Weekend and Winning

All last week Brian was gone at Studentz Camp for work and this was the first year I was unable to go! This year it was held in Harrisonburg, Virginia at James Madison University, so almost 2 hours away from us, instead of at Liberty University in Lynchburg. It was sad to not be able to work camp but also very quiet and boring at home alone. He came home very tired but he had lots of awesome stories to share.

As soon as he came home, we got back into the car and drove out to Richmond to visit our families. It was a blast, as usual, but also exhausting, as usual.

Friday evening was spent with my family, gardening and playing with my 2 year old niece. Check out all the green veggies we harvested!

We got all of this on Friday evening. I even strapped on a headlamp to finish getting all those green beans because it got dark too quick!

The watermelon had some claw marks...we're guessing from a squirrel. Otherwise it was fine! Very heavy and perfectly shaped!

What a good harvest!

But that's not all!

Saturday morning we got back out to the garden because we knew we didn't get everything. It must be the Year of the Cucumber because we are up to our eyeballs in cukes! Yet tomatoes aren't ripening and when they do, they either rot or get eaten. Anyone else having these issues?

Those are some huge cucumbers! We're trying to give them away to friends and neighbors but everyone seems to have cucumbers out the wazoo!

I also helped out in my in-laws' garden on Saturday evening but I didn't get any pictures. My mother-in-law had just picked all the goodies before we arrived. Although we did get plenty of cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and regular tomatoes.

All in all, a fantastic weekend of gardening, catching up with friends, and spending quality time with family. The way it should be!

Oh right...you're probably wondering where the "winning" part of the post title comes in. Well I entered a contest to win one pound of red wiggler worms for my worm farm and I won!!! I never win anything! The contest was put on by Swan's Organics. They're a company out in California that has all things gardening and composting! I'm excited to get my new worms and put them in with their new little family. "Little" may be the wrong word as they double their population every 3 months. I started with 500 worms in April and it's now almost August. You do the math! Because I suck at math, that's why.

What's your garden producing this week? How was your weekend?

Till next time,
Catherine

Don't Trash Those Eggshells! Why You Should Save Them and How to Prepare Them

Eggshells can be used for a variety of things (you can even eat them!) but they are especially a fantastic fertilizer for your garden! 

Most notably, eggshells are packed with calcium. In addition to calcium, they are also rich in magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and sodium! All of which are fantastic minerals for pumping up your plants! According to NutritionData, 1/2 teaspoon of crushed eggshell provides 90% of your daily calcium intake.  That's quite a large percentage for such a small amount! 

When I made my pallet garden I just used cheap soil from Ollie's so I knew I'd need to supplement my plants a bit. I made a worm farm as well but a more immediate solution is crushing eggshells and spreading them around my plants!

So instead of throwing your eggshells into the trash can, save them in a bowl and let them dry out. You could also just toss them into your compost or worm bin but if you want pure eggshell to sprinkle on your garden, follow the next easy steps. 

Let them sit for a while so they're completely dry. You can even take the time to rinse each piece to get all of the slimy whites out but it's not necessary. Unless you plan on ingesting them. If you plan to do that you need to completely wash out the whites. For your garden you just want them dry. I've never had an issue with bugs being attracted to the bowl so that shouldn't be a problem. 

Next, dump them into your blender! 

Blend them until they're thoroughly crushed. 

I told you it was easy. 

Now just store them in a jar until you're ready to spread them around your plants! This jar probably has about 2 dozen crushed eggshells in it. 

I sprinkled some of the crushed eggshell around all of my plants. Here you see it on my lettuce blend when they first sprouted. They're doing great now! I'm about ready to thin them out. 

Jill over at The Prairie Homestead has a great list of 30+ Things to Do With Eggshells so go check that out for more ideas!

What other uses for eggshell do you know of? Would you ever eat them?

Till next time,

Catherine

Cook: Homemade Breakfast Sausage

Homemade breakfast sausage made from local, pastured ground pork! It's even better than it sounds! To make this the way I did, you'll need to go to Auburnlea Farms or their website and order a pound or two of their ground pork and their Breakfast Sage Sausage Seasoning. Go do it...it's worth it. They're located in Gladys, Virgina which is less than 30 minutes from Lynchburg. I wrote more about them here. 

Ingredients: 

• 2lbs ground pork
• 3 Tbs breakfast sausage seasoning
• 3 Tbs water

Directions: 

First thaw the pork if you haven't done so already. I always prefer to let it thaw in the fridge overnight instead of ever using the microwave. 

And your yummy seasoning! It's not spicey which is great because I'm a wuss when it comes to spice. It's just the right combination that creates a delicious end product. You could also add some bread crumbs if you wanted to make it a little fluffier. 

Put the pork, seasoning and water into a large bowl and get in there and mix it with your hands. I know it's cold and gross but it's the best way! If you prefer spicy sausage, add in your spice of choice now. 

Form small sausage links or patties with your hands. I made links this time because I was making them for my delicious breakfast pockets. Which, by the way, are amazing.

Drop them into your skillet on medium heat.

Once they've browned, flip them over and let the other side brown. 

Helpful Hint: Instead of dirtying an old coffee mug with the extra grease, grab a piece of aluminum foil, fold it in half and gently press it into the form of the mug. Then all you have to do is wrap it up and toss it in the trash! Brilliant! Just don't press too hard or you'll puncture the foil. 

And just like that, they're done! I managed to get 50 sausage link out of 2lbs of ground pork. Again, if you wanted to add something like bread crumbs, you can make the recipe go further for less. I used about 20 links for the breakfast pockets, my husband and I ate maybe 5 each with our breakfast-for-dinner and the rest went into the freezer before we could devour the rest!

I'm not big on pork but man, these sausages were amazing! I think next time I'll try it with ground turkey which I'm sure will be just as delicious. We wanted to get turkey but they were out for the time being.

What's your favorite kind of sausage? Turkey, beef, pork, chicken? Would you rather buy it from the store or make it yourself?

Till next time,

Catherine

Have I mentioned I love Saturdays?

Oh today was so nice :)

Today my husband and I headed over to the Lynchburg Community Market for their final Mistletoe Market before Christmas. We both agreed it's very quickly becoming our favorite time of the week when we visit the Market. The people are so friendly, the food is so fresh and the atmosphere is just lovely. 

I try to plan what I need to buy when we go so we don't end up buying too much. This time I was in search of farm fresh free-range eggs and some local sausage. Didn't really have a preference whether it was pork, beef, turkey, or chicken but I needed to buy some for these delicious breakfast pockets I need to make more of. Don't worry...that recipe will be linked up in time! I haven't gotten around to posting it yet because I need better pictures. 

We stopped at a couple booths looking for sausage or ground meat bu I don't think any vendors bring any with them unless it is to fill an order for a customer. One farm, Auburnlea Farms in Gladys, Virginia (about 30 minutes South of Lynchburg), caught my attention because they sell cow shares. We've been bouncing around the idea for a while but haven't committed to it quite yet. We ended up leaving and headed home but I was checking out Auburnlea Farms' website on my iPhone and I noticed they sell a lot of meat products as well. I did a quick GPS search and found they were only about 30 minutes away and we were off! 

We made it!

If you still need a Christmas tree they have them! They're all grown in Virginia and are chemical free!

I loved the little sign out front to greet us :)

They have plenty of meat, alright!

Their little store is full of so much good stuff! I really can't even list it all, so go to their website for more information and pictures! 

We ended up buying grape jelly, citric acid (for making dishwashing detergent soon), 2lbs of ground pork, sausage seasoning, and two Boylan ginger ales. Let me just tell you...that is the BEST ginger ale! It's made with real cane sugar and not high fructose corn syrup and it makes a difference. So delicious! I can see that quickly becoming something we'll buy every time we visit The Grainery. 

I've never made sausage before so I'm sure there will be a future post for that as well, so stay tuned!

The views are just beautiful at this farm. Makes me miss living in the country!

Beautiful view from a beautiful home.

 Moo cows!

Gobble gobble...lots of turkeys!

And of course the chickens!

Best ginger ale ever!

If you're in the Lynchburg or surrounding areas, definitely go check out Auburnlea Farms. It is a wonderful family owned farm and they've got just about everything you could need! One visit and I'm hooked already! I absolutely love small businesses and I do my best to support them, especially farms! No farms, no food. Oh and not to mention, if driving to Gladys isn't workable for you, e-mail them your order and they'll have it ready for you at the Lynchburg Community Market!

And again, be sure to check out their website, my blog post doesn't do them justice!

Have you picked out your Christmas tree yet? Busy getting Christmas stuff done? Only 9 days left!

Till next time,
Catherine

Family Farm Findings: Part 3

Ok, the third part in this unintentional installment! If you missed the first two, here they are: Family Farm Findings: Part 1 and Family Farm Findings: Part 2. 

I was going to include these cameras in part 2 but it just was too much so I decided to make another post for them. We'll also be visiting The Farm during the week of Christmas so I might have part 4 eventually! 

I absolutely LOVE old and antique cameras. Pretty much anything that's not digital I snatch up. I've got a small collection already but my aunt handed me a big bag full of cameras which I was excited about! I'm doubtful that any are old family cameras because a bunch of them still had thrift store price stickers on them! 

Old and even older! There were two in cases and one empty case as well. 

These are just the "old" cameras. I've got so many like this now I'm considering buying some 35mm film and taking pictures with some of these for fun. 

This one even had a used roll of film in it!! I can hardly wait to get it developed!

This big Poloroid is actually the second one like this that I have. This one is better because it is cleaner and still had the original instructional booklet inside along with other papers and even two cold clips!

So cool. 

Land Camera. Automatic 104.

Taking photographs used to actually be WORK! None of this "point and shoot" crap. 

I also have the same Holiday Edition Brownie too but this one came with a flash and a nice case. 

And finally a Sears easi-load 210! This one came in two sections and has to be put together to use. It also came with a "110" case. 

What kinds of things do you like to collect? Are you collecting them for future value or because you simply enjoy them?

Till next time,

Catherine

Family Farm Findings: Part 2

If you read my post, Family Farm Findings: Part 1, you'll be up to date. That post was about being able to choose some of my grandpa's tools to keep for my husband and I. That same day, I was able to find some other awesome things that belonged to my grandparents. My grandpa passed away 2 years ago and my grandma passed away over 10 years ago. I was barely a teenager when she passed so some days it feels like I don't have enough memories to hold onto. I know "things" don't control memories but they sure can help!

When my aunt, my mom and I were looking through the things in the house, it was really touching to me to find things that belonged to my grandma and grandpa. My grandparents were thrifty shoppers and would frequent flea markets. Many items we found still had price tags on them! I can see I got a lot of my thriftiness from them. My grandparents were kind of pack rats, though. I try to avoid that.

Some of the things I found were simply awesome. Here are some of the things I found in the old farm house.

This is just one way I displayed some of the items. This bookshelf is an awesome representation of so many things I love. Books, obviously, antique and old cameras, elephants, handmade things (the elephants were hand carved in Kenya), horses, milk glass, and lavender. The horse bookends were a gift from my grandma when I was younger. They're not holding up books but I still think they're great pieces. The milk glass belonged to my mom's mom and I love milk glass. The elephants belonged to my dad's mom, the one whom this post is focused on. The lavender I got at the local farmer's market and I've used it to make homemade dryer sheets! 

Just a pretty up close shot of the milk glass.

I love the little elephant family! They're precious, even though they're missing some tusks. 

Hand carved in Kenya!

It was a boutique item, fancy shmancy!

Another elephant! This little guy is brass (I think) and he's adorable!

I also found this little carved blue stone Scottie dog. I'm not sure what kind of stone/mineral it is, though. It looks too blue to be turquoise. Any ideas?

This is another one of those things that it's so awesome to have. My grandpa was famous for writing little notes all over calendars and schedules. He would say things like, "Thurs-18-to Farmers Mkt" or my personal favorite "[date] Found dead mouse in dog food." It's just so cool because it's like an insight into his daily life. What's funny is that I catch my dad writing similar notes! Also, since middle school I've been keeping planners and each day I'd write a little something about what happened that day or what I did. Anytime I think to write about the weather, especially, I think of my grandpa. 

My grandpa also loved finding things with his metal detector! I used to love going with him and getting to use it myself. He found all sorts of things and, you guessed it, he'd almost always put a tag on the item with a note! He would usually write what he thinks it is, who found it, when it was found, and where. One piece we found actually had a time of 7:15pm written down!

"Found on James River bank 100ft North of Lee Bridge near Tredegar Iron Works. Winter 1977" 

Here are some more cool things I got. All complete with notes! 

"Part of old iron. Found Oct-19-91 (Using MetroTech). 30 steps S-East of orig. log house"

"Handmade nail. May be from carriage house" There were several of these, one even had my sister's birth year on it so my mom took that to give to her. I know she'll appreciate it.

Really old dog collar. "Found in front yard 7-7-74"

Responsible owner! There were two different rabies tags on the collar. This one was from 1959, the other I couldn't read the date. The owner's name and information were on the collar too!

This one is my personal favorite (even though the 3 different sized horses are awesome!). "Found by Catherine using Nautilus. March '98 in roadway North of carriage house. 50ft North" ME! I found these two random bits of whatever! I could've cried when I saw this. I looked up at my mom and aunt and said, "I can go home happy right this second...I've got all I need." I was only 10 years old but unfortunately I don't remember finding this! I have such a crummy memory but it means so much to have this. 

I didn't want this post to be any longer but there is more! Stay tuned for Family Farm Findings: Part 3!

What are some of your favorite things that you hold onto from relatives who have passed? Are they things that may seem insignificant to others but hold extra special value to you?

Till next time,

Catherine