MerryHeartCrafts.comMountain Momma… Country Living

This picture of our grapevine was taken on April 12.  This is what it looked like last week.

It seems to be growing every day and full of baby grapes!

This makes me very happy.  I hope to make some jelly this year and lots and lots of grape juice!  We so enjoy having our own juice to drink.

Our weekend was a busy one.  I didn’t get to tell all about it on yesterdays post.  It was late and I was tired.  Anyway, on Friday, our church had a mother/daughter banquet.  It was lots of fun with about 25 ladies attending.  Then on Saturday, we had to go to Jessica’s to start working on some things her ins. agency said needed to be done.   After we got there, Hubby realized we would need the scaffold, so we came back home Saturday evening.  We went back down on Sunday and finished it up.  Jess, the kids, myself, Julie and Grace went to the Farmers Market on Sunday.  We had a great time just walking around looking at everything.  Okay, so I have to tell you, we rode Jessica’s van to the market.  7 of us.  We took the double stroller and the small stroller, plus, of course, all the other stuff you need for small kids.  Needless to say, her van was packed.  Then when we get there, the first thing Jess sees-2 HUGE hanging baskets, that would look just perfect on her front porch.  Now if you would like to have seen something funny, you should have been there in the parking lot watching us try to get all that stuff back in the van.  It really was hilarious!!  We finally did it though and didn’t even damage her new hanging baskets.  I guess we are just talented. 

Our lunch break is over and so I must get back to school.  Enjoy your day and God bless.

Our grapevine is coming along nicely.    Remember last year we cut it back too much and didn’t get not one single grape from it.  We are hoping for lots and lots of grapes this year.

We have been busy this week with school and other miscellaneous things.  Nothing too big.  We went to help Hubby yesterday.  The room he is working on needs lots of work on the floor.  It is sagging very badly.  He has to take the floor up and get under the house to jack it up.   It had little linoleum squares on it that had been put on with some kind of heavy duty glue.  We had to take the heat gun to each individual square and then use a shovel to get them up.  It took most of the day. 

We are having a little cold spell here.  We call it dogwood winter as the dogwoods are in full bloom.  We have been in the upper 20′s at night with frost.  Yesterday’s high was low 40′s with lots of wind.  Chilly but today has been nice.  Sun and temperatures in the low 60′s.  I like that much better. 

Well, that’s about all that is happening here.  I hope you all have a wonderful evening and God bless.

I thought I would give you all a break from festival pictures today.  Underneath these two trees sits my “green swing” which as you know I dearly love.

This is a picture of a late blooming hollyhock.  See how tall it is.  Our house is a two story house and if you look in the upper left corner of the picture you can see the edge of the roof on the house.  Just look at how blue the sky is today.  God is so good!

Our grapevine getting ready to rest for the winter.

Cows in the field behind our house.

Today I am trying a new recipe.  Well, not completely new, I have made it once before.  The other time I made it in the oven.  Today, I am making it in the crockpot.    The recipe is called Honey Baked Lentils and Rice.  

1 cup lentils, 1 cup brown rice, 4 1/2 cups water, 2 tbsp honey, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp olive oil, 2 tbsp minced onion, 1/2 tsp ginger, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste (I used 1/4 tsp each).  Place in crockpot, cook on low for about 4 hrs or until lentils are done.  You can also cook this in the oven in a casserole dish for 1 1/2 hrs at 350 degrees.

School today as usual.  It is an absolutely beautiful day here in Floyd.  I am doing another batch of apples in the steam juicer and will be making applesauce later on today.  I also want to go up on the hill and gather some mullein leaves to dry for making tea.   This tea is very good hot or cold and it is very good for respiratory ailments.  I usually just pick it in the summer and make a cold tea from it.  I have never tried drying it before. 

Our supper tonight will be bbq made from the remainder of the roast I coooked yesterday.  Homemade buns, home fries and the honey baked lentils.   I think we will have peaches for dessert.  Enjoy your day and God bless.

I thought I would show you all a few pictures of around our house.  This picture is one of the old walnut trees that is in the yard.  The faithful horse you see has survived Julie and Grace and is now being enjoyed by grandchildren.

This picture is looking out my dining room window.

As you come down our driveway, this is one of the first things you see.  Hubby built the bench a few years ago.  The swing was one purchased from Wal-Mart.  When the cloth seats gave out, Hubby made a wood swing to hang on the frame.  Can you tell we love to sit outside here?

This picture looks up into the field from the side yard.  You can see our grapevine and garden.  Well, I have a few more pictures but they will have to wait for another day.  Time for us to leave for church.  Tonight’s menu is meatloaf, mac & cheese, corn, rolls, cole slaw, cooked apples and watermelon.  Enjoy your day and God bless.

Our grapevine. You can see another smaller “brash” pile in the second garden.   We are hoping to have lots and lots of grapes this year.  Now that we have our steamer juicer, we are looking forward to making lots of grape juice .   We certainly did enjoy the apple juice we made last year.  I want to experiment with other types of fruit to make juice.

Today is another beautiful day here in Floyd.  Very windy though, as usual.  Temperature is already in the 50′s.  Forecast is for rain over the weekend.  I was hoping for sunshine and warm temperatures but I know we did rain too.   The ladies will be coming in a little bit.  We are planning on doing some more outside work after our study is finished.  The girls work on school while the ladies and I are doing our bible study.    We are working on a surprise outside which I will show you all when we get it finished. 

Enjoy your day and 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 grapevine is looking very good this year.  Last year we only had a few grapes, thanks to a late frost.  Hopefully we will have much more this year.  When we bought the vines I thought I was getting blue concord grapes.  However these are green in color.  They taste like concord grapes though and make great jelly-it’s just green instead of purple.  They seem to be hardy and very productive and that’s what counts.

My mint is doing very well this year.  I have to keep a close eye on it though as it loves to take over the garden.  I think I will make mint tea today.  I make mine by using 2 cups chopped mint leaves with 4 cups of water.  Bring to a boil and remove from heat.  Let sit for 15 min.  Sweeten to taste and refrigerate.  This will make 1 qt. of tea.  Delicious served cold with ice.

This mint is called pineapple mint.  Very colorful.  It makes a beautiful border and very good tea as well.  Sometimes I mix the two mints together.  I love making fresh tea.  Today is my friend Vicki’s birthday.  We are going over to her house for a cook out and to help her celebrate.  I think I will take some fresh tea for her to try.  The girls have started the housework so I guess I best help.  Take care, enjoy your day and God bless.