Ladies Luncheon

For the past 4 years Mom, Faith and I have been blessed to volunteer at our local Pregnancy Resource Center, and while there we have worked with some wonderful ladies.  So this past week we decided to host a luncheon for all the ladies that we work with.

We just happened to pick a day that was right during Strawberry season, so dessert was Angel Food Cake or Biscuits piled with sliced strawberries and finished with fresh whipped cream, and for the chocolate lovers we also had a plate of gluten free brownies. 

Our Sweet Peas had begun to bloom, so Faith and I picked a large bouquet to grace the table.

Strawberry Lemonade and Ice Tea for beverage.

The main menu included Cream puffs filled with Chicken and Tuna Salads, with sides of Pasta Salad, mini stuffed eggs, and fresh garden veggies.

Each lady had a sprig of Sweet Peas at her plate to take home.

It was a delightful time of fellowship chatting, exchanging stories, relating incidents of days gone by, and of course eating!

Dessert!

After finishing our conversation and cleaning up, we headed outside to conduct a tour of the farm.

We are very blessed to have our golf cart, and were happy to be able to drive some of the ladies around so that they didn't have to walk.

It was a lovely afternoon, and we were glad to be able to host the luncheon for the wonderful ladies who we work with.

~Chs

Buildings Continue

Here at "Lily Spring Garden and Farm" there is always some building or structure being assembled.  The latest and truly greatest construction project was a chick house for our in-between laying hens that need a home before they integrate with our main flock.

So, while we just go and throw up goat sheds with press boards and practically no supports, for some reason this structure which was meant for little fluffy chicks, was built.  And I mean BUILT.  

Solid plywood floor, walls with studs every two feet, this thing is solid!

These chickies better appreciate all the hard work we're doing for them.  :)

Finally after much planning and labor, the four very solid walls were put up, and it was simply waiting for it's substantial roof.

Here it is in all it's brightly painted glory!  Barn red with white trim to match our other chicken coop.

One of the fluffy and hopefully grateful occupants.

So that is the story of our latest project, I am sure there will be more to come, and now just in case we have a tornado we know where we will be going!  (okay that might be a slight exaggeration, but it sure is solidly built!)

~Chs

Softball Season

That time of year has come where once or twice a week we hurry through our dinner, pile in the vehicle, and go watch our men play softball.

Josh is a very talented left fielder, rarely missing anything. 

 And is also not too bad with a bat, if I do say so myself! :)

 Dad might be the one of the oldest players on the team, but that doesn't mean he can't hit or run!  He usually plays catcher (though he says his knees are starting to complain about that:) but somehow I didn't manage to get a picture of him behind the plate.  He has also had to pitch a game or two and has done a good job.

 Sadie loves "softball season" and enjoys watching the game, giving kisses to anyone brave enough to come near her, and eating any flower you make the mistake of holding to close to her nose.

 We are always delighted when we get to sit in the shade (except for one of the first games where it got down right chilly) especially the last one when it was reaching for 90!!

 The little people are Sadie's biggest fans. I think they watched her more than they did the game.

 When the game isn't going the way you want it to, there are always flowers and berries to discover along the edge of the field. 

 Sometimes other puppies come to watch the game to.

 One of the Ladies always brings snacks for us devoted fans.  Sugar snap peas anyone?

 I believe she is the favorite person on the entire stand.

 "Father and Son"

 Our faithful and excellent pitcher. 

The season is about half way through and right now we have 5 wins 3 losses.  Not bad at all!  (oh and just to let you know the times they lost were the ones when Mom, Faith and I weren't able to be there to cheer them on :)

~Chs

Strawberries!!!

 God has blessed us incredibly this year with our garden and produce.  The first item to come piling in was our strawberries.  To date we have picked 96 and a half quarts of Strawberries.  Uhuh.  And our backs know it.  The patch is pretty much done, but we are hoping, oh so tentatively hoping that we can squeak out 100 quarts before the season hangs up the CLOSED sign.

So what have we done with our basket-fulls of strawberries that we plucked every other day?  Well, first we froze them, only allowing ourselves a few for eating, because you see these aren't just any Strawberries, these are our very own no-chemicals-at-all-Organic-in-everything-but-certification-Strawberries.  Charity for the past year has been buying frozen organic strawberries at the store. Tiny dinky little 12 oz bags of frozen Strawberries for overly exorbitant prices.  So our goal was to be able to freeze enough of our own that she would not have to buy any.  Well as usual God provided beyond what we could ask or think, and we had the 30 pounds Charity needed, by the 5th picking.

 Of course we didn't freeze every single berry we picked, because Strawberries make such a lovely after-ball-game dessert when there piled on a graham cracker and topped with whipped cream.

 We have now picked 10 times; our peak was 19 quarts from one batch, and we had two pickings of 17 quarts.

 I have almost decide that I am going to become a biologist/inventor, and create climbing strawberries.  Leaning over and picking for 2 hours (and yes it did take all of 2 hours if not more to pick them each time, not to mention the other 2 hours it took to sort and hull them ;) does a number to your back.

 Strawberries are so versatile, so after the next softball game, they were sliced and served over homemade vanilla ice cream drizzled with chocolate syrup.

 After getting all Charity needed frozen, we discovered that Strawberries also make great gifts.

 Especially when packed into miniature clay pots and set in a ribbon bedecked basket.

 As the Strawberries kept coming in we used them in muffins,

 for Fathers day in the shape of a Strawberry Glace pie,

 and we turned them into jam.  This was beyond blessing, because we were sincerely expecting and planning on going picking at our local strawberry farm to get enough to make jam.  We didn't even dream we would have enough of our own for that!

 Of course some of them (okay lots of them) were eaten just the way God made them.  In fact if Faith and I had been banned from picking we might have had a 100 quarts by now (somehow Mumsie has the self control not to eat any while picking! ) I am sure I have eaten at least a couple quarts by now just by myself. :P

 Faith found yet another way to package and serve the berries one evening with this absolutely delicious Angel Food cake.

Believe me, it tasted just as good as it looks (on second thought maybe even better :) and this was just a practice cake for our ladies luncheon we were planning, but you will have to hear about that later.

God's abundant provision is absolutely amazing, and I don't think anyone see it more than the workers of the ground, which is why I am so thankful that we have the opportunity to have a garden and animals.  We see the hand of God here on our mini farm everyday multiple times.
~Chs

"The Kiss of the sun for pardon,
the song of the birds for mirth,
one is nearer God's heart in a garden,
than anywhere else on earth."