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

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

Mongolian Beef

This recipe from thefamilyhomestead.com Crystal Miller

2 lbs round steak, cut into small pieces

2 T soy sauce

2 T cornstarch

4 carrots, peeled and sliced very think

1 bunch green onions, cut into 2 lengths

6 large mushrooms, sliced very thin

¼ cup olive oil, divided

Sauce

¼ c soy sauce

1 T cornstarch

1 t cane juice crystals

2 t red pepper flakes (this makes this dish quite spicy.. so reduce if you dont like your food real spicy)

1 t salt

pepper, a few shakes

1 ½ cups water

In a medium size bowl combine meat, 2 T soy sauce and 2 T cornstarch and let sit for a few minutes. In a small bowl combine sauce ingredients.

Heat a large frying pan and add half the olive oil. Add meat and cook until meat is no longer pink. Remove from pan and put in a bowl. Add rest of oil to frying pan and add carrots. Cook until the carrots are just tender and add onions and mushrooms. Stir fry these until the veggies are soft. Add the meat and heat. When everything is hot add sauce ingredients and cook and stir until sauce is thick and bubbly.

Serve over brown rice..

¼ c soy sauce

April 30, 2013 0

Little Okie

Here’s a picture of the little kitten the girls have decided to give lots of love to. He is the runt of the liter. His mother is one of the wild cats that stay here but he is anything but wild. He is definitely a people kitty. He loves being where we are and will come running when they call his name. His mother’s name is Mexico so they decided to call him Oklahoma-Okie for short. We have been feeding him special food hoping he will catch up to his brothers and sisters.

I have a whole chicken in the crock pot for supper. I tried a new recipe that I found online. This is the first time I’ve tried it so I’ll have to let you know if we like it but it smells delicious. I think I have mentioned before I want to try out new crock pot recipes more this summer. Hopefully, it will mean easier for me and less heat in the kitchen. Along with the chicken we will be having stir fry veggies-fresh from our garden. Squash, zucchini, green onions and peas. YUM!! The recipe is as follows.

4 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 large roasting chicken
1 cup chopped onion

Directions:

In a small bowl, combine the spices.
Remove any giblets from chicken and clean chicken.
Rub spice mixture onto the chicken.
When ready to cook, put chopped onion in bottom of crock pot.
Add chicken. No liquid is needed, the chicken will make it’s own juices.
Cook on low 4-8 hours.

Today is a beautiful day here in Floyd. Temperature is about 72 degrees right now. We have a strong breeze and the sun is shining. We got a little rain last night which our plants really appreciated. I have clothes to hang on the line. My girls are doing school on the front porch. My Hubby is at work and our supper is cooking in the crockpot. God is SO good. I am indeed a truly blessed woman.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

June 22, 2011 2

Flowers

Here are a few pictures of some flowers that are blooming around our house now. I am pretty sure these are called violas. I so enjoy their tiny bright blooms. So cheerful. Purple and yellow are my favorite color combinations for flowers.

Yesterday, we made strawberry rhubarb jam. I had enough rhubarb to make a rhubard pie as well. The recipe I use is :

1 cup rhubard- finely chopped, 1/4 cup melted butter, 1 cup sugar, 2 tbsp cornstarch and 2 eggs well beaten. Combine all ingredients and pour into 1 unbaked pie crust. Bake at 350 degrees until done. It takes about 45 min in my oven. I have made this pie for about 25 years. It is a family favorite.

Today was friends day at church. We had a great day. Probably about 70 people in total. Our numbers usually run in the 40’s. We had some really good music, a good sermon from our pastor and a great fellowship meal afterward because you all know how much we like to eat. I took pinto beans, green onions and a peach sauce pie. We won’t be having evening bible study tonight so we plan on just relaxing this evening. The girls and I will be traveling down to Jessica’s tomorrow to watch the boys. She will be having an ultra sound tomorrow to (maybe) discover if she will be having a boy or girl. This all depends upon the baby’s cooperation of course.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

June 12, 2011 5

More Daniel and Sam

So here are the other pictures I could not get to load yesterday.

Today we are getting much needed rain. The fog has already come in so it promises to be a dreary day here in Floyd, a good day for a inside project. Temperature is about 35 degrees. Hopefully, this will all be rain. I am hoping next week to get some outside work done here. All the trees and bushes need trimming, along with the grapevines. We also need to do some cleanup in the blackberries. Not my favorite job. The thorns are hard to work with but it has to be done if we want to enjoy the berries. I love outside work. In my opinion, so much more fun than cleaning house. I am already looking forward to enjoying fresh fruit and veggies.

I added a little bit to my menu last night. One of our favorite things to eat in the spring is wilted lettuce and green onions. Hubby likes pinto beans with his. So I purchased some fresh baby greens at the store, put a little chopped onion on top. Then I heated olive oil (shameful but I did not have bacon grease). Next step is to pour some of the hot oil on top of the greens and onions, then top it off with pinto beans. A big chunk of cornbread finished it up. It was not as good as it would have been fresh from our garden but it definitely was good.

Enjoy your weekend and God bless.

March 5, 2011 4

Cherry Pie

Today has been kinda a resting day. So much has been going on here lately, I thought the girls and I needed a day to rest. Of course, as all you know there is no such thing as a completely resting day. Especially during the week. Anyway, I decided as I was resting to make a cherry pie. I used the cherries we picked over the weekend. I put about 3 cups of pitted cherries and about 1/2 cup sugar. I brought this to a boil and let it boil down some. Then I thickened it with 2 tbsp. cornstarch mixed with 2 tbsp. water.

Then I made my pie crust. The recipe I use is: 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/3 cup milk, 1/2 cup oil. Mix all this together, then add 2 1/3 cups sifted all purpose flour.

Then I divide the dough into 2 parts for the bottom crust and the top. I must warn you though this next picture is not too pretty. I have never been good at rolling out pie crust. I want to be, so I keep trying. Maybe someday.

The finished product. I know it doesn’t look too good but I believe it will taste great. Especially with that homemade vanilla ice cream I’m making. We are also having pork tenderloin, pinto beans and mashed potatoes. I think I will have cornbread with this. Today for lunch I had my first batch of wilted lettuce and green onions, so I had to bake cornbread to go with it. Now, where I from they would have said a “mess” of lettuce and onions but I didn’t want to confuse those of you who do not understand mountain talk. For you all who don’t know what this is, I’ll explain. First pick the lettuce and onion, fry some bacon. Then you wilt down the lettuce and onion with the hot bacon grease. Add a little salt and enjoy with cornbread. Hubby likes pinto beans with his. Anyway you fix it, it is good! My ice cream maker is finished, so I must go. Take care and God bless.

June 9, 2010 3