Picking Tomatoes

The girls picking tomatoes.

You all hear me talk about sitting on the green swing. Well, this is the view from it. As you can tell, there is lots of shade there, which is one of the reasons I love it.

This is a little bit closer view of the pond. See all the geese. Our pond has had lots of activity all summer.

A picture of the house as you turn down the driveway. To the left of the yard is the pond. Well, the yogurt turned out great. I think it is the best homemade yogurt I have ever made. I definitely will be making more. Also, the plum juice was very good. We enjoyed a cold glass of it this morning with our breakfast. I went to help Hubby today and the girls spent the day with the Horn’s. They had a great time. Temperatures here are still nice-upper 70’s today with a good wind. I hope you all enjoy your evening and God bless.

August 24, 2011 6

Beautiful Day

Today has been a beautiful day here in Floyd. Temperature as I type this is 72 degrees with a slight breeze. An absolutely georgeous day. Thank you, Lord.

This is a picture Grace took yesterday. This is the view from the back yard of the house Hubby is working on. The girls and I have been working on plums today. We did one batch of freezer jam. I am trying out the ponoma pectin that my blog friend Cheryl at http://holcombhappenings.wordpress.com/ uses. You only have to use a small amount of sugar with it. I have some now on in the steam juicer. I wonder how plum juice will taste? One thing for sure, the house smells delicious!

I am also making yogurt today. This is a new recipe for me. I got it from Cheryl too. The recipe is Sweet Yogurt:
7 cups milk
1 pkg unflavored gelatin
2/3 cups instant milk
1/2 cup sugar
4 Tablespoon yogurt

In a small bowl, measure yogurt and let it sit. Mix ingredients (except yogurt) in a large saucepan and cook to 180º; do not boil. Cool to 112º in pan. Stir in a small amount of milk into the yogurt and then mix it all into saucepan. Stir well. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla (if desired). Divide into 2 quart jars, cover with lid and band. Wrap in a towel and set over a pilot light or on a heating pad covered with a large pot. Check in 4 hours.

The only thing I did different is use my yogurt machine. Well, actually, it is Jessica’s machine. She is letting me borrow it. The recipe filled up the yogurt machine with about 1 pt left over. I put that pint in the oven and turned the oven light on. I want to see how that works. I’ll let you all know.

Well, the juice is almost done so I better get busy. Enjoy your day and God bless.

A later note to this post. The girls and I were working on the plums when the house started shaking. David, my son-in-law called almost immediately to see if we were okay. Evidently, there was an earthquake somewhere close to Richmond VA. We have never felt an earthquake here. It definitely was strange. Our friends, the Horn’s, felt it at their house also. We said a prayer of thanks to the Good Lord for his protection over us. We also prayed for the safety of others. I will let you all know more about this as I learn of it. God bless.

August 23, 2011 6

Monday

I wonder what they are doing?

Someone is feeding them. I see a hand behind the tree.

Of course, it is my sweet Julie, who can’t resist feeding cows no matter where she is. We went with Hubby today to help him hang ceilings. The girls went in search of something to do. What do farm girls do when they are bored? Feed cows, of course. We had a nice day, enjoyed a picnic lunch with Hubby, then came home and went to piano lessons. Temperatures here have been nice. Upper 70’s with a nice breeze. Feeling more like fall every day. Enjoy your day and God bless.

August 22, 2011 4

He Needs A Name

Well, we have decided to give Mr. Rooster a chance. If he is a good boy, I guess we’ll keep him. We all think he sounds so cute when he crows. We have decided his crow adds a little something to our day. Wow, we really DO need to get out more. Anyway, we’ll see how it works out.

Yesterday, we worked with blackberries. We made some blackberry juice. Then took the berries we had cooked down to make the juice and put them in the Roma sauce maker. The sauce maker takes out all the seeds. We then make blackberry freezer jam. We had some blackberry puree left over and I wondered what I would do with it. Then I thought HOMEMADE BLACKBERRY ICE CREAM! It was so good. I tried to take a picture to share with you all but I couldn’t get it to turn out right. I got the recipe online at Cooks.com but altered it some to better suit us. Anyway, here is the recipe I used:

2 cups blackberry puree, 2 cups sugar, 3 eggs beaten, 1/4 tsp salt, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 6 cups milk, 1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk. I mixed all the ingredients together and put it into the ice cream maker. I plan on making peach ice cream this weekend when Dave, Jess and the boys come up.

I went to work with Hubby this morning and helped him until lunchtime. Then came home and the girls and I started working on the peaches. We made some peach freezer jam and then canned some of the peaches. We saved the peelings again and got 2 more qts of peach juice. We also had a peach cobbler for supper. I love peaches.

I am looking forward to tomorrow as Sam and Daniel will be coming up to spend the day with us. Enjoy your evening and God bless.

August 3, 2011 3

Picnic and Baptism

I thought I would share a few pictures with you all of the picnic and baptism we had Sunday. This is the pond where we do our baptizing. Beautiful! This pond is located on Route 8 here in Floyd close to the Bread Basket.

This is a young man from our church. He and his dad were baptized Sunday. We somehow missed getting the dad’s picture. I have been busy all last week and yesterday helping Hubby with a job. He has been remodeling a bathroom. Today, I picked blackberries, some more green beans and tomatoes while the girls worked on inside house chores. We will be busy working on those today. We also have some peaches to can but they may have to wait until tomorrow.

Here are a few random pictures I took this morning. The blackberries are looking pretty good this year.

A tomato ripening on the vine.

A view of the back side of the house. Temperature here has cooled down a little. Not as humid as last week. Or maybe it just feels that way because I’m not underneath that house running pipe for plumbing. (lol) Well, I better get busy. I hear blackberries calling our names. Enjoy your day and God bless.

August 2, 2011 4

Around the House

I thought I would show you all a few pictures of around our house. This picture is one of the old walnut trees that is in the yard. The faithful horse you see has survived Julie and Grace and is now being enjoyed by grandchildren.

This picture is looking out my dining room window.

As you come down our driveway, this is one of the first things you see. Hubby built the bench a few years ago. The swing was one purchased from Wal-Mart. When the cloth seats gave out, Hubby made a wood swing to hang on the frame. Can you tell we love to sit outside here?

This picture looks up into the field from the side yard. You can see our grapevine and garden. Well, I have a few more pictures but they will have to wait for another day. Time for us to leave for church. Tonight’s menu is meatloaf, mac & cheese, corn, rolls, cole slaw, cooked apples and watermelon. Enjoy your day and God bless.

July 24, 2011 4

Peaches

We have been working on peaches for a few days. I think I mentioned that we saved the peelings and put them into the steam juicer. Well, the above picture shows the 2 qts of juice we got from the peelings. We had 2 gal. of peelings and got 2 1/2 qts of juice. This will yield over a gal of peach juice. YUM! I definitely will do that again with our next batch of peaches.

I picked about 1 gal. of blackberries this morning. Pretty good for the first picking. I am trying something new for us. I am making blackberry syrup to use with pancakes, french toast, etc. Have any of you ever made this? It sounds good and sometimes I just want something different. I’ll let you know how it turns out. I have the blackberries on in the steam juicer now. Julie and I went up to the cellar this morning and organized it. I think “little green men” come along over the winter and just scatter all my canned goods. Anyway, all is in order now and ready for the new cans to fill it up. Grace worked inside doing household chores while Julie and I worked on the cellar. Hubby worked on mowing the yard. It has been a long time since he mowed. It is just so hot and dry. He thought it was starting to look a little wild.

Well, time to check on the blackberries. Enjoy your day and God bless.

July 23, 2011 6

Bee Sting

My Grace was stung Tuesday with a bee. This is what it looks like today. It actually is getting better. The swelling has gone down. It must be our time for stings. Hubby came home yesterday and he had gotten stung with a hornet. It looked pretty rough this morning. We have been putting alcohol on both his and Grace’s. Does anyone know anything else to put on bee stings?

Not a long post right now. We are still working with peaches. We took a lunch break and I thought I would show you all Grace’s sting. Enjoy your day and God bless.

July 22, 2011 8

Hummingbirds

The hummingbirds are really enjoying the feeders. We have this feeder at the old building and another one at the green swing. I think hummers are so much fun to watch.

Today, Hubby and I decided to put an outside faucet on the side of the new room. When we built the new room we had to take the old outside faucet off. Well, plumbing never seems to go as you think it will. We run the pipe and got everything connected, turned the water back on and amazingly, no leaks. Then we go outside, turn the faucet on and amazingly, no leaks. Well, of course, we are patting ourselves on the back now thinking wow, that was easy. Hubby turns the outside faucet off and guess what-it won’t turn off. It was a brand new faucet so we’re not sure what was wrong with it. Of course, we have no cut off valve in our collection of plumbing supplies so we have to shut the water off again, drive 30 minutes to the local hardware, get a cut off valve and a new outside faucet. When we get home, he put the cut off valve on so we could turn the water back on. He had to go look at a job possibility so the other faucet will have to wait. He will have to take the one that doesn’t work back out of the wall so he can put the other one in. Hopefully this one will work.

Well, that’s our day. Temperatures here today have been wonderful. Low 80’s. It is now almost 6:00 p.m. and the temperature is 75 degrees with a great breeze. Thank you, Lord. Tomorrow we will be going down to Jessica’s. She has a doctors appointment. We will be watching the boys and then going over to David’s mom’s to pick some apples. Remember last year, she gave us those pink apples. Well, they are ready to pick. They make such pretty applesauce.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

July 14, 2011 5

A Finished Shelf

Hubby finished the shelf we have been working on this morning. I couldn’t get a really good picture of it because the room is a little small but anyway all the stuff is up out of the floor and I even had room to move my bulk containers from the kitchen in there. Doesn’t it look good?

This week has been pretty hot here. Not near as hot as some of you all but hot for us and HUMID! I think that is what makes it seem so much hotter. I think I hear my green swing calling my name. Time for a little rest. Enjoy your day and God bless.

July 13, 2011 5