April 25, 2010: Requisite Blue Bonnet Photo

The camping trip to Colorado Bend State Park was fun. I'll trade one stormy night in a tent for no mosquitoes any day! Sunday morning, I woke up at daybreak, looked out of the tent and saw the campgounds FULL of deer grazing - 40 or more - at least.

Pack It Up
The kids were sad to see the tent come down and all the stuff (strategically) loaded back into the vehicle. We need to do photos of that - next trip.

Mission Wildflowers... and More BBQ
And off we went in search of someplace to get a family photo in the blue bonnets - which are in quiet riot this year due to all the rain.

"Huh? What? You're ready?" I'm two inches taller with humid-camping-hair AND I need more coffee. Mark set's the remote up for the camera and runs over.

"My turn with the remote!" Scowls one child.

"No, it's my turn with the remote!" Whines the other. Kids will argue over menutiae at a moments notice...

Then, we're back on the road heading home to SA with a lunch stop for Bar-B-Que, of course.

Images by Mark Humphries. (click here)

April 24, 2010: Colorado Bend State Park

Dinner and a Show
We met up with seven other San Antonio-area families on Friday at Colorado Bend State Park. The park is sort of between San Saba, Lampassas, Llano and Egypt. The kids played in the river. The grown-ups set-up camp and dinner. After sunset, a herd of kids played flashlight tag - which gets tricky when every other child was systematically "taken out" tripping over tent stakes. The grown-ups chatted, star gazed and noticed clouds creeping into the sky. Thankfully, the rain began right after everyone had retired to their tents for the evening. Torrential down pour, thunder, lightening and gusty winds entertained us for most of the night.

Here Comes the Sun
Saturday, we woke up to sunshine and a not too wet tent - amazing considering the weather the night before. Mark made us some excellent breakfast tacos (and coffee!) Most of the families then headed over to hike the Gorhman Falls Trail. I have lived here all but six months of my life and had no idea that Texas has water falls like this!

After lunch, most of the families hiked over to the swimming holes on the Spicewood Springs Trail. Hot feet, cold water - happy campers!

At twilight, the group had a big pot luck supper followed by music by a few guitar and ukulele players in our midst. It was a very clear night, so Mark removed the rain fly from the tent. Our kids fell asleep under the stars.

Colorado Bend State Park is a Gem. 
You can camp, hike, bike, float the river, swim, fly fish and more. It has primitive campgrounds, so be prepared for the composting "outhouses." Not my favorite, but survivable for a couple of days. Honestly, there are SO many great state parks in Texas to pick from - go check out www.tpwd.state.tx.us. If you have a moment, let me know your fav's and why you like them.

Happy Camping! ...and we'll keep you posted.

All images on this blog are copyright of Mark Humphries Photography. (click here)

April 23, 2010: In Search of Some Good BBQ

GOING:
Most San Antonio school children had last Friday off for Fiesta's "Battle of Flowers" Parade. We had already paticipated in our share of the ten-day back-to-back Fiesta events and parties, so we packed up the car and headed out of town.

By 1:30-ish we'd found our way to Blanco, Texas and stopped at Riley's Rocking R BBQ and Steakhouse (www.rileysbarbq.com)- just off the main square. The ribs ranked a sauce smile and the homemade Banana Pudding was wicked good.

COMING BACK:
On the way back home (Sunday), we stopped at Cooper's Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que in Llano, Texas (www.coopersbbq.com). I think we were a little too tired from hiking, camping and adventures in Blue Bonnet fields to lug the camera in to the restaurant, which was too bad because the food was just right. You gotta love a place with an outside sign with "Line Forms Here" way before you ever get to the pits to select your meats. Wish there was a way to photograph smell. Smelled VERY good there.

All images on this blog are copyright of Mark Humphries Photography. (click here)

Earth Day is April 22, 2010

This inaugural HOME BRANCH blog is in honor of the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day.
(go check out: www.earthday.org)

In the Garden: The last of the winter crop (with the exception of two rows of onions) was pulled out of the ground in March. Winter lettuce, turnips, radish, carrots, broccoli and cabbage.

One of our three outside compost bins was emptied and sifted, and that material, plus some organic nitrogen (21-0-0) was then spread throughout the garden area and tilled into the soil. (Mark did a soil test and it was determined the garden was lacking in nitrogen - see info on soil testing below.) Rows are formed with the hoe. Note: My husband, Mark gets the credit for doing most of the work - with help here and there from the rest of the family.

Compost bins are refilled with the Spring-shed Live Oak leaves, grass clippings, kitchen waste (fruit, veggie, egg shells, coffee grounds) and more coffee grounds from our local Starbucks - the best thing EVER for speeding up the decay of very hearty oak leaves. Nature does it's thing and viola, about two to three months later we'll have more garden and flower bed ready compost.

Side Note on Soil Testing: If you have never done soil testing, it is NOT hard to do. For more info go check out: http://soiltesting.tamu.edu/ and then you can visit with your local county extension agent if you have any question or want suggested next steps for soil amendments when you get your results back. The folks at Shades of Green (www.shadesofgreensa.com) are also super helpful, as are the folks at Fannick's Nursery (www.fanicknursery.com).

We have transplanted a few sunflower seedlings my daughter and I grew from seeds we had saved from some seven-footers we had last fall. The dried flower heads and seeds made for some cool studio shots.

As of right now, we have rows of hope and potential going in - tomato, squash, okra, strawberries, cucumber, eggplant, and a blackberry bush. More seeds will be added as Spring progresses with warmer temperatures. For now we water, weed and wait. Rinse and repeat.

Happy Earth Day! ...and we'll keep you posted.

All images on this blog are copyright of Mark Humphries Photography.
www.markhumphriesphoto.com