A Saturday Post..

Good Saturday Evening everyone.. 

Welcome to the Blessed Hearth tonight.. 

It is just after supper here in Maritime Canada and a wet and wonderful day it has been.. 

Every weekend we have wind and rain lately.. 

Not that this windy weather junkie is complaining but I know most folks love a beautiful sunny days at the weeks end.. 

Anyway.. 

Nothing new here on the home front .. 

Get up in the am and start my coffee... 

Have a little time with my Lord, make my lists for the day and call my Mom and a friend and on with the daily tasks.. 

Today... 

It was bread making day.. 

I am sure you know by now all about my lazy no knead recipe that I make for Terry and I.. 

The link is here just in case.. 

HERE..

I also made a soup as it was such a dreary day... 

Made with Leeks that we grew in our garden this summer.. 

I love leeks and this soup is great.. 

It was in a new cook book I bought but Julia Childs has one also that I have made many times.. 

Leek and Potato Soup

For the soup:
4 Tbsp. butter
6 leeks, sliced very thin

1 chopped onion 

4 cups chicken broth
4 cups of  potatoes, peeled and diced
2 cups milk
2 tsp. salt
Freshly ground pepper
For the garnish:

chopped chives.. 

Melt the butter in a large pot and add the leeks and onion and 1 tsp. salt. Cook for about 5 minutes over medium heat, stirring often. Stir in  the broth, cover, and cook 10 minutes more.

Add the potatoes and the other tsp of salt and cook for 20 minutes. Stir in the milk  and cook until the potatoes are just tender.. .Add pepper..

When it’s finished, I sometimes puree the soup using an immersion blender or just leave as is ..Keep warm until serving.

Scatter a few chopped chives over top.. 

I forgot to take a pic of the finished product but it looks like leek and potato soup.. grin.. 

Our neighbor's turkeys up by the farm.. 

Aren't they just lovely.. 

I think they look like an old couple just strolling along.. 

Deep in conversation..

"What are you saying, Tilly?"

"Just thinking that missing the roasting pan the other weekend sure  makes a body thankful, eh dear?" 

"Well, they do have another holiday coming up soon!! Let's not count our chickens, shall we !"   

LOL... 

Yes, I have an active imagination.. 

Seems to be the only thing not slowing down on me.. grin.. 

Sorry, let's get on with it... smile.. 

This has been a busy week trying to get the house back in order.. 

Changing from lighter to heavier clothing, cleaning closets and the pantry.. 

Things like that but we still eat and you know me ,,,

Using the no knead bread recipe I made up a few pizzas.. 

Some for Terry with meat and me with just veggies.. 

They freeze well, too.. 

He loves hot dogs on his pizza... ugh... 

Our neighbor's hen... 

I love chickens... 

We only had meat kings this year but Lord willing next year we will get a few laying hens.. 

I purchased a few books lately.. 

Getting ready for my Winter Reading..

I love to read cookbooks, do you? 

The bottom book was lovely.. 

I read it already and loved the first author... 

All about making a home.. 

The middle one is a project I shared with the Keepers of the Home last time.. 

A layered journal... 

Here are a few examples of the pages inside the journal.. 

You just get yourself a journal of some kind and using a glue stick you paste on layers of papers.. 

Pages from old books then a pic from a magazine then perhaps a recipe or a poem you love or stickers or music papers or scrap booking papers.. 

Just whatever turns your crank and write a bit of journaling in some places.. 

Do you get my drift?  grin.. 

I find it so creative and fun and relaxing.. 

Some of the girls are going to set up card tables or find a special spot just for doing this... 

You can find some ideas on Pinterest for it, also.. 

Now for a little catch up of recipes from the last post.. 

So glad you were interested and thanks so much for your notes.. 

As you know, I love to hear from you and know you are out there and appreciate each and every word.. 

If I forget to answer a question or not leave a recipe then please just get after me.. 

I forget sometimes.. (a lot)  sorry.. 

Now the pumpkin preserves recipe is HERE..

And this is a pic of the Tomato Soup Base that Carman from Keepers showed us.. 

They are the two jars with tomatoes in them.. 

All she did was to chop up about 7 tomatoes (Roma) just as they are and 1 red pepper chopped up and a whole lot of chopped parsley and 1 T. rock salt.. 

She mixed it up together and let it sit for a bit to get some juice.. 

This filled one jar..

So I just multiplied the amount of tomatoes and pepper for about 6 jars and let it all sit for a few hours or overnight.. 

Fill the jars and squash down to cover with juice.. 

I used different coloured peppers.. Whatever I had.. 

Then she canned them for 35 minutes... 

I have opened a few jars already as the soup is sooooo good.. 

All you do is put the base in a pot and add some tomato juice or broth and a few veggies like carrot, parsnip and potato or perhaps some chicken or whatever and make your soup.. 
She serves hers over polenta... Yummm...

Don't add any extra salt.. 

You may want to cut back on the salt a bit ... 

I only used a couple of Tablespoons for my whole batch as we try to cut back on our salt content.. 

But you have to add some.. 

And be sure to use lots of chopped up parsley...

K?  

Have a blessed weekend my dears.. 

Tomorrow is the Lord's Day !

God bless.. 

Fall days...

Hello dearies... 

I am taking a break from the household chores and having a nice hot cup of coffee to get me motivated again and I thought I would drop a note here for you qll.. 

I had these pics uploaded from the other day but had not got back to them so here we are.. 

Just a little catch up on the last few days at the farm before we came back home.. 

Up above is a pic of Charlie in the back seat when we went for a little drive to view Albert County at it's finest... smile.. 

You just have to act like you are going to go in the car and he gets right antsy and wants to tag along.. 

Anyway.. 

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at the farm !! 

The grandsons love being there and decided they should all buy it and split it 5 ways for the future... grin... 

They sure fill a room when they are all there together.. 

So love those boys... 

Yes, I am just a typical grandma... smile.. 

I did get a couple of batches of pumpkin done up.. 

A few to sell and a few for my friend Pam... 

The leaves were particularly lovely this year, I think.. 

Hope these views don't bore you all... 

We had a good amount of tomatoes and so I did up several batches of a soup base that Carmen from Keepers of the Home showed us how to make... 

This is a rice dish that I made and from delicious !  

And here is the link for the recipe if you would like to try it.. 

Here..

We had a great Keepers of the Home meeting ... 

It was all about breads... 

Carmen made a cheese bread and a lovely eggplant spread.. 

And Faye made homemade tortillas... 

It was all wonderful.. 

I did an English Muffin bread recipe... 

I will try to recap all the recipes and such with you at a later post, perhaps.. 

This is a little inspiration photo I copied... 

I have a cupboard a bit like it in our bedroom full of quilts but I think I need to revamp it all.. 

Well I guess this is all for this afternoon.. 

Terry went up to the farm with Dustin to get a few things so I better make haste and get supper in the oven.. 

I made a meatloaf and want to make a potato puff to go along with it and a Caesar Salad... 

My friend gave me a recipe for Caesar dressing and I love it.. 

1 cup of mayo 

1 T. lemon juice 
1 tsp. mustard  (your fave) 

1 T. balsamic vinegar (I used white wine once) 

salt and pepper

Minced clove or two of fresh garlic

Parmesan cheese to suit 

I also added a splash of fish sauce and a pinch of red pepper flakes.. 

Whisk together and store in mason jar in the fridge.. 

You won't be buying anymore expensive salad dressing with this recipe.. 

I won't name the brand but you know which one I mean.. grin.. 

Well, have a great week my loves and please leave me a note.. 

I am starting my cleaning from the back door through.. 

I did the closet and laundry today.. 

This is going to be a slow progress, I am afraid.. smile.. 

God love ya all..

Another day .. another season.... home again...

Good Morning dear hearts.. 

Well, here I am back again at home.

A most beautiful word, don't you think?  

We had a great time at the farm for the Summer but now another season has started and we are back ... 

Although, it was an enjoyable experience for the most part staying at the farm for over 3 months; it is a great feeling to be back home.. 

The biggest attraction here is our waterbed.... 

And oh how I have missed thee, too, of course.. 

On with the story.. 

Which is not much really.. 

I did upload a bunch of farm pics last night but was too tired to do the post.. 

Then this morning I have too much to do but just wanted you to know we are back and I will endeavour to get back into the world of  blogging ..

Really, this is what I wanted to see.. 

This is for you dear friends....

Just making sure you are still there after all this time.. 

Hope to read some little notes if you are... 

God bless.. xo

Farm Diary 8 Almost over..

Good Morning everyone.. 

Here I am finally..

We have not been home very much the last few weeks and when we were we did not have time for the internet except to check a few quick emails and that was all.. 

Today is a beautiful sunny day and I am home alone.. 

Doing laundry... smile.. 

I have all day to hang it out and fold and put away whatever I am not taking back with us.. 

Terry has gone to Moncton to help our youngest son so I am just enjoying being here at home.. 

We are not back to stay yet.. 

We did get our turkeys put in the freezer and they were large.. 

I think anyway.. 

From 25 pounds down to 16... 

One was called Thanksgiving and will be in the oven on Monday which is Thanksgiving Day here in Canada.. 

All the family will be at the farm for the grand finale and then we will mostly be home, I think..  

Our garden work is almost finished and the herb beds are done.. 

We really enjoyed our stay this summer and will consider doing it again next summer if all goes well... 

The pics above are just a few I had in my camera.. 

The summer has certainly not been all work.. 

Lots of play.. 

Day trips to the Bay, shopping across the border and town days... 

One Saturday was spent at a Keepers of the Home friend's house.. 

Remember Faye with the pantry and log house that I did a post on once? 

Well, she hosted a lovely harvest day for us all and it was great !! 

Lots of girls and lots of info on canning, preserving, drying, kefir, herbs and such.. 

She has lots of neat equipment to demonstrate like the Tomato press in the pic.. 

Then a lovely lunch and lots of fun.. 

Were so blessed to have some new ones with us, too.. 

Our next meeting is on the 15th at our fellowship hall at our church in Salisbury and is a bread day.. 

Learning to make different breads and the use of the pizza stones and such... 

You are invited.. 

Just email or call me.. 

Then there are pics of some of my canning and herbs and such... 

A few of our trip to PEI doing the 70 mile yard sale day.. 

What fun that was... 

Beautiful scenery, good buys and just a great day together.. 

There really is still no one I would rather go with then the dear man who tries to get me right up where I don't need to walk a lot with my blessed feet.. smile.. 

Then just a few fall days that we are having here now.. 

I dug out some fall decor to take to the farm.. 

We have spent the last few Thanksgivings at the cottage in St. Martins so all of the decorations are almost all down there.. 

We will try celebrating at the farm for a change and hope it turns out ok.. The house is a lot smaller then the cottage and when you have everyone it can be a crowd... 

But the grandsons insisted that this was the place to go.. smile.. 

I hope all is well with you my dears and soon I will be back and on here again, Lord willing.. 

Thanks for stopping by and for your lovely notes.. I get my sweet sister to read them to me on the phone as you know I have no internet at the farm... 

Happy Thanksgiving and God bless you sweet friends.. 

Till next time.. 

Faye... xo