Thanksgiving Turkey the Hippie Way

These guys will be happily strutting around in my pasture today. I don’t think they realize just how lucky they are. Wishing everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving!

 

 

 

 

 

Matthew Moore Photography Blog: Sisters

My beautiful girls, perfectly captured by an amazing and insightful Texas artist and photographer.  To see more of Matthew’s work, please visit his website by clicking ENTER below.

 

Reposted from: Matthew Moore Photography Blog

Friday, July 27, 2012

Sisters

These two sisters, Rachel & Caitlin, came to us for their “sister portraits.” When we first met them, it took less than ten seconds to realize just how polar opposite they were. Even so, it was apparent that they loved each other dearly and were completely inseparable. Needless to say, we loved them both from the start! Since Katie and I don’t always get a chance to meet our clients before the day of the shoots, I was thankful that Katie was doing their hair and makeup. This gave me a good hour or so just to observe the relationship between the two sisters, watch how they interacted, and try and figure out just what made this seemingly strange relationship work so well. Again, I’m not exaggerating when I  emphasize how polar opposite their personalities are. The oldest sister, Rachel, is very outgoing, very fun, and energetic, yet seemed to carry a heavy weight of responsibility. She was a little more direct and seemed to wear her heart right out there on her sleeve. Caitlin is a little more quiet and reserved (at least initially).  She hides her feelings well and (she’ll kill me for saying this) seemed a bit more sensitive than I think most people would assume. Katie and I really wanted to draw out these characteristics, so we decided that the relationship between them would be our sole focus of the shoot. If we came away with pretty pictures but didn’t accomplish that goal, the whole thing would have been considered a failure from our perspective.

The first image is one of my favorites and is a very good example of that relationship.  There’s a vulnerability about Caitlin (the younger sister) as she shows a softer, more tender side to her that I’m guessing not everyone is privileged to see. She seems to unveil the true love, respect, and admiration she has towards her older sister. These sentiments subtly, yet forcefully, come through.  There’s a great strength about Rachel in this image. In the same way that most people might overlook how tenderhearted Caitlin really is, you would never guess just how fierce Rachel can be if need be. You can see this sort of lioness- protective and fearless glint in her eyes and in her face. She’s the sister you want on your side looking out for you. You can hide behind her and know that come what may, she would not only fight for you, you have no doubt she’ll win.  I’m proud of these images because I feel we accomplished what we set out to do.

Hill Country Sonata

Sunfire sparkling on the Pedernales River

Soaring a red-tailed hawk on the wing

Cedar and Cypress perfume dance on the water

Bull frog on the bank calling out to his love

Fireflies flicker in the wildflower valley

Cicada chorus singing their lullaby song

Whippoorwill lamenting a nightbird’s serenade

Hill Country Sonata playing my memory’s tune

Bending my heartstrings like a sweet lover’s touch

And calling me back to those hills that I love

More Texas Birds

Male Lesser Scaup – Lake Fork, Texas

Male Lesser Scaup – Lake Fork, Texas

White Pelican – Lake Fork, Texas

White Pelican – Lake Fork, Texas

Red Shouldered Hawk – Mansfield, Texas

Texas Birds of a Different Feather

My husband captured these shots this week.  The group of vultures were roosting on one of our old trees that fell victim to the recent years of drought here in Texas.  The male painted bunting stopped by our koi pond for a quick bath.  I wish the bunting photos were a little better, but we had to take them through the glass of our back window.

Bella Luna

 

The Incredible Edible Egg and Putting the Chic in the Chicken Coop

When my family moved to our country home in 1995, we were eager to embrace all the wonderful opportunities that country living had to offer.  We mended the old fence and barn and soon added our share of farm animals to complete our little country haven.  Our animal menagerie included a flock of laying hens and a rooster to give us fresh eggs, but over the years our flock decreased and eventually our fresh egg production came to an end.

Recently, after purchasing a $4.00 carton of organic cage free eggs, I discovered all the eggs were disgustingly runny and obviously inedible.  Having this less than satisfactory experience with store-bought eggs, and being aware of the absolute horrors chickens have to endure in the commercial egg production industry, we decided to rebuild our chicken coop and start enjoying our own farm fresh eggs again.

My husband spent all weekend building the new coop and we went to our local feed supplier and bought 4 baby turkeys, 10 chicks and 1 rooster   Like our Rat Terrier, I too find watching the baby chicks completely spellbinding and I have begun to named them based on their personalities.

My favorite is the largest Black Spanish turkey that I have named Hey Zeus.  He is just a baby, but he’s already trying to strut his stuff.  I don’t think the girls are impressed, judging by the expressions on their faces.

Now for my contribution to the new chicken coop; the decor.  My husband is quite the handy man and we always have wood scraps leftover from past DIY projects.  I found these weathered wood scraps and thought they would work out great for making some homemade signs.

Next I gathered up my acrylic paint, paint brushes and paint sponges.  Then I painted the wood a solid color and outlined the edge with a contrasting color, creating a framed effect.

Then I purchased two different stencils.  One was a cursive type and one was block type letters

Using a sharp pencil, I traced out the word Farm Fresh on the wood using the cursive letters and the word EGGS using the block letters.

Then I highlighted the word Farm Fresh in a bright yellow and painted white eggs around the word EGGS.

Next I carefully painted in the words. You will need a steady hand and a very small detail paint brush.

And here’s the finished product.  Add some eye hooks and a chain to hang it and throw on a couple of coats of clear polyurethane to weatherproof and it’s ready for the coop.  Now to decide what to put on the other two signs.

The coop will only be used to protect the babies while they are growing.  As soon as they are big enough, the door to the coop will be left open and they will have free access to the yard and pasture, as nature intended.  If you would like to help support current legislative efforts in banning the barbaric and cruel practice of battery caged chickens in the US egg industry; please visit the Humane Society of the United States website by clicking on this link:  Help Improve the Lives of Laying Hens

The following information was taken from the Penn State Live website.  You can click on the heading below to see the full article.

Research shows eggs from pastured chickens may be more nutritious

The study compared the eggs of the pastured hens to those of hens fed a commercial diet.

“Compared to eggs of the commercial hens, eggs from pastured hens eggs had twice as much vitamin E and long-chain omega-3 fats, more than double the total omega-3 fatty acids, and less than half the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids,” she said. “Vitamin A concentration was 38 percent higher in the pastured hens’ eggs than in the commercial hens’ eggs, but total vitamin A per egg did not differ.”

 ”Eggs of the hens that foraged grasses had 23 percent more vitamin E than eggs of hens that foraged clover. “Results suggest that grass pastures may enhance vitamin E in eggs of pastured hens more than clover,” she said.”

It’s Twister Time in Texas

Living in Texas, tornadoes are just something we have to deal with.  I have witnessed the wreckage and have been within just a few miles of the path of several storms, but never have I actually seen a tornado up close… until yesterday.

Rachel, my oldest daughter is a Marketer in the medical field and yesterday I decided to tag along on a few of her calls.  Suddenly, as we were driving, the sky began to get very dark and it began to hail.  We stopped under an overpass to get out of the hail and within a minute or two the hail stopped.  Then everything got real still, that’s when all hell broke loose.  I did not film this video but we were one exit to the north, and as we turned to the left and looked behind us, this is what we saw. 

 

Twelve different tornadoes ripped across Texas, leaving behind a path of utter destruction, but as of yet no fatalities and very few injuries, which is a miracle in itself.  I awoke this morning to the birds singing and the sun shining.  In true Texas fashion, the weather today is glorious.  Not a hint of the fury unleashed upon us yesterday.  What a perfect day to count my many blessings, snap a few photos and not look back on what could have been.