An update

You remember our discover of wheat on the ranch a few weeks back?  We concluded the seed most likely came from the chicken feed.  All of the stalks were around the coops, so it seemed logical.

Well, Buffy ate every last wheat stalk yesterday!!  Little rat!  So, I guess I won't get to see it turn all golden and pretty!  Rotten horse. ;-)

A Few Things

Things have been going good here at Buffalo Clover Ranch.  We've been getting rain every few days, the chickens are laying consistently (average of 6 eggs per day!) and the animals are healthy.  We're battling sticker bushes, that have also enjoyed our rain, but we are also enjoying the flourish of wildflowers that cycle through our land. 


The most recent one is called a Prickly Poppy.  Now, I'm not sure if this is an actual wild flower or a weed, but it sure is pretty.  Plus, it is growing wild and it has a flower - so we're going to call it that for now! :)

The flower is really delicate!  The petals flutter like tissue paper in the wind.  

It grows on the most hideous looking stalk, but I still think they are pretty. :)

The other thing to flourish lately has been our landscaping!  Take a look at my roses!  The bushes are HUGE and they are covered in red roses!  I've never seen a rose bush this full and colorful before!  Normally there are a few roses on at a time and the bush cycles through color.  But these plants have constant color - and lots of it!  They are my favorite at the moment!  I can smell them from a mile away!

See what I mean about the size?  They practically cover the truck which is parked right behind this one bush!

JL has been enjoying the nice weather and gracing us with plenty of meals from the smoker!  We've had hamburgers, hot dogs, ribs, and brisket lately.  It's one of our favorite activities/past times!

Wyatt basking in the fruit of Daddy's labor

The kids running around with the chickens.  We gave them a day out the other day to forage and eat a few of our bugs.

JL doing what he loves best!

Our strawberry plants are producing like crazy.  The berries are all small and not very sweet.  We've decided to give the plants this first year to establish their roots and grow in size before we try to harvest anymore fruit. 

Is that ... wheat?

It sure looks like it! JL discovered about 4 stalks of this stuff this past weekend. It is just hanging out behind the mini barn! Best we can figure, it got her via June Bug's hay? We're not quite sure. But we're very interested to watch it over the next few weeks to see what becomes of it.

We did it

March 24th - We actually got a strawberry from our garden!

About a week before we picked it
Just seconds before we snapped it from the plant
There it is!
It was a tad tart, but we ate it down anyway! Cutting it into 4 super tiny little pieces so me and the kids could each have a sample!
Not only that, but there are several more getting ready to be picked! The first one, we decided we'd jumped the gun a bit, so these next few, we are leaving on the plant just a little bit longer to see if we can get more sweetness to them.



The kids absolutely LOVE having strawberries growing on the ranch! They check them probably twice as often as I do! Especially Isabel! She's always had a love for strawberries, but I think she's even more into the ones that come from our own dirt! It's fun to watch the kids get so excited about nature. :)

Updated Fig Pictures

As promised, here are a few updated pictures of JL's excellent pruning job to our fig tree. I am beyond pleased that we did this - it actually looks like a tree now! It's a beautiful edition to the yard, rather than a source of "what exactly is that weird bush thing?"

See before pictures of our fig here.



Also, notice the excellent mowing job!

Peak

The Bluebonnets seem to have peaked. It is amazing to us how fast things can change outside. Literally - overnight! JL and I didn't see a single purple flower on the place on Saturday, but by Sunday - they were everywhere! Slowly creeping in on the bluebonnets. The mix right now is really pretty. Everywhere - blue and purple!




I'm so glad we had such a wonderful showing of bluebonnets this year! And they really did last for a long time. I'm sad to see them go - but it's fun to see the ranch change and evolve with the seasons. Spring has just been beautiful so far! Color everywhere! And super green. We are so grateful for all the rain we've gotten recently! It's amazing what a difference a little water can make!

In the spots where the purple flowers haven't quite reached - Indian Paintbrush is starting to join the mix! This is my favorite complimentary flower/color for the bluebonnets!

Buffalo Clovers!

They are really taking off around here!






I love having our own crop of these beauties!