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..  

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.. 

I copied this off a group site I joined ... 

We love pasta salads although I know they are carbs but everything in moderation... right?  

This is tuna, peppers, cukes, onion and parsley and a bit of parm...\

My grandsons most requested salad..  

Well my friends I am finished for now.. 

Hope you are enjoying this wonderful season... 

The month of June is my second fave month.. 

May is my first.. smile.. 

Thank you for stopping by.. 

I know that I am as bad as a long winded preacher but so it is.. smile.. 

Looking forward to hearing from you all.. 

Take care of yourselves and your sweet families.. 

Trust in the Lord and He will direct your paths.. 

The main thing in this topsy turvy world is keep our eyes on the main thing.. 

Jesus!  

God bless.. 

Another Farm Post..

Hello... 

So happy to have you drop by the Blessed Hearth tonight.. 

Just another little update on our farm days.. 

How are you all doing? 

I sure hope you are warmer then we are here in the Maritimes of Canada... 

It is cold! 

And frankly, I am a bit tired of it all.. 

Trying so hard not to complain but all winter we so graciously(wink wink) wait for the warm sunny days of Spring but alas they only arrive here now and then just to keep our spirits in an attitude of hope.. grin.. 

Mother Nature is not always kind I am thinking.. 

But.. 

Looking out the window this evening there is sun still shining which showed herself late this afternoon and the weatherman says it will be sunny tomorrow so with hope that springs eternal we are looking forward to a week of much warmer temps.. 

Yes, dear hearts I am Canadian so the weather is the main topic of conversation in these parts.. smile.. 

Anyway... 

On with the show.. 

We have been striving to get to the farm a couple of days each week at least.. 

Terry does better then I do but actually.. If it is very chilly and damp I stay home.. Besides, when he is painting and such I am in the way and there is still lots to do here at home... 

As you can see it is greening up a lot each week.. 

This was taken on Sunday where we went to have lunch and put a fire on for awhile... 

We went to church and Charlie came along with us( he stays in the car) grin....  as we knew we were visiting the farm afterwards and it is his favourite place in the world ... smile.. 

We had to stop by the store for a few minutes and there was another dog in a truck beside us.. 

I guess they were looking each other over.. 

On the way there I mentioned to Terry we should go check a little secret spot we have for picking Daffodils ... 

They grow in a ditch where some home place must have been at one time .. Each Spring they faithfully flourish in their little spot.. 

So we drove by and there they were calling to me.. grin.. 

Terry (the dear man) gets out a picks me a few... 

We also did a little stop at an old cemetery to see if the purple violets had arrived to stay a spell with Mr. Mills and his two Missus... smile.. 

One of his wives must have loved the wild purple violet because their site is the only one that has so many... 

Yes, I am an old romantic... 

There were a few blooming but not very many yet so we did not gather any... 

I love making purple violet salve for burns... 

Later.. smile.. 

When we got to the farm Terry made a fire and I started dinner... 

Of course the Daffodils found a place of honour on the old kitchen table.. 

Terry was craving a pork chop so it was just another simple farm dinner ... 

Pork Chops, fiddleheads (thanks to our sweet son), turnip and carrot mash and he had potatoes.. 

I always have a cucumber salad lately.. 

It is my new favourite for awhile, I guess.. 

The kitchen was still quite a mess so we had to push everything over on the table to set it.. 

But really a lot has been finished.. 

The cupboard there is now all painted along with the walls and woodwork and doors... Yeah!  

That is primer on there but now it is covered a lovely Babbling Brook shade.. 

Appropriate for the brook running behind the old farm, eh!

So, Lord willing and if the sun shines we will be going up there tomorrow as Terry just finished it on Monday and I can get things together again... 

I do have the pantry almost to rights.. 

Dishes have been washed, a new cupboard installed and the hutch all cleaned out.. 

Hopefully, tomorrow he will begin to install an old old kitchen sink.. 

He has to hang my potholder and a few other little chores and we will feel like we are accomplishing something..

But it is not all work up there.. 

This happened one day..  

Not the day it says but a week later our grandson and our son came for the day.. 

We enjoyed lunch... 

Macaroni and Tuna Salad (their favourite) and Fried Potatoes... 

Jordan cooked the hamburgers on the wood stove...

I had also made these hamburgers but we didn't eat them till later.. 

Greek Burgers in Pita Bread with lettuce and Greek Yogurt Sauce.. 

I loved them but you know who didn't... 

Just give him a plain hamburger with cheese any day.. 

Personally, I seldom eat a hamburger but put some cilantro and cumin to one in a pita bread and I think it is delicious!  

Just no accounting for taste as my mother used to say.. smile.. 

We certainly enjoyed their visit...

Jordan visited with us while his Dad went fishing for awhile .. 

He came back with a bunch of pine cones... 

Our sons always think of their mother when they are out in the woods.. 

Always have.. 

I so enjoy a handful of pine cones or an old nest that has fallen or a bouquet of flowers.. 

Don't you?  

Later I tied them on a string and hung them under Tasha Tudor's pic on the hutch door... 

Terry has made two more raised beds... 

I think they are finished now.. 

Will see tomorrow.. 

It is just too cold to do much planting yet but my Lovage and such are up...

Can't wait to have a lovely glass of tomato juice and a lovage straw.. 

Something I look forward to each Spring... 

These are some  new fabrics I bought for the kitchen.. 

Gives you an idea of the colour change.. 

I hope to make a runner, buntings and perhaps a valance.. 

That will be next plus I have to use the electric scrubber for the floor and a coat of wax... 

All in good time, though.. 

This is a Partridge Stew that we had one day.. 

Love the flavour, do you?

Thanks once again to our dear boy.. 

On Monday I canned 22 jars of fiddle heads.. 

We like them canned the best as they don't take up freezer space and are not mushy... 

Do Fiddleheads grow in your area?  

I was reading an old book the other day and the guy was writing that his mother used to can Dandelion Greens.. 

I had not heard of that before.. 

I know people eat them that way but I didn't know they used to can them.. 

I hope to make jelly though and perhaps dry some root for my daily quart next winter... 

I read that you just dry the roots and grind them up and make a tea.. 

Very good for you.. 

The whole Dandelion is so healthy... 

Well dear hearts this all for tonight.. 

I titled this a little farm post.. 

Perhaps I better change it.. grin.. 

Here is a book I just finished... 

It was excellent as was the Apothecary's Daughter and a couple of others of hers that I have read lately... 

Oh.. 

I had to add this sweet pic of our daughter in Paris.. 

I told her it was my favourite.. 

Just so thankful she is now home on Canadian sail ... 

Mothers!! 

Well, lovies have a grand week and will chat again soon.. 

Thanks so much for visiting and your lovely notes and welcome to the new followers.. 

May God richly bless you and your dear families this week... 

I will be praying for you...