Teacher's Prayer Mug

There are just some things that are so  meaningful that they have to be shared. Here's one that I don't think that I have posted. My son gave me this mug as a gift a year or so ago. Then it was misplaced. Today I found it. He was so please that I can use it again.... and I'm pleased too.

The front simply says "Prayer for a Teacher".

On the back there is a prayer:

"Dear God, bless this teacher 

with words to inspire children's creativity, 

ideas to spark their imagination, 

a kind heart to cultivate their compassion, 

and the wisdom to help them to grow in the courage,

and determination they'll need,

to one day build a better, 

more caring world."

On the inside of the mug is printed, "Be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord... 1 Corinthians 15:58"

Until next time,

May all your endeavors be a blessing!

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"Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."
 1 Corinthians 10:31

Bunnies & Poults, Oh My!!

I am very happy to report that all of our bunnies are doing great! Here is the post from earlier about our "Nest Box Week".

~ Thrianta Doe fostering Giant Chinchilla Rabbit kits ~
~ 7 day old Thrianta ~ 9 day old GCs ~
(from 4-20-18)

Under any other circumstances, it never would have occurred to me to foster Giant Chinchilla kits to a Thrianta doe. The Thrianta are a substantially smaller breed than the GCs. However, in this case,we were so afraid of loosing the Thrianta's single kit that it was more important to have nest mates for it. So far, so good. They are all gaining weight well and don't seem to be too much for Clover, our amazing doe. She took them with no problems.

~ 9 day old white Giant Chinchilla kits ~
(from 4-20-18)

Now, this is something else that you don't usually see in our rabbitry, white Giant Chinchilla rabbits. Although we have had a total of three white GCs born in our barn, they appeared individually, over the years to different does and never more than one at a time. We couldn't have been more shocked to find four whites all in the same litter. They are adorable......

~ Week old Turkey Poult ~
(from 4-23-18)

4H is a wonderful experience for kids and I think all young people should participate in at least one club in the course of growing up. For our family, 4H clubs seem to be more like potato chips, we can't have just one. Oh no, we don't stop with just one. This year, Curly has signed up for the turkey project. Here's one of the poults that she was given. She is responsible for raising them and delivering at least one to fair in August. Wish us luck because we know nothing about turkeys. Thanks in advance!!

~ 15 day old Giant Chinchilla rabbit kit ~
(from 4-26-18)

Lastly, here's what a GC kit is supposed to look like. These gorgeous kits are getting so big!! Aren't they adorable.
Until next time,

May all your endeavors be a blessing!

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"Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, [and] look well to thy herds."
  Proverbs 27:23

Garden Mulch Update

Can you believe that we are almost finished moving all of that mulch that we ordered for the garden. (See the original post here) I thought that we'd never be finished with it. What's more surprising is that it's snowed several times, as well as rained a lot, since we first had the mulch delivered.

I can tell you that I am thrilled that it's almost all in the garden.... Then we can get the 14 cubic yards of topsoil x mushroom soil mix delivered, to fill the raised beds...... once we put all of those back in the garden as well.

I'm beginning to wonder why we signed up for such a huge overhaul of our garden. However, I'm staying optimistic that all of this work at the beginning will lead to less work over the course of the season and into next year.


Until next time,

May all your endeavors be a blessing!

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"While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."  Genesis 8:22

More Seeds

When we did our seed inventory (here) we also made a list of the seeds that we didn't have but wanted. We were able to pick some up, locally, when we were running errands the other day.

I was happily surprised at the nice selection of organic seeds that we found at Lowe's. All are from Ferry-Morse.

New Seeds In

Organic Broccoli ~ De Cicco (1890 heirloom)

Brussels Sprouts ~ Catskill (1941 heirloom)

Cabbage ~ Copenhagen Market Early (1909 heirloom)

Organic Carrot ~ Rainbow Mix

Organic Lettuce ~ Black Seeded Simpson (1875 heirloom)

Organic Okra ~ Clemson Spineless #80 

Organic Radish ~ French Breakfast (1879 heirloom)

Organic Rosemary 

Organic Sage ~ Broadleaf

Organic Thyme ~ Common

Ultimately, I prefer organic, heirloom, regional seeds. I choose organic seeds because I don't want genetically engineered or modified seeds (GMO). I choose heirloom because I'm a history buff who loves to see and taste the old time vegetables that families have enjoyed for generations. I choose regional seeds because if people were able to grow the seeds in my growing region 100 years ago, then I should be able to grow them just as well now. 

Seeds We Still Want To Get
Hyssop
Anise Hyssop

We used to have Hyssop and Anise Hyssop just off the back porch. They self seeded and came back year after year. I'm not sure when they disappeared, but we don't have them anymore. I'd love to find more.

Root-stock We Still Need
Potato
Sweet Potato
Asparagus

We generally start our potatoes from store bought organics. We just cut them into pieces with at least 2 eyes each and plant them in the garden. We generally harvest several five gallon buckets from just a few potatoes planted this way.

We've tried sweet potatoes once before. They grew well and developed very nice sized roots. However, the mice got to them before we did. We were very disappointed in our luck, to say that least.

As for the asparagus, we should have planted a bed of them when we first moved into this house. We could have been enjoying them for several years now. Unfortunately, that didn't happen and we have yet to start a plot. Crossing my fingers that we get it started this year.

Next up, we have to set aside time to get these new seeds planted so they will be ready to go out into the kitchen garden, once it's warm enough. We've already planted our nightshade vegetables. Here's the link to that post, if you are interested.

I hope all of your gardening plans are going well.
Until next time,

May all your endeavors be a blessing!

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"While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."  Genesis 8:22

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We Have Mulch!!!

We have 11 cubic yards of mulch, to be exact. This is part of our new garden plan. And these are my three crazy helpers...... doing what they do best, being silly.

~ 11 cubic yard of mulch & 3 crazy kids ~

The method of gardening that has worked best for us goes by several names but we simply call it intensive, raised bed gardening. We decided that we wanted to make life easier on ourselves and mulch the walkways between the beds so that we don't have to mow. Sounded great..... until the mulch arrived. Now comes all the work in moving the mulch into the garden. Somehow this didn't seem nearly that big of a job when we were talking about it. Is it just me or do others make more work for themselves by trying to make life easier?


I hope all of your gardening plans are going well.
Until next time,

May all your endeavors be a blessing!

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"While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."  Genesis 8:22

New Kitchen Gadgets

While looking over my pictures, I realized that I hadn't shared the amazing goodies we got for the kitchen..... from Christmas. Oh my, and it's almost Easter!! Well, there's no time like the present. Here we go:

~ Kitchen Gadgets ~

Kitchen gadgets are my favorite!! I am so thankful and blessed that my family doesn't get tired of finding interesting pieces for me. I wonder if I will be sharing more after the Easter holiday......

~ Pioneer Woman Casserole Bake Set ~ 

I love them all but these Pioneer Woman casserole dishes are my favorite. I didn't even know this type of thing existed. Since receiving this gift I've seen it in stores and have picked out several other pieces that I'd love to have too.

I've had the pleasure of using them several times already and the only thing that holds me back from saying that they aren't perfect is that they aren't lidded. I prefer baking dishes to have their own lids so that I don't have to use aluminum foil. I would imaging that creating a lid to fit a beautifully scalloped edge would be a feat, so I don't blame them for not offering one.

That scalloped edge is part of why I love them so much...I'm a sucker for scalloped edges. I also like the design printed on the outside. It adds a nice splash of color. I look forward to continued use and additions to my newly started collection.

~ Kitchen Aid 2.8 Quart Lidded Casserole ~

The next item I wanted to share is from my sister-in-law. I don't know how she found a gift that could be more perfect for me. I can never have enough lidded casseroles and this one is a heavy hitter. It holds an amazing amount of food and is beautiful. I'm not sure if she asked my husband what my favorite color was or if picking yellow was a lucky guess. Either way, I love this gift. I've used it several times and have plans for taking it to pot-lucks and picnics.

~ Bambooworx Sushi-rolling Kit ~

This gift may seem out of the ordinary for our kitchen, and I suppose that it is. Believe it or not, I asked for this one. It's another gift from my sister-in-law. You see, we love going out for sushi. Even the kids love sushi. So, I had the bright idea that if I had a sushi rolling kit, then I would be able to make sushi at home. We have tried it with some success but practice is definitely in order.

~ Farberware Ice Cream Scoop ~

I can assure you that this little ice cream scoop from my mother went directly into the drawer... after being washed of course. Since ice cream is a must at our house, this little guy has gotten a lot of regular use. I'll let you know when it stops working and has to be replaced. We go through scoops almost as quickly as can openers around here.

~ Christmas Cookie Cutters ~

These cute cookie cutters from my mother are adorable. However, they went from under the Christmas tree directly into the decorations box until next year. They will be a cute surprise to find when I get out the seasonal things in the winter. The children will have great fun using these with our favorite sugar cookie recipe.

~ Clever Cutter Pro ~

We have already used these interesting scissors for cutting vegetables and they work surprisingly well. I can imagine that they will get used up by the end of harvest and processing season this coming fall. I'll let you know if they make it through the heavy demands and if they are worth trying out.

~ Anchor Hocking 2 Quart Lidded Batter Bowl ~

~ Fillables 8 Cup 2 Piece Cake Cone Pan ~

~ Gotham Steel Crisper Tray ~ 

These last three we haven't used yet but they look very interesting. I'm thinking about getting back into bread making again and that huge, lidded, measure cup sure would come in handy. My mom's birthday is coming up in April, so perhaps we can try out the ice cream cone cup cake pan. As far as the crisper tray goes, I'll have to look into it. It doesn't come with a recipe book and I'm guessing that you use it to prepare frozen items.

Thant's all for today.
Until next time,
May all your gardening adventures be a blessing!

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"But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Matthew 4:4

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Spring Snow Days

Just because Spring is here doesn't mean that we are guaranteed immediate flowers and butterflies. It's not unusual for us to have frost and even snow in March and April. This year is no exception. We got hit with about 13" of snow between Tuesday and Wednesday. It was very pretty coming down..... but eventually, someone gets to go shovel it off the driveway (and sidewalk).

13" of Snow ~ March 21, 2018

13" of Snow ~ March 21, 2018

We had fun shoveling and were very thankful for the snow blower. I didn't take the time to get any pictures of the kids playing in it, and I'm sure that I will regret it later. Curly managed to take lots of pictures around the property and even one of her brother. Here's our Big Boy being silly, leaning in a snow pile. Don't ask why he took off his gloves, I have no idea. Hahaha! Goofy boy.

~ Big Boy Playing In The Snow ~ March 21, 2018

Thankfully, I have pictures from past years. Here's a couple of fun pictures that we took in March 2014.

~ The boys making snow angles ~ March 2014 ~

~ Big Boy is having fun in the snow ~ March 2014 ~

Until next time,

May all your endeavors be a blessing!

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"She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet."
 Proverbs 31:21

Favorite Gardening Books

Over the years I have come to lean heavily on the great information found in my gardening books. I'd like to share my all time favorites with you today. I have been using these books for years and they are compilation books covering enormous amounts of knowledge.

Vegetable Gardening by Robert J. Dolezal

This first book is the first gardening book that I ever owned. I purchased it at Ollie's years ago for just a couple of dollars. At the time I knew nothing at all about gardening and had never grown anything except some spider plant clippings. I read this book from cover to cover and it has stayed my go-to gardening book ever since. It's called Vegetable Gardening, Your Ultimate Guide by Robert J. Dolezal. 

This book gave me a general look at everything gardening related. It covers types of gardens (like raised bed, intensive, and row gardening), provides charts for growing zones, site location, soil preparation, pests and diseases, and so on. The part that I keep using over and over again is the extensive vegetable encyclopedia at the end. This was the first book I grabbed when I started my garden plans for this year.

Seed To Seed by Suzanne Ashworth

This second book is an amazing encyclopedia type book. This alphabetical book covers, in great detail, every vegetable that you could ever want to grow. Each listing gives information about botanical classifications, pollination and crossing, seed production and harvest, seed statistics, how to grow from seed, and regional growing recommendations. This is a must have book for anyone wanting to harvest their own seed for future planting. I can not recommend Seed To Seed by Suzanne Ashworth enough. 

Organic Gardening by Geoff Hamilton

Organic Gardening, The Essential Guide To Growing Flowers, Fruit, and Vegetables the Natural Way by Geoff Hamilton is the third book to share today. This book seriously covers so much that it would be impossible to mention it all in one or two paragraphs. Each page is filled with color photographs of everything gardening related. I grab this book the most when I want an organic way to deal with garden pests, diseases and weeds. There are also amazing sections on garden design spanning ornamental, container, vegetable, fruit, herb, and greenhouse gardening. 

Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening by Louise Riotte

This well worn gardening book was picked up for $.25 at a book sale and well worth much more. This Gardenway book is another encyclopedia style book with very few pictures and those that it does have are in the form of sketches. Companion planting is a major part of my gardening. This is the practice of planting different vegetables, herbs, and flowers together in the same plot. In some cases one plant will add a needed element into the soil that will be used by it's companion plant. In other cases, one plant will repel insects from it's neighbor. 

I hope you have enjoyed seeing my favorite gardening books. 

I'd love to hear about yours.

Until next time,

May all your endeavors be a blessing!

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"The thoughts of the diligent [tend] only to plenteousness; but of every one [that is] hasty only to want." Proverbs 21:5

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2018 Seed Inventory

In the past I made huge, online seed orders. However, for the last few years we haven't been doing this. Instead, I've just been going to my local shops and grabbing some heirloom tomato and pepper plants and a few packages of seeds that I wanted to plant.

We have decided to put a lot of emphases, as a family project, on our garden this year. Before going online and purchasing to our hearts' content, I decided to see what we had left over from previous years. As it turns out, we have quite a lot. 

Since these are all old seeds, I'm not expecting miracles in germination. Most are from the order I made to Pinetree Garden Seeds in 2012. I was surprised to see that a few were actually from 1994. I have no idea where those came from or how they became part of my seed collection.

In addition to those pictured above, we also have a good bit of seed that we saved from heirloom tomatoes. We haven't tried to start those, so I'm interested to see how it goes.

Here's what I cataloged:

~ Beans, Lima - King of the Garden
~ Beans, Snap - Giant Stringless Bush, Kentucky Wonder Pole
~ Beets - Chioggia, Lutz Winter Keeper
~ Cauliflower - Early Snowball
~ Celery - Golden Pascal
~ Collard - Vates
~ Corn - Six Shooter, Golden Bantam
~ Cucumber - Early Cluster or Russian, Homemade Pickles
~ Eggplant - Rosa Bianca, Black Beauty
~ Flowers - Forget-Me-Not, Baby's Breath, Mammoth Sunflower, Hollyhock, Merigold, Chamomile
~ Herbs - Single Italian Plain-Leafed Parsley, Oregano, Italian Large Leaf Sweet Basil, Greek Miniature Basil, Lettuce Leaf Basil, Cilantro, Catnip, Dill
~ Parsnips - Harris Model
~ Peas - Knights, Tall Telephone
~ Peppers - Sweet Banana, Long Red Cayenne, Poblano, Anaheim Chili, Red Cherry Sweet Pepper, Marconi Red, Aconcagua, Golden Treasure
~ Pumpkin - Small Sugar
~ Spinach - Viroflay
~ Squash - Black Zucchini, Waltham Butternut, Bennings Green-Tint Pattypan, Zapallo Zucchini
~ Strawberry - Ruegen Alpine
~ Tomato - Polish Linguisa, Brandywine Red, Brandywine Black, Brandywine Yellow, Brandywine Pink, Mr. Stripey, Sugar Lump, Fireball, Aunt Ruby's German Green
~ Turnip - Purple Top White Globe
~ Watermelon - Sugar Baby

I will still need to pick up the following seeds; radish, carrots, lettuce, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, hyssop, thyme sage, rosemary, and okra. Also, I'm hoping to do potatoes, sweet potatoes and start an asparagus bed this year.

I hope your garden is coming along nicely,
Until next time,

May all your endeavors be a blessing!

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"While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease." Genesis 8:22

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Current Favorite Game ~ Settlers Of Catan

I'm sure that you've heard of this game, as it's not a new one. The Settler's of Catan is the go-to game of choice in our home right now. The children currently like to set it up and play a bit here and there throughout the day and sometimes over several days. The game really isn't supposed to be played that way but my children have to be a bit different.

As you can see from the image, the game board is able to be rearranged. Each hexagonal tile represents a region. Each region gives a resource; the forest gives wood, the plains give grain, the meadow gives wool, etc. You want to make sure that you have a settlement on the edge of each of these so that you can collect the resources that they offer.

The little number tokens are placed, randomly, on the region tiles. When the dice are thrown, the player with a settlement along the edge of the region tile with that number token can take a resource card associated with that region.

For example, at the bottom of the image is a token with an "8" sitting on a forest region. If an "8" is rolled on the dice, the players with settlements (in this case red and orange) along the edge of this region can take a resource card for wood. The dots below the numbers on the tokens designates how likely you are to roll that number.

The resource cards can be exchanged for settlements, cities, roads, and special cards. My children especially like to play in a way that they build long roads, snaking around the entire game board.

There is also a "Robber" piece included in the game. However, my children decided years ago to not use him. I'm ok with this slight change in the rules.

I'd love to read your thoughts about this game.

Please leave a comment below.

Until next time,

May all your endeavors be a blessing!

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"Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right."
Proverbs 20:11

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We've Been Sick

An old picture of an adorable Curly on a sick day

We haven't been looking as adorable as Curly did, way back when, while we have been sick. But I assure you that we have felt much worse. There was a horrible bug that went through our home. It started with a high fever and ended up as bronchitis. Thankfully, it went through it's course in a relatively short period of time.

For me the fever was the worse part. It only lasted a few nights but the first night was the worst and had me delirious. I don't remember ever having a fever that bad. My head was spinning and I had no idea what was going on. Thankfully that only happened the first night. After that, I got a tickle in my throat that became a cough. As soon as it settled in my chest, I knew it was bronchitis. I used to get it in college every winter. Such a miserable condition.

Curly says that the worst part for her was constantly blowing her nose. Her poor nose got so chapped from blowing. She didn't really suffer with the fever much and her cough didn't irritate her throat. She did complain about having to stay hydrated. She complained that the more fluids she drank the more her nose ran.

My older son says that he hated the fever the most. He seemed to have it the easiest but the longest of all of us. His fever would only show up at bedtime and be gone each morning. He reluctantly, but thankfully took fever medicine each night. It helped him to get a restful night's sleep.

The poor baby had it quite bad. He had vomiting to go along with his fever. He especially hates throwing up because he knows there's a food restriction that goes along with it. We still go with the BRAT diet, even though it's a bit outdated. We keep a few cans of Ginger Ale on hand for the occasion. He was able to keep the soda down and moved on to toast and crackers the same morning. By evening his stomach seemed fine, being able to keep down the fruit, but his appetite didn't come back until the next day.

It was such a bad bug that several other family members, who don't live with us, caught it as well. It seems that we all picked it up at a birthday party. Everyone got the fever, to varying degrees, as well as bronchitis. My Aunt got it so bad that her doctor prescribed a steroid. Even with that, it took her several weeks to fully recover.

The only person that didn't get it was my hubby. He's been dealing with some other health issues and gives credit for not catching this bug due to the fact that he's got a halo of Doterra oils circling him. Whatever the reason, I'm just glad he didn't get it. We needed at least one person in the house to be well enough to make sure the rest of us were drinking enough fluids, eating, resting and taking our medicine's.

Thankfully, we are all better now. The children hardly remember even being sick. For them the real consequence is that now they have makeup work to do for school.

I certainly hope that you have been well,
Until next time,

May all your endeavors be a blessing!

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"Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health,
even as thy soul prospereth." 3 John 1:2

Gluten Free Pizza Oggi Review

I picked up one each of the three varieties of this Gluten Free Pizza at Grocery Outlet Bargain Market and we had to try them as soon as we got home. The packaging makes these wheat free pizzas look so good. Amazingly enough we couldn't tell, by the taste, that they are wheat free. In fact, I never told the kids that there was anything different about these. 

They are fast and easy to heat. Simply open the box and cut them out of the plastic wrapping before putting them into a preheated oven. I put them on cookie sheets because I didn't want to just put them on the oven grates, as instructed. They were golden brown in about 14 minutes. 

They are smaller than most frozen pizzas and the price is a bit higher. However, these are not ordinary pizzas, so it's all about the ingredients.  

~ Margherita ~

The first one is my personal favorite, the Margherita. The crust bakes up nice and golden brown, the toppings taste fresh. I especially like the pesto.

The box says that it's hand tossed and stone baked. The toppings are Italian cherry tomatoes, mozzarella and basil. Checking out the ingredient label, they also list Romano cheese, Parmesan cheese, and pesto made from basil, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, sea salt and black pepper, among other things. I was a bit surprised to see sugar on the list but thankful it wasn't overly sweet.

The sauce was very good as well and (according to the ingredient list) contains extra virgin olive oil, brown cane sugar, sea salt, parsley, oregano, white pepper, onion and garlic, among other things. Again, they list sugar. If you are trying to cut out sugar this may not be the pizza for you. 

~ Quattro Formaggi ~

This thin crust, cheese pizza was the favorite of the boys. They are big fans of cheese pizzas and this one has four types of cheese; Mozzarella, Asiago, Romano, and Parmesan. The sauce is the same as the first one but there was a lot less sauce on this one..... or perhaps there was just so much cheese, that the sauce got lost. The box says thin crust but, honestly, I couldn't tell. It wasn't like pizza on a cracker, the way other thin crust pizzas are. 

~ Veggitaly ~

I really thought that this one would be my favorite with fire roasted vegetables and goat cheese. However, as it turns out, I don't like goat cheese at all. Thankfully, my daughter loved this one and she finished it off, almost by herself. 

This pizza has the same hand tossed, stone baked crust as the Margherita but it doesn't have any sauce on it. I didn't notice at first but the kids were quick to point it out to me. I was impressed with the vegetable toppings. It's got roasted red and yellow peppers, zucchini, grilled eggplant, diced tomatoes, grilled onions, oregano, sea salt, Mozzarella cheese, goat cheese, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Really, the only thing that put me off was the goat cheese. If I get it again, for myself, I'll just take those pieces off before baking. 

I hope this review was helpful. 

I'd love to hear your thoughts, if you've tried these yourself. 

Until next time,

May all your endeavors be a blessing!

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"Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."
 1 Corinthians 10:31

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PA Farm Show ~ Poultry & Rabbits

Today's post is a really fun one for me because I'm sharing a few of the pictures that we took at the Pa Farm Show of poultry and rabbits. After looking through my pictures, I'm seeing a trend; I'm always more attracted to heritage breeds. They are just more exciting to me because they are rarely plain.

African Goose at the PA Farm Show 2018

This large fellow is an African goose. You can find a lot of really good information from the Livestock Conservancy website (here) about this heritage breed goose. This is not my personal favorite breed of goose but this guy impressed me with his size, such a beautiful bird.

Toulouse Goose at the PA Farm Show 2018

I think this goose is absolutely gorgeous!! I fell in love with this breed, the Toulouse, after seeing on for the first time at our local fair. This breed is originally from France and is used for it's fatty liver. It's a huge breed that I think would do wonderfully on our property. However, purchasing a pair is quite expensive. We will have to wait and see if we are able to acquire some.

Sebastopol Geese at the PA Farm Show 2018

These fancy feathered geese always catch my attention. I love how they look but I'm sure they take a bit of care to keep them so clean. They are called Sebastopol geese and are another example of a heritage goose. More information is available (here) on the Livestock Conservancy website.

I have no idea what type of miniature chicken this is but it was so cute I had to snap a picture on my way past it. If you know what it is, please comment below. Thanks.

Peacocks at the PA Farm Show 2018

These beautiful Peacocks and Peafowl were on display as well. They are beautiful with their colorful feathers.

Peacocks at the PA Farm Show 2018

Giant Chinchilla Rabbit at the PA Farm Show 2018

Last but not least I'm including a picture of the Giant Chinchilla rabbit that was on display. There were row upon row of rabbits but I didn't take any other pictures besides this one. It seems that this was the only Giant Chin exhibited this year. Such a shame because they are an amazing breed of rabbit.

Until next time,

May all your endeavors be a blessing!

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 "I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field [are] mine.

" Psalms 50:11

2nd Grocery Haul For February 2018

I had to break up my shopping this month because I don't have my truck. I used my husbands car and did the best that I could. This is what I picked up at Grocery Outlet Bargain Market for about $150.00.

Check out these awesome veggies:
~ 2 containers of cherry tomatoes
~ 1 bag of Peri & Sons Farms Organic onions
~ 1 bag of Green Giant Baby Carrots
~ 4 bags of Integrity Farms Organic Green Beans
~ 4 bags of Integrity Farms Organic California Style Blend
~ 2 bags of Organic Potatoes
~ 1 container Attitude Spring Mix
~ 1 container Earthbound Farms Organic Baby Spinach
~ 1 bag Dole Romaine Hearts lettuce
~ 4 boxes Campbell's Organic Lentils

And here's a pile of carbs:
~ 3 packages Golden Star Organic Jasmine Rice
~ 1 package Pretzel Pete Nuggets, Cheddar and Ale
~ 1 package Pretzel Pete Nuggets, Sour Cream and Habanero
~ 1 package Pretzel Pete Nuggets, Garlic and Cheese
~ 3 Buitoni Non-gmo Basil Pappardelle
~ 3 Buitoni Non-gmo Roasted Garlic and Chive Pappardelle
~ 5 bags Late July non-gmo Thin and Crispy Cantina Style White Corn Tortilla
~ 1 huge bag of Luke's Organic Potato Chips, Sea Salt
~ 1 loaf Sara Lee Butter Bread
~ 1 bag Schmidt's Soft Kaiser Rolls

Everything Else:
~ 1 container Gel Italian Seasoning
~ 1 container Gel Pure Ground Black Pepper
~ 1 Centrella Whole Black Peppercorn Grinder
~ 1 container Heinz Organic Ketchup
~ Great Northern Organic Maple Syrup
~ 3 boxes Lion Raisins
~ 12 jars Simply Natural Organic Chunky Salsa
~ 2 bags Aegean's Choke Mediterranean & Pitted Dates
~ 1 jar Arriba! Pineapple Chipotle
~ 1 liter A&W Root Beer
~ 1 liter Canada Dry Gingerale
~ 2 containers President Feta Crumbles
~ 3 packages Valdosta Pecans
~ 2 wedges Dofino Gouda Cheese, Cracked Peppercorn
~ 3 wedges Dofino Gouda Cheese

Until next time,

May all your endeavors be a blessing!

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Aspiring to be a Proverbs 31 Woman. "She is like the merchants' ships; she bringeth her food from afar." Proverbs 31:14

Todays Harvest

I'm so pleased with our garden harvest today. We haven't worked in the garden for so long that the weed have totally taken over. Thankfully, neglect doesn't stop the productivity of our nightshades.

What a great start to our morning's harvest!!

We originally went out to see if there was anything left of the potato patch. The plants had come up beautifully, grew thick and strong, and then died. I totally missed noticing that they died because the weeds took over so fast that the bed always looked green. By the time I noticed what had happened, I gave up all hope of having a harvest.

The last (and only) time that I left the potatoes in the ground the mice had very nicely eaten them all. When we went to harvest, we found lovely holes where there had once been mature potatoes. After that episode, I vowed to harvest the potatoes as soon as all the plants had died back. That didn't happen this year, of course.

As I was saying, we originally went out to see if there were any potatoes to harvest because I purchased a lot of chicken in my last grocery trip and I had wanted to make chicken in the crock-pot. I'll post the recipe another time. I had just used all the potatoes that I had on hand and my fingers were crossed that by some chance, we could get at least a few potatoes out of the bed. I was well pleased to find half a bucket full.

Then, we all turned our attention to the adjacent beds that were full to overflowing with tomatoes and eggplants. I'm surprised how many cherry tomatoes are still green. But it's reassuring that there will be plenty more in the next days and weeks. A great deal were already split and many more were already on the ground. Those will all go to the hens.

Today's harvest all washed up and sitting pretty.

Until next time,
May all your gardening adventures be a blessing!

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"While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease." Genesis 8:22

Fighting Pine Bedding Today

Today's excitement was anything but enjoyable. For years we have been using spent bedding from our rabbits. We usually use rye straw over newspaper for bedding but last year we added pine bedding. This seems to be a major hindrance in the garden.

If you go back and look at the video of how beautiful the first bed turned over this year you will see what I am accustomed to working with. Spent rye straw and rabbit manure compost very quickly into beautiful, spungy garden soil, teaming with worms and is just generally a blessing to work with. We also usually use grass clippings as mulch to keep the weeds down and by the end of the season, the grass has composted down as well.

Last year we started using pine bedding under the rye straw to soak up urine in the rabbit cages. We use solid flooring in our hutches and we don't want our bunnies to be walking on wet bedding. Also the pine bedding was good because it cut down on mites and worked as a much cooler bedding than the straw. Straw is great in winter and we did use it over the shavings. Our bunnies love to burrow in the straw as well as dig around, searching for the rye seeds.

Weekly cleaning of these hutches results in a great deal of spent bedding that we historically use to fill the garden beds. That tradition continued over this past winter and early spring. Unfortunately, we didn't count on how long it would take for the pine bedding to compost down or exactly how much would accumulate. Apparently the rabbit manure and straw compost away leaving my bed half full of slightly composted pine shavings. Not what I was counting on at all.

Pine bedding is terribly hard, next to impossible to shovel. Even raking it didn't do a lot of good. After a great deal of time wasted in trying to turn my bed, I opted to just weed around the edges and use some soil from an old compost area. The 2' by 8' bed had to be amended with two wheelbarrow fulls of soil.

Old Compost Pile

I was finally able to plant lettuce, spinach, and carrot seeds. I also used the rest of the Walking Onions that I harvested earlier in the week. They were pretty sad looking so I trimmed the roots and stems before using them as a dividing row of sorts.

We will probably have to make an order of mushroom soil for my other beds. I'm not really happy about that.

May all your endeavors be profitable,
Jess

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First Litter Of The Year

We are proud to introduce our newest additions to the rabbitry.

Litter of 6 Red Mini Rex kindled 3/30/17. Tops X Rex

Tops kindled on 3/30/17 and gave us 6 perfectly formed, beautiful red Mini Rex kits. No dead and no birth injuries. She was so small that we really didn't think she took at all. The only signal that we got from her was the beautiful nest she made.... well in advance. 

Litter of 2 Red Mini Rex kindled 3/31/17. Emily X Rex.

Emily, on the other hand, was huge. She made no nest and had just two little rolly pollies. She did finally dig a hole and line it with a bit of fur, so we're thankful.

We are also very thankful that Emily is such a great milk producer. At two days old, Tops's litter of 6 weren't looking too hot. Their ribs were showing and we knew we would start loosing them if we didn't step in. Emily was a great, very patient, nurse. She fattened all 6 in just a few minutes. 

That must have been all the help Tops needed because her entire litter has been doing well ever since. She has been able to maintain their growth with no more assistance. We are keeping a close eye on them, just in case. 

I'll keep you posted on updates. Both of these does, and the sire, produce beautiful kits. We can't wait until they start jumping around and can come out of their nests to play. 

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