It's That Time of Year

when it rains and rains and rains and it's raining again today! This year has been one of the worst for our area.


The flood waters are VERY slowly receding.


Many people are still waiting to get back to their homes.


I talked to a friend of ours who was able to drive out from their house for the first time yesterday. The roads have been blocked on all sides by water for weeks.

It's also the time of year for Amish strawberries!

I put 14 quarts in the freezer and made 10 pints of strawberry jam this year. We still have a few left from last year so I'm finished with strawberries for this season.


Next will be cherries!


If it ever stops raining and dries out enough,


I'll get my garden planted!

Growing Garden

Remember back awhile ago when I was planting onions and potatoes? The garden is doing well.

I have sunflowers, potatoes, onions, broccoli, peppers and more peppers, tomatoes, squash, zucchini, corn, beans, cucumbers and radishes. I've been working on pulling weeds daily but as you can see, I still have plenty. I don't want to till right now because with less rainfall it dries out the soil.


I love peppers! I planted lots of cayenne, jalapenos, bells and banana peppers this year.


I have LOTS of tomato plants. I started most of these guys from seeds. There are little green tomatoes everywhere but no ripe ones yet.


I somehow managed to grab a pack of broccoli instead of cabbage so we're growing broccoli for the first time this year.


I got my first "mess" (Kentucky word for you) of squash yesterday! We're having fried chicken, creamed squash and biscuits for supper. YUM!


The corn is tall and beautiful this year.


and the beans have blooms and tiny little beans all over them!

As I typed this, we got a much needed rainfall. The temps have been in the high 90's this week and things were looking a little wilted at midday.
Thanks for touring the garden with me...what?? You're leaving?? Get back here and pull some weeds!! I'll feed you fried chicken and squash!!! I even have iced tea made!

Cherries

The cherries are gone for another year. During all the rush and business of ball games, graduations, milkings and garden weedings, I managed to put up 9 pints of cherry jam and freeze several bags for later making pies, jams, homemade ice cream, etc. It's always sort of sad when the cherries are gone each year but that means the blackberries will be ripe soon!

Potting Up My Herbs

and a few other plants. It's been stormy and rainy here all day so this has been a process of running out on the back deck, planting a few things, running back in until the next rain shower passes. This fellow kept me company on the bird feeder. He is a male rose-breasted grosbeak. They come through this area every Spring but never stay long. I guess they have better places to be!

I brought all my potted herbs inside so the hail wouldn't beat the poor things to death after I had them in their new pots so my kitchen looks like a greenhouse today.
I have herbs, peppers, tomatoes and cabbage on the bar.

More herbs on the counter by the window...

More on the other counter...

Some smaller ones started from seeds on the window sill.

I also spent some time thinning my hens and chicks plants and started a flat of them to give away to friends.

This wild and hairy Aloe Vera guy is next on my list to thin!

So what herbs do you grow and what do you use them for?
This year I have Rosemary, Sage, Pineapple Sage, Lemon Balm, Sweet Basil, Sweet Marjoram, Greek Oregano, Lemon Balm, Parsley and Lavender. I love to use herbs in cooking and I am hoping to use the Lavender in my goat milk soap!
Last year was my first year of growing herbs and I am addicted!

A Long Row to Hoe!

Let the planting begin!

Each year we amend the soil and do more work to our garden. When we moved here 3 years ago this was a flat grassy area but with a little quite a bit of work it's now one of my favorite places to be during the spring and summer.

(Those potatoes look too close together but they are actually about a foot apart!)
I picked up our seed potatoes and onions for planting a couple of weeks ago, got the potatoes cut so each piece had an eye bud (or two or three) on it and then we got a lot of rain so I have had to wait for the garden to dry out again. We added a ton and a half of lime, literally a ton and a half, a couple of weeks ago and spent some time working it into the soil. I learned something new....it takes quite a while for the lime to break down and benefit your soil so from now on I will add the lime in the fall and wait until spring to fertilize...I love learning new things about gardening, I just always wish I had learned them the year before!

Yesterday was the big day! My sweet husband laid my rows for me on Wednesday evening and started laying out the taters and onions yesterday morning. They had nice big eyes on them from sitting for a couple of weeks plus the cuts had dried well which decreases the chances of rotting in the ground.

I had help, lots of help from Dirt Cat....the rolling on the ground wanting his belly scratched even managed to cover a couple of the potatoes for me.

So there they are all covered up and waiting to pop through the ground!

I love this time of year! We are leaving for Spring break on Sunday. We are going to North Carolina to my husband's grandfather's cabin. His aunt and uncle still live there and his mom and stepfather are driving up from Florida to meet us there. They haven't seen the boys in almost 3 years so they are in for some excitement!

I hope you all have a wonderful and blessed Easter weekend!

Could It Be??

Could it really be that time again? Could it really be happening...finally??
My youngest is sick with a cold and had to stay inside yesterday. I heard excited screaming and yelling from his toy room. I ran to investigate.....

What could he possible see that had him so excited and grinning from ear to ear?
I heard roaring....I looked out and all I saw was ...... this!

But I knew what it meant....

That roaring was Papaw's tractor!

and he was plowing our garden!!! Oh yes, yes, yes! It is that time. Our tractor is a little small to do the initial "breaking" for the garden so Papaw (my Dad) comes through the fields from their house to our house and plows it for me each year. I love my Dad!

He made trip after trip, back and forth, back and forth...

until it was all plowed and ready to dry out some so we can disk it soon.

I apologize for the quality of the pics but I couldn't take the little man outside due to his cold and he wasn't about to let me be outside with Papaw if he didn't get to go outside too so they are taken through the window!
He never left that window until Papaw stopped the tractor and came in to visit with him for awhile.
We'll be planting our tomato seeds in the little indoor seed starter greenhouse tonight!

Sunshine and Cosmos

When I walk outside with my husband and Jake in the mornings to tell them goodbye for the day I always see something that needs its picture taken. The sun had just made it's way up over the trees that line our property and these pretty pink gals were soaking it up!


These were taken from the backside of the flower, looking into the sun.


I love pink! Blue is my favorite color on most days but today it is pink!


No one ever said you couldn't change your favorite color from day to day!


Yep, definitely pink today!


Hello beautiful pink lovelies! I will be collecting seeds so I can bring these beauties back to life again next year!

But just so blue doesn't get jealous!


I hope your day is as beautiful as flowers in morning sunshine!

Another Monday

Where does the weekend go? I had 2 baby showers to attend this weekend. Both were fun and the new moms-to-be got lots of goodies for their little ones.

The telephone guy finally showed up Saturday morning while I was still in my nightgown. It didn't seem to cross his mind that it might be polite to apologized for being 6 days late to install my new work line. Since the line has finally been installed, everything is set up here at home for me to work except (there's always an exception, isn't there?) my computer which Reese, the computer tech has. When he is done installing my programs I'm good to go!

There are cucumbers, squash, tomatoes and green beans all over my kitchen and they need to be picked again. I have frozen and pickled and snapped until I'm ready for winter! Not really!

The gas company showed up to move our propane tank farther from the house. After we added the deck, it was too close to the steps and an eye sore. I gave one of the gas guys 2 bags of cucumbers and squash. Couldn't pawn any off on the 2 young guys with him. They looked more like the burgers and fries type to me.

Two of our guinea hens have been setting on eggs in grass behind the barn. They were about 2 weeks into their 4 week setting and what I can only assume were raccoons (or possibly coyotes) got into their nests a couple of nights ago and got several eggs but didn't get the 2 hens. I put a cage around them and they continued to set but the next night something came back and tried with all it's might to reach them through the cage sides. Both guinea hens lost feathers and had blood on their heads where they had beat against the cage trying to get away from what was outside so I made the decision to try to move them to the barn before all the eggs and the hens were lost. I have never had any luck moving a broody guinea hen and this time was no different. Neither of them would go back on their nests after I moved them so I have 37 guineas eggs in the incubator. I could still see movement in some when I candled them last night so hopefully they didn't get too chilled while the moms were refusing to go back on their nests.

The goats are due their CDT shot. They have 6 weeks to go before the babies are due. Nanny is getting fatter each day and looks like she will probably have twins. Nellie looks fatter and there are times when I am positive I see kicking but then I let myself doubt it. I thought she was pregnant when we got her but realized later that she was just fat extremely healthy.

Guess we'll just have to wait and see if Nellie gets to be a momma this time.

Farm Bounty

After J's ear appointment, I dropped him off at school and came home to do some much needed cleaning before I head back to work tomorrow. Before I started cleaning, I decided to take a stroll through the garden, which is growing quite nicely, even in this nasty heat and I found these guys, the 1st of the year!


The corn is also starting to tassel and I have several zucchini that will be ready to pick tomorrow. The tomatoes are growing but still green. The beans will be ready soon if the deer will leave them alone. I came inside and checked the big pot of white beans and ham hocks I had cooking and put a skillet of cornbread in the oven.


I went back out to check on the critters and noticed that the apple tree is absolutely loaded this year. I still have lots of frozen apples and applesauce from last year! Looks like lots of fresh pies this year!


I made my way on to the barn where I found these gifts from the nice ladies of the coop. Thank you ladies!


and on the way back I had to make a pass by the blackberry bushes and look what I found. Almost enough for a cobbler. Just might have to bake one tomorrow night.


Hopefully, within the next few years our new fruit trees, raspberries and grapevines will do well. I didn't get much cleaning done but I enjoyed my afternoon strolling around admiring the fruits of our labor. I love the fresh farm bounty that out little farm produces each year.

A Quick Update

I worked yesterday and had to work today. I get my camera back Sunday so my posts should get a lot more interesting after then. I've missed my Canon companion. It's amazing how many things you see that make you think, "if I only had my camera" when you don't have it! The orange lilies that grow along the roadsides (known as ditch lilies around here) are in full bloom right now and they are absolutely beautiful but telling you about them is just not the same without a photo!

I received my prize from Linda over at Prairie Flower Farm and the fabric is absolutely adorable, plus I LOVE snowmen! Thank you so much!

Ga.farmwoman your cookbook is on the way, I sent it out Thursday (a day late, sorry about that!)

Lisa over at shmoopywood is having an awesome giveaway. Be sure to check that out too.

I'll leave you with a pic taken last year of a water lily from my mom's pond.

Oh and I am having a new give away for the 4th of July and it's NOT a cookbook. It's something very patriotic! I'll be listing it soon!

Cookbook Winner!!!!

is ga.farmwoman!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!

She can be found at Life On A Southern Farm where she is hosting an awesome Four-hole Nest Box Give Away that I will definitely be entering! If you have hens, you will want one of these.

Please email me at mycountryblogofthisandthat@gmail.com with your address and I will get your cookbook sent out to you.

Thanks to all of you for entering. I'll have another give away soon!

I won't be blogging much with photos for a few days unless I can go find some old ones I have saved on my computer. My sister borrowed my camera yesterday for Bible school all week. It's a good thing I trust her with it (Hi Ang, I know you're reading this) or I would have to go get it! I feel like I'm missing a child or my right arm or....well you get it! I love my camera!

Okay, I found one...This is a tiger lily I dug out of the flower pic folder. This one is from last year but they are just starting to bloom in my yard this year. I usually get to enjoy them for a day or so then the deer leave me nothing but the stems!

What I Should Be Doing

and what I am doing are 2 different things this morning. I should be packing. We leave for Florida Saturday morning for our first official, more-than-a-day-away vacation with the boys. They are so excited to be going to the beach for the first time. I should be cleaning my house so it's nice and tidy while were away. I have to work Thursday and Friday and we have a doctor's appointment tomorrow. I should be making a list of things I need to pick up to take with us but instead I have been outside, with my camera, playing. I did at least pretend to pull some weeds from the onion row in the garden, that counts for something, right?

While pulling those weeds, something bright red caught my eye. The Bing cherries are starting to ripen, looks like lots of canning again this year despite the broken limbs from the ice storm back in January.

You can see the effects of that in this post....Ice Storm 09.

I continued my walk and found one of my Stella d'Ore lilies starting to bloom.

I love these creamy, buttery colored little lilies because they have such a long bloom cycle.









and then there are times when color just doesn't seem to go in a photo and this was one of those times.

This lily was originally a bright pink and no matter how hard I tried, the color just clashed with my eyes this morning so I tried this and found a soft, dreamy effect that made things just right.

I hope you enjoyed taking a walk with me, now who's coming over to help vacuum, pack bags, and figure out who that little bird is in my previous post??