Summer Eats

This poor, neglected blog of mine.  I can't believe it's been a month since my last post.

I have so much to tell, so much to share, so I'll start with some delicious food we have enjoyed this season...

Homemade pizza has been a pretty constant thing around here.  This one was dressed with caramelized onions, fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, homemade tomato sauce with goat cheese & mozzarella.

Fresh Garden salads w/ flat bread pizza for a quick Friday night dinner.

We tried out the local cupcake shop, holy moly.  We enjoyed tasting grasshopper, pineapple & tiramisu flavors.

Blueberries from our own bushes have been few & far between this year, with the Japanese beetle invasion.

I made my own vanilla extract a few months back.  So super easy and will be so much more cost effective than buying in the store.  I used the recipe from The Homemade Pantry.  LOVE this cookbook!

Luckily the Japanese beetles did not find our strawberry patch.  I was so, so surprised with the amount of strawberries we got this year out of our own patch.  A total of 15 quarts, which allowed me to freeze a bunch and make 23 jars of Jam.

Oh and a strawberry rhubarb pie from A Year of Pies by Ashley English.  I cannot recommend this book enough.  My pie dough comes out flawless every time i follow her recipe.  The savory & sweet pies i have tried have blown us away.  Such a valuable cookbook to have on your shelf :)

And that's it for a sampling of the good eats we have tried this summer!

Rainy Summer Days

We have been going through a bit of a rainy period these past couple of weeks.  With a few sunny days mixed it, we truly soak them up.

Some things I'm loving right now : :

Sunny evening dinners, loving the new Taproot Issue!!

The Peach blossoms that are now teeny tiny peaches.....peaches that we have to pick off.  Until next year, when the trees will have roots enough to support the growth.

The garden - which looks soooo different now then when this photo was taken.  What a difference a few weeks make!  Peas on the left, Beans on the right.

Our Strawberry patch, which i am super excited about.  I picked our first ripe berries on Wednesday morning, it felt like summer is finally here!  While i was busy searching through the bushes to find the ripe berries, i looked up and saw charlie, right.in.the.patch, smacking away at the fruit.  Boy loves his berries.  Looks like we'll have to keep a close eye on him!

The various farm/tractor tools and equipment we have acquired over the past two years....we certainly need a barn next.  But wait, we are building a sugar house now....i guess that will have to wait!

An evening thunderstorm rolling in.

Our colorful tomato cages we purchased this year.  Makes me smile every time i see them :)

My first stargazer lily opened up.  Bliss.

My boy, my lovie.

In the spring of 2012, a mama bird built a nest on our front porch rafters.  Little baby birds woke us up every morning with their sweet songs, then evacuated the nest as they were ready.  Hubs and i wondered if she would be back again this spring, and sure enough, she has three little babies up there.  I was able to capture them a little this year.  I have noticed over the past couple of days that they are getting their little wings ready for flight....Its interesting because everything will be still, and then one will violently flap their wings for a good 10 seconds before settling down again.  The cycle of life is truly beautiful.

Have a great weekend friends!

Beauty

 There is something in the air when spring arrives.  Not just the smell of the earth coming to life again after a long winter hibernation.  No. 

There is this desire to grow and dream and explore your horizons.

I have been thinking a lot lately how fleeting this time is.  How quickly life flows by, how one season follows the next and before we know it a new year has begun. 

I do believe it was just yesterday my brothers and i were riding our bikes up and down that dirt road, knowing every turn, pot hole and dog we would meet along the way.  It was just yesterday my oldest brother moved away from home and i cried, partly for the fact he was gone, but mostly because that season of my life was over.  Our family was changing.  It was just yesterday my other brother announced his engagement on the 4th of July, calling the camp phone late one summer night.  Such happiness filled my heart, knowing our family was changing once more. 

People are constantly growing and changing and realizing new things about themselves.  Families evolve and change as a result.  Sometimes the changes are clearly beautiful, like the six babies that mean so, so much to us.  Other times as people age, the beauty is harder to see, as sadness and fear creep in.  But we must find it.  We must search and change with our loved ones, while keeping our fond memories close.

Life is anything but predictable. 

and

Life is every part beautiful.

Spring is here and it is time to grow.

Signs of Spring

Breathe in spring.

Preparations for a new sugar house!!

Soon to blossom peach trees

The Hebert's first cows have arrived!  Three pregnant, due in two months :)

"While the changing of the seasons is a slow and gradual transition, it does seem as though there is always a first day.  The first day on which the scale tipped, and more of our time is spent out of doors than in.  The first day on which jackets are shed, the first day on which we spy crocuses beginning to appear under the debris that winter left behind.  The first day on which the brave, and  usually young among us walk barefoot upon the earth - feet squishing in gooey, cold, rich mud. "My toes are breathing mama!"  I hear from my little ones.  Indeed, we are breathing."

-Amanda Blake Soule