More Space

Saturday we got the chickens more space in their lot. They really seem to enjoy having more room. We put the additional 5 hens in with our hens. It will take them a while to get used to being in there. You see the coup at the far side of the lot. That is what they have been in since they were bought by the man who gave them to us. They don’t really understand the concept of being able to run about. When we turn them all out in the evening, those 5 don’t really know to go outside. I’m sure they will figure it out pretty soon though. The small coup you see in the front is just for emergency use. In case we need to separate a hen from the rest of them for a short time.

Yesterday, we made salsa. We ended up with 16 pts. The Horn’s came over for a while in the evening. We ate supper, talked, picked a few blackberries and talked some more. It seemed like it had been a long time since they had come over. We had a really nice evening and even got a little rain. God is good! Our temperatures have definitely been cooler this week. This morning it was 60 degrees when we got up. There is a slight feel of fall in the air. Humidity is not near as bad. That always makes it seem cooler.

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

August 11, 2011 5

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

Making Butter

When I was living in Grundy, we would buy our milk, butter and buttermilk from a friend of ours who had cows. She made absolutely the best butter I’ve ever tasted. When we moved up here to Floyd, the butter they made tasted completely different. They call it “sweet cream butter” here. Well, don’t get me wrong, it’s really good. But just not the taste I’ve been hankering for. So the other day I called Margie, our friend in Grundy that made the butter. The cows here on the farm are Holsteins and don’t produce much cream so it takes a long time to save up. We wanted to make butter for the weekend for Jessica, so I cheated and bought heavy whipping cream from the store. Here is the recipe she gave me.

1. Put equal amounts of cream and buttermilk in a jar. I used 1 pt cream and 1 pint buttermilk.

2. Let jar sit out on counter overnight or until it becomes very thick-I mean really, really thick.

3. Her instructions were then to churn it. As we do not have a churn, I poured the thickened cream into my mixer with the whisk attachment on-You know my beautiful mixer my wonderful hubby surprised me with at Christmas.

4. Llet this mix about 5 min. (I’m not really sure of the time, it could have been less or more.) This is what it will look like when the butter is ready.

6. Then you do what Margie called “gather” the butter. I put it into a container, added a little salt, took a spoon and worked it around and all the excess buttermilk came out. Drain off the buttermilk as you gather the butter.

The finished product. Chill and enjoy!! Of course, I had to sample it before this. I wanted to make sure it was good before serving it to my family. (lol) It tastes just like Margie’s. Yeah!!!! I am so happy. I am making fresh rolls today for the weekend. Won’t they be good with butter spread on them.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

July 1, 2011 6

A Pretty View

This is the view from my favorite sitting place.

This, of course, is my favorite sitting place. Hubby and I spend each morning here in this swing drinking our coffee together. Notice the rose bush running up in the tree. It took me a long time to train it to go up there.

I think God is ever so wonderful to allow me to have this beautiful place to live. Thank you, Lord!

Enjoy your day and God bless.

June 3, 2011 6

Little Tomatoes

Aren’t they so cute! These little guys are on the big tomato plant we bought. Makes my mouth water just looking at them. Today has been dry at least. No rain. We were able to hang clothes on the line. YEAH!

We received a wonderful blessing yesterday. Billy gave us a quarter of a beef. You will notice on my canning log a new entry. Thank you, Lord. My computer is out of commission-so sad. Dave says he thinks it is the hard drive. I will be using Hubby’s computer for a while. I miss my computer already. Hopefully, we will be able to get it fixed before too long.

Time to take one of the canners off. Enjoy your day and God bless.

May 19, 2011 4

Fire Pinks

On one of the rare occasions Sunday that the sun actually peeked through the clouds, we happened to be at Smartview Park. These beautiful fire pinks were blooming everywhere.

I thought you all might like them. We are always looking for different types wildflowers and quizzing each other to see if we can remember their names.

Today is STILL overcast and foggy. We had rain most of the day yesterday and more last night. Our temperature this morning was 40 degrees. I finally decided to just go ahead and build a fire. I washed a load of clothes on Monday and hung them up inside. This morning there were still not completely dry. It takes a long time for them to dry if I don’t have a fire and besides the house was a little chilly and damp.

Time for school. Enjoy your day and God bless.

May 18, 2011 4

Goslings

They sure have grown! Every time I see them they look so much bigger. We discovered this morning that we have a female mallard duck nesting on the island now. We are so excited! We have wanted ducks to nest there since we moved here. We’ve not sure why the ducks and the geese have decided that the island is now nest worthy but we sure are glad. There is a big difference between the ducks and the geese. The ducks are more secretive and the male is less aggressive. Papa Goose is always on patrol, keeping away all others.

I know it has been a long time since I made a post. I have been busy this week helping Hubby with a job he had building a fence. The girls took their school books and did school in the van while I helped him. Last night the girls had their piano recital. It all went very well. They did a good job on their songs. We have been busy this morning getting the yard mowed and other things that needed doing around the house.

On Tuesday, I attempted to make homemade cottage cheese. It DID NOT turn out. I’m not sure what I did wrong. I followed the directions I got from the internet. I think I need a different recipe. Have any of you all ever made cottage cheese? I sure would appreciate all info I can get.

The girls found new kittens today in one of the old buildings. It is always so exciting for them when they find new kittens. These belong to one of our wild cats so we have no idea if she will leave them where they are or not. Only time will tell. We have much to do so I better get busy. Enjoy your day and God bless.

May 7, 2011 2

Crocus

We are finally getting a little color in our yard. I love these cheerful early flowers. They brighten up the landscape and our outlook so much, I think. Saturday was very nice here. We got all the trimming done. YEAH! Everything looks so much neater. It is all piled up in the garden to be burned whenever we can catch a day the wind isn’t blowing too hard. Yesterday, was absolutely beautiful. The temperature actually got up to 60 degrees. I sat outside for a very long time reading. Then Hubby came out and entertained me with his banjo. We had a team leaders meeting yesterday after church so we did not do our bible study last night.

Friday’s weather was very different from Saturday and Sunday. First we had quite a lot of rain.

Then we had some hail.

Today is chilly and overcast. They are calling for rain today and tomorrow. Grace has an appointment at the eye doctor later today. We will be doing school until lunch then leaving for the appointment. Enjoy your day and God bless.

March 14, 2011 4

A Cozy Bookcase

This is part of the book shelf that sits in our dining room. Hubby transformed it from an old quilt rack into a darling bookcase several years ago. I am so blessed to have a husband who is talented in the art of carpentry. We are back from Jessica’s. We got some of the painting done. We still have to finish painting the trim. We had a great visit. The only sad thing is that baby Sam got sick with strep throat while we were there. This is his first real sickness.

We haven’t done very much today. We ran a few errands and visited some with the Horn’s. It had been a long time since we visited with them. We just wished it could have been a little longer visit. We got a little snow over night but it is almost all gone now. Temperature, though, was very cold this morning about 15 degrees with wind chills down around zero. I think I would like some warm weather now.

I am going to watch a movie I ordered from netflix. It is called Sarah’s Choice. I think it will be very good. I saw the preview of it on the inspiration channel. Enjoy your day and God bless.

February 10, 2011 4

An Old Leather Project

This is a picture of an old leather book bag I made when I was in college. It is roughly 35 years old (I guess I am really telling my age now). As you can see, it gets a lot of use. I’m not even sure what the stain is at the bottom but its been on it for a very long time. I used to work a lot with leather. I have made purses, moccasins, walets, lots and lots of belts. Hubby also has done lots of leather work. He more than me actually. He used to run a leather shop, back when we were younger. He made a knife sheath for our old pastor about 2 years ago. Other than that we have not done leather work in many years. We do still have our tools though. We have talked some about getting them out and working some with the girls. Teaching them how to make things. Leather is just so expensive but I think it would be lots of fun.

This is a picture I did. Once again, many years ago. I won 2nd place in a craft fair with it. Looking at these reminds me of how much fun working with leather is. Well, so much for my walk down memory lane.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

January 21, 2011 5