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

Lily, the Garden Cat

I wanted to share some recent garden photos with you! Here's my cat, Lily, peeking out from under my garden coffee table. Too bad the camera strap blew into the picture right when I snapped it!

Next is a bunch of "Love-In-A-Mist" or Nigella flowers that freely self-sow in my garden each year. I love them!

Next is a view of the back of the house through lace! I like to see the world through lace! I hang this old tablecloth and sheer curtains on the old bed frame each spring. It makes a nice gentle canopy of diffused light where I can sit and read in the middle of the English Garden.

This is Lily, the garden cat. She loves to leap from one large stone to another as she stalks bugs and other things that creep around in the garden.

Lily relaxing on a garden bench. 

Please be sure to see my previous post about the historic church! Blessings from the English Garden!

FAMOUS HYMNS AND REVIVALS

We took a ride last Sunday afternoon to Pokagon, Michigan, just west of our area to see a quaint little historical spot that my husband Clint discovered on a recent trip for his employer. It was extremely hot that afternoon, though obviously the pictures don't show that! Our area got into the mid 90's last weekend!

I am standing in front of the church where the famous hymn, "The Old Rugged Cross" was first sung. The sign below explains all the history of the hymn and its significance to this place. It was finished for a revival held here in 1913. Hopefully you can read the explanation on the sign. This era in history is one of my favorites--clothing wise, historically, and for the fact that our nation experienced a great emphasis on revivals during this time period.

The little church is being made into a museum. The grounds around it are very nicely kept and quite beautiful.

After we were finished there, I mentioned to Clint that I'd like to go on to look for an old camp where I spent some time as a young person, Crystal Springs, near Dowagiac. We found it easily a few minutes later and drove through the grounds to see the quaint old buildings. It is another of those wonderful places from this era, a place where revivals were held. It is the kind of place that made an iimpression on me--one that I'll never forget. I like to think it shaped me in some very profound ways as I stood in the huge wooden tabernacle as a young girl. The tabernacle is still there, constructed in the late 1800's. I believe the camp is still run by the United Methodist Church. The beautiful tabernacle was home to large crowds at the turn of the century for preaching and singing services. As I remember, the side doors swing out and can be propped up or at least opened to accommodate overflow crowds. I modeled the African church in my latest book, "The Call From a Distant Field" after the tabernacle at Crystal Springs that so impressed me at 12 years old. So this little Sunday afternoon excursion was like stepping back in time--one of my favorite things! Blessings, LORI