An April Catch-up Post...

Hello my dear friends.. 

It has been awhile but I am happy to finally get this post published.. 

I have had it here partly done for a couple of weeks.. 

No excuses!  smile. 

 

How are you all? 

We are doing fine here in the province of New Brunswick.. On the East coast of Canada.. 

So much to catch up on today so I will get right to it..

 

We had Easter.. 

It was lovely and we spent a day with Shonda and Dave..

She served a beautiful dinner.. 

Here are a few pics.. (better late then never, I hope)😏..  

She had a most beautiful table setting.. 

Note the centrepiece which she made out of a hollowed out cabbage!  Imagine! 💗. 

I have to mention her fish water pitcher which make a gurgling sound when poured!  💧.. 

She has perfected her sourdough making... 

The food was delicious! 

She made her Great Aunt Mary's White Cake recipe.. 

Aunt Mary would have been so proud.. smile.. 

And I had to include this dear pic.. 

Because of circumstances... Trevor working, some of the grandsons working or studying the only grandson there was Matt.. 

This is a pic of our upcoming doctor counting his egg hunt booty!!

Love this pic... I am his Grandma!! 😊.. 

This was the tail end of our drive back home that day..  

All was well and we had a beautiful family time.. 

Here at home I had made a few decors for Easter... 

Another needle felted cushion... 

For the living room.. 

I know I shared some of this stuff on Instagram.. Sorry if you are seeing it twice..

Then I made this bunting from an old hymn book that was pretty old.. 

I drew crosses and cut them out then painted a few vines around the cross and hung them on the hutch... 

Well. that is enough about Easter.. 

Here are a few things I have enjoyed crafting.. or whatever.. 

Soaps using flowers that I dried from my Mom's funeral and others that I had collected and dried last summer.. 

They are lovely.. 

Lavender and Patchouli

I housecleaned our living room.. 

Well.. Mostly..  

Terry is painting a bit in there this week, I hope.. 

Love having the sun shining!

We take a few drives out to check up on the farm..

The snow is gone!  Yeah!

The herbs are coming up... 

I even picked some fresh Thyme... 😀

Dear friends from Arkansas sent me a most lovely cookbook.. 

I really enjoy reading cook books as much as cooking from them, don't you? 

The photos in this one are beautiful! 

Thank you dear Becky and Mark and Becca!   

So happy to have met them in person!  

She had been following my blog and we connected.. 

Then they made a trip here to Canada to visit Prince Edward Island and we spent some wonderful time together.. 

Then one of my sweetest cousins made this and mailed it to me.. 

Isn't it darling?  

It is a stitched post card! 

And the envelope was hand painted... 

Thanks dear Val!! 

I hope I don't sound like I am bragging but just wanted to thank these sweet friends for thinking of me.. 

 

One sweetheart passed me a bag and told me to look at it when I got home.. 

A few of us had met for lunch and she passed it to me afterwards.. 

I was so touched when I opened it up.. 

A handmade quilt by her.. 

It was too beautiful to just throw over a chair so I put one of my Mother's crochet bedspreads on and redecorated the room.. 

Made a wreath to top the bed as to match the quilt.. 

Thank you so much my lovely friend... 

Then my darling daughter gave me two of her handmade crochet bags.. 

Market bags!! 💕

I just love using them. 😊

And finally... 

My dear husband came in the house with these beautiful roses and passed them to me... 

Just because..... 

Don't you think that fresh beautiful flowers can make your day?

Gotta love him!  😗

A bit of cooking as always...

Homemade No Knead Bread... 

And a Sunday Supper Cake.. 

My Great Aunt Emilie's !

please forgive the recipe.. 

the book is ancient!  smile.

Well dear hearts this is about it.. 

I seem to do much better on Instagram as it does not take long.. 

To be honest I am not on there consistently...

Anyway...

Thank you so much for being patient with me and sending me little notes and such.. 

I appreciate you all.. 

And welcome to you new followers here and on Face Book... 

God Bless you!

Take care and let's keep putting Jesus first in our lives.. 

He makes the difference.. 

Hugs 

Farm Journal 2020 Number 3

Hello there my dears... 

Lovely to have you visit the Blessed Hearth today.. 

I am glad you are here.. 

Hope you are all doing well in your corner of the world! 

We have been enjoying our summer!  

We were just saying this morning coming home from church that summer is on the downswing!  

It saddens me!  

I do not enjoy intense heat but really we have been blessed with some cool temps along with our hot days.  

Fall is lovely but then Winter! 

That is all I will say!  smile..

So with that you can bet that I plan to enjoy the rest of this blessed season!  

Anyway.. 

We have been up to the farm quite often.. 

Although we are not there as much as we thought we would, everything is looking great.. 

The gardens are growing and some herbs have been picked and are drying and such.. 

The bunting finally is finished and hung! 

Sorry, Donna for taking so long getting to this..  

Terry is weeding there.. 

He spends a lot of time on his knees out there in the garden... smile.. 

This is just a glued bunting as it does not last up there too long.. 

It sometimes stays all winter but the last couple of years half of it ends up blowing away.. 

This year I bought a strong kind of string and hopefully that will last better.. 

The measurements I used are 13 x9.. 

I just traced out how many I might need.. Just guessed and only had 3 pieces left over.. 

You could measure and figure it all out but I am by guess or by golly kind of girl when it comes to this bunting.. 

Then all I did was use my glue gun and made a line of glue.. Stuck the string in it and folded each one.. 

I ended up only have two colours.. 

The house is yellow and we are planning on painting it this summer and I want a blue door.. 

You can make as many colours and sizes as you like.. 

The buntings I use inside are usually sewed together and turned inside out and a bit more polished..  

This is a pic from a previous year.. 

If you have any questions you can message me... K? 

This pic was taken a week ago ... 

It is hard to believe how fast it all grows once July hits the calendar.. 

Please notice the dear poppies growing again.. 

We have a squash and a pumpkin bed.. 

Cucumbers on the other end..  

We are usually working outside and our lunches are not too fancy.. 

One of our favourites.. 

Grilled Tomato and Mozza.. 

For Christmas Terry gave me a Panini type thing.. 

I don't know what you call it but it is cast iron .. 

About the size of a brick without the height and a handle.. 

You make your sandwich, butter the outside and put the cast iron on top.. 

Works wonderful!  

Not hard to store, either.. 

He bought it at Moffett's Hardware in Sussex.. 

Our lettuce bed is doing great too.. 

In one of my books the author wrote that the lady of the house washed her lettuces and fried it along with a bit of bacon and then added vinegar.. 

We tried it and it is delicious!

The last food pic... grin.. 

Supper.. 

A new bread recipe which is awesome (will share next time), last year's canned green beans, fresh salad with herb dressing and chicken which was browned in a fry pan then placed on a tray, finished baking in oven and then cheese and herbs and returned for a few more minutes.. 

It is nice to be able to use oven when it is cooler here..

This is a few other things going on.. 

My dear dear Lavender!  

It really flourished this summer.. 

Nine large bundles!  

I know you may think I am strange but I feel like it is such a lovely accomplishment!!  lol! 

Doesn't take much to satisfy some people, eh!  

Lots of projects coming on with all that.. 

I will share as I go.. 

Making potpourri seems to be large on my agenda this summer.. 

This one was an accident!  grin.. 

Terry had picked me a huge bouquet of wild flowers which I put in a mason jar on the kitchen table at the farm.. 

It sits in a window and as we were not there all the time it slowly dried out ... 

So.. 

I just cut them off their stems and put them in an old bowl.. 

When I get time I will seal the bowl with several drops of essential oil and it will last for ages.. 

So pretty, don't you think?  smile..

Perfect Petal Potpourri...  

And there is this going on at home.. 

Picked roses everywhere.. 

At the farm, on country drives and from our own bushes.. 

Lay them out on old laces and such and letting them dry.. 

Some will be used for potpourri, rose oil for soap and toiletries, rose vinegar for rinsing dishes and so on.. 

There is just so much you can do with dried roses.  

Do you see the cloth on the bottom right.. 

Has a few pine cones and such.. 

That is our anniversary potpourri.. 

Everywhere we go on our little drives and trips are being dried and added to an old hat box.. 

I will add scent and name it later on in the year.. 

Probably call it... 

We made it!  lol.. 

And.. 

Picking herbs every time we go out and drying them.. 

Sewed up a bunch of herb bags.. 

This is one for soup herbs... 

You can add whatever turns your crank but I love to put thyme, lovage and organo in my tomato base soups.. 

Do you make these? 

Well dear hearts I am finally running out of steam .. 

But.. 

This is a pic of a border we have had in the apple orchard a lot this summer..  

She is not afraid of us at all.. 

She loves the chickens and even upset the bucket with chicken food and had a great lunch.. 

I love deer but want them to stay in the woods.. 

Deer ticks... 

Anyway, I had read where you soak rags in vinegar and tie them on your garden posts and they will not bother it.. 

You renew the vinegar at least once a week.. 

Well, she was here all the time until we did this.. 

We have not seen her since so hopefully she just reacted to the vinegar and is keeping her distance.. 

We are putting them in the gardens, too.. 

Just a tip if you have deer visiting that you would rather not.. 

And before I go.. 

Still celebrating our 50th each month.. 

Our darling children took us out on the town!  

To a wonderful place called Gusto Restaurant!

So much fun and delicious Italian food!  

We were all there except our precious son who is out west.. 

There are exactly 12 of us now in our family.. 

Thankful to our Lord for each and every one of them!  

Aren't they dear!!  

We do little things just like you do.. 

Had breakfast last week in a new cafe at the Green Pig Market.. 

It was delicious! 

And fun there too.. 

Old china with fruit salad and toasted biscuits on an antique saucer with homemade strawberry jam in an enamel cup!! 

Gotta love that!  smile.. 

And so my luvs this is it for another time.. 

But will show you the last great books I have been reading.. 

I so enjoyed this series and found it all so inspiring.. 

Reading Christian books not only inspires but also encourages.. 

We as mamas and wives can get drained and with the world so messed up I find it lifts up my spirits.. 

It is a busy time of year with canning, preserving and such but reading how they accomplished so much in the 1800s without all of our conveniences challenges me to make a better effort to accomplish what needs to be done.. 

If you know what I mean.

And the author's reference to God in their lives in something I need to hear.. 

I want Him to be front and foremost in my life.. 

Not just for myself but for my children and grandchildren.. 

He is coming soon!  

God bless you sweet friends... 

Loving the month of June...

Hello everyone.. 

How are you?  

Another lovely day here in New Brunswick.. 

I must say I am loving the month of June.. 

I believe May and June are my happy months!  smile.. 

Everything so bright and beautiful!  

Really bright now that I have had my cataracts removed from both eyes!  

I just find the colours so fresh.. 

When I only had one eye fixed I would

cover it and look through the eye that had not been done and you cannot imagine the difference.. 

It was just like a very foggy day.. 

No wonder I couldn't see to type on this computer or anything.. 

I laughed and told our daughter that I was looking at her Dad and thought to myself how many wrinkles he had and then I looked in the mirror!  lol!

That was an eye opener!  grin.. 

No really!  

And the spider webs and such!  

Oh my, I am just so thankful to get it all behind me.. 

Thank you to you dear girls who prayed for me..  

I so appreciate it and for your prayer and comments about us losing our dear dog, Charlie.. 

He is missed!  

Now on with the story.. 

The above pic is from the farm obviously... 

We are slowly getting things in order.. 

We are not sure when we will be moving out for the summer but soon, I hope.. 

Bought a couple of lace table runners that I love for the old table..

So loving lace lately.. 

I always have but tried to do whatever was in fashion until a few years ago when I was finished with the craft business.. 

I decided to do what I love and lace is one of them.. 

Curtains and such... 

Do you like lace and linens and lilacs? smile.. 

 

These lilacs are from my Aunt Eva's lilac tree.. 

She only planted a white one but we now have a new purple one growing there.. 

Hoping to make a Lilac foot soak this week with dried lilacs and Epsom salt, etc.. 

I did get my buntings done for the kitchen and put one up..

Not a very good pic but you get the drift.. 

I ended up cutting up my new tea towel.. smile.. 

I bought a new one though .. 

The herb beds are doing wonderful.. 

Lovage, Tarragon, Compfrey, Chives, Sage and Thyme and new Basil... 

Oh and a Lavender in this bed.. 

This is a bottle of Chive Vinegar.. 

If you have some chives growing just put them in a glass jar and fill with vinegar... 

White wine is the best but quite expensive.. 

You can use just plain white vinegar.. 

I saw this way of doing them on the Tangled Garden article that was published in Victoria Bliss magazine. 

The Tangled Garden is in Nova Scotia and is a place we hope to visit this summer some day... 

It is not necessary to use the stems.. 

Just put the heads in and your vinegar will turn a most lovely pink colour.. 

A friend and I were saying the other day that Chive vinegar is our favourite.. 

Makes a wonderful salad dressing or use on fish or whatever you put vinegar on.. 

After a couple of weeks strain it through cheesecloth or a coffee filter and put in your pantry.. 

I always make extra to give away..

Now is the time to get your gift pantry stocked... 

Gathering some Lovage to dry for seasonings and such.. 

And of course my Tomato Drink that I look forward to.. 

Drinking it from a Lovage straw!  

We have been spending quite a bit of time at the farm and this was one lunch time special.. 

Spaghetti and Meatballs.. 

Flavoured with herbs.. 

Oregano, Parsley and Garlic... 

We don't eat a lot of this but it is so good... 

The kitchen is getting done out there but Terry is so busy with the gardens that I can't get him in the house at all..  

One day I made a batch of jam as you can see on the stove.. 

Love love the stove.. 

There is my new coffee perk my son bought me.. 

It is just like the old fashioned ones and I can use it on the wood stove, too.. 

I have been putting stuff in the cupboard while I wait for Terry to give the doors another coat.. 

Then I will unpack a few boxes from St. Martins.. 

And do it right.. 

Oh my.. 

All in good time.. So I keep telling myself.. smile.. 

This day we had a lovely stew like soup.. 

One of Terry's friends gifted him with a jar of home made stew that they had canned.. 

It was delicious!  

I added a jar of our canned green beans to stretch it but hopefully we will get some stew done up this Fall.. 

Comes in so handy and so quick to heat up.. 

I keep changing things.. grin.. 

Saw a pic on Instagram of little kitchen shelves with old cups on them.. 

Dug out some cups and voila!  

I should have taken a pic of the all the shelves.. 

I will later when I finally get everything done.. 

Well.. 

That about wraps up what we have been doing.. 

Our gardens are mostly planted now so we need to clean up the yard and get our deck and such done.. 

I have been buying a few plants but to be honest I am waiting for sales... 

Surely they will come along soon... 

I thought I would show you this old pic... 

I posted it on Instagram for Father's Day.. 

A long time ago I was his little girl..  

He found the Lord a couple of years after this pic was taken and had a genuine experience that affected our daily lives.. 

What a difference Jesus made.. 

It was the best thing Dad ever did with his whole life.. 

I am so thankful he introduced us to Jesus... 

And that he stayed true... 

Thanks for visiting my luvs and I look forward to your comments. 

Hopefully, we won't be running to the doctors and such and I will answer your notes on Face Book.. 

Welcome to the new followers of the blog and thanks too for sharing my page on FB.. 

I appreciate you all and God bless... 

Acts 2:38  

 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.