Hey Fiber Peeps - Giveaway - Romney Ridge Farm

Kelly at Romney Ridge Farm is having a giveaway. If you become a follower of hers on her Facebook Page your name will be entered in a drawing that will take place on Monday for 2 free skeins of her new Babydoll/Bunny Blend yarn.

All you need to do is go to the link above on her Facebook page, become a follower, then on the Discussions page, put a comment in about the giveaway, and put your name and my name in the comment section, too. I'd love to get a chance to win this wonderful yarn. So you'll be doing me a favor as well.

I once did a blog post on the wool yarn that I had received from Kelly, and showed photos of the 6 skeins. I haven't decided what I'd like to do with it, but will wait till winter to start working with it. You can see that blog post here

I hope you will consider following Romney Ridge Farm on Facebook. She'll often highlight her newest yarns, and dye creations, and it is a very high quality product.

Take care All, and have a great weekend - from KY.

Giveaway - HenPals Chicken Nest Box - Life on a Southern Farm

GAFarmWoman - Pam at Life on a Southern Farm is having a giveaway for a 2-hole chicken nest box.

These are hand-made by FarmMan.

If you would like to enter, go to Life on a Southern Farm

and leave a comment on Pam's blog.

The closing for entries is on Friday, July 30th at midnight EST.

The winner will be announced on Saturday, July 31st.

You can see more photos of the nest boxes in use

on Pam's blogsite. Good luck to those of you

who enter the drawing.

Take care All, and have a blessed Tuesday.

From KY.

It's a Mystery . . .

A Percolator Coffee Pot

A Coleman LED Lantern

A Camp Toaster

An Oil Table Lamp

What do these four items have in common?

Hmmmm?

It's a mystery.

And, No, I'm not going camping.

More to follow sometime next week.

Hopefully.

Have a great Monday evening.

Take care All, from KY.

Recipe - Down-in-the-Dumps Pudding

I was going to make this recipe and put the photos of each step on here, but decided against it since it's a very rich dessert, and I'd end up eating it in a day or two, going thru many sugar highs - so I'll forego the photos.

This pudding is a recipe from the cookbook - A Family Raised on Sunshine by Beverly Nye. She says in the cookbook that she makes this recipe on days when she's feeling a bit depressed, and it picks her mood right up.

Down-in-the-Dumps Pudding

Beat together:
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 tblsp cocoa

Stir in:
1 cup milk
4 tblsp vegetable oil
2 cups chopped nuts

Spread mixture in ungreased 9 x 13 in pan

Blend in a small bowl:
2 cups brown sugar (packed)
1/2 cup cocoa

Sprinkle over top of batter

Pour over all: 3 cups hot water. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes

This turns out like a pudding cake and is extremely rich and decadent. I hope you enjoy this recipe

Take care All, and have a blessed Sunday, from KY

I'm Gonna Be a Hooker!

A rug hooker, that is! LOL

I was over at Dog Trot Farm visiting with Julie.

She does primitive rug hooking, and I emailed

her to get some information and she sent me to this website

Searsport Rug Hooking

I looked thru the website and found a beginner's

rug hooking kit and bought one.

It came in the mail yesterday.

Contained in the kit was an instruction book, a quilting frame

and a little metal container for the pieces of scraps that

I might have left over when I use the wool strips

to do the rug hooking.

Also, with the kit came the wool strips that I will use to make the rug,

and all of the wool strips are precut. There is some embroidery

thread, and some binding for the edges to finish off the product,

a rug hook, and a drawn pattern on linen. And a carry-all tote.

I picked the pattern, Two Sheep on a Hill.

Here is a photo of what it should look like when I am finished.

I'm not sure when I will start on this. But I wanted to see if I like

rug hooking enough to do some other patterns, along with my

crocheting. I am hoping to get good enough at these two

crafts to be able to sell some at a farmers market

come next season.

When I do start this, I will post some of the steps

from beginning to end, to give ya'll an idea of

where I am with this project.

Thanks for visiting today, and I hope you

have a blessed day. Take care All,

from KY.

Giveaway Week at Thistle Cove Farm

Fellow blogger, Sandra over at Thistle Cove Farm is having a giveaway

week on her blog. It's all week long, and you'll need to leave

a comment each day to be entered into the giveaways.

The photo below is of Sandra's view from her front porch,

I believe, and she lives in VA - beautiful country, isn't it?

You can also visit Sandra at her website Thistle Cove Farm, Tazewell VA

and see what items she has available from her farm.

So, head on over to visit Sandra, and see the treasures you

may win during this next week.

Take care everyone,

from Kathy in KY

More Of My Brother Greg's Photos

I wanted to share a couple more photos taken by my brother Greg

These are from Grand Teton National Park

I'm not sure how he got this first photo, as far as 

how close he had to get - but I think it's awesome!

Bull Moose, Grand Teton National Park

I really like this photo because it's of a barn

and it almost looks like it can still be used

OK - so the mountains in the background

are beautiful as well!

Grand Teton National Park

I hope you've enjoyed these photos

I'll share more since I have a whole calendar's worth

Take care everyone and have a great weekend

from Kathy in KY

My Brother Greg's Photos - The Great Smokies

I was over visiting Misha at from my front porch in the mountains - she has a photo of her and her man J at Cades Cove in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This reminded me that I have a calendar of my brother Greg's photography that he's taken when he goes backpacking. He lives in Charlotte NC, and has travelled extensively out-west, but also did some photography in the Great Smokies. I'm going to post two of his photos from Great Smokies National Park. I think his photos are top-knotch, but then again, he is my brother.

Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Wildflowers, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

I feel like these scans don't do his photos justice but I still wanted to share them with you.

I'll put more of his photos up another time of some of his out-west shots, but wanted to share these since I was over visiting with Misha, and these were brought to mind.

Have a great Sunday everyone. Take care, from KY.

Recipe - Blueberry Dump Cake

I have Barbara over at Barbara's Bakin' N Bits to thank for this recipe. It's very easy to make.

First, gather your ingredients

In a 9 x 13 inch baking pan, spread the crushed pineapple

Layer the blueberries over the crushed pineapple

Sprinkle sugar over the top of the blueberries

Spread the dry cake mix over the sugar, blueberries, and pineapple

Drizzle melted butter over the top of the dry cake mix

Top with chopped nuts and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes

Let cool to room temperature and serve

I was thinking that vanilla ice cream would be good over this.

It's like an easy cobbler.

Here is the recipe.

Blueberry Dump Cake

1 large can of crushed pineapple, do not drain

3 cups of fresh blueberries, if using frozen blueberries - thaw first

3/4 cup of sugar

1 regular box of yellow cake mix

1/2 cup melted butter

1 cup chopped nuts - pecans or walnuts or whatever you choose

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Spread undrained crushed pineapple in a 9 x 13 inch baking pan

Place blueberries on top of the crushed pineapple

Sprinkle sugar over the blueberries

Spread dry cake mix over blueberries

Drizzle melted butter over the dry cake mix

Sprinkle chopped nuts on the top

and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes

Cool to room temperature and serve

Like I mentioned above, I think that vanilla ice cream would pair well with this recipe. It is a very sweet and rich dessert. It's easy to make. And makes a great dish to take to summer pot luck suppers.

Happy Baking, Everyone, from KY.

Giveaway at Romney Ridge Farm

I'm putting a plug in today for Romney Ridge Farm - if you follow Romney Ridge Farm, and the owner, Kelly on Facebook - and she gets 300 or more followers, she will give away a sweater's worth of yarn.

I've purchased Kelly's yarn and featured it in a blog post in June. And there are photos of the yarn I purchased so that you can see the high quality of her product. So, check out Romney Ridge Farm on Facebook and become a follower, and maybe win a sweater's worth of beautiful yarn.

Take care All - from KY.

The Wombness of God

I was thinking this morning as I walked out to get the mail of when

I worked for the Forest Service, and was doing

wildlife surveys before dawn,

and at dusk in southern KY.

There was always some mist in the trees emerging from the ground cover.

We had to get out before dawn because an endangered woodpecker

species that we were following left its nest at dawn,

and would spend the day in the trees

and we would have a hard time getting a look at it otherwise.

And we wanted to keep track of the location of the birds.

When I would drive home after the other night surveys

that had taken place near Laurel River Lake,

there would be mist on the narrow two-lane winding roads.

I always felt that this must be what it feels like

to be enclosed in a womb.

The comfort, the moistness, the protection, the closeness.

And it made me think of God. So I came up with the term

God's Wombness.

I dream of my home in the country at dawn

with a mist rising from the fields.

And feeling the closeness of God in all of His Majesty.

May you feel Him too.

Take care All, from KY.

Poem - Ode To Sarah

In the vein of today's earlier blog post of the poem,

The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams,

I've come up with my own version

Ode To Sarah

by Kathy Schanding

so much depends

upon

a tortoise-shell

kitty

eyes closed tight

in sleep

curled on the

yarn tote

I think I could win a Pulitzer for that one!

Whaddaya think?! LOL

Take care everyone, and have a great rest

of the Wednesday evening.

From Kathy in KY.

A Favorite Poem - The Red Wheelbarrow

Back in the Fall of 2004, I went back to college, and got a minor in English, studying mainly poetry. Here is one of my favorite poems by one of my favorite poets. It's a well known poem, I think, and is often quoted in poetry circles because of its simplicity.

The Red Wheelbarrow

by William Carlos Williams

so much depends

upon

a red wheel

barrow

glazed with rain

water

beside the white

chickens.

Have a great Wednesday everyone!

Take care, from KY.

Some Favorite Books for a Tuesday

I decided to post a few books that are my favorite small farm

books. The photos ended up a little blurry because I

enlarged them to get a good view. I'll put the title

and author(s) just in case you all want to look

at these on Amazon.com or some other book source.

The Year of the Goat

by

Margaret Hathaway and Karl Schatz

Margaret and Karl spent about a year and 40,000 miles

in search of the best goat cheese. And they were also

trying to decide if they wanted to follow their dream

of raising goats.

Living with Goats

by

Margaret Hathaway and Karl Schatz

This is kind of a sequel to The Year of the Goat.

It chronicles much of the couple's first year or so

running a goat dairy in Maine. But more than that

it is a good beginner's guide to the raising and management

of goats. There is basic information, but also a lot of

specific information that a lot of other general guides

do not have. And it is from first-hand experiences.

You can visit Margaret and Karl's blog to see what is going

on daily at their farm  - Ten Apple Farm

and you can also follow them on Facebook - Ten Apple Farm

Living with Sheep

by

Geoff Hansen and Chuck Wooster

This is the "Living with" series that Living with Goats is

also included. It is a practical first-hand account guide to

raising a small flock of sheep. The neat thing I found is that

the author will write about mistakes that he's made so as to

save the reader and potential shepherd from making the same

kind of mistakes. Again, this is a basic guide, but as with

Living with Goats, it gets into some specifics and is very practical.

50 Acres and a Poodle

by

Jeanne Marie Laskas

This is more of a factual account of a couple's search for

a small farm in New England. It doesn't really go in to any

type of livestock management. It's more in the vein of

The Year of the Goat, where it tells the background of

how the couple realized their dream of living in the country.

I noticed when I was looking on Amazon.com for these books

to get photos, that there is a sequel to this book

by the same author, called

The Exact Same Moon: 50 Acres and a Family

You Can Farm

by

Joel Salatin

This is a nuts and bolts "motivational speaking" book by a farmer

who lives in the Shenandoah Valley area of Virginia. He is very

serious about letting you know how you can go about making

a living off of your small farm, but he pulls no punches at all.

He's almost "in-your-face" in my opinion, but he is so realistic

and truthful that I believe it is a great guide if you really

want to try and make a living off of your small farm

without having to work off the farm in another type of job.

You can find more information about Joel Salatin's farm

and his other writings at his farm website - Polyface Farms

I hope this has been a little informative for you all. I found all of

these books at the local library, and also through Inter-Library Loan.

That's it for this evening. Take care everyone. From KY.