Thursday, May 24, 2012

Awesome Ad by the Catholic Church

Have you seen this?  What do you think?





Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Hard Times...

Someone sent me this video - I thought it appropriate :)



Blessings!

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

April Freeze

I knew it would happen.  Spring just doesn't come in January here in Tennessee.  We really didn't have much of a winter this year.  The old timers said watch out in April or May.  They were right.

We had a night of near freezing temperature and then the next night we had a hard freeze. So many things were in bloom!


Our pecan tree....I'm not expecting to harvest anything this year...


Our Catawba tree was hit....I'll miss the smell of the blooms this year.



Our peach trees were just finishing their blooms so we don't know what will happen there.  Our apple trees were in full bloom!  We had a late freeze last year and lost most of our blooms (which means no apples!).  Doesn't look like we will harvest any apples this year either.

However, my climbing rose bush did just fine!



And our stand of wheat passed through the freeze with flying colors!  We look forward to harvesting our first wheat!


We are back to cool rainy days - maybe we are having spring now.  It's been a confusing weather year here in Tennessee.  What about where you live?

Blessings,

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Catching Up....(for you Sue!)

Is it May already?  I'm sure it was just last week that I was putting holiday decorations away!  Let me try to catch you up with life here on the farm!

We've been so busy that it makes my head swim at times.  My oldest son (who married almost 2 years ago) and his wife are about to present me with my first grandbaby!  I'm so excited!  Many of my friends have grandchildren and I have lived vicariously through their wonderful stories - now I will get to tell my own!

Jeremy was offered a job - on the condition he would be on probation for 4 months. He wasn't allowed to handle money, run cash registers, have keys to the store etc. After all, they didn't know him at all.  Two weeks into his job he was asked to come to a meeting....where they offered him the position of assistant manager! They were amazed to see a young person actually work while on the job.  His integrity, hard work and character had impressed them. What a blessing from our Father!

Josiah graduates high school in a month!  We are working hard to make sure we have everything finished up and all of our "Ts crossed".  I'll be so glad when he's done!

My doodlebug is growing so fast I can't really call him a doodlebug anymore!  He's taller than me!  I'm now officially the shortest person at the table when my family is gathered around me.  He finishes 8th grade in a month and he will be entering high school next year (home schooled).  It will be the first time in over 20 years that I will only be schooling one child....how strange that is going to seem. I remember how much I enjoyed homeschooling my first child before there were little ones under my feet.  I look forward to that special time again (well...except for math and those dissection labs!). We have already begun laying out his schedule for the next 4 years. Elijah will probably want to attend college so we are preparing for a more rigorous school schedule.

My greenhouse is full of green plants that are making their way to our garden as fast as we can.  The tomatoes and peppers are a bit slower this year but we've had some very cool days and nights (45 a few days ago).  I need to take advantage of this cool spell and work in my herb garden before temperatures hit the 90s!




We are a little late this year but that turned out to be a blessing when we experienced a hard freeze in April.  Many people locally lost everything.  We probably won't have pecans this year and may have lost some fruit - time will tell.  We have a test plot of wheat in the ground that survived the freeze and are looking forward to harvest time!

Our strawberries weren't affected too badly - we've been picking (and eating!) gallons of fresh fruit and freezing and canning freezer jam is beginning. I'm trying to use all Tattler Lids this year.  They are reusable, BPA free and work like a charm!  I tested them last year and loved them!  They were easy to use and my canned goods held up just fine over the winter!  You can click on their link in my sidebar to read more about them or check out this post to see the detailed review I wrote on Tattler Lids last year.

The children of two of my friends married last month. They were married in the most beautiful barn I have ever seen! 



They asked me to cook the food for the reception - 200 people...gasp! I've organized food for large groups of people before but never cooked it all. I'll try to post my cooking method soon.  This family made it very easy - the menu was salad, rolls and lasagna and there was only one last minute problem...I'll share what it was and how we solved it!  It was a wonderful day and a beautiful wedding.  During the mother/son dance, each of my sons came to the kitchen and we waltzed amidst the pots and pan.  It made me cry!  I know that their own special days are not that many years into the future.  Life...she is a'changing!

I enjoyed watching these two young people I have known for many years get married and my church body was so helpful we had to shoo people out of the kitchen!  I learned one thing from this experience...I don't think I'd ever want to do that on a regular basis or without the help of my wonderful friends!

I hope this catches you up a bit with life here on the farm.  I'll post again....promise!


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