~A little of this and a little of that~

Written by Sue, Thursday,June 20, 2013         absolutely a beautiful day sunny, 80's and low humidity. 

Over the past few weeks we have had a lot of rain,over 7 inches in two days, and then some more as you can see here, and 

 here, so much so that we lost most of our veggies in the garden,however, Mr p. has already got  the garden ready for our fall crops. Whoopee! pumpkins, gourds, Indian corn,etc.....However, we were able to salvage some things, like...

the green beans, only one picking we got to gather.

 Thus 33 pints, I truly believe the Lord multiplied these beans. ~smile~

We also had a long awaited birth, it seems Janie was expecting for such a long time, she gave birth on Fathers Day, how cool was this.

 Here she is introducing the little one to Jenny, the older sister.  Older sister is expecting too, hopefully soon.

Janie is very guarded of how close she will let anyone get to the baby. We have Uncle Joe separated as we are waiting to let the little one and mother get stronger. Needless to say, Joe is not happy about this. ~smile~ I say to uncle Joe, "patience my friend, is a virtue."

 We don't know as of yet, what gender the baby is, as you can see, Mr P. is trying to look see. ~smile~ I even tried but to no avail. Just look at this guy or gal, so cute.
 n

I finally finished the strawberry jam making, the last batch was soooo good. I added cinnamon, vanilla,(homemade) ,lemon juice, and the one ingredient that cannot be matched.... "lots of love",a whole bunch of it.

Since the break from canning, I have been catching up on my flower gardens, and 

working in the herb garden, plus,....

I have been enjoying the scenery, I guess you might say I am enjoying the hazy, lazy, days, of pre-summer.

Hope you are all well and happy, my prayer for you is that you are still "savoring" the blessings that God gives each day.

love, Sue

~pickin, jammin, and grinning~

Written by Sue,Wednesday, June 5, 2013            A very nice day, partly cloudy, and low 80's ~perfecto~
Have you ever had one of those days where every thing just seemed to fall in place, and you were able to get so much accomplished, yesterday was such a day for me, so much so, I even amazed myself.~smile~

Tip for today.... Always start and end with a clean kitchen makes work so much easier and you are ready for the next days work.Which I will be doing as soon as I finish this post. ~smile~

MR P. dug the potatoes, and rinsed then twice before bringing them to me, I scrubbed each one  twice to remove any soil, I leave the peelings on because, they are all organic, and besides I love the peelings.  Just think these potatoes were in the ground yesterday morning and by evening they were sitting on my counter top in jars.

You might ask, why I can so much,... only half of these will I keep for us, the other half goes to family and friends, When Susan was here she took back three canning boxes of goodies, and this week I will be mailing some to the others. I just love it when they ask to take some home.

 When DH came in last evening, he said, "Wow Sue you got a lot accomplished," my reply was "me and Jesus did," for it is only by his ..

and strength, that I do anything!!

Since the family has left, DH and I have been trying to get things caught up here at the farm, of course as every farmer knows that is almost impossible. Besides the potatoes, I have been busy picking,shelling,and canning, English peas,(in the south we call these garden peas), yellow squash, and finish the strawberries(today),

They were just hanging there asking to be picked.

Washed and ready to put in jars.

 yellow squash,

Almost ready, maybe tomorrow!

I thought about making a tutorial video but decided not too, I have a very southern accent, and you would probably be laughing so hard, that you would not follow instructions,~smiling~, so I decided to take  lots of photos for a tutorial and am planning to add them to my recipe page,(hopefully soon,lol) if you are interested in knowing how I canned these veggies, stay tuned, or feel free to ask me  any questions.

~Washed and ready to slice~

I thought I had enough jam made,

until the phone calls.  "Oh, mother this is the best jam, ever. ummm Have you anymore, please?~big grin~ This is only a small batch,(that's what we call a canning of jam.) If I do say so myself, it was "fittin to eat".  lol

In between work, I was having some fun, I love lavender, while I was working in the garden the fragrance was  heavenly,.... so I gathered some.

Very noticeable fragrance when placed about the house, this sifter belonged to my dear MIL, I still use it, I have watched her many times lovingly sifting flour to make something special for her family. She is dearly missed! 

  To all of you who stop by for a visit, I say "Thank you so much."

Enjoy your day, savoring moments, as I am!

Sue