Mountain Musings

A Summer Morning in the Garden

"When I go into the garden with a spade, and dig a bed, I feel such an exhilaration and health that I discover that I have been defrauding myself all this time in letting others do for me what I should have done with my own hands." ~R. Emerson

Well, that's exactly what I've been doing lately...either letting someone else do the work for me in the yard or else just leaving it and nothing getting done at all! I've missed being outside terribly! If you are a regular reader here, then you know how much I love, love, love gardening.

Here's part of our driveway with flower beds on both sides of the rock culvert. Whenever I work in these particular beds, I have to be oh-so-careful not to fall on the rocks:About three weeks ago, I took a terrible tumble and was literally face to face with the bushes, flowers, ants, and mulch in the flower bed on the left after I tripped over a rock. "Screammm!!! Ouch, you prickly bushes!" Thankfully, both girls came running to help after I called them on my cell phone. Tom was taking a day off, so when he arrived home to help we managed to get back to the house in one limping aching piece!

This next photo is for my sister because she wanted to know exactly where I fell--right there on top of all you see!Well, all that happened in early June, and that's not what this post is even about.

I wanted to write about today--a beautiful summer morning in the garden. I was finally out working in the yard again...taking it slow and easy...and avoiding any chance of falling!

Just like the quote that started this post, I did feel quite exhilarated!

First, I started weeding this flower bed with the silver wagon filled with begonias. It's located beside the bloomin' hydrangeas: Hannah was outside today, too, helping to weed the roses and catmint bed: The phlox and daisies are located in the same bed as the silver wagon and hydrangea next to the driveway: I also did some pruning...which seemed like a pretty harmless chore on my first day back...so I pruned my weeping cherry. For some reason, it was only weeping on one side and looked pretty lop-sided. So that's done. Also pruned the cottoneaster and ivy by the sidewalk...still more pruning in store for my next gardening day: And sweet Pepper watched us working from the back deck. Pepper is now 14-1/2 and has not been feeling the best lately. We hope she recovers and stays with us much longer: I'm linking up with Ms Green Thumb Jean for Bloomin' Tuesday this week.

~ Deb

A Typical Friday...or Not

This is how our kitchen looks every Friday morning - I get all my ingredients and supplies out and ready to go on Thursday night. My laptop holds all my recipes, easily searchable in a Word document.

This morning, all was going along as usual. Cookies were cooling on the racks, brownies were all done, and the first 2 large pies were baking away. After finishing up the first batch of mini pies, I opened the oven to get those in. A huge smoke cloud billowed out, and I saw a BLACKENED pie! The smoke alarms started screeching, and I had to go run and fan it with a towel to make it be quiet.The oven seemed to have malfunctioned, and instead of the heating element turning off when it reached 350, it had stayed on. It got hotter and hotter, hence the burnt pie. I thought I was going to have a slim amount of items for sale tomorrow, as it seemed to be still messing up even after turning the whole oven off and trying it again.

I decided to leave the not done yet pies in the oven to finish baking with the residual heat. After they were done, I tried turning the oven on again. It seemed to be working! Being very cautious and keeping a close eye on everything, I was able to get almost all my planned sweets baked. Whew!

Remember the last time this happened? Two and a half years isn't a very long time for a repaired stove to last! Hmmmm. Well, at least the family was happy to scrape the burnt layer off and help eat up the Chocolatetown Pie!

~Sarah

There's a Bed in my Bedroom!

You might recall Mom posting back in January about the bed Dad has been in the process of making for me. After many coats of stain and varnish, with lots of sanding in between, everything is now done!

It's so smooth, shiny, and beautiful! We were able to get it set up in my room a couple of weeks ago. It's a queen-size bed, and I only have a double mattress, but it's working out quite nicely with the way the bottom board is made.

Dad even set me up an Excel document to be able to switch around all the furniture in my room, so we could plan the layout ahead of setup. Since the bed is bigger, my old arrangement wouldn't work anymore.

Thanks so much, Daddy, for all the hard work you put into making me such a beautiful piece of furniture!

~Sarah

Bloomin' Tuesday ~ Garden Chimes

This spring Tom installed my garden chimes he gave me for Christmas. I especially love that he picked this verse to be engraved on the wind catcher.

We get lots of wind blowing on our hill, so I enjoy listening to the chiming throughout the day!You're welcome to stop by anytime for some chatting and chiming!

And, we'll watch the flowers grow! Participating in Bloomin' Tuesday this week over at MsGreen Thumb Jean's.

~Deb

Caution: Basket Guy and Soap Lady at Work

The first Saturday in June the city of Harrisonburg, Virginia, hosted their annual Court and Market Days Festival held adjacent to the Saturday Farmers' Market with all their vegetable vendors and many customers in attendance.

Needing to set up the tent for the girls at our local market every Saturday, we were a bit envious of Harrisonburg's covered roof made especially for their farmers' market vendors. I enjoyed walking over and checking out their wares:We had signed Granny up to participate in this craft show back when she was actually feeling well enough from her back surgery to attend. As time grew closer and closer for the show, however, Granny had a setback in her recovery, and it prevented her from being able to come with us.

Since Hannah would rather sell her soap at our local Farmers' Market rather than at this venue, that left the old man and old woman (can you guess who that was?) to take up the slack and head to Harrisonburg with Granny's baskets and some of Hannah's soap for the craft show.

Here's what our assigned spot looked like just after we arrived and set up our tent. As you can see, they put us right next to all the electrical boxes and guy wires--not the best spot, but it gave us some extra space to spread out since no one was right beside us: And here's what our booth looked like after we completed set up and were awaiting customers:Tom did all the heavy work with the tent and tables and helped me with everything except arranging all the displays. And then I think he decided to do some decorating as well, because later I realized he had re-arranged where I'd put some baskets! Well...I guess that was okay as baskets were his area of sales for the day:I tried to arrange all the soap like Hannah would...she had most of her nice wooden display cases at farmers' market, but I think it turned out fine enough: Two tents down from us the blacksmiths' guild met for demonstrations of their craft: And two tents down from us in the opposite direction there was a family vending who sold fried pies...just like Granny makes! There was a music tent with the Shenandoah Valley Minstrels and a variety of entertainment:And lots of costumed entertainers participating in the Virginia Reel and square dancing:I walked back over towards the Farmers' Market area close to lunch time for some wonderful soup and spotted one of our neighbors vending for their farm, Charis Eco Farm. In fact, our blog header photo is taken from our front porch towards the west and shows their farm about ten minutes from us:

This booth was filled with lots of healthy vegetables...love those colorful carrots this guy is holding:Folks were leaving with lots of produce and plants:I have to say that once the Farmers' Market closed up at 1 p.m. the crowd thinned out considerably, and the craft show vendors didn't see a lot of activity--sales were slow.

Hannah and Sarah arrived after their market was over to help us pack up at the end of the afternoon, and all the work began to dismantle the booth and stash away the baskets until October's Dayton Days craft show.

Tom and I enjoyed spending the day together, and hopefully we made some good customer contacts for future sales.

My best contact was the guy who made the Split Pea & Curry soup at market...I'd never had it before, but I'm still talking about how good it was--maybe it was because I'd just gotten my wisdom tooth out, and soup was perfect! Here's a link from All Recipes for one version, and here's a link from Taste of Home for another. I'm going to try this soup one day.

~Deb

It's National Donut Day!

A couple of years ago, I posted about this auspicious holiday. That time I actually made some healthy donuts, but this year I went with unhealthy deliciousness! :)

Glazed Crispy and Creamy Donuts. They stuck to the pan they were rising on, so I ended up with some interesting shapes.

There wasn't enough glaze for them all, so the rest were chocolate-fied! And SPRINKLED!

I know a friend of ours sent pictures of their homemade donuts (beautiful, by the way)....did anyone else make any? Or pick up one of the many free donut offers floating around?

~Sarah

Bloomin' Tuesday ~ June Gardening

The new garden tiller finally arrived, and now the bigger garden (versus the smaller picket fence garden) is plowed and ready for planting. Hannah has been busy getting all of her seedlings in the ground this week:Just behind Hannah you can see the beginning blooms of the Asiatic Lilies...there are lots of buds almost ready to open. Look at all of them!:And if you look just ahead inside the garden gate in the top garden photo, you'll see our very first Lupine blooms! I am so excited about these plants! Those tall feathery greens beside the lupines are the asparagus plants.There's a story behind these lupines. In August, 2010, when Tom and I went on our 30th anniversary trip to Prince Edward Island, we visited the Anne of Green Gables gift shop where I picked up a packet of seeds as a souvenir for Hannah.

She planted the seeds the next spring of 2011...nothing happened that year but a hint of a little greenery. The next year the greenery grew a bit bigger but no blooms. Out of the blue this year several plants have sprouted and are blooming beautifully! Love the color!I'm joining MsGreen Thumb Jean for Bloomin' Tuesday this week. You can visit more flower gardens here.

~Deb

The Simple Woman's Daybook ~ June

Has it really truly been this long since we've posted??!! Yes, I have gotten emails about that! I guess everyone is tired of gaining weight from looking at Sarah's dessert on the last post! LOL!

As is my usual habit, when there's a lot to catch up on I write a Daybook post:

For Today: June 3

Outside my window...What a great day to work outside! The overcast afternoon was just perfect for working in the garden. Temps were in the upper 70's--great for a half-day vacation for Tom to work on the "honey-do" list--mostly tilling the garden for planting!

I am thinking...that I'm liking Tom around the house and look forward to another day off from work tomorrow--but not a day off from working! I looove crossing things off lists!

I am thankful...that my wisdom tooth extraction is done and over with. Last week was unbelievable, and I'm still recovering. Wisdom tooth removal over 60 is quite different that it was for the kids at 20!

In the kitchen...Sarah took over kitchen duties tonight since I was weed-whacking, watering plants, and planting the Mother's Day roses. Grilled tilapia with coconut lime rice served with grilled onions and red peppers and breadsticks...and our choice of pecan pie, lemon meringue pie, oatmeal cookies, and fun-fetti cookies that didn't sell at Farmers' Market this week...awww! :)

I am wearing...work clothes: paint-splotched--patched--holey, navy skirt and a paint-splotched aqua tee-shirt. Dirty Sneeks.

I am creating...nothing at the moment. My quilt block was completed two weeks ago for class this coming Saturday. No rushing to meet the deadline this week! It just won't feel the same. I'll take a picture and show you later.

I am going...to take Granny back to the spine doctor on Monday the 10th. She stopped physical therapy because of an out-of-the-blue severe back pain that developed. We're not sure if there's yet another fracture, a pulled muscle, or another bout of hip bursitis. Please pray for her as she's very discouraged after being laid up for so long.

I am hoping...that the swarm of bees that Jonathan caught in one of our trees recently will like their new hive and location. There are photos and a story that accompany those bees...but it's his story to tell...maybe soon he'll post about his adventure.

I am looking forward to...seeing friends later this month when they travel by our way towards their anniversary destination....wish I could go with them, but it is their anniversary!

I am reading...mostly blogs - I learn so much sometimes from other folks' postings. Recently I found out about Two Old Goats pain relief lotion on a blog and immediately purchased some. I'm loving the results!

Around the house...Sarah has re-arranged her room in anticipation of her new bed being assembled and placed in there. Pictures coming when it's set up.

A favorite quote for today..."To dig and delve in nice clean dirt can do a mortal little hurt." ~ John Kendrick Bangs via Susan Branch.

One of my favorite things...springtime mulch! A new pile of mulch arrived and is waiting for my attention. Looks like Two Old Goats will be put to the test!

A few plans for the rest of the week: not much on the docket except working outside while great temps and nice sunny days are on tap for this week.

Other adventures since our last post...traditional Memorial Day geo-cacheing around the area. I'm not into snakes and poison ivy, so I waited in the car at each cache stop....and a good time was had by all!

Tom and I also manned a craft show booth with soap and baskets this past Saturday--will write about that later this week.

A peek into one of my days...Jonathan having fun with his bee suit at my expense!
~ Deb