Bald Eagles

There is a bald eagle that fishes in the lake next to our property every winter and he is back as of today! I had never seen a bald eagle in the wild before we moved here. So exiting! Bring your binoculars!!

wild prarie liatris

although we have had horrible drought this summer, our pasture has sprung new life! It is covered in beautiful wild prairie liatris! A sea of purple spikes rippling with the wind.

drove my first tractor

one of the workers on the surrounding ranch got his tractor stuck in the mud. And as LAST resort he called me to drive the other tractor to help pull him out. I totally feel like a farm girl now! We successfully unstuck his tractor!

wild boar attack

so I'm out hanging clothes on the line in pitch black, I hear a snorting and squealing... The HUGE dark shadow is coming strait at me! I scream (horror movie style), drop my laundry and dart for the door. Then realize that is our "miss piggy", she has escaped her pin and she was just coming over to say hi. I think I'll change my pants now.... Lol

2nd season garden

now that the heat has died off a bit, I moved my seedlings from the window to the garden. I filled 2 of my 8 sections of garden. The egg cartons worked wonderfully!! They were decomposed enough to break apart easy, but still held together enough to get into the ground. I just stuck them direct into the dirt, no worries about tying to get the pot off. The roots were pretty heavy out the bottoms anyhow. Now time to start thinking about my winter garden. We are so blessed to have multiple planting seasons!

a new start

so I've started some new seeds for a fall garden. Still over 100 everyday and no rain in sight, so I'm starting everything indoors. I wasn't pleased with the seed blocks I had made last time, so I'm trying paper egg cartons this time. I must say, I'm liking it so far. Not time and labor intensive as my usual newspaper pots. We were able to knock out tons of seeds in about 30 mins. I always put my seed pots into a long plastic bin, which allows me to fill the bottom with water and let the paper pot soak up the water it needs. The egg cartons did perfectly soaking and are staying nice and wet. I then cover the top with some plastic wrap to increase humidity in the tray. We should have sprouts in no time :)

Oh, deer!

well, much to my disappointment, I had a herd of deer visit my garden last night. The only things that weren't eaten or trampled was the pumpkin, one watermelon plant, and one zuccinni plant. Sad day :(

extream drought

rain, rain, come my way! I started off watering the garden for about 2 hours each evening, but it's just not enough! I've bumped it up to 4 hours per day, seems to be doing the trick. I've also been watering some pasture for the animals, but it can't keep up with their consumption, so we got some square bales of hay to supplement. I sure hope it rains soon!!

sustainable intern

Would you or someone you know like to get hands on experience on how to live a sustainable life? Learn to grow your own organic food. Explore natural animal care. Do you have what it takes to be self sustainable? We are accepting ongoing applications for a intern! Email us at for more information.

Farm House Remodel

The NEW downstairs bedroom is finally complete and ready to open for our farm house cabin!!

#sustainablity

ok... So.... I just HAD to hashtag my title, trying to keep up with the times out here on the farm :) But seriously, sustainability is something that weighs heavy on my mind. It is one of the main reasons for us to even find a piece of land to live on. After a year of farm living, our family has made amazing strides!! Although it is a constant battle to retrain our minds that " no, we do NOT need to go to the store." for the first time I am making all our soaps, shampoos, and cleaners. I'm making basic items like butter , cheese, and bread. While also making things my family doesn't want to live without, like Homemade crackers and snacks. We are appreciating our local farmer friends and supporting their efforts instead of the big corporate chains. If you would like any recipes that I am finding effective, leave a comment below. Please feel free to leave a copy of your own below, I'm always looking to try new things!

toad addition

so it may be a funny thing, but we were cleaning out some things and we discovered several toads had made a home under a bucket. By several, I mean like 20!! So we put some logs around in the garden and wet them down really well. I had the kids round up all the toads and relocate them to garden. Hopefully these little guys (or gals) will put a dent in the bug population. A welcomed addition to our organic garden!

a donkey llama kinda day

our llama, the donkey llama that is, has just been looking miserable in this Texas heat. After feeding him this morning, I decided to brush the gabillion grass spurs hopeless tangled in his fur. He loved it! So I kept brushing and brushing. After I got his neck all clean and soft I decide to give shaving a try. I have never shaved any animal before, so I wasn't sure how he or I would even do. But I think he was liking the idea of taking off his winter coat. He sat still and was wonderful. But that's some serious amount of shaving, so he needed a nap under the tree before we continue. I'll finish him up when the temperature drops a little. I feel much more confident in my animal grooming skills, so that's a good thing!

organic summer garden

my summer garden is officially planted!!! I know, I know... I always get a late start, but it's done!! I THINK I did a good job with the layout this year. Plenty of room to work with everything, without trampling over anything else. The garden is all fenced in to keep critters out. The viney plants all have their own space and planted in hills to help with watering. There are walking paths through the garden to help in care and management of the plants. Like I said before, I ordered bulk organic seed, and was finally able to fill my garden!! I have a video of my garden posted on my YouTube channel, HighHeelFarmer.

family photos

wow, I had such an easy photo shoot with my kiddos this morning! Every year I gift my husband 3 large prints of our kids for father's day. I had always pained over where I would go to get great natural shots. Now I can just step a few feet from the house and get amazing shots. In fact I couldn't talk the kids into walking down by the big boulders in the front because it was "too far" ... Lol Our property really has so many great backdrops for wonderful photos.

june is for blackberries

since I was a small child, I would spend the entire month of June combing the woods for wild blackberries. What a joy to be able to share the excitement of a good blackberry hunt with my kiddos. (actually we knew where there was a large thicket, so no real hunting involved.) A lot of time, blackberries are home to many wild animals. We were careful to poke around with a long stick before exposing our legs and hands into the thorny unknown. We did find a raccoon, that wasn't too happy we were invading his safe haven. But overall we had tons of fun, and came home with about 2 lbs of fresh blackberries, and a tummy full strait from the vine.

bunnies

Often evenings we sit and watch the beautiful sun set. Tonight there were 3 little bunnies hopping around in the yard. The kids sat forever watching the bunnies' every hop. My daughter commented that we just wouldn't see that if we lived anywhere else. So true.

seed blocks

I usually make newspaper pots to start my seeds in, which are great because you can plant them strait into the ground when they are ready. But this time around I decided to make soil blocks. I don't have the nifty soil block tool, so I improvised. I wet my trusty bag of fox farm and packed the soil into 4" square pots, then dumped it over into a big plastic tray. Kinda like building a sand castle. The tray held 42 little squares. I poked a small hole with my finger in each one. I was careful to only put one tomato seed in each to test my new seeds for germination rate. Then I sprinkled it with some super organic fertilizer, sprayed it down with some water, and covered it all with plastic wrap. I'm hoping these blocks are just as easy to transplant as the newspaper ones I'm use to. Although if I like it, I may be in the market for the special tool.

Farmer's Market

Tomorrow is the Saint Jo Farmer's Market, it will mark the FIRST time we are participating!! I'm so excited!! We will have set up: farm fresh eggs, organic new potatoes, heirloom seeds, potted cactus from our property, Texas flag painted cow skulls, 3 roosters, and 2 goats. I think we have some pretty neat stuff!! I'm so proud of how fast our family has adapted to farm life, and how far we have come... From couch potato to selling potatoes in a farmers market!!

seeds in bulk

so I've "farmed" 2 growing seasons so far, and have painfully discovered, that you have to have tons of packs of seed to be able to fill the size garden I have. (which I consider it a modest size) So this is my first time to order bulk seeds. I first went to the feed store, they had a good selection at a fair price. Although, the seeds were all coated in a colored "mixture", making it impossible to tell even which plant you are planting, not to mention the fact that those little coated seeds are "genetically engineered" by the Monsanto corporation. These seeds produce sterile seeds and have pesticides injected into it DNA. (I'll revisit this topic sometime else) Anyways... I ultimately ordered online at sustainable seed company. I THINK I will finally have enough seed to fill my garden and still reasonable in price considering how much you will ultimately save in future food cost. I think the seed count for the corn was 900 seeds at 2 corns per plant.. That would be 1800 corn for 6.99. Pretty good deal :) So I'm really excited about getting them in the mail!!

Saint Jo, Texas

We had a blast at this years Saint Jo Chamber of Commerce banquet. It was held at Ancient Ovens just north of town. What an amazing place!! Their property was gorgeous, and the foods was wonderful. We were all pleased to know that Saint Jo was awarded a grant that only 3 rural towns in Texas receive!!! WAY TO GO Saint Jo, I love our town!! Our municipal judge, Vernie, won the person of the year award! It couldn't have gone to a more deserving person, at 82 years old, he does so much for our town!! We had a wonderful evening mingling with all the local business owners. The same weekend marked the one year anniversary of the Davis & Blevins Main Street Gallery opening!! It was awesome, and a MUST SEE for those visiting Saint Jo. Busy week for Donna Howell - Sickles, the owner and featured artist at this gallery!! Here's Donna and I at the banquet :)

gardening with pigs

I read some cool article about gardening with pigs, so I thought I would give it a try with "Miss Piggy". We fenced off a side area to the garden where we are planning on growing our pumpkin patch. It's pretty heavy with weeds and grass. Miss Piggy's new job is to root up and eat all the plants. Her rooting will till up the soil to prepare it for planting. Once she's finished off this area, we will then move her to another part of the garden. Moving a pig around keeps your pig healthy and clean, no smell to deal with since she will never get a chance to make a mess of her surroundings. Not to mention the amount of weight she will gain by eating up all that nutritious earth!! I'm guessing the pumpkin patch will be ready to plant in about 2 to 4 weeks. You can watch us moving "Miss Piggy" to her new home along with other vedios from the farm on our Youtube channel, Highheelfarmer.

rockhound

we've been quite the amateur rockhounds here at the P2 lately! Today we found the most amazing piece of flint, a large specimen with several beautiful colors. These very hills that we are located in were home to Indians, and I can see why they chose this area. Not only could they sit up on the hill and see friends and foes coming from any direction, but the large amounts of flint we find here on the property is amazing! Lots of the flint we find here has been chipped off of to make tools and weapons. And YES we do find arrowheads right here. Walking the trails after a fresh rain is most likely your best bet at finding great pieces! Other rocks we've found and identified so far include clear/ white quartz, pink quartz, mica, and petrified wood. We have a geologist that visits from time to time to help identify our unique finds. We've got some great rocks in the waiting to be examined!!!

birdwatching

I saw a roadrunner today while I was hanging the clothes on the line!! There are so many birds on the property, I'm getting good use of my bird identification field guide. During the winter there is even a bald eagle that perches from a tree and fishes in the lake right on the other side of our fence line. He's there everyday until the weather turns warm! I never dreamed I would see some of these birds in the wild!!! So cool!!

Radish Recipe

this recipe was a hit!! Can be used as a dip for chips & veggies, or a condiment for tacos and such. Yummy

radish dip

4 fresh radish
2 garlic cloves
1 pkg cream cheese

blend everything in food processor. Enjoy.

fresh seeds

after weeding the garden, I was reminded how important it is to use fresh seed for planting. Most seeds loose their germination ability after one or two years. Of course there are some varieties that can last longer, but depending on if you have room to chance that only 50% or less will actually make a plant, it can really effect your projected yield. My garden is on the larger side, so I figured I would give some older seeds a chance. My 2 year old seeds did very well, I would guess about 80% of them germinated into a plant. I also had some seeds of unknown age that were given to me by a friend. Sadly not 1 plant came up from that batch. So it's looking like our family will have no fresh broccoli this time around. Which in hindsight, I should have planted some fresher seeds along with the older ones. The freshest seeds I planted are seriously crowded, I would bet that they all came up!! So if you are really counting on your garden to feed your family, I would be sure to plant only the freshest seed, and just compost the old stuff!!

picking and planting

we have already began picking radish from the cool weather side of the garden. I'm not much of a radish eater, but I'm sure I'll find a good recipe out there somewhere... Lol but that side of the garden is really shaping up! The peas have several small pods on them, potatoes are getting viney and all the other sproutlings are doing well. Now that the sprouts are big enough to differentiate them from the weeds, I'll be working on weeding this week. Weeds really steal the nutriance the veggies need so they have to come out!! Tool of the trade... Just a regular ol hoe! And while I'm working on that I think it's time to start planting my warmer weather stuff. Hopefully the last freeze is under our belt and well have plenty of time to really get a good harvest!

what is that noise?!?

I was at trade days with my family and a few friends, when everyone started to wonder where a strange noise was coming from. The crowd was pointing, "it's over there, no over there". Nothing in site, but the sound was growing louder and louder. The crowd had ceased their Saturday afternoon browsing and was focused on what that dreadful noise was, and where in the world it was coming from. It steadily got louder and louder. Until finally my sweet husband came round the corner with a squealing piglet in his arms. Should I pretend I don't know him???? Lol... Never! What a surprise for everyone in the crowd! I guess it's all a part of the farm experience. I'm sure we weren't the first nor the last people to walk through a crowded flea market with an upset swine :) We named her Miss Piggy and she is the newest addition to our farm!!

GRAND OPENING

Our Open House & Grand Opening Ribbon Cutting will be on Friday, April 8, 2011 at 5:00 pm. We hope to see everyone out!! We'll be open just in time for the German Festival in Muenster, and we will be offering special packeages that include transportation to and from the festival!!! Call us now to book your reservations!!