Keepers Harvest Meeting part 2

Hello dear ladies..

Hope all is well in your part of the world.. 

The storm has passed through and caused havoc... 

We are certainly praying for you all.. 

I don't think that we in Eastern Canada will get too much.. 

I haven't really had time to check but so far so good.. 

The wind is really blowing out there and a bit of rain but not too unusual... 

Now ... 

Back to the Keepers stuff... smile.. 

This is the other craft that we made.. 

Thinking it would be lovely for your gift pantry..

A mason jar of stove top potpourri... 

It smells heavenly and looks kinda crafty, eh?

We also made a tag to go along with.. 

The recipe is on the back.. 

Here it is... 

APPLE POTPOURRI

1 cup of dried apples

2 T. ground cinnamon or several broken cinnamon sticks.. 

1/4 cup of allspice berries..

1 T. whole cloves 

10 small pine cones... 

several drops of cinnamon or apple oil... 

The directions for using are on the tag up above.. 

Also a little update on the Apple Preserves that I left a link for you on the last post.. 

I made a pie yesterday with them and we loved it..

So different and delicious.. 

All I had to do was to make a pie crust and pour in a quart of the apple preserves and then top with more crust... 

I always brush on a little milk and sprinkle of sugar.. 

I baked it at 400 degrees F. for 15 minutes then lowered the heat to 350 degrees F. for 20 minutes or so... 

Today we went to the market again and I bought another big bag of apples to do up more of this.. 

Let me add that it was at Terry's suggestion.. smile.. 

I went out and he had a piece and mentioned that I was one great cook... smile... 

Now.. 

The famous lost recipe for Hot Mixed Pickles.. 

Hopefully, now that it is actually going to be on the web my friend Dawn and I will be able to find it... 

You ladies might have to remind us where it is next year, though.. grin.... 

HOT MIXED PICKLES.. 

1 quart of cider vinegar

3 quarts of water

1/2 cup of coarse salt

1/8 tsp. oil per quart

hot peppers  

This recipe says 3 pieces of hot pepper per quart... 

Sterilize your quart jars and add a mixture of clean veggies.. 

Cauliflower, carrots, celery, peppers, onions and zucchini... 

Whatever your prefer.. 

I would have liked to add green beans but by the time I found the recipe the beans were not local ... 

Heat the above mixture to boiling and pour over veggies.. 

Add the oil to keep them crisp and seal... 

I used half cider vinegar and half of my dandelion vinegar that I had put together in the Spring.. 

You have to let these sit for a few weeks to blend the flavors..

I have been into them already and wish I had of added more hot peppers..It is hard to tell how much to add.. 

One year I had too many so be careful... 

They are still tasty, though... 

The lesson was on the KITCHEN...

First of all we talked about the goals we have for our homes.. 

Most of all to make them a haven for our families where Christ is Lord and we as the Keeper of the Home do all we can to establish principals that generate this desire.. 

Many things can come against the home but our aim is for it to be a sanctuary for our dear ones.. 

No matter what...

We discussed how the Kitchen  is the heart of the home.. 

Many blessings are generated in the kitchen.. 

Things like nourishment, fellowship, joy, instruction, study, creativity, worship, warmth and affection.. 

We closed our eyes and imagined our own kitchen that we had just left.. 

We used our senses in remembering what we saw there... 

Was it clean?  Had we made any effort to decorate it nicely?

Could we picture our family there? 

Then we thought about what we could hear ..

Laughter?  Music? Anger? And the worst of all.. 

Dead silence?  

The kind where everyone is upset and things are at a stand off?  

How about smell?  

Perhaps the lovely smell of bacon and eggs cooking over breakfast and coffee perking away... Or sweet smelly things we plug in or a cozy candle? 

 Or should we change the trash bag? smile.. 

Then taste.. 

You know the Bible says to taste and see that the Lord is good.. 

Hopefully, he is at the heart of this room.. 

We can worship and feel his sweet presence there.. 

I shared with them that it is a good thing to use this room to make the special times ordinary ... 

I mean that we put ourselves out to make every day special.. 

In some little way.. 

Candles, fresh linens and a lovely meal do not need to be for special occasions only.. 

Your family are special all of the time.. 

Right?  

then we talked about how kitchens have been around a very long time.. 

We have always needed nourishment and there has had to be a place to prepare and cook it... 

Whether it was a place by the fire or in a common room way back in the time of the Lord.. 

So we took the time to imagine a kitchen in the day when Jesus was here on earth..

We talked about Martha and Mary and imagined their work place and what it would be like when they were preparing a meal for the Master..

Luke 10:41 

I had made up a wee story and read it to them.. 

But we will just chat about the gist of it all..

Martha liked everything done and done well.. 

She would get frazzled and a bit uptight if all was not according to what she thought was appropriate .. In fact, she was so busy doing what was necessary that she sometimes forgot what was most important.. 

But Mary ...

 She realized that her Lord was only here for a short time and whether the roast lamb was still in the oven or not she was going to take the time to hear what her Master had to say.. 

It was just too bad that Martha got herself all in a frenzy and even bothered Jesus with the whole deal.. 

But the Lord didn't mind.. 

Even if Martha was annoyed he loved her still..

 He called her his dear friend.. 

Isn't it wonderful that even in our busyness Jesus will be patient with us.. 

Every morning our kitchens are so busy.. 

Especially, when we still have children home..  There is just so much to accomplish but we need to train ourselves to make time for Him.. 

A time of prayer and some scripture will begin our day in a much better mode then the rush and tear .. 

And much better for our families when mama puts Jesus first... 

Really, we decided that if we are too busy in our lives to take time for Jesus then we are just too busy.. 

OK?  

That is about all, my dears..

I know this has been a very long posting.. 

I tried to cover so much as we had not had a meeting for awhile.. 

Here is your homework...

Write down some goals for your kitchen using the 5 senses and see what you can do to improve it... 

Then start working on them..

Such chores as  cleaning, organizing, decorating or just making special ordinary in some way.. 

Perhaps you want to paint an old chair or hang a picture.. 

Or do up some apple preserves or dig out some linens and make a special meal.. 

Write it all down and see what you can accomplish this month... 

Let me know how you make out and what some of your goals are..

(if you don't mind)...smile.. 

Thank you so much for your visit and your lovely comments.. 

Take care and have a blessed week.. 

God bless...

The Keepers Harvest Meeting..

Hello there everyone.. 

I promised an update of our Keepers Meeting that we had on Saturday.. 

We were really blessed to have it at one of their homes.. 

Thank you, Stephanie..

When I arrived early there were two happy faces to meet me..

Michelle arrived even earlier than I did... 

The doorway was decorated so lovely for the Fall and coffee was all brewed... 

I had not been to Steph's new place yet and I fell in love with her prim decor.. 

Here is a little idea that I am going to copy.. 

(with her permission..)

I have an end cupboard like this and it is going to have a paint brush taken to it very soon.. smile..

The fire was lit and it was such a beautiful cool Fall day.. 

So cozy... 

Breakfast was delicious as always...

We had eggs, bacon, toast, avocado, tomatoes and such...

We mashed up the avocado with onion, lemon juice and salt and pepper and put it on our toast with tomatoes. fried egg and bacon... ymmmm..

Oh and they loved the recipe for apple muffins that I found 

HERE..

I actually made 4 in the tin cans and wrapped with parchment.. 

They were fine but it was late so I finished the rest in a muffin tin.. 

It takes 30 minutes to cook the cans.. 

Make sure you use the flour they call for or at least whole wheat.. 

And the sauce cans are the 1 cup size... 

Also.. I substituted the cherries for fresh cranberries as dried cherries are very expensive here...

After breakfast we had our lesson which was on the kitchen.. 

I guess I will do a 2 part post as I do not have time to put it all in today as we have to leave for church again in a bit... 

So... 

For today I will do the crafts and a couple of the recipes and finish tomorrow night if possible or soon.. 

OK?  

After the lesson the first thing we made was this

 Country Style Dried Fruit Garland...

This is what I was drying all of the fruit for...

The pear is in the middle...

Along with a bundle of bay leaves at the bottom and a homespun tie..

Then there is an orange on on side and an apple on the other...

Then a bundle of apples along with a another bundle of bay leaves...

Then a bundle of pear slices and a bundle of bay leaves...

Then these are all tied on a piece of jute with some branches at each end.. 

Not very complicated but takes time when you need to dry fruit.. 

Here are a few projects all finished..

Everyone enjoyed that one and then we did another craft but I will post that next time... smile.... 

I made preserves and took them so they could see and taste and perhaps win.. 

Here is a delicious apple preserve that I found 

HERE..

Again I substituted fresh cranberries for cherries and it was still delicious.. 

I also found the idea for drying all of your peelings and apple cores for potpourris and for lining baskets..

This is a wonderful site if you like recipes and cool homemaking stuff... 

And... another recipe that I made up to share with the girls ... 

I found my Hot Mixed Pickle Recipe.. 

Thank you, dear Lord.. 

(It only took me a month) grin...

This made 11 quarts and I used half cider vinegar and half of my dandelion vinegar that I had made in the Spring..

I love the flavor of these and could eat quite a few at a sitting.. 

I will share that recipe tomorrow night, too.. 

Then I sliced up these zucchini ...

And sprinkled a bit of chive salt on them and dried them in the dehydrator...

Some of the girls loved them and a couple disliked them intensely.. grin.. 

They are a wonderful and go good with a homemade dip.. 

Much better for you then potato chips and you can buy a big package at Costco for a few dollars..

By the way...

I ate all of the Honey Crisp that I dehydrated... 

Simply delicious.. 

We are hoping to get to that market again and they have some bruised baskets of Honey Crisp on sale ..

They will make lovely gift pantry idea if I will just leave them alone.. grin..

After we arrived back home we had some sweet company.. 

Sammi sure liked them... 

Dustin and his Mom went wheeling with Terry and we stayed home and made Supper.. 

A truly blessed day.. 

I hope you come back and I will give you the rest of the recipes and go over the lesson a bit.. 

Praying you are having an awesome Lord's Day... 

xo

Linked to BARNYARD HOP

Just getting ready....

Good Evening to you all.. 

We have been having such lovely days this week.. 

Sunny and cold in the mornings and then warming up in the afternoons.. 

The furnace has been on every morning, though.. 

Fall will soon be changing into the next season.. 

Yesterday we took a trip into the city so I could pick up some things I needed for Keepers meeting on Saturday.. 

We go to a market on the other side of town and picked up some HONEY CRISP APPLES.. 

The lady told me that when you dry this particular type they taste like candy...

This pic is just some odds and ends of ones I have here for something I plan on making.. 

(not something to eat..) 

A little decor...

Little wax pumpkins I made last year... 

And... 

We bought some lovely Bosck pears ...

These will be used in making a craft at the meeting.. 

This is sure a mish mash of pictures.. 

A bit of this and that.. sorry.. 

Anyway.. 

Isn't this a beautiful pie? 

Our youngest son and his girlfriend brought this to us on Saturday when they came out for dinner..

They bought it at the Farmers Market...

We had such a lovely time with them.. 

I roasted an organic chicken for our dinner along with veggies and salad.. 

Then on Monday I made some chicken broth with the bones.. 

I always do this and then freeze it for further use..

Or take one and make another chicken and grain soup... smile.. 

Topped with some fresh parsley.. 

I put barley and millet in this one...

Here are some of the veggies we picked up for our 

HARVEST KEEPERS MEETING...

We won't be using all of these but hopefully we can incorporate quite a few.. 

And a little scarecrow shelf sitter... 

Not too much interesting going on around here lately.. 

We had company on Monday night and I made the banana cake that I posted the recipe for HERE ... 

It is a huge cake and in the morning there was only 1 piece left.. 

The company loved it but the culprit was Mr. You Know Who.. 

I don't make them very often for that very reason.. 

smile.. 

Well take care my dears.. 

Welcome to some lovely new friends who have  joined the site.. 

So glad to have you all.. 

Thanks for your sweet visit and have a wonderful evening.. 

Brrr... It is cold here tonight..

I guess I will make a nice hot cuppa...

Love and Prayers.. 

xo

Announcing the Keepers Meeting and such....

Hello everyone.. 

How art thou?  

Just sharing a few pics with you tonight.. 

Just pics of the ordinary... 

The first pic is of a little mason ring pumpkin..

. 

I found it on the Internet and then when I went on Google to get the link for you I found many... 

There were some that were painted orange and some that were rusted and such... 

So ... 

I decided not to bother with the link... 

All you do is tie at least 16 rings together with wire or string and then glue in cinnamon stick or some used 3 sticks and I used bay leaves but they mostly used felt or fabric.. 

Whatever turns your crank.. 

I loved the rusted one but I did not have time to rust them so voila.. 

At least it gives you an idea for you table or what have you... 

The next pic is of an old pine tree we see every 

time we go to Sussex.. 

Isn't the view fabulous?  

And then I finally started cleaning and organizing my Sun Room and such... 

Will I ever get the house all in order at the same time?? 

Please Lord.. smile...

I mostly wanted to post to thank you sweet ladies for all your dear comments last post.. 

You guys are wonderful and dear... 

I appreciate each and every one of you... 

Thank you... xo 

Also.. 

Just a reminder that there is a Keepers Meeting (finally) this Saturday at 9  am.. 

Please email me for details..

I am calling it Harvest Day at Keepers..

We will learn some things we can do with apples not only to eat but to smell and a prim tip with them ... 

Also a treat with zucchini and a harvest salad recipe.. 

And a prim harvest garland, too...

The kitchen will be the room we focus on for our lesson.. 

And... 

Well..  come and find out.. smile.. 

For the details you know where to find me.. 

keepersofthehome@hotmail.com 

That's all for tonight..

Take care, dear hearts.. 

Hope to hear from you.. 

Hugs...

He's in the midst of our storm....

Good Evening my dears... 

Hope all is well with you.

It has been a rainy day here and even pouring down there for a while..

Just a little bit of a storm, I guess..

I have been thinking about life's storms lately.. 

I hope you don't mind but I thought that I would just write from my heart for a few minutes.. 

I am not super spiritual but I am a forgiven saint of the most high God.. 

His blood has been applied to my life and even though I may sometimes not be walking in complete victory I am still His.. 

I love that verse that says.. 

I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are Mine!

Isaiah 43:1 

Then in verse 2...

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you..

It brings tears to my eyes when I realize that the amazing God who rules this universe knows my name.. 

Not only does he know my name but he knows my problems and he cares about what is going on in my heart and my life.. 

He knows what is precious to me.. 

My family, my church and my friends.. 

Whatever affects my life is on His agenda... 

Isn't that hard to grasp sometimes?..

But none the less it is true.. 

It is written in His Word... 

Sometimes we go  through a period of our lives when we are not quite sure which way to turn.. 

Something has come against us and we are confused and hurt.. 

We need to make decisions and we can't make one.. 

Or we are not even sure if it is a decision that we should make or if we should just go on as before...

Advice is wonderful but even then one has to decide as to whether it is good advice or not.. 

But really in the end it is our choice and only we can make it... 

God allows us to face trials and tests and sometimes we go through storms of life.. 

Our oldest son and his wife went through a devastating time when their child contacted meningitis and it left him deaf.

We found it hard to fathom out..

But life happens to all of us.. 

Yes.. even born again saints of God face things.

The difference is that we have someone on whom we can depend.. 

He is available twenty four- seven.. 

Years down the road we can so easily see God's perfect touch in it all.. 

He received a cochlear implant and now all is well.. 

But at the time of the storm ... We were looking for Him

and trying to find Him in the trauma.. 

And there He was.. 

Right in the midst of it all.. 

Waiting, helping...

Giving peace and strength and answering prayer and providing miracles that we could not even imagine at the time.. 

Such a wonderful Savior...

Different things affect people in different ways.. 

What is a storm or trial to me may not bother you at all..

I find myself calling on the Lord for his advice and learning to trust in Him and praying for his wisdom..

The storm is drawing me closer to His side..

Sometimes to get over some obstacles in our spiritual life we need to fast and pray and seek His guidance.. 

I have needed to pray and ask the Lord to keep my spirit right and fill me with his love..

To give me grace.. 

Fruits of the spirit which we as Christians need to portray such as love and joy and long suffering can be really difficult when you are hurt and misunderstood...

It is so blessed to know we can turn to Jesus and lean on him and he is always there... 

I have told you before of how I imagine Him there by my bedside... 

The lamp is dimly lit and He is 

waiting in the shadows...

 Faithful and true.. 

Wanting me to turn to Him.. 

To call on His dear Name.. 

He told us to cast our burdens on Him.. 

Because his yoke is easy and his burden is light..

That is so true.. 

When I take my burden to the altar of prayer and leave it there then he gives me his joy..

Sweet wonderful joy...

I am tried and tested but victorious!!

Hurrah!!..

I have made it through another one.. 

Praise God!!...

Well, sweet friends ... 

I have said much more than I meant to.. smile.. 

Just know that mine is a spiritual battle.. 

We are all fine and if I keep my eyes on Him then all will be well.. 

Sometimes we need to focus .. 

I was told once that the main thing ... 

Is to keep my eyes on the main thing.. 

The main thing is Jesus... 

Why do we falter and fail so often?... 

Because we are human... eh! 

OK then dear hearts...

Pray for me and I will continue to pray for you...

You all bless my life in so many ways and I am thankful.. 

This was probably too long for you to read but guess what? 

I feel better.. grin.. 

Thanks for listening...  

xo

Oh, there is a lovely song over on my playlist there on the sidebar.. 

He is in the Midst...