Purple Heat Fest

Happy blogoversary to me! A commenter wished me well, but to be honest I let the second anniversary of my blog drift by unnoticed.  It was apparently 6 days ago. Wow. I’ve done a fair bit of  writing here in that time, posted quite a number of pictures. I have made 346 posts, in fact. Given how voluble I am in most of them, that’s a whole lotta words, eh? You know, it amazes me that there are still people in this world who don’t think I talk that much.

A bit over a week ago I ventured out to Blanco (west of Austin in the Hill Country) to go to their Lavender Festival. In recent years people have noticed that the semi-arid limestone hills of Central Texas are fairly Mediterranean in character, soil- and climate-wise. What that means is that we have a pretty fair time growing wine and grapes and lavender near here, and a number of people are actually making a living out of those things now.  It’s different from the usual ranching and farming operations that are traditional in Texas, but alternate crops (and animals like emu) are starting to take hold.

As the poster (from the craft fair)  indicates, that does not mean the area has somehow become any less, um, resolutely Texan.

This was, in fact, one of the best small town fairs I’ve ever been to (and I’ve been to a lot of them). It was even good enough for me to forgive the 100+ heat index, which I fought with copious bottles of water, frequent shade, watermelon gazpacho and a very liberal coating of sunscreen.  Whoever set this fair up actually found some good local crafters to come sell handmade things at the craft fair instead of what I usually see (which is resellers of crappy boring things made in China). All the local lavender farms were there selling things, plus people with everything from intricate handmade baskets to lovely strings of china chili peppers to inventive kitchen towels in the shape of dresses to spiralled handmade jewelry to … well, you get the idea. And of course my favorite is all the food vendors and their samples (I shall gain much weight now).

I bought a bunch of stuff. I got hot sauce, pasta and habanero honey mustard from Shayne Sauce, chili fixins from Blanco Valley Farms, lavendar bath things (oversized tea bags!) from Farm Fresh Soaps, and lavender linen spray and other things (pictured above) from one of the lavender farms, Heron’s Nest Herb Farm. My dad even got my pup Audrey special lavender and tea tree shampoo (which she tries to eat). Do you know how awesome it smells to be at a lavender festival? Where almost everyone has something lavender-themed?  Oh yes, it’s quite lovely.

Of course, it’s not really a proper festival without a Texas blues band, right? This guy is Bobby Mack and his band, and he was followed up by Zydeco Blanco.  They did an enjoyable job with the music. The organizers of this festival really knew what they were doing. And it is the first festival I’ve been to where everybody ignored the cheap not-really-beer. The Real Ale Brewing Company is located in Blanco, and it’s a great little microbrewery with a beer called Firemans #4 that you have to try if you’re ever here, and of course there was a whole bunch of wine tasting from the local vineyards that people seemed to be enjoying.

After the festival, we went to one of the lavender farms, the Blanco River Lavender Company, where they had a few more things to look at and a guy who was demonstrating flint-knapping.  All the farms were having special events, but mostly they were things on making girly sachets and wands or similar. I chose flint-knapping because my dad and husband were there. The guy was good. The farm was pretty. My dad, of course, found the owner and talked to him (my dad always finds someone to talk to and learn from. He is the king of 1,000,000 Facts You Never Knew Existed).

There was a painter there under the live oak trees by the hay storage, I believe the same one selling paintings there.  The tree grove was also housing an amazing collection of very old and rusted things, like a stove.  You could sit in the shade and have lavender lemonade. The farm had a sense of suspended time about it, which I guess fits because it’s been in existence for a century.

And then there were these Adirondack chairs, which sparked my imagination as a Connoisseur of Sitting Comfortably in Atmospheric Surroundings, and made me think that in spring and fall, when it’s not so perishing hot out, it’s probably pretty nice to sit out here when it’s cool in the dusk, overlooking the fields and pasture.  Needs footrests, though.

As a last stop to our day, we went to Luckenbach, which is purportedly a town of three that relies on the mythos of its Texan roots, and is where Willie and Waylon used to go to sing on the Fourth of July.  I say mythos because among other things, I noted that the roof of the rusted post office/general store was not really rusted, the paint was not quite the right color. However, it is still very modern Texan, and it was apparently Harley motorcycle weekend in the hill country, and the place was packed with bikers.  Squawking through all this were about a dozen chickens.  And this guy …

Who is my hero for riding a longhorn through the place, and yelling at the bikers.  Who, really, wants to mess with a guy who rides a longhorn?

It was a very Texas weekend.

The peaches are flowering!

I mentioned I took a trip out to Fredericksburg a couple weeks ago.  The peach trees out near Johnson City (source of the peaches I got last summer and canned) were blooming, and I took a bunch of pictures. Peach blossoms are very light, delicate, airy things.  The trees themselves are small, maybe about 6 feet high and spread out a lot.  In a farm they’re all pruned so there are these tidy rows of short little trees.  Anyway, they were really pretty, so I thought I’d share some pictures I took.

It was very early spring-like out there.  Dark earth, brilliant green with a few early touches of flower color.  I’m still hoping for the best, but it looks like this year’s crop of wildflowers is going to be on the small side.  We’ve had a terrible drought here the past year.  I know people love the warm, sunny weather, but I can’t imagine it’s great if you’re a grower of things or managing our public water supply or in charge of the lakes and rivers. I like rain and thunderstorms, and I’ve missed clouds.

Of course, I’m going to get another box of peaches this July. And I’m going to skip the jam because I want to make a lot more salsa this year, and can more tomatoes. Want a jar? If you do, tell me and I’ll make you one. And I’m going to try to make some other stuff, more tomatoes, I don’t know what else as long as I don’t have to use a pressure cooker.  I keep thinking maybe sauerkraut and hot sauce, too.

I have actually used most of what I canned. I’ll have to tell you about that later. It was very exciting, in a really dorky I-obviously-didn’t-have-to-do-this-when-I -was-growing-up-and-oh-my-god-my-tomatoes-are-still-good-months-later-that’s-so-amazing kind of way. The sourcing and production of food is often a magical and completely unknown process to city/suburban kids. We assume all stuff grows in cans (just kidding, but you see what I mean).

So. Peach blossoms. I kind of kept wondering if they tasted good too – but forebore to eat any. Sometimes flowers are poisonous. Where I grew up there seemed to be lots of poisonous flowering plants (and bugs and animals), like oleander, and so I never just want to eat stuff. Probably a good thing. I also learned to identify and avoid poison ivy. Also good.

So I’ll be there at that farm stand this summer. We’ll do a before and after, if I remember

Springtime finds

I have begun my annual pilgrimages to yonder Hill Country as I do each year.  First up was the Art and Artisans festival at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. It’s always fun for me to go to an art event where everything is centered around flowers. There were a couple there I particularly liked that used pressed leaves and flowers to create various scenes and patterns – one on paper and one on glass. Sadly, I do not know the names, because I lose things too often.

The Wildflower Center does a bang-up job with art in addition to their lanscape work. Not just floral-centered but also more generally things that support artists from this area. They have rotating art exhibit, and at the moment are featuring things from the Texas Society of Sculptors Exhibit. For example, these 2 photos. I liked these ceramic figures (above) – they are nuns, from what the description said, nuns singing from psalm books.  They caught my eye, colorful in the sunlight.

I also thought this wood nymph was just beautiful.  She is as insubstantial as bronze would allow the artist to be. At least, it is my opinion that she’s a dryad, the exhibit page suggests she might be a siren. But dryads can be sirens, right?  Most nymphs would be, I’d think. Maybe I’m wrong. If you’ve ever met a nymph and can offer more of a first-hand testimonial, let me know.

Mostly I wandered around and enjoyed the gardens, which were just coming into bloom, and enjoyed the bees and butterflies that were attracted to the just-opened flowers.  See the little guy in there?  He was very, very busy.  Just like the bee cliche, yes, I know. I couldn’t help it.  I would have a bee nest in my garden if I had one, for the native bees, and also plants that attract butterflies.  Perhaps one day I will make good on my threat to have a garden.  Currently I appear to be growing rocks and trees in my backyard. It is not exciting.

Fluff!  Don’t get that up your nose.  You’ll sneeze for a week.

I also traveled into the hill country last weekend, and went to Fredericksburg for a bit of a wander.  This resulted in a couple more photos that just plain amused. me.  I am easily amused, I know.  This guy, for example, probably sells some sort of beef jerky. I honestly cannot imagine putting a license plate on my beautifully restored and lovingly cared-for antique truck that talked about beef jerky, but what do I know?  Of course, to me the plate also reminds me of the Jerky Boys, because I am of that generation and I really can’t help it.  This guy probably never heard of the Jerky Boys.

This one just cracked me up.  When I pulled over to take the picture, a bunch of goats ran right up to the gate there and made a lot of exuberant bleating goat noises.  This Rancho might not be so Grande, but it certainly did not lack for enthusiasm and bravado among its furry occupants, or sly humor from the owners. The ranch also hosts very fuzzy brown llamas, which reminded me of how I want an alpaca. That’s very practical, yes? I could keep the alpaca with the rocks that are growing in the back yard?  Ummm, yeah.

And that is some of my show-and-tell for you.  I have not worked on my quilt lately, instead I took drives, went to festivals and cleaned my whole house from top to bottom.  Not a bad trade, all things considered.