grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

Backyard Swagger

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you can ride in my little red wagon

Heck yeah! You can ride in my little red wagon. Jump in. Come along. Step into our backyard swagger. Things are looking mighty fine. At least I think so.

So do the dogs.

Guess what? That’s some dog swagger right there.

dog swagger

Check out our giant hostas. Each leaf is way bigger than my Luccheses🙂

giant hosta & Lucchese boots

and our water feature (ooh, ah, ooh, ah).

backyard swagger

♫ You only love me for my big sunglasses,

dragonfly

and our Big Red Classic…

Big Red Classic

I live in Arkansas,

and I have Fake.Blonde.Hair.♫

♪ Oh my heavens, I’ve been sowing flower seeds ✿ and pulling wild weeds and dragging plants around in my

Little.Red.Wagon. ♪♪♫♫✿

Backyard Swagger

In case you aren’t a country music fan, (wha?), I cannot get Miranda Lambert’s Little Red Wagon song off my mind. You know how a song gets stuck for days playing over and over and over?? Yeah, that.

Some folks say the song is too silly for a serious country artist. I say lighten up and have some fun. Life’s way too short not to swagger along with her.

step into our backyard swagger

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

[tweetthis]Step into our backyard swagger. Life is brighter on the lighter side. #gardening #LittleRedWagon [/tweetthis]

“Life is brighter on the lighter side.”
― L.M. Fields

Musical Pairing:

Little Red Wagon, Miranda Lambert

Farm Art Friday – Pivot in the Rain

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irrigation pivot, poinsett co

Papa Creecy always said it was better to get too much rain in the spring than not enough. That was back in the days before irrigation pivots. Of course a pivot does no one any good during the heat of summer, if the land doesn’t dry out enough for spring planting. Too bad these pivots can’t vacuum up water to save for later.

Rain, rain, feel free to stop. Grumpy farmers must plant crops.

This too shall pass.

Happy Friday y’all!

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

[tweetthis]Too many people talk about weather and not enough talk about #agriculture. @ArFB @arkansassoybean @arkansas_grown[/tweetthis]

“Too many people talk about the weather, and not enough people talk about agriculture. When somebody says to me, “Beautiful weather we’re having,” I always reply, “Irrigation and crop rotation.”
― Jarod Kintz

Musical Pairing:

Luke Bryan – Rain is a Good Thing

Birds and Blake Shelton and Home

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I’m a little obsessed with birds and Blake Shelton. On Sunday, I spent the day at home, trying to write, but mostly I watched the birds eating from the feeders outside our kitchen window. How many photos of birds can one take? Tons. Unfortunately, none of them are very good. I don’t have a fancy camera (only my iPhone), and if I get too close, they fly away. Even so, you can see the bright red cardinal. He’s a regular, and he’s gorgeous. I call him Blake. There’s a female too (not pictured). I call her…

wait for it……………Miranda.

cardinal in the backyard

I also spent lots of time watching a robin build a nest in the bend of the gutter downspout. (I call her Robin.) I wanted to say oh honey, that spot doesn’t look very safe. But what could I do? We don’t know each other very well yet. She flew back and forth from the boulder in our yard picking out bits of moss growing on it and carrying it to her nest. As she dropped each bit inside her new home, she wiggled her little tail feathers around to get everything just right, then returned for more. I’d never known a bird to use moss in nest-building. She knows what she wants, and that’s a soft cushion for her egg-laying business.

robin in nest

Later, while attempting to clean the front porch of pollen (pointless), I noticed a second bird nest made of twigs. Although I didn’t see the owner of this particular home, I believed it to be new construction.

Location, location, location! Prime spot in my opinion.

nest above our front porch column

Just before sunset, a storm blew in. Swift and strong. The sky turned eerily sepia-colored, the way I imagine the Martian sky to look. The wind blew like that of West Texas. It was a short-lived event, and I managed to watch the CMAs Blake Shelton (the real Blake Shelton) without interruption. I’m not much of an awards show sort of girl, but I couldn’t miss the CMAs with Blake Shelton hosting. I heart him from afar. Okay, not that far…he and Miranda (I-hate-to-admit-it-but-I-have-a-girl-crush) live in Oklahoma, you know.

The next morning, the sky reappeared blue and bright, clear and clean. The noisy, hungry birds returned to the feeders, but the robin didn’t fare so well. Her nest lay on the ground, mushed and flattened by the wind and rain.

Seeing that nest on the ground started my day on a sad note. One little bird. All that hard work. I was glad I spent part of my Sunday with her.

Now, I’m not trying to get all preachy here, but the two nests reminded me of the Wise Man / Foolish Man Bible Story. You know, the wise man built his house upon the rock and the foolish man built his on the sand… (The porch nest survived the storm.) I was also reminded of Winnie the Pooh. And the rain, rain, rain, came down, down, down… I don’t think the hardworking robin was foolish. I think she was doing the best she could. Since the storm, I haven’t seen her again. I hope she’s busy rebuilding her home in a better spot. Live and learn. That’s what we do.

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

[tweetthis]Blake Shelton, Birds and Home. My 3 current obsessions. @BlakeShelton #notastalkerthough [/tweetthis]

Musical Pairing:

Blake Shelton & Miranda Lambert – Home

 

 

Food. Farm. Garden. Life.

THANKS FOR READING!