Sunday Scripture

"In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."
1 Thessalonians 5:18

Homemade French Fries (Farm Style)

You may be wondering how in the world are we going to eat all the potatoes that we have stashed in our coat closet, but don't worry I have a plan. I have used the Yukon Gold potatoes to make wonderful mashed potatoes. (One of my kids wanted to know why I added eggs to the mashed potatoes because of the yellow color of the potatoes). I have cut the Red Norlands up in quarters, added some olive oil, ranch dressing mix or seasonings, and roasted them in the oven. Last night we were having grilled hamburgers and my hubby requested homemade fries. I pulled out the largest Yukon Gold potatoes out of my basket and started to work. First, I wash them and then cut them into uniform size pieces. I leave the skins on my fries, but if you would rather you are welcome to peel your fries. The above picture shows you the potatoes waiting to be cooked. Aren't they a beautiful color?

I then heat some oil on the stove in a large pot. When the oil is hot, drop the potatoes in carefully. Let them cook until golden brown. You will need to swirl them around with a slotted spoon every now and again. Just use caution because of the hot oil. I use quite a bit of oil...enough to cover the fries. When they are cooked to your desire, spoon them out into a bowl lined with paper towels. Sprinkle generously with Kosher Salt and enjoy! Oh, I almost forgot the most important part of all...use lots of ketchup for dipping!!!!

You know you want some!

If I didn't have a coat closet full of potatoes, I would not purchase Yukon Golds for this dish. I would purchase a cheaper potato at the grocery store. For me, the only thing that cost any money here was the oil. It does take a lot of oil to make good fries. However, I save my oil and reuse it for several more uses. To save my oil, I will wait until it is cool and pour it into quart jars. This way I get more bang for my buck!!

grace and peace,

julie

Flower Power

To me, there is nothing more beautifully simplistic than fresh cut flowers from the garden. I love having them in our home to bring simple everyday joy. I use many different containers for my flowers, but my favorite is my old camping coffee pot. Today it sits on our fireplace full of pale yellow tiny sunflowers. I wish I knew what variety they are because I would love to plant them again next year.

If I could only grow one kind of flower each year, I would choose to grow zinnias. They are easy and beautiful. There are many different varieties of these garden treasures. There are huge zinnias (Giant Zinnias) and small ones (Lilliput), and there are even ruffled zinnias. They are all beautiful and make great cut flowers. The bigger the flower the fewer you need to make a nice full arrangement, but I like to mix and match.

Cosmos are another garden beauty. I don't always bring them in the house to make arrangements because they are a bit more trouble. The green part is beautiful for foliage in the vase, but the flowers don't last very long so you are left with a bunch of greenery. I will use the them for greenery in lots of my other arrangements if needed.

One very important thing to remember when cutting fresh flowers from the garden is to strip the leaves that will be at the bottom of the vase. (Don't take all of the upper leaves off of your flowers because it will make a prettier arrangement if they have some leaves). Removing the leaves helps them stay fresh longer. I always take a large plastic pitcher filled with water to the garden with me. I put my fresh cut flowers with their bottom leaves removed immediately into the water. In times past, I have had flowers wilt before I could even get them to the house so I started bringing down the water to help prevent this. I also try to cut my flowers first thing in the morning or later in the evening.

grace and peace,

julie

A Potato Party

Our potatoes were full of weeds. I think it happened during our vacation to the beach. I didn't find the time to hoe them as well as I should have. I have learned that weeds are ugly, but the plants will usually still produce even if there are weeds in the garden. Due to the amount of weeds, I chose to put on my husband's work boots just in case a slithery snake might decide to show up for the party. I took our pitch fork and began to dig the first row of potatoes. The Red Norlands were beautiful. I intended to dig all three rows of potatoes up in one day, but as the morning went on I decided to let the others grow a bit longer.

At the end of my morning, I had beautiful piles of Red Norlands and Yukon Golds just waiting to be put in bags. I still have two more rows to dig, but this time I think I will include my kids. I intended to have them come out and help me, but it was such a cool morning and I was enjoying some quiet time with the Lord. I never called the kids. Instead, I just kept praying and digging. It was a nice time in the garden with Him.

I let my potatoes sit outside to dry out for a little while. I would have left them all afternoon, but I knew the English Mastiff would assume that I planted cool balls for her and eat each and every one of them. I would not have been happy so I chose to pick the potatoes up quicker than normal. The next problem I encountered was storage. We don't have a root cellar, and the basement is cold but it also has lots of light. I decided to store some of my red potatoes in an old basement refrigerator. I have stored another bushel of potatoes in our coat closet. It is cool and for the most part dark. Problem solved.

Today we are tackling killing some of our meat chickens. Please be aware that I use the term "we" very loosely. My husband and son and daughter are at a baseball tournament. I am heating water (that is my part), and our 15 year old is doing the meat chickens. I promised him that I would server potato soup tonight for dinner. I did think a big pot of chicken and dumplings might be good, but then I decided against that! I best hurry and get my water on to heat... I know it is a tough job, but somebody has to do it!

grace and peace,

julie

I am My Beloved's and He is Mine

We left the beauty of our farm...

for this view. Michael and I celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary this past weekend. We have never left our kids to celebrate our anniversary, but this year we decided to celebrate in a very unusual way for us. He chose to take me to a resort in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. We had an entire 3 days of rest and relaxation complete with NO agenda. The only thing we had to do for those three days was to show up for our deluxe couple's massage. Let me just say, "OH, MY GOODNESS!" We sat on the front porch of our cabin in our jammies to watch the fireworks show. It was beautiful. We were close enough to home to get there in case of an emergency, but far enough away to feel like we were on vacation. We laughed and talked a lot. We slept in late and lounged about the cabin. We went to photography galleries and out to dinner. We even did a bit of shopping, but mostly we just enjoyed being together. I pray that we don't take 22 more years before we go away again...I am thinking more like this year's winter break. Our kids did great which made me feel even better about the whole experience. The worst thing that happened while we were gone was the Border Collie broke into the house and spent an evening with the English Mastiff on our bed. Don't worry...I washed the sheets!!

grace and peace,

julie

This Post Brought to You By the English Mastiff

Missy is feeling all better these days. She is always on the look out for anybody misbehaving on the farm.

She looks quite stately sitting in her stance. She no longer limps from her car accident. I thought she would always have a limp, but it seems to have passed. This is good because a dog this big with a limp looks kind of strange.

Here she is explaining to the chicken that it needs to eat a lot so we can hurry up and eat it. I am sure the chicken was a bit startled when Missy started whispering chicken recipes in its ear. She also loves to play tag with the chickens. She runs until she catches them. She pins them to the ground and puts their head in her mouth, and then she lets them go. They are not hurt except for the extra slobber on their feathers. I am sure that somehow it does hurt their chicken dignity or something like that!

grace and peace,

julie

Tennessee State Champions

Jacob's 12 and under baseball team had a wonderful baseball weekend. They played their hearts out, and were rewarded for their hard work. They became the 2009 Tn-USSSA Baseball 12 and under Double A champions!!!!!

They played hard last weekend just to qualify for the tournament. Only 16 teams from around the state made the qualifications. This weekend was spent playing for the gold. After 4 straight games, we finally came out on the winning end!!! Let me just say, it was one hot weekend. I was amazed that those boys could play 4 straight games in the heat. They started playing ball at 12:45 in the afternoon and they ended around 10:00 p.m. They only had enough breaks in between games to get a drink and eat a bit of fruit or granola bar. When the last play was made, you wouldn't have even known the boys were tired. They were whooping and hollering like there was no tomorrow!

We only have one more tournament left this season. They will be playing in the Double A world series located in Knoxville. Then we will have a break from baseball until fall!!!!! Did I mention that my little man had a great weekend?

grace and peace,
julie