The Smoked Boston Butt Bonanza...Bigger, Butt Can't Get Any Better

Once again, we are having our semi-annual Smoked Boston Butt Bonanza and this is a wonderful time to let someone else do the cookin'.

In fact, these wonderful cuts of pork, smoked and prepared by Award Winning Smokers -  DOKO Smoke BBQ - will be available just in time for Easter.

The Easter Bunny is so thankful not to be a part of your holiday dining plans and doesn't mind you pigging out otherwise.

Get creative! You can freeze your butt off (in the freezer) and feed your family and friends later, host a party or have some bona fide pulled pork for your next picnic.

No ifs, ands; just butts - one of the best butts you'll ever get your hands on.

The Butt: A cooked-weight of approximately seven (7) pounds of shapely deliciousness, packaged in tin foil...Only $40.00.

If you run out of ideas (silly thought) for what to do with your Boston Butt, you can always leave a few pounds for making Chalupas.

If you are not a fan of Boston Butt or still have some hanging out in your freezer, you can always designate your purchase to go to Epworth Children's Home. They are nothing, butt fans.

Proceeds go to church and community projects including funding for Family Promise (hosting homeless families once per quarter), sponsoring and volunteering for the National Prayer Line the first Saturday of each month and funding for Sheriff Leon Lott's Elder Watch Program.

Tickets are now on sale through March 20 at the Bethel United Methodist Church office Monday through Thursday 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The church is located at 4600 Daniel Drive in Forest Acres.

OR, you can use the purchase feature below and select as many butts as you can handle.

Please enter Epworth if your purchase is for Epworth Children's Home.

Pick-up for the Boston Butts will be between 4PM to 7PM Friday, April 3 - in time for Easter. Pick-up will be in the rear church parking lot, off Willingham Drive.

Plant of Interest - Carolina Sapphire

If you wish to create a screen on your property (Not, that these aren’t gorgeous specimen plants.), the Carolina Sapphire (Hesperocyparis arizonica ‘Carolina Sapphire’) is a wonderful tree to choose.

Depending on the region (It is fine here in the Midlands.) and the sunlight received, the Carolina Sapphire can grow 20 to 30 feet tall with a spread of 10 to 15 feet.

It is considered a fast-growing (which means gaining two or more feet a year) tree; however, my experience tells me, it may be two or more years for this to occur and then she will take off.

The wait is well worth it as she has this wonderful pyramidal shape, columnar in some cases, displaying this silver blue foliage various times of the year.

Once established, the Carolina Sapphire can withstand drought, loves the sun, has no diseases and is not susceptible to feeding animals such as deer and rabbits.

She’s perfectly suited to add a touch of another beautiful coniferous plant we rarely see in our area.

I am planting eight of these next week for two kind and friendly neighbors who simply wish to have some visual separation from one another's properties.

Ode to Aging

 

Recently, the mother of a wonderful friend of mine, passed away.

I had only spoken with her, Patricia Hutto Dukes, once, perhaps twice.

She was wonderful, engaging; sadly, yet, thankfully, I learned more of her at her funeral service.

Among all of her life and her accomplishments, she wrote short stories and poems. She once showed praise for a poem I had written. 

And, following, I believe, is the last poem she had written before she left us.

Ode to Aging

I do declare the time to be near

when I'll stand on the rim of the earth

The day is in sight when my soul will take flight

and encounter its second birth.

But tell me my friend do you comprehend

how this could possibly be

that this could happen to someone

who's been here as briefly as me?

The childhood, the girlhood, the womanly worldhood

have passed in the blink of an eye

Like a furious wind that wipes the slate clean

It's hello life and goodbye.

So I ask you again if you understand

how my story so quickly was told

and when in the world has this little girl

ever had time to grow old.

For profound reason, I have shared.

 

Blind Corners...Do Your Neighbors a Favor

 

I have pruned and/or removed many shrubs and trees near a customer's driveway in order to enable a better view while leaving home and entering a roadway.

As I drive around Forest Acres and other areas, particularly neighborhoods, I often encounter intersections where I have no safe view of the roadway, particularly potential cross-traffic. Putting the front of one's vehicle out into an intersection to gain a better view is not safe. I am certain this is not unique to our area.

I also encounter this on tight back roads and curves where the plant life and foliage is over-grown...it's troubling.

A blind corner or intersection is exactly that...blind - unsafe and dangerous. Now, we are no longer dealing with simply leaving a driveway we are familiar with, but navigating another roadway or intersection at much higher speeds.

Not potentially as dangerous as the near-hidden Stop Sign in the photo, but any obscured intersection or roadway is dangerous.

Please take the time to assess whether your property, its shrubs or trees, may be causing such a hindrance.

This is not simply about your neighbors, but fellow drivers and pedestrians as well.

At a minimum, go out and trim or hack those plants back.

Or, contact me and I will see what is necessary to permanently resolve the problem or make it more manageable over time.

And, if you have shrubs and trees hiding that beautiful home you paid a small fortune for, I'll help you with that.

Doug Ingbretsen

Back40 Landscape Restoration and Maintenance

803-553-5757

Merry Mailboxes

These are wonderful mailbox covers.

This is the one I chose.

There are a variety of themes for most any holiday or season, and beyond. If you have a typical metal mailbox, these are easy to install and the artwork is amazing.

I had an old cloth type mailbox cover before, which I loved, but it became difficult to keep clean and faded over time. I removed the old cover as best I could and exposed enough metal for the new one to be installed as it is secured magnetically.

The depth of color is fantastic and I believe they are made of vinyl, which should be easy to clean, when needed.

There may be other providers of these, but I purchased mine from Briarwood Lane.

Please consider whether you have a standard or oversized mailbox...the varying dimensions are provided.

Spruce Weed and Grass Killer

 

Firstly, I am not rewarded for mentioning/promoting any product...perhaps one day.

Over the last few months, I have been testing a few herbicides on my property as well as my customers.

Regardless of the legal claims against Roundup and its use of glyphosate, I never found it effective.

Perhaps it is effective on a larger scale with aerial agricultural applications. Which may have led to the legal claims of harm to health.

Again, I never found it effective when attempting to kill/mitigate weeds or what I simply classify as unwanted growth.

However, on the recommendation of a customer, I have found Spruce very effective at killing/disrupting the foliage of most any weed and young plant.

The manufacturer touts it killing the roots and I don't know if it does such. The average user would not know so and I have a way of testing such, but I don't know if I will take the time to test this.

Nonetheless, visually, it seems to be the most effective weed killer I have ever used.

Of course, depending on the environ and the plant bed, its presentation or posture on your property...even if you kill unwanted growth, you may still need/want to remove by hand.

Spruce claims to be non-toxic to pets and humans.

Spruce is the best solution I have found.

 

Fall - The Time to Prune, Plant and Plan...Re-orchestrate

Well, it is Fall in the Midlands. Not that all the growing and blooming has ceased. 

But, many of our plants and  landscapes have experienced much growth - for some, out-of-hand growth over the growing season.

You had (or perhaps, had not) spent much of the summer keeping up with or maintaining your property, beautifully.

Nonetheless, fall and winter are a wonderful time to prune, plant and plan for next year. Why wait?

Plants and their intentions, their DNA, their hormones, love some additional care and attention from their proprietors.

Pruning: Proper pruning this time of year helps your plants prepare for next year, and done well, provides them the future direction of growth which best suits their position and place on your property.

Planting: So many of your favorite plants and those you have in mind for next year will benefit from being placed where you wish, right now, in the warm earth, rather than sitting in a pot in a nursery. Place them where you wish now and enjoy with less effort next season.

Plan: Walk your property and discover what plants and plant beds, trees and shrubs need addressing in regard to their spread, growth and health.

Re-orchestrate: It's your property - determine what you want and where, and blend the components of your landscape - the plants, the collective beds, the specimen plants and trees.

Next season, next year, next spring, will be more enjoyable.

Other Considerations

• Prune and/or remove (overgrowth, intruding and encroaching branches, vines, etc.).
• Clean out weeds (remove).
• Pressure-wash man-made surfaces - drive and walkways, decks, retaining walls, siding, foundations, etc.
• Re-establish plant bed borders.
• Re-stain/seal decks.
• Simply do some outdoor housekeeping for football season, family and friend visits and the approaching holidays.

Need assistance? Give us a call at 803-553-5757, go to back40.us or use the Contact Us feature above.

Just call me, Doug.