Scenes From The Road Between Illinois And Arkansas
With a travel day and a work day out of the way, I've got some catching up to do. I'm a horrible photographer, especially when I'm driving and hoping I aimed the camera good enough, but I'm gonna share some pictures anyway. All pics taken by me with my old Kodak EasyShare.
Here's a couple pictures of the mighty Mississippi as I cross the bridge from Illinois into Missouri.
A couple pics of the cotton fields in southeast Missouri.
A rice field fire.
I believe those are peanuts, too short for the soybeans I'm used to in Illinois.
A rice field.
Here's a YouTube video I made of the drive from Illinois to Arkansas. About 9 minutes.
Once I got to Bobblehead Homestead, it was still a mess and didn't magically get cleaned out, but that's how you can get cheap property for homesteading.
I don't know what kind of flowers these are, but they have to go so I can back up my truck the door.
I will try to dig this one up and save it in case I kill off the main patch.
These little purple berries really stand out in all the brown and green around the property. I have no clue what they are, there's a ton of studying I'll need to do to learn more about plants.
That's it for now. I'll be staying at a relative's house about 40 miles away while I get my place prepared for living. That could take a few weeks, but it'll happen soon enough.
You can also check me out on...
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/PeoriaDude
Twitter - https://twitter.com/Bobbleheadstead
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/bobbleheadstead/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/peoriadude/
My Steemit intro post w/ video
Cannas and beautyberries (these are said to keep mosquitos away). Glad to see you made it!
Cannas, yes, today I learned how to identify two new plants. Off to a great start.
I was gonna reply but it looks like @aunt-deb and @weetreebonsai beat me to it! I'm so glad you are taking us on this exciting journey with you. At least by cleaning up the crap, you'll see results pretty quick. I would much rather put in some work and save my money for the upgrades to come. For me, starting out very basic meant that every tiny upgrade felt like a gift.
Thanks. I've almost got one bedroom cleared out so I can start cleaning on it and see if it might be livable. 8 trash bags of junk from that one room so far. Ugh. I've gotta lean to pace myself better.
I bet you are running on pure adrenalin form all the excitement.
Beautyberries! I planted my first of them this year. And I believe the flowers are canna lillies. They grow from bulbs so cutting them down won't hurt them. I'm so glad you made it! Hooray for a new start in a great setting.
I see where they got their name, those berries are a beautiful purple. That's nice they'll grow back, I like them. Thanks, its great to finally get started.
Now I see I was beat to it as well! Haha! Whoops!
Canna Lillies are the flowers. Yours will probably have yellow flowers and grow to over six feet tall. The American Beautyberry plants are great too. The berries can be eaten raw in small amounts and are somewhat astringent, but I like the taste. Also, those leaves can be used for insect repellent. I've been known to crush the leaves and rub them on my skin.
Excellent, I'm a big fan of flowers. And maybe I can pot some up for resale later, that would help. Same with the berries. I will have to try the leaves for insect repellent, that would be useful when I'm out fishing. Thanks for the advice!
Yay!! So glad you finally made it! It's going to be a lot of work, but I'm sure it's going to be satisfying just to get started.
I'm not sure what the flowers are, but I think the bush is a Beautyberry. I know I saw a post about them recently, but dang if I can remember who did it.
Edited to add link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Callicarpa. It's a keeper!
I think that the post was from @papa-pepper, it you're thinking of the same post that I am. He did a video too.
https://steemit.com/homesteading/@papa-pepper/plants-on-the-homestead-american-beautyberry
Probably! I know there was some back n forth conversation on identifying it, which is most likely what's got my memory fuzzy on who it was. Thanks for tracking it down for @bobbleheadstead.
Man, that's what I get for not reading all of @papa-pepper posts, that was just a week ago and I would have remembered his post when I saw those berries the other day. In my own defense I was busy moving at the time. :)
Cool, a natural insect repellent. Maybe I should cut some down and put them in the mobile to help get rid of the bug infestation, lol. I saw 3 big patches of it today, that purple really stands out, I like it. Thanks
They are very well named! The color of those berries is stunning. If it works on the bugs, that's a bonus that just adds to the physical beauty.
Indeed, It is beauty berry. Edible but not too tasty..jelly is your best bet! crush the leaves for insect repellent. :)
Happy New Homestead!
Melissa
This is great being able to learn from others on here, its such a huge help. Thank you.
Oh my! That looks like quite an adventure! We are on a similar sort of adventure. It looks like you got a great property, alittle elbow grease, and it might look like a dream. We are going to follow you and keep up with your journey. We are up voting this and look forward to more!
Cool, thanks. I've been following you YouTube, I'm Peoria Dude over there. The Awesome Homestead spoke highly of you guys when I stopped by their place, I'll make my way back up there before long. Good luck on Steemit, good to see you here too.
Hi there @bobbleheadstead ! Yeah, the Awesomes are good people. Whenever you're in town have them get ahold of us.
Home sweet home! 8 bags of trash. Some plants identified and a great trip with photos. Can't wait to see the after pictures. 🐓🐓