Summer

Summer has come and gone so quickly.  It seems like Eddie  just finished school a couple of days ago  and yet that was at the end of May; and now he has started school again as of  two days ago.   I think Autumn has tried to keep pace with the school schedule,  because I felt its subtle arrival on the same day, making the last two mornings crisp and cool, while the sun seems to have shifted and has traded off its scorching heat for a lovely golden sunshine.

We have certainly had the heat this summer, and so little moisture.  The forest fires were worse than ever.   On most mornings, I would be out in the heat trying to keep the garden alive by what felt like constant watering, and I would be talking to Elizabeth or Marie, who were in Florida where it was flooding.  We all wished we could swap a little weather with each other.

The summer has been spent with garden and farm work, and little else. I don't say that by complaint, because I enjoy it. Its just that it has been our main focus this year.  We did enjoy going up to some organic farms in the Denver area for the 4th of July.  We picked berries and cherries, and made some black raspberry jam and pies, and some cherry jam and pies from our harvest.  The cherry jam was so good and the first time I had ever made it.  We were also able to attend a Joel Salatin workshop in Colorado Springs last week, which was a highlight for us.  Joel Salatin is someone who is in the forefront of organic and polyculture farming,  We have been working on bringing back our farm/ranch business in the organic and polyculture method, and have such fun exploring  endless ideas for it.

Here are a few pictures of our summer.  My camera has been out of sorts, so the pictures are colored poorly. But here they are just as is.

"Ol' Blue" decked out for the Fourth

 We picked some wonderful berries at "Berry Patch Farms"

Here they are;

Currents, Black Raspberries, and Cherries

We just dug up some of our first potatoes of the season.  They look beautiful don't they?

"Thelma Lou" says to tell you "Hey".

The chicken coop was previously a pigeon coop...notice the little pigeon door above the window.

Steve built our little gals some nice nesting boxes in late Spring,

and brought some of our patio furniture down for me to sit on, so I could socialize with the gals

while I water. 

Those little gals love to socialize....I am speaking of the chickens of course. Then there are my own girls, who I  love to chat with on the phone, while I water and weed the garden... it is my special, happy moment of the day.

The little gals all started coming in the coop while I was taking pictures, to see what I was doing.

They asked if they could personally demonstrate the loveliness of their indoor/outdoor patio.

This is their favorite place to sleep at night, enjoying the best of both worlds.

The corn came up nicely this summer, but the heat and drought has been so fierce, I am not sure what we will find when we start harvesting it.

The green beans and pinto beans are growing nicely.

A nice patch of buckwheat is growing and attracting all of the bees we need.

These are pinto beans.... I can taste the chili now.

The tomatoes are finally bearing fruit after the heat of summer slowed them down a bit

We let a couple of things go to seed this year, to try our hand at saving seed.

These are carrots that have flowered so prettily.

Well,  that's all for now.   Have a great week everyone.  

Blessings, Pam

Back from a Long Break

I've been away so long that my computer address bar didn't even remember my blog name, and it took me a little longer than usual to pull up my blog.  I guess you could say that I took  a long blogging break.  It wasn't really a thought out pre-planned break, but that's what it ended up to be.  We have had so much going on, that I have not been able to get back into blog land.   For the last several weeks I have had the itch, but  couldn't quite get there... I even took pictures intending to post them, but still couldn't get there.  I am sure some of you have had months like that.

We haven't been up to anything unusual, but somehow life has felt more overwhelming than usual, and so I have let the blogging go by the wayside, and put my energy into life... a sweet blogging friend had even blessed me with words near to those, which gave me a nice release to let it go for a bit.

And now I am back.  I have a post I am working on and some pictures I am wanting to down load this evening.  I thought I would start with this mini-update and let you know that yes, I am still alive, and so is the family... we are still all here carrying on with life.  I look forward to calling upon my blogging friends as well, and see what you have been up to.


Talk you you soon,


Pam

Passover

I have been longing to host a Passover meal at our house the last few years, but it hasn't worked out.  We don't quite have the space to host very many people along with our family.  If we could be certain of the weather, we could do it outside but... well you know how the weather is in Colorado...unpredictable.   Many years ago, we participated in a Passover meal, and we thought it was very special.  It taught us the connection of Jesus as the "Lamb of God" and Jesus the "Messiah" and  what the "blood of Jesus"is all about.  I think it would be wonderful if we began our celebration of the Resurrection with the celebration of the Passover every year.

Some good friends of ours gave us a DVD in December, that we just recently watched.  It was very good.  It is the testimony of a man named Tom Cantor.  He is a Jewish man, a scientist, who developed  the "First Response Pregnancy Test" (among other things) and established a Creation Museum in San Diego Californian. His testimony is wonderful.  In it, he tells a very interesting story of his life, and explains about "The Lamb of God" from his youthful search for God as a young Jewish man. It is timely for passover and I thought it might bless you.  Its not short, but well worth the time to listen.

Many Blessings to you all as you celebrate the Passover and Resurrection 

The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and he said "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world".

John 1:29

Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the page and pause the music so you can hear this.

WIP

Just a quick little post of my work in progress.   I am crocheting some little blankets for a gift to a friend of mine who is adopting 2 little girls.  I loved these little flower-like circles when I saw them, and decided to make a variety of colors, which would give me a little freedom to mix and match to my hearts content.  Their bedroom is a theme of flowers and is waiting cozily for them.    So as I crochet, I pray for them, and the future the Lord has for them.

I have been working in the garden and lavishing in all the beautiful sunshine.  My strawberries are coming up, and I watered them today for the first time.  I decided I am going to have to put up a little fence around them, because the bunnies are already enjoying their tender leaves.  The bunnies helped themselves to the leaves last year as well... I wish I could share with them... but no, it won't work.

Our seedlings are coming up both outside and inside.  Checking their progress and watering them each day is a happy chore.  

Steve  has been recovering this week from surgery on that leg.  All went well, and we are hopeful he will be well on the mend in 3-4 weeks.  Until then, he is back to crutches... that is the hardest part for him; to not be able to do what he does...... very difficult for any of us.

Blessings to you all,

Pam

Irish Soda Bread

I've been away  from Blogland far too long.  I think since Steve's accident, I have had  a harder time blogging consistently.    I had a wonderful month's summery in pictures to share with you, and realized after I started to down load that I , again, had my camera with the wrong storage designation, and the pictures  would not down load.  So frustrating.  So I said to myself "should I post without my pictures?" Well, I guess I am half way there so I might as well put something down.

We had a fun little Irish dinner tonight for St. Patrick's day.  It is our tradition to have the Corned Beef, potatoes and cabbage and Irish Soda Bread on St. Patrick's Day.  How about you guys, do you fix something like that.  Of course its always nice to buy the Corned Beef when its on sale.

Speaking of green (well in a round about way we were speaking of green weren't we?)  We have been seeing green coming upon the land, and are feeling the joy of spring coming.   We have an expression when it gets so green and pretty; "It looks like Ireland".  And so today, it looks like Ireland and it tastes like Ireland at our house.   We got our spring garden beds ready throughout the week.  We  planted peas, garlic, onions and a few other spring veggies.  It sure felt good to get out there in the sunshine and dirt. It feels like life is returning to me as well.

Steve and Eddie and Luke were able to get the chicken coup up at last, and I feel so happy about that.  I will have to take some more pictures and show them to you another time.  Steve goes in for another surgery on his leg at the end of this week, so keep him your prayers if you don't mind. He is going to get the metal removed (he had two screws that broke)  He is doing good other wise.

My Family has been re-arranging.  As I mentioned in the previous post that Nathan and Himilce were moving to North Carolina, well, now Marie and Jon and babies have moved to Florida... Jon was offered a job in the same town that Elizabeth and Benjamin are in... and if you can imagine this, the house  next door to Elizabeth and Benjamin became available to rent.  So guess who rented it?
It is so sweet, and there are many cute stories to come out of that bit of news... but I will save it for another post perhaps.  And lastly, Olga has moved down to the Phoenix area with my sister and brother in law.  So  there you have it.

The Irish Soda Bread  is really good.  I make it often, and not just for St. Patrick's day, because it is one of the easiest and quickest ways to offer fresh warm bread to our family dinner. Its crusty outside and warm and moist inside and is amazing  spread with a little butter and even some jam.  Here is the recipe, I hope you enjoy.

  White Irish Soda Bread

4 cups (16 oz) of all purpose flour.
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2  - 2 cups of of buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Lightly grease a round cast iron skillet or dutch oven (or you may use a round cake pan or even a cookie sheet.

Mix dry ingredients together.  Slowly add the buttermilk and stir until slightly wet and sticky.  You may add any other ingredients you wish.... raisins, oats, butter, egg, cheese; its up to you.  I usually leave mine plain, but I am not opposed to adding some goodies on occasion.  Pour out onto a floured surface and pat into a flat round then put into the iron skillet.  Be sure not to knead this bread (which would cause your bread to be tough). This reminds me of making biscuits, except you cook it in one big loaf rather than cutting up biscuits.  With a knife cut  an X in the top of the bread; this will allow the bread to cook more thoroughly in the middle.

Bake with lid on for about 30 minutes, and then remove lid and bake another 15 minutes.
Cool about five minutes, and then slice and slather with butter.

Enjoy.

I hope you all are doing well.  I will be catching up with you on your blogs the next couple of days.

Blessings to you all

Pam

"Unless You Become Like One Of These...."

Okay, I just had to share this video of my little grandson Ezra.  Marie and Jon sent it to us the other day, and Steve and I just keep eating it up, it is so cute.  One year old Ezra is watching a Gospel singer from a video on the computer. The song is saying J..E..S..U..S Jesus! And Ezra in all his excitement is shouting "Jesus" in baby shouts.  I am amazed that a one year old gets it so well.  It is blessing our socks off!  I think it will bless you too.

Catching Up

We have had a snowier and muddier winter than we have seen in a long time here in southern Colorado.  What we suffered in drought last spring and summer is being made up for this winter with abundant snowfall, for which we are thankful.  And yet all the snow and mud does leave me often feeling that tinge of cabin fever and a yearning for Phoenix or Florida... those warm and sunny parts of the country where many of my loved ones live.

So, after Christmas was over, and cabin fever had set it, I went on a re-organize and clean out campaign that has lifted me up out of my winter doldrums.  I pulled apart my pantry and completely cleaned it out and reorganized it; I cleaned out and spiffed up the spare bedroom (ready and available for you to come and see us now),  and cleaned out many of the closets and drawers in the house, all of which made me feel a little less like I am living on an island surrounded by snow and mud.  Why that is... I don't know... I only know it made me feel better to get everything in order.  Spring cleaning is all fine and wonderful, but for me a little winter organizing has really done the trick.

In addition to the winter organizing,  the chickens were signed up for an "Extreme Home makeover"... (I guess the show is called "Extreme Makeover Home Edition".... one of my favorite shows) and were given an upgrade... at least for now, since the walls of the chicken house that we were able to purchase late last summer, are still buried under snow, and awaiting the right time and Steve's greater mobility for the final coup raising.  So we have upgraded the chickies  into temporary housing; from the little dog house to the broken water tank that we used last year for a seed house.  I think I will write an article on how to reuse an old water tank... I already have  two for my list.  Steve turned a couple of old crates into nesting boxes, placed them into the old tank along with some lovely straw, then we all repositioned the chain link fence....placed the chickies inside and with in 24 hours, we had our first egg... Hurray!   Homegrown eggs are a lovely sight to behold... I'm sure  those of you who have chickens would agree.   As soon as the new housing was in place for the chickens, Eddie chanted... "move that bus"... which made us laugh... thus my  link above to "Extreme Makeover..."

As for other events.... lets see...Nathan and Himilce are moving to North Carolina, from Phoenix, in fact Himilce and babies are there already, while Nathan finishes his last several weeks of work in Phoenix.  He is staying with my Dad as he finishes up, and family and furnishings have been sent ahead.   I am happy that Himilce will have another season of living close to her family... although, I feel very sad to have them go... isn't that funny, they live 12 hours from me, and I am all torn up about them moving.... its just that even though they were that far from us, they still felt "close" to us.... as opposed to living in North Carolina, which is "far".  But I do entrust their lives and ours in the Lord's hand.  He directs all of our steps.  My precious little grandson Ezra celebrated his first birthday (what a precious little bug he is.  I miss him so much), and also Eddie and my Dad, who share the same birthday, and Russ who is just four days after them.   Those are my big events for January; that along with every day living and keeping up with life, we keep pressing in close to the Lord who strengthens us in difficult days and refreshes us as we carry on.  Steve is coming along very well, and has been graduated to a boot and a cane, so is feeling more like his old self, and capable of more and more all the time.  He still has therapy 2 days a week, and has had to deal with a few issues such as a torn rotator cuff, a few broken pins, and some scar tissue problems, but all in all he is thankful to be more mobile, and I am too.  Hope you are all doing well this winter.  I am off now to catch up on your news.

Chickies upgrade into old water tank

Some nesting boxes and a roost

First Egg!  Let's Celebrate

Eddie was impressed when I showed him the difference between the pale, nutrient depleted, store bought egg on the right and the bea-u-tiful orange yoked egg laid by our own hens on left.

Fried rice for dinner.... the best way to divide up one egg between us.   :)

Believe it or not, I tidy up this disaster every other week... this time I really cleaned it out and have spoken dire threats to those who would mess it up again.

Pulled everything out.

Ahhhhh

Looks so much better doesn't it?

Have a great Week

Blessings

Pam