~Thankful for God's many provisions~

Written by Sue, Thursday, June 13, 2019    partly sunny, a few showers, temps.  divine 70's

I can hardly believe this week is almost gone and that June is flying by. Things are still busy around the farm! I am still preserving our bounty.

My Thankful list for today!

I am so thankful for a break in the extreme temps. and some much needed rain, the flowers are thankful too.

The potatoes have been dug, washed and canned, 21qts. aren't they pretty, and delicious too! Potatoes are a little more work intensive, but soooo worth the effort. I know 21qts. sounds like a lot for two people, but not all are used by Mr P. and I, we share with family.I love doing things for my family!

Our blueberries are ready for picking, today, I will be making blueberry jam, catching up on laundry, and just piddling, do you like to piddle, I find that piddling is fun, and you do get things done.

 

 While picking strawberries at a local farm I saw an old school friend, after talking about the kids, grandkids, we started talking recipes, she gave me this recipe for strawberry pie, I made it yesterday, it passed the taste test with flying colors by Mr P.! He is my official taste tester! I think I went a little overboard with the sauce, just couldn't help my self! As usual, Sue will tweak a recipe to her notion, I made the crust of cinnamon graham crackers, instead of a regular pie crust.

Do you like church cookbooks, I have collected many over the years. Churches have some of the best cooks ever. Last week this friend gifted me with a cookbook published by her church, titled "Come To The Table", don't you just love this title. Even though most folks use the internet for recipes i still enjoy reading and using them.

I find the more I voice thankfulness for my many blessings, the more I become thankful! My list is so long and is still growing, how about yours!😄💗🙏

Love from the farm,

Sue

~Learning to be still~

Written by Sue, Sunday June9, 2019    cloudy, rain, rain temps. 70's Yay!
 Good morning Dear Friends enjoying seeing the earth refreshed with some much needed rain, we were asked in our devotion this morning if our morning devotions had become a dry Bible study rather than a warm visit with our heavenly Father. My answer is this, if we allow ourselves to pause and use the five senses that God has given us there is no way our devotions could become dry, the key is to stop, be still.

I find that in this busy, new tech world we find ourselves running constantly, sometimes in circles, until we are exhausted, with mental and physical overload. If only we would stop, sit still, breath deeply,using those senses, time with our heavenly Father will indeed be warm, intimate, exhilarating and then our mental, physical, but most of all our spiritual strengths are renewed.

Psalm 46:10~ Be still and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations, 
I will be exalted in the earth.

Have a blessed Sunday,

love,

Sue

So, how's your day?

Written by Sue, Saturday, June 8, 2019    showers, showers showers, Yay, temps. 80's
Happy Saturday to all, A gift to me by my sweet birdie friends, because I feed them they rewarded me by dropping a seed! I am so thankful for the rain showers we are getting.

 This has certainly been a busy week here at the farm, here is an example of one of my days...

Yesterday's schedule went something like this,
Morning coffee, devotion on porch, dressed.
picked more squash for mother, I canned 21qts. this week
weeded the garden, an almost daily chore, weeds will grow under any circumstances.

The garlic, was ready to harvest, we gathered it

then placed it on a wire rack to dry,in a cool place, it will be checked in a few days  to see how it is drying, shake more soil off,  in a few weeks we will cut the heads off wipe clean with a cloth, all the soil will be off,  then we store. Given to family and friends.

Do you use garlic,it is so healthy for you and delicious too! garlic is so easy to grow, even if you don't have a vegetable garden it can be planted among the flower beds. It has a lovely flower head the bees love it.

We then picked blackberries,strawberries, and blueberries, aren't they luscious looking, the berries seem to be so much sweeter this year. I am also making my triple berry jam, which happens to be a favorite of my family. These berries make great tasting jams just by themselves, but can you imagine how delicious they are combined together,

I froze some using my food saver, frozen berries can be used in many dishes, muffins, pancakes, cakes, fruit smoothies,or just plain snacking.

We showered, dressed for shopping,
went to grocery store,
dinner at our favorite restaurant,
prepared berries for my triple berry jam.

























I am recuperating today!😉
Enjoy your weekend.
Love ,
Sue

~Summer is here.... ahead of schedule~

Written by Sue, Monday, June 3, 2019     sunny, warm, 80's
Summer weather(hot, humid) has certainly come to Pear Tree Lane, our weekend was spent keeping our gardens and flowers watered. The garlic is ready and will be gathered this week and hung to dry.

When it is hot, with no rain, plants need lots of watering. As does our farm animals and keeping them with fresh water keeps us busy too! They drink twice as much in this type of weather, I do too! ~wink~
 Last Friday we picked our first squash,

and canned them in mason jars, these certainly come in handy during winter. I make squash casseroles, saute them with onions, and make squash pies!

Today, was a little cooler with less humidity, so I took advantage of this, by weeding the garden and flower beds. With no rain the sprinklers were turned on. If I could I would stay outside all day, but hot/humid weather says otherwise.

We picked a half bushel of yellow squash this morning, called mother to see if she wanted them, she did. She also canned hers. She is not only my mother, but my friend, confident, teacher of all things that matter in life.

 this left me with more time to work in my garden. I will can more later this week.

I am making another attempt at growing lavender, it is one of my favorite plants,

 I snipped a few stems, they are drying in a closet.

Finally, this is what you do when you are hot, tired and just needing a break.🌞 This is our son and dil while visiting few weeks ago, and working on the farm,.... in my defense,... They volunteered,(pinky promise)!😉

Tomorrow both Mr P and I have Dr.'s appt. for lab work, as usual this takes time we will run errands when finished.So what is on your to-do list for this week.

💖 from to you,

Sue

~Another project bites the dust~

Written by Sue, May 31, 2019,       sunny, hot, humid, temps. 90's
Temps. hit 103 here yesterday with very high humidity! I only worked a few hours outside

Today it is still hot and humid, but I found time early this morning to do a little project that I have been wanting to do. I have these two walls on my porches that needed something to brighten them up. This one is on the front porch is just looked so bland and dull!

 This one is on my screened porch, this area is a very special place, It is cool in the mornings and cool at night, Mr P. and I like to come, sit and listen to the sounds of the night, one of our favorite sounds is the train bustling down the track with its whistle blowing at the crossings, we love to listen and smell the fresh rain as it waters the earth and vegetation.

So what is one to do, as I was watching a tv commercial I noticed this ladies porch wall as she was entering her home, it had these lovely wall planters with plants, it caught my eye, I began a quest to find wall planters, which are hard to find in retail stores. Do you notice things like this, I do!

 I had been looking for a while to find just the right ones, (farmhouse style) low and behold while shopping at The Christmas Tree Shop last week there they were, and  they fitted our budget too! Now all I had to do was find some plants, and plant.

This is my potting shed it is near my back porch, Earlier this week I cleaned and organized it.

The potting shed is where I get to do some of my creating, it is so easy to keep clean, too!

I was so pleased at how both porches turned out, now all I have to do is water, feed the plants and wait for them to grow.

I have also been doing some patriotic decorating on the porches. I enjoy decorating for seasons and holidays, don't you.

That's about all for today at the farm, I hope you have a great weekend of making wonderful memories with family and friends.

Love from me to you,

Sue

p.s. Sunday, June 2, 2019,  has been set aside by the Rev. Franklin Graham, to pray for our president, though we pray each day for him, our leaders, and country, this will be a special time of prayer.

~And so it begins,~

Written by Sue, Tuesday afternoon, May28, 2019,....   Very Hot, Humid, 98 degrees today,WOW!!!
It's that time of year when we harvest and preserve, the food we grow here at the farm! It's what I call the "fruits of our labor"!

Last week, the english peas were ready, they were picked, washed, shelled

and canned in a pressure canner

We also went to a local 'pick your own' farm for strawberries, so enjoyable, Until this year we grew our own, because of a knee problem mr P. decided not to plant strawberries this year, 

I sure miss going out to my berry patch and picking my own berries, but whole heartedly support local farmers when we don't have what we need. How about you do you buy from local farmers?

I pre-froze some of the berries,

then packaged them using my Food Saver, ladies a Food Saver is one of the most useful and economic appliances you could have.The things you package last three times as long as regular freezer bags, a great investment!

I also  made two batches of strawberry jam, I must say they turned out great, so delicious. Making jam is one of the most rewarding things I enjoy doing every summer, most of the jams will be given to family and friends for the holidays and gifts. Each year I try and find new recipes, not a lot of luck this year. ~wink~

One of my favorite things to do in between chores, is, walk to the pond, sit on the deck,  bask, and meditate  in God's wonderful creations!

Yesterday was spent  remembering and honoring the men and women who gave the ultimate and willing sacrifice for our freedoms, such as expression of speech as I do here on my blog, freedom to worship, freedom to work and have a free market enterprise, freedom to protect!

I saw a wonderful program Sunday night on PBS honoring all those who died in combat during all wars, it was so moving! I am so glad I stopped, watched, and recorded this program.  I am also glad that there is a day set aside each year to remind us that our "Freedom Was Not Free", That a price was paid, and is still being paid for such freedom! May God Bless America!Hope you are having a great week!💝

 Love

Sue

~Good morning,~

Written by Sue, Thursday, May 23, 2019 ---- sunny, warm 80's a beautiful day

Sitting here at one of my 'happy places' this morning, having coffee, morning devotion, and  writing this note to you dear friends.
Psalm 29:2 Give unto the Lord the glory due His name; Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

Lately, I had found myself being rather grumpy, just couldn't put my finger on the reason why, until I spoke with my dear mother, besides Mr P, the one person who has always encouraged me to blog has been my mother, in a conversation with her the other day, I was relating of this grumpy, outside the box feeling, when she interrupted my pity party with this question, "Sue, how about your blog, I haven't heard you mention it lately." I told her of how busy I was, and of being to tired at the end of day( for some reason I found myself going to bed before the chickens,~smile~)  and that I really missed connecting with everyone, and was feeling frustrated for not taking  time out to stay in touch.

While thinking about this conversation with  Mother, I realized what the problem was, I was missing  blogging, though I wasn't posting, nor visiting, while I would be working in the garden, inside our home, or just doing farm chores, you, my dear friends were on my mind, as I continued to pray for certain needs you had mentioned.

You might find this hard to believe, that in a very tech. world, I would go for days and weeks and not visit any of my social sites, there are lots of reasons, some mentioned above, plus family visiting from afar, who get our undivided attention when they come.

I have made a decision, I am going to try(real hard) to be more faithful, maybe this grumpiness will leave! ~wink~Thank you for your friendship, I will try and be a more faithful friend.

Lots of things have happened since last we spoke, and I would like to share them with you in the days ahead.
Now I am off to see what you have been up too! Thank you to all for sharing with me your journey through this life!
Ahhh! I can feel the grumpiness leaving. 😊😊😊

Love,

Sue