Please Pray!

Hi everyone~

I was just writing this post to ask for prayer. 

On Friday, May 20-- Honey suffered a mild heart attack. 
We were at home; he thought it was indigestion.
Fortunately, my son came down to the house to bring AAA batteries for the blood pressure cuff and was able to convince his dad to go the ER.

WE were transported to Dallas to a larger hospital on Saturday.

On Monday, May 23-- they will be doing angioplasty-- and putting stents into his arteries (where needed). 

This was totally unexpected. We do not have insurance.

I'm asking for you to please pray for my husband.  He's NEVER had any serious health problems-- doesn't go to the doctor. 

We will require serious health changes in our routine, diet and exercise. Not to mention a regimin of meds--  I'm hoping we'll be able to  adjust our lifestyle enough to correct any high blood pressure and cholesterol issues. (and get off meds-- if able!) 

Please pray for our family -- we still have Temporary house guests.  I don't know if this has caused any undue stress for him.  He will not say.  He is very laid back and relaxed about things.

I've been praying for peace and God has answered my prayers.  Right now today-- I know that these things are in His hands.  I'm not worried about money or things.  I am praying for healing-- but know that God will give us what we need before we ask.
He is Sovereign in ALL THINGS-- even this.

Be anxious for nothing but in everything with prayer, supplication, and thanksgiving; make your request known to God; and the Peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Phil 4: 6-7

God bless you and thanks for reading!

By Faith!

Words and Music by Keith & Kristyn Getty & Stuart Townend 

By faith we see the hand of God
In the light of creation's grand design
In the lives of those who prove His faithfulness
Who walk by faith and not by sight

By faith our fathers roamed the earth
With the power of His promise in their hearts
Of a holy city built by God's own hand
A place where peace and justice reign

We will stand as children of the promise
We will fix our eyes on Him our soul's reward
Till the race is finished and the work is done
We'll walk by faith and not by sight

By faith the prophets saw a day
When the longed-for Messiah would appear
With the power to break the chains of sin and death
And rise triumphant from the grave

By faith the church was called to go
In the power of the Spirit to the lost
To deliver captives and to preach good news
In every corner of the earth

We will stand... 

By faith this mountain shall be moved
And the power of the gospel shall prevail
For we know in Christ all things are possible
For all who call upon His name 



God bless you and Thanks for Listening! 

You Know You have Writer's Block when...

...You throw the DISH TOWEL OUT into the garden with the DISH WATER.  

AND. POST. ABOUT . IT!!!!! 

Yes! I looked all over the kitchen (including but not limiting myself to the refrigerator) for this dish cloth!
I had JUST poured the water-- (bio-degradable NON-TOXIC dish soap) into the front garden; and couldn't find my dish towel when I came back to the sink.

Talk about CRAZY!
Yes. Some days, I feel like it. (i took this photo to prove it~ crazy!)

For Your Enjoyment~
God bless you
and
Thanks for reading!

How Does my Garden Grow, Part 2 ?

Last week I took a walk around the Garden in the morning light-- 

The sun coming up in the east was being blocked by the trees on that side of the property. 

It created some shadow on the garden... almost like it was night time. 

Everything looks so good! 

 This is the LONE squash in the front bed. 
I'm very pleased with the way this bed is growing.  It is the one that was horse manure compost throughout. 

 We have more lettuce than you can give away, eat yourself, or shake a stick at!  I've learned in my studying that lettuce will BOLT... and it becomes bitter.  I haven't had that so far... maybe a few plants. But we're eating as fast as we can!  This was sown from seed. I didn't thin it out...so the taller lettuce has a thin stalk at the bottom and is still quite tasty at the top.  The thinker PRETTIER  bunches of lettuce with thicker stalks are around the fringe of the lettuce rows... and those have tasted more bitter.  Go figure! 

 Front bed has 2 little green bean plants-- I hope they produce.  I put this stick in the ground there for it climb. I think it looks so pretty in amongst the beets and broccoli! 

I have broccoli growing!  This was taken last week, we either had a slight rain overnight, or heavy dew that morning... I've slept since then and can't remember... but I just love this picture of  MY. VERY. OWN. BROCCOLI.  God is so good! 


***********These pictures are from the Potager (poh-teh-jay) ... *remember that's french for english kitchen garden*   ...And remember kids, when you garden you can learn to speak french too!

 This is cilantro. It is flowering. I think I must be cutting and drying it by now. Is it best used fresh? or can you dry it and store it for later?  Do you know?  I've got some more research to do. 

 Dill. 

 Oregano.

 Our corn.    These were taken last week remember.  This week our corn has TASSLE ON IT!  So we'll be getting corn soon!  I love CORN!     The taller plant in the back is SUN FLOWERS... 

... I'm thinking this is a flower bud on the sunflower plant, unless--- it's more leaves, maybe?  Well see-- Honey thinks this will bring the  birds when dove and quail season opens up!  I was thinking trail mix. 

 Potato plants. 

 Okra.  Despite the fact something has been eating on the leaves... we're still getting Okra already.  Yay! 

 Tomatoes in a pot. 


This is the Hugelbeet-- pronounced (hoogle-bate) .... Gardening helps to improve all your foreign language skills..

SQUASH!  

 TOMATOES. 

 Green beans (not on the Hg.B.) but very near it....{smile}

 More Tomatoes. 

 oh, this is a lone cucumber plan (lower middle)  we thought didn't come up...so we transplanted some very small Tomato starts, from inside the house, where this was supposed to be growing... (upper left hand corner) ...I saw this that morning and moved it to this little corner of the Okra bed... it's been a week and it is thriving! 

 More pictures of the squash on the Hg.B... 

Cantaloupe, growing like wild fire!  and mingled in this is also-- a tomato plant and lone green been. (I have no idea how those got there!)  I think I went crazy when I was planting this mound.  I wanted to see what would grow. 


IT'S ALL GROWING! 


How is your garden growing?  Did you try any new techniques this growing season?  Have they all been successful, any of them FAIL?  

I'm linking here.      



God bless you and Thanks for reading! 

Cheap and Easy Side Dish

Sometimes I go to David's * a local grocer nearby--

Every morning they cull all the produce and anything that looks a little off- they package and mark down and put it into a buggie for quick sale. 

Sometimes they may put 2 apples, a lime, a potato into one pack. 

Or lettuce, peppers, an onion, and an orange. 

Usually it is a variety. And the price is always less than $2 for the tray. 

I try to take any onions and peppers and chop them up so that I can toss them in a bag and freeze for a dish later. That way they'll be chopped and ready to use! 

The last time-- I bought 3 trays with peppers, onions, jalapeños, potatoes ,baby carrots and apples. 

I used the 2 apples as a side dish for dinner. 

I cut the apples, placed them in a small casserole dish sprinkled with brown sugar and margarine. 

About 2 tablespoons each... 

approx. 1 Tablespoon of margarine and 1 of brown sugar per apple. 

Popped them in the microwave for about 4.5 minutes and vio'la!

I only have a before picture. But believe me it was tasty! 

Having extra people in the house to feed every night for dinner-- this is a money saver and quick and easy! 

One extra spoon full of food to help fill up hungry MEN! 

God Bless you today and Thanks for reading! 

A Homesteader, Me?

I was thinking the other day about Homesteading. The word. What it means and what I knew about it. 

It made me laugh. 

When I was growing up the only way I understood the word HOMESTEADING was to understand it to mean one thing- you were taking too long in the bathroom! 

Having only one bathroom in our house if you were in there too long, eventually, someone would knock on the door and ask, "What are you doing in there, Homesteading?" 

You were sure to get out quick, less they come back and insist they have a turn! 

Later, I came to think of Homesteading to mean being impoverished. 

Yes, and I think others may have thought that too.  I don't know really, maybe it was just me. Like I said, this is how I understood it; maybe I should say 'How I MISunderstood it. 

I thought people HAD to grow their own food, because maybe they couldn't afford groceries from the store.  HAD to hang out their laundry because they had no dryer. They HAD to sew their own clothes because they were poor and couldn't  shop at the THRIFT STORE like the rest of us, ha! That's rich isn't it? 

All the while I grew up eating FAST food straight from the kitchen (restaurant) , just the way I ordered it or straight from a CAN landing on my momma's kitchen table. My Granny sewed for me because we sometimes didn't have the money for clothes or maybe Momma and Daddy didn't have the money to pay out the LAY-A-WAY at Levine's. Either way, I WAS EMBARRASSED.  We didn't get the fashionable NEW clothes like some kids did  at the beginning of the school year, but we had clothes. I didn't care-- I felt shame.  

We lived in a sub-division neighborhood and not on a farm. We didn't Homestead. We weren't Homesteaders.  We didn't hang out our laundry to dry. No. We used ELECTRICITY for pete's sakes; and if the washer or dry were 'OUT OF ORDER' then we went to the laundry mat. I'm just saying, This is how I thought!

Then as an adult when we (my hubby and I)  bought our house,  I thought HOMESTEADING meant we were to pay a lower tax than most on our property.  Homesteading discounted our property tax. Yippee!  

Only recently, have I come to understand what HOMESTEADING truly is. Living simply within our means. Making do.  Thinking outside the box. Learning a new task not just to save money, but instead for that knowledge to become an asset to you and your family.  Independence!  

I wish I knew how to sew. I wish I knew how to do some of the things that were so embarrassing to me back then.  I'm learning to do some of those things now, like; growing my own vegetables, making bread ( I use a bread machine currently) sew my own clothes, store food properly , home-health remedies, etc.  I've tinkered around with all these things before, as a young mom, but not seriously enough for it to become my natural way of doing things.  

I'm enjoying learning these things.  I love reading how others are doing it.  I'm enjoying tapping into resources that are available to me and getting as much information as I can.  I really enjoy sharing what I'm learning with you my readers. 

We learn from each other. If I'm not sure how to do something first I GOOGLE IT!  Do you do that? But most of the time I just ask.  

Here are a few of the blogs I'm reading lately. 

The Homestead Revival 

Amy has a series she is doing called Preparedness Challenge-- she gives some very insightful tips and calls to mind things we wouldn't normally think of in terms of being prepared, in the event of a disaster. 

Do you have a grab-bag available during stormy weather?  A bag with an extra change of clothes handy to grab at a moments notice? Do you have food stored in anything other than a freezer? Do you have a way to generate electricity to that freezer?  

She has lots and lots of ideas on these things. I love reading her blog and she co-hosts the Barn Hop every Monday. 

The Prairie Homestead 

Jill is one of the hosts of Monday's Barn Hop too.  

I love reading her posts she has wonderful tips and recipes for food out of the garden - she recently gave a tip on making Steakhouse style baked potatoes.  I can't wait to try this. Sounds so YUMMIE! 

She also gives us tips for household cleaning. 

And writes about Everything Goats. 

Milking, tending, caring for...etc. 

I don't have goats but-- if I did, I know I go there and read all her helpful information! 

What she says about Homesteading is: It’s about returning to our roots of simplicity.

and lastly-- what started me on the homestead journey was this woman's blog-- 

I love reading Sherri's blog 

She is NOT your typical homesteader. She started out homesteading a little plot of rented land while making over a tiny little mobile home. She is a single mom, homeschooling 2 daughters-- 

When I found her blog, I was looking for information on  raised bed gardening. 

After clicking onto the The Mobile Home Woman-- I was hooked! 

She has accomplished so much-- and if you read her story, you'll be touched and I'm sure it will change your mind completely about HOMESTEADING. 

She and her girls just bought a NEW place and they are just embarking on a new adventure, with new grounds to keep, new seeds to plant, new walls to paint and they are making this new house OVER! 

I'm so excited for them! 

I might add here too, that after reading Sherri's blog for a while, I found out this was not my first encounter with her.  She has a graphics business and cottage home industry selling home school materials.  I bought curriculum from her in the past while still homeschooling my own children. 

It's a small world after-all! 

I've learned so much from these ladies.  I hope you stop by their places and check them out. 

As Jill says; "regardless of where you live, whether it be on a sprawling ranch or in a high-rise apartment, everyone can capture a piece of the homesteading spirit." 

So what about you? What do you think of Homesteading?  Are you doing things within your home to simplify? Are you doing things to make your life easier and be more content or are you chasing the wind and buying into the commercial dream of you must HAVE this to be happy?  I was that way when I was young.  I was so wrong in my thinking about Homesteading.  I'm here to tell you.  I like the independence a little hard work in the garden has given me. Who'd of thought - Growing my own produce means less gas money spent to drive into town? 

 I'm just saying:  I never would have thought of it that way before. Before now. Before calling myself a Homesteader! 

God Bless you today and Thanks for reading! 

Pickled Beets!

You remember these Beets... 

After I cooked all the greens yesterday, I washed these beets and  filled my pot with clean water and cooked them about 1 hour. 

I put them in the sink. 

When they are cooked you can rub them gently in your hand and the skin peels right off. 

The skins. 

Pickled Beets Recipe

INGREDIENTS

1 bunch (4 or 5) beets

1/4 cup cider vinegar

1 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

Salt and pepper

METHOD

1 Remove greens from beets, save for future use (see beet greens recipe). Cut beets to uniform sizes so they will cook evenly. Steam or boil around 30 minutes or until done. (Alternatively, you can roast them by wrapping them whole in foil and cooking them in a 350°F oven for about an hour.) A fork easily inserted into the beet will tell you if the beets are done or not.

2 Drain the beets, rinsing them in cold water. Use your fingers to slip the peels off of the beets. The peels should come off easily. Discard the peels. Slice the beets.

3 Make the vinaigrette by combining the cider vinegar, sugar, olive oil, and dry mustard. Whisk ingredients together with a fork. The dry mustard will help to emulsify the vinaigrette. Adjust to taste. Add salt and pepper to taste. Combine beets and vinaigrette in a bowl and allow to marinate for a half hour at room temperature.

Serves four.

RECIPE: source 

I had enough for about 2 - pints.  I put them in the refrigerator and we've been eating them. 

My pickled beets.  Mmmm... 

so delicious! 

************** a limerick***************

BEETS

To the bloggers I ever did meet

I told how I pickled some beets-

Though I'm a big fan

Eatin' just from a CAN

I'd MAKE mine less SOUR; more Sweet!

GOD bless you and THANKS  for Reading!  

What to Do with all those Beets?

I've never grown beets. 

We learned that fact already this week. 

BUT I HAVE done a pretty good amount of BEETS-RESEARCH. 

(retaining it, that is the problem)

I'm figuring IF I've lived 46 years and had to learn what I can about beets ...JUST NOW,  then maybe there is someone else out there that would benefit from this info...

From here on out ...it's point and shoot,people.  Pretty basic stuff. 

So please humor me Please hold all questions until the end of class. 

I'm guessing this is a 1 gallon pot. 

Start the water to boil--- I covered mine so it would boil faster. (lid not pictured-- smile--) 

 Chopped ALL TOPS off the beets...

Leaving about 2 inches of stems.
The reason for this is the beets will bleed out into the water loosing color, nutrients, and flavor. 
Notice the roots are still attached as well,  they need to remain during cooking for the same reason. 
WE'LL COME BACK TO COOKING THESE BEETS IN ANOTHER POST. 


The beet tops are full of nutrients and fall into the 'GREENS' category of your diet... Actually related to the CHARD FAMILY. I've NEVER had greens, WELL, except for lettuce and spinach. (I know!! I've lead a pretty sheltered life for someone who was born and  raised in the SOUTH)
RUMOR HAS IT ALL SOUTHERNERS EAT GREENS.  it's just a rumor. 


**** This method is for BLANCHING THE GREENS TO FREEZE THEM*** 


Ok...so you wash the greens. 2 TIMES.

First you wash them. ALL. Then you drain the water. Get fresh water. AND REPEAT.  

Check the water. It's got to be boiling. 

Eventually it does. JUST STOP WATCHING IT. IT WILL BOIL... TRUST ME. 


In the mean time you need to set up your ICY COLD WATER.
For this I used an Ice chest. And added ICE.  

For beets the blanching time is 2 minutes.  You put the GREENS in the boiling water; leaving them for 2 minutes. The Blanching process is to stop the enzymes from doing their thing... and causing the GREENS to continue to age... (sorry, don't know the technical jargon...ISN'T THAT WHAT GOOGLE'S FOR?)

Some methods say for you to use a bag or strainer.???  I had neither. So I used some tongs. 
I hope I didn't BRUISE MY GREENS!! 


EVENTUALLY, MY WATER BOILED. 


 Notice... the water isn't boiling. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. I added the greens to the water, it stopped boiling. It would pick back up after a few seconds though. I don't know if this will effect the greens either. 

 I then took the GREENS out and threw them in this strainer... NOPE,NO SHOT OF THAT.

But here's a shot of my strainer... point and shoot, people. 

I tossed the greens in the cooler. 

But...not to be left longer than two minutes.  The icy cold water is to stop the blanching/COOKING process. 

I then placed little batches in GALLON SIZED  baggies(cause that's what I had) for the freezer.

TA-DA!

I'm now the proud freezer prepped owner of about 6 pints of greens. Roughly equal to 6 cans of spinach! Only I grew these.
Myself.
In my garden.
With the LORD's blessing.
{BIG SMILE}

While doing my research. I came up with a recipe for cooking these GREENS and hope to post that soon! It sounded really TASTY!

God Bless you and Thanks for reading!

Farm Girl Friday Blog Hop

*** Here is an extra tip for you water conservationist out there-- if you're interested.
I saved my rinse water, both batches in another container. Plus my ice water and boiling water AND! the water I later boiled my beets in, as well.  Put it all in the cooler and took it outside and watered my garden with it! YES. I. DID! 

A Tisket a Tasket~

Beets FILLED MY BASKET! 

I spent the better part of my Saturday researching beets. 

I probably should have been doing more of this all along; but now it is CRUNCH TIME!  

Check out this first crop of beets I got out of my garden yesterday. 

This basket is filled and some of these beets are so LARGE! 

I looked up recipes and tips for harvesting, storing, cooking, freezing and drying beets. One of the favorite links I found was Tipnut.com -- I went to this page 

Honey says-- he doesn't care what I do with them; as long as I pickle some. So tomorrow, that is what I hope to be doing! 

All I've ever had in the way of beets is pickled-- Him too. So I was at a loss of what to do with these vegetables.  

I didn't know that they can cooked and mashed like potatoes-- and eaten with butter and salt and pepper. 

I didn't know that they are part of the CHARD family and can be eaten in soups! 

The beets can be cleaned, peeled and grated and eaten on salads for a delicious crunchy flavor. 

Beets can be boiled, baked, oven-roasted , steamed and microwaved.  WHO KNEW?  

The tops are to be cut off, leaving about 1 1/2 to 2 inches of stem before cooking the beets to keep them from "bleeding" and you must NOT cut the roots off either.  The tops may also be blanched and dipped in ICY COLD water and frozen... to be used later in soups. 

I'm so excited about our beets and I'm looking forward to using them in some different dishes other than PICKLED.  Although PICKLED beets from our own garden sound so delicious!  To think that I've only ever had beets from a can!  What was I missing?  I don't know.  I tell you when I've sampled them. 

The true test will be Honey.  The TRUE TEST TASTER! 

I'm linking here at The Prairie Homestead 


God Bless you and Thanks for Reading!

Her Children Rise up and Call Her Blessed~

 In Memory of my Momma on Mother's Day~ 

 Momma and Me-- Feb 20,1966. 

 Momma and my (oldest) Lil' Brother-- March 1969 

Momma and my baby brother -Fall 1978.  

Her children arise and call her blessed;

her husband also, and he praises her:

“Many women do noble things,

but you surpass them all.”

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;

but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

Give her the reward she has earned,

and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

~Proverbs 31: 28-31  

God Bless all the Mother's who read this today-

and every women (OR MAN) whose mother is no longer here to cherish on this day. 

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY~ 

A Week at a Glance~

Some indoor and out door happenings:

Back when I cleaned up the spare bedroom, prepping and making it ready for guests;  I came across this electric lantern style porch lamp in my stash of junk waiting to be re-made.

So I took this metal doo-hicky off the bottom and took the electrical light guts   components out of the inside...

BAM!

Then I put a FAT lil' candle stick and an old vintage carved candle (do people make these anymore?) on the inside...  It now sits on top the ET center...where the TV used to sit! 

In other news:  

My daughter is taking some tutoring classes at the library --- getting ready for college in the Fall. 

Well, the library was having their 'FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY' SALE... 

they had plants.  Being Mother's Day and all... She thought of me. 

This is a picture of the plants she got for me.  A Redbud Tree, 2 Aloe plants, and a Strawberry plant. 

 This is the Strawberry in the middle and one of the Aloe Vera plants.
 I must say... I copied Lindy at Cottage Hill  she has the cutest little pitcher with an ivy in it... I liked it ...

This is mine:

Oh, I bought this little doily at Bargainland yesterday... I probably paid a quarter for it.
And today-- I curb shopped this little table...
I took Honey to work today... and kept the car. 

I'm dangerous with a Car! 

 This is my squash in my front raised bed... it has brown spots on the leaves and that one piece of squash is brown on the tip end. Any ideas as to what this may be?

This is the Hugelbeet today.  I know it looks like a mix of stuff... that's cause it is!   

Remember, there is squash, tomatoes coming on the vine here.  On the other side are lots of blooms on the melons (cantaloupes) ... I also noticed beans coming on the vine too- (not pictured) 

I've had a pretty busy week. As you can see-- I've got some follow up posts to do on some of these topics. 

I'll return for those. As for now, I'm linking here--- 

FARM GIRL FRIDAY

God Bless You and Thanks for Reading!