Pastor’s House

I think you can learn a lot about a man by his hands. These hands say I work hard. I am married. I love to work the land. I’m sure if I were a good writer I could write a story just from this picture. This man loves the Lord. Not only in word but in action. We are very blessed to have him as our pastor. Thank you Lord!

A picture of his grapes. He has several different types of grapevines growing. I forget what he told me the name of these were but they were very sweet and delicious.

The girls and I have been busy with beans. We canned 11 quarts yesterday. One of them broke in the canner so we only had 10 to add to the canning list. I picked a gallon of blackberries this morning and we’ll can those later today. We love to make blackberry dumplings and cobblers. I also want to make salsa today. I think we have enough tomatoes. They are mostly yellow tomatoes so it will look a little different but hopefully taste just as good. Maybe even better. I know we have enough peppers.

Sunday morning is our Sunday School breakfast. Every year we have a big breakfast at Smartview Park-a small picnic area on the Blueridge Parkway. After breakfast we do Sunday school. Tom will proably have a message as well. We love all our little get-togethers we have. Our church is really big on fellowship and I am glad. I think it is an important part of being a church family. If I remember the camera I will try to take some pictures to show you all.

I guess I better get busy. Take care and God bless.

July 30, 2010 1

Peaches

We were very blessed to have these peaches given to us. They are called Saturn peaches or donut peaches. These are very small and I was not really sure how to best use them.

As you can see, we had quite a few. We decided to make something like an applesauce from them. We used the food strainer. We made a pie from our peach sauce yesterday to see how it would taste. It actually was very good. Hubby was home yesterday and he helped. Thanks, Babe.

Temperatures here are hot. We are getting a small shower here this morning. Much needed. However the sun is already back so it probably will get hot fast. We are headed into town for piano practice. I also need a few spices for the beets. Enjoy your day and God bless.

July 27, 2010 2

Baptism

This is David Donna’s Son-In-Law, I am posting this for her so if you view this before she gets a chance to change this text just keep checking back as she will be adding some more description soon.

This is me. My thanks to Dave for putting the video on. Yesterday was a wonderfully blessed day for us. Both our girls were baptized yesterday. Praise the Lord! We had church at this beautiful pond. Then we did the baptism. Our girls and another young man were baptized. After that we had a potluck meal. You know we gotta eat. Dave, Jess, and boys came up to spend the day. It was a very special day to a mother’s heart.

Take care and God bless.

July 25, 2010 3

More Spaghetti Sauce

Yesterday we had 12 more quarts of spaghetti sauce. I think this will be all the spaghetti sauce we make unless we have lots more tomatoes. I want to make salsa and maybe try our hand at ketchup. We also usually just can tomatoes and tomato sauce for use in soup and chili. Temperatures here have been hot and humid. Low to mid 90’s.

Jess talked to her mother-in-law yesterday and she said the name of this apple is Scarlett Apple. She thinks she ordered the tree from Stark Bros. I typed it in on Google and found all kinds of information about it. Very interesting.

Today is bible study day so I better get busy. We have decided to do it at Barbara’s house. It is so hot here and Barbara has air conditioning. Enjoy your day and God bless.

July 23, 2010 4

Pink Apples

Saturday while down at Jessica’s we went over to David’s mothers. There we found an apple tree loaded with apples and ready to be picked. She said we could have them. We did get a surprise though. They are not your normal apple.

We gathered about a 1/2 bushel and brought them home. We had never seen an apple that looked like this one. I’m not sure what their name is but they are difinitely different. What fun we had today working with these. Grace of course loved them as pink is her favorite color.

After cooking them and running them through the sauce maker, they turn a beautiful, darker color.

We canned 9 pints and put 1 qt bag in the freezer. I think they look very pretty in the jar. Tomorrow, if all goes as planned, we will be making spaghetti sauce. We have a bushel of tomatoes to work up. Our pastor’s wife gave us her spaghetti sauce recipe, so I think we will make it tomorrow. She gave us a can to try and we all thought it was very good. The recipe I have made before does not get thick enough so I have been on the search for a new one. I’ll let you all know tomorrow how it turns out. Take care and God bless.

July 20, 2010 2

Home Place

This is a picture of our Grundy home. The original house was built by my grandparents. It (like most old homes) had rooms added on. I was 12 years old when I first moved into this home and 40 when I left. Leaving was hard. Life changes though and we must be able to change with it. I have so many happy memories of this place but I also have many happy memories of where I am now.

The girls and I have been busy. We had 23 qts. of green beans. We finished them today. We also put more squash in the freezer. We are going down to Jessica’s this evening. Tomorrow us girls will be going blueberry picking while Dad and PawPaw watch the two boys. After that we plan on going to Lifeway and then out to eat. We will be coming back home tomorrow evening.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

July 16, 2010 2

Applesauce

The girls and I finished the apples yesterday. You can check out our logs at the right to see our total. I really like cooking the apples in the microwave. So much easier. It makes the applesauce thicker too. When I cook them on the stove, I have to add a little water to keep them from sticking, so it makes the applesauce a little thinner. Today we will be canning a bushel of green beans. Also working on cleaning the house as tomorrow is bible study day.

Beautiful weather here in Floyd this week. When we got up this morning about 6:00, the temperature was 59 degrees. This makes it so much more comfortable for sleeping. I would guess yesterdays high was in the low 80’s. Very nice. Days like we have been having remind me why I like living in Floyd and especially here on the farm. God was very good to bring us to this place. Thank you Lord.

The birds are singing such beautiful praises this morning. I think I’ll join them in their worship. Breakfast outside sounds wonderful. Enjoy your day and God bless.

July 15, 2010 1

Comparison

I thought it would be nice to look back and remember how things were just a few short months ago. This picture was taken this morning. Then I looked back and found another picture of the same scene.

Personally I like this morning’s picture better but to each his own. Yesterday was busy for us. The girls and I went to pick apples. A friend from church offered us his early apples from his tree. We were very thankful to get them. After we came home, we started processing them. Yesterday we got 11 quarts of applesauce made and still have more to work with today. Sally, our pastors wife, told us she puts her apples in the microwave to cook them. This was much easier as we didn’t have to worry about them burning. Then she puts hers through her food strainer and puts them in the freezer. I had never put applesauce in the freezer, only apples. We tried that yesterday. It was a lot faster and didn’t heat up the house.

Beautiful weather here in Floyd this week. Much cooler temperatures with a wonderful breeze. We have had several little rains which we really needed. I picked green beans Monday and dug some young potatoes. They were delicious. I think I’ll be able to pick some more beans by tomorrow. YUM! I love fresh produce.

Did you all notice my canning and freezing logs Dave put on my blog? Thanks Dave. I really like being able to look at it and see what I’ve got done and what I still need. I better get working on those apples. Enjoy your day and God bless.

July 14, 2010 1

Grapes

A picture of our grapes. They look like they will be plentiful this year. When we bought these vines several years ago, we thought we were buying purple concord grapes, however they are green. They first year we almost didn’t get any because we kept waiting on them to turn purple. They are very good, though. We just had to adjust to grape jelly not being purple. I am thinking about making grape juice this year. I have no experience with it though. All I’ve ever done with our grapes is make jelly but a family can only eat so much jelly. If anyone is familar with making juice, I would appreciate any advice you can give. I am thinking about purchasing a steamer/juicer for this but I am not sure it would be worth it. What do you all think?

It was extremely hot here yesterday. When we went to bed last night it was 90 degrees in our bedroom. When we got up this morning about 6:00 it had cooled down to 82 in our room, thats still pretty warm. Hopefully, today will not be as hot but it is what it is. Tomorrow our bible study will meet at Wanda’s house. She has air conditioning.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

July 8, 2010 3

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