My little garden book

Hey friends,

I've sat down here at least a dozen times lately to do a little blog post, get started then think, "yuk, who would want to read this boring stuff"!

Sometimes I feel like ending it all! Well, not all, just my blog. 

Guess I will muddle through and show you the only sunflower growing in my teeny tiny garden...and it volunteered and came up in the bean row...

10 feet it grew before sunflowers began opening...

It towers a good two feet above the eight foot garden fence and is such a happy sight for me.

How has your garden grown this summer?

My little garden struggled

through many hot dry days with no rain and now during the hot humid, "dog days of summer", we get late afternoon thunderstorms with hard downpours of rain causing limbs heavy with fruit to break.

Have you ever looked up from under an eggplant? I practically stood on my head to get this picture...

We have lots and lots of eggplants...

Lots of tomatoes too...and after all my picking I see another red one...

and so the teeny tiny garden is looking a little wind blown and ragged. The once, big pretty tomato plants have slid down the bamboo stakes and lay in piles. No pretty zinnias to show off this summer...not one seed sprouted.

Thank you Mr. Sunflower! and yay!! Look who was waiting for me just outside the gate...

Old sweet yellow eyes. Of course, the walk back to the house took twice as long with this kitty cat weaving in and out of every step. 

If you're still here friends, I thank you. 

Love, Henny

Old rusty nail and and a sweet surprise

Picked up this old nail on our morning walk with the dogs. Another little treasure for the Old Motor Grader Road museum. Maybe I should add a picture for those who haven't seen the little museum...

Treasures are hard to find now that the road is more gravel than dirt.

Do you remember the big heavy bird feeder I bought two or three years ago...

It holds very little feed but looks pretty hanging on the front porch. 

Recently we noticed two little Wrens building a nest inside the feeder. They were having trouble keeping moss and other nesting materials from falling out the hole in the back, so we helped them out by taping a piece of cardboard over the hole...

you can see a little of the tape there on the side. Didn't seem to bother them at all. They finished the nest and then it wasn't long before there were tiny eggs inside.

It is amazing how quick those little eggs hatched. We noticed the Wrens going in and out so Poppy took a look...

Oh my goodness! Three hungry little mouths to feed. How tiny and helpless and sweet. We are keeping a close eye on this little family. So afraid something will harm them. 

Guess I had better get busy. Poppy works until noon today...giving me a chance to get more cleaning done...the floors are a mess, everything in the house needs dusting, and the back porch needs a good cleaning...whew! Where to start!

Leave you with Eli and Ellie yesterday waiting for Poppy...

Sure appreciate you all. 

Love, Henny

What's for supper???

The row of mail boxes up at the main road can be a pretty raggedy sight, but not ours. Not any more...

a little "late Mother's Day gift" Andee said when the package arrived in the mail this week...

Five adorable bunnies. I just want to reach in and pick one up. Looks like I'm going to have to get myself another real live bunny. My heart still aches for those at Mr. Murphy farm. 

Thank you Andee and Todd.

Remember when Grandpa Jones used to ask, "what's for supper"? Well last night it was...

Candied sweet potatoes...

Oh my goodness friends! More than 20 years ago I gave up trying to make candied sweet potatoes like those mama made. 

Thought to myself, everything else can be Googled, why not old timey candied sweet potatoes? Found what sounded most like mama's...but left out the spices...

Mama never covered up that delicious sweet potato flovor with spices...

this is simply sweet potato, real butter, and sugar. I left them simmering until the syrup was sticky and the potatoes were a touch crisp or chewy on the edges.

Of course, a pan of cornbread was necessary...

to go with the green beans and hand full of small potatoes, seasoned with a little fat back grease, fresh from the teeny tiny garden. Grandpa Jones would have approved, don't you think...

and in the small bowl, stewed yellow squash, who would have thought! and here...

the more tender green beans I cooked with garlic and butter...

Eli says, "well,  can we eat now"! What a surprise again this summer to get yellow squash from the garden. No stinking squash bugs, yet, anyways.

Better get busy. I was happily mowing away yesterday when my little red mower knocked off. Poppy tinkered with it for a while...told me to let it sit over night and if it doesn't run today he will get Truman to look at it.  

Truman is a trip! The folks around here call him the junk man...you should see his place! Maybe I'll get a picture and do a "Truman" post. 

Okay, the squash picture came out on the bottom??

Be back soon (hopefully)...

Love, Henny 

Dogs and cats and stuff

 Amazing how bright the early morning sun can be on Henny Penny Lane and still be so dark around the house...

at 7:30 am...Poppy and Eli lead the way on our morning walk.

Miss Ellie has been a little under the weather lately. She started having accidents in the house so Wednesday morning we carried her to the vet. She has a uninary tract infection...

This morning she looked so sweet on our bed...

She is on an antibiotic, pain pill, and probiotics daily so hopefully will be well soon. She sure is a sweetie pie and is all grown up now...weighs 100 lbs.! Not to worry though, Eli is still Mr. Royalty around here.

Anyhow, Got an email and picture from my sister Shelby today. Here's the story...My brother-in-law Jimmy went out to pull the tractor from under the shed and found a litter of kittens in the bucket on the tractor...

Shelby moved the kittens to a box and left them inside the shed for the mother cat to find. They have been seeing a large yellow feral cat around the barn. Two of the kittens are a beige or tan color. I've never seen that before. Aren't they adorable!

We've had terribly hot dry weather. Seems all the rain showers by pass our little spot in the county. The garden is doing fairly well, considering...

Getting tomatoes and peppers, and green beans now.

and here's this year's make-shift watering hole for the birds, lizards and frogs who live in the garden. 

Still having no luck with zinnias. Can't get even one seed to sprout. I just don't understand it. Thank goodness for the few wildflowers, like the Queen Anne's Lace growing behind the little greenhouse...

Well friends...hope all of you haven't gone away. Guess I will end this mess and get ready for bed. I hope to be back real soon.

Love, Henny

Back from the festival

Hard to believe a whole week has passed since the Chicken Pickin Festival...

Shelby and I planned to take plenty of pictures of our set-up and of the people shopping but we were so busy, neither of us thought of it until half way through the day. Darn it!

Oh it was a fun day. Most of my aprons sold but guess what, not the grey calico. Lots of bonnets sold too. One lady bought one to wear while she was there.  Good advertisment for me.

Of course, Shelby's jams and jellies and her baked goods were a huge success. Shelby's business name is "Relish The Moment". Cute name, isn't it?

There were lots of vendors...in fact, vendors as far as the eye could see...

Some folks came with their lawn chairs just to hear the bands and watch the people.

I'm not good at taking pictures in a crowd. Guess these few are my best ever. :(

Oh my, is it hot where you are? We are under a heat warning now through next week. Scared as I am of thunderstorms, I'm hoping for a not too bad one that will give us some rain. The garden is dry!

Don't remember potting up this lily last year...

but I must have. Isn't it pretty? Seven bud on one stem.

and, never in a hundred would I have believed a head of broccoli would come from the teeny tiny garden...

I set out six broccoli plants thinking, we'll never see a head of broccoli growing here...but darned if there isn't five more, just like this one. I'm tickled to death. 

The little garden is doing fine but this is the first year ever that I can not get zinnia seeds to come up. Not even one zinnia! Have sowed two packs of seeds. Same with okra seed. I've planted the okra row three times and have only three tiny plants. 

I'll end this with a couple pictures of the pond. It is clear and dark...

just the way it should be. That's Ellie walking along side me.

Now that the dirt road out front has ditches on both sides and lots of gravel covering the red dirt, not so much mud runs into the pond...

Many many thanks to our, hopefully, soon to be new neighbor Steve, and his sweet wife. Steve has spent many hours working on this old dirt road. 

Guess that's about it for now. Sure appreciate your stopping by. 

Love, Henny

Going to a festival

Sure wanted to finish the mowing, especially up around the garden, but it simply got too hot...95 degrees and no breeze. We decided to come inside. Maybe tomorrow??

Lots to be done inside too. Shelby and I have a big craft event coming up this Saturday the 4th., thanks to Shelby and her efforts. So, I've been back in the the little sewing room...

Got several new colorful aprons made, plus that little group of dollies there on the dresser...

Don't think I have ever had so many bonnets made at one time. The white bonnet with lavender flowers reminds me of my Aunt Berlie, and I really don't know why.  Maybe even more so, the apron in the first picture.

What do you think of the grey calico fabric? Kind of unusual, isn't it? Will it sell?

Have several gathering aprons with large pockets made too. Good for gathering eggs. Do I wear one? 

Well no! I emptied food scraps to the chickens and brought the eggs back in the empty pan. Maybe I should try one of my aprons!

I like this one with the cherries, trimmed in cherry red. My dear friend Diane in Kentucky...if you happen to look in, thank you again for all the fabrics. I am still using!

Anyhow, this big event Saturday is the Butner Chicken Pickin' Festival". Butner is a small town about a 40 minute drive from here. Had never heard of it before but this will be its 28th year and was advertised in "Our State" Magazine.  We're excited!

You know what? I am still tinkering around with the raggedy old 30 year couch in the living room...

After covering the seat cushions with the $1.69 piece of gold upholstery fabric, from the thrift store, I ordered these yellow quilted pillow shams. It helped the looks so much. Now I want to order two more king size shams for the pillows in back. Hey, it's comfortable. :) 

Guess that's about it for now. Thank you looking in. I did want to mention...

We have not seen the mother Wood Duck and her babies since that first day. Don't understand it. Just hope they survived and are safe somewhere. There is water, a creek on the other side of the dam at the pond. Guess we will never know.

Love, Henny