Strawberry Beds

We have a garden bed full of strawberry plants with plans to plant more this year. We’ve been disappointed to find that most of the strawberries that are ready to pick have been partially eaten by the birds! My mother-in-law has over a hundred strawberry plants. Her answer to this problem has been to pick them before they are ripe and let them ripen in the kitchen. This works, of course.

However, I just found a brilliant idea on Pinterest!

Paint pebbles to look like strawberries and place then in your strawberry beds. It will fool the birds! I will definitely be doing this when I return home this summer!

You can find the actual instructions for painting strawberry rocks here.

Sparrow’s Nest

We were delighted to find a sparrow’s nest hiding in my rose bush by the back door this week.

This minature rose bush was one of those that my husband bought for me years ago at the grocery store. It has hundreds of blooms and continues to spread/ climb across our porch railing. I just love it!

Look how beautiful those little eggs are!

Kids Time 2012

On Sunday we drove up to Thompsonville, Illinois to help with the production of the Kids Time Bible Story segments for 2012. We’ll be here all week!

This photo was taken yesterday. You can see Hannah and Laura (wearing green, white, and brown colors) sitting in the front of the tent next to each other.

My husband was cast as Laban. I was cast as Leah despite my protest that I cannot act! Linda says I don’t have to say anything just look sad. I’m not sure I can even do that!

Here’s my husband dressed as Laban yesterday. This isn’t exactly the best photo. I’ll try to get some better ones later.

Spring Cleaning and Other Thoughts

Source: thekitchn.com via Melissa on Pinterest

Did you enjoy the Spring Clean Challenge? I’ve been slowly working on my own home. Somehow, over the last couple of months, I’d gotten really behind on a lot of things around my house. That means…. major cleaning! We’ve had a rough few weeks. Lots of family crises have occurred over the last few months. Nothing I can really talk about, but there have been a number of trials that have left me feeling worn out emotionally and physically.

I am not on the internet much anymore, but I’m still working to make  A Virtuous Woman work! But if days go by and you don’t “see” me around, that’s why! I try to check moderated comments a few times a week and I try to get posts up and scheduled so days don’t go by without anything new. It requires a good deal of organization… which, in my life, can vary from day to day!

I thought about taking BEFORE photos of my house and doing AFTER photos. Not sure yet. You know how no one ever comes to see you when you’ve got the whole house clean and neat? Wait. You mean that just happens to me? I hope not!

Anyway, so yesterday was the first day in over a week I’ve cooked a real meal – as in, something that took more than five minutes to prepare. We’ve been eating a lot of cold or hot cereal, oranges and grapefruit, angel hair pasta, and salads. Oh the up side, I’ve lost about four pounds in the last two weeks!

I made Cream Cheese Patties, Cream of Mushroom Gravy, 60 – Minute Dinner Rolls, Spelt Dinner Rolls, Steamed Brussels Sprouts, Corn on the Cob, and Cheesy Stuffed Mushrooms. Both of the roll recipes were a keeper. I think they could be very versatile, too! I’m thinking bread sticks, herbed rolls, pizza pockets…

Today we’re having hot dogs or hamburgers. Not sure which yet, but I’m planning to make deviled eggs, coleslaw, baked beans, and and Impossible Cheesecake to go with it.

And before I forget, doesn’t that Lemon Tart photo above look scrumptious? I am definitely putting it on my list of must make foods!

All in all, despite the frustrations of life, I have found a lot of joy. And I can see God working in miraculous ways even in the chaos! He is so very faithful.

Creative Gardening Ideas

I found this idea on Pintrest yesterday. So clever! I have several pallets lying around. I might just try this one!
Photo Credit: Sprittibee

 And here is another clever idea. Milk Crate Gardening! This would be space saving and if you could suspend the crate somehow or place it on the edge of a stone wall or something, you could grow vine plants right out the side! We purchased a half dozen “milk crate” from Wal-Mart last fall on clearance for $0.50 a piece. I may re-purpose a couple of them!

Source: comoneighborhoods.wordpress.com via Melissa on Pinterest

And, here’s a clever idea for watering your container gardens/ houseplants:

My garden is growing nicely. My Seeds of Change Green Arrow Peas have not done as well as hoped, but they are slowly growing, so hopefully all those seeds I planted won’t be a total waste. They took over three weeks to come up.  I planted them around February 20. They are just now about six inches tall! No blooms yet. My herb garden is looking beautiful and my lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower are all doing really well. Oh, and my strawberry patch has strawberries!

I’ll be planting my tomato seedlings, cucumbers, squash plants, eggplants, and pumpkin seedlings soon. And I still need to get the front bed tilled up and get the bush beans planted.

I  wish I had a current photo. Maybe I’ll be able to share some soon. Oh, and you can find a lot more creative gardening ideas on my Back to the Garden page on Pintrest!

Discover the Forest

Have you seen this billboard?

I love it.

We have always been a nature loving family. Backyard adventures are common place in our household. From finding snakes and turtles to digging for salamanders, to catching skinks, to feeding the birds and checking our field guides to learn about the different birds in our yard – we love the outdoors.

I’ve been seeing this billboard around our area for a few weeks now. I really, really agree! UNPLUG. We recently disconnected the internet in our house. The first week, the kids were bored during their “free time” that would have otherwise been spent on facebook or youtube. But guess what? Now that a few weeks have passed, they’ve discovered a whole new world of possibilities! My teenagers are riding their bikes again! They take walks and read books. They browse through cookbooks looking for new recipes to try. They aren’t bored.

So even if you were like us and limited the amount of time on the internet or video games, etc. perhaps your family would benefit from unplugging from technology and experiencing life again. The world is a beautiful, amazing place! Don’t deprive your children. Give them nature.

And by the way, Discover the Forest has ideas, activities, and free printables for teachers and kids! Be sure to check it out!

Here’s a few ideas to get you started:

• Book of Stuff to Do Outside
• Become a Junior Forest Ranger
• Finding My Forest for Educators

Planting Vegetables in the Shade

We live on a mountain. We have lots of really big trees. That means we have a lot of shade. I did some research about which plants do well grown in partial shade and here is the list I found:

1. salad greens
2. arugula, endive, and cress
3. broccoli
4. cauliflower
5. peas
6. beets
7. Brussels sprouts
8. radishes
9. Swiss chard
10. leafy greens
11. beans

I am hoping to plant beans in our front flower bed (which doesn’t get a whole lot of sunshine) with a border of cabbage and beets. Maybe it will even look pretty!

Some of these plants do well in containers, too. Salad greens, broccoli, beets, and more can all be grown in large containers.

Tidbits from My Week

It never fails. You think you’ve got it covered. But you don’t. Yesterday, I went out to feed the horses and tend to one of the horse’s injuries. It had rained quite a bit and I knew there would be lots of mud. So, after getting dressed, I doned an apron to keep my clean clothes clean and my muck boots. I was covered up except for about six inches around the knee area.

I was walking Melody over to the barn to tend to her wound and it is especially muddy just outside the barn. And I’m not just talking about mud. I mean, there is a lot of muddy horse poo around the barn. But I was still shocked when she stepped into a puddle and the muddy poopy water shot up like a volcano all over my knee. Not on my apron. On my nice clean knee. The picture doesn’t even do this justice.

Speaking of injuries. Oh my. Sarah’s horse, Melody did a doozy on herself. When I first saw it all I could think was, “She’s going to need reconstructive surgery!!!!” We’ve had our share of scary injuries over the last few years, but this, this was beyond horrible, I thought.

Melody ripped open her hiney. Her her lovely female parts. All torn up. The vet didn’t seem concerned. In fact, she didn’t even feel the need to come out and look at it. Despite my horror. Apparently this happens more than I realized, usually when a mare goes to itch a scratch on the nearest available surface. She’s been amazing when I go to rub the miracle ointment on her. She doesn’t get skittish or jumpy, and hasn’t tried to kick me for rubbing sulfur stuff all over her stuff.

Here’s a graphic photo. You can share my pain. Don’t look if you are weak in the stomach. The wound is swollen three times bigger than normal. She’s supposed to be all nice and tight and pretty down there.

We had a tragedy this week. Our calico bunnies were killed. We don’t know how it happened. Dogs were probably involved. We know which dogs were NOT involved, but not those who were involved. We also don’t know how the door to the rabbit hutch got opened and there werre no apparent scratch marks or other indications that anything tried to open the door. But somehow the door fell open and the bunnies got out and were killed.

We came home from church. I went in the house. Minutes later I heard my youngest child wailing. I thought she had been mauled by a neighbor dog or something, the crying was so bad. She’d found her bunny on the ground. Thankfully it wasn’t half eaten. She looked perfect except, she wasn’t moving.

The girls painted a beautiful stone for the grave. Their friend from next door helped. My son dug the grave. We buried the rabbits and placed the stone and a bouquet of daffodils from the yard on top.

It was a very, very sad day. The girls cried for hours. Laura, my youngest (age 8), said to me, “Mom, I think this is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to go through.”

I’ve thought about that statement. It was probably true. My kids have had a pretty good life. But this really hurt. We’re gonna miss Butterscotch and Clover. Makes us all the more ready to see Jesus come back too take us home to heaven.

In happier news, my seedlings are coming up nicely. My tomato plants are even getting their real leaves!

We also had four monster trees cut down this week. One of the trees, a massive oak, was about 120 feet tall, 19 feet around at the base and I counted 109 rings after it was cut down. You can’t even imagine how big those trees were! The branches on this tree were as long as the trunk of the tree was tall! I think we’ll have enough firewood to last us for the next five years or more. My front yard looks like a tornado hit it. It’ll probably take us six months to get the trees chopped up and all the wood stacked. Here’s a photo of just some of the wood from a few of the branches from the oak I was just talking about.

Notice little Nikki sleeping in the pile of leaves beneath the stack of wood.

 

So, what’s going on in your neck of the woods?

Easter Menu

 

Traditionally all of our family comes to my house for the Easter (or as I prefer to call it – Resurrection Day) Celebration. I like to decorate and set a nice table and make special desserts for the children to enjoy. I’d thought I’d share some of the recipes I’ll be making this year.

Easter Dinner (or Brunch) Menu

Vegetable Pot Pie

“Sausage” and  Cheese Quiche

Butterflake Rolls

Roasted Beets with Blue Cheese and Walnuts or Spiced Beets

Carrots with Caramelized Onions and Apple Syrup

Pineapple Pretzel Salad

Broccoli Salad

Cheese Grits

Deviled Eggs

Spring Chick Cakes

What are you serving this year?

Wired.

Or not.

We decided a week ago to cut off the internet in our house.

That’s right. Despite the fact that I run an online ministry from home, we cut off the internet.

There were a number of reasons. After only a week, I can already tell a huge difference in how I feel and I have noticed a difference in my children.

A few weeks ago, I was on facebook and noticed a “status” on a friend’s page that went something like this:

Family time: Mom’s on iphone, daughter’s on iphone, son’s on ipad, Dad’s on laptop.

That one little quip really bothered me. It sounded funny. But not really. It’s the sign of a disconnected family. Everyone off in their own little cyber space world. It’s what’s wrong with America today. It bothers me. I don’t want to be that family.

Now, honestly, we aren’t that bad. I’ve never considered computer time, family time. I monitor the kids usage daily, their devices are passworded and only I know the password. They have to have permission to get on. I’ve never believed it was healthy to have your head in “the box” for hours on end on a daily basis. But at the same time, I felt like we were missing something as a family. In our house, as busy as we are, we have a basic routine to our days. The kids do their school work then get their chores done so they can have “free time.” More often than not, as soon as their chores were done the request would come in, “Mom, can I get on my computer (or kindle, ipod, etc.)?” I realized that free time was no longer about discovering new interests, working on a hobby, learning a new skill, having quiet down time, or taking a walk. It was more and more about being wired to facebook or Messenger.

For myself, I realized that my desire to write a new article or share a new recipe often came before my desire to get other important things done. I also realized that being “wired in” 24/7 meant that I felt an obligation to provide daily material for my readers to enjoy so that my google rank stayed high. But then, it was also very easy to become distracted by a favorite blog, Pintrest, or a search for new recipes to try.

I have felt, for a long time, robbed of my time. But who was really stealing it? ME. The internet, with all of its fabulous ideas and inspiring articles draw us in, telling us that we need it. When the idea of disconnecting the internet first came up, I battled with it. I said things like, “I don’t know, I use it for homeschooling all the time. I use it for recipes, and so many things! I have a ministry and a blog! How can I give that up?”

But then, I felt the Holy Spirit tugging at my heart, whispering to me and I knew I needed to let it go. For our family. And then I felt peace. More peace than I have felt in a really, really long time.

I’ve noticed several things since disconnecting:

1. I have more time. My days feel longer. I use to complain all the time that I just didn’t have enough time. I felt stressed an awful lot.  I have my life back.
2. When I do go to the library to get on and post to A Virtuous Woman, I have a list of things that need to get done and I do them. No distractions. No wasted time. And as a bonus, we get our library things done for school while we are there. And on nice days, we walk – fresh mountain air and healthy exercise.
3. I have re-discovered my cookbooks. I love it.
4. I’ve been able to get some projects done that have been on the back burner for, sadly, years.
5. My teens, who were bored out of their minds the first couple of days, are discovering a world outside the internet. Thank you, Lord. A true blessing indeed.
6. I just feel happier. Who knew?

I can’t count the times I would read someone’s blog, thinking their life sounded so perfect, wishing mine was, and then telling myself – “Instead of dreaming about the perfect life, get up and live it.” I have always had a pretty good life. No, a really good life. A wonderful life. But now… it seems all the more so.

The simple life… is the good life.

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