Month: January 2014

Most days, if you asked me how I am doing, I reply, “Living the dream.”

Today with a box of tissues lying next to my box of antihistamine and decongestant, while attempting to not scratch the hundreds of tiny lash marks that promise to leave scars on my forearms, I might say, “Surviving the dream.”

Sometimes I think dreams should come with warning labels:

Around here, the normal quiet that signals winter has been shattered by the constant roar of a chainsaw. Operation Free the Hundred-Year-Old Pecan Trees has commenced. Unfortunately it is only the first of several steps that must be taken before we can officially become a pecan farm.

Before clearing the majestic pecan.

After. At least 128 years old.

Pre-clearing: It looks like there is only a few trees to remove under those pecans, but there were dozens of small trees, hundreds of prickly vines and several thorny locust trees.

In spite of the growing number of cuts across our arms that might lead strangers to believe we have taken in a hoard of kittens, we press on. We tug, scrape, haul, hoist, cut, load, dump, stack, and drag until the mighty trunks of the pecan trees are bare.

Occasionally we find a dead animal and the game of Identify and Classify the Remains offers a small break before we trudge back to the mountains of underbrush that won’t clear themselves. 

Good times…

Two pecan trees at the north end of the pasture.

The four pecan trees at the south end of the pasture. The second one from the left is the largest we have and measures 152 inches in circumference, which if the calculations are correct means it took root around the time of the Civil War. The two flanking it measure around 83 years old.

Brush piles waiting to be burned.

Every. Single. Piece. had to be cut, hauled and stacked. On the bright side, if there happens to be another ice age we are prepared.

If you are ever traveling near Nashville, Tennessee you must make a stop at The Hermitage: the beloved home of President Andrew Jackson, who served as the seventh president from 1829 to 1837. “Old Hickory” as he was known, lived at the estate until his death in 1845.

The tourism office offers separate audio tours for adults and children. I highly recommend getting the kid’s audio tour, it whittled down the vast amount of information available and presented it in a humorous light. With expansive grounds offering slave cabins, a smoking house, and a museum, you will need to allow at least three hours to tour with children.

The house itself has been restored and the original wallpaper still hangs in many of the rooms. Tour guides, dressed in period costume, offer information and great stories about the stubborn and raucous general who saved a young U.S. from the British at the Battle of New Orleans.

Numerous historical items are on display from the life and time of Jackson, including his carriage, china, clothing and portraits. The gardens and grave site of Jackson provide a peaceful backdrop for a leisurely walk around the estate, or a paved running path for kiddos tired of being couped up in a car.

We visited The Hermitage over the summer so we read Andrew Jackson by Steve Potts before touring the estate. Now that our two older boys are studying American history, they really appreciate the opportunity they had to see, touch and experience history. The Hermitage is well worth the money and time to visit if you are ever in the area. 

A view inside the smokehouse.

A view inside one of the slave cabins.

Andrew Jackson’s grave site on the grounds of The Hermitage.

Owning land in Texas means eventually crossing paths with Honey Locust trees. There is a reason they thrive in the drought-ridden scorching heat…they are evil.

Plucked-from-the-depths-of-hell evil.

Imagine giants covered with armies of miniature soldiers all wielding swords, ready to defend themselves from any unknowing creature that happens by, and only naive creatures go near them because once you’ve tangled with a Honey Locust you will avoid them like the plague.

Unless they stand between you and your pecan orchard.

Most ranchers would relocate the orchard rather than deal with the trees. Not us.

We hack them to bits and haul their dead bodies to the sawmill.

Hubs spent fourteen hours one day during the Christmas break exacting his revenge for every cut, stab, and poke that he has endured from the Honey Locusts.

And the results were beautiful.

I wish we could have left it unfinished, but it would have lasted only two seasons under the harsh Texas sun.

Hubs used a plan from Ana White and made the table 30″ wide instead of 36″ to fit our second-story porch. I sanded it down with 50, 80, 120, 220 and 320 grit pads before sealing it with a deck stain and sealer since it will have to endure harsh weather conditions. We bought 8 wrought-iron-look plastic folding chairs from Sam’s Club.

The red is from the wood, the toner/sealer had no red in it.

The felled wood laid by the wood pile for a long while, allowing the carpenter ants to burrow those cool holes through the rock-hard wood. A pain to stain, but worth the effort. A strong solid piece of furniture built solely from the extermination of the enemy.

A win-win I’d say.

Most husbands trek to a jewelry or clothing store in search of their wife’s birthday present, but Hubs knew the way to my heart would be found in the lumber section of a hardware store.

And as I have mentioned before, I have experienced some disaster trouble with gardening. I seem unable to cultivate tomatoes and peppers from seed… the only real option for Heirloom plants. Some research revealed that tomatoes and peppers are best started in greenhouses and then transplanted to the garden.

Armed with this knowledge, Hubs and Oldest set to building a greenhouse for my birthday. I was forbidden from entering the back pasture for over two weeks while they toiled. A freak snowstorm prevented them from finishing before the big day, but that was really a blessing in disguise since it meant that Hubs and I could finish the building together.

The general plans came from Ana White but Hubs had to do some adjustment calculations since the wood available in Texas is different than that in Alaska where she lives. Our greenhouse is also set on a buried brick foundation with cemented anchors to prevent the powerful Texas wind from sending our work to Oz.

The edges of the walls are sealed and covered by galvanized roof flashing, something Ana later added but did not include in the original plans. Hubs built our door of scrap lumber instead of Ana’s plan. We covered the top half of the door with screen to allow for air flow in the summer and then added a solid insert that is screwed in from the back of the door for winter.

We will have to make adjustments to the interior to thwart the many animals that will inevitably attempt to tunnel under the walls to reach any tender green shoots in the later winter and early spring. If all goes well, the interior will be finished soon and you can take a peek inside.