Bryson Pickers (Picture Heavy)

Well, last night was practice night for the Bryson Pickers.  This is just a few of us.  We usually set in a big circle.  I couldn't take pictures myself, well, because I was playing.  See me on the fiddle?  I noticed that the fiddle really does accent the double chin. lol

This is Dad and a good friend Steve. They are the more seasoned pickers.  They are actually professional.  They have been playing in bands for years.

This is some of us at Bryson's Store last Saturday.  Still couldn't get a picture of all the people.  The place was really packed.  Come Summer, we'll be going outside to play.   They have a small picnic shelter that we play under.  This will be my first time playing outside.  I usually just watched. Not this year!  Wooo Hooo! lol

See the guy in the brown coat?  He's playing the banjo.  I told you we were packed in there.    Also, I wanted you to look at some of the things they sell in this store.  It's been open for over 100 years. They're still selling some of the stuff they sold back then.

 Here's some of their cast iron collection.  Mostly Lodge brand and a LOT of it.

They also sell crocks.  Hubby got me a 3 gallon fermenting crock. It has the weights, lid and all.

Oh, and just so you know, if you're busy and don't have time to take pictures, these are the kind of pictures you end up with on your camera.  Mom said these shoe laces had M&Ms on them.  Her favorite.

Oh, and a picture of the elusive light.

This is out of focus, like most of her pictures, but I thought the concept was kind of cool.  Notice the two other women joining in with the fun.  I'm gonna have to rethink this whole, "Letting her take pictures." thing.

If you want to see some videos, follow me on Facebook.  I will be posting some of the music and such on there.  Mostly because I haven't figured out how to load them on my blog yet. lol

So for next time,

Small Farm Girl, Picker

Up and Out

I'm trying something new.  In the morning, at 4:30, I get up with Hubby, make his breakfast, pack his lunch, and send him off to work. Then I would usually go back to bed.  I would then toss and turn and finally doze off around 6 or 7 am.  When I do this, sometimes I don't get up until around 9:30/10:00.   By then, most of my day would be gone and I wouldn't get anything done.   So, I've decided to try to stay up when Hubby goes to work.

 Now, it would be easier to do this if we could go to bed around 9, but Hubby likes to stay up a little later.  As in, he likes to stay up until around 10;30/11:00.  Country Girl, who is still living with us, likes to stay up until around 1 am.  Me, if I have to get up at 4:30, I want to go to bed around 9 or even earlier.   Last night we didn't get to bed until after 10. I'm sooooo sleepy today.  I'll probably take a nap because tonight I have to go to practice.

Oh ya!  I forgot to tell you all.  I've been playing fiddle for a group of people known as the Bryson Pickers.  We are not a professional group or anything.  We just go down to Bryson's Country Store ever third Saturday of the month and play music. We even got our picture on the front page of the local newspaper.  I'm famous!! :0D

 Anyway, we usually get together once a week and "practice".  (More like goof off.) We have a great time.  Last summer I could only play "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star."  Now I can play a few other songs, not real good, but I can at least see an improvement.  I really enjoy it. I hope to play for some time to come. It's funny how a whole new "world" has opened up to me.  I didn't realize how much of the music we play has roots in these Appalachian Mountains.  I also didn't realize how much fiddle playing is a disappearing art.  Not many people play the fiddle anymore.

Oh, side  note, do you know the difference between a violin and a fiddle?  Well,  if it's a fiddle, it has STRANGS.  If it's a violin, it has STRINGS. LOL!!!!  Sorry, that's a little (bad) joke.

Back to the topic.  Fiddle playing is becoming a lost art.  All of my family plays music.  I grew up around many musical instruments, guitars, bass, banjo, piano, etc....  Nobody played the violin.  I can honestly say, I'm the best fiddle player that I know!!  I can say that because I don't know anyone else who plays the fiddle.  hehehe.

I'll post some pictures as soon as I take them off my camera.

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, fiddler on the ridge

Last Week

This little beauty and I have become really close friends.  This past week has been brutally cold.  I'm sure most of you have had the same problem.  Since this is the only heat we have in our house right now, we had to run it wide open almost all the time.  At night we shut it down a little.  I still had to get up every two hours and put wood in the stove.  As we looked back on last week though, we realized that the wood we used was extremely dry and sponge like.  It burnt real fast.  We did some trading for a good load of wood just a few days ago and it seems like this wood will work better.  It's not as dry and will hold up longer.  Both types of wood were oak, but one load was just from a tree that had been dead for a while.  We needed to get it out of our field.  Hey, don't ever over look free firewood.   It worked for a while.

I don't remember if this is an old stove, but this is our new one.  It puts off a lot more heat than our last one.  A. LOT.  This one is made of steel and holds the heat so much better.  I plan on using stove black on this later in the spring.  We needed the heat so we really didn't care about the small amount of rust it had on it.

See that red pot on the top?  Yep, that's full of brown beans and a ham hock.  Yummmmmmm!  Nothing like cooking on the stove on a cold day.

I also wanted to tell everyone about my rabbits.  I bred two does.  Only one had babies.  Well, A baby.  It was a big black kit.  Dead.  I won't blame it all on the doe though, this was her first litter and it was extremely cold when she had it.  I'm still gonna try with the breeding.  I made some rabbit noodle soup the other day and I fell in love with it.  If the rabbit breading doesn't work, then I'm just going to end up getting some creepy meat chickens.  I know I can raise them.(As long as I can keep dogs out of them.)

This week is suppose to be a little warmer so hopefully I won't be a slave to the stove and I can get a few things done around the house.  We shall see.

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, staying warm