Overwhelmed....

I want to thank the many readers who have contacted me by email or by phone to make sure I was okay. I am truly humbled and grateful. Some of you know the personal trial I am enduring and were concerned for me. This meant more to me than I have words....it appears that this valley is a little longer and a little deeper than I realized. This last month has been very difficult for the boys and I but God is faithful to encourage us when we need it most. Thank you especially to Julie (who is ALWAYS there for me), J.A., D.M., C.L., B.W., C.F., C.S. and her Dad, the best hugger in the world....you know who you are :). I am truly blessed with friends and prayer warriors. I am trying to take steps to relieve some of the pressure but this is difficult at best and impossible at times.

Our weather this year has been so strange. The last two weeks of August our temperatures were over 100 almost everyday. I have lived here for 8 years and don't recall ever having this kind of heat. It is too hot to be outside for anything except the pool....even at daybreak the temperatures were well over 80! The really weird thing is that our horses' winter coats are coming in - in fact are almost completely in. I can't understand why they would be getting a thick, dark coat in the middle of a heat wave but God knows what they need and we need to be aware and learn from what is happening in His creation. Perhaps we will be having an early winter.

Our area, like many others, has been experiencing a terrible drought. Our farm pond is down considerably.



The cows have been grazing in an area that used to be underwater. In the above picture, you can see the lush, darker green area at one end of the pond. This has always been underwater. This drought has also affected gardening. Even though we have drip irrigation in our garden, the heat has been hard on the plants....well.... the weeds have thrived but the good stuff is suffering!

I have been busy canning tomatoes .



I will spend Saturday doing this again. I usually make my own ketchup, tomato sauce and spaghetti sauce each year. It takes 45 lbs. of tomatoes to make 5 to 6 quarts of sauce. I do not understand why the stores can sell it so cheaply - they must put lots of fillers in these products. After I get whole tomatoes canned, I will begin on the spaghetti sauce. I use a lot of whole tomatoes during the winter in soups, stews and sauces. I use my own spaghetti sauce for homemade pizza, lasagna, spaghetti, stuffed shells and other things. These are quick and easy meals for me...sort of my own fast food :)

I have also been busy canning "wing sauce".



I have my own recipe for a hot sauce made with a particular pepper that we grow. Last year I planted an entire 33 foot bed with this pepper. The seeds had been purchased through a catalog. 110 plants! Well.....as many of you may remember, they all turned out to be pimento peppers!!!! We love pimentos...they are wonderful in the pimento cheese that I make. But.....who needs 110 of them?!

This year I saved the seed myself from some of the hot peppers that I had in my freezer and planted another 110 plants....SUCCESS!!! A good reminder that it is always better to save your own seed if you can :) I think that next year I might have to plant 2 beds. The stores don't carry this pepper so if I don't grow it we can't have it. This is true of so many varieties of lettuce, corn, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers.....well.....just about anything. God blessed us with so much variety in taste, texture, color and appearance...and we settle for what the "food giants" deem to dole out to us. Let me encourage you not to settle. Order some seed catalogs that carry heirloom seeds and add some variety to your life!

Well, on to a busy day.... boys to home-school, errands in town, tomatoes and peppers to pick and then jewelweed gathering. I will be making a soap and salve with this wonderful herb that treats poison ivy. I made the salve last year on a small scale for the first time and was pleased with the results. I sold it locally with wonderful testimonies coming back so am ready to unleash it on the world....this means you :)

May God bless your day!