THE BLESSED HEARTH: June 2020

Sunday, June 28, 2020

Farm Journal 2020 Number 2...

Good Evening everyone..

So happy to have you visiting here at the Blessed Hearth..

All is well here in Eastern Canada.

Tis another Sabbath and we were thankful when they said .. let us go into the house of the Lord..

Again we are so blessed to be able to be in church this morning..

And a special day it was as we celebrated our youngest grandson's graduation..

Pastor spoke so well..

Admonishing not only Joel but all of the young people to keep God first in their hearts and lives..

Praying for all youth today in this topsy turvy world..

I know it has been a few weeks since I posted and thought I better get one up before this month was over to show you we did a special day for our 50th once again for the month of June...

You will think we are such a boring couple!!

No wild trips or great excitements.. grin..

I mention to my husband every once in awhile that I am a cheap date! lol..

All he has to do is take me over the mountain to the Bay of Fundy and I am a happy gal..

So..

Once again..

Cape Enrage it was..

We had another picnic lunch..

Potato Salad, Tomato Sandwich on a bun which I made there, fermented carrot pickles, cherry tomato salad, popcorn and such..

Terry had a diet pepsi and I had a lovely thermos of hot tea..

In my china cup.. grin.. I know, eh!!

Sitting there listening to the waves and feeling the sea breezes on my face just recuperates my lagging spirit.. smile..

And I had downloaded the most wonderful book on my Kindle..

The Promise of Dawn by Laurain Snelling..

Terry had a nap and a walk and I just sat..

I did pick some flat rocks to make one of those stack things..

Two of them actually..

We left there..

And drove to Alma..

Such a quaint and beautiful village..

Bought a sticky bun..

They are famous!

Then back across Caladonia Mountain and to the farm..

We are still not staying there all the time..

We shall see..

Love being home too..

This is a farm journal post so here we go..

I spend a lot of time in the herb beds but they are getting about done except for weeding and watering..

Terry works outside and I love pottering about inside..

Remember a while ago I mentioned he had brought my old shop wall cupboard in ..

He hung it in the pantry and I love it..

Pretty old and distressed shall we say..

No matter.. It is lovely to this beholder.. grin..

I just put in what had been in the other one but I will get to it..

Eventually..

Another day at the farm and another meal..

Fish Chowder and Salad..

A few make and dos..

Fermented Rhubarb Pickles..

Which I simply love..

Terry... not!! lol..

So.. I get them all to myself and have finished a bottle already!!

I love sour...

Well.. I love sweet, too.. Just not in pickles.. lol..

More meals..

We do love our fish and salads..

Especially, cod fish!

Yes, we are Maritimers! smile..

My chives are being put to good use..

Made vinegars and Acadian Soup Herbs..

Sorry no pic..

Each time we go I pick a basket full of herbs..

Oregano, Chives, Thyme, Tarragon and Catnip are already..

So love herbs!!

Do you? What is your favourite thing to do with them..

And of course, Lovage!

Sun dried a lot so far..

It takes a lot to make the Lovage Salt..

It is not really salt but lovage all ground up and put in a shaker dish to use as a salt replacement..

Of course, I don't think I could ever replace salt full time but it does have a wonderful celery type flavour..

Also I add this to my soup herb cheese cloth balls and then I add them to the ones I freeze..

Oh my..

I must be on a roll today..

Rambling on and on and on..

Almost finished.. lol..

Another simple farm meal..

Terry's kind..

He is going to take me out to a few gourmet places as soon as we think it is safe enough.. To celebrate, I mean.. smile.

For now it is steak and mushrooms, mashed, squash and dilled bean salad...

Whatever..

Some of you girls email me and say you love the meal ideas so hope you don't find me just longwinded.. grin

We are celebrating two of our grandson's

achievements this month of June-2020..

Our youngest of five grandsons graduated from high school!

He did so well with high honours and several prizes and scholarship..

He will be entering U.N.B. in the fall..

Praying God's blessing and protection for him..

We are proud and happy for him..

And..

Matthew...

He is our second oldest grandson..

He just graduated from four years of Engineering at U. N. B.

With high honours and all..

He has been accepted into Med school in the Fall..

So we are indeed blessed!

Praying that the Lord will continue to bless and protect Matthew!

The other 3 grandsons are all at university also..

What can I say.. grin..

I am their grandma after all!

Well dear hearts this is all for this time and this month..

We have a family celebration coming up this week and am so looking forward to being with our family..

Missing our precious son out west, though..

Just try not to think about that and am blessed with the calls and such..

Better then in the day of these books I read when they left their family not expecting to ever see them again in this life..

Just can't imagine!

Thanks for dropping by and visiting with me once again..

So love your notes here and on Face Book and on Instagram..

Appreciate you girls..

For the questions and such..

I picked those blue bowls up that was on the last post at a thrift shop.. What a scoop.. lol..

And I will be making the bunting for the farm and will explain that then Donna.. Sorry to take so long..

and the recipe for the perfume is so easy..

Just use an unscented lotion..

And add essential oils..

I think it was 15 drops of patchouli, 2 drops of ylang ylang and 2 drops of orange..

I think next time I will just use patchouli and perhaps lavender..

Just adding till I get the scent I like..

Hope this helps..

God bless..

Sunday, June 7, 2020

Farm Journal 2020 Number 1

Good Evening dear hearts!

Welcome to the Blessed Hearth on this Sunday Evening in June...

A very cool and cloudy day here in Maritime Canada..

Hope all is well in your world as it is here in ours..

We are of a people most blessed this Sabbath..

After three months of not attending a church service we were able to go this morning!!

So happy about that!

And it was lovely!

The presence of the Lord was so real and so exciting to see everyone..

Online services were great and so glad we were able to do that but there is not anything quite as wonderful as going in person to a building and worshipping the Lord with others...

Anyway..

That made my day..smile..

I decided that I would start my farm journals again..

the year 2020!

This is quite the year and so it will be interesting to see how it works out compared to the past ones..

I think this is the fourth time that we will be summering at the farm for most of the time..

With the world situation as far as the pandemic goes we did not know what to expect but happy we can be there..

We have been out doing garden work and such..

Everything is finally getting green...

Early morning mist ....

So beautiful!

So happy that my herb beds are doing well even though it has been cool often..

That is Lovage on the back left with Comfrey on the right..

Out front is Tarragon and Parsley just planted..

How do you like my new ride? grin..

That is the most wonderful contraption for this old gal...

It helps me to get much more done as my feet are not great...

The basil is in although I have several more plants..

This is one herb bed but I have two others plus a couple of veggie raised beds..

Do you see our garlic and onion plants in the back one..

The front one has Oregano, Ground Cherries, Fennel and such...

There is the happy man over there...

Doing what he loves..

That is a veggie garden and two over on the right that you can't see..

He took the wheeler up and I drove it while he held onto a plow and made rows for our potatoes! LOL..

It was pouring rain and as I am waiting for him to do something I am thinking to myself that most people would think we had lost our marbles..

Why do we do the things we do? lol..

I was soaked and so was he..

Most of the potatoes got in though..

Nothing that a hot bowl of soup won't fix...

He is in his happy place.. smile..

Homemade beef broth that I made and then froze and barley and veggies..

Homemade bread and coleslaw...

Plain old farm fare is what he loves best..

My sweet Aunt Eva's White Lilac are in bloom..

How lovely is that, eh!

They smell so heavenly..

We were so happy to see our farmer's cows out and in the pastures..

These are not our cows but a farmer who uses some of our fields...

We love seeing them as you know..

They always coming running when we go out our lane if they are in the pastures there.. smile..

We picked up our chicks this past week...

We only bought 20 this time and will see how it all goes as there are other chick days coming up...

They are so cute right now...smile..

We will enjoy them this winter though for sure..

Some make and do things that I have been at..

Picked a bunch of wild violets..

Such a dear little flower..

Violet Oil to make Salves and soaps with...

I was reading a wonderful book.. again! lol..

How I love my books... I know..

I read everyday..

I always have since I was a young girl...

I love books that were written about the 1800s for some reason..

An author I discovered this past winter was Donna Hubbard Scofield...

That First Montana Year and Back Home..

I loved them..

She is a Christian author..

In one of them she wrote of making a wedding cake and decorating it with sugared rose buds ...

I looked it up and there were violets done so of course since I had some I decided to try it and will put them on something some day this summer..

To celebrate one thing or another.. smile..

And as always if there is some flower I can pick...

I pick them and if I can't get to them my dear husband picks them for me..

He is a good man! smile..

Made some perfume from a recipe on the web..

Just unscented lotion and add essential oils..

This has patchouli (of course), a couple drops of ylang ylang and a couple drops of lavender..

I like it...

Found the sweet containers at the dollar store so will make some others for my gift pantry...

Some days at the farm I am still going through boxes of stuff from our cottage and shop in St. Martins..

Last week I found a box of linens..

And lace...

Pillow cases, luncheon cloths, table runners, doilies, napkins and a tea towel..

How I love thee... grin..

Some rainy day I will pull down the ironing board that is built in the kitchen wall and start ironing them..

I love stacking them on shelves here and there..

Do you?

I mentioned in my last post about planting some sprouts in these dear little egg cups..

I told you I would just do a short post with just pics and show you them..

Sorry....

Another long post..

But you can skip right on by the words and look at the pics or not.. grin...

I am almost done.. Honest.. lol..

Just wanted to share my view from my happy place..

My swing here at home..

On the windy evenings we have been having I just plop myself down and cover up with a sheep lined blanket Dustin gave me and watch the world go by..

So thankful for these wonderful blessings ...

Where is your happy place?

I have several to tell you the truth..

But I wanted a swing for years.. Literally..

So..

I really enjoy...

I always like to leave you with a recipe too..