*picking time

Momma and I planted our gardens mid March and prayed for no more severe frost that would damage our seedlings as they started to sprout.  We did have a few nights that were close, but no cigar Charlie! Whew!  We just missed it! 

I was ready to get the seeds in the ground when we planted so they could soak up that water and sunshine inviting life to burst forth.  I was ready to pull weeds and grass when they started to creep in to our precious seedlings areas.  I was ready to water, fertilize and use my home made mixtures to keep pest off our plants when needed. What I am not so sure if I was ready for or not is the production that is bursting forth each day.  Grateful, indeed - ready, not so much.

Sunday a 3 gallon bucket of flat snap beans were picked and I put 7 quarts in the freezer (cha-ching) and TODAY I picked another 3 gallon bucket. I did not get to the putting up part yet though.  I washed them and got them ready for snapping but seems time got away from me before they were taken care of.  They are resting nicely in the fridge, and on the top of my "To Do List" for tomorrow.  Besides canning and freezing, how do you preserve your pole beans (or snap beans)?  Possibly dehydrate? If so, how do you like or use them when it is time?

So glad this is not on my harvest list!  Several fields of wheat grow on roads we travel often in the countryside and I just love the sight each time I pass it by, so I decide to photograph it!  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do..

*sew crazy

Yes, you read that correctly! I did get some real sewing done today.

We almost have all of the boxes unpacked and most things are in place. Most things.   My sewing room has been inviting me to come in and really sew and get some quilting done for a few days now.  However, the outdoors duties have not allowed me to do so until this particular day. Eric has been working long hard hours since getting settled in here a few weeks ago. Today he decided to take a day off and since it was rather hot and still here today, I chose to take the day off too.  After all I have all the rows in the garden pretty free of weeds, surely tomorrow as I go out the weeds will be back in full force.

Frayja says HI!   Julie (our cat) over on the couch says nothing because  that is how she rolls.

These two pieces of rattan furniture, I found on Craigslist from a very sweet family in the Pensacola area.   These were a temporary fix for Henry and I as were here from November til May without our furniture from North Carolina.  We felt especially blessed because of the condition of the furniture and the price ($90 for both pieces).  We now how other furniture in our den and these have been relocated to the sewing studio!

The island/countertop you see over by the window is my cutting table. This piece of furniture we bought from my best friend when they packed up and moved away from Fayetteville some years ago. I love this piece and am so glad they agreed to sell it to us!  It was loved in our last small kitchen and now works perfectly as a cutting table.  The height couldn't be better, its just perfect. 

Since all things sewing are pretty much in place, I chose to pull out a few unfinished projects to work on.  Over the years I have made a few trips in and out of Mary Jo's of Gastonia and often with Henry in tow.  He, however was not troubled by this at all. He always enjoyed  (and even at 16 still does) going in and selecting some fat quarters as well as some yard cuts of his choosing.  As time has passed Henry had a small stash of his own quilting cottons going.  About 2 or 3 years ago he took some of his fat quarters and cut them using the Turning Twenty pattern by Trish Cribbs to make his second quilt.  These particular patterns are fun and simple for young students who want to sew and design something of their own.  If you know Henry personally or through my postings you will see that these fabric selections and the choices for his quilt are, well simply HENRY! 

The completed blocks have been completed and in a box for a while now.  I have even ironed them several times for laying out. Henry laid them out in the design he wanted once, but they never got sewn together, has that ever happened to you? Anyway, today I laid them out one more time, but did not iron them because, well quite honest with you I was just too lazy.  I had  them piled up pretty good and they were mostly without wrinkle.  Henry happened to walk in when I had them all laid out and he said, "You aren't going to iron them first?" I love a good student! He made a few changes in my layout, then I got busy sewing the colorful squares together. 

We looked at all the fabrics on the shelf that might work with this crazy quilt, but didn't find anything that screamed YES!  So I went to Connecting Threads online to look at their clearance fabrics, voila!  We were able to find some high quality quilting cottons for $2.24 per yard which will do  a fine job.  I will be posting pics of the finished quilt soon! It feels great to be sewing again! 

*the JOY of gardening

I am super excited about these!  We planted both white onions and purple onions this year. It is our first year for growing onions and now I am wishing I had planted more!

We have already lost several squash plants to the cut worm, but we planted a bunch so we are good. 

Butter beans in bloom, it wont be long before I will be picking these too!

Potatoes, onions, and tomatoes - Oh my!

Aren't the blooms on the potatoe plants pretty?

This is the first year we have had a garden as grand as the two we are currently caring for and it really is a joy. Gardening brings me joy, being able to work with my hands and labor to produce something wholesome for our family is such a blessing.  We are growing things we have never grown before and learning as well go. We are trying our hands at horseradish root, garlic, peanuts, asparagus as well as many common garden plants such as peas, beans, corn, tomatoes, potatoes, cukes, squash, onions and etc.  I hope you are just jumping in and planting a few things you never thought you would or could grow just to learn from that experience and produce a few things for the dinner table.

How is your garden growing?

*a cackling good time

This is one of our two Buff Leghorns, they are the runts in the bunch.  She will grow to about 4 lbs, while some of our  breeds  will be 8 to 10 lbs.

Here is Henry and Susan, the only Giant White we have.  She is the same age as the little Leghorn above. This particular chicken will likely  grow to 8 to 10 lbs full size.

The mostly white and black chickens to the left are Brahmas, some of my favorite coloring in a chicken.  The mostly black and white you see to the right are one of our three Barred Rocks.

Our chickens have been set free!  Every day since Eric has been "home" the chickens have been free ranged and they are loving it!  In the mornings, provided we are not going shopping in town, the chickens are allowed to roam the land as they please til dusk at feeding time.  It is great fun to watch them scratch, search for bugs, flop around in the dirt cleaning themselves, and chasing each other from time to time.  We have gotten so friendly with them that they will follow me around- they know where their bread is buttered. I often will get a handful of scratch and let them eat from my hands.  Yes, sometimes it does hurt a bit when they get so zealous in their pecking for the feed, but I endure because that is just what momma's do.

I know Eric feels so blessed to have both his boys helping him in the barn on this day.  Many hands make work light!  Today we had many hands. While the boys were in the barn working, I was in the garden picking pole beans, summer squash and zucchini squash.  We later snapped the beans, blanched them and put 8 quart bags into the freezer.

Eric has been so busy with too many task for me to list, but his most recent project has been the chicken coop.  It is coming along nicely and the chicks are close by throughout the day to check on the progress.  He has even had to run them out of the area a few times as not to step on them.   Today while he was working on the coop, both of our boys were in the barn helping.  Greatest gift a mother could ask for.

The coop should been nearly complete by the weekend, I look forward to updating you soon!

*HI!

Just a quick note to say, "I am alive and doing really well!" I look forward to sharing some things with you very soon. Have a super day!

*berries galore!

OOPS.. I forgot to give these beautiful blooms the show they deserve in my last post.   These pink blooms on the raspberry bushes are simply beautiful.  The green growth you see here is the new canes on our raspberry bushes and as I understand it.. we will likely not get fruit this year but will be abounding next year.  I will keep you posted on that front.  We do have one bush that has berries on it, but clearly the canes are from last year and not this years new growth. 

Having our own berries growing here on the farm will be a huge money saver for our family! Raspberries are one of our favorites, followed by blue berries and black berries which can all be found growing here and there at Erilyn.