Monday

Hello everyone! I hope you are all having a good day. We have been busy here-wait, don’t I always say that? Well, its true but sometimes I think you all probably get tired of hearing it. Today we gathered the last of the early corn. It had gotten too hard to just eat so I cut it off the cob and put it into a crock to pickle. I love pickled corn! Also, we worked up a bushel of apples. We got them as cull apples and they were only $6.00. Not too bad and they really were pretty. Just a few spots and bruises, not many at all. We got 9 qts of applesauce and 4 half gal. of apple juice from them. On top of all of that, I have been dealing with some type of head cold or allergies or something. All I know is that I feel yucky , my nose is congested and my throat is sore. I do not, repeat-DO NOT- like being sick. I would not have been able to accomplish any of this today, if not for the help of my girls. They are such helpers. Thanks girls!

Well, the last canner is done. Time to start cooking supper. Enjoy your day and God bless.

UPDATE: My wonderful Hubby is bringing home subway for supper!! If I felt like it, I would do a happy dance.

August 12, 2013 4

Chuck’s Bed

I thought I would show you all Hubby’s latest project. He has been working on making a bed for Chuck. It is almost finished. The headboard and footboard used to be our dining table benches. When we first made our dining table we made benches to go with it. Years later I decided I was tired of the benches and wanted chairs. So he made me chairs. (He’s so good about things like that!) Anyway the benches moved up to the building for a while and now they are being remade into a bed. I like that.

We have been busy with our garden here. Canning is in full swing. I love it!!! Lots of good food being saved for winter time. Our cucumbers are just about gone. I thought about planting some more seeds but I don’t think they would have time to do anything. We have been blessed with lots of cucumbers this year so we have made several batches of pickles. I put the recipe for the Christmas pickles over into my recipe file under canning if any of you are interested. We had our first taste of fresh corn this past week. YUM! I love fresh garden corn. When I was younger and it was time to put up the corn, my mom would always cook corn on the cob for breakfast. She said it put us in the right frame of mind.

We had our annual Sunday School Breakfast this morning. We usually have it at SmartView Park here on the Blue Ridge Parkway. For some reason (that I will never understand) the Parkway has decided not to open many of the picnic areas this year. So we couldn’t have our breakfast there. The road is still washed out going down to the river so we had our breakfast at the Coon Hunters Club. Yes, ladies, coon hunting IS a sport here. We have never participated in it but many people do. Anyway, we had tons of good food!! It was a really nice way to start off the service.

Tomorrow, I will be helping Hubby texture a ceiling. After that we have some tomatoes to can. I think we will make spaghetti sauce with them. In the meantime, I have a new book from the library, a cup of tea and a green swing that is calling my name. I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.

August 4, 2013 5

Thursday

Wow, look at me! Two posts in one week! Maybe I am getting back on track. I am learning how to use Hubby’s computer. Now to relearn how to put pictures on using his computer. Well, maybe next post will have a picture!!

Tuesday, the girls and I canned a bushel of green beans. We had 24 qts. Yesterday, we had friends over for supper. We had beef roast, green beans fresh from the garden, and a stir fry of garden veggies. It was a good evening. We enjoyed good food and good fellowship. Today, we are eating lunch with the Horn’s. We are looking forward to some time with them. From there, we are going to help Mrs. Retia with some of her beans.

Last Saturday was our church’s annual horseshoe picnic. We usually have it at a little picnic area down at the river but we have had so much rain that the road was washed out and we couldn’t get there. So we had it at the same place we have our Sportsman Banquet-the Coon Hunters Club. What can I say-we are a church full of hunters and shooters. Any way, we had a great time, good food and good music.

Well, I guess that’s about it. Enjoy your day and God bless.

July 25, 2013 7

Tuesday

Hello everyone! I hope all is well with you all. We have been busy with canning and other misc. things. Seems to me time surely does go by quickly. Yesterday we canned pickles. We did 8 pts of bread and butter pickles. These are Hubby’s favorite. Then we did 12 pts of dill pickles. Today we are canning green beans.

I wanted to let you all know I made the refrigerator pickled beets last week and they are really good. I also made the Dutch oven bread. It was very good as well. We thought the bottom crust was a little tough. I think I may reduce the temperature in my oven next time and see if that makes a difference.

Jess had a spell with veritgo last week. It sure was rough on her. The girls and I went down Thursday and Friday to help out with the kids. They sure are a lot of fun. Daniel’s first day of school was yesterday. He was SO excited! He called me when he got home and told me all about it. Now, how sweet is that!!

We were pretty warm here last week but seem to have cooled down some this week. At least yesterday was cooler. Hopefully, today will be as well. Well, I guess those beans won’t can themselves. Enjoy your day and God bless.

July 23, 2013 4

Update

Hello everyone! I hope all is well in your life. I still do not have my computer back but I thought I would post a little update while I had access to a computer. The keyboard Dave ordered for Grace’s computer did not work so she is still using mine. Oh well, the things we do for our children!

We have been busy here. The garden is doing fairly well. We have had tons of rain though. We have been harvesting beets, cucumbers, carrots and such. We planted a new type of beet this year. They are called Chioggia beets or candy striped beets. They look like this http://www.rareseeds.com/chioggia-bassano-beet. They are really pretty. I will definitely be planted them again. I want to try out a new pickled beet recipe refrigerator pickled beets.

We picked blueberries last week. We made blueberry freezer jam using the pomona pectin. I really like using it. Thanks, Cheryl, for telling me about it. We also made homemade blueberry ice cream. So good!!!

I’m sure there is lots more going on around here but I just can’t seem to remember it all. That’s what happens I guess when I don’t do a post for a long time. I hope you all have a great Sunday and God bless.

July 14, 2013 5

Computer Problems

I wanted to let everyone know we are experiencing computer problems. That is the reason I have been missing in action. Hopefully, all this will be fixed by the weekend and I will be back by next week. I hope everything is going well with all you and your families. Enjoy your day and God bless.

July 8, 2013 2

VBS

Hello everyone! I hope you are all having a good week so far. Last week was pretty busy for us. Seems like VBS is always a busy time. Our theme this year was “Hip Hopping for Jesus”. The kids all seemed to have a great time.

Julie dressed for the part. All the workers dressed in 50’s style. I somehow didn’t get a picture of Grace.

We enjoyed our moon last week and finally (after years of trying) managed to get a good moon picture. Our place was so bright at night, we had a cat bird that sang all night. I guess he didn’t know if it was night or day.

We have also been enjoying some of our fresh produce from the garden. So far we have had salad greens, green onions, beets, radishes, carrots, yellow squash and a few cucumbers. We love it!!

I hope you all have a good evening and God bless.

July 1, 2013 4

Yard Sale Find

I wanted to share with you all my lastest yard sale find. I love these old books.

Grace had a mishap with her glasses and we had to go get them repaired yesterday. A startled chicken flew up from the roost and hit her glasses. It messed up her nose piece. On the way to Wal-Mart I noticed a yard sale sign. Well you know, it is so hard to pass up yard sales. I am so glad I stopped. I got these books for 10 cents a piece.

I just love the pictures and the stories in these old readers. I have several of them. Look, they even have a dictionary in the back.

I know my girls are way past these books but I still love them.

A picture just for fun. This little lady seems to be an escape artist. She manages to get out of the fence almost every evening. We looked out the window the other day and she was sitting here on the bench just resting. All our animals seem to love this bench.

Well, I better go. Our VBS starts tonight. Enjoy your evening and God bless.

June 23, 2013 5

Wednesday

I thought I would show you all another picture of the roses in the tree. I took this one this morning looking down from the girl’s bedroom window. They have really looked beautiful this year.

We are still working on school as we took about a month break before and during vacation. We only lack 10 more days if we do double lessons every day. Then I think we will take off the summer. We are looking forward to it.

After school we plan on making strawberry rhubarb jam. I posted the recipe here https://merryheartcrafts.com/category/recipes/canning-recipes/ I have made this jam for many, many years. The recipe I normally use is a little different than this one but I want to give this one a try.

Today I am looking forward to hanging clothes on the line, doing school, making jam and hanging out with my girls. I have such a blessed life. Enjoy your day and God bless.

June 19, 2013 5

Thursday

Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing great today. We are kinda warm here in Floyd-86 degrees but we do have a very pleasant wind so it doesn’t seem so bad. At least, not if you are in the shade!

We worked in the garden this morning. We started early but it still got pretty hot before we were done. This is a picture of the first raised bed. We have been enjoying the salad greens and green onions for a while now.

We had a great visit yesterday with my Uncle John and Aunt Elaine. They live in Mighigan and had never been to the farm before. Jess and her kids came up. Everyone went for a ride in the bumpy truck. It was so good to get to see them.

Our grapevine seems to be doing okay now. I was a little worried about it as it got frostbite by the last frost we had. We won’t have as many grapes as last year but it looks like there will be a few.

The roses are blooming and look very beautiful in the tree. We spent most of the evening sitting here yesterday enjoying the view and time spent with family. I wanted to tell you all about something beautiful I saw last night. I almost ALWAYS have to get up during the night to go to the bathroom. Well, last night when I got up I looked out our bedroom window and the sight I saw was totally amazing. The stars were shining so bright in the sky and underneath them the lightning bugs were everywhere! So many it looked like blinking Christmas lights. I stood there watching it all thinking how good our God is to allow me to see something like that!

I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.

June 13, 2013 5