Where Have I Been

 I was told today that I haven't posted on my blog for almost a year.    Wow how time flies.

   So  here goes.  I just found out about a company that offers fresh, frozen, farm to (your car) meats.
   You order on line and pay with credit card and then pick up the product at a point close to your home. Since I'm a "canner", I decided to try them out.  I must say that the site that brought this to my attention is very reliable and the prices are cheaper than grocery stores.

The company is called zayconfresh.com . I ordered 40 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breast for $75.60. I will pick up this order Wednesday, May 15th at a near by church. Straight from the farm freezer truck to my car then straight home to my canner.

So stay tuned. I will be back in a couple of weeks to show what I bought and how I process it.

Thanks for lookin

 

The Passing of Summer

              Summer suddenly passed away the first of October, at least for me.  It seems I barley got to know her. She was outside my window, warm and shining brightly.  I was inside canning, canning and more canning.
     
              With food put away for the winter, it's time to get down to QUILTING, quilting and more quilting. I plan to jump in with both feet, needles threaded, and a sharp blade on my rotary cutter.

              To start the season I'm making a Christmas pillow. The fabric can be found at Spring Creek Fabrics on HWY 111, Rickman Tennessee.                     The red snowman fabric was cut 16 1/2 

front

by 9  also the white fabric, 16 1/2 by 9. I used a strip of green for the accent, cut 16 1/2 by 1".

I copied some lettering for my embroidery, using two pieces of white, basted together to keep the red floss from showing through. I used red DMC floss no. 321 for the wording.

Fold the green strip wrong sides together and sew it between the red print and white.  You're pillow top is done.

The back is an envelope back made from another of Spring Creek's fabric.  Now all you need is a 16 inch pillow form.   

Now all you need is a 16" pillow form.  

           HAPPY  QUILTING

               

YUMMY BLUEBERRIES

Last Saturday we headed  to Tidwell berry farm near Spring City Tennessee. We've been going for the last two years.  We bought Strawberries last month and Blueberries Saturday,  the peaches will be in next week. If you live close, give them a call. 1-423-365-9300. Their berries are wonderful.

I made the strawberry jam from the recipe inside the box of sure jell, 

The blueberry pie filling recipe is from the Simply Delicious Cooking in Crossville cook book from the cooks of  Mt. Moriah Mennonite Church.  

You can find it at the Muddy Pond General Store. Well Hubby just brought in a bunch of blackberries so I need to get to work.  

Primitive Gatherings Quilt

I finally finished appliqueing a block for the Primitive Garden quilt. This is a class I'm taking at 

Spring Creek Quilts in Rickman Tennessee. The shop is owned by Kathy Dishman.  She offers fabrics, classes, custom quilting and more.  

I told my self that I would keep up this year and finish each block in the month that the class was given, but.  Oh well  so little time and so  many quilts to make.  I'll post the blocks as I finish them. I think this is going to be a pretty quilt. The pattern is Primitive Gatherings by Lisa Bongean.

Looking Good

Finally the warmer weather is starting to show up. We have just gone through an ice storm that left everyone with out electricity, some for more than a week. It left trees broken and  property damaged.

But, time goes on and things change.  I walked around  outside and found the beginnings of spring.

 The Dogwoods are blooming  and the tree men are keeping a watch over the new growth and young seedlings.  So stop and look around. Enjoy one day at a time. Thank the Lord for the gifts He gives.

Time goes by faster than we realize, Christmas is right around the corner.

New Beginnings

MARCH:

the month  I start new seeds for this years garden, tomatoes, peppers, cabbage and such.

Dad use to start every thing February 14th but that was 20 years ago, I think this old world has changed since then. March has been a better month for me, weather wise any way. 

Last year I started new herb plants, I use Styrofoam coffee cups (most of the time) with holes punched in the bottom for bottom watering, the plants can be pulled out along with the soil when it comes time to plant in the garden and the cups are reusable.    

I've been revising my canning list for this year, deciding how much more we need of one thing or less of another depending on how much of what ever we have left,   Eating from the vegetables we canned  last year has been rewarding and it saves on the grocery bill, not to mention the delicious meals that can be made up in a matter of minutes.

Not only vegetables, but meat also. last year I canned meatloaf and chicken, boston butt and sausage.

I'll not do the boston butt this year but the other meats were convenient and tasty. 

So here's praying for a successful growing season.

thanks for stopping by.

Goodbye Fred

I've had chickens for pets for the past 17 years.

Every three years or so I would order baby chicks from a mail order company, picking out certain breeds that had the qualities that interested me, such as pretty feathers, a friendly disposition or for their egg color.

I would always order female because I only wanted the eggs.  No roosters please, but low and behold, you always get a rooster or two in each order.

So last year I ordered a rooster the same breed as my Favorite hens ( the kind that lay the green eggs) thinking that I would raise some new birds instead ordering.

 

  Well my rooster was beautiful. He was white and black with a red comb and waddle.
He was big and strong and I named him Fred. He also pecked the feathers out of my hens  backs so bad that I felt sorry for the ladies. So last night we had Fred and dumplings for supper.    
GOODBYE FRED