Tasha Tudor Day!

Many of you know that today is Tasha Tudor Day! In honor of her birthday....

After just doing Prairie Camp and having an upcoming Tea in a couple weeks, I said to my friends, "You should have a Tasha Tudor tea party and invite me!" And they did!!

This lovely row of lavender and a line of fruit trees are what greet you as you drive into their property.....
Then as you arrive at the

front door........

You are greeted by many lovely flowers........


The mother's sat around in the shade enjoying a tea party that the girls prepared....Scones, gingerbread made with honey :), watermelon......all very delightful! After tea, we went inside and watched a Tasha Tudor video.....
The girls present were adorned in their historic dress and enjoyed tea on the lawn with their dolls. Having dolls to tea is VERY Tasha Tudor indeed!

Look at what they did!! These are very "mini" scones, there is
really cream in that "thimble" size
creamer and very small cut watermelon.......


Their table is a cake stand!! How lovely!

The girls browsing through the garden.........
Close up, can you see that the
doll's dress matches her dress!!


Beautiful surroundings, quiet, restful.......
My friend who lives here, is allowing me to have a "Garden Tea" in her yard in a couple weeks. We are praying the weather holds out that long and that her garden will be as beautiful as it is today!!
I cannot wait to do the tea and
share that with you. :)

Zuchinni Coming Out Your Ears?!?!?

I have not seen zuchinni this big since I lived in the valley.....I got this one there during our last trip. I will grate the whole thing and some will go in ziplocs in the freezer for baking bread and chocolate zuchinni cake and some will make my mother's soup starter recipe....

Zuchinni Soup Base/Starter

3 lb. zuchinni

1/2 C chopped onion

1 1/2 C beef broth

2 C boiling water

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp garlic salt/powder

Cook together til tender (about 10 min.). Strain and reserve liquid. Put zuchinni in blender on puree. Return zuchinni to liquid and heat to simmer. Ladle into freezer containers and freeze. (I will probably keep mine in quart size ziplocs.)

Then to make soup you ad milk or broth and other ingredients and make Cheese Brocolli Soup, Chicken Soup, Ministrone......this works for the base of just about any kind of soup. Gives you good flavor and a nutritious start.

Years ago, back in the 70's!! Zuchinni was all the rage! :) Seemed like everyone had an abundance of it in their gardens and at the same time out came many recipes on how to use that excess zuchinni......I tried this one, I remember it being very good and made nice gifts!

Zuchinni Relish

10 C zuchinni

4 C chopped onion

5 T salt

1 red pepper

1 green pepper

2 1/4 C vinegar

4 C sugar

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp dry mustard

2 T celery seed/salt

Grind (grate) coarsly zuchinni and onions. Add salt and let stand overnight. Drain in colander next morning. Add chopped red and green pepper. Mix in sugar, nutmeg, dry mustard, and celery seed/salt. Add to zuchinni mixing well. Cook very slowly for 20 min. Stirring frequently. Put in sterilized jars and seal. Makes 7 pints.

Happy Zuchinni Days!!!

Really Resting.............

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supllication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."

Phillipians 4:6&7

Resting, Baking, Planning, Cleaning, Waiting.........

Resting..........today I am trying to rest my back on ice in between things that I must do. I think I hurt it lifting that huge black iron kettle during prairie camp. :(

Baking...........the smell of fresh yeast and bread is filling the house. I am baking 100 rolls for the Shepherd's House tonight (that is our homeless shelter in town). We are part of a group that does the meal for them every Monday night. Tonight my husband is sharing from the word!

Planning.........sooo many things. I have a Garden Tea coming up in 3 weeks, working on invites for that as well as menu and decorating details. I have a Titus 2 Bible Study beginning in a couple weeks, need to mail something out about that. Really want to plan some bonfires before it gets too cold...probably in September............

Cleaning............still putting those last loose ends of Prairie Camp away (especially since I am moving a bit slower:).......and trying to get things cleaned up and back the way they were for my daughter's return!!

This is my youngest daughter, she has been in England for 3 months on a short-term mission trip. This picture is when we were all there in December. We have really missed her being here. She was the last one still at home and I must say our home had a strange "quietness" about it with her gone. However, we have adjusted and my husband and I have been drawn closer during her absence.
This is her and I in London at the "Orangery" Tea House by Kennsington Palace!!! I was in heaven, having
tea in London!!

Waiting...........so I am waiting (hopefully patiently, not anxiously:) for my daughter to come home. We pick her up at the airport this Friday!!!!

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.

Prairie Bonnet, Step by Step.....

The pattern I shared last post has very good instructions and makes it very easy to create this bonnet. First step is to sew bias tape across designated area.

Then you put a very small hem on that bottom ruffle......
Then you sew the two brim pieces together and iron up one edge.....later that will be the part we sew down to the hat by hand.
Turn that right side out and press.......

Then you gather the crown piece to fit the brim and sew it onto the edge that is not ironed...that part left flapping open is the part that the girls stitched down themselves by hand.
We put ribbon through the bias tape, but you can sew a tie
that you thread through there.


And there you have it!!
A Prairie Bonnet!!

Prairie Day Camp.....

Now that canning is done......just in time.....we are having a "Prairie Day Camp" right here in our front yard. We have 11 girls coming between the ages of 5 and 11. It is going to take place for the next two days, so thought I would just do a brief intro and then I may have to

disappear for a couple days....... :)

I am cutting out and "mostly" sewing prairie bonnets for each girl. I leave one hem for them to sew up by hand, so they had a part in making their bonnet.
So, today, 11 bonnets, 11 aprons, setting up our canvas fly's to create a "Prairie Home", moving some furniture outside and trying to be organized :) for when they arrive at 9:30a.m. All the heavy lifting and setup thanks to my dear sweet husband!!

Schedule of Events:

Day 1

Make bonnet

Make butter/do laundry in washtub

Embroider initial on square of muslin

(that night, this will get sewn onto their apron for a pocket)

Lunch: Stew (cooking in the dutch oven), Bread,

Applesauce, Peach Pie, Dried Apples

Make a Game from a hoop

Quilting - Grandmother's Flower Garden

Teatime - Scones, Fruit and Strawberry Trifle

Day 2

Butter/Laundry

Candles

Pressed Flowers

(my dear sweet husband is making them all a flower press of their own)

Lunch: Cold Fried Chicken, Biscuits (on fire in dutch oven),

Canned Peaches, Pear Cobbler, Dried Apples

Cornhusk Doll

Work on Quilt

Tea - Scones, Fruit and Lemon Cake

And there it will end.....

You all have fun for the next couple of days, I know I will!!!

Can't wait to share the pictures of these little girls having fun!!

Day 4

PHEW!!!! Are we done yet?? The next day I did my beans. I only did two loads in the pressure cooker.
And.....froze the rest!! Have never done this, but we love frozen green beans now that I know how to cook them....and besides, the temperature was hitting the 100's right then!!! So, in the freezer they went!!

Cooking frozen green beans: We discovered we love them cooked in a pan with just

olive oil and fresh garlic!! A trick I learned from an Italian friend for cooking most of our veggies.

Day 3

The next day.....the same gals came over and I showed them how you do green beans in the pressure cooker!!
We did just a few jars of dilly beans in the waterbath.....I actually did a load where I had snapped the beans (as that is so much faster...it takes awhile to get those beans in there like this)....but we were thinking cut dilly beans would be good and ready to go for salads! :)

Day 2

The next day, at home, I did my tomatoes and pickles. A friend and I had gone to another ladies house and picked rhubarb....so that is a bit of Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam!!

Canning 101

Two very happy ladies, ready to go................

both are basically first-timers!!
We did some Roma's.......I like these because they hold together a little better in the jar after processed. I also, chop some, so that I can dump them into a bowl and ad my spices I get through my food coop and make salsa! It is a special Salsa Seasoning mix.
We also did a box of canning tomatoes.........

And there you have it!!


Then the pickles.....
We had two or three cucumbers left, I usually just eat them, but these guys wanted to use them and there was this little jar....so cute.....you could almost hear it...."pick me, pick me"....

Isn't he cute all full of pickles!!
Pickle row...........

And..........they are still smiling!!!!

And......Back Over the Mountain...........

On our way home, we stopped at a little farm stand do grab fresh dill for those pickles I would be working on that week.....that black goat back in there you can barely see is the very same as my Lydia that I sold this winter.....a bit of sadness swept across my heart....

Then a stop at the river for a picnic lunch, and on home.........

Best Canning Book Ever!!

What I especially love are the step-by-step picture instructions for several of the items! Especially the green beans, since there are so many little steps with that pressure cooker.