THE BODARKS: McKinney's Modern Bluegrass Pioneers, Had The Square Stomping Last Night at Churchill's Pub

The Bodarks at Churchill's on the Square Last Night

Firstly, this is not a tired pub band,  rather it is a solid regional bluegrass/roots band who happened to have their album release show at Churchill's Pub in Historic Downtown McKinney.  The Bodarks came ready to take the roof off, or maybe just to do the floors in from all the stomping.  They accomplished both. 

I first came across this band in October during a patio show at Cafe Malaga.  It was a special night for the band as they were playing for a fundraiser to support the McKinney Boyd High School Orchestra; a cause held near and dear to the heart of Bodarks' fiddler, Shelly New, who directs these students on a daily basis as the orchestra's director. 

Last night, after just two years of playing shows and writing material, The Bodarks released their album, and it seemed as though half of McKinney was there to celebrate it.  For four hours they kept the pub packed to the brim, and even held drawings for novelty garments and band flare.  Then they brought up a birthday girl to play tambourine, with guitar/banjo vocalist Jeffrey Brooks claiming the song was written for a tambourine solo.  In addition to playing through their excellent songs from the album,  they brought out some "new to me" bluegrass renditions of notable chart toppers such as "Fat Bottomed Girls" by Queen, and "Zombie" by The Cranberries.

The Bodarks are a band to keep watching as they continue to grow, because as an American Roots "hootenanny string band" as they call themselves, they can easily fill a British pub.  With my enthusiasm for McKinney life, it made me happy to see so many people out in the square to see this band celebrate over two years of hard work and showmanship.

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HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM DAN+McKINNEY, TX

THE WEEK OF DAD STUFF

While being a parent is day-to-day, forever, time off at home with the family is a good time to get clever with activities, a great time to bond with the baby, who in the blink of an eye is six months old today.  They say time flies, and that is 100% true.

I finally found my Ergobaby carrier after the move to the new house and had entirely too much fun with it.  Not only is it comfortable, and I can actually complete tasks if the baby decides to stop napping right in the middle of me loading the dishwasher, but it makes for some excellent #dadselfie time.  Yes, you read it right.  Hashtag DAD selfie time.  Instead of being all stuffy and proper, after a pretty lengthy day of being spit up on, doing husbandly and fatherly duties, and running on empty, I decided to spin it all totally positive and have a little selfie session with the baby.

These things from the "Myspace Angle" look like a parachute.

Fish and Tots and a baby.  Had enough going on to eat at the countertop that night.  It was a "won't nap" day in addition to multiple other to-do's.  Ergobaby saved the day.

The look of confusion?

Chin munch.

THE WEEK OF MOM STUFF- (DAD'S TOTALLY ON BOARD WITH THIS).
Because in our house we do NOT support Gerber or any processed jar baby food, we make it ourselves.  Over the break I supported my lovely wife's initiative to make 2 weeks worth of baby food, in our ongoing effort to provide our baby with farm fresh produce.  After discovering all the chemicals present in processed baby food, we are really making an effort to completely adopt a Ground-to-Market-to-Blender lifestyle with our baby's nutrition.

You will be seeing many more posts elaborating specifically on this initiative with much better photography, which will hopefully inspire all you parents out there.  With a Farmer's Market as good as ours here in town, Sprouts, Market Street, AND Trader Joe's, excuses are hard to come by.  If you have some pointers or ideas you'd like to share, this is a very community topic.

Labor intesive activities aside.  Nothing beats seeing wife and daughter spending quality time together amidst hectic work schedules, and busy weekends of running around.

Hope everyone had an excellent holiday! Now some Miles Davis Jazz Classics on the turntable to bring the time off to a close.

SUBURBAN FARMING: Joining the Movement of Non-Processed Food and Simple Self-Reliance

As an active adolescent who surrounded myself solely with musical instruments, I never once thought I'd find myself interested in gardening or planting things. When you're living at home, still in grade school or community college, and don't have any notable bills to speak of, it's easy to get used to having a fridge full of food from Whole Foods Market or something of the like. Then got out on my own, became independent, and then one day: "Bye Whole Foods, can't afford you anymore. I have substantial grocery bill now." The whole interest in this movement and way of life started as a honey-do for my lovely wife Katie.  Digging and lifting.

We got to know all the local independent farmers at the McKinney Farmer's Market, and came across all the local people who could sustain a healthy crop right from their backyards. Whether it was completely urban, or semi-rural property; it was eye opening and inspiring, to say the least.

In our first West McKinney home we began with just one of those Home Depot raised bed kits you could put together in 5 minutes.  I think they're about 4 x 4 and you just connect the corners.

Garden from Summer 2014- old house, after we went to cinder.

8 x 4 kit garden, Spring/Summer 2013 in old house before we went to cinder.

We took it to two of these connected together by year two, and then by year three we removed all the wood and went to cinder. While we weren't too thrilled with the outcome of the tomatillo crop as we were in the previous two years, it flourished nonetheless.

Overabundance of Tomatillos- September 2012

We tried the "companion gardening" trick we saw on our social media feeds, integrating  herbs and vegetables.  We planted rosemary in between the various types of tomatoes, green and wax beans.

Our experiment with "companion gardening" Spring 2014 after going to cinder.

We recently moved across town, and half the reason we bought the house was for the pre-existing raised bed garden with dirt already in the backyard. Because we no longer have a Homeowner's Association, we could expand upon it shamelessly!  It's a good 8 x 16 and a perfect canvas for perfecting our craft of growing our own produce.  While Katie has a pretty solid understanding of growing and maintaining a vegetable garden, having grown up with them, and I'm catching on, we are by no means, "experts" or "master gardeners".   We just love the experience of working together to introduce new vegetables, working through improvements and tweaking it each year; based on the survivability during Texas' very unpredictable weather patterns. Most importantly, we're making healthy memories as a family.

Just tilled the new 8 x 16 raised bed garden the other day.  Please ignore the ailing fence.  We are getting a new one this week.  Fall/Winter 2014- New House

What's your story, McKinney? Do you have a backyard garden or ideas you'd like to share? Stay tuned for more posts on progress!