Happenings on the Homestead in the Appalachian Mountains

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from Georgia.  How you doing this 17th week of 2023?  We had blackberry winter - a cold spell when the wild blackberries are in bloom.  Kevin came across several good deals & we got his onXmap set up for Georgia.  We went exploring back in the mountains & I discovered lady slippers in bloom. Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & I'll tell you more about those deals & show you some pictures of the lady slippers, come walk with me...

*  Kevin's deal #1 - He got 2 trailer loads of stockpiled mulch for the garden from the electric company's cleanup from underneath the power lines. 

Tomato & pepper plants
were planted.

Kevin discovered this bird nest up in the
rafters of the mower shed.  I put the camara
 up there & took a picture to see if I could
see what was inside.

I waited not so patiently for this
iris to bloom, checking on it
daily for years days.

*  Kevin's deal #2 - He went to the mile long yard sale at the fairgrounds.  He said he went to the back end of the sale because there were less people in that area.  He came across a refurbished, scratch & dent sale. He got a flat top grill & a fryer that had some dents, scratches & maybe some missing screws.  The grill had the grease drip pan missing.  He pounded & straightened out the dents, tightened some screws & added a few.  He came up with a drip pan.  Wala, good as new!

*  Kevin's deal #3 - He got discounted fruit tress & azalea bushes.  Kevin wanted some fruit trees to add to some that were already established in the garden area to make a little orchard.  I wanted some azaleas to plant out back on the bank so I could see them out the kitchen window.  At the discounted price, he was able to get more plants than we were expecting to get. 

Apple trees, pear trees & blueberry 
bushes added to the orchard.  

The azaleas waited patiently for their
holes to be dug for planting.

 

The strawberries in the hanging
basket were snuggly & warm inside
 the house during the chilly nights
of blackberry winter.

The tomato & pepper plants were
covered during the night as the
 temperature fell below freezing. 
Unfortunately, the newspapers 
 didn't protect enough.  The
plants had to be replanted.

 

 

*  Nana Grandjoy Camp Run-A-Muk - Grand spent the night & we went exploring in the mountains.  We ate a snack sitting alongside the creek.  We took a little walk to see if there were any lady slippers blooming.  To my great wonderful awesome surprise, I found some.

There was lots of talk about cars that 
went on between these 2.  They both
seemed very knowledgeable about the 
vehicle things they were talking about.

Lady Slippers

Happy Birthday to Daughter.  She
celebrated her 29th birthday
for the 7th year in a row. 

Grand went to Senior prom with
Girlfriend.  They both looked
gorgeous.  They said it was fun.

* Tuesday - clean the kitchen & utility room day... Putting away extra cleaning supplies Kevin brought in our moving stuff.  I found the BBQ sauce we needed last week.  Kevin said he knew he had packed some.  There it was, packed with the trash bags.  He said now if he could find his gun oil.  I told him it would show up somewhere, eventually.

These are some of the things that's been going on in my neck of the woods, how has your week been?

Wild blackberries in bloom.

Happenings on the Homestead in the Appalachian Mountains

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from Georgia.  How you doing this 16th week of 2023?  Kevin & I went to the Plant Affair on the square, the Rhododendron Festival at the fairgrounds, shopped at Home Depot on the other side of the mountain & did some exploring on the Appalachian Trial. Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & I'll tell you more, come walk with me...

I couldn't decide on these $30
pots of rhododendrons at the
Plant Affair.  I took a business
card for maybe later.

* The Plant Affair was hosted by the local Garden Club.  There were all kinds of gardening stuff for sale:  plants, bird houses, arts & crafted yard ornaments along with homemade jams, jellies & honey.  There was supposed to have been a bake sale but I either overlooked it or all the goods were gone when we got there toward the end of the event.  I was interested in getting rhododendrons to plant along the property line that is up on the bank close to the house. Kevin was interested in getting vegetable plants for the garden.  There were some really nice plants at the affair, a few flowering things that we had never seen before. I noticed some really cute painted gourds & uniquely made wind chimes, but we ended up not getting anything there. 

*  The garden trail at the Rhododendron Festival was started back in 1982.  1000 rhododendrons were placed on the hillside along the bank of the lake.  There were markers placed where plants had been donated & added through the years in honor of or in memory of someone.  There was live music & food trucks at the festival.  There were also rhododendrons & other plants for sale along with arts & crafts.  The rhododendrons there were $50 a pot.

                      

*  We got a 15% off coupon in the mail from Home Depot, welcoming us to the area.  Kevin had sold a lot of stuff out of his shop to keep from having to move it.  A couple things he was in need of were a toolbox & shop vac, though there was a whole list of things on a list that was left laying at home on the kitchen table.  

Which toolbox to get & what color?
A medium size red one was the winner.

Which cucumber seeds to get? 
Burpless was chosen.

The drive over the mountain was
nice.  The dogwoods were still
in bloom & a tree Kevin called
a cucumber.

*  Trillium, Mayapple & woodland Iris 

were in bloom as we walked a short 

distance on the Appalachian Trail. The

 town does free pickups on certain days

 at certain times for hikers so they can 

come into town to get supplies, eat out,

stay the night or do whatever things 

they want or need to do. 

 

Trillium

I always make a round or 2 in 
the lumber aisles to smell
the scent of the wood.

These are some of the 

things that's been 

going on in my

neck of the woods,

how's your week

been?

Happenings on the Homestead in the Appalachian Mountains

 

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from Georgia.  How you doing this 15th week of 2023?  Everything turned vibrant green overnight after a good downpour of rain that we got.  Kevin arrived with the rest of our stuff.  My back has been tired & sore from putting away totes of canned food, moving shelves & changing the bedroom furniture around.  We also worked in the garden & planted a thing or 2.  Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & I'll tell you more, come walk with me...

Kevin brought in a few totes at a time to unpack.
We downsized our belongings & our house size.
Seems we need to do a little more downsizing of
our belongings to fit in the downsized house.

Baby Grand got his 1st 2 teeth.

 

Daughter's family gussied up for Easter
services at church & then an Easter egg
hunt & dinner with Son-in-Laws parents.

*  Our garden is a little different this year.  There were raised boxed beds already in place, so we'll use those to garden in.  Kevin added a row of boxes & strawberries were ordered.  While the weather was rainy, he burned the 2 brush piles of sticks & leaves that I had created. 

                  

53 onion plants were planted.  I scrounged around to see
 if I could come up with one more plant to make an even
 54, but the plant just was not there.  The bundle was
  probably a pack of 50 & perhaps the 3 were extras. 

There are thoughts & plans to plant peppers, cucumbers,
tomatoes, squash, carrots & maybe another thing or 2.

The grapes are putting out.

Rose decided she needed a 
drink while I was watering the
blackberries.

Kevin transplanted a bunch of
daffodils over by the creek.

The old apple tree has lots of blooms.

  

A few pears are starting
 to take shape.

These are some of the things that's been going on in my neck of the woods, how has your week been?

Happenings on the Homestead in the Appalachian Mountains

Hosted by Natalie The Explorer.  Grab a coffee or
your favorite beverage & I'll tell you about our
early Easter celebration at my mother's house,
walk with me...

I got myself some Easter flowers.
It's hanging strawberry plants.  I've
been setting it out on the porch in the 
mornings then bringing it in the house
at night.  We're still having freezing
temperatures during the night
on occasion.

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from Georgia.  How you doing this 14th week of 2023?  I'm noticing more & more green on the undergrowth brush in the woods & the trees are leafing out.  I'm loving the dogwood trees in bloom, though seems it was dogwood winter mid-week (a cold spell when the dogwoods are in bloom.)   I started watching a couple new series on Netflix, Wellmania & Firefly Lane.  What happened to shows like Facts of Life, Different Strokes & Threes Company?  I cooked 3 dozen eggs, Opps, minus the 2 I had cooked for breakfast sometime another.  I dyed the 10 eggs.  The full 2 cartons were deviled.  All the eggs went to the family's annual Easter egg hunt & dinner.  Leftovers were made into egg salad.

The .35 egg dye kit I got at the
thrift store turned out good &
vibrant. The artwork is for fun &
participation, not necessarily 
Pinterest worthy. 

I got the little Easter plates at the thrift store.  As soon as I saw them, I thought
they would be perfect to serve the deviled eggs on.  The plates looked brand new &
looked like they'd never been used.  Those eggs were the quickest & easiest I think
I've ever peeled.  I used Moma's homemade relish. It was my last jar.  We'll have to
grow the ingredients to make some more... cucumbers, onions, peppers & maybe
a few green mators.

Lots of different varieties of
delicious food was cooked for a
  family dinner feast.  I love
Moma's green beans.

  

Easter eggs were hidden for an egg hunt.

It was such a beautiful day to eat outside.
There was conversation here about the
 upcoming track meet.

 

There was a decorated egg contest.  Which
one would you have chosen for the most
creative? Could you tell that mine
was a blooming cactus?

The competitive Easter egg hunt was on!

         

Do you see the hidden egg?

Happy Easter!

       

These are some of the things that's been going on in my neck of the woods, how has your week been?