The temperature has finally dropped here in South Texas. It’s not really cold, but it is just a little chilly…or, said another way, “chile pequeno.” Melissa and the kids found more of these little gems around the property today and harvested what they could.
We’re searching for creating things to do with chile pequins. If you have some ideas, leave a comment below.
A very special thanks to Bill Hancock, Joe Tramonte, Patrick McMillin, and my Dad for their tremendous help raising the trusses for our outdoor kitchen.
Bill showed his building and engineering prowess many times throughout the day, not the least of which was balancing atop an 8-foot ladder while swinging from the trusses.
At the end of the day, we got the remaining seven trusses up…and even put up the center cross-beam.
Could not have done it without their help. Thanks again so very much, my friends!
This is Iain holding our first sweet potato harvest. Not what you might call bountiful, but hey, it was our first experiment. More importantly, these grew from sprouts off of older potatoes, and without much intervention from us once planted. They grew through a pretty decent drought…and survived chickens and ducks pecking away at them from time to time. Now for the tasting….
Not a great picture of them, but these little guys (gals, actually) look like a cross between a miniature turkey and a peacock. While they do produce eggs, their real function on our property is to alert us and the other animals to predators, specifically aerial predators. When they sense danger, Guinea fowl have a unique call that, to me, sounds like a squeaky old manual water pump. They also help with pest control, foraging around the property with the chickens and ducks throughout the day.
Another of our nightly walk finds…Amaranth. At least we’re pretty sure it’s an Amaranth. Not the Giant Orange kind, but some variety. This little grain is like Quinoa, and it’s growing wild all over the property. Food…growing wild…all around us. Makes me think of the verse that God knows what we have need of before we even ask…and, oh by the way, He’s already provided for that need.
This is Coconut, one of our four bunnies. The other three are Spot, Bruiser, and Shadow. Spot has spots all over her, Bruiser has a “bruised” eye, and Shadow has grey “shadows” all over her. We’ll get their pictures up here soon.
We decided to raise rabbits because, well, one day the kids said, “Look what Pop-Pop brought us!” And now we’re in the rabbit business.
Continuing work on the outside kitchen area (prior shots here). Sure am glad my wife isn’t afraid of hard work. She keeps me going…and honestly, she outworks me most of the time. Then again, she is much younger than I am….
Just a couple of shots of a beautiful sunset.
Continuing with the build of the outdoor kitchen and living area. Thanks to Michael Laprise and Chris Coats for helping us get the foundation set. Melissa and the kids finished the decking, and we all built the trusses (which you can see lying on the deck). Still a ways to go, but we’re getting there. When it’s done, we’ll have a fun and useful outdoor kitchen area and family room. Can hardly wait!
Stopped by the local Habitat for Humanity store the other day and found a couple of light fixtures for the “entertainment yard” project. As they were retrieving the one below from the display, they accidentally broke two of the shades. We bought it anyway, and it turns out that narrow-mouth quart jars work perfectly as shades.
