Work Day At Home

Whenever I see our work boots set out I know that "Sweet Hunter" is in the working mood!

We started with one of the gardens but it was way too wet!

Then we moved to the screened in porch.
Look at all that pollen on everything.

So we got the water hose, some soap, mops and brooms and went at it.

We moved everything off and scrubbed this porch from top to bottom.

Here it is all put back together.
Much better.

I bought that wreath about 2 years ago at a thrift store.
I have wanted "sweet hunter" to hang it up high on the porch.
As you can see, it is still sitting there.
He must like it there! ha!
I guess I will just have to do it!

I LOVE my screened in porch.
So peaceful.
This is the perfect time of year to enjoy it.
You can hear the creek out back running.

As you can see I have a lot of empty pots but I have some newcomers too.
See my hen and chicks that Granny J sent me. 
My Dad saw them in these little pots and he let me know that I would have to replant them in something bigger.
The amaryllis was given to me by my Mother because I killed Miss Victoria or so I thought.
Mom gave me an Amryllis that she pampered and loved and was beautiful. 
I got it and it turned yellow and died last year.

I didn't want to break the news to Mom about Miss Victoria dying but
one afternoon I was at her house and she gave me that other one that you saw in the last picture.
She also told me that she figured that I killed it and she gave me instructions on how to take care of it.
But I had a little surprise this year.  See that Amaryllis in that white pot.......
that is Miss Victoria!!!!!
She has came back to life!!!!

Oh yeah, back to work....
now we are on the deck!

Looks a little better!

This table and umbrella and chairs was covered in pollen
but it is better now.

This is an old church bench that "Sweet Hunter" bought
several years ago.
We love it and it fits perfect on our deck.

All that work and I still had time to crochet 3 more dish cloths!!!

Today I am thankful for.............being able to work.

I Love It When I Am Missed

Life has been so busy lately but we managed to get in a little trout fishing.
It was 95 degrees but down at this beautiful river it was much cooler.
I caught 4 little fish and 1 good trout.

Sweet hubby only caught 3 or 4 trout.

I guess it was too hot for the fish too.

Between my work, life in general, working in the garden and all of the other things that keeps us all busy I haven't even blogged in about a week or so. That is so unusual for me because blogging is one of my favorite hobbies.

It is nice to know that I have been missed. I have received several emails and phone calls asking me why I haven't blogged. Thank you.

We are just starting to get some vegetables out of our gardens.

My Dad planted things that I don't even know what they are. Do you know what this is?

I figured it was a type of squash.

We have been out of town but my Dad said he picked about a bushel of beans while I was gone and they are already to pick again! Busy, busy, busy and it all starts over again Monday! I am thankful for "busy" though.

Prayer Request: A Mothers heart.

Thank you for missing me!

Did you know that blogs can get too full of pictures? Well mine is about to overflow so I will be starting another blog soon. I will let you know when it is ready. I hope you all will visit me when I get it all set up. I LOVE my blogging buddies!

*Also, if you look at my sidebar you will notice that it is "Angels" birthday tomorrow! You can click on her picture and it will take you to her blog. Happy Birthday to my sweet Angel!

Update On Our Gardens

Remember this? This is how it all started. This a place that I have never had a garden.

My dad is doing the gardens with me. He has always had one at Grannys but since she is gone he is doing it with me. We got a very late start but it is starting to grow.

I think I plowed this 100 times 3 different days.

Then daddy came and tilled it after planting.
Here he is in one of the gardens putting extra fertilizer on the tomatoes.
I think he said we have 85 tomato plants! We have 3 gardens (2 big ones, and 1 raised bed garden). My Dad said he wanted to have enough for my Mom, my sisters and their families, me and all of my children and grands. I think he is gonna have plenty.

Well if these 19 geese will stop invading the gardens!
They really have not done much damage besides making a mess.
That is my lower garden. It has okra and beans and eggplant in it.

I always mulch my raised bed with straw so I don't have to weed too much.

In this raised bed we have squash, cucumbers, radishes, & tomatoes.

This picture doesn't show the plants too good but it shows parts of the 2 big gardens after a much needed rain. I will be back to show you more as it grows.

The Time Has Come

Yes, the time has come to start our garden.

Last year we had it down lower in the field and it did great but stayed wet.

My dad suggested that we move it up higher in the pasture.

We have 6 acres so we have plenty of room to have it anywhere.

I probably will still have one down where I did last year but I will just plant corn in that garden.

Well sweet hubby plowed the ground up for me but his back started to hurt so I took over when it was time to cut the garden. Boy it was rough.

But I finally got the hang of it. I haven't drove a tractor in years.

We had to put blocks on top of it to add more weight.

I guess I went over this garden over 100 times that day.
But since it is freshly plowed it will take a lot more than that.

Looking better huh? It helps for it to dry out some so I am gonna try to have it ready to plant this weekend. (I hope!) Do you plant a garden? I love it. It is a lot of work but when you see all the things that you have canned and froze it makes you so proud and keeps you out of the store.

I just thought I would show you what I have been doing lately.

When I am not working......I am still working!!!!

*****************

SNIPPETS FROM MY HEART

When I first started my blog I put a prayer from my heart at the top of this blog. My blogs name is Lifes little garden. There was a reason that I named it that. Life is just like a garden.

Going through this trial the Lord has shown me to quit focusing on the problem and focus on HIM. I am also learning to look at myself instead of others. Everytime a negative thought enters my mind, I am trying to capture that thought and focus on HIM. Where would I be without my Lord?

Here is my prayer:

Lord, help us to plan, prepare and plant what YOU would have us to. Help us to weed out of our lives what should not be there. Lord, help us to grow through YOU in our relationships, our attitudes, and our lives, always being in YOUR will. Help us to always walk with YOU. Let us always be thankful and content. Amen.

Yummy For My Tummy

I have learned to grill some this summer. Normally I leave that up to sweet honey but not tonight. He was over at "The Love Shack" working.
Everything here is out of my garden except for the chicken of course.

Grilled chicken, squash, bell peppers and tomatoes

served with mashed potatoes and biscuits.

Yummy For My Tummy!

Oh My Goodness!

I just thought I was only breaking and freezing beans today. I went to my garden and picked more veges and then my daddy brought me a big bag full out of his garden. I didn't get all my beans broke but I am working on it. I put up 11 quarts today. That makes a total of 24 quarts in my freezer. I will finish the rest of the beans tomorrow afternoon along with all of the other veges. My plans was to work on ebay too but didn't get to that today.

No fancy dishes here. Just iron skillets and pans. I had several emails asking me how to make my cornbread. You can go to my archives at the very bottom in the side bar and look under recipes. It is under cornbread. I also had emails about my fried squash. The pan I showed you the other day was fried one piece at a time. I cook them one layer at a time. The pictures above show what my squash looks like most of the time. I just roll in cornmeal, salt & pepper and then add a little shortning to an iron skillet. Get it really hot and pile them in. Then as they cook I turn with a spatula until heated through. Then I place in a very hot oven and finish it off. The iron skillet on the left is already done. The one on the right is just started. Behind that pan is some fresh green beans. And top it all off with cornbread! Add some sliced tomatoes and banana peppers and you have a good country meal! Oh my goodness!

Work doesn't stop after the veges because here comes the muscadines & grapes!

Muscadines are just starting getting ripe. I will have to take Granny some. She will love these. I always make muscadine jelly out of these and it is so good.

Grapes are not ripe yet but it will not be too long!

Aren't we so blessed?

Hard work, but so thankful!

Beans, Beans & More Beans

Do your days fly by? Boy mine do. Everyday something is planned. Guess what is for supper tomorrow night? You guessed it! BEANS! Aren't they so pretty? I spent most of my day working in my garden today. I have one really long row of green beans and this is what I picked from about 1/4 of the row. I could not believe how many I had. I cannot believe how many more I have to pick. Tomorrow the morning will be spent washing, breaking, cooking & freezing the ones that I have picked so far. Then back to the garden again to pick some more. I also spent 4 hours working on my eBay business. I hope to spend that much time on it tomorrow too. Go check it out. There is a button on my sidebar. There might be something that you can't live without! Hope you all have a blessed day.

Gardens, Plants, & Tests!

This is part of what I call my "Garden on the deck".
There are squash, tomatoes, bell peppers, Onions, cucumbers & more.
My deck looks pretty rough but we just had it pressure washed and are fixing to have it restained. (more about that later).

My garden down in the field is not as big as it was last year.
I planted a late garden due to rain and keeping grandchildren
at the time it needed to be planted.
In this garden there is only, tomatoes, squash, green beans & peppers.

This is one of the 3 apple trees we planted last year that my daughter Mandy gave us.
See my little apples?


Blueberries are ready for picking!!!
Blueberry Muffins are great!

Since I didn't get to plant as big a garden as I usually do I decided that I would do some container gardening on the deck. All of my plants were planted later than they should have been but are still doing great. I have had a lot of peppers, squash, cucumbers and onions. No tomatoes yet. I am really looking forward to a good tomato sandwich! We have really enjoyed the blueberries a lot this year. I can't believe how fast the summer is getting by. You may not believe this but as much as I love summer, I am already looking forward to fall & winter.

Today has been one of those days that started out bad and went downhill from there. Whenever you hear the songs on this playlists you know that I am needing encouragement. There is no reason to go into the details of my day because you just would not believe it. Ha! I do know that I am so thankful. We are so blessed. I know that these little tests are for a reason. What? I don't know. I just want to hurry up and pass the tests. Do you ever have one of these days?
This too shall pass.
Tomorrow is a new day!!

But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. 1 Peter 4:13