Farm Journal 2...

Hello everyone.. 

Finally getting around to doing another little journal post from the farm days.. 

We have been up several times but still not staying overnight.. 

Like everything else that is worth the bother there is lots of work to do.. 

I think there is a path through but that is about all.. 

We stripped the beds and brought it all home to wash.. 

Tomorrow is to be a bit of sun so hopefully it will all get washed and dried on the line..

We have had several meals there.. 

Just ordinary food.. 

Terry is very happy with meat and potatoes and we eat a lot of carrots.. 

That is the new zucchini relish that I made last summer and will definitely give it another try this year.. It used yellow long neck squash.. 

Then as the rhubarb is plentiful both here at home and at the farm I have been making Rhubarb Pineapple Jam..  

Here is the recipe.. 

This one does not have berries in it.. 

My Mom's Rhubarb Jam.. 

6 cups of chopped rhubarb. 

5 cups of sugar

1 can of drained pineapple (it doesn't matter which size you use)

2 small packages of strawberry jello.. 

In a glass vision ware pot or enamel one bring rhubarb, sugar and pineapple to a boil.. Lower heat a bit and simmer away for 25 minutes .. 

Add the jello and stir well and simmer for another 5 minutes or so.. 

Pour into sterilized jars and seal.. 

I do what they do in Europe and turn my jars upside down for about 10 minutes to help seal them better..

 

You can water bath them if you like.. 

Totally up to you.. 

I also wanted to share this Granola recipe with you.. 

It has lots of dried apples in it and I am loving having it for breakfast over my Greek yogurt (which I do not like on it's own) 

Here is the recipe for it which is a very healthy recipe with no added refined sugar.. 

Dried Apple Granola.. 

2 T. coconut oil (melted) 

2 cups of rolled oats (old fashioned) 

1/2 cup of raw nuts

1/2 cup of seeds such as sesame, pumpkin or sunflower.. 

3/4 cup of dried apples cut up

1/4 cup of chopped up dates, raisins or dried fruit of choice.. 

2 T. honey

pinch of salt.. 

Mix everything together in large bowl.. 

Use your hands to evenly distribute the oil and honey.. 

Place on a parchment lined  cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees F. for 10 - 15 minutes until toasty.. 

Store in a glass jar and enjoy... 

A great way to use up your dried apple stash.. 

You can replace any of the dried fruits to ones of your taste.. 

Oh yes, I doubled this recipe as it will last for at least 2 weeks.. 

See what was in our field at the farm last week.. 

Last year we saw two down by our brook and then this year look what we saw.. 

Two more!  

I was so excited!  

They say they will come back every year so we were happy to see them.. 

Then there is one apple tree by the house that is not wild.. 

My aunt Eva loved the apples off of this tree and my Mom tells me they were wonderful apples.. 

See it down there to the left... 

Such beautiful and fragrant flowers.. 

Love sniffing them.. 

I remember when I did craft shows many years ago there was a lady from the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia who sold Apple Blossom soap.. 

I always would buy some from her but she quit the shows after several years and I have not seen any since.. 

How I would love to have a bar.. smile.. 

One day at the farm we had a stir fry..  

I forgot to take a pic of the finished lunch.. sorry.. 

It was a frugal one.. 

I only used one steak.. 

Then for two days out there I have been canning Fiddleheads ...

28 pints.. 

Thanks to our dear son, Trevor for picking them for us.. 

We Maritimers love our Fiddlehead greens.. 

Well, dear hearts this is all for this lovely Sunday evening.. 

We had a wonderful worship service and Sunday School today and then went out for lunch with some sweet friends.. 

Then ended the day at the farm but now we are home.. 

Hope you had a great weekend and thanks again for dropping by.. 

Welcome to the new followers of the blog from Face Book.. 

I thought I would invite a few friends and they were so kind as to like the page.. 

Thank you and I look forward to your sweet comments.. 

God bless... 

Luke 1: 46-47

And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

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... 

Farm Journal 1

Hello there.. 

Thanks for dropping by today..

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

Summer is on it's way here and  we have decided to spend our second summer at our old farm up in the Kent Hills.. 

The dear old cottage in St. Martins will only be visited occasionally as we are again going to raise a few animals and have a bit more garden then last summer.. 

When I blogged about the farm stay last year,  I called it Farm Diaries so this year I am changing it up a bit and calling it Farm Journal... 

So... 

Here is my first farm journal for 2017.. 

The pic above was taken on the way to the farm .. 

Spring has arrived here in Eastern Canada and it makes us all so happy.. 

One of the first sweet sign is of these flowers.. 

Some call them Dog Tooth Violets but my Mom called them Adder's Tongues .. 

Love them whatever they are called.. 

Then a little hall decked out in Choke Cherry Blossoms.. 

As I posted last time my first day at the farm consisted of washing cupboards and dishes ... 

Well, this day I only had a few more to do and then we had lunch..

Tried out this new salad dressing and it was excellent.. 

You could change up the vinegar and oils to suit your taste.. 

I used cider vinegar and canola oil.. 

Very simple and very easy.. 

We try sometimes to eat our bigger meal at lunch and then just a light supper.. 

So as Terry had left chicken in the fridge I decided to coat the legs with a Montreal Chicken Spice and a few oven fries baked in the oven all at the same time.. 

And lemon juice.. 

T'was good.. 

Terry decided he had to do his start of the season ritual by scaring me to death.. (as usual).. 

I went out on the stoop to call on the Lord to please protect him one more time.. 

Charlie kept me company... 

Terry was sure he had a belt there at the farm for climbing the flag pole but forgot he had brought it home to cut down the pine tree.. 

Remember?  sigh.. 

Well, even though he did not have one.. 

Up he went.. 

No belt and the old flag stuck on the metal pole .. 

So he is up there yanking and trying to get it off.. 

Letting go of the pole and trying to get this long metal pole down and it spiralling way out..

It is a long way up there as you can tell by the barn roof..  

Oh Lord!  

I was so scared! 

Why anyone needs a flag pole this tall is beyond me.. 

And our kids wonder why Mom is so nervous!! 

I know you girls who have been reading here for awhile understand why I am!.. grin.. 

I have this huge fear of heights so even looking up at him makes the back of my knees go weak.. Really... 

I find it hard to believe that a man so smart at times can be so ------ at other times.. You can guess what I am trying to say.. 

Well, at the end of about half an hour he somehow got it all unstuck and the flag hung although not to his liking and he says he will finish it the next time when he finds his belt... 

God love him!!

Thank you, Lord.. 

I was so weak I had to go in and make a cup of tea.... 

Some of you understand, eh?  grin.. 

Our garden this year is 3 times as large as last... 

We had one here at home but this time we are only going to do the one there... 

I have a few plans for new herb and flower beds .. 

Was so excited today to see that lavender seeds are up and growing in the sun room... 

Hopefully they will grow quickly for the next month.. 

See my thrift store find.. 

Six beautiful Chowder bowls for only two dollars each.. 

We love fish chowder during the summer, do you? 

I have to do the pantry next... 

Trevor gave me a nice large set of old fashioned Snow White dishes that they had and weren't using anymore..

I love them..  

So much to do before we can move up there but hopefully by the middle of June... 

Some of the herbs that came up again are.. 

Lovage, Comfrey, Chives, Sage, Oregano, Catnip, Yarrow and Tarragon... 

I have Parsley and Basil in pots growing here to take out.. 

Still have a few to buy, though.. 

I also have some flowers growing from seed.. 

Well, dear hearts thanks for dropping by.. 

So glad to hear from you and thank you for your sweet comments here on the blog or on the Face Book page.. 

Have a great weekend and God bless.. 

Going to bed...

Pinterest

Don't you simply love going to bed.. To curl up warmly in a nice warm bed, in the lovely darkness, that is so restful and then gradually drift away into sleep ----C. S. Lewis

Saturday night Rundown..

Hello there dear hearts.. 

Thank you so much for dropping by the Blessed Hearth tonight.. 

It is Mother's Day weekend here.. 

The above pic is of my Mom when she was only about 16 or so I think.. 

Wasn't she sweet and so young.. 

I love this pic of her.. 

You can almost see her personality here.. 

Bright and cheery.. 

Very thankful for my Mom and so blessed to still have her in our lives.. 

She scares us a lot, though.. 

Today she had to go to emergency because she cut her leg on a chair and needed 6 stitches.. 

She is fine though.. 

Here is a little rundown of the last few days.. 

Spring time chores that we love.. 

Getting those towels out on the line and then smelling their sweet fragrance when we use them.. 

Trying something new that I was inspired by my friend, Anne to make.. 

Zuke Noodles.. 

With Chunky Tomato Sauce. 

These noodles were good but they are not pasta but a wonderful substitute if you are so prone to be healthy which I need to do much more often.. 

I have cut my pasta intake to only a couple of times a week but it is very difficult... 

Just sayin' !.. lol.. 

I took a pic of some books lying on my end table beside my chair.. 

Yes, I read every old Beatrix Potter book I come across.. 

Another favourite author is Louis L'Amour.. 

I had a huge stash of these that was in a big plastic bag and taken to the basement.. 

I can read some books a few times but do you think I could find them.. 

I thought I had lost them somehow by being thrown out by mistake by you know who ... grin.. 

Blamed him in my mind for a couple of years and then the other day I was looking through a big bookcase he had built in the basement a several years ago and lo and behold there they were..

Someone (probably me) took them out and I didn't know or remember.. Whatever.. But the lost is found..  

Thank you, Lord.. smile.. 

And then there is my Promise Book that I use so often.. 

This is what hubby loves to do.. 

News, news, news and more news.. 

The evenings are getting so much longer.. 

So happy about that.. 

Don't you love the Spring?  

Our house is filled with plants.. 

Did a big bucket of herbs for my Mom today for her gift along with a wreath.. 

On Friday we went to the farm for my first farm day this year.. 

I can't believe it has taken so long for me to actually get there and stay for the day.. It has been so damp but now it is lovely.. 

Terry worked at stuff and I started the cleaning.. 

Dishpans full of dishes and cupboards and counters and such all have to be washed.. 

We had a few winter borders but now they are kaput.. smile.. 

Later in the afternoon we visited some dear friends in Hillsborough.. 

I so love going there.. 

They own this adorable cat... 

Bobby.. 

We should have had him visit the farm this winter.. grin.. 

Oh well.. 

That is what you expect in an old country house.. So long as they are gone ... 

This is our friend's stairwell.. 

Isn't that beautiful! 

Love the bookcase and the staircase is gorgeous.. 

What a beautiful old home.. 

Here are some of their plants.. 

They have a Cactus that belonged to their grandmother.. 

Can you imagine!  

They are my age so it has been a few years.. 

Another little gathering on their buffet.. 

Such lovely antiques.. 

I am always in my glory when we visit.. 

Terry laughs and says that it makes me happy and it does.. 

Don't you love it when you visit kindred spirits.. 

Tea and homemade blueberry muffins and a visit to the piano room.. 

Glorious... 

And.. 

They have cows.. 

So nice!

Thank you Laura and Kathleen! 

Then this morning I headed for the farm as Terry wanted to go to an auction in Sussex.. 

I still have so much cleaning to do so away I went.. 

Picked up a Tim's coffee and went to work.. 

Accomplished quite a lot.. 

(still so much to do)  It took me 1 1/2 days just to clean the cupboards and everything in them.. I am so slow... 

We do not expect to move up for a few more weeks so hopefully I will be finished.. 

Anyway.. 

The dear man decides to come up too and walks in with a bag of these for my Mother's Day gift.. 

We sat down and ate them right away.. 

He also brought me a bag of Spring garlic that will be ready in the Fall.. 

He said I would like what was in the paper bag better then the lobster.. lol.. He was right!  

Love lobster but I was so disappointed that the garlic we planted in the Fall all froze.. 

We needed to cover them and I had not done my research.. 

But now I will have them anyway... 

Next time we will mulch or whatever one does.. 

Here is my new farm journal... 

Found it at the Thrift store.. 

Terry had to take all of the leftover wood on the stoop back to the wood pile.. 

Several loads.. Poor guy.. 

The boards there are for my hen houses and such.. 

Yeah!  

Well my friends this is all for this evening.. 

Spring has arrived and our lawn is green again!  

Dandelion jelly, Rhubarb Jam and Fiddleheads in the works for next week... 

Do you make any of these?  

So glad to chat with you again! 

As always, I love your notes... 

Have a blessed lovely Mother's Day!  

God bless.

Psalms 139:13

For you created my inmost being,

you knit me together in my mother's womb..