Soup to warm you....

It's getting colder outside and I am trying to prepare myself for colder winters up here in North Carolina. Everyone here keeps telling me we are in the south, but how can that be? Anything with the word 'North' in it just can't be considered 'south'....especially when you are from the DEEP south......
One of my favorite, favorite things to make is a really good and hearty soup...quick, easy one dish meals can often be made from left over veggies and meats in your fridge. Bone broth soups are so good for you. especially if prepared with fresh herbs and a little cider vinegar added while cooking to draw all the minerals out of the bones and into the liquids.
This cold rainy day reminds me of the last harvest I pulled from my garden back home. Early this year we pulled a bunch of 'root' veggies from our garden along with some great greens like swiss chard and bull's blood beet greens. We wanted to see if we could make a hearty soup out of just the things in our garden.
So, here is what we came up with..

carrots of all colors
bull's blood beets with the tops
parsnips
radishes
swiss chard of many colors
We added homemade chicken broth and onions and made some fresh ground whole wheat bread.

We called it Root Soup....

Root Soup.....and fresh ground wheat bread

Well, we're in North Carolina!

Ok, I know that I am not an ideal blogger. I don't keep my blog updated...I am bad about putting up posts on a regular basis...BUT, I have a really good excuse this time why I haven't. Our family has relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina. We are living with my mother-in-law while waiting for God's next direction for our family. We moved in June and have been trying to get settled and establish a routine for everyone as well as enjoy our new surroundings. The mountains are amazing.....a slice of heaven to behold. God has been gracious to us. We all had our moments of sadness about leaving our home...still do sometimes, but we know that God has a plan for our family and we anxiously await that next adventure. While we wait, we have been so blessed to have found a wonderful church to attend. We have met some wonderful families. We have been encouraged as well as challenged from the pulpit where God's glorious truth is faithfully being proclaimed every Sunday. What a blessing!! We look forward to building relationships and fellowship.

I will try to post a few pictures of the things that we have done while here and a couple of a wonderful trip that my dear friend back home and I took to Missouri before we left. We went to Bakersville Spring Planting Festival in Mansfield, MO....aka Baker's Creek Seeds.....a gardener's heaven....it was a BLAST...I had so much fun..I really want to go back next year.

So, enjoy the posts...I will try to be faithful to post more often. A great big hug to all our friends in the deep south...we miss you!



almost there!!!


coolest pioneer village...a great family outing...

they had gospel and bluegrass music playing all day long

a seed woman's paradise




It's Mayhaw pickin' time at my folks..for those of you who
don't know about Mayhaw's, they are in the
hawthorn family. The juice from these berries
have very powerful cardiac health properties
but, people in the deep south use it for making
the best jelly known to man. Mayhaw jelly!!!


Washing the bright red beauties to prepare them for processing.

Making jelly...

Yummy! 55 jars of tasty tart Mayhaw jelly...

Not long after arriving in North Carolina, we took a trip to

Brevard and went to Sliding Rock and Looking Glass Falls.

I haven't been to these places since I was 14! We had a ball!

Jay and Sean about to plunge into the 42' water!

Emma's not sure about this...

Ask Aaron how cold it was!!

The beautiful Looking Glass Falls....we swam underneath the

pounding water...

Exploring one of the many beautiful mountain streams...

Having an old fashioned float at Pike's Soda Fountain Bar
 in downtown Charlotte

Abby's first flight! A birthday trip from her
grandmother to the Golden Age of Couture
exhibit in Nashville, TN

We had a great time!

They grow big bugs in North Carolina! A Hickory Horned
Devil caterpillar...to become the Royal Walnut Moth in spring

A wonderful afternoon on the beautiful Catawba
River in Mt. Holly

The water was crystal clear...as was the sky

Yesterday we went to Hodge's Farm and enjoyed the pumpkin

patch, hay rides and a corn maze. AND..fellowship with our new

friends and church family.

Lots of homemade harvest goodies all around...

A beautiful pumpkin patch on rolling hills

From days gone by....

Beautiful handicrafts..

A 'morning' glory to bless us at sunset

Well...that's all for now.. till next time.



Strawberry Picking Time

Well, if there is one thing we can do while we are waiting, it's pickin' strawberries. Ponchatoula is the South's strawberry capital and the gracious folks at Landry-Poche Strawberry Farms are wonderful. There strawberries are pesticide and insecticide free. They line their farms with martin houses and they eat all the little bad buggies all day long. Their motto is "eat as much as you can while you pick!"....and we do! So, where ever we move to, we will have a year's worth of awesome strawberry jam and frozen strawberries for smoothies. ( note the strange creature viewing the jam.....he's the quality control guy.....)

change is inevitable...in some way or another

I haven't been very good about blogging.....sometimes there isn't enough hours in the day. Sometimes I get so frustrated with circumstances that I don't want to blog about them. It's enough to just endure them, much less ruminate over them on a blog...so...that is one reason that I haven't kept up. We had a wonderful harvest last year and fall. But, as the year came to close it became obvious to our family that a move was inevitable. We would have to leave the small homestead that we had begun here.

Times are hard, and I don't mind downsizing....and I don't even mind a new adventure. I guess the hardest part of this move from our house is leaving my garden....not to mention dear friends that we have here. But, I can always keep up with my friends...they are never more than a phone call or email away. I can't, though...take my dirt with me. I have sweated and slaved over all that dirt. I have composted and cared for and spent MONEY on it....and I have to leave it. I can take my containers, but I can't take my raised beds.....big bummer. So, I am praying for a new spot where there will be a good place to put a garden in the ground. I don't think I can invest in the raised beds again. It is expensive. But, I can amend good draining soil and have a productive garden that way along with my self-watering containers.

Because our move is impending...I haven't even started any seeds this spring.. It's about to kill me. I feel like I am missing out on something...like I forgot to do something major this spring. But it would be impractical to start seedlings and try to move them, especially when we aren't sure where we are going to be.....

So.....I wait...

but in the meantime I can remember what a great summer we had last year...

A day's bounty

I cannot begin to say how satifying it is to be able to prepare a meal almost exclusively from your backyard! We just started our garden last year and it is really becoming more productive this year.....with more additions planned for next year. Hopefully in time, we will be able to grow and preserve/freeze all of our produce and learn to eat more 'in season'. Now that will be the biggest challenge of all in our 'supermarket mentality'!

First Fruits

Today we enjoyed picking the first fruits of our tomatoes...All the colors and shapes, different textures and flavors....they are all truly beautiful. I know why God placed Adam and Eve in a garden. Every little fruit bears witness to the Mighty Creator. Every good and perfect gift truly does come from Him and all of creation testifies of his love for us and the common grace that we all share. There are many spiritual lessons to be gleaned from working in a garden. Anyone care to share their special "Ah Ha" moments?...

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Sean the Mighty