Farmgirl is Flip-flops' Contest

This is Rachel's Entries. They are both in the Nature category!!

Green Gardening Girl working hard

My mom deadheading her butterfly bush!

Michael Joe-Joe loves blackberries by Emily

Michael loves blackberries.

He and Rachel had lots of fun!

Oh! They are so good!

Michael thinks these are very good! And he can't wait until we make blackberry ice cream tonight.

That one didn't taste too good! Maybe try again?

Zinnias!

This year we decided on ONE thing in our garden for sure! We were planting zinnias and cosmos on the front row, REALLY thick! We wanted to look out our kitchen and see flowers! So that's what we did and it is wonderful!!! If you want flowers in your garden plant zinnias! They are beautiful, they grow well, and are hard to kill! Our friends the Boyds plant a packet every week and theirs bloom through September! These are a WONDERFUL addition to any garden.

P.S.

We also try sunflowers, but make sure you plant them so that they will all face the house! Last year all ours looked like they were mad at us!

Not Gardening I know but...

If you give a mom a muffin,

She'll want a cup of coffee to go with it.

She'll pour herself some. Her three-year-old will spill the coffee.

She'll wipe it up. Wiping the floor, she'll find dirty socks.

She'll remember she has to do laundry.

When she puts the laundry in the washer,

She'll trip over boots and bump into the freezer.

Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan for supper.

She will get out a pound of hamburger.

She'll look for her cookbook ("101 Things To Do With a Pound of Hamburger").

The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail.

She will see the phone bill, which is due tomorrow.

She will look for her checkbook.

The check book is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two-year-old.

She'll smell something funny.

She'll change the two-year-old's diaper.

While she is changing the diaper, the phone will ring.

Her five-year-old will answer and accidently hang up.

She'll remember she wants to phone a friend for coffee.

Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup.

And chances are... If she has a cup of coffee, by now...

Her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it!

~~~~ Author Unknown ~~~~

I got this from one of our followers the Pauls...

Here is their blog - maprap.blogspot.com/

And here is the post I got it from - IF YOU GIVE MOM A MUFFIN

Friend's photos

Here are two photo contests for those of you who are so inclined!

HERE is Farmgirl in Flipflops

And

Here is Bria's contest - Photography Contest!

A use for milk jugs!

Okay all you money saving guys out there! Here is a great way to save money!

When you use a milk jug... rinse it out, punch ONE SMALL hole in the bottom, bury it to the top beside your plants, and than fill. We water our garden and then fill the jugs once a day. This is great for your peppers, watermelon, and tomatoes because they need slow constant water!

Why we love the South!

A possum is a flat animal that sleeps in the middle of the road.

If it grows, it'll stick ya. If it crawls, it'll bite cha.

'Onced' and 'Twiced' are words.

It is not a shopping cart, it's a buggy.(Amen)

People actually grow and eat okra. (At least I do!)

'Fixinto' is one word.

There is no such thing as 'lunch.' There is only dinner and then there is supper.

Iced tea is appropriate for all meals, and you start drinking it when you're two.
We do like a little tea with our sugar! (Amen)

Backwards and forwards means, 'I know everything about you.'

The word 'jeet' is actually a phrase meaning, 'Did you eat ?'

You don't have to wear a watch, because it doesn't matter what time it is. You work
until you're done or it's too dark to see.

You don't PUSH buttons, you MASH EM.

You measure distance in minutes.

You switch from heat to A/C in the same day.

You know what a 'DAWG' is.

You carry jumper cables in your car --- for your OWN car.

You only own five spices: salt, pepper, Texas Pete, Tabasco and Ketchup.

You think that the first day of deer season is a national holiday.

You find 100 degrees Fahrenheit 'a bit warm.'

You know all four seasons: Almost summer, summer, still summer, and Christmas.

Going to Wal-Mart is a favorite past time known as 'goin' to Wally World.'

You describe the first cool snap (below 70 degrees) as good stew weather.

Fried catfish is the other white meat. (I like squirrel better, but that’s just me)

When mothers teach their young children phonics, they explain how the ‘g’ in some words is sometimes silent. For example: fishin, huntin, tresspassin, eatin,--the list goes on.

While ya’ll is the proper contraction for you all, the contraction for “did ya’ll” is “jaw”. Example: “Jaw see that buck?”

A wallago is not an animal that lives in Australia, it is a phrase meaning a little while ago. Example: "Naw, I didn't see it, but I did wallago."

If you don’t fix collard greens and black-eyed peas at least on New Year’s, you might as well be shot.

Every young girl should know how to make Brunswick stew. If she don’t, she ain’t fit to marry.

You get beef jerky in your stocking at Christmas.

You own at least two pets that bear the name “Dixie”

I got this from Dixie Farm Girl...Why I Love Georgia.

Photo Shoot by Jessica

Today I went out and shot b/w photos of Rachel's two most favorite things - besides her family!

Fun with the camera!

Peanut Butter!

As if we did not have enough nuts in the house we bought some!!! Just Kidding! Really though we did buy an enormous bag of peanuts at the farmer's market and tried the peanut butter!

1. We first shelled them
2. Then we seperated the chaff and nuts
3. Then in the food processor we did about 2 cups of nuts with... oil, salt, and honey. We found you have to "eyeball it" for the amount if you need sweeter peanut butter do more honey.
4. We found that because our nuts were pre-salted we didn't need to add salt and we needed more honey.
5. When we first started using whole wheat we thought it had a strange flavor, now we think white flour tastes odd. The same goes for this, at first it tastes strange!

SORRY!

The previous post was wrong! We are NOT growing turnips we are growing radishes!

I am so sorry!

We were talking about my Uncle's blog (Just The Way Mary Cooked) that I wrote turnips instead!

Tubers and other underground stuff

All our underground stuff is coming in... The potatoes, turnips, etc. They were grown by Erin and did really well! If you need encouragement in the garden grow these things. They grow fast and well!

New Blog

We have another blog that is one nature picture a day.

http://ayearofnaturestudies.blogspot.com/

Swimming Fun

A Friends pool is our saving grace this summer!

Father's Day

We love you Daddy!

Love,

Your Kids

Jessica, Rachel, Erin, Emily, Ryan, Jamie, Sarah, and Michael.

Post a "We love you" post in your blog and leave a comment so we can see it!

Homeschooling - an excuse or a gift?

" Are these all yours?" (No! We picked them up on the side of the road!")

"You have your hands full!" ("Not as full as I would like!)

"Is this your daycare?" (No! Do people usually bring their daycare to the grocery store?")

"Hey you still have all your hair!" (No Comment!")

These are the comments that we hear from people as we walk through the world. These are the comments that we hear all the time! It has gotten so that when Erin sees people counting us in the store she holds up eight fingers and says, "yes it is eight!" Then they gape at us as we pass.

Of all the comments we hear the most common are the four I posted above. But there is one more... The "So where do y'all go to school?" question. Then there is the pause then we say we homeschool. Then they stare at us... and stare... then they say, Oh.

After we tell them that most usually drop it, a few ask how we like it (We say we love it.), And then some say, "Really that's wonderful!" (We love those people)

And then the other day we were at the store and we were talking to young lady in her twenties. We told her we were homeschooled and she answered in a way I had never heard before. She said, "Oh so do you get to sleep in?" And I just stared, because I was shocked that that was what our society has come to - that they think we homeschool just to let our kids sleep in! Not to keep them out of the school system! Not so they can enjoy the world around them. Not so they can learn about God! But so that they can sleep in!

What a bad reputation!

P.S.

This is not aimed at the kids who DO sleep in, but at the people who think that's the only point of homeschooling!

Green Gardening Girl's Family!

Our Family Garden

Where souls are gardened with the plants.

Our mom has a love of the outdoors and she married a man with the same love so... the kids love the outdoors! We love working in our garden and our yard. We love the bugs and nature. But the best part is being with your family outside! So heres to being a Green Gardening Family!

Green Gardening Girl

Our Lawn Mower

I don't think I have written about it, but our lawn mower blew up a couple of weeks ago! And due to that our yard didn't look that good! But then after much prayer we got a new one! The green gardening family's yard looks good again! But the Green Gardening Girl being the great mom she is let her son mow! 

Cinnamon Rolls!

This is a lesson on baking cinnamon rolls. We use our bread dough recipe then follow these steps for wonderful rolls!

First: Take dough and shape it loosely into a ball.

Then with your rolling pin roll it out flat.

It doesn't have to have perfect edges.

Then start at one end and roll it up.

You should have a shorter fat tube

Then (starting at one end) squeeze and pull gently till it is thin and long.

Remember the thinner your dough the better they are.

Then your sugar and cinnamon goes on. 

The amount can vary depending on your family, 

we do about 1 cup sugar & 4 Tbl. Cinnamon

Then slice them! You can use this tool or thread.

Slice them then, again the thinner the better!

Then in to the trays!

Let them rise 30 minutes.

Then into the oven on 350 for 30 minutes!

They are done!

P.S. Did you notice how Michael's position barely changes through the "photo shoot"?

A Prayer For the Nation

O God of earth and alter,

Bow down and hear our cry.

Our earthly rulers falter,

Our people drift and die.

Our walls of gold entomb us,

The swords of scorn divide.

Take not thy thunder from us,

But take away our pride.

From all that terror teaches,

From lies of tongue and pen.

From all the easy speeches,

 that comfort cruel men.

From sale and profanation, 

of honor and the sword.

From sleep and from damnation,

Deliver us good lord.

Bind in a living tether,

The prince, the priest, the thrall.

Bind all our hearts together,

Smite us and save us all.

In ire and exultation,

Aflame with faith and free.

Lift up a living nation,

A single sword to thee.

Gilbert Keith Chesterton, 1906

Kings Lynn (7 6, 7 6, D.) 

Traditional English Melody

arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906

This is a hymn we sing at church. We love it!

"Our Vacation!" Part Two

Michael's Hero

Ryan's Friend

Ryan and Joseph

Hannah and Rachel

Joseph Marsh teaches Michael Joseph

Rebekah and Emily

Rachel, Jamie, Sarah, and Myself

Me (Jessica)

Rachel taking a break

Rachel and Mr. Marsh give advice!

Michael

Daniel Marsh,Jamie Pritchett, Rebekah Marsh, and Emily Pritchett

Erin Pritchett, Elizabeth Marsh, Sarah Pritchett, Rachel Pritchett

Mr. Marsh gives lessons while Michael demonstrates. 

Part two of our "vacation"! By the way I put vacation in parentheses because it was only two hours away! So here are they last of the photos hope you enjoy!