Mutt Monday: Fences Make the Best Mutts

Oh those wiley mutts! Just when they think they've got the whole acre figured out, every smell accounted for, and every blade of grass counted, we go and throw a double whammy--rabbits! fence!--at them. Their world is upside down! Are they allowed inside the fenced garden? No. Can they please go in to eat...um...see the rabbits? No.

We finally finished securing the entire perimeter of the garden this past week by attaching trellising to the base of the shed, because the little dog from next door was easily coming and going from under the shed. With the trellis in place, we paid little attention to the world outside the fence...until this weekend.

Notice anything funny about the trellis under the shed? Take a closer look.

Here Hokie has become reptilian and slithered under the shed on her belly so she can be close to us as we work in the garden. Or does she have another motive? Hey, by the way, where is her partner in crime?

Aha! Boston not only slithered under the shed, she went all the way through to the other side. Why, pray tell, would an otherwise sensible dog do such a thing? Well, that wooden object on the other side of the fence that she is trained on is the rabbit hutch, of course.

I'm not sure if they're working as a team, with Hokie as lookout for humans and Boston looking out for rabbits. More likely, Hokie is hot and bored and wants to see what we're doing, and Boston is claustrophobic and rabbit-crazed.

"Here, bunny bunny. Come out and plaaaaayyy...."


*By the way, I keep forgetting to announce the results of our name-the-rabbits poll. With 44% of the vote, the winning names are: "Raleigh & Durham." It's no coincidence that several voting constituents are residents of the fair state of North Carolina. Since we believe the white bunny is a girl, she will be Raleigh and the boy will be Durham. I know you were all on the edge of your seats over this one.

Silent Sunday: Joe Deere

I know it's in his gene pool to be obsessed with cars, but I didn't really anticipate that translating to lawn equipment, too.

 

Happy Easter, everyone!

Dear Family

I realize I might have caused a bit of a stir with this post in which I discussed the mudswallows that nest outside our front door. Let me clear up any confusion caused by my poor writing by clearly saying I AM NOT PREGNANT. Sorry. When we FIRST saw the mudswallow family, we really wanted to be pregnant, and unbeknownst to us, we were pregnant. Two years ago. I guess what I was trying to say was that I felt karma rewarded us when we didn't knock down the bird's nest by giving us the pregnancy we were hoping for. Two years ago. Not now.

Geesh, that was kind of embarrassing. In case anyone was wondering, I am much too busy chasing after this little guy to think about adding to the brood:

I Told You

Yes, it's only been 10 days since our last blizzard, but this is the forecast for today:

Nearly 90 degrees. What did I tell you about Oklahoma weather? Of course, I thought we'd be well into late April before we saw temps that high, but apparently late March is just as good a time as any. My trees and shrubs are loving the warmth and are leafing out all over the place, but I am a bit worried about my crops of peas, lettuce, and spinach.

Last night I set up my first attempt at an irrigation system, aka a leaky hose:

I had a bit of an issue with powdery mildew last year on my peas due to watering from above and getting the foliage too wet, so hopefully watering on the ground will help with that. I obviously need to buy more hose length for the rest of the garden. The super high temps are only supposed to last for a few days and then we'll be back into the 70s, but summer will be burning down the house before we know it.

Changes at the WatRanch

So this weekend we decided once and for all to fence in the garden for several reasons. The two biggest reasons were the dog next door who, while very cute, likes to come and play in my lettuce bed, and to give the rabbits some protection from our own mutts. This was an all-hands-on-deck project instead of a Bill-hurry-up-and-do-it project. Which means I became very good friends with a commercial post hole digger and a drill.

I'm most excited about this pergola. I put it together all by myself and I can't wait to plant all kinds of lovely vining, flowering things at the bottom of it.

I also love that this is the gateway to the garden. It looks rough and messy now, but soon enough I hope this view is full of lush greens and vivid colors. This is the view from the inside looking towards the house.

The four quads are very clear in this shot with Quad 4 covered in grass in the immediate foreground, Quad 2 just above that, Quad 1 at 12 o'clock in rows, and Quad 3 recently turned over and rich brown to the left. The raised strawberry beds are also encompassed in the new perimeter as well as a large open area in front of the shed for Joe to stomp around in while I'm gardening.

To finish off the fence, we added garden wire to the existing split rail fence. I did all this myself, too. No doggies are welcome here.

Yes, the shed is STILL under construction, as are guest blog posts describing the progress. We're also planning a patio in front of the shed as an outdoor living/play space for the family. The work we've accomplished on the fence in one weekend has me very encouraged that we can make that happen soon, though there are still gutters to be installed on the house and a storm shelter to be built.

I can't help planning potential new beds, though. I'm thinking this will be a cutting flower bed. It's funny that by placing this boundary around the garden, we've created even MORE planting areas. The gate next to the future bed is for lawn mower access to and from the shed, and Bill put it together using a one of the sections of fence. After I hammered off all of the slats, of course. GRRRR.


Edit: Voting for the rabbits' names will stay open til the end of the week, I think. It's just starting to get interesting. Click here to cast your vote.

Retail Rant/Rave: Walmart Finds

I'm sure there are readers out there who are sick of me talking about how much I love my food co-op and the awesome, fresh, organic, minimally processed food that my family has been enjoying for the past two months. Those readers are very busy, have very tight budgets, and/or are not completely obsessed with food the way that I am.

Fair enough. I'm going to go ahead and admit that I DO still shop at...gasp...Walmart every other week or so because of the extremely limited retail selection in my area. But while there I try to stick to my guns regarding minimal processing, organically raised, and less packaging whenever possible. Surprisingly enough, the responsible eater CAN find products like this at Walmart, and for nearly the same price as the other stuff. Here are some of the products that I've found at my local Walmart (and please note that I'm not being compensated by anyone to talk about any of these products, just putting the info out there).

1. Hormel Natural Choice Deli meats

I've been buying nearly all of my meats through my food co-op, including fresh pork, sausages, ground beef, lamb chops, Texas longhorn burger, etc. Unfortunately, none of the meat producers offer nitrate-free deli meats. Now, the jury is still out on sodium nitrates, which I had never heard of until I was pregnant and told to avoid food that contained them. I did a little research and it turns out that prolonged exposure to nitrates caused lab animals to develop cancer with alarming frequency. Since my son LOVES his ham sandwiches, and since I LOVE my little boy, I'm going to buy nitrate-free meat whenever possible.

I was first attracted to the packaging of these Hormel meats because it was recycled cardboard and natural inks. I know, I know--great reason to buy roast turkey, right? In reading the label, I could see that they had in fact been minimally processed (yay!) and contained no nitrates or artificial preservatives AT ALL. Score! The Hormel website mentions that they are able to process the meat using a high pressure cold water something or other to keep it preserved without chemicals. Of course, it doesn't last very long in my house because we go through ham (and turkey and roast beef) sandwiches like they were going out of style and these meats taste good. And since Hormel is a big industry producer, their products are consistently stocked at Walmart for the same price as the pretend and chemically-injected meats.

2. Back to Nature Crackers

 Along with our sandwich obsession, my family also has a cracker fetish. Bill and I could have crackers, cheese, and wine for dinner on a regular basis and be happy as clams. I've been meaning to attempt to make my own crackers, but the beautiful weather and steady pace of real work has kept me from it. (I'm also saving up for a pasta roller, which will probably help in the cracker department).

In the meantime, I have been buying lots of tasty cheeses from the co-op but had no crackers to eat them with. A brief scan of the depressingly unhealthy (despite WHOLE GRAIN promises from the box) selections in the cracker aisle had me convinced that we would not be able to enjoy our favorite snack without the addition of trans fats, hydrogenated oils, or obscene amounts of sodium. Enter Back to Nature.

Again, I was drawn to the recycled cardboard box, and then fell in love with the ingredients label. Organic all around, no artificial ANYTHING, and super tasty-sounding flavors. I bought 3 boxes to try and I have to say that they were all gone in about a week.

3. Stoneyfield Yogurt

This is probably not a huge surprise to those who buy organic, but I wanted to put it out there because I constantly see people linger at the yogurt section trying to decide which to pick up. Yogurt is one of those tricky foods that few people eat because they looooove the taste of it--most people eat it because they know it is good for them. Unfortunately a lot of brand name yogurts contain huge amounts of sugar and crazy ingredients (no, fiber does not occur naturally in yogurt and any carton telling you that it does will make you fart all afternoon).

Stoneyfield products are all organic, which is an important characteristic to look for when buying food that comes from cows, considering how environmentally damaging the cattle industry is. Their products also don't contain huge amounts of added sugar, which is why I used to buy the Yo-Baby products (from Stoneyfield) for Joe. I say used to because for some reason our Walmarts stopped stocking them, and I started buying his yogurt locally through the co-op.

I also want to put it out there that if you haven't tried Greek-style yogurt, you should. It doesn't taste like olives or feta cheese, it is just a thicker, creamier texture with less fat. No fat, in fact, in many cases. It feels more sinful to eat, but it has more protein than regular yogurt, so you'll be fuller for longer.

That's it for now. I have also found organic, cage-free chicken and eggs for the same price as their shelf-mates in Walmart. Actually, Walmart actually has a generic brand of organic, cage-free eggs. I buy my chicken through the co-op now to do my part in reducing emissions and support local farmers, but it's nice to know that there are options. Actually, a friend of mine pointed out this article from The Atlantic discussing how it is getting hard to hate Walmart as they become more open to dealing locally and stocking their shelves with more responsible foods.

Wally-world still has a long way to go, but it's a start and an opportunity for us to vote with our dollars at the checkout, while doing something good for our families.    

Mutt Monday: Guest Species

As many of you know, there have been some new additions to the family. Until Bill lets me get chickens (not just for eggs, but for top-notch garden manure) I needed an animal that would help me keep my plants fed. Enter rabbits.

I picked up these little poop machines last week and they've been getting accustomed to life at WatRanch. The white and brown one is very active and inquisitive, and always hops out to greet us when we come outside:

I tried to get one of each gender to avoid many baby rabbits, but we think the white one is a girl, and this little guy is, well, a guy.

He's pretty shy, but both are fairly good cuddlers. I tried showing Joe how to feed them fresh blades of grass, but he likes teasing them with the grass instead of letting them have it.

We're still trying to decide names so please VOTE below on the options we've come up with.

poll by twiigs.com