Saturday, January 24, 2015

Farms, I've been on a few...

 

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A little nostalgia this Saturday morning of down on the farm week.  I actually wasn’t raised on a farm, we just lived in our little house by the ditch in the country.  Our livestock was nothing more than roosters, hens and the occasional pig that we would butcher.  However, mother’s large family, who lived just a few miles away, were all farmers so I spent much of of my childhood among farmers and their families.

It was a hard life, I have many memories of huge noon meals that my aunts prepared for the farm hands.  Everything was homemade, meals filled with several types of meat, vegetables, biscuits, cornbread and a plethora of cakes and pies daily.  Now that we are so “educated” about food and carb loading, I wonder how the men were productive after those huge noon meals.  

My Aunt Idalene often had runt piglets on her back porch, and I would feed them with a bottle.  They were adorable, as any baby is, rooting and squealing and sucking those bottles.  She milked cows and had a cream separator to separate the milk from the cream. My aunts all churned their own butter every week, too.  There were hen houses, I would be sent to gather the eggs, and inevitably I would not only step in chicken poop, but a hen would peck my hands when I tried to rob her of the eggs.  I’ve been flogged by mother hens and chased by mama pigs, because I was always trying to play with their babies.  

There were guineas, too, they laid little bird eggs that we would fry and eat. And canned meat, oh the canned meat, it was wonderful.  Grandma always canned her young chickens, “pullets”, so small that they would fit in a wide mouth quart Ball jar.  Canned sausage was a treat, but the best was the canned tenderloin.  It was indescribably delicious, with the juices made into gravy.  Oh, what I would give to have it just one more time.  

My grandparents lived in a house with no electricity, it wasn’t that they couldn’t afford it, my grandpa was just a stubborn old man and he refused to activate it.  Grandma had a “ice box” and I can still see my Uncle Gene bringing a block of ice in the house with ice tongs and putting it in the ice box so that she could cool her food.  Before the days of the ice box, she would lower food into her well in a bucket to keep it cool.  The gardens were always huge with seeds saved from year to year, and we always toured them on our weekly visits to see how things were growing.

Grandpa was a farmer, he farmed using a team of work horses, Bill and Joe, I can still see him harnessing up those horses and walking them through the fields.  He smoked a pipe and grew his own tobacco, he would sit on his back porch, forming the harvested tobacco into u-shaped twists, tying it with twine and lining them up on nails driven into the porch wall to dry.  Grandma always wore a bonnet when she went outside, and always had on an apron.  She would gather eggs and food from the garden, hoisting up that apron to make a carrier for her bounty.  

He and grandma raised ten children, five boys, five girls, and they all they knew was to work.  An evening out for them was harnessing up a wagon and going to church.  Grandpa drove a pickup truck, a 1949 Chevy, that my cousin Phyllis has now, rusty and parked in her farmyard, and she fills it with flowers in the summer.  It’s just beautiful, I need to get a picture from her to share.  I still remember the cracked, brown leather seats in that old truck and how much fun it was when he would load his dogs in the back of it and take the grandkids for a ride.

Those country roots run so deep, there is nothing in my  world better than a ride at dusk in the country in the summertime with the windows down, the familiar sounds and smells bring back so many wonderful memories.

Oh, the country life, it was and will always be the best...

 

 

Friday, January 23, 2015

The Egg and I

 

A city couple moves to the farm and it’s total mayhem.  I have always loved this movie, starring Fred MacMurray and Claudette Colbert, but the real stars are Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride as Ma and Pa Kettle.  It’s an oldie, 1949, but oh is it ever a goodie.

Yes it’s hokey, but it’s so funny, it’s one of my all time favorites.  If you haven’t seen it and ever get the opportunity, watch it.

And that’s today’s pick for “Down on the Farm” week.

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Sheep Planters

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I got a Grandin Road catalog yesterday in the mail and fell in love with these planters.  They’re so whimsical, don’t you just love them?   The price ~ $139 each, yesterday they had a 25% off sale, it’s gone today, but it will be back.  If you sign up for their newsletters on their site they do give you free shipping, though.

Here are direct links to both sheep:

Sitting Sheep

Standing Sheep

Shake Your Tailfeathers...

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I’m really enjoying being down on the farm this week.  Oh, those country roots run deep, you can take the girl outta the country, but...

Oh wait, I live in the country again, duh..

I’m so nostalgic in my old(er) age.  I look out my window at the horses in the pasture, watch the birds in the feeder, and it’s the most peaceful feeling.  And don’t even get me started on how much I love the creek and early morning rides on Milly, the golf cart, down to the woods with a steaming mug of coffee and sweet Maggie, my Yorkie, riding sidekick.  Sorry, I’m rambling.

So anyway, I have this really good friend, Jean, aka Hooverville, appropriately named because she lives in a really, really small town and we have had many “unusual”   day trips in our lifetime.  We also have pictures, so many pictures, most of which are totally unprintable, pictures only friends take of each other, and oh could we ever blackmail each other with them!   We roam the countryside, we’ve taken selfies everywhere  from cemeteries to cornfields, we get together and all of a sudden we’re twelve ten eight again.  We’ve been friends since we were toddlers, Jean is my link to childhood and the woman takes the most amazing photographs.

We were traveling the backroads in 2006, spotted these fowls, and she jumped out and grabbed these shots.  They’re some of my favorites, as I do love those roosters.  My dining room is full of them, they will go well with that new cow head, don’t you think?  Hey, it’s French Country, it’s not hokey, really it isn’t…  Well, that cow head may just be a tad too much, but hubby will learn to love her.  I’m naming her Clover, she’s a good thing.  Um hmmm, sure she is.  Decor Steals contacted me yesterday, she’s in stock and will be winging her way to Heavensville in the near future.  I’ll be sure and post pictures.  

Quit that eye rolling!  Quit . it . right . now !  She’s gonna be fantastic!!!

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Savvy Southern Style

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Okay, Dishers,  I’ve got a great new blog for you.  I found this recently, it’s called Savvy Southern Style, and it’s chocked full of all kinds of fun things, you will be drooling.

You can find it in my sidebar, and here’s a direct link  ~ Jan ~

Pioneer Woman's Wallpaper

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Down on the farm week continues with a repeat of an old favorite.  These are Pioneer Woman’s cows, and it’s my all-time favorite wallpaper for my computers.  I take this down, put up something else, and before long, I’ve put it back up again.  Just something about these sweet little faces, I just love them.

If you’re a fan of cows and want the wallpaper, you can grab it from this link on Pioneer Woman’s Site.

Here ya go, install this and give yourself a smile every time you look at it... 

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Praise The Lard...

 

It's down on the farm week here on the Dish. First a cow, now a pig. I saw this great tea towel last Saturday in Leiper's Fork.

I found it on line tonight and thought some of you might like it, too. Pretty cute, isn't it...

You can grab it here

 

Decor Steal's Mounted Cow Head

 

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I’m a huge fan of Decor Steals, and this cow’s head has fascinated me everytime they’ve had it available.  It hasn’t been featured as their daily deal lately, but I was able to Google it, find it on their site and I ordered it this morning.  Whether it’s in stock and I’ll actually get it will be interesting, but I’ll keep you posted.

Hubby isn’t much of a fan of this cow yet, but I think she’s awesome and I’m already thinking about a name, Lily, Elsie, Bessie, Mootilda, and Cowpuccina to name a few.

And of course I need that boxwood wreath to go around her this summer, but I have to wait on that until it’s available again.

A little fun purchase for my kitchen in January, and I “think” I have the perfect spot.  Works for me...

If you’re not familiar with Decor Steals, they have a new “buy” every morning at 9am.  Here’s their link, click on the email icon in the top left corner and you can subscribe for their deals.  I’ve bought several things, the price is always good, always a cheap $5 flat rate for shipping and the quality has been great!  

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