Happenings on the Homestead in the Appalachian Mountains

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from Georgia.  How you doing this 34th week of 2023?  It was my Sunday to work with a starting time of 7 am, so I didn't have to get out too early.  The pot of elephant ears I got was supposed to have a green leaf bulb & a black leaf bulb.  The black ears didn't produce, the green ears done good.  Probably the biggest ears I've ever grown.  Getting the Michigan coffee cup instead of the Georgia one I ordered, brings back good memories of traveling with Friends & Family through the years.  We went to Michigan several times on grouse hunting vacations.  We road up to the Mackinac Bridge during one of those trips while in the area.  Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & I'll tell you about going to the Georgia Mountain Fair.  We had not been in years, come walk with me...

We don't consider ourselves social nor good hosts,
but we do treasure the friendships we've made
along the way, whether we've seen friends recently
or not.  If you've ever been to one of our dinner
parties, you know it's a hotdog roast.  Hopefully
you had a good time cooking your own food &
was entertained in some awkward form
 or fashion. 

1990 Mio Michigan

 

*  A page from one of our photo albums site seeing in Michigan & the chalet we stayed in.  Kevin said it was some of the best grouse hunting he had ever done.  It was usually the middle of the woodcock migration when we were there.  The birds were plentiful & very good meat for the table.  To our surprise, there were elk in the area.  The 1st wild elk we had ever seen & heard bugle.  The chalet was surrounded by an Amish community.  There were signs posted giving caution to watch for horses & buggies.  It was common to pass them on the roads.  We enjoyed talking with the neighbors & getting our 1st glimpses into Amish lifestyle.  When we lived in Iowa, we had Amish neighbors & still treasure their friendship. 

Me, the official drink holder at the fair.

*  I remembered the Georgia Mountain Fair to have more demonstrators than vendors.  During our visit to the fair this time around, there were more vendors than demonstrators.  Kevin & I went to the fair a little earlier than Daughter & her family so we could walk around & see the arts, crafts & demonstrations 1st.  When Daughter arrived, Kevin & I took the Grands to the rides while Daughter & Son-in-Law took a turn walking around.  Daughter got the carnival ride tickets in advance at a discounted price.  There wasn't a waiting line for Grands to get their wristbands, so that part went quick.  Kevin & I spent a joyful amount of time with Grands watching them ride rides till their parents came & took over.  Kevin & I then headed to Taco Bell for their $5 Cravings Box.  The waiting line to get ride tickets/wristbands was backed up a long way at that time.  We talked about our timing to the fair worked out just right. 

The flower show exhibits were my
 overall favorite things to look at,
 at the fair.  Son-in-Law said he
remembered (being drug through)
the flower building when he was
a boy.

  

We all liked the metal art, though
it wasn't made by the vendor.  They
sure had a lot of it.  Daughter &
Son-in-Law's favorite was the 
dinosaurs.  Kevin & me liked
a skunk.

One of my favorite crafted things
were these painted fishing/trap floats.

  

One of Daughters favorite crafted things
were these wooden lighted
Christmas trees.

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

The bear hit the bird feeder
again.  We haven't got a
picture of it on the
trail camera yet.

Happenings on the Homestead in the Appalachian Mountains

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from Georgia.  How you doing this 33rd week of 2023?  I've been watching Steel Magnolias.  Season 3 is now on Netflix.  It's been a while since I watched the 1st 2 seasons, so I started watching it all over again from the beginning.  I was back at work after taking 2 weeks off.  Kevin & I got to go camping.  I had lots of quality time with the Grands, so vacation was good.  Kevin got lots of projects done while I was staying with the Grands last week.  Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & I'll tell you about some of Kevin's projects. I worked more hours on the job this week & about the only thing I accomplished was getting the bathroom cleaned.  Nobody wants to hear about huffing & puffing from scrubbing the tub, come walk with me...

I made chicken parmesan sliders. I made
these last week for the Grands.  I made them this
week for Kevin.  They were a hit with all.

Rose enjoying the zinnias as 
much as I do.  A bear stoled
the bird feeder.  Kevin found
the feeder up in the woods.  He
was able to put it back together
& hang it back up for the birds.
Kevin put up the trail camrea to
get a picture of the bear in action
if it came back.  So far, the bear
hasn't been back, that we know of.
Kevin talked to a neighbor &
apparently the bear is making
it's rounds though the
neighborhood.

*  Kevin got apples & corn from a produce stand.  He made applesauce with some of the apples.  We ate some of the applesauce & he put the rest in the freezer.  He is drying some of the apples to make an apple stack cake.  We ate several ears of the corn & he put the rest of it in the freezer.  He also put up some more packs of okra & peppers.  

Apples laid out in the sun to dry.

Kevin made a gate for the garden.
  There are grape vines on both sides
 that he'll train to go over the 
walkthrough.  It's going to be
so pretty.

Kevin made a stone patio
area at the back door.  He
also did this at the front 
steps.  It looks so good.

The apples were referred to as deer apples.  The apples have bumps & bruises 
that make the price for the whole box a good deal.  The corn was so sweet &
delicious.  We cut the ears in half into severing sizes, so we don't eat too much.

We took a jeep ride but didn't
go far due to a tree across
the road.  We walked for
a ways & enjoyed being
out in the woods.

Another round of gorgeous 
tomatoes from out of the garden.
I shared these with coworkers.
BLTs & mator sandwiches
were brought in for lunches.

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

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from Georgia.  How you doing this 32nd week of 2023?  There were noticeable signs that fall is on it's way.  I'm waiting till after the Grands start back to school to put out my little dab of fall decorations.  The dogwood tree's leaves are turning red, I saw golden rod in bloom & the burning bushes were turning red.  I was on vacation leave from work this week & was super delighted to do Mother of a Mom activities while Daughter & Son-in-Law went on their annual anniversary getaway.  Moma & Sister hosted a Cousin Camp, Kevin hosted a hotdog roast & Son-in-Law's parents brought over pizza.  I fell short in so many ways compared to the awesome amazing Mom Daughter is to her children.  My mashed taters didn't have the red stuff that gives them flavor.  The red stuff was the skins.  "Mom don't make us do that, she does it herself".  Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & I'll tell you about a few of the other things that went on while I was at Daughter's house, come walk with me..

*  We took a couple walks on the River Walk Trail in the evenings while waiting for the football boys to do their practice.  We saw river cane, a duck & a ground hog.  There were lots of wildflowers that included golden rod & kudzu was starting to bloom. We had fun throwing walnuts to each other & batting the walnuts with sticks.  The girls waded in the muddy branch to cool off.  Also a few rocks were thrown into the river & there were big rocks along the trail to climb on.  We brought water to drink on the trail but it wasn't enough to quench our thirst by the time we got back to the vehicle.  We went into Lowe's & got refreshing drinks & snacks then sat in the air-conditioned car eating & drinking till practice was over. 

  "NOOOoooo, It's too hot, Mom don't make us enjoy nature."

*  Even though I'm done mothering a child, I get to joyfully be a mother to a mom.  When I go visit, I enjoy doing all the things for Daughter & her family - cooking, cleaning, bathing the babies, dropping off or picking up the kids...  I don't have to do it every day nor do I do it on a regular basis, so it's fun for me.  It's enjoyable & it gives me a purpose to still be able to do motherly things for adult Daughter from time to time.  It gives me simple joys to be able to help out & spend precious quality time with the Grands.

*  I was up by 6 am most mornings to get the day started.  I tried to keep the household routine the same as Daughter's, especially the baby's meals & naptimes.  Part of our morning routine was walking to the mailboxes & checking the mail.  We had a popsicle for snack when we got back to the house.  We took their neighbor, Miss Janice, some tomatoes from out of our garden.  Kevin froze 8 packs of tomato juice & had leftover tomatoes to share.

Grand grabbing a bite of breakfast & chit
chatting before he heads off to work then
he had football practice in the evening.

Mid-morning walk to the mailbox, 
there were acorns, colored 
leaves, pinecones & rocks
collected along the way.

"Look, it's a blue mushroom."  I had never seen a blue mushroom before,
Kevin said he had never seen one either.

*  I relaxed by the fire at Cousin Camp after the babies went to bed.  The older boys played glow basketball.  Sister & I played a few rounds & shoot hoops with the kids.  There was also a glow frisbee & a glow ball made out of glow sticks.  The cousins were all of Moma's Great-Grands.  Sister cooked hamburgers & hotdogs on the grill for supper.  She made fruity yogurt waffle bowls for breakfast along with bacon & eggs.  We all spent the night & camped out on the beds, on the couches & in the floor.  

The backyard pool was a big hit
for the littlest ones.

Relaxing by the fire watching the
kids play glow basketball.

*  Girlfriends came over.  There were crafts made.  There was jumping on the trampoline.  There was food cooked.  I made a birthday cake & taco fixings for lunch on oldest Grand's birthday.  

There's still lots of summer left for
swimming & pool parties before
school starts back.

Roasting marshmallows is fun
anytime of the year.

  

Happy 18th Birthday to Austin.

Another sign of fall - Halloween crafts.

 

Daughter & Son-in-Law's anniversary getaway was chasing major league baseball 
stadiums. Their plan was 7 MLB stadiums in 7 days.  They had opportunity to watch
2 games at one of the stadiums, so they ended up watching 7 MLB games & visited
6 stadiums.  What an incredible adventure!  Can you tell what team they route for?

The white Rose of Sharon was
in full bloom.  There isn't a
lot of blooms but the blooms
it does have are big.

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

 

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from Georgia.  How you doing this 31st week of 2023?  Whew, it's been hot.  I was on vacation leave most of the week.  We went camping along the creek where it was a little cooler & did some fishing.  Kevin made some axe throwing targets & listed them for sale on the local swaps. I went to a book signing.  We cooked up lots of good grub from the garden.  I got Grand's cheer & football schedules, I'm looking forward to going to watch some of their games this fall.  Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & we'll talk more, come walk with me..

I got to meet Tipper Pressley, coauthor of the
book Celebrating Southern Appalachian Food:
Recipes & Stories from Mountain Kitchens. 

* I went to the book signing of the Pressley family at a local historical museum.  I found out about the book when one of the daughters came in the office & mailed out quite a few of the books.  I asked about the book & she gave me information about their youtube channel, blog & where to get the book.  I ordered 3 books.  One for myself & 2 to give as Christmas in July gifts.  When I discovered there was going to be a book signing, of course I had to have my books signed before I mailed them to their recipients.  The 1st youtube video I watched included daughter Corie helping in the garden.  I was certain that she was the one I had talked to in the office.  Then I watched the video of Tipper & Matt telling about the birth of their twins.  Twins?  I hadn't known there was 2 of the girls.  At that point I didn't know which of the daughters & had talked to.  Their appearance & voice are very similar.  At the book signing, Corie told me she was the one that I had talked to that day in the office or was it Katie?

Kevin's hand crafted
axe throwing targets.

*  It seems there is such a thing these days as axe throwing therapy.  It's about having fun & relieving stress.  Throwing an axe is supposed to be all about the form of throwing, not about how strong you are.  I've practiced throwing a few times.  Sometimes the axe bounces off & sometimes it hits perfect.  There are mobile axe throwing trailers that cater to events such as family reunions, bachelor parties or whatever.  We were at an event at the town square several weeks ago with Grand.  There was an axe throwing booth & trailer set up there.  It was $10 per person for a period of time.  I don't remember how much time, maybe 15 minutes.  Anyways, none of us did it because I'd already spent my cash on a funnel cake.  When Kevin got the load of wood a couple weeks ago, he came up with the idea to make an axe throwing target.  Someone driving by saw it, stopped & wanted one, so then Kevin made some more to see if he could sell them too.  A target along with an axe would make an awesome unique Christmas gift.

Stringing & breaking beans out
on the porch in the morning
before it got too hot.

*  We got several pods of okra out of the garden along with the other vegetables that have been coming in.  We cooked up a garden produce feast.  I don't know if I will ever make regular cornbread again after getting the idea from Tipper to make hushpuppy cornbread.

Green beans, okra, green tomatoes, onions,
banana peppers, yellow squash & a red ripe
 tomato came out of the garden.  Kevin
had cucumbers too.  Kevin had picked up a
little bag of new red potatoes at the grocery
store along with the country style ribs that
had been marked down.

Tomatoes patiently waiting
to be made into soup.

1 bird was left in the nest in the garden
then it was gone.

The everbearing strawberry
plants produced another round
of berries. Blueberries were on
sale at the grocery store.

The tomato plants still have lots of
nice looking tomatoes but the plants
are not looking good at all.  

Cook, mash & use hand
mixer to puree. 

*  Kevin & me worked together to make mator soup.  I used this easy pesy recipe.  Our soup had quite a few seeds so Kevin used a hand crank strainer to pulverize the remaining tomato pieces that didn't puree up & separated out as many of the seeds as possible.

Strained to remove seeds & put into
 containers to freeze. Mmmm Mmmm
delicious, the best we've made so far.

After the soup freezes, it's dumped out
 of the containers & vacuum sealed, then
it goes back in the freezer.  This batch
made 6 packs.  Most of it will be used
 in different recipes.

I can't hardly wait to use the
soup as a starter to one of these
recipes I found in the cabinet
that came with the house.

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