This is very cool.

www.dearphotograph.com

Twinkle, twinkle...

I noticed that the fireflies have come for summer. I had to climb onto the gate in our backyard so I could see over the grass that comes up to my shoulders, but I saw our pasture is full! It was such a beautiful sight. Hundreds of little green lights sending flashing telegrams to one another.

If you want to witness this amazing yet simple display of summer, you are more than welcome anytime. Rob might even break out the guitar to add to the ambiance like he did tonight.

Reuse

I am going to let you in on a little secret. For Christmas I received a book called The Complete Tightwad Gazette. No I was not gifted the book because I am cheap (even though I am), but because I asked for it. I like to be thrifty. Anyways, this 4in thick manual of thriftiness is FULL of great ideas on how to save money, reuse common objects for other purposes, and to enjoy the things you do have. I have to admit I wouldn't do everything in the book, but there are a lot of things I have changed since reading parts of the book.

Here is a great tip:

You know when you buy a bag of fruit from the grocery store, they come in those mesh bags. They look like this:

Well, what do you do with the mesh bag when the fruit is all gone? You can save it to put other things in it OR you can use it to do a little scrubbing. YES! I have been using one of the mesh bags we had for doing dishes. It is such a wonderful tool. Really! It scrubs so well and it is gentle. So, don't throw that bag away... clean something instead.

Ladies and Gentleman

The yellow hen is Henny Penny (Buff Orpington). The black and white chicken behind her is Tatanka (Silver Hamburg), he is a rooster. He is pretty bossy, cocka-doodling when it is time to go to bed, when it is time to wake up, and if we let the hens out to run around. The other photo is Ribbons (Barred Rock) and Elenor (Black Astralorp). They love to be outside, and love to eat spaghetti squash.

Fruit and Berries

When we bought our place, we knew there were a bunch of different fruit trees. Possibly some other kinds of berries or fruit, but weren't quite sure. It was wonderful to see everything coming to life this spring... or not. We had quite a few fruit trees that didn't make it. They were in pretty bad shape (not being taken care of over the past few years), so Rob had to take them out. We did replace some trees. We now have a new combination apple, patten pear, peach, and cherry. Here are some pictures of the plants that are producing well so far. Grapes, black raspberries, strawberries, and apples. I can't wait to taste them all!

Edible Flowers

One of my friends was having a bake sale for her niece. I decided it had been a while since I made some sugar cookies. So since the bake sale was the first of June, I made some pretty flower cookies. Here is how they turned out. I had a bunch left over.... so we got to taste them. They were pretty good.

Homegrown Chicken

Here is our first taste of the chickens we raised. Rob took charge of the cooking. It was pretty tasty. We cooked them on Memorial Day so that we could share with some family.

Butchering Chickens

Rob and I raised 23 broilers this spring. We had some dog kennels already set up in the big shed, so we put them in there. It was crazy to see how fast they grew. A couple weeks ago we took them out to Marlin's farm to butcher with the help of Rob's mom, aunt, and two uncles. We only did about half of them the first time because a bunch weren't ready yet. That was ok. We would have been at it all day! We did the rest a couple weeks later. Here is a picture of the group making the game plan. I decided not to share any of the actual butchering pictures, I thought some people wouldn't care to see those.

Flowers in Bloom

Some iris, daisies, and little purple flowers that I am not sure of. Anyone know what they are?

Tulip Time

Last fall I planted these. I was excited to see them pop out of the ground. I was a little wary that they wouldn't. But here they are. And most of them have two or three blooms! Lovely.

Mama Robin

When we moved to our house, there was a nest on our porch. There weren't any birds in it at the time, but we decided that it wasn't bothering any one there. This spring a mother robing decided it would be the perfect place to lay her four bright blue eggs. She sits on the nest most of the time. Whenever we go outside she flies away screaming and sits in the tree close by warning us not to go near her precious soon to be babies. I took a few peeks, just to count the eggs. One day there was two, the next three, and finally four. I haven't checked since, so there may be more. I think they can lay up to five eggs. The nest is right outside our kitchen window. Wherever we wash the dishes it is like we can have small conversations with the mama robin. It is really fun to see.

Perennial Swap

At our church, Rob and I are a part of a group called Creation Tenders. We meet once a month to talk about our responsibility towards God's creation. One of the things we planned was a perennial swap. The awesome thing about this is, our place has a lot of open space to plant beautiful things. So we snagged some day lilies, cedum, cannas, potatoes, ferns, asters, and maybe a few things I don't quite remember right now. It was great to be able to talk to the people who brought the plants, discussing how/where they should be plants, and what they look like when they bloom. I love the fact that whenever
I look at those plants I will remember the people who so generously shared them.

Sorry for the neglect...

I haven't posted anything in a while. Life has been extremely busy, but full of some really wonderful things. I will have to find some undated pictures to share and explain what we have been up to lately. Stay tuned...

Super Cute!

Does anyone need an idea for some super-cute spring cupcakes? Here is the perfect idea! I love these...



They are from an amazing blog called Bake at 350. If you make them... please let me know!

Thanks Rob!

Now I have to make something!

Birthdays are fun at school.

Fun little gifts I made for the great kids I work with everyday. For the girls, little hair clips in fun colors. For the boys, crayons made from a bucket full of old crayons I used growing up. (They enjoyed the unique little gifts.) And a huge thank you to the wonderful mom's that came in to help celebrate an already blessed day.

Amazing Spring!

Tulip fields of Holland.




How is this not one of the most beautiful things you have ever seen?
I saw pictures like this on a blog I read often.
I hope you enjoy!

KitchenAid Mixer Cover

Rob had given my a gift certificate for Christmas to a fabric shop in town. I wanted to make one thing out with that money, so I looked and looked, and this is what I found. I used an idea from homemade by jill (a great blog I found recently). She has a link to about.com that shows how to create a mixer cover. Like here, I added a lining and a pocket. It was so easy and only took me part of an afternoon. I love this bright splash of color on my kitchen counter.

Spring Cleaing

I haven't had the time to do the real thing (getting a little antsy to clear some stuff out of our new house), but I had a minute to spruce up this space. A little green really brightens up the place.

Homemade Pea Soup

I have had a jar of dried peas sitting on my counter for a while. I thought they looked beautiful, but thought I should actually use them. So I made pea soup. I thought it was going to be harder, but I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was! I used a recipe from allrecipes.com, but adjusted it to fit what I had in the house. You should try it sometime. It is amazing!

2 cups dried split peas
4 cups chicken broth
4 cups water
1/2 teaspoon hot peppers sauce
1-2 cups cubed ham
1 onion chopped
2 potatoes diced
1 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 chicken bouillon cube
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

In a large stock pot, add split green peas, chicken broth, water, hot pepper sauce, ham, chopped onion, diced potatoes, bay leaves, pepper, chicken bouillon cube, soy sauce and red pepper flakes and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered for about 1 hour 30 min, stirring occasionally. Or until you think it is done.

** The recipe says to take out part of it to process in a blender or food processor. I didn't do that because I like thick, chunky soup. And the peas had cooked down. You can add 2 cups of cream at the end too, but I didn't.


Yum!