Speaking of Mason Jars…

…it’s that time of year again. My husband went to the Farmer’s Market in Asheville, NC on Friday with plans for going back this coming Thursday for more produce. I love it, but that also means, the pressure is on! I have canned a lot of produce since January.

Some of the produce I have to get put up came from our garden including habenero peppers, bell peppers, green tomatoes:

Bell peppers, Habenero peppers and tomatoes from garden (and two of my big white radishes).

From the Farmer’s Market we have…

1 bushel tomatoes

1 bushel pablano peppers

1 bushel green bell peppers and 1 bushel red bell peppers

4 bushels of apples (Red Delicious, Gala, Arkansas Black, Honey Crisp)

I’ll share what I make with all this good stuff as I go. Are you doing any fall canning or preserving? I didn’t can anything this summer, which is unusual for me, but I did so much in January, February, and March, I was wore out. You can see what I have canned this year (so far) on my sidebar.

Happy Canning!

Breakfast in Bed

So, this is has been a really sweet mother’s day. I didn’t sleep in late despite my deepest desire to do so, but when I woke up at 7:00 am my brain was plagued by all of the things I needed to get done on A Virtuous Woman before I leave for campmeeting in two weeks. I decided to spend a few hours working on my laptop in bed.

My husband, who was already working in his office, came down and greeted me with a kiss and a gift. A little while later I heard the girls busy in the kitchen. Traditionally for the last few years the girls have made me breakfast in bed, which is always just too sweet. So I knew better than to go in the kitchen! Today’s presentation of food was especially pretty. I forgot to take the photo until after I had already begun to eat! It was delicious!

I am so blessed to have such sweet children. Truly blessed.

On the menu:

- Banana Pancakes with Apple Syrup

- Perfectly Scrambled Eggs

- Vegetarian Bacon Strips

Spring Time Fun

Wow, it’s been about two months since I have had a chance to post! We’ve been so busy getting ready for campmeeting, and I’ve nearly completed the move from our old network to our own server on A Virtuous Woman. I am so relieved! That was just not fun.

We’ve been enjoying spring time here in the Ringstaff household. As soon as the weather began to warm up we started taking the horses out on frequent trail rides. So worth the nightmare of taking care of the horses through the winter, hauling water in the knee deep snow down the mountain to their pasture. I am so glad winter is over!

Ladybelle has a really long furry winter coat and she is finally shedding it. Her summer coat is sleek and shiny and so pretty!

About a month ago now, we finally purchased the chicks I have been waiting for nearly 20 years to have! I am so happy!

I have 3 Amber Links, 3 New Hampshire Reds, 3 Tetra Links, and 5 Buff Orpingtons.  I’ll have to share more pictures later but here is a photo of what the Amber Links and Reds looked like when we bought them:

If you count, there are actually 6 Amber Links in this photo, but 3 of them were for my step-daughter.  They have grown so much in the last three weeks! I’ll share more photos later in the week. The rest of the chicks were purchased last Friday.

I hope you are enjoying spring as much as I am!

You know it’s cold when…

… your horses have icicles hanging off their fur. That was the sight that greeted us today when we went up to take care of our horses. Yeah. It was that cold. 9 degrees to be exact when we were up there.

We had about 10 inches of snow, too. The well has been out at the place where we keep our four horses for about six weeks now and so we have to haul about 40 gallons of water to the horses everyday. In the snow. And we can’t drive to where the horses are, we have to park at the top of the driveway because of all the ice and snow. We live in the mountains. The whole ordeal takes about two hours between hauling the water, moving the hay, and making sure no one horse gets greedy with his or her buddies food.

Having horses this last year has been a very rewarding experience. Really! Having the horses makes all the cold and pain worth it! Owning the horses has tested our endurance and we have learned some things we never knew this winter. Mainly that 9 degrees is really cold and 24 degrees feels really warm in comparison!! Ah… for the love of a horse (or five).

Home from Campmeeting

We arrived home around 3 am on Sunday night. I can’t tell you how good it felt to crawl into my own bed!

Campmeeting was wonderful – as always! We were gone for 14 days. I have been recuperating for the last three days catching up on sleep and housework. My husband and I teach the Primary class at our campmeeting. This year’s theme was “The Parables of Jesus.” We had sooo much fun! I was so excited during the Camp Pitch (setting up) that I couldn’t sleep for three nights straight! During one of those long nights I came up with my theme for next year! I am so excited I can’t believe I have to wait a whole year! We’ll be doing “The Church in the Wilderness” and learn about the Waldenses and different martyrs through the centuries. The set will be a medieval/ forest theme and we’ll wear medieval costumes.

Anyway, so for this year the set was a Bible Marketplace. It turned out even better than I had hoped. I really hated to tear it down!

Here are some photos of the finished set:

Here is a photo of part of the “marketplace.” You can see the beautiful donkey cart that was built for me. My husband built the booths out of small tree trunks.

We had a food market in the donkey cart and the little table behind it. There was also a spice/herb shop and a basket shop. On the other side of the donkey cart is a blanket shop. My four girls painted the amazing “stone” floor for me and they even did the “stone” wall and sky on the backdrop!

This is a photo of the front of the room. The well has real water in it!

When the children first came in the room they walked right into this tent which housed the registration table.

We had a mountain and cave that the children had to walk through to get to the bathroom. We put a glowing purple light inside the cave.

Some of the highlights during the program – we learned the Jewish “Hora” dance.” The kids signed up for a “Talent Show” for the last Friday afternoon after learning the parable of “The Ten Talents.” On the last Friday night we had the parable of “The Wedding Feast.” Afterward we had a real Jewish Wedding feast. I spent the afternoon making:

Matzo Ball Soup
Lentils
Potato Latkes
A Wedding Cake

We had a blast working with kids. I am looking forward to next year!

Here is a slideshow of us setting up the stage. I took the photos, so you won’t see much of me!

Horse Club

Today was our 4-H Horse Club meeting. I was so sorry Sarah and Emily were gone and didn’t get to go! Hannah and Laura had a wonderful time! Here they are riding Train Wreck:

They even got to ride bareback for the very first time:

I think I found the perfect horse for my daughter Sarah. He is so gentle, well trained, and just gorgeous! He was a Wild Mustang from Nevada. I hope it works out!

Isn’t he beautiful???

A Day in Nature

Okay, so on Friday morning (last week) I took my daughter, Laura, to speech therapy. Hannah was with us, too. the parking lot was really full so we had to park quite a ways from the building. I pulled into a parking spot and there was a tree right in front of the car. Hannah says, “Mom, look! There’s a robin sitting on a nest!”

Sure, enough, there was a mommy robin sitting on a nest! We got out of the car, very excited. The nest was just above my eye level. The robin was startled when we got out of the car and she flew away. I couldn’t see into the nest and didn’t want to touch it, but I did hold my cell phone up above the nest and took a photo. There were no eggs on Friday.

So, this morning, we went back to speech and since we were running a little late, we didn’t stop to look at the robin’s nest until after the appointment. On our way back to the car (I brought my camera for the occasion!) we saw the mommy robin again sitting on her nest:

I stepped up on the curb (about 4 feet from the tree) and she was again startled and jumped up out of her nest, but stayed very close by on a branch. I held my camera up and took another photo, and this is what we found:

Are those not the prettiest little eggs you’ve ever seen??? We can hardly wait to see babies!

You know how much we love all of God’s creation – even snakes. But birds are just about our favorite. That is, if you don’t count horses.

This afternoon, we saddled, er, Emily saddled Ladybelle for the first time. (I took the photos.) Isn’t Ladybelle beautiful?? We lover her!

Side Note: In case you are wondering where my other daughter, Sarah, was… well, she is staying at our Middlesboro Church with a group of young people who came to work in the community doing literature evangelism (magabooking, canvasing). She loves the work! I am so proud of her. And in case you are a member in the Kentucky-Tennessee Conference, be sure to check out this month’s Connection newsletter – Sarah has an article in it!!

Anyway, while we were up with the horses, I took a photo of the apple tree. Wow, look at those blossoms! I hope we get that many apples!

The Best Birthday Cake Ever!

Well, today I am 34 years old.

I know. sigh.

However, despite the fact that I really don’t want to get older, this is sooo the best time of my life!

Today, my two youngest children, Hannah and Laura, surprised me! They got out their Easy Bake Oven and made me chocolate covered apples and chocolate cake! I forgot to take a photo of the apples, but they were really delicious! And the cake was really good – for real!

Our White Squirrel

In Search of a Horse

My four daughters and I have been anxiously searching for a horse for a long time. Earlier in the year we had looked quite a bit and even made a few calls on horses we were interested in, but then the year became so busy and full that it was pushed aside.

About two weeks ago I was in Dollar General with my little girl, Laura. She was wearing a shirt with a horse print on it. The cashier commented on the shirt, and said, “I just love horses!”

I responded by saying, “Oh we love horses, too. In fact, we are looking to buy one soon.”

Then, she said, “Oh, I know a lady who has a horse for sale.” She gave me her name. The woman also worked at Dollar General. So, a few days later I went in the store to see if this lady was working and she was. I asked her about her horse, and she informed me that she had already sold it, but she knew of another woman who was selling a horse. I went home with her phone number.

I finally got ahold of this lady on Sunday afternoon. We made arrangements for me to come out to her house on Monday evening. By the time we got out to her house, it was pretty much dark outside, but the horse was there close to the house. I ,er, the girls are so excited! Nothing is for sure yet, but I think it will all work out. It seems almost too good to be true!

First of all, the mare is a Tennessee Walking Horse, which I never thought I’d be able to afford. Secondly, not only is she a Tennessee Walking Horse, she is a Racking Horse, so she has a smooth gait – in other words, you don’t bounce as much in the saddle. And thirdly, she is a black and white paint horse which happens to be my favorite – exactly what I was hoping to find! Oh, and the lady is only asking $700.00 for her which I think is a steal! (She had originally paid $1500.00 for the horse.)

Oh, and not only that but the horse currently lives just a few doors down from where we plan to keep the horse which means we won’t have to worry about finding a horse trailer to borrow – we can just walk her down to her new home!

But wait, there’s more! She also has a miniature pony which comes with a saddle and is the perfect size for my littlest girl, Laura, to ride and is something she had been asking for, but I had thought we would not end up getting! So, this coming Sunday, we will head out to visit the horse and pony again to give them a good once over, to watch them interact with their current owners, and see the owner ride before we make our final decision. I have a good feeling about it. I think we are the new proud owners of a horse and pony!

Here is a picture of the horse: (It was dark outside so I will have to share better pics on Sunday)
And a picture of the miniature pony:

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