December 22nd

Merry Christmas

I love the pictures of Jesus

and the Holy Family depicted

as more real than the typical

Renaissance paintings.

I can identify with the Blessed Mother

cuddling and loving her baby.

There's a line from the song,

"Mary Did You Know?"

that says,

"When you kiss your little baby,

you kiss the face of God?"

I choose to believe she did know.

She accepted the joy with the

sorrow that was to come.

In that small kiss, to that tiny face,

she was like any other mother,

in awe at this beautiful creation.

One of my favorite seasonal TV

shows is, "A Charlie Brown Christmas".

It's essentially a story about

being depressed during the holidays,

because it has become so commercial,

but in typical Charlie Brown fashion,

he rallies and shows why we celebrate.

One of the more nostalgic parts

is, to me, his choice of a 

Christmas tree.

His sad little tree shows that

from humble roots,

something great will come.

To quote Linus,

"It's not a bad tree at all.

Maybe it just needs a little love."

And,

It's not about what's under it,

it's about who's around it.

And this is the reason for the season.

*****************************

The weather has been all over

the place lately.

It's been hot and sticky, foggy

windy, rainy and cold.

To save our harvest, I've been dehydrating

 as much of the veggies as I can.

I turned the dehydrated peppers into

a blend that I put into a couple of shakers.

The rest has been ground up

for my herbal blend.

I made more mint tea that

I added some dried tangerine

peel to, for a very surprising

and tasty citrus tea.

The cypress leaves seemed to fall

all at once and made a giant mess.

The CEO and I cleaned up what 

we could and put them into the

flower beds to act as mulch.

***********************

The Broccoli and Cauliflower

are doing very well.

We may have to harvest them a bit early

because of the impending freeze.

If that happens, I'll blanche them

and then put them in the freezer.

Banana Peppers

My Paperwhites.

Aren't they beautiful?

Cosmos

Pink Begonia.

The seedlings.

We brought them into the garage

last night to keep them from freezing.

Celery

(Elvis) Parsley

Fat Cat

She's always meowing.

Lucy and Ethel, the geriatric hens.

Does that apply to bossy hens?

*****************************

I like cool weather, but NOT cold weather!

This is too cute!

*******************************

Here's wishing everyone

the most wonderful Christmas!

I hope all your wishes come true.

💚💙

Also,

here's my PSA.

 While sitting on the floor

looking for 2 quarters that 

I had dropped,

I realized 2 things.

1) Always have a backup plan

for getting back up, it's

harder than you think!

2) Seriously!? It's only fifty cents.

They can live under the couch forever!

😁😆

 

November 30th

Who knew that there was a whole day devoted

to Mason jars?

I was wondering what their origin was,

so I looked it up.

We use the term "mason jar" as

a generic word,

but it is an actual name of

the guy who patented the type

of jar for home food preservation.

John Landis Mason.

Back around 1858, he lost

the patent and a bunch of other companies

started mass producing them.

During WWll, the jar usage was at

a peak, due to rationing and food shortages.

Currently, there's a revival because of

 a "back to nature" movement

and the current inflation woes.

I use them to hold all kinds of things,

and some aren't food related.

With the increase of our crops,

I've canned several veggies,

pickled a few or made jams.

I use the jars for my 

dehydrated herbs too.

They've even held my homeade

soap and bath salts.

Yay, for Mason Jars!!

**************************

We're eating a lot of fresh lettuce

in our salads and

on sandwiches.

More lettuce!

This is (from the top) Beets

and Carrots (on the bottom).

And,

2 curious hens checking to see if

they've missed something.

Cauliflower and Broccoli

Shishito Peppers

(kinda hot, but not too bad)

Tomatoes

(The splits are from too much water

because it's been raining)

Green Bell Peppers

Herb garden

This is the potting bench.

The CEO puts the small plants

or seedlings here until they

are ready for the bigger plots.

Lucy and Ethel

They follow me wherever I go in the yard.

They've even started to lay eggs again.

In the past week we collected 3.

Way to go girls!

I love the way the rain looks on

this huge leaf.

Nothing gets by Minew

either.

************************************

😄

I get up almost every day before

5 o'clock without an alarm...

***************************************

🎅🎄

Christmas tree is up...

Front alcove is decorated...

Now all I need is cooler temperatures!

************************

💚💙

😅

 

October 31st

Today is the 31st and I simply

can't believe this year is almost over!

Time is passing way too fast.

Sometimes it feels as though 

there's not enough hours in 

the day to get things done.

Mark Twain said,

"There isn't time, so brief is life,

for bickerings, apologies, heart burnings,

callings to account. There is only

time for loving, and but an instant,

so to speak, for that."

And according to 

the poet Virgil,

"tempus fugit."

So,

I'd better get my butt in gear

and hope the little 

Trick or Treaters

come calling tonight.

*********************

Our Cuzuzzas are doing well

This is our harvest of a couple of days ago.

Cuzuzza, Green and Purple Romaine,

Bell, jalapenos, and banana peppers, 

spinach and arugula.

Carrots and Beets

Yellow, Sweet and Red Onions.

Broccoli and Cauliflower.

11 different kinds of Lettuce!

Purple, Green and Red Bell peppers.

Banana Peppers

Chicory.

This little guy is a powerhouse plant.

Its' packed with prebiotic fiber insulin,

and can aid in blood sugar control.

It's a relative of the dandelion family.

We add it to salads, but the root, if dried

can be ground and added to coffee. 

Japanese Eggplant

Variegated Basil and Pineapple Sage

with its' beautiful red flowers.

Purple Basil

The CEO noticed that our

VERY prolific Aloe Vera plants

have started to flower!

There are 4 large flowers and 2

of the stalks have another flower on it.

Lettuce leaf in the morning dew.

***************************

I was going to dress our menagerie

up for Halloween,

but they weren't having it.

Minew prefers to snooze in the shade.

Lucy was checking for any easily 

available lettuce leaves.

(Notice the double layer of 

chicken wire? Those clever girls

figured out how to get to the leaves)

Ethel on patrol.

Nothing gets past those

beady raptor eyes!

Some kind of butterfly or maybe a moth.

He's beautiful.

I shoo'd him away before Ethel

zeroed in on him and had a quick snack!

*************************

This humble blog uses my simple,

stream of conscious writing and 

the pictures of the small farm.

I love sharing what the CEO 

has accomplished and our simple

back to nature, lifestyle.

My photos are not artistic,

by any nature, but they are special to me.

My need to take pictures comes from

my memories being unfaithful to 

recall what I've seen or loved.

The pictures become return tickets

to a place and time that I can

revisit for free,

so..

I'm glad you've come along for the ride.

💚💙

Happy Halloween!

🐔