They're Here!

My Grandsons are visiting for a few weeks.

They live 3000 miles away, so time with them means the world to me.

The three year old knew just where to go and what to do..

...while Baby B is still trying to figure it all out.

Give me a few days little man.
We are going to have so much fun.

Done Hayin'

*****
Sharing with
 Out Door Wednesday

and

Rural Thursday Blog Hop

The Rummage Sale

While I was in Pennsylvania a few weeks ago helping my friend, she wanted to go by her Church to have a little visit with some of the good people who had been making her family meals and offering lots of prayers for her recovery from a couple of nasty aneurysms in the control panel.

The good ladies and gents were setting up for their annual rummage sale. Donna and I readily took the chance to do a bit of pre-sale shopping.

Bucks County, PA is the place to go for new-to-me treasure hunting.

I picked up a much needed mixing bowl for the farm house,
{perfect depth and shape}

a little pitcher to be used as a vase in the guest bath.

{picture it with little fence line wildflowers from around the farm},

a much needed grinder,

{just like my mom used to have}

a set of good heavy bookends,

and an assortment of baskets for gifts-from-the-veggie-garden giving.

All for $ 15.00

Score me.

I had also spotted a pretty pair of blue and white lamps and a horn handled carving set that were not yet priced, so I passed.

Then a package arrived after I returned home.

Many Thanks Donna.

Your life is the real treasure.

A Step into the View

It's no secret at all how much I love the View from the front of my home...

...But what lurks down Redmond Store Road and into those hills is quite a sight.

For instance, a blue barn.  Yes, Blue.

 Old stately homes,

and a startling reminder of a way of life once lived here in Virginia.

And of course, Redmond store.

Linking with Outdoor Wednesday

and

 with Tricia @ Barn Charm


  

Good Afternoon

Garlic Scape Pesto

Freeze some for flavoring salad dressings or a baste for grilling.

Save some to toss on tonight's pasta

Linking with



At Sall's Country Life
Linking with

Good Morning

It's a beautiful day upon this ridge, here in this valley.

Many thanks for sharing it with me this morning.

Breakfast

As a young learning-to-cook-wife, my Mother-In-Law was at the ready to teach me the old ways and tell me the food stories of her native Germany. 

Oma often spoke of a farmer's cheese she pronounced 'quark'.

She said "you just can't get that here in America"

"As kids we loved it when our mother mixed a little sugar into it with some strawberries."
Opa readily agreed.

I asked, "is it like cream cheese?"

"Ney, you just can't get it here."

"Is it like ricotta?"

"Ney, Ney, You just can't get it here."

I found a package labeled Farmers Cheese in the dairy section of a grocery store once.
But that wasn't quite right either.

So I gave it a try.
 Although it's not quite the cheese of Oma and Opa's memory, I am happy to have learned a new skill.

But if any of you know how to make really good Farmer's Cheese, German style...
Please...past on the secret!

{Sharing with Homestead Blog Hop}
~~~
Linking with
Farm Fresh Friday

Farm Food

At this point in my life, I rarely buy new cookbooks.

 I'm a dump and stir kind of a cook. Always have been. Measuring spoons are nonexistent in the kitchen.  I do like to look at recipes for inspirations though. I am just really bad at following the directions.

But when I was pointed Ian's Knauer's 'The Farm' by a special friend I could not resist.

It is beautifully written and photographed.

 Knauer's story so reflects our ever evolving philosophy of  food and gardening.

 

{making sauce from last summer's canned tomatoes}

~~~

For more inspirations go to Rural Thursday Blog Hop