PrayingIGo

The Original Comb-over

Happy Birthday America!

  Happy Birthday America!  Today I am especially grateful for the wonderful freedoms we enjoy.  The freedom to worship, the freedom to praise God, the freedom to own our own property and live and work as we wish. For all these freedoms and more I very thankful for!

I pray each one of you enjoys a blessed & wonderful day!

Gloria

Fourth of July Plans & Menu

                              I have been planning our weekend.  Tomorrow we will enjoy a quiet day at home.. just family ( all 12 of us!).  We always enjoy a special meal on America's B-day.. so this year I will be making grilled steaks ( a rare treat) , baked potatoes, homemade baked beans, watermelon & homemade apple pie! It's not the fourth w/ out homemade apple pie! 

      Sunday our Church is holding an evening meeting and then a potluck meal. I'll be brining watermelon, lemon meringue pies and spinach salad. The girls are making cookies & cupcakes.  We are also going to bring a pinata & water balloons!  It should be a fun evening!

      Fourth of July is one of our favorite holidays!  We sure enjoy celebrating and taking time to remember how blessed we are in this land of the brave and home of the free!  I am also thankful for the freedom and perfect law of liberty thru Christ our Lord ! Jesus died so ALL men could be set free!  How grateful  I am for that!  We are no longer under the bondage of the law -- but are free thru the grace and liberty in Christ! Thank you Jesus for your precious blood shed on calvary so all men can be free!

  Hope you all enjoy a blessed Holiday!

Gloria

Germs and The Days Plans

 Today and everyday!

Good Friday afternoon Friends and Family~

I pray this day finds you all well and healthy. We are doing well today but some of us are not so healthy. This has been a *germy* week around our house. There is a nasty cold going around and it all of the kids have it.

DD (18) picked it up from the camp she is working at. She said that there were A LOT of sick staff there last week. Some so sick that they couldn't get out of bed. She just managed to to get the sore throat and cold symptoms from it. She was able to keep going the rest of week with it and did a good job of not complaining.

The other 2 kids have had a harder time with it. Dd (15) has been really tired and just wore out from it. DS (10) had a really bad night of it last night with his asthma. All head colds always end up in his chest and it just brings on the asthma.I took him to the Dr. this morning and they gave him some antibiotics for it. Prayerfully he will be better soon as well as DD (15).

Hubby is off today. A good thing and a bad thing at the same time. It means less money for next weeks paycheck, but more time with his family. I'll take the time with us over the hours lost. GOD will take care of our needs and always does.

Hubby is also out visiting with some shut ins from our church. He took them some butter and milk. The lady he is visiting is about 80 years old and always had a cow when she was able to get out and about. He thought she might like some *old fashioned* milk and butter. Nothing is better than that in my opinion. 

I've had to change my plans for the 4th. We were to go to the beach tomorrow (a 4th tradition.) With 2 sick kids, we will have to forgo the beach for the weekend. We are blessed though in the fact that we can go when they are feeling better, seeing we live about an hour away. We'll just stay home and take care of some *undone business* around the house (there is ALWAYS UNDONE BUSINESS AROUND HERE.)

Here is what the rest of the day holds for me:

 ~Cook and debone chicken for Sundays dinner
~ Make a dessert for tomorrows dinner
~Make butter
~ Cut grass and weed eat
~ Make a Homemade pizza for dinner tonight
~ Then there are the *usual* days activities to deal with

Have a blessed day in THE LORD! Stay safe this July 4th weekend! Pray for our country and for our President's salvation!

New things in the shop...

Some new things have been added to my shop as of this morning...
Positively Patriotic Quilted Tote
Simply Beachy
And I am working on one now with a vintage flour sack.
I think it is going to be adorable! :)
Just added!
Vintage Flour Sack Bag of Thistles

Thanks for looking and may you have a Fabulous Fourth of July!

This Just Made Me Think

The Harvest Is In!

Good Thursday Morning Fellow Homesteaders! What a beautiful day it is today. Not too humid but still pretty hot. We will be in the lower 90's again today. Such is the season here in southeastern NC.

The harvest here at Piney Woods Homestead is in. The corn is all picked and put up. We ended up with about 200 ears. I left it all on the cob because the ears were so small. It is a far cry from the 500 we were expecting. It is on the other hand the most corn that has come out of our garden in at least 5 years. I am most thankful indeed. 

I am praying that the guy down the road from us will have a good supply of corn up for sale soon. I got about 3 bushels from him last year and it was really good corn. I will be thankful for whatever comes my way. A little or a lot.

The beans are also gone now. I ended up with about 10-12 gallon sized freezer bags. That is also the most our beans have produced in years. Again, I say," Thank you LORD!" for meeting our needs.

The tomatoes we planted have just started getting ripe enough to pick. I chose Romas this year because I wanted to learn to make my own spagetti sauce with them. Well, they seem to be getting black spot on them just as they are ripened. We have managed to pick a few, but not many. What we are getting will be used just to eat with dinners.Again, we have learned A LOT from this garden.

The taters are great! I picked some over a month ago and they are still on my cabinet with none rotting or sprouting. I am seeing how long they will last in my house without having to can them. Once I get a good idea of how long they wil last, we will dig the rest of them up and store them in our *tater box*.

Here is what didn't do so well at all;

Peanuts (A few plants came up, not enough though.)
Popcorn (a bust)
Cucumbers (enough to snack on as needed)

Our field corn that we wanted to use for chicken feed turned into squirrel feed! The little buggers dug up the kernels and ate them as the stalks were first coming up. We thought it was the birds at first. I found out it was the squirrels when I went down there after hearing crows in that area.( I thought they were the problem.) When I got there, I saw the little buggers feasting on the small stalks (seeds.) THAT little experience has also taught us a lot. Live and learn has become the motto for this Homestead. Experience really is the best teacher.

All in all I can say that this is the best garden that we have had in years. It has also taught us A LOT in the way of farming for a small family. Oh well, its now time to start thinking about the Fall garden.

Thank you LORD for meeting our needs and thank you LORD for all that YOU have taught us this summer season!

Blessings,

Snagglepuss

Snagglepuss is a term of endearment that I use to anyone that I love who has lost baby teeth...
Yesterday afternoon. I had two first time snagglepusses
By the end of the evening... these two (Carlie Jean and Eli) had lost TWO of their front two bottom teeth and Cameo lost one of her eye teeth.
:)
What a fun evening.

Vanilla Ice Cream

I recently made vanilla ice cream and it was delicious!!  I wanted to share my recipe with you.   You can now find all my ice cream recipes (eggless recipes and non dairy too) and ice cream making directions here:  http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/makinghomemadeicecream.htm    If I have more recipes to post I will be adding them to that page.   

Vanilla Ice Cream

6 eggs
3 cups cane juice crystals
2 T vanilla (only the real stuff)
2 c. whole cream
Whole Goat Milk, as much as needed to fill ice cream maker container (whole cow milk will work too.. :)
1 T arrowroot powder (helps make the ice cream smooth.. but this is optional if you don’t have any) 

In a big mixer (like a Kitchen Aid or Bosch) mix together (with the wire whip) the eggs and cane juice crystals until light and lemony colored. Add vanilla and mix again. Add cream and arrowroot powder (if using). When all of this has mixed together completely pour it into your 1 gallon ice cream maker container. Add whole milk until you reach the "fill line" on your ice cream maker container.  Follow the instructions that came with your ice cream maker or click on the above link for general instructions.

dry toast