Category Archives: Rural Life in Mendota

Daily adventures in a rural farming community.

Taterhead Update

Do you remember when I planted my Yukon Gold potatoes? Mike had his knee replaced on April 1, and I went out to the raised beds and just stuck the potatoes in the dirt about five days later. I posted about that here. I basically stuck 72 potatoes in the ground and left them alone.

I was so excited that they actually grew.

And got huge…

I worried that I’d have beautiful plants with no potatoes. I tested this theory a few weeks ago and found one potato. Whew! Was I relieved!

Friday I decided to get some of the potatoes out of the garden for some rosemary potatoes. I pulled up one plant, and look what I found…I’m not even sure I got all the potatoes off the plant!

They were so good…so sweet and buttery…but I could easily have 300 pounds of potatoes from those four raised beds! Yikes! What in the world will I do with all of these potatoes?? Taterhead!!

It is a good year for growing things here in Mendota, Virginia. I picked cherries last week and made some yummy cherry pie filling by mixing sugar, flour and cinnamon in with the cherries. I used part of it and froze part of it. I could have gotten more cherries but have you ever pitted cherries? That is were the term “it’s the pits” must come from.

And finally, look what happens when you are a lazy gardener…right in the corner of that potato patch sat a rotting pumpkin. I moved it after its insides fell out, but it left a little something behind.

Can’t wait to see what kind of pumpkin this is!! Hope you had a lovely Father’s Day!

Garage Cleaning and Organization – Finished!

We just finished with our Garage Reorganization Project. I so happy it is complete. Here’s our journey which started more than a week ago…

I used a system I learned at AGC (where I used to work) called “5S”. It includes Sorting, Straightening, Shining, Standardizing and Sustaining.

Starting with Sorting… I sorted in three piles…Keep, Throw Away, Sell in Garage Sale.

Straightening and Shining….Before putting things back (straightening), I cleaned windows, swept spider webs and cleaned the refrigerator inside and out. Lots of elbow grease and sweat (shining).

Standardizing. I made a place for everything. This involved a trip to Sam’s Club where I got all sorts of cool boxes, sprayed them with chalkboard paint and then marked them.

Labeled all the canning jar boxes…

Here’s the shelves on the first phase of the project…

There were some things (picture below) that didn’t belong on shelves…those misfits are propped up beside the shelves. In a garage, anything that is on the floor is twice as dirty as anything that is off the ground. Yuck.

Mike had to help me, and I really appreciate everything he did. He installed a unit to hold the mop, broom, etc. Then, he made me two pegboard stations to hang things on. Here he is and I know his knee is bothering him, so I really appreciate his help. Thanks buddy!!

Here’s one of the pegboards in its “virgin” state..before I put anything on it.

And here it is again. Everything now has a place. That is the sustaining part.

Here’s the other pegboard. I’m going to focus on recycling on this side of the garage and will post about that in the future.

Last, I love the chalkboard Mike and I made which I’ve already posted about. When he leaves, I always remind him about things and now the garage chalkboard will be a visual reminder, too!! Nagging!! I’ll be adding some more useful things on it. I think I started the garage reorganization project just so I could have this chalkboard!!

And I like the yardsticks that surround the chalkboard. See what they say..”Clean Up.” And that’s what we did!!

Thank you for reading RiverCliff Cottage.

Garage Cleaning and Organization – Plywood and Yardstick Chalkboard

I’m back working on our Garage Cleaning and Organization Project. Since starting a few days ago (see that post), I’ve done a lot of sweeping, reorganizing, throwing away, cleaning behind the frig and freezer, cleaning out the frig and freezer, and cleaning the windows and doors. I wish I could paint, but that’s a project for next year.

I wanted to do something with chalkboard paint in the garage. I first thought I’d paint a big square on the wall and that would be it. However, I started thinking when I finally DO paint the garage, how I might need to paint over my chalkboard masterpiece. I decided that making a chalkboard piece to hang or mount in the garage was the best method. When I paint, I’ll remove it, paint under it, and then remount.

And that’s when my Plywood and Yardstick Chalkboard popped in my head! We had the plywood, and I thought that framing out the plywood with yardsticks (67 cents per piece) would make it more “garagey.” Chalkboard paint and Lowes — does it get any better than that? (Nahh…Lowes doesn’t compensate me…my love is innocent and true.)

We’ll use the Plywood and Yardstick Chalkboard as a reminder board for auto maintenance, stuff we need from town, etc.

This is an easy project. Your materials will be:

36″ x 36″ piece of plywood — (plywood comes in 4′ x 8′ and we had some. However, most Lowe’s will cut your plywood for you)

4 36″ yardsticks (On my 36″ x 36″ board, I had to trim two of the yardsticks down by 1″. We could have mitered them but I was in a hurry.

Liquid chalkboard paint

Here’s when I first started toying with the idea..

I’m so happy with the the Plywood and Yardstock Chalkboard. (Notice I’m saying it in Initial Caps–as if it’s an event or a destination? Bahaha…)

I have one more organization project to do on the garage, and I’ll be through. I’ll finish and post that later this week!

And, because I want someone to brag on me, even if it’s myself, just look at this clean garage refrigerator….I’m loving it!!

Thank you for reading RiverCliff Cottage.

Honeybees Are Really Back!

I’m taking you with me to feed the bees. Shhh…it’s early in the morning. The world seems new and clean. Does it seem that way everywhere or only here?

I added Honey B Healthy to the 1:1 sugar water I’m feeding my two bee hives. Beekeeping is not cheap. This little bottle of Honey B Healthy is $24.95, and I am lucky enough to live near Poor Valley Bees so I don’t have to pay shipping.

Just takes a teaspoon per quart jar of sugar water…they love it. Lemon oil, spearmint oil…all things bees like and need.

At the hive, which is blissfully near the house, I look in and see an empty jar. They are drinking one quart every 24-36 hours. This means they are alive so this is a good thing for me.

So I swapped them out. It was so easy since the bees were in the hive due to the early hour. This afternoon I visited the hive again…it was reassuring as I could see the bees coming in and taking off. The ones that were coming in had their little hind leg baskets filled with pollen. Not much of the sugar water is gone — maybe they are all foraging and just using it as a “bar” where they go for a drink at night???

They are working hard. I’m going to work hard, too — I’m going to go outside and work on my garage organization and plant some tomatoes!! But before I go, I was a little concerned that my super duper potatoes might be all potato vine and no potato…so while walking back from my little apiary, I reached down in the raised bed and felt around and pulled out this! Taterhead rules!!

Playing With the Cricut

I’ve been off for a few days because both of our laptops have been just dying. We got his fixed and mine is currently being fixed. Someone downloads a lot of stuff and picks up Malware Yikes. I love free software but I guess it really isn’t free. We’ve also been really busy around here as Mike’s knee replacement which went so well at first seems to have went south in terms of the flexibility of his leg. This has resulted in a minor procedure last Wednesday at Holston Valley Medical Center, and now we’re involved in intensive physical therapy. I say “we” because there are parts of this that occur at home, and I help.

Today, however, I just had to get away to myself. I started messing with the Cricut.

We had a young man get married who lives just up the road from us, and I bought he and his wife a gift card from Lowe’s. I then lost the gift card. They’ve been married a month, so I decided the only way to find the gift card is to buy another gift card. You know how that works. I finally bought the new gift card last week. I still haven’t found the original one, but I’m feeling more confident.

Then, since I’d also lost the card that I got to go with the gift card, I decided to go in a different direction than buying another card to put the gift card in. (Whew..did you get that? I’m not sure I did.) I found a painted wooden block and then added the letter “K” (for Kiser). (I guess I ought to clarify here that I’m talking about a gift card I lost followed by a wedding card congratulating the couple that I also lost. My hope is that they are somewhere together, probably a couple by now, and I’ll find them and be so excited because I’ll then have a Lowe’s gift card that is All.Mine.) Meanwhile, here’s that “K” I was talking about.

This is no masterpiece, but I know they are using yellow in their house, so I took some yellow scrapbook paper and placed it on the wooden block Mike made ages ago — made a letter K on the Cricut and added some Mod Podge to hold this all together. I attached the gift card to the back and tied a white ribbon around the whole affair.

Here ya go! Isn’t this better than wrapping paper or a gift bag? I’m loving this. Should I put a tracker on it in case I lose this, too?

So, while I had the the Cricut out…I made the letters for “Swinging Bridge” for a board I found in Mike’s shop. I laid the letters out and thought, “where the heck is the “E”…I have an extra “G” but no “E” (which I knew I’d made). Look closely. at the last “G” in Swinging. Duh. It’s my “E” I could not find.

Admit it…they do look a bit alike…

I’m not sure exactly how I’m going to use this “Swinging Bridge”…I may put numbers with it and do it as a wall piece in our home office. I’m still working on that project.

Write more later…now that I’ve got one healthy computer!!

Seed Swap and the Infection in Poor Valley

I ran into an old friend a few days ago, and she told me that she enjoyed reading RiverCliff Cottage. I was swooning with happiness — I love it when someone tells me they actually read this stuff! However, she added…”it makes me want to just move out to Mendota.” At that point, I realized it wasn’t my blog at all…it was the “infection” that runs rampant in Poor Valley. “Once you get that Poor Valley mud on your feet, you can’t wipe it off.” The infection begins with thoughts like…”those country people…they are making farming seem kinda neat. They’ve got something going on.”

“And it smells good out there with all that honeysuckle and hay.”

“What the heck? They’re getting together and trading around seeds and plants….starting traditions of sharing and community! Don’t they know it’s 2013?”

“And they are interested in each other’s endeavors….like sharing lemon balm with that nutty blogger who keeps trying to keep bees.”

Oh yeah…you know you’re wanting to “find a little land, put a little cabin on it…do a little gardening…do a little fishing and hunting.” I recognize all the symptoms.

The Return of The Honeybees

Look at me…I am in the “loft” in Mike’s shop…right up at the ceiling. If you look near my feet, you’ll see that I have white square things…they are components of our beehives.

On Wednesday or Thursday, our honeybees are arriving by the U.S. Postal Service. I love it that bees and chicks can arrive by mail. Gerald and I loaded his golf cart down with two hives to go set up my apiary. He’ll also have two hives in his apiary.

“Eat Sleep Go Fishing” …and raise honeybees!

Here’s my apiary. Only two hives in each apiary to start with this year. We’re not taking honey this year. We’re babying our bees. We’re going to treat them as our prized mean pets. In this picture, there are rocks under the lids to allow the hive to air out. Everything needs to be fresh and clean for the new bees.

They’ll be here soon!

A Summer Sunflower Wreath…Evolving

Happy Sunday evening! This is about a wreath but before that…check out my daughter-in-law, Mary, and me taking a break from the Virginia Creeper Trail Saturday. This was so fun!!

Now..about that wreath! Candace Powers Bennett is a distant cousin on my father’s side, and she is the great granddaughter of my mother’s best friend. That is all a lead-in to say that I recently copied her idea for a summertime wreath. She is a busy mom of two boys, great wife, and a very crafty lady. She is also a daughter of the King. 🙂 I love her. She posted a wreath on Facebook that she whipped out last week. Shortly thereafter, a very similar wreath appeared on my backdoor.

Such a sweet, simple summertime welcome at the back door! Thank you Candace for letting me steal your idea. BUT WAIT…I think Candace’s had something else. Didn’t she have a “B” dangling somewhere? I, of course, needed a “B” too! Nevermind that I now notice I wired mine on upside down.

I had this grapevine wreath. It’s got some miles on it. It changes its look every little bit. Kind of like Madonna. Here it was in it’s “Snowman Phase.”

I really liked it in its “Christmas Phase”, but the birds kept flying over and pooping on my window in this phase.

And…lest we forget, here it was during its “Fall Phase” or, if you look closely, its “Women’s Lib Phase” when it went braless.

Other things this weekend…buying that 30 feet of wired burlap ribbon at Hobby Lobby for $4.99 (1/2 price) made me literally dance with excitement. I’m thinking Christmas wreaths!

Insightful View

I’ve heard you can tell a lot about people by looking at their clothesline. If that is the case, what does this say about Mike and me?

Scary.

Changes In Mendota May 2013

I haven’t taken you to the Barnrock Road project for a while. It’s raining outside, and it’s a mess up there. There is muddy water everywhere. I can’t leave the house and turn right in my new car because Snowball the Dog might bite my car again, and I don’t want to go on Barnrock because it is just a mess. I’m going to park the car and start swimming the North Fork of the Holston River to go anywhere. If you see me floating by, I’m headed to the Rally Mart in Hiltons for a BLT.

By the way, if you don’t believe me when I tell you my new car suffered a dog bite that pulled a piece of it loose, read about it here.

Here’s some progress on the road….Granny Bott’s house earlier this year.

The site today for the new road taken a few days ago when I was up that way. Hard to believe it’s the same place, isn’t it?

Let’s look at something infinitely better! It quit raining for a few minutes and I went out and took some pictures! What is the name of this flower? Is it mandevilla?

Here’s the border with the mandevilla or whatever it is called in it. Where the topiary thing stands is a “crossing” point for the cats, and every plant I put there is trampled and dies. I’m hoping that this will not be the case this time. I was weeding while the ground was damp so if you look closely, you’ll see weeds thrown in the grass.

I’ve never had luck with clematis, but I’m trying again in a new place. I’m hoping that this one doesn’t “wilt”. I put this in just before it rained today. Those are green pepper plants and flowers from plant class that I stuck in around the clematis. Hope they all do okay. I was hurrying because it was starting to sprinkle and I didn’t even bother to brush the dirt off the rock.

Oh yeah…how about those taters? A picture is worth a thousand words. Besides bragging isn’t polite.

And 20+ rows of green beans that are in the garden are gettng extremely weedy. We’ll rototill them when it dries.

Ahh…writing about the garden made me feel better.