SunflowerHill

scripture study

I harvested some more from the garden today and we ate our first ripe corn, oh so yoummmmmy. We have a lot of egg customers right now, I am glad that we can keep up with the demand. I made 7 loaves of bread today and gave away 3 of them.  Giving bread to others is only a little thing but it is something that I can do. 

Todays gleenings from the scriptures.

By keeping Gods commandments we recieve nourishment to our souls, we recieve strength, we are provided for.

Have gratitude

Faith in Jesus Christ

If you keep the commantments you are led by the LORD.

Show faithfulness

Show diligence

Keep His word

Remember the LORD

Worship the LORD

Truth is hard for the wicked

Repent

Be humble

Pray oft

Submit to the LORDS will

Accept Gods will

Praise God.

Remember the LORD

Knowledge obtained from the Scriptures

Liken the scriptures to my own life

Hope

I am at a point in the gardening that I only have to water and watch things grow, and harvest a few ripening vege's.  In a week or so I will be knee deep in canning and drying.  I feel to thank my LORD for the blessings given to me each day.  What a miracle each little seed is that we put into the ground.  We are still dealing with my husbands health problems, but the LORD is with us.  I have been contemplating writing down the personal things I have been gleaning from my scripture readings each day.  I am writing these things down in a notebook, but I think I would like to record these things here too. 

Keep Gods commandments

God is merciful

Ponder the scriptures

Delight in the scriptures

Delight in the things of the LORD

Ponder them continually

Trust in the Lord

Be mighty in prayer

Serve God

Remember the righteousness on our Redeemer

Redemption is through the Holy Messiah

I need a broken heart and a contrite spirit

Remember the merits, mercy and grace of the Holy Messiah

Intercession by Christ

I will be judged of God

There is opposition in all things

I am free to act for myself and free to choose

Repent,be faithful, choose eternal life

I like to go back and reread these things to help me to remember.  I have also found that Christ's teachings are repeated again and again for our benefit.   

Thanks for stopping by Cathy.  I use pinto beans too.  As soon as the garden and canning slow down I will be blogging more.  Let me know your blog address.

I have been meaning to post some more bean recipes using bean flour, but,...........well , you all know, TIME  We picked up one of our grandsons last week after the family monthly birthday party.  He is 8 years old and has spent time with us since he was 18 months old.  He has 2 sisters and a younger brother.  He always wakes up with a smile on his face.  We will be doing some homeschooling all summer to keep him on top of things for next year.  I thought I was busy before LOL.  My dh is still battlings health problems, but he has such a faithful attitude.  Our dear Savior is so good to us. 

The grasshoppers are so bad this year.  I had to replant my beans because the little beasts stripped them.  My first planting of beets are ready to pickle.  Plentiful gardening to all of you.

Apple-Bean Cookies

I'm still out in the garden a good deal of the time.  We are going up north this week-end to the monthly family birthday party, where we celebrate all of the family birthdays in this month. There are 5 birthdays this month. 

This is a good cookie!

Apple-Bean Cookies

1/2 vegetable oil                               1/2 tsp cinnamon   

3/4 C brown sugar                             1/2 tsp cloves

1 C mashed whiite beans                     1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 C applesauce                                 1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp soda                                           1 C raisins

2- 1/2 C whole wheat flour                1 C nuts, chopped

1 egg                                                    1 C rolled oats

Cream oil, sugar, mashed beans and applesauce.  Add remaining ingredients.  Chill dough one hour. Drop by teaspoon on greased baking sheet .  Bake at 375 for 10 minutes.

OOPS

There's an old saying " the hurrier I go the behinder I get".  Well that's me.  I forgot to mention that if you mash the beans in the Sloppy Joe recipe, you will need to add more katsup and more tomatoe sauce.  I have also used condensed tomato soup for the sauce.  I can't tell you in measurements because it is one of those add and see things.  I also add barbque sauce now and then.  Try it and you will like it.

More beans

First, I want to thank all of you who have been praying for my niece.  The funeral was today. I know that only our Savior and the Holy Ghost can bring the sweet peace that is needed for healing.  Thank you.

I have been busy gardening, like the rest of you, and time to post has been nonexistant.  Due to bug problems, I have had to replant my beans, and spinach, they have eaten them right as they have broken out of the ground.  We have been enjoying lettuce and and peas.

I thought I would post this handy recipe.

Here is another recipe that you can “hide” your beans in.

SLOPPY JOES

1 lb hamburger

1 onion chopped
4 to 5 cups cooked beans,
1 red or green pepper, chopped
1 ½ cups ketchup,
2T Worcestershire sauce
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
¾ cup water
2 to 3T apple cider vinegar
3T brown sugar
1t dry mustard
salt and pepper to taste

Brown hamburger with onions and green pepper. Add cooked beans, I like to mash about half of the beans. If you do not want to “advertise” the beans, mash all of them. In a small bowl add remaining ingredients. Add to hamburger and bean mixture and simmer until flavors well blended.
Serves 8 to 10
Oft times I serve this open-faced with lettuce and shredded cheese on top.

Tragedy

Gratitude

As I was washing dishes today, I remembered years ago when I had many small children in my nest.  I was washing dishes one day and I felt such gratitude in my heart to be able to have dishes to wash.  Dishes that the ones I loved so dearly used everyday. I felt, and still do, such great joy to be serving them. I have always loved to do my family's laundry.  I guess for the same reason that I like doing dishes. Some clothing was handed down several times before they wore out.  With 7 girls in a row that was a real blessing.  And of course I had my favorite little dresses.  My daughters tease me about one of the dresses that I liked so well.  My sister-in-law gave it to me after her daughter grew out of it.  It was a dress that was used only on Sunday for church, so it didn't get a lot of wear. I handed it down to d3, d4 and d5.  D5 was a peitite little thing. She wore it when she was 3, 4,and 5.  That is where the teasing comes in, at 3 it was kind of big on her, at 4 it fit her nicely, and at 5 it was a little small. And by then the velvet was showing wear, and we moved and I lost it somewhere along the way so d6 didn't get to wear it.  I wonder if one of my older girls helped the dress to get lost LOL . 

Hearts

"Assessing the condition of our hearts is one of the most essential things we can do in this life.

The heart is a tender place.  It is sensitive to many influences, both positive and negative.  It can be hurt by others. It can be deadened by sin. It can be softened by love.  Early in our lives, we learn to guard out hearts. It is like we erect a fence around our hearts with a gate in it.  No one can enter that gate unless we allow him or her to.

In some cases the fence we erect around our hearts could be likened to a small picket fence with a Welcome sign on the gate.  Other hearts have been so hurt or so deadened by sin that they have an eight-foot chain link fence topped with razor wire around them.  The gate is padlocked and has a large No Tresspassing sign on it.

So how do we open our hearts?  In the Sormon on the Mount, the Savior said, "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God"  If something is pure, it is not polluted or tainted by things which do not belong to it.  Purity of Heart is certainly one to the most important qualifications for receiving inspiration from God.  While none of our hearts are perfect, the more diligentlhy we strive to eliminate impurity, or push out things which do not belong there, the more we open our hearts to the Holy Spirit.  Note this sweet promise of the prophet Jacob: "O all ye that are pure in heart. lift up your heads and receive the pleasing word of God, and feast upon his love."

I say again, the condition of our hearts directly affects our sensitivity to spiritual things.  Let us make it a part of our everyday striving to open our hearts to the Spirit.  Since we are the guardians of our hearts, we con choose to do so.  We choose what we let in or hold out.  Fortunately the Lord is anxious to help us choose wisely.

"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" Philippians 4:13  Gerald Lund

"That our hearts may be comforted, being knit together in love."

Colossians 2:2

Best laid plans

I spent all day in the hospital ER today.  My dh has double pneumonia and was so sick this morning that he let me take him to the ER.  All of this comes on top of the liver problems and too much iron in his blood and other complications his is dealing with.  At the hospital they gave him two different antibotics I.V.  This took hours. He will have to have I.V.'s for the next 4 days. That means 4 trips to town (40 mile round trip) that we haven't budgeted for.  But I know that the Lord will bless us. We had planned to work in the garden today, Weeding LOL.  I have several different ground covers that are far over due for planting in some areas that need something special.  It has rained for two days.....all around us ....but not in our little valley. So tomorrow I will be watering the orchard, it takes a while to water  130 fruit trees. I love working on our homestead. I've lived here for 30 years and the work is never finished LOL.

Try this recipe for pinto bean fudge.  I served it at a dinner at church and it was a hit.

MORE BEANS

As I have said before I love Mondays!  Today I finished planting the garden.  In an attempt to get rid of all squash bugs, I am not planting any squash this year. We have potatos, corn, beets, turnips, cucumbers, peas, french beans, yellow wax beans, purple beans, onions, peppers, parsnips, tomatoes, carrots,watermelon, honeydew.  We have blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, Apricots, peaches, cherries, apples, pears.  Keeps us busy .  But believe me I an grateful to my Heavenly Father for these blessings!

Now for more bean recipes.

Bean and Rice Patties                    1/4 C poppy seeds

2 C cooked brown rice                   1/4 tsp coriander

1 C cooked mashed beans               1/8 tsp red pepper

4 large eggs                                     1 tsp salt 

1/4 C bread crumbs                         1/4 tsp black pepper

Mix ingredients well and spoon onto hot oiled griddle ro skillet.  Cook over medium heat until browned on both sides.  Serves 6-8.

Mock Pecan Pie

3eggs                                                       1 tsp vanilla

1C brown sugar                                        1 C mashed beans

1/4 C butter, melted                               1 C light corn

1/4 tsp salt                                               1 unbaked pie shell

Beat eggs, add butter, brown sugar, syrup, salt, and vanilla.  Add mashed beans and poor into pie shell.  Bake at 450 for 10 minutes; reduce oven temperature to 325 and bake until set (about 30 minutes more) yum,yum

Hope you try some of these recipes.   I am always trying beans in all kinds of recipes.

It is late and I am so tired.  My days at home are Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday....  Tueday, Wednesday and Tursday I take care of some of my grandchildren.  We leave and 7:45 am and get home about  6:30 pm.   With spring here there is so much to do.  I count on working in the garden, orchard, vineyard, my flower beds and taking care of the lawns, on Friday and Saturday. But Friday we spent the whole day at the hospital a hundred miles from home. My husband needed a proceedure done and they couldn't do it because he has double pneumonia. So I tried to do two days worth of work in one day LOL. Also on Saturday I try to cook for Sunday and prepare freezer meals for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. I don't have to cook, just reheat when I get home.  Yeah.

Sunday is such an important day. I go over to church about 7 a.m. and do research in the Family History Library.  After church we try to keep the Sabbath day holy by following what the scriptures recomend for truly worshiping the Savior.  So, usually, my Sunday afternoons and evenings are quiet and restful.

Mondays are my get the house clean and laundry washed day.  Each day is a wonderful gift from God.

I was going to write more on beans and give  you a pie recipe, but that will have to wait.  I need to go to bed.  Blessing to you all.

Beans

I love reading the posts on Homestead Blogger!  In some, I see myself many( well not too many LOL) years ago with a house full of children, and I wonder how the years got away from me so fast.  In others, I see my creative self as I sewed and created for my children.  Still in others I see the gardener me.  I planted my first garden when I was 5 years old. But now I am old enough to be the mother ofmost of you.  I get excited  when I read of your successes and I cry and pray with you.  I only have 2 of my 18 children at home now.  Only 5 of them live somewhat near me. I have one on the east coast and one on the west coast.  The rest live north of me a little over 200 miles.  That is where the work is.  They all love the old homestead.  Once a month one of them hosts the monthly birthday party to celebrate the birthdays for that month.  With 34 grandchildren we have a lot of birthdays, not to mention the parents birthdays.

Well, now to get on with cooking with what you store. I would like to start with beans.  What would your family do if all they had to eat was beans? Read on.  Beans are an ideal food to store.  No special handling is required and it keeps long term.  but as with everything is should be rotated. I like to keep my different beans stored in plastic (5 and 3 gal) buckets.  I get mine free from the market bakery where I shop.  The buckets (with tight fitting lids) keep the water and bugs out.

There are many ways of pre-preperation for using your beans.. The best method I have found for ME, is to soak them over night, drain and discard the water and rinse them, then add more water and cook. Soaking beans over night starts the sprouting process which develops enzymes. Prepared this way really helps with the digestive problems some have with beans.

Since I use beans a lot, I cook up a big pot full.  When cooked and cooled, I spoon them into plastic bags, usually 4 cups to a bag. I stack he bags flat on top of each other and put them in my freezer.  Then when I need some, even if it is only about a cup, they are cooked and ready to go.  Another thing I do is pressure can several quarts of different varities of beans.  These I use for "instant meals".

Most beans contain only 2-3 %fat.  Beans have no cholesterol .  Beans are one of the richest sources of fiber. Beans are high in Protien-most contain at least 20% protien . Beans provide essential B vitamins and iron. And at this point in time I purchase beans in bulk for less than 10 cents per serving.

Now you are saying "but my family doesn't like beans". Aww the art of being a sneaky cook!  If your family doesn't care for beans you need to  introduce them slowly, and put them in foods they do like.  You can start by mashing up a cup of cooked beans and adding it to your meat loaf, spaghetti sauce, tacos.   Add them to your vegetable soups, stew, the list is endless.  For example........... If your family likes tuna sandwiches, here is my families favorite. 

1can tuna-drained

1 cup mashed beans

1 tsp chicken bullion or soup base

2 large Tbs. or more to taste mayonaise 

1 large Tbs. prepared mustard

1 large dill pickle. chopped

1/2 cup shredded cheese

Mix all together. My family loves these sandwiches grilled.  They are great with homemade tomato soup.

After you have been serving these hidden beans for a while , you can explain the your family that they have been eating beans!  More to come.                                                        

My heart goes out to all of those who are suffering from natrual disasters.  And then there are those who are suffering from personal disasters. It is so important to be prepared.  We need emergency 72 hour kits to sustain our families if we have to leave our homes quickly.  We should have enough extra blankets and water proof coverings.  I always keep a few extra coats of various sizes on hand. 

Could your family live a month, or even a week with what you have in your pantry?  We never know when we might have to do this.  20 years ago when I was faced with widowhood I had no money left after I buried my husband.  We had no insurance and 9 of my 10 children were still at home.  But the Lord is good.  I had a root cellar and a pantry full of home canned food.  I called my children around me and explained that for at least the next month we could not buy anything.  One of the blessings was that we were used to eating home grown food and we had a cow. 

In my up coming posts I want to talk about learning to eat foods we store.  Foods that store easily and do not require energy to store.

I would like to share with you things I have learned in hopes that it might help you. 

What do you do to relax? I love to crochet!!.  As a young mother I found that I could crochet while I nursed my babies.!  Last month I decided to make Christmas doilies for each of my daughters and daughter-in-laws. That will be 16 doilies unless one of my unmarried sons get married between now and Christmas. LOL  I've also decided to have a candy dish to sit on the doily. I have found 8 pretty crystal candy dishes at the thrift store for a dollar or two dollars. I tell my children that  I am giving them heirloooms I am also finishing a double size afgan.  I try to have extra quilts and afgans on hand.  We heat with wood in the winter and extra bedding is important to have on hand. I have made afgans for 28 of my 34 grandchildren.   I find it fulfills my creative needs, I have no other talents, except for maybe sewing.  In my very busy days of childrearing I managed to make a lot of my childrens clothing by sewing a seam a day.  Good memories.

I planted tomatoes in the garden today.  We have corn coming up. And new baby chicks. Mom and chicks are doing well.  "And that ye study to be quiet and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands."  1 Thess. 4:11

We made another trip to the doctor (100 miles away) today. Even after a biopsy of the liver, we still do not know why dh liver is so enlarged.  But we are blessed, nothing bad has been discovered.

Daughter number 14 is babysitting for daughter number 10 tonight and will stay all night.  That just leaves son number 4 at home tonight with mom and dad.......and boy is it quiet!  Awwwww peace(LOL).

 We had a beautiful sunset tonight.  We are getting a little promise of rain.  "Show me thy ways, O Lord teach me Thy paths. Psalm 25:4

I managed to get a lot of gardening done today!  I have been fighting weeds for 20 years.  We have some of the most noxious weeds known to man.  And as the children started going off to college and work there went some of my weeders.  So now its me and dh to fight the weeds.  I am surrounded by fields full of weeds and they love to come to my place!  A few years ago I started putting carpet down between rows to keep weeds at bay.   It does a fantastic job. Each year I just move the carpets over a few feet.  And what a mulch.  Living in this semi-arid country I need to conserve on water.  I have also added some raised beds to the garden I have 2 that are 3 feet high and 4 feet wide and 8 feet long.  I love them. This aging body prefers not to be on all fours.  The other raised beds are about 18 inches high.  I even filled up 2 old watering troughs, oval shaped, with this good red earth and grow carrots and turnips in them.  My tomato plants cover my kitchen window sills. In about another week I should be able to plant them in the garden.  I plant my tomatos in three gallon black buckets, the kind that you buy plants from nurseries in, I cut round holes in the carpet and cut out the bottoms on the black buckets,  I dig the dirt out of the round holes and bury the buckets  three quarters down.  Now I am ready to plant the tomatos.  The plants are buried deep with the top leaves about even with the rim. No matter how big the plants grow I can always get the water directly to the roots by putting the hose directly into the bucket.  Is that clear as mud.  I would love to take some pictures, but alas, I have not yet learned how to do all of that.  We have corn up!  Peas, potatoes, turnips, beets, parsnips are growing fast.  I am sad to report that we lost our apricots, peaches, plums  to the last hard freeze last week.  We still have some cherries, and lots of apples.  WE are truly blessed. The grapes are leafing out, and the blueberries look promising.  I planted a new strawberry patch in a raised bed so it will be a year or so before I get a big yield from them.  The berry patch looks great.  Now that all but two of the children are gone I wonder why I go to all of this work to plant, grow and harvest all of this.  I guess it is in my blood.  I planted my first garden when I was 5 years old. With the economy the way it is I know that it is wisdom to grow and preserve as much as possible.  Blessing to all of you.

HEART

What a beautiful Sabbath Day!!!!  I have been truly blessed this day. In our church we have a lay ministry, and the congregation is often called upon to talk in meeting.  I was called upon to speak today ( I was asked last week so I did have time to prepare).  I chose as my topic Thessalonians 5:18.

"In every thing give thanks, this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."  You will notice that  every thing is two words.  Giving special emphasis on every...meaning all.  How easy is it to give thanks when the whole world is crashing down on you?  Not easy. But possible.  It seems to me that if I can take my concentration off of my problems for a minute and seek to see my blessings,( oh, the sun is shining today, I recieved a lifting phone call, my scriptures are full on encouragement if I am willing to look, prayer is always there for me,   etc.....all blessing s)  Well that was the line upon which I spoke.  I have been trying for several weeks to increase my daily gratitude to the Lord.  The desire of my heart is to give away all of my sins that I might truly serve my Savior, Jesus Christ.

I have good news about  my dh liver biopsy.  All tests were negative.  That is good, but his liver is still twice its normal size and his spleen is over 8 times its normal size, and his diagnosis is still portal hyper-tension.  We trust in the Lord and are willing to submit to His will.

I worked in the orchard yesterday, it felt so good to have the sun shining down on me as I pruned and dug holes for more peach trees.  I must be crazy, I am getting too old to be planting more trees!!!!  I just can't help it.  My grandmother used to call me "JoAnna apple seed"  because I planted fruit trees every time we ,moved to a new home( 28 moves in 12 years).  I have now lived in this little valley for 30 years and have over 120 fruit trees, plus grapes, raspberries, and strawberries. Well I have rambeled on long enough. HAPPY SPRING to all of you.