So, out of the corner of my eye I see something move on the front porch. I turn to look and there is a snake slithering on the porch......thankfully it's a baby snake but still, a snake is a snake. I go out onto the porch and look at it a minute thinking, and how many cats do we have?????? You've got to be kidding me! Looking around I don't see a cat in sight and then I found them, taking cat naps (no pun intended) on the back porch. All would have been well had they just decided to rest on the front. Anyway, I killed it and have no idea what kind it was. I really do need to get a book on snakes so I can at least identify them when they visit on the front porch.
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Whew!

Well, finally back! VBS is over and we're exhausted but we had a great time. It's always a fun time for the kids....and me too!  Now we'll slow down a little bit and see what we can get into outside. We've finally gotten some brown eggs! My son was really excited when he found it. He goes to the coop about five times a day to see how many he can find. It's really funny too because the chickens seem so proud when he finds all the eggs. They all follow him into the coop and they'll look at him, then the egg, then back at him, as if to say, "See, see, here it is!" Cracks me up. They have the funniest personalities. The other day we were all down the hill feeding them and one of those big oil trucks came by. My kiddoes love to make them  honk, so they waved their little arms and the truck let out a really loud honk... scared the chickens to death! They went crazy, making so much racket, and ran into the coop as if something was after them. It was very entertaining to watch. They're not quite as tough as they think they are. My son built them a little feeder last week and they really seem to like it. You know, it's amazing what you can do when you try to improvise. At the feed stores, they have all those nice feeders and waterers, but really, if you have some wood and somewhat of an imagination, you can do it all yourself and save a heapful of money....and have fun in the process!
I know in an earlier post I said I was going to learn something new everyday and then post it. Well..............I have tried to learn something but I haven't been so good at posting it. Maybe you should just forget I said that so that it will be a suprise when I actually get to it. :)
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Fall Planting

I've been busy trying to figure out exactly what I want to plant in our fall garden. This will be the first time we've planted for fall. I think I've narrowed it down to these plants: pumpkins, onions, carrots, potatoes, and lettuce. Might try some perennial herbs on the outskirts but I'm not sure which ones yet. I think we'll try gourds too just for fun. It will be fun to have a bunch of pumpkins by the time fall gets here. I love to decorate for fall and the kids will love to grow and pick the pumpkins and gourds. I'll have to clean out the tomatoes which I really don't want to do yet. I think I might give them another week or so. Some of them are ready to go but some are still producing even though they're not very big. We'll have to plant everything but the potatoes from seed. Our local nursery said they won't be getting any more bedding plants in this summer. Planting from seed takes longer but is really more fun to watch. It's rewarding to see the first green start to pop out of the ground. Just love it!
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Our Precious

Here's a picture of our little Precious girl beagle. She's such a good little watchdog and keeps the varmints away at night. She's seven years old now and her best friends are the cats. Some beagles are stocky and much bigger, but Precious has always been a petite little thing. When the chickens used to run freely all over the place, she never tried to kill one.....and she could have numerous times. Such a good little dog.
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New Things

I've had a revelation today. I don't think this is the first time I've had this revelation, but maybe it's the first time I've been determined to follow through. I've decided to learn something brand new everyday. Whether it's a new word of the day ( I need one of those calendars), a history fact, a new recipe, interesting fact about our beloved animals, or just some random fact that really no one cares about, I'm going to learn it. I've also decided, first and foremost, to find a new plant, veggie or flower, that I don't know much about, research it, then post what I find. Someone once told me that if we would learn something new everyday, at the end of one year we would have 365 new facts and by the time we're on up in years, we would be one smart cookie. I guess the important thing is actually retaining what you learn. This is where it can get tricky. I might need to eat an extra dose of blueberries for this one. They're loaded with brain power, you know. So, here's my new history fact I learned about blueberries.
In the early history of the United States, blueberry juice was used to treat various sicknesses such as coughs and digestive problems. It was also used for a relaxant during childbirth. There you have it. I found that very interesting.
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I do believe I'm addicted to, obsessed with,  dedicated to tilling. I know that sounds strange for those of you that don't like to dig in the dirt, but I just love it! I left room in between most of the rows in the garden and all around the outskirts so that I could till while things were still producing. I will say that it has kept the fire ants out. In years past we have had a lot of fire ants in the garden but not this year. I think tilling as much as I did before we planted had a lot to do with it. There's just something about seeing freshly tilled ground. Wish I had planted pumpkins in time but will save that for next time.
We still haven't seen any brown eggs yet but we should get some any day now. Can't wait to get all those eggs. They are so good! We've got a lot of egg customers just waiting for fresh eggs. The cookbook I have posted on here, The Amish Cook at Home, is an amazing cookbook. I just love it because she goes through all the seasons and has a story on each page along with the best recipes. She explains how they live and at what time of the year they butcher and can and just all sorts of things. It's just amazing. I'm always really fascinated with the Amish. I love their lifestyle although I couldn't go without the water or electricity as some of them do. I have made so many recipes out of that book and they are all delicious! Browsing through my cookbooks is one of my very favorite things to do. Paula Deen is my favorite too. That lady knows how to cook!!!  A friend of mine has given me a subscription to her magazine for the past four years (for my birthday) and I love it! Every year she says, "What do you want for your birthday?" And every year I say,
"The same please!" I believe I have tried almost everything out of all the issues and you just can't beat her cooking. Would love to meet her some day....wouldn't that be a hoot!! She likes desserts as much as I do!
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Chicken Patties

I concocted this recipe the other night and boy was it good! Here goes:
3 cups cooked, chopped chicken
1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup mayo
4 tablespoons butter
2 large eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups crushed seasoned bread crumbs
1 tablespoon mustard
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/2 teaspoon Tony Chachere's (I use Tony's in pretty much everything I make :))
Saute the onion, bell pepper, and 2 tablespoons of butter in pan until tender. In a large bowl, mix remaining ingredients. Form mixture into patties, whatever size you wish.  In a large skillet, melt remaining butter over medium heat. Cook chicken patties about 4 min. on each side or until browned. YUMMMMMY! The kids really liked them too. We were so involved in eating them that I forgot to take a picture! Serve with potato salad and it's a keeper!
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The Cat That Thinks She's a Dog

I told you in a previous post about our cat, Cinderella, that thinks she's a dog. We actually have another one that sleeps in the dog house with our dog Precious. I'll post that one also. She's quite the watch cat!

This is Gunsmoke, who also thinks he's a dog. He and Precious get a along well and share the dog house. It's quite comical to look in there and see them both sound asleep. And who made up the expression,"fights like cats and dogs"? Not at our place!

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Fun Days

What a great 4th of July!  The weather was great, not too dry for fireworks.  We had a church picnic after the morning service then went to friends' house for hamburgers, desserts, fireworks, and lots of fun. The kids loved every minute of everything! We really take for granted all the freedoms we have. It's a shame that we take them for granted but we do. May we stand up for the Biblical principles that made our nation great! And may we never forget that God gives us the freedom to do so.
We are getting a basket full of tomatoes every morning. I will be freezing them; there are too many to eat before they ruin. I would like to harvest some seed for next year.....let's see if that gets done. The landscaping mood has struck, actually I don't think it ever leaves me. I built the kids a swing set frame coming off of the tree house so I have moved all the swings down the hill. That means that the back yard is open for all kinds of beautiful plants. Of course Bottlebrushes will be the first thing to go into the ground.  Lady Banks rose bush flows from one corner of the fence and on another part I have Carolina Jasmine growing hog wild. I would like to plant more Jasmine or some other kind of vine...or both, on the remaing bare part of the fence.  In the spring the Lady Banks rose bush and the Azaleas are in bloom at the same time and it is absolutely beautiful! I am also wanting to construct an arbour to cover our picnic table.  Not enough hours in the day!  
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Cinnamon Blueberry Muffins

Cinnamon Blueberry Muffins

These are tasty little muffins. The cinnamon really adds to the taste. Of course, how could you go wrong using fresh blueberries? Here's the recipe.

Cinnamon Blueberry Muffins
1 stick butter softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 cups fresh blueberries (add strawberries in with the blueberries too, YUM!)
1/2 cup milk
Mix butter and sugar on low speed until combined. Add eggs one at a time until mixed well. Mix flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon into mixture and mix until smooth. Add milk and combine; do not overmix. Then gently fold in blueberries. Bake on 375 degrees for 20-25 min. depending on your oven. Coat with butter while warm and dig in! So good!

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Beautiful Blueberries

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Blueberries

Wow! Today we went to a blueberry farm here in Nacogdoches. It was so beautiful and there was an abundance of blueberries. We had a great time and I can't believe we haven't been there before now. As long as I've lived here and I've never been there. Crazy. Soooooooo, now it's time to make some blueberry desserts! Desserts are by far my favorite part of the meal. In fact, the only real reason I can see for eating a meal is to get the dessert. Makes sense doesn't it? Well, I'm ready to experiment so I will post the recipes and pictures as soon as I make them. We should have enough blueberries to last us a while, even with all the experimenting that's about to take place.
I have learned something new about my chickens. In a previous post I described how the three rebels would run to the back porch to eat the cat and dog food. I just learned that if chickens aren't getting enough protein that you can give them cat food and that will help. Who would have thought that? So, we have started feeding them a larger amount of their food and they are as content as they can be. They are much calmer and don't peck at us anymore. How nice! They love all the scraps from the garden too.
I am compiling a list of fruit trees that I want to plant when tree season gets here. Would love to have as many as I can fit. My very favorite shrub is the Bottlebrush. I had two beautiful, very healthy Bottlebrushes that I had planted four years ago and then I lost them both when the BIG freeze hit this past winter. It was a very sad day to me so I try not to think about it. I was very suprised by this though. They are the heartiest shrub and very easy to grow. Not a lot of effort needs to be spent on them and they are absolutely beautiful! I will know next time to cover them good if we are going to get that big of a freeze.....doesn't happen very often. I plan on getting about ten at some point and scattering them throughout our backyard. It will be Hummingbird Heaven!!
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We got our first eggs yesterday!

We were so excited to walk in the coop and find two eggs! They were white eggs so the Pearl Whites are the ones that gifted us. We have five Pearl Whites, six Red Stars, five Black Stars, and five Rhode Island Reds. Everyone but the Pearls will give us brown eggs.

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Kitten Cuteness

We have three little kittens and I have to say, they are really cute!

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Picture of our Garden

Here is a picture of our bountiful garden.

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Garden Pests

We seem to have an infestation of insects in our garden all of a sudden. There are stink bugs on the tomatoes, and something is eating the green bean foliage. Definitely not what I want to see while parusing through the garden. Organic gardening is the only way I go so I am going to make a mixture of something, I'm not sure what yet, and spray. Does anyone know what will take care of the stink bugs? I am going to research to see what I can find out and will share with the rest of you gardeners. Gardening is such as experiment and I love it because there is always something new to do. Whether it's making the soil better, using new organic spray, new varieties of veggies to plant, making it colorful with flowers, or just whatever, it's just plain exciting to me!
Of course I've already planned certain things I want to do for next time. And one of those is to make it quite a bit larger than it is now. My kids were a little perplexed at this idea.....I informed them of this as we were weeding. :) And I will make sure that nothing eats our corn and green bean seeds. We were supposed to have two full rows of corn and one of green beans. I noticed that the chickens were scoping things out as we were planting. Little did I know, and should have thought of it, they were planning on when to strike and get the seeds. They managed to get almost all of the two rows we planted. Well, I will be on guard more next time.

I guess I should back up a little and tell you a little about our life. We, my three kids and I, have six cats, one dog, and twenty-one chickens. We want to get some goats and of course a horse or two. My son is dying for a horse.....and I am too. Hopefully that is in our near future. A cow or two would be nice too. Our baby chicks arrived in Feb. 2010 and we just love them. They are a lot of fun and are very comical to watch. They are all hens and we are waiting for eggs any day now. They are organic, of course, and we'll sell the extra eggs. They're supposed to each lay one egg a day so we will have an abundance of eggs! That's where the profit comes in. We have one acre and I am determined to get as much on this acre as we possibly can. My parents live next to us with seventeen acres so we have access to some of that too. One of the best books I have is called "The Backyard Homestead". It's an absolutely wonderful book. It talks about all you can actually do with one acre. It has a lot of gardening advice, canning, raising animals, and just about anything you might want to know, definitely a MUST HAVE.
I homeschool my three kids and it's quite an adventure! I use the Classical Education method of teaching and it's just amazing to watch this method work. For those of you not familiar with Classical Education, in a nutshell, it's how they were taught years ago, you know, when people were really smart. It's Biblically sound material, both rigorous and exciting all at the same time. We, as a society, definitely underestimate what kids can learn and do. It's an exciting time and I'm starting to pick out their books for this coming year. The summer goes by soooooo fast! I think I need a little longer!

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New Squash Recipe

We have so much squash from our garden that I have frozen some and am experimenting with ways to cook it. There's nothing like fresh summer squash! I just love it. This is my favorite time of year. The kids and I love to go down to the garden every morning to see what we may be able to pick. Although I am getting pretty disgusted to find that some of our tomatoes have big bites taken out from a little veggie loving thief! I may just have to fence off the garden...... and fences are NOT my specialty.

Ok, here's the new recipe that was suprisingly good....and my kids loved it!! I named it:
Squash Rollups
2 cups yellow squash, cooked on stovetop until tender and drained very well
1/2 cup of onion, cook in pan with squash
2 cups shredded cheese
1 8oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup crushed seasoned croutons
1/4 cup diced ham, can be canned or sandwich meat too
2 cans cresent rolls
Mix together squash mixture thoroughly. Spread out two cresent rolls to make a square. Repeat with the rest of cresent rolls. Place heaping spoonfuls onto cresent rolls then fold up opposite corners and pinch. Brush tops with melted butter. Bake at 350 degrees or until golden on top. Yum!!! Thought this was a really good and different way to enjoy the summer squash. Enjoy!

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Up and running...and I mean running:)

Well, here it is. The first day of my Fiddlin' Farm Days blog. I'm not quite sure where to start so I'll just dive in. That's how I tend to do things anyway. Don't have a clue what I'm doing? No problem! I'll just dive on in. Trial and error, that's what I say. Seems like it's usually more error than anything else though.

The past couple of days I've been focused on trying to keep everything watered. It's extremely hot and our garden is begging for any liquid it might be given. Something has been eating our squash.....not sure what the culprit is. I know the chickens have been getting into them when they can during the day but they are in their coop at night. We have thought about sitting on the porch after dark to see what we might be able to see, but the thought of mosquitoes and possibly varmints like possums or something even worse, snakes, creeping up on us brings us back to our senses and we decide we'll just see what's missing in the morning. I have managed to keep most of the chickens in their yard during the day but there are three rebels who love to fly over as soon as they finish their food in the morning. It's the exact same routine every morning. They finish their food, fly over the fence, and run up to the back porch to see what they may be able to scrounge up there. They will consume whatever cat food is left and then proceed over to Precious's (our beagle) food bowl and continue to taste. Precious has become very privy to this and waits for the opportune time to pounce. They don't seem very fazed by this though. Dog food must be some sort of gourmet food. They are very comical to watch and the expression, "bird brain", is very appropriate.
We have a cat named Cinderella who is actually a boy but we did not know this at the time we named her. So, we still call him "her" and "Cinderella"....too confusing to change now. Anyway, this cat thinks she's a dog and it's absolutely hilarious. The other day I was working on the chicken fence (the story of my life these days) and I looked up to find that quite a few chickens had meandered into the garden. I casually said, "Cinderella, get those chickens out of our garden." To my suprise and flat out amusement, she took out for the garden and herded all the chickens out but one! I sat amazed and said, "Well, there's one more. Go get it." And again, off she went and chased the last one out. It was really priceless and I wish I could have gotten it on video. I will posts some pictures of our animals soon.

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