Grape Harvest

The great grape harvest has begun. Our grape vines are loaded. A couple of friends came over to help with the picking. I will turn most of the grapes into juice and can it. Some of the grapes will be made into grape jelly. Some will be shared with the friends who help pick.

Extra hands help a lot. I sure appreciate them. The harvesting will go on for at least a week. My hands will be purple by the time it is over. The grape plants are wonderful. I do not prune them, or spray them, or even weed between the vines. Yet, they mass produce every year.

I used to think that the popular bottled grape juice was pretty good. That was before I grew my own grapes and had the “real thing”.

September 2, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments

Hero

Every once in a while, I will read a quote by a “hero”. There is always power and truth in what they say.  I was pondering the quote by George Washington Carver. I believe he was very wise and a “hero”.

He said, “When you can do the common things of life in an uncommon way,  you will command the attention of the world.” He took an ordinary object and drew the attention of the world.

Think about that for a moment. How many common things are being done today that command or deserve any attention at all? How many common things are being done with excellence?

September 2, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments

The Wee Kitten

He entered my life last evening. I was on my rounds to the barn to visit with the big dogs, when I heard him crying.  The capture was an easy one. His eyes were crusted shut and he couldn’t see me.  Wrapped up in the tail of my shirt, he was transported into the old bunny hutch beside the garage.  I mixed up some milk, with a raw egg, and got him to eat by dunking his head in it.

He is a beautiful, long  haired black, squalling baby. He looks to be about five weeks old. His little eyes were glued shut with disgusting looking goo. I mixed up a batch of colloquial silver and waited for Bob to come home. It was a four handed job to wash out his eyes with the silver solution. Bob held him and I worked on his poor little eyes. He did not like any of it!

This morning, he looks a lot better. One eye is open and he can see. We will treat his eyes again this evening with the silver. He has learned to eat canned cat food and to snooze on an old pillow that I put in the bunny hutch.

If he makes it, I will give him a name. He may become one of our  “working cats”, helping to keep down the mouse population. On the other hand, I may turn him into a pet. He matches the poodle and they would be a great source of entertainment. ” Pilgrim” ( the black poodle) like cats. He likes to chase them and he likes to bark at them.   This kitten is tough. He is a survivor. I don’t think it would take him very long to train the poodle to be sweet.

For now, I will fix up his eyes, feed him, and pet his beautiful long fur.  The kitten will live in the bunny hutch and snooze on his pillow.

September 1, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments

I Like Ike

“I think that people want peace so much that one of these days government had better get out of their way and let them have it.” Dwight D. Eisenhower

Isn’t that beautiful?

August 30, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments

Sunday Supper

A picture is worth 1000 words.  Sunday Supper equals one sweet watermelon from the garden and two forks. Yum!

August 29, 2010   Posted in: Garden  No Comments

Done With Tomatoes

My tomatoes are growing all over the place. However, I am done with tomatoes for this year. Finished, the end! I feel like the tomato queen of the world! We have spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, sauce sauce, and jars of dehydrated tomatoes lining the pantry.

I raise my own tomato plants from seed, and sell the extra plants. However, this year, we had extra baby tomato plants and since I had to do something with them, I planted them. I just couldn’t kill them. So, we ended up with around 50 tomato plants.
Each tomato plant is doing it’s very best to out-do all the others. It is amazing. They just keep on producing, and producing, and producing some more.  I have been giving away bushels of tomatoes and this is fun. It is a blessing from the Lord to have more than enough—even if  the “more” is in the form of tomatoes.

August 26, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments

Special Day

Every morning I walk with Jesse and Josie. (two of my female Great Pyrenees) This morning was special. Fields around me are loaded with corn and soy beans. They seemed to be singing. The wind was making the leaves in the trees dance. The sun was brighter than usual and the sky bluer.

My sheep were following along the fence line looking  for a treat. Whenever they see me, they “baaaaa”. I feed them lots of garden produce and they are spoiled. The roosters were having a crowing contest. I could hear them all the way down the road.  Everything seemed to be celebrating.

By the time we returned home, I was smiling. Today is one of those special gifts that the Lord has given. I will rejoice and be glad.

August 25, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments

No One Can Kill Me

” I am a Christian and no one can kill me. They can only change my address. “

August 24, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments

The Simple Life

Whoever said that living the country life is “simple” is WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! I never worked this hard when I lived in Dallas or had this much fun. This morning is stretching into noon and the day has just begun.  I have been making garlic ropes to hang and dry the garlic. There are onions laying on the picnic table to be put in trays and dried. They have all been dug up and we have about 20 gallon of onions to be trimmed and cleaned off. It is early to dig them but some were getting soft. There is a year’s supply of Yucon Gold potatoes to be sorted and spread on trays to dry out. I sort the best ones for seed to plant next spring. The big ones are kept for baking, and all the rest for the other things I do with potatoes.There are 30 trays of the American Harvester dehydrator loaded with sliced tomatoes, and another 5 gallon bucket full of super ripe tomatoes to be made into sauce. There are two stock pots of soup simmering on the stove. One is with chicken and wild rice and the other with home made noodles and chicken.  I will freeze the soup in quart size baggies. The washer and dryer are running, all the dogs have been fed and the eggs gathered.

So what am I doing now? I am stopping long enough to catch my breath. I have a lovely cup of green tea, a slice of homemade bread spread with honey and my right shoulder is packed in ice.  It is not happy and the ice helps a lot. (so does the rest) I have several friends who are coming this week to help pick and process. It will be a blessing and we will have fun.

The garden is labor intensive right now.  It provides the food we eat, the exercise we need, and tremendous satisfaction.  One of the advantages of living this kind of life is that I do not have to join a gym!

When it is my time to go and be with the Lord, someone will probably find me in the garden. I will have a basket of tomatoes in one hand, and a basket of green peppers in the other hand. I will be smiling!

August 23, 2010   Posted in: Contemplations  No Comments

Progress

Progress can take  interesting forms.
The floor on the back porch has been painted a great shade of dark green.  The back entry and mud room have  dark green poodle paw prints.

“Porch floor and poodle paw prints” would make a great title for a song.

August 22, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments