Chores, decorating a large spool and our centerpiece

I had a long list today and I started with cleaning the litterbox and the chicken coop.  Start with what I didn't want to do first. 

Ahhh, clean. 

This girl stayed through the whole cleaning... scraping, shoveling and sweeping, she never moved.

Next up pull some carrots and garlic. 

I did dry some roses. These will be used in the coop or for teas.

Carrots are one thing we can grow year round, so no need to can, freeze or dry. We just eat them fresh. 

A BIG thank you  to Tara who has a store in town called Simpler Times.  She scored this spool for me.  I want to decorate them in all kinds of ways. 

I spray painted it with metal blue paint. 

Then glued all these glass pieces all over it. 

There was a large wood knot on it that I had to put a decorative button over to cover it. It will get moved outside as a side table.

I would love to try different ideas for more spools.

I decorated my tier stand for a summer center piece. 

The silos were painted by a great uncle, the flowers are from my garden and the gardenia is a tea pot. 

Cute lady bug salt and pepper shakers. 

peace 

Celebrating World UFO Day with Green Things and a son who says he is from Outer Space :-)

The day began in the gardens. It is hot but I am trying for two or more hours a day in the gardens.  The to-do list is long and never-ending!

The flowers are happy but fear the love and squeezing of the green beans! oh!

Pulled out the rest of this season of radishes, cut cilantro, lettuce and mustard greens. 

Washed and ready to bag. 

I still need to make reusable bags but need to find the time. 

My son called and wanted a visit … oh and eggs, greens, and any canned goods we wanted to share. This is the best compliment a mom could ask for. 

Then home to make a crazy space ship cake and aliens.

There were tomatillos in the fridge waiting to be canned up. 

I made some salsa verde.  It smelled and tasted wonderful. I made this small batch rather spicy and hot. 

I love making small batches.

Break time.... leftover meatloaf as a sandwich... YUM! 

peace

Family day and a project for young hands

Summers on the homestead are great for kids. I am happy they are able to take time off to spend time with us.  Kids love to run free, be with the animals, get their hands dirty and just have fun. 

Remember these flowers I dried in the microwave they other day?  I still like the old fashion way of drying them in a book between pages but this was a fun new try. 

Our grandson spent the night last night.  He drove the tractor, went out to be with the sheep and crafted.  We made a hoop of dried flowers for his mom. 

I put a Teflon sheet that we use in dehydrator and placed it on the table so nothing would stick. (these are also awesome in sewing too) We took a hoop.  Placed netting down. He selected the flowers and placed them where he wanted. I hot glued the flowers in place. 

Then another netting over the whole project, tighten the hoop and trim the excess. 

We added trim around the edge. 

We had another whopper of a storm last night. Things went flying by with the wind. 

It flooded again on this side...

But not on the side with the gardens built up.  I just think that is so cool .

We are bracing of another storm tonight. 

Over the weekend we did get bark to go around the new trees we have planted, the elm and fig trees. 

Bedding for the coop and new chicks.

Plus a salt block for the sheep. 

They loved it. 

We went old fashion for dinner... meatloaf.  We like ours with a mixture of pork and beef.

It may look funky but it was incredible.  We made two because I like cheese in mine and Dude doesn't.  Mine is the small one. 

There was time for sewing...and I had company.   They really just wanted my chair. 

They were persistent. 

I did get some sewing done. 

peace