We have experienced some beautiful and rather warm lately and that has brought on the rhubarb and asparagus!
These 'first fruits' of the spring are so welcomed. Rhubarb can be wonderful, it just needs a bit of sweetener. We have had some stewed, which just means that I cooked it in a pan with some sugar and a bit of water until it was runny. So good, warm or cold. I make Rhubarb Crisp this evening for dessert. This is one of my favorites. It is easy to put together and has some nutmeg in it, which I am becoming convinced has addictive properties, especially when it's warm. Put some ice cream on top and you have a wonderful dessert, or snack.
The asparagus is just chock full of vitamins. It has been called a perfect food. We like it steamed, or baked covered with olive oil. I like mine covered in butter. I'm looking forward to filling the freezer with this yummy stuff soon. It is a delight to have this in the winter. It just screams "Spring"!!
It won't be long until I get some other goodies planted in the garden. I need to get my broccoli and spinich in soon.
The old, large apple trees that my husband pruned, are in blossom! I guess that means we didn't kill them! Apple blossoms are just beautiful! (All the blooming trees seem just spectacular this year.) I was able to find a Cortland apple tree to add to our little orchard! Our two smaller apple trees appear to be doing well. I am anxious to see if we get any apples this year from our newbies. We've decided that each of the little apple trees will be in honor of the grandkids. I hope to plant a tree, preferably a fruit tree of some kind, for each of them. We want them to grow and bear fruit for the Kingdom, just like their trees.
The grass has been cut. With the rainfall, no doubt I'll be back at it again this weekend. I'm already sporting my farmer tan.
I am so thankful for the warmer days and nights. The sunshine is so welcomed after this winter. The warmth of the sun feels good all the way to my bones.
I trust that you, too, are enjoying the wonderful spring weather and the changes that it brings.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Pop? Coke? Soda?
How often have you had the "pop vs. soda" argument??
This is a fun map and a great look at our country in a different way.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/74/Sodavspopvscoke.png
This was posted on a friend's site...I just thought it was very interesting!--thanks, Dan.
This is a fun map and a great look at our country in a different way.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/74/Sodavspopvscoke.png
This was posted on a friend's site...I just thought it was very interesting!--thanks, Dan.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Monday, April 6, 2009
Dirt Work
When the seeds I ordered arrived, I became anxious to plant something, anything. It was just not time yet, to cold for anything. I was hoping to get my peas planted by March 17, but didn't quite make it. But the sunny day that I was able to get out and run our little tiller enough to work up a spot in the garden for the peas was a good day. Three rows of peas are in--one more than last year. Last year, I said that I wouldn't plant peas again. They were everywhere! I tried running a string for them to climb; they broke the string and ended up a tangled mess. It was hard to get into the rows to pick without stepping on the vines. But, eating our own peas during the winter changed my mind. I'll try and deal with them for the taste of our own baby peas.
The smell of the freshly turned soil was a welcomed fragrance on a brisk, but sunny day. I also found a use for some of the CDs that I was given from my time on the pulpit seach committee--they are hanging from a string on a stake between the rows rotating and flashing sunlight to keep the birds away. We'll see how they work.
It won't be long before we are able to enjoy some fresh rhubarb. Our three plants have already shown themselves.
Hubby spent an entire day pruning our ancient apple trees. I'm anxious to see if they come back and bear better fruit. This also opens up the entire orchard area and our little apple tree should get more light, which was greatly needed. We desire to get some cherry trees and at least one more apple tree. My hope is to get a Cortland tree this spring.
We are hosting the family for Easter here, so I really need to clean!
The smell of the freshly turned soil was a welcomed fragrance on a brisk, but sunny day. I also found a use for some of the CDs that I was given from my time on the pulpit seach committee--they are hanging from a string on a stake between the rows rotating and flashing sunlight to keep the birds away. We'll see how they work.
It won't be long before we are able to enjoy some fresh rhubarb. Our three plants have already shown themselves.
Hubby spent an entire day pruning our ancient apple trees. I'm anxious to see if they come back and bear better fruit. This also opens up the entire orchard area and our little apple tree should get more light, which was greatly needed. We desire to get some cherry trees and at least one more apple tree. My hope is to get a Cortland tree this spring.
We are hosting the family for Easter here, so I really need to clean!
Feed Mill Memories
I'm sure you've heard about how Spring is a time for renewal, growth and new life, and it is. This year, spring has been a time of nostalgia.
One of the delights of the spring planting season for me is a trip to the Bowser's Feed Store. It may sound like I have no life when a trip to the feed store is a big event, but it brings back fond memories.
The feed store has two areas. One is the "inside" part of the store where one can purchase some horse tack and dog collars and toys and other smaller items. The main part of the store is accessed by a large garage door entrance; about the only light to the dark, wooden interior. Here, the scent of the grains and fresh ground feeds is the first thing that takes me back in time. There is the sound of boots walking on worn, wide plank flooring; neat stacks of bags of dog food, rabbit and chicken feed stacked higher than I could reach on every side. As I walk to the back of the store is the area where the bulk seeds are kept, my eyes adjust from the brightness of the outdoors to the darkness of the old building. No big, bright, colorful display here. Just a well-worn shelf brightened only by a small light hanging above. Sitting on the shelf are plastic containers that are reminicent of canning jars full of smaller seeds with a worn seed label taped to it. Among the choices are carrots, zucchini, lettuce, turnips, radishes. peas and beets. An old, metal scale also sits on the shelf for weighing out the purchase. Underneath this shelf are two rows of bins that contain several varieties of sweet corn and green beans. Each bin has it's own small, handwritten label. There are sacks of onion sets open with the variety written on the side. I'm told the seed potatoes have just arrived.
When I was younger, I would often go with my dad to Roth's Feed Mill in Prospect to get cracked corn and other feeds. Roth's Mill had the old mill workings where you could see them, the wood floors the creaked and moaned under the weight of sacks of flour and grain. The scents were always what I noticed first. Mills seem to have a distinct, sweet aroma. We would walk up the wooden stairs onto the main floor and wait until a worker took our request and filled it. If I was alone, the gentleman always offered to carry it to the trunk of the car for me. To pay for your purchase, you sent up a small set of steep stairs to the office. There, you received a written receipt for your purchase, no matter how small. Growing up, going inside with my dad was never a problem. But going inside alone, was a bit scary. Sometimes it was so loud and the one or two workers there didn't always notice a scared, skinny girl waiting at the door to get some flour or feed. Only one other time did I see another female there. This seemed to me a hard core manly farmer place that women were not excluded, but just rarely darkened the door.
Roth's had a separate building for seeds and farm and garden items. Shovels, buckets and dog food lined the shelves of what was an old grocery store. Much of what I remember about this store building is fading in my memory. I remember the Mill best. My trips to our Feed Mill in Worthington brings back the sights and sounds of my trips to Roth's with dad. He passed away going on nine years this month. He taught me everything about gardening, pitching and stacking hay bales and the cleaning of barn stalls (oh yeah, loved doing that in January-NOT).
Going to the Bowser's Feed Store is not only a trip down memory lane, but a delightful experience when shopping for my seeds. It is hard to leave and I find myself trying to look for excuses to hang around and drink in the scents and sounds. I still need to buy my seed potatoes. Looks like another trip to Bowser's is in the future. Now, what else can I find to buy there??
"Suffer me not to forget that I look for yet greater blessings--
a hope beyond the grave,
the earnest and foretastes of immortality,
holiness, wisdom, strength, peace, joy;
all these thou hast provided for me in Christ.
I grieve to think how insensible I have been
of the claims of thy authority, and the endearments of thy love;
how little I have credited thy truth,
trusted thy promises,
feared thy threats,
obeyed thy commands,
improved my advantages,
welcomed thy warnings,
responded to thy grace;
but nothwithstanding my desert I yet live.
May thy goodness always lead me to repentance,
and thy longsuffering prove my salvation."
--excerpts from a portion of Caring Love a Puritan prayer written in The Valley of Vision
One of the delights of the spring planting season for me is a trip to the Bowser's Feed Store. It may sound like I have no life when a trip to the feed store is a big event, but it brings back fond memories.
The feed store has two areas. One is the "inside" part of the store where one can purchase some horse tack and dog collars and toys and other smaller items. The main part of the store is accessed by a large garage door entrance; about the only light to the dark, wooden interior. Here, the scent of the grains and fresh ground feeds is the first thing that takes me back in time. There is the sound of boots walking on worn, wide plank flooring; neat stacks of bags of dog food, rabbit and chicken feed stacked higher than I could reach on every side. As I walk to the back of the store is the area where the bulk seeds are kept, my eyes adjust from the brightness of the outdoors to the darkness of the old building. No big, bright, colorful display here. Just a well-worn shelf brightened only by a small light hanging above. Sitting on the shelf are plastic containers that are reminicent of canning jars full of smaller seeds with a worn seed label taped to it. Among the choices are carrots, zucchini, lettuce, turnips, radishes. peas and beets. An old, metal scale also sits on the shelf for weighing out the purchase. Underneath this shelf are two rows of bins that contain several varieties of sweet corn and green beans. Each bin has it's own small, handwritten label. There are sacks of onion sets open with the variety written on the side. I'm told the seed potatoes have just arrived.
When I was younger, I would often go with my dad to Roth's Feed Mill in Prospect to get cracked corn and other feeds. Roth's Mill had the old mill workings where you could see them, the wood floors the creaked and moaned under the weight of sacks of flour and grain. The scents were always what I noticed first. Mills seem to have a distinct, sweet aroma. We would walk up the wooden stairs onto the main floor and wait until a worker took our request and filled it. If I was alone, the gentleman always offered to carry it to the trunk of the car for me. To pay for your purchase, you sent up a small set of steep stairs to the office. There, you received a written receipt for your purchase, no matter how small. Growing up, going inside with my dad was never a problem. But going inside alone, was a bit scary. Sometimes it was so loud and the one or two workers there didn't always notice a scared, skinny girl waiting at the door to get some flour or feed. Only one other time did I see another female there. This seemed to me a hard core manly farmer place that women were not excluded, but just rarely darkened the door.
Roth's had a separate building for seeds and farm and garden items. Shovels, buckets and dog food lined the shelves of what was an old grocery store. Much of what I remember about this store building is fading in my memory. I remember the Mill best. My trips to our Feed Mill in Worthington brings back the sights and sounds of my trips to Roth's with dad. He passed away going on nine years this month. He taught me everything about gardening, pitching and stacking hay bales and the cleaning of barn stalls (oh yeah, loved doing that in January-NOT).
Going to the Bowser's Feed Store is not only a trip down memory lane, but a delightful experience when shopping for my seeds. It is hard to leave and I find myself trying to look for excuses to hang around and drink in the scents and sounds. I still need to buy my seed potatoes. Looks like another trip to Bowser's is in the future. Now, what else can I find to buy there??
"Suffer me not to forget that I look for yet greater blessings--
a hope beyond the grave,
the earnest and foretastes of immortality,
holiness, wisdom, strength, peace, joy;
all these thou hast provided for me in Christ.
I grieve to think how insensible I have been
of the claims of thy authority, and the endearments of thy love;
how little I have credited thy truth,
trusted thy promises,
feared thy threats,
obeyed thy commands,
improved my advantages,
welcomed thy warnings,
responded to thy grace;
but nothwithstanding my desert I yet live.
May thy goodness always lead me to repentance,
and thy longsuffering prove my salvation."
--excerpts from a portion of Caring Love a Puritan prayer written in The Valley of Vision
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Poking Plants
March has arrived in style to Western PA this year. We have enjoyed some beautiful weather. Many times March gives a snow storms that really dump a ton of snow on us. The snow doesn't last long, but it is a dumping none the less. This year, at least so far, we have been snow-free. Of course, it's not over and it has been known to snow in April. March could go out like a lion.
Our beautiful weather has started things happening in the garden. A trip out the other day to dump compost revealed some "pink" showing from the ground in the rhubarb patch and a neat row of green tips poking through the soil where I planted my garlic last fall. The lilacs are getting buds, too. I am getting anxious to plant peas.
Taking advantage of the warm weather this morning, I hung out clothes and enjoyed my devotions in the sun. I wasn't out all that long, but I managed to acquire a pink nose and cheeks. My skin, along with the rest of me, has to get used to all this sunshine!
The retirement papers were signed today...again. Lord willing, for the last time. The final letter needs to be signed and then there is no going back. We will then see what God has planned for the next phase of our lives.
Teach me to be resigned to thy will, to delight in thy law, to have no will but thine, to believe that everything thou doest is for my good.
Help me to leave my concerns in thy hands, for thou hast power over evil, and bringest from it an infinite progression of good, until thy purposes are fulfilled.
--an excerpt from The Valley of Vision entitled Divine Promises
With all that is going on in our country these days, I need to remember those lines. God is in control. He has a plan, I may not understand it and I am only able to see my small part in the big picture, but I have to trust and hang on to His promises. He wins! He has already defeated evil.
Our beautiful weather has started things happening in the garden. A trip out the other day to dump compost revealed some "pink" showing from the ground in the rhubarb patch and a neat row of green tips poking through the soil where I planted my garlic last fall. The lilacs are getting buds, too. I am getting anxious to plant peas.
Taking advantage of the warm weather this morning, I hung out clothes and enjoyed my devotions in the sun. I wasn't out all that long, but I managed to acquire a pink nose and cheeks. My skin, along with the rest of me, has to get used to all this sunshine!
The retirement papers were signed today...again. Lord willing, for the last time. The final letter needs to be signed and then there is no going back. We will then see what God has planned for the next phase of our lives.
Teach me to be resigned to thy will, to delight in thy law, to have no will but thine, to believe that everything thou doest is for my good.
Help me to leave my concerns in thy hands, for thou hast power over evil, and bringest from it an infinite progression of good, until thy purposes are fulfilled.
--an excerpt from The Valley of Vision entitled Divine Promises
With all that is going on in our country these days, I need to remember those lines. God is in control. He has a plan, I may not understand it and I am only able to see my small part in the big picture, but I have to trust and hang on to His promises. He wins! He has already defeated evil.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Yeah for Sunshine and Warmer Weather!
Nothing gets me more excited for Spring than a warmer, sunny day in March and placing my seed order.
Today I finally sat down and made out my seed order. One order was to Johnny's Selected Seeds and it contains my seeds for lettuce, spinach, edemame, garlic, carrots and sweet potatoes. The garlic will be shipped in October for fall planting and the sweet potatoes will be shipped in late May. The sweet potatoes will be a new item for us. Russ, who took my order, was very helpful. I still need to see what else I need, or may want to try.
I have green bean seeds left over from last year. The rest of my seed purchases will be made at the Bowser's Feed Store nearby. They have peas, onions, beets, red potatoes and corn that I like. I also like to support the local guy when I can. The owner is so forbearing with me. He lets me purchases five zucchini seeds. I really don't like buying seeds that I end up throwing away. I would rather pay the full price than waste them. He was so gracious to charge me a minimum amount for the few seeds I bought. As you may know, every zucchini seed will grow and produce enough fruit for thousands of people. The neighbors run when they see you coming trying to give them away. One or two plants is more than enough...at least for us.
Another thought I have in expanding our garden is to try red raspberries. This is another new item for us. We'll see if we can get a place prepared for them.
Our yard is a mess from two substantial wind storms we have had recently. I hope to get some of that yard mess cleaned up today. It will take several days to get the pine cones that are strewn all over our front yard, as well as the neighbors.
I also need to get some sewing finished up and get the grapes and apple tree pruned.
I hope you are able to enjoy the nice weather.
O God, the Author of all Good,
I come to thee for the grace another day will require for its duites and events. I step out into a wicked world, I carry about with me an evil heart, I know that without thee I can do nother, that everything with which I shall be concerned, however harmless in itself, may prove an occasion of sin or folly, unless I am kept by thy power.
Teach me how to use the world, and not abuse it, to improve my talents, to redeem my time, to walk in wisdom toward those without, and in kindness to those within, to do good to all men, and especially to my fellow Christians,
And to thee be the glory.
excerpts from Morning Needs, from The Valley of Visions, A collection of Puritan prayers and devotions.
Today I finally sat down and made out my seed order. One order was to Johnny's Selected Seeds and it contains my seeds for lettuce, spinach, edemame, garlic, carrots and sweet potatoes. The garlic will be shipped in October for fall planting and the sweet potatoes will be shipped in late May. The sweet potatoes will be a new item for us. Russ, who took my order, was very helpful. I still need to see what else I need, or may want to try.
I have green bean seeds left over from last year. The rest of my seed purchases will be made at the Bowser's Feed Store nearby. They have peas, onions, beets, red potatoes and corn that I like. I also like to support the local guy when I can. The owner is so forbearing with me. He lets me purchases five zucchini seeds. I really don't like buying seeds that I end up throwing away. I would rather pay the full price than waste them. He was so gracious to charge me a minimum amount for the few seeds I bought. As you may know, every zucchini seed will grow and produce enough fruit for thousands of people. The neighbors run when they see you coming trying to give them away. One or two plants is more than enough...at least for us.
Another thought I have in expanding our garden is to try red raspberries. This is another new item for us. We'll see if we can get a place prepared for them.
Our yard is a mess from two substantial wind storms we have had recently. I hope to get some of that yard mess cleaned up today. It will take several days to get the pine cones that are strewn all over our front yard, as well as the neighbors.
I also need to get some sewing finished up and get the grapes and apple tree pruned.
I hope you are able to enjoy the nice weather.
O God, the Author of all Good,
I come to thee for the grace another day will require for its duites and events. I step out into a wicked world, I carry about with me an evil heart, I know that without thee I can do nother, that everything with which I shall be concerned, however harmless in itself, may prove an occasion of sin or folly, unless I am kept by thy power.
Teach me how to use the world, and not abuse it, to improve my talents, to redeem my time, to walk in wisdom toward those without, and in kindness to those within, to do good to all men, and especially to my fellow Christians,
And to thee be the glory.
excerpts from Morning Needs, from The Valley of Visions, A collection of Puritan prayers and devotions.
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