Tag Archives: barns

No Rush

Posted on by

5

Certain things can’t be rushed.  One of those things is creating a piece of art. I purchased a large canvas for my living room shortly after I moved to Tennessee with the intention of painting a scene from my family’s … Continue reading →

Barn Quilt Square

Posted on by

17

I decided to make my grandparents a barn quilt square for their anniversary gift.  I had always been intrigued by these and thought this would be a nice gift considering my grandparents are nearly impossible to shop for and love … Continue reading →

Family Farms

Posted on by

3

I love farms.

Every summer as a kid, when I visited my extended family in Kentucky, I loved to ride around with Papa and my cousins and check out the family farms.  Because I only saw the farms once a year, I never really knew them that well.  Now that I live closer and can visit more often, I have asked Papa to take me around and show me the farms more thoroughly as well as some of the really beautiful spots around the county.

Last week, he took me to one of the farms that has been in the family for several generations.  Most of it is covered in trees, but it’s still fun to drive around hear Papa tell me the history of it.

Apparently, before there was a paved or gravel road to the farm, this was a back way through the creek to get to the farm.

I see you hiding back there, little barn.

Papa said this hollow goes for a mile or two.

Maybe I can convince my cousin Lauren to explore up to the head of the hollow with me this summer.  Perhaps we could fix up Julio for our journey. I’m thinking “Ain’t Skeered: Part 2” might be in our future.

Now, let me tell you a story about me and this fairly moderate incline.

Growing up, I was obsessed with cars and driving and could not wait to get my license.  In the summers before I was 16, I always looked forward to driving Papa’s truck around on the farm, where no other parties were subject to harm.

One day, I was having a grand old time driving up and down the gravel road when I decided I needed to go across this little ditch and up the hill to this barn on the left. I didn’t (and still don’t really) know how to drive a truck on this mixed terrain.  Evidently, I did not give the truck enough gas because I proceeded to get stuck just past the ditch as my wheels slid on the gravel/grass/dirt hill.  Scared for my life, I yelled to my Uncle Brian who was standing nearby and he instructed me on how to put the truck in 4-wheel drive.  After a few dicey moments, I made it up the hill, all 50 feet of it.  Thank goodness I didn’t start to slide backward because I could have been seriously injured as I ran into…..a grassy field.

Ok, so maybe it wasn’t really a life-threatening situation.  It seemed very serious at the time.

For my farm touring adventures, I’m going to let Papa do the driving.

Y’all be careful,

Sugarlump

The Garden: Progress Report #1

Posted on by

4

For years and years, probably his whole life, my papa has had a big vegetable garden.  As he has gotten older and less able to do all of the physical work required to have a successful garden, he has reduced the number of things that he grows down to the bare essentials.  This year, he mentioned that he “might not fool with a garden” at all. I protested heavily.

Being the good papa that he is, and after some negotiating on my part, he agreed to go ahead and put out a garden this year since I will be driving up every few weeks to help him now that I live relatively close by.

I’m not really sure how much help I will be given that I am looking forward to this as a learning opportunity, but I suppose at the very least I can contribute manual labor.  I can’t wait to get my hands on the tiller.  Watch out.

Last weekend, I went up to Burkesville to visit and Papa, Lauren and I checked out the early stages of the garden.  Papa had already put out a few hardy things and he gave us a little tour.

This is the garden plot.

These are Texas super onions.

These are sweet candy onions.

And these are multipl-I-yan un-yuns.   My papa calls these “old-timey” onions because the original onions that these started from are very old.  If you save one of these onions (or several), let it dry and store it in a cold, dry place for the winter, the next year, you can plant it again and it literally multiplies into several onions.  You can do this again and again every year.  Thus, you never have to buy new seed.  It’s pretty amazing. Or, at least, I think it is.

There’s currently a shortage of rain in southern Kentucky (some might call it a drought) so the ground is harder than normal.  Hence, my papa had to use a pick to harvest some onions for supper.  It was pretty intense.

My family really likes onions.

We do, however, grow other vegetables as well.

This is lettuce, looking a little thirsty.

And these are brussel sprouts, which my papa planted upon my request.  My granny was displeased about these being added to the garden because apparently they get worms in them.  I’m not really sure what to do about that but I’m sure my papa will have a solution.  Did I mention my papa was an Ag teacher?

Also, that blue Croc is my cousin Lauren’s shoe.  I had a full picture of her standing in the garden but she threatened my life if I included it in this post because she did not feel that she had on her best look.

These little boogers are beets.  I will not be eating these.

This is the barn next to the garden.  I like barns.  I can’t wait to have my own one day.  I am pretty sure it will be black like this one.

On a side note, I would like to confess at this time that I have eaten Chik-fil-A three times in the past week because they are everywhere in Nashville and they were nowhere in Boston.  I’m just making up for lost time.

Hopefully once my papa’s garden is producing food, there will be less Chik-fil-A and more butter beans and hot peppers in my life.   But I do love me some Chik-fil-A.

More to come as we plant beans and peppers and tomatoes and other stuff after the threat of frost has passed.

Y’all come back now, ya hear?

Sugarlump