The Beginning

When I first pondered adding my two cents worth to the blogging world, I feared it would be complicated getting started. It is! At least it seems so to me. I think organizing this site is going to be a work in progress.

I initially thought a blog would be fun way to share parts of my daily life with my adult daughters and grandchildren and reach out to our extended family and friends scattered across the country. Our girls do not live close to the farm and I'm not very chatty on the phone. JoCasta and Wayne live in Pittsboro, NC. Audrey and Jon live in Leesburg, Va. Amber and Chris live in Columbia, SC. Hopefully, I will meet a some new friends too!

I found it was hard for thinking of a name for my blog. It meant I had to think about myself and who I am (that's complicated), then how other people would see me. I immediately thought about the things that were most important to me.. My family. So although a simple description, I believe the most cherished is His Wife...Their Mother.

On the farm...
In recent days I've been canning brunswick stew and potatoes, using the last of our potatoes from the garden. They had started sprouting and shriveling. We've made brunswich stew before, but didn't go by a specific recipe and didn't write down our ingredients. So Harland put together the first batch and we wrote down everything. It turned out great! For the next two batches I increased the recipe quantites and canned over 40 quarts. I lost count of the total because I don't remember how many already given away. Happy to share recipe!

I've been canning the harvest from our gardens for many years. In the past it has been challenging working in my little kitchen. But last year (2011) with a great carpenter and friend we were able to finish our basement. We added a family room with extra storage space behind doors, a working pantry with an island, sink, stove, refrigerator and shelving storage for the fruits of our labor. It has been so enjoyable and much easier working from the new pantry. Now I don't have to stop in the middle of canning operations just to prepare a meal.

We recently made breakfast sausage with deer meat we processed in the pantry. We were able to push the mobile island aside and bring the grinder into the pantry on it's rolling cabinet. It was so convienent to work in the pantry where we could spread out. Hubby did the grinding and I started packaging the meat with the Food Saver. Food keeps so much better when shrink wrapped. Usually I would have to wait until he was finished with the grinding to start packaging. The process went quickly and I cleaned up in no time. When finished we pushed the grinder back to the storage area off the family room. We would be a mess without that extra storage space (behind doors) that goes from end to end for the length of the basement.

Welcome your comments and suggestions for my blog.
TJ