Around back...

 So many of my pictures of our place focus on the front of the house, but the back side is just as beautiful. When we were choosing a house plan, one of the must-haves was a house that had character on all sides. Sometimes at night when I'm coming in from feeding our cat in her barn, I stand and just take in the house from the back side, the windows glowing with light. Maybe one day I'll have a camera that can capture those images...for now, the daytime photos are best. 

A while back I took all three boys on a picnic in the woods. We tromped through the woods, pushing the stroller with the baby, to a place we've named "the campsite" because it will be perfect for that purpose when the boys are older. There are some logs back there that the boys love to play on...here they are discussing their big plans for their logging company (their play revolves between their construction company, their logging company, or their gold mining company). 

This is the main reason we moved to the country, so we could raise our boys to be kids who love playing outside. This picture captures the moment perfectly. I have the best memories of playing in the woods with my brother; I know my little guys will have the same. 

Soon enough all three of them will be playing in the woods!

Collecting pine cones and other treasures...

Playing on the dirt bank on the old logging road that runs at the edge of our property. We have to enjoy this time in the woods because soon enough the chiggers will be out (and anyone who has ever had boys get chiggers in their pants will tell you that summer playing in the woods isn't the best idea). 

Every farmhouse needs multiple pieces of equipment. Now the boys have their own backhoe thanks to their Da (grandpa). 

Putting the backhoe to work--we like it because it's not battery-powered and there are two seats. 

Hope you enjoyed all this "back talk!" Have a good weekend!

Farm Fresh on Our Table

For any aspiring cook who feels hopeless in the kitchen and claims "I can't even boil an egg," please don't judge your cooking/baking abilities by that endeavor. The other day was my first time perfectly hard-boiling a batch of eggs. I was so proud! Although my mama uses the 20 minute simmer method (after bringing the eggs and water to a boil), I haven't had the best of luck. So this go-round, I went for the boil and then remove from heat, with lid on for 15-20 minutes method. I even stirred the eggs midway through to better distribute the yolks. And look at these beauties! 

 Thanks to our lovely girls out in the Chicken Palace (who molted and had a drop in egg production--but are back to giving us 3 eggs a day again). I made the boiled eggs to top our supper salad that evening. 

(P.S. Black granite...love the look, not the constant battle with trying to keep them halfway clean).

Levi loves helping in the kitchen (so does Mason, my almost 3 year old, but he was napping). He was equally proud of our job boiling the eggs because he remembered my effort a few weeks ago where I thought the eggs were ready and they weren't so they ended up in the trash. He did a great job peeling the eggs, too. 

I'm still learning to love eggs. Growing up I barely ate a bite or two of scrambled eggs. And I'm still iffy at trying eggs cooked any way but scrambled or hard-boiled. My favorite way to eat them is as egg salad. 

Tonight's minestrone featured three things from our garden: zucchini (from the summer--I shredded it and froze it in 1 cup bags), kale and tomatoes (well, the tomatoes are actually from my mama because she's the tomato canning machine--eventually I'll have to learn how to do that but for now, I get to enjoy her hard work). 

This minestrone is very tasty and satisfying--perfect for the tail-end of winter. I basically follow the Bush's Red, White, and Bean Minestrone recipe that I pulled from a magazine several years ago. Levi insisted that his Captain America cup be featured in the picture, by the way. Happy last day of February!

Hearts and Bunnies

Valentine's Day has always been a special holiday for me because my mama went into labor to have me on Valentine's Day (but I didn't actually arrive until the day after). I grew up having redhot hearts and conversation heart candies at my birthday parties. It never bothered me that my birthday fell after a holiday (though I always wished I could have had a pool party like my friends with warm-weathered birthdays!). This year we had Ashley's family over for a Valentine Waffle Supper so I had fun adding some heart decor to our house. 

Ashley's mom made me this simple burlap wreath that is hanging about the woodstove in our living room. I cut out a few felt hearts and added them to the wreath (no glue or sewing needed!). 

Last year I saw this cute heart garland on Pinterest and decided to make it one afternoon. Very easy and festive across my dining room window! 

Remember my grapevines...my parents surprised me with a birthday visit on Friday and we spent part of the afternoon weaving on my porch. Papa made a wreath and Mama encouraged me to make my wreath into a bunny (she's an expert basketweaver and always says she may not have been the most creative person but she certainly encouraged and inspired my brother and I). 

Here's the bunny making a very early appearance beside our door (I'm usually against holidays crowding each other but I can't help sharing this!). 

One of my boys pulled one of the pansies and I added it as a nose. 

We got a skiff of snow last night. Not really enough to take a picture of but it was special all the same. Happy Sunday afternoon to you!

Perfect Day for Muscadine Pruning

It's a beautiful Sunday here in South Carolina and we've been outside enjoying the weather. While Ashley worked on the garden irrigation, I pruned the muscadine vines.  Because I'm usually taking care of the baby, it's harder for me to help with heavier work outside. But since it was a nice day, I pulled out the outside mat and the little people enjoyed the day while I worked. 

We consulted several web sites to make sure we pruned correctly to help our vines grow and produce a lot of grapes this summer. February is the ideal time to prune muscadines. Here is one of the vines, pre-pruning. Notice all the branches shooting off all over the place. The main focus on pruning is the tendrils--they need to be trimmed back so that only 2-3 buds remain.

Ah, someone notices! He's perfecting the art of sitting up. So far, he's the biggest boy we've grown yet--at his 6 month check-up, he weighed 22 lbs and was 28 inches long (98th percentile for both). 

So here is our bunch of unruly vines, although Ashley did train them last year to have a single trunk and make the necessary T split into 2 cordons. These vines are fast growers and need pretty severe pruning to keep in shape for the years to come. 

Now here's the row, all pruned up. Naked, as Ashley put it, after I finished my work.

Here are the vines "bleeding." It's completely normal for the vines to drip sap for a few weeks after pruning. And no, they won't bleed to death.. 

 Little Man was impressed :o) 

I have always loved pruning, pulling weeds, getting things in order (as long as it's not hot and humid). Last winter I made some vine wreaths from some vines growing in our woods. This afternoon I wove these three with our muscadine vines. They're not perfect but it's neat knowing I made them with materials grown on our land. Now to figure out additional decorations for the wreaths.

Part of me feels like I should apologize for not posting in ages but you know how it goes...life happens. I really did want to post the past two months but just haven't been able to. Between my trusty Canon PowerShot going on the fritz to the holidays to more rounds of winter illnesses, I just haven't made the time to add anything here. I do hope to post regularly again--and with the spring coming, I know I'll be motivated. Today Ashley plowed up part of our garden to get ready for our spring planting--and we're excited to try new things and some of our past favorites. Happy February to you!

Officially a Family of Five

Long time, no write. Between taking care of children (and a husband) with yucky fall colds and the start of the holiday season, I haven't had much energy to sit down and write about life. We're all doing well, really; I am continuing to learn how to make the most of the few moments of free time that I have. 

Our baby boy is four months old now and we've made it official by having family pictures made at Okra Hill.  I love the results because Kate (who happens to have been my oldest son's preschool teacher last year) perfectly captured our family. Here are a few of the shots, though I'm saving the best to be printed before I share them online.

Our barns made perfect backdrops for the majority of our pictures. The boys are sitting in front of "Windy's Barn," which is the barn where our cat eats her supper. 

Remember how I've talked about these Tonka and John Deere dump trucks hauling everything? Look, it even hauls a baby! Don't worry, this hasn't gone on without my supervision (yet). If you're in the market for a dump truck, definitely consider the John Deere model. This one is played with every day and only recently had to be repaired (dump bed rusted off--if the boys would be more consistent about putting them up each day instead of exposed to the weather, that wouldn't have been a problem). 

I really wanted some pictures taken in the garden because we spend so much time there together. I love this one because L and M have mustard spinach stuck in their teeth and sugar peas in their hands. 

To me, our house is part of the family. Building it was almost like giving birth and it's already provided us with a wonderful space to live. So having a photo of us in the garden with the house in the background was another one of those shots I wanted to include in our shoot. We'll try this angle again next year when the lighting is different. 

All this said, I'll get around to updating this blog with all the lovely things growing and being harvested in the garden right now--carrots, beets, onions, garlic, kohlrabi, mustard spinach, kale, broccoli, cabbage, and collards. Yum!

Pumpkin Pancakes for Fall

It's fall on our hill. With the winds of last week, the trees' leaves are steadily falling. Our chickens are molting. And there's a crispness to the air that we don't get to experience for very long in South Carolina. 

Our house is looking very settled in now.

And since it's fall, it's time for all things pumpkin. Saturday I roasted a pumpkin we had grown (volunteer) and stored the pumpkin puree in the fridge. 

Back when I was pregnant with my second son, Ashley's cousin Martin invited us over for breakfast one morning. He made the best pancakes, which motivated me to try to learn how to make pancakes (in the past mine would burn, be too dense or not flavorful). I'm been making the White Lily pancake recipe with consistently good results. This morning I used that recipe with tips from King Arthur Flour on how to make pumpkin pancakes.

Here's my Pumpkin Pancake recipe (updated 10-4-2013):

1 1/4 c self-rising flour (I'm excited about the SRF from KAF --will order some soon)

2 T sugar

1/4 t. cinnamon

1/4 t. ginger

dash of nutmeg

* Whisk these in a bowl.

In separate bowl, combine:

1 c milk (less if your pumpkin puree is more watery)

1/2 c. pumpkin (you can use canned or roasted, depending on what you have)

1 egg, slightly beaten

Dash of vanilla extract

Add milk mixture to flour mixture. Whisk together. I made the pancakes on my griddle, the temperature between 325 and 350. I loved them, as did the boys (especially since I made them in Mickey Mouse/bear shapes).

Fun at the Fair

A few weeks ago, the South Carolina State Fair opened. Since we live near the capital city, we always try to go. Last year was my first time entering goods into the fair and I won two blue ribbons (dill pickles and molasses-ginger cookies) and one second place (brownies). Though it may seem silly to some people, I really am proud of my ribbons. As a stay-at-home mama, I don't receive much outside recognition for the work I do around the house so the ribbons in my pantry remind me that I do know what I'm doing sometimes! All that said, I entered 6 things into the fair this year: dill pickles, pickled beets, strawberry jam, brownies, molasses-ginger cookies (these go in the "drop cookie" category), an apron, a bag and a pillow. 

My dill pickles won blue again this year.

My pickled beets also won a first prize!

As did my molasses-ginger cookie. We all love looking at these old cases filled with baked goods. It's neat to think about all the folks who have entered things over the years. So three blue ribbons (and $19 in prize money...I'll be sure to not spend it all in one place..ha!) for Okra Hill Farm. 

Seeing the exhibits is always a highlight but this year we chose to take the boys on some of the amusement rides. All five members of our family rode the Ferris wheel (the baby is riding in my front carrier). 

The view from the top of the Ferris wheel--that's Williams Brice stadium in the background, where the University of South Carolina Gamecocks play. 

Our 2 year old and 4 year old had their first ride on a few other kiddie rides. 

A few days after the fair concluded, I had to go back to the fairgrounds to pick up everything and my blue ribbons. Here's a little photo shoot of these two winners (I threw the cookies away because they were hard as bricks after being on display for almost two weeks). 

 Fair season always signals the beginning of fall and we're certainly having fall now--the leaves are changing and we've had blustery winds all week. More later on the goodness growing in the garden. 

Farewell Okra of 2012

The okra season is a long one--four months here on our hill. We've enjoyed having it with our meals, sharing it with friends and family, and marveling at how well it produces (and really isn't bothered by pests). As a farewell to this vegetable, I thought I'd share that we do indeed eat okra in one of the most traditional ways--fried! We really don't fry much food at our house but a few weekends ago, Ashley cranked up our turkey fryer, using a smaller pot and made us a fried food supper. I'm smiling as I write this because the post I just completed was about how I've been eating salad all the time. Well, sometimes it's good to have some grease :o)

Ashley made catfish bites, fried okra and hushpuppies. Yum! 

I served this with grits, broccoli slaw, and radishes to cut the grease. 

Generally our boys like fried things, like chicken tenders, catfish and hushpuppies. But one thing they both did was pick the breading off the okra! No fried okra for them--they did this at a seafood restaurant a while back, too. Funny. 

But all growing seasons end and we were ready to be done with the okra. The stalks weren't producing as much and the okra growing wasn't as pretty as before (bumpy and funny, curved shapes). Saturday we measured the tallest stalks--89 inches!--amazing for something that grew from a seed. Things like this always remind me of how God provides for us so I looked up some verses about seeds. Read them here if you're interested. 

Our boys are such good workers in the garden, especially the oldest. I gave him the task of cutting down the okra and he neatly chopped them all down at the ground, laid them in a pile and then took them to the goats. 

I tried to get a picture of these two...and they're smiling and saying "CHEESE" but not looking at my camera. As usual. 

I'm so glad we have this garden for our family. Almost every evening Ashley is out there working with the boys and I bring the baby out if I have time after cleaning up from supper and before his bath. We've been rewarded by its bounty and the experience of it all. 

The beginnings of our fall garden

Our second fall of gardening has begun. We've already cycled through some of the plants (the first set of broccoli was eaten by deer; the second batch struggled; and Ashley decided he had planted the collards too early--they were eaten up with bugs). All that to say, our lettuces and greens are doing well!

Recognize this bunch of greens?

It's the top of a bunch of radishes. Although radishes are fun to pull (we love pulling root vegetables around here), we're not really fans of consuming very many. So we ate a few, gave away some and then treated the goats with the rest. The color is beautiful though!

 We have at least four types of lettuce growing. Yum! I've been eating salads every day (inspired by reading Eat to Live and watching Forks over Knives). Fresh lettuce from the garden is so much better than the stuff we can buy in the grocery store--and I know this hasn't been treated with any chemicals.  

We're also growing kale after enjoying the free kale we found along the highway in front of our house (strange, I know...but we live in a big farming area and trucks roll by all the time loaded down with boxes of produce--and occasionally stuff falls off at our house). 

Our favorite way to eat kale is making kale chips. There are a lot of recipes out there for this easy, nutritious snack. Basically you cut the kale up, removing the ribs. Toss with olive oil and salt (not too much--I usually use my hands to evening distribute the oil) and roast in the oven (one recipe says 275 degrees; I've also done 350). I use my wire rack on a cookie sheet method (how I make fries, too), which eliminates the need for turning the chips. The chips are done when they're crispy, around 10 minutes, depending on the temperature you selected. 

Tonight I tried Bobby Flay's sauteed kale. Yum! A great accompaniment to the shrimp, brown rice and okra supper. I plan to serve kale frequently while we have it. Read more about this "powerhouse" vegetable here.