Forget-Me-Not Homestead

Walk Cheerfully

"Be patterns, be examples, in all countries, places, islands, nations, wherever you come, that your carriage and life may preach among all sorts of people and to them: then you will come to walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in every one."

~ George Fox (from prison, Journal, 1656)

This beautiful quote by George Fox, founder of The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), has been on my heart lately, and I wanted to share it with you today.

Scrappy Quilt Project

My home has been so quiet during the day since my dear sons went back to public school.  I've kept myself busy doing a little extra cleaning, a little clearing out, and a little creating.

While going through and organizing my fabric stash, I had a little spark of inspiration to make a scrappy quilt out of some of my favorite old fabrics.  I have lots of little floral and star prints to work with; and lots of pretty country colors too.  So this season, my big pine kitchen/school table has been transformed into a kitchen/sewing table a few quiet hours a week.

I do miss my boys at home, but it's been nice to sit quietly with a sewing machine and create something pretty...and soft.  I think Moms of all boys, especially teenage, know what I'm talking about here.   It's been especially nice when warm autumn sunlight falls just right on the table - glorious!

May you also be blessed with warm sunlight, inspiration, but especially Love around your kitchen table this beautiful autumn season.  

Antique Oak Wardrobe

I'd like to share a photo of an antique oak Tudor wardrobe that my dear husband and I just purchased for our home.  This is the ebay seller's picture.

We purchased this wardrobe because we live in a cute little old cottage with some charming old features; but it lacks a single closet in the entire house.  We have managed clothing storage pretty well; using dressers for most clothing items, under beds for shoes, pegs and hooks on walls with dress clothes hung on hangers, and sons' sports equipment and winter clothing kept in an outbuilding until needed.  But, dear hubby and I have always felt we needed something more for our bedroom to neatly contain our things.  We have been looking for some kind of armoire or wardrobe for several years now; but everything we looked at was either too big, too small, too expensive, or too, well, ugly.  This wardrobe is just perfect!

"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."  ~ William Morris

Broccoli Puff

Broccoli Puff is a delicious fall or winter dish to serve at dinner time; it's also a good potluck dish.  Even broccoli haters like it!

Broccoli Puff (Serves 8-10)

• 20oz Frozen Chopped Broccoli
• 1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
• 1 1/2 cups Grated Cheddar Cheese
• 1/2 cup Mayonnaise
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 tsp Minced Onion
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Cook the broccoli according to pkg directions. Drain.  Combine all the ingredients and pour into an 8"x8" or 9"x9" baking dish.  Bake 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Season of Change

After a summer of thoughtful family discussions and prayerful consideration, my two youngest sons have gone back to our town's small public school instead of homeschooling.  We will try public school for a year and see how it goes.

I plan to leave my Home Education Category on my blog because there are some skills my husband and I will continue to teach our sons at home that I may want to write about in the future, such as blacksmithing and carpentry with my husband, and guitar and music with me.  Also, next year my youngest son might be home again, we will just have to see and evaluate as the year goes by.  My middle son is a high school senior and will be graduating this year.  My oldest son is in college and is studying abroad for a semester.

This year will be very different from previous years, but I am hopeful and optimistic it will be a great year!

There is a time for everything,

And a season for every purpose under heaven.

~ Ecclesiastes 3:1  

Thank You

Life has been so full to overflowing this month here at Forget-Me-Not Homestead; with routine chores, gardening, canning, home improvement projects, friend and family gatherings, and homeschool planning.  But, I wanted to be sure to pop into my blog today, because it is my one-year anniversary with HomesteadBlogger!  And I'd like to thank each of you who have visited my blog, read my posts, and left nice comments.  Your kindness has meant so much to this newbie blogger.  I'd also like to thank all of you for your lovely, thoughtful blogs - each one is so unique.  I've learned much from many of them, and many have touched my heart.

Thank you dear blogging friends.  I'm looking forward to another year of lovely blogs and blogging.

Peace and blessings, Kim

I wanted to share a photo of what are, I think, the last of my summer flowers.  This is a bouquet of monkshood, foxglove, and lupines in my favorite blue Ball jar.

Amazing Duck Story

Wild Berries and Jam

I just finished making my first batch of jam this year, picked from wild berries growing on our homestead - eight 1/2 pints of salmonberry jam.  This first batch turned out a little runny, and the fruit is floating on the top, but it tastes delicious all the same on a warm, buttered slice of homemade bread.

A salmonberry looks like a large raspberry, but tastes more tart.  Its color is either orange or red.

PickYourOwn.org has a very helpful page about canning, as well as lists of pick your own farms, festivals, and events around the U.S. and other countries.

Tip: When making jelly or jam it is helpful to use a large pot because the liquid increases greatly in bulk as it boils.  It may boil over and create a huge mess if the saucepan is too small.

Mom's Garden

Sharing a few photos from my garden.

My 13 year-old youngest son gave me this "Mom's Garden" rock for Mother's Day this year.  It's so sweet, just like him.  Nestled in a patch of perennial geraniums, it cheers up this shady spot in my garden.

I love purple lupines.  I think they're simply lovely.

In the background of this photo is a 10' tall, dense thicket of wild salmonberries that will make delicious jam later this summer.

My dear husband and sons gave me this pretty little Miss Kim Lilac several years ago for Mother's Day.  They were so delighted to find a flower at the nursery with my name on it!  The memory of that day is so sweet.  The scent is light, but absolutely heavenly!

I am so grateful for God's blessings of love, beauty, joy, and abundance in my garden and home.

"Who loves a garden, still his Eden keeps."  ~ A.B. Alcott

Rain

"God created rainy days so gardeners could get the housework done."

I'm not sure who said this, but it certainly has been true for me this week!

Berry Cobbler

Hometown parades, barbecues, gardening, sunny days, berry picking, and delicious homemade berry desserts are some of the simple pleasures of summer.  Here's my recipe for Berry Cobbler.  It's best served warm with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Berry Filling:

• 2 pints Berries - I use wild blueberries or huckleberries, but whatever you have is fine.
• 3/4 Sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp. Cornstarch
• 1 tsp. Lemon Juice

Pastry Dough:

• 1 1/2 cup All-Purpose Flour
• 1/4 cup Sugar
• 1 tsp. Baking Soda
• 1 tsp. Salt
• 1/8 tsp. Cinnamon
• 3 tbsp. Cold Butter
• 3/4 cup Milk

1. Preheat oven to 400F.  Lightly grease 9-inch pie plate.  Toss all of the filling ingredients together in small bowl, then evenly distribute in pie plate.  Set aside.

2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  In another bowl, mix together a teaspoon of sugar and cinnamon.  Set aside.

3. Cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal.  Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, pour in milk.  Stir with fork.  Drop by spoonfuls onto berries.  Sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar.

4. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.

The Simple Life

"The simple life is one in which there is always time to remember the divine purpose behind each of our tasks, time to listen for a possible divine amendment to the day's schedule, and time to be thankful for the divine Presence at each moment of the day."

~ Lloyd Lee Wilson

Carrot Seeds

Today is a beautiful spring day.  A nice day to plant my favorite seeds - pelleted carrot seeds.  I like pelleted carrot seeds because you can plant a single seed at the correct spacing; there is no need to overplant the tiny carrot seeds, and then thin them out later.  Pelleted carrot seeds are a little more expensive.  I purchase mine from Territorial Seed Company; 250 seeds are $3.25, 1000 seeds are $7.45, 5000 seeds are $23.00.

For the last few years I've been purchasing Mokum pelleted carrot seeds for my square foot garden beds.  I like Mokum carrots because they're delicious, and because of their shorter time until maturity - only 56 days.

Here's a photo of a bunch of Mokum carrots from last year's harvest.

They look short and stubby because my raised beds are only 6" deep and the carrots have hit bedrock.  They look funny, but they taste great!

A Sweet,Beautiful Home

The following passage spoke to my heart.  I'm wishing all of you a very beautiful, blessed, and happy Mother's Day today and every day.  Peace and blessings, Kim

"Very largely does the wife hold in her hands as a sacred trust the happiness and the highest good of the hearts that nestle there.  In the last analysis, home happiness depends on the wife.

Her spirit gives the home its atmosphere.

Her hands fashion its beauty.

Her heart makes its love.

And the end is so worthy, so noble, so divine, that no woman who has been called to be a wife, and has listened to the call, should consider any price too great to pay, to be...

the light,

the joy,

the blessing,

the inspiration,

of a home.

The woman who makes a sweet, beautiful home, filling it with love and prayer and purity, is doing something better than anything else her hands could find to do beneath the skies.

A true mother is one of the holiest secrets of home happiness.  God sends many beautiful things to this world, many noble gifts; but no blessing is richer than that which He bestows in a mother who has learned love's lessons well, and has realized something of the meaning of her sacred calling."

~ J.R. Miller, Secrets of Happy Home Life, 1894