Strangers in the Night (in my Backyard!)

I'm not afraid of the dark, but during this time of the year I like to keep my outdoor walks in the backyard (which backs up to the woods and a river) to a minimum without a flashlight. I'm a little afraid of stepping on a snake during the prime time May season. Turns out, there's another party going on in my backyard while I'm sleeping, and it has nothing to do with snakes.

Ralph the Raccoon enjoys sniffing around the chicken pen to see if perhaps there is an opening. A chicken would be good tonight, or at least some vegetable scraps from inside. (Pay no attention to the date stamp on the Stealth Cam. It appears Mr. Country Belle does not know how to operate this part of the device.)

Ralph has been a nuisance for a week, so Mr. Country Belle installed a wildlife camera to see what the heck was going on.

Oh, I see Ralphie is the one tearing up the wire on our pen door.

"Knock. Knock. Let me in. I brought a friend. I promise we won't eat you or your delicious food."

Can you see him? That's the chicken feed bin he's sniffing around in the bottom right corner. For a week, the lid has been removed and the bin overturned each morning. I got him this time. There's no way he's getting the lid off that baby tonight.

"I'm Perfect Posture Polly. I'm Perfect Posture Polly." (There's always one in every crowd.)

"Who? What? Let's scram. Someone's taking pictures."

And then along comes Mr. Opportunistic Opossum himself. He's obviously used to Ralphie removing the lid of the chicken food bin each night before he comes sauntering along. Not tonight, buddy.

Good night. And stay out of my yard.
TCB

Ch...ch...ch...Chia!

I have a new love.

I visited Earth Fare over the weekend and came home with a new package to try. Every time I visit a different healthy supermarket, I try something new.

I love Chia Snacks.

They are tasty cubes of goodness. I can justify eating lots of them because:

(a) When I eat them, I don't crave sweets like usual;

(b) They are full of calcium - 45% of the recommended daily value;

(c) They are chock full of chia seeds, which have a higher value of Omega-3's than even notorious salmon; and

(d) Did I mention they are fabulous?

And yes, they are the infamous "ch, ch, ch, chia seeds" from the TV commercials. The seeds come from a plant in the mint family and are full of easily digestible protein and lots of fiber.

I especially like them because they fill me up as well as satisfy my sweet tooth. The only problem is that I only bought one bag, and the store is not too close to my rural home. I guess that means I'm taking another trip this week. You guessed it; my bag is empty.

You can also buy them from Navitas Naturals stores. We don't have those stores in the South; they seem to be predominantly in the northeastern part of the U.S.

I give this holistic snack a thumbs up. Try it soon!

Love,

TCB

P.S. No one paid me to write this post. I just love 'em.



Can Groceries Get More Expensive?

Look at this bag.

It's my shopping bag from a recent quick trip to Publix to pick up a few food items. It looks deceptively empty, but it contains my grocery items. As you can see, it is not especially full.

Here's a picture of the contents. (Sorry for my out-of-focus skills on this shot).

Here's the point to this story. I want you to guess the price of these few food items.

I shop all the time, and yet I was still blown away by the amount the cashier told me.

Wait for it................

$40.97.

What??????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'll say it again. Get yourself to an ALDI. You can find a store on their site. There are 19 in my state.

Load up on as many food items as you can. It's the most affordable way to shop, supplementing with the items you can't find at your local grocery store. I put together a comparison post last year on this subject.

At this grocery rate, I'm afraid all of us will be very hungry soon. Unless we win the jackpot. Or at least land the six-figure job offer.

Have a happy day. (And eat light).

TCB

Quick Quiche for a Speedy Supper

Occasionally, I find myself home alone with no one to cook for. It doesn't happen often, but sometimes it does on a weekend night. During times like those, I may throw together a salad. No sense in dirtying up the kitchen, right?

Sometimes, however, I'm in the mood for a hot meal. That's when I turn to a trusty, speedy quiche recipe. The beauty of making quiche for supper is that you can use up any leftover vegetables hanging around in the refrigerator, tossing them (almost literally) into a ready-made pie crust.

For this version on one of those lonely nights, I used up the leftover broccoli slaw in my 'frig with a handful of sun-dried tomatoes and some grated Parmesan cheese.

Here's the before:

And here's after cooking:

Here's the recipe:

Quick Quiche

Ingredients

prepared pie crust
1 to 1 1/4 cups of filling- chopped ham, your choice of leftover vegetables
3 eggs
small can of evaporated milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Place leftovers - ham and/or vegetables - into pie crust. Whisk together the eggs and milk and pour over the vegetables. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until set.

This quiche also is delicious served as brunch with a side of fruit salad.

Enjoy! Hope it makes your day easier.

TCB

My Secret to Easy-Does-It Spring Gardening

After many years of gardening as a hobby, I have learned that simpler is more beautiful. I've admired plenty of colorfully packed flower gardens in Southern Living and Better Homes & Gardens.

While in the past I've tried to replicate the perennial and annual flower beds that grace the pages of those magazines and many others, I find by the end of the season they are a bedraggled mess and never really grow together the way they should. You see, I have a job as a writer, PR consultant, blogger, homeschool teacher, mom, and wife and all the extra duties that come with those titles. While my intentions are good (and I truly love gardening), I never have enough time to create the master gardener look, which takes plenty of weeding, moving around flowers, and filling in bare spots continuously throughout the spring, summer, and fall seasons.

I have refused to give up the dream, so through experimentation I've come to realize the most wonderful gardens can be a profusion of just a few colors from a few, trusted, hardy plants. Not including the perennials I have as "foundation" plants in my garden beds, each year I rely on the addition of a few annuals and perennials to fill in the bare spots and make my gardens look like I've spent lots of time on them. In fact, my time is mostly spent at my keyboard or driving to swim team or housecleaning.

Each year, I rely on a formula for the four cast iron urns on top of pillars surrounding my patio.

Plant Spike Dracaena in the middle for height. Surround it with a filler and a trailing plant. This year it's Dusty Miller and Salmon Petunias. This planting is just one week old. Within three weeks, the urns will look like a professional planted them and last throughout the spring, summer, and fall seasons (providing they get water each day during our scorching South Carolina summers).

Planting pots of annuals here and there around the patio and to fill bare spots in my perennial beds works wonders to pull the entire look together. Just two or three plants used throughout the garden make as big a statement as a hodgepodge of plants that may or may not be acclimated to the area.

My tried and true include:

Creeping Jenny as a trailer.

Petunias as fillers and trailers, depending on the type. The red and white ones here are some of my favorite and are called "Red Picotee."

Impatiens to fill the shady planters on my backyard deck, well out of the reach of deer.

Clematis as a climber on my arbor.

Hosta as filler. They are perennials and grow larger each year. There are so many different varieties, they can be a show all on their own in a small bed. Mine are backed by Mountain Laurel up against the back of my home in one small bed.

And Lantana, which now comes in a wide range of colors.

I use these plants over and over each year. Since I have narrowed down the types of flowers I consistently use, I am happy with the results throughout our three warm seasons. I can focus my attention on the other tasks and people that need me (and on sitting by the pool).

Happy gardening,
TCB

Baby Birds: Mysteries Solved

I told you earlier this week about the nest of four baby birds we have been taking care of. Their new home is in my son's tree fort.

We had a couple of mysteries surrounding the birds. What kind are they? What do they eat? How do we take care of them since their mother has not reappeared?

I'm happy to report all these questions have been answered. We found a nice lady who does wildlife rehabilitation on the side. And by "on the side" I mean every single day for 26 years. When she answered my call, she was picking up a possum who had been hit by a car. She came over within 10 minutes.

She confirmed we had been feeding them the right thing - worms and larvae. Yea!! Did you know you can tell by a bird's beak if they eat insects and worms or seed? Skinny, pointed beaks=insects. Flatter beaks=seeds.

These babies had been eating worms from my son's hand for four days. But suddenly on the day our wildlife rehabber showed up, they didn't want to eat anymore. She examined them and said they looked wonderful and was suspicious that mama bird had finally found them.

Later that day, I was spending time looking out the window toward the nest and mama and daddy bird came in and out. Feeding time! Woo-hoo! We are officially relieved of worm duty every 15 minutes.

They are thriving and after looking closer at the feathers coming in, they appear to be Carolina Wrens, our state bird. So we are feeling a little bit patriotic. Kinda like we did our part for the state!

This experience taught my son more about baby birds and bird habits than any zoology book we could have studied in science (me, too). This lesson we'll never forget.

Have a happy day!
TCB

Taking Care of Baby Birds

We had a big project going on at our house over the weekend. We replaced the roof over the entire chicken pen, which includes the coop and grazing area (or should I say pecking area?). It was time to open the pen up a bit to let in a little more sunlight. Did you know laying hens need calcium and vitamin D (from sunlight) to make good, strong eggs?

When we removed the old, tarped roof from the pen, my son cleaned off all the debris on top - old leaves and such. Once some of the debris hit the ground, he realized there was a bird's nest with four baby birds inside. They appeared to be only a few days old.

Aren't they cute? If anyone knows what kind they are, let me know. As you  can see, their beaks are bright yellow - a stripe on the outside and all yellow on the inside. They don't have many feathers yet.

Unfortunately, we accidentally destroyed their habitat on the roof, so there was no way to replace them in the same spot. And once we enclosed the top of the chicken pen with wire, there was no way a mama bird could have gotten back in.

So we moved them close by to a protected area in my son's tree fort.

And hand-fed them worms - for two days so far while we are waiting for a wildlife rehabilitation organization to call us back.

I was naively thinking one worm would keep a birdie that small happy and full all day.

Boy, was I wrong! See them gobbling up the delicious red worms? From what we have read, baby birds' mamas feed them a worm every 20 minutes!

We are doing the best we can and hope to get a call soon so we can deliver these babies to someone who knows all about taking care of them.

I'm teaching my son math! Isn't that enough? I don't want to teach four baby birds to fly, too :)

Ahhh.....life in the country. There's something to learn everywhere you turn.

Have a happy day.

Love,

TCB