First Quail Chick!

Rat Snakes Rule

Being a psuedo-city girl before our ranching adventures began, I knew some about snakes but nothing like I do now after having met with about 50 or so of them personally in the last 5 years, including a super long one under our truck yesterday - and the reason for this blog. We let it live. I always appreciated a snake's role, but now am a HUGE FAN of one particular species: rat snakes. 

In the country, rat snakes become your best friend. If you have them, you avoid the infestations of mice and rats. They also occasionally eat other snakes, poisonous snakes. In short, you want these to live in or near your barns and houses, unless of course you have livestock such as chicks, which they also love to eat. 

When we lived at the other property near Houston I remember not having mice for a while. After waking up one morning to a rat snake in my kitchen, I realized what to thank! I politely threw a towel over it, grabbed the snake and tossed it in the yard near our house in the hopes it would continue being our personal mouse police.

The following year, we accidentally killed a rat snake in that same spot, mistaking it for a possible water moccasin, and guess what we got after that? Yep. Mice.

Think twice before you kill a snake, and learn to identify the rat snakes. It's pretty easy. They have wedge-shaped heads, round eyes, and can be black, red, or have patterns of browns. They are longer than most snakes - up to 72 inches, so they look scary but will often avoid confrontation by staying still. If confronted, however, they WILL rise up and will move very quickly, hence their bad reputation - but they are actually very docile and just scared of YOU. To learn more, see this site.

Edible Wild Plant Course

Our son, David, and I recently took the course Edible Wild Plants by Dr. Mark "Merriwether" Vorderbruggen who hosts the website www.foragingtexas.com. I am excited to say that, with the exception of areas where sprays or fertilizers might have been used, we are SURROUNDED by food out here! 

We have Turk's Cap (which is DELICIOUS - flower and leaves), yaupon trees (caffeine in the leaves, ohhh yeah), and wild plumb trees to name a few. Of course we also have some pretty poisonous plants and David accidentally ate a portion of a leaf of a tree that is basically cyanide, so BE CAREFUL if you forage. It was my fault, but he lived, so it's okay.

Quail Eggs

Well, it's official - I have fallen in love with our quail. Robert understands.

Because of this, you see below my latest joy - 104 quail eggs incubating peacefully at a perfect 99.5 degrees with Mama Christie turning them twice a day. They were collected on July 9th and quail take about 23 days to hatch, so their DUE DATE will range from July 28th to about August 2nd! 

The glowing image below is one of the lil darlins in my hand with a flashlight beneath him/her. I was "candling" the eggs to see which ones are fertile and get to stay. This one is obviously fertile as you can see the vessels. It was moving too! We just bought some medicated chick feed, a small waterer, and a small feeding trough tonight. Mama is ready...

 

Ranchin Recipe Fried Green Tomatoes

5-10 green tomatoes

1/2-1 c. oil

2 c. corn meal

2 c. flour

1Tbsp. coarse ground black pepper

1-2 tsps. salt

3-6 chicken eggs (we used 2 dozen quail eggs)

shot of milk

Heat oil in a large skillet on medium heat. Slice tomatoes to desired thickness - we like ours at about 1/4 inch thick. Mix milk and eggs in a large bowl or pie pan. Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Have a fork designated to each bowl, and place bowls side-by-side. 

Do the following with each tomato slice, one at a time: dip it in the egg mixture, drop it in the flour mixture, shoveling the dry mix on top with the other fork. Switch forks again and gently submerge the lightly battered tomato slice into the egg mixture for a second dip. Quickly lift and transfer it back into the dry mix, (switch forks) shoveling flour on top and flipping it to press more of the mix on that side too to complete the double dip. Gently place it into the heated oil with the flour fork or with floured fingers. Continue adding slices while checking the undersides of those frying. Flip them when they are that delicious, crispy brown color. When a slice is done, place it on paper towels to drain. I use a cookie sheet covered with plenty of paper towels. 

Be sure to try the first one to see if your mix needs more salt or pepper and to treat the cook! Enjoy!

David

It's nice to have our youngest son, David, here for the summer . . .

Taming Francis

Cow whisperer like his dad

Mama's helper

Loading Heifers

After spending the night with another ranch family, this morning we picked up several heifers in a South Texas town about 80 miles north of the Mexican border and miles away from the conveniences of the city. It's a town where illegal immigrants are dropped off so often that the local police department has had to receive help from neighboring cities and counties to keep up with the security workload. In fact, authorities recently discovered a mass grave where many who died on their trek through the desert and vast lands of these ranches here were buried.

On the way there we read a local news report that a bull rider, a friend of the other ranchers, had been gored by a bull the previous night during the town's Fourth of July rodeo celebration. As a first impression, this place was seeming violent, so we did not know what to expect, but figured this region has given the saying "Texas tough" its meaning. We were right.

Immediately upon entering the South Texas brush country, one gets the feeling that things are different in this part of the country. The people are gentle in behavior with Texas-sized manners, but as rugged as the lands they maintain. These Texans are ones who seem to more fully understand the cycles of life, including death, and have learned to create their own comforts and how to be self-sustaining. The number of poverty-stricken folks here is high as well, with the median family income at $15,00 a year, keeping main things the main things without much room for the luxuries of distractions.

After a full day and night at a local ranch family's home, we found it to be very peaceful and silent, with only the sound of the whippoorwill to greet us just before sunup. There is both the peace and threat of solitude here, but only from human inhabitants. The wildlife is vast and different, surrounding the sparse homesteads and covering the rolling hills in between - from funny looking toads to green jays to giant rattlesnakes, and there's a pack of cow dogs in everyone's front yard. The hospitality is just as rich, with its beautiful smiling, black-haired waitresses to the jalapeño apricot jelly with home fried corn chips.

Although we came here for the cattle, we've learned a bit about the dangers and beauty of South Texas. We also learned a different way to handle cattle, as every family has their ways. It was the easiest loading job we've ever done. Due to the help of yet another rancher's gentle tactics and with the help of his blue heeler, in a brief 30 minutes we had two trailers loaded - not what we expected and a nice surprise. No cow drama or rodeoing was required. We just watched the dog work the cows
into the shoot and ushered them into the trailers.

Thank you, Lord, for a smooth time loading - now for the trek northward through the middle of Texas and to introduce these cattle to their new home.

Somebunny Help Me

 

Robert saved this drowning bunny yesterday as it was trying to escape a half-full (half-empty if your feeling negative or ultra realistic) water trough. He used a broom and scooped it out of the trough. There was no telling how long it had been in there because it appeared to have extreme exhaustion for hours to follow.

We carried him home and Mama Christie set him up in a kennel to recover overnight in the laundry room. S/he had hypothermia, which allowed me to snuggle it for a while; but it was back to its wild and reclusive nature this morning, happily eating mini-carrots and overly-ripened tomatoes in the corner. Our daughter-in-law, Erin, says to add lifeguard to our titles.

#lifeguardranching

Second Leg

LimbLogic VS (on right)

Yay! Robert just got his second leg, a LimbLogic Vacuum Seal leg with a waterproof pump that creates a vacuum inside the gel sleeve. It comes with a charger and remote control fob to adjust the suction level - pretty cool stuff. 

Because his limb has shrunk, it's a much tighter fit, but easier to move. Otherwise, he has had some pain, as discussed in the Neuroma or Normal blog, so our next step is to see the doctor and hope that Robert can receive instruction under a renown Houston physical therapist, Ann Sanders. 

One step at a time, we are getting there!

Old leg on the left - see how much larger it is?

You press the white button to turn on/off the pump, which is that little cylinder at the end.

Our prosthetist, Robby Schiff, teaching Robert how to use the pump.

Ranchin Recipe Wild Plum Jelly

Christie's Wild Plum Jelly 

2-3 cups wild plum juice 

2 cups water

3 cups sugar

Pectin

Jars for canning

Boil 4 or so cups of the above liquids. Add 4 1/2 tbsps. of pectin, stirring nonstop. Add 3 cups of sugar, stirring nonstop until it has boiled hard for one minute. Cool for a few minutes and pour into prepared (sterilized) jars of your size preference, leaving head room for canning. Close lid to being slightly loose and submerge jars into hot water bath covering them with 1/2 to 1 inch of water. Boil gently for 10 minutes. Remove the jars to cool until you hear the tops pop! They should be air-tight and good for up to one year! These make great gifts, too.  

 Enjoy!