Farm Friend Friday

I am joining in a Farm Friend Friday today with
Verde Farm
Dandelion House
The people I have met there have been so nice
and I have enjoyed each of my visits. I hope you enjoy
your visit as well. The dog wasn't guarding the gate
when I snapped this picture. This group of girls were
very proud of themselves to have made it out to the garden
with me. I enjoyed seeing them just putter around with me.

I was hoping that the whole bunch were going to make
it out the gate before they were spotted. I think one
of these days I will lock to dog up just so they can
come out and scratch in the dirt outside the fence with me.


I wanted to share some of my eggs that I collected today.
The darker brown on the left are from the Cuckoo Marans
and the Welsummers. The lighter brown ones are from my New
Jersey Giants and then the lighter ones are from my Bard Rocks
and my Red Stars. Then the light greenish egg is from one of my mixed
breed hens. She must have Araucana to lay colored eggs.

This is my Cuckoo Maran that is a chicken like none
other she does march to the beat of a different drummer.
She was around on the other side of the fence when the
dog had rounded up the others and put them in the yard.
As you can see Sasha is inside so no other chicken can escape,
but she missed one. The hen was very proud of herself. I kept her
with me while I fooled around and Sasha wouldn't leave her post
for fear the others would get out. I laughed myself silly watching the looks
on their faces.

I had to take a picture of my very first Iris. It looks
so pretty blooming. I think I do love the color purple
with the touch of yellow.

I wanted to share this with you. Yesterday on my gardening
post Sharon Lovejoy stopped by and visited my blog and left
a comment. I have all of her books and have long dreamed of
having a garden like hers. When I was first married and I moved
from the country to the city and lived in an apartment we had a patch
of dirt. My first garden was some irises that someone was getting rid
of and gave me. I was in heaven.
By the time we bought our house and I had a real garden, I loved nothing
better than my little plot of dirt that I grew vegetables on. Somewhere along
the way, I started reading articles written in magazines written by
Sharon Lovejoy and I would read and dream.
When we finally moved here, I knew that I finally had room to make a garden
like I had read about in her books. I still read her books over and over.

Yesterday she read about my garden. I think that is what is so magic about blogging
the world becomes more personal and little things like a comment can be more
precious than gold.

I hope you enjoy Farm Friend Friday and all of the lovely ladies who have
the nicest blogs to visit.

Have a lovely Friday,
~Kim~

Garden Pictures

Yesterday I changed my header picture to be a picture of
last years garden. I wanted you to know that that was how
it looked like last June in 2010.
I don't want you to think that it looks like that in 2011 so I went out
and took a picture this afternoon.

This is what it looks like today. Just dirt and a few
weeds. Nothing is planted yet. I don't even have my
beds laid out yet. I want too but my husband is still working
on the lawnmower.
Julia from Petals and Wool asked for some before and after pictures.
So here is one side of my yard this is a couple days after I started weeding.

Today, I finally wimped out and asked my son if
he would get the weed eater and finish the rest. I am
a perfectionist but I realized I am going to kill
myself trying to get it perfect so he buzzed it for me.

My husband will go into the neighbors pasture soon and plow
a fire break next to our fence so that will take care of the weeds
you see that are still there. I am terrified of fire. I have seen this
place burn before and I like there to be fire breaks.
I didn't take a before picture of the work I did yesterday.
I took one this morning. This is looking down our driveway
to the road. I hula hoed the whole length of the driveway.

I like it all clean when the Citrus trees start blooming.
The Avocado is starting to bloom too so I want them to get
as much water as possible and not share any with the weeds.
I only have tiny little seedlings growing right now under grow
lights so there is really nothing to show other than weeds.

I didn't want anyone to think I had this great garden already.
We can still get frost so I never plant anything until after Easter.
I have learned not to trust April when it comes to my garden.
My hand are so sore I don't think I could hold a needle right now.
I just wanted to show you how it looks, not at all like my last years
garden. Yet. :)

Have a Wonderful Thursday!
~Kim~

Wedneday Words for Weight Loss

It is Wednesday again and I am linking with Patrice
at Everyday Rurality
This week's questions.
1. Is there something that triggers too much snacking for you?
Waiting to long to eat. I walk in the house and just grab what I see
and I don't really fix anything when I am that hungry.

2. What kind of music do you like while you're exercising?
Something with a very strong beat. I have some music
on my I Pod that is from The Biggest Looser and if I could
keep up with it when I was walking I know I would loose weight.
I have made it about 6 songs and them I am wiped.

3. What's your favorite thing about spring?
Being outside more than I am in the house. I love seeing the trees get
the new green leaves. I like how sweet the air smells and I like sitting
outside in the evenings.
4. Do you ever feel like you have to carefully weigh advice given in popular
magazines?
Oh I don't know if I even read them anymore. I read gardening magazines
and house decorating ones. I rarely read the other kind. I am pretty much
a Weight Watcher kind of person. But of course, right now I am not even following that because I have to much work to do.
5. If you could invite 5 people you do not regularly see to visit with you, On a porch while drinking tea or coffee, who would they be?
I think it would be a lot more than 5 I would want every one of my friends
who read this to come and sit on my porch and just spend the day sharing
about your lives. I think that would be so nice. I have very big porches. :)
We always tell people when we built this house it wasn't for the house but for
the porches and for the soil. We call our porches our summer living rooms.
So that is where I would love to be with all of you.

Have a wonderful Wednesday.

~Kim~

Today on Tuesday

It is another beach day here on the ole farm. I am keeping
my fingers crossed that it will burn off in the afternoon and
be a nice sunny day. I wonder why gloomy mornings make
me feel well gloomy. I ran across words that Charles Dickens
made up and did you know gloomy is one of them. He made up
lots of words. I need to go back and find the list.

There is a blog I like to read sometimes. It is called Crap I have made.
When I am going to do a post that is what I always want to call my post.
So that is what today is, about a wall hanging I made.

Sorry it isn't a better picture but it is cloudy outside.
I bought a whole box of horse shoe nails. They are the best
things ever so I keep wanting to make things with horse shoe
nails in it. They feel so nice to my hands when I hold them and the
weight just feels good and they are shiny. I think the box has something like 500 in it so I will
have horse shoe nails the rest of my life.

Here is a close up of the chicken. She turned out okay.
I wish I hadn't put the polka dots so close to her eye.
I get carried away sometimes.

Here is a close up of my star. I really like the shape of that
star. I was going to hang something else from the nail on the
chicken but I liked the star.
You know sometimes I wish I could have a house that looks
like something in a magazine. I think though what I have come
to decide is this is it, I like old wood, and quilts and I like handmade
things. I have tried and tried to change me but I always come back
to it. I just like old looking things.

I like things that if my kids and grand kids touch them or say play football
in the house they won't get broke. When people come over I want them to
want to come back.
Well it will another day of weed chopping. I set an impossible goal for myself.
I would like to be finished by April first. I know if I could work 8 hours
a day I might get finished. I worked 3 hours yesterday and after I got dinner cooked
and cleaned up last night, I wanted to cry every time I had to do something else.
I hobbled around like I was 100 years old. I feel better today so I can do it again.

So have a wonderful day, today.

~Kim-hula-hoe hands. ( You know like Edward Scissors hands)

Dear Monday

Dear Monday,
I see that you showed up today. I am so sorry that I
don't greet you with a happy heart. No, in fact I greet
you from the wrong side of the bed.
Even the sun decided to stay in bed today with the clouds
pulled up to his chin.
I am not happy about your visit. You came and I have
mountains of laundry and a house to get clean and school to teach
and weeds to chop but none of this matters to you. You showed
up just the same.


I am happy to see you most of the time. When you show up I am
sorry to say, uninvited. I am glad to see you. Most of the time.
Today not so much. I will have to work hard at seeing the good
in you today. Seeing that the trees have tiny new leaves, the trees
look like garlands of lace. The pear trees are throwing petals and I stand
beneath them and it looks like snow.
I will have to work hard today being thankful that I have a washing machine
and people to take care of and a house no matter how dirty to clean.
I will be thankful that Monday like you are today doesn't come very often.


So I will put on my working clothes, and my running shoes and I will
keep busy trying to keep up with you today.
Not to mention that tonight when I lay down my head, I will wake up
on the right side of the bed...on Tuesday!

~Kim~

Simply Sunday

First of all I wanted to say thank you so much for visiting
my friend Sherry. It made me so happy and I have the most
wonderful blogger friends in the world. I have had other people
tell me that my friends are just the nicest people in the world.
So I just wanted you to know how much I appreciate you all.

I am also asking a question. If you can believe it I am almost finished
with old projects I started back in the 80s and the 90s. My stash of projects
I never thought I would finish is almost empty. I have one project left.
I started this in 1988, it is a needlepoint. I have worked on it off and on through
the years.
But now I have discovered rug hooking and needle punch and do you think
I should just finish it up with needlepoint or take the whole thing and draw it on
rug backing and finish is as a rug?

This next part is the whole thing and all that I have left
to finish.

As I look at it I know that it might never get finished.
I would like it to be finished though. It is something that
I would like to give to my grand children now. So I just thought
I would ask, what do you think? Do you think it is
worth finishing or using it as a pattern and using it to make a hooked
rug? I have went back and forth in my mind so much I thought
I would just ask you?

I shudder because I bought the original poster when I was decorating for
my first baby in 1981, I didn't want to loose the poster so I drew it on
needlepoint canvas and started doing needle point in 1988 when I was pregnant
with my son who is now 21 years old.
He was my Winnie the Pooh guy and he drew maps and stuff just like Christopher
Robin and I am thinking of saving his old maps on needlepunch.
I even thought about mixing the medium too.

So let me know what you think. I am curious.

I hope you have a lovely Sunday,
~Kim~

A Special Blogger

I wanted today to introduce you to one of my friends.
She has just started blogging and I would like you to meet her.
She is a extraordinary woman who has blessed my life.
Her blog is called Our Next Season. She has just came back
into the United States after being in a Muslim country as
a missionary. Sherry and her husband are now living in Kentucky.

How I met her was when I was a Bible Study leader in a Bible Study
called Bible Study Fellowship. I have always thought that God knew
I needed her in my life and she has continued to bless me always. Her
story today on her blog is just her. She is someone who sees a need and
just quietly goes and does it.
I was pregnant with our 3rd child and I was going to go to a retreat. I didn't
have a really nice dress to wear to the dinner at the retreat and she came into
class on a Wednesday morning with a box that I opened and in it was a dress
she had made for me for the retreat.
She has always been that kind of friend to me. She is now in a new place away
from her family because she knows that is where God has her and her husband
for now. Her grand babies live here and she lives in Kentucky.

She also loves God and I know that she has given up so much to follow God.
I just wanted to share about her and maybe you can go and visit her and
be blessed the way she has blessed me now for 23 years.

I just wanted to share with you because the story on her blog today just really
touched me.

So glad it is the weekend.

~Kim~

Reflections

Last night, the company that my husband works for,
had a open house for clients, and employees and their families.
I was going to go by myself but when we told the kids at dinner, about
it they asked if they could go too and were so excited, I suggested that
we invite the rest of our kids and their families.

So we were at the open
house with all fifteen members of our family. When we decided to keep
having babies, we lost friends. Some because they thought we were nuts,
other due to the size and amount of children we had. We spent years and years
just with us and our kids. Which I love my kids and enjoy every single minute
I have with them and we took our jobs seriously. My husband left the leadership
in our church because we were so convicted by the verse that says,

"Those having places of authority in the church must be blameless, not lying under any scandal, watchful against Satan, moderate in all their actions, proving their ability to care for God’s people by keeping a Godly and well-governed household, holding the truths of the faith in a pure conscience.
So we came home and my husband became our pastor/teacher.
Last night as I looked at our children and grandchildren, I saw how
God has blessed us with way more than we ever gave up.

We went out to dinner afterward. As we sat at the restaurant.
With our table filled with little olive plants. I thought this is the
best years of my life. To sit and see how much God has done for us
and how much He has given us.

When I was in the midst of raising children I don't think
I ever thought much about what it would be like, to be this
age. What it would feel like to have grand children. I didn't know
what a deep feeling of fulfillment I would experience. I didn't know
that day by day and step by step my life would get to this place.
I read this quote once by Jackie Kennedy and it sums up pretty much
how I feel.

"If you bungle raising your children, I don't think whatever else you do matters very much.

I am so glad because I feel like the early years of my life,
I did bungle my own life pretty good. That is why I can look
down the 3 tables they had to put together for us and they
still didn't have enough room. I am a very, very blessed woman.
I am so thankful for all of the givens today.

Have a lovely Friday,
~Kim~

Thoughts on Thursday

There are days like today when I sit down at the computer,
and I read of trials that some of you are going through.
I am sad that I can't
come and just give you a hug or a touch
or just cry with you. I know though, that God can be
there and I know that He hears my prayers.
Since His thoughts are higher than my thoughts I
am just going to give you some that have comforted me.

I am taking this from the book, " God's Guidance,
A Slow and Certain Light. " (By Elisabeth Elliot p.34-35)

"... and he will guide them to springs of living water; and
God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

"There are promises of special care for special needs;"
"He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs
in his arms, he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that
are with young."


If you can't see the way before you:
"I will lead the blind in a way that they know not, in paths that they have
not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness
before them into light, the rough places into level ground."

If you are confused or distressed:
"I will lead him and requite him with comfort."

If you are lonely or tired:
"My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest."


When my kids were small and we used to listen to scripture memory songs
in the car, they would help me too. Still till this day I will sing to myself,
"When I am afraid, I will trust in you, when I am afraid." I can't carry a tune
in a bucket but I can sing little kid songs.

My prayers will be for you today.

~Kim~

Rainbows and Odds and Ends

Isn't this a cool rainbow? The rainbow looks just like it is in the corner
of my yard in the picture. It was just a perfect double rainbow.

This is the rest of the arch. We were having dinner when
it appeared. It was pouring rain and the sun was shining and it
was so pretty. I am so glad I got a picture of it.

As you can see I am still obsessed with water and taking picture
of it. I love water and how it looks in raindrops.

Remember the person who ran into my fence? Today on my way to
the library, I was sitting at a stop light and I noticed the truck right
in front of me. I looked at the license plate number and it was the same
number of the person who hit our fence. I wrote down the number to make
sure as I sat there. Then I got home and checked it. It was.

So as I sat there and stared at the back of his head, I noticed he had nice
ears and a nice neck and he looked like someone who worked hard for a living.
As I sat there I thought, " I could ram my car into the back of his truck or I could
follow him to where he is going or I could sit here and pray for him and pray for his
family and forgive and forget it. "
I let it all go and prayed and felt like I had a freeing in my heart and the light
changed and I went on my way a more lighthearted person.


Today was a sort of a weird passing of the baton for me. In the morning my son will
go up to the local college with my daughter to take his placement tests for next year.
I got his transcripts ready so he could take those with him. He
will be gone in the morning.
My youngest son, today, started taking his drivers training online so he can start
getting ready to get his drivers license.

I have wanted to sit and cry.
I am happy that they just take everything in stride, I am thankful that they
don't look back. It just makes me feel really alone some how. So in the morning
the house will be quieter and my nest a little emptier and I keep reminding myself of
how when I had little kids all day and I longed to put them all on the school bus
so I could have a little peace and quiet and the house would stay clean.

Now that I am here, maybe a few more chicks might help. :) Just kidding.

Just like life without the storm we might not get a rainbow. I know
God will have something even better around the corner for me to do.
"And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory,
are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory,
which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit."

When I would stand at my window watching the other mothers race
off to work or to the gym or wherever, I would remember this." Everything
about which we are tempted to complain may be the very instrument whereby the Potter
intends to shape His clay into the image of His Son."
I would pray that He would do just that. I am so thankful now as I stand here,
I staid the course.

Homeschooling for me has been about His transforming power in my
life so that I could reflect His glory. May the work of my hands as
they go out into the world bring glory to His name.
Amen

~Kim~

Surprises in the Mail

A few weeks ago, one of my lovely blogging friends was
having a One Year Blogging Anniversary. Her blog is called
Life In The Sandwich Years. Miss Debbie writes things
that touch me and cause me to grow in the Lord. She ministers
to me through the things she writes. So she wanted to have
a give away and I entered because it is always safe for the other
people because I never win. :) But that is not true this time because
I won her give a way.
So today in the mail came a box. In that box was this:

She sent a Amazon gift card which I admit to having
a very strong addiction to Amazon. I would rather shop
Amazon than any place in the world.
She also sent little gift that she got when she went to Mexico
on a cruise.

This isn't a very good picture of the prettiest wind-chime. Our weather is such
I didn't want to put it outside until this week long wind/rain
storm is gone. I am going to put it next to my office since that
is where I spend most of my time well except for the laundry
room and the kitchen.
It is made of stone and they are little birds. It has the nicest tinkling sound.
I am so thankful to the people God brings into my life through blogging. My life
is so much richer because of it.
It has been said a lot but it is so true, Blogging friends are the best.
So thank you Miss Debbie for blessing me.

~Kim~

20 Things I Love About Spring

I thought that I would write down the 20 things I love
about spring.

1. Lots more daylight.
2. New leaves, and new flowers waking up.
3. New babies.
4. Strawberries.
5. Being outside early in the morning.

6. Being outside late in the evening.
7. The ground warming up and the wonderful smells.
8. The citrus trees will start blooming and I love the smell of orange and lemon
blossoms.
9. The big plummy night moths come out of the cases and I can
watch them at twilight and pretend they are fairy's.
10. I can say words like twilight and dusk and you know
how magic they are too.

11. We can sit outside in the evening and BBQ and the bugs
haven't arrived yet.
12. My seeds I have planted are coming up in the peat pots and
soon they will have a home.
13. I will be able to take my coffee out to the garden and watch
the shadows change and grow in the mornings.
14. Our Anniversary is in the spring.
15. In the spring, there is always hope.

16. I love Passover, I love the promises of the empty tomb.
17. I love spring because I know winter is over.
18. I love the rain, that bring May flowers.
19. I feel so alive in the spring.
20. What do you love about spring?

I hope you have a lovely Monday.
~Kim~

Recipes

I am posting this picture for Julia who asked to see the whole
tree. This is one of the peach trees, it is called a Fair Time Peach.
It comes off about September about the time our local fair
starts and it is a wonderful peach. Much better than say a
cling or something like that.

I make my menu's once a week and then go grocery shopping
so that I only go to the grocery store once a week, and so that
I just have to look at my menu to know what I am going to be
having for dinner. It has saved my sanity.
I am a little bored with my recipes so yesterday I was going through
my cookbooks and I ran across this little old cookbook that had
been in my grand mothers things. I thought I would share some of them.
I will be reproducing
them just the way they are written.

Hard Times Coffee
Short of coffee an' too pore to buy any? Here's yore answer if you have
the followin' ingredients.

Mix well 2 quarts wheat bran with 1 pint yellow corn meal. Add 3 well-beaten
eggs and 1 cup best sorghum molasses. Beat well; spread on pan and put to dry
in oven. Use great care by stirring often while it is browning---this is the secret
of good coffee. A hand full is sufficient for two persons. Sweet cream improves the flavor
of the brew, but as with store-bought coffee, this is a matter of personal taste.

Possum
"It jest stands to reason thet if your're jest newly hitched, you might not know th'
best way to fix' possum---(sum mothers fail to teach their young'uns th' important
things) So if you wants to weasel yore way into yore man's heart---spring this recipe
on him."
Take a possum and parboil until tender. Take out of water and put in bread pan.
then pepper to taste. Take three large sweet potatoes and boil until tender. Lay these around
possum in bread pan, put in oven and bake until brown. Serve warm.

"If you keep a mule shoe in th' stove oven it will keep hawks away frum th' chickens."

This cook book has recipes for Coon, turtle, carp, and all kinds of venison and quail.
I love reading through it, it has recipes for feeding the invalid. It has one that I thought was cute for making " Home Brew."

" Chase wild bullfrogs fer three miles to gather up hops. To them add ten
gallons of tan bark, 1/2 pint of shellac, an' one bar of homemade soap. Boil
36 hours, then strain through an I.W.W. sock to keep it from workin'.
Add one grasshopper to each pint to give a kick. Pour a little into th'
kitchen sink if it takes th' enamel off, it's ready to bottle."

I don't know what an " I. W.W. sock is and I don't know what tan bark is
and I think it is a joke so don't try it.

My great, great grandmother's favorite food was something that was
fixed with squirrel brains. My grandmother told me how they would have
to go out in the woods, and hunt squirrels to fix this dish and it took twelve squirrels.
My grandmother hated doing it but they had to anyway. Maybe that is why she
had this book in her things.

I won't be fixing any of these recipes this week. I just enjoyed reading them.
I thought you might like it too.
The cook book is called " Ma's 'Cookin' mountain recipes. It has a picture of a
woman in a bonnet cooking over a black pot outside.

I just thought I would share a few.

Have a lovely day,
~Kim~

Weather

I have another confession to make. I love weather.
I love reading about it and looking at forecasts.
We are having huge storm coming.


I know it will be one of the last so I will enjoy it.
The ground will be soft again so it will be easier to keep
chopping weeds.
I thought I would show you a pile of wet weeds that I didn't
get picked up and maybe won't until after the storm. It might
not be until next weekend.

You can't really tell how high it is but it is up to my knees.

That is how what I need to chop looks. The weeds
in some places are up to the second rail of the fence.
I tell myself I will never let it get away from me again,
and it does so then I spend spring chopping weeds.
One of the things I love when I am working out in the garden
in the summer is looking all around and seeing no weeds.

I took a picture of the little almonds that might be
blown off after the storm. We never get a very big
almond crop because they just get about this size and the
wind comes and then the ground will be littered with tiny
little green almonds.

These might be gone too, but I still like weather and
I still like storms. Like any storm I have found. The fruit
that remains will be tastier and larger and the tree will
be stronger for the wind, and the rain. It causes the roots
to go deeper.

I like weather and I like storms and I know the reason that I
do is my eyes are never on the storm but on the One who
controls the storm.
Have a lovely Saturday!

~Kim~