Our Church

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.

August 29, 2010 1

A Resting Kind of Day

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.

August 28, 2010 1

Chocolate Chip Cookies

We did make cookies this afternoon. It seems like it has been a long time since we made cookies. We have made lots of other desserts this summer, just not cookies. Here’s the recipe I like to use:

1/2 cup shortening, 1/2 cup butter, softened. 1 cup packed brown sugar, 1/2 cup white sugar, 2 eggs, 1 tsp. vanilla, 3 cups self-rising flour. I use 2 cups white flour, 1 cup fresh ground wheat flour. Add 1 12 oz package chocolate chips. I use the mini chocolate chips. I think they do much better, makes you think there is more chocolate in each cookie. Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 min. We are enjoying them now with a tall glass of fresh milk. Life is good!

We gathered the corn this morning but because of my back problems it had gotten a little bit hard so we are making pickled corn from it. I really like pickled corn with brown beans and corn bread. When I make pickled corn, I cut it off the cob-do not scrape the cob. Then I put it into a crock, cover it with cold water. Put a plate on top of this so the corn stays under the salted water. For every gallon of water I need to cover the corn, I add 10 tbsp. of canning salt. Let the corn sit in the crock for 1 week. Drain the salted water off and rinse the corn. Put into jars and process in water bath canner. 10 min. pts and 15 min. qts. When it is time to eat it, we like to heat it up in a cast iron skillet with just a little bit of oil. To make myself feel better I use olive oil. The old way is to use lard.

More cookies are ready to come out of the oven. Enjoy your day and God bless.

August 26, 2010 2

Black Eyed Susans

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.

August 26, 2010 1

Thanks for Praying

I am doing much better today. Still not totally back to normal, but so much better. I think I am on the mend. PRAISE THE LORD! I really appreciate all your prayers. There is so much comfort in knowing people are praying for you. I will post more later today. I just wanted everyone to know I am feeling better. God bless.

August 25, 2010 1

Prayer Request

No pictures today. Just a request for prayer. I am having a terrible time with back pain. All last week it was bothering me some but Friday it attacked full force. Thanks to some muscle relaxers, I am able to walk around some but it still hurts. PRAY for healing. I am not very good at being immobile.

August 23, 2010 4

Sweet, Juicy Corn

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.

August 19, 2010 2

Peaches

Today we have been busy with peaches. We had 11 qts of peaches. After peeling them, I decided to try out my new helper. I put the peelings into the steamer juicer and got 2 qts of juice. From that juice, I made 6 pts of jelly. I think they look really pretty in the jar. It was easy to do. I think it was a wise investment. Supper this evening was fried chicken, gravy, corn and biscuits. Of course, peach jelly for dessert.

A new visitor to our pond. He (or she) arrived the other day for a short visit. Hubby says he thinks it is an egret. Of course, he stood out with his white color. I think the geese were a little amazed. We have been having rain lately. It is raining now as I am doing this post. I had hoped to go to the garden and check on things but I don’t think that will be happening. Oh well, maybe I’ll just rest. Take care and God bless.

August 17, 2010 1

Newest Helper

My newest helper. It is a steam juicer. I only found out about these this summer. I think it will be very helpful for making juice. I also can steam veggies in it. Our grapes are almost ready so I am excited to try it out. Hopefully it will be a wise investment.

We had a very busy weekend. Hubby went to a shooting range with some people from church and the girls and I went to do some shopping. I’ve been having trouble with my blood pressure being high and I am taking Hibiscus capsules for it. Our health food store does not carry it so we have to go to another town to get it. We also had to go to Lowes and purchase new stove eyes. All the eyes on my stove had stopped working but one. We got those put on but still had to go back Sunday and get two new receptables. I think we are in good working order now. It felt like I was cooking on a new stove this morning, with all the eyes working.

A couple at our church celebrated their 50th anniversary this past week. The church and her family gave them a surprise party. Yes we did manage to keep it a secret. Pretty amazing! We had lots of good food and fellowship. We are so blessed to have such good examples for our young people to follow.

The decorations were very nice. One little boy asked me if the cake was real or was it just to look at. It was very pretty. It was real by the way.

Well, we have lots to do today so I better get busy. Enjoy your day and God bless.

August 16, 2010 1

Blackberries

Our blackberries are doing much better than I thought they would. Today makes 3 gal. I’ve picked. YUM!

Yesterday we finished the pears. Later, we went up to the garden and SURPRISE! Lots of beans were ready. We canned 15 quarts and had enough for dinner and lunch today.

Tomorrow we will be going down to Jessica’s. Sam has a doctors appointment so the girls and I will be playing with Daniel. Jess is going to make supper for us before we come back home. Last night’s menu was fried chicken, green beans, and rice. We had cantalope and watermelon for dessert. It certainly has been hot here for the last few days. Hotter than usual I think. Oh well, fall will be here soon and everyone knows what follows fall. I think we better enjoy these hot, summer days. Cold winter days will be here before we know it.

I think the girls and I will make pizza sauce to can today from the tomatoes we picked yesterday. The recipe I use is:

1/2 cup oil, 4 med. onions chopped, 4 cloves garlic, 1/4 cup dried parsley, 1 gal. tomato juice, 2-12 oz cans tomato paste, 1/2 cup sugar, 2 tsp. oregano, salt, and basil, 2 bay leaves, 3/4 tsp. black pepper. mix all ingredients, simmer about 2 hours. Process pints 30 min on 10 lb pressure. Yields about 12 pts. I will be adding banana peppers and some hot peppers to mine today as I have quite a few of these in the garden.

I guess I better get busy with these projects. Enjoy your day and God bless.

August 11, 2010 1