Farm Chic

My husband recently bought me a new laptop (my old one was dying a slow & painful death). A pink laptop! Yes, I am spoiled .

The new laptop has loads more memory so we have been transferring all of our old pics onto it. We came across these the other day. They are 3 years old but they are so cute and they represent the homestead lifestyle SO well, that I just had to share.

This is my daughter when she was 6 & just learning to milk. Notice the frilly pink ballet costume paired with the chore boots? Growing up we always called that "farm chic"

See the countenance of the poor over-worked farm girl? Doesn't she just look tired & down trodden?

I just love these pics. I may have to frame them. I hope you enjoyed them as well.

Blessings.

Quilt Give Away

The Ladies over at mariemadelinestudio.com are having a quilt give away. Go on over for a try at their gorgeous quilt. And be sure & tell them I sent you

Blessings.

Happy 3rd Birthday Little Man!

Today is The Little Man's 3rd birthday. Wow! Where does the time go?

I am so amazingly thankful to the Lord for making him a part of our family. We thought we were 'done' at 3 & the thought of not having him in our family is just horrible. We would have missed out on so much. His beautiful smile. His sweet kisses. His big yellow head . His way of saying "Just, like, because." as his reasoning for everything. His 'baby goat milk' addiction. His Scooby Doo fascination. The way he blames everything on the cow "Moddy bit me!"

Our lives would be so much less without him here. Thank you Jesus for my Little Man.

Notice, Scooby has a few finger pokes..hmmm...I wonder who could have done that?

The coolest birthday present ever!

Happy Birthday DP! We love you!

Blessings.

 

Handsome boys

The Biscuit & Daddy

The Biscuit & Moses

6 months & growing!

Blessings.

What's better than popsicles?

Chocolate covered frozen bananas! Yummy!

Peel your 'nanners & cut in half. Push in a popcicle stick. (We saved ours from other popsicles-Reduce Reuse Recycle )

Melt your chocolate & slather it on

Place on a wax paper lined cookie sheet & pop in your freezer

About an hour later...

Mmmmm. Chocolatey 'nanner goodness.

Blessings.

Quacamole...Ole~

I love easy, delicious food. Especially in the summer when most of a meal can be gathered out of the garden. One of our faves is salsa, quacamole & bean dip with fresh tortilla chips. Simple, fast & sooo yummy. Also healthy with all of those veggies. We made this yesterday & piled it altogether into a taco salad of sorts.

All of the colors were so pretty & bright that I decided to photograph everything & make a pictorial of it. Now most folks on here, I'm sure, already know how to do all of these things but you can just enjoy the pics. On the off-chance that you learn something--well, that's just a bonus!

I'll start with the quacamole. Now, I am a white girl but I do make really good quacamole . The first part to good quacamole is getting your avocado prepared. I have seen avocados reduced to mush in this step. My own mother used to employ a sort of 'peel & smush' method. Not pretty. Here is the true way to prepare your avocado:

1. Slice around the middle of the fruit, lengthwise

Then you twist the 2 pieces apart.

2. Smack a sharp knife into the pit, effectively 'grabbing' it with the knife

3. Pull out the pit

4. Using a large spoon, slip the spoon between the skin & the fruit & scoop out the fruit

5. Leaving you with a whole, unmolested 1/2 avocado

 

6. Ready to be sliced into pretty wedges suitable for use as a garnish

If this is how you always prepare your avocado--wonderful! If you are a member of the peel & smush party--step away from the avocado!! Practice & employ this new method & avocados everywhere will thank you.

So now your avocado is ready to become guacamole. (The highest honor that can be bestowed upon an avocado.)

Using a fork, mash up your fruit until it is nice & chunky

Add fresh lime or lemon juice

Salt to taste

Mix well & Voila! Yummy, fresh, delicious guacamole.

We round that out with fresh salsa & bean dip.

Add some ground chevon (goat) with onions & fresh garlic (or ground beef if you aren't a goat eater )

Fry up some fresh tortilla chips

Top it off with some grated cheese & there you have it

A delicious, healthy, easy, light meal perfect for hot summer days! Enjoy!

Blessings.

 

Redneck slip n' slide

Remnant black plastic: from the wheel barrow

Garden hose with sprinkler: from the side of the house

Fun in the summer sun? Priceless.

Blessings.

 

As the garden grows...

Here are some updates on the Great Grow-In of '09.

Strawberries peeking out...

Tomatoes...big

...and little...

Carrots & onions

Look at that little baby zuchinni

Cucumber blossoms

Grow, bell pepper, grow...

Watermelon plant "I think I can. I think I can."

Overview

Green beans (weeds & all)

Lettuce

Radishes (& weeds)

And just look at the size of these apples

All in all, I am pleased. We've had some disappointments (peas) & fed several unnamed bugs (broccolli, cauliflower & cabbage) but most things are growing well. So, barring flood or frost, we should have an abundant harvest. I pray.

Blessings.