Homemaking Mondays: Summer Beauty Inside and Out

 

Hello! 
I hope you are enjoying a lovely summers day! 

Today the sun is shining although 

yesterday the clouds let down a good deal of rain.

We need both.

This week I've been pausing to enjoy the beauty 

both inside and outside that summer is bringing. 

This week I was working on painting the tray above. 

It was dark brown and I wanted something brighter.

My children had given me that thankful sticker and I had 

yet to find a place for it. 

It was like an accordion and I didn't get it quite centred. 

SO....I'm going to try to find some other sweet sticker to 

compliment it and fill up the space to the right. 

For now it looks lovely sitting on my counter

with my cloth napkins and a plant.  

Outside the garden and flowers are doing really well. 

This year I planted both herbs and flowers in the pots by the front door. 

I really enjoy this mix and time spent picking herbs

or deadheading flowers makes me smile. 

The snap dragons are growing well but haven't gotten their 

second round of blossoms out yet. 

I've been picking chamomile flowers for tea, 

then parsley, oregano, sage, and thyme for cooking.

The blue and pick pansies are such a delight with their cute faces

showing no matter the weather. 

Then it's fun to to to the greenhouse to see what little

bits we can harvest each day. 

It adds such colour and flavour.

The big tomatoes are growing nicely and I hope for some 

more sunshine to hopefully get them to ripen up.

In the outdoor garden beds the peas are blooming and starting to grow pods.

One of my favourite garden veggies to snack on. 

The wire fencing we found is holding them up nicely even with the winds.

It dropped down super cold this past week and frosted

some gardens not too far from us. 

I am thankful that our garden was not harmed.

Inside the plants are blooming as well.

My daughter's geranium next to her desk 

was almost dead and then it came back and is 

so beautiful!

I just love the look of the shadows the lacy curtains 

throw onto the geranium leaves.

All of our geraniums are blooming and they bring

a wonderful burst of colour to the inside of the home. 

We had the pleasure of visiting some friends this week.

It was a drizzly rainy day and the bugs were out in military force.

Inside their home was a welcome retreat 

sitting next to their lovely wood stove sharing time together.

I snapped this picture of their

adorable birdhouse!

They live off grid in a gorgeous place.  

Below is a view from their place. 

They live next to a creek and have a bridge

they built to get across to the spring 

where they get their water.

It was so nice for them to share a bit of 

their world with us. 

Thank you so much for dropping by! 

I pray you have a blessed day!

Love and Prayers,

Jennifer

Homemaking Mondays: Things Are Changing

 

Hello! 
It's a cool rainy day again here today. 

It seems we get a sunny warm day and then 

a couple cloudy rainy ones.

My daughter had bought me these lovely pansies above.

So I planted them into some tins I've been collecting.

A cheerful space above the kitchen sink.

Things here are changing more and more.

The rain is helping melt the rest of the snow.  

Yes....we can still have snowball fights in the yard 

in the middle of May! Yup...unseasonable for sure.

There are large open patches of ground now.

The garden beds that are raised are all thawed out now.

Below my roseroot perennial is up

along with some delphiniums and fireweed. 

They're just tiny but the signs of life are encouraging. 

Inside the sunflowers are bursting into bloom.

Their cheerful faces can be seen inside and outside.

We have 13 of them in the house. 

Once it's warm enough out they will go out to the flower beds. 

More homemade cheese buns. 

They are so good on cool days.

I also bought some herb starters.

The ones I started haven't done well so I 

went to my favourite local garden centre for some. 

Rosemary, peppermint, summer savoury, & lemon thyme. 

I potted them up in little pots for the window space.

Of course they will share with the existing window plants.

It makes for a crowded counter space...but I kinda like it that way.

One thing new I tried this week was overnight oats.

I've been thinking about it for a long time....and finally did it.

I have to say I really like them! 

This recipe was milk, yogurt, thick oats, chia seeds, & maple syrup.

I topped it with strawberries in the morning and yum! 

I was the only one that would eat it in the morning so I'm glad 

that I can just make it in a mason jar for me. 

Yesterday I took my morning tea outside 

to see about the greenhouse.

It was a black/peppermint mix this time.

I do love my black tea with cream and sugar/honey.

Here is my greenhouse! 

This past weekend I had a lovely couple from our community

come and help us put a new roof on it. 

It was an interesting project and didn't cost us a penny. 

We used the broken boards...piecing them together.

Then we cut down some trees - we have lots!

We had saved all the nails from the boards....pounded them straight 

and used them to nail the structure back into place. 

We had a couple new 2x4's and a couple spikes in the toolbox for the trees.

Then the next day a couple of my children helped me 

put up the plastic to cover the roof and voila!  

It's ready for planting!!!!

I'm going to get started on my rain gutter pea project. 

Then get some other little starters going.

Too cold at night to put out the plants from the house though.

Need to haul some water for the rain barrels. 

Well I also have a plan to attach a rain gutter to the greenhouse

to collect rain water.  

Too bad I didn't have time to do that yesterday as today 

it is pouring rain.  

I do have a feeling there will be plenty of rain this year.

Thank you for dropping by! 

I hope if you are gardening this year 

that it's going well for you.

The changing of the seasons is lovely

and at times we just need to step back from the 

everyday hopes of warmth

to just enjoy the details it brings.

Yesterday I meandered through the trees. 

Taking in the new smells

listening to the new raucous of bird calls

watching the squirrels dashing about

hearing the wind in the trees. 

I do love the trees! 

Their smells change in the spring.

The evergreens seem more pungent and fresh

while the aspens are still awaiting buds.

I did bring some broken may tree branches in the house.

They are starting to grow leaves.

I thought that would be better then just leaving them outside to die. 

I've never done that before...so we shall see how long they last.

I do hope they might root and I can grow them out again.

Praying you have a beautiful day! 
Love and Prayers,

Jennifer

Homemaking Mondays: In Home Projects and Outdoor Fun

Hello! 

How are things with you this week?

For me there have been some indoor projects

and some outdoor fun.

I have started a new scarf with some sweet yarn 

that a dear friend gifted me. 

I'm using a slanted shell pattern this time round. 

Then I have this lovely ivy plant that is ready to go to

it's new home at a friends place.

Also a great score at the free store this week 

is this serving tray that is made of teak wood and

after an oiling it's great to use for taking tea and 

little meals to others about the house. 

This week I also redid the cushion on my office chair.  

It has been falling apart for quite some time

until I finally just did it.  

I had bought a new taller cushion of foam, 

then grabbed some material that I 

thought complimented the space. 

This chair is special for me since 

it used to sit in my grandparents living room for extra guests. 

This is a fun material that I find very cheerful!

We've had a couple foxes around and this time

we got a picture of this 

pretty one eating seeds that fell from the feeder.

The snow has begun to fall and is starting to cover things up.  

What do you do when there isn't enough snow to sled?

You pull out your dump trucks

get in and have your brother give you a push. :) 

Of course the birds are happy in our yard

for a new feeder! 

My daughter made a new feeder for the other side of the house

so she could watch them from her bedroom window. 

With the ice having frozen solid enough there has been 

a lot of skating going on on our little lake.

It's fun to be able to skate all the way around 

since the snow isn't very deep. 

There are lots of others out on the ice 

and we've met more of our neighbours.

There are a few tufts of grass along the shore. 

It's so nice to be able to skate further...

for now. 

The kids have started to clear their rink space

for soon it will be all they have on this side of the lake.

This week we made some fun cupcakes 

for a friend.

I used my wacky cake recipe as I love 

how it tastes and turns out.

Thought this might be more fun then just a touch of icing.

Thanks for dropping by! 

I hope your week has been full

of fun and needful projects. 

Love and Prayers,

Jennifer

 

Homemaking Mondays: Homemade cream cheese and violets

Hello!  

Do you like making cheese?  I do.

I had used up the cream cheese I'd bought and then realized that I needed 

some to make my daughter's birthday cake. Ooops!  

I'm so glad that the Lord Jesus has given me an interest in making things from scratch. 

I didn't have to make a special trip to town for it.  

I pulled out a gallon of milk, heated it up, and added some lemon juice.  

After it gave up the curds, I strained it for about 15 minutes. 

Then I took the cheese and put in in my food processor until it was smooth. 

It was so nice! Oh, I also added a pinch of salt to the cheese while it was processing. 

 I also had a lot of whey left and it goes so well in biscuits and pancakes. 

I love the yellow colour. 

I had lots of nice cheese to make her chocolate mint swirl cheesecake. 

It was so delicious! 

I will definitely be making this again!

I used the rest of the cream cheese in enchiladas...

that I had made for the first time. 

My family enjoyed them so much that I'll be making them again. 

I'll leave you with a pretty picture of my violets that are blooming 

so amazingly on my desk right now.

Thanks so much for dropping by! 

Love and Prayers,
Jennifer

School and Fall begin in Earnest

Hello! 

Here at our home, school and fall have begun in earnest.  

Formal lesson times have resumed, and it is fun to be doing new things and with enthusiasm.  

This year we bought a few new books and my children love to read real life happenings. 

One fall activity that has been accomplished was to put up some more wind chimes.  

In our case, we'd been collecting bells and odds and ends of broken wind chimes.  

Here are a couple that we made.  

First one has some metal rods, a bell in the middle with a wooden piece to catch the wind.  It's all hung from a stick that we found in our scrap pile.

Second one here is just a bunch of strings of bells of different sizes hung by fishline from a stick.  

It sounds so pretty when the wind catches it.  

Last post I shared about this little desk that I inherited.  

It is a lovely little item that is very practical for us.  

Inside it holds the pencils, pens, erasers, markers, notebooks for Bible verses, 

play money for counting, math number charts for various skills. 

As fall is descending, it's cooler.  It's the perfect time to enjoy the warm of homemade shawls. 

The lovely shawl pin was a gift by a dear friend. 

The colours are emerging and are so lovely to take the time to really notice. 

I encourage you to not only look from afar, but as the colours emerge where you live, 

take a closer look...so much intricacy.  

I've brought some flowers into the greenhouse to last a bit longer.

Now that the vegetables are finished up, there is more room.

Oh, and I love the colour that many of our rhubarb leaves turn.  

Always gives me reason to pause and take a closer look. 

My younger daughter loves to get up close and capture the tiny details. 

Below is a pic of her hiding in amongst the fireweed that has gone to seed. 

It's so amazing to watch the gentle breeze capture the seeds in gentle waves...

sending them off to a place yet to be found.

Here is one of her sweet pictures that she took that day.

Thanks for dropping by!  

I'd love to hear about your school or fall time happenings! `

Love and Prayers,

Jennifer

The Making of Rose Water

Hello!  

Today I'd love to share with you about the making of rose water. 

There is regular rose water (or tea) and a hydrosol.  

I would have like to do a hydrosol, which is a distillation of the rose water...but my lid didn't cover well enough to keep the moisture in and drip into the bowl.  

So, all is not lost!  We just strained the water and will use it like that. 

Firstly we picked the wild roses from around our yard.  

Then plucked off all the petals and put the stems in another bowl.

They kinda look cool still without the petals.

Then we put the petals in the pot with a bowl in-between them.

Filled up the pot with water until the petals were even with the bowl rim.

Set the pot to heating and waited for the steam. 

When we were all done, like I mentioned above.  We strained the petals out and were left with this very fragrant and golden water!  

Do you make things like this? Do share! 

Love and Prayers,

Jennifer