FREECYCLE AND FARMER'S MARKET

I hadn't remembered that today was the monthly Farmer's Market until I woke up this morning. Since I needed a few things from the store anyway, I decided to drink my coffee on the run and head to Beeville. I bought a nice hanging pot stuffed with four different herbs (parsley, oregano, thyme, rosemary) and then three small pots of individual herbs (varigated leaf celery, lemon balm, epizote). I guess it is too early in the season for many garden fresh vegetables to be sold, but there were carrots and spinach, there, at least in the Emma's Farm stall, where all the great herbs were sold, and the Amish stall, where they had a variety of other things too.
These chairs were ones I got from someone who posted them on Freecycle. It was 'sight unseen' but from the description, they sounded like just what I needed. It turned out that I was a little unsure of their sturdiness for sitting, so after spray painting them sunny yellow, I am using them for plant stands. I love them! On the right is the hanging pot of herbs and on the left, the larger pot has dark sweet potato vine and epizote, while the small one has a single salvia. I hope to get photos of the other recent plantings in a day or two.

CONFESSION SUNDAY, ONE DAY LATE

I really think I did pretty well this week, although this week wasn't TOO much different than most.

Thursday, I succumbed to temptation and bought an individual bag of chips and a Diet Coke at the corner store. I was hungry and this seemed quick and easy. Really, I shouldn't have, but it could have been worse. I also bought a local newspaper, but that is an allowed purchase, for me, as I can see what is going on around the area and I can always dream of seeing ads touting a farmer's market or locally grown veggies for sale or something like that. Dream on.

Friday, I went out to eat with two friends. I do this pretty often, but not as often as I used to. It was my turn to pay, so I bought the meals, but I really don't feel like I violated the challange. The money was paid to a local place, and I think it is a good thing to get together with friends and talk for an hour over lunch regularly.

Then today I bought another newpaper. I haven't read it yet, but hope springs eternal. It did have an article on an artist on the front, and the front of the second section had an article about a high school girl who is making and selling really nice jewelry - her own business. Of course, I am always late getting the twice a week county newspaper because I never think about it unless I am out somewhere and see them for sale. By then they are usually 3-4 days old.

Anyway, that is all I have to confess this week, I think.

It would be my dream for my town, or our nearby area to have three things:

1. A Farmers Market - I would love to have a place to buy (hopefully) organic or pesticide-free, chemical-free produce.

2. An Art...what?... gallery, studio, workshop, Something like that HERE, but not like workshops where they teach you to paint the stereotypical field of bluebonnets or scenes of Padre Island. Snooooze.... And something welcoming for just common people to do together, whatever the heck they want to do - even paint by numbers if that's what they felt like doing. The emphasis being on enjoyment, not on measuring up to any fine art standard. Just getting together and having fun painting or creating, no matter if anyone else likes it or not.

3. Something interesting taking place in the cemetery. I love old, non-cookie-cutter, non-manicured-to-the-nth-degree cemeteries. We don't have a really old, old cemetery with famous people buried here, like some in other places, that have guided tours in period costume with small vignettes and mini-reinactments in certain places, but still, wouldn't it be great to have some interesting activity out there? If not historical tours, maybe a Spoon River Anthology type of event, or maybe individual garden vegetable sales and art create-alongs under the huge oak out front for starters. That would make me three times happy all at once. ;)

I have been spending an inordinate amount of time, lately, puttering around in the veggie garden and the herb garden, sitting outside on the swing watching the garden and the animals, and playing a new online fashion design game. Yeah, fashion. Me. Unbelievable. I have become rich in FashionBuckz selling all my designs to what is probably the 10-14 year old girl crowd. ;)

I had a good friend visit twice this past weekend. La'Nelle and her family moved away from here several years back, but she had business in Corpus Christi, and was passing through. It was great to see her again.

We discussed so many things. One of them was the bee 'shortage'. I had seen a stray bee or two lately on the herbs, but today I saw what I guess were carpenter bees on one of the sweet myrtle bushes. And I did see a few more honey bees too. Hopefully there will be more when the herbs get bigger and are flowering. They were all over the basil last fall.

I am out of my beloved Arizona Diet Green Tea with Ginseng, but I may have come up with a new alternative.
I tried this today and need to go out an get it now. It doesn't take long for sun tea to make here in our climate.

HERB GARDEN RE-DO ...AND CHICKENS

So this is my work crew I had this afternoon. And behind them is part of what we did...completely reworked my herb garden. It's still in progress, naturally, with another of those cinder block raised beds to put somewhere, but I am happy with it so far. I went to Beeville and got the blocks at McCoys, then got 5 large bags of soil. I know I am going to need more, but for now, it's good. Tomorrow, I hope to get the new herbs planted in both raised areas, and start on getting the soil prepared in the front of the old beds. It sure is going to look sparse for awhile until the plants get big and bushy. And I am going to have to dig up a new area to replace the part in the herb garden where Mathieu has created his 'frog and garden snake town'.


Andrew and Samantha came today and brought Shabree her birthday present a couple of days early - a pair of chickens. They are bantams. She named them Goldilocks and Nightshade, although that is subject to change.
I have an appointment with the dentist in the morning, and then I want to go get some fresh chicken feed and maybe a better laying box set-up. Then it is home to put Goldy and Nightshade into the chicken tractor which Zachary re-stapled for me today.

BEES IN THE BASIL

I'm enjoying sitting on the swing off and on during the day. This morning, as usual, the bees were out in full force.
I got this eBay item yesterday in the mail. And I got a good lead on some better chickens at a lower price. The Amish wanted $8 each for scrawny nondescript hens. Lydia told me where I could get some fat, pretty black and white speckled ones for $5 each.