QUITE A DEAL!!!!!

I STRIVE TO BE A PROVERBS 31 WIFE--'THE HEART  OF HER HUSBAND DOTH SAFELY TRUST IN HER AND HE SHALL HAVE NO NEED OF SPOIL,' (vs.11). HERE ARE PICTURES OF TWO AMAZING DEALS WE GOT EARLIER IN THE FALL!

FIRST, WE GOT SOME BEAUTIFUL BAGS OF RUSSET POTATOES FOR $1.99/10LB. I DECIDED TO CAN THEM--HERE IS THE FINISHED PRODUCT--THEY TASTE REALLY GOOD AND ARE SO CONVENIENT!

NEXT IS A THRIFT STORE FIND--AN ATTRACTIVE EXTRA LARGE COOKING POT! I THINK I PAID LESS THAT FOUR DOLLARS AND IT'S PRETTY ENOUGH TO SERVE IN! I FELT SO GOOD ABOUT THIS ITEM!

DON'T YOU LOVE A GOOD BARGAIN? I KNOW YOU'VE ALL BEEN CHRISTMAS SHOPPING, GIVING AND RECEIVING GIFTS. SO, PLEASE SHARE YOUR BEST BARGAIN OR MOST ECONOMICAL, USEFUL GIFT IDEA IN YOUR NEXT COMMENT.

Blessings, LORI

CHRISTMAS AND FAMILY TRADITIONS--REDEEMING THE TIME

 I'm  thrilled to share these pictures. Not so long ago my grandkids were 20 hours away. Through an interesting series of events, my grandchildren are currently living back in our area, if only temporarily. Since the end of October, we've been packing in all the fun activities we can! 

l. Took a trip to the local "stone school," country school, complete with new prairie dresses

2. Had a couple of overnight stays at Granny and Papa's house

3. Went to the library together

4. Christmas shopped together

5. Baked many goodies in Granny's kitchen

6. Did some schoolwork together

7. Made paper snowflakes

8. Saw the big possum Papa had to "rid" from the chicken coop area (really a big, interesting deal to Emma!)

9. Fed the chickens and gathered eggs

10. Sold eggs and collected the egg money and put it in Granny's glass chicken (learning responsibility of business and how to budget for the chicken's feed)

11. Went out for pizza together

12. Attended worship practice with Granny and Aunt Ran and danced and used the worship banners while we practiced!

13. Went out for ice cream

14. Visited great grandmas

15. Played in the antique toy corner

16. Participated in tea parties

17. Prayed together and recited healing scriptures when someone was threatened with flu

18. Enjoyed life together!

And here we are last evening making memories by baking a traditional butter cookie recipe that I used to make with my Mom when I was little. Of course, the decorating is the most fun, although, little ones like to roll the dough and cut the shapes too! The girls were having a lot of fun and the kitchen "took a beating," we might say--oh well, that is to be expected!

Huxley pictured below making some of the faces he is so famous for! He's a flirt and loves to give interesting "looks."

Merry Christmas, LORI

OLD FASHIONED PRINCESSES

Could hardly wait to share these pictures taken one day when the girls came over. They had fun in Granny's sewing room! Emma on the left, Sophie on the right. I love Sophie's smile.

Emma loved dressing up and wearing one of Granny's many antique hats (perfectly matched her dress) and looking at herseslf in the big oval mirror on the front of a cabinet in Granny's sewing room. (Used to be part of a furniture set of Emma's when she lived in Michigan!)

The ultimate dress up party! I love how the colors of Emma's dress and the colors of the room are a perfect match! Granny had as much fun as the girls, only Sophie didn't want to try her dress on! I love having these little girls home. Blessings, LORI

BE SURE TO TUNE IN NEXT WEEK WHEN GRANDPA SAYS...........

Doesn't this recent picture of the Zehr family remind you of the old segment on Hee Haw, "THE CULHANE'S OF CORNFIELD COUNTY?"  That was always my favorite part of the show. The Culhane's sat crowded onto the parlor sofa all looking completely uninterested in anything, but always full of country "wisdom!"

We tried to take a nice family picture of the grandkids with Papa and Granny at Papa's "cowboy" theme birthday party. I made these dresses for the girls for our day at the old school, but they were really in a bad mood when we took this picture and no one wanted to dress up or pose. Huxley looks pretty happy here, but we have similar shots that show his dismay with the whole thing!

Papa turned 51 on Thanksgiving Day and we had a good time despite the faces. Emma is completely uninterested, Sophie is downright aggravated at the idea of posing, and me and Papa were loving the whole thing and laughing at it all! Happy Birthday, Papa! This picture will be a good memory!

Please be sure to see my last post for pictures of the kids in their new "prairie" outfits when they were in better moods! Blessings, LORI

VANISHING AMERICAN EDUCATION--PART 2

I'm so excited to finally be able to share more of the pictures we took the day we had our little "field trip" to the Nottawa Stone School--one of the best kept destination secrets in our county! The first picture is of Huxley, my grandson, who wore his brown-striped overalls for this old-fashioned day of school! Even a little one like Huxley enjoys the old desks!

Here's Sophie, almost three years old, trying out her slate. She loved the old school too. Her favorite part of the day was "cleaning" the front desk up on the teacher's platform. She wiped it down several times with the cloth erasers provided for the slates!

Next is Emma, in her green prairie dress. She is the oldest and already is learning to read. She went into "teacher mode" almost as soon as we arrived and she gave her Granny an assignment to do on Granny's slate!

Emma enjoying the opportunity to write on the big blackboard up in front. See her prairie dress and bonnet? Granny made prairie dresses for her and Sophie with bonnets to match, especially for this day.

                              Both girls up near the teacher's desk. They LOVED ringing the bell!

Two contemplative pictures of Emma. First, she is at the teacher's desk loving her chance to play "old fashioned" schoolmarm. I love the one where she is reading under the big windows where the light fell in from the west!

Two little prairie girls shivering in the wind at the front doors of the school! Sophie looks so sweet! Emma's bonnet got shoved a bit forward and hid her big smile! We hurried to take this picture!

I know this post was a bit more lighthearted than the previous one. I intended it to be so, for I think it simply reflects the innocence we've lost in our culture since the days that this school was built (1860's?). I was talking to a friend the other day who is in her sixtie's and she was reminiscing about being able to walk a country mile as a child to visit cousins without her parent's supervision. We were a different people at the foundations of this country. Have we lost our freedom with all of our "progress?"

I am reminded of part of the prayer of King David of Israel, noted in Psalm 144...."That our garners may be full, affording all manner of store: that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets: That our oxen may be strong to labour; that there be no breaking in, nor going out; that there be no complaining in our streets . Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the Lord." (Italics and emphasis, mine)

This condition is true freedom!

Blessings, LORI

VANISHING AMERICAN EDUCATION

I am excited to share this post with you! See these dusty books? They are indicative of what I want to communicate.

For a long time I've been thinking about doing more "devotional" style blogs again--I've been silent too long.It was so evident to me this week as my grandchildren and I visited a nearby country school, still open to the public for tours, that we have lost something very valuable over the last century.

 American education is simply not what it was when our granparents filled classrooms like these and studied from books like the McGuffey readers. My respect to all you teachers, this is not intended to cut down your service. I know many teachers and most are a very dedicated group of public servants. But I think we can learn some things from observing the vanishing American schooling trends of the past.

The heavy, durable desks and furnishings were just one example of a culture that valued quality and long life. Things were expected to last--money was viewed differently. Things were hard to come by and therefore quality and durability mattered. Textbooks and supplies were not replaced every year.

How about these slates as an example of environmental consciousness? Each child could pick one up each morning and use it repeatedly without wasting sheet after sheet of paper. How's that for "green?"  And we think we are on the cutting edge!

But even more obvious than all that, I was struck by the pictures that hung in this classroom. Portraits of the Presidents, Washington and Lincoln, were proudly and prominently displayed at the front of the room and elsewhwere on the walls. Other pictures depicting events of American history were displalyed as well. The desks were arranged with larger ones to the backs of the rows for the older students and they gradually got smaller toward the front of every row. This was a vivid reminder that we once could put all age groups together and that the older ones helped the young to learn. No need for multiple classrooms and special age-related programs.

All these observable differences point to the fact that scholastics and character-building mattered more than all of the frills we often associate with a well-rounded education. These vanishing (or vanished) American educational trends served a society that honored Christian principles and produced some of the world's greatest leaders, inventors, statesmen, and heroes.

What has our progress cost us?

More on the next post....until then, Blessings, LORI

PETER RABBIT HAS BEEN IN MY GARDEN

Peter Rabbit appears to be holding some of my garden carrots! Peter Rabbit is a bid deal around here! We collect his books, and so forth. These beautiful carrots came from the garden and this late in the year we are still enjoying them! Next year I will definitely plant more! There is a definite taste difference in a home-raised carrot and one from the store. Maybe Peter thinks so too!

I haven't posted many "devotional" style blogs for some time, but hope to have some real thought-provokers coming up soon--stay tuned! Blessings, LORI

RECYCLED BAGS

Here is a picture of my leftover scratch grain bag that turned into a really good bag for "big" type needlework. It is currently holding a huge ball of Icelandic roving that I am spinning!  Blessings, LORI

ANTIQUE CHICKEN BUTTER DISH AND SPINNING WHEEL

I had a great Saturday last week! A large old business builidng in our town had a giant antiques auction! My great, great, grandmothers at one time worked for the business from their homes. It was the Lamb Knit Company. They manufactured gloves at the turn of the last century--go figure! And now I'm a knitter--finished a pair of gloves just last week. Anyway, each day the company sent out stacks of gloves to area housewives who sewed up the fingers. My grandma left this info in her diary and that was the exact same historical overview given before the auction. I wanted some memorabilia from the factory and ended up getting this wonderful little spinning wheel. I can't be sure it was original to the Lamb Knit Company, but might have been since the building also housed a school, I believe, according to historical information. The school trained teachers and a tabletop loom was sold that same day, said to be original to the school. I paid more than I would normally pay for any auction item, but I'm pleased with my purchase. I have cleaned it up and will give it several coats of oil to nourish the wood. I believe all parts are there, with a minor exception of eyelets, and it is in working condition.

After the sale, I went to a local Goodwill and purchased this wonderful chicken butter dish. I LOVE this new acquisition. Our old modern butter dish was cumbersome and had no handle, making it difficult to use. This one is way, way better and cute as well! Since I'm a chicken lover, this will be just great. I almost didn't buy it, but for $4.50, how could I go wrong? The spinning wheel price was a different story. Let's just say at least two other bidders thought it was worth what I paid because I sort of had to keep diligent to get this wheel! Blessings, LORI

 

EAR RING

Took this picture on one of my daughter's last days at work this season. We went out to the fields to check corn and I go to ride along! I got the bright idea to put one of my favorite rings on an ear of corn! How about that for an EAR RING?

WOOLY WORLD

Just wanted to share a bit of news. I haven't been able to post lately. But here's a picture of a drum carder that my spinning group had set up at our recent county fair. One of our memebers was kind enough to loan it to our display for the week. I learned to operate it and demonstrate this step in the processing of wool for the many onlookers that visited our interesting display.  After wool is "picked" it is placed in the drum carder, cranked by hand until the drum is full of long strands of wool all going in the same direction. Then the long pinlike tool is used to gently lift the wool off the carder at one location. Once it is "pried" (not a hard job!) loose, it can be neatly pulled off in a uniform "batt." It is then ready to spin or be put through one more process to make roving. Either way, it's "spinnable" at this point.

Several of us ladies sat and spun or knitted all week so people could watch the process and get their questions answered. We had the walls behind us covered with our hand-spun creations. A nice informational board was included that featured locks of many different kinds of wool to show the incredible variety available!

Here's hoping EWE enjoyed this demonstration! Blessings, LORI

GONE, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN, I HOPE!

I wanted to post just a little note to let all my faithful blog followers know that I am still here, right here in St. Joseph County and busy! I simply have difficulty posting the higher quality pics here at home and little time to go elsewhere to post! I hope to get back to posting again soon. I am working less hours and hopefully that means more time for artistic pursuits! Blessings, LORI

DOMESTIC PURSUITS

I've been spending a lot of time in the kitchen lately. Canning green beans, is one reason. We recently did about 40 pints over three canning sessions. Some from our garden, some purchased from one of the only places we could find that actually had some this year. Apparently the weather took a toll on that crop as well.

Next was corn. This beautiful corn came from my daughter's generous employer. I think we did about 36 pints of that plus froze a little as well.

I love this close-up! There is something so satisfying about seeing all your hard work lined up on a shelf. It's kind of an insurance against inflating food prices, hard winters, and so on. I guess I got the canning bug from hearing my parents' and grandmas' references to the  depression and seeing their full pantries--a well-stocked basesment shelf was something that comforted them even 30-40 years after the end of the Great Depression. I think living through something like that changes you forever and teaches you to be prepared.

With my abundance of fresh eggs, I decided to make some noodles I hadn't made noodles this way in about 20 years, but they turned out perfectly.

Here are the strips of noodle dough drying on paper towels hanging on my clothes racks. I couldn't remember for sure how to do the noodles, so I experimented and it was perfect the first time.

This next picture is the noodle cutter. I have a strip of dough going through on the wide setting and the cookie sheet waiting to "catch" them.

Here are noodles drying on the counters. Our church used to do about 90-120 dozen eggs worth each year. This is one dozen worth here. Two days ago I did twice as many and they are even nicer, though I was very happy with these! I made an angel food cake from the whites. That was a first in 20 years as well! It was very good. Will be doing that again!

I'm keeping busy with end-of-summer activities and putting food away for the winter. I have used up almost all of the pint jars I have available and I had a big stash of jars. Now I have basically only one kind left, small mouth quarts and not much to put in them! Interestingly, of all the years for this to happen...a tree I planted thinking it was an ornamental cherry turned out to be a peach and bore some fruit for the first time! Not enough to can but an amazing feat for this drought year and a nice surprise. I ate one of my own home-grown peaches for the first time ever!

I've been reading a lot lately trying to review some books for friends as an extension of my job at the library. I am not that much of a reader, but have read some good historical books lately and all this has kept me busy too! Blessings to you! LORI

FLOWERS

Here are a few older pictures from earlier in the summer before the worst of the drought set in. This drought and heat wave is the worst I ever remember in all my 51 years. People are saying it's the worst since some time in the 1950's. Even though I took this picture quite some time ago, you can see that my yard beyond the garden is brown already.

Even during the drought, my hollyhocks, favorites of mine--and Eileen's from my book, "A Sturdy Fence," grew and blossomed profusely. Eileen tells Luke that hollyhocks are not flowers you'd see alone in bouquets like roses or carnations, but they do best blooming where they're planted, against sturdy fences, or in my case, where they volunteer--against farm buildings. Our temperatures were in the upper 90's and low 100's for days on end. This hot trend continued for weeks and hasn't actually let up yet. We've had only the occasional cooler day. I am ready for fall after all this!

This is a picture of white sweet peas against an old bed frame at the back of the English garden. The drought had not taken its toll yet in this picture. I do have a soft spot for "garden junk!"

Daylilies in profusion surround my front porch, back deck, and some places in the English garden. Normally they bloom repeatedly all summer, but this year in the drought, they bloomed once and I am concerned that I may have lost many of them after that. I cut them back this evening and am hoping for a 'rebirth' of flowers now that we've had a little rain, but we are still way, way behind normal rainfall and the leaves on these pretty flowers are all yellow and brown. We'll see. I originally started all the many plants from one start given to me by a friend in Iowa. I hate to lose them after all that effort of splitting and waiting for another season!

One more random picture from the English Garden.

Hoping your area is experiencing good weather. Blessings, LORI

FAMILY TIMES

My grandchildren were home for a visit recently! Here's Huxley eating pizza on the run. It reminds me of "snips and snails and puppy dog tails, that's what little boys are made of," because I'm pretty sure the pizza crust had hit the dirt before he grabbed it and stuck it in his mouth! Babies make moms busy!

Here is a picture of me and Huxley near the lake in Colon. There is a nice park there and we decided to pose for a picture after the pizza picnic.

This is Sophie helping me plant pole beans in my garden on one of the last days before they left. Emma helped too, but I failed to add that picture here.

Here are two sweet little girls standing at the end of the pier enjoying the lake in our town. Emma is on the left and Sohpie on the right.

Here is Miss Emma in her summer hat waiting to be served a picnic of pizza.

Next is Emma helping me mark the peaches with "2012" so they can be put down in the basement. We canned 20 quarts while they were home. Our peaches came from Alabama this year. So few in Michigan because of the spring weather conditions.

A photo of me and Emma baking cookies in the kitchen. We were having a lot of fun!

Here is a picture of Sophie waiting for her pizza. She is staring at the empty plate and seems to be saying, "don't forget me!" Such a sweetie and we miss all of the kids so much! Already looking forward to the next time we can see them!
Blessings, LORI

Memorial Day

I've been really having a hard time getting time to load pictures and write blogs! We are so busy and our time is quite limited. I thought I'd post this picture of me on Memorial Day next to my Grandpa's grave. He was a soldier in WW1. I picked flowers from my garden and wrapped them in wet paper towels and then foil to place a few on several family members' graves that day. As a Brownie years ago, we and the Girl Scouts used to make up these little bouquets and race to the soldiers' graves as soon as the ceremony was over to place flowers and make sure none were missed. I always wanted to be first to get to my grandpa's grave, but his is on the far side of the cemetery and I'm not a fast runner! I never was the one to place his flowers, but this year I finally was the one to place some flowers! It was a very hot day and I hope you had a nice time honoring loved ones as well. Blessings, LORI

LAVENDER WANDS

I spent some long, leisurely afternoons over the weekend making lavendar wands out of the profusion of lavender that grows along my front landscaping.

Here are a few pictures of the wands. I misunderstood the directions and found a better way to weave them after making several. Oh, well! We learn from our mistakes. But in this case, even the mistakes are pretty and useful!

I've been drying a lot of flowers lately. Lavendar is one I have in abundance. I have never regretted planting it. I will also dry baby's breath and several herbs. Our weather is very conducive to drying right now. We desperately need rain and it's been in the 90's! So unusual for us this early in the summer. Our lawns are burned up and if you don't irrigate your gardens, they are probably already gone. We are hoping for a few showers soon!

Blessings, LORI

JUST SAY CHEESE!

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to make cheese? Well, I have. So I tried it. I used a simple recipe for Farmer's cheese requiring no special ingredients or tools. I was amazed at how easy this was!

FIRST PICTURE: The curds just after I took them out of the cooking pan. I am using my old jelly bag for a cheesecloth--it's not dirty, just stained from years of making black raspberry jelly!

SECOND PICTURE: Me squeezing the excess water out of the cheese. It's kind of like dry cottage cheese at this point. In fact, I can imagine using this same recipe and adding a bit of cream or something, skipping the next few steps and making cottage cheese. Don't know for sure if that would work or not, but I 'd like to experiment with it.

THIRD PICTURE: A nice loaf of Farmer's Cheese. This is a very mild tasting cheese, much like mozzarella. I enjoy it and treat myself to a chunk of it about every day.

There are no pictures of the last step, but after we gathered the curds into the loaf we pressed more water out by placing the cheese between two slanted cutting boards and weighting it with an iron skillet. About an hour later, we had some nice cheese!

I saved the whey--water that was left after the curds formed. I used it to make bread the next day and honestly, it was the nicest bread I can ever remember making and the family says so too! I guess there are a lot of uses for whey and I am also using it to water my compost pile. Very interesting experience with cheesemaking!

FINAL ASSESSMENT: I enjoyed this process and would definitely do it again.

I am currently enjoying lettuce from my own garden as well as new potatoes. My pea pods are almost ready and a few strawberries are appearing. It's been fun to make lots of home food these past few weeks with the bounty of gardens and laying hens. I'd like to be more self-sufficient, but it does take work!
BLESSINGS, LORI