A Day's Work

Sarah Young's Jesus Calling Devotional
I am clinging to this message!

The cutest little individual sized cantaloupe, creamed peas
and potatoes, and mixed green salad.

Kendra's celebration birthday party at work!  It was really nice!  We work with such an awesome team!

Have you ever made macaroni salad!?  It's kind of a new awesome thing in my life!
Fresh watermelon, tomatoes, and beet tops!  Oh, and of course, BACON!!

Today's Harvest!  *Bountiful Blessings*

After a long day's work at work and on the farm, we retired to the amazing
hot tub under the stars!

~ Stop and Smell the Flowers ~

Happy lunchtime out on the ole' school desk with
fresh garden produce!

Honeysuckle in bloom around gazebo!

"Weeds" around the gazebo that I LOVE!

Taking a moment to pause and enjoy this beautiful day!  Our hammock is a great place to do that!

My man working hard to maintenance our mowin' machine!  This eXmark is awesome!  It makes our mowing our yard go really fast!

Sunday

Sunday mornings Heath makes me breakfast in bed.  It is amazing and I do not take it for granted!  How special I feel!  :)

Today, steel cut oats, farm fresh eggs, and hot tea in bed!

I went out for eggs today and this is all I found!
BUT, on the bright side, this probably means one
of the young girls is starting to lay!

!HOT! Peppers and Cucumbers

Cucumber, basil, lime infused water!

We had pork chops tonight for supper!  Something we don't often have.  What a treat!
I also made creamed peas and potatoes from our garden!

Quick Side Note:  Have you heard of something called Marco Polo, an app on your phone?!  It's crazy awesome!  Whitney had asked me to download it quite a while ago.  Not knowing what it was or making the time to download it, I didn't do it until she asked me again recently.  Wow, am I glad that she pursued me to get this app!  I would say it is some sort of a combination between FaceTime and texting.  You get the flexibility similar to texting so your recipient can check it at their convenience, but it is a video so you can actually see them!  It is great!  This has brought all five of us girls from high school back together.  I have been able to meet their kids and see parts of their homes.  You get to enter into their lives.  We all know how hard it is to connect these days even with all this technology.  With this, you don't have to find a time for both parties to meet (and make a phone/FaceTime call), but you can send a video message when you have a free moment and the recipient can then do the same.  It is really neat and makes you feel very connected.  I have also been able to connect with a friend who moved away and we have so much fun!  Great accountability and helps you feel like you live closer together!

This app is an awesome way to
connect when you have time!

*Farm Life*

Farm Fresh Sleepover Breakfast  :)  Truett got to go swimming while I made breakfast!

Yummy omelets with leftovers from last night's fajitas.

Truett is a true cowboy and today he also got to be a farmer!  It was his goal to catch a chicken...and so he did!

Look at that boy!  ADORABLE!  Big 'ole smile!

What a great sleepover with so much catching up!  I am always so grateful for times like these because they are always so needed.  If I don't make the time to make stuff like this happen, then life continues to fly by.  I feel like times by....some days I look down and it's like 'how did so much time just pass without me knowing it!?'  I get so wrapped up in my daily life and doing what needs to be done within my family, my home, my church, and even in my workplace.  If something or someone is important to you, make a commitment today - pencil it in on the calendar even if it's not until winter!  You will be amazed that by just getting it on the calendar you will prioritize that time differently!  You will be rewarded with a great, much-needed connection and fellowship with that special friend.  Or even pets if you want to spend more time walking them or taking them to the lake.  It will be mutually beneficial and you will feel happy about your choice to prioritize your oh so valuable time to connect!

My new favorite squash:  White Ace.  The use of the InstaPot was amazing and allowed me to process very efficiently!

Chokecherry pie for Pa! 

Cucumber chips with a variety of different seasonings.

SLEEPOVER!

Yummy breakfast!  Yellow and red beet slices and an egg omelet with sour cream and fresh herbs!

BOUNTIFUL Basket of Bright Lights Swiss Chard

As it started out, I was planning to head to Torrington for a sleepover however, throughout the day our plans changed a bit.  It's God's Plan, not ours!  Mo and Truett ended up coming over to our house since they were going to be in town anyway!  It was really awesome because Heath then got see them too!  (Also, Truett had really been wanting to have a sleep over "upstairs" and then go swimming in the hot tub.  So.....we did!)

Individual ~ size cantaloupe!

Buddies!

~ Sharing a Lovely Family Meal ~

THEN...enjoying the ice cream from Daddy!  It's his favorite from Schwann's!
Black cherry yogurt!

What a great way to fellowship with great friends.  There is something about gathering around a kitchen table with wholesome, fresh, homegrown food that is so nourishing to the soul both physically and emotionally.  It fills a very big need to nourish our physical body to be strong and be able to work while at the same time it is fulfilling to the soul to know all of the hard work, time, and dedication it took to raise up that food from the farm to our forks!  Blessed!  Thank you Lord for constantly reminding me how blessed we really are.  I love being able to recognize these blessings and it is through my time in the Word that these blessings become more visible.

Delightful! Savor the Moments!

Sarah Young's Jesus Calling Devotion

Grilled zucchini, green chili egg casserole (thanks to it freezing well), English Breakfast tea.
A delightful breakfast and morning!

Bountiful, Bountiful, Bountiful!

Yellow Beets in the amazing InstaPot

African Basket with Swiss Chard

Left to Right:  acorn squash, white ace, lemon cucumbers (front and center),
yellow zucchini in back right corner!

Bountiful Harvest!

Clockwise from top left:  green beans, chokecherries, peas, sugar snap peas.

The furry children are getting SO big!  They look forward to their twice a day
"gravy" (aka water over their kitten food).  They are so used to seeing me twice
a day from when they were babies and had to have their antibiotics morning and night.
There is one mama/aunt here, three bigger babies, and five smaller babies.

This little sweet thing is sooooo FLUFFY!  She is very much so long haired!

The Morning Glory is beginning to reach out!  We had one of these before and it totally took
over.  I think this is so awesome how it is wrapping around the old school desk.
Front:  Stevia plant.

I found this picture tucked away in a drawer and it is now sitting on my desk!
Lake Travis ~ a place we frequented alot while living in Texas!

Processing Veggies

This AMAZING machine called a FOOD SAVER was a gift from Bill, Alicia, and the kids for our wedding back in 2014!  We have used and used and used this thing!  We have three different types of bags which all have a different purpose.  For the more moist foods such as zucchini, carrots, green beans (after they have been blanched), the press and seal bags work well that you use the accessory tool to suck the air out of a special spot in the corner.  Then, for the dryer stuff like peppers, squash, and tomatoes (I don't blanch them) the pre-made bags work or even the roll.  I really like the roll because you can tailor make the bag to fit your product!  Then, you use the actual machine to suck the air out and then it seals the top (and bottom if creating your own bag)!

*Plant * Water * Weed * Pick * Wash * Process * Bag * Label * Freeze * Repeat until Winter *

*ENJOY ALL WINTER!!*

Bunches and bunches of peppers!

And shredded zucchini in roughly 2 cup portions!
Yellow and green make it *c*o*l*o*r*f*u*l*!

Happy Birthday Heath!

Lunch - leftover jambalaya, pasta salad, and cucumbers!

....and so we begin....just babysit every 20 minutes add water and check for juice.  Let it slow cook all day while I worked from home.

Amazingness!  No sugar added, 100% pure chokecherry juice to
be frozen and enjoyed all year long!

Barb offered to organize a family birthday surprise for Heath!  It was a great idea!  Garry, Barb, Tiny, and Trav came to the house to pick me up and head to Bridgeport.  We picked up BBQ pork, brisket, and beans at our favorite place, BugerWerx.  Justin met us there and hopped in so we all were together when we arrived at Heath's work.  Since he is in harvest, this is how we made it work!  Barb is used to doing stuff like this as Garry just retired from farming.  She told Heath she was sorry for the timing of his birth to have had him during harvest....LOL!

Heath was surprised when we wall walked in!  We organized the celebration in the basement and commenced!
Complete with his other favorite, strawberry poke cake.

*Family*

*Family*

Heath runs a beautiful facility!

He does a great job!

Right on the tracks for easy access to rail transportation of their product!

How beautiful tonight was!  Grateful and thankful for the time we were able to celebrate together as a family!  We made it work and I am forever grateful.  Celebrating is important!

We completed his birthday with picking the garden together!  How lovely!
Lemon Cucumbers - Top and Green and Yellow Zucchini - Bottom