January 6th 2023

Well, it's another Carnival season,

and

Mardi Gras is on 2/21/2023.

As a native of Louisiana, and 

born in New Orleans,

I just don't like the crowds

and the way Mardi Gras has 

changed.

It's always been a raucous celebration

but not the violent things

that have been going on in the

city that I love.

I wish that people could see

it the like it was,

a great legacy that families shared

and good times were had by all.

What makes New Orleans special

are the shared experiences,

the culture and foods that we've grown

to know and love.

That's where the King Cake comes in.

Kings Day, the feast of Epiphany,

when the 3 Kings brought

the Christ child gifts.

It's celebrated by the Catholic church

on January 6th.

It is also Twelfth Night, or

the beginning of Mardi Gras season.

Here,

 we celebrate the days

until Ash Wednesday

and Lent begins.

King Cake parties are held

and whomever gets the baby,

has to have the next party.

It is a fun, and very tasty

treat before Lent.

So, I intend to partake of

several King Cakes this season!

**********************

The recent freezes cost us some plants.

The ornamentals near the front door all died.

The Broccoli and Cauliflower

bed mostly didn't make it.

We have some seedlings ready to plant

to replenish the bed,

so we are hoping there's no more freezes!

2 Broccoli heads lived through the freeze!

Most of my herbs are gone too.

We will replant in the spring.

The Chicory made it too!

This is the Beet and Carrot bed.

The veggies that are mostly

underground can withstand

lower temperatures.

We harvested a few beets before the freeze.

The lighter colored one has white stripes inside.

They all taste the same,

delicious!

The Onions and Garlic.

Greens that have a small amount

of leaf damage.

Mustard Greens for the hens.

The Paperwhite blooms died, 

but the plants survived.

The Aloe Vera plants didn't do very well.

They are mostly water and the

freeze crystalized inside the stems

so that destroyed a lot of the leaves.

We cut off the dead parts and will replant

what we can. 

Aloe reproduces quickly, so

all is not lost.

 

My entourage.

Minew

Ethel

Lucy

Happy New Year from

the menagerie!

Hope this year is wonderful

and brings everyone

many blessings.

Much love from our

Backyard Farm!

💚💙

 

December 22nd

Merry Christmas

I love the pictures of Jesus

and the Holy Family depicted

as more real than the typical

Renaissance paintings.

I can identify with the Blessed Mother

cuddling and loving her baby.

There's a line from the song,

"Mary Did You Know?"

that says,

"When you kiss your little baby,

you kiss the face of God?"

I choose to believe she did know.

She accepted the joy with the

sorrow that was to come.

In that small kiss, to that tiny face,

she was like any other mother,

in awe at this beautiful creation.

One of my favorite seasonal TV

shows is, "A Charlie Brown Christmas".

It's essentially a story about

being depressed during the holidays,

because it has become so commercial,

but in typical Charlie Brown fashion,

he rallies and shows why we celebrate.

One of the more nostalgic parts

is, to me, his choice of a 

Christmas tree.

His sad little tree shows that

from humble roots,

something great will come.

To quote Linus,

"It's not a bad tree at all.

Maybe it just needs a little love."

And,

It's not about what's under it,

it's about who's around it.

And this is the reason for the season.

*****************************

The weather has been all over

the place lately.

It's been hot and sticky, foggy

windy, rainy and cold.

To save our harvest, I've been dehydrating

 as much of the veggies as I can.

I turned the dehydrated peppers into

a blend that I put into a couple of shakers.

The rest has been ground up

for my herbal blend.

I made more mint tea that

I added some dried tangerine

peel to, for a very surprising

and tasty citrus tea.

The cypress leaves seemed to fall

all at once and made a giant mess.

The CEO and I cleaned up what 

we could and put them into the

flower beds to act as mulch.

***********************

The Broccoli and Cauliflower

are doing very well.

We may have to harvest them a bit early

because of the impending freeze.

If that happens, I'll blanche them

and then put them in the freezer.

Banana Peppers

My Paperwhites.

Aren't they beautiful?

Cosmos

Pink Begonia.

The seedlings.

We brought them into the garage

last night to keep them from freezing.

Celery

(Elvis) Parsley

Fat Cat

She's always meowing.

Lucy and Ethel, the geriatric hens.

Does that apply to bossy hens?

*****************************

I like cool weather, but NOT cold weather!

This is too cute!

*******************************

Here's wishing everyone

the most wonderful Christmas!

I hope all your wishes come true.

💚💙

Also,

here's my PSA.

 While sitting on the floor

looking for 2 quarters that 

I had dropped,

I realized 2 things.

1) Always have a backup plan

for getting back up, it's

harder than you think!

2) Seriously!? It's only fifty cents.

They can live under the couch forever!

😁😆

 

November 30th

Who knew that there was a whole day devoted

to Mason jars?

I was wondering what their origin was,

so I looked it up.

We use the term "mason jar" as

a generic word,

but it is an actual name of

the guy who patented the type

of jar for home food preservation.

John Landis Mason.

Back around 1858, he lost

the patent and a bunch of other companies

started mass producing them.

During WWll, the jar usage was at

a peak, due to rationing and food shortages.

Currently, there's a revival because of

 a "back to nature" movement

and the current inflation woes.

I use them to hold all kinds of things,

and some aren't food related.

With the increase of our crops,

I've canned several veggies,

pickled a few or made jams.

I use the jars for my 

dehydrated herbs too.

They've even held my homeade

soap and bath salts.

Yay, for Mason Jars!!

**************************

We're eating a lot of fresh lettuce

in our salads and

on sandwiches.

More lettuce!

This is (from the top) Beets

and Carrots (on the bottom).

And,

2 curious hens checking to see if

they've missed something.

Cauliflower and Broccoli

Shishito Peppers

(kinda hot, but not too bad)

Tomatoes

(The splits are from too much water

because it's been raining)

Green Bell Peppers

Herb garden

This is the potting bench.

The CEO puts the small plants

or seedlings here until they

are ready for the bigger plots.

Lucy and Ethel

They follow me wherever I go in the yard.

They've even started to lay eggs again.

In the past week we collected 3.

Way to go girls!

I love the way the rain looks on

this huge leaf.

Nothing gets by Minew

either.

************************************

😄

I get up almost every day before

5 o'clock without an alarm...

***************************************

🎅🎄

Christmas tree is up...

Front alcove is decorated...

Now all I need is cooler temperatures!

************************

💚💙

😅