Homemaking Mondays: Lovely Summertime

Hello! 

I hope you are having a lovely summertime! 

We harvested some lovely golden delight squash from 

our front window and roasted it up with some herbs. 

I love this part of summer. 

We had it with some fried up sausage, onions, and potatoes.

The forget-me-nots are flowering and so my daughter picked some for the table. 

They are so delicate and lovely...even though they create burs.

There was one day this past week that was warm enough to enjoy being wet outside. 

My boys wanted to have a water fight so...I cut up some sponges.

They make great substitutes for water balloons.  

Re-usable and they don't leave debris that has to be 

picked up all summer long either. 

Then I also taught my kids to whistle with a blade of grass. 

It was so fun! 

I was off in the trees when I did the first whistle...

and then the boys came running. 

We have this big grass all around the place. 

Once they got the hang of it it was pretty noisy. 

Who needs store bought toys?

Then I found some little horsetail I picked for tea. 

Then later in the week my daughter found some huge foxtail

and picked a bit to dry for tea.  It's so good!  

Annie from Growing in Grace shared this tea...and I just had to try some. 

There are so many things about summer that are lovely.

What are some of your favourite things? 

Love and Prayers,

Jennifer

Homemaking Mondays: Forest Foraging

Hello!  

Today I'd like to share with you 

some of the fun I had with my younger daughter. 

We went out with a basket to pick a few spruce tips.

They are so beautiful and new right now. 

We picked a few that we are going to dry for tea.

I just have them laid out on a piece of screen 

and will turn them periodically.

Then I also added  a few to some honey to see how that tastes. 

Some make syrup with them - some use them in smoothies. 

I find I use them most just for a nice cup of tea. 

While we were out I also found a sweet little patch of 

fireweed growing. 

I picked a few to enjoy for lunch.

When picked small they are mild and tender. 

They are very nutritious and a great addition to your diet if possible.

Later this summer I hope to pick some of the mature leaves 

to make into a tea. 

So healthy and free! 

The Lord God created all these things for us!

It is great to be able to go out into the forest and forage.

The food out there is not just for the animals.

While we were out, the mosquitos were also hungry. 

Long skirts and long sleeves help to keep them

from driving you crazy!  

My daughter took this picture of me.

Also with harvesting wild foods...

it is so important to only take some from here 

and some from there.

Then the plants can still flourish. 

Praying your day is lovely! 

Thanks so much for dropping by. 

It is great to hear from you to...I cherish your comments. 

With all the talk of tea...

I think I'll go put the kettle on.

Love and Prayers,

Jennifer

Homemaking Mondays: Taking A Deep Breath

Hello! 

How is your day? 

Things have been busy in my days and there are

times that I need to just

take a deep breath. 

As the Lord transitions my family 

to a new home,

I find there is actually a lot of 

emotion that felt. 

Tonight I took a walk in the forest with my husband 

and daughter. 

It's been raining a lot lately and the fresh 

smell was so refreshing.

Compelling me to just take a deep breath.

Even though it seems a bit overwhelming

in the details, I know that the

Lord will take care of us. 

Today with the help of my girls I packed up

most of the kitchen. 

Leaving just the essentials. 

We packed the plates, mugs, and bowls.

Then pulled out our camping dishes which are much lighter 

and will easily go back into their boxes when we move.

I ground up a gallon jar worth of fresh flour to 

use with our other store-bought flower for bread.

Now the grinder is packed away.

Soon we'll need to buy bread for it'll be too 

much to bake bread in all the activity to come.

Today I thought I'd share a picture of some 

fresh baked sourdough bread. 

I love the smell of it and it's chewy texture when I 

bake it in the dutch oven. 

I've also been making "fancy eggs".

I love to add some veggies with my eggs.

My kids seem to enjoy it and so this will be happening 

a lot more.  

Then I really enjoy skillet biscuits.

It's the perfect amount of biscuits for breakfast. 

We like ours with homemade 

strawberry jam or grape jelly. 

We don't have grapes that really grow up in our part

of the world.... so Smuckers it is. :) 

All of these foods smell so good. 

Nice to take a deep breath when you come down the stairs.

Food... especially homemade food is a comfort. 

Praying you have a blessed day! 

Love and Prayers,

Jennifer

Homemaking Mondays: A Touch of Colour

Hello! 

I just love the touch of colour

that fresh flowers give. 

These sunflowers have been blooming for a few weeks now. 

They delight me each day.  

The one variety of dwarf sunflowers we 

planted this year are called

Sunspots. 

Cheerful and long lasting. 

They also have multiple blossoms each.

Once they are done blooming 

I am going to pull them out and plant some other flowers in their place.

I find that having flowers is an important part

of a garden...and not just for the 

beneficial insects. 

I think they bring joy. 

My husband bought me some cut flowers for mother's day.

They lasted a long time and added 

a special touch to our table. 

Sometimes in life we just need beautiful things. 

This past week has been busy with helping my daughter finish her lessons. 

Then there was packing and preparing the house for showings.

Our landlady is so very thoughtful to make the showings on the days 

that we regularly clean so it doesn't put a big burden on us.

It's been raining so much and the trees and other plants are bright green.

The grass is starting to really grow and the perennial flowers are popping up.

I've always been drawn to the bluish kind of flowers, and the lupin are

coming up all over and are so very pretty! 

The plants we have in our garden pots are coming along nicely.  

I look forward to some fresh things as summer comes. 

There has been some other new life in our little habitat. 

The other day we saw a moose and her little new babies 

walk through the water close to our home. 

Then late in the evening (about 11:30pm) 

they came through again and this time 

my daughter got a couple good pictures of them. 

Well..as good as you can with zoom and darkness. 

What a blessing to see them and know that 

the Lord is bringing new life in so many ways.

What brings a touch of colour to your life? 

Colour comes in many forms. 

Fresh flowers and blessings.

Little details often overlooked, 

but all the little things can also bring joy. 

Praying you have a blessed day!

Love and Prayers,

Jennifer

Homemaking Mondays: Taking Time to Enjoy the Day!

Hello! 

Does life just get to be a bit much at times? 

I love how being out in nature seems to comfort and relax me. 

With lots of change happening in our home lately. 

My thoughtful husband took us for a drive to enjoy some of our

favourite places in nature. 

It was a windy day by the lake and the waves were beautiful! 

The sound of them breaking on the shore was 

so restful and I could have stayed there for hours. 

Just up the road from the lake is a river and 

next to that is this cool old cabin. 

Not lived in for a long time and falling down.

It has the call to come explore it. 

The roof is all fallen in, but you can open the door and peek inside. 

I love how the logs are all nestled together and chinked. 

When I was a young girl, I lived in a log home my 

father had built.  

I remember every fall helping to chink between the logs. 

I love how the colours change 

in the weathering process. 

The river was fast running, but the boys worked together to fix up a little 

"bathtub" space that someone else had made. 

They didn't last in the water long as it 

was oh so cold! 

We also went for a walk along the road and the kids did 

some rock hunting. 

They had to be very selective with 

what they brought home. 

I know that the Lord has created beauty 

everywhere on the earth....but

this is my favourite kind of

place that I've ever been to. 

Most of all the best place to find rest is 

in the Lord Jesus Christ himself.

As we have been studying the Bible 

it helps bring all things into the right perspective. 

An eternal one.  

The gardening that we've been doing 

has also been so nice. 

Things are starting to grow nicely 

inside and out. 

Outside the carrots, peas, beans, beets, greens, and potatoes 

are all coming up nicely. 

Inside the tomatoes, squash and some flowers and herbs are 

doing well to.  

I ate the very first tomato this week and oh it was so delicious! 

We've been also taking plants in and out to the deck 

to harden them off. 

It's so windy most of the time that they get a bit bedraggled, 

then seem to recuperate over night in the house. 

There are now boxes all over the house either full or waiting to be filled. 

I know we're a bit early...but before we know it 

it will be time to move them. 

I am trying to pace myself so that it doesn't become overwhelming

physically or emotionally.  

Everything will happen...all in good time. 

I pray that you are doing well and that

if things get to feeling overwhelming....

perhaps some time with the Lord in nature will 

help bring things back to a place

of peace. 

Love and Prayers,

Jennifer

Homemaking Mondays: Mist and Musings

Hello! 

This morning I woke a bit earlier then the rest of my family. 

There was a heavy mist settled down in our little lake. 

It seemed to add to the sweet quiet of the morning. 

A good time to talk to the Lord about things that

were on my heart. 

This week I pulled out another of my sweet teapots that I don't use 

as often as my others.  

I save this one for special moments.

This one was from my mom and I just love the floral pattern on it. 

It sure is special to enjoy a cup of tea like this...

kind of like a moment with the one you love.

As you can see above...I've watered my mint plant a bit too much.

I found these interesting mushrooms growing.  

I didn't keep them, too bad we couldn't eat them.

I have a variety of flowers blooming in my house at the moment. 

The lovely sunflowers, geraniums, marigolds, and below

a little viola that is just starting to open. 

Really cheers me as I wait to be able to put some plants outside. 

Still super chilly out at night.  

New snow on the mountains from the last couple days of rain. 

There was a bedding plant market at our local 

community centre this past weekend.

I was able to sell and re-home my extra plants.  

Then I had some space to up pot my squash and then pot up 

some of the extra flowers I had. 

I still need to plant up one big planter...

but there is no room for that inside. :) 

The Lord has provided us a place to move to...

and I'm happy to say there is room for gardening there. 

It won't be for a few more weeks.

We've begun the process of packing.  

It's not too far away and we're delighted 

to be able to stay within the community we enjoy.

I pray you have been having a lovely Monday! 

Love and Prayers,

Jennifer

Homemaking Mondays: Pretty Sheets and a Picnic

Hello! 

I hope you are having a lovely day!  

I have some pretty new sheets in the wash that my children blessed me with. 

I love the delicate flowers and muted tones. 

I'm wearing the new shirt that is pictured above the sheets. 

My card my daughter made me is sitting on my desk. 

My children are wonderful and are always so sweet to me. 

Sometimes as a mother you can get discouraged or bogged down in 

caring for your family and home. 

Just remember that there are seasons and that each time has it's place.

The struggles and the joy! 

This past week we made some yummy moose jerky in our oven.

It was much faster then in the dehydrator. 

It is all gone...but we shall do this again.

This is one part of homemaking that I really enjoy.

Making special treats on occasion just because.

This week I was home with just a couple of my children. 

We decided to go for our first picnic of the season. 

My son bbq'd up some hot dogs and we wrapped them up to take with us. 

We had found this picnic spot last year and it was very nice. 

We really enjoy being out in the bush and enjoying nature. 

We saw some bear diggings (not too recent, but from this spring). 

As we were walking we saw a hawk fly off 

and then spotted a grouse in the underbrush

frozen, hiding from the hawk.  

We got a quick picture and then went off so that we didn't scare him out of hiding. 

We also found some cranberries that were so very juicy! 

Soon they'll fall off the plants and grow new flowers. 

There are lots of lovely trails to meander on and 

as the season warms there will be coming a lot more new growth.

We are just starting to see the sweet crocus's sprouting.

The birds are coming back.

It's delightful to watch all the different kinds of ducks and shorebirds

that are occupying the water and shore by the house.  

The wood frogs have started to croak out their songs

and it's quite the orchestra with all the bird sounds mixed in.

Our landlady is selling our home and she came with a photographer this week 

to take the necessary pictures for the ad.  

We did some more cleaning then the regular weekly ones we usually do. 

We hid away some things so that it looked better. 

Sometimes there are just things that need to sit out but aren't as "picture perfect". 

It encouraged me to wash some of the light fixtures that often get forgotten. 

I'm a bit shorter and I don't notice some things...like the top of the fridge. 

Do you have that issue?

Those details needed attending to, and take some consideration. 

All the plants that I've been starting in my window are getting so big. 

Yesterday we started the process of hardening off the smaller plants. 

Most are destined for the community market, but we are keeping a few.  

Today more seeds are going into pots for our moveable garden. 

No matter where you live it's good to grow just a few things...even if it's just herbs.

I have been told herbs are a waste of time...but really I have found that 

no matter how "plain" the food is you're making, herbs really make it more palatable. 

If only I could grow a cinnamon tree...I love that spice! 

Praying you have a wonderful day! 

And I also wanted to make a note about comments....I really do appreciate 

all the effort you make to say hello!

It really cheers me to hear from you! 

Love and Prayers,

Jennifer