Jerky

Monday we made jerky. Jerky is one of our favorite things to dehydrate. As some of you may remember, we were blessed last year to have a beef given to us. As it was an old bull , we made hamburger out of most of it. Above is a picture of our dehydrator, our jerky shooter and the type of jerky mix we use. All this came from Wal-Mart. There a lots of jerky mixes out there, this is just the one we use.

This is what it looks like after it has dried. The rack is not necessary. I just put it on it to take the picture. I thought it would show the jerky better.

When finished, it all fits neatly back into this basket and off the the attic it goes to be stored until next time. We have dehydrated apples and peppers too, a few bananas and grapes. We used to dry our green beans on a string in the attic when we lived in Grundy. I wonder how green beans would be dried in a dehydrator. Anyone out there ever tried this? I think I will try it this summer and see how it turns out. We just called them fodder beans but I have heard them referred to as leather britches. I know they are good no matter what you call them.

We did get a storm last night but it was only rain. YEAH! Temperatures are very nice today. Mid 40’s already. Lots of sunshine. I have clothes outside on the line. The wind is supposed to pick up after lunch, about 30 mph with gusts in the 50 mph range. Typical wind for Floyd. It helps the clothes dry and makes them soft as long as you can keep them on the line.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

February 2, 2011 5

A Nice Surprise

Last night during our fellowship meal, one of the ladies told me she had something for me out in her car. She had gotten me this beautiful material. She found it a Wal-Mart. Our Wal-Mart does not sell material but they had this on clearance, probably from another store. Each bolt has 5 yards of material on it. Lots of aprons! Sometimes God amazes me, the way He leads us to encourage each other. I was feeling a little down about messing up the other material and then He surprises me through a generous friend. God is good.

Temperatures here have changed drastically from yesterday. Mid 20’s with lots and lots of cloud coverage. We are not getting any snow yet but it definitely feels like snow.

Time for school. Enjoy your day and God bless.

January 31, 2011 4

Tuesday

Today we are getting back into the swing of school. We had too many errands yesterday to start. We also visited some with the Horn’s yesterday. For Christmas, the Horn girls had received a kit from Wal-Mart to make a little girl apron and a little doll apron. I took some interfacing over and Vicki and I traced out the pattern. So I now have a little doll apron pattern to make. I want to make a mother, daughter, and doll apron to match.

Temperatures here are much nicer than they have been however yesterday morning was pretty cold. Temperature yesterday was 14 when we got up but it did warm up nicely with lots of sunshine. Cloudy today though, of course, because I am home and could hang our clothes on the line today. Oh well, thats how it goes. Hubby worked on getting some more wood yesterday while the girls and I ran errands.

Tonights menu is something I really don’t have a name for. I brown hamburger meat, add onions, cabbage, and potatoes. The options are limitless as to what you can add. I sometimes add fresh peppers, zucchini, squash, mushrooms. I like fresh baked cornbread with it. I got some cushaw from the freezer this morning. I think I will make a pie for dessert.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

January 4, 2011 3

White Christmas

Well, the snow did come yesterday-about 4″. So no family coming today. Hopefully, Dave, Jess and the boys will get to come about the middle of the week. I’m not sure when Chuck will come. The girls are excited today. There is enough snow to make snow cream, which is a favorite around here. There probably will be some sledding today too. The winds are supposed to start later today so we’ll just have to see how everything goes. The cows don’t seem to mind the snow at all.

I took these pictures from our dining room window. Later today, we will be going down to the barn to get milk. I will try to take more pictures then.

Hubby completely surprised me yesterday morning. We very seldom get each other gifts at Christmas but this year he got me this wonderful mixer. He even braved Wal-Mart on Christmas Eve to get it for me. Complete surprise! I got up yesterday morning, went to turn the coffee pot on and there it was. I squealed out loud and he just smiled that beautiful smile of his that always says “I love you”. He said with all the cooking and baking I do, he thought it would come in handy. Well, it certainly will. I made a batch of banana nut muffins in it this morning. I used a different recipe than I normally use and I think I like it much better. The recipe is:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (I used whole wheat), 2/3 cup sugar, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp. baking soda, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/3 cup applesauce, 2 eggs, 1/4 cup sour cream, 1 tsp. vanilla, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. allspice, 2/3 cup mashed bananas, 1/3 cup chopped walnuts. Combine all ingredients. Pour into muffin tin. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 min. I used my large muffin tin and got 6 muffins. Very good.

No church today because of the snow. I sure am glad we got to go Friday night to the candlelight service. Enjoy your day and God bless.

December 26, 2010 4

New Machine

Yesterday, I decided I just could not fix my machine. We decided we should not be having all that trouble with a new machine so we took the machine back to Wal-Mart where we had purchased it. As you all recall, I had not had the machine very long at all and it has always given me trouble. Anyway, Wal-Mart took it back and we exchanged it for this machine. As soon as I started sewing on it, it was obvious this is a better machine. I have never used a Singer before but I definitely pray we will be getting better service from this one than from the Brother. I finished the sewing project that I had previously started.

This is for my little man, Daniel, who loves, loves, loves to help his mom in the kitchen. I hope it looks like a little boy apron. I wanted something with tractors on it but blue jean material was all I had that looked boyish. Weather permitted they will be coming up Sunday. Chuck and his family may come also. This would be a first-all my grandkids in the house at the same time. WOW! They are calling for some snow to hit here tomorrow and Sunday so we’ll just have to wait and see.

We will be having our candlelight service at church tonight. This is such a beautiful service. We have these little shelves on the walls and on top of the shelves we have oil lamps. All the oil lamps are lit and the electric lights are turned off. It is absolutely beautiful. We have communion and the pastor has a message. Then we all light our individual candles, gather around in a circle and sing Christmas hymms. It is such a special time and we all look forward to it. I pray you will all have a wonderfully blessed Christmas Eve as well.

Celebrate the birth of our Savior. May He bless each of you with a special portion of His presence on this wonderful day-Christ’s birthday. God bless.

December 24, 2010 2

Correction

I am making a correction to our temperature this morning. We saw a friend of ours in Wal-mart today. They live close to us. He has a machine that tells him all types of weather. It registers not just temperature but wind chill temps. He said it was -26 degrees wind chill this morning. Now I know for sure that is COLD. Just wanted you all to know. God bless.

December 14, 2010 2

Country Living

These are just a few pictures I took yesterday on our way into town. This road runs alongside the Parkway for a while. Then branches off into other roads. It is one of the many roads we can take to get to town. I thought you all might enjoy seeing it.

On the side of this road, fall flowers are already beginning to bloom. Joe Pie and Goldenrod.

A field on the same road.

In about another month, corn cutting will begin. This hill will have lots of activity. These are just a few things I am blessed to enjoy every day. Sometimes the beauty of this place I live overwhelms me. I haven’t lived very many places in my life but I do know this place I live now is very beautiful.

The girls and I had fun yesterday. We ran some errands, went to the Salvation Army and Goodwill, Wal-Mart of course. I found Hubby a nice church outfit at the Salvation Army and a tie to match at Goodwill. He normally doesn’t wear a tie but now that he is a deacon, they have to wear a tie on the day we do the Lord’s Supper. We also found Grace a skirt and a top to match and both girls got a swim suit. They did not have one and they hope to get to swim over the weekend at David’s mom’s pool. We are going down this evening. She has some more apples that are ripe and some pears.

Today is Ladie’s Bible Study. We are still doing it at Barbara’s house, probably all this month. However today is starting out nice and cool so we might could have done it here. Oh well. We’ll just stick to our original plan. I have dessert this week and I am taking a peach pie I made. The girls are going to play at the Horn’s while I am doing bible study. They are very excited. It will be a fun day for everyone. Vicki and I will visit when I come to pick the girls up. I’m planning on surprising her with a new type of tea for us to share. I guess though if she reads this before I get there it won’t be a surprise.

Well, I gotta go. There’s work to do. We want to be ready to leave when Hubby comes in this evening. Gotta go get me some MawMaw time. Take care and God bless.

August 6, 2010 1

Orchard

Friday evening we went to our Pastor’s house. As I mentioned earlier, he gave us some peaches. He has a small orchard at his house. All his trees were so full of fruit. It was beautiful.

These are only a few of the trees. Grace took lots of pictures. I will try to post more of them tomorrow.

This is a view from his yard. Very pretty. We also ate supper at his house. Almost everything we had was home grown. I love to eat this way. We had hamburgers on the grill, cucumbers, onions and tomatoes from the garden, fresh homemade applesauce, and fresh peaches. Delicious!

The girls and I did not get to can our beets yesterday. As it was raining most of the day, we decided to run a few errands in town instead. Jess had given me some coupons she had for canning jars and lids. We decided to go to Wal-Mart and get these. They are a little cheaper there than there are at our local supermarket. We will be canning the beets today.

The sun is shining here nicely today. Temperatures have cooled down some, thanks to the rain yesterday. Outside temperature is about 80 degrees. This is one of those weeks when things begin to start building up. Much to do. Beans are ready to pick, berries are ready, beets are ready and I think we might have enough tomatoes ripe to make a batch of salsa. I love to can and put away food for my family however when I start getting behind, it is easy for me to allow that to become a stressor in my life. I do not want this to happen. God has given us this bounty and I thank Him for it. When I was growing up, the garden and canning controlled our summers. I do not want that for my girls. I want the garden and all it involves to be enjoyable and fun for my girls. I want to keep a balance. This is hard, as old habits are sometimes difficult to break. Pray that I will do this well-that my girls will have a love for gardening and canning and not see it as just hard work.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

July 28, 2010 1

A Good Job

We were extremely impressed with the food strainer. It was super fast compared to the old food mill and had very little waste. We processed a bushel of apples in about 4 1/2 hours. We used both big canners. We got 12 qts and 24 pints. YUM! I have always used the hot water bath canner to process applesauce. However, I read in my Mennonite cookbook, they could be processed in the pressure canner. We tried that yesterday and it went very fast. 15 min. on 5 lb. pressure. Much faster than using a bath canner. Vicki and I had a great time and of course the kids had fun. It is so much more pleasant sharing canning with a friend. I am so thankful the Lord placed our families together. Good friends are sometimes hard to find and I consider Vicki one of the best.

The girls and I are planning a “girl day” out today. We are going into C-burg to run some errands. This will include Wal-Mart and Goodwill. Temperatures have been very warm here in Floyd. On the farm though, it isn’t near as bad as it is in town. We are usually a few degrees cooler. In the summer this is a plus, in the winter not so good. Thankfully, we have quite a few shade trees in the yard and that really helps.

Time for us to get ready to leave. Enjoy your day and God bless.

June 23, 2010 1

Summer is Sweet

I thought I would share some of my flowers with you. The second picture is of the garden. The third is my most favorite spot in the entire yard. I love to sit on this swing and enjoy the view. My hubby redid the swing last year. It was one of those from Wal-Mart with fabric for the seat. It also had a fabric cover on top however one Floyd winter can destroy much. We have lots of high wind here so of course the top was the first to go, another year or so and the seat was in really bad shape. So he ripped all that out and put treated wood on it. I love it. God and I have so many special talks right here in this swing. Early spring pictures from my swing. Enjoy

August 28, 2009 1