Summertime......

What are your plans this summer??

My first plan is to get all

my garden going. Get all my starts

in the ground, the 9 tomatoe

plants a friend gave

me, some transplants sent home

with me from my trip.......

Then I just need to catch

up on weeds, it has been

raining, with thunder and

ightening and even hail!!!!

Very Crazy!!! But boy do

the weeds love it!!

After my garden is planted,
I will begin preparing for my

May Farm Cottage

Summer Daze Tea on the Veranda.

Every Tuesday and Thursday

through July and August,

Ladies can come have

tea on the porch.

So I am going to create a

"Tea Room"

at one end of the porch with

some fun finds from my trip. Had my

first call yesterday for a group

of 8-10 for a birthday celebration!

Then a lady I know is having an
"Upscale Yardsale"
in July.
She puts a pretty big ad in the
paper and it is not just a yard sale!

There are homemade items,

she has ladies serving

lemonade and cookies,

she has lovely

things on a clothesline, a

place to sit in the shade with

your refreshment,

several vendors as

well as we can bring our yardsale

stuff that is in good condition.

I have several things I want

to make, so that is in my plan.

Yummy Rhubarb Sauce....and I will

make some Strawberry and

Strawberry Rhubarb Jams.....

And, last big thing

of the summer,

well maybe not last

if I do an end

of summer tea in my

friends garden

.....but almost last

.......have not really

decided if I will do this.....

Prairie Day Camp!!

Yep!! Girls come for a

day camp, 3 or 4 days in

a row. First we

make bonnets and aprons

so they have them to wear,

then we do all

sorts of fun things,

from making candles

to embroidery......

Prairie stuff!!

Here they all are having

afternoon tea....

Ever seen girls have so much fun

washing dishes!?!

Sitting around doing handwork.......

Oh, yes, and in between

all that, I will be

busy keeping

the quail and such

out of the garden!!!

The girls love washing clothes in

the washtub with a washboard and

hanging them up to dry......

And just so you do not think I am a crazy woman......all these things just take a bit of initial organizing and then they are really very fun!! Also, my husband has not had much work and this is a little bit of income and a way I can help from home.

And, I do plan on having some nice breaks.....July is our 30th wedding anniversary and we plan to go somewhere nearby for a night or two.....On the Tuesdays and Thursdays that no one has called to reserve tea, I may have my own friends over for a time of relaxing and chatting......And, I do want to read this summer....in the shade......yes!! Not sure what I will read, nothing too intense, just something fun......

Some friends and I plan to go to the Coburg Quilt Show and take our own "Tea Party" picnic. We also have a fun local camp we attend that is very relaxing for me.....

And if I had small children around, which sadly I do not, I would have them by my side in the garden, they would help me make cookies and serve tea to the ladies, and of course they would enjoy Prairie Camp!!! And when it got too hot.....they would dip into their wading pool, while I cooled off in the hot tub which will be set on a low temperature......Enjoy your children this summer!! Keep them nearby, they will soon be grown, very soon.....

What are your summer plans???

Titus 2 Day

I am sad to have no pictures of our day together....

but we just started up our meetings again now that the

holidays are over. We are only going to

meet once a month, that way we can meet just

a little longer and do more.

This month we focused on:

"Peace in Perilous Times"

Everything we did was in an effort to help

bring peace to our own hearts as well as

our families and in our home.

As they arrived I had bread dough ready to go and

each rolled out Cinnamon Bread. The point was, when you

make a batch of bread, once in awhile do a cinnamon one for

a treat, nothing like Cinnamon Toast with a bowl of

hot cereal on a cold winters morning. Sounds

peaceful right?? Making our families happy and

contented brings PEACE.

Then I had our soup done to a point, meat browned, veggies

chopped, and it had to be boiled for just 5 minutes

before you could can it in the pressure canner.

Food ready to go in the pantry keeps us at PEACE.

So, we enjoyed lunch together and then had a short devotional

about peace in our lives. Peace comes when we draw

closer and closer to God. When we are close to

Him, we will be able to trust Him more

and that brings PEACE to our whole household.

Then we did a project that is fun to use with homeschool

curriculum or just for a fun scrapbook project idea. We made

a Lap Booklet with Minit Books inside.

Lap books are a file folder folded to the center so it

opens like shutters and you put different bits of

information or pictures or whatever on the little

booklets that you glue inside. Fun for all

ages. Once the older kids master the little

books, they can help the younger ones.

Busy children on a cold winters day

is very PEACEFUL indeed. :)

Then I showed them how to use a fabric pen

and write a verse on a piece of fabric to

embroider. Scripture on your walls is a

very good thing.....it reminds us of God and

who He is and keeps our minds focused

on Him throughout the day. Which brings

more PEACE to our homes.

The verse I chose is one that has ministered to

me ALOT lately.....

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect PEACE,

whose mind is stayed on thee."

Isaiah 26:3

So, some knew embroidery and some learned that day

as we moved on and learned how to do a granny

square. Some knew crochet and some had to

learn. So, at that point we just spent the next

bit of our time crocheting or embroidering

and encouraging one another. :)

All in all it was a very PEACEFUL day. :D

Next month, we will do two more embroidery stitches

and possibly work on crocheting a bit more. And

some other fun things I have up my sleeve. :) Our

theme next time is PREPAREDNESS.

(But not to an extreme, just some things we

can easily do).....which also brings PEACE!!

If you are ever interested in doing your own Titus 2 group,

Lisa at New Harvest Homestead

on my side bar will send you a free meeting

guide. It has some fun ideas and encouragement

for how to start a group.

Plums!!!

Awhile back, one of the girls in our Titus 2 group

brought lots of plums from her tree!!

Have you ever used a steam juicer?? I LOVE mine!! All you do is rinse the fruit and put it into the top basket there, it steams and juice comes out the little hose, right into the jar. It is sooo hot, you can

just put a lid on and it will seal.
Beautiful Plum Juice!!
Beautiful Plum Jelly from the Plum Juice!!

However, I do have a confession to make....I could not find a recipe for Plum Jelly anywhere. After making plum jam that came out realllly thick, I decided plums have alot of natural pectin, so should not need pectin for jelly. So, I decided we would follow directions for Grape Jelly. Similar shape and color, riggghhhhtt??? This was for our Titus 2 meeting. I, the older woman, was showing them how to make jelly. Directions said to boil until it reached the stage where the juice is clinging to the spoon and drips off twice....2 drips. We stirred and boiled and stirred and boiled. Finally, we decided to take a break from that, have our lunch and come back to it. After lunch, it had hardened soooo hard, I almost broke the wooden spoon trying to remove it from the pan!! It was quite amazing and we laughed very much!!!

So, later I followed the pectin directions, using pectin, still for Grape Jelly. You only boil that for 2 minutes. :) It made the above jelly, which is very thick, but it is jelly!! So, we had a fun class that day....

learning how NOT to make Plum Jelly!!

Class today...........

The girls in my Home-Making class

finished their pillowcases......aren't

they ADORABLE!!!

Home-Making.......

Today was our Home-Making class. One girl has a wheat/gluten etc, allergy, so we made "Currant Buckwheat Muffins". They are sweetened with just molasses, they were ok, needed more raisans for sweetness, but may have been better with jam or something....... :)

Then we made spaghetti for lunch. Since we were already going to make spaghetti sauce, they made sauce from a whole gallon size can of tomatoe paste! We canned 6 quarts and used the rest for lunch........they each got to take home 8 mini muffins and a quart of sauce!!
It was a beautiful day, so they spent the afternoon
on the porch swing....
After lunch they finished putting their samples in their notebooks.

Then we began a project with the stitches they know so far.
This will become the edging on a pillowcase......

Then we must end the afternoon with tea of course!

Fun Learning......

On Fridays I have started a little class at my home. The class is Home-Making and I have three girls right now between 10 and 11. Yesterday we spent the morning making Snickerdoodles, each girl made a "log" to take home for the freezer (if it lasts that long). We put the cinnamon in the cookies instead of rolling them in it as I wanted to

show them how to freeze cookie logs. :)

For lunch they made Cheese Sauce and poured it over Noodles. So, they learned how to make stove top macaroni and cheese not from a box!!

In the afternoon we did Embroidery. They began by making samples of just four stitches for their notebooks which we will use next week on a project. They also made the cover page for their notebooks.
They will come every Friday, more fun projects ahead......

Titus 2 Meeting.....

I and three other younger ladies have began meeting to encourage each other in the Spirit of Titus 2, share ideas and learn new skills.

We are reading through the book "Created to be His Helpmeet" by Debi Pearl, discussing the questions at the end of each chapter.

Then we "DO" something!!

Our September theme: "End of Summer....Back to School / Easy Meal

Ideas for those Busy School Days!!"

So, first we talked about easy/make ahead meal ideas, then we made some very quick muffins. Easy/busy school day meals may be freezer meals or just quick and easy or even making ahead some bulk mixes to have on hand.

We ended our time with Brunch out in our "Outdoor

Dining Room"........

On the menu were Watermelon, Quiche, Bran Muffins, Cucumber Sandwiches and to top it off Cookies and Tarts all with Tea of course. :)

Next time (I am really excited about this) we are making aprons!! We will also assemble an "Easy Oven Lasagna" for our lunch. This can also
go right to the freezer.

I LOVE to encourage women in their homes. This is my passion.

There are some good suggestions and helps at New Harvest Homestead. Lisa will send you a Titus 2 Meeting Guide if you would like to do something like this. We meet twice a month, some only meet once a month.... Her link is off to the side here in my links. Check it out.