MerryHeartCrafts.comMountain Momma… Country Living

Today has been a kinda slow day.  Julie went shooting at the shooting range with her Dad today. She had a really great time and says she wants to go again.  Grace and I stayed home.  We made applesauce muffins.  I got the recipe from one of my blogger friends.  Remember the “peach sauce” we made earlier in the summer, well, we used it instead of applesauce.  They turned out really good.  Then we made some homemade rolls to go with supper tonight.  We will be having beef roast, corn from the garden and potatoes, with the homemade rolls of course.  I think watermelon for dessert. 

Today is a beautiful day here in Floyd.  Temperatures in the upper 70′s, low 80′s.  One of those nice relaxing days.  I thought the picture of the cat summed up how the day has been.  Slow and lazy.  Yesterday was bible study day.  We only have one more lessons in I Corinthians and then we will start the Ruth study.  I am really looking forward to it.  I’m sure there will be lots to learn. 

Time for me to go enjoy some of that nice weather.  My green swing is calling me.  Of course, the other cat will have to move over. 

God bless.

I think these are such cheerful flowers.  I like their bright color.  They are among the last of the flowers to bloom in one of my flower gardens.  Fall is definitely in the air here in Floyd.  Cooler temperatures at night.  Upper 50′s lower 60′s.  We even spotted one tree that is starting to change colors.  I love fall!  Many people say summer has long lazy days.  This is usually not true for me.  Fall is more of a slow down time for us.  Most of the canning is done.  We can slow down and enjoy the cooler days.  I love it!  Of course,  I have had to slow down a little earlier than planned this year but I think I have learned a lot from this experience.  What have I learned?  I need to slow down a little, enjoy life more, laugh more, do more things with my girls.  There is much to be said for teaching my girls how to can and take care of the house but also there is much to be said for picnics under oak trees and hikes down favorite trails.  Balance-I think it is all about balance. 

Yesterday the girls and I made homemade vegetable beef soup with homemade rolls.  It is starting to feel like soup weather.  I told the girls the other day, these cooler temperatures makes me want to open up new school books.  Amazing-cooler temps does not have the same effect on them.   We wanted to make chocolate chip cookies yesterday but did not get them done.  I think that will be a project for today.  If we get to make them, I will try to post the recipe we use.  We have some corn that needs to be pulled and worked up so I guess that too will be on the list for today.  My list is not near as long as it was before the back pain.

Enjoy your day and 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.

The girls and I made salsa yesterday.  We ended up with 19 pints.  Counting what we made the other day, I think this is enough to last us through the winter.  We will be canning peaches today. 

Temperatures here are still cool and comfortable, 67 degrees.   Very overcast.  It is supposed to warm up throughout the week with a chance of thunderstorms.  I really like the cooler temps, I just wish the sun was shining.  Oh well, God knows what He’s doing. 

I was wondering if anyone out there had a good pizza sauce recipe.  I have one that is pretty good but I am always looking for new ones to try.  I guess I better get busy-peaches are calling.  Take care and God bless.

We did not get to have our breakfast picnic yesterday morning at the park.   Weather was too bad.  VERY foggy here.   Most people would not have been able to find the park .  Everything is wet, wet, wet.   We did move it to the church, however, so we still had breakfast.  Just not outside like originally planned.  Lots of good food though.  The pastors sermon was on the Lord’s Prayer.  It was a very good message.

I have been told this strange looking flower is called a Naked Lady.  The name suits it.  There are no leaves on it what so ever.  Just a tall stem and then the flower.  They have filled out more since I took this picture however I could not get a new picture.  It is too foggy and dreary today.  The girls and I will be busy making more salsa.  I did not like the recipe in the Ball canning book as much as I like my old recipe.  It was given to me by a Mennonite friend, Judy.  So today we are making her recipe.  Much better.  Temperatures have been cooler here.  Low’s in the upper 50′s, high’s in the low to mid 60′s.  Wet, foggy.  Nice days for doing work inside or just curling up with a good book.  I think I’ll try to work both of these activities in today.  Enjoy your day and God bless.

Friday evening we went to our Pastor’s house.  As I mentioned earlier, he gave us some peaches.  He has a small orchard at his house.  All his trees were so full of fruit.  It was beautiful.

These are only a few of the trees.  Grace took lots of pictures.  I will try to post more of them tomorrow.

This is a view from his yard.  Very pretty.  We also ate supper at his house.  Almost everything we had was home grown.  I love to eat this way.  We had hamburgers on the grill, cucumbers, onions and tomatoes from the garden, fresh homemade applesauce, and fresh peaches.  Delicious!

The girls and I did not get to can our beets yesterday.  As it was raining most of the day, we decided to run a few errands in town instead.  Jess had given me some coupons she had for canning jars and lids.  We decided to go to Wal-Mart and get these.  They are a little cheaper there than there are at our local supermarket.  We will be canning the beets today. 

The sun is shining here nicely today.  Temperatures have cooled down some, thanks to the rain yesterday.  Outside temperature is about 80 degrees.  This is one of those weeks when things begin to start building up.  Much to do.  Beans are ready to pick, berries are ready, beets are ready and I think we might have enough tomatoes ripe to make a batch of salsa.  I love to can and put away food for my family however when I start getting behind, it is easy for me to allow that to become a stressor in my life.  I do not want this to happen.  God has given us this bounty and I thank Him for it.  When I was growing up,  the garden and canning controlled our summers.  I do not want that for my girls.  I want the garden and all it involves to be enjoyable and fun for my girls.  I want to keep a balance.  This is hard, as old habits are sometimes difficult to break.  Pray that I will do this well-that my girls will have a love for gardening and canning and not see it as just hard work. 

Enjoy your day and God bless.

We were very blessed to have these peaches given to us.  They are called Saturn peaches or donut peaches.  These are very small and I was not really sure how to best use them.

As you can see, we had quite a few.  We decided to make something like an applesauce from them.  We used the food strainer.   We made a pie from our peach sauce yesterday to see how it would taste.  It actually was very good.   Hubby was home yesterday and he helped.  Thanks, Babe. 

Temperatures here are hot.  We are getting a small shower here  this morning.  Much needed.  However the sun is already back so it probably will get hot fast.  We are headed into town for piano practice.  I also need a few spices for the beets.  Enjoy your day and God bless.

Yesterday we had 12 more quarts of spaghetti sauce.  I think this will be all the spaghetti sauce we make unless we have lots more tomatoes.  I want to make salsa and maybe try our hand at ketchup.  We also usually just can tomatoes and tomato sauce for use in soup and chili.  Temperatures here have been hot and humid.  Low to mid 90′s. 

Jess talked to her mother-in-law yesterday and she said the name of this apple is Scarlett Apple.  She thinks she ordered the tree from Stark Bros.  I typed it in on Google and found all kinds of information about it.  Very interesting.

Today is bible study day so I better get busy.  We have decided to do it at Barbara’s house.  It is so hot here and Barbara has air conditioning.    Enjoy your day and God bless.

I thought it would be nice to look back and remember how things were just a few short months ago.  This picture was taken this morning.  Then I looked back and found another picture of the same scene.

Personally I like this morning’s picture better but to each his own.  Yesterday was busy for us.  The girls and I went to pick apples.  A friend from church offered us his early apples from his tree.  We were very thankful to get them.  After we came home, we started processing them.  Yesterday we got 11 quarts of applesauce made and still have more to work with today.  Sally, our pastors wife, told us she puts her apples in the microwave to cook them.  This was much easier as we didn’t have to worry about them burning.  Then she puts hers through her food strainer and puts them in the freezer.  I had never put applesauce in the freezer, only apples.  We tried that yesterday.  It was a lot faster and didn’t heat up the house. 

 Beautiful weather here in Floyd this week.  Much cooler temperatures with a wonderful breeze.    We have had several little rains which we really needed.  I picked green beans Monday and dug some young potatoes.  They were delicious.  I think I’ll be able to pick some more beans by tomorrow.  YUM!   I love fresh produce. 

 Did you all notice my canning and freezing logs Dave put on my blog?  Thanks Dave.  I really like being able to look at it and see what I’ve got done and what I still need.  I better get working on those apples.  Enjoy your day and God bless.

It’s been a while since I posted pictures of our garden.  It has really grown.  Everything looks to be doing really well.  You can’t tell it from the picture but the potatoes are beginning to bloom.

This is our beans and corn.  We kinda got a late start on planting them but they look strong and healthy.   Today is an absolutely beautiful day here in Floyd.  Temperatures are in the lower 70′s with a nice breeze.  It’s one of those days where it is hard to work inside.  I would much rather be outside enjoying the day.  Hopefully, later after our inside work is done.  I plan on spending some quality time with my green swing.

This is the kind of space I always dreamed of having.  It is one of the most peaceful places I know.  I so much enjoy coming and sitting down in this swing.  The Lord and I have had some of our best conversation here.   I am so thankful to my hubby for making this swing for me and for helping me keep this area beautiful.

I wanted to show you all how the sun was glistening off the rows of corn.  The corn stalks seem to be glowing.  I thought it was very pretty.  I guess I’d better get busy if I want to get my housework done today.  After all, the green swing IS calling my name.  Enjoy your day and God bless.