Monday, May 30, 2016

Farm Life, partly cloudy, humid..70's

What happens when you're a goat and
you want your sisters nap spot?
You use your capricious nature
of Course!

Hey Cinnamon, can I have your spot?
Please??
C'mon, I really want to lay right THERE




Brothers!

Sunday, May 29, 2016

Sunday Snippets & Snatches...cloudy...70's

Kind of like a weather calendar or farm journal we find that we can browse back through this blog and find that "Blackberry winter" always falls around the same date every year, the baby goat naming contest shows up about the same time every year.....and apparently so does the rain.........after a particularly soggy couple of weeks here, I checked archives and sure enough look what I posted last May about this time:

"When it rains it pours", "A pour man gets his ice in the wintertime", A "dirt poor farmer" is someone who is 'land rich' but money poor, .......and I'm coining a new one
"rain poor farmer" gets a half a years worth of rain in two weeks~~ right when they need to be planting the garden, making hay, mowing the (knee high) grass, harvesting the strawberries.............................................


The Rain Poor Farmer So as we deal with the almost constant and 'Quantitive' amounts of rain
and workin'  amidst the rain and showers,
we find every chore takes twice the time--hours and hours!
The strawberries won't ripen,
More and More we find ourselves gripen'
Can't find a dry day
to cut the hay,
Plants need pottin,'
and the half the garden is rottin,'
While we're out in the muck sloggin'~~~
we might just have to take a break from bloggin' !!!!

Saturday, May 28, 2016

Fresh Fruit Cake....Cloudy, with showers possible......

Fresh Fruit Cake, not to be mistaken for a ‘fruitcake’,  is quick & easy to make,  Light & healthier than most cakes and tastes great simply topped with whatever fresh fruit is in season.
 We've been eating strawberries for a couple of weeks here now, blueberries and cherries will be ready soon followed shortly after by blackberries and peaches..........use your favorite to top this cake!
 
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. Almond flavoring (you can use different flavoring depending on what fruit you use)
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1 Tablespoon butter
 
 
In small sauce pan combine milk and butter, scald (heat till small bubbles appear around edges) while you make the rest of the cake.
In mixing bowl beat eggs well, add sugar and flavoring and continue beating till until very light and thick, 2-3 minutes ,( a large wire whisk works best for this).
Add flour and baking powder all at once and stir together, add hot milk and quickly beat together, pour into greased 8 x 8 inch pan and bake in a pre-heated 350* oven for 24-30 minutes till tests clean when a knife is inserted near center.
Cool on and top with crushed fresh fruit.
Strawberries, Blueberries, Blackberries, Peaches...................................................
 

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

NEW Babies.... Partly cloudy...warm

It's been a busy week here ~four babies in three days! And I didn't get my daytime wish! I got to bed around 2 A.M. So these pics are at seven hours old! 
Meet the newest additions to the farm A. Wyse Ol' goats' twins~ One boy~ One Girl~ Stop by our FB page and help us NAME them!
www.facebook.com/jonquiljunction

Here they are about seven hours old with mom



After their photo shoot, they wanted a nap.
Being born is exhausting!

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Rhapsody & Rhythm ...partly sunny humid

Exercise time TWO days old

Watching mom eat hay
Copying mom, two days old


Monday, May 23, 2016

New babies...Partly cloudy....70's

 Flossie kidded Saturday! Twin does (whoopee) !!!
Born while  I was attending my Granddaughters' piano recital. Meet Rhapsody and Rhythm,  as the Hungarian Rhapsody was one of her pieces that night !

Rhapsody is Smokey grey/chocolate with white tips (and ears!)
while Rhythm is colored just like dad, black with buff markings (no ears!)
They look nothing like their mom Flossie!

Sunday, May 22, 2016

Sunday Quotes...Sun!

The Wisteria wanders
It wanders everywhere
Over bush & fence & tree
It wanders without a care..............



Saturday, May 21, 2016

Fresh Strawberry Spread...Sun..warmer


This recipe is perfect for those who prefer a softer consistency to commercial jam and like a spread that isn't overly sweet, what you taste is the fresh fruit!

Fresh Strawberry Spread
5 cups strawberries
1 1/2-2 cups sugar
1 T.lemon juice
1/2 package pectin
2 T. strawberry Jello

coarsely crush strawberries with a potato masher
Combine strawberries, sugar, lemon juice and pectin, bring to a boil, boil, stirring constantly for five minutes. Remove from heat add Jello and stir well.
Pour into sterilized jars and cool. store in the fridge. Makes four half pints.
Refrigerate for 24 hours before using.

Adjust sugar to your taste, and the sweetness of the fruit you are using,we like it on the tart side.
I buy pectin in bulk if you do too use a rounded 1/4 cup.

Thursday, May 19, 2016

Farm Life...warmer

Any day now these 2 "wideload" ( my husband use to haul freight, ha ha) goats will be delivering.
As I mentioned last year, a daytime event will really be appreciated!!!
Stay tuned for updates--and baby naming contest!

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Farm Adventures...cloudy...chilly

 

Monday, May 16, 2016

Monday Special...Cloudy...cool

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Sunday, May 15, 2016

Sunday Quotes....Sunny...warm

"If no Bee ever made honey again from its essence, if no fence were ever built again from its sturdy trunk, we should still have to be thankful for the
locust perfume" 

by  Wilma Dykeman in her book Look To This Day.


Saturday, May 14, 2016

Frozen Strawberry Yogurt...Sunny...70's

1 quart Unsweetened yogurt **see note
1 can evaporated milk,undiluted
2 cups fresh strawberries
3/4--1 cup sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla

Place paper towel or cheesecloth in a colander or sieve dump all of yogurt in place plate on top and return to fridge for 2-3 hours.

when ready to make, crush strawberries coarsely add sugar and vanilla set aside.
Mix yogurt and evaporated milk together with a wire whisk, when well combined add strawberry mixture, pour in to ice cream maker and freeze according to instructions for your machine. ( I processes  mine for 25 minutes--then place in freezer for 3 hours before serving) 

***  You can uses whole milk, low fat or even fat free for this recipe
***adjust sugar to your taste and how sweet your berries are!



Wednesday, May 11, 2016

After the storm.....

"It's an ILL WIND that blows nobody any good"

 Those gardens that didn't get washed away, got a good watering!


Monday, May 9, 2016

New Handmade Items....Cloudy,,, storms on the way


 


Spring is a busy time of the year here on the farm,, so far we've managed to garden, work on the tractor(s), take care of the animals and still create a few new items for our ETSY store! Have you stopped by lately??
                                    https://www.etsy.com/shop/Jonquiljunction





                                    https://www.etsy.com/shop/Jonquiljunction



 

Sunday, May 8, 2016

Sunday Quotes...partly cloudy...60's

“It's easy to take the time to stop and smell the roses but one must be willing to give of themselves enough to also stop to admire and understand life's weeds.
                                                                                                                                       Colleen Dougherty



The Cherokee Roses are blooming again, some consider them weeds, I appreciate that they don't need the care of modern day roses, and yet, come May, they bloom without fail!



Cherokee Rose
A native of southern China and Taiwan, this rose was introduced early to North America(around 1759) and has now become thoroughly established here. Georgia's  official flower. The Cherokee Rose is a mounding bush to about 5 feet, or a thickly foliaged climber to 15 feet with neat, apple-green leaves. In the spring, fragrant, pure white, 5-petaled flowers appear and cleanly drop their petals to disclose star-shaped sepals. It is one of the best for naturalizing in the South,  and offers an outstanding floral display in return for very little care.
5 to 15 feet Z7-9                   

Cherokee roses are ramblers. If you grow one as a freestanding mound, it will reach a height upwards of 5 feet and maybe twice this wide.
If grown up into a tree, it can climb to 30 feet. It does not always need to be trained to climb either. This self sufficient species rose has been known to scramble into the canopy of a tree by means of its sharp thorns.
                                    The Legend of the Cherokee Rose :
In response to the tears the woman cried along the Trail of Tears, the Cherokee roses sprung up.....................

  • The white flowers represent the tears of the Cherokee maidens.
  • The gold stamens symbolize the gold mined from the hills.
  • The 7 leaflets of each leaf stand for the 7 Cherokee clans.
  • The sharp thorns are a symbol of the toughness of the Cherokee people.
  • Rosa laevigata's habit of rooting where its stems touch the soil represents the tribe's love of and connectedness to the land.
And speaking of old roses and gardening, I'd like to share one of my favorite garden reads with you:

            "People with Dirty Hands" By Robin Chotzinoff
         If you can find it , it's a wonderful read, one I've read over and over again. She covers everything from old rose bushes to (really) hot peppers! All in a very entertaining way!

Saturday, May 7, 2016

Strawberry Pie...Sunny....70's

Worthy of a  re-post this has been our most popular recipe with our Facebook followers, viewed over 5,000 times and shared almost 80 times! It's certainly one of our spring Favorites which is why it was included in our Everything Season Cookbook! We hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Strawberry Pie

Crust:
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

2 T. sugar
5 T. melted butter
 
1  8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
 
 
1 quart sliced strawberries
1/2-1 cup sugar*** See Note
1 cup water
3 T. cornstarch
2 T. strawberry Jell-O
1 tsp. Almond flavoring
 
Mix crumbs and sugar together, add melted butter, stir well then
press firmly into a 10” pie plate.
 
In medium bowl beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla with handheld mixer for
2 minutes or till light and fluffy.
Carefully spread into piecrust, place in fridge.
 
In medium saucepan whisk together sugar and cornstarch, add water and cook over medium heat until thick and clear about 2 minutes, add Jello and stir well, remove from heat and add flavoring and gently stir in berries. Spoon into crust and chill at least 4 hours before serving.
Can be served with or without sweetened whipped cream on top!
 
 
**The amount of sugar you need totally depends on how sweet your fruit is!
Taste  your strawberries first and adjust as needed
 

Thursday, May 5, 2016

Farm Adventures...Sunny....50's


This will work, staying right with mom.
Thimby teaching them about rose bushes

 


Contemplating - is this a barrier or an opportunity?
 Oh I remember, Grandmother A. Wyse
says always  "Practice your climbing skills"


Challenging Dad



For some reason we got put back in our pen shortly after this picture!

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Blackberry Winter....Partly cloudy,,, 50's

The Blackberries are blooming...yesterday morning was 48*. 

Looking back through the archives here on my blog I find that I wrote about Blackberry winter in 2015 on May 6th and in 2014 on May 1st and the year before that on May 3rd. You might say you could set your watch (or calendar by it!)

Yes, it happens every year, when you least expect it. The days have turned warm, the Jonquil's, the redbuds and the dogwoods have bloomed ,everything is growing, you have planted your early garden items (and maybe even your Tomatoes and Beans if your feeling particularly confident) , the blackberries are blooming, and then it hits. Winter's last  fling, the cold snap that comes just when you think spring is finally here at long last .
Before there were  long-range weather forecasts...the 'old-timer's' had many signs they went by to predict the weather, some make a lot of sense some are a little more far fetched!
I've been told you could tell if it was going to be an early or late spring depending on when Easter fell each year as "the weather  always 'settles' right after Easter".... interesting since it can fall anywhere from late April to Mid May.
That the first time you hear a whippoorwill holler (they start calling about the time the blackberries bloom too) you're to get down on the floor and roll over so as not to have any back ailments all year long. I must admit I haven't tried this one, perhaps I should!
That you must plant your corn when the oak leaves are as big as a squirrels ear for a good crop (I missed that one this year, as I do most years)!
And that the reason we have blackberry winter is because the blackberries won't set fruit unless there is a cold snap!
If you Google "Blackberry Winter"  you find there have been more than one song written about it both instrumental and with lyrics here's a  snippet of one of my favorites....
"Blackberry winter comes without a warning
Just when you think that spring's around to stay
And you wake up on a cold, rainy morning
And wonder what on earth became of May....."

(music: Alec Wilder; lyrics: Loonis McGloughlin
by Ellen Messina Ciompi. )




Tuesday, May 3, 2016

New items, partly cloudy..cool

NEW Earrings from the workbench!
OOAK earrings!
Hand-hammered , lightweight, eye-catching,
simple yet elegant earrings!
About 1 inch long and 3/4 of an inch wide!
Minimalistic design sure to appeal to many styles!
 
 



Shop all our styles here:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/Jonquiljunction?ref=hdr_shop_menu

Monday, May 2, 2016

Farm Life...Sunny...cooler

Hope you have a great Monday with no precarious predicaments !


Sunday, May 1, 2016

Sunday Quotes...cloudy..warmer

May is the most competitive of months
Everything trying to outgrow or outbloom the other
But, for sure, the grass wins
The grass ALWAYS wins!

Please click on 'older posts' to see all our posts! Thanks :)

The items we offer are as varied as the weather in these hills!
Hand-hammered copper jewelry, handmade wood case clocks, biscuit and rag quilts, handsewn infant gifts, handcrafted soap, & homespun tales and photos of our menagerie of four footed and feathered friends.




Copper earrings

Copper earrings