Buhlaland is Moving!

No - not as in the earth transporting itself elsewhere - DH and I have purchased a smaller home (downsizing is hardly the word - life altering might be accurate). During past couple of years we've realized his health issues won't allow him almost unbounded energy which was his normal. Keeping a large property which we no longer fully used wasn't good stewardship of God given resources (as well as being exhausting some days!)

We closed today on a smaller house north of where we are now - picture was Skip talking to the tree guy about taking out a couple of large trees which had the bad judgment to grow up against house or right where we need to build a workshop/shed! So the adventure begins - we'll document as much as possible the changes in new place (for now it will be called Windsor - since we'll still live on current Buhlaland until ready to put it up for sale). Woo hoo - biggest excitement right now for me - sandy soil! Deep sand - will grow sweet potatoes and white taters next spring - I know how to garden in sand! Our clay/loam combination on Buhlaland has been a continuing struggle for me. Already browsing on internet for sand plum bushes and rabbiteye blueberries - yum yum. All it takes is work and money - and the Lord allows us just enough energy for the work and money for what we need (wants might be a different budgetary process?). Today we got the keys, turned on the water supply and set off bug bombs at Windsor (black widow spiders had homesteaded the garage!). Small steps - but we have prayed this thing through and know "Do not despise…small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin.” Zechariah 4:10 NLT

The Work has begun - we are ready for this new chapter - see ya again soon!

What's snew?

Not much and everything - what's snew with you?

Our lives have revolved around trying different medications, doctors and treatments to get my DH back to a fuller life. Hasn't happened yet but with the Lord's blessing - we are working on it! Life is a work in progress for anyone isn't it?

Current series was my fascination with our dill plant - grew beautifully and was so full and fragrant. We've used a little to season a sauce or two

- but mostly enjoying it's lacy beauty.

Yikes - an invasion - dill plant was suddenly covered (total of 13 caterpillars at one time) with small army devouring dill devotedly.

Hard to believe these small critters can eat so steadily - but in a short time we were seeing them peel off the stem coverings to eat those also.

Each day I was seeing fewer and fewer caterpillars -a friend identified them as fourth instar (stage) of swallowtail butterflies.

As far as I can tell - only one made it to the chrysalis stage just under rim of planter pot. Hopeful it will be able to fully develop without some nosy bird finding a meal from it. Always something to see on Buhlaland - that's good

Rainy and Growing

Going to try one more time - Blogger has been MOST uncooperative this week - maybe a case of you gets what you pay for??? We had some good rain past week and now very warm weather . Buhlaland has greened up and growed rather fast. Not much worth saying from me today so I'll just wish all a Blessed SonDay and remind you - tell those you love every day and keep your mouth shut about those you don't love so much - then you'll look like a much better person! (that was a note to self y'all)

Adventures Galore Repeat

Sorry I didn't get a picture of the lights flashing and ambulance here on Buhlaland - another adventure in the life of two old folks doing whatever God puts in front of 'em. My Beloved had a stroke on Monday morning - long story short - prayer and a way which was prepared for us long before we had the need made things work out as if there is a Plan in our lives. We are already home - all testing done - some medications changed up and minimal lingering damage to speech and mobility. Both quite exhausted and happy to be in own spot on Buhlaland. New slogan for me - Fear Not. Being anxious about anything may steal away moments given to bless us not allow us to imagine bad event - each day will have enough troubles for that day but also - the strength for that day will be given. Happy to be home - thanks for visiting me on Buhlaland. Just a few pictures 'cause it is still our blessed spot of life 'til the Lord declares otherwise.

Hmmm - just signed on blogger after not being able to sign on blogger and most recent post had disappeared - will post again and hope for the best. We continue to feel better (both of us) each day but still very tired (both of us). Rest and enjoying the scenery - that's the way it is on Buhlaland.

Monday Hello

Quick post - here is the side garden - still in process but showing great progress. Trimmed up tree allowing much more sunlight onto plants.

Cactus are blooming - makes the bee population absolutely twitterpated. It is spring on Buhlaland - and that's very good

Tabula Rasa

Y'all are no doubt already impressed and intrigued - the gal from Texas getting all fancy on you by using a latin phrase for a blog title. Fancy term to indicate I'm being gifted with a nearly blank slate in our garden

Yesterday DH and a young friend of ours began the process of cleaning up our side garden. Planning a total renovation of the garden area. Economics is part of it - prices at grocery store and even local produce markets continue to climb. We'll be putting in some basics for ourselves - plants of tomato, peppers, cucumbers, squash and whatever else looks viable. Went to container gardens because our previous gardener (ahem - yes that would be ME) wouldn't weed on a daily basis and our in the ground garden became a struggle. SO containers it is. The little dog house looking structure is actually a well house - our water well pump is in there. Yes it is far too close to the house but we didn't think of everything when we were planning our home - obviously.

Still have a couple of crape myrtle bushes, a peace rose and currently a container of strawberries which is about to become two hanging baskets of strawberries - snails and slugs are taking harvest.

Plenty more to come as far as

garden renovation possibly a water feature and garden sculpture- big excitement on Buhlaland - springtime, gardening, projects - woo hoo that is all good.

UPDATE: Ok the black containers are water tanks for livestock - we got ours at Tractor Supply

Help Me Rhonda (or anybody else)

In the continuing effort to at least create the appearance I garden - I cleared out 3 not great roses (note to self - don't buy any roses except those disease resistant ones). A few years ago DH built this trellis for us out of pieces of copper tubing. I love the weathered color since shiny new has worn off ('cause it feels more like me - my shiny new wore off LONG ago!). Now trying to decide what to do with this corner. Still have to get that one ugly gnarly shovel resistant clump of former rose bush out. Do NOT want to plant anything resembling morning glories - still pulling out volunteer morning glories from a foolish indulgence years ago - morning glories go from pretty plant to invasive and all consuming monster too quickly. No more roses, too small a trellis for wisteria or grape vine. Wondering what to do here and thought to self - Self - who do you know with creative minds and great garden skillz! YEP - I'm asking y'all - I will sincerely appreciate your suggestions. My thinking has ranged from hanging bird feeders (I have never done bird feeders - figured they got enough feed from what they steal out of the goat pens), hanging plant containers, putting a bird bath under the trellis and letting the soil underneath turn to swamp (we have a layer of good, imported soil on top of solid clay!) or hanging bells and banners and driving us all crazy with the noise.

This isn't a contest - just a plea to you from me - help me Rhonda - or Sally or Sue or Tom, Dick or Harry! It is good on Buhlaland but I'm dry on ideas.

When Pigs Fly

I believe that event will coincide with the date I get caught up on blogging - both entering and reading! Bought this little metal "art" flying pig recently and it migrates around our garden spot - you never know where Senor Cerdo will land - he just makes me laugh.

Daylilies - ya gotta love'em - multiply like crazy and almost anyone will take a "little clump of lilies I was thinning out"!

Dragonfly - sitting on lavender but next to huge rosemary bush.

Buhlaland is fully in summer mode now - just experienced a brief and delightful summer storm - no measurable rain but it cooled off about ten degrees. Our tin can garden (my term for an all container attempt to raise a few tomatoes and peppers) is finally going well - may already be too hot for the strawberries to prodce much.

Chickens get to wander around our yard from 6 pm until dark - they come running up to me when I go out to get them back in their pen and coop. They are certainly good at tearing up layers of oak leaves piled under trees and finding whatever tasty morsels lie there. I use the rosemary you can see in dragonfly picture - delicious on any kind of chicken or pork barbecue you might be trying - add to a small can of apricot nectar, half a cup apricot-pineapple preserves and juice of one or two limes , minced tablespoon of fresh rosemary- heat it up and put on something you want to taste delicious!

Hope your summer is going well - life is good on Buhlaland.

Gardening the Buhlaland Method

Our container gardening experiment - I brought it up a couple of times recently. Despite having abundant water and space, I'm going to try to grow a few veggies and flowers in containers located just outside our breakfast room windows. The theory behind this --I'll actually water appropriately, tend to insect infestations and pull out any weeds which dare to appear in our store bought soil! I'm good on knowing theory and we'll see in the months to come whether I'm OK with practice of theory. The little building which appears to be a dog house is actually our well head - unfortunately for us the water well guy located and dug our water well BEFORE the foundation of our house was in place and put it far too close. Anyhow

Today DH and I put little pieces of screening over the drainage holes he put in our large plastic containers, then put in bags of potting soil mixed with bags of humus. Didn't get much further on the project - because it was about 86 degrees out there! Woo Hoo.

I plan on putting larger tomato plants in the round galvanized containers .Looks quite orderly now - I'm sure I can fix that in a short time!

What will we plant? Why seedlings from my "not so greenhouse" - started indoors under lights then moved to our porch outside master bedroom area. I repotted some last night because their roots were coming through the little starter cubes already. Now leaving them on the porch day and night so they will harden off before putting in the big containers.

Nothing too exciting on Buhlaland today (thank you Lord) - you know I couldn't leave you without a cute goat kids picture.

The End - (or ends as the picture clearly shows!)

It is spring on Buhlaland and I'm lovin' it!

Are we there yet?

I'm ready for spring gardening, ready to get plants started under the clever grow light set up DH made for me last year. Ordered heirloom veggie seeds and looked longingly at some nice concrete planters. North Texas was cold today with wind chill in the 20's. I spent time out in the pens with goats - possible birthing activity beginning. We fed alfalfa for a y'all come into the pen and get locked up snack. I'll go back out once more before bedtime for humans on Buhlaland - not because goats can't deliver babies without humans but because it has been two years since we had kids and I get excited. Being around new born creatures renews my spirit. I make a definite promise you'll see cute baby goat pictures . I'm looking forward to warm weather, moonflowers opening while we stand in the garden watching the stars. Can hardly wait to taste new varieties of vegetables including purple bok choy,dark brown cherry tomatoes and white cucumbers (seeds are cheap - I can experiment!). It is daydreaming time on Buhlaland, a good time only surpassed by living the dreams.

Frost is coming - doggone it!

What a Monday! Increased exercise time to almost an hour now - I don't look any better but I'm surely sweating more often now. Yesterday the weatherforecasters began predicting a real cold front today - so I wandered around trying to get pictures of some things which might not make it through the night. Then I realized - well DUH -
For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest. A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to build up. A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones. A time to embrace and a time to turn away. A time to search and a time to quit searching. A time to keep and a time to throw away. A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace Ecclesiastes 3 1-8

So no problems with a little frost - it is time! The problem with most of us - we try to keep things past their time.(so throw out that expired stuff in the refrigerator - just a hint). Enjoy what is in front of us now - don't worry about tomorrow but don't to hang on to yesterday. I'm good with the frost now. The picture including a blue blanket is our attempt to extend growing season for the tin can garden (OK OK so I am trying to hold onto the potential of a few more veggies!) I started to title it "Veggie Bed Being Put to Bed" but realized that was too corny even for me.

Next is the Buhlaland version of a spooky picture. "The Shadowrider" - didn't realize I was getting this shot until downloading the camera. It appears I am riding one of the goats while our dear Nubiana stared at me. No way I could ride one of our goats but based on the picture maybe I could be a new character - Shadowgoatrider - not a super hero character more of a cartoon character. Speaking of cartoons - I love the image from the internet, included for your amusement. Cat with human smile - creepy yet funny. It is chilly tonight and I'm more goofy than usual - it is Good!

A new link and tidbits of life

I've added a new blog link - 6yearmed. She is a good writer, her blog posts are often quite emotional since her work in the hospital is with new borns. Today's posting is disturbing so not recommended reading if someone is currently pregnant or nervous about a loved one who is. Just forewarning you not everything works out tidy and with all happy endings - although some of her posts are very funny.
I've settled down about the Blogger mess - apparently we can go in and manually change the setting,irritating changes are made without users opting in or out. Enough of that. If you haven't ever cruised through some of the links I have - try it - there are some fabulous blogs out there!

Posting a picture of our little buck, Snickers, the people who gave him to us had his horns burned off (called disbudding) when he was small and it wasn't done properly. After several infections- his head seemed to heal. Much to our dismay small deformed horns began growing. One was particularly problematic in being larger and loose. I wouldn'tdo anything with it because it hurt him to move the little hornette and I hate hurting the critters unless it is absolutely necessary. Two days ago - the problem was resolved by one of the other goats. The hornette was broken off completely and didn't bleed much. Rough world when you have a messed up head and everyone greets by slamming their forehead into your forehead!
Tin can gardening works! I harvested a head of bok choy yesterday and we had stir fry for lunch. The heads are large enough to make two meals so I still have half to use. Squash are blooming like crazy and one of the tomato plants has set blooms. Don't know if the weather will hold warm enough to get tomatoes from the gardening in a can experiment but I'll keep them covered if we get a hard frost warning.
Our little friend Hollis came by again this week and was scooching up the stairs in no time (yes I stood behind him so he was in no danger). After a couple of trips upstairs - his mom suggested Hollis be our new bathtub inspector. The tub is sitting in our living room until we are ready to install it in the master bath --serving as a perfect child playpen! He is so sweet natured and fun to be around.

















babies and sunlight



Here on Buhlaland we stay busy and are so content it is almost embarrassing. I'd like to remind you, dear readers not to pay undeserved attention to all the shouting of doom and gloom and predictions of disaster. Loud voices are rarely impartial or showing wisdom -
Listen for the Whisper

1 Kings 19: 11 The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

Rely on truth and faith and common sense when it comes to making decisions - here on Buhlaland we like whispers!

Tin can gardening?

IT was a cruddy year for gardening in Parker County - the reality of farming or gardening in Texas includes the occasional poor return year. The other problem would have to be our vegetable garden spot. We located the large, heavily tilled and fertilized 25 ft. by 25 ft. garden patch behind the workshop, completely out of sight from the house. You've probably heard "out of sight out of mind".

Having my garden spot so completely out of my sight - definitely contributed to being out of my mind (both forgetting to tend the garden and feeling a couple of bricks short of a full load!) DH and I (mostly DH) removed the elaborate sprinkler system he'd installed in the garden and burned off the knee high weeds. He used the weed eater to neaten things up (and eliminated about half my herb garden but how can I complain about it when he did all the work??) THEN we planted a genetic dwarf Bonanza Peach tree and a nice sized Brown Turkey Fig. DH next installed a NEW sprinkler system making sure everything was spaced so a riding lawnmower could be maneuvered easily in previously weed infested garden area.

Now we move to our new idea - we are experimenting with using a galvanized container with drainage holes drilled in it. The big tin can is placed not ten feet from the breakfast room windows and back door. Theory is - if I see the "garden" constantly there is higher probability I'll take good care of it. Right now we have 3 tomato plants, bok choy, red leaf lettuce (which is NOT doing well at all) and two kinds of summer squash. It does seem very late in the growing season to be trying all this but we normally have mild winters and shouldn't have a killing frost for at least 45 days. So we'll see - I think it is fun and if it works - we'll add more containers for a decent veggie garden.

I'm blessed with a clever and resourceful Mr. Buhl here on Buhlaland and that is very good.