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

~ 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

~ I've been busy as the ..................................

bumble bees !

Trellising the Roma tomatoes .................

pulling weeds from around the green beans and peppers.


Training cucumbers to run up the corn stalks.


Enjoying the early morning beauty .................

Watching the bumble bees pollinate the cucumbers.

Gathering basil , chives and garlic to make herbal vinegar.

Thank-you Millie , for mentioning your favorite flavor ,

just had to try it.

Gathering wild herbs and the daily garden harvest ........

Watching the sunflowers grow ...................

and enjoying some playtime too !

What have you been enjoying ?

~ Peaceful Blessings ~

JoyceAnn