Texas Peaceful Acres Farm
  • Blog
  • About Me
  • Contact
  • Blog

The Shepherd's Studio             

A Life Well Lived For Yehoshua!

     My Joyful Journey. A place to worship, create,       live, love & LAUGH!!!              

The Joy of The Lord is My Strength!

Pots of Gold

10/9/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
"Winds in the east, there’s a mist coming in, like something is brewin’ and ’bout to begin. What is that something?"

It's Autumn here in the Piney Woods! 

The morning temps are delightfully in the 50's! We haven't taken to the porch yet, but we're fixin to shortly. 

The Hired Hand and I have added a long walk to our day. Did you know that walking an hour a day, 7 days a week may increase your health benefit up to 24%? Housework and Gardening even fit in the category of moderate exercise! 

NIH tells us that "t
hose with the highest activity had a 20% lower risk for 7 cancer types: esophageal adenocarcinoma, liver, lung, kidney, gastric cardia, endometrial, and myeloid leukemia. They also had a 10-20% lower risk for myeloma and cancers of the head and neck, rectum, bladder, and breast."

Combine diet with exercise and you've got a win win! God made our bodies to heal. Given the right nutrients and exercise, plus a grateful heart and one given to resting in the everlasting arms of our Heavenly Father and not taking to fear and stress...it will happen. It may take time, but remember it took your body a LONG time to scream and tell you it has had enough! 

As most of you know, I've been hooked on health for well over 20 years (mostly out of necessity. I've healed from nearly a lifetime of chronic Lyme disease plus 4 other co-infections and I'm still healing from lifetime of asthma and the side affects of childhood Epstein Barr Virus) ...I wish it was well over 60 years but sadly, I was raised eating the SAD (standard American diet) and I spent most of my early adult life eating SAD. My kid's friends referred to me as a "hippy"! I was a crunchy mama, before it was even cool to be considered a crunchy mama! We've been eating organic and using alternative medicines, cleaning supplies and recycling for well over 30 years! My kids never got a soda after 1993....at least a soda I bought. For the most part our daughter is raising her 2 sons the same. It's easier to pass those things onto daughters than it is sons. It's nice to start with a clean slate too.
Picture
I'm tickled pink when The Hired Hand says...."can you fix sweet potato fries please? Did you know that they are packed with Vitamin A and C and are antioxidants and anti-inflammatory foods?"

I smile and say, you bet I'll get those ready ASAP! 

We don't eat any added oils or fats...we get our fats from our veggies (where do you think vegetable oils come from? :) ) and The Hired Hand can eat nuts and seeds, but I can't because I'm mostly allergic to all of them. However, if I avoid them for a long time, on occasion I can have a handful of walnuts.

I fix my sweet potato fries by peeling and slicing and then par boiling them for 5 minutes before  popping them in the air frier at 400* for 15 minutes. I just love my air fryer!!! 

I started with a very small inexpensive air fryer because I wasn't sure how I'd like it or if I'd use it. I did but found it to be too small...so I upgraded to a GoWise 6 qt for around $100. But since I use it SO much and really want more options as far as temperature, my Christmas gift this year will be a Breville Air Fryer/Convection/Toaster Oven.
Picture
I have an "adda boy" bonus I've been saving from The Hired Hands working days...hehehe...that's funny....which will allow me to save 50% of the cost of this Breville. I'm waiting for an additional discount from a holiday sale and should get a pretty good deal on it. But for now my GoWise 6qt is serving us well. 
Picture
Since this is only my second growing season in East Texas, zone 8b/9a I am very pleased with my small harvest of sweet potatoes which I grew from my own slips that I grew remembering our simple second grade science experiments of putting a sweet potato in water with toothpicks and watching it grow!!! You snap those off and root them in water and they are called "slips". Plant them and wait for gold to grow!

I didn't weigh my bag but it's around 10#. Most were pretty good size but one bucket had lots of little fingerlings in the bottom. I'm curing them in the greenhouse but the temps are still pretty cool. I need a couple weeks of warmer temps. Knowing Texas, if you don't like the weather....wait 10 minutes...it will change! 

Eat your colorful veggies and fruits!!! Your body will thank you!



Eat To Live,
​Diane

"You're not sick because you have cancer/heart disease, diabetes, etc. You have cancer/heart disease, diabetes, etc. because your body is sick." Eat to live! 

0 Comments

Fall Gardening In Texas & Cancer

9/28/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Our temps have finally cooled off a little here. Our high is about 93 instead of 99-110! The sun is much lower in the sky and although we've been in a drought for 3 months, it's not feeling like scorched earth.
Picture
I'm still harvesting eggplant and peppers from my container garden on the driveway pad. I think my summer squash actually do better in a late summer planting. My harvest of Butternut Squash came from volunteer plants that came out of my compost. :) 
Picture
 My first attempt at fall greens only burned up in the heat of August. I finally reseeded Arugula the last week of August before my trip to Maryland and it came on strong while I was gone! I love the peppery bite from Arugula...The Hired Hand not so much. I used it in his carrot juice this morning and he said, "Somethings a little different today." I said, "Arugula!" He sorta frowned but drank it anyway. We're upping his antioxidants and anti androgen foods after we found a large Basel Cell Carcinoma on his face. He's treating it with Rife therapy and food. It's been quite a shake up for him because of the location being so close to his ear, eye and brain. It was hiding under his sideburn, so we failed to see it growing. It started out a good inch in diameter. After Rifing for a month it's reduced in size dramatically. 

He opted out of surgery for the time being. Gave up sugar because if anything loves sugar more than my man, it's cancer! For the most part he's eating a Whole Food Plant Based/Oil & Sugar Free Diet with me but since he is also slightly anemic, he's eating some meat 2-3X week. Personally, I wouldn't but he's his own man and I'll help him whatever ways I can. We're hoping this is the only cancer he has or ever will have. We have an appointment in a few weeks to check on a few other areas of concern. We covet your prayers. 
Picture
I have a big incentive to grow lots of greens for this fall....he needs them and I love them! He'll get a big punch of nutrients in an 8oz glass than I couldn't force feed into him on any given day. 
Picture
I'm making use of everything, even sweet potato leaves! I chopped them up in the mix I made for Spring Rolls. The Hired Hand ate them but didn't request a repeat!!!
Picture
Picture
I'm hoping there's a big pot of gold under all these sweet potato vines! Actually 2 big tubs of vines! These are my first ever sweet potatoes and I started a fall pot....we'll see if they have enough time before our first big freeze in December.
Picture
My gardening in Texas has been nothing short of a miracle! We live in a forest, we only have sun in a few choice areas...one being on the driveway pad. SO, since we only have 1 car and use 1 bay, the other side houses my container garden. I think I had a good dozen pepper plants, 6-8 eggplants, and 6 summer squash. I've got a couple pineapple plants, gogi berry, hibiscus, fig, artichoke, a tub of turmeric....and multiple citrus; lemon, grapefruit, satsuma, sweet orange and my favorite, kumquats!  It's been fun trying new plants in our zone 8b-9a. Watering is a daily essential though...but I have a routine now and everybody gets a good drink every morning. 
Picture
I attempted to add perennial plants to my mostly sun/part shade side yard. We have nothing but sugar sand here for "soil". I'd hardly call it soil....it's just sand! But we found a source of mushroom compost and it does miracles for growing after I huff it and haul it 1 load at a time in the wheelbarrow!
Picture
My garden garden is really a collection of "islands" where I've built up the compost. I leave wide open spaces for walking so I can spot snakes...thank goodness...none so far to scream about!!! I use the livestock tubs for carrots, greens and extra space since I'm chasing the sun here too. 
For the most part my 2nd growing season in Texas was a big success!!! I'm trying to embrace the change of pace and rejoice in the different variety. 

​God is the giver of all things. By His hands we are fed. 

By His Grace Alone,
​Diane

0 Comments

By His Hand We Are Fed

7/19/2018

0 Comments

 

Give Us This Day our Daily Bread...and Veggies!

Picture
I have already sowed my Fall/Winter garden...aka Summer Part Dos in East Texas. I cut my sweet baby romaine lettuce today for lunch...and it was so good with cherry tomatoes, sweet onion, red pepper and some EVOO.
Picture
Living in a forest has it's ups and downs. The Up Side..we have no grass to cut! Rather...Hubs has no grass to cut. After cutting 5 acres of grass for 30 years, I told him I was retiring from that job...if we had grass in Texas, he would have to cut it. He pretty much made sure we did not have any grass!!!  We basically just have weeds that need cutting. He waits for a nice rain and then cuts...it helps cut down on the dust, especially when you have sand for soil.


The Down Side, there is very little sun around our house. I call it chasing the sun. The funny thing is, we only have sun on the North side of our house which happens to be where the driveway meets the garage pad. SO, when I had 0 pepper production well into 2 months or beautiful pepper plants, I dug them up and potted them in fabric pots and relocated them to the driveway. I had to do the same with the eggplant and the artichokes. All of which really want and need a lot of sun to produce fruit.
Picture
I'm finally getting my first eggplant. Between the chasing the sun and the flea beetles, it's been a long haul. I finally ordered some organic flea powder that did the job when we lived in Maryland and is working just as well here.
Picture
I must of planted my King of The Garden Limas over 3 months ago!!! FINALLY!!! My first lima! They've done a super bang up job just growing....now hopefully I'll get some beans.
Picture
When I planted the seeds I didn't realize they were climbers....I almost always plant bush beans. But not this time! I asked Hubs to put up 2 T-posts and I ran garden twine back and forth. If they put out in bean the way they've put out in foliage I'll be one happy gardener!
Picture
Next Spring we'll be able to start cutting and eating our asparagus!!! We love this stuff!
Picture
Picture
I planted my baby broccoli starts and constructed a hoop to keep the cabbage moth from eating them up. I bought a bolt of fabric netting at Walmart for less than $1/yard. So, for under $20 I got a bolt of fabric for a row cover. My only problem was I have a trail of cutter ants that are transporting across the garden at night (smugglers I'm sure)...instead of going around my fabric they chewed a path right through it...SO, I had to squish things in a bit to allow road frontage for the ants to travel. Hey, I think it's worth the effort....they've left my garden alone! Beats eminent domain!
Picture
More netting for bugs. I've had 0 success growing chard here. It comes up and looks like it's going to grow and then over night it disappears! Again...chasing the sun with pots (free from a local rancher!). I've been pretty happy with the production I can get from containers. I'm just having to adjust to the lack of space for any type of "mass" production...that's why I say...

"Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread!"
Picture
The Okra has done beautifully....but again....bloom already!!! Today it finally looks like it's got buds...just in time for me to leave on a week long trip back to Maryland to Nana sit little Eu! That's how it goes...always.
Picture
If I hadn't seeded a patch of Zinnias I don't think we'd of had 1 pollinator. I hope it's not a sign...I hope it's just a result of living in a forest. I've had to hand pollinate almost every squash, every tomato, every melon, every everything. I'm afraid though that I've heard others around the country complaining about the same thing. Folks if we kill off our honeybees we kill off our species. 

​But....Our times are in His Hands. 
Psalm 34:8
"Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him."

Be Sweet,
Diane

0 Comments

Texas Gardening Challenges

12/2/2017

0 Comments

 
My earliest memories of gardening are from my childhood. My parents had a garden at our childhood home. I don't really remember helping Dad in it but I remember rhubarb...that's about it...rhubarb. Both of my grandparents had big gardens. They grew all of their food except meat. I remember the best Lima Beans & Corn, the best berries, the best tomatoes, the most beautiful roses. The best life had to offer.

​PopPop Heath grew the very best watermelons in his lower Delaware sandy soil. He'd take me out to the garden pick a watermelon and then proceeded to cut open a big juicy watermelon and tell me that we were only going to eat the best part...the heart. So we did! Then he buried the rest. At their home, after a delicious dinner, PopPop would say he was going to "bury his garbage"...I now know that he was creating a compost pile...to him it was just a part of daily life...collect your kitchen waste and then bury it. I'm sure he amended his sandy soil with that very same compost. I think of him every time I "bury my garbage"...which somedays, living on a plant based diet...is quite often. I sometimes use compost trenches, sometimes I toss in a bin and just keep piling it in...hoping it's going to break down with the help of a few worms...and I have a worm farm in the garage. The worm farm has been working it's magic for about a year and I'm ready to sift the soil and remove as many of my red wigglers as possible. One sad fact here....we have no worms in this sandy soil. None! 

I remember my first garden back in Maryland. We weren't even finished building our home and I hand turned the sod to plant a garden that was only tended every few days or once a week, depending on how often I was able to go out to the building site. Our ground in Maryland was a clay loam...more loam than clay, but we always had 6-8" of top soil. Always!

Coming to Texas was a completely different ballgame! Texas literally kicked my life long garden butt this year! 

I had several factors stacked up against me.
  1. Sand...everywhere I look it's a sea of sand...but no beach! Some areas Sugar Sand...others a little loam.
  2. Shade...one important factor buying this place was there was no grass to cut (weeds...yes...grass...no..lots of shade)
  3. Heat + Sand=thirsty plants
  4. BUGS! OMGOSH I HAVE NEVER seen so many bugs. Fire Ants!!!!! Grasshoppers as big as my thumb...no joke!

Read More
0 Comments



    Archives

    January 2021
    December 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014

    Categories

    All
    2015 WORD
    2016 Word Embrace
    2020
    30 Days Of Gratitude
    AAT
    About
    Acrylics
    Adrenal Fatigue
    Annie Hamman
    Antiques
    Art
    Asaph
    Brandi Dayton
    Brave Girls Club
    Cancer
    Carnivore
    Chickens
    Chinese Medicine
    Christmas 2019
    Cleaning My Genes
    Composting
    COX 2 Inhibitors
    Danielle Donaldson
    Dirty Genes
    DLP 2016 The Unplanner
    Documented Faith
    Donna Downey
    Doodles
    Dr Ben Lynch
    Dr Terry Wahls Protocol
    Dyeing
    Eat For Your Genes
    Ebooks
    EBV
    Election Day
    Erhlichiosis
    Faith
    Farm
    Farmher
    Farm Yarn
    Ferments
    FREE Downloads
    GAPS
    Gardening
    Grandchildren
    Grand Littles
    Grassfed Meat
    Gratitude
    Health
    Heirlooms
    Hens
    Herbalism
    HIS
    Histamine Intolerance
    Hormones
    India
    InkWash
    Inspirational Wednesday
    Instant Pot
    Intention
    Jeanne Oliver
    Joyful Journey
    Knitting
    Lyme
    Mast Cell Disease
    MCAD
    Meat
    Mixed Media
    Mixed Media Art
    MS
    Nana
    Nikon
    NRT
    Organic Gardening
    Painting Originals
    Photography
    Prayer
    Prayer Walks
    Printables
    Prophecy
    Raw Food
    Real Food
    Recipes
    Salicylate Intolerance
    Salve Making
    Sheep
    Sourdough Bread
    Spirit Of Prophecy
    Spiritualism
    Standard Process Supps
    TEXAS
    Texas Gardening
    The Shepherd
    Vacation
    Vegan Recipes
    Vegetarian Recipes
    Walking
    War Room
    Watercolor
    Whole Food Plant Based SOS
    Yarn Along
    YHWH
    Young & Raw

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.