Our New Garden Center

I used to really enjoy gardening. I love the smell & feel of the earth, watching things grow, even pulling weeds I found enjoyable. It was such fun to be outside and enjoy nature. But for a couple of years now, I was rendered physically unable from neck surgery to do what, after motorcycling, I treasured the most.

Plus, with the economy quickly tanking, I thought it would be a good idea to get back into growing edible foods and tasty animals. Being half Scottish, I detest spending money anyway and certainly do not trust our failure government to "take care of us". Growing our own food is going to be part of my own small way of practicing Atlas Shrugged: no taxes! I have many, many other ideas about how to legally escape the tax man that I could share later. Let me know if y’all have any ideas on how to avoid buying things that are taxed. It’s time to starve the Monster by trading and buying used products. One idea I have is to only purchase older vehicles from individuals and renovate them to make them look new. I didn't realize how easy it was to do this until our recent Project Bike, but more on that later.

Anyway, I told my husband that I would like to try container gardening. But I didn't have the shelf areas in the sun to hold the containers at waist level. We tossed ideas back and to until we came up with this sketch on paper:


Kinda hard to picture the finished project, isn’t it?

I thought, it would be cheap and easy. Thankfully, it was! The project is made almost entirely from 1 1/2 inch PVC. Another way we saved money, is by using old decking material that we still had sitting in our woodpile.


First prepare the flat,
clean area for gluing the PVC together.
You'll be so glad you've done this first!


Using a power saw saved a lot of time with
cutting the pieces to their proper lengths.


Placing the pieced areas together was fairly quick.


It was finally taking shape.
The only thing left to add was the used decking
for holding the containers and the pots themselves.
Note To Self: Containers with soil are VERY heavy.
Add water and that can be a problem
if not done properly.
Be sure to place lots of supports underneath.


Ta Da! Plants are fertilized and in their containers.
This Garden Center was suppose to be moveable,
at it is, BUT because of the weight of the
plants the only way to
move it without damage is to unload it first.

There is a complete list of photos here I snapped as we build the Garden Center.

I don't know about you, but I'm getting hungry. Now I need to learn how to raise chickens, turkeys and goats.

Christmas Cards At Shutterfly

Ok, call me a 'shill' but I want to share a neat new way of designing Christmas cards.

We've been blessed with many, many friends. Almost every year, I would hand make and print Christmas cards on the home computer. Well, this is getting to be a bit of a chore what with having over 50 friends I like to send a card too! Ink alone is a budget buster. This year I thought I'd try the Shutterfly site where I'm storing our on-line photos. After designing my card and figuring out the price (now with 40% off) it's a whole lot cheaper than doing it myself.

So, here's the 'custom' Christmas card I've chosen and designed. Whadday'all think? I know, I went ahead and put a picture of Sammy on there. I still can't believe the little guy is gone. (Our black mini-schnauzer died June 10th from renal failure.) He drove me crazy sometimes, but I miss him.

5x7 Folded Card

View the entire collection of cards.

At least I don't have to do the newsletter anymore since we all have e-mail, facebook and other social media. Information is so instantaneous there are no secrets here. :)

Oh, by the way, my hip is completely healed and I'm feelin' fine. I should be walking two miles again soon and hopefully riding again in a day or two. I can hardly wait!!!

Happy Hallowe'en Y'all

This is absolutely my FAVORITE time of year! Fall! Summers in Southeast Georgia can be just too brutal to enjoy and this year was no exception. I have been sidelined for several weeks suffering from severe hip pain. And now I am happily recovering from hip surgery, but I wanted to take the time to share a quick:





A HALLOWEEN CARD
for all my friends

By the way, stay tuned. My husband and I have been working on a project bike that I can't wait to share! We're converting a 2002 Suzuki 650 Savage into an English style cafe racer. It's just too cool for school! Here's a little teaser for those who can't wait: photos of project bike. The fun part will be getting it custom painted.

Well, more later ...

Funny Friday ~ In The Can

It will be a good day indeed
when OWEbama is in the can!

Hunter Cattle Company

When not contemplating politics or wheeling around Georgia on two wheels, we do other things. Last batch of chicken we prepared, Hubby spent almost 1/2 an hour trimming fat preparing it to be cooked. How ridiculous! We're paying for all that fat that can't, and shouldn't, be eaten. Plus, I know these chickens have been fattened with hormones. Not a good thing! That set me to thinkin', why put up with this!? There has to be a healthier way to eat without putting a huge dent in our pocketbooks? So, Hubby, being the intelligent guy that he is, surfed on the 'net and found a few "local" farms that sell grassfed beef, free range chickens and pigs. Sounds good! So, we hopped in the ol' wagon and paid a visit to one of them.

This first one we've visited was Hunter Cattle Company near Brooklet, Georgia. Brooklet is sort-of between Statesboro and Savannah.

The grassfed beef we had that evening from Hunter Cattle was excellent! So far, so good. This may be the start of a beautiful relationship. :)

Hunter operates from a renovated Sinclair gas station.

Hubby had to get in
on the fun.





There are antiques sitting about everywhere.
I was in heaven!

Hunter Cattle sponsors Fall Festivals
and other fun events for kids.

This is too precious!
And very essential. :)

I like they way they care for their animals.
These are some of the free range Chickens.

They also have dogs, kitties
and a fainting goat.
But, they're not sale, just for giggles.

Motivational Poster For Democrats

... or attractive either.

By the way, I just learned that The American Thinker now has The Statist Dictionary on-line that was posted by Robert A. Hall. Mr. Hall is a true Patriot. The Dictionary is a good tool for dealing with the politically correct @$$hat crowd that hates America.

Yours In Liberty ~ Sparky

Italian Sausage Ricotta Casserole

Hubby and I have been losing weight on a new diet. No, check that, let's call it a new life-style choice. I have just GOT to lose weight! So, together we decided to cut down on, or completely cut out, the "bad" carbo's. You know potatoes, white rice, gravy, refined sugar, etc. One thing I know, my husband is a fantastic cook! And an absolute genius at creating healthy meals. If we ever decided to open a restaurant, it would blow people away. And he's all self taught too.

Anyway ...

Below is another new scrumptious, healthy, easy recipe that he came up with tonight and he calls it:

Italian Sausage Ricotta Casserole

Ingredients:

(5) zucchini, sliced thin
(1) lg onion, chopped
(1/4) cup canola or olive oil
(1) garlic clove minced
Salt and pepper to taste

(1) pound sweet Italian sausage (not links)

(1) 14 oz. can Del Monte diced garlic basil tomatoes, drained

(3) cups ricotta cheese
(3) eggs, beaten
(1/2) cup grated Parmesan
(1) tablespoon parsley flakes

Optional: canned or fresh mushrooms

Directions:

Sauté onions, zucchini and garlic in the oil until tender.

Separately cook Italian sausage until done and drain.

Add cooked sausage, diced tomatoes, salt & pepper to the sautéed zucchini and onions. Continue simmering until all the liquid cooks off.

In a mixing bowl, blend remaining ingredients until creamy.

Place zucchini and sausage mixture in a large baking dish. Pour ricotta mixture on top.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes until ricotta is firm.

Remove from oven and let set for about 20 minutes before serving.

Makes about 8 servings.

Italian Sausage Ricotta Casserole
Sorry about the lousy picture. We dug into it before I could capture how good it looked before chowing down.