My Creative Kids

 My kids love to make movies...yesterday Lindsay told them they she wanted to do a short film with them!  They even passed up a trip to the library with me to do this!  Can you guess what they chose?

 Kyle as Tintin...

 Sarah was both Thompson and Thomson...she changed her mustache for each role...Rachel was the legs and feet for one of them when Lindsay filmed a walking scene...

 Movie still...Tintin and Snowy...

What do you think?  I love it and I love their creativity...they worked on it for hours!  When Lindsay gets it edited I'll make sure to show you!

Have a delightful weekend!

Kamryn and Grandma

  I had a visitor this evening while I was at my desk!  Kamryn came in to see what I was doing.

 Here she is checking out what's on my computer screen...

 Photos of her cousin Logan!  She and I both think he is cute!

Kamryn doesn't always want to take the time to sit with me, and I was so glad she did.  Last night she brought me her blankey and a book and climbed up on my lap!  I love that!

Did you see the manila envelope on my desk?  Our seed order came already!  I'll show you some of what we ordered soon!

Glow Pots

 The girls have been busy making what we call "glow pots."

 Beeswax from the natural foods store, a water balloon dipped into the melted wax...

Delightful on a winter morning...

Let's Talk Herbs

www.allposters.com

When Lindsay and I placed our seed order the other evening, we made sure to order herbs this year.

Now I should qualify that to say that we have ordered some herbs in the past, cilantro and parsley, and they have grown very well for us.  In fact we were able to save seed from our cilantro!  We just love it in fresh salsa!  And we use our parsley fresh and dried in our homemade buttermilk ranch salad dressing!

But this year we longed for more and decided that we are going to do a separate section just for herbs in our garden.  We ordered lavender, basil, chamomile, a new variety of parsley and we also ordered Echinacea.  

Technically, Echinacea is a flower but it has great medicinal properties, so I wanted to grow some to use in tea or to grind up the root to use in capsules to help build up the immune system.  All the echinacea that I have grown in the past have been from commercial growers.  The ones we will grow are heirloom seeds!

 Echinacea in my garden in June 2011

I also am going to add feverfew to the herb garden, but that I will transplant from my cottage garden! 

Feverfew in my garden 2011

I have never grown Chamomile but it is a good plant for tea!  Very soothing, and relaxing. I am realizing that I will need to keep my chamomile and my feverfew planted in different sections so as to not confuse the kids...or myself!

 www.allposters.com

I have grown lavender before.  Mostly the English variety Munstead.  I am not sure what the heirloom variety will be like.

www.allposters.com

I do know that lavender smells fantastic and is easy to dry and make into sachets for your closet or drawers.  You can also use it in baking, and in soaps and bath salts.  Lots of variety!

Do you grow herbs? What kinds of herbs do you grow? Do you have an herb garden or a few pots in your kitchen?  If I didn't have space for a garden, I would definitely put some herbs in pots in the kitchen!  So great for cooking!

Here are a couple of great resources for learning about growing and using herbs.

The Bulk Herb Store -  Has a great dvd on Making Herbs Simple.  I learned a lot of fun things to do with herbs from the dvd I have - hair treatments and more!

The West Ladies - Vickie, Hannah, Cecilia and Jasmine are a mother and her daughters that we just love!  They are very down home and we love that they live the things they teach.  Their Homestead Blessings dvd by Franklin Springs are great!

Esther Bolick's Orange Marmalade Cake

I have been a big Mitford fan since I read the first book in the series, many years ago.  I love how she makes all these characters come to life and you feel as if they are real people.  Over the years I have read all about Esther Bolick's Orange Marmalade cake and wondered what it tasted like.

Right before Christmas, I made a quick stop at our local library and while there I popped into the little used book store.  I found this gem and another Mitford Christmas book called The Mitford Snowmen.  They are both just short stories, but a sweet read non the less.

 I am sure you can guess what this one is about...

In the back is the recipe and instructions for baking this cake.  I just had to try it, so I bought all the ingredients.  They sat in my cupboards for a few weeks until Saturday.

 Saturday I got out the cake flour, which I had never used before...

 I baked the cake in two 9 inch pans and after a bit of cooling, poked a bunch of holes in them to pour the orange syrup (orange juice and sugar) over the cake and let it soak in.

 I warmed up the Orange Marmalade...

 I put marmalade on one cake and stacked the two layers of cake...

 I whipped whipping cream, sugar and sour cream together to use as a frosting...put it in the fridge to chill for 2 hours and then after our family worship time last night, we tasted it!

It was delicious and today Becky and Pastor Mike each had some and really liked it too.  Is it thud worthy?  I don't know...I actually love Becky's mother in laws' lemon blueberry cake better, I think.  But this is one delicious cake.

So Mitford fans, there you have it.  Esther Bolick made these for special occasions and for Christmas gifts, and I made ours to have with our evening tea after dinner.

Let me know if you want the recipe and if you have tried it and liked it - or didn't like it!

ps - Focus on the Family's Radio Theater has a wonderful audio drama of some of the Mitford books combined.  My kids love them, and loved getting to try Esther's cake last night!

Snow Day, But Looking Ahead...

 Tim and Lindsay are both off to work this morning.  Not sure that we will have any customers today, but the farmer's market was open so we opened too.  

 For a while this morning we were getting sleet but then it turned back to all snow...

 We have about 3-4 inches.

 I loved Maxx's paw prints on the deck!

The view out of my front window...don't look too closely - we need to scrape paint and put a fresh coat on the window sill.  I actually would like to replace this window...
 

Now thinking ahead...Lindsay and I worked on our garden plans last evening.  We went over what we planted last year, what grew well, what didn't, what we would like for this year.  We are only keeping our raised beds for our strawberries this year, and are going to plow up a bigger space.  We also are going to grow some heirloom corn this year!

We made our list, I got online at www.rareseeds.com and placed our order!  Love the convenience of technology! 

Do you garden?  If so, do you save seeds?  Do you can your produce or just eat it fresh?  What is your favorite thing to grow?

http://homesteadrevival.blogspot.com/2012/01/barn-hop-46.html

Hiding God's Word In Their Hearts