Happenings on the Homestead in the Appalachian Mountains

Weekend Coffee Share

41 years, a squirrel, buckeyes & an apple fritter

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from Georgia. How you doing? September is moving right along & so are we. 41 years... the day came & went doing our usual things. We're still here, still together & still making memories one day at a time. Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & I'll tell you how many fish we caught to put in the freezer this week.

We got up before the sun, stopped by Bojangles for a couple of their sausage egg biscuits then headed to the lake. The water temperature was just above 84 degrees. It felt like bath water as we reached down to test it. The water was calm & glassy just like Kevin likes it. We saw starting of leaf color, watched a squirrel cut acorns & saw a heron. It was a peaceful morning on the lake but not a good day for fishing. Maybe the water was too warm for the type of top water fishing that we do. There wasn't even any fish showing up on the fish finder. Kevin caught several fish, but they got off before he could get them in. He commented that the fish wasn't biting aggressively. I caught 1 fish a little on the small eating size & put it back, so no fish for the freezer this week's fishing trip.

Why do leaves change color? It's
one of next month's lesson plans.

Goldenrods, another sign that 
cooler weather is on its way.

We went on a good trail ride. There were 5 side by sides. We were all related in one way or another. We met up then hauled to the parking spot. The woods were beautiful. It came up a little shower of rain during mid ride. During one of the stops, everybody picked up buckeyes to put in their pockets for good luck. There were several rough places that made me queasy thinking about going over, so I got out. The drivers were delighted to have the challenges. We all ate at Wendy's afterwards. I tried the pretzel bacon pub cheeseburger. It was good but, oh boy, loaded with carbs for those of us needing to eat a keto-ish diet. Yikes! 

Orange flag marker

I assisted Daughter on a field trip to an apple orchard. The staff was so friendly & helpful. I was impressed & I think Daughter was to. It's probably the place we'll go back to next year, if going to an apple orchard comes up in the event plannings. I arrived a little early to find out where things were & to get apple sampling snacks ready. We were welcomed to a covered shady picnic area centrally located to all the things. All the staff went above & beyond to be sure we got to do & see all the things. We did an apple tasting test to see if we could really taste a sweetness difference in apples. First, we had a slice of Crimson Crisp then tried a slice of Granny Smith. Oh My Yes! There was a difference. The Granny Smith seemed really really sour. We picked 2 pecks of Rome Beauty to take home. We have a day planned next week to make an apple pie.

    

We picked Rome Beauty.

Look at me wearing my tie dye shirt
from last week's Meet up at the Park.

   

Cow milking

Hillcrest Orchard

We did all the things except the trikes & bubbles. We sampled the apple cider doughnuts along with the fried apple pies, apple fritters & the cider sippers. There was an extra apple fritter left over. Me & Kevin shared it a la mode after supper.

These are some of the things that's been going on in my neck of the woods, how has your week been? Go out & have a wonderful weekend.

Happenings on the Homestead in the Appalachian Mountains

 

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from Georgia. How you doing? The orange butterfly flowers are blooming in the backyard. The butterflies love them. We can see the flowers out the kitchen window. The bugs, rabbits & birds have been bad in the gardens this year. I made a version of that chia seed pudding I've seen going around on the internet. I topped mine with strawberries from out of the garden & drizzled it with chocolate. The drizzle was more of a blob. The strawberries are what gave it flavor. I ended up adding blackberries when the strawberries were gone. It was good & filling, I'll be making it again. I went swimming this week & ate birthday cake. Kevin went fishing & caught some good looking yellow perch. He cooked a mess for supper & the rest went into the freezer. He replaced the fuel pump in the side by side & we're ready to ride when I get back from the beach. Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage, we'll walk around in the gardens then we'll sit on the porch for a spell before it gets too hot. The temperatures are supposed to get in the upper 80s next week, maybe into the 90s here in north Georgia.

Ok, here we go. These are my
walking around out in the
yard shoes. 

The creek is running good. We've
had several good rains recently.
We have a little pump to pump
water from the creek to water
the gardens when needed.

    

The begonias & fern are pretty together. Moma
gave me a start of these. They are doing
good here beside the creek. They get morning
 sun then are in the shade most the
rest of the day.

Kevin picked up a couple packs of lily bulbs at the dollar store. They turned out quite beautiful here with the donkey. If you haven't heard the story behind the donkey yet, I'll tell the short version right quick. Kevin was given this rusty old donkey as somewhat of a joke. He cleaned it up, painted it & now it's quite the handsome fellow in the flower gardens.

Daisies

The swimming hole.

   

The tadpole pond. Kevin has a red clay
source. He just hasn't got around to
getting it yet, to see if we can get this
thing to hold water & be something
better to look at.

The different colors of daylilies
are blooming.

                

The phlox have been pretty. Iris doesn't
seem to be bothered that her kittens are gone.
  The new owners named the kittens Bobby &
Miss Maggie. I got the turtles as a retirement
 gift. I move them around for Grands to find.

I call this a snowball bush but
I think it's supposed to be 
hydrangea. Last year it was
 loaded with snowballs.

    

We're not sure if this pampas grass
 is going to make it or not. It looks
like it's only going to have 1 blade
 of grass this year. There is some of
this grass near the road going to
town, it's not doing any good this
year either.

Kevin scratched up this little
garden space on the edge of the 
property down by the creek.
Last year he planted broom corn
& it did good. This year he planted
 squash, pumpkins & tators. The
rabbits have ate most the plants.

        

The birds are eating the blueberries.

Kevin picked a bowl full. We made
muffins & the rest went in the
freezer.

The fenced raised bed garden is protected from the rabbits & deer but not the birds & bugs. The grape vines are loaded with tiny grape clusters just starting to grow.  The tomato & pepper plants are still looking good. The radishes are gone, we ate them up. We're still getting lettuce, spinach & onions. The onions are a little bigger now.

The bugs are eating on the okra.

Tommy toes

The blackberries are starting to 
come in. Have some, if you see
any ripe ones. They are so sweet.
These are thornless blackberry
 bushes so we can pick without
getting all scratched up.

Look at that morning glory
bloom hiding back there. This 
is the tall stump flower bed in
front of the house. 

    

The summer garden flag is out.
We're celebrating the 4th of July
all summer long.

Every garden path leads back to the porch,
a place for pondering about finding 
joy in the simple things.

 

The little poinsettia from Christmas is
still surviving. A few years ago, I
kept one till May. This is a new
poinsettia PR for me.

Happy 5th Birthday to
Grand Gracie.

These are some of the things that's been going on in my neck of the woods, how has your week been? Go out & have a wonderful weekend.

Yellow perch

Chia pudding

Happenings on the Homestead in the Appalachian Mountains

 

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from Georgia. How you doing? A local in our home county is one of the top 5 to become the next American Idol, Braden Rumfelt. Vote for Braden! Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & I'll tell you about going to a frog race, some of our current favorite kinds of ice cream & some other April things, then I'm heading out to a baseball game & going on a trial ride this weekend.

Work continues on the enclosed trailer camper transformation. The cabinets & floor are done. We still need a sink, bed & to finish the bathroom.

The library had a frog extravaganza celebrating National Frog Month with books, games & crafts & I wanted to go check it out. I lured 2 of the Grandgirls to come along with me. We listened to books read aloud about frogs that were fun, silly & educational. We made origami frogs & raced them. My frog was cute but didn't win any of it's races. Grands chose to eat out at Taco Bell for supper then we went for ice cream.

These are our current favorites,
what's your favorite ice cream?

April was Kevin & Daughter's birthday.

Happy Birthday to Daughter,
Kasey with basset hound Max.

We had a good day fishing on the lake. We ate some of the fish, the others went in the freezer. 

I caught one of the fish.

There was dance pictures & a tball pizza party with trophies.

Homeschool themes were Easter, Spring, Camping & Bugs. We had a day camp at the lake doing some fishing & hiking. We picked up trash & made bird feeders for Earth Day. Sister & Granny grilled hotdogs. There was a bird's nest in one of the grills.

 

We ended the month hosting a farm day with baby chicks, kittens & strawberry picking.  Neighbor came over with one of their horses. There were sand farm playsets, water tables, balls & frisbees. Green beans put up from out of the garden were included in lunch.

These are a few of the things that went on in our neck of the woods this month, how has your month been? Go out & have a wonderful weekend.