You'll be missed , but ............................

They are not dead who live in the hearts left behind.

( Tuscarora )

Rest in Peace my Friend !

JoyceAnn

~ Mourning ~

We lost a dear friend this past weekend to murder , please keep his family and our family in your Prayers and Thoughts.

~ Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

Always Remember ................................

When man moves away from nature , his heart becomes hard.

( Lakota )

~ Bee Blessed ~

JoyceAnn

~ A Story and a Drawing to Share on this Earth Day ~

~ Mother Earth Blessings ~

A few weeks ago my youngest daughter came over and as she was coming down the driveway , Curious J said " Awwww , Nana and Pawl's ( with his cute southern drawl ) tree broke , look they taped it back together (LOL). Hubby has the trees flagged for the power company to cut down , pine beetles have killed them unfortunately. It was such a cute tree hugger story , thought I would share it and bring a smile to you on this " Earth Day ".




Hope You have a Wonderful Earth Day !!



~ Bee Blessed ~
JoyceAnn

~ Around the Farmette ~

The irises are in full bloom , they're gorgeous this year.

Little Froggy and I gathered dandelions Saturday , he enjoyed gathering the blooms and loved the dandelion fritters.


I still haven't found the other guinea nest , but I know there's one somewhere. One of the guinea hens disappears each day , but she has been coming to roost each night. The others continue to lay eggs in the nest I have found.


Mr. Sneaky Snake is still hanging out in the old oak tree.


The chickens have found a nice cool place to hangout during the heat of the day.

Dh and I got started on the goat shed this past weekend , hope to finish it this weekend.


My Tommy Toe tomatoes are almost ready to transplant.

I'm getting lettuce and spinach now.

The garlic looks great , but we really need some rain. Hopefully we'll be getting rain tomorrow. I need to fertilize with fish emulsion this afternoon.

~ Many Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ Need a Fun Earth Day Project ~

Hi Everyone ~ I'm busy today getting things done on the farmette , but I found a wonderful project called " The Fundred Dollar Bill Project " that is taking place right now and thought I would share the information with my readers. This would be a great activity for " Earth Day " , I plan to host a small " Earth Day Party " for the grands. We'll make some fundred bills for this project , discuss why we need clean soil and eat foods that our earth provides us naturally. I hope you'll read about this project , share it with your readers and make a fundred bill to send to the project.

~ ~ The Fundred Dollar Bill Project ~ ~

Did you know that lead contaminated soil is a problem in many cities in the U.S. and is a condition that often significantly impacts the health of our children? Studies demonstrate that lead-poisoning can affect nearly every system in the body, compromising healthy brain development and leading to poor performance in the schools, attention deficit disorder and even juvenile delinquency. The good news is that there is a solution, and it is why I encourage you to participate in The Fundred Dollar Bill Project, a simple, fun and important project supporting a solution to lead-contaminated soil in New Orleans as a model for other cities across the United States with the same devastating problem.
Don’t miss out! In as little as 20 minutes you can create and donate a unique Fundred Dollar Bill artwork that will be picked up by a special armored truck and carried to Washington D.C. where a request will be made to our legislators for real change. Your creative contribution, along with 3,000,000 other individuals, will send a powerful message to Congress that we care about the health of future generations. This is a cool project, a great learning opportunity for all ages, with profound implications for the health of our planet and children.
To learn more about getting involved, visit the website: http://www.fundred.org/ and spread the word to your family, friends and colleagues!

~ Greenest Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ Sunday's Blessing ~

~ May This Day Bring You Tranquility

& Sweet Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ Delicious Dandelion Fritters and Jellies ~

Over the last week or two , between watching the boys and household chores , I've been busy picking dandelions and violets.

I've made 2 batches of violet jelly and 1 batch of dandelion jelly. Some of it will be Christmas gifts and I've already gave 1 jar to a friend.

Yesterday , I tried a recipe I had found for dandelion fritters , they were delicious. I ate mine with ranch dressing , but you can dip them in honey or maple syrup , I plan to try them like that too.

Pick dandelion blossoms that are fully open , make sure there are no bugs , give them a quick rinse in a colander. I laid them out on a napkin to dry them a bit.

Put a 1/2 cup of milk in a bowl , add 1 egg and whisk together. You will need a 1/2 cup of flour , I used whole wheat and white mixed. Add flour and whisk until mixed thoroughly. I also added a dash of sea salt and freshly ground pepper. You'll probably want to omit this if you're planning to eat them with honey.

Put oil olive in your frying pan and heat it slowly on medium heat or lower , watch carefully , it heats quickly and my oil got to hot on med heat. Dip dandelion blossoms and fry until golden brown. Drain on paper towels , I used a coffee filter since I don't buy paper towels anymore.

This was the first time I've tried this recipe and I was pleased with the results , they're very tasty and make a healthy snack.

~ Happy Herbal Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ Boys , Bugs & Frogs ~

Look , do you see him ?

Here are a few more pics from last week. I helped Little Froggy find a roley-poly bug to put in a plastic egg , he loved watching the little bug.

Curious J and Little Froggy looking for more roley-poly bugs.

Curious J squirting a tree frog with the water gun , I guess boys will be boys .

He thought it was funny until the frog jumped , I told him that frog was going to jump on him , that put a stop to the squirting (LOL).


~ Many Blessings ~
JoyceAnn

~ Around the Farmette ~

~ A few of the guineas dust bathing ~


~ Guinea Nest ~

~ Mr. Sneaky Snake ~

The Monday after Easter I found the first guinea nest of the season , but there was an unwelcome visitor that had found the nest also. He was huge , I hope to capture him and remove him from the premises soon. He has gotten away twice now , he went under the logs near the nest the first time I saw him. Yesterday I spotted him coiled up in a rotted tree trunk while I was picking dandelions , I could tell he had eaten a few eggs. I made the mistake of taking a picture and he went back inside the tree. So , I'm on a snake hunt , hope to capture him soon. He wasn't near the nest I saw him at the last time , so I wonder if we have another nest somewhere , of course it could be another sneaky snake.

~ Ms. Violet ~

~ Buttercup ~

~ Ms. Rose ~

~ Dandelion ~

~ Ms. Iris ~

I finally gave the new girls names , Spring inspired flowery names for them. The egg production has been off , suspected they might be laying somewhere else. I've been looking for a hidden nest , but so far I haven't found one. I did find a chicken egg in the guinea nest above. I've been keeping a close check on that nest and I haven't found anymore chicken eggs in the nest and there doesn't appear to be any eggs missing. So maybe I scared Mr. Sneaky Snake away from that nest.

Jazz and Joy have adapted to their new surroundings , they cry each time they see me. They're letting me pet them while they eat their sweet feed and every once in awhile they come close to see if I have anything else. They have escaped twice through the makeshift gate , but they didn't stray very far. The chickens run from them and they chase the chickens , thinking the chickens are playing , it's a cute sight. We've gathered some free chain link fencing and hope to get started on their permanent fencing this weekend. They're living in the chicken run right now , the fencing is fine , it's the makeshift gate they keep knocking down or finding away around. I've been letting them out in the afternoon for a little while so they can romp and run while I'm feeding the chickens a snack , filling water containers , picking violets or dandelions. Lilly Belle has turned out to be quite useful , she stays busy looking for mice. I've found several in the yard that she has taken care of , but she doesn't eat them. Now , if I could just train her to take them into the woods or somewhere besides the yard (LOL).

Hope everyone is having a great week :0)

~ Many Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ Sunday Afternoon Hike ~

Yesterday afternoon , Dh and I headed out to one of our state parks (Jordan Lake ) to do a little hiking and bird watching along the lake. The first trail we hiked left me with a lot of emotional turmoil , there was litter everywhere. I guess it was a favorite fishing spot , there were beer bottles , plastic soda bottles , plastic containers that worms come in and fishing line tangles all along the bank of the lake. As I stood there looking around , that image of Iron Eye Cody kept coming to mind , I felt like crying too. It's such a shame that people abuse the land like this. I didn't have a trash bag with me or I would have spent my time cleaning up instead of hiking. There is suppose to be a cleanup on the lake May 8th , I may sign up to help with the cleanup. The second trail wasn't any better , lots of litter and dead fish along the banks. I'm not sure what killed the fish , although I think they may have been stranded along the shore as the water levels went down , but it was a distressing sight. At this point I was ready to go home , but we saw another pull off near some swampy areas and stopped there to check-out an Eagle nest , it was here I felt renewed. We saw 2 eagles flying near the nest , so I hiked down to the edge of the water and watched them. I saw one land on the nest and the other flew into a nearby tree keeping watch over the nest. This area didn't have much litter except along the highway. I took a few pics , but it's times like this I wish I had a camera with a better zoom. After we left this area , we rode out to the mariner area and watched a few boats come in.

We were headed home when Dh took a detour and took me to see a one lane camel back bridge , the bridge still has wooden boards to drive over but they have been replaced recently it appeared. We went down under the bridge and walked to the river , I saw a few interesting plants that I'm trying to i.d. It was beautiful there , no trash , just beautiful lush green plants everywhere. It was great to get away from home a little while and enjoy some new scenery . really enjoyed the last places we visited.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend !!

~ Green Blessings ~

JoyceAnn