Wednesday night in June...

Good Evening sweet friends.. 

Welcome to the Blessed Hearth on this Wednesday night in June.. 

I find it so hard to believe that we are actually almost past Spring and into Summer.. 

I was scanning the headlines before writing this and saw a girl had posted a video of her little veranda greenhouse in P. E. I. today with snow gently falling.. 

It has been record low temps here in Eastern Canada and farmers have lost thousands of seedlings due to frost and lots of blueberry plants have been killed too!

.. 

We have not put much in yet except for our Celeriac and I think it can take a bit of cold.. 

Won't know till next trip to the farm.. 

Otherwise all is well here.. 

Have some new valances on the kitchen window above for Summer... 

Have been enjoying my new kitchen cleaner we made at Keepers.. 

I added some lemon peels and let it set for a week or so and really love the scent and the job it does.. 

Rosemary-Lemon All-Purpose Cleaning Spray

• 2 sprigs rosemary
• Peels of 2 lemons
• 2 cups water
• 2 cups white vinegar

In a one quart jar, combine rosemary, lemon peels, water and vinegar. Allow to rest 10-14 days in a cool location to allow oils to infuse.  Strain lemon peels and rosemary and transfer liquid to a spray bottle for use. If desired, lemon peels and rosemary may be placed directly inside the spray bottle. The scent will intensify over time before breaking down and the bottle will look great sitting on the shelf.

Today I finished up a batch of Apple Blossom Jelly..

Terry had picked me the blossoms and this time I added a cup and a half of apple juice and I think it turned out lovely.. 

I was just getting done when in walked my sweet husband with a bag of these.. 

He said this would be the last time I could get more so I better make another batch of Dandelion Jelly.. 

It sells so well as it is so tasty.. 

So this afternoon I got them ready to make the tea and will make the jelly tomorrow.. 

Dear old Charles kept me company.. 

He seems to like to sit at my feet.. grin.. 

We have been busy doing spring jobs like I mentioned last time so nothing much new around here... 

I did promise you the bread recipe last time I posted .. 

So.. Here it is.. 

The name of the cookbook I found at the Thrift is.. 

Old Time Favorite Recipes.. 

The complete menu cookbook.. 

Sorry, I forgot to take a pic... 

It is sort of like a magazine.. 

Anyway.. 

Applesauce Raisin Batter Bread.. 

3 cups of flour, divided 

2 T. brown sugar

1/4 tsp. salt 

2 tsp. apple pie spice.. (I just used 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. nutmeg and 1/3 tsp. allspice.) 

1/4 ounce of active dry yeast (I used 2 tsp. instant yeast)

1 1/4 cups of unsweetened applesauce

1/4 cup of honey 

2 T. butter

1 egg 

1/2 cup of raisins

In a large mixing bowl combine half of the flour, brown sugar, salt and spices and yeast.. 

Heat applesauce, honey and butter until very warm 130 degrees F. 

Add to flour mixture with egg beating very well on low speed.. 

Stir in remaining flour and raisins.. 

Spread batter into a sprayed 9 x 5 bread pan.. 

Cover loosely with waxed paper and rise until double in bulk.. 

Carefully remove paper.. 

Bake at 350 degrees F. for 40 minutes.. 

Cool 10 minutes before removing from pan.. 

You can drizzle a confection milk mixture but I didn't think we needed that. smile.. 

Enjoy.. 

Now here is another recipe for the Spring Rhubarb we are having.. 

My sweet cousin Ann called me the other night and shared this with me.. 

I wish she hadn't!  grin.. 

It is so so good.. 

This only takes 2 minutes to make and Terry loved it.. 

Ann said she made it the first night and Peter ate it all so the next time she doubled the size hoping to get a piece.. lol... 

It was just about the same here except I had been warned and put a  small bowl aside for me first.. grin.. 

Here is the recipe.. 

Rhubarb Pudding by Ann... 

In a bowl stir 1 cups of flour, 1/2 cup of white sugar, 2 tsp. baking powder, pinch of salt, 1/2 cup of milk.. 

Mix up and pour into a greased 8x8 pan.. 

Cover with 2 cups of chopped rhubarb. 

Sprinkle 1 cup of brown sugar over and drizzle 1 1/2 cups of boiling water.. 

Bake at 375 degrees F. for 45 minutes or until golden brown.. 

This cake bakes with the rhubarb and the brown sugar and water makes a lovely sauce.. 

Ann says you can add ice cream or whipped cream or as in Peter's case both... lol... 

She is just joking!!  

We just ate it as is and was lovely.. 

Enough left for another time... 

I hid it... grin.. 

Anyway dear hearts this is all for today.. 

Rain is on it's way again and the wind is very brisk tonight.. 

I have had my tea and will go to bed and read a Rosamunde Pilcher short story from the Blue Bedroom.. 

While I was cleaning my room today I came across a set of Bible Study books I picked up at the Thrift store so am looking forward to doing them in the evenings.. 

It is after 8 pm and I can hear dear husband outside scraping at the paint.. He has been working away at painting our house.. 

It needed it so bad and this summer our old farmhouse will need a coat.. 

Work is never done but so thankful to the Lord that we are still able to carry on and do what we can.. 

He is faithful!  

Missing my boy tonight... 

Pray for me and I will pray for you.. 

God bless... 

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... 

Joyful Spring Days...

Good Evening everyone.. 

Don't you just love Spring days?  

It doesn't matter to me whether they are rainy or sunny really.. 

I just love them anyway.. 

Everything is turning green and coming into blossom.. 

Outside on the deck the apple blossoms will soon be fragrant and their snow like petals will be everywhere.. 

The clothes line is always in use and Terry is busy with his little tractor again.. 

Cleaning up the orchard and getting the garden ready.. 

As you can tell he enjoys this kind of work.. grin.. 

Nice to have a happy man, eh!

We are working away on our taxes but we keep taking breaks to do something else.. smile.. 

There is just so much to do on a Spring day.. 

I am in the process of making dandelion jelly again for the shop.. 

It sells really well and is so good for you, of course.. 

It took several hours just to get the petals chopped of and now they are soaking to make a tea for tomorrow to turn into a batch of jelly.. 

Well, four batches to be accurate.. smile.. 

You can find the recipe HERE..

The violet oil is already, too.. 

I need to grate up some beeswax and get that little job finished as well.. 

While I was at it I decided to once again use my flower press.. 

I have been doing this since my older kids were young.. 

It must be 30 years since my first little violet picture.. smile.. 

Then of course, there are my herbs.. 

One of my great loves.. 

Today my special treat was a glass of tomato juice with a lovage straw in it.. 

It tastes delicious.. 

I have a whole crate of herbs to plant at my shop.. 

They were on special so we decided to get them and will take the load down next time and get them into the ground.. 

I noticed that my lovage came up again down there but it is not very big yet.. 

The plant here grows at least 5 or 6 feet tall.. 

I hope I get time to make some more pickles.. 

They were so different.. 

We had a tasty chowder made with the lobster which was left over from our little feast the other day.. smile.. 

Flavored with some dill..

Making some homemade bread and giving away a loaf.. smile.

All in all a busy day but a joyful one.. 

Thank you, sweet Lord.. 

I just wanted to tell you all how much I have been appreciating all of your sweet comments, lately.. 

I am glad you enjoyed my little story about the sweet couple in the last post.. smile.. 

Notice one of the comments where a lady actually knew these folks.. 

I think I know who left the comment but am not sure.. 

If you ever leave me a note this way please let me know some how who you are.. 

An email or something.. ok? 

Thanks.. 

You are an awesome bunch of sweet ladies and I thank you for taking the time to drop by and then leaving me a comment.. 

I am trying to respond to each right on the blog.. 

OK?

It really does make blogging much more interesting.. 

Take care, now.. 

LINKED TO...FROM THE FARM BLOG HOP