On Wednesday’s I try to be wordless. . .
Linking with other wordless ones –
http://www.wordlesswednesday.com/newhome/
Wordless Wednesday –Winter Chores
The Garden is Finished
The garden is finished after a hard summer of production.
Frost has come.
Now it is time for the Farmer to clean up the garden and begin to prepare the soil for next year.
The Farmer used a push rotary lawn mower attached to the tractor to chop the dead plants for faster decomposing after being tilled into the soil.
There is always something to do at Cozy Acres.
My Spot at Cozy Acres
This is where I sit and read and write and knit and eat.
Sometimes I even doze here.
This is what I see if the door is open.
This is the view out the window.
It faces south.
The window is covered with sunshades.
This is what I’m trying to see.
One Thousand Gifts and a Scripture
Tonight I am adding to my list of gifts I’ve been given. Most of these gifts can be found around Cozy Acres. The Mother-in-law, squirrel and red tiger lilies can be found in Redding, CA.
71. A wonderful, happy Mother-in-law
72. The Farmer’s busy, hard-working hands
75. A frisky squirrel
76. Planting of the corn with Grandpa
77. Corn growing -on far left side
78. Corn ending for the year
79. Summer home-grown tomatoes
80. A tomato of perfection
81. Sweaters waiting for new homes
82. My first quilt -1960 or 61
83. Red tiger lilies
84. Passing on sewing skills
85. More Summer bounty
85. Bobo and part of his flock, waiting for Bro Bob
86. Fresh Eggs gathered by the Farmer
87. Finished projects
for Jonathan
for Elizabeth
for McKenna
And a scripture:
. . . Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest. Jeremiah 5:24b
{this moment}
I’m joining this ‘new’ to me photo blog
{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
http://www.soulemama.com/soulemama/2011/10/this-moment-3.html
Wordless Wednesday — Springtime and Harvest
Wordless Wednesday is for pictures only.
Springtime
and
Harvest
link up here —http://www.wordlesswednesday.com/newhome/
Asters and Goldenrod
As the days of autumn march one after the other, I ‘ve been watching my asters and goldenrod from my chair.
My goldenrod is fading away
The lands are lit with all the autumn blaze of golden-rod, and everywhere the purple asters nod and bend and wave and flit. ~ Helen Hunt
My asters’ days of flitting are almost gone.
They will come back next spring to start their song again.
While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. Genesis 8:22
Linking up with On my Mind on Friday.
Cooking once; eat several times
Monday morning, looking into the refrigerator and seeing a package of ground beef and one of chicken breast tenders, I knew I would be cooking today. I like cooking several main dishes one day and being able to eat for several days, like a mini smorgasbord. I checked in the cooler for available veggies: bell peppers, summer squash, zucchini, and fresh eggs.
I began with a egg/veggie/ham casserole for the Farmer’s breakfast.
Looks good, doesn’t it.
The Farmer brought in a butternut squash that had split, so although I hadn’t planned on baking squash, now it was on the list.
Ready for the oven.
Yummy!
The ground beef became meatloaf, most of it filling bell peppers. The part left was baked for sandwiches, one of my favorites.
One can of salmon and a can of mackerel became a salmon loaf using the Farmer’s mother’s recipe.
I baked both the bell peppers and salmon loaf at the same time.
I was adequately fueled by coffee.
Next, I attacked the chicken breasts tenders, Spike, Seasoned salt and flour coated the chicken and fried in olive oil. We’ll have these for dinner tonight, Chicken Alfredo.
Cooking results: which night do you want to come to dinner?
Now I’ll go back to my quilting, thinking to bake oatmeal cookies with chocolate chips and chopped walnuts.
Oh, I did clean up my mess!
I’m enjoying playing house in this kitchen. Yes, this is the whole of the kitchen. At the left edge of the picture is the refrigerator. Not a lot of counter space (understatement) but pleasant and homey.
On My Mind – The beginning, the ending and the beginning again
On my mind …
This is a Friday photo feature that anyone with a blog can join. To take part, post a photo on your own blog, write a short caption explaining it, and link it back to here from your blog by saying you’re part of “On my mind…
I’ve been thinking about this for several days every time I look out at the garden. Here in California, September is the beginning of fall and the garden shows its age.
May I show you what I see:
Sunflowers- June 22
today
Cucumbers June 22
Today
Tomatoes June 22
Today
As I wandered around to the back of the tomatoes and cucumbers, I found this new beginning;
Beets, carrots, spinach, and turnipsThrough all the starts and stops, this Farmer is still found on his knees.
To every thing there is a season,
and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die;
A time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
Ecclesiastics 3:1-2
Five Minute Friday – Growth
We write bold and beautiful and free. Unscripted and unedited. We just write without worrying if it’s just write or not.
Start
During these first days of fall, I walked through the garden and realized the garden was getting old and tired.
This garden has grown, and bloomed,
and produced day after day after day.
Now is the ceasing,
the garden is growing brown,
it is withering,
the produce is sparse and small.
During the first days of fall, I found new beginnings
new growth
new promises
new hope
and the farmer still on his knees.
Stop
Adding pictures now.
Wordless Wednesday — August 17, 2011
Wordless Wednesday, post a picture without many words to tell the story of today.
Bounty
Just one of many tomatoes, planted and watered by the Farmer,
increased by the Father.
On My Mind — Sunflowers
On my Mind is a Friday picture post hosted by Rhonda at Down to Earth. Rhonda lives in Australia, I enjoy learning of the differences and of the things that are exactly the same on both sides of the earth.
down—to—earth.blogspot.com/2011/08/on-my-mind_12.html
Amongst the squash in the Farmer’s Garden,
He plants sunflowers for his daughters and me.
POEM TO A SUNFLOWER
I see you there in glory shining bright,
Following the sun and its path of light.
Standing tall above all others in the field,
You grow, conquer, and do not yield.
The little birds take great delight
In playing round you, from day to night.
With your petals of yellow and leaves of green
How very easily you are seen.
But there is more to you than first sight,
More than beauty and grander to delight.
Every beautiful aspect that appears,
Gives praise to the Father dear.
He made you a part of creation,
And you praise him in glorious celebration!
The beauty that within you is expressed,
Gives testimony to his greatness.
Sunflower, how I long to be like you!
Glorifying God in all I do.
Following the Son and His path of light,
To worship Him in His glory shining bright.
I can learn from you, my friend,
With every breath, praise to God, I might send.
With all of his creation telling the story,
Might I, with you, proclaim His glory.
~By Katherine R. Lane (April 19, 1995)~
When you don’t get what you want…
“Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.” the Farmer.
Many times over many years our family has heard the Farmer repeat this statement. And today it was said again.
This spring the Farmer started planning and planting the garden. He started seeds in little pots. He planted many plants on his hands and knees. He put in the drip system lines, so vegetables would be watered and not weeds.
This spring the Farmer was diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer, stage 3, 8-9 out of 10 on the Gleason scale. ” The doctor says I have this thing wrong with me but I don’t feel anything” said the Farmer. The Farmer under went a biopsy, CT scans and a MRI. He took oral hormones as a first step in treatment. He received a hormone shot as the second step. Calypso beads were inserted in the prostate gland to be able to line up the radiation correctly. A body form was made to insure being very still during radiation.
Yesterday was picking day, the Farmer got up early to start picking while it was still somewhat cool. He had to stop to make a 10:30, Dr’s. appointment. The radiation schedule was set, Monday through Friday at 2:00pm, for 8-9 weeks, starting September 7th.
Yesterday I heard, ” I’m bummed.” quietly and solidly. He didn’t finish picking the garden.
The Farmer has never voiced discouragement. It didn’t matter what happened, good times, happy times, hard times, loss times, pick up and start again times, thankful times…there was always a sureness that we would make it through.
Has the Farmer lost his faith? NO! Does He doubt God’s plan? NO! Is He human? Oh, Yes! Is He grieving, yes. Will He come through this battle with victory and praise, YES! Not just because He is the Farmer, but because He is God’s Farmer!
Today I heard as he smiled, “Well, this wasn’t what I wanted to experience,” as he stepped off the deck , walked back out to the garden to finish the picking.
The Farmer plants flowers for me and I love him.
Saturday’s Veggie Stand
The weather is hot.
The Garden is producing.
The Farmer is picking.
Shouldn’t you be at the Veggie Stand on Saturday Mornings?
At 7:30 the Farmer loads up the trailer to take all the stuff that makes up a veggie stand to the end of the driveway. He loads veggies, chairs, foot stool, bags, pop-up shade umbrella, tables, eggs, box of quilts, rack to hang sweaters, rope, clothes pins and a weighing scale.
then poof it is all set up! (Apparently no one thought to take pictures while all the work was being done.)
Quilt’m – Sunflower Designs offered for sale three quilts and a set of pillowcases.
Sweaters for toddlers and infants knit by the Farmer’s Wife.
The signs are simple, and will be replaced with new ones telling all that the veggies are pesticide free!
So now if you’ve nothing better to do on Saturday Mornings between 8:00-12:00, come over, visit a while and maybe you’ll find something to take home with you.
Thoughts of Grace 
