Livin' The 10

Livin’ the 10

I took this picture some time in those first couple of days on the property. Peaceful. Relaxing. Tranquil. Truly, an answer to our prayers…and evidence of the benefits of striving to live a thankful life, no matter the circumstances.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:4-7

Posts, Rafters & Furring Strips…Oh My

Our weekend project…more work on the outdoor kitchen. This weekend, we were able to get the remaining cedar posts up as well as the remaining two rafters. Finished out the rafters with spacers for extra stability, then began on the furring strips (below). Thirty-three more furring strips, and we’ll be ready for the metal roofing.

I Think Her Tractor’s Sexy

Kubota L2501 with a rotary cutter and loader from Ewald Kubota in Seguin, Texas. We also bought a box blade to help cut in some swales, and a grapple to deal with a lot of brush we have lying around the property. Unfortunately, there’s a backlog on the grapple, so we don’t have it just yet. Of course, that hasn’t stopped us from breaking in the new toy…I mean tool.

Chip the Donkey

Chip is Mocha’s daughter, and she got her name (from the kids, of course) because of her “chocolate chips” on her white body. You can read the story of Mocha and Chip on Mocha’s page here.

Mocha the Donkey

This is Mocha, our female Jerusalem donkey. She came along with her daughter, Chip, from some friends of ours who breed and rescue all kinds of animals.

When Mocha and Chip first arrived, we put them in the same paddock as our other donkey family – Chocolate, Vanilla, and Turtle (the goat who think’s he’s a donkey). As soon as Chocolate realized that he had two new female “friends,” he started singing. Well, at least it looked like he was trying to serenade them. He started “hee-hawing” and “getting really friendly” with the new girls, if you know what I mean. (Sure wish we had the video camera running. It was quite entertaining.)

After a couple of minutes, Vanilla, Chocolate’s life-long female friend – who happens to be at least a foot taller than Chocolate, making certain activities darn near impossible – let out a groaning song…sort of as if to say, “How dare you!” And then she lit out after Chocolate – who was chasing Mocha and Chip around the paddock.

At that point, I guess Turtle felt left out, so he joined in the fray…and we had a galloping, singing, groaning train of donkeys (with a goat-caboose) running around the paddock for a good 10 minutes. Again, wish we had the video camera handy.

They eventually all settled down, and are getting along quite nicely. Vanilla is still stand-offish, but Chocolate, Mocha and Chip are friendly and affectionate, and love to eat treats right out of your hand.

Sunrise…Sunset

Just another beautiful day on the property, from sunrise (above) to sunset (below).

Baby It’s Cold Outside

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.

Raising the Rest of the Roof

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!

Sweet Potatoes

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….

The Guineas

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.