea has a Loquat tree.  We harvested a lot from it and processed them into juice.  We froze it for now.  Not sure whether we want to make syrup or wine from it.  Loquats grow well here, and many folks have them in their yard.  We are deciding whether we want to grow one or simply barter with people who have them already.

Marcel and I both share the same feeling inside right now - it's a blend of happiness, gratitude, enthusiasm, and a general feeling of well-being. Not just about the good weather.  About everything.  It's not that things are perfect.  There are still daily challenges and setbacks.  It just feels like we've arrived at where we are supposed to be in life.  We are both looking forward to the future.

 I got to spend five glorious days with my husband this past week. Days where we both didn't have to work - which is a first for us.  It was super awesome! :-)

Saturday was Marcel's birthday! (as well as our grandson Kaylob's birthday)

I drove down after work (work 1/2 day on Sats) and set up his birthday present before going out to the restaurant and hanging out with him in the kitchen. I got him a way cool Jensen mini stereo that plays MP3/WMA CD's and has an iPod dock. It's sleek like a Bose - and you can mount it on the wall even. I also filled a 24 CD case with a variety of entertainment mostly classical music - but also some audio books and lectures.

Sunday we got up and walked on the beach for an hour - then off to Penne's (Thai Spice) for lunch - then we made the 3 hour drive up to New Braunfels. By the time we got to the NB house I was bushed (no AC in the truck - and it was hot out). We'd planned to go to Wurstfest, but I didn't have it in me. Instead we did some work around the property (set the gate posts for the chicken compound!) and had a quiet evening at home.

Monday we spent the day working on the new chicken compound. So....much....work!! We finished the fence fully and started working on the coop. We made a trip to Lowes for some supplies - aside from that - the day just flew by.
(oh, and I canceled my phone service Monday - no more landline - just the cell)

Tuesday we worked more on the Coop. Tom came in the afternoon, and we finally went inside and cleaned ourselves up to go to Wurstfest. Wurstfest was fun. I went on the Ferris Wheel with Marcel - and we grabbed some food - and enjoyed some music. It was nice to have Tom's company with us.

Wednesday was spent finishing up the coop.  Thanks to Tom's skills and enthusiasm we were able to finish in time to move the chickens in to their new digs.  Also, thanks to Tom, I was able to get my Kale and Swiss Chard transplanted in the garden.  We all had lunch at TJ's Burger and ate too much.  That evening we had dinner in front of the TV watching Slumdog Millionaire.

This morning the men all left me, and I headed out to work.
It was a nice mini honeymoon/working vacation - loved it!

Picture slideshows to follow - working on that now.
(so little time these days to do these things, and it's so important to me to document life events too)

We made Preserved some Texas peaches yesterday - and whipped up a big batch of Pesto from the basil int he garden.  This all the canning I plan to do for this year.  Putting the garden to bed this weekend, so I can have August for some other projects.

Because the storm dropped about 10 inches of rain on us - we decided to go ahead and harvest the garlic, shallots and onions a little early.  Otherwise they would become engorged and split from the excess moisture.


Marcel with some of the Garlic harvest


A wheel-barrow full of trimmings from the onions and garlic.


Cleaned onions and shallots ready for distributing (fridge, restaurant, friends) :-)


Drying Garlic & keeping the backyard vampires away :-)

I'll post first because I'm positive that, by the time I finish reading my friendslist there won't be time to do a post.

Update (highlights)

*  My computer is dead AGAIN!  Grrr....  Black screen with curser this time - then when I push it gives me a cannot read disk error.  I picked the brain of the Geek squad rep at Best Buy - he said - buy a new one.  So, I'm puterless until that happens - which is okay, I have wifi on my Touch at home - and I have internet access at work.  That'll get me through until I find something I can afford that doesn't suck too bad. :-)

*  My mom is here.  She arrived Wednesday night while I was in Corpus Christi.  I came home early (Thursday) so I could spend time with her.  First thing we did was go go the garden and harvest blackberries and taters :-)

*  Canyon trip went smoothly.  Michael graduated West Texas A&M.  Unfortunately most of the pictures came out too dark because I had to use a cheapo disposible camera (the batteries on my digital refused to charge - turns out the cells were bad) 

*  Houston trip went smoothly, but we didn't do anything I planned.  Still - we had a good time, and we got to see Tom (texasts ) for lunch!

(photo stolen from Tom's Journal)


*  Yesterday Marcel and I celebrated our first anniversary.  We are giddy :-)


* I'm fully into blackberry season - unbelievable how many berries there are - I'm happy.  Everything else in the garden rocks too.  I'm blessed.

I haven't done one of these in awhile, but when Alexis asked for the link to the Cauliflower Soup recipe - I thought I'd pull together what I've seen lately to share.

This comes from the Lunchbox Bunch Blog:  Creamy Herbed Cauliflower Soup
It says it's "Organic" in the title, but that would be only if you used all organic ingredients.  I like creamy soups very much, and this sounds delicious.  I'll try it while the weather is on the chilly side still.

Here is an entry also from Lunchbox Bunch blog on tips and advice on Tofu
This is an outstanding reference article.  Gives you the techniques and tricks to great results using Tofu. 

I Lurve Red Bell Peppers, and I saved this recipe to my memories lately at a definite "must try" 
Baked Peppers For A Summer Picnic (or Lunch)

I'm catching up on my Splendid Table Podcasts (they piled up since I was pre-occupied with weight loss and political casts).  If you don't already know about this podcast (and you love food) - you might be glad you checked it out.  You can listen at the website or you can download it to your iPod at iTunes.  Sometimes it's hard to believe some of these Podcasts are free (sometimes.....not). :-)  Anyway - - She interviewed the Lee Brothers regarding their, fairly, new book Simple, Fresh, Southern - and mentioned Radish Butter ,  Pickled Grapes, and Ginger Lemonade.  You can get tons of recipes from the Splendid Table website - all are dishes that were discussed on the shows.

I would like to get Marcel to write out the recipes for some of his dishes.  He makes a Chocolate Cheesecake that is so rich and delicious you feel like you've died and gone to heaven.  He's got quite a few sauces in his repertoire that are out of this world too - - and don't get me started on his salad dressings..............

We put in our Muscadines Wednesday! Five vines.
Big Red Ison Late Fry Pineapple and Darlene

Yay x 10


This is how the day looked.
Made me feel happy to be alive!
Do you see Marcel way out there planting vines? :-)


This is Big Red - he looks pretty puny here though :-)

Marcel did all the hard work - he's awesome!