Pancakes and an Evening Helper

Yesterday morning , I decided it was time for pancakes. I don't eat them very often , but I've been thinking about making some and trying the red clover syrup. The syrup was very good , next year I'll make plenty.

Little Froggy stayed a few hours with me yesterday afternoon , so he helped at feeding time.


This was the first time I've let him get the feed out by himself , he thought he was something (LOL).

He just had to wear rubber boots , although there was no rain and it's not wet.

Captured this photo of the alpha guinea keeping lookout last night about dusk , you can see the sunflowers in the background. They've grown , but would probably be huge if we had got more rain.

Hope everyone is having a " Wonderful " weekend !

~~~ Hopeful Blessings ~~~

JoyceAnn

Weee , Girls just gotta have Fun ....

Naaana neglected to mention us the other day when she was talking about the farmette.

So today's post is all about us !!

Naaana rearranged our goat gym , so we've been enjoying it.

It's sooo much fun !!

Perfect for head butting .............................

and playing " Queen of the Mountain " !

~ Nanny Blessings ~

Jazz & Jo

Mama Roots Giveaway ..................................

Mama Roots is giving away a sweet childrens book called " The little word catcher " , this book sounds interesting and would make a great gift for the upcoming holidays or a child's birthday. She's also giving away a copy of next months issue of " Herbal Roots Zine ". The August issue will be about using the herb mullein , would be a great issue to have on hand. The giveaway sign-ups end tonight at midnight , so head over there and leave a comment now.

~ Click below to check-out the giveaway ~ http://www.mamaroots.com/my_weblog/2010/07/catching-bugs.html#comments

What's your favorite childrens' book ?

Hope everyone is having a good week !

~ Beautiful Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

Yesterday .........................................

around the farmette , the day started by feeding the chickens a few salad tomatoes that were getting soft. They really loved their breakfast appetizer.

Ms. June headed for the nesting box after her appetizer.

These girls decided to eat breakfast.

I took a stroll through the garden and gathered this small harvest. Some of my zucchini squash are yellow , planted them near the yellow squash and they are being cross-pollinated. But they're still good and you can't tell the difference once they're added to the bread or brownies I've been making.

I started on the jelly making once I was back in the house , made 8 pints of grape jelly and 2 more pints of pickled okra. Since I had a little of the vinegar mix leftover from last week and some extra okra , thought I would go ahead and pickle it. As I was working in the kitchen , it started to rain. It was a slow gentle rain to begin with , but later in the afternoon we had a storm and heavy rain. I think we got about 2 inches or more and it cooled things off , it felt wonderful outside when I went out to feed later .

After lunch , I made Teresa's zucchini brownie recipe. They're delicious , the grands will love these , sure I'll be making lots of these brownies this year.

When I went out to feed yesterday afternoon , Ms. Crew was down again. May have to let her go before the season's out (LOL).

Everything in the garden looked so much better with some water beading up on it.

I tried to get a good pic of the water on the tomatoes , but this was the best shot I got.

I found a tomato that was starting to ripen , although it's very small , it made me smile. Hopefully we'll have more tomatoes growing and ripening now that we've got rain.

As the day came to an end , the wet chickens came in to roost and I'm sure they were thankful for the cooler weather. It was a " Blessed " day and I'm so " Thankful " for the rain.

Hope your day was " Blessed " too !

~ Many Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ 1000 Eggs / Praying Mantis Giveaway / Zucchini Brownies ~

This past Saturday our egg count hit 1000 for 2010, that's if I counted them all. I may have missed adding a day or two , but I know it's close.

Can you see me ?

There's a giveaway going on at " Herbal Roots Zine " that I wanted to mention. Kristine is giving away a little natural wooden " Praying Mantis " made by

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2008/12/05/toymaker/

This little Mantis would make a great gift for your Grands or other wee ones in your life. You could use the little fellow for storytelling or make a nature table. Click here for a chance at winning ...........

http://www.herbalrootszine.com/2010/07/giveaway-monday-wooden-praying-mantis/

or you can check-out her Etsy shop here ........

http://www.etsy.com/shop/mamaroots .

Then you can blop over and visit Teresa @ Eden Hills for her " Zucchini Brownies " recipe , click here if you're interested ~

http://edenhills.wordpress.com/2010/07/24/zucchini-season-is-here/

I plan to make some brownies today , so it's time to head to the kitchen.

Wishing everyone a " Wonderful " day !

~ Be Blessed ~

JoyceAnn

~ Ms. Crew' s Back on the Job ..............................

I heard it through the grapevine , that Ms. Crew might have been nipping on the cologne I've been using to keep her smelling good so the deer will stay away (LOL). But I really think it was the storm that came through the weekend before.

Thought I would share a few of the other characters that hang around the garden. We have an " Garden Angel " that keeps a watchful eye.


Snoopy and Woodstock are out there too , flapping about , telling the deer to stay away.

A basket of soap hangs near the end of the garden that is next to the wooded area. Ms. Crew with her stinky cologne , the little garden angel , Snoopy , Woodstock and the basket of used soap pieces have did a great job at keeping the deer and other critters away from the garden this year.

But it's been so hot and we've had so very little rain , that the garden isn't thriving. The yellow and zucchini squash have did pretty well and the cucumbers did good for about a week..

But now the cucumber vines are dying , the corn ears aren't developing , the pepper plants are dying and the tomatoes are so small. It's really disappointing , but I'm Thankful for the small harvest we have been blessed with. We bought the okra and tomatoes from a local farm last week , that's what we made the salsa and pickled okra with. My Mom neighbor's helped her pick grapes over the weekend. I juiced them yesterday , so tomorrow grape jelly and zucchini bread are on the agenda.

Hope everyone had a great weekend , and would love to know
what's on you agenda this week ?

~ Garden Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

Sunday Blessing ............................

May Today bring You , Peace and Beauty !

JoyceAnn

What's been Brewing in Nana's Kitchen ?

Salsa ............................................

Lots of Salsa .........................................

and Pickled Okra !

Hope you enjoyed Jazz and Jo's post yesterday , those silly goats. I 've busy washing veggies , chopping and brewing them up to can. My Mom , K Grey and I made 10 quarts of hot salsa , 9 qts of mild salsa and 10 pints of pickled okra. It's alot of work and I'm glad it's finished. Today I'll be taking inventory of our canned goods , organizing everything and making zucchini bread. Curious J loved the z. bread , since he's a very picky eater , I'm thrilled. I told him it was Yum -yum bread , didn't dare mention zucchini or I'm sure he would not have tried it. It's a great way to get some veggies in him , without him knowing.

If you would like to try this recipe , here's were I found it ........

~ http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Zucchini-Pineapple-Bread-I/Detail.aspx ~

What have you been brewing this week ?

~ Many Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

Uh -oh ................................................

We're filling in for Naaana again today , she's busy in the kitchen this time.

Remember Ms. Crew , well Ms. Crew had a great fall



and Naaana hasn't put her back together again , we think something scared her and she passed out (LOL).



We hope everyone's having a great week !

~ Nanny Blessings ~
Jazz & Jo

~ In the Kitchen ~

Yesterday I spent most of my time in the kitchen , made 2 loaves of Pineapple-Zucchini bread. This was my first time making zucchini bread and I was really pleased with the taste. I'm planning to make a couple more loaves today. We've been eating the loaf pictured above , the other loaf is in the freezer for later.

One day last week , I made another batch of red clover syrup. I tried another method , instead of adding 4 cups of sugar , I added 2 cups of honey and 2 cups of sugar. But once again I didn't let it boil long enough , was afraid I would cook it to long and this time it was like water when I put it in the jars. I thought it might thicken up with time , but it didn't.


So yesterday I put it back in the pot , added another cup of sugar , brought it to a boil , turned the heat down and let it cook on med heat uncovered . I kept checking it and taking a little bit and putting it in a small glass bowl to see if it would thicken up after cooling. After a few checks , I finally got it to a perfect consistency , Yay !
I was going to water down the 2 jars that were to thick , but I put them in a pot to melt the crystals a little and I forgot to put a cloth in the bottom so the jars wouldn't be touching the bottom and one of them busted. The other jar had a scorched scent , so I just threw it out. I did end up with 2 pints of red clover syrup and it taste delicious. I also did a post about making Red Clover syrup over at my " Herbal Spirits " blog yesterday. So if you interested , here's the link ~ http://herbalspirits.blogspot.com/2010/07/red-clover-syrup.html ~.

I had a couple of readers that wanted to know how I make my homemade vanilla flavoring , check-out the link below to see how I made it.

~

http://feather-spirits.blogspot.com/search/label/Homemade%20Vanilla%20Flavoring

~

~ Many Blessings ~
JoyceAnn

Christmas in July ......................................

Last week while I was in the kitchen pickling peppers and making herbed vinegars , I bottled my homemade vanilla. I used recycled steak sauce and olive oil bottles to bottle it in. I'll be giving 3 bottles away as Christmas gifts , will add some pretty ribbon and a label to each bottle. I plan to make a cookie in a jar mix and add a bottle of vanilla to a gift basket. I'll be doing the same thing with my violet jelly , but it will include " Thumbprint Cookies " mix in a jar and the recipe. Yep , it's a bit early to be thinking about Christmas gifts , but I'll be glad I did when Christmas is upon us.

Thought I would share some recycling tips , since I mentioned recycled bottles. This might be helpful if you save and recycle bottles like I do. Keep a wad of aluminum foil by the sink for scrubbing your pots and pans ( except non-stick ). I also use it to clean labels off my recycled bottles , it works great.

This little recycled scrubby works good on those non-stick pans. Since I save everything I always have these items on hand. You'll need a net bag , so save your lemon , orange or onion net bags , twist ties ( I know you've got a drawer full of those (LOL) and a sponge. Put the sponge inside the bag and use the twist ties to gather it at the ends and snip off excess.

I made this scrubby about a month ago , as you can see I've used it alot , it's already got a hole in it. I was thinking this morning , these would make great Christmas gifts too , just team the scubbies up with some homemade cleaning products and add to a gift basket. Although you might want to make sure you trim the ends off evenly , thought I did but I think I pulled them out while scrubbing (LOL).

Anyone else thinking about " Christmas in July " ?

~ Simple Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

Blessings .........................................

of a Glorious Day to Everyone !!

JoyceAnn

Curious J and Little Froggy are here today ......

and they've been busy swinging ............

slipping ................................................

and sliding this Summer day away.

Hope you're having some fun today !

~ Many Blessings ~
JoyceAnn