Heritage Hill Homestead

are a fond childhood memory! Today hubby had a Dr. appointment so we were off to Topeka for most of the day. I went to Goodwill while he was at the Dr. office, more on that in a minute, we then ate a very late lunch and went to the grocery store. In passing the candy isle I noticed right on the end a bag of chocolate stars. I mentioned to hubby when I caught up with him that I saw them and hadn't seen them for a long time and didn't even know if they still made them. Ok, we stop at another little store on the way home to check out any specials they might have and you guessed it, I saw another bag of chocolate stars...............I really am not looking for chocolate stars, honestly. I said, "there are chocolate stars again". Next thing I know hubby has grabbed a bag and we are on our way to the check out. (Not too fast, I ran into an old friend and we had a nice little chat.) So on the way home we snack on......Chocolate Stars!! Now, for the meaning behind this story. When I was little and my folks and I would go to Emporia shopping Mom would buy chocolate stars and we would eat some on the way home. My Daddy really enjoyed them. So they brought back a very fond memory for me.

Well, I had a great Goodwill shopping trip. I found 6 pair of slacks in various colors that fit me! I tried on a couple more that didn't fit perfectly so put them back. Most times I would be happy enough with the way they fit and made do. I couldn't believe what was available today. Also got 2 knit tops and a pretty little soap dispenser for the bathroom for 68 cents.

The phone rang this morning with the news that our chicks were at the post office. We had plenty of time to get them settled in before having to leave. They seemed pretty happy when we got home, had only lost one.

I was very thankful that they did not come yesterday as the weather was COLD! It was 52 when I got up and never got above 57 all day! Today started out pretty chilly, but this afternoon the sun came out and was really nice later.

That cool weather made for a nice day to work in the kitchen. I made 6 batches of grape jam, it is yummy! Got 6 peach pie fillings frozen. And one ready to use tomorrow. Also am working on 14 day sweet pickles this week. I hope to get apples picked tomorrow. However since we were running around today, I didn't get any baking done for Saturday's Market..........so tomorrow will be a busy day. One good thing (I guess) is that we don't have produce to get ready now. That really takes a lot of time to pick and wash.

Busy Summer Days

These days have been busy ones. Last week we had almost 200 broilers processed. The end of the week brought many visitors to our little homestead. We were blessed with folks wanting to buy critters! While it is hard to see them go, I realize that with winter coming and feed prices rising it is necessary. We were able to sell some extra Muscovy male ducks, all of a small breed of ducks, some laying hens, and 3 goats. The goats were ones that had problems kidding in the past, so they needed a home where they were wanted just for eating weeds and being pets. We are wanting to cut down on hens for the winter, feed costs are too high to have a lot of hens to feed when they stop laying. We have 200 chicks coming tomorrow or Thursday to replace them. They should be starting to lay about February. We need to get on a schedule in the future so we will have some pullets starting to lay about now for eggs through the winter months.

So, first thing in the morning we have to get the place ready for the new chicks. I have the feeders and waters out, but still have to wash them up. Intended to get that done today, but it didn't happen.

Today was quite warm again, but it is cool tonight. Tomorrow's high is to be in the upper 60's.............Sounds like fall doesn't it!

We picked some grapes last evening, got 2 bushels of peaches today and have apples to pick at the neighbors asap. Sounds like I will be busy for a while. Our tomatoes have really slowed down to almost nothing. I sure hope they will produce some more as I would like to do some more canning of them. Another neighbor offered me some if not.

We plan to put a few does in with Bubba our little buck this week. I don't think we should put them all in at once since he is young. All of those girls flirting with him might scare him. lol Since the sale of the does over the weekend that leaves us with 20 does, which is a good number for us. Some of them need a little more time to get into good shape before breeding anyway. Some have had worm problems over the summer and need a little extra feed.

Hubby got my clothesline poles put up recently, one little problem, he put them up at his height instead of mine! I suppose standing on tippy toes to hang things up is good exercise?? Anyway, I will enjoy using them............the smell of things hung outdoors is priceless!

The old wooden pole is shown in the picture, it now is a hanging flower pot holder...........

One more picture to share with you, a couple of weeks ago our kids were here and I happened to get this picture of hubby with the grandkids.

I have one question.........where did our summer go? How can it possibly be Labor Day...........the end of summer already?? Any of you that know me well at all, know for a fact that I prefer summer to winter. It is hard for me to enjoy the beautiful fall weather because I am sure it means winter is coming soon after. Actually, by this time of the year, we are getting pretty tired after all of the summer activities and I am finding myself looking forward to a slower pace as winter approaches.

We have been blessed with such a nice summer this year! I don't remember many years in Kansas that we had to mow quite this often after the 4th of July. Everything is so pretty and green yet.........and the garden has been wonderful for us. We have enjoyed eating, canning, freezing, and selling at Farmer's Market! About the only thing left is tomatoes and they have really slowed down, I was in hopes I would be able to make another batch of salsa or two yet, but we will see. We do have some fall beans planted and they are doing well, and the sweet potatoes look nice.

We so enjoyed spending some quality time with our grandson, Nick at the county fairs this summer. This was his first year in 4-H, his projects were foods and goats. It was fun to watch him learn and try so many new things. Of course you know that Grandma had as much fun as Nick did. I still enjoy the county fair as much as I did when I was a 4-Her a few years ago...........

He did very well for his first year, coming home with all blue ribbons! In foods he exhibited trail mix, chocolate chip cookies and rocky road fudge brownie muffins. Here he is showing one of the goats, Rain Drop at the Overbrook fair.

Speaking of goats, and I usually am, I have some sad news to share. Most of you know my first little goat, Bucky, he has been the center of attention at our Nativity scenes, made several appearances at the Lebo 4th of July parades, and just had a special place here at the farm. He was a bottle baby and lived in the house with us for the first 3 weeks of his life, he then had the run of the farmyard for about a year. Finally after getting other goats he moved in with them, however he never really figured out that he was a goat. Well, sadly he died last Tuesday.............. He had been sick for about a week and I had treated him with everything I could think of. He seemed to respond and I would think he was going to be ok, and then would relapse. I had let him out to run around the yard the last week and the night before he died he wanted in the barn where he called home that first year, so I guess it is fitting that that is where I found him the next morning.

Some happier thoughts, baby chicks are coming this week! Who can resist cuddly baby chicks? We have 200 pullets ordered, they will be our layers next summer. Because of these replacements, some of our current layers will be for sale later this fall. So if you are wanting a few egg layers of your own check with us.

*We also have a new batch of broiler chickens available right now. They were processed this past week. I would say they average about 4 pounds. Some of you have already picked up your order. Let us know right away if you would like some, as these will most likely be the last ones available until next spring.

We have found a home for Black Jack, our donkey. He is such a sweetheart and will be greatly missed here, especially his wonderful voice! However he could not be trusted with baby goats and that was always a worry! So, he left yesterday for his new home near Osage. He is on loan and will be working for his keep now, training 4-H calves to lead. He will be returning here to appear in our annual Live Nativity scene this December.

We have a puppy that needs a home (now at least think about it), she is a nice little dog about 5 months old. Her name is Sassy. She is English Shepherd/Anatolian Shepherd cross, which will make an excellent farm dog. She loves kids, is used to other dogs, cats, poultry, goats and whatever else we have around here. We would love to keep her, but we already have Sadie, Sophie, Rowdy and Shadow........don't you think that is enough? They are all working farm dogs except Shadow of course who is the spoiled house dog!

I have not been able to keep up very well this summer with my blog, but please do check it out when you have time. As things slow down I hope to do a better job. http://www.homesteadblogger.com/heritagehill/

Fair week and more

A week ago Monday our little grandson, Nick came down to spend a couple of days getting ready for the fair. We have so much fun when he is here. One of his 4-H projects is foods, so we did his baking here this time. He made chocolate chip cookies and rocky road fudge brownie muffins. He did everything himself except I did help him get some of them in and out of the oven. Let me tell you that it takes a lot of patience for this old grandma to watch and let him do it all by himself. He did a super job and learned a lot too! Both got blue ribbons!! The brownies are a recipe I found this summer and they are so simple to make I thought it would be a good one for him to try. Here it is........... recipe from Cookie Madness.

8 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder
2 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 scant teaspoon salt (if using salted butter, omit)
3/4 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (divided use)
1/3 cup toasted pecan pieces or coarsely chopped pecans
2/3 cup mini marshmallows

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or spray top of a 12 cup muffin pan with cooking spray and line cups with paper liners.

Place butter in a 2 cup glass measuring cup; microwave on high for one minute or until butter melts. Add cocoa to melted butter and stir well. Set aside and let cool slightly.

Whisk eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt together in a medium mixing bowl. Add butter/cocoa mixture and stir until well mixed. Add flour, stirring just until blended’ stir in 1/3 cup of the chocolate chips.

Stir together remaining 1/3 cup chocolate chips, toasted pecans and mini marshmallows. Set aside.

Bake muffins for 18 minutes. Pull pan from oven and sprinkle with marshmallow mixture. Return to oven and bake for 2 minutes more for a total bake time of 20 minutes. Let cool in muffin tins for about 10 minutes, then carefully loosen muffins from tins and let cool completely before serving.

Note: If you skip the topping, divide batter among 10 muffins cups to make the brownie muffins slightly taller. Bake time is still 20 minutes.

On Wednesday evening Nick and I took his goats and food entries to the fair. His house is only a few miles from the fair, so I stayed the night with them. He and I went back on Thursday morning to check in the goats and weigh them and for conference judging for his foods entries. Both got blue ribbons! I headed home to bake for Market.

Friday afternoon was the goat show, so hubby and I went up. It was a long day as the judge took a lot of time on the classes before his. The favorite goat, Lucky placed 3rd in his class. Rain Drop, his little doe was the only one in her class. He did well in showmanship placing 4th or 5th. We rushed home to get garden produce and baking ready for Market the next morning........

Well, as we were getting ready for Market on Saturday morning it started to rain!! Had we known this would happen, Friday could have been a lot more relaxed and rested I might add!! Hubby did sell some things at his market, but I sat in the car for an hour thinking it will let up soon, and then came home. We got 3.75 inches of rain.

The parade was cancelled and the demolition derby also at the fair for that night. However the 4-H livestock auction turned out fine as the rain stopped before it started. Nick sold Lucky, if you remember I mentioned he was the favorite goat, and I expected to cry myself over this, but to my surprise neither of us did.

Sadly the fairs are over now for the year. I can't expain it, but I so enjoy the fairs. Most folks are ready for them to end, but it really does make me sad. We plan to attend the State fair in September, so I have that to look forward to.

Nick has learned so much and had a lot of fun this year, so that is what counts the most, and he is looking forward to next year too! I was able to spend some real quality time with him this summer, both during the fair and when he stayed here getting ready, those memories are priceless.

Yesterday hubby had a Dr. appointment, so we spent some time in Topeka. Also checked out Good will and found a bed spread.

Today I went to a friend's house all afternoon, was supposed to help her work some goats, but mainly just caught up with visiting and had a nice time.

The kids are coming Sunday evening for a cook out, a belated Birthday celebration for Mom, whose big day was last Wednesday during the fair. And my cousins and Aunt are coming on Monday to spend a day at the farm. So need to think about some food to fix. Also a pot luck dinner at church on Sunday at noon. Need to do a little cleaning......have done some this week and the laundry is done. I got a new vacuum cleaner and so have had fun trying it out?? I must say it sure works better than the old one, so that does make it a little fun.

School started here today, way too early in my opinion, but they didn't ask me. Kaylan starts pre-school tomorrow. Nick and Lexi don't start until the 25, they attend a private Christian school so have a different schedule.

Some good news on the farm and some bad news...........The little bucket calf, Blossom is doing great and we got her a room mate. We purchased a little heifer that was a bucket calf 4-H project from some friends after the fair. Her name is Tootsie, she is an Angus cross. Buttermilk "Casey" my little bottle baby goat from last summer was found dead this week. No idea what happened to her, I am thinking one of the bigger does may have butted her and hurt her, as they can be pretty mean to each other at times. She was the one that would ride on the garden tractor with me last summer, good memories!

It has been a long time............

Hello, I am still hanging around, haven't taken time to write, but I have kept up checking in with my friends to see what you all are doing the past month. Thanks to those that have checked in to see if I was ok.

Hard to believe that July 4th was a month ago already, times goes so fast it really is scary isn't it! Since right before the 4th things have been crazy around here, just not enough time it seems.

I will try to briefly catch you up..............Our little town has a big 4th of July celebration which is fun! We didn't enter the parade this year, so that was a lot less stressful. Last year we did a float for our homestead, and it was a lot of fun. I did enter the cookie contest, didn't place, and the dog contest. The fireworks were really nice and enjoyable. On Saturday there is a car show and we had our regular Farmers Market downtown, it was the best sales we had ever had, so that was exciting.

Saturday afternoon Nick came to stay and get ready for the fair. We had such a good time with him. The neighbor baled the hay he had mowed for us and so we had some help to haul it in. That hay deal was quite a story, but we did get 1/2 of the 20 acres baled.

On the 13th one of our County fairs began. (We have 3 county fairs, some think that is crazy, but I love it!! Fairs are the highlight of the year for me.) I am the superintendent of the sheep, so I take entries, weigh in, organize the show schedule and take care of the show. Nick was showing his goats for the first time also this year. The weather was great and we all had a wonderful time! Nick showed 2 market goats, a doeling, and in showmanship, also 2 foods enteries and got all blue ribbons! Not bad for his first fair. He sold one of the market goats, Curly. Hubby and I had 10 garden entries, 2 jams and muffins.

The fair was over on the 16th, I woke up the next morning and it took me an hour or so to come back to everyday life and realize that it was Hubby's birthday! Fair days are kind of another world with no thought of dates or anything else that is going on around you.

During the month we sold all of the puppies Sadie had in May. We wormed the goats and got them moved to a new weedy spot. Several are looking pretty bad, so I started to feed them and give them liquid molasses to get them ready for breeding season. The corral they had been in during the summer had too many worms. I am treating one with iron shots also, may have to treat some others too, will see how they look in a week or so after the worming. We lost one doe last week, she had her head stuck in the fence. We had never lost one that way before, but I know it does happen. She was behind the shed and kind of behind a tree so that it was hard to see her. I noticed she was not with the group and went looking for her, but when I found her it was too late. I felt so bad, as it was hot and I hate to think of her suffering. These are things that happen with livestock sometimes.

Our garden is doing great yet. We have had nice rains through the summer, and not the storms that have gone all around us. We are very thankful for that. Tomatoes are coming on strong. Cucumbers have slowed down right now, squash too. I will have tomatoes to can tomorrow and have sweet pickles soaking right now. We have dug most of the potatoes, we sold most of them and only have a couple of buckets left for us to eat. The last 2 plantings of green beans are doing pretty well, I am sure there are some out there needing picked right now.........but it is just too hot. I spent Friday morning picking for Market and almost got sick with the heat. Last week we had 3 days of cool, cloudy weather and then the real heat set in. For 4 days now it has been unbearable, the humidity is so bad. Yesterday I saw on the weather that a town north of us had a heat index of 120. Can you imagine that??

Farmers Market has been going great for us this year and we are so thankful! This past Saturday hubby went with me here and we had the best market ever here. We had quite a few tomatoes and they add up pretty quick, however I only had 2 pies made. We did sell quite a bit of meat, more than usual for this market. The Lord has truly blessed our little garden and our efforts this summer.

We just found out that our Pastor is moving the end of August, so that will mean a transition time for our little church. Last Sunday we hosted a Christian Motorcyle Association Sunday. It was such a wonderful day, folks of all ages enjoyed it. We rented a tent and had the service outdoors, which of course was right up my alley. After the service we served pulled pork sandwiches, potato salad, cole slaw, baked beans and brownies.

We have a new addition to our critter family, a bucket calf named Blossom. We got her on Friday at the auction. Not sure of her breed, but she was 3 days old and seems very healthy so far at least. She was very easy to start on the bottle and is so cute! I can't believe I have not gotten a picture of her yet.......but I will. Kaylan will have such a fun time with her, she spent the first of last week with us, but went home the day before Blossom arrived.

Also in July we had another 100 broilers processed. Will have 200 more done the end of August. This week we roasted one with fresh herbs from my little herb garden, that was fun and it sure tasted good. I am not very good about using fresh herbs or knowing how to use them, so I was very proud of myself.

Wednesday through Saturday this week is our final county fair. So this will be a busy week for sure. I will go to Market on Saturday, but will not be home on Friday to bake, so will only have what garden produce I have time to gather up to sell.

Well, that somewhat brings us up to date at Heritage Hill Homestead. I will leave you with a picture I took early one morning a couple of weeks ago while out doing chores. Isn't it wonderful to live out where we can soak up the beautiful world God has given us!

Garden update and Birthdays

My last post was about the first tomato of the summer.......while still fun to spot a red one, now there are quite a few. Over the weekend we picked about 20, so we officially have tomatoes now!

Friday I picked enough green beans to have 19 bags to sell at market. I didn't pick again until today and got enough for at least one canner full. They are snapped and ready to can in the morning. I know they should be done straight from the garden, but it doesn't always work out that way........ The first planting is not producing much, I think I will wait to see if they come back after the rains we had a few days ago before pulling them up. We waited a long time between the second and third plantings, but the third planting is coming along nicely. Four more rows were planted last week and they are starting to peek up today. We were needing a rain and got .70 on Thursday night and .80 on Friday night. It is hard to believe how the plants grow with some good old rain water!

Speaking of rain.............the neighbor started mowing our hay this afternoon. Seems he broke down as he only worked a short time and then left? He is on vacation this week, which means the hay needs to be done this week! Today was a beautiful day and tomorrow is supposed to be nice, BUT then they are talking about rain again and I really hope God doesn't allow our hay to get wet!!! (He did last year). I was nearly in tears several cold winter evenings when I had to pull apart many bales of hay flake by flake, trying to salvage some that wasn't molded to feed the hungry little goats! When I would get a nice bale I think I was just as excited as the goats were.

Since I last talked with you here things have been pretty normal what ever that is. Friday I spent the day baking ~ a peach pie, a strawberry-ruhbarb pie, 3 mini apple pies, 10 small loaves of friendship bread, 1 dozen large muffins, and 4 dozen cinnamon rolls. As you remember hubby had already baked 10 small loaves of lemon-poppy seed bread for me! We also had potatoes, cucumbers, green beans, eggs, meat and jam to sell. Market was slow it seemed, sprinkled in the middle, but at the end of the morning it was the best sales of the year so far. Hubby was having problems with low blood pressure, so he did not feel like driving to Emporia market that morning. He went with me and I sure enjoy having him along, help loading and unloading it great! He will also go here this weekend since it is a holiday.

Today was a nice day and it seemed like I got some things done! Yeah me! Some days just go by and I don't feel like I accomplish much or at least enough. Almost everything is marked off of my to-do list tonight, so that feels really good! Hubby's sister and family planned to stop by here this afternoon on their way home from vacation for a short visit. Today is her birthday and I was to bake her an apple pie, but as it turned out they needed to get on home and could not stop by. Today is also our wonderful little grandson, Nick's birthday.......9 years ago tonight was a pretty special occasion!

BT Sandwich

That is what I had for lunch today!! Most people have BLT but I really like just a Bacon Tomato sandwich. Last Friday I saw nothing but green tomatoes...........when we got home Sunday evening, this is what I saw.

Yummy! There are quite a few turning now, so before long I will be saying, I have to go out and pick tomatoes. Right now, it sounds like fun.

Yesterday our ladies Bible study met here. We had a good turn out and a nice evening. Hubby went to Farmer's Market, so the morning was spent getting things ready for him to take there, and the afternoon getting the house somewhat ready for company.

This afternoon I went into town and gave Mom a perm. While I was doing that hubby fixed supper and baked two batches of Lemon bread for Farmer's Market! What a wonderful surprise that was. I really should have baked more this evening, but just didn't. While ago I made my list of to-dos for tomorrow and it is long..........but it will get done!

It was really hot here yesterday and today, there are storms around now, doesn't look like we will get the worst of it anyway, but we could use a rain. We put a soaker hose on the green beans today. When I picked yesterday there were not nearly as many as I expected, so I thought giving them a drink might help. Hope there will be a good picking tomorrow for Market on Saturday.

The wedding

I must share a little of the wedding we attended over the weekend.........It was our Grandaughter, Whitney and her groom Ben's special day, and it was absolutely wonderful!

I wanted you to see the back of her dress, of course in this picture of their first dance, the train is buttoned up, but you can see the red trim, it was so pretty!

I took 89 pictures, no I will not bore you with them all, although I could............I will share just a few!

My step-daughter Jody and her hubby Jimmy, the proud parents of these beautiful girls! What a special family they are.

Ok, I will share some fun photos later. We had such a great time. Our two sons that live close and their families met us Saturday morning and we all traveled together. When we got to Springfield, we checked into our motel, then went next door to eat lunch. We had very little time to get ready for the wedding, really had to rush. But all was well as we found the church in plenty of time. The reception included a light dinner, highlights were a punch fountain and a chocolate fountain. The dance followed with a great DJ. He kept everyone involved and lots of fun dances for all ages. It was amazing how much fun everyone could have without drinking!

After returning to the motel, yes we did finally reserve a room, we watched the grandkids swim for a while, they were having such a great time. It was well worth the money to stay, in my last post I said we were unsure what to do!

The next morning after checking out, we went to Bass Pro Shop for a while, then started home. The kids traveling with us wanted to eat at Lamberts so they headed over there. If you are not familiar with that it is known for throwing the rolls! They also went to Bass Pro before heading home. Mom, hubby and I went on to Carthage to the Precious Moments Chapel. Mom had not been there before and really enjoyed seeing it. We also stopped at the Louisburg Apple Cider Mill just across the Kansas line. So we made a day of the trip home. On the way home Mom said, You know 2-3 times this month I thought I would just stay home, but I sure would have missed a lot! She had a really good time and didn't seem to get tired. Hubby was pretty tired on the way home, but did feel good and enjoyed the weekend. (He even did the Twist with the girls at the dance)

When we got close to home, I began to worry about our critters and wonder if everyone would be ok when we got home. Thankfully we found all was well, they didn't seem to miss us!

Today was more bean picking and usual stuff around here, back to routine. However, this afternoon a guy we visited with on Friday came and bought all of our little goat babies! I have some mixed feelings...... sorry to see them go, but glad for a check in hand and not nearly so many little hungry mouths to feed! We were just weaning them today which meant them eating more grain, so the timing was perfect. Of course, God's timing always is!!

First canning of the summer

I had a small picking earlier in the week, but hubby took them to the mid-week Farmers Market yesterday. This afternoon I picked 2 small buckets full and here they are, ready for winter. We plan to make sure we get what we need to eat through the winter this year instead of selling too much at Market and then not having our own to eat. Hubby had the great idea to can some in 1/2 pint jars for Mom! Since it is just the two of us we only do pints.

Last evening while I was working in the garden a plane kept turning around right over our place, he was spraying just south of us. That makes us very nervous, that spray can really drift and cause a lot of damage to a garden. A few years ago after they sprayed the pasture right across the road we lost quite a bit of produce, very dissapointing!

Well, plans are set for the weekend trip to Grand daughter, Whitney's wedding. We did get a motel room for Saturday night. We went back and forth, trying to decide what to do?? We didn't want to spend the money, but a 4 hour drive there, wedding, reception, 4 hour drive home all in one day........a very long day! Mom is going along and that would really be tiring for her. We ended up getting a room the same place as our kids are staying, so that will be fun. The wedding is in the Springfield, Mo. area, wish we could zip on down to Branson, but I doubt that we will. We love to go to the Amish store there and I need some things, but not sure it is worth the extra gas and time it would take.

So, tomorrow will be a full day getting ready to be gone overnight! A friend is coming over to water or at least check everyone's water. I told her we will feed and hay early Sat. morning, so she will only have to come for a few minutes to check on the critters. We should be home mid afternoon on Sunday to do chores that day. Some of it I can do tomorrow, putting out extra water tubs and extra hay to last.

One of our county fairs is going on right now. We had intended to take part, but with all that is going on right now it just didn't work out. The goat show will be tomorrow morning, so we plan to go and watch it, and see the other exhibits.

I am getting laundry finished up this evening and still need to go back out and shut the chickens up. I mowed some this morning and intended to do more later, but a rain came up again, we only got .15 so that isn't bad, but too wet to mow. Just as well, I picked the beans right after lunch and I would not have been able to do that after the rain either and that was more important...........the grass will wait to be mowed! While it was rainy I got a pie baked, one of our customers brought some cherries from her tree and wanted me to make a pie for her. Hubby was nice enough to pit them for me!

God is so good!

What a wonderful praise we have this morning! Yesterday about noon we had no hot water, hubby started down into the basement to check the water heater and..........found lots of water in the basement, up around the water heater, not good news. So he got a pump and pumped out the water, by then it was getting late, so we just decided to deal with the problem this morning. Well, going back down thinking we were in for a new water heater, which we really don't have the money for right now, he pushed the reset button and turned it back on and came up to "wait to see" what happened. After a few minutes, turned on the faucet and WE HAD HOT WATER AGAIN! This heater is only a few years old, so it should last us a long time yet.

Now hubby is off to get a snake to clean out the drain so this doesn't happen again! I also did some work on the eaves that drain near the basement window to make sure the rain water runs away from the house better.

The basement is actually a root cellar that is only under our kitchen. The kitchen was added onto the orginal house and this was put in then I guess, but still probably 100 years ago or so. We are thankful to have a place to go in storms and to store canned goods. I don't make as good of use of it as I should, it is kind of yucky down there to me.

Wonderful Day

Today was the most beautiful day here, about 75 degrees and cloudy most all day, didn't seem like the first day of summer is so close! It was a fantastic day to work outside, which I did all day long. I got some work done in flower beds, herbs set out, some garden tilled, and more weeds pulled!! It has rained enough that the weeds pull really easy and so it is almost fun............well, it isn't hard and you can see the progress you are making as you go........so as much fun as pulling weeds could be. There are quite a few left over plants in the greenhouse and although it is getting late to set them out, since it hasn't been really hot yet and we have had plenty of moisture I am still trying to find places to stick them in the ground instead of letting them go to waste. I still have way more tomato plants than I would ever need, and lots of herbs we started from seed. Wish some of you lived close enough that I could share! I also have hundreds of volunteer petunia plants coming up and already blooming, so I am recycling them as well. Speaking of flowers, I have Hollyhocks planted in front of our barn and they are just absolutely beautiful this year. I took a picture this morning so I will share it another day.

We dug a bucketful of potatoes today, didn't get the beans picked, will do that tomorrow. I did pick the first cucumbers. I also still have to set out the sweet potato plants. It sounds like tomorrow will be as nice as today was, so I plan to take advantage of it working outside again.

As it turned out we do not have to serve a funeral dinner tomorrow. That is really a blessing as hubby is supposed to be resting and I have so much that needs doing around here the first part of the week. It is a really nice out reach for our church to do and we usually don't mind it, but this week it is just best for us that the family did not request a meal. I hope that doesn't sound selfish of us............

We needed a big bale of hay moved for the goats today and our neighbors that usually do it were not available. Hubby thought of another neighbor to ask and he came immediately and did it for us, it is so nice to have such willing and friendly neighbors! I gave him some fresh eggs and a plate of brownies in return.

We actually thought far enough ahead today to put a pork roast in the crock pot for supper! We keep saying we really need to use the crock pot this summer 1) so meals will be ready and 2) not to heat up the kitchen...........but we usually fly by the seat of our pants around here and don't have meals planned well enough or think of starting anything early enough in the day.

Where do I begin

to catch up after not blogging for 10 days??? I have some excuses, but I don't know if they are good ones. Storms and tired that would about cover it.

A week ago Thursday, they began predicting severe storms for our area a week in advance, that made me a little nervous. There were storms but nothing like they thought at least for our area. Then this past Thursday there was a tornado on the ground in Kansas for 80 miles! It was west of us, so we were in no danger, but it nearly destoryed the small town of Chapman and also hit Manhattan and then north of Topeka. They said it did $20 million damage to Kansas State University Campus! The following evening the same type of storm was about 40 miles east of us and headed our way. However we only got rain out of that one. Our kids homes were much closer to the path this time and they all took cover, but there was no damage. Praise the Lord for his protection in each of these storms for our family and homes! This has been such a stormy spring in our area.

Farmers Market on June 7 was a good one, hubby and I both had good mornings. Then we hit a few garage sales and got a huge bird cage for $10, quite a find we thought. A few other small purchases, but nothing exciting.

Tuesday, hubby had Dr. appointments so we were on the run all day, errands and grocery shopping while we were in Topeka. As it worked out, we were able to see part of Nick and Kaylan's ball games that evening on the way home.

Wednesday was the first birthday party for Madelyn. How does time go so fast?? Her birthday is actually the 18th, but that will be a busy day, so they scheduled the party a week early. She was so cute and we all enjoyed watching her celebrate. The same evening Lexi had a ballgame right across the street from the party, so we were able to watch part of her game that evening.

That brings us up to Friday the 13th............that was my 55th birthday. My 50th was on Friday the 13th also! Of course it was "baking for Farmers Market" day, so that is all I got done, no time to celebrate. However Saturday evening hubby, Mom and I went out to eat.

Farmers Market this week was not as good, and I baked more items, so I had quite a bit left over. Saturday afternoon, some folks from Texas and Ohio that have family here came out to visit and see the animals. We had a nice time with them.

Today was a really nice day. Hubby wasn't feeling the greatest this morning, so he stayed home from church. When I got home he told me that his son Jimmy had called and he and his family were coming to visit this afternoon for Father's Day. We had a very nice time with them, we don't see them very often, so really appreciated them coming. They brought us the most wonderful gift, a huge Scrapbooking kit! The two older Grand daughters were not able to come along so we missed them though. He got calls from some of the other kids wishing him Happy Fathers Day.

I also spent some time early afternoon visiting with a friend from school, church and 4-H. We are about the same age. She had moved 30 some years ago, and I had only seen her briefly once since then. She was in town with her family and wanted to see me, so we met at Mom's and enjoyed catching up.

A busy week ahead, we will find out in the morning if we are serving a funeral dinner at church this week, one of our county fairs is the end of the week and our grand daughter, Whitney is getting married on Saturday! You will be hearing more about the wedding and pictures following.

In between these activities, I have been pulling weeds.........that is a full time job it seems. They are everywhere, in the flower beds, in the garden........... Mowing is hard to keep up with right now with all the rain too. Speaking of garden, we had the first green beans today, yummy! I should have a pretty good picking tomorrow or the next day. We have dug quite a few potatoes to sell, all of the turnips, some beets, sugar snap peas, and lots of onions. Peppers are setting on and cucumbers too. Just waiting on tomatoes to get red!

Well, that pretty well tells you what has been going on around here lately. I do hope I will be able to keep up dated more often.

Look what was for supper tonight

Hubby came in with the first nice little bunch of new potatoes.........so browned new potatoes was immediately on the menu for supper!

Kaylan's mama called this morning and said she was wanting to come to visit the farm again, so she has been here since about noon. Will stay until Friday afternoon. Anyway, when she ate the potatoes she said these are really, really good.

We spent the afternoon working outside, she helped pull weeds, plant flowers, water some flowers, of course do chores and played with the kittens. One tired and dirty little lady tonight!

Yesterday hubby went to the Dr., didn't get to see his, but at least got in and was given some antibiotic to knock this cough and miserable stuff he has been fighting for a week. Thankfully, he was already feeling some better by this morning! He was well enough to do a few things outside today, which he had not been able to do since last Friday.

Better get to bed, a busy day tomorrow. Can't believe it is time to start baking for the weekend Market again already! I will at least make Amish Friendship bread, Lemon Poppy Seed bread and Morning Glory muffins. We will see how much I get done with the help of our little 4 year old gal? Saturday in town will be the city-wide garage sales, so may try to make a few extra things because of the big crowd in town.

Thank you Lord

This morning there were some really severe storms in our area and I am so Thankful that our little homestead was protected. The main damage was from large hail. Hail as large as softballs, 4 inches across were reported as close as 20 miles or so! Hubby and I had gone to a nearby town to the bank, as we left for home it started to sprinkle. Within a few miles of home it started to hail, some pretty good sized, but not enough of the large ones to damage the pickup. Two miles from our house we stopped and picked up a really large hail stone. When we got home there were only a few small ones laying in the yard, the sky was so dark the yard lights were on. It rained really hard for just a few minutes, then moved on.

I measured the hail we picked up and it measures 2 3/4 inches which I heard on the news is baseball size! I can only imagine what damage that would have done to our garden!! And the wheat is just starting to turn and looks good, that would have wiped out the crop for the local farmers.

There have been so many tornadoes in Kansas this spring and summer, quite an active storm season! At least there were no tornadoes with the storms this morning.

Nice Sunday afternoon

After church and dinner, we took a nice Sunday afternoon nap. I didn't intend to sleep the afternoon away, but it happened. Hubby is still feeling poorly, so I know he needed the rest and I probably did too.

Late afternoon a friend called and invited us to come over for homemade ice cream.........now that sounded soooo good! I went out to do chores and when I came in to get ready to go hubby said that some friends were on their way over to get some bees. So, I had to call and back out on the ice cream invitation.

Bee story is: for years while I was growing up here in this house there were bees in the corner of our house. They never bothered me and growing up with them I didn't think much about them. After many years my Mom began to get stung and so someone came and got the bees. Quite a mess as the honey melted in the wall and ran and didn't smell good! Well last summer I heard a noise and saw a swarm of bees.............don't you know they moved right in that same spot in the corner of the house! I am guessing it had been at least 20 years since the previous bees had been there. Hubby was concerned that someone would get stung, I really wanted them around for the garden.......so pro and con, hard to know what to do. We had offered them to these friends that have bees, and they decided to come and get them this evening. He vaccumed them up into a box and off they went to their new home! Sadly he told us to spray the remainder and then spray foam into the hole so they cannot continue to go in and out. I hate to think of trapping those left, but there really is no other choice at this point. I asked lots of questions about the bee behavior and learned a lot, they are really interesting little creatures! They brought me a lovely little primitive pin cushion as a gift, Thank you Carmen, I love it! Luckily I had some Lemon poppy seed bread left over from Farmers Market to offer...........Us girls had such a nice visit, we have a lot in common to chat about! They have a lovely family, 3 very handsome, polite, neatly dressed, just good all around country boy sons!

Ahead this week...........lots of chances for rain the way it sounds. Not what we need right now. The yard needs mowed again, and the push mower must be used around the house before we cannot find the house! Neither of us enjoy the push mower.............. Weeds need some attention in the garden, I will set out some flowers that are left over in the green house. It is getting too late to sell them and I have lots of bare spots to fill. I usually set out flowers the first of May......and today is the first of June??? I am behind on washing eggs again, so that is on the list for tomorrow too.

Forgot to tell you that I finally got my hair cut a few days ago.........I had let it grow quite long and while I really enjoyed how easy it was to pull back and go............it was making me look about 20 years older than I really am, so it had to go. I do like it and am so glad I did it.

A friend of ours does a blog about local happenings and she often features the Emporia Farmers Market, I just checked it out and yesterday's Market has another picture of hubby selling his wares, so if you would like to see it, check here. Flyover People

First Farmers Market of the year

I had the first Market here in town of the year this morning. Overall I was very pleased, several things made it a great morning.

Hubby has been going to one in Emporia, a college town about 20 miles from us since the first of May. In the past I have begun ours here the first Saturday in June, which is also the city-wide garage sales. But we had garden produce and a big part of mine here is baked goods, so we decided to go ahead and start up a little early. I had not advertised at all, so wondered how it would go...........my regular customers came!! We have it on the corner right at the main intersection of town, across the street from Casey's, so it is in a location that if anyone goes downtown they will see us there. That helps a lot.

This is the 5th year for our little Market....and I do mean little. Many weeks I am the only vendor, but I don't mind. I really enjoy doing it and have a good customer base built up. I enjoy visiting with the folks who stop by, some buy and some just stop by which is fine.

I took green onions, radishes, turnips, spinach, jams, lemon poppy seed bread, friendship bread, cinnamon rolls, muffins, 1 pie, some tomato plants and herbs that we had started in the greenhouse, eggs, chickens, buffalo, ground beef, whole hog sausage, and soap. I can't think of anything else right now.

Sold out of everything except 4 bunches of onions, 2 loaves of lemon bread as far as baked goods and produce. Sold 15 dozen eggs (hubby sold 15 dozen also!) The only meat I sold was chickens, however I did not have a sign out about meat and don't remember to tell people I have it unless they ask. Need to get a sign made for next week!! Total sales for today here was $105. I thought that was pretty good for just showing up!

Previous years my Friday is so stressful and tiring.........so this year I am trying to follow a schedule through the week and do a little each day that I can to get ready for Market instead of doing it all in one day. My goal last night was to roll out the cinnamon rolls around 8 ( I usually do it after 10) and I did start at 8:30! I had them all done and the dishes done by 10 or so and got to bed a little before 11:30! Good for me

Last summer my schedule was go to bed between 1-2am and get back up to bake rolls at 5............not enough sleep for this getting older gal let me tell you! So, I was very pleased with my first Friday, and really intend to make my life a little less stressful this summer! One thing that helped too was I only made 1 pie that was preordered, usually I spend a big part of Friday making pies.

A classmate was in town visiting her Mom today and saw me and stopped by to visit. We had a nice chat and that made the morning extra enjoyable too.

Hubby has the cold or whatever I had last weekend and is feeling quite yucky! Mom called and wondered about going to Wendy's this evening and he did think he felt well enough to go, so we did and enjoyed the little change of pace for us all. Wendy's is the nearest fast food place to us about 7 miles, Mom enjoys going over there every once in a while, so we usually do when she suggests it.

Weekend events

Saturday morning we went to Emporia Farmers market. In the evening Mom and I attended the Alumni Banquet here in town. It was the 65th reunion for my Dad's class and they had invited Mom to join them. I suppose things like that only happen in a small community! I went along for company. It was my 37th year and since it was an odd year I was the only one there from my class. It was a nice meal and fun evening.

Sunday morning we missed church as we had promised to take some animals to a kids day event. It was at a historic ranch that is now a National Park in the Flint Hills. If you have a minute please check out this virtual tour of the ranch buildings.

There is a 3 story barn, huge ranch house, berm chicken house and other outbuildings. From the house there is a tunnel that leads to the spring house. Quite an impressive ranch! Everytime I am there I say that my critters and I could just move right into the barn. We took some hens and a rooster, also some eggs for the kids to gather, Danny our very social Royal Palm turkey and 2 little goat kids that are friendly. Another family had some milk goats there as well. We had done this last year and had a great time, so were looking forward to it again. It was rainy as we left home, but turned out to be a nice day. They pay our gas and feed us lunch too. Oh yes, Sassy the puppy went along and was quite an attraction too.

Sunday evening, Son Ryan and family spent the night at Mom's so we had supper together. Had fun playing with the grandkids and visiting.

Memorial Day every two years my Dad's side of the family has a reunion in town. My cousins and I are in charge of setting up and clean up. It went very well with a much bigger turn out than past years.

Last evening we met Son Rlyn and family at Pizza Hut and had a nice visit with them. Pizza is one of my very favorite foods and I had not had it in a long time!

Yesterday we made several batches of noodles and I made some Friendship bread that was overdue. It has rained quite a bit over the weekend, so no garden work. I did pull some weeds in the flower bed and hubby got part of the yard mowed today. It grows really fast these days!!! Things in the garden are really growing too, it amazes me to watch how much things change from day to day when it rains and is warm.

We had 2 Granddaughters celebrate Birthdays over the weekend.......Happy Birthday to Whitney and Paig!!

Been on vacation? Not really.........

I have been missing from my blog, but nothing so exciting as a vacation! Just time flying by these nice days. I have checked in on other blogs, but not taken the time to write myself.

The end of last week the turkey that had been sitting was due to hatch and for whatever reason she got off of the nest the last day or so? I was dissapointed as I had some folks wanting babies. I didn't really realize it in time to get them in the incubator to finish up. Hope one of them will start sitting again soon.

Friday pulled, washed and bundled radishes and green onions for Farmers Market. Hubby went to the Friday evening one, not many customers, but our neighbor was there so they had each other to visit with.

Saturday, Hubby went to Farmers Market and I took 2 goat wethers to meet the Grandson for 4-H weigh in and tagging at the fairgrounds. They weighed 45 and 46 pounds.

Sunday, after church it seems like we took a afternoon nap, I always enjoy those. Took some leftover radishes and green onions to give away at church.

Monday I set out a few more tomato plants, planted some squash and a row of Sunflowers. Got caught up on washing eggs.......that gets ahead of me way too often. We have quite an abundance of eggs right now, getting about 4 dozen a day.

Tuesday was the big chicken processing day!!!! We started loading about 6, left here around 7, their appointment was 8:30. We unhooked the trailer full of chickens and left to go to the local auction we enjoy on Tuesday mornings. Great biscuits and gravy at the sale barn cafe! If you don't already know, the local sale barn cafe will have some of the best food around. We had not been to this auction for months, it is an hour drive and you never know what will be there of course, so with gas prices we had not gone. The chicken processing plant is only about 5 miles though, so we checked it out. We had a swing frame and had been looking for a porch swing to put on it.........well there was a porch swing at the auction and we got it for $10 including a nice pad. We were excited! This auction starts out with produce, eggs, plants, sometimes baked goods and then goes on with a junk sale, then at noon the hay sells and at 1 the animal auction begins. This is the only local sale left that sells goats, sheep, hogs and cattle. All the others are only cattle, maybe hogs............Back to the chickens...........we got back to the plant a little before noon and they had barely started on our chickens!! They had taken some others in ahead of ours, so it was 4 before we left there. Long day!! I woke up feeling yucky, sinus, cold, allergy who knows, but a scratchy throat and achy legs. So I took a couple of naps in the truck, it was a beautiful day, nice cool breeze, so that was actually enjoyable. When we got home I did chores and hubby unloaded chickens, we ended up with 216.

Wednesday morning Sadie our Great Pyrenees had her puppies, Rowdy our Anatolian Shepherd is the father.......yes, he was a busy boy this spring! She had 8, but had them in a small area in a manger in the horse barn. She laid on 3 of them, so yesterday we moved her to a goat birthing pen where she has plenty of room. The remaining 5 are doing great. 3-4 of them are already spoken for, so hope she can raise them all. I still felt yucky, so didn't do much except chores..........which btw seem quite simple now with the monster chickens gone!

Yesterday I set out a few more tomato plants, the goose Lulu started to sit tight on her nest, I had milk to use up so I finally made some yogurt. Had been intending to do that for months. Still felt yucky, but a little better. Last night I got a newsletter sent out, I try to do one each month, and needed to let local customers know that the chickens are ready to be picked up. One good thing about feeling bad is that I have been ready to go to bed earlier all week! Maybe it will become a habit.

Hubby has Dr. appointment this morning, I stayed home because of list of things to do and also not feeling up to par. I need to do some baking and get garden things ready for market. We plan to start our local market in the morning, this is a couple of weeks early, but might as well get going since we have things to offer.

We have a busy weekend ahead, so may wait to update after it is all over. Have a great Memorial Day weekend with your family and be safe!

A Day in My Life

A day in my life day, May 14th. First of all it will not let me add pictures to my blog anymore..........it says not enough space. I have missed sharing pictures and cute little art, not sure what I need to do different, any suggestions?

Morning started out about 6:30, I am trying to get myself up a little earlier these days, striving for 6 this summer, this means I really need to go to bed earlier! I have to check messages on here first thing, then for breakfast hubby had sausage biscuit sandwich and I had biscuits and gravy. Then out to do morning chores which right now are..........feeding and watering the monster chickens, watering the hens, bunnies, feeding cats and dogs, and whatever else looks like they need attention. Actually this morning I did a few more things as I knew I would not be home this evening, so I went ahead and fed hay, etc. Came in for a few minutes and made a couple of phone calls. I mulched the tomato plants, this year I put down feed sacks between each plant and then covered them with hay. Seems like this will work well, we will see. I hoped to set out some more tomatoes, but didn't get that far. A friend had called this morning and wanted to come over this afternoon for her kids to see the critters and a visit, so needed to get in and get some lunch. Sandwiches~Simple! She came and we had a nice visit, I should add here that it was the most beautiful day here..........not cold, not hot, not windy and not raining...........what more could you ask for!! If we could have about 2 weeks of weather like this everyday I might get caught up outdoors. As she was leaving, a friend stopped by to get some eggs. Then back to work. Hubby used the weedeater for the first time this year, I pulled some weeds here and there, planted a few flowers and watered the ones planted yesterday. We moved things around on our little patio area and cleaned it up. Watered the garden, hubby borrowed a sprayer from our neighbor and sprayed around buildings, etc. I finished chores while he did this. All of a sudden it is time to go in and get cleaned up. Our ladies Bible study group met tonight, we had a nice turn out. On the way I stopped at a friends house to pick up a goat halter for grandson to use showing this summer, she has a Show supply business. Then home to put the monster chickens to bed and water them one more time today. Hubby was on his own for supper, I had a delicious brownie at our meeting, then a snack when I got home. As you have seen, food was not a priority on this really nice work outside as much as you can day! That is about it for the day...... It is 11pm and I am going to try to get to bed soon. Oh one bit of good news, Snowball the kitty was home this morning.

This and That Tuesday

It was a quiet Mothers Day here. Mom came out for dinner and a nice visit in the afternoon. I visited with some of the kids by phone through the afternoon and evening.

Monday morning I took Mom to an eye Dr. appointment. She has been having treatments for a year now, she gets an injection in her eye.........I can't stand the thought of it, but she doesn't seem to mind. I am sure she doesn't look forward to it, but doesn't complain! At first it was every month but now is once every 3 months. Usually it is about 3 hours, but this time we were out of there in 1 1/2 hours. She has to take it easy the rest of the day following the treatment.

This morning hubby went to pick up some small hay bales. He said I didn't need to go along as there would be some guys there to help him load it...........well when he got home he said all that was there was a pregnant lady! While he was gone I made some meatloaf, I put it in 3 small loaf pans, baked one today and put the other 2 in the freezer. That is just the right amount for the two of us for a meal. I also started some veggie soup........I know it isn't soup season, but I had wanted to make one more pot full. I had several things in the freezer for soup and wanted to get some of them used up.

This afternoon I set out some petunias, I had not planted any flowers yet. I need to get busy, May is half over already! Each year I say I am not going to plant so many flowers around the house, but I always do. I really enjoy them, not so much in July when they have to be watered every day, but it is worth it! Also have quite a few tomato plants to be set in the garden yet. It looked like rain all day, but didn't get any.

We are on the countdown for the chickens..........a week from today they will be processed!! I hope it doesn't rain for a week, their pen is such a mess when it is muddy, and the smell...........

(think pigs)