Sunny happy sunday

Oh it was a BEAUUUUUUUUUTIFUL fall day here!! And i mean gorgeous outside! Did some fall decorating around the farmstand. LOVE scarecrows so there are 5 along the driveway. tomorrow I am gonna pick some pumpkins and more apples. Right now I have macintosh and ginjer gold in the farmstand along with some maters, taters, onions, peppers and lots of squash. The market is going good yet so have to start making my doughs up for cookies and breads for this week.

So did yall watch the new "SURVIVOR? What a snake in the grass!! that guy that lied and told all these stories to get sympathy of others is a real piece of IRRITATION!! I think a couple of the gals that he tried to smooze over realyzed he is a little sneak!! And they way he talked about women!!! what a jerk!~! He will get his.

Well gotta get my butt off to bed now as tomorrow should be a very productive day!! In october I am participating in the Saginaw Valley State University big craft show!! only bringing my altered books some fall halloween things and lots of food items baked goods!! I am proud to be a part of the Keepsake Collection Shows and this one is the biggest fall show!!!

Have a blessed evening!!

~~HUGS~~

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

It;s almost time!!

Red onion cheddar pepper bread rounds

Buttercrumb topped lemon cream bread (before baking)

a corsage for the wedding we did last week at the flower shop, more pics on the Floral Touch Florist blog

Some cheesecake sugar cookies topped with black currant jelly and drizzled with white chocolate.. SUPER YUMMY!! these guys all sold quickly

Before baking and before adding my "farmgirl bling" LOL

Its almost VACATION TIME!! YEAH YEE HAW!! WOO HOO!! YIPPEE!~!!

can you tell I cant wait!! well actually I can since it goes by so dang quick!! hubby always says "dont blink and its over!"

Ok so this weekend was the best market all season for us!! I had alot of new goodies and alot of new customers! I decided to start an email list for the local folks that I will deliver to thru the winter months so got quite a few sign ups for that!! A guy at the allegan market on thurs said he comes to town 2 times a month to deliver fresh meats and meets customers in the parking lot where we have market now so maybe he and I can do this together for everyone!! IF you are near the Allegan area and would like to be on the list please leave me a comment and I will add ya!! I plan on sending an email or taking special requests. Last year I did get alot of orders for thanksgiving pies, including my pumpkin praline cheesecake, apple cream cheese pie with walnuts, cinnamon apple cheesecake and also some peach praline pies oh and of cource pumpkin pies!!

Oh yeah I have a funny story to share with yall from tues. My mom and I took 2 of our cats in to be fixed. Hers is Elmo a male and my Emmy Lou a female, we went dropped them both off, keep in mind they are both light grey and long haired cats Elmo is a bit bigger than mine and has a distinctive characteristic which you will find out later. So we brought them both home, Emmy Lou stayed in the carrier that night in our enclosed porch so noone else will bother her, Elmo ran under the couch in my parents living room. so for 2 days I didnt see too much of my little girl and my mom said she put food out and Elmo didnt come out just sat under the couch. We knew this is pretty common for cats especially since they had surgery and were sore i am sure. So the other night hubby says what did they do to Emmy Lou? her bottom canine tooth was stickin outward, not thinkin of anything I told him maybe it was something that will fix itself from surgery? She ate and was actin a bit more like herself plus i picked her up and cuddled her not wanting to move her around too much, my mom said Elmo still hasnt come out for them to see he must have just come out to eat when they left for work. Yesterday morning while I was feeding everyone getting ready to leave for market I noticed the snaggle tooth on both sides of Emmy's mouth and thought that is strange, then figured I would pick her up to check her incision out and make sure it looked ok. WELLLLLLLLLLLLL COME TO FIND OUT>>>>>>>seenin a white spot below her neck (still didnt click with me) (i know I am blonde cant u tell>??) LOL didnt find an incision, rubbing her belly I didnt feel anything either and thought hmmmmmm that is strange they should have shaved her little belly? went about my morning chores and FINALLY!! thought!~! THAT IS NOT my cat!! This is ELMO!! I could not believe how long it took~~4 days and noticed it was him and not my Emmy!! CRAZY~~he usually fights with my mom's outside cats and is nasty well here he was eating out of the same bowl as Chevy girl and the other cats and not a peep out of him!! I called my mom that am and told her the story!! she wondered too why her cat was hiding under the couch when he is such a tyrant in the house!! We have to let the vet know next time we go huh!!

LOL

Well I better get packing the 5th wheel, i hear hubby loading one of the tractors!! and our house sitter, farm sitter should be here soon!!

We will be staying out at the South Haven Flywheelers for the annual tractor and engine show!! this is a great tractor show!! There's a huge flea market, good food available, tractor parades fri, sat and sun and also demos of an antique sawmill, blacksmith, and tractor pulls goin on all weekend!! come on down!!! you will enjoy it and dont forget to get some steam engine steamed corn on the cob!! IT IS THE BEST EVER~~

South Haven Michigan

take bluestar hwy to phoenix street head east follow the tractors or signs!! It is HUGE!!

Have a blessed week yall!!

HUGS!~!

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Sneezy snezzy sunday

Well the last few days I have been goin thru my puffs like crazy!! With this cool weather change my sinus allergies are in over drive i swear!! I am a sneezin fool these days!!

So last week my friend and I made some ABSOLUTELY AWESOME cinnamon raisin bread. These loaves are for serious bread eaters!! LOL they are a woooping 2 pounders too!! They look just great and taste like nothing I have eaten before!! I also made up another batch of our EGGCELLENT EGG BREAD braided loaves, and my zucchini pineapple bread and did up some dilled bread rounds which were yummy!! Tomorrow if I am NOT sneezin we are making up some multi grain bread loaves and also a farmhouse white sandwich bread. So lots of homemade breads!! which I am swearin we will NEVER buy another loaf of store bought bread!!

This weather has been so stange all of a sudden friday it switched to almost early fall weather!! which is absolutely nutso! the plants are dyin and the tomatoes are pretty much still green, the beans, eggplant and broccoli are flourishing but the squash and watermelon and cukes are lookin pretty putrid!! poor things!! Yall know how much I LOVE the snow but am so NOT lookin forward to it at all!! our summer has just flewn by so stinkin fast.. My hubby keeps sayin "dont blink and it will be over" with everything we have looked forward to this summer and boy he is so right~ Vacation time will be here in just a couple of weeks and wow arent a bit ready for that!! Anyone else feel like life is in fast forward?? what happened to those long dog days of summer?? sure havent been round here LOL oh well at least we are all still well though~

So this week should be pretty productive i have picked enough ripe peaches to make some peach jalapeno jam, some peach pies, and also some more spicy dill beans and want to try some crispy breadsticks and a spiced flatbread so will be at the kitchen alot i guess!! love it but just really miss being away from my boys so much~~

Have a super evening and will chat more soon
~HUGS~

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

WET Thursday

Butter crumb topped blueberry muffins

I bought this great mini cake pan the other day and made mini peach blueberry cakes

A peach blueberry pound cake complete with my "farmgirl bling" (lol icing drizzles)

Some of our blazing star peaches! LOVE the colors!!

We got ALOT of rain this am and t storms are comin around mid day. SOOOOOOOO I skipped the Allegan market today! ;( I miss it but once things get wet and damp that is it for baked goods!~~figured it wouldnt be good. So I am heading over to the kitchen to play and then have an order to deliver this afternoon. I did manage to get my Spicy Dill Pickle Slices done yesterday and they smell good!! When I was a kid my mom HAD to buy me one of those big deli dill pickles!! each and every time we went for groceries, LOL remember those?? and i loved to drink all that great dill juice!! Now I get such terrible heartburn I dont even buy pickles anymore.

Well I guess I better get off this puter and get my work done!! No days off here til december maybe?? LOL

Have a blessed thursday yall!!

~~HUGS~~

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Happy week!!

HEY THERE!!
So sorry it has been soooooooo long since I last posted here!! It has been a very hectic crazy busy couple of weeks!! today I went with my brother and mom for his doctor appointment. Poor kid had to have another procedure on his foot, he had an infected ingrown toenail a couple of weeks ago that they surgically removed, it came back and was infecting again so they permanenently removed it today on both sides. I am so proud of him he did so good!! If any of you arent aware he is mentally handicapped and is a joy to be around!!
So JOSEPH I AM VERY PROUD OF YOU!!
So we went out to lunch afterward and did a bit of shopping and well before we knew it the day was gone!! so didnt get to the kitchen today at all!! so tomorrow will be a long day gettin ready for the markets this week!!
On the menu for this week is:::::::::::::
Peach praline cobbler, (my recipe) lots of muffins, loaded carrot cakes with cream cheese frosting, peach pies, cookies, pistachio bread, lemon buttermilk pecan bread, some raspberry crumb bars and lots of coffee cakes in different sizes... and maybe some homemade kitkat bars!! those are yummo!!~

It has been so stinkin hot and humid here it is a welcomed change tonight!! cooler and a breeze out!! YEAH!! I was about ready to try to get a window a/c unit for the barn for all the kids!! LOL they would love that!!
Well better get off here and make hubby some supper! I picked a 1/2 bushel of fresh purple beans and 1/2 bushel of dragons tongue so I am thinking BEANS for tonight for sure!! LOL
maybe a nice big chicken ceasear salad with some of our fresh grape tomatoes, some cukes, onions, and nice fresh romaine lettuce!! NOW i just gotta go pick all that!! not really just can raid my farmstand and bring it in! a nice perk to having a farmstand!!
Have a blessed evenin yall!! I am plannin on taking the camera with me to the kitchen so will try to post pics of all the new yummyos!!
~~HUGS~
Darlene
~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

RAINED OUT weekend!!

This doe was in our front yard only about 20 feet away from me. I am so glad I had my dig cam with me in my pocket. she seen the flash and took off quickly!! but not before i snapped this pic!!

Well blueberry festival is over and thank goodness!! My mom and I got soaked and not just once but i had to change 2 times sat!! I got there at 5.15 am on sat am and in like 10 min it started pouring down rain, it let up so I along with a few others set up our booths. We had to use our canopy since we were kicked out from under the pavilion for the pancake breakfast. SOOOOOOOO what a day!! After being all set up it was still rainin a bit but had to park so danged far away and haul everything by the time i got back to the booth my socks, shoes, jeans and jacket were soaked. SO went to change in clean dry clothes, the sun was starting to come out and it looked like it was clearing up outside..........NOT it started getting windy and all of a sudden a complete downpour came down on us!! we were packing things in containers so it wouldnt get too wet, it came down so stinkin hard and fast there literally was a POND in our booth and we were standing there in it!! My poor mom was standing in the back of the booth waiting on a customer when all of a sudden.........splash on her head!! a pocket in the canopy above her head collapsed and down came the water!! poor thing she was drenched!! Yes I am and was laughing and she did too!! at that point there was no sense gettin upset it was just a speed bump ya know. The rain continued so we along with a few others packed up and just sat under the safety of our canopy. OF COURCE now we still had customers and they were buying things but boy it was a long day. By the time we were all packed up it was actually pretyy dang nice outside just a bit hot and humid but at least we got rain!! and lighting and lots of thunder sat!!

So on to new things!! I am making some peach jalapeno preserves, pumpkin spice dip mixes, funnel cake mixes, some peach praline bread, worked on another new recipe for blueberry orange bread, and a spiced cake with cinnamon buttercream frosting, and well that was it for the last 2 days. We are knee deep in beans and corn right now so maybe i will can some more dilly beans for fall. I do want to comment on what alot of customers are saying at the markets and honestly I dont rightly blame them at all!~ They are complaining about prices at the local markets and why is it so much more to buy at the market directly from the farmer than at grocery stores that are also stating they are carrying "locally grown produce"/? I seen corn for $5.50 a dozen?? and beans for $3.00 a pound!!??? WHAT!!>> we set our prices at home and for the things i take to market judging by what we would pay and what is fair. LISTEN NOW i am out to make a living too and keep our farm producing and growing but come on!! What are peopl thinking charging this much for produce!!?? Doesnt it seem nuts to you too??? I have noticed alot of folks dont come to market each week like some used to and then there are some now that dont even come but i see them in local grocery stores buying fresh produce. I am very thankful that the big chain stores around us are making a big deal by buying local! But what is this trend doing to the farmers markets and what are the high prices gonna do but scare customers away!! OK I am done ranting now!! LOL it really blows my mind!!

Here is a pic of my black eyed susan vine. I planted a bunch of these guys in a big ol terra cotta pot, stuck a big tomato cage on top and let them go! they are so cool and it is now growing well over 7 feet tall!!

So I am off to print up some labels for this weeks goodies and work outside a bit in the veggie garden. Hope yall have a super duper night!!

!!HUGS~~

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

I'm seeing "BLUE" Its blueberry festival week in michigan

Here are some of our heirloom dragons tongue beans!! arent they purty????

some of our supper the other night!! Ambrosia sweet corn!~YUMMY

some of our purple glads!! they were the very first glads open this season!! but they sure are pretty!

CHICKEN SCRATCH FARMS EGGCELLENT EGG BREAD!! a new member on the list of favo breads to make!! this took 3 1/2 hours from start to finish but well worth the wait and all the work!! It is topped with hulled organic sesame seeds. We sliced it up and made french toast with it! and oh my gosh NO MORE STORE BOUGHT BREAD FOR THIS FAMILY~~ we are so hooked and spoiled now on homemade!!!

So it is national blueberry festival time in South haven michigan!! and it is a great line up. FRIDAY night is the bronk brothers country band and they are great!! we seen them a few times in concert and they are well on their way to stardom!!!

Well this is probably the only post til sunday as I have a number of pies already on order for the weekend and lots of breads to make and blueberry everything!!!

Will let ya in on it all when it is over and I am able to type and think clearly!!!

BUSY BUSY!! and LOVIN IT!! yee Haw!!

Have a great week yall!!

~~HUGS~~

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Tues happenings

Here is a close up pic of a chicken windmill hubby bought me and my moms old wood barrel that i put an old canner on top of and filled with some orange sunkist tomato plants.


a pic in front of the farmstand

This cute little guy was just chillin on an old fire truck part by our deck. Love his colors!!

Hey yall!!

What's crowin by you??? or cacklin?

I took my dear mom out to breakfast yesterday and then we made our rounds to the stores!! stopped a quite a few and loaded by poor chevy blazer full!! LOL we sure had fun though, had to replenish ingredients at the bakery so of cource lots of flour, brown sugar, powdered sugar and etc.........and we even managed to NOT get into any trouble!! yeah!! Then while i was getting trying something new for supper she and my brother pulled in and asked if I wanted to go for some ice cream!! WELL YEAH! OF COURCE!! we only get ice cream shops open for a few short months so figure we should patronize them regularly!! RIGHT??? LOL since it was early enough only 4.30 or so I put everything on hold and ran with them, then we decided i needed more jelly jars so went in a local grocery store bought them, then off to a health food store to buy some more dried dill weed for my next batch of my "silly dilly beans" and also got some mustard seeds, whole cloves, pickling spices, dried cilantro and parsley for more dip mixes and organic corn flour and whole wheat flour (to make my boys treats with)

By this time hubby was coming home but i did manage to get some black raspberries and blackberries picked to make ? what else more jalapeno jelly!! LOL how good does "very berry pepper jelly sound???? yummy!! gosh and you are talkin to a jalapeno whimp here!! dont like anything hot~ but this jelly I have been making is so good!! and really only a bit of a bite after the sweet taste! I love to see the reactions of people when they try a sample!! it is so like having 2 totally different tastes in your mouth!! IF anyone would like some you can order right here from my blog!! I have a 4 oz jar for $3.00 and an 8 oz jar for $5.50 plus their travel expenses to you also... I am sure you wont be disappointed everyone so far has loved it!! and we had the cherry on our turkey sandwiches my mom made on sat at market!!

Now I did get some local fresh peaches, yes it is hard to believe it is that time already!! where oh where has the summer gone??? but we sure have had strange but somewhat nice weather here, been really chilly but plesant oh back on peaches gonna try a new recipe i came up with for peach praline muffins, peachy jalapeno spread and then maybe play around in the kitchen today with some scones!! I havent made them for a few weeks and I want to try something out...... will keep ya updated on the new flavor combos i am workin on!! OH so much clucking fun!!

.~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

TGIF~~

Here are a few pics from yesterday market day. I decided to take a portion of my craft display and add it on the end of the booth. I think it looked great and we sure made good use of the space.

My new display rac (not new but repurposed rack)

Customers made some nice comments about the booth and also liked the baskets on the shelves of the display rack on the end. IT sure did hold alot so will def use this one for markets!! maybe add another on the other end too.

Well at long last we got some nice rain yesterday and some today!! WOO HOO!! YIPPEE!! we surely needed it. The gardens are growing superbly and this rain made everything grow so much overnight!!

YEAH!! Well i did it AGAIN!! Came up with another great recipe!! this one is for cherry jalapeno preserves and it was a super big hit at market yesterday so made another 2 batches this am at the kitchen!! then it was on to baking: tomorrow I am taking with me the following:

Cinnamon raisin bread, cinnamon swirl bread, banana blueberry bread, cheddar onion bread rounds, cheddar pepper onion bread, glazed cinnamon buns, my recipe of a hopefully great desert!!BERRY CHERRY CRISP!~!~ I used some of our sweet cherries mixed with some of our black raspberries and blackberries!! topped off with a crumb oat crisp!! It smells yummy!!

Also made a few blueberry cream cheese pies, mini cherry pies, blueberry and peach blossoms, (my mini version of a pie topped with cource sugar and butter) zucchini pineapple bread, pistachio bread, luscious lemon bread with pecans, some more dip mixes and crisp mixes, chunky granola cereal pkgs, mini peach blueberry cobblers, mini peach cobblers, butter crumb topped blueberry muffins, and chewy chocolate chocolate chip cookies. WHEWWWWW I think that is it~~that is enough plus I had a few muffins from thurs in the freezer so I am taking them with too. I also have 4 kinds of cookies and some double dipped pretzels to take too. The booth should be full which is how i like it!! LOL

I hope yall have a blessed evening I am off to relax in the recliner with my boys!! then off to do chores and close the farmstand and SLEEP! which I am kind of ready for NOW!LOL

Talk to ya soon!!

~~HUGS~~

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

a DAY to REST!!

These are another MY recipe~~ lavander lemon triangles. These are so yummy and sold out, I started out with a buttery soft crust filled with our organic lavander buds, then whipped up a slight lemon topping added a few more lavander buds and topped with a sprinkling of powdered sugar. OH SO YUMMY and the smell when you took the top off the plate!! DELICIOUSO!!

Oh my dear friend Ruth (also my partner in crime at markets these days and baking helper) is making these wonderfully herb infused vinegars!! love the colors when you buy a bottle she also gives ya a super little recipe book for all fresh market recipes.

some muffins that sold out

My little sundae in a cupcake cupcakes!! buttercream frosting topped with at drizzle of melted chocolate.

this is just a view of the one side of booth. We get so many compliments from people and also alot of folks take pics and tell me "this is such a great setup for a farmers market" I do try!! I want it to be a reflection of me and my farm and of cource be all about the market!!

I love to mix up the colors of the beans but miss the purple ones. They are not quite ready for pickin as of today.

Purple sweet onions LOVE that color!!

Oh and this was a big hit my spicy cucumber salsa!! we have alot of big ol cukes so found a recipe for salsa and jacked it up a bit with some herbs and spices! it is so yummy but only a tsp for me as we dont do spicy foods!! TUMS will love us too much I am afraid.

I put in fresh maters, cukes, zucchini, and onions plus a bit of apple cider vinegar and then fresh cilantro, and dill, lime juice and some seasonings.

HEY YALL!! Ok so today is gonna be totally about ME! well me and the boys and their wonderful daddy!! my hubby, love of my life, the one I share all my most intimate deepest secrets with, my soul mate and well my other half.. (since i am the better half) ROFL! right!! Anywho we are planning on stayin at home and doin some work in the gardens and maybe cut grass and take the boys for a ride on the golf cart... that is all fun stuff to do so that will be today!! I feel so exhausted but also am exhilarated when i look thru my old recipe books and the ton of cooking magazines i have been collecting over the last few years!! NO i am NOT goin to the kitchen today!! although i would like to can some jellies and more dilly beans oh and some zucchini relish and >>>>>>>>>>..NOPE not gonna do it~~~
I am gonna get ORGANIZED one of these days!! lol, i am sittin here making out a plan of what things to make for market this week. So far definetly need to do pistachio bread (had a couple of requests for that one), some blueberry banana bread, my chunky peanut peanut butter cookies, some chocolate chip nut cookies, more cookies, had requests for my luscious lemon pecan bread again, I am thinkin a cherry maybe banana bread? I am workin on a recipe for some tropical bread loaves, need to do my cinnamon swirl bread again , and maybe some cinnamon streusel topped cinnamon muffins, some mini cinnamon fruited coffee cakes, oh and how about root beer float cakes?? that just sounds so summery. as soon as i can figure out the recipe for that one i will be sure to take a pic of it when done! maybe a bit of a vanilla glaze on top would be perfect!! Oh Just not ENOUGH TIME to make everything!@! I am pickin up a few craft shows for the fall and winter with my baked goods and mixes and jams and jellies so that will be interesting to see how it goes!! I made up some farmhouse dip mixes and need to get them labeled and make a few for samples at market this week. with all the beautiful fresh veggies available i figured I needed to make some cool dips for them. Also did up a recipe for a buttermilk ranch dressing mix and it smells so incredible cant wait to taste it!! Salad is for tonight and also have a big pork loin smeared with dried rosemary and garlic in the crock pot along with some of our super sweet onions and fresh carrots and some taters!! YUM YUM!! makin me hungry now!

Well yall have a super blessed sunday!! and will chat more with ya this week!!

~~HUGS~~

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

TGIF~~

~~HEY YALL~~~ Well the flour was a flyin today at the kitchen!! LOL had lots of things to make. Started out with another new recipe I came up with for a cherry almond rustic pie!! it smells yummy too!! also I altered my pistachio bread recipe and came up with Butter Struesel topped orange loaves, made some chocolate chip cookies, some lavander lemon triangles, (with our organic lavander buds) and these smell great!! and they look pretty and taste great too!! I will take my dig cam with me to market tomorrow to get some pics. Made up some blueberry orange butter crumb topped muffins, more of my cherry almond muffins, mini cherry almond bundt cakes topped off with a almond flavored glaze, some little blueberry blossoms, some apple with cream cheese blossoms and some garlic rosemary breadsticks. Oh then I found a recipe in one of my old quick cooking books for a banana cream pie well being the altering chick that I am I made Cream cheese banana pudding pie topped off with fresh blueberries! they look fabo!! I made some great smelling Cucumber salsa, since we are pickin cukes and usually have tons left!! this is gonna be good i made an extra container for me to have with chips tomorrow at market. THURS market in Allegan was super!@! a beautiful day too!! we sold lots and it was perfect weather outside.

Well I have to get off this puter my boys are mad and I have to spend some quality time with them tonight! I did pick some of our fresh green beans, and some round italian zucchini, plus some gold zucchinis so if you are near stop on by the farmstand and pick up some fresh produce~

have a blessed evening yall!!

HUGS~
Darlene
~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~