The B Farm

I was going to show you a couple of small projects I was working on but one didn't happen and the other hit a snag so instead I will show you some things I'm trying to figure out and the projects that did get finished.

A long time ago, my maternal grandfather owned a dairy. My mom had saved some of the milk cans, intending to spray paint them silver so they'd look like they did back then. I don't remember what exactly we talked about but somehow I ended up with one coming home with me in all it's rusty glory.




Whatever plans I had for it are long lost and now I'm trying to decide what to do with it. Do I leave it as is or paint it? I can see it with a cow/dairy graphic and maybe some white paint with some of the rusty area showing...or just a graphic on it all worn looking?

Another project I need to redo is the shadow box I put together after my mom died:


It holds a photo of her when she was about 18,
some of her personal things - beaded purse:


her watch (which I…

It's been a week of blueberry yummy-ness! Smoothies, muffins,

added to yogurt, by the handful...and we still have a lot to eat. So, what else to use them for? A friend offered me a recipe for a Blueberry Buckle. I said sure but, um, what is a Buckle? I had to look it up. Wisegeek.com says:

Buckle is a dessert which combines fresh seasonal fruit, a rich cake batter, and a streuseltopping. The result is a rich, dense cake with a moist crumb which is sometimes compared to coffee cake. It is an excellent summer dessert, and can be served hot or cold, plain or dressed with drizzles of sauce... ...Buckle is extremely popular in New England, where it is often made with blueberries. While blueberry buckle is a classic version, the dessert can also be made with peaches, nectarines, raspberries, and any other fresh fruit that can be imagined... The base of buckle is a rich cake batter, which is sprinkled with fresh fruit. Some cooks prefer to split their batter, layering half in the bottom of …

My sweet mother-in-law and I drove up to the farm yesterday so we could pick blueberries at a blueberry farm close by the B Farm. It is called Lake Creek Blueberry Farm in Montalba, TX.


We had no idea what to expect. We went early before it got too hot. This is the view down the drive to where you pick up your buckets.

 This is the view back toward the road. Those are some tall blueberry bushes!

The bushes were loaded!


There are three varieties, each ripening at different times. The owners told me they have 7800 plants on 11 acres. Wow. They also told me the crop was about 50% less than previous years because of the late freezes and hard winter we'd had. I can't even begin to imagine that many more.

We were given gallon buckets with a harness to hold them up. Here's Bonnie modeling one for us:

It was a very effective way to carry the bucket and berries as it left your hands free. :o)

We quickly filled our buckets:

And decided to go empty them and each pick another gallon. …

This weekend was a weekend of projects and chores. This time of year, there's always mowing that needs to be done. And weeding - lots and lots of weeding. So while Bruce mowed, I started weeding the flowerbeds. While I'm glad things grow really well here, I could do without all the weeds. I need to go rake up some of the pine needles for mulch. I know that. So why don't I? I could say I'm afraid of finding snakes or scorpions (I am), but the truth is, I just haven't. It's hot and I'm being lazy. Of course, it's hot weeding too. So beats me why I don't just go do it. I'm going with the whole snake and scorpion thing.







When I finally finished the back bed and got tired of the front bed  um, the sun got too hot, I moved on to my next project - in the garage, with fans! Bruce made me a headboard bench long before Pinterest made them popular. The head and footboards came from Bruce's parents - it belonged to a great aunt and they let us have it, u…