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Project Discussions:  Wildflower porch  |
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levisgrammy
Scattered Prairie Hen Honcho
10733 Posts
Denise
Ohio
USA
10733 Posts |
 Posted - Nov 07 2025 : 3:19:31 PM
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| Praying for her smooth and quick recovery! |
Denise~~
Sister #43
"I am a bookaholic with no desire to be cured."
"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path"
Psalm 119:105
www.ladybugsandlilacs.blogspot.com
www.torisgram.etsy.com |
Edited by - levisgrammy on Nov 07 2025 4:43:37 PM |
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debbieklann
True Blue Farmgirl
3224 Posts
Debbie
Madras
OR
USA
3224 Posts |
Posted - Nov 07 2025 : 4:02:23 PM
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| I’m glad to hear that she is home and resting…prayers for her and her recovery:) |
Debbie Klann
Farmgirl Sister #770
2018 Farmgirl Sister of the Year
January 2020 FGOTM
"Well behaved women seldom make history"...
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich |
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Wanda Sue
True Blue Farmgirl
1744 Posts
Wanda
Murrells Inlet
SC
USA
1744 Posts |
Posted - Nov 09 2025 : 04:39:01 AM
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Good morning Wildflowers, this is another beautiful thought from our Mama Hen.
Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers, for complete healing, and that her pain and discomfort will grow lighter everyday.
I wish for you all a beautiful Sunday! |
A day hemmed in prayer is less likely to unravel.
Wanda Sue
Farm Girl #3677
Farmgirl of the Month-August 2022 |
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Bellepic
True Blue Farmgirl
387 Posts
Christine
Santa Ana
CA
USA
387 Posts |
Posted - Nov 09 2025 : 06:48:05 AM
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| Keep healing (or should we say... "heeling"?), Debbie! My latest quirky reading project is to "walk" through the entire Grandma Gatewood's Walk very slowly on a treadmill. Devoting these next couple chapter-miles to you, Mama hen! <3 |
Farmgirl#8680
www.steamstead.blogspot.com
Oct 2025 FGOTM |
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PrairiePearl
True Blue Farmgirl
241 Posts
Jeanette
Nanton
AB
Canada
241 Posts |
Posted - Nov 09 2025 : 09:12:26 AM
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Wanda Sue-thank you for sharing the news about Mamma Hen, Debbie!
Debbie-praying fast healing for you and may you enjoy some peaceful time of rest as you do so. Hugs sent! |
Jeanette
Farmgirl Sister #8699
~Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God. ~ Corrie Ten Boom
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debbieklann
True Blue Farmgirl
3224 Posts
Debbie
Madras
OR
USA
3224 Posts |
Posted - Nov 09 2025 : 11:35:47 AM
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| This is a good reminder...we aren't alone, everyone has things that they are dealing with. We are all in this life together and here to help each other through :) |
Debbie Klann
Farmgirl Sister #770
2018 Farmgirl Sister of the Year
January 2020 FGOTM
"Well behaved women seldom make history"...
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich |
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PrairiePearl
True Blue Farmgirl
241 Posts
Jeanette
Nanton
AB
Canada
241 Posts |
Posted - Nov 13 2025 : 8:22:13 PM
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| Well said, Debbie K! |
Jeanette
Farmgirl Sister #8699
~Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God. ~ Corrie Ten Boom
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nndairy
True Blue Farmgirl
1920 Posts
Heather
Wapakoneta
Ohio
USA
1920 Posts |
Posted - Nov 15 2025 : 5:49:35 PM
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Sorry to hear of your infection Debbie! I hope that the medicine is kicking in and you're starting to feel better.
I'm not sure where I posted it, but we decided to name the new baby calf Loon "loony". I was all for Magpie, but when I mentioned that someone suggested Loon it was no contest - my husband has a soft spot for Loony Luna Lovegood. Plus the new baby is a little crazy, so it fits.
I also have some snow pictures on my camera!!! I was so excited :) Has anyone else had any snow yet? |
~Heather
“I would rather be on my farm than be emperor of the world.” — George Washington |
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debbieklann
True Blue Farmgirl
3224 Posts
Debbie
Madras
OR
USA
3224 Posts |
Posted - Nov 15 2025 : 5:53:39 PM
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| Snow!!!! Lucky you!!! Rumor has it we may get some before Thanksgiving. You’d never believe it with the weather we’ve had lately! |
Debbie Klann
Farmgirl Sister #770
2018 Farmgirl Sister of the Year
January 2020 FGOTM
"Well behaved women seldom make history"...
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich |
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levisgrammy
Scattered Prairie Hen Honcho
10733 Posts
Denise
Ohio
USA
10733 Posts |
Posted - Nov 15 2025 : 6:21:12 PM
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| Yes snow! but we weren't home until it was over. Though we still had it overnight. |
Denise~~
Sister #43
"I am a bookaholic with no desire to be cured."
"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path"
Psalm 119:105
www.ladybugsandlilacs.blogspot.com
www.torisgram.etsy.com |
Edited by - levisgrammy on Nov 16 2025 12:08:44 PM |
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Bellepic
True Blue Farmgirl
387 Posts
Christine
Santa Ana
CA
USA
387 Posts |
Posted - Nov 16 2025 : 07:01:39 AM
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| I wonder if they make cow-sized eccentric glasses, Luna Lovegood is a favorite over here too (Fallon went as her a couple Halloweens ago). No snow here yet, hehehe. |
Farmgirl#8680
www.steamstead.blogspot.com
Oct 2025 FGOTM |
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nndairy
True Blue Farmgirl
1920 Posts
Heather
Wapakoneta
Ohio
USA
1920 Posts |
Posted - Nov 16 2025 : 09:30:29 AM
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| I bet my cows would try to eat them if I tried to put glasses on them LOL! Have you ever had a freak snow occurrence in Santa Ana? (I have no idea how far south you are) |
~Heather
“I would rather be on my farm than be emperor of the world.” — George Washington |
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Blessed in Colorado
True Blue Farmgirl
5474 Posts
Debbie Fischer
Coos Bay
OR
5474 Posts |
Posted - Nov 16 2025 : 10:30:24 AM
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| Love the name Heather, Luna Love good, it is perfect! |
Big Hugs,
Debbie
Farmgirl if the Month for:
September 2012, February 2018, September 2022 and August 2025.
“My altars are My Mountains and the Ocean.” Lord Bryon
When I am old I am wearing Purple. I am Old!!
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LauraBell
True Blue Farmgirl
357 Posts
Laura
Corpus Christi
TX
USA
357 Posts |
Posted - Nov 16 2025 : 5:33:32 PM
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Hope everyone had a great weekend. It's still warm here (80's) and humid. We might actually get some rain (shhh) this coming week. Our drought has been so bad we are on stage 3 water restrictions and our city has had quite a bit of publicity because they are predicting we will run out of water soon. I'm not really even sure how that can be possible or how we can fix it.
Our sweet Caroline turned 4 last weekend and we travelled up to Nacogdoches to have a family celebration. This coming weekend we will be travelling again to the Texas Renaissance Festival up in Plantersville. My sister and I will bring Caroline home with us since she won't have school Thanksgiving week and we are really happy to some grand time!
Looking forward to curling up on the porch again with everyone. Debbie - sending healing hugs your way! Hope you are already feeling much better! |
Laura
Happy to be Farmgirl #7286 |
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Blessed in Colorado
True Blue Farmgirl
5474 Posts
Debbie Fischer
Coos Bay
OR
5474 Posts |
Posted - Nov 16 2025 : 6:09:11 PM
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Laura, thank you.
Oh I can not believe Caroline is already 4, I believe I remember when she was born or turning 1. She is such a doll:-) |
Big Hugs,
Debbie
Farmgirl if the Month for:
September 2012, February 2018, September 2022 and August 2025.
“My altars are My Mountains and the Ocean.” Lord Bryon
When I am old I am wearing Purple. I am Old!!
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Bellepic
True Blue Farmgirl
387 Posts
Christine
Santa Ana
CA
USA
387 Posts |
Posted - Nov 17 2025 : 09:35:45 AM
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Funny you mention that, I just finished a biography about a pioneer rancher in this area (a few miles south of Los Angeles) from 1875-1887. She mentioned one year in that interval where they got just enough snow to show her kids how ice cream gets made elsewhere. The last meaningful snowfall was almost 80 years ago, but google says we got dustings in 2014 and 2023 which I don't remember, but perhaps they were counting hail or the part of the city limits that is in the foothills.
While I'm here, I should list 5 other things I learned about Mary Teegarden Clark's work (Pioneer Ranch Life in Orange) for the Intermediate Level of Her-Story.
1. I found it more helpful to think of her and her family as "pioneers" of large-scale absentee agriculture of an orange grove rather than as more of the subsistence farming I had expected from the Laura Ingalls Wilder precedent. The train system had extended far enough that they could grow citrus in quantity and ship it to favorable markets in the Midwest. A lot of the immigration appeal of this area was for a healthier climate, with this family moving for some relief of the husband's chronic condition contracted patrolling a malarial area of the Mississippi during the Civil War. He dies in a typhoid epidemic 7 years in, but Mary continues to ranch for 5 more years before returning to her family in Indiana and managing the estate remotely.
2. Water availability has been and continues to be an issue for this part of California. Two years into their stay, Mary's family organized a cooperative called Santa Ana Valley Irrigation Company. They had an 18% stake which would have set them back about $310K in modern times ($10K then). It appears SAVI was a canal from the Santa Ana River with gates in trenches running to participating farms. Operators opened these gates for an agreed amount period of time to flood the farmer's groves. The company continued to operate until the 1970's. It is interesting to consider how we now sometimes criticize farmers upstream in the Central Valley for irrigating their crops in a similar way. It also explains why California chose sturdy perennials like orchards which could be flood-irrigated and which yielded produce which did no spoil quickly rather than tender annuals which needed ongoing access to irrigation and much faster transportation methods to market.
3. For the first 5 years or so of their stay, farmers were selling their produce directly into markets like San Francisco. However, flooded markets and falling prices inspired the Clarks to differentiate their premium product with branded tissue paper wrappers and ship to Chicago. They had a clever contingency of sending care packages to friends and family in the same market as a counterpoint on the condition of the produce if their distribution intermediaries claimed it had spoiled in transit. During their tenure, fruit harvesting and shipping collectives began to form and fruit began to be purchased on the tree. This simplified distribution for farmers and buffered them from some market pricing exposure, but also made them hosts to the families of the intermediaries responsible for harvest and shipment.
4. She focuses a surprising amount of her account on her excursions. Some of her haunts are places we still go to camp like the Irvine Regional park and Laguna Beach (although now they are not spur of the moment, but require reservations 6 months in advance). I was amused to learn she considered the mission at San Juan Capistrano a day trip; it is still considered a day trip but not because of the speed of stage coaches but because the degree of highway traffic limits vehicles to about the speed of stage coaches. I really wanted to take a train and follow her footsteps to the hotel in Yosemite that had a giant sequoia growing through the parlor but evidently the 1856 Wawona ('big tree') Hotel is closed indefinitely for roof (and more) repair and no longer has the sequoia parlor feature. One regret she mentioned that I have added to the to-do list is that she didn't keep a guest book when she was hosting guests. I loved paging through the entries of one in Salem, OR airbnb to see what other visitors had gotten up to but here, most of the overnighters are carpenter grandparents because our guest rooms are construction zones. Do y'all keep guest books?
5. I'd like to go back and take closer notes on the foods they grew and prepared for home use to figure out what would be "low lift" to cultivate for a lower ecofootprint lifestyle. She mentions at points that ham and mutton were considered luxuries but later includes bacon as a camping provision. She bakes bread, biscuits mentions serving lamb, trout, canned salmon, chicken, eggs, tomatoes, melons, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, peaches, apricots, nectarine, pear, apple, plum, walnuts, bananas, figs, olives, loquat, persimmons, potatoes, peas, coffee, almond cake, doughnuts, pumpkin pie, dried fruit, raisins, butter, and jam. I am preparing venison as for the "food challenge table" at a Native American history festival this Wednesday and took her tip on page 83 to stew it with onions, potatoes, and a dash of chili pepper.
6. (extra credit) It was fascinating to see that even this far back, LA was a multicultural melting pot. There were indigenous Mexican and Chinese laborers, Hispanic original ranchers, Mexican banditos, and even an encounter with gypsies of European extraction. While Mary's views on work ethics and cultural practices of these different groups might not pass the PC test today, I thought it was fascinating that she still felt it constructive for her children to be polyglots, learning English, German (Pennsylvania Dutch heritage), and Spanish with an foray into French when instruction was available.
P.S. - Happy birthday, Caroline! Let us know about the Renaissance Festival, I love these! My first job as a teen was as a serving wench at an Irish Taco booth. So historically accurate, I know...
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Farmgirl#8680
www.steamstead.blogspot.com
Oct 2025 FGOTM |
Edited by - Bellepic on Nov 17 2025 09:43:03 AM |
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PrairiePearl
True Blue Farmgirl
241 Posts
Jeanette
Nanton
AB
Canada
241 Posts |
Posted - Nov 17 2025 : 8:57:33 PM
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No snow here, yet.......it is mid November and unheard of for us.
Heather-Luna is cute name. Loonie is the name for our Canadian $1 coin.
Laura-does TX take advantage of water collection during the rainy season? I am unfamiliar with your drought and I am curious as we used to live on a small island off of Vancouver Island, we had to collect our own water for consumption as the island is basically a rock.....can't draw water from a rock.
Christine-great lesson! Thank-you.
Debbie-hope you are healing well! |
Jeanette
Farmgirl Sister #8699
~Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God. ~ Corrie Ten Boom
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levisgrammy
Scattered Prairie Hen Honcho
10733 Posts
Denise
Ohio
USA
10733 Posts |
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nndairy
True Blue Farmgirl
1920 Posts
Heather
Wapakoneta
Ohio
USA
1920 Posts |
Posted - Nov 22 2025 : 6:50:11 PM
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| I'm going to be crazy busy this week and probably won't be back on here for a bit. So, I wanted to tell you all I'm very thankful to be part of this group of amazing ladies. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families. |
~Heather
“I would rather be on my farm than be emperor of the world.” — George Washington |
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Bellepic
True Blue Farmgirl
387 Posts
Christine
Santa Ana
CA
USA
387 Posts |
Posted - Nov 22 2025 : 7:00:09 PM
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| Hang in there, Heather and see you on the other side! |
Farmgirl#8680
www.steamstead.blogspot.com
Oct 2025 FGOTM |
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Blessed in Colorado
True Blue Farmgirl
5474 Posts
Debbie Fischer
Coos Bay
OR
5474 Posts |
Posted - Nov 22 2025 : 7:11:31 PM
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| We will miss you Heather, but it is Thanksgiving so we certainly understand. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family:-) |
Big Hugs,
Debbie
Farmgirl if the Month for:
September 2012, February 2018, September 2022 and August 2025.
“My altars are My Mountains and the Ocean.” Lord Bryon
When I am old I am wearing Purple. I am Old!!
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Project Discussions: Wildflower porch |
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Wildflower porch
