Sweet Potato Slips and Jenn Air Range rant

One of the most economical things you can do is raise your own sweet potato slips.
I was afraid I started my late but see I did not.

Some just place a potato half in a jar of water and let it sprout from the tops like we used to do just to have a nice vining plant in the house. I remember sticking toothpicks about midway and then resting the picks on the top of the jar of water.

I put one in a jar and the rest (3) laid on their sides in a dishpan of half sand and half potting soil moistened. I wanted to do a comparison. I just put the pan under the lights on the back porch April 1 and waited for two weeks or more and nothing happened.....so I put the dishpan on top of the upright freezer and in just a few days of bottom heat, voila! I had sprouts. I almost let them get too tall before I broke them off. I counted 20 from one potato; a few of them were way too tall so I snipped the tops off adding 5 more to the jar.

The potato in the jar, has made one strong slip and a couple of nubbins. The side planting wins out by far. I have planted them in just moist sand.

Of the three potatoes, one rotted. The original I pulled slips from has more to collect and the other has a few. This variety is Beauregard which does well for me here and are from my small crop of last year. I picked the size I liked and saved them back for slips. I stored them in a flat box in the spare bedroom under the bed. It is the perfect spot; I didn't loose a single one.

This is after I had removed slips from one of the potatoes a few days before:

From Gardening 2010

and the slips in the jar and a picture showing the root development.

From Gardening 2010

From Gardening 2010

I may end up with 35 to 50 slips from these two potatoes!

Sears repairman is here for the Jenn-Air range...second trip; first they ordered the wrong part; second trip (today) they ordered the wrong part! I still can only bake on two or three settings! To say I am aggravated is putting it mildly. I would buy another new stove (2004 for this one) if I thought I could find one that wouldn't be as bad as this one......I hate new appliances!

Spinning My Wheels

Do you every have those days where at the end, you are tired and yet haven't really accomplished much? This was one of those days. I had such high intentions. It was going to be perfect weather; cool, upper 60's, a little too windy, but sunny.

This was milk day. Went well but for some reason she withheld her milk and shorted me about a half gallon so I let her yearling baby nurse....don't know what that was about. Need to take her to the vet to be preg checked soon.

DH told me the stray cat who lives in my milk barn looked skinny this morning so we figured she had had her babies. She had; under the feed manger where I feed Willow. I didn't disturb her but could see some babies. I later took a picture by just sticking the camera down there. One has a Strange pink protrusion from its rear. I may not post the picture until I can determine what we are dealing with.

Then got the garden cart with all my tools out and headed over to the bed in front of the kitchen. I had never pruned the dead sticks from the swamp mallow and the Endless (hah!) Summer hydrangea. Did that and began to rig up another "Nell" trellis for the clematis that was sprawling and beginning to attach to the hydrangea. By now, DH wanted a coffee break so did that with him. Phone rang.

Our neighbor girl wanted me to tell her "one more time" how to tube (esophageal feeder) her baby calf. A heifer had a calf pulled and the calf couldn't stand without assistance. She had managed to drain by dribbles colostrum and milk down it a pint at a time. I decided it would be easier to just go over. I also wanted her to identify a dead baby something in our back yard.....this is living in the country remember.

Bagged it and took her some eggs and drove around the corner to our old farm (they bought from us). She had a nice black calf and the heifer was a pretty thing with a perfect udder.
I do hope the baby will begin nursing soon.
He can now stand but is very weak and falls over easily.

I got him outside the pen just in case new Mama got too protective. Got the tube feeder and about half the electrolytes down him and suggested I pull it and let her do it while I was there. Went without a hitch. She just needs self-confidence and not to listen to all the horror stories about killing calves by inserting tube incorrectly and allowing the fluid to enter the lungs. I think in a couple of days the calf will be fine.

Now it is noon and we are hungry so lunch was made. Then the phone began ringing....my sister was having a slow day! Now it is after 3 PM. Trucks are running up and down our road creating a white cloud.

No more work today! Tomorrow will be warmer but much windier so don't know about working out in that.

The iris are beginning to bloom. Immortality, Clarence, the passalong purples, Suky and Barb's iris are beautiful. The orange poppies are still popping.

From Gardening 2010

Afterthought: the dead thing was a kitten...wonder what that is about??? I figure it must be from the stray but how did it get all the way to the house. She never leaves the barn and milk parlor area. Maybe it was dead and she drug it out of the barn away from the others......and the dog found it.
I sure hope that is all it was. He is in enough trouble now as it is!

Cottage Cheese and Garage Wall Border Clean up

We have had a rainy couple of days with 2 inches falling. It is pretty cool too so not much has been going on outside besides the minimal chores for the farm.

I finished up the cottage cheese this morning with only one small disaster which didn't affect the finished product. I had left the milk overnight in the fridge so I could skim off the cream so decided I would bring it back to room temperature before adding my l cup of buttermilk to quicken the clabber process........way too much later, the milk was almost at the boil point and some had stuck to the bottom of the pan. I let it cool way down, added the buttermilk and let sit overnight.

I ended up with 1 lb. 12.6 oz. of cottage cheese from l gallon of milk with lots of whey left. I will be trying biscuits at noon with just whey instead of either milk or buttermilk. I will let you know how that turns out....

From Food

I plan to show the good, the bad, and the ugly of my life on the farm. I have shown the very bad (calf loss to predator), and now the ugly. I consider everything in between the good.

I have been working on the Garage Wall Border where the weeds, in particular some kind of alien grass (Brome?), has invaded. The first two thirds went pretty quickly and looks like this:


and this is the end of the bed with a tree sapling and other weeds.
I won't do much until the Spiced Custard iris bloom, the dead looking stuff is Russian Sage that hasn't been pruned...yet.

but here is the really bad stuff, the area where this grass is, It spreads with runners like Bermuda but doesn't pull up so easily. I will try it after these rains and see. If not, I am resorting to herbicide.



There is really nothing here that is critical to save unless maybe the daylily. I hate the globe thistle and will be happy to see it go. The yarrow I have in other places and can easily be replaced.

The wind is picking up and it is very overcast....possibly more rain in our future.

Spring Storm

We got rain at last, meaningful rain, 2 inches. No storm, not hail or wind. I was so sad to hear of the storms in Mississippi and the damage and loss of life. Mother Nature can be a fearsome thing.

The picture on the header was taken just before the heavy rains hit in late afternoon today. It had been raining lightly off and on all day before the heavy rain.

I milked early to miss the rains, but it was sprinkling already. Of course, I milk inside and process the milk inside so not really an issue unless it is lightening which scares the bejabbers out of me. I poured this milk into a large wide topped crockery bowl so I can skim the cream tomorrow. I had a full half gallon left that I put in my glass canning jars. I will make cottage cheese out of the milk after I skim it.

I also picked the first poke of the season....all out of one flower bed (thank you birds!!!)I had enough for lunch and froze a quart. We enjoy it as much as spinach.

Poke weed is everywhere in the yard and is a real nuisance. After picking the rest, I am going to try to eliminate it permanently.

I took a few pictures of newly blooming things between showers.

From Gardening 2010

and the new Henryi on what I call my "Nell" trellis.

From Gardening 2010

and the one growing on the dead Aloha rose,

From Gardening 2010

I have forgotten the name of this one and didn't want to dig down in the wet foliage to see if I had tagged it.

From Gardening 2010

BIRDS

The first Baltimore Oriole visited the hummer feeder today. He is the male. We hope there will be others.

From Birds

Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday and stay safe from storms.

Good Buddies - More Gardening

Yesterday was a near perfect day. Sunny and not too hot. The high was 76° and everything was nice a fresh after our little rain.

I did more cleanup of flower beds, pruned a couple of roses and buddleia and tackled the corner planting by the garage.

I worked my way around the yard to the much dreaded garage wall border where the weeds had taken over. It wasn't as bad as I thought ... until I reached the last 6 feet or so of the bed. The brome grass is so infested that I am just going to spray with herbicide today. There is a clump of iris ready to bloom and a daylily that concern me.

When the sun got too hot to pull weeds, I unhooked the garden cart from the mower and mowed most of the yard. I found the other black snake, another 4-footer. When you find one, you know another is in the area. Took care of that problem and finished the mowing.

While back by the milk parlor I spotted the stray (very pregnant cat!) laying in the shade of the apricot tree with Ginger (Willow's baby).

From Farm and other Miscellaneous Pictures

My husband said he has seen her sleeping on top of the heifer and also Ferdinand when he was in the pen with her. The cat lives out in the barn and does not come down to the house at all.

GARDENING
I am beginning to harden off the tomato plants.
Today I will start some annual salvia inside; I should have done it sooner. I will also do a trial planting outside.
The vinca are not growing at all. It is either very bad seed (Park Seed Co.) or potting soil. I doubt the soil since the tomatoes look good and other plants do too.

Blooming now: two iris, lunaria (money plant), late daffs, white hesperis just showing color, white rugosa rose (l bloom), three early clematis, dogwood and lilacs, weigela showing pink tipped buds, garden sage is budded heavily, perennial sages just starting. Next month should be a pretty one.

(This post was started day before yesterday.)

We hung the new bluebird house this morning and I dug into my old gourd stash and rigged up three birdhouses from them. One I put on the porch hoping the little wren will return and use it. I saw her a few days ago perched right where I put it.
It is now two days later and I am happy to report the wrens have moved in!

From

I hung the other gourds in the trees in the west yard. Hope someone finds them useful.

The road crew is still working....which means I have to come in after a couple of hours in the early morning. The dust is horrible.

From Gardening 2010

We are hoping they are either finished or will finish today! They have scraped the front ditch out so deep and so much that they have taken some flowers with them. I dashed out today and rescued two young iris tubers, Swingtown, I think.

GARDENING
I am trying something new this year to prevent weeds in the iris beds and onion rows. I know Iowa State developed a special corn gluten meal formula that they have a patent on. In stead of paying $35 a bag for it, I am just buying it in bulk from the feed mill we do business with. I got 100 lbs for $9. I have no idea how to spread it so am just lightly covering the soil with it. I have a couple of more iris beds to do this afternoon.

I also fired up the string trimmer and edged some beds and mowed inside the garden fence.

The Cellar Bed

The cellar is covered with a grass, maybe brome. It has white roots and runners and the seeds broadcast horribly. I vow to try to mow off the cellar before the seeds set this year! This grass is almost as bad as Bermuda and has spread into lots of the flower beds. It was in the mums at the north end of the bed so I had to dig them up and separate out the grass. It was probably a good thing for the mums, Sheffield Pink. I divided it and put some around the front of the bed which should look good later in the summer and fall give some color when the daylilies are finished.

Still watering various beds.

Thinning fruit Trees and White Cake

We had a very cool night here, 39° early this morning around daybreak. The day is very pleasant with lots of sunshine. I am staying pretty close to the house; serviceman is expected for the stove and dishwasher check up.

The county road crew is also working out front of the house and creating severe dust. We don't know what they are spreading but it makes DH cough a lot. We have both come inside for the duration.

They are blading out the ditches on both sides of the road very deeply. There goes my mowing the ditch....back to the string trimmer or not....may just leave it.

FRUIT

This year is a first! We have two peach trees and an apricot and a plum tree absolutely loaded with fruit. I know I am supposed to thin relentlessly. Here is a branch before thinning on a peach and after. It is dark because I was "inside" the tree and could only use one hand on the camera.

From Fruit

From Fruit

It hurts to do it, but I know it is for the best. I am leaving 4 to 5 inches on the peaches and a little less on the apricots. I do a little each day on what I can reach from the ground....may break out the ladder later.

FOOD

I promised I would do our favorite white cake and post it on the blog. I did it yesterday. We had two pieces and into the freezer with the rest. I need more people to cook for!

I have been making this cake for a long, long time taken from the back of the cake flour box.


My White Sheet Cake (actually the Softaslik Cake Flour Exquisite Coconut Cake recipe)

2-1/4 cups cake flour (this is important to use instead of regular flour)
1-1/2 cups sugar
3-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup Crisco
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla (I add 1/2 tsp. almond extract also)
4 egg whites.

Heat oven to 350°

Grease and flour pan (I use cookie sheet pan or something at least l inch deep, or 13x9 or
layer cake pans)

Measure flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, shortening, 2/3 cup of the milk and the vanilla
into the large mixer bowl. Beat 2 minutes on high speed, scraping the bowl several times.
Add remaining milk and egg whites. Beat 2 minutes more, scraping the bowl
occasionally.

Pour into pans, bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick comes out clean from center. 20 minutes or so for the sheet cake, be sure and check so it doesn't brown much at all.

Cool and ice.

I like a baker’s white icing.

about 1/2 cup crisco
some milk, start with 1/4 cup.
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp .. vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract.( maybe a little less)

and as much powdered sugar to taste grainy, not greasy (I used 4 cups sifted yesterday)
Whip it until light and fluffy.

Note: I always sift powdered sugar to prevent tiny little white flicks in icing

From Food

Usually we leave it in flat single pieces but I stacked these for storage in the freezer.

A Morning Milking

Still no rain here. Very nice temperature this morning at 4AM, 51°.

I thought I would show everyone what my morning milking is like.

I milk at 8 AM. Head out to the milk parlor (old dairy, remember). Set up the strainer over the container. Prepare a soapy cloth for washing her udder; place in baggie, take drying towel, drop both into stainless steel, seamless 3 gallon milk bucket (never been filled!) and walk out back to the barn I milk in.

From Milking

My milking assistant (DH) by now has the cow, Willow inside the barn, snapped to her tie, with feed in the trough.

I use an old rubber maid step stool for milking, works just right and I tried not to have to buy anything new to begin milking when we bought the cow. Everything I am using was on hand. I do have to buy replacement filters for the strainer and feed.

Here she is in the barn,; her tie rope is just snapped to her halter, the tie left in place all the time on the post of the feed trough.

Her udder before and after milking. I could and should clip her udder but never have. and


If you are milking at the right speed, there should be lots of foam on top
and now back into the milk parlor for straining and bottling

I store her milk and extra eggs in a small refrigerator we began housekeeping (I love the 'mother' term!) with back in 1961. No water in the door, no self-defrost, just a cold box that, by the way, has never had a service call in its life!

and the final step, cleanup. I use the stainless steel sinks left from dairying and use the pipeline cleaner that has lots of bleach in it to clean all containers. Done until I need or want milk again. Total process is done in under an hour.

The rest of the time Ginger gets her fill.notice her milk wet nose.

All in the life of the farm.

Random Pictures

We are finally cooler and did get a very light shower late yesterday afternoon.  I think tonight is supposed to be 38°.

I have several things I want to go today:

1.  Spread lime around the garden
2.  Clean around iris and spread the corn gluten pellets over them. 
3.  Finish a corner of the Milk Parlor Bed where the lilies are
4.  Trim around the 'Grace' hidden bed by cellar (where I lost a lot of the lime yesterday)
5.  Make hamburger buns and maybe sweet rolls

Here are a few pictures:

The apricot tree (I need to thin the tiny ones I am told)

From Fruit

Mission accomplished:  The garden fence bed cleaned at last,

From Gardening 2010

Here is where the corn gluten will go; I hope this works.  Keeping iris cleaned is a chore!

From Gardening 2010

and finally the sunlight shining through the leaves of 'Grace' smoketree in the Hidden Bed.  (note: I have not trimmed this bed yet....see the henbit?)

From Gardening 2010

Clematis - First bloom on very old plant

Our cold front hasn't arrived;  it is 74° here today but a little overcast so I have hopes of rain.

I  mowed the east yard  before  starting my endless weeding job.
I had a mini disaster mowing.  I decided to make a pass behind the cellar which is a tight fit for just the mower, but I left the garden cart attached. I felt a little tension on the rear but just kept on.  When I drove across the yard to the patio to disconnect the cart...I discovered the tension was caused by the rear removable panel being pulled out of the cart allowing the 40 lbs of lime to  fall over and spill about a fourth of it somewhere.  Back to the section behind the cellar and there lay the panel and almost all of the pelleted lime in one spot.  I was able to retrieve most of it.  Take a hammer to the panel and all is well.

 I drove back to the milk parlor where the apricot tree is to check on it.  I have never paid much attention before how the fruit grew.  I see on limbs with lots of tiny green fruit (looks viable) a larger fruit.  I don't know if all the tiny ones will drop or catch up with the larger.  Be interesting to watch.

From Fruit

I got a pleasant surprise in that same area.  Just to the left of the fruit tree is an old concrete ramp they used to load cattle.  Several years ago I planted a clematis there.  It has never done anything.  Some years just a puny vine or two and nary a flower in all those years.  Look at it now!



It is about 3 feet tall now.  I have no idea the variety.

While there I decided to clean up the Milk Parlor/Ramp bed.  Between the henbit and cheat, it was a struggle.
 Another one finished!

Lettuce, Peas, Pancakes and Cows

This is supposed to be our last hot day.  Tomorrow back to the normal 60's.  Good!


Milking

I have been following Chickens in the Road Blog.  Suzanne has a new milk cow.  I t has made me stop and really think about having a cow and what that means.

First, I had the barn for one.  Second, I had owned some before Willow so I knew how to milk. and most of all, we had a small commercial dairy for 15 or more years.  I feel  like I pretty much know and understand milk cows, a real asset!
For me now, it is a very smooth routine and only requires maybe 30 minutes of my morning.
I do not pasteurize the milk.  I believe the raw milk is the most nutritious.  We drink it whole; I do not skim the cream.
I suspect the milk is around 3.5% butterfat.  If I want some for coffee,  I can skim a little. 
I just get about 5 quarts at the morning milking.  I let her calf have the rest in the evenings and when I don't want or need to milk.

Gardening

I finally planted three varieties of lettuce and two of radishes all from seed.  The seedling lettuces I planted several days ago are finally looking good.

I also did a 15-foot row of Sugar Snap peas.  The ground is so dry I filled the pea trench with water before covering.  I also watered in the lettuce seed.  I will try to sprinkle it daily to keep it moist.  I have been thinking a roll of horticultural burlap would be a good thing to have to cover seeds to keep the hot sun off and keep the soil moist.  I t would also keep the sprinkler from washing out the seeds.  I need to check into that.

I trimmed the front west side ditch  (west of driveway).  They are working on our county road, redoing the ditches and covering it with some kind of cement looking gravel, very fine.  The gravel trucks kept zipping back and forth, so I decided to finish another time!  I like what they are doing and want to see how they will do it in front of the house and how it will affect mowing, trimming, etc.


Food

DH had requested pancakes, so I made our new favorite.  We tell ourselves they are healthy because they are made from oatmeal and whole wheat flour.  I like that it is a perfect size for just two people.

I found the original recipe on allrecipes.com.  It was called Oatmeal Pancakes II submitted by mom2hhh.

I change it somewhat so will list what I now use:

Healthy Oatmeal, Whole Wheat Pancakes for Two

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup quick oats (I just food process regular for a little to chop them up finer)
1 Tablespoon raw sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder (alum. free)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 to l cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla (optional, I don't use)
2 Tablespoon oil
1 egg

I mix up all the dry ingredients, toss in egg and buttermilk.  Stir vigorously until smooth.  I use a 1//4 cup measure and scoop and pour onto hot oiled griddle.  It makes six medium sized pancakes.



Random Pictures

I took a picture of the heifers a couple of days ago.  This one came right to the  fence watching me watching her.

and this is Willow's (milk cow) 2008 baby.  She is now in the breeding heifer group.  I think she is going to be bigger than her mother.  She is a full-blood Milking Shorthorn out of a very good bull.  We love her coloring.

Up at 4:15 AM this morning to another warm morning, in the 50's.  We are running about 10 degrees warmer than normal and much drier than last year.

Yesterday was errand day so no gardening.  We had to buy mag blocks for the cows and I picked up corn gluten pellets for the garden.  I want to try them.  They are a very soft mealy pellet so I hope they give me the same effect as the meal for weed seed germination. 

We stopped by Walmart and I couldn't resist picking up two bags of plants.  I don't like buying plants in peat where you can't see them, but they felt firm.  I bought Peaches and Cream  dahlia (3in) and (2) white bleeding heart.  I want the the dahlia with my Buff Beauty rose.  Hope the colors blend and don't clash.

The also had Amish -made  cedar bird houses for a very reasonable price.  I bought my mother-in-law a wren house that she had mentioned wanting and I bought a bluebird house.  They were 8.97 and 10.47.  I wanted them for patterns as much as anything.  I thought they were cleverly made.  I hope the strong cedar fragrance isn't a hindrance to the birds.

The Garden Center manager told me something interesting.  She said none of their fertilizers contain phosphorous this year......the Green People strike again!  Evidently the run-off is contaminating streams and underground water sources.
So people will have to be seeking other sources.  They did not have ag lime either.  I finally found some at Race Brothers in Springfield.  I haven't limed in years; maybe that will help the garden this year.

I have some late daffs that have opened. 

From Gardening 2010

From Gardening 2010

and the first iris.  This is an intermediate variety that I call Lisenby's antique purple passalong.  He is the neighbor who gave it to me.  It is darker than the picture shows.

From Gardening 2010

DH  is requesting pancakes for breakfast.  So I don't feel so guilty making them for him, I use a recipe that uses whole wheat flour and oatmeal.  It is a perfect size for two.  I will post about them with the recipe tomorrow.

Another good gardening day ahead, hope  yours is the same.

Lilacs and Biscuits

 I was up at 3 AM this morning...again.  I think all the meds are affecting my sleep.  I will be glad when they are finished by the end of the week.  It was 59° this morning and is a lovely 81° now.


FOOD

We had a ham dinner for DH's parents Sunday and that has been bearing on my mind ever since.  I believe we deserved a country breakfast and so at 6 AM we had one.  I try to limit us to only one of this kind once a week or less.

We had biscuits, ham and ham gravy, Willow's milk, homemade apple jelly, butter and fried eggs.
For several years now I have been making biscuits using a slightly different recipe from Mom's old standby.

I know it by heart:

Biscuits    preheat oven (I use a counter top one) to 450°
2 cups flour (I use unbleached)
1 Tablespoon aluminum free baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup shortening (I use my home-rendered lard)
3/4 to l cup  buttermilk (I use my, " " "" "")
Mix together dry ingredients, cut in shortening,
Add buttermilk and stir until all dry are moistened.

Now here is my next routine so I don't have to mess up a bread board.  I lay paper towel or two on a  cookie sheet that has been sprinkled with flour.  I knead the dough a couple of times  and press out to about a 1.5 inch thick round   Cut out with floured cutter (I like small biscuits so I use a tomato paste can). 
Note:  While the oven is preheating, I place the pan inside so it is hot too.  Place  biscuits in pan and bake until brown.  Times will vary but about 10  to 15 minutes is a good starting point.  With the little oven I have to place foil under the pan and over the top to keep from burning.  I do this after the tops and bottoms have browned.  I just hate to heat up that monster over for a little pan like this.

I never cook over 5 or 6.  Place cookie sheet with remaining biscuits  in freezer and freeze. When firm, put in baggie and seal.   When cooking the frozen ones, I put them in the oven before preheating and let them thaw as the oven warms up.  You can't tell them from fresh. 
I just bagged up these,
I noticed there were just five.........one was stuck to the top shelf of the freezer drawer!  I found it.

and here is how they looked this morning:



GARDENING

Most of my lilacs are just the old syringa vulgaris but I do love them!  I don't prune them or do much else for them.  They are almost tree size.  I can't even reach the top to cut off the old blooms.  I will try to do better with my new, named variety 'Annabel' lilac.  Here is how Martha Stewart describes her:

Lilac: Syringa x hyacinthiflora Annabel. 'Annabel' produces sweet-scented double, soft-pink flowers in densely-branched spikes in spring. 

I knew that bloom looked slightly different; she is extremely fragrant and has bloomed her second year in the ground.  I am very pleased.  I will try to get a better picture today.  She is so short I will have to get on my knees. I did and I think she is about 36 inches tall, I am 5 3.5" and on my knees.

and a closeup of the the bloom,


 I hope these pictures aren't too large.  I will go back to the medium size.  You all let me know if the size bothers you loading.

This is just the regular lilac.  I think it is darker because of the location,  it doesn't get as much sun.  The previous owners planted it between the well house and the garage, just a narrow little strip of ground.

and these are the two massive clumps in the shrub border by the road out front,
This first was supposed to have been a white; obviously it was not!

From Gardening 2010

and Miss Kim,  maybe ??? I thought she wasn't so large so who knows.  She is a lighter color than the other one,