Work of your hands...

Loved this... 

xo

Making Bread and such....

Hi everyone.. 

Here we are midweek already.. 

The weather is a little messy today here in Eastern Canada.. 

A bit of snow this morning but now rain... 

I am not complaining at all.. 

We are having a great Winter and Spring just seems as though it may appear very early..

Yesterday morning as I passed by the living room I noticed the morning sun shining in there.. 

I loved it so much that I grabbed my camera and took a pic... 

Then as I was visiting my friend Pam today I noticed she had taken the sun shining in her living room, too.. 

We both live in New Brunswick so we appreciate the same things, I guess.. smile.. 

It was such a lovely day that Terry and I headed to the farm ...

We arrived early and Terry set to work and I made a hot cup of tea to have while I did a bit of baking.. 

I had been talking to my Mom and she thought they might visit.. 

I decided that a loaf of bread was in order.. 

I love making the no knead bread.. 

Just no bother at all.. 

Three minutes and it is stirred up and covered with a cloth and then forget about it until it is ready to put into pans and rise again ... 

Here is the recipe from a past post.. 

No knead Rosemary Bread..

2 1/2 tsp. instant yeast

2 c. warm water

1 T. sugar

2 tsp. salt

4 c. flour

2 tsp. chopped rosemary

olive oil..

Just put the water and sugar in your mixing bowl and stir well ..

Add the yeast and stir again..

Add two cups of flour and stir well.. Then add the other 2 cups of flour and salt and mix well with a wood spoon..

Cover with a damp tea towel and rise for an hour or until doubled..

Then with oiled hands divide dough into two parts or( make just one bread pan size) and form into buns ... 

Sprinkle top with sea salt and chopped rosemary.(opt)

Let rise a second time...

Bake in an 375 degree oven for 30 - 35 minutes 

Just to let you know that I usually turn this into just one loaf and put it in a good size sprayed bread pan or in a pie pan..

And leave out the rosemary and salt as hubby likes it plain..

You can substitute the flour with part whole wheat or 12 grain if desired.. 

You can make rolls, pizza dough(my husband loves it but it is quite bread like), Shonda makes several small pizzas for lunches, use different flours, make French bread, cinnamon buns, subway breads and so on.. 

I like to divide the batter in two and make 2 loaves or 1 French and 1 regular or perhaps rolls.. 

You get my drift, eh? 

There was a recipe that I had pinned to Pinterest and thought this was a good time to try it out.. 

You can find the recipe HERE..

I thought they took a bit of time but they do make a big pan of bars.. 

Terry decided he was hungry so we just had a quick egg sandwich.. 

Do you like a slice of tomato with your egg salad?  

I did not cut all of the bars and put thyme sprigs on each of mine as we would not eat them all.. 

So.. just a leaf here and there....

I wasn't sure how the thyme would go over either.. smile.. 

I also had a Partridge Stew on the wood stove simmering away.. 

Mom and my step-father arrived later on and she brought me a little project to help her with..  

Mom had bought a quilt just like the fabric above at an auction.. 

She is going to put it on her guest bed come Spring cleaning time.. smile.. 

Then when she saw the cushion covers at the thrift store she purchased them to make a couple of cushions to decorate the bed, too.. 

It only took a few minutes to sew them up into covers for her.. 

Even though my Mom is 82 in April she still loves to decorate her home and do what she can for projects.. 

Plants, baking and cooking recipes, changing curtains and bedspreads, making home made talcum powders and vinegars are chores she still loves to do.. 

It is fun sharing these ideas with her... 

She always brings a little gift for me.. 

A few pieces of embroidery and such.. 

Love love linens and lace.. 

Do you? 

Well, the bars are done and we had to sample them.. 

So pretty, eh? 

Terry loved them but Mom was not sure if she did.. lol.. 

I only had a taste but I liked them, too.. 

The bread was ready for supper... 

Along with the partridge stew.. 

This is one of Mom's favorite soups.. 

Thanks to Trevor our oldest son for his hunting skills... smile.. 

Mom and Gerald had to leave quite quickly as they still attend an auction each week... smile.. 

It was a lovely day.... 

My sweet aunt Eleanor had given me this photo of my grandmother many years ago.. 

I finally put it in a frame.. 

My Gram was not so beautiful in features but she sure was beautiful inside where it counts.. 

She had a great sense of humour and her children loved her.. 

She was 73 when she passed and she hardly had a grey hair.. 

She loved embroidery as do I... 

I can still see her sitting in the rocking chair with a piece of cloth in her hands that she had drawn a picture on and then embroidered it. 

She would set the table for breakfast after supper was over.. She would place the cups and bowls upside down and it would all  be ready in the morning.. 

Sweet little housekeeping ways.. smile.. 

I thought she would like that her picture is back to Albert County where she was born and died.. 

The old farmhouse belonged to her daughter, Eva who was my Dad's sister... 

I think my aunt would like that her mama's photo is hanging in her living room, too.. smile.. 

Another day is drawing to a close and it is time to go home.. 

So blessed ... 

God is good.. 

Thank you so much for stopping by and for leaving your lovely comments either here or on the Face Book page.. 

I appreciate it very much.. 

Sending hugs your way... 

linked to Roses of Inspiration..

and

Homemaking Mondays..

Home...

Good Evening my dears.. 

Welcome to the Blessed Hearth on this Sabbath .. 

So glad you dropped by.. 

Just sharing a little thought from my heart today... 

As you know this is a Christian home making blog.. 

I endeavour to use up this wee space on the internet to display the joy that Christ can bring into a home..

There is no place on earth that is as precious to us as our homes.. 

This is where we live.. 

Where we nurture our children and love our husbands.. 

Where we build memories that last in the hearts of our loved ones as long as they live.. 

When trials come then it is home where we find comfort..

Even Ikea has a slogan: 

Home is the most important place in the world... 

And it is...  

Not that our home here finds Terry and I jumping up and down with joyful glee every day but just a steady even pace of life with the joy of the Lord blessing each day..

We go through storms of life just like everyone else but the blessing we have is of knowing and serving a God who is close enough for us to lean on .. 

No matter what storm threatens us we can rest knowing that He does all things well and He will be right with us in the midst of whatever storm we go through.. 

He is standing right next to us.. 

 He knows us on a personal level.. 

He knows where we live and He knows our hearts.. 

2 Chronicles 16:9

The Lord's eyes scan the whole world to those whose hearts are committed to Him and to strengthen them.. 

When we call on his Name he is faithful and true..

Psalms 100:5

The Lord is good.

His mercy endures forever.

His faithfulness endures through every generation... 

When we accept Christ as our Saviour through faith we have the peace of God because Jesus Christ made a Way for us.. 

Our days are blessed with peace because He lives...

Romans 5:1

Now that we have God's approval through faith, we have peace with God because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done,.

There are days that are joyful..

 Days with family or friends or just each other doing whatever it is t that we love to do.. 

There are also days when we annoy each other to no end or we receive sad news.. 

Just living life like the rest of the world..

Psalms 68:19

Thanks be to the Lord, 

who daily carries our burden for us. 

God is our salvation.. 

As we all know the world is changing so quickly.. 

The importance of God in our lives has almost completely diminished in so many homes.. 

Teaching our children that there is a God and that He loves them has changed it's focus and parents look to the god of this world.. 

Money and what it can bring..

It is scary to this old grandma.. 

I see so many sweet children who don't even know that Jesus Christ died for them and made a Way that they can have eternal life.. 

Life on this earth is so short but focus is on what can be accomplished and accumulated in this life and no mention of eternity and what they need to do to prepare to meet God... 

If you don't know the Lord but realize in your heart that there must be more then this life can offer then please turn to Him today.. 

He will make a difference in your life and your home.. 

Putting Him first in your daily life leads to a life of joy and peace..

And a life eternal with our Creator God.. 

We try to give our children all the best that life can offer but do we try to show them a way to have eternal life when it is all said and done.. 

This is a choice we make... 

Either to serve Him and teach our children that there is something worth living for or to live this life like there is not anything after it is all over.. 

Whether we believe it or not does not change the fact that there is a righteous God who made a Way for us to follow so that we could live with him through eternity.. 

At the end of the journey is God.. 

A dear precious God who loves us and gives us a life worth living and a hope for a life when this one is all over..

He came to earth as our Saviour and gave us a plan to follow so that we could be saved and have a home with HIM... 

There are many people today who do not believe that there is a God or a life after we die.. They think it is a waste of time serving the unseen God.. 

But...

He is real.. 

If you have ever physically felt the presence of the Lord then you know He is real. 

And you will will never forget that touch in your heart no matter how far you wander from Him.. 

His love is long reaching and brings such a feeling of joy.. 

It is unexplainable but undeniable... 

His mercy is unlimited and his grace is sufficient .. 

He is so worth while.. 

God bless your sweet hearts this day.. 

xo 

A Stormy night...

pi

pinterest

Thanks for dropping by.. 

We are having a wee bit of weather here tonight.. 

Not too bad, really... smile..

I will hopefully do a better post for you soon.. 

Just wanted to wish you a great weekend ... 

God bless... 

Happy Valentine's Day..

pinterest

Wishing you all a love filled day !! 

May your hearts be filled with love from the One who loved us most.. 

God bless.. 

xo

Farm Pantry...

Friday evening greetings my dears.. 

Welcome to the Blessed Hearth tonight.. 

We had a beautiful but very cold day and tonight is very cold, indeed.. Oh well, it is Winter, eh?  

This is just a little farm post again.. 

I find you girls like these perhaps the best so here we go again.. smile.. 

We went up there on Wednesday for the day.. 

Terry and Trevor had been up the day before smowmobiling so the house was not too cold and only took an hour or so to be really warm .. 

The first thing I did was to make up a batch of no knead bread.. 

As you can see I am using my new pantry counter.. 

This is the view out of the pantry window.. 

Pretty snowy looking, eh? 

Then I put some chicken in a cast iron pot to prepare for dinner.. 

I decided to once again use the old back porch stove.. 

It is not a cook stove just an old air-tight one but I can put 3 pots plus the old kettle on it at once.. 

My friend Becky wanted to see it but this was all I had on my camera.. smile.. 

I found an old old hand written cookbook that I used when we lived in Sussex 30 years ago and decided that I would like to make a few favourites that I had kind of forgotten about.. 

This one is Braised Chicken and I think it came from a USA Country Living magazine, I think.. 

All you do is to brown chicken in butter or oil until browned on all sides.. Then add 1 cup of sliced celery and cook for a few minutes.. 

Add 4 cups of water and let it simmer away for 20 minutes .. 

Then just add 4 peeled and chopped potatoes and a bag of frozen green beans or one of your bottles of canned beans.. 

Add salt and pepper and simmer away until potatoes are tender.. 

Add seasoning to taste with your favourite herb...

Summer Savory is nice.. 

Then while that was simmering away and the bread was rising I started making the curtains for the pantry..  

Remember when we went to P. E. I. for a 70 mile yard sale.. 

I had bought this fabric  along with a whole garbage bag full for $3.00... 

This is my little sewing kit that I keep at the farm.. 

It is an old tin full of sewing supplies that I bought at an auction.. 

All these thimbles were in it... smile.. 

Then the meal was ready so I pushed everything to the end of the table and set it for the two of us.. 

That old oven cooks bread so much better then my new one here at home for some reason.. grin.. 

Here are the curtains all finished.. 

I ended up making a little valance to match.. I had put up a little red cow one as you recall but I din't like it with the plaid... 

I will put it over the sink in the kitchen, I think.. 

The black piece there is an old set of dresser drawers that I will keep table cloths, tea towels, place mats and such in.. 

We are getting the pantry done bit by bit.. 

I have to arrange the shelves and hang more stuff and get the other wall cupboards and such up... 

Terry put the heat pipe through to the living room so now the next thing is to get the sink all in... 

I hope to get to the cottage in St. Martins because I have an old cupboard or two there that I want to use... 

All in due time... 

Here are the windmills just up the road from the farm.. 

Thank you so much for dropping by my friends .. 

So happy to hear from you all.. 

And you sweet girls who leave your comments anonymously, I am so glad to hear from you, too.. 

I wish I had the time to answer each one but I really am not consistent with that at all.. 

I do try to answer questions, though and know that I love to hear from you here or on the Face Book page.. 

Well, I must go .. 

We are having Keepers tomorrow no matter the weather.. 

We have had to postpone the last 2 weeks due to storms but I hope we get it done tomorrow.. smile.. 

I will let you know how it all goes.. 

God bless..  

LINKED TO JES

and

LINKED TO.. STEPHANIE..

The days of our lives...

Hello everyone.. 

Hope you are doing well this week.. 

We have been having quite a bit of snow and high winds but I think we should be back to normal tomorrow..

This is just another everyday post.. 

I want to say how thankful I am to hear from you dear girls who tell me that this blog interests you even when I expect sometimes that I am boring you all.. 

Anyway... 

The picture above was our breakfasts this morning.. 

Terry makes really good fried eggs and with a left over boiled potato and half an avocado and a bit of tomato it really hit the mark with me.. 

I am not a breakfast person at all.. I would sooner have a bowl of left over soup or salad... smile..

I know there is a lot of food talk on this blog because that is something I love to do.. 

Cook, look at cookbooks, try out new recipes, buy groceries, explore new ways to preserve and yes it is a battle for me to try to lose weight but you know what they say.. 

If there is life then there is hope ... grin.. 

On with the story of the days of our lives.. 

Last week when we had a simply lovely warm day we went to the old farm.. 

The snow was almost gone and it was so warm that the brook kept making fog.. smile.. 

Terry bought some wood to finish up the back porch so while he worked away at getting it put away I made our dinner.. 

We have an old wood stove out in the porch room and so I cooked everything on top of it.. 

Mashed potatoes, lemon broccoli, and hamburger patties.. 

The hamburger patties were cooked in a cast iron fry pan and I found a bottle of pickled green beans.. Yummy.. 

The burgers look burned but they really weren't.. smile.. 

Crusty.. lol..

What can I say about this picture.. 

A happy man with his old barn and flannel shirt and a camouflage cap.. grin..

He loves going to the farm..  

After the dishes were done, Terry had a nap out by the fire and I made a nice cup of tea and we had a wee treat..  

Christmas Shortbread that was froze.. 

We seldom have sweets but I thought that a little taste would not hurt too much.. smile

And I took a book and read for quite awhile.. 

A simply lovely day.. 

Rain on the roof and wood in the fire and a great book.. 

A hot cup of tea and a happy husband.. 

Yes, God is good... smile.. 

The wood pile is getting smaller.. 

It is hard to believe how fast this winter seems to be going.. 

This weekend is heart day and soon it will be Spring.. 

This is a pic I took waiting for Terry to lock everything up.. 

He , Trevor and the boys were up there today snowmobiling.. 

They had to blow out the driveway again.. 

The weather changes so quickly, eh? 

Yesterday, we went to the city and I spent an hour or so in Chapters while Terry and Dustin went on errands..

I love doing that.. 

I gather a couple of magazines, several books, sometimes a cup of green tea and find myself a chair.. 

I browse away and smile at everyone who passes me by.. 

Just a simple old woman in her element.. lol.. 

I even like the way the place smells.. smile.

Do you ever do that?  

This book was on sale.. 

It is right full of wonderful ideas and recipes..

So with all the browsing I did spend a wee bit.. 

It inspired me to start this today.. 

Orange, Coriander and Thyme Jam.. 

There is a cheesecloth bag full of orange peels, seeds and such soaking in the orange and lemon juice.. 

Interesting, I think.. 

We will see tomorrow how it all turns out.. 

I will let you know.. 

And.. 

Another day I cleaned out my closet.. 

I had not looked in an old memory box for a long time.. 

A book of maps that my Mom did in 1948, a box of old cards that I could not part with.. 

Sweet little home made things that the kids made stored in a tea set box that Shonda received for Christmas when we lived in Sussex... 

Terry's baby book and graduation year book.. 

Boxes filled with wedding mementos.. Our's and the kid's.. 

Ours still has a piece of our groom's cake in it.. 

An old chocolate box with letters and such from my darling and even wedding cards that will be 46 years old next month.. 

This card was from my sweet Aunt Leatha and Uncle Herb.. 

An old graduation pic, baby book and the mirror that Terry gave me for our first Christmas.. Kind of delapidated but still holds the sweet memory of that first Christmas day together.. 

And an old home economics project that I did in grade 9.. 

A restaurant menu.. smile.. 

Do you have a memory box?  

Our poor kids will shake their heads over all of this stuff someday, I expect, if the Lord tarries.. grin.. 

These are things that only this mother could love but that I do.. 

Love them, that is.. I know that some people declutter and would have thrown most of it away but I don't want to... 

I expect some of you are very organized and have simplified your homes or downsized ... 

I guess that I just am not ready yet.. 

To be honest, I hope that we can go on this way for a very long time yet.. 

We may be retired but I just want to enjoy our lives and on another  day when I clean out the closet, I hope I can still go through my memory box and shed a little tear or perhaps smile over the dear things that don't count for anything to anyone else but me... 

Let's just say that it turns my crank.. lol.. 

Well, lovies this is all for tonight.. 

Not very insightful or inspiring or spiritual.. 

Just everyday in the lives of simple people who love the Lord and He makes our days special .. 

Thanks for visiting and your lovely comments and messages.. 

Take care, now..

Till next time.. xo

Linked to.. Roses of Inspiration..