Fall Colors

Here are a few of the pictures we took Saturday at Grayson Highlands. The colors of fall are looking pretty good here.

We have had rain for several days so lots of the leaves have just fallen off.

Hopefully, not all though. I love the colors of fall.

We started school yesterday. So far, everything is good. Mostly just review right now. We had some rather chilly weather yesterday so I built our first fire. It was nice to feel the warmth and smell the wood smoke again. Today we made a huge pot of chili beans for supper. We plan on canning some of it-if there’s enough left. It sure does smell good.

Well, lunch break is almost over. Enjoy your day and God bless.

October 2, 2012 4

Rainbow

Hello everyone! Sorry that I haven’t posted as much as usual. Things just seem busy here right now. Anyway, yesterday evening the Lord gave us this beautiful rainbow. If you look close you can see it was a double rainbow but the one on the left is fading. This picture was taken at the top of our driveway.

Yesterday, we went to help Hubby on the job site. It is coming along nicely. After school, the girls were entertained by this guy. He and a few of his buddies were very busy in the walnut tree.

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We did get some much needed rain yesterday evening. The garden is all in, however, the birds have already discovered it and destroyed about 1/3 of the tomato plants. They love the tender young leaves so all that is left is the stem. Has anyone else experienced this problem? Any solutions?

Hubby has been working all week on my car. He has replaced the rotors on the front and today we picked up rotors for the back. I am so thankful he knows how to do all this. His knowledge saves us lots of money. Well, I will leave you ladies with a picture of the purple flowers that are blooming everywhere here. I don’t know the name of them but we think they are beautiful.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

May 22, 2012 8

Fresh Mullein Tea

One of our favorite drinks in spring is mullein tea. It is so refreshing and has a slightly minty taste. The other day Grace had gathered some leaves from the tractor road. We have already drank that up so I thought we better make some more. Mullein has many medicinal purposes. We drink it because we just think it tastes good.

After gathering the leaves, I break them apart and put into a large kettle. Kettle size is based on how much mullein we have gathered. Cover the leaves with water and bring to a boil. Turn heat down and simmer for 10-15 min. Strain and sweeten to taste. This can be used hot or cold. I made a post last fall about drying mullein. You can read about it here. https://merryheartcrafts.com/?s=mullein

Today has been a nice day here in Floyd. We had some morning rain but the skies are clear now. Our temperature is upper 60’s with a good breeze. If you notice, we almost always have a breeze here. This is good in the summer, not so good in the winter. Anyway, clothes are on the line drying in the breeze. I love it.

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

March 31, 2012 2

Mullein

I thought I would show you all a picture of mullein. The girls and I went gathering it this morning. We got quite a lot.

I then looked it (I think this might be a mountain term) and removed any that did not look good. I have the first batch in the dehydrator now. As I said yesterday, this is the first time I have tried drying it. I will show you all pictures of it after it is dryed. I usually just gather the leaves and make a tea from them, add sugar or honey and use it as a cold tea. It is very good cold with a minty taste. The problem with this is there are no leaves to gather in the winter. I have never tried this as a hot tea but according to what I have read on line, you use 1 tbsp. dried mullein to a cup of hot water. Let it steep for about 10 minutes and strain the liguid through a coffee filter or cheesecloth. You will need to add honey to this, as it is bitter without a sweetener. This is good for coughs and respiratory ailments.

I have finished drying the mullein and I thought I would just add the picture of it here on this post.

I will store this in an airtight container to enjoy over the winter. It actually yielded much more than I thought it would. Enjoy your day and God bless.

October 26, 2011 7

A Glimpse of Fall

Just a little glimpse that fall is on the way. Dried corn stalks are definitely a sign. Yesterday, the girls and I went to play with the boys while Jess went to have another ultra sound. This time Katie was in the birth position instead of breech. Praise the Lord! I want to thank you all for praying for her and ask that you continue to pray. She has about 9 weeks to go.

Today, we will finish up the pears. I think I will make juice from what is left. I may end up canning some more. I’ll wait and see. Tomorrow we plan on spending the day with the Horns. We are going to Paint Bank. I will hopefully get lots of pictures to show you. We are so looking forward to this. It has been several years since we have been there and the Horns have never been. I hope they enjoy it as much as we do. Our hens have picked up some on their laying. Yesterday, we got 5 eggs. We haven’t gave them any scraps (except just a few little treats).

This lone tree sits in the field behind our house. If you look closely, you can see the leaves are starting to change. It has been so dry here, I’m not sure if we will have very much color. I hope so, though. I so enjoy the colors of fall.

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

September 2, 2011 5

Fallen Leaves

Yesterday, we went to our Pastor’s home. They had some corn to give us and some peaches. I thought you all might enjoy seeing some pictures we took. As you can see, I think fall is coming on us pretty fast. Some of the trees are already losing their leaves. Our temperatures this morning was 55 degrees. Our morning temps have been in the 50’s for about a week now. So much nicer sleeping weather. Anyway we got about 2 bushel of corn and almost a bushel of peaches. We will be busy today working all that up. Grace is my helper when it comes to shucking corn. She loves it. Julie will be inside doing other work while Grace and I shuck. Then I will let Julie help with the blanching while Grace has other chores.

Also, a couple who go to our church told us we could come and pick plums from their tree. This is exciting for us. We have never known anyone who had a plum tree. We want to make jelly and I was thinking about trying plum juice. I wonder how that would taste? I guess we’ll find out. We probably won’t get to go pick them until later in the week. I let you all know how it turns out.

This is a picture of some of the trees in the Pastor’s orchard. If you look close, you can see the ladder at the tree we picked peaches from. I will show you all a few more pictures next time. Well, we better get busy. Enjoy your day and God bless.

August 16, 2011 8

Naked Lady

I’m sure everyone is thinking what a strange name for a post but it really is the name of the flower. For the last few years we have had these flowers come up in our yard. They are a gift from God. We love them. I guess they are called Naked Ladies because they have no leaves. They just grow up straight and have a beautiful flower on them. We had 2 others but something broke them before they got to bloom. (probably small 4 legged creatures-kitties).

This morning’s temperature was 56 when we got up! I think it definitely is starting to feel like fall. I really enjoy all the seasons but I think fall is my favorite. (Even if it does mean time to cut wood). I hope you all have a great day and God bless.

August 12, 2011 6

Peaceful Scene

We did not get to have our breakfast picnic yesterday morning at the park. Weather was too bad. VERY foggy here. Most people would not have been able to find the park . Everything is wet, wet, wet. We did move it to the church, however, so we still had breakfast. Just not outside like originally planned. Lots of good food though. The pastors sermon was on the Lord’s Prayer. It was a very good message.

I have been told this strange looking flower is called a Naked Lady. The name suits it. There are no leaves on it what so ever. Just a tall stem and then the flower. They have filled out more since I took this picture however I could not get a new picture. It is too foggy and dreary today. The girls and I will be busy making more salsa. I did not like the recipe in the Ball canning book as much as I like my old recipe. It was given to me by a Mennonite friend, Judy. So today we are making her recipe. Much better. Temperatures have been cooler here. Low’s in the upper 50’s, high’s in the low to mid 60’s. Wet, foggy. Nice days for doing work inside or just curling up with a good book. I think I’ll try to work both of these activities in today. Enjoy your day and God bless.

August 2, 2010 1

A New Day

What a difference a day can make. Yesterday the snow was falling. Today is equally as beautiful but in a different way. The sun is shining and as you can see the sky is a georgeous blue. It occurred to me that sometimes life is like that too. Each day brings a different type of beauty. Sometimes we have to look deeper to find the beauty and sometimes it is easier to find. I believe God has a treasure for us each day, it is our responsiblity to search and find it. Today will be another snuggle in day. Church at home. Maybe play some games with our girls. Fun stuff. Family stuff. The things memories are made of. I love days like these. I wanted to tell everyone that I now have a comment link on each post. If you want to leave a comment just click on the link. It is always exciting when someone leaves a comment. Thanks Dave for fixing this for me. I want to take a minute to let you all know what a great son-in-law I have. The Lord did a great job picking him out. He is always ready to help us (no matter how dirty the job). I just wanted you to know, Dave, we’re glad you are part of our family. Okay enough of that, I don’t want his head to get too big. Todays menus is venison roast cooking on the wood stove and also some beans. I think maybe biscuits and fried potatoes would be good with this. I try to cook on our wood stove as often as possible. I think the food tastes better and of course it saves on the electric bill. I’m always for saving money. Well, I think I’ll get busy enjoying my day. God Bless.

January 31, 2010 2

More Fall Pictures

Here’s a few more fall pictures. The maple tree is in our yard close to the house. It gives wonderful shade to one of my swing areas. The other picture is in the field behind our house. The leaves are almost all gone now but the maple is still holding on to some color. Today is a big day in our house, my baby girl’s birthday. We will be having a little party tomorrow with friends. I let them off with half school today. You gotta do something special on birthdays. Another beautiful day here in Floyd. Sunshine, wind, (almost always wind) temperatures in the 50’s. Chilly enough to have a fire this evening-around 40 degrees now. Inside the house is nice and toasty thanks to our hard work yesterday. I think Saturday has been set aside as another wood cutting day, if weather permits. It is a wonderful feeling to enter winter knowing you have enough wood to keep you and your family warm. I think these are blessings we sometimes take for granted. Well time for me to get to work. God Bless.

November 5, 2009 0