MerryHeartCrafts.comMountain Momma… Country Living

Look at what Grace found!!  We are all very excited to get this first one.  Remember the big tomato plant we bought early in the spring and put in a bucket.  Well, the tomatoes are starting to get ripe on it.  All our other plants are, of course, way behind this one.  Tonight we will divide this one four ways so we can all have a little nibble.  So much fun, sharing the first of the harvest.

This morning the girls and I went out early and started working on the hen house.  It needed to be cleaned out and we wanted to get their nests ready as we are hoping soon to get eggs-maybe by the end of next month.  We just barely got finished before it started to sprinkle rain.  I think though it has already stopped.  What we need is a good steady rain but I know many blogger friends who are in severe drought conditions.

Our chicken yesterday evening was delicious.  I will definitely be making it again.  I was thinking that the spice mixture would be good on pork or beef as well.  I took the chicken off the bone and put the bones and skin back in the pot with the broth that had cooked out of the chicken.  I then added water -enough to fill up the crock pot.  Then I turned it on low and this morning I will be freezing delicious homemade chicken broth for soups and such.  YUM! 

I better get busy.  I want to make some hamburger buns for supper this evening.  We will be having pork bbq, fries, corn on the cob and cantelope for dessert.  Enjoy your day and God bless.

Yesterday, we ran a few errands in C-burg.  Our pastor’s wife had told me Joann’s had simplicity patterns on sale for .99 cents.  I found this great vintage apron pattern.  I love old things.  I am in process of redoing the flowered apron.  I just did not like the contrasting material.  No one else did either.   So yesterday, I took it off.    I will be doing something different on the bottom, maybe just a lace ruffle. 

My house smells delicious.  Yesterday while we were out, I got a rotisserie chicken.   For supper, we had chicken, noodles, green beans and fresh baked bread.  Then I took the bones and cooked them all night in my crock pot to make a stock.  Everytime I awoke last night I could smell the stock cooking.  Today I have simmering on the wood stove, chicken and noodle soup.  I got the original  recipe from another blog and it is just delicious.  Of course, I have altered the recipe to suit our taste.

The recipe is:  deboned chicken, stock, carrots, celery, onions.  The amounts of these will depend upon how much chicken you use.  1 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. turmeric, 1/2 tsp pepper, 2 tsp. parsley,  1 tsp. chicken base (if you have it, if not, its just fine without it). I then add about 1/4 to 1/2 tsp. italian seasoning, basil, oregano- or whatever I have on hand.  Let this all simmer for about 30 minutes, add noodles.  Another guessing amount but I think at least 2 cups.  After noodles are done,  mix together 3 tbsp flour and water.  Add this to the soup mixture and let it simmer.  This will cause the soup to thicken.  In this pot, I added some canned corn also.  In the picture, I have not added the flour yet.  You can skip this step, if you want.  I have made it both ways.

Time for school to begin.  Enjoy your day and God bless.

I took these pictures the other day when we were cutting wood.   This butterfly is especially for Jess.

This is the view from where we were cutting the wood.

A picture of a fire pink.  There were lots of these blooming in the wooded area.

There is a little trial you can walk that circles around.  This is the beginning of the wooded part of the trial.

About 1 second after I took this picture, a squirrel came running down this trial straight toward me.  I was not fast enough with the camera to get a picture.  I am experiencing technical difficulties with my computer.  My technical support team (Dave) says it is my hard drive.  For now, I am using Hubby’s computer.  For all the people whose blog I read and comment on,  there may be a season of silence.  I have them on my computer in my favorites list and I do not know how to transfer them.  Dave will fix all this in due time.  I hope to learn how to post pictures on this computer.  Pray for me as you all know I am not very technical.  This is my fourth attempt to post this.  The pictures were already loaded from my old computer yesterday before it said goodbye.  Well, enough of all that.  Tonight’s menu at church will be hot dogs with homemade chili, slaw, chips, salad and some kind of dessert (unknown as of yet).  Lunch today was beef roast in the crock pot, potatoes cooked in butter, home canned green beans, and watermelon for dessert.  I guess I better get started on my study for tonight.  Take care and God bless.