Earth Moving for an Outdoor kitchen

My husband bought me this 1920's cast iron sink for Mother's Day and I love it! We are planning an outdoor kitchen area and this sink is perfect for washing garden veggies, cleaning fish or just washing hands after handling the chickens & ducks. He has been moving dirt around and smoothing out the area where the water line was installed with this John Deere all week. We are trying to create a level area behind the house for the outdoor kitchen and pool. We had a great party for my husband's 40th Birthday this weekend. Several friends came to camp, cookout, hike and 4 wheel on Saturday. Sunday we went swimming, paddling and jumped off a cliff into the water at Blackwater which is an old Quarry a few miles from here.

Betty's Homes & Gardens meets Poverty Barn

Poverty Barn Signs

I started making these country signs and finished them in time for Mother's Day weekend so I could give one to my mom who is a talented Rose Gardener among many other skills she has. Mom always encouraged us to make things ourselves and to grow flowers and cook great food. Most of all she is a fantastic decorator that always has the best table settings for each occasion. I call her house, Betty's Homes and Gardens because it is always decorated nicely and changes with the seasons and occasions. She has set the bar high for me and my sisters! We all have inherited her love of design & detail and we all express it in our own style. It really makes life interesting and fun when you are creative. Especially when you can create beautiful things for very little money. I wish I had a picture of they way she decorated her table for Mother's Day but I forgot to take one before we all sat down to eat. My kids and nieces have also inherited some of Mom's creativity. My niece, Miranda, has become really interested in cooking delicious food and she made these wonderful rose cupcakes for mother's day in different colors of red, orange & yellow. My son Dylan is a very talented artist with an amazing drawing ability and Jason loves to build things out of Legos.

My mom really seemed to like my signs and when I told her I was going to start selling them in my Peddler's Mall Booth, she said I should call my little booth the Poverty Barn! We laughed so hard! I think it's a perfect name but I still like Starlight Creations for my soap, candles and body products. I hope Pottery Barn doesn't come after me for infringement! Anyway, this weekend was all about celebrating what it is to be a mom and I believe a great mom is one that uses her creativity and love of beauty to make her children's lives happier and more full of love. Love you Mom & Happy Mother's Day!

Miranda's Rose Cupcakes

Super Moon & strawberry salad

This was our view of the Super Moon Saturday night after we got back from catfishing, it was really foggy. We caught no fish, probably because of all the rain that morning but we had a great time anyway. We used an antique lantern and listened to my favorite bird, the Whipporill, make it's call all night to the Super Moon. Today we moved the compost bins, away from the ducks and chickens. We learned a good lesson that you don't put your compost close to your animals, garden or anywhere you spend time unless you want a nasty smell and lots of flies. Aaron put a new gate for the garden while a snake watched. It was a black snake and I like those because they eat mice. Aaron is still not to happy about him because he went in the barn alot and crawled across his tool box. I say, let him be. We harvested our spinach before it bolted and Jason picked some strawberries so we made a fabulous spinach strawberry salad. I will have to start a favorite recipe page for the dressing which was divine. We also smoked a whole chicken on the new smoker and that was delicious!

Garden

We have been working daily on our garden layout. I am especially pleased with the herb boxes and raised beds we have created. Our strawberries are booming, we pick several sweet red and juicy ones daily. The pole beans just sprouted. I planted several varieties of tomatoes so far and I will plant the romas that I love to use for canning and tomato sauce over the next couple of weeks. I am trying out one row of tomatoes using the square foot gardening method. They seem really close together at only 1 foot apart. We will see how it goes as the summer rolls on. I plan on spacing the rest of the tomatoes as recommended on the seed package. I have peaches and cream corn growing and will plant more seeds of that today. I also plan to get the zucchini and squash planted today. We have 4 varieties of lettuce and some spinach, broccoli and cauliflower. The wooden planter boxes are full of carrots. Brussel sprouts are doing much better since I put a container of beer out for the slugs. The slugs got drunk and died!

Chickens & Ducks

Our chickens and ducks are getting big! We have 4 Plymouth Rocks, 5 Red Pullets and 3 White Pullets for a total of 12! We have 2 Peking Ducks who think they are chickens and want in the Hen yard!

Derby Day Happenings

This is the first year in a long time that I haven't been to the Derby or a Derby Party on this day. Moving to the country has changed my perspective a little on this 2 week Louisville Kentucky celebration. I must say I really miss the excitement, hats & the horses but I don't miss the large crowd, parking nightmare and the hole in my wallet. If you have never experienced the Kentucky Derby, you really should go! It is the best dressed occasion that you will ever see here in the bluegrass state and there is nothing like being there for the call to the post, the thundering sound of the horses coming down the track to the finish line, the crowd jumping up and down and everyone singing "My Old Kentucky Home in unison. I have been many times and always loved it, but this year is different for me. This rainy 1st Saturday in May morning I spent reading, looking at beautiful pictures and watching 3 deer in my front yard. I have been patiently waiting for the clouds to break so I can get out to the garden and plant some more veggies and take pictures of beautiful things on and around our property. I am going to break in the new smoker with a whole chicken and some hickory wood. Later I am going to down the road to the lake for some night time catfishing with great friends. Funny, but I wouldn't trade these activities for a seat on the finish line today! My outlook has really changed!