Farm Journal 2020 Number 2...

Good Evening everyone.. 

So happy to have you visiting here at the Blessed Hearth.. 

All is well here in Eastern Canada. 

Tis another Sabbath and we were thankful when they said .. let us go into the house of the Lord.. 

Again we are so blessed to be able to be in church this morning.. 

And a  special day it was as we celebrated our youngest grandson's graduation..  

Pastor spoke so well.. 

Admonishing not only Joel but all of the young people to keep God first in their hearts and lives.. 

Praying for all youth today in this topsy turvy world.. 

I know it has been a few weeks since I posted and thought I better get one up before this month was over to show you we did a special day for our 50th once again for the month of June... 

You will think we are such a boring couple!!  

No wild trips or great excitements.. grin.. 

I mention to my husband every once in awhile that I am a cheap date!  lol.. 

All he has to do is take me over the mountain to the Bay of Fundy and I am a happy gal.. 

So.. 

Once again.. 

Cape Enrage it was.. 

We had another picnic lunch.. 

Potato Salad, Tomato Sandwich on a bun which I made there, fermented carrot pickles, cherry tomato salad, popcorn and such.. 

Terry had a diet pepsi and I had a lovely thermos of hot tea.. 

In my china cup.. grin.. I know, eh!! 

Sitting there listening to the waves and feeling the sea breezes on my face just recuperates my lagging spirit.. smile.. 

And I had downloaded the most wonderful book on my Kindle..  

The Promise of Dawn by Laurain Snelling.. 

Terry had a nap and a walk and I just sat.. 

I did pick some flat rocks to make one of those stack things.. 

Two of them actually..

We left there.. 

And drove to Alma.. 

Such a quaint and beautiful village.. 

Bought a sticky bun.. 

They are famous!  

Then back across Caladonia Mountain and to the farm.. 

We are still not staying there all the time..

We shall see.. 

Love being home too.. 

This is a farm journal post so here we go..  

I spend a lot of time in the herb beds but they are getting about done except for weeding and watering.. 

Terry works outside and I love pottering about inside.. 

Remember a while ago I mentioned he had brought my old shop wall cupboard in .. 

He hung it in the pantry and I love it.. 

Pretty old and distressed shall we say.. 

No matter.. It is lovely to this beholder.. grin.. 

I just put in what had been in the other one but I will get to it.. 

Eventually.. 

Another day at the farm and another meal.. 

Fish Chowder and Salad.. 

A few make and dos.. 

Fermented Rhubarb Pickles.. 

Which I simply love.. 

Terry... not!! lol.. 

So.. I get them all to myself and have finished a bottle already!! 

I love sour... 

Well.. I love sweet, too.. Just not in pickles.. lol.. 

More meals.. 

We do love our fish and salads.. 

Especially, cod fish!  

Yes, we are Maritimers!  smile.. 

My chives are being put to good use..

Made vinegars and Acadian Soup Herbs.. 

Sorry no pic.. 

Each time we go I pick a basket full of herbs..  

Oregano, Chives, Thyme, Tarragon and Catnip are already.. 

So love herbs!! 

Do you?  What is your favourite thing to do with them.. 

And of course, Lovage! 

Sun dried a lot so far.. 

It takes a lot to make the Lovage Salt.. 

It is not really salt but lovage all ground up and put in a shaker dish to use as a salt replacement.. 

Of course, I don't think I could ever replace salt full time but it does have a wonderful celery type flavour.. 

Also I add this to my soup herb cheese cloth balls and then I add them to the ones I freeze.. 

Oh my.. 

I must be on a roll today.. 

Rambling on and on and on.. 

Almost finished.. lol.. 

Another simple farm meal.. 

Terry's kind.. 

He is going to take me out to a few gourmet places as soon as we think it is safe enough.. To celebrate, I mean.. smile. 

For now it is steak and mushrooms, mashed, squash and dilled bean salad... 

Whatever..

Some of you girls email me and say you love the meal ideas so hope you don't find me just longwinded.. grin

We are celebrating two of our grandson's

 achievements this month of June-2020.. 

Our youngest of five grandsons graduated from high school!  

He did so well with high honours and several prizes and scholarship.. 

He will be entering U.N.B. in the fall.. 

Praying God's blessing and protection for him.. 

We are proud and happy for him.. 

And.. 

Matthew... 

He is our second oldest grandson..

He just graduated from four years of Engineering at U. N. B. 

With high honours and all.. 

He has been accepted into Med school in the Fall.. 

So we are indeed blessed!  

Praying that the Lord will continue to bless and protect Matthew!  

The other 3 grandsons are all at university also.. 

What can I say.. grin.. 

I am their grandma after all!  

Well dear hearts this is all for this time and this month.. 

We have a family  celebration coming up this week and am so looking forward to being with our family.. 

Missing our precious son out west, though..

Just try not to think about that and am blessed with the calls and such.. 

Better then in the day of these books I read when they left their family not expecting to ever see them again in this life.. 

Just can't imagine!  

Thanks for dropping by and visiting with me once again.. 

So love your notes here and on Face Book and on Instagram.. 

Appreciate you girls.. 

For the questions and such.. 

I picked those blue bowls up that was on the last post at a thrift shop.. What a scoop.. lol.. 

And I will be making the bunting for the farm and will explain that then Donna.. Sorry to take so long.. 

and the recipe for the perfume is so easy.. 

Just use an unscented lotion.. 

And add essential oils.. 

I think it was 15 drops of patchouli, 2 drops of ylang ylang and 2 drops of orange..  

I think next time I will just use patchouli and perhaps lavender.. 

Just adding till I get the scent I like.. 

Hope this helps.. 

God bless..  

Making and Doing Spring stuff...

Good Evening dear hearts.. 

Here we are mid week once again.. The Spring is flying by and soon we will be into Summer.. 

Such a lovely time of the year.. 

I woke this morning and put the dog outside and saw these beautiful Forget-Me-Nots nodding to the first rays of the sun.. 

Another Spring flower that I love.. Along with Lily of the Valley and Violets.. 

When I was in Grade 5 and 6 we had a wonderful teacher by the name of Mrs. Elliott and she had a Wild Flower Contest each of those years.. I am sure I have shared (bragged) about this before but it was a little high light of my Elementary years in that I won each time.. My sweet Dad would wade in ponds for Water Lilies and my Mom knew the names of every flower.. No wonder I have such a love for them as does my sister.. smile.. 

We had a Keepers meeting last week and we had a great time.. 

The most delicious breakfast cooked by Chef Carmen.. grin.. 

European Crapes stuffed with homemade Kefir Cheese and honey and such.. Soooo good.. 

Or just spread with homemade jam... 

Then she made each of us an Omelette on order.. 

Whatever kind we desired.. 

Our Pastor's wife gave a little devotional on Sisterhood and it was so true.. 

We need our sweet friends to help us along life's road.. 

The Lord has blessed us with such dear ones..

Then we tried our hand at Pansy Pots and Wreaths with bottles to hold fresh flowers.. 

I think this wreath is being used as a frame.. smile.. 

One of the ladies made a bunch of homemade wreaths for us from a vine that grew along her fence.. 

Thank you, dear June.. 

And we had a couple of visitors and hope they will come again... 

Terry and I were on our way up to the farm and I spied this picture.. 

A sweet old cemetery with a patch of wild violets.. 

Just what I had been watching for each time we have been out driving somewhere.. 

I only needed two cups of flowers and leaves so it did not make a dent in the patch .... 

I love them growing around the stone.. 

I wonder if they liked violets.. 

I made some Violet Salve with them.. 

This is excellent for burns, eczema and skin irritations.. 

I will be selling these.. 

The recipe is HERE..

The Rhubarb is ready to be doing up.. 

Made these Fermented ones.. 

I tasted them today and am going to love them.. 

I seem to be the only one here who eats fermented veggies but they are so good for us.. 

This recipe was so simple.. 

Fermented Rhubarb.. 

5 stalks of rhubarb cut up into 1 inch pieces. 

2 tsp. mustard seed

1 bay leaf

1 clove of garlic

Place this in a quart jar or whatever. 

Then make a brine.. 

Brine is 1 T. salt to 2 cups of cool water.. 

Stir to dissolve salt and add to jar.. 

Push rhubarb down and put a weight on top to keep pieces under the brine.. I used a small glass bowl but you can put water in a zip lock bag to use also.. 

Cover with a piece of cheesecloth and a tie.. 

Keep at room temp for about a week if they last that long.. 

Let me know if you try them.. 

Terry picked me a bag of Dandelion heads.. 

Made some Dandelion Jelly .. 

Recipe HERE..

Hoping to get my jams and jellies and such somewhere to sell for the Summer.. 

Not sure where or when yet... 

We went to town as we call it yesterday.. 

Thought I would post a photo of our nearest city.. 

Moncton.. 

The best city in New Brunswick.. 

I might be a bit biased.. grin.. 

Anyway, this is all for today.. 

I do have a bit more but will hopefully do it later in the week.. 

Perhaps we will get to the farm tomorrow so will work on another farm journal post.. 

You sweet friends have a great week and take care... 

God bless...