A New Flower Kettle

Hello! 

Today I'd love to share with you a new addition to my flower garden.  

I found this old cast iron tea kettle sitting at the metal pile in our local dump, just waiting for me to pick it up and bring it home. ~smiles~

I had already purchased some flowers that week that had not yet found a home, and they are perfect for this kettle.  They are so delicate an a lovely colour to!

All potted up and sitting with some other flowerpots by my front step. Looking at the picture, I can see I need to trim back some grass. Things are taking a bit longer here to flower as the weather has been cool, but I'm looking forward to seeing it all in full bloom.

Thanks for dropping over to see me! Praying you have a beautiful day!

Sharing with The Art of Homemaking Mondays.

Adventure Down A Gravel Road

Hello!  Today I'd like to take you for an adventure down a gravel road with me.  My family went for a drive down a gravel road and took lots of pictures of so many interesting things we saw. Pictures were taken by everyone. Too many to share, so I just picked a few.  

We saw this beautiful lake and as the clouds rolled in the sunlight came in bursts.  We threw rocks in and then went up a hill close by for a better view. 

We looked through the forest and saw lots of stumps with moss and lichens growing on them.

Lovely mountain views through the trees.

One great discovery of my children were some nooks and crannies in trees for birds to nest in. 

One tree was very old and tall.  There were many little hollows in it. 

I find these old trees fascinating for they have weathered so much, and are home still to many of God's creatures.

This tree has some new shoots growing out of it at it's base and once the tree has died up above, it'll have something new to take over.  

There were also many little hollows under the trees for squirrels and other critters to shelter in.

One interesting tree whose top had broken off was dead and a hold had been whittled into it.  

It was so round and the inside so smooth.  It was just in the right spot to be protected from some predators, but low enough for us to peek in.  We couldn't see anything for it went down quite a ways. 

Down by the river we were exploring were sweet little wolf tracks.  

The kids had fun following them...tracking them but not too far.  

There was a lovely stand of trees on one part of the road by the lake.  Underneath it was a wonderful patch of juniper bushes.  They were heavy with new growth and berries. 

The trees full of character were atop a hill with lots of moss covered forest behind them.

Beautiful little cranberry bushes flowering.  Promise of future berries to enjoy.

I'm not sure what kind of flower this is.  It grows all over in the mountains and is so very beautiful!  It has sweet little red dots on the petals. 

Interesting license and fungi were to be seen.

These bright yellow flowers captured our attention as they seemed to glow from the underbrush. 

The amazing Labrador Tea is in full bloom now.  The leaves from this plant make nice tea, and the flowers have a nice distinctive scent.  

The bluebells are just stunning as they hang in little clusters. 

The wild sweet peas are also blooming all over and the pink is so striking!  I used to have some in my garden that I had dug up and brought home.  But not in the home we now have.

I like to leave you with this peaceful scene from a campground along the river we found.  Such a wonderful way to end the day.  Thank you for coming along on this little adventure. 

God's creation is so magnificent and always leaves me in awe, and at peace.

Have you gone on any little adventures lately?  I'd love to hear about them.

Sharing with the Art of Homemaking Mondays.

Lego Binder Organizer

Hello!  Do you have Lego fans in your home?  I do, and let me tell you there are LOTS of little pieces. ~smiles~ often everywhere!

One thing was decided is that the manuals needed to be kept in one place so that they were easy to get to when the rebuilding process needed to be started.  

So I pulled out a binder I had. We were given some clear sleeves, and tucked the manuals in them.  

I printed off an image from google to tuck in the front panel and voila it's all tidy...well, at least the manuals. :)  The pieces...well they are not always so tidy.  We do have little bins for the lego sets to go in, but as I'm sure you well know they don't stay in them all the time.  

At least this is one step closer to tidiness.  

Thanks so much for dropping by.  What do you do with the lego manuals?  

What do you do with the lego?

Hope you have a wonderful day! 

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Canning Organizing and Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

Hello!  I'm sure many of you have been canning for awhile, but here, I'm just starting.  

First I needed to sort what I had.  The Lord has really blessed and I've been gifted with lots of canning goodies and I had them stashed all in a pile.  

So now all the jar lids, rings, and box sets are all sorted according to size.  Then I sorted all the jars into sets of quart, pint,  & half-pint. Someday I'd love to be able to have special storage containers for them...but that's just dreaming. 

While I was sorting my son was starting to cut up a bit of rhubarb.  

I was given one of these lifters, and after pulling it out and putting it together, I still like the old one that came in the one canner.  

Here's the water bath canner I was given.  I was so happy for this since I have just been using a stock pot, and this fits much more. 

Then my dear friend also gave me a pressure canner...oh was I excited about this!  I've never used one, and I need to get the gauge checked before using.  I have visions of canning lots in this!  

What a vintage gem! 

I love the dial on it. 

And then it also has this cool pressure regulator as well.  

First thing for me to can in the spring is jam; strawberry or rhubarb.  This year I decided to combine it and we made strawberry rhubarb jam.  Some of my family doesn't like rhubarb, but this jam has passed as delicious even with it in it. Yeah!  So with all the fruit I have now, I'm going to make more...just need more sugar.  I just used the recipe on the Bernardin powdered pectin leaflet. 

Thanks for dropping by!  

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Applesauce Cake and a Tea Cup

Hello!  I hope you are enjoying a lovely day!  

Recently my daughter made this delicious applesauce cake and put it on a pretty plate.  Sometimes the presentation  is just as important as the food.  

Apple Sauce Cake

- Company's Coming

Batter:

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

2/3 cup milk

1/4 cup oil

3/4 cup applesauce or a large shredded apple

Topping:

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 Tbsp flour

1 Tbsp butter (softened)

1/8 tsp cinnamon

*Mix batter ingredients all together until combined, pour into greased/floured pan.

*Mix topping ingredients until combined and crumbly and sprinkle one the cake.  

*Bake at 400F for ~ 30min or until done.

*Get a fork and dig in! :) 

I was at the local dump free store and spotted this sweet tea cup sitting there.  It's got a couple tiny chips and the gold is worn, but to me it's super charming!  

The flowers are beautiful and it's lovely to have a cup of tea in.  Below I have a picture of what is under the plate.  Another interesting piece to add to the collection I have in my cupboard.  

An extra tea cup for a visitor who might perchance drop in for tea someday.  

Praying you have a beautiful day and perhaps something sweet will cross your path. 

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Yukon Garden Thus Far

Hello!  Today I'd love to share with you a few pictures from my garden this year.

Every thing has been slow this year including me.  I've started things in the ground later than usual, but at least they are in and growing.  I have learned that putting things under row covers helps get things growing nicely.  I'll cover the other part of the garden as soon as we no longer need to cover the things in the greenhouse.  We're just on the edge of the frostings. 

We are blessed that our strawberries have come back and are starting to blossom.  

That box in the front of the garden is our strawberry bed.  Soon we hope to make a raised top so that the strawberries as they grow will be better protected against the squirrels. ~smiles~  they like them to.

Here is a pic under the big frost blanket.  We have rows of carrots growing in the raised rows, and peas in the ditch.  Didn't plan it that way, but we soaked too many peas and they had to go somewhere. :) 

This is the area at the river edge we get our water from.  We have worn little footholds in the bank to walk up and down on.  At the moment the heat has caused a lot more melting up in the mountains and our river has turned to raging chocolate milk. lol It's also risen considerably and the trees  you see at the bottom of the bank are totally submerged.  

I had planted water cress at the banks edge, and we'll see if it is still there after the water goes down.

Here is my beloved greenhouse my husband built me.  We have 20 tomatoes, 5 zucchini, 9 cucumbers, green beans, and some flowers growing in there.  

The cucumbers are starting to come and I can't wait for a taste.

We started tomatoes back in February, and the fruit is coming on nicely.  We've had a few Sungold tomatoes in the last week and they sure are wonderful!

I planted a lobelia in an old tea kettle and it's so pretty and a burst of colour in there.  It is moving out to the front step soon to join some other containers of flowers. 

The bumble bees have discovered them and they have been around pollinating the plants in the greenhouse for me. 

The zucchini have just started to fruit as well. 

I planted a ton of chamomile and I went looking for interesting places to plant them. We make lots of chamomile tea, and the fresh dried flowers can't be beat. 

We've also planted some lavender, this pot is a dwarf lavender that we've never tried before.  I like to try new things, so we have some of the regular lavender and this. 

We planted lots of marigolds and they are starting to bloom beautiful from the tomato pots.  I have planted basil and a marigold in each tomato pot and they like each other. :)

We have also planted some calendula and the first blooms are so welcome!

Here is the first little chamomile bloom.  How very cheerful it is! 

Thanks for coming on the tour of my garden thus far.  I will have more pictures of the rest of the gardens to share with you later.  

Praying you have a wonderful day, enjoying the beauty of creation.  God is so good to give us these moments where we can see His hand working, sustaining and bringing forth life to provide for our needs.  

Sharing with the Art of Homemaking Mondays.