Party Time .................................................

My Mom's birthday was Saturday and we had a " Sunflower Princess " party for her on Sunday. So I was busy baking , cooking and decorating this past weekend.

She was 68 on Saturday. I baked her this sunflower cake for her party on Sunday.

There was lots of dancing ........................

and more dancing !!

Time to blow out the candles ! Look at all the great grandkids gathered around the table to help (LOL).

It was a fun time for everyone.

~ Family Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

Giveaway Monday: Wooden Dragonfly

Click here ~ Giveaway Monday: Wooden Dragonfly ~ for your chance to win this cute little dragonfly made by Mamaroots !

~ Blessings~

JoyceAnn

~ Rhythm of the Drumbeat ~

When you lose the rhythm of the drumbeat of God , you are lost from the peace and rhythm of life.

( Cheyenne)

~ Peaceful Blessings My Friends ~

JoyceAnn

Share with Me Saturday ......................................

" Living Green " was a way of life for our ancestors.

I enjoyed reading " A Food Ladder " over @
http://lizzylanefarm.wordpress.com/2010/08/27/a-food-ladder/ , I believe we need to practice " living green " just as our ancestors did , if we want to change our environmental woes.


Peggy over at @ http://hiddenhavenhomestead.blogspot.com/2010/08/new-house-on-homestead.html ~ shared a wonderful " trash to treasure idea , I think you will enjoy.


And ........................


Check-out the wonderful redo of a vintage pillowcase over @ http://notdabblinginnormal.wordpress.com/2010/08/27/pillowcase-purse/.



Hope you enjoy the links !!



Have you recycled , reduced , reused or upcycled any items lately ?




~ Green Blessings ~
JoyceAnn

Around the Farmette ........................................

I'm amazed at the butterflies the sunflowers have attracted !

Hey , there's a new kid in town (LOL).

Wet guineas , aren't happy guineas.

Keeping watch !!

We have a second broody guinea hen , so we put the little holding pen over her nest. I close the door at night and leave it open during the day. Hopefully it will keep the predators at bay.

I thought the problems with the guineas and chickens had worked out , but sometimes the guineas won't let the chickens in the coop to the nesting box. So they've found an alternative.

Dh bought the plastic piping so we could run a waterline to the chicken and goat pens. It's been so dry that he hasn't attempted to lay the waterline yet , so I put the pipe on top of the hay to keep the chickens off the hay.
That didn't work so well , it's actually made the perfect nest , so they've been using it when the guineas are on the warpath and won't let them in to lay.

And ........ look at this old beauty that hubby brought home , he's planning to sell the parts. But , I've taken a liken to that old truck and it's nostalgic look , so we may fix it up in the future. It would make a beautiful old farm truck , don't you think ?

Hope you have a " Wonderful " weekend !!

~ Be Blessed ~

JoyceAnn

Yesterday's Barter ..........................................

A dozen of fresh eggs .................................

for a huge bundle of fresh rosemary from my neighbor !

Have you did any bartering lately ?

~ Simplest Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

The Magic of Sunflowers ......................................

~ Many Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

Saturday Afternoon ..........................................

Saturday morning after we came from the garden , Little Froggy had to check-out the garden bench. I thought I had posted this photo on my last post , but after I published it , realized I didn't show this pic. So here's the garden bench that Dh finally finished , I'll probably paint the seating board brown. He also sprayed a coating on the bed to seal the rust (LOL) , I like it natural.

Saturday I made 2 loaves of pineapple-zucchini bread , they were gifts for a birthday celebration we attended Saturday afternoon for my niece and her Dad. I also gave each of them a dozen of fresh eggs and a few heads of garlic.

My niece and all of my grandsons had a fun time in the pool at the party. Little Missy accidentally fell in and she wasn't to thrilled about getting in the pool after that.

We came home with 3 homegrown cantaloupes my BIL grew , they're delicious.

Curious J wanted to come home with us Saturday night , Dh put him on the couch when we came in , he had fallen asleep coming home. Buddy decided he needed to snuggle down with him.

They looked so sweet all snuggled up together.

~ Simple Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

Future Farmer ?

Saturday morning , Little Froggy and I ventured out to let the chickens out of the coop and feed all the critters. Little Geronimo was strutting his stuff and I got the photo to prove it (LOL).

Gathering the tomatoes was next on the agenda , but we discovered that Ms. Crew was being slack on her job again.

Little Froggy tried to help her up , but she was out , so we just let her be.


Then he found his first orange mato , as he calls them and the gathering was on ...........................................


after he checked his first tomato carefully (LOL).


He wanted to pick the baby green tomatoes , but Nana told him he needed to pick the orange tomatoes.

Here's one Nana !

Then he spotted a squash bug and that held his attention ,

until ...............................

he found this ant hill. The ants were really fascinating , he watched them for awhile.

As we started back , we found Ms. Fern checking out the tractor.

He gathered 2 small cucumbers and the salad tomatoes in his basket. We've got so tickled at him lately , all summer he has been trying to eat the salad tomatoes. He doesn't like them , he'll bite into one and spit it out , but he keeps trying to eat them (LOL). He loves fresh salsa and anything made with tomatoes , so I'm not sure why he doesn't like the fresh tomatoes. It maybe the texture. I'm sure he'll like them as he gets older and he may just be a " future farmer ".

Hope you had a wonderful weekend !

~ Simple Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ Blessing ~

~ May Your Day be Blessed with Love and Brightness ~

JoyceAnn

~ Share with Me Saturday ~

~ Using Herbs ~

100 Meter Diet Plus More @ http://100mdiet.blogspot.com/2010/08/buddys-in-dog-house.html shares a fresh baked herb snack cracker recipe , using goat butter and goat milk , look for the recipe in the comment section on the post above. I'll be baking snack crackers next week for sure. I found this blog last week and have enjoyed reading about his challenge of doing a 100 meter diet for 1 year , you may enjoy reading about "Peskychickens" diet too.

Backyard Farming has a great post about making herbal sachets to use in the dryer , you can read about them here ~ http://backyardfarming.blogspot.com/2010/08/dryer-sachets-diy.html ~ I'll be making some soon , for the upcoming winter months , when I use the dryer a little more.

Flassies's Fil'a @ http://wwwflassiesfila.blogspot.com/2010/07/mosquito-repellant.html ~ shares a link on how to make lemon balm mosquito repellent. I made catnip repellent last year , it's works well , we're still using it this year. My catnip died this year due to the drought , but I have lemon balm and plan to start a concoction of lemon balm repellent right away. Thanks for sharing Flassie !

~ Learning Something New Each Day ~

Comfrey Cottages @ http://comfreycottages.blogspot.com/2010/08/not-everything-is-pretty-about.html ~ has an interesting post about butterflies. I love learning something new each day and I did learn something new about butterflies this week. Although I could have lived without this knowledge , it's just the way nature's food chain works (LOL).

* Eat ~ Pray ~ Love ~ Giveaway *

Mother Moon is having a wonderful giveaway. Click here ~ http://mothermoonsmessage.blogspot.com/2010/08/eat-pray-love-giveaway.html ~

and leave a comment on her blog post for a chance to win.

And Last but not Least...........

Share with Me Saturday

Blog world is filled with so much wonderful information, recipes and tips , so let's share some of our favorites each Saturday. Here's how ~ Each Saturday , blog about your favorite blog post you've been inspired by during the week , add links to those blog post so we can visit , use " Share with Me Saturday " as your title. You can share about animal care , animal stories , art , crafts , giveaways , herbs , hobbies , nature , photography , poems , quotes , recipes or other interest. Leave a comment here saying " I'm Sharing ". Readers can click on your name to visit and see what you're sharing for the week. I may add a linky later on if we continue this each Saturday , but I don't have time today. Hope you'll share some of your favorite finds from this week today.

~ Be Blessed ~

JoyceAnn

When the Garden .............................................

gives you a bunch of tomatoes .........................

and plenty of peppers .......................


basil , garlic , parsley and oregano ..........

You make spaghetti sauce !!

~ Garden Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

Natural Beauty .........................

The sunflowers are blooming , yesterday afternoon , Little Missy and I found this swallowtail butterfly enjoying the largest bloom.

Most of the blooms are small , they're suppose to be mammoth sunflowers. Since we haven't had much rain , they aren't so mammoth but they're still beautiful.

The chickens followed us as we were walking , they're nosey birds (LOL).

Little Missy helped water the herbs , she's a wonderful little helper.

As we were finishing the watering , we spotted another pretty yellow moth on the lemon balm. It was a wonderful evening , enjoyed sharing so much natural beauty with my little helper.

What natural beauty have you enjoyed lately ?

~ Be Blessed ~

JoyceAnn