Shawnee Rose....

And she was gone..... just like that.  

I suppose there's no use in explaining how it happened... no sense remembering how young she was ....  no sense wondering why there was never a sign.   She's gone and our hearts are breaking.   I suppose we should really get it together... just can't seem to...

forever missed.....our little Shawnee Rose.....

                                                     September 20, 2006 - September 6, 2012

Thankful for the Onions....

This was a small section of the 400 onions I planted last spring. I knew they wouldn't make it until we got back from our vacation, so I pulled them early, even before their tops had completely dried out and fallin over. They were everywhere... During the day they cured in the shade on every screened item I could find making sure they didn't touch in order to expose each onion to the warm air so they would survive the winter. Every morning they needed to be brought from their previous night's shelter. Every evening back they went... but not before they were given the "cured" test. I would squeeze the stem where it met the onion and if it felt totally dried up and empty it got it's roots trimmed and top cut about 1" above the onion. Because I don't have a basement, into my garage refrigerator they would go until there was no more room. It was alot of work, but now almost a year later I still have plenty to make it until this year's crop comes up and is ready for the same process.

ONION SURVIVAL TIPS...



Keep an eye on them throughout the year where ever you keep them... Because there were so many in my refrigerator I realized that at one point they were on the border of freezing.... they were also creating alot of humidity which could have spoiled them if I wasn't paying attention. If that starts happening make sure to remove them and lay them out to dry out. Or... remove the ones that look vulnerable and take them into the house and use them first. Just chop a bunch up and put them in a dish to use as needed!

Summertime...

Dreaming of Tomatoes....In February

These cold winter rainless days have my garden, bees & me dreaming about flowers, tomatoes and warmer weather. Actually... maybe it was Saturday's trip to our local Farmer's Market where someone was selling huge, beautiful, red gorgeous looking tomatoes and basil. In February??? Who was that??? It's been consistently in the teens or low twenties at our little homestead for months now! How do they do that? Must be those hoop house things... anyway... I was very impressed. So much so that I decided to remind myself that I really did have a garden this past year (as I peek through the windows and see not a plant or live thing out there in sight!) My poor bees agree. Good thing I left those big supers of honey for them...

The Harvest...

Home Sweet Home....

I remember praying for my own"home" when I was young... a place where I would finally belong.... where my children would belong... a place where they would always be loved, appreciated and respected. I wanted them and my grandchildren to know who they were, where they came from and understand why they became who they grew up to be.

While on a walk today I visited with a young couple from our neighborhood who touched my heart. They told me they had decided to decorate their home with blown up pictures of their lives together. She was also going to frame calendar pictures she loved. Inside my heart cried "yes" and I was reminded of this entry written months ago but had yet to post. I shared that I had my own treasured "calendar" bear pictures given to me by my grandmother that have always hung above our piano. Before I was born my grandfather cut them off a calendar and made frames for them... I shared what a treasure they were to me.

The idea of "investing in a house" never ever occured to me. I wanted a "home".... nothin' fancy....just a "home". Over the years it has become just that. It's plum worn out from raising our family... years of hosting Thanksgiving & Christmas week long events where sleeping bags lined the floors and kids slept exhausted from late night games and running a home business where customer's became my best friends.

Department store "pics" have no place here... our rooms are filled with family heirlooms, gifts from our children and special friends, treasures from places we've been, vintage yard & garage sell finds, and things of nature. Some day the hand peeled log beds and beautiful pieces of rustic furniture my husband has filled our home with will adorn our grandchildren's homes as my grandfather's bear "calendar" pictures adorn mine. The door frame in the kitchen marks the heights of each of our children on their birthdays. Scriptures I cross-stitched so many years ago hang framed on the walls reminding us that our lives are blessed because of Him.

When we bought our home 31 years ago my father-in-law wrote in a card he and my mother-in-law gave us…"your new home is a living monument to you",  every day life here on our little homestead have made it just that.   It’s not about the stuff. It’s the journey and the memories… it takes a lifetime to make a home your… home sweet home.

Without Love...

This poem prefaces photos in an album I created years ago when we remodeled our home... the picture was a gift from a precious friend and it says it all...

Without love a house is just a house... a ceiling, walls and floor… but fill that house with faith and love and it becomes much more.

A house is where your dreams come true for love abides, you see... and love makes a house a home... regardless of pedigree.

Home is a shelter from the storms of life and sanctuary too... for loved ones wait behind the door to hug and comfort you.

It’s a home where God is honored and the Bible’s often read and there the children seek him before they go to bed.

Home may be a simple shanty beneath the stars above, but blessed are those who dwell within a house that’s built with love.