Garden Enjoyment

I thought I would post a few pictures of things that are growing in our garden.

Green beans starting to set on the vine. I will soon be able to pick some of these and enjoy them.

Our hot peppers. They will taste so good in our homemade salsa.

Sweet banana peppers. YUM! Hubby and I have had to start watering our garden. It is so dry here. Forecast is calling for a chance of rain over the weekend. We really need it. Seems like no matter how much you water, it never does the garden as much good as rain from God does. I think I forgot to tell everyone what a nice weekend we had here-very cool temperatures. Two mornings when we got up the temperature was 43 degrees- then up to the lower 50’s, upper 50’s and today mid 60’s. Daytime temperatures over the weekend were great-low to mid 70’s. Starting Monday though its been back up to HOT-not near as hot as some places but hot for us. 96 degrees yesterday when Hubby came through Christiansburg. Upper 80’s here on the farm.

Last nights supper was grilled chicken, green beans, pasta salad and rolls. I fixed everything on the grill so as not to heat the house up any more than it already was. We ate outside at the picnic table. It was really nice. A little breeze was blowing which helped a lot . Yesterday I got a recipe from my friend Vicki-applesauce pie. I made it and thought it was really good. I wanted to share it with you all.

2 eggs, 1 cup sugar, 2 tbsp flour, 1 tsp.ground nutmeg, 1 stick melted butter, 1 cup applesauce, 1 tsp vanilla. Combine sugar, flour, and nutmeg.(You can use cinnamon instead or a little of both). Beat eggs, add eggs to dry ingredients. Gently combine butter applesauce and vanilla until mixed. Pour into pie shell. Bake at 350 for 45 min or until golden brown. (I would recommend if your applesauce is sweet to cut down some on the sugar, I didn’t but Hubby thought it was a little too sweet. I thought it was just fine.)

Enjoy your day and God bless.

July 7, 2010 1

Butterfly Paradise

This is a picture of our butterfly bush and our rose of sharon. I think this is a very pretty spot in our yard. The butterflies and the hummingbirds really love this area so there is always lots of activity here.

Just one of the many who enjoy.

Our gooseberries. This bush has been loaded this year. The girls and I so enjoy eating them. I looked them up on the internet once and read that they are a dessert gooseberry. They are very sweet and delicious. I am thinking about looking up a recipe for gooseberry pie. I think it would be good.

Yesterday for ” lupper” we enjoyed steak on the grill, french fries, steamed carrots and broccoli. The broccoli was our first from the garden. So very good! I know lots of you think I misspelled supper, but ” lupper” is our name for a late lunch and an early supper. We just combine lunch and supper together and got the word “lupper”. We have “lupper” a lot when Hubby is home and then have just a little snack later in the evening.

Time for me to go hang some clothes on the line, enjoy God’s sunshine and the birds beautiful songs. Enjoy your day and God bless.

July 5, 2010 1

VBS

Here are a few pictures of the decorations for bible school. Our theme this year was Harvesting God’s Word. We had lots of good lessons, fun crafts and games, and of course good food. We averaged around 17 kids each night. I wanted to get some pictures of the kids, but Hubby put it all on video and I don’t know how to load that on the blog. Our pastor was there every night. He has such a heart for kids. I think he had as much fun as they did.

Progress is slow but moving on the new room. A minor setback occurred when we decided to put the door in a different place. This required undoing almost all we had done. Hubby had to remove the floor and do all the plumbing drains different. This will be much better though than the original plan.

The girls and I have been busy today putting up gooseberries in the freezer. We had 6 bags. This is the first time I have froze gooseberries. I hope they will be good. I also gathered some squash and zucchini to put in the freezer. We will be enjoying the first of our broccoli this evening with supper. I think home grown broccoli is so much better than store bought but then I think everything is better home grown. If I finish these other veggies in time, I think I will put up some rhubarb. I have gotten a little behind with my harvesting due to bible school and the new room. Oh well, all in God’s time. It has been a very pleasant morning for me. I so much enjoy putting up our own veggies that we raise in our garden. It always gives me a feeling of peace and contentment.

We are planning to go to the fireworks this evening in town. We had hoped the Horn’s would get to meet us there but Quentin had to work. Jess and Dave are going to enjoy fireworks down at their town. They will be coming up next weekend. Sam’s first trip to the mountains. I can hardly wait to see them all. I guess I better get busy if I expect to get anything done. Happy 4th of July. Take care and God bless.

July 3, 2010 1

My Yard Sale Find

On our way home from Grayson Highlands Saturday, we stopped at a yard sale. This is what I found. I know it needs some work but I got it at a really good price-$5.00. I figure my Hubby can do some repairs and it will look great. I need to find a belt for it. Hopefully, this will not be too hard to find.

This week is Bible School at church so things have been really busy. We have to leave around 6:15 P.M. and don’t get home until around 10:00. This makes for a long but fun evening. We start on Sunday and go through Thursday. The first night we had 11 kids, last night 19. As I have said before we are a small church-few in number but large in our love of the Lord.

Hubby has some days off this week, so he has started a project. We want to box in half of our back porch, move the washing machine and dryer in this new room. We also plan on putting a half bath in there too, as we only have one bathroom. All this means a really busy week here.

Time for lunch. Enjoy your day and God bless.

June 29, 2010 2

Grayson Highlands State Park

We had so much fun today! We went with our friends, the Horns, to this place called Grayson Highlands State Park. It was very beautiful there. This is one of the first places went.

Lots of old houses set up to walk through and look at.

An absolutely beautiful sky to enjoy.

A beautiful picnic area.

Then we begin our hike.

The temperature was at least 20 degrees cooler with a heavy wind. It actually felt like we were walking in air conditioning.

Here’s one of the main things we came to see. Wild ponies. We did not see very many but the few we did see definitely made the trip worthwhile. I had so many beautiful pictures of the scenery it was very difficult to choose what picture to post. I know this is a lot of pictures but I really could have put much more. Finally a happy crew ready to start the climb back down.

I pray your day was as nice as ours. Take care and God bless.

June 26, 2010 1

Yummy!

If I were making a list of things that make me happy, this would definitely be one of them. I feel so blessed when I go out in my garden and gather delicious food for my family to enjoy. I know it sounds kinda way out there but it is true. This evening’s supper will incorporate all these healthy veggies. I’m just not sure how yet. Maybe grilled chicken, grilled squash-I’m not sure but I know it will be good. Today has been busy. I’ve been trying to get some of the outside work done before it gets too hot. After seeing the big snake yesterday evening, Hubby immediately started weed-eating. I started mowing the yard. We got about half finished before it got to late. I finished mowing the yard early this morning. I have been washing clothes and getting them on the line to dry. They are probably already dry. It is hot here but we have a really great breeze so it’s not so bad (especially in the shade). I am going to work some more in the garden after lunch. I need to tie the tomatoes, get rid of some nasty potatoes bugs. It also needs to be weeded but I think I’ll save that for this evening. The girls have been busy inside doing housework. The ladies come tomorrow for bible study.

This is a picture of what we call the canning building. The bottom is our cellar and on top we store all our empty cans, our canners and all our canning supplies. When the girls were little, they started calling it the canning building and the name has just stuck.

Well, I think it’s time to get some lunch going. Enjoy your day and God bless.

June 24, 2010 1

Snake

We have lived here on the farm for 7 years. This is the first snake we have ever seen. There have been a few water snakes at the pond but never one close to the house. Now I know this is a black snake and many people think they are good to have around. I am not one of those people. The only good snake I have ever seen is a dead one. This snake was at the door to the canning building when Grace went to put the applesauce up. She came running down and Dad went to the rescue. Thanks Babe! I think this is probably the biggest snake I have ever seen. Now Shadow (our old dog) was resting in the shade when all this took place. I guess he knew Hubby could handle it.

The girls and I had fun at town today. No great deals to write about though. I saw a few dresses at Goodwill but nothing really caught our eyes. The girls used their chore money to purchase a new game for the Nintendo DS. They are really good about saving up their money to purchase things they want. We think it is better for them to work for things like that, then they appreciate them more. It teaches them how to manage their money, set goals and attain them. Good life lessons.

Enjoy your evening and God bless.

June 23, 2010 2

A Good Job

We were extremely impressed with the food strainer. It was super fast compared to the old food mill and had very little waste. We processed a bushel of apples in about 4 1/2 hours. We used both big canners. We got 12 qts and 24 pints. YUM! I have always used the hot water bath canner to process applesauce. However, I read in my Mennonite cookbook, they could be processed in the pressure canner. We tried that yesterday and it went very fast. 15 min. on 5 lb. pressure. Much faster than using a bath canner. Vicki and I had a great time and of course the kids had fun. It is so much more pleasant sharing canning with a friend. I am so thankful the Lord placed our families together. Good friends are sometimes hard to find and I consider Vicki one of the best.

The girls and I are planning a “girl day” out today. We are going into C-burg to run some errands. This will include Wal-Mart and Goodwill. Temperatures have been very warm here in Floyd. On the farm though, it isn’t near as bad as it is in town. We are usually a few degrees cooler. In the summer this is a plus, in the winter not so good. Thankfully, we have quite a few shade trees in the yard and that really helps.

Time for us to get ready to leave. Enjoy your day and God bless.

June 23, 2010 1

My Newest Helper

This is my new helper. I did not even know these existed. About 1 month ago, I was in our local farm supply store, and spotted one of these. All I have ever used are the old food mills. I have been told these are so much better than a food mill. I can’t wait to try it out. My friend Vicki and I will be making applesauce today out of early cooking apples. When we lived in Grundy, we had a June apple tree in our front yard. I sure do miss that tree. What they have up here has a little different taste than that one did, but they are still good. It is our favorite type of applesauce, so I hope to can a lot of it. Last year, apples were hard to find. We ran out of applesauce early in the winter and had to buy from the store. Not near as good as home canned. Guess I’ll get busy. Lots to do today but lots of fun too. Take care and God bless.

June 22, 2010 1

Boys

Ain’t they cute! We went down for a short visit Saturday. Not as long as we would have liked but still a good visit. Sam is growing so much already. He had really filled out. He seems to be a very content little boy. Daniel is busy drawing pictures for his mom. If you look close at his face you can see the “little boy” dirt streaks all over it. One of his favorite things to do Saturday was play in his little pool for a while, then get out and go play in the dirt and gravel pile. Pretty much all out fun in little boy world. Sunday was Ladies Day at church. This means the ladies have the entire service. We do everything. We decided since it was Father’s Day, we would say a few things about our Dads and how they had influenced our lives. It was a really nice service. Everyone did such a good job. Julie and Grace played the special music. Julie played “God’s Touch” and Grace played “God of our Fathers” and “Faith of our Fathers”. They both did a great job. Hard work and practice do produce results. Having a great teacher really helps too. Hubby and I make jerky yesterday from some of the hamburger meat we put up from the beef. We all really like jerky. It gets eat up pretty fast around here. After church we mostly just rested and enjoyed the day. No Sunday night study because it was Father’s Day. We won’t be meeting for several Sundays in the evenings. Next Sunday night, VBS will start and the next weekend is the 4th of July weekend. When we first started doing these studies, we all agreed not to meet on holiday weekends. Everyone is usually busy doing things with their families. I think I will be able to pick some more peas today. I have gathered a few more squash. I think I will cook a venison roast to go with them, maybe some homemade biscuits. Sounds good to me.

While we were down at Jessica’s we went to this little hardware store that is a Charlie’s soap outlet. I don’t know if any of you have heard of it or not, but it is a laundry soap that is made in Mayodan, NC. You can read about it on the internet. Well, Jess and I both bought some to try out. I am going to use it today and see how we like it. Time to go hang clothes out. I so enjoy hanging my clothes out on the line. It is a perfect opportunity to enjoy the sun. The birds always sing such beautiful praises to God while I’m out there and I get to be part of it. Thank you, Lord. Enjoy your day and God bless.

June 21, 2010 0