The Pedant and the Philistine

We're expanding the garden, yet again, and Sarah and I spent the better part of the day working outside on the warmest day of the year. Fortunately we'd thought the plan through and were taking it easy raking, ripping up fence, hauling full wheel barrows around, swinging the mattock, and digging post holes

These are the new beds. We're having to steppe them now, as the yard drops off precipitously.

Here is "our" toad.  She was really shy and hard to get a picture of.  I gave up quick because I felt bad about chasing her around on such a hot day.  And by "I felt bad", I mean, I almost passed out of heat exhaustion.  So I hope you're enjoying the picture.  I don't want to hear about it otherwise.

So here we have Sarah's weeding style; deliberate, methodical, and highly effective.  Perfect for say, a garden, where one might want to one day see a plant or get food.

One at a time, selecting for the stronger plants. 

Carefully discarding the waste.

And here is my weeding style.  I'm not what you would call a precision weeder.  Honestly,on my list of desires is a flame thrower attachment that hooks up to a propane tank.  If someone made a product called a FRden Bazooka I'd buy it sight unseen!

Whatever our styles, we do enjoy the work, and the time together.  And we do produce fine results.  The posts should be up tomorrow...maybe.

The artwork I inspire

These are just a few of the disturbing pictures that a couple of my students worked on this year. As a gift, they presented me with a picture book called "The Faces of Harrington". Enjoy.

Ye Olde Backbone Trail

Last weekend Sarah and I and the horses (Rambo and Murphy) went camping.  We rode from Wyckoff Farm down several miles of dirt road to the Interloken and No-Tan-Takto trails that took us into the Finger Lakes National Forest.  We ended our ride on the Backbone Trail, which led to the Backbone Horse Camp.

I outfitted Rambo with a lariat just in case.  He felt very proud and handsome; definitely the best lookin' 30 year old horse on the trail!

Right away we attracted the attention of this curious draft mule.  Sarah thought about cutting the wire and taking the plunge into horse thieving.  The flies were pretty bad on the way out, so the boys wore their fancy leopard print fly masks, which are completely ridiculous, but make the ride much more pleasant.

After a couple miles on dirt rodes, we entered the woods.  Saturday was gorgeous and the woods were absolutely vibrant in the strong sunshine after a couple days of rain.  It was great to be able to water the boys from cool rivers along the way.

The trails (especially Backbone) cross through several fields that are leased to cattle ranchers and it was especially fun to feel like we were on something grander for a little bit.

Rambo and I stood back and kept an eye on Sarah and Murph, watching for wranglers along the Goodnight-Loving Trail, western most of the major cattle trails out of El Paso.

The boys were great with the cattle, taking them in stride and only starting once when a large cow stood up out of the tall grass right next to the trail.  If I'm being honest, Rambo was probably only reacting to me jumping out of the saddle in surprise!

When we got to the camp we walked the guys around a bit to cool them down.  They were pretty sure we were deliberately torturing them, taking out their bits, but still not letting them eat all the great looking, lush grass.

But eventually they did get to eat.  There are a dozen campsites on the campground and they are all reserved for riders.  It's quite flat with open spots surrounded by woods and very pleasant.

There is one corral, which we were able to grab since we had the whole campground to ourselves.  I think it was nice for the boys to not have to be tied up for the night, but I'm sure they would have been fine either way.

I got right to work on making a fire and doing some whittling.

Of course I couldn't stay out of the corral very long and went to visit with the boys.

We really have great horses.  They're playful, curious, and gregarious.  It's so much fun to work with them and hang out and watch what they do.

That evening we roasted hot dogs (actually pig dogs) from the Piggery...

and some marshmallows, too.

Eat your lawn!

Today's lunch. Lambs quarter, garlic mustard, wood sorrel, and dames rocket! Yum!

Wild Edibles, Life Around the House, Throwin' Hay

This one may get updated, but here's the essentials.  I am continuing on the road that Adam's Forest Service video about axes put me on.  Now I am eating my yard.  We have lots of great flowers and have attracted an awesome quantity, quality, and variety of butterflies and birds.  Sarah and I spent yesterday gardening, and brewing.  Today we threw and stacked hay, rode horses, and worked in the yard.

 This is lambs quarter or wild spinach.  It is totally edible and delicious.  It makes a great base for a salad.  It needs no preparation.  It grows well in good, loamy soil.

 This is clover.  It is not poisonous, but it does taste bad.  It grows pretty much everywhere.

This is what I've always called clover.  It is actually wood sorrel or oxalis, and it tastes great; a little bitter and sour, like lemon.  It can be eaten raw, in a salad, or brewed in tea.  It was used historically to fight scurvy.  It grows in shady, wet soil... and everywhere else according to my yard.

 This is garlic mustard.  The small leaves are spicy and delicious.  They're a little too strong for a base leaf for your salad, but they're great on sandwiches and in salads.

This is dames rocket.  The flowers taste great and super interesting, like... well, flowers.  The rest of the plant tastes like crap, figuratively.

 Grapes.  They're not native, but our plant looks good.

 Hops.  Also not native, but makes beer taste super good, so who cares!

 We have tonnes of yarrow growing all over the place.  It makes a phenomenal tea, though it's definitely not hallucinogenic, no matter what the other boy scouts tell you.  It IS a diuretic, though, so if you drink a lot of it, you will feel like you have to pee a lot... because you will.

 These are Sarah's muddy garden galoshes.  This scene made me super happy this morning!

My dream house.

 My dream girl!