Counting Blessings

There is a challenge going on at Frugal Family Food. It's "low spend month" where we are challenged to use from pantry, fridge and freezer instead of getting as much from the grocery store. (Subscribe to their newsletter here.)

When the challenge was announced I thought there would be no way for me to participate. This is the time of year when my canned and frozen food is nearly depleted. Out with the old, time for some new.

But then I began to realize how much I had. One day I took pictures of things I was given and that came from our own farm. It has happened more than once that I decide to not buy as much and then God begins to shower me with food from sources I never thought of.

Peas and strawberries from the garden.

 20 lb bag of potatoes for $4.

 Milk from the cow.

Free cheese from my bro-in-law, who drives a food truck.

 Green things from our garden.

 Shucked peas (from our garden).

 Carrots from our friends' garden.

 Honey from our friends' bees.

 Eggs from our chickens.

 Blueberries from friends.

 Black raspberries from our orchard.

 Blueberries from our orchard.

Homemade butter.

Basil from the garden.

It is good to count one's blessings!

For a bonus here's a video of our youngest son mowing the yard. He has been bugging us for awhile to be allowed to do it. Our oldest was mowing with this same machine at 8 yrs of age. Why are we reluctant to allow the nearly 13 yr old youngest one to do it?

Things in nature

 The strawberries are ripening. 

 Green berries we hope to harvest once they're blue.

Papa Bear, Mama Bear and Baby Bear. That's what I thought when I saw them.

 A sun dog overhead. Have you ever seen one in the sky above you?

There was a "normal" one in the western sky to the left of the sun at the same time.

And to the right of the sun there was just a bright spot with the faintest color that the camera hardly picked up.

 One of the azalea bushes around here.

 Individual flowers of the same.

Raspberry starts. The chickens have destroyed all but one. Hindsight is better than foresight. We should have put a fence around them.

Rhubarb. A family favorite.

A funny bone tickler-
I came into the living room where Stephen sat with his head phones on and the computer on his lap. Having heard him speaking, I thought maybe he's on his phone with someone.

But then he ceased speaking and was staring at his computer. Supposing he wasn't on his phone after all, I queried, "Are you going to eat supper?"

"I so would, if I thought I had the knowledge," he immediately replied. 

I burst out laughing as I realized he was speaking to someone other than me. 

An Assortment of Topics

The smell of banana bread is tempting me. The young people are doing random acts of kindness throughout the community this evening so I made these with that in mind. A healthy one was added to the number (of breads, not people) for us to eat.

The healthy one

Melvin and Christopher peeled the rest of another box of free bananas and prepared them for the freezer. Once again, as before, most of the boxful disappeared down their gullets already -with peanut butter.

The wind is blowing in cooler weather this evening. The clouds and sun alternated across the sky today. A bit of rain fell. It's that time of year.

A snowman constructed on March 24

There are a couple of days next week where rain/snow is forecast. My friend Patricia told me that my transplants are getting quite large. It is time to set them out in the garden. Can they survive? 

We will wait a few days and then see if we can set out the lettuce and cabbage, etc. Tomatoes and peppers must wait for warmer weather. I might get in a hurry though and set some out under milk jugs... 

Christopher completed his PVC flute and has been driving his mother batty with all the shrill noises. It sounds like music to him. He is still working hard at figuring out how to perfect it. Meanwhile, we long for earplugs. 

Melvin discovered Brighty of the Grand Canyon this week. It held his attention for a number of days. It still thrills me to see him buried in a book. He was also in a silent world for a few days because of earache-induced-deafness. He's hearing again now.

Christopher read The Secret Garden for the first time and realized it's an interesting book. His comment, "Frances Hodgson Burnett likes to write about India." (We listened to A Little Princess just recently.)

I've been reading The Canterbury Tales. I thought this was supposed to be some classic of worth but I'm rather turned away by the wicked stories. Why didn't someone warn me?

Like a video I watched the other day. It wasn't wicked. There is a homesteader whose channel I subscribed to and they showed a detailed video of disbudding a goat. More than my tender heart could watch.

Some people like blood and gore and smoke or whatever but anything that looks like pain turns my stomach, head and nerves in all directions. Obviously, I wasn't cut out to be a nurse.

On our homestead, we have a cow that gives dry milk at the present. Well, you know, she is just dry. We're giving her a break from milk production until her baby comes in May. 

Otherwise, the chickens are laying eggs daily and keeping us happy with orange yolks. There are usually enough eggs for a breakfast of some sort. Hopefully a chicken or two will get broody sometime this spring and give us some chicks.

For supper tonight we tried a new recipe, King Ranch Chicken. Some rice and a cabbage salad completed the meal. Christopher rated it "top-notch".

Till next time....

Words-
Opportunism
Negligee
Dressage

Chickens

Aren't they beauties? Twelve hens and two roosters.

What sound is more "country" than a rooster's crow?

 These were all gifted by a neighbor who is moving and needed someone to take them. They seem right at home in our garden, tilling & fertilizing it. They love to scratch in the wood chips, looking for grub(s).

Hopefully we can keep them from predators this time. And maybe, just maybe, they'll give us some eggs if they like us well enough.

Today I am thankful for...
...sisters.
...friends.
...new calendars.

A Pictorial View of Our Lives

Christopher has a knack for finding unique bugs- can you find the beautiful moth here?

 Stephen has begun a donut business. He employs his brothers and cousins. This Mama is so happy there is at least one female involved! (Cleanup issues) And that the cooking has moved to an outdoor burner!

Matthew

Austin

Mervin

Sylvia

We had a very successful week of Summer Bible School in the town of Romney. Peak attendance was 80. A busy, happy week.

 Fence work for the garden and orchard has been happening this summer. Tear down the old, install the new. It has not yet been completed but it is exciting to see it progressing.

 Lots of canning going on this summer. Lots of green beans. Some peaches. Not as many peaches as usual because of the price this year.

 The boys enjoyed getting to know more of my cousins' children on the Summy side of the family. We had a reunion at Wilda Lake in VA.

 My sister Doris and family followed us home from the reunion and were with us for a few days. Here is one of her cutie pies.

 Speaking of pies- we made 100 for the Romney peach festival. After that ordeal, the weekly 16 or less seems puny. We made 50 crusts two days in a row, then 50 pies two days. They are asking me to do 120 next year. I'm having a hard time making up my mind!

 The boys and Grandpas did the bulk of the corn while I did other things. Not a super duper crop but enough.

Melvin

Grandpa

Grandma

Christopher

 My co-teachers and I took a couple of the girls from Kid's Club on a bike ride- the few that earned a treat. Sixteen miles of biking. Thankfully it was a continual slight downgrade. Even so, it was hard to sit for a few days.

 We took a trip to TN for a Troyer/Schwartz family reunion. It starts with a list, you know. We stopped in Gap Mills for lunch and business. All five boys were sitting on the bank eating lunch but one moved before the picture was snapped. Aunt Katie is 95 years old and has a large family. The family graciously invites other relatives to their annual reunion. I met relatives I didn't know I had this time around- my dad's cousins and their children. The aunts stay young by playing Scrabble. And the boys decided that this is a reunion worth going to again though they balked about going (as usual).

Aunt Katie

Cousin Barbie Schwartz looks on

Aunt Fannie

 Our latest venture was going camping with the church youth group.

 Peppers anyone? We harvested 3 (5 gal) buckets this week.

 I've been listening to a lot of webinars, helping me to understand the best ways for schooling our sons. One screenshot. Have you ever heard of a commonplace book? A wonderful idea for a profitable avenue of writing. Donna Goff has a lot of helpful webinars at her Mentoring Our Own site. Check it out if you are homeschooling.

 The men so graciously put up a laundry line for me this spring. If you've never been able to step out the washroom door and roll your laundry out on a line, you don't know what you're missing! It has been such a tremendous blessing.

Photo of first post set (taken from laundry room door)

Second post

In use

We are so rich! 

Luke 16:19-31 is my challenge for myself.