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.. 

Creative Spring Days...

Happy Monday dear hearts.. 

Hope you all had a great weekend.. 

Here is a little craft I made for the pantry at the farm.. 

I saw the sign on the web and thought I would make one.. 

While we were at the farm I came across this green board and it was just big enough for the window sill... 

I may try and make a one liner board if I come across one.. 

Then I made a new recipe for crackers... smile.. 

They are simply delicious !! 

But so so much work.. 

Well worth it, though so I thought I would pass it along to you.. 

Once you make them a couple of times it does not seem like such a big job.. 

It is all in the figuring out of how to actually get them made.. 

So here goes.....

ICE WATER CRACKERS

All you need are 24 saltine crackers... 

A large cookie tray with an edge.. 

4 cups of iced water

1/2 cup of melted butter.. 

And lots of paper towels and tea towels..

Heat oven to 450 degrees F. 

Place the 24 crackers on a tray with an edge and pour over the 4 cups of iced water.. 

You may not need the whole 4 cups but pour over as much water as will fit on the tray.. 

The recipe said to leave them for 5 minutes but I found that 2-3 was plenty.. 

They will kind of float so make sure you use a metal spatula and lay them on prepared folded towels with paper towels arranged on top.. 

Let them sit for 5 minutes to drain.. 

Meantime, melt the 1/2 cup of butter and pour half of it on the dried cookie tray.. 

Place the crackers back on the tray one at a time.. 

I found that when you lifted the paper towel on the edge you could sort of peel the cracker off without breaking them.. 

Then drizzle the rest of the butter on the top of the crackers.. 

A bit of sea salt is ok if they are not salted already.. 

Bake at 450 degrees F. for 12 -15 minutes.. 

It depends on your oven.. 

I needed to make these twice before I felt I had the hang of it.. 

We had company for supper and they loved them also.. 

So tasty.. 

Let me know if you give them a try.. 

You can serve these warm or you can store them in a tin if you can get them that far.. 

Both times I made them they just vanished.. grin.. 

I did get my curtain done from the last post.. 

This is a pic from Pinterest... 

Each curtain one makes would be different as the doilies differ...

eh?  

Anyway, Terry needs to hang the curtain rod for me and I hope to have a pic next post.. K? 

We are also making this ...

A chicken wire heart stuffed with mosses.. 

It is drying .. 

Also, I need one more kind of moss.. I know where it grows up near the farm but we have not been there for a few days but next time up we hopefully can get it.. 

I think it will be a nice change from a wreath for the door.. 

I saw that idea on Pinterest, too, of course.. smile.. 

Trying to use up some of my stash of linens and lace.. 

a sweet gift from our Wisconsin friends.. xo

Here are some ideas that I have for some of my tattered linens.. 

Bunting... Don't you love it? 

Bags... 

I love this one.. 

Take tea towels and add some embroidery from tattered pieces to the bottoms of the tea towels.. 

And hangers.. 

You can find these pins on my Linens and Lace board.. 

Well, that is all for now my friends.. 

Hope you find something to enjoy or inspire you a bit.. 

Spring is such a great season !  I find myself wanting to create something each day.. smile.. 

Thanks for visiting and your sweet comments.. 

Also I would like to welcome all of the new Face Book followers who have liked the blog page.. 

Glad to have you along..  

Thanking God for all of his blessings of answered prayers during the last couple of weeks.. 

He is always faithful !!

We may go through storms of life but our God is there with us in the midst of it all and He sees us through... 

God bless..xoxo

Linked to..The Art of Homemaking Mondays..