Watermelons, Georgia, and catching up

We put two of the watermelons on the wood pile then cut one for the refrigerator...

 The farmer who lives on Hwy. 39 about 10 miles from us opened his roadside stand on July 4th. We've waited all summer for this. He grows these watermelons in a field  behind his house. These are the best! Big heavy sweet watermelons!

Remember way back when country folks, during the summertime, would keep a watermelon or two laying on the ground under a shade tree? Several years back Poppy and I went way down in Georgia...never seen such long country dirt roads...so I could meet some of his kin folk. Poppy's brother Joe and some of Joe's family drove down too.

After driving for miles and miles down a dirt road, we pulled into the driveway of Poppy's Uncle Bob and Aunt Weeda's home. They were not expecting us, so we visited in the yard. After a while Aunt Weeda said, "there's a watermelon over there under that shade tree y'all can cut if you want to".

I looked through an old picture album and found these two pictures...

Uncle Bob, Aunt Weeda, and cousin Johnny. All three have passed on now. 

and their little farm house. We didn't visit with them long, but went on to other places. There were miles and miles of old country roads Poppy wanted me to see. Poppy and his brothers and sisters were born in this little section of Georgia and would probably still be there if his Dad had not been killed in a truck accident. Poppy was four years old when his Mother packed them up, all five kids, and moved back to North Carolina, into a small two bedroom house next to her parents. 

Time sure flies, doesn't it! and the days are so busy...I've had dreaded doctor appointments, the garden to look after, and the dogs...

one being a big overgrown puppy who loves to tear up socks but she is such a sweetie pie. We've had dry weather, then all of a sudden a storm that drops five inches of rain in just a few hours...

and did you know that Guineas do not have sense enough to get out of the rain? See them in the bottom left corner of the above picture and sitting on the fence below...

There are more than enough shelters for them to get under but they refuse.

Shelby and I enjoyed the Bee Jubliee held in June...think it was the 26th?? Anyhow, here we are...

Don't know how in the world Shelby keeps all these jams and jellies made...and there were boxes and boxes stored behind us, plus she brought the usual baked goods. Shelby's goods are always a success. 

It was lots of fun and the best part was spending the day with Shelby...so much to talk about and so many good laughs. 

Oh my gosh! Here it is 9:45. Poppy will be headed this way, yawning and cutting out lights. Guess I'd better end this. I will be around to visit and catch up. One of these days I'm going to blog the right way and stay caught up. 

Love,

Henny 

Oh, and the computer was in the shop for a couple of days this week! :)

Pies Pies and more pies!

My Goodness! Here it is 8:00 Wednesday night. If I hurry, I might get a little post done in time to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving.

Been almost two weeks since my last post and I don't know where the days have gone. Isn't it always something?

Anyhow, this post is perfect for Thanksgiving. Remember my sister Shelby? Bet you remember her kitchen. This was taken a few years ago...

Well she is still into baking except this time it's pies, and a few cakes! She and my brother-in-law Jimmy no longer sell at the farmer's market every Saturday, but they do sell at a special farmer's market held every Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Here, you may remember Jimmy too...

this picture is from a few years ago too. Anyhow, Shelby called me last night. They were home from the market, dead tired and cold. Shelby said she was chilled through and through and was on the couch snuggled up in a quilt while Jimmy had gone out to throw more wood in the furnace, out near the smokehouse. Sounds rather cozy doesn't it...

As Poppy often says, "get to the point", get to the point! So, Shelby made from scratch...48 pies and 2 cakes...to take to the market yesterday! I mean 48 pies! 

A one man pie factory, right there in her kitchen!

These are some of her pie crust rounds, made from scratch, of course, chilled and ready to be rolled out...

and here are a few of the finished pies...

Shelby told me she used 14 pounds of butter, 9 dozen eggs, and 16 cups of pecans.

This is just amazing to me. I find it a job to make even one pie!

I didn't ask if she would be baking a pie for herself and Jimmy for Thanksgiving day.

Thanksgiving will be a little different this year. Lots of worries. But anyhow, hope all of you have a happy Thanksgiving. Stay safe and well.

Have had a few computer problems, but up and running again and hope to be back real soon.

Love, 

Henny

The big event on Saturday

Have you ever seen a prettier place for vendors to sell their crafts? This is the "Pork, Pickles, and Peanuts" event at the Duke Homestead in Durham that Shelby and I attended on Saturday...

We're there, under the first white tent on the left. It was such a fun day, and we were busy! Very busy! We hardly had time to speak to each other...but the sells were good!

and way, way back there, where you can see folks milling around is the Duke homestead, the old wooden fence, and tobacco growing in the field. Back there too was where the barbecue cook-off and pie competition were being held.

I really wanted to walk around and take pictures of the homestead (now can't you just see me doing that) but we simply did not have time, so I borrowed a picture off the internet. It took all the nerve I could muster up to walk far enough away from our table to get the two pictures that I did. Seriously.

Aww, that's my sweet daughter Lynn. She stopped in to see us.

So, now I've got plenty of catching up to do, not only blogging, but sewing and doll making. All my little country dolls sold on Saturday. Yay!

Would you believe that Poppy now has a "to do" list? He sure does, and has been steady marking stuff off.

One item was putting up a new clothesline for me. He got that done first thing this morning. 

He put the new line way up high. Said it needed to be high to hold the heavy stuff. Why, I had to stand on my tip-toes to hang this little load of whites. Oh, by the way, MK, that's one of my many white (thrift store) skirts on the line. MK blogs at throughaglass,darkly.blogspot.com  and like myself, she loves white skirts. I love her blog! Is there still going to be a white skirt club?

The little goat barn has been leaking lately, every time it rains...so Poppy got the new tin roof put on. Something else marked off his list.

Guess that's about it for now. Oh, I was surprised to see two new followers, Debra and Beca. Thank you so much. So, I'm hoping to be back soon.

Love,
Henny

An odd post!

Couple of things here...well maybe three, or four!

Sure enjoyed your comments and thoughts about going barefooted! Got me to thinking about the dangers, and the injuries I've had because of running around without shoes...

like here in my bare feet...we were living here when, riding on the back of Shelby's bicycle, my heel caught in the bicycle chain. I remember my cut heel and the screaming and crying and scaring mama half to death.

And do you remember how easy is used to be to find broken glass on the ground? Seriously! We played Hopscotch, a lot! and the first step in playing was to find a piece of glass to throw. It was easy finding a piece...probably because back then, late 1940's, folks had trash piles where they dumped their garbage. There was no plastic, so it would have been just broken dishes, wood, paper, metal cans. It was fun looking for a pretty piece of a broken dish to play with. 

Then in the 1950's after we moved from South Carolina back up to North Carolina...I was playing barefoot in the back yard and stepped on a jagged piece of a broken drinking glass. A jagged edge went between my toes, making a pretty bad cut. 

Oh, and wading in mud puddles after a big rain. Now that was fun, except for mama telling us over and over how we would get worms.

And stepping on honey bees in the clover! The many stings I've had on the bottom of my feet!

And next friends, somehow, I deleted the main picture I wanted to show you of the strawberries Shelby and I picked. Duh! So, it will be at the bottom of this post.

And, thank you to my new follower. :) Whew! am I about caught up?

Now, I am not trying to sell anything here, but simply wanted to show you...

how my daughter Lynn...

is making junk journals. This must be the thing, now!

I was just watching and listening to her YouTube video about her latest journal, "The Lusty Month of May", springtime junk journal. When she finished the journal and listed it in her Etsy shop, it sold in two minutes! and all her journals sell like that.

Anyhow, if you would like to see that springtime journal, or how she makes these journals; it amazes me,  go to youtube and enter abitofbirdsong then click on the one titled Lusty Month of May. I think it's pretty neat! She sure got her confidence and nerve from her dad and not from me. Goodness no!

Shy and backwards growing up; that was me...and haven't changed much over the years. Why, I used to ask mama if it was alright if I ate one of the biscuit she had cooked for breakfast. Once, when I was a teenager, I walked all the way to the garden where mama was busy chopping to ask if it was alright if I took a bath and was it alright to use the bar of soap laying on the bathtub. Scared to death of doing something wrong! 

Don't you bet mama got tired of my questions? If she did, it never showed.

Now, here's those strawberries...

Bet you could hardly wait. :)

Okay, now I'm off to finish vacuuming, then it's outside to pick up sticks and limbs. We were under a severe storm warning late yesterday afternoon. Got high winds and lots of rain!

Thank you all!!

Love,
Henny

Rattling on...

The craziest feeling of wanting to go barefooted came over me the other day. It was Thursday while mowing, and all my toes were hurting. 

How good it would feel to walk on the cool ground so making the next round with the mower past the bench, I stopped and pulled off my boots and socks. It was wonderful! So, no more boots for me this summer! I'm going barefooted! 

Gosh, we used to start in early, early, spring, begging mama to let us go barefooted. We would beg and plead until she would say, "oh go ahead, and if you catch pneumonia, don't come running to me". I remember exactly how it felt back then to take my shoes and socks off and walk on the ground for the first time. Got that same feeling last Thursday.

The color red for the cabin is my favorite...

and I found this red tablecloth in the thrift store for $1.69. It was way too long. I cut a whole 12" off the length...

and should have cut off more. Please overlook the beat up chair legs. Hopefully, one of these days I will find six sturdy dining chairs in a thrift store.

the vase on the table holds "sweet betsy" my neighbor Ann broke from the bush in her yard. I've tried and tried to grow a sweet betsy, or as mama used to call them, "bubby bush". 

Oh, and about my sister Shelby and I picking strawberries...it was fun!

There were acres and acres of big beautiful strawberries, hanging in clusters. We carried our buckets and pans and walked to the far end of one row, thinking, as Shelby suggested, we won't have so far to walk back. But, good grief, our buckets and pans were full before we had picked a third of the row. 

We both brought a cooler with ice so we could go in a thrift store and then eat lunch.

I really wanted to show you the strawberry field, but had left my camera in the car, daggone it! 

This was some of the corn and tomatoes, just getting started. 

Can't wait to post about the teeny tiny garden here and what's been planted. Now if it will just grow! Oh, and the playhouse. Poppy has been working on the two chairs we found on Craigslist, and the iron garden table. I was out at 8:30 this morning; digging and chopping, and moving things around. It's May, after all! My favorite month of the year!

Okay, time is flying. Be back soon, I hope.

Love,
Henny

PS  I was reading on line about the health benefits of going barefooted. Says it can help you sleep better. Sounds good to me.

FROG Jam and cats on the freezer

You know, I could start every post with the question, where do the days go? 

Shelby and Jimmy at the market in 2015

Shelby is sharing her recipe for "F.R.O.G. Jam"...

6 cups peeled, crushed figs

3 cups fresh or frozen raspberries

5 cups sugar

2 tbsp finely grated gingeroot

1 cup orange juice (1 lg. orange)

1/2 tsp butter (I don't use)

Mix figs, raspberries, sugar, gingeroot, and peel together in large pot

Cook, stirring frequently, until thickened, about 30-45 min.

Ladle into sterilized jars and cover with sterilized lids

Process in boiling water bath for 10 min.

Cool and store in cool, dark place for up to 6 months

Note: To test for doneness of jam, place a small plate in the freezer as you prepare the ingredients. When ready to test, remove dish and pour  a tablespoon of jam onto it. Return to freezer for 1 minute. Then draw your finger through the middle of the jam. If it separates, it's done. Will thicken as it cools.

At that last craft show Shelby and I did, the one at the church; the preacher pulled up a chair and sat down in front of Shelby's display of jams and jellies. Shelby puts out a small opened jar of each flavor, along with a pretty little dish of cream cheese, and a dish of wheat thins, for sampling the jellies, kind of like here at the market...

Anyhow, the preacher, a very tall, big, friendly, down to earth type man, proceeded to sample each of the jellies. After sampling the Frog jam, he stood up and said, "rriiivvit, rriiivvit", what's in the frog jam?" It was funny. We really liked both the preacher and his wife. Very nice friendly folks.

To Diane in Wisconsin; you asked if Shelby ever ships her jams and jellies. She does occasionally, but the cost of shipping is high. She shipped a few jars to a lady in New York, and the shipping cost was as much as what she paid for the jelly. The lady wanted them anyway, and paid the shipping cost. All I can say is, that must be some delicious jelly! :) and it really is.

As far as the baking, Shelby mostly sells cakes, but she does make banana nut bread and pumpkin bread, and in the summer time, strawberry bread.

Listen to this! Here's what Shelby had baking this morning when I called her...eight cakes, (the last of an order for twenty). Chocolate pound cake, coconut pound cake, fresh apple cake, carrot cake, and million dollar pound cake, there were eight different ones and I've already forgotten the other two. Plus, six loaves of banana nut bread. No way could I do all that. As mama used to say, "I'd rather dig stumps".

Better get busy, but first a few kitty cat pictures. We may have to invest in a bigger freezer...

and here! See why it's hard to get any sewing done at night...

Thank you for visiting

Love,
Henny

Christmas Jam and Shelby

Sorry about the Christmas Jam recipe that was supposed to be posted here yesterday...Hopefully, today is not too late...

Shelby in her warm, inviting, and always busy kitchen, and below is the recipe.

Christmas Jam

1 (12-ounce) pkg. fresh Cranberries

2 (10-ounce) pkg. frozen Strawberries, thawed

4 cups sugar

1 (3-ounce) pkg. liquid pectin

Position knife blade in food processor bowl; add cranberries. Cover; process until cranberries are coarsely chopped. 

Combine cranberries, strawberries, and sugar in a Dutch oven; bring to a boil and cook 1 minute, stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat; add pectin. Return to a full rolling boil; boil 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat and skim off foam with metal spoon.

Quickly pour jam into hot sterilized jars, leaving 1/4" head space; wipe jar rims, cover at once with metal lids and screw-on bands, process in boiling water bath 5 minutes.

Yield; 7 half pints

Now why didn't I take pictures of her jams and jellies?? 

These are the jams she makes...
Apricot, Blackberry, Blueberry, Blueberry peach, Christmas, Frog, Peach, Ginger peach, Jalapeno peach, Hot jalapeno peach, Plum, Raspberry, Strawberry, Strawberry Rhubarb, Tripleberry, and Spiced tomato.

and the jellies...
Cherry, Ghost pepper, and Grape. 

and the butters...
Apple, Honey apple, Honey blackberry, Honey blueberry peach, Honey strawberry, Honey blueberry.

and these...
Fig preserves, Orange marmalade, Mango relish, Tomato relish, and Chow-chow.

Good gosh! I had no idea! No wonder she never has any free time.

Looking out the back door of Shelby's and Jimmy's house, I love the old barn and out buildings.

on craigslist today for $150.00

Wonder if there could be an old rusted cast iron pot-bellied stove tucked away in their barn somewhere? I really need one for the playhouse...

with a bit of rearranging, the little stove could go inside the fence panels...

Recently, Poppy said to me,"Henny, you can't  put a cast iron stove in the playhouse. The rain and damp weather will make it rust". So, I had about given up on the idea until this thought hit me, "there are covers for everything else, why not make a cover from an old brown tarp". It's not like the stove will be used every day. 

So, once again I am in the market for a pot-bellied stove, a small table with two chairs (Bistro set would be perfect), and a tea kettle.  Oh, then we will need a small shelf and a few thrift store teacups and saucers. :)

Guess I had better get busy. It's time for Poppy to get home. I've had a little vacation, even though it was Poppy doing the traveling. He has been gone since Friday morning early, and I've been home alone! He went down home (Moore County) to deer hunt with his nephew. As of last night, they had not even seen a deer.  Yay!!  I pull for the deer.

Sorry for such a long post. Thank you for visiting.

Love,
Henny

A little visit

Shelby and I met in Wake Forest yesterday to straighten out our money, and transfer her jams and jellies from the trunk of my car to her van. She paid half the rent for the table at the craft bazaar and I gave her the money she made on the jelly, so it's done and done and we're happy. Got to visit a little while too.

There are two Goodwill stores in Wake Forest. We spent a little time in each one and still found time to eat our usual little "happy meal" at McDonald's. Neither of us bought much in Goodwill.  I did find this...

for $1.99. I love carolers. (Thought about you Vicki. Did you finish making the carolers?) These were still in the box...probably cheap but I still love them. Got them standing on the mantle.

Once again, I can't get the decorations to looking right. 

These tall skinny wooden snowmen are from a thrift store too. All three for one dollar. The short fat Santa must go! He needs to be hanging on the tree.

I've added a bright red apron to the little shop today, even though it doesn't look true red in the picture.

Also put this Christmas print apron in the shop.

We have very cold weather coming and by Saturday morning, could windy and 23 degrees. That probably sounds like a warm front coming, to some of you, but it's pretty chilly for North Carolina.

Better get busy. Here it is 3:30 and you know it's dark now by 5:30.

Bunnies sleep in the middle of the day, so I wait until afternoon to feed and water them. Need to get that done. Poppy brought home two big bales of hay, so all the animals have warm beds and plenty to eat. 

and speaking of eating, here's what's cooking for supper tonight...field peas with snaps, corn bread, and fat back frying, for seasoning. 

I still need to boil some cabbage, fry a couple of pork chops, and bake us a sweet potato. That should be plenty.

Take care and thank you for visiting.

Love,
Henny