Mint Syrup

This has been a busy week for us. On Friday, the girls and I cut some mint to try a new recipe.

We wanted to make mint syrup. One cup water, one cup mint and one cup sugar. Bring it to a boil, reduce heat slightly, let simmer for 10 min. Turn off heat and let it cool to room temperature.

For a half gal of tea, we used 1 cup mint syrup and then filled up the half gallon with water. It is absolutely delicious!! I have been making mint tea for years and I definitely think this is the best.

After making the mint syrup, we all worked in the garden. We had to take down the old fence we had put up last year to keep the chickens out, pulled up the stakes and the tomato fence. Then we got the tiller out and started getting it tilled. We had high hopes of getting the plants in the ground but the rain was faster than we were. Oh well, hopefully tomorrow (or the next day). We have had rain all weekend.

Yesterday, we went to the Greensboro Science Center with Dave, Jess and kids. We had a great time!

So much to see and do!

Well, that’s about it for now. We will be starting revival at church tonight so I guess I better be getting my crew ready to leave. I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.

May 19, 2013 1

What We Still Look Like

Hello everyone! I thought I would show you all what it STILL looks like here in Floyd.

Ice still covers everything. I was hoping to show you all how beautiful it is when the sun shines on it but none of these pictures do it justice.

We are still snuggled in and enjoying the slow pace of days with nothing major to do. We will be starting back school next week.

I have to tell you all about all the fun we had last evening. We opened the chickens gate to see if they would come out and explore a little. Well, they came out just fine. The problem was, they didn’t want to go back in. I think they didn’t want to walk on the ice. When it started getting dark, instead of being on the roost, they were scattered everywhere-under buildings, in the wood shed. We had to gather them all up and put them in their house. Needless to say, we were SO COLD! Silly chickens, they will not have an open gate this evening.

Our actual temperature here this morning is 15 degrees. I’m not sure what the wind chill is but I am certain it is in the single digits. COLD!! I am working on another afgan. I made Jessica and Chuck one each for Christmas but forgot to take a picture of them. Jessica’s is purple and white-Chuck’s is green and yellow.

I hope you all have a great day. Stay warm and God bless.

December 28, 2012 3

Monday

Little boys playing with toys!

Big boys playing with toys!

Chuck and his kids came over Saturday. He helped Hubby with some car maintenance. It was a fun day. He got here about 9:00 A.M. as he was wanting to eat breakfast with us. We had sausage and gravy, biscuits, fresh eggs, corn, canned apples and homemade waffles. We had a good day.

Grace was having trouble with her nose piece on her glasses so we made a trip to Rocky Mount to get it repaired. We did some grocery shopping while there. It ended up taking most of the day. We came home and worked on things that needed doing. We had planned on doing school today and then taking a break for the rest of the week. We’ll do school tomorrow instead and then break. I love the flexibiltiy of homeschooling.

Grace put one of our freshly butchered chickens in the crockpot today to cook while we were gone. When we got home it smelled so good in the house. We deboned it and make chicken and dumplings. They are delicious!! I think I am spoiled now to having our own chickens for meat. We plan on making stock tonight in the crockpot from the bones. YUMMY!

Well, I guess that’s about all that is happening here. My girls are wanting me to play a game of cards with them. Enjoy your evening and God bless.

November 19, 2012 5

Chicken Day

Friday was chicken butchering day for us and the Horns. We had a really good day, learned a lot and had lots of good fellowship. All together we butchered 10 roosters. We were kinda amazed at how big they looked before we butchered them versus how small they looked when finished. Huge difference. We are kinda talking about going with the bigger meat birds next year. We’re not sure yet though.

Our pastor made us these killing cones. They are really neat. I would recommend anyone butchering their own chickens to have one. They make it a lot easier. Saturday, the girls and I went down to Jessica’s. We watched the kids while Dave and Jess had a date afternoon to celebrate their anniversary. They have been married 12 years. They went to the movies and David brought us back sushi to try. We had never eaten it before. It was actually pretty good. Grace really liked it.

Sunday, I went to church alone as Julie, Grace and Hubby were not feeling very well. Julie and Grace seem to have a cold-congestion with lots of coughing. Hubby is having tummy troubles. Hopefully all will be well soon. Today is a beautiful day here in Floyd. Sunshine with temperatures in the mid 30’s. It could be a little warmer for my taste but the sun is beautiful. I have a pork tenderloin cooking away on top of the wood stove. It smells yummy. I think I will have potatoes, green beans and cornbread with it.

Well, we are starting school so I better get off. I hope you all have a great day and God bless.

November 13, 2012 3

Fruit Trees

Yesterday evening the girls and I planted 6 fruit trees. Grace dug every hole. She was very excited about getting fruit trees. As you can see, she has good helpers- the cats and the chickens.

And, of course, our ever faithful Shadow.

We planted an asian pear, bartlett pear, plum tree, golden delicious apple tree, golden transparent apple tree, and a nectarine tree. We hope to get 2 cherry trees in April. While we were working on the trees, Hubby was busy trimming the blackberries.

It was a nice, productive evening. After we finished planting, we went to get the clothes off the line and a huge flock of geese flew directly over our heads to land in the field. Of course, we had already put the camera up so I couldn’t get a picture. It would have made a beautiful picture though.

Today will be school as usual. Hopefully, with more outside work afterward. Enjoy your day and God bless.

March 29, 2012 4

Chicks Coming Soon

The girls and I have been busy today getting Mr. Rooster’s coop converted to a chick house. We have been planning on getting new chicks this spring. Jess and David are going in with us to get them. The girls and I went over to Tractor Supply the other day to get a new wheelbarrow tire. The breed of chicks we wanted to get were already there. We are getting Buff Orpingtons (not sure I spelled that right). We also are getting a few black chickens which I have forgotten the name of. I thought they would give the chicken house a little different color. We plan on putting them in Mr. Rooster’s coop for temporary.

The inside of the coop.

This is the area the chickens from last year are in. They will soon be moving into another house and lot area. (As soon as we get it ready.) Then the new chicks will move into this house and lot. When they get old enough we will combine them all together.

The day was absolutely beautiful here. Lots of sunshine and temperatures in the low 60’s. While we worked, as you could see from the previous pictures, we had lots of help from the chickens. Sometimes even jumping up into the new coop. Our ladies are very curious. We also had these visitors. They did not come very close though. We hope they decide to nest on the island again. The mallard ducks have also been checking the island out. Spring-I think- is definitely on its way.

We hope to get the new chicks tomorrow!! Enjoy your day and God bless.

March 1, 2012 4

Chickens

Every evening we turn the chickens loose to scratch and play. They love it!! They stand right at the fence when we go out to turn them loose. Each one wanting to be the first one out the gate.

As of right now we have 13 of these lovely ladies, 4 red and 9 white. We want to expand the chicken house and lot this spring and get more-maybe about 20.

They are extremely curious ladies. They follow us around wanting to be petted. If any of us step outside they will come running up to us to see what we are doing. They are definitely a lot of fun to have around. Today has been warm but the wind is a little strong. Jess and David and the kids are coming up tomorrow. I hope to get some new pictures to show you all. Enjoy your day and God bless.

February 2, 2012 5

Our Visit With The Horn’s

We had a great visit with the Horn’s yesterday. We were celebrating Mckenzie’s birthday. They had the table decorated so pretty and cheerful.

Best of friends!

Mrs. Vicki’s goats and chickens.

While the kids played, Vicki showed me how to make a blue jean skirt out of old blue jeans. I think it turned out really nice.

I hope you all have a great evening. Supper tonight is pork tenderloin roast, fried potatoes, corn and fresh baked rolls. God bless.

January 26, 2012 7

Monday

Today has been chilly here in Floyd. Wind gusts of 30-40 mph with temperatures in the mid 20’s. We let our chickens out every evening so they can scratch and peck. Well, this evening they just wanted to come up on the back porch and hide from the wind. We all laughed and said soon they would be wanting to come in the house.

Other than cold, today has been a nice day. We started school back today. After a 3 week break, I thought it would be difficult to get going again but it went well. We had a nice visit with Jess and the kids yesterday. David needed to work on his book and so Jess brought the kids up to play at MawMaw’s house for a while. We were sitting around talking and Daniel looks at me and says “MawMaw, we need to go cook something”. He dearly loves to help cook so we decided we needed to make chocolate chips cookies.

Well, I guess that’s about it. I need to go put more wood on the fire. Enjoy your evening and God bless.

January 2, 2012 5

Pears

We have been blessed to have quite a few pears given to us. Do any of you all have any pear recipes you would like to share? I usually just can them like apples but I am always looking for new things to try. One thing I want to do is make juice this year. Anyway, the girls and I will be working up pears tomorrow. Today, I helped Hubby. We textured the ceilings on the job he has been working on. They looked really nice.

I have a question for you ladies who have chickens. Last week we were getting 8-10 eggs a day. Yesterday and today, we got one each day. What do you think is going on? We did have a couple of days that we didn’t feed them the layer crumbles. We had all kinds of scraps from the corn. Do you think that would affect their laying? I’m just not sure what would have happened.

Well, I’m tired and it is my turn for the shower. Enjoy your evening and God bless.

August 30, 2011 7