Garden Update

This past weekend was a long weekend for us.  With July 1st, our nations birthday, falling on Sunday we had Monday off.  We were able to enjoy a couple days in the country.  My Handyman had a nerve block in his back 5 days prior to this picture, so we didn't have any projects planned for this weekend.  But the lawn always has to be mowed, and he finds it impossible to relax before he gets that job out of the way.  

My father-in-law sells the hay off his farmland to another farmer.  This farmer was busy cutting hay all around our vegetable garden.  I like when the hay is high.  As the breeze passes over, it would seem almost like it is waving at us.  

Please forgive me as I gush over these vegetables.  We are loving our garden.  It has been many years since we have had a garden, and NEVER has it grown this well.  Please grab a cold drink and come on a tour with me.  

 Romaine lettuce needing to be thinned out

My Handyman already thinned out the carrots. 

Do you like Beet greens?

I've been thinning them out and giving them to

family and friends who stop by.

I definitely need to thin some more.

I'm going to cook some this week

for the first time, ever!!

I planted regular onions, Spanish onions, and bunching onions. 

 The bunching onions are the ones with the blossom buds.  

Lots of pea blossoms

and pods too!!

I spy a broccoli head starting. 
It seems just yesterday I planted broccoli seed
in trays and sat them in my dining room window. 

Green pepper buds

We planted a row of yellow beans, and a row of green beans.

 I am very impatiently waiting for some blossoms on these plants.

This row of potatoes belongs exclusively to My Handyman. 

 I'm not sure what we will do with him if they aren't successful.

  He's quite excited about them.

I have some great plans for these tomatoes...

keep your fingers crossed for me!
I noticed a few blossoms starting.  :)

Four mounds:

orange pumpkins

white pumpkins

buttercup squash

acorn squash

This is the very beginning of pumpkin vines.

I have three zucchini plants. 

 My intention is to use them when they are very small. 

 No baseball bats for me.

  If I become overrun with them, 

I will remember what I read recently on the blog, Thy Hand Hath Provided.

 "It's ok to compost zucchini."

A little cabbage starting.

Anyone ever eaten turnip greens?

I'm not very brave when it comes to cooked greens.

Thus my comment above on beet greens.  

Thank you for visiting with me in the garden today.

 I have enjoyed our time together.

 Our Canada Day came to a close beside this fire.

 Not a bad way to end any day!!  




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~Happy Canada Day~

Happy Canada Day

 to all our Canadian friends

 all over the world!

GOD BLESS CANADA!

PS.  Kathy will return next Sunday.  :0)


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Grain Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites

That is quite the cookie name eh?  While browsing Pinterest last week, I found this recipe.   Texanerin Baking recently posted these healthy option cookies on her blog.  The part that was very intriguing to me was the ingredients, or lack thereof.  No flour, no oil, no white sugar...BUT they do contain chick peas!!  The picture looked great, and I'll be honest, I was just plain curious to see if they were as yummy as Texanerin claimed them to be.  

My conclusion would be, oh yes!!!!  They are very yummy!!  I would definitely make them again... and again for a healthier, sweet treat option.  




Ingredients:
1 1/4C chickpeas (rinsed and patted dry)
2 tsp vanilla
1/2C + 2 tbsp Peanut Butter
1/4C honey
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt if your PB doesn't have salt in it
1/2C chocolate chips


Preheat oven to 350.  Combine all ingredients except for chocolate chips in a food processor.  Process until smooth.  Scrape the sides of the processor, add the chocolate chips and stir or pulse a couple times.  Mixture will be very thick and sticky.  With wet hands form into 1 1/2" balls.  Place on parchment paper.  Press down with a fork if you like.  They do not raise.  Bake for 10 minutes.  ( I left them in for about 13 min)  Yield:  At least 14 cookies

Printable Recipe

I would say they are better warm.  So just pop them in the microwave for a few seconds.  Just long enough for some gooey chocolate chips.  :0)


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Take 5 with Kathy - "Stirring up a hornet's nest..."

The past couple weeks, I’ve been doing a lot of gardening, including breaking up the soil from one flower bed and removing all the weeds, beetle larvae, and other undesirable matter. I fill up my wheelbarrow and sit at the bottom of the deck stairs to do this. Last Sunday afternoon, my neighbor looked over and said, “Are you still there doing that!?” (she hates gardening). It’s a job I love doing, though, since it allows me to dig through the soil with my hands without having to get down on my knees (which I am not able to do anymore)…you avid gardeners need no further explanation!

When I finished this particular job last Sunday, I began gathering up my tools and I tossed my trowel up toward the top of the deck. As I did, I noticed some hornets swarming around an old bird house that was attached to a pole which I had propped up in the corner of the deck/stairs. On closer investigation, I realized they were building a nest inside the bird house, only about four feet from where I had been working for several days oblivious to the activity above my head! After a quick prayer thanking the Lord I hadn’t accidently knocked the pole over as I ducked under the deck a few times to turn on the water hose, I decided we had to take care of the nest soon – when my husband returned home from a business trip; I wasn’t about to do that job alone as I have a real fear of hornets and their cousins.

So, on Monday night after it got dark, my husband suited up in a netted “jacket” and armed himself with a can of Hornet Blaster (if you’ve never used the stuff, it’s amazing but stinks worse than a skunk!! Hint: close all windows first and wear something old that you can immediately throw in the washer afterward. Wait until after dark as the hornets will have returned to the nest and don’t fly at night.) A few sprays inside the little hole on the bird house and hubby made a bee-line (no pun intended) for the door.

The next day, I noticed no hornet activity, so from a distance threw a stick at the bird house…still nothing. Then I gingerly took the stick and knocked the bird house and pole over…still no activity. Now remember, I said I am very scared of hornets, but I was curious. Verrrry slowly, I pried open the side panel and when all was still quiet I peeked inside. What I saw was more interesting than any other hornet’s nest we’ve ever gotten rid of before. The nest had been torn apart a bit (probably from me knocking it over), and the nesting comb had come loose as you can see in the picture. I had never seen one quite this developed, nor had I ever seen one with larvae and developing pupas in it. The 18 hornets I counted were quite dead, including the queen, but the larvae were still wiggling (sorry for any of you who are squeamish). Some of the cells had a silky cover over them which I learned later is what the larvae do when they begin to transform into an adult.[i] There were a couple hornets which had eaten through the silk and were about to emerge.

Later, when my husband and neighbor were examining the comb, we all marveled at the intricacy and precise engineering feat it presented. I had learned that it is a fertilized queen that completes the initial construction of the nest until enough adult hornets develop to carry on her work of enlarging the nest, taking care of the larvae, and bringing food to her. She simply lays the eggs at that point. (I guess that’s where we get the idiom, the “queen bee”)

What amazed me further is that in the fall, only fertilized female hornets survive the winter to continue this cycle in the spring. She relies solely on instinct as, unlike many other animal species, she does not learn these skills from her mother or from imprinting. God has built into the hornet a complex genetic code that governs her behavior apart from any prior experience or learning opportunity.[ii] This always blows my mind!

Although the only reference to hornets in the Bible are when God sent them ahead of the Israelites before His people went in to conquer their enemies, there is mention of other animals which use their God-given instincts.

Proverbs 30:25-27 says, “Ants; they are weak, but they store up their food in the summer. Rock badgers: they are not strong either, but they make their homes among the rocks. Locusts, they have no king, but they move in formation.” Jeremiah 8:7 says, “Even storks know when it is time to return; doves, swallows, and thrushes know when it is time to migrate.”

I may have stirred up a hornet’s nest, but my heart was more stirred to praise and worship God for His infinite wisdom in designing all creatures with such complexity!

Until next Sunday,

Kathy                                

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[i] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornet

[ii] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instinct

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Andrew's Favorite Dessert

This is my husband's most favorite dessert.  It is one that his mother used to make.  I don't even think it has a name.  It is a scratch white cake with a warm butterscotch sauce.  


For Father's Day we were at our little spot in the country.  We BBQ'd with Andrew's dad.  The BBQ was not earth shattering:  steak, new potatoes, and corn on the cob.  However, the dessert was wonderful!!


Take Six White Cake
This is my favorite white cake recipe.  My cousin Janice shared it with me years ago.  I believe it to be one that has proved tried and true over several generations.  


3/4C Crisco
1 3/4C sugar
3 eggs
3C flour
1 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
1 1/4C milk
1 tsp vanilla


Cream the Crisco and sugar.  Add the eggs, one at a time.  In a separate bowl combine dry ingredients.  I always put my vanilla in the milk and then alternately add wet and dry to the egg mixture.  


Bake @ 325 for 45min - 1 hour. 


Warm Butterscotch Sauce
2C brown sugar
2C corn syrup
2C light cream
8 tbsp butter
4 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt


Combine brown sugar, corn syrup, and cream in saucepan.  Cook over med heat, stirring occasionally, for 15-20 min.  Remove from heat - fold in butter, vanilla and salt.  Serve hot or cold.  Yield 4C  This is not a thick sauce.  The cake will actually soak some of it up.  It is delicious!

Printable Recipe


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Lunch for the Girls!

I had some very special girls over for lunch today.  We laughed...we cried...we laughed TIL we cried!!  We enjoyed such a great time together.   Our lunch was a Cobb Salad.  It is such an easy thing to serve when you have friends in.  Everything can be prepared ahead of time, and then you assemble the salad when you are ready to eat.  I lined the plates on the counter and made the salads "assembly line style".   

Romaine lettuce, sliced egg, bacon, grated cheddar, cubed baked ham, diced tomato, shredded baked chicken breast.  After everyone left, I went into the kitchen and noticed the yummy avocados still sitting in the fruit bowl on the counter where I placed them so I "wouldn't forget them"!!!! :(  Sorry girls!!

Homemade Parmesan Peppercorn Dip / Dressing

Our salad dressing was a delicious homemade one.  Yvonne from StoneGable has created a wonderful Salad Dressing Primer with several yummy homemade dressing recipes.  She mentioned the Parmesan Peppercorn Dressing in her "On The Menu Monday" post this past week.  I knew it would be perfect for my Cobb Salads this weekend and she very kindly shared it with me!  It was wonderful!  Watch for it in one of her upcoming posts.  






Confession time.  We were too full for dessert right after lunch, so we waited until our lunch settled a bit and then made quick work of these gooey brownies, Vanilla frozen yogurt and fresh Nova Scotia strawberries.  Oh my...it was really good!

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Take 5 with Kathy - "Appointments..."

It seems these past few weeks have been all about appointments for me…if it’s not one doctor or another, it’s with my hairdresser, or my physiotherapist, or my osteopath, or the dentist, or the optometrist, or a dinner date, or a church meeting, or X-rays…and I don’t work outside my home or still have children living at home, so my hat’s off to you women who manage to juggle both or all three!

Appointments are a necessary part of life, but they sure can disrupt it. If I didn’t have to travel very far to get to them, or spend more than five minutes waiting for them, or have to cancel and re-schedule one to fit in another of higher priority, perhaps I wouldn’t feel like they are running my life. Maybe it’s just more irritating as I get a little older – of course, the older we get, the more appointments there seem to be (unrelated to work).

I like what Albert Einstein once said, “The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.”[i] I know that many people claim to be great at “multi-tasking”, but the fact remains there are still only 24 hours in a day…1440 minutes…86,400 seconds…so if you’re trying to accomplish several things in that same time frame, something doesn’t get done as well as it could otherwise….just a thought. I’ve tried to do it, but I’m much more efficient when I focus on one thing whenever possible.

A very wise man also said, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1) King Solomon is one of the wisest people to ever have lived – perhaps that is why his words are so often quoted, even by those who know little or nothing about the Bible. Our time is so precious and often we feel pulled, pushed, and stretched until our minds and bodies scream for rest and relaxation.

It is so important that I make every moment of my days count. David said, “You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you.” (Psalm 39:5) I was thinking about this verse as I watched live on television Nik Wallenda make his historic crossing of Niagara Falls on Friday night. I’m sure every minute of that daring feat felt like a lifetime as he braved something no one thought he could, or should, ever do. What impressed me most, although I was sitting on the edge of my seat like everyone else, was how he prayed and thanked the Lord Jesus all the way across. He seemed to have such a deep calm and faith that was anchored in the One he called, “My Saviour… my Redeemer”. As I watched the thick mist swirl around him on that precarious journey I was also reminded of how our lives are described in James 4:14, “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” In an interview after his successful walk into the annals of history, I was delighted to hear him giving God the glory for this amazing gift he had been given and how he wanted to inspire people all over the world to never stop trying to realize their dreams. What a testimony!

I want my days to echo the words of David in Psalm 32:6-7, “Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found; surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach him. You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.” My heart attitude as I go through the activities of each day with which God blesses me should be one of gratitude and praise to my Deliverer, my Hiding Place, and my Protector. When I remember to focus on this, it helps to keep the interruptions, irritations, distractions, and unexpected challenges from overwhelming me and causing me to take my eyes off the One who brings balance, calm, and steadiness into my daily walk.

One appointment we are assured of keeping and which will never be cancelled or rescheduled is the day we meet God. Hebrews 9:27-28 says, “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him.” As a child I placed my faith in what Jesus Christ did for me and I wait for that glorious day when I will one day see Him and live forever in His presence!

Until next Sunday,

Kathy

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[i] http://thinkexist.come/quotations/time/




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Which way?

This sign hung outside at our cottage.

When we sold the cottage this spring,

it came home with all the other "stuff".  

I wanted to use it at our new little spot in the country, but it just didn't suit. 

We are on a river there, not the ocean

 and this sign looks "beachy" to me.  

It hung in the sunshine and salt air

 for several years, and did it's job 

very well by pointing the way to the salt water. 

However it really was faded and chipped.  

A fresh look, and new job

were definitely in order.

So, I removed the rope hanger, 

and took out the rusty little screw eyes.

A coat of black paint really freshened it up.

When the black paint was thoroughly dry,

I put on a thick coat of  "Crackle It". 

That dried for several hours,

and then I put on a coat of white paint.  

As the "Crackle It" continued to dry

under the coat of white paint

it did it's job very well.

It crackled it!!!

The arrow has a very important new job now.

It very proudly points the way to...

THE OUTHOUSE!!






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