Heritage Hill Homestead

Roast Beef Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette

Spinach Salad with Nectarines & Raspberries

Cherry Refrigerator Cookies

Cherry Refrigerator Cookies
A very festive cookie, especially if you use both the red and green candied cherries.

1 c Unsalted Margarine
1/2 c Sugar
1/2 c Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
1 t Vanilla
2 3/4 c Flour
1 t Sodium Free Baking Powder
1/4 t Sodium Free Baking Soda
1/8 t Cinnamon
1 c Candied Cherries, Chopped
1/2 c Walnuts, Chopped

Cream margarine and sugars together. Add eggs and vanilla and beat well. Stir together dry ingredients and add to mixture. Stir in cherries and nuts. Form into rolls about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap in waxed paper and chill overnight. Slice 1/4 inch thick. Place on baking sheet 1 inch apart. Bake at 375 degrees F for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Yield: 60 Servings

Per Serving:
85 Calories
1 g Protein
4 g Total Fat
1 g Saturated Fat
1 g Polyunsaturated Fat
2 g Monounsaturated Fat
12 g Carbohydrates
0.2 g Fiber
4 mg Sodium
34 mg Potassium
0 mg Cholesterol

Our 4th of July In Canada

We were blessed to be able to skip across the border and spend the day with family. Benjamin was baptized by his dad with their old church family. We hadn't seen them in a year since their move to Norther AB. It was a great day with much to rejoice about. Unfortunately,Andrew and Jonathon could not be there.



This is like our 10th attempt at a good family picture... Michael, Peter, Vickie, Rainbow, Benjamin...oh, wait... where is Isaac?
Found him!



Really into gymnastics. This guy doesn't walk... he leaps over everything...cars, couches, walls....




girl cousins!



Rainbow being Rainbow and her mom.

I got the compliment of the day. You can only appreciate it if you know how it feels to be three weeks from turning 40. I'm feeling old!!! So we were sitting there chowing on all the goodies when this lady who didn't know us casually asks... "Are all you gals sisters?" The girls nod.  I smile and say, "Yup, those are my girls!"  This weird look crosses her face and she does a double take... "Wait, I thought you were one of the sisters! I thought you were the older sister."  
Sure. Whatever you say! I'm feeling younger already.
Steve and Michael were sitting there laughing... and Vanessa pipes up. "Well, just a few minutes ago while you were sitting with Michael, I overheard someone asking if you were Michael's girlfriend!!"

Michael is 27. He needs a girlfriend closer to his age, don't you think so? He's awfully good looking and the most like Steve of all the bunch... but I like being his aunt. And being a good aunt I'm praying the Lord will find him a sweet, godly wife.

We got back over the border at 10:30. Just in time for the fireworks on the river. In fact the jolly border patrol rushed us through so we wouldn't miss anything. Nice guy. They aren't all...

Green Bean field

    It is the day after the 4th of July. here, it's a big celebration of fire works, picnics and get-togethers. That's what neighbors, family and I did yesterday. But today is quiet. I finished setting up my granddaughter's pool in the back yard, checked for blueberries (five today!), raspberries (one...sigh) and green beans. While there wasn't much fruit, there were certainly enough green beans to provide me with tonight's dinner! Cooked with onions, of course...my very most favorite way to have green beans!

My love affair with green beans started long ago. I was in high school reading something about Walden and his philosophy developed while working in a green bean field. My teacher challenged us to work in a green bean field...and being the type of kid I was, I took that to heart. While there were no fields to be had around my house, that didn't stop me from buying a pack of green bean seeds (Blue Lake bush), preparing a small spot in the side yard and planting green beans. (My reasoning was that a little was as good as a whole...LOL)

Now, I'm not exactly sure what I was supposed to learn from the experience. I was only 14. As far as philosophy went, I never did get it - even after taking classes forced upon me for a college degree. As far as I was concerned, philosophy and Latin belonged in the same place - a good garbage dump.

While I worked away, weeding my little patch of green beans that summer, I did marvel at how easy it was to grow green beans. I marveled as tiny green shoots became large plants, eventually forming flowers and then tiny seed pods. Those pods grew long and fat and I picked them to show mom. Now whether she showed me how to cook them or I simply cooked them myself is lost to my memory. But I remember eating that first plate of green beans. Oh, was there anything better on the face of the earth than fresh picked and cooked green beans?

As for gleaning the beauty of nature as I worked under a summer sun or listening to birds - all that was lost on me. But the beauty of a plate full of green beans - now THAT was something to behold! And even better! To eat!

When summer was ended, that same teacher stood before us to continue her lessons in American Literature. She asked who had worked in a green bean field. Not sure that my little patch would qualify if push came to shove, I still raised my hand and nodded to her question. Even at 14, the look on her face wasn't lost on me. Her mouth fell open and she mouthed, 'Really?'

'Yes,' I nodded in return.

'What did you learn?' she asked.

Now, I wasn't prepared for THAT question. What did I learn? Dare I tell her that I loved fresh green beans far better than those canned things that mom bought at the A&P? Of, should I play it 'cool' and simply shrug or say something about growing green beans from seed was a piece of cake? Or that weeds were a REAL pain in the butt to pull - unless it was after a new rainfall and the ground was damp?

I don't remember what my answer was - or even if I gave an answer at all. But every spring, I await with eagerness for the ground to warm enough to begin the green bean patch. I plant the seeds, trying different ones as time has progressed. I'm not overly fond of 'red' pole beans, but Kentucky pole beans are quite heavy producers. I've looked at Chinese long pods, but keep forgetting to buy the seeds. I've marveled at wrinkly pods that other people get into growing. But my all time favorite remains, and likely always will remain, the simple Blue Lake bush beans I planted as a kid long ago.

Today, as the day before, as I picked, I couldn't help but remember that summer long ago. Somehow, I connect with that school girl and grow astounded at how easy it is to grow green beans! And I'm impressed that they add nitrogen to the soil - making the next year's garden even better. There's no wrong to green beans, in my humble opinion.

But maybe that's what Walden and my teacher was looking for - trying to teach. That a green bean field, like a religion, is a personal experience. That it can lead us into new ways of thinking and give us a different perspective on life and living.....

SOS = Save our Salsa

Vacation! :)

Yeah.....I survived in getting ready to leave on vacation....I seriously was doubting going away.  Why is it so hard to go away?  We leave tomorrow very early in the morning!  My dad and uncle came to dogsit and take care of the garden for us.  What a blessing they are!  :)   Sammie is loving all the attention he can get from my uncle, and Holly is laying in the recliner in my dad's room (her favorite spot when he is home).  :) 

I hope to get pictures of our trip to share!   We will be  staying with my aunt and uncle in Northern California (near San Francisco)  and drive home the coast and spend one night in Pismo Beach.  I can't wait! :)

I hope you all have a wonderful week! 

God Said To Love One Another.........Then Why Do So Many Hate?? (An evening with my family)

God said to love one another right???  He even said to love thine enemies.  We should love all people!!!  We should even try our best to LIKE them.  LOL  That is one thing my mother and I used to chat about.  She would say, I love so and so because God told me to, and I work hard at it, but I don't necessarily "like" them.  It's hard sometimes to love others, even your friends and family, when they can have such ugliness inside, such judging attitudes and their words towards others make you cringe.

The short story is, we gathered at my brother's house for Fourth of July.  The company was good, the food was wonderful, and the kids played and giggled (sometimes too loudly might I add.....but that is a good thing!)  We were forced to eat inside with the chill in the air and the fear of a downpour at any time, but it did hold off some, so that was wonderful as well.  We sat around the table and ate and chatted with my brother who seems to have some of the same favorite TV shows as Matthew and I.

Then after eating, the guys all gathered downstairs to play the Playstation or X-Box.  The kids were playing well, and I settled at the dining room table to chat with the girls (5 of us from 21 to 60).  It was then that I realized, my family is like this EVERY TIME, and it seems my brain forgets it and tries to give them a second chance each time.  UGH!

First the conversation was about Megan, and her baby (due in October) and all the cute things she has boughgt for the bedroom, and the clothing that Tammy (who will be the gma for the first time) bought, etc.  It was a sweet conversation.  It went downhill fast from there!!!!  The conversation went to my neice's MIL and how she "says" she has bought the baby tons of stuff, but she hasn't shown any of it to Megan yet, and how she bettter not forget this child's bday, and how she baby's her own neice but not her own child and wife, she gives money to everyone except them, etc.   I have been there....with the MIL troubles....still are there in alot of ways.  We are trying to work things out and ignore the bad and focus on the good with Matthew's parents.  Isn't that what God does to us????  I want to havev a relationship with my inlaws so I try much harder than I think I should some times.  But my neice has been married a year and she is already starting in the hate game.  Shame.  And her own mother of course sits there and coaches her and eggs her on instead of saying, now hunny, I am sure she had a good reason to do that, or if you have a problem with that, please go talk to her and not talk behind her back, etc.   It really is a shame.

But it went down hill farther from there.  A gal from their church dresses inappropriately evidentially.  Everyone knows and everyone talks about it behind her back.  Her own 13 year old daughter and 16 year old son have told her about it and that it embarasses them, but she does nothing.  Her own daughter told her she dresses like a hooker or a slut.  OMG!  And eveidentially she was serving communion in the churcch with her hubby with a LOW CUT top and VERY MINI skirt and some of the guys "saw things" they shouldn't!!  GEE WHIZ!!  Why isn't someone saying something to her??? Why didn't the pastor say, this is inappropriate, please dress appropriately especially when you are serving communion!!!

Dr. H has a new wife evidentially.  The girls weren't sure if they met on the internet or if she was a mail order bride, but they say she isn't really pretty.  So everyone had to rush to the laptop to see pictures of his new wife from the Ukraine, and his 2 new step daughters at their reccent wedding.  (Dr. H is a very nice looking man, and the daughters were adorable.  I think the reason they said she wasn't pretty was because she had some BLACK mascara on....she had cried at the wedding and thus had some under her eyes.  Other than that, she was very pretty!)

So and so has Hepatitis and is dating so and so.  Yes he knew she had it when they started dating.  I know he is nuts, but he loves her.  That's gross, etc.  Oh and then they started talking about people who weren't proportionate.  LOL  So and so'd butt doesn't fit the rest of her body, etc.  The one I always laugh at is how a few of the bigger gals talk about someone else who is FAT.  Look in the mirror.  That's all I can say.  I know....that wasn't nice.  Sorry.  They rubbed off on me perhaps.

We spent two and a half hours out there before coming home and starting our own firework display here at the house (Noah and I had a blast as Matthew put on quite a display for a whole $32.00).  And in that time I never heard once that they said M is a sweetheart.  Did you know J got married??? They are so happy!  Or, wow, I sure do miss K and how she used to.....blah blah blah.  I heard them talk about V and her new gorgeous baby, but then it went into another girl who has a child who is "not right" and man were they glad they didn't have to deal with that.  *yawn*

By the time we all loaded up in the car, Matthew and I were a little on edge (he said something, I misunderstood, plus his ADHD was pegged out with all the noise and commotion of the family, and yes, we were all tired), that I hate to say we whined and griped at each other and about the family gathering all the way home.  UGH!

It wasn't until we got home, that we talked about the misunderstanding and patched that up, rested a little, played some Christian music to sooth all of our nerves and were finally able to put a smile on and speak joy and love again.  It really is sad how others can rub off on you like that.  Just being around a houseful of that for a few hours had us nipping at each other and had taken our joy level to a very dangerous low level.

Thankfully, we were able to pull out of it, go outside and enjoy the fireworkds.  We were able to see most of the citywide display from our front porch, plus some other neighborhood displays as well as the items Noah and Matthew picked out.  Noah was so funny shouting out the colors of the displays as he saw them and actually couting the roman candles as well.  RED! GREEN! BLUE!!  LOL  We had a great time.

And this morning we were able to get up, go to church and visit with our church family, praise God, let Noah learn about Jesus and play with his friends, and see the prior youth director and song leader who came for a visit this Sunday with their 3 kids from Colorado.  We were also honored to have some of Pastor's dear friends from Thailand come to visit this weekend.  They are Americans but moved to Thailand several years ago with their daughters to spread God's word.  They specifically came to the US this weekend to celebrate Independence Day.  Isn't that wonderful???

Hope everyone had a wonderful and safe weekend!

Happy Independence Day!

We spent the day around the farm.  Amber and her family arrived sometime shortly after midnight.  Rich and Madison help them set up their camper and gave the boys a short tour of the barn before they all headed to bed.

After everyone was up this am, Amber and I made a quick trip to the grocery store to pick up some needed items.  I made chicken stock and roasted another 4 birds so I'll be canning tomorrow.

It rained off and on  most of the day but that didn't stop us from building a fire and roasting hot dogs.  We also set up our gazebo so we can dine bug free outside.

We headed out to watch the fireworks in a neighboring town which made for another late night as we forgot to get the chores done before we left so April had to be milked once we got back home which was about 11 p.m.   Seth was soo cute... he kept telling me "I have a goat to milk when we get back."

Well, I better check on the barn, make sure everything is done and then it's off to bed for me.  GoodNight!
Carol