~ Herbs & Tomatoes ~

( Click on photo to enlarge )

I've finally got tomatoes and I'm not sure what I want to do with the first batch. There's so many things to make with them , salsa , spaghetti sauce , tomato juice , tomato sauce or just plain canned tomatoes. I think I will make salsa , we're about to finish up the salsa from last year.

I harvested some herbs this morning , the first basket has basil , rosemary and thyme in it. The second basket holds tri-colored sage and pine-apple sage. I'm making stuffed bell peppers for supper tonight and plan to use some sage , basil and oregano in them. I will be using some of them in the salsa , oregano and cilantro. The herbs have done well , can't wait to try some new ones next spring.

Yesterday evening I was using some rainwater in a barrel behind the pool to water my herbs and flowers and I spotted this beautiful spider. One day I hope to have a better camera , but for now if you click on the photo , it will enlarge and you can get a better view. Oh , I found my camera last Saturday night , it was in the stroller were I had left it after a walk with Little Froggy .

Hope You have a Great Weekend.

~ Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ Back to Basics Challenge ~

I started this challenge about the same time as the 100 Ft. Diet Challenge. This challenge was created by Path To Freedom (http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/) , to can and preserve as much homegrown or local food as you can , to feed your family. I try to do this with the garden anyway , but this year I decided it would probably become a necessity with the economy slowing and food prices soaring.

On Monday , my Mom and I canned 14 qts of vegetable soup. Yesterday I pickled 1 qt and 2 pts of Cayenne hot peppers , the next harvest of peppers will be dried to make crushed red pepper , hot sauce and organic pest control for next year. I do want to pickle some jalapenos , we love those jalapeno rings on just about everything. My jalapenos aren't producing well , I'm hoping they will do better as it starts to get cooler. I harvested a few pepperoncini peppers , since there was only a handful , I pickled them in the refrigerator. I just put them in a small jar and poured vinegar over them , they'll stay in the frig and develop their flavor.

Today I have green beans to can , a few jalapenos to stuff and some bell peppers to deseed , blanch and freeze. So I'm heading to the kitchen , to get ~ Back to the Basics ~. Hope you have a great day and your garden gives you a blessed bountiful harvest.

~ Green Blessing ~

JoyceAnn

~ Sounding the Alarm ~

~ Fire Truck Cake ~

Curious J helped make his birthday cake , Saturday night. He loves to cook and enjoyed making it , as much as the party or eating it. Our cake turned out a little lopsided , but Curious J loved it and that's all that counts. My Son-in-Law , said the fire truck was just going around a curve (LOL).

Blowing out the candles and making a Wish !

Pa Pa got his tire swing hung , so I added a little decoration. At first he was a little intimidated by the swing , but after awhile ...........................

He was getting the hang of it . I'm sure he'll be swinging like a monkey before long.
We had lots of water balloons , they played a game called " Put Out the Flame. You had to take a towel and get a water balloon , wrap the balloon (Flame) to smother it and put out the flame , by sitting on it or stomping it. They couldn't get the balloons to burst , it was so funny. They finally had to throw them up in air or against something to bust them.

It was a great party , the adults had alot of fun with the water balloons too. Water Guns and Water Balloons were the perfect thing for a hot August day , most of the adults went home wet too.

I was proud of the older kids , they helped me pick-up all the busted balloon pieces , and I didn't have to ask them to help. I'm planning to use them in an art project and on a scrapbook page.

Hope you had some childlike fun over the weekend !

~ Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ Happy Birthday ~

To My
Curious J

Love You More Than the Stars

Nana & PaPa

~ Time with the Grands ~

~ Cookie Time ~

I have both of the grand babies today , so I won't get much done. Today I will enjoy my time with them. They're 8 months old now , crawling and exploring everything. I didn't think , Little Missy would crawl but after watching Little Froggy ( new nickname ) for Sweet Baby J , crawl around , she has started crawling. I thought she would be walking by now , but since she has started crawling , it'll probably be awhile.

Little Missy is waving and saying bye-bye , she can say Momma and a week ago today , she said Pa-Pa. She has won Pa Pa's heart , that's for sure. She also tries to call my cat , his name is Buddy and she calls him Bu . Little Froggy will say Hey , and is trying to wave.
They bring so much joy to my life , can't wait for the new arrival in Dec.. My oldest daughter's due date has been changed to Dec. 29 , maybe a Christmas baby.

Curious J will be here this afternoon , I miss not having much time to spend with him , but I was blessed to have the first 3 years with him.
He's still curious as ever , he'll be 4 tomorrow. DH is going to make him a rope swing , just what a curious little monkey needs.
Well , I need to get off the computer and finish the grocery list for the birthday celebration this Sunday.


Have a Great Weekend and enjoy those small Blessings that come your way.

~ Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ Hot & Humid ~

We're having our typical July weather , hot & humid. It's actually been a pretty nice July , very few days of this humidity. I'll be staying inside and working on my harvest. I've got potatoes to can and lots of peppers to pickle. The tomatoes are starting to ripen , they taste so wonderful. I had my first tomato sandwich for lunch yesterday. Hope to be making salsa next week.
I haven't found my camera yet , Curious J didn't offer any information. He did say , he would share the camera he has at home (LOL). I hope I didn't leave it outside , we had rain lastnight and it's ruined , if I did.

I hope everyone is having a good week , with many blessings coming your way.

~ Green Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~~ My Camera is MIA ~~

On Monday , as I was getting ready to leave for my Aunt's birthday celebration , I couldn't find my camera. I thought I had left it in the garden shed , that's were I usually put it , when I take it to the garden for photos. When I got home , I checked the garden shed , but it wasn't there.

I've been looking everywhere , haven't found it yet. I think Curious J may have done something with it , he had my camera one night last week , but I got it away from him. He was here Friday afternoon , maybe he hid it this time. So , my camera is MIA , will have to post some of my stored pics.

The birthday celebration was wonderful. My Aunt turned 67 , it was a surprise birthday party , she was soooo surprised , it made her cry ....... She was so Grateful , it made us cry. Those happy cries are the best , it will be a precious memory forever.

Yesterday , it was back to the kitchen. I taught my oldest daughter how to make blueberry jelly. We made 8 half pints of jelly and froze several cups for blueberry cobblers or pancakes. I made a blueberry cobbler for supper last night , it was yummy.

Curious J will have a birthday Saturday , my first grandbaby will be 4 , time sure passes quickly. We will have a birthday celebration for him on Sunday , here by the pool. He wants a fire truck cake , so we're planning a fire truck theme party. Time to get the dust rags out again and start cleaning.

~ Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ Restful Weekend ~

Saturday , I picked all the corn and froze 30 more ears. With the corn out of the way , I decided to take the rest of the weekend off. We went to the cook-out for my Son-in Law's Mother and enjoyed ourselves.

Sunday morning I cooked a southern style breakfast. We had homemade biscuits , local made sausage , milky gravy and sliced tomatoes. I sliced up our first homestead tomatoe that had ripened and another local grown tomatoe that was given to us , they were sooo good ....... Hopefully we'll be getting plenty of homegrown tomatoes soon.The blackberry jelly in those biscuits was delicious , I don't make biscuits often , so they were a real treat.

After breakfast , I did the dishes and decided it was a day to lounge by the pool and rest , so that's what I did.

Last night I made a stir-fry of banana peppers , onions and squash. We had leftover bbq chicken , chops and burgers from the cook-out. I cut up some roma tomaotes , cucumbers and bell pepper strips and we had vinegar over them. Simple meal , but good.

So , it was a very restful weekend. Today I'll be back in the kitchen , I have another batch of blackberry jelly to make. A friend brought my daughter some blueberries and we will be making some jam from those tomorrow.

We're getting together today for another birthday celebration for my Aunt. I'm making stuffed banana peppers , boiled new potatoes and unsweet tea .I plan to make her a card and gift her with some blackberry jelly.

Hope your weekend was ~ Restful and Blessed ~ !

~ Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ The Critters and the Garden are keeping Me Busy ~

We've been busy this week , the garden is blessing us with a bountiful harvest. Picking up potatoes , picking beans , canning beans , digging onions , storing the potatoes , canning the smaller ones ( alot of those) .

And this morning , the critters started raiding the corn , so I picked all the corn , now I have to prepare it. Since some of these ears are small , I'll be cutting it off the cob and freezing it. We'll probably have a few more bags of corn on the cob too. Glad they didn't do a total raid , one year they got all the corn. I'm not sure if it was coons or deer , but I'm sure they'll be back. Earlier this week I had more visitors , they maybe the bandits. If you click on the photo , it will enlarge. A doe and her twins were grazing in the front yard , Hubby's lawnmower has been broke down , he finally got it fixed and mowed Thursday. I went to get the camera , the doe heard me coming out the door and she went to the edge of the woods , the babies were still there , watching me. They stood there for a few seconds , looking at me , the one to the left put up its white tail , but the the other one didn't seem to sense any danger , it started walking toward me , but Mom gave a snort and off they went , thur the woods. They were cute , still had spots.

I've canned 6 qts of green beans and 6 qts of potatoes , froze 24 ears of corn this week. The beans need picking again and there's many more potatoes to can. The peppers are hanging again , will pickle some of those next week. My tomatoes are starting to ripen , they're a little late. I 'm glad or I would be canning tomatoes and making salsa too.

Time to head back to the kitchen , silk the corn and blanch it. We're going to a birthday cook-out for my Son-in-Law and his Mother tonight. It'll be nice to go out and take a rest from the garden.

Hope your weekend is going well.

~ Green Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ Smile ~

~ Future Gardeners ~

If we can figure out how to wear these hats !

~ Major Harvest Time ~

We didn't get rain this past weekend , so we dug the potatoes Saturday. Actually hubby plowed through them and we picked them up. We didn't get all of them picked up , so had planned to finish yesterday. But we didn't get to them yesterday either , my Mom called and needed DH to look at her well pump , it's not working . Was hoping to get them up this afternoon , but it has been stormy. We need the rain , so I'm grateful for it. The potatoes didn't do as well as last year , but we are blessed to have some to eat this winter.

This morning I harvested corn and green beans. I will be canning the beans tomorrow and freezing the corn.

Today , my oldest daughter and I made baby food. We made carrots and green beans with corn for the wee ones. I also taught her how to make blackberry jelly. Last Sunday , they tried my blackberry jelly , she and her husband both liked it. It maybe because she's pregnant (LOL) , she liked the jelly and the stuffed peppers I made last week. She has always liked the stuffing in the peppers , but wouldn't eat the pepper , she ate the whole stuffed pepper last week and said it was good.

The blackberries are about to dry up , but I'm still picking about a cup a day. We made six 1/2 pints today , hope to make 6 more later this week.

Hope everyone is doing well , will try to visit some blogs tomorrow if I get a chance.

~ Green Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ Brillante Weblogs Awards ~

Lib at libsprivateparadise.blogspot.com/ has given me an award. I feel honored by her thoughtfulness. I am suppose to pass it on to 7 ~ Brillante Weblogs ~.

Here are the rules ...................

• Put logo on your blog



• Add link to the person who awarded you



• Give 7 bloggers this award



• Add link to awarded bloggers

• Leave a comment to those awarded

Please , don't feel obligated to pass this along if you don't like doing meme's ~ tags ~ awards . So , if you don't have time , or have already received it before , or whatever reason you have , I will not be offended if you don't pass it along. I just want to recognize some of the blogs I enjoy and think are brillante weblogs for different reasons.

1. Lib ~~~ http://libsprivateparadise.blogspot.com/ ~ Lib always has kind words for everyone and constantly reminds me to slow down and enjoy a simple day. So , I'm passing the award back to you , I think you have a ~ Brillante Weblog ~ . Just enjoy the award and don't worry about passing it on , unless you want to.


2. Flassie ~~~ http://wwwflassiesfila.blogspot.com/~ Flassie is always helpful and full of brilliant ideas , so this ~ Brillante Weblog ~ award is definitely for you. I know you don't like meme's , tags and such , but you are awarded without obligation.


3. Angela ~~~http://angelasartdiary.blogspot.com/~ Angela gets this award , for always leaving pleasant comments and her art is wonderful. Pass it on , or just enjoy the ~ Brillante Weblog ~ award.


4. Coral Rose ~~~http://coralrosecreations.blogspot.com/ ~ She is new to blogging , hope you will visit her blog and say Hello. I love her newest creation , she's making a journal out of homemade paper , I think that's worthy of a ~ Brillante Weblog ~ award .


5. Sophie aka Miss Koolaid ~~~http://misskoolaid.blogspot.com/ ~ She has a great love for art trading cards . I always enjoy seeing her latest creations. Sophie , hope you enjoy the ~ Brillante Weblog ~ award.


6. Vickie ~~~http://frenchyaddict.blogspot.com/ ~ Wow , What can I say about Vickie , we have so much in common. Gardening , good food , nature , thrift shopping , even learning to swim in a river. She deserves the ~ Brillante Weblog ~ award.


7. Lisa Oceandreamer ~~~http://awhimsicalbohemian.typepad.com/ ~ Visit her wonderful new Blog and see her new " Muse and Joyride " art dolls , and you'll see way she's gets this ~ Brillante Weblog ~ award.

~ Blessings to you all ~

JoyceAnn

* 100 Foot Diet Challenge *

07 ~ 19 ~ 08

~ Herb Stuffed Bell Peppers ~

Bell Peppers * Homegrown

Ground Chuck ~ Local Owned Grocery Store

Garlic * Homegrown

Green Onion * Homegrown

Fresh Oregano * Homegrown

Fresh Rosemary * Homegrown

Rice ~ Local Owned Grocery Store

Canned Tomatoes * Homegrown

Cheddar Cheese ~ Local Owned Grocery Store

Bell Pepper * Homegrown

Cucumber * Homegrown

Roma Tomatoes * Homegrown

Vinegar ~ Store Bought

Fresh Corn On Cob ** Homegrown

with

Garlic Butter

Garlic * Homegrown

Butter ~ Local Owned Grocery Store

~ Green Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ Another Busy Day and More Berry Blessings ~

Yesterday was wash day , this time of year I have lots of beach towels to wash. So , while the grands napped , I did laundry. Today I'll be doing more laundry and gardening.

The potatoes & onions are ready to be harvested. I was going to wait until the first of next week , but we're suppose to have heavy rains this weekend. They need to be harvested before the rain , a couple of the onions I gathered the other day were rotting. They definitely need to be dug before we get more rain.

There's always so much to do this time of the year , it can get overwhelming , even though I enjoy doing it. I picked more blackberries this morning. I plan to squeeze the juices out and make more jelly this weekend while I'm shut in due to the rain. I've been thinking about making blackberry herbal themed gift baskets or bags for Christmas. I will dry some leaves to make blackberry tea bags and make a tincture from the roots this fall. I'll include instructions and a fact sheet about the herb , add a jar of jelly and a recipe for my blackberry cobbler or muffins. I could decorate a gift bag with my ~ Berry Picking Blessings ~ folk art ..... guess what , I just noticed I dated the drawing 06 , it should be 08 , crazy me (LOL).
I also thought about adding cloth napkins to the basket or bag , instead of tissue paper. I think the items would look wonderful nestled down in the napkins. I don't sew much , but I think I could manage to hem some napkins. I like to give what I call ~ Green Gifts ~ gifts that are environmental friendly.

Thanks Lib , for inspiring me to think about holiday gifts early. I always have intentions on doing this , but end up waiting to the last minute. This year I'm in gear and will get it done early. Now I need to figure out what I'm going to make for the kids.

~ Hope your weekend is Blessed ~

JoyceAnn

~ Herb Stuffed Bell Peppers ~

Ground Chuck ~ 3 lbs

Fresh Minced Garlic ~ To your taste

Green Onion ~ 2 to 4

Fresh Oregano ~ 1 tbsp

Fresh Rosemary ~ 1 tbsp

Canned Tomatoes ~ 2 Qt. jars

White Rice ~ 6 to 8 cups

Cheddar Cheese ~ 16 oz pkg

Blanched Bell Peppers ~ 25 cut in half

Blanch the peppers, let them cool while making stuffing.

Brown ground chuck and minced garlic /chopped onion together. Add minced herbs to beef mixture. Add pre-cooked rice and tomatoes to beef , heat thoroughly. Spray or grease baking pan , stuff the peppers with beef mixture. Bake until browned , remove and add cheddar cheese on top. Return to oven and bake until cheese is as brown as you like.

Thought I would share my recipe , although I usually do them different each time I make them. This recipe makes a huge batch , so you may want to down size it some. I froze about 5 meals from this batch. I didn't cook the ones I froze or add cheese , just stuffed them with beef mixture.

I'm really enjoying the fresh herbs , they make a big difference in flavor.

Hope everyone had a great week.

~ Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ Cooking * Canning * Cleaning ~

Along with the wonderful harvest , comes a lot of ~ Cooking * Canning * Cleaning ~ the three c's. Yesterday I canned 14 qts of green beans and started prepping ingredients for making stuffed peppers today.

This morning I sliced up banana peppers , cayenne and jalapeno peppers , I pickled 5 pints. Now it's time to clean up the kitchen and get ready to stuff the peppers.Tonight we will have stuffed peppers for supper. I plan to freeze several also , these will come in handy on those busy days , just heat and eat.

Monday I made 6 more 1/2 pints of blackberry jelly. I tried a new recipe and it was sooo good , I decided to make some for christmas gifts. I'm determined to get my family to enjoy more wild foods. With today's economy being so bad and looking like it's getting worse , I hope they will learn to appreciate what nature provides.

Went to a local farm to pick blueberries yesterday afternoon , but their bushes had been picked clean.

Hope everyone is having a Wonderful day and your Harvest are plentiful.

~ Green Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

* ~ * This Week's Harvest * ~ *

Hope everyone is having a good week.

I'll be in the kitchen today , taking care of this harvest.

~ Green Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ Party Time ~ 07 - 12 - 08

~ Birthday Girl ~

~ Curious J enjoying the birthday cake ~

~ Curious J and Little Bob White Playing ~

~ Cousins ~

~ Little Miss Sunshine , Little Missy , Little Bob White ~

~ BLESSINGS ~

JoyceAnn

~ Water Your Children ~

~ You should water your children like you water a Tree ~

(Hopi)

Today I will be watering my niece , it's her Special Day.

Happy Birthday to Little Miss Sunshine !!

~ Blessings ~

JoyceAnn