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???

Have a Wonderful Mother's Day Weekend!!

Before I was a Mother, I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby. I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous. I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mother, I had never been puked on. Pooped on. Chewed on. Peed on. I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts. I slept all night.

Before I was a Mother, I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests. Or give shots. I never looked into teary eyes and cried. I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin. I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mother, I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put him/her down. I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt. I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much. I never knew that I could love someone so much. I never knew I would love being a Mother.

Before I was a Mother, I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body. I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby. I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child. I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mother, I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay. I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache, the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mother. I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much, before I was a Mother.

May you always be overwhelmed by the Grace of God rather than by the cares of life....

Blessings to you all this Mother's Day!!

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.

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!

Favorite Book.....

This is one of my very, very favorite books that we used during High School. "Training Our Daughters to be Keepers at Home" by Ann Ward.

It covers 7 years in all!!

You would start it in about Jr. High.

It has page after page of instructions in life skills and also

much Godly wisdom!!

Just look at some of the reading list over the 7 years: Kings Daughter, Dear Princess, Hidden Art, Pursuit of Holiness, The Other Side of the Garden......and the list goes on. Amazing!!
Covers basic cooking, sewing, gardening and many other hand skills. In later years it even gets into child care and more advanced skills.
I loved it!! Check it out sometime! :)

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......

Safely Home.........

We picked my daughter up at the airport last Friday evening, her big smile is actually because she is laughing that her dad would take a picture of her right then.... :)

Already feels like she had never left.....spending time Friday night at my sisters, enjoying time with family and one of her favorite "aunt and uncle"...
Saturday morning, meeting up with friends.....


My daughter like the style of scarves that is big in Cornwall.....so she bought one for each of these ladies as well.... :)
Off to coffee with them for a little while.........

Then on home!! She is just settling in and getting back to normal. She already re-arranged her bedroom and is getting things back on her
Etsy Shop......


We are grateful to have her home.

Prairie Camp in the Front Yard......

Two days, 11 girls, and lot's of FUN!!
They all had a turn at scrubbing the clothes in a washtub with a

washboard and some homemade soap, they loved it!!

All proper prairie girls did a "sampler"! These will go on their aprons for a pocket. They are embroidering the
first letter of their name.



View from our "Dining" area into our "kitchen".......

we set up three fly's for shade and protection from rain, etc......one for the kitchen, one the dining room and one for the parlor.

The kitchen, where we prepared lunch
and made the butter each day.

I do not remember inviting him!!!!

Each day we cooked just one thing on the fire. My dear sweet husband dug the hole in the ground and created a firepit for us. The girls were divided in half and took turns doing, the butter, laundry, lunch and dishes. The first day they made biscuits to cook on the fire in the dutch oven, the second day they chopped veggies and we made stew in the dutch oven on the fire. Each day, after lunch, we filled the tea kettle with water so that later on we had

somewhat warm water for tea. :)
Have you ever seen any one so happy
to wash dishes?!?!?!?

Each day we also had some "read aloud" time, sometimes just to fill gaps while waiting for others to finish a task..........they are reading

"Kirsten, an American Girl".

They also learned the quilting technique for "Grandmother's Flower Garden", we made cornhusk dolls, my husband made each girl a flower press and we pressed some flowers, they made a hoop and my husband made sticks for them all and that is a game called "Graces", they all went home with a basket full of

things they had made.....

And of course at the

end of each day...........

Tea Time!!!

Prairie Camp was so much Fun!! The girls all had fun and so did I!! I think we all cannot wait until next year.