Just a little tour around the Millett Farm.  

These are wild flowers that have come back 3 years now.

Is this foxglove? This is a new one that just showed up this year.  The stems and leaves have a burgundy shade to them and the flowers are darker purple than they appear in this picture.  I really like this flower and will be transplanting it after it finishes blooming.  

A close-up of some of our lupines.

They just keep coming back no matter how they are abused.  Mr. D almost mowed them all over this year.  I caught him just in time.

Big Red and his hens.  He's a handsome boy and very good to the girls.  They always get to eat first.  He keeps a close eye on all that's happening and warns them of any danger

Here's one of his offspring.  This hen is a good mommy. She is very protective.  It's hard to get a good picture because her 4 little ones are always tucked under her wings.

The meat bird roosters at 1 month.  They really like to eat... and eat.... and eat.  They are getting feathered out now so soon we'll turn off the brooder light and let them outside.  That will make them really happy.

This is a quick picture of the duck's nest.  I estimate she must have at least 15 eggs here.  Notice all the downy feathers around the edges.  Getting all ready for little ducklings.  These are white Muscovy and they are supposed to be good moms, but she lost a nest of eggs this large already this spring.  I think she may have started nesting a little early and it was such a cold spring.  In 35 days we'll see what she's got.

Hope you enjoyed your little tour around the farms.  Maybe some day you can drop by and we can enjoy a cup of tea together.

Have a great day.

You gotta visit this blog

If you haven't been to http://www.samsmommy.blogspot.com/  now is the time to visit.  Let me give you a sneak peak at what's happening over there...

See what I mean?
Carrie has been photographing the progress of this little Robin family.  It has been really interesting. 

Thanks for sharing with us, Carrie.

Have a great day ya'll!

Beans and Tortilla

Twice a week at least we eat beans.  Mr. D likes them with milk and butter.  I like them with a little yogurt and if I have it, tomato and maybe a little cheese (beans and dairy make a complete protein).

Maybe you'd like to try incorporating this into your weekly menu.  It reduces consumption of meats (not that meat is bad but helps the budget a little).

Beans:

We have an abundance of dry beans, but my all-time favorite are Jacob Cattle which we grow in our garden.  I use 2 cups/8cups H2O.  If you soak overnight and discard the water they seem to be lots less gassy.  Into the pressure cooker then with a little salt and pepper and maybe a few spices such as bay leaf, basil, oregano, and maybe a touch of nutmeg.  I like a little onion and carrot in mine too for a little sweet taste, but Mr. D doesn't care for them that way so I "usually" don't add them.  If they have been soaked overnight the cooking time will be shorter (1 hour), otherwise from the dry state they will take 1 hour 20 min under pressure.  Once steam starts to escape that's when I start timing.

Along with this I usually make whole wheat tortilla (Kari from moosaidthemama.blogspot.com makes fry bread from this same recipe... that also sounded yummy.  This recipe I tweeked from a recipe I saw on samsmommy.blogspot.com).  I've made tortilla for a long time, but this is a great simple recipe:

2cp ww flour
1t salt
1t baking powder
(fluff together)
4 T canola oil (or olive oil)
3/4 cp water (warm)
(added at the same time)
Mix till all flour is incorporated, then split into 4 balls (at this point you could let the dough rest for a short time, but cover with plastic to keep from drying out).
Roll out each ball to a thin circle adding flour to keep from sticking.  If you're really talented you could slap these around between your hands like the pizza guys do to stretch them out till they are huge... not as easy with whole wheat flour as with white, but the dough will be soft and stretchy.  Shake excess flour off and place on VERY hot griddle... we have a cast iron griddle but the ideal place to cook tortilla is right on top of a kitchen wood stove surface.  The hotter the better... that makes the little bubbles puff up and brown quickly while the inside remains moist.  I place deli tissue between each as I take them off the griddle and cover them to keep them warm.  If you make a few extra tortilla you could make a bean enchilda dish with grated cheese to pop in the freezer and have another day.  Topped with cheese and green chili then baked till bubbly will make another really yummy dinner.

Mr. D likes his tortilla with butter, but I like to stuff mine so if I make big ones then I can wrap the beans and stuff up like a burrito.

OK.  I'm getting hungry now.  Gotta stop talking about food.

Whatever your favorite bean recipe... have some in your menu.  They are great protein, inexpensive, and good source of fiber in the diet.  :)

Have a wonderful day everyone.

GREAT GIVEAWAY

You can win a $50 shopping spree at Warehouse Fabrics Inc.

Click on this link and follow the directions there for a chance to win some beautiful fabric.
http://www.warehousefabricsinc.com/blog/june-gift-certificiate-giveaway-time/comment-page-2/#comment-1830

Have fun!

Happy Friday

Just a short note for a Friday afternoon.  It's a little slow at work, though I've managed to make myself busy.  Joanna and I hope to go to a friends house after work to weed some flower beds (if it doesn't rain), believe it or not, weeding and working in the garden is one of my favorite things to do.  I'm hoping to transplant a couple lupines into her garden.

We have some that will have to be moved before the excavator drives over them.  These came up after I threw out some old wildflower seeds I had purchased at the dollar store.  They were really the only thing that thrived on this stoney hillside, other than all the briars and junk that has grown there too.

At the base of the hill you can see the chicken coop to the left and the greenhouse to the right which is now being used for storage.  Our garden is in between and goes down the hill beyond.

For some reason my typing is now all centered.  Oh well, as long as you can read it. 

Maybe I should put a poem in here. It would be perfect for this "centered" business.

CHRIST IS....

To the ARTIST He is the One Altogether Lovely.

To the ARCHITECT He is the Chief Corner Stone.

To the BAKER He is the Living Bread.

To the BANKER He is the Hidden Treasure.

To the BIOLOGIST He is the Life.

To the BUILDER He is the Sure Foundation.

To the CARPENTER He is the Door.

To the DOCTOR He is the Great Physician.

To the EDUCATOR He is the Great Teacher.

To the ENGINEER He is the New and Living Way.

To the FLORIST He is the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valley.

To the GEOLOGIST He is the Rock of Ages.

To the HORTICULTURIST He is the True Vine.

To the JUDGE He is the Righteous Judge, Judge of All Men.

To the JEWELER He is the Pearl of Great Price.

To the LAWYER He is the Counselor, the Lawgiver, the Advocate.

To the NEWSPAPER He is the Good Tidings of Great Joy.

To the OCULIST He is the Light of the Eyes.

To the PHILANTHROPIST He is the Unspeakable Gift.

To the PHILOSOPHER He is the Wisdom of God.

To the PREACHER He is the Word of God.

To the SCULPTOR He is the Living Stone.

To the SERVANT He is the Good Master.

To the STATESMAN He is the Desire of All Nations.

To the STUDENT He is the Incarnate Truth.

To the THEOLOGIAN He is the Author and Finisher of our Faith.

To the TOILER He is the Giver of Rest.

To the SINNER He is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the World.

To the CHRISTIAN He is the Son of the Living God, the Savior, the Redeemer and the Lord.

~Author Unknown~

All around us is His beauty.  He has created all this for us to enjoy.  Can you imagine a world without green growing things?  Green is such a comforting color. 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

God Bless...

Mrs. D

I take these garden pictures to keep in our garden journal.  It will help us when we do this all again next year.

Nine days after planting. Radish, peas and chard above, and squash and cukes to the right.

On Wednesday our pastor brought a message from the book of Job. I have read this book and have marveled at the character. Job (the patient), no wonder he was patient. James tells us that the trying of our faith worketh patience. Also the book of Job is considered the first "book of poetry". I can think of many great hymns and poems that were brought forth from great trials.  Can you hear the Jews singing the songs of Job?  How about these verses from Job 19 (part of Pastor's message on Weds.)

     "...I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me."

What an amazing statement for a man who went through what Job went through.  What a man of faith.

I have thought many times what life might be like if I lived in a place that did not allow the worship of God. A place where I could not speak freely as I am here about the mighty works of God and how good He is. Would I be courageous? Would I give in for the protection of my family and friends? 

In the world where we live, our freedom of worship is not a certain as it once was. We have always been pilgrims and strangers on this earth. Our forever home is in heaven. Thinking of losing the freedoms we have always enjoyed can be a frightening thought.  As I till the garden and plant the seeds and enjoy the fellowship of other Christians, I may not always think about this. There are times that I do and I wonder if I would make a statement like Job in Job 19:25-27.

We do serve a great and good God, a mighty and powerful God. I know He is able to keep me strong and keep me from stumbling.  If and when the day comes when we are living in a place that allows none to worship and honor God,   I pray that He will give me courage and strength.

I may be thinking about the future and preparing for the future, but by God's strength I should not fear the future.

Our times are in God's hands and all things are under His control and direction.

Millett Farm Garden

OK... here's the garden....

It looks small in this picture, but there are hundreds of tiny little beet plants transplanted here.  Where the fencing is there are peas, in front of the peas are chard and radishes.  This part of the garden did poorly last year but we have added lots of manure and it is much drier this year.  Watch out.... I can see the weeds growing as I type this.

On tops of the garden is the rhubarb, asparigus, and 

strawberries.  We also planted shell beans and on the fencing to the right are romano and Bible beans.

Along the sloping sides are all the squash, cukes, a little corn and near the bottom by the driveway is are the blueberry bushes and herbs.

and of course I must include a picture of the chicks... they were curious and wanted their picture taken too...

I'll try to keep you posted and update pictures as things grow.  The cool thing about it is that the next day after planting the Lord sent a nice rain and then the next day sun and today rain again and tomorrow is supposed to be sunny.... cool.

God is so good!

More later.

Update From the Millett Farm

I have finally gotten some pictures together for all of you to see.  We spent the entire Memorial Day weekend working in the garden which included one full day of tilling.  That includes removing some rather large stones that we skipped last year...

    

  There were three of these that needed to be removed.  I think the frost pushed them up closer to the surface this year.  One other will need to wait for a backhoe because it is much too big for us to take out with the chain.  Notice the poor chard.  This came up from last year, so it wasn't a great loss.  We've planted more now.

All the back side of our garden is on a slope and we hope to have that fixed this year by terracing with stone and fill.  Not of major concern right now, but may have the contractor do it at the same time he comes to do the drainage.  We left half of the slope unplanted this year.

                                                                            The metal rod attached to the front of the tiller is so Mr. D can hang on while I'm running the tiller and it won't tip over.  We have a Gravely tiller that would work much better, but it needs repair right now.  

This is a very very unattractive picture of me and my tilling "getup".  I had to wear boots because my shoes were filling up with soil.  In my old garden I used to till barefoot... not recommended... but in this garden there are too many things to poke into your feet and stones and uneven ground etc.  I wouldn't dare do that anymore.

After all the hard work it is time for a little fun... after all the dog slept most of the day in the sunshine just waiting for us to get done!


Sunday was a day of rest and we went to church and had a wonderful time of fellowship. Then on Monday we started all over again in the garden, but it was so good to get all the little plants in and seeds in and now except for weeding and watering, the garden is in God's hands.

More picture on next post... this little video has messed me up for adding anything else here.

Stay tuned for more....