Photo Update!

Here's a mix of June pictures: 

Amaryllis 

You must strain to see what's trailing behind the doe in the next two pictures. Her fawn, only days old, follows through the corn field. Over a week we spotted the mother deer in the lower fields. She would hide the little one in high brush or just within the woods, coming and going in order to graze and camouflage the fawn. Here they flee from us opening the gate entering the gravel drive.

Milly scoping the grounds.

The following photos of the garden are a week old. Most of the vegetation has doubled in size. We have been harvesting salad greens (spinach, swiss chard, and a mix of arugula and lettuces) and a few zucchinis are ready for picking. More pictures to come.

Cucumber and Marigolds.
The marigolds here naturally appeared after the seed heads left in the garden from last year were tilled throughout. Their smell, supposedly, repels animals.  

I'm picking in the salad line with corn to my right. I'm standing at about the halfway point of the length of the garden. 

Directly next to salad greens are cabbages, brussel sprouts, and broccoli (in order); tomatoes, garlic, basil, eggplant and peppers make up the back corner. In between the corn and tomato/pepper corner are a line of green beans and carrots; and sunflowers along the fence line.

Tomatoes and Corn

Eggplant and Onions

Scarecrow

 In the next two, Sam the Bull is ripping this invasive 'autumn olive' (spell check?) to scratch his bulky neck and face.

The recipe for these wild mint juleps comes from a family tradition of a Delta family from the nineteenth century (see Lanterns on the Levee).  We might have to make these a farm tradition reserved for when we're feeling lofty. 

Numerous Cows, One Flood and a Fire Pit

The weeks since our last post have been filled with much sun, little rain, and many projects. Hopefully this smattering of pictures will speak louder than my words here. Outside of heavy rains that flooded our bridge, the ones that came up a few days after the last round of tornadoes in Alabama, we've been busy with the garden and burning down the wood piles in our new fire pit. The rocks placed around our campsite style sittin' fire came from the structures that stood before the current house had been built. Some had been old stepping stones, others from the original house (that burned years ago), and still others from the stone wall next to the old veranda. Now several skinned tree trunks surround the stone fire pit waiting for warm bodies. Hopefully the woodpiles will last until guests can spend a long summer night under the stars. 

Next time you will find more pictures from the fully planted garden with noticeable growth. Maybe we can capture a photograph of one of the skunks or groundhogs that have been spotted on the property. Enjoy these for now.

Cows in the one field where they are prohibited

Calves too. Fog rolling in.

Troublemaker

Defining example of a low-water bridge

Erica's finishing touches to the porch

  

Return

Greetings farm fans!
It has been some time now since the last entry to this blog. Over the past months snow-covered ground has given way to lush grass and spring time weeds. As you all know, the house project of last summer is complete. The Spencer women are breaking in new traditions and ultimately forging a new way of life at Belle Lea Acres. Instead of an old mobile home, or a well-worn Air-stream, our home provides a rather comfortable abode complete with heat, air, running water, and plenty of sleeping room for visitors. As Spring inevitably leads to Summer, we're looking forward to new adventures with gardens, grass, wildlife, and guests.

Linda, Erica, and I mowed the lawn this week, planted much of the garden, and prepped for the summer season (which means hanging a hammock and airing out the screened in porch). We also installed some greenery around the house as well. It's been a productive week and we hope you enjoy the pictures below. More to come soon!

Our same garden plot from last year before we planted a single seed

This part of the garden is food for visiting children: Broccoli and Brusselsprouts, 

A rain shower approaches just after we sow a few rows

Our little secret: What you see are rabbit food pellets, what we call slow-release soil nutrients

Waiting on you!

 

Quilting Traditions Pasted On

      The history of America can be seen in the history of quilts: in the rich heritage left by self-sufficient women who helped settle this land, in the families whose history is sewn into quilts one patch at a time, and in the legacy of the quilting arts passed on to children and grandchildren so they may carry them forward to the future. The women in my family have been quilting as far back in time as I can trace. Now I am proud to be the next generation to learn this craft. It brings me great joy to carry on this family tradition and create beautiful works of art that other generations will wrap themselves in each night.
     My mother has taught me how to read a pattern, cut out the necessary pieces, and how to operate her sewing machine. I have been practicing by "daisy chaining" (sewing together many pieces to save thread) and have completed over a hundred small squares. I chose what is called the Wyoming pattern and picked three bolts of material that I thought would look best together. Take a look at one square that I have finished and tell me what you think!