The Farm

If we can't live on a farm, visiting our friend's farm is the next best thing...horses and occasional riding lessons, our church garden, a friendly dog named Rex, open space to run and yell and not bother next door neighbors, a pond for fishing, climbing in the hay barn, smelling the hay (I wish I could bottle that smell...), dirt and rocks to play in, and visiting with my dear friend, Libby.

 

We headed to the farm to enjoy a lovely fall day last week...

 

New mini horses to visit and pet...

That's our Miss Libby with the boys...we don't have grandparents nearby, however, Miss Libby and Pastor Ron fit the bill quite well!

 

Holding a sad Sadie in the garden while Eli practices taking pictures...there were "ladybugs" bothering her.  It could have been grass, flies, a crooked sock, hair in her eyes, whatever...it was quite tramatic! 

 

The biggest boys...aka "my muscles"...excellent stock for hauling bags of veggies to the van...



Labor of Love

I was joking with Linda on Saturday that while I wasn't laboring to deliver our little man, I was still performing a labor of love...

 

We're still waiting for our little man to make his appearance - some days with grace, many days without.  Please help me, Lord, to choose the right attitude while I wait!  We're 40 weeks, 3 days today...that impossible time when we suddenly have no date to fall back on...  Oh, well, one way or another, he should be in our arms by the end of this week... 

 

Anyhow, I spent some time laboring in the kitchen and prepping food to provide for meals for our family.  A labor of love because it can be tiring and time consuming and because I love to provide my family with healthy, nutritious food...

 

 

 

18 cups of butternut and acorn squash baked, scooped, mushed, bagged, and frozen... (Veggies are from our church garden.)  All ready looking forward to Thanksgiving dinner!  

4 dozen banana muffins - three kinds: plain, chocolate chip, and walnut - to suit the varied preferences of my gang.  I don't typically bake or cook to individual tastes.  But for me, the only walnut lover, it's totally worth it at times!  My usual mantra at meal times goes as follows, "This is what I made for dinner, so please eat, and don't complain.  Maybe tomorrow we'll have something you like better..."

Roasting tomatoes, onion, and garlic for homemade tomato soup.  I've decided this is one of my new favorite soup recipes...fresh tomato flavor, slightly chunky, mmm...garlic - more than the recipe calls for!  The recipe doesn't instruct you to roast the onion and garlic, however, that's what I did this time...oh, the lovely smell wafting from my kitchen.  Drooling.  I'll do it this way again!  The down side...my kids still prefer Campbell's canned soup...but I'll convert them before too long...at least that's the plan!  For now, it just means more soup for Mike and I to enjoy!  He, he!

 

I'm headed in for an ultrasound tomorrow to check baby - be sure he's head down (he's still floating around pretty high), get a guesstimate of his weight (in my experience, those estimates are never accurate and have always given me higher weights than reality), and check fluid levels.  Looking forward to seeing his cute little smushed face...

Working Girls

 

I have been working hard this summer preserving foods harvested from our church garden.  Sadie has been my constant kitchen helper.  She always wants to be in the midst of what I'm doing - even with everyday kitchen prep.  I enjoy her sweet conversations about everything and nothing in particular...

Sadie insists on wearing fleecy winter pj's even in the summer...crazy girl!!!

 



We've canned 32 qts of tomatoes (with my mom's help).  Yummy!!!

 



 

I used a pressure canner for the first time to can these green beans.  A friend helped me with the first batch and I did two more batches on my own...15 qts of green beans.  Mmm...just like green beans tasted when I was a kid, canned by my mom and Grandma Givens.

 



 

"It's okay, Cinderelly...we're almost done!"



Thankfulness in Abundance

We took a family trip to our church garden again this morning and brought back quite a bit of goodness!  And while I am so thankful for the abundance, lying on the couch, resting my baby belly and back sounds so much more appealing right now.  Especially after bending, squatting, kneeling, and sitting in the dirt picking beans...

The pickled beets are done.  The carrots are peeled, blanched, and ready to be bagged for the freezer.  However, the green beans are still calling my name...and so, I'm hunkering down at the kitchen table with the radio blaring...

...thankful that my hubby and Luke are bringing home something for dinner after running errands...(for Mike's week long trip starting Monday...would you pray for us?)

...thankful that Elijah is keeping Sadie busy reading "The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe" to her while munching on snack mix...

...thankful that Isaac appears to only have the sniffles at this point...

...thankful that I'm not doing all this on my own - so blessed by my Lord, my hubby, my children...

First Freezer Meals

The realization that our little man will make his appearance in just a short time is beginning to kick me into high gear in a lot of ways!  That fact, in combination with tons of fresh and free produce from our church garden, has me thinking a lot of preserving, freezing, and meal planning! 

I cringe at the thought of letting all this wonderful goodness from the garden go to waste especially knowing how much time and effort a few put into making the garden a reality for so many.  Namely my husband, but that's because he's my favorite gardener!  This season, I've grated massive amounts of zucchini for use in breads, sauces, ground meats, diced bags of green peppers for similar use, and we've consumed lots of the same as well as yellow squash, corn, beets, lettuce, green and yellow beans, raspberries, and did I mention zucchini?!  Yes, lots of zucchini!  I am hopeful to can lots of tomatoes when they are ripe, too! 

Today finds my Cuisinart Mini Chopper hard at work once again chopping onions, green peppers, one lone red pepper, zucchini, yellow squash, and one quart of tomatoes from last year. 

Cooking chopped veggies... 

Add cooked veggies to a batch of ground beef and sausage for assembly into lasagna freezer meals! 

Mmmm...smells good!  Can't wait to eat one meal for dinner tonight!

Weekend in Review

We thoroughly enjoyed this past weekend...some work, lots of play. I realized that since we moved, I've spent very little time outside always feeling like there is work to do inside the house. Soaking up the sunshine as much as I could...

While everyone played and Sadie napped, I sat on the front step prepping peppers for the freezer...some of the final harvest from our church co-op garden. I'm very thankful for the produce we harvested this year and praying that next summer will allow us to spend more hours there helping throughout the entire season.

We've been so blessed to find out that our neighbors two doors down are Christians. They have two boys, ages 11 and 13, who are stellar young men that I absolutely encourage our boys to befriend. Sundays afternoons have been filled with football in the yard.

Even Mike got in on the game in between projects...

Bags and bags of peppers and squash...

My four favorite guys...

a few of our trees...such variety of color all around our house!

Elijah climbing and swinging

It was Isaac's idea to hang the rope so he could climb and swing...sure beats the inside alternative of swinging from the banister. I've put a nix on that activity...

Preserving

I've spent many hours this summer preserving a variety of foods harvested mostly from our church garden. It's lots of hard work, but as I see my pantry shelves filling up, I am so thankful for the time spent. I find it to be fun, a connection with the past, as I recall sitting at my parent's dining room table watching my mom and grandma "putting up" food for the winter. My mom came up to help with some of the preserving, too, and having Grammy Potter at our house is always a recipe for fun.

Peaches the boys and I picked from a local farm - about 50 quarts!

Tomatoes from our small garden and the church garden - about 28 quarts. Plus more in the freezer...ran out of jars!


Mildly hot peppers diced up and put in the freezer

Tomatoes covered my kitchen counters as I waited for them to ripen the rest of the way

Our pre-washing system for veggies just picked from the garden...we just love eating the carrots raw, but I'll probably blanch and freeze some as well.

We've frozen lots of green beans, grated zucchini, zucchini bread, sugar snap peas, sweet red peppers, and delicious Carrot-Tomato Soup. Plus, I canned salsa, dill pickles, bread & butter pickles, and strawberry jam.

I have plans to do more this season yet...applesauce, squash, and maybe more tomatoes!

What a harvest!

Mama's Helper

The benefit of being Mama's helper...mashed potatoes freshly picked from the garden!

Homegrown Watermelon

We have our own small garden at our house which has been sorely neglected this season. We've been spending all of our time and effort at our church garden. Anyhow, despite our lack of attention, our watermelon plants have produced! This was our first watermelon and it was delicious! There are three more out there, but not as big as this beauty.

Bountiful Harvest

Our church garden overflowing with goodness. We are so blessed to be a part of this co-op!

Look at that. Someone else took a picture. I really am a real person. Bent over and contorting my body (what IS that hump on my back...my hip???) to reach those just-out-of-reach cherry tomatoes without squishing the green ones...

Now that the garden has grown tall and green, it makes a great place for spies, ninjas, cowboys, or soldiers to hide or battle or refine their skills

Hi-ya!

Corn stalk gun, of course. Boys can turn anything into a gun...

This is Sadie's usual spot in the stroller...lounging, eating whatever greenery she can get her fingers on, watching us, crying, yelling, or sitting contently

Did you know this is how brussel sprouts grow??? Strange...

Church Garden

We're enjoying the beginning of the harvest again this year at our church's garden co-op. Lots of hard work, but the reward is sweet!!!

Co-op Harvest

A small sampling of the harvest we've enjoyed from our church garden. What a blessing!

Wheatland Community Church Farm Co-op

Our dear Pastor Ron and his wife, Libby are generously giving their land and LOTS of their time to help families like ours who don't have empty space to grow a garden. Well, truth be told, we have space but very rocky soil and no motivation to sift dirt and rocks anytime soon. See my Mother's Day Garden post from a year about creating the 10 x 20 garden we currently have and you'll understand. Several families are working together to create a co-op garden that will benefit our families but also to help others in need.

Collecting rock piles to dump away from the garden

The Harkness guys rototilling and weeding the strawberry patch

Luke and Isaac throwing rocks into the wheelbarrow for removal from the field



Pastor Ron and Mr. Martin preparing the soil for corn. The boys were able to help plant the first batch of corn this last weekend. Elijah LOVES corn on the cob and is thrilled that we'll get to try and grow some of our own.

We're excited for the opportunity, hard work, skill building, cooperation and blessing each family will receive by participating in this new adventure.