Nature Walk ...............................

I took a nature walk Monday and found this little bird nest , the bird family had moved on and left it's wonderful creation.

We've had enough rain in the last week , that mushrooms are popping up everywhere. Although I can't identify them and wouldn't put them on my dinner menu ..............................................

I do enjoy their magical beauty ............................


the different textures and colors .................

and their natural surroundings.

I don't know what this plant is called , but it sure is lovely.

The sweet goldenrod is starting to bloom and the pokeweed berries are turning dark. I know Autumn is not far away when I see this happening.

The Plantain seeds are turning brown , they're almost ready to harvest.

And I found a new Yucca sprout that is thriving since it's been so dry and hot this Summer. I need to put something around it , so hubby doesn't mow it down. He doesn't have the same fondness of these so called weeds that I do (LOL).

Have you taken a " Nature Walk " lately ?

~ Natural Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

Mullein & Mulberry Mudd Clay Pendant

Kristine over at " Herbal Roots Zine " is giving away a wonderful pendant made by " Mulberry Mudd " , it features the herb" Mullein ". I won the willow pendant a few months ago , love it. You can click here for a chance to win ~ Giveaway Monday: Mulberry Mudd Clay Pendant.
The issue of " Herbal Roots Zine " this month is about mullein. Her e-book { pdf file } is wrote to help children learn about herbs , but it's wonderful for beginning herbalist too. The cost is 6.00 per issue and will be sent to your e-mail address , you can pay through pay-pal or make a credit card payment. Not sure you want to purchase , sign-up for a free issue when you join her mailing list. You will receive a free issue in {pdf file } , great way to see if it's something you would be interested in.

The pendant giveaway ends ( 8-12-10 ) tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m. , the drawing will be held Friday , August 13th.

~ Happy Herbal Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

Morning Routine ..............................................

I would like to thank Lib and Sissy for identifying the flower. It's called " Rose of Sharon " or " Althea " ( Hibiscus syriacus ) , a member of the hibiscus family. We had these in the yard as I was growing up , but I never knew what they were called. I have a patch of them growing near the garden , there's also one growing in the dog lot which adds alot of beauty to an otherwise barren space. Thanks again ladies for helping me identify that beautiful blossom.

Each morning after a cup of coffee , I head out to feed the critters. I let the chickens out of the coop and feed them.

Give them fresh H2O ................................


Then I give the goats their breakfast , I've got to get them a larger pan , they're out growing this one.


As I start out to get fresh water for the goats , the guinea are usually hanging out near the goat pen to see what's going on or checking to see if I dropped any sweet feed on my way in. I don't feed them in the mornings , they get fed in the afternoon , so they'll eat bugs during the day.

The goats are always ready for their fresh H2O when I get back.

Then I head to the garden to check on the veggies and see what needs harvesting. Last week I was checking the squash and almost stepped on one of these .........................................

But I didn't have on boots , it's a Red Stripe Ribbon Snake , my foot was right beside it , about 1/2 inch from it and I had garden crocks on (yikes). I didn't move , just slowly lifted the squash leaf and it took off in the grass. I got the pic from Wikipedia , that's not me holding the snake. I'm so thankful these type snakes aren't aggressive or poisonous .................

but I'll be wearing my boots to the garden and paying more attention from now on. The boots look great with shorts (LOL).

I gathered a few squash , tomatoes and peppers this morning.

Then I headed back to the house , checked this small garden bed for tomatoes. I put up this makeshift fence a few weeks ago to keep the chickens out. I feed and water the dogs , then I feed the cats. Now it's time for my breakfast and more coffeeeee.

What's your morning routine ?

~ Many Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

Please help me identify .........................................

this flowering bush. I have a patch of these growing near the garden , one has pink blooms and the other has white blooms.

This is what the blooms look like before they open.


This is the white bloom I posted yesterday.



Sorry for the terrible photo , but I think you can see the cluster of blooms.



This is what the leaf looks like.

It grows into a small bush/tree. I wonder if it's a Hibiscus Tree or in the Hibiscus family. Does anyone know what it is ?

Hope you had a wonderful weekend !!

~ Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

May Your Day .................................................

be filled with Beautiful Blessings and Warm Hugs !!

JoyceAnn

Let's take a walk .......................................

today. That's Lame Lucy in the back near the woods , she's the guinea my friend gave me a few weeks ago. I call her Lame Lucy because she has a slight limp. That's her new man , they hang-out together during the day , but come nightfall , she heads for the chicken coop. She also lays her eggs in the nesting box inside the coop. Dh ran over a guinea nest one day last week while mowing , he didn't break any of the eggs , so I gathered them up and put them in the nesting box. I hope she'll go broody soon and hatch those eggs.

There was a cute little spider web on the zucchini , I didn't get the best photo. But maybe if you enlarge the photo , you can see it better.

I walked over to the edge of the field to check on my blueberry bush , was surprised when I saw 7 blueberries on the bush. I had checked it a few weeks ago and saw the berries , but since there were so few I hadn't bothered to go back to pick them. I thought the birds would take care of them , they were still there , ripe and waiting for me. I planted this bush about 5 years ago , it never grew in the first location I planted it. So 2 years ago I dug it up and replanted it , it lived but still hasn't grown much. I was beginning to think I was going to need to move it again , but it has finally taken growth as you can see from the pic above.

I'm so happy , this blueberry bush is very special to me because it's a grand baby bush to some blueberry bushes my late Grandma grew long ago. My sister got a few sprouts from the original bushes and she gave me a bush that sprouted from hers. I picked the 7 blueberries but ate one on the way back to the house , the other six were added to my cereal , they were delish.


I found some wild grapes , I've had my eye on a couple of vines , but I've never seen grapes on this vine before. I want to gather enough to make some wild grape jam.


While I was walking and checking out the edge of the woods for herbs , I spotted this black walnut tree. It has walnuts this year , we had a black walnut tree in the back yard when we first moved here , but years ago Hurricane Fran brought a huge oak tree down on the walnut tree. Black Walnuts have medicinal properties and I want to learn more about them. We talked about them in the herbal/wild foods class I took a few years ago.

The elderberries are ripening , but the birds have been snacking on them. I wish I could find enough to make elderberry syrup , but I didn't see that many.

There's a plant growing in the garden bed among a patch of violets that I'm going to try to i.d. ~ Click to enlarge , do you know what it is ?

This little spider was hanging out by a patch of blackberries , quite beautiful.

Hope you enjoyed the walk , I sure did !

~ Natural Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

Do Goats ..................................................

really eat anything ?

Nope , we like the cool , fresh water that Naaaana brings us in the morning and the hay is o.k. , but we really love the sweet feed , it's yummy !

We don't like green stuff , so our lot looks like a jungle. I think Naaana's planning to enlarge and make some changes to our lot soon.


I thought Naaana's camera strap might be pretty tasty (LOL). She couldn't believe she captured this photo while I was trying to eat that strap.



We love to chew on Naaana's clothes !!

Good-Bye Naaana .............................

Now , if only I could chew this pin up , we could get to the garden and try some of those plants (LOL).

~ Nanny Blessings ~

Jazz & Jo

~ Congrats to .....................

my Sister-in-law , she graduates today , she'll be receiving her " Dental Assistant " degree. Last night we went to her pinning ceremony , she received an award for having the highest GPA of the class and the " Best Clinician " award. A few years ago , she was laid off from her job and had the chance to go back to school. She had always thought she would like to be in the dental field , so it was the perfect opportunity to go for her dream. We're so proud of her and wish her well with her new career.

~ Be Blessed ~

JoyceAnn

~ Morning Harvest ~

This morning I headed out to feed the chickens , goats and to check the garden. I found this Siamese squash and a few other yellow squash and zucchini squash. There were a couple of cucumbers on those pitiful looking vines too.

The corn has started developing ears , was thrilled about that. I thought it was a total loss , but maybe not. I keep forgetting we planted the garden late , so maybe that's why it's just now getting ears.

These are my Tommy Toe Tomatoes aka cherry or salad tomatoes , they're huge this year. They're larger than most of my Homestead tomatoes and the Homestead are suppose to be medium size tomatoes. Of course they're planted near hubby's garage and can be watered.

This is the morning harvest , one of the girls had laid early this morning too.

The Roma tomatoes are ripening too , I've been picking them as they start to ripen. I'm afraid the deer will raid the garden if I don't. They don't like green tomatoes , but I remember one year they went through the garden and took a bite out of every ripe tomato . We loss most of our tomatoes that year to the deer. I plan to make some mild salsa with the Roma tomatoes. Little Froggy loves salsa , but the last 2 batches I made are to hot for him to eat. So I want to make a few jars that he'll be able to eat.

Hope you all are having a good week !

~ Garden Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ Garden Suncatcher/Totem ~

Sunday afternoon , Dh and I rode to the Goodwill store to check-out their glassware. I've been wanting to make a suncatcher/garden totem , but I didn't have enough glass pieces to complete one. I found a few pieces to use. If you would like to see a glass garden totem , click here > http://www.instructables.com/id/Garden-Art-Totems/ . I hope to get one put together this week , will post a pic when it's finished.

I also found this cute little vintage scale planter .........

and some bamboo plate holders , we use those thin paper plates and these are a must for those type plates. I also use the bamboo holders to dry herbs or to hold fruits. I'm trying to replace all of my plastic canisters with glass , so I was happy to find the large glass container.

What creative project are you working on ?

~ Peaceful Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ * ~ Happy Birthday ~ * ~

Curious J !!

Curious J celebrates his 6th birthday today. So today I thought I would share a few of the reasons I call him " Curious J " , he's as curious as " Curious George " , if not more. His curiosity unfortunately keeps him in trouble alot and while sometimes it's a great learning tool , there are times it's very dangerous to him.

When he was 2 , I made the mistake of stepping out on the back porch and he shut the door and locked me out. While I was yelling and telling him to unlock the door , he grabbed a chair and pulled it up to the stove , trying to reach the buttons , but he couldn't quite reach them. I could see him inside because we have small window panes on the back door. I decided to bust one of those windows to get back inside with him , before he tried something else (LOL).

Curious J started daycare when he was 3 , they have a fire alarm and I think he set it off at least twice. Yep , the nickname " Curious J " fits him perfectly.

He loves to throw things up into the ceiling fans to see what happens to them. If the ceiling fan hits whatever he has thrown and it spins , he gets a good belly laugh.

His latest curiosity has been to put ice cubes on the lamp to watch them melt , I've caught him doing that several times. I've tried to explain to him that electricity and water are a dangerous combination.

Yes , he's very curious and that's why I call him " Curious J ".

I love him dearly and wish him a very ..................

Happy 6th Birthday filled with Special Blessings !!

We Love You " Curious J "

Nana & Pawl

May This Day ........................................

Bring You Blessings of Wild and Wonderful Weeds !

JoyceAnn