Comparison

I thought it would be nice to look back and remember how things were just a few short months ago. This picture was taken this morning. Then I looked back and found another picture of the same scene.

Personally I like this morning’s picture better but to each his own. Yesterday was busy for us. The girls and I went to pick apples. A friend from church offered us his early apples from his tree. We were very thankful to get them. After we came home, we started processing them. Yesterday we got 11 quarts of applesauce made and still have more to work with today. Sally, our pastors wife, told us she puts her apples in the microwave to cook them. This was much easier as we didn’t have to worry about them burning. Then she puts hers through her food strainer and puts them in the freezer. I had never put applesauce in the freezer, only apples. We tried that yesterday. It was a lot faster and didn’t heat up the house.

Beautiful weather here in Floyd this week. Much cooler temperatures with a wonderful breeze. We have had several little rains which we really needed. I picked green beans Monday and dug some young potatoes. They were delicious. I think I’ll be able to pick some more beans by tomorrow. YUM! I love fresh produce.

Did you all notice my canning and freezing logs Dave put on my blog? Thanks Dave. I really like being able to look at it and see what I’ve got done and what I still need. I better get working on those apples. Enjoy your day and God bless.

July 14, 2010 1

Garden Enjoyment

I thought I would post a few pictures of things that are growing in our garden.

Green beans starting to set on the vine. I will soon be able to pick some of these and enjoy them.

Our hot peppers. They will taste so good in our homemade salsa.

Sweet banana peppers. YUM! Hubby and I have had to start watering our garden. It is so dry here. Forecast is calling for a chance of rain over the weekend. We really need it. Seems like no matter how much you water, it never does the garden as much good as rain from God does. I think I forgot to tell everyone what a nice weekend we had here-very cool temperatures. Two mornings when we got up the temperature was 43 degrees- then up to the lower 50’s, upper 50’s and today mid 60’s. Daytime temperatures over the weekend were great-low to mid 70’s. Starting Monday though its been back up to HOT-not near as hot as some places but hot for us. 96 degrees yesterday when Hubby came through Christiansburg. Upper 80’s here on the farm.

Last nights supper was grilled chicken, green beans, pasta salad and rolls. I fixed everything on the grill so as not to heat the house up any more than it already was. We ate outside at the picnic table. It was really nice. A little breeze was blowing which helped a lot . Yesterday I got a recipe from my friend Vicki-applesauce pie. I made it and thought it was really good. I wanted to share it with you all.

2 eggs, 1 cup sugar, 2 tbsp flour, 1 tsp.ground nutmeg, 1 stick melted butter, 1 cup applesauce, 1 tsp vanilla. Combine sugar, flour, and nutmeg.(You can use cinnamon instead or a little of both). Beat eggs, add eggs to dry ingredients. Gently combine butter applesauce and vanilla until mixed. Pour into pie shell. Bake at 350 for 45 min or until golden brown. (I would recommend if your applesauce is sweet to cut down some on the sugar, I didn’t but Hubby thought it was a little too sweet. I thought it was just fine.)

Enjoy your day and God bless.

July 7, 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

Enjoyment

Time to enjoy some of the fruits of our labor. Our first zucchini, our first squash, and our first peas. Delicious!! I think it is so exciting when the garden first starts coming in. I combined all these together with a few other ingredients and had a wonderful stir fry for supper last night. I am eating the remainder of it for lunch today. Today is ladies bible study day. We are on our third lesson. It is about being a true servant of God and how we can encourage our church leaders. I think it is a very interesting study. Many times in churches today, the members can’t encourage their leaders because they are too busy criticizing them. This lesson shows us ways to avoid that trap. The girls and I cleaned house yesterday, found some new kittens (which are adorable) and in general just enjoyed the day. Dale and his mom came by for a visit and to pick up his wood splitter. They came right when I was taking some homemade rolls out of the oven. It was so much fun to be able to share them. Hot and buttery. YUM! Food is so good when it’s shared.

Can you believe this is the baby geese? They are almost as big as mama and papa. It certainly has been entertaining to watch them grow. This morning as Hubby and I enjoyed our morning coffee together, there were lots of wildlife activity here on the farm. The geese were playing at the pond, a deer was grazing in the field straight in front of us, and a coyote was passing through on the ridge to our right. Some mornings we don’t see anything but cows and birds. Other times there are lots to watch. I so enjoy our morning time together. We think its worth getting up a little earlier for. The ladies will soon be here so I guess I better get ready. We are going to Jessica’s tomorrow. PawPaw has yet to see his new grandson. Take care and God bless.

June 18, 2010 1

Thursday

My Grace took this picture the other evening. The clouds were beautiful. Thanks for the picture, Grace. Today looks as though it will be another beautiful day here in Floyd. The sun is shining, the birds are singing praises. Beautiful! I am getting ready to hang clothes on the line. So much fun. I also just finished making some homemade yogurt. I have not made this in a long time. I usually make kefir. However I am having difficulties getting it to thicken. I think it has something to do with temperature. Without the fire, I don’t think it is warm enough in the house for it to set. I had this same problem last year in the spring. So maybe I’ll just make yogurt for a while. Must be time for a change. School today as usual. Hopefully we will finish getting the garden ready to plow today. I am really ready to play in some fresh turned dirt. Get some early crops in the ground. Onions, lettuce, peas, cabbage. YUM! I don’t think I’ve told you all, but we have a mama goose setting on the island on the pond. Much excitement. We have never had one make a nest here before. We are certainly looking forward to seeing babies swimming around. We have always said when the birds were singing they were singing praises to the Lord. On another blog, I read about listening to their praise songs. I so much like that thought. So it is time for me to go hang some clothes on the line and listen to some beautiful praise music. May your day be filled with the sound of praise. God bless.

April 8, 2010 0

Another Sign of Spring

Another indicator of spring. This flower is one of the early ones. I’m not sure what it is but it comes up early every year. Does anyone know it’s name? Anyway it is always such an uplifting sight to see it coming out of the ground. Today has been a little cool here, overcast, kinda dreary. Yesterday was georgeous. Windy but lots of sunshine. Today has been school as usual. We are all looking forward to finishing the year (hopefully) a little early. Our expectations are to be finished around the first of May. I guess that is if we don’t miss too many days between now and then. Spring is the hardest for us. We want to take too many days off and enjoy the sun. I’ve still been working on Grace’s quilt. I’m about 2/3 of the way finished. I really want to get it done soon so I can put the quilting frame away for summer. It always seems to me, spring is the time for new projects and it is hard to get old ones finished when so many new ones are calling. I MUST REMAIN FOCUSED! Tonight’s menu for supper is venison strips, mashed potatoes, corn, gravy and homemade biscuits. Dessert will probably be honey and butter swirled together and put on hot biscuits. YUM! Tomorrow is Ladies Bible Study day. It is going really well. A very good study. I highly recommend it. Well it is time for us to get some house cleaning done and then start on supper. Take care and God Bless.

March 25, 2010 0

More Signs of Spring

I could hardly wait to post these pictures! The crocus are so bright and beautiful. The rhubarb is coming up nicely. I LOVE SPRING! This has been a busy week for us. All day Tuesday spent in Roanoke at the eye doctor. Wednesday was a fun day spent with our friends, the Horns. Today has been a beautiful day here. Temperature around 60 degrees. We can hardly believe it. I hung our clothes out on the line-they will smell sooooo good! I plan on having london broil on the grill tonight, probably home fries and corn on the cob (from our garden last year). I purchased some strawberries at the store today. I usually don’t do that this early in the season but they looked so good. Strawberry Shortcake for dessert tonight. We usually go down to Jessica’s in early May. There is a” pick your own” strawberry patch. We love it. We try to pick a lot, freeze them for winter. We also make lots of fresh strawberry jam. YUM! Anyway I have a praise. My truck is fixed!!!! Hubby and his brother worked until dark last night but we are back on the road. I never imagined how much I would miss that old truck until I had to jiggle my schedule with Hubby’s. One vehicle can be a little trying to say the least. The girls and I don’t go a lot of places but it sure is nice to be able to go when we want to. I guess I better get busy cooking supper, Hubby is looking in the pantry so he must be hungry. Take care and God bless.

March 18, 2010 2

Golden Hills

This was the view this morning from my kitchen window as I washed the morning dishes. Am I a blessed woman or what? We did get to have our Ladies Study today. Hallelujah! The snow has not started yet. They are predicting 10-13 inches. This will probably mean no church on Sunday which of course makes for a long week. However if all goes as planned Jess and crew will be coming up next weekend. She wants us to sew her some maternity clothes. We will be going to a local fabric store called Schoolhouse Fabrics. They have 3 stories full of nothing but cloth. Then we will come home and snuggle in for 2 days of sewing, and of course lots of MawMaw time. I can hardly wait! It is almost supper time. Tonights menu is one of Hubby’s favorite. Fried chicken, gravy, corn and biscuits. I think I’ll throw in some cooked apples too. YUM! Are you hungry yet? Well, I am. Guess I better get started frying that chicken. God Bless.

January 29, 2010 2

Fire

For those of you who do not have the comfort of a wood fire to enjoy, I thought I would share ours. One of the girls(I’m not sure which one) took this picture. I thought it looked so warm and cozy. Today I cooked chicken and dumplings over that wood fire in my cast iron kettle. YUM! Very cold temperatures this morning made us really appreciate that wood fire. The temperature was around 8 degrees with a below zero wind chill. COLD!!! Today it warmed up to the mid 20’s and the wind has laid down some but it is still very cold. Oh well, I quess it’s that time of year. Today was bible study day here at my home. One of the ladies brought some wild rice soup to share with everyone. Thanks, Barbara. We have about 2 weeks left on our Peter study and then in January we plan to start Beth Moore’s Esther study. We will be taking a 2 week Christmas break. Well I guess I better get some work done. I am working on a quilt. I will try to post a picture when it is finished. God Bless.

December 11, 2009 0