Mountain Musings

Garden Plans

I've been having fun playing around with the garden planner program at GrowVeg.com, using the 30-day trial. Normally this time of year I am sitting down with pencil and paper plotting out where each crop will get planted, rotating the location from previous years' gardens, and finding space for new plants I want to try growing. While I wouldn't pay for the program, it is entertaining to drag the little veggie clip-arts to just the right spot with the click of a mouse, and print it out for future reference.

I made a plan for each of our two gardens. The upper garden is the smaller "kitchen" garden with raised beds surrounded by the picket fence that is currently getting painted. You can browse pictures from past years in our Gardening category. Clicking on the pictures below will show you everything I plan to put in this year.

Below is the lower field garden that is also fenced in to attempt to keep out the deer. We plant things like berries, melons, and corn where they can spread out. There are black plastic walkways around the established flower and berry beds, and the large center area changes every year. It's time to ready the soil for planting, so we'll be working on that together little by little. Granny will get here just in time to help me plant my early seeds!

Sunday we woke up to see a scene similar to these photos, but hopefully winter is now past and spring is officially here. Bringing out my gardening books and plans must mean it is. :)

~Hannah

UFO Progress Report

Today is UFO Progress Report day at Blackberry Creek.

Ever since I started this UFO Bust, Fridays roll around so quickly! The weeks are way too short!

Today I have something to cross off the list! Yay! All Done!

#14 Old Crock and Geranium x-stitch 

At long last, I can now hand it over to Hannah, my mat and framer in residence, who will make sure it's ready for my kitchen wall.

The only progress that was accomplished this week on the 25-year old quilt was "thinking about what to do." I'm listening to everyone's advice to just "get it done and finish with it." I'll use it for an outdoor picnic quilt, and the fading won't matter.

In addition to the UFO projects, I'm also working on the Block-a-Palooza Quilt Along and just finished the last of the 16 blocks. Now to put them all together. See all the blocks on My Flickr.

Finishing instructions have just been posted, and my favorite is version #1 which uses applique. That's the first thing I'll work on once I have the extra sashing fabric which I didn't order in the beginning.

This weekend I'll be at my sister's house in SC helping her celebrate her double nickels birthday and then bring Granny back home with me! Double yay!

Today's plan was to plant a barrel of pansies to welcome her home, but our Sunday forecast is 80% chance of snow! Maybe I'll wait until warmer weather...let's hope she doesn't change her mind and want to stay in sunny SC even longer!

Have a good weekend everyone!

~Deb

Bartering: A Friendly Exchange

Each week when I bake a batch of bread for our family, a loaf gets set aside for a new friend. We met several months ago because of an exchange through Craigslist, and I was delighted when she shared some of her fresh eggs with me. Mandy and her husband have several homesteading ventures, including raising a few free-range chickens in their backyard.

We began a series of trades, including items like garden veggies, kefir and kombucha, and homemade fresh mozzarella. This winter it has been a variety of breads and the farm-fresh eggs, and we meet up each week to share the products of our hands with the other.

I took the opportunity last week to snap some photos of Mandy's hens so you all could see. The hens were happily pecking around the yard until they saw me coming with the camera, then they scurried to their coop to pose for their picture (and be fed)!

It has been fun to barter with the extras we each have and share our experiments with each other. Have any of you bartered for items?

~Hannah

My Dream--A White Picket Fence

I've always loved white picket fences, and after I saw a picture of Susan Branch's beautiful picket fence around her garden a couple of years ago, I put the picture in my inspiration folder for a future project for our garden.

Last year the work began. We wrote about beginning the fence here, and you can see flowers blooming around it completed here (scroll down).

Now the treated pickets have cured over the winter, and the time to paint has finally arrived. This past Friday was a beautiful day with temps in the 70s--just perfect for painting.

Sarah was my partner-in-paint, so we grabbed our brushes--she on one end and I on the other. After I looked back at these pictures, I wondered why I had started my painting on picket #4...who knows!

I took time to count the number of pickets so I'd know what was ahead of us: 355 on the outside + 355 on the inside + a second coat on them all = a lot of painting.

Will we get done before the flower beds start sending up new green shoots in front of the pickets? Our goal will be to not step on any flowers in the painting of this fence!

Here's our first day's work with lots more to go:

We have some rainy days forecast for this week, so it looks like it's back to quilting and UFO-ing instead of painting. That's okay...it's all fun!

~Deb

UFO Bust Report ~ 25+ year old Quilt

Well, everyone voted for this aged UFO as my next project. I'm not sure I wanted this particular quilt to be next, but...I may as well get started.

I began this log cabin quilt when I was expecting Jonathan in 1985. I got this far with it before he was born in November of that year, and it's been hanging on a quilt rack in our living room ever since....folded just right so no one would ever see the batting and know it was unfinished. Clever? or shameful?

Actually, this is the funny part...the pattern is from Eleanor Burns' Quilt in a Day book. In a day? Really?

See that large faded area in the middle that's been bleached by the sun? Most of the other fabric looks bright and brand new, but that spot that's been exposed to light for 25 years looks way old. So...is this quilt worth salvaging?

This week I've been thinking how to get started. It's tied in the center log cabin block (instead of being pin-basted). I have more borders someplace in the closet...but Sarah just told me she remembers using some of the borders long, long ago for doll clothes. Hmmm...

Well, let me figure out what's going on with this forlorn quilt, and I'll report back with some progress another week.

Other UFO-ers are over at Susan's place, Blackberry Creek. Check out their UFO progress.

p.s. If you don't ask, I won't say how much I didn't get done on the other UFOs this week--just resting from the conference!

~Deb

Just One Star ~ For a Soldier

This week Sarah and I have been participating in the Just One Star Challenge of making a star quilt block to be put with 1800 others needed to make quilts for soldiers.

The challenge is to piece, quilt, and bind 100 quilts in 100 days using the Flag of Valor pattern. Deadline for blocks is May 1st so the quilts can be completed by Flay Day, June 14. Information and block pattern can be found here if you'd like to make a block, too.

Here are our blocks:

Rachel over at p.s.i quilt is participating and adding some goodies to sweeten the deal. Make your block and send her a picture by Monday the 21st to be included in her giveaway.

Also, Shawna over at 1 Choice 4 Quilting blog is doing the same. Get involved...there's still time to get your blocks in the mail and posted on Flickr to be in the running for some great prizes.

Now...back to some UFO homework--progress report due tomorrow!

~Deb

Family Economics Conference ~ View From Our Lens

We're back home after a few days in Raleigh, NC, attending the Family Economics Conference with over 1,200 people from 35 states, 3 countries, and 15+ families speaking on panels and workshops. The conference focused on preparing families to thrive in social and economic decline.

We enjoyed: hearing the keynote speakers, listening to some pertinent home-business workshop topics, taking lots of notes, fellowshipping with families we already knew, and being introduced for the first time to friends we had never met who read the blog (oh, that was so much fun!).

Here we are just arriving and striking up a conversation with other attendees:

And here are Sarah, Hannah, and Jonathan ready for some note taking before the beginning keynote session:

Our friends, the Alexander family, were part of one of the panel discussions on agriculture. Sorry for this photo quality as it was zoomed from back in the room which was jammed for this question and answer session:

Below left picture: here I am with a blog reader from Florida who told me she has been reading Mountain Musings since 2006...she was a very nice lurker, and I'm so glad she introduced herself. Thank you, Mrs. Hope! :)

And in the picture to the right is my blog friend, Victoria, who is a very faithful reader and commenter. We finally were able to meet in real life! I loved getting to know Vicky in person, and our families enjoyed having lunch together one day.

We also renewed acquaintance with a family who recently stopped by to worship with us one Sunday. It was good to see them again. Here we are talking after one of the sessions:

When I saw the couple to the left in the main foyer, I went up to Mrs. Miller and said, "You don't know me, but..." 

It was so fun to get to meet the parents of a young couple from Illinois who visited our church fellowship back in the summer of 2009. You can read about it here. It's definitely a small world!

And here's the gang chatting a bit with them:

There was also a picnic during the weekend... 
...and pizza, too! Here's the girls' table, and the guys are right behind us:

We enjoyed the weekend very much and look forward to putting into practice some of the information we gleaned from the conference.

~Deb

Family Economics Conference 2011

Speakers will cover many topics pertinent and timely to our current economic and social decline, including:

• Unemployment: What to Do When There's Nothing to Do
• The Proverbs 31 Family
• What Every Family Should Know About Starting Their Own Business
• A Vision of Victory for the Family
• The College Paradigm and the Family Economy
• How to Train Your Son to be Financially Prepared for Marriage
• Sacrifice or Slavery - Building a Christian Community for the Hard Times

With America's top keynote speakers, including Doug Phillips, Erik Weir, Stephen Beck, Kevin Swanson, RC Sproul Jr., Scott Brown, and more, this is one conference your family can't miss! Check out the full schedule available online for detailed information. There will also be a special panel on "Family Based Entrepreneurs" where real families will be sharing their stories on how they have created family businesses in various areas including agriculture, construction, manufacturing, sales, and more.

~Deb

UFO Progress Report

I've been UFO-ing this week big time! I really want to cross something off this list of unfinished projects!

Susan, over at Blackberry Creek, is hosting the UFO Bust, so head on over to her blog to see what everyone else is working on.

Success...I finished the sage green kitchen cabinet towel I was working on recently. Do you know my favorite part? The green button!!

I bought that swirly green button a few years ago just for this project at a little yarn shop when my sister took us to Biltmore House in Asheville, NC.  The Biltmore House and Gardens are wonderful in case you've never been, but my memory of that trip is finding the green button. Crazy, huh?

The crock and geranium cross-stitch is sooo close to getting crossed off the list. All the stitching for the actual picture is complete as of yesterday, and right now I'm backstitching.  I hoped it would be finished for today, but I'll post a picture next week. Like the other cross-stitches, I'll hand it over to Hannah to mat and frame for our kitchen.

Next UFO: I'm trying to decide which one gets the honor of being worked on next. Sarah suggested the oldest one--the 25+ year old quilt project that needs borders and binding. Yes, it's on the list, but it's not an exciting project. We'll see...

~Deb

Basket Luncheon

Last Friday the girls and I traveled over the river and through the woods and enjoyed a delightful time at a friend's home. We brought lunch with us...in a basket!

We've been giving basket luncheons since the 1980s...friends of ours in Hampton and Newport News will remember those wonderful times of getting together for crafts and "lunch in a basket." It's a super neat and quick idea that saves a lot of cleanup time afterwards.

First, find some baskets all approximately the same size. We have a stack collected from who knows where that are just perfect for nestling food in.

Next, line all the baskets with colorful napkins for the season. We already had some floral ones available, so since we are anticipating spring that's what we used last week.

Third, fill the baskets with your favorite luncheon finger foods.

Our menu for each person's basket:

• Chicken salad in homemade pita pockets
• Carrot, celery, and red pepper sticks (usually sticking down inside the pita)
• Deviled egg
• Fruit kabobs: pineapple chunks, grapes, strawberries, honeydew melon, banana chunk dipped in concentrated orange juice and rolled in toasted coconut
• Chips (or in our case leftover Fritos from the Chili Meatball Supper)
• Cream cheese cupcake* (recipe follows on continuation page)

When lunch was over, we gathered up the napkins with the leftover sticks and cupcake wrappers and threw them out. Cleanup all done!

Here's our friend's table with the baskets at each place:

Here are Hannah and Sarah getting ready to enjoy a delicious lunch with our friends.

If you try hosting a basket lunch, we'd love to know how it goes and if you come up with anything different to include in your basket!

~Deb