~ Spring Beauty ~

Sharing some Spring Beauty ~~

~ Green Blessings ~ JoyceAnn

~ * ~ Meet Ms. Jazzy ~ * ~

Last week , I heard my uncle was trying to find homes for some baby bunnies. So friday , I had to make a trip to the grocery store for my Mom and decided I would drop by and bring one home. She's cute as can be , Curious J and I decided to name her Jazzy. Jazzy will provide manure for my composting bin.

We finished planting the garden saturday. My Mom , 2 daughters and I planted corn , greenbeans , squash/3 kinds , peppers/5 kinds and some cantaloupes. It just about completes the garden except for the tomatoes and we're waiting for those to get a little larger.

Curious J spent the night saturday , we watched the Bee Movie sunday.

It was pretty good , but I don't think Curious J liked it to much , he did enjoy some parts though. We had a Bee parade afterwards with his bees he had collected from McDonald's , we found a bus , elephant pull along toy , jeep , and a couple of other riding toys to put the bees in and lined them up for a parade.We talked about how bees make honey and colored a picture of a bee on some flowers. This was our Earth Day celebration , a little late but I think Earth Day is everyday.

~ Hope your weekend was Blessed ~ JoyceAnn

~ * ~ Victory Garden ~ 100 Ft Diet Challenge ~ * ~

I found a wonderful website yesterday , it's called Path To Freedom . Check it out , ~http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/2008/01/06/100-foot-diet-challenge-launch/.The 100 foot challenge is to prepare one meal each week from homegrown , locally grown , organic or local owned store foods.

I already have the Victory Garden , so I will soon have lots of veggies. The reason I decided to do this challenge is because I want to start eating more local grown meats and organic when possible , this gives me the push to get started. I do shop a locally owned grocery store , no wally world for me except on rare occasions when I have to go there because I can't find some items anywhere else.

There are many great reasons for having a Victory Garden , you don't have to worry about food security , the food is more nutrious and we reduce food miles , fuel and energy dependence.You'll save money , get some exercise and have less packaging going to the landfills.

My first meal challenge was lunch ~~~~ Wild Foods Salad

Leaf Lettuce ~ Homegrown

Chickweed ~ Wild Food from Backyard

Dandelion Leaves ~ Wild Food from Backyard

Violet Leaves ~ Wild Food from Backyard

Red Clover Bud ~ Wild Food from Backyard

Carrot ~ Locally owned Store

Onion ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Baked chicken ~ Locally owned Store

Ranch Dressing ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm trying to add more herbs and wild foods to my diet. Hope to get my herbal garden started soon. If you think you don't have enough land for a garden , I really encourage you to visit Path To Freedom.

~ Green Blessings to Everyone ~ JoyceAnn

~~~ Worm Tea ~~~

My composting worms are doing great , they've started to produce worm tea aka worm pee. The great thing about worm tea , is you can dilute it with water and pour on your plants to make a organic plant food.

I was beginning to wonder if they were going to produce any , they're also producing babies , I found a very tiny one as I was adding some food scraps.

I've been busy in the garden when I don't have the grandbabies. I'm really excited about the garlic. It should be ready to harvest in a couple of more months.

Curious J will be spending the night with us , we plan to watch the Bee Movie and learn about honeybees in honor of Earth Day. My GrandDaddy raised honeybees , I remember watching him empty the hives and enjoying that fresh raw honey , what a treat ! I'm thinking about getting a hive or two in the next few years. I have found a local producer until then.

~ Hope your weekend is Blessed with Honey ~

JoyceAnn

~ * ~ Reuse those Laundry Bottle Caps ~ * ~

Curious J has wooden blocks that were made in China , he loves them but I decided I needed to get rid of them , because of the lead paint scare. I have been saving the caps from my laundry detergent bottles for awhile , wasn't sure what I was going to use them for but knew I would think of something.

One day I was doing the laundry and added a cap to the collection , the idea came to me , they would make great building blocks.When Curious J came to spend the night with me , we tried them out. They were a hit ..... he loves them. These are safe to have around the grandbabies too , no small pieces.

I won't have anymore to save , since I will be making my laundry detergent but my daughters and my mom are saving them for me. So , save those caps for building blocks.

Reduce ~ Reuse ~ Recycle

JoyceAnn

~ * ~ Blackberry Brambles ~ * ~

My grandma covered all her flowerbeds , veggie beds and anything else she wanted to protect from cats , dogs or other critters with dead blackberry brambles. I planted a small bed of lettuce beside the compost bin , my cats think newly dug dirt means a new litterbox. I remembered what grandma did and tried it , works great , maybe it'll keep the rabbits away too.

I've added 3 frog huts to the garden , rent free and all the bugs you can eat! Can't beat that deal ~ I think I'll make a little sign to add to the new homes.

~ Happy Gardening ~ JoyceAnn

~ Jack Frost still Nipping ~

I'm so glad I've been patient with the garden , we had frost last night. I hope it's the last frost of the season. So far I've only planted the cold weather plants , so didn't have to worry about them.

The tomatoes are tucked away in the basement , growing strong. I started my cherry tomatoes and some beefsteak tomatoes in trays a few weeks ago. This was my first try at planting seedlings and they seem to be doing well.

My Mom and I also made a hotbed to start some homestead tomatoes in last week , it is covered with windows , so we didn't have to worry about the frost. My Dad always planted homestead tomatoes , they are small but so flavorful. They are my favorite too , along with cherry tomatoes which were my Grandma's favorite.

I had to venture out yesterday to pick up tax work , so I went by the local greenhouse and bought peppers. I purchased 12 sweet bell peppers , 6 jalapenos , 6 hot banana peppers and 12 Cayenne peppers. All the peppers are tucked away in the basement too.

Things have been busy around our little homestead , DH finally got the shed moved that we are going to use as a chicken coop. Now we need to get the fencing up and the nesting boxes made.Hope to get it finished by next week.I can't wait to have fresh eggs to eat.

I'm trying to pick the best location for a herb garden , hope to make a spiral garden. I did get some cilantro planted beside the well house last week , gotta have cilantro for salsa.

We've had lots of rain , what a blessing it has been. The garlic is growing stronger , I've got to add more fish emulsion sometime this week.

~ Hope your week has been Wonderful ~ JoyceAnn

~ * ~ Harvesting Dandelions ~ * ~

I'm starting my wild herbal studies again , my first herbal ally is dandelion. I will be doing an in depth study of dandelion. I'm going to try some recipes and make some medicinals. I have started a new blog for my herbal studies , the link is on the left , if you're interested.

We had more rain over the weekend , so the garden looks good. I hope to plant the corn , greenbeans and squash soon. My Daddy always told us , it was time to plant the corn when you hear the whip~poor~will calls, haven't heard them yet.

I've been reading alot of gardening blogs and have found some wonderful gardening information ,that I plan to incorporate into my garden. One blogger does everything she can to attract toads /frogs , to help with bug control. Such a wonderful common sense organic idea , I've overlooked. I will be adding some frog huts and boards to my garden. I have one frog hut , my DMIL bought for me many moons ago. I have used it in my herb garden for decoration purposes , but I will be moving it to the veggie garden. I also read about digging a small trench and laying a board over , this gives toads a place to hide from predators and gives them a place to get out of the heat. She also recommends a small fish pond near the garden to attract frogs/toads.

~ Hope you are Blessed with many toads in your Garden ~

~Love & Hugs ~ JoyceAnn

~ Nana's Pride & Joy ~

The Grandfathers and the Grandmothers are in

the children~~~ teach them well.

(OJIBWAY)

Little Missy and Sweet Baby J are really growing , they'll soon be 5 months and they're quite a handful. I enjoy keeping them each day and being blessed with their smiles and coos. They really are my Pride & Joy.

~ In the Garden ~

I've been busy in the garden this week , my Mom and I planted two types of broccoli and 8 cauliflower plants on this week. I 've never planted cauliflower but my YD bought some to try , hope it does well. We had rain last weekend and what a blessing it was to the cabbage we planted last week , they all look great.

I saw one onion that had sprouted and the spanish onions that I planted from seed are starting to come up.

I fertilized the garlic with some fish emulsion , if the rain continues to fall each week , it should do well.

With the food prices rising , I hope to grow and preserve as much as we can this year.

I plan to get chickens soon , if we ever get the chicken coop ready. It rained last weekend and we're suppose to have rain this weekend too. Hubby is working 10 hours a day and doesn't have time to work on it during the week. Maybe we will have a dry weekend soon.

~ Hope your weekend is Blessed with whatever makes you HAPPY ~

~ Love & Hugs ~ JoyceAnn

~ Looking out my Window ~

Awww ....... Spring

Beautiful trees in Bloom

Berried Bushes

Azaleas starting to Bloom

Tree leaves Budding .......

Such a wonderful time of the year !

~ May your Day be Blessed with Blooms ~

JoyceAnn

~ Seed Potatoes ~ Onion Sets ~

This year we are growing our potatoes from the potatoes we grew last year. We had lots of small potatoes left from last year and they were full of sprouts , so we planted those Wednesday. We planted 1 row of red potatoes and 3 rows of white potatoes. The red potatoes didn't store well over the winter , this year we will eat them first and can the extras.

Thursday morning I planted 1 lb of white onions ,1 lb of yellow onions and 1/2 lb of red onions. I still have 2 1/2 lbs left and will store them until Fall or plant them if I have any extra space.

I also planted 30 cabbage plants. I planted marigolds between some of the cabbages , hoping it will deter rabbits and maybe deer. Last year we put dried hot pepper pods on the corn and strung some through the peas and butterbeans , the deer didn't bother them at all. We plan to add plenty of hot peppers throughout the garden this year.

My youngest daughter gave me this wonderful gardening bag. Now I can keep my tools , seeds and other needs together. I plan to plant broccoli , spinach and some more lettuce this weekend.

~ Green Blessings to Everyone ~ JoyceAnn

~ Easter Fun ~

Easter came early this year , it was chilly outside but the egg hunt went on. Kids never complain about the weather , they 're always ready. We hid 160 eggs and they were all found.

I didn't get to make the Easter pinata this year , so I added bunny ears and hung a egg from the beak of a parrot pinata my sister had purchased last year. Have you ever seen a Easter Parrot ?

We played ~ Chubby Bunny ~ the marshmallow game. My Sil won the adult game of chubby bunny and an Angel won the kids game. We play egg toss with boiled and raw eggs , makes it interesting ~ you never know which egg is coming at you.

It was a fun~filled day , I enjoyed seeing all the kids smiling and having fun.

~ Hope Your Easter was Blessed with many Smiles ~

~ Happy Easter ~

~ Praying for Peace ~ Love and Happiness ~

For my Family

For my Friends

For the World

Happy Easter !!

Seeds ~ Sloggers ~ Soul Collage

My plans for the weekend didn't quite come together. DH did get the garden ready for planting , but the rain came before we could get any planting done. I'm thankful for the rain we're receiving , each drop brings us closer to being drought free. It'll be a wonderful growing season if we continue to get rain each week .
I ordered some seeds a couple of weeks ago and received them last week. Most of these seeds are hard to find in my area.

Bloomsdale Savory ~ Spinach

Dipper Gourd

Echinacea purpurea ~ Purple Cone Flower ~ Herb

Greek Pepperoncini ~ Salad Pepper

Jack O'Lantern Pumpkin

Kabocha Squash ~ Spaghetti Squash

Kentucky Wonder Beans

Large Red Cherry Tomato

Leaf Lettuce Salad Bowl

Nasturtium Jewel Mix ~ Deters Pest

Sweet Spanish Onions

Tall Mammouth Sunflowers

Last week I went to the Farmer's Alliance Store , an old general store to pick-up some onion bulbs and other seeds. While I was there I found these garden shoes , they're called ~ Sloggers ~ these garden clogs are * Made in the USA * and were only 12.00 , I couldn't believe the price. I have a pair of the cheap crocs for gardening , but they always end up full of dirt and rocks , hoping these will be better for gardening. Check-out http://sloggers.com/ for garden wear.

I created a soul collage about gardening a couple of weeks ago. Gardening does feed my body and soul. I've been thinking about starting ~ Journal Collages ~ , for myself. I would do collages on front and journaling , notes , quotes and anything else I wanted to add on back. I may start these today.

" what the country needs is dirter fingernails and cleaner minds "

Will Rogers

Hoping to get my fingernails dirty this week , if it dries up.

~ Love & Hugs ~ JoyceAnn

~ Spring Fever ~

The weather has been gorgeous this week , the flowers are beautiful this year. We've been getting much needed rain , drought conditions are getting better.

Yesterday I spent time in the garden , weeding the garlic. The garlic looks good and strong. Next week I plan to fertilize it with some fish emulsion. I hope to have a totally natural /organic garden this year. We've got onions sprouting up from last year , the ground didn't get wet enough for the bulbs to sprout up last year. Hoping to get some potatoes , onions , broccoli and cabbage planted this weekend .I also want to start some seeds and plant some leaf lettuce.

I picked a few herbs yesterday and tossed them in my salad last night. A few dandelion leaves , wild violet leaves and chickweed , tossed into a bowl of iceberg lettuce , carrots and onions made for a delightful salad. I haven't been very creative lately , but I guess this salad counts. I have a few things I need to add to my ~ Create Everyday ~ blog , I haven't give up on the create everyday challenge.

~ Wishing everyone a Wonderful Weekend ~

* ~ * Woo Hoo ~ Composting Worms * ~ *

Spring fever has set in and I'm ready to get in the garden. It's early yet , so decided I would get some composting worms and try my hand at vermiculture/vermicomposting. I ordered a pound of red wigglers on Sat. and they arrived in the mail on Wed.

These worms are suppose to make the best compost . I thought this would be a great environmental project for Curious J and I to explore. I had a plastic tote we turned into a worm bin , my dear husband drilled holes in the top and bottom. I tore newspaper into 1 inch strips and soaked them in water ,wrung out the water , wet newspaper makes the bed for the worms , also added some decaying leaves and some composting soil from my compost pile.

I tried to get Curious J to hold a worm , but this little boy wouldn't touch a worm. I guess he's not your typical country boy , he did dump them in the bin and loved watching them. We will be feeding them all our veggie scraps , coffee grounds , filters and stale bread. Hopefully we'll have rich dark soil in about 6 months and Curious J will have a lesson about the food chain and how nature takes care of us if we don't destroy it.

~ Green Blessings to Everyone ~

~ * ~ Thanks ~ * ~

Things are slowly starting to get back to normal here. I received this wonderful mermaid doll from Groggy Froggy , I won her in the One World ~ One Heart giveaway. She's beautiful and is hanging in my bathroom right now , she will be spending time out by the pool this summer. The box she came in was sooo... cute and she was wrapped and tied with a wonderful ribbon. Wish I would have taken a pic before I unwrapped her. Thanks Lisa , she is truly treasured.


Last week I also received a wonderful card from Nature Girl. I've never seen a pet sympathy card before , it was heartfelt and meant so much to me. Thank - you Nature Girl ~ Loved the poem about the Rainbow Bridge.

Thank-you to everyone that left a kind comment , each one was very special to me.

~ Wishing you a great weekend with many Blessings ~

Sadness & Sickness

I haven't blogged in awhile , so much sadness and sickness over the last few weeks. On Feb 3. my dog Jewel passed over to the Spirit World. Then my husband got the flu , and I got the flu. As soon as I felt better , the grandbabies started getting sick. Sweet Pea aka Little Missy , my granddaughter recovered quickly , but my grandson has been really sick. Curious J also got sick and ended up with ear infections in both ears. We're finally starting to recover and feel better.

Last Thurs , my Uncle passed away. He was my Daddy's brother , he had alzheimers for years , such a sad disease. I pray they find a cure for this disease soon.He was a wonderful man and will be missed by many.

Hope everyone is doing well ~ hope to visit some blogs soon. ~ JoyceAnn

~~ One World ~ One Heart Winner ~~

~ Flower Child ~

Flower Child has found a home , she will be living with Kathryn.

Kathryn was chosen by the random number picker , # 97.

Checkout her blog at

http://kvcreativedesigns.blogspot.com/.

Thanks to everyone who visited and left comments . I plan to visit everyone on the list in the coming months , I didn't get a chance to visit half of them.

Thank-you Lisa for hosting the ~ One World ~ One Heart ~ event again.

The world is full of wonderful people , giving from the Heart and this event proves it.

One World ~ One Heart ~ Give Away

My friend , Lisa Oceandreamer is hosting the second annual One World ~ One Heart giveaway. Lisa started this event last year , as a way to meet new bloggers , learn from one another , share our lives and make the world a more loving place by giving from the heart.

Please visit Lisa at

http://heartofthenest.blogspot.com/

and go to this blog to read more about the event and see participating bloggers

http://oneworldevent.blogspot.com/.

My giveaway is this fairy creation I call ~ Flower Child ~.

She was created using recycled materials and a fairy photo from

~ http://www.divasdeste.com/index.html.

The flowers are glittered and there is a cute shimmery butterfly , fluttering about. She's cute as can be and would love to come live with you.

Just leave a comment to enter the giveaway. The drawing will be held Feb 14th , good luck .