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Showing posts with label homemade bread. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homemade bread. Show all posts

Saturday, March 21, 2020

A Saturday Night Posting...


Hello dearies.. 
A Saturday night posting here on the Blessed Hearth.. 
I am so glad you have stopped by tonight.. 
  
As I sit here in the sun room and type these words to you, I can hear my husband in the family room chatting with our youngest son out in Alberta.. 
My heart is full.  
I expect yours is too... 
What is it about a mother?  
When everything is lovely and our kids are great then we are lovely too.. 
But when the world is turned upside down you want those chicks near to you..  
You know they are grown with lives of their own and able to make decisions and fend for themselves but you feel better when they are near.. 
You put them in the hands of the Father but yet our heart yearns to hug them close...
Isn't it wonderful that we have a Father above who feels the same.. 
He gathers us under his wings and we will find refuge... 
He is a faithful God and during these terrible times we can put our faith and trust in Him.. 
Not that we don't have moments of anxiety but we can take a time out with Him and get back our peace..
I didn't mean to get to that already in the post but there it is.. smile.. 

How are you all doing? 

We are in isolation along with most of the world.. 
Doing our thing.. 
Just the two of us.. 
We were so happy to have our oldest son visit this morning.. 
Outside in the windy day with lots of space between us.. 
But so happy to see him.. 
To see his sweet smile... 
Thanking the Lord for the special moments.. 

The rest of the time though it is just Terry and I.. 
It is not hard to keep ourselves occupied though.. 
I will share a few of our doings with you as I always have..   

This post is not in order of the days but anyway.. 
We visited the farm and trying to get it ready for the summer months... 
An early foggy morning there when we arrived.. 
Terry put the fire on while I read in the truck for a bit while it warmed up.. 
The house is not heated all winter and the water is turned off.. 
We do not always get to be here as early as this year.. 
There is snow but mostly mild and windy days.. 
That means the snow won't last long.. 
The kitchen and porch do not take long to warm up.. 
Water is turned back on and a big kettle boils on the old wood stove.. 
My chore this day is to clean the kitchen and pantry ... 
Here are some pics of the pantry... 




Everything is cleaned but there are always some new decorating to do... 
I seem to always have little things I want done.. 
Hopefully we will get an old old sink put in this spring... 
It will go there where the pots are hanging above.. 
The shelving will be taken out and put on another wall.. 
I guess I only took one side of the room but will take more later... 
The old cupboard with the pine cones hanging are on that side..
Our oldest son brought the cones to me one day last summer when he was walking out in the woods.. 
I thought I would hang them below Tasha Tudor's pantry pic.. smile.. 

Then of course we always have lunch there..  



This is the turkey I talked about last post.. 
Sliced and frozen with a tub of gravy.. 
An easy meal to get ready.. 
We bought a big bag of turnip last fall.. 
They were starting to soften up so Terry peeled and we cooked and mashed them.. 
The first time I have frozen turnip.. 

Remember my wonderful old stove.. 

I actually found the knob that was missing.. grin.. 

Many years ago we had a hobby farm in Sussex.. 
We had 3 sheep and chickens, turkeys, geese and even a bunny.. 
I so loved those sheep .. 
After we bought this farm we really didn't go there much for the summers as we had our cottage by the sea.. 
Then about three years ago we decided to try out the farm and see how we liked doing the hippie -want- to- be thing.. 
I am sure I have written posts about that but anyway.. 
I have wanted and yearned for three sheep and a donkey.. 
I love love donkeys.. 
Well, he doesn't think we need them.. 
We come home again in the fall and where would we put three sheep and a donkey.. Pray tell.. sigh.. 
Well.. 
I was at a yard sale and there on the table were these 3 wee sheep and a donkey.. 
I thought they were trying to tell me something.. 
I bought them and took them to the farm.. 
They are a constant reminder to Terry that I have not given up!  grin.. 

Oh my.. 
This is turning into another one of those long posts.. 
Oh well.. 
You have no place to go.. grin.. 

Since I am on a story telling binge... 
May I share one more with you.. 
I had a lot of plants at the farm last summer.. 
Then in the fall I bring them all home again.. 
As you know .. I love my plants.. 
Well.. 
We were home quite awhile and I noticed that my Strawberry Begonia was missing.. 
I had a small one that I had planted but could not find my big one.. 
We went to the farm a couple of times but I looked around and couldn't see it.. 
It was odd!  
Anyway.. 
We arrived at the farm for the first time to stay for the day.. 
I am doing my thing.. 
I needed something in the living room which was very cold.. 
We keep the french door closed in there for the first several times as it takes awhile to get the place warm and dried out.. 
Well.. on with the story Faye... 
I happened to look on top of the hutch which had a ladder leaning against it and thought I saw a plant pot.. 
Yup.. 
Lo and behold... 
There it was!!! 
And... 
Alive and well!  
No water and freezing all winter.. 
Isn't that amazing!  
The dear thing came right home with me.. 
It is on the kitchen windowsill and soaking in the sun.. 
I think it has grown a few inches.. 

I know.. 
I am half baked!  

Here on the home front.. 
My fave view as you all know.. 
Bleak and Cloudy but the promise of Spring is everywhere.. 

Spring is coming to New Brunswick.. 
Well, it is actually here but not really!  grin.. 
We are so behind some of you.. 
A friend from Arkansas sending me daffodil pics today.. 
Sad... just sad... lol!  

Made a couple of  rolls of bread the other day.. 

One of sourdough... 
Lori was asking about the brand of sourdough flour.. 
I bought it at a Bulk Barn and there are no brands perse there.. 
Just a bin of flour that you scoop out.. 
Sorry about that.. 

Then a loaf of whole wheat no knead bread with sesame seeds.. 


I forgot to take a pic of it baked but it was delicious... 

And a big bowl of chicken soup with dumplings.. 
No.. a dumpling..
That is all I get.. grin..

On these lovely warm blowy days I do laundry and hang it out..  
Our waterbed sprung a leak in it.. 
The first time.. 
Oh well.. 
All fixed and back to normal.. 
Made for a bit of laundry in one night though.. grin..
And it was on Terry's side.. grin..  

Another meal.. 
Put this one on Instagram.. sorry girls if you have already seen it!  

One of my little projects.. 

Slow stitching.. 
Tis my first try so not so great.. 
Love doing this craft though.. 

Then just before all this world crisis actually took place.. 
We spent a wonderful few hours with our daughter.. 
She was decorating her church for a Cherish Conference for girls.. 
It is a lovely time and the girls look forward to it all year..

This year the theme was to be Sparkle..  

Here are a few of the trimmings.. 


Shonda and her friends were almost finished ... 


So awesome!  
So much work and talent.. 
but lots of fun, too, I am sure.. 
I had my pic taken with Shonda on the left and a dear friend she grew up with.. Wanda on the right.. 
I had a grand time.. 
The next morning Shonda messaged me that the government would not allow that many in a conference so it was cancelled!!  
Oh my!  
Understandable for sure but so much work.. 
I hope they can use it all next year.. eh!  

Just one more thing.. 

Made some cookies.. 
I know.. 
We all make cookies but at this time when everything is haywire; 
it seems one just needs a cookie...

Right???  


A lovely hot cup of tea and one cookie served on an old fashioned plate.. 
Makes the world a better place.. grin.. 

I found this recipe in an old old book.. 

I told Terry it was the best chocolate chip cookie I have ever ate!  
Not sure if the cookie was that great or the fact that I had not had one for months made the difference.. grin.. 
If you make them then please let me know if you think the same!  

Well, dear hearts.. 
This is all for tonight.. 
A very long post once again and I don't blame you if you just scroll down the pics and say hello..  
But it was still wonderful to be able to chat with you again.. 
Isn't life grand?  
Really, though?  
Won't we appreciate normal when it comes back?  
When we can hug our big kids and shake someone's hand and go through that door at church and tell the pastor's kids how beautiful they are... 
Won't it? 
Not having our hearts quake when someone coughs a mile away from you?  grin.. 
Did you see that video clip of the cat?  
Oh my word... 
It is so funny!  

Anyway.. 
Here is an amazing clip art someone came up with.. 
Now how awesome is that!  
Says it all.. 
I take Christ.. 
Don't you?  

No matter what we go through, He will be there with us.. 

God bless you dear things and I will be praying for you and yours  and you pray for me and mine.. 
OK?  
Thank you for being here.. 

Sunday, August 12, 2018

A Week in August..


Good Evening my dears.. 
Here we are with another weekend almost over.. 
Summer is still here, though.. 
The temps still have not dipped very much but the nights are cool and we are getting some rain so all is well as far as the weather goes.. 

We had a lovely service at church this morning.. 
Another Lord's Day ... 

A terrible tragedy has happened here in our little province of New Brunswick  as I am sure many of you heard this past Friday... 
Two of our police officers and two civilians were senselessly gunned down and killed by a gunman in the early hours of Friday morning.. 
As a country here in Canada we are not used to this type of crime..
And here in the Maritimes of Canada on the Eastern coast we are just down home people..  
Yes, it happens but not often.. 
We are so blessed to live here!

But what a tremendous loss!  
Children left without a parent, spouses, mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers and friends and relatives all left striving to understand the lunacy of such an act... 
We are praying for God's sweet peace and comfort to cover them... 
To give them strength and to feel His presence.. 
In a world gone crazy it is so wonderful to know who holds your hand.. 
Life happens to everyone but when you can close your eyes and know that He is in the midst of the storm you are facing... 
We can lean on Him and gain strength and a measure of peace.
He is a faithful God and today I am thankful to know Him.. 

Please pray for these dear people... 
The God of hope... 

This is going to be more of a picture post... 
Hope you don't mind.. 

We took a day trip to St. Andrews by the Sea one of those hot days last week.. 


So beautiful! 
The air was so fresh and smelled of the sea.. 

We had supper at the Clam Digger... 



It was as delicious as everyone says.. 
And huge.. 
I love fish so Terry had more fries then he needed.. 
Next time I will only buy a one piece.. grin... 

Then of course we are back and forth to the farm.. 



Aren't they lovely!  
As you know they are not ours but we do enjoy them.. 
The farmer works some of our property and we look like we are a real farm.. smile.. 

The tansy is out as I think I have mentioned before.. 

I post on Instagram most days and I can see that I am going to forget what I said here or there.. grin.. 
Here is the link to my page in case you were wondering.. 

I don't think you need an account to check it out on google.. 
Anyway... 
The tansy is lovely!

My sweet husband is always so kind to pick flowers for me so I don't break my neck (grin) and gathered a bunch for me before we stopped at the farm the other day.. 


Charlie was very patient waiting for him and wondering what he was doing..  
As soon as we get to the farm and let Charlie out he does a big run to the brook and dashes in ... 
It is a Spring so it is safe.. 
It cools him down and we laugh because he will take a drink then look back to make sure we are still there and then take another drink and so on until he has enough... smile.. 

I made some lunch and then decided to make a wreath.. 




It was not complicated at all.. 
Just kept wiring bunches on all the way around.. 
I think it will dry well but time will tell.. 
I hope to make another bunch of salve soon, too..  

We had a rainy day and so I made a big batch of bread.. 


We are having some sweet company this coming weekend so I froze several loaves to have.. 
It is to be hot this week too so I hope I get a chance to do a bit of baking... 
Here is the recipe for this bread.. It needs to be kneaded.. 

This is a few friends that live close to us... 

Aren't they beautiful!  
Terry stopped by the side of the road so I could take a pic.. 
They noticed me and both of them came to the fence.. 

They were so lovable.. 
I wished I had a couple of apples but perhaps one shouldn't do that.. 
I think they must have great owners for them to be so friendly.. 
Just thought you might enjoy seeing them.. 

I made a nice batch of Queen Anne's Lace jelly the other day, too.. 

I will show you a pic next time of the jellies as I have a new idea for dressing them up for gifts.. 
Found the idea on Instagram.. grin.. 

This afternoon we took another little drive as I had spotted these flowers growing in this old lot on a drive by earlier.. 
It took us an hour to find them as we both forgot where they were.. lol... Oh... honestly!  Old age!! 



We backtracked a couple of drives we had taken and both spotted them at the same time.. 
They dry beautifully and I want to make another wreath or two.. 
If they turn out well then I may make a few for gifts... 


Do you know the name of them.. 
They remind me of Everlastings but they are not them.. 
I get a few every summer along a ditch and use them for potpourri, also... 

For you sweet girls who asked me about the cake in the last post.. 
Here is the recipe.. 
Simple Cake
1 cup of yogurt 
3 eggs
1/2 cup of soft butter
1 cup of brown sugar
2  cups of self rising flour
1 tsp. of maple flavouring
Mix well and place in a greased 9 inch round pan.. 
350 degrees F.

I just made a butter icing with maple flavouring and added the walnuts.. 

Also.. 
For the Berry Shortcake you can substitute whatever berry you like or even fruit or a mixture of berries.. 
sorry for being so long getting back to you all.. 

Thanks for dropping by and I always so look forward to hearing from you all.. 
Welcome to the new followers here and on Face Book... 
God bless... 
Hugs..