Mountain Mama… Country Living
God certainly knows how to say good morning. The temperatures dropped down to 40 last night. Pretty chilly. The fog (something we have a lot of) was putting in an appearance this morning. When the sun breaks through, the fog doesn’t stand a chance. Isn’t that how life goes. When the Son shows up, the darkness and fog of our lives doesn’t stand a chance. My morning devotion. God Bless.
This is George’s lastest wood project. It is just a prototype. He doesn’t have the seat in yet but I think it looks very good. Our oldest daughter and ourselves are in need of new chairs so he has been working on getting a pattern that he likes. Not much happening here today. The girls has a dentist appointment in Roanoke and we were gone most of the day. We went to Michaels afterward, picked up a few things. Then went to Lifeway Christian BookStore. We did a little grocery shopping and came home. The temperature here has been a little chilly. Lows about 50 to 52, highs in mid 60’s. Nice weather. Makes me start thinking fall and fall makes me think school. We started Math yesterday. I am trying a different approach this year. I borrowed this idea from my friend. I am going to add one subject a week and by the end of September we will be in full school. This way it won’t be school overload. I’ll let you know how this works for us. As you know what works for one family doesn’t always work for another but I think this will be a good plan for us. I love homeschooling my girls. We have such fun. It’s a lot of work too but then most things worth doing require work. Night has come and I am tired. God Bless.
Pumpkin growing in our garden
This year as a gift from God we have pumpkins. Quite a lot of pumpkins. We have decided to harvest them a little early as bugs have decided they like them too. The pie was made completely from scratch as you probably can tell. The crust is a very simple recipe that doesn’t require being rolled out. I like things simple. The filling recipe came from an old lady at a farmers market we visited years ago. If anyone is interested in these recipes let me know and I will post them. Today has been a good day. The girls played piano at church today. Grace played the special and Julie played the congregational. Big step for Julie-playing while others sing with her. They both did great. When I hear them play like that I think all that money and time for lessons was REALLY worth it. It’s almost time to leave for Sunday Night Bible Study at church. We are using John MacArthur’s study on the book of Daniel. It has been a very interesting study so far. The pie is for church tonight. After bible study we always eat(Its the Baptist way) Tonight we will be having a feast. Pinto beans, cornbread, onions, tomatoes, hot dogs, cole slaw, and pie. Who could ask for more. As I tell my oldest daughter, we really do study, the food is just extra. Gotta go and God Bless.
Today has been another busy but productive day. We gathered 1/2 bushel of tomatoes from the garden and the dishpan full of peppers. The tomatoes yielded 9 qts and I am attempting for the first time to dry the peppers in the dehydrator. Hope it works. Hubby has been busy today with woodwork. I’ll post a picture when its finished. After canning was done I went to help him and the girls took off upstairs for some play time. They are such good helpers. They help me with everything I do. We try to impress upon them the value of work and the importance of play. Teaching them how to garden and then harvest what we raise is important to me. Canning is becoming a lost art and I want my girls to know how to do it. Well night is approaching and I need to get busy doing my Sunday School lesson. If I hurry I can get it done outside on the swing before dark sets in. God bless.
I thought I would share some of my flowers with you. The second picture is of the garden. The third is my most favorite spot in the entire yard. I love to sit on this swing and enjoy the view. My hubby redid the swing last year. It was one of those from Wal-Mart with fabric for the seat. It also had a fabric cover on top however one Floyd winter can destroy much. We have lots of high wind here so of course the top was the first to go, another year or so and the seat was in really bad shape. So he ripped all that out and put treated wood on it. I love it. God and I have so many special talks right here in this swing. Early spring pictures from my swing. Enjoy
Fall must be quickly approaching Floyd. The geese are back. Lots of geese. We counted at least 40 this morning on our pond. They are very interesting to watch however they are quite loud. I haven’t posted anything in a day or so as we have been really busy. We went back to Jess on Monday and worked more on her bathroom. It is started to look more like a bathroom now. We were planning on going back tomorrow but they all have a cold so I think we will just stay here. We went on a picnic today with good friends of ours at a little park here on the parkway. We took the puppy so all the kids had a great time playing together(especially the puppy)
I wanted to show you this strange cucumber(yes it is a cucumber) I raised it on the back porch in a large pot. The plant did fairly well but this one is pretty strange. I put some tomatoes and cucumbers in pots this year. They did okay but required me to remember to water and I am not really good at this. All in all though it was a good experiment. Night has fallen here on the farm. Katydids and crickets are making a joyful noise unto the Lord. I think I will go out on my swing and enjoy.
I have been asked to post my salsa recipe. This is a very good recipe and can easily be divided to make less. This recipe makes about 10-12 pints depending upon how thick you let it get when simmering.
Salsa
7 qts tomatoes chunked
6 cloves garlic chopped
5 med. onions chopped
5 green peppers chopped
1/2 cup hot peppers chopped(this makes med. hot-lower or increase amount for your preference)
2 cups vinegar
2 tbsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp oregano
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp cilantro
2 tsp chili powder
Combine all ingredients. Simmer until thick. I simmer 4-5 hrs. Process in hot water bath canner 20 min. I use pints.
Enjoy!
I must be getting soft in my old age. What was I thinking? We went to visit my oldest daughter this weekend. She wanted to get our grandson a puppy. We found some free and I suppose Dad and I gave in to the excitement of the moment and brought this guy home. He completely enjoyed the ride home(over 1 hour) in Julie’s lap so I suppose this means he likes to ride. He is lab and shepherd mix. We already have 1 large dog (chow and retriever mix)
He is an excellent farm dog and we want him to train Jasper to be a good dog also. Other than the puppy we also got some new clothes for the girls while shopping with Jess. Dad and David did some more remodel on Dave’s bathroom. Walls are sheetrocked and shower stall is built. Pictures of this can be found on Dave’s blog www.dlbates.com. We also received some much needed MawMaw and PawPaw time. I wanted to let everyone know my husband also has a blog he has started working on www.gdjg55.com. Check it out.
A flower from my garden.
Merry Heart Crafts 