Masthead header

It has now been 2 weeks since I planted my strawberry seeds, which you can read about here. As I explained in my earlier post, growing strawberries has {for some reason} been quite the feat for me and, therefore, I am quite determined to get a good harvest from them this year. Well, Week 2 and I have to say that so far it isn’t the epic fail I expected nor would I call it successful. Of the 21 seeds I planted, 5 have sprouted. I am not giving up on the remaining 16..but success with those is dimming. HOWEVER, I choose to look at it as I have 5 strawberry plants coming..and thats pretty awesome 😉
Thoughts so far:
Growing strawberries from seed is a slooow process. When I read on the package that I was to plant the seeds 10 weeks before the last date of frost, I imagined it wouldn’t take near as long and would therefore have full size plants in my house by the first week of May. Now, I realize my knowledge of growing from seed really is novice and I should just read the dang package and follow it directly which, thankfully, I have! As you can see from the photo above, these little guys are just that…little. I don’t think they even stand 1″ tall yet! But thats alright…they are growing!!
I’ll keep you updated as time goes on to see how these beauties grow…please keep your fingers crossed and again, if you have any tips/tricks, I’d love to hear them!! Happy Tuesday!!
Posted in gardening , strawberries , strawberry watch 2012
like tweet pin
add a comment

I am so excited that April is here…Spring is in the air, our new machinery has arrived for seeding and I just have a feeling that this coming month is going to be awesome..

This weekend, my parents came down for their first over-night stay at the farm and we could not have been more excited! Of course, the visit went much too quickly and I missed them before they even left the driveway..but my gosh was it ever nice to have them here while we did!! I hope your weekend was as wonderful as ours!!

The boys and I walked and enjoyed the beautiful songs by our resident Meadowlarks

Mom & Dad came!!

Simon made sure my dad went right to work..

Jakey went for his 1st ride in the back of a truck {& loved it!}

Our new tractor arrived!

This guy experienced egg dyeing for the 1st time in 20 years!!

Mom taught me how to make fried chicken…mmmm

and now we’re ready for Easter!!
I am loving my weekend recaps on Mondays! Its so much fun to go over my photos and truly realize what our everyday moments entail!! Plus its a great way of record keeping for my Project Life album 😉 I hope you all have a wonderful Monday – see you tomorrow!!
Posted in Easter , family , farm life , Weekend Recap
like tweet pin
add a comment

Whew, March you have been busy! Crazy, wonderful, optimistic..these are the words I would use to describe this past Month. New projects, bigger dreams and settling in have all been a part of my life in March and although it was a pretty great time..I am ecstatic to see what April brings our way!! {Photos are in no particular order}

We planted..

We did the whole “Sunday Drive’ thing..

We experienced another winter storm..

We played in the snow..

We planned what we’ll grow and cleaned the seed..

I reunited with my best bud..

We had friends and family visit..

I made our wedding book {will blog about it next week}..

I upgraded my blog {love it!}..

We walked and explored..a LOT…

We prepped the farm for the coming season..

We built 10 new hopper bottoms for grain bins..

Jakey finally moved to the farm and settled in..
We spotted our 1st rainbow of the year..

We played in the mud..

We helped with farm work..

We bought new “toys”..

We drank green beer on St. Paddy’s Day…

We tried new recipes..
March…you have been amazing. Looking over this blog post alone I feel so thankful for everything I have been given in life and I am so excited for whats around the corner. April? Bring it on!!
Posted in Month in Review
like tweet pin
add a comment

For months now I have wanted to make a chicken pot pie from scratch. For some reason I was putting it off, maybe even a little nervous, I guess I still have a lot of doubt in my new-found cooking skills! Last night was the night though and I have to tell you, it was worth the work! The flavors were amazing and all the ingredients worked so well together, I definitely recommend this recipe if you are in the mood for some down home comfort food!! Now, I used Tenderflake deep dish 9″ pie crusts for this – next time I’d like to make my own from scratch but this was perfect none-the-less

I followed the recipe to the “t” {I have included it at the end of this post} and I have to tell you, I don’t think I would change a thing!! Above is the pot pie right before I placed it in the oven..
And here it is, fresh from the oven..

My hubby thought enough of this “event” to take a photo of me and my pot pie..I felt like the prize winner at the county fair 😉

See my cute new oven mitts? They’ve got chickens on ’em!!
And here she is folks..the finished product..YUM!
The end result? This dish was flavorful, moist and delicious! I highly recommend it and am so glad I found it through my search on Google. Want to try it out for yourself? Here’s the recipe:
Chicken Pot Pie IX
1 lb chicken breasts, cubed (I used 4 chicken breasts)
1 Cup Sliced Carrots
1 Cup Frozen Peas
1/2 Cup Sliced Celery
1/3 Cup Butter
1/3 Cup Chopped Onion
1/3 Cup Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1/4 Teaspoon Pepper
1/4 Teaspoon Celery Seed
1 3/4 Cup Chicken Broth
2/3 Cup Milk
2 – 9″ Pie Crusts
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees
2. In a saucepan, combine chicken, carrots, peas & celery.
Add water to cover and boil for 15 minutes. Drain & set aside
3. In the saucepan over medium heat, cook onions in butter until soft
Stir in flour, salt, pepper & celery seed. Slowly stir in broth & milk
Simmer until thick. Remove and set aside
4. Place chicken mixture in bottom pie crust. Pour hot liquid mixture
over. Cover with top crust, seal edges and cut excess dough. Make small slits
5. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until pastry is golden & filling is bubbly
Cool for 10 minutes before serving
And thats all there is to it!! If you do happen to give this recipe a try, I’d love to hear how yours turned out!! Have a great Thursday everyone!!
Posted in cooking
like tweet pin
add a comment

For me, there is no better snack than buttered, air popped popcorn. Just the thought of it makes my tummy rumble and makes me want to plug in a movie and cuddle up with my very large pink bowl, full of the good stuff. My obsession with popcorn began when I was a little girl, where Friday nights were TGIF and popcorn night..and then I graduated to a few nights a week and now, I am an “every day” kind of gal 😉 Like clockwork, 2 hours after dinner I begin to crave it. The odd thing? There is no other food on the planet I have ever liked as much or have never gotten sick of! Crazy! Any one else obsessed with air popped popcorn?

mmm…nom nom nom
Now, I have been a Costco member for a few years and have taken complete advantage of the ginormous jugs of Orville Redenbacher popcorn {trust me} but this year, I’m going to switch it up. This year, seeing as I live on a farm and have more land to do with than I know…I am growing my own …. Eeeek!
{insert jumping up & down here}
Yes my friends, its true. I will {hopefully} be able to call myself the next Orville Redenbacher with my very own popcorn, grown by my own hands. All of this came to light one evening while looking over my newest seed catalogues and an offer for popcorn seeds to grow at home had caught my eye. I shrieked and scared Adam then exclaimed, “You can grow your own popcorn? Why have I never been let in on this??”
So we did a germination test to see how seeds would grow and my gosh they took off!! Trust me, excited doesn’t even cover how I felt!
Can’t believe how these guys just took off!

This year I will be growing my first veggie garden ever, and I am so excited! I am starting small{ish} and am growing all my favs {especially popcorn} can’t wait to see how my first garden does!!
Posted in gardening
like tweet pin
add a comment

« Older posts Newer posts