MerryHeartCrafts.comMountain Momma… Country Living

Today along with my many other duties, I will be processing these beautiful cushaw and pumpkin.  There were 3 cushaws altogether but one is already in the steamer.   I plan to steam them enough to cut the peeling off, puree them in the sauce maker and then freeze the puree. You see the pumpkin in the box,  I have never tasted this type of pumpkin.  The lady who gave it to me said she thought they were called cow pumpkins.  She said they were very good for pies.  The cushaw was a gift from my mother-in-law.  Thanks, Judy. 

We had a nice afternoon yesterday.  Hubby needed a haircut so we went over to our friends house who cuts our hair for us.  We shared coffee and an excellent dessert she had made.  Then after he got his hair cut, Hubby and Faye got out their guitars and we enjoyed singing some old hymns.  I so enjoy these times.    The dessert she made was very simple.  4 large apples, 2 containers of store bought crescent rolls.  Quarter the apples and place a quarter in each crescent roll.  Roll the crescent around the apple.  Put into baking dish.  Heat 1 stick butter, 1 cup sugar, cinnamon (to taste) and 1 1/2 cups water until melted.  Pour this mixture over the apple dumplings and bake at 350 about 45 minutes or until cresents are golden brown.  Serve warm topped with whipped creme.  They were delicious.  I guess since I am working up pumpkin today I thought this recipe would work with pumpkin instead of the apples.  I think I would change the sugar to brown sugar, also add a little nutmeg.  Maybe I’ll try that today.  We’ll see.   Sunday is our Thanksgiving dinner at church.  I need to get started making rolls.

The sun is shining here today.  Lots of wind-gusts of about 30 mph.  This made walking a little more difficult.  Hubby went with me though and that made it much more enjoyable.  Enjoy your day and God bless.

This little guy was playing hide and seek yesterday while we were at the park.  Hubby kept trying to get his picture and he would run away.  It was kinda fun trying to catch him in a good pose.  Finally, he just gave up and took the shot.  I think it turned out good.  This question is for Jess-Do you think this could be the one?  (It’s a long standing family joke) 

The sun is beginning to shine today so maybe we are done with the rainy, dreary days for a while.  I really want to hang my clothes outside today.  I have them in the machine in hopes of getting them out before the sun decides to hide behind the clouds.  Today we will be doing school, as usual, cleaning the house for bible study tomorrow, and hopefully finishes another sack of apples.  So I guess I’d better get busy.  Enjoy your day and God bless.

I thought I would share a picture of my rolls.  Always before I have put them on a cookie sheet to bake.  When I do this, I get 13-15 rolls.  Over the weekend, I tried something different and put them into 3 round cake pans.  I get 21-24 rolls using these pans and I think they look and taste better.  Yesterdays supper was fried chicken, home canned corn, and gravy.  With of course, these rolls. 

We worked on the apples some more yesterday.  I canned this juice instead of freezing it.  Freezing it is much easier but, Praise the Lord, my freezers are getting full.  I have to save some space my the deer my Hubby will be getting.  Notice my positive thinking!  Anyway, we got 5 qts of juice and 2 qts of applesauce.  Hopefully, we will be doing more today. 

I am trying out a new recipe for apple muffins for breakfast.  Thanks Cheryl for sharing.  They have just came out of the oven.  I think I will go enjoy them.  Take care and God bless.

Here is a picture of my juicer/steamer in action.  Yesterday it was raining very hard.  It would have been difficult for me to go outside to do the juice.  Hubby set up the propane burner on our enclosed front porch.  It worked extremely well.  So much better than out in the shed.  We just opened up the windows for ventilation.  We got another 2 gal. of juice yesterday and 3 qts of applesauce and 4 qts of applebutter.  The mountain of apples is getting smaller now.  Soon we will be starting on the pears. 

I thought you all might enjoy another fall shot.  I snapped this as we were going down the road toward Floyd.  I thought maybe it would be blurred but it turned out nice, I think.  Today we will be working on more apples and school.  It is very foggy here today.  A dreary day.  A day for lighting candles.  Enjoy your day and God bless.

This pretty little stream runs through one of the fields below our house.  A few blue flowers are still holding on.  Yesterday was  a beautiful day here in Floyd.  Today however we may get some rain.  Pretty windy and overcast.  The pastors sermon yesterday was on David and Goliath and facing the giants in our own life.  It was an excellent sermon.   Last nights menu was mostly leftovers from the “critter chompin”.  We had a cornbeard casserole, potato cakes, green beans, baked beans, fresh homemade bread, chips and dip, and cake.  We always eat sooooo good!

Today, hopefully, we will get some more of our apples worked up, along with school.   I am doing laundry but it will have to be dried inside-so sad.  I really miss hanging clothes outside.  I think they smell so good.  Well, I better get busy.  Enjoy your day and God bless.

We decided to surprise the girls today and do a picnic lunch.  This area is one of their favorite picnic spots and it is close to home.  We had a great time.  We took so many pictures.  I will share them with you all over the next few days.  This is the road leading into the park.  After lunch we came home and had some difficulties with our stove.  As you all know, we have been using it a lot this summer.  Hubby only recently replaced all the stove eyes and their receptables.  Well, today as the steamer/juicer was busy with our second batch of cider, the receptable shorted out and caught on fire.  Praise the Lord, Hubby was here and got everything under control quickly.  This does mean, however, that until he can fix it the biggest eye on my stove is not usable.  Well, “all things worketh good”.  He has been wanting to fix us a place outside to use the propane burner to can on.  So today, prompted by need, he got the burner set up and I used it to cook the second batch of apples on.  It works really well.  I’m not sure how it will do using the pressure canner though.  We haven’t tried that yet.

We now have 2 gal. of apple cider.  YEAH!  We have been running the apples that have cooked down through the roma sauce maker.  Yesterday we just used it for applesauce.  It is really thick though as all the juice has been cooked out.  Today, we decided to try something a little different.  We make applebutter out of it.  No cooking involved-no simmering for hours praying it does not stick.  Just added the sugar and spices AND put it in freezer bags and froze it.  I’m not sure how it will be but it certainly was easier.  It tasted just like applebutter that had simmered for a long time so I think it will be good.

Well, I am tired so I think I will rest for a while.  Oh, I almost forgot, Hubby got the room painted today.  I guess the next step is to lay down the rug.  Getting closer every day.  Enjoy your evening and God bless.

We learned a valuable lesson yesterday.  First I’ll start on Friday evening.  As you all know we met at the pastor’s house to begin peeling apples for our apple butter.  We peeled 6 bushel.  We decided to put them in salt water overnight so they would not turn brown.

On Saturday morning about 8:00, we built the fire and loaded some of the apples into the kettle.  As the apples cooked down, we would add more to the kettle.

All day we took turns stirring the apples in the kettle.  Fun but hard work.  We had a wonderful day of fellowship with a great meal.  However, we did not get any applebutter.  Before we added the sugar, (Thank you, Lord) we decided to taste the applesauce.  YUCK!!!!!It tasted terrible.  We reviewed all we had done and came to the conclusion our mistake was soaking the apples in the salt water overnight.  The salt reacted with the cooper kettle and the apples were very bitter and metallic tasting.  We ended up throwing them away.  No applebutter, however, we did all have a GREAT time.  It was a lot of fun.  I would do it all again even with the same results.  We are talking about trying again maybe in Oct.  We’ll see. 

Today is a rainy day here in Floyd. No complaints though.   We really need the rain.  Kinda chilly.  Mid 50′s.  We are not having bible study tonight so I think today is a snuggle in and relax evening.  I hope your Sunday will be just as enjoyable.  God bless.

This is a picture of our church.  It is a very small church that is out in the country.  My kind of church.  Today the pastor’s message was about what makes up a church.  It was a very good message. 

This is the view from the backside.  Isn’t that grapevine pretty?  You can’t really see it but there is a nice garden behind the grape vine and over to the right is a nice small orchard with apples, pears, and plums.  A very nice setting.

We came home from church and for lunch we had homemade bbq using the  rolls Grace and I made yesterday for the buns.  We also had fresh corn from the garden and I made a macaroni salad.  For dessert we had the applesauce muffins we made yesterday.  Tonight’s menu at church will be pigs in a blanket, chicken casserole, green beans, potatoes, with pie and a cake for dessert.  Tonight will be our last lesson on I Corinthians.  We will start II Corinthians on Sept. 19. 

Today has been another nice day here in Floyd.  Temperature right now is 82 degrees with a slight breeze.  Very enjoyable.  Time for me to go enjoy some of that nice weather.  God bless.

Our corn is ready!  I love fresh garden corn.  We have been working some of it up this morning.   So far we have put 58 ears in the freezer and 9 pts cut off the cob.  I have a vacuum sealer which I use for the corn and other stuff.  It is a very handy thing to have.  I purchase items at the store in bulk at a discounted price and then separate them out into portions we can use.  Then seal them with the vacuum sealer.  It really makes a difference.  No freezer burn.

   The type of corn we raise is called Merit Corn or where I’m from they call it Garden Creek Corn.  The man who had the seed for it lived on Garden Creek, thus the name.  It is an excellent corn, very sweet.  It is called the silkless corn because when you shuck it the silks just fall off with the shucks.  I LIKE THAT!  Makes working the corn so much easy.

We have been getting quite a lot of rain here this week.  The temperatures have cooled down some though because of the rain.  Yesterday, the girls and I worked on apples.  16 quarts to be exact.  I used my new steamer juicer and extracted over a qt of juice from the peelings.  We had fresh apple juice with breakfast this morning.  Very delicious!

Better get busy.  Enjoy your day and God bless.

Last nights supper consisted of what we call mountain food.  Kraut and weiners, pinto beans, fried potatoes, and rolls.  Now for those of you who know true mountain food, the rolls should not have been on the menu.  The bread of choice of all mountain food is cornbread.  I already had the rolls though and decided not to take the time to make cornbread.  For dessert we had something new.  New for us anyway.  Pear Pie.  It was very good.  I got the recipe from a blogger friend of mine-Thanks Cheryl.  I made it just like you would make an apple pie.  I put a crumb topping on it and served it with whipped creme.  It was very good.

Today will be busy as usual for us.  We still have some pears to work up, then start on the apples.  We need to pick tomatoes, green beans and blackberries.   All that seems a little too ambitious but we’ll see.   I think today will be very HOT.  Temperature is already 70 and it is only 8:30. 

Enjoy your day and God bless.