Faith and the Fourth: a Celebration

Here at our house we celebrate 2 important things on the 4th of July.  Our country's Independence, and Faith's birthday.  This makes everything twice as fun, but also a bit complicated fitting everything in.  

So here is a glimpse at our fourth.

In the morning some of us went down town to look about and see a bit of the parade.

Sadie looking all patriotic!

The town's population exploded once again.  Amazing how many people come out for the fourth!!

The parade is definitely a small town deal, with lots of tractors, classic cars, and a few horses.

This horse was a little unusual looking. :)

The highlight of the parade - California Or Bust...

I truly think we win for having the most tractors in a parade!

Some pretty cars. (anyone spot the one that doesn't quite fit?)

We even had a petting zoo this year!  We had family due to be at our house around 12:30 so we just watched a bit of the parade, and then headed back home.

It was a truly lovely day, perfect for a picnic under the willow tree.

Always so much yummy food. :)

Happy Birthday Faith!

Happy dogs!!

We were so happy to have Aunt Myrt join us! :)

Hamburgers.

Love our Aunt Myrt so much!  Most of the gardening and canning that Faith does she learned form Aunt Myrt.

Between dinner and dessert we took a tour of the gardens to help us digest.

Our Firework Faith!

It was a simply lovely day, celebrating both our nations independence and Faith's birthday!

~Chs

A Blessing's Birthday

She is a major part of the family here at home, an enormous blessing.
 
 I am not sure if we (here at home) could survive without our Faith Ann.  And I am absolutely positive that we don't want to.

Faith is the motivation, brains, and muscle power behind so much here at "the farm".  She cans like a pro, has the greenest thumb, is an expert seamstress and takes great care of all sorts of animals.  She can make do with (or without) lots of things, and is super speedy.

But more than what she can do, and does, more than that, we truly love and need/want Faith for who she is, not what she does.

She is brave and willing to take on the dirty jobs that no-one-else wants.  She is ardent in her beliefs, knowing just what she thinks and holding to it.  She sees things in black and white and therefore is able to make needed quick decisions.  But she isn't obstinate in ignorance, she is constantly looking up, studying, searching for wisdom.  She is passionate and whole-hearted about everything, but most about her Savior, His love and what He requires of her.  She doesn't take her Christian walk lightly.  She loves the misfits and the ones that are left out.

She has a special place in her heart for special needs people, and a unique gift for working with them.  She is dedicated and fervent.  She would rather serve and give, then be served and given to.  She loves to work behind the scenes.  She sees the humor and beauty in life, and isn't blind to God's work in creation.  She is protective of her family, always wants the best for us, and is willing to research and work hard to make that happen.

Faith... well she is so hard to adequately describe, because she is (and does) so much.  I think though, that her name does truly fit.  Faith:  she knows what she believes, even when she can't see it, and holds to it with a hopeful tenacity.

In and through Faith we see God work.  He has given her so many raw talents, and has molded her throughout the years.  As her little sister I have so enjoyed being able to spend more time with her the past few years, talking, working, laughing, thinking, and I cannot wait to see the people and places she is able to bless as she follows God's will for her in the years to come.

Happy Birthday Faith Ann we LOVE you, truly we do.

~Chs

Coming Soon

For those of you who don't know, Joshua and Theresa are expecting an addition to their family.. very very soon! :) 

Theresa is due with a little boy on July 13th.  Really soon. :)

They have decided to name their son Robert Gabriel meaning (Honorable Man of God). 

A couple weeks ago Theresa had a baby shower.   

It was a lot of fun. The theme was cowboys. 

Looking forward to meeting the little guy in a week or two.  I am sure I will have pictures to update you all once he arrives! :)

~Chs

Gardening: A Little Different Angle

I have been meaning to post a garden update for some time.  But for some reason or another it keeps on getting put off, and the garden keeps on growing, which means I have to take new pictures before I can think about blogging.... and the circle goes round and round. 

So before another day passes.  Here is "how our garden grows."

It all started a couple months ago, inside under lamps, slowly moving to the porch, then gradually, as the weather warmed, outside.

Little tiny sprouts sprang up in the garden. 

Onions and Radishes, Lettuce, and peas.  All pushing their way through the dirt and made drops of green in the garden.

It has been 7 years since we planted the first half of our large garden #1.  So the idea of giving the garden a year off ("Six years you shall sow your field, and gather it's fruit; but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath to the LORD. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard." ~Leviticus 25:3-4) combined with the fact that the upper garden was too wet to get into this spring, so we really couldn't plant it even if we wanted to, made Faith look into alternative places and ways to garden.  

One of the ideas was planting beans (you could also do it with lettuce etc.) in gutters.  Faith drilled holes in the bottom of the gutters and then screwed them to our deck railing (perfect for picking!).  Then she filled them with compost and dirt, planted her beans seeds and watered.  So far they are doing quite well!

Faith first made a "three sisters garden" a couple years ago, but this year we went all out with 15 mounds.

The idea originally came from the Native Americans.  The oldest "sister is the corn, which you plant first.  You plant beans around the corn when they are up.  The corn providing a "pole" for the beans to climb on.  The third sister is squash (or pumpkin) which shades the corns "feet" and keeps predators from coming and eating the corn or beans (racoons don't like climbing through poky, tangly squash vines).

In the back (currently our main) garden, there is everything from peas, to lettuce, to tomatoes and peppers.

The great wall of peas...

Our corn has done fabulous this year.  Instead of knee high by the fourth of July, I think it will be shoulder high. ;)  (depending on the person of course)

Faith likes to experiment with different types and colors of your normal garden plants.  This year we have yellow, white, orange and red striped, green striped, and blue/purple tomatoes.  Along with some purple peas!

{Faith in her garden}

Not all of the plants we need fit in the back garden (and you can't quite put them in gutters) so we have an accumulation of potted plants on our deck as well.  More tomatoes and peppers, some celery and some ground cherries.

We are super grateful for how well our garden has done this year, even if we have had to take a little different angle on it, and thankful to our gardener Faith who puts in so much work to make sure we have good food to eat.  Of course the most of our thanks goes to the "Master Gardener" who sends down the rain and gives the increase.

~Chs

Sunday Snack

 Charity and Mom have been trying out a new diet/way of eating.  It is called Trim Healthy Mama and was created by the Campbell sisters (Above Rubies magazine) and is really for everyone not just "mama's" :)  

Well one of the perks to this diet, is that Charity likes to experiment with their recipes especially the desserts.... which is just fine with us! :)

Particularly when they look like this!  Meet the Dark Chocolate, Strawberry cheescake/jello pie.  Doesn't look much like a health food does it? :)  But this beautiful and delicious dessert is grain free, and sugar free, and very good for you. 

Oh, and it's even better when frozen....

~Chs

Turkey Lurkeys

Yet another poultry has arrived.

We had so much fun growing Turkeys last year that we decided to do it again. This time we ordered 12 of them, 10 white, and 2 bronze.

They are growing up, and are goofy little creatures, already strutting at only 6 inches tall!

So within 3 months or so we will be having Turkey meat coming out of our ears!  Until then they are rather fun to raise, even if they are rather dense little birds, they are very personable and friendly.

~Chs

Homemade Saturday: Strawberry Glacé Pie

I know I haven't done a Homemade Saturday post in a while, but I thought what better time to start up again than in Strawberry season! :)

As I am sure I have mentioned before, one of the awesome things about strawberries is how versatile they are.  You can eat them fresh, (and boy do we do that, I think we are the healthiest this time of the year because of the amount of Vitamin C we ingest through the strawberries) slice them over ice cream, or oatmeal, or any cereal really, make sauce with them to go over waffles, or angel food cake, or shortcakes, mix them with Rhubarb in pies and crisps, blend them into Strawberry Lemonade, or.....  One of our favorite Strawberry desserts...

Strawberry Glacé Pie!!!

I am assuming most people know and make their own, but if you haven't yet discovered this decadent dessert, I would like to share the recipe we use!

Stawberry Glacé Pie

1 pie crust

6-8 Cups of Strawberries rinsed and topped 

(this amount completely depends on how full you want your pie to be)

1/2 cup of sugar

3Tbs Corn Starch

1/2 cup of Water

4oz (give or take and ounce :) ) of cream cheese.  SOFTENED! (most of the time I forget to soften it, solidifying in my brain how much easier it would be if I would have remembered....)

Make a single pie crust with your own tried and true recipe, then roll it out, put it in your favorite pie plate, poke it with a fork, and bake it in a 400 degree oven for 10-12 minutes until lightly brown.

While the crust is baking you can make the sauce. 

Mash enough Strawberries to make a FULL cup of mashed berries. 

In a small saucepan mix:

1/2 cup of sugar

3 Tbs of Corn starch

Gradually stir in:

1/2 cup of water

your "rounded" cup of mashed berries.

Cook on the stove, stirring rather frequently till the mixture boils and thickens. Then remove it from heat, and let it cool.

Meanwhile take your softened cream cheese and plop it on the pie crust.  If your pie crust is warm this will go easier (especially if you forgot to soften your cream cheese).  Spread the cream cheese on the bottom of your crust, careful not to break the crust in the process.

Now, take the remainder of your Strawberries and pile them in the dish.  Pile them as high as you would like!

Pour your sauce over the strawberries, trying to make sure it covers all of them and gets down in the cracks and crevices, then pop the pie in the fridge, for 2 or more hours.

After the required time, pull out your pie, slice, serve and enjoy!!!!

Oh the decadence of fresh ripe strawberries, accented by the cream cheese, and sweetened and held together by the sauce.  Absolutely delicious!!

Does anyone have a family favorite Strawberry recipe?  We would love to hear so we could try it out.  Tis the season! :)

~Chs