Housekeeping - Day 24

I have an all time favorite book for Housekeeping among other things. 

I highly recommend this book. She gives so many good tips on this subject.

For the past two weeks, I promised myself to never leave dirty dishes in the sink, at anytime. I am, so far, doing good with this. 

What kind of good housekeeping secrets do you have?

Garden - Day 22

Well, our garden this year wasn't to spectacular. I killed everything except the cucumbers. I usually put hay around all the plants and this year, I decided to use some store bought wood mulch. It killed all my plants. I used hay around my cucumbers and they flourished! Here are some things we have been enjoying.

These squash and zucchini were the only nice ones we got this year.

Blueberries, I think we put up about 25 quarts of these beautiful things.

Lots of corn!

Cucumbers! Canned into sweet pickles and sweet pickle relish.

Okra

Figs!

What have you been growing in your garden?

Garden - Day 22

Well, our garden this year wasn't to spectacular. I killed everything except the cucumbers. I usually put hay around all the plants and this year, I decided to use some store bought wood mulch. It killed all my plants. I used hay around my cucumbers and they flourished! Here are some things we have been enjoying.

These squash and zucchini were the only nice ones we got this year.

Blueberries, I think we put up about 25 quarts of these beautiful things.

Lots of corn!

Cucumbers! Canned into sweet pickles and sweet pickle relish.

Okra

Figs!

What have you been growing in your garden?

Reading - Day 17

I love reading! My family loves to read. I am reading this book right now and will be blogging about it shortly and I have an extra copy for a giveaway. Stay tuned!

My son is ready this....

and this.....

My oldest is my book lover! She is reading this book. Not really sure about this one, it was recommended to her and she said, OK! We will see.

She is usually reading more than one book at a time, so, here is the second one! 

My other bugs are currently enjoying a break from reading before we start back to school.

What are you reading?

God Bless!

Fridge - Day 11

Lots of good things in the frig right now. Fresh, sweet figs, beautiful blueberries, crunchy cucumbers and homegrown tomatoes. Lots of yummy things growing on the homestead.

We also have about 4 gallons of fresh, raw cows milk and half a gallon of raw cream to make butter. Organic plain yogurt to make homemade vanilla yogurt with and farm fresh eggs!

I almost forgot this delicious blackberry jelly I made a few months ago! It's great on homemade buttermilk biscuits!

I am planning my menu plan for next week and I am looking forward to using all of these yummy, whole foods we have been blessed with!

What's in you frig?

God Bless!

Art - Day 9

Today is all about ART! These are not recent. These were drawn by my second bug when she was 11 years old. She will be 14 this month. I had forgotten about these drawing until she showed them to me the other day. I thought this would be the perfect post for today!

 

 

 

God Bless!

Recipe - Day 8

RECIPES!!!!! I love recipes! I don't even know how many cookbooks, homemade and printed I have. I think I snapshot at least two to three a day with my phone.

 

The first one is a new recipe I tried yesterday. I haven't tried these yet but I am pretty sure they will be a hit.

 

 



 

 

 

 

PICKLED SWEET GREEN TOMATOES

 

16 cups sliced green tomatoes

2 cups sliced onions

1/4 cup pickling salt

3 cup brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

4 cups white vinegar

1 cup water

1 Tablespoon mustard seeds

1 Tablespoon whole allspice

1 Tablespoon celery seeds

1 Tablespoon whole cloves

 

Wash and slice tomatoes and onions. Sprinkle with pickling salt and let stand 3 hours. Drain and rinse. Heat the sugar and vinegar and put the spices in a cheese cloth and add them to the vinegar mixture. Heat until sugar is dissolved. Add the sliced tomatoes and onions and cook 30 minutes, until the tomatoes are translucent. Put in hot jars and process in a boiling-water canner, pints 15 minutes and quarts 20 minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also have a wonderful recipe using blueberries of course! Hope you enjoy!

 

 

 

 

BLUEBERRY POUND CAKE

 

 

 

1 cup of butter, softened

2cups sugar

4 eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup vanilla or plain yogurt, (not in original recipe)

3 cups of flour, divided

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 pint fresh blueberries or 2 cups canned blueberries,

drained and rinsed

 

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time and beat until light and fluffy. Add yogurt and vanilla. Sift two cups of flour, salt and baking powder together and add it to the creamed mixture. Dredge blueberries in remaining flour and gently fold into batter. Pour batter into a buttered bundt pan coated with sugar and bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Enjoy!

 

 

God Bless!