Friday, March 25, 2011

I'm Back! ;~P...


...with a favorite bread recipe in
~*~
"Give us this day our daily bread."
Matthew 6:11

Monday, March 21, 2011

Taking a rest

Dear Readers ~
Please forgive my lack of posting. Sometimes life has a way
of unavoidably thrusting itself to the forefront, doesn't it?
It has for me these last couple of weeks, anyway.
I have felt a bit...


It was never my intent for this blog to be a place for
'whoa~is~me' posts. I like to share the common,
day-to-day happenings of my life with the Gentleman Farmer
in an encouraging and light manner.
But, not all of the Biblical Parables are light in nature,
so I suppose that mine also follow suit.

(In case you are wondering ~
a Parable is an earthly story with a heavenly message!)

(Heavy Burden)

Tragedy has befallen a friend of mine ~
two of her three sons were involved in an
automobile accident and one was killed,
the other seriously injured.
(Three young men were killed in this accident, two
seriously injured. Please say a prayer for the families.)
~
Gentleman Farmer's work schedule has been changed
(once again!) making for an unplanned trip out of town
to celebrate his mother's 84th birthday
in the middle of his few days off.
(I am so selfish! I don't like to share his rare days off!)
~
Gentleman Farmer had to be taken
to the Emergency room at the local hospital
for a Corneal Abrasion ~ 8 days before
his 40 years of no reportable accidents at work!
:~{
Oh, well! It was a pride thing, anyway. God has a
way of setting our priorities straight!
Gentleman Farmer's eye is healing quickly.
His pride ~ just a wee bit more slowly!


( A yoke is made for two to share the burden)

For over a year, we have been dealing with some
legal issues on behalf of my 89 year old mother.
I won't go into detail, but that situation has
finally been mediated and settled out of court (PTL)
but to the tune of many thousands of dollars ~
hard to be cheerful when it threatens Gentleman Farmers
(very) hard earned retirement!
(Please be diligent in your care of elderly parents. They are
so easily taken advantage of by others!)
This ordeal would have been SO devastating if
I didn't have Another to share my burden with.



( Rest at Harvest by William Adolph Bouguereau)

So, for now, I am resting.
~
I'll be back soon ~ on a lighter note!

Be Blessed!
~*~
"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My load is light."
Matthew 11:28-30




Monday, March 7, 2011

Eggs, eggcups and other silly things!

Hard boiled egg with a wee sprinkling of
fresh ground organic pepper
and Celtic Sea Salt
I bought some cute little egg cups for Easter this year
and used a couple at breakfast one day last week.
Poor Gentleman Farmer quite often has to wait
for his meals as I take a picture just in case
I need to post it along with a recipe!
He needed a little more than two hard boiled eggs
and a couple of pieces of toast for his breakfast
this morning, so he fixed himself a little addition.
He grabbed the camera and took a picture and
said I needed to post this on my blog,
'cuz' two can play this game! (silly boy!)
(Photo by GF)
He loves graham crackers and milk!
(I have been thinking of making my own graham crackers.
Does anyone have a good recipe?
And can anyone tell me why 'graham' crackers
are NOT made with graham flour? Why are they named
Graham?)

And then I find eggs like this one on the left
every now and then in the chickens' nests!
I did a little research on odd shaped eggs ( and
eggs with blood spots and/or meat specs) to find the
cause. I wondered if perhaps I was not providing
something in their feed (I feed only organic chicken feed)
or how I could prevent this from occurring.
The consensus from the sites I visited were
that both the odd shaped eggs and the spots
were generally caused by heredity
or
age in the hens ~
either being young and just starting to lay
(Not the case in my hens) Or old and production
and quality goes down.
All my hens but one,
are about six ~ eight years old. Old by most standards,
but they are laying quite well. In fact, as far as average
life span for my girls, this is quite young! I have been
keeping chickens for nearly 50 years, and most of my hens
have lived to a ripe old age if not killed
by coyotes, raccoon or bald eagles.
My oldest hen, Granny, was 13 years old when she passed,
and was still laying well. She was a beautiful Black Austrolorp.
I caught a glimpse of her one day out my window, sunning herself on an old
gate in the chicken yard. I thought to myself that I should go
out and give little ol' Granny a treat. I grabbed a crust
of bread and headed out to the hen house.
I found Granny dead!
In the time that I had seen her and grabbed that bread,
she, I later assumed, had flown off the gate and the
gate fell over and hit Granny on the head
breaking her neck!
I wasn't sure if she was dead, so looking cautiously around,
proceeded to .....
(WAIT FOR IT)
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
...give her mouth to beak resuscitation!
( I can hear you laughing!)
The CPR did not revive my poor little Granny!
All this to say ~ I don't think we should 'cull' our
older hens because they don't lay as well!
She was still producing eggs and was a
dear little companion, as well.
These little creatures feed us with
more than food for the stomach,
but with food for the soul ~
gracing our lives with companionship
and a little humor as we watch
their daily capers!


and the others for
Homestead Barn Hop #3.

~*~
"Can something tasteless be eaten without salt, or is there any taste in the white of an egg?"
Job 6:6





Tuesday, March 1, 2011

March...

comes in like a lion...

(christianartforyou.com)
and goes out like a lamb.

~*~

"...behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah..."

"Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing"

"To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever."

Selected from Rev. 5