Lazy Days of Summer

Chief chicken chaser on his way to find "his" chicken.

Here chicken, chicken...where are you?

Our silkies safe from hawks in the run.

Girls in the sandbox which - I am surprised to say - has not become a chicken dust bath ;-)

While the kids enjoy some time off from school and we don't have a lot of gardening or harvesting to do they love to play in the sandbox and Mama loves to play in her garden box!  This is one of my raised beds that is really having a bit of trouble this year.  Just a week ago it was FILLED with dense, thick foliage on the squash and tomatoes.  Now, just rot remains in most of the bed.  I have decided that with all of the rain we get here in the summers there was simply not enough air circulation to keep the leaves dry.  Hindsight tells me that I should prune the squash leaves and tomatoes heavily.  Lesson learned.

The nice thing about my raised beds though has been that the chickens do not get in them much at all.  They are much more concerned with pecking and scratching the ground than in digging up my raised bed plants.  The powdery mildew in this bed has been a constant battle.  With the abundance of rain and poor air flow due to density, this is one battle I have lost for sure.  Oh well, it's all part of Dixie Living, right?





See you around the Homestead,
-Melissa

Summertime Standby

Well I had hoped to be blogging about the NCFIC conference that our church hosted this weekend. Instead I am home with a feverish Merry and her uncharacteristic irritability due to a stomach bug.  Thank goodness for Elderberry syrup!!  I'll still give you the low-down on what we've been up to this week.
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Sew Cute: Since I had several orders to fill this week for embroidered swim team towels and totes I didn't have much time for recreational sewing. I was pleased with how the towels turned out as it was my first time designing a logo from scratch. My customers were happy and I was too when other parents placed their orders for more towels. The only sewing I did for fun was this bib n bow n sock set that I am calling GaGa for Grapes. What do you think?
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Taste Test: With orders to fill, a sick little one, a swim meet this week, and extra food to be made for our conference at church I needed a break from the kitchen. This favorite standby comes together easily 'cause it's made in the crock pot. It's a little long on the prep time but then you can leave it once it's in the pot. My kids LOVE to chop, chop, chop. Add a loaf of homemade bread and some tea... and you've got dinner! No need for salad since there are plenty of veggies in the bowl. By the way, I found this recipe in Food Network Magazine.
Slow-Cooker Chicken and Pasta Soup
4 carrots, quartered lengthwise and cut into 1 inch pieces
4 long strips lemon zest
4 sprigs fresh dill, plus 2-3 T chopped
2 T Extra Virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
4 cups low sodium chicken broth
1 cup small pasta, such as pastina
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
½ bunch fresh spinach, stemmed
4 ounces Feta cheese
Freshly ground pepper and some lemon wedges for serving
1 – Combine the carrots, lemon zest, dill sprigs, olive oil and ½ tsp salt in a 5-6 quart slow cooker. Season the chicken with salt and add to the slow cooker. Add the broth and 4 cups of water, cover and cook on low for about 8 hours.
2 – About 20 minutes before serving, add the pasta to the slow cooker, cover and cook until tender, about 15 minutes.
3 – Stir the chopped dill, peas and spinach into the soup and cover until the spinach wilts, about 2 minutes. Stir to break up the chicken and season with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls and crumble the feta on top. Serve with lemon and bread, if desired.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Family Matters: In January this year we set a goal to memorize the book of Titus as a family. We have been buzzing along nicely but I have noticed our pace beginning to slow a bit this summer. Perhaps it is due to our more relaxed schedule. Normally we review at lunchtime since everyone is together and we are not usually in need of getting to whatever is on our evening agenda. These last few weeks we have not all been together during the lunch hour due to practices, appointments, etc. Much of our review has been done independently. I trust our efforts will be more productive once we get back to our school year routine this fall. What works for your family as you seek to hide God's Word in your hearts?
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Homestead Happenings: We are continuing to enjoy our home grown produce. My husband worked hard this year to till up a larger area for our summer garden. The size and quality keeps getting better each time we gather. Here is Freckles with our two largest yellow squash as well as our two largest cucumbers so far. Not bad for a suburban gardener, eh?
My Deal of the Week was found on eBay. I have 3 daughters, therefore we play with dolls a lot around our house. We have some very nice My Twinn dolls but I had never been able to bring myself to splurge on an American Girl doll. Call me cheap, call me mean but I just could not do it. In fact, I still haven't. Tender Heart has had her tender little heart set on owning one so she used money from her savings to purchase Molly. She's the cutie with the glasses and braids. We were fortunate to get an original Pleasant Company Molly in superb condition for $30. I'll be sure to post a pic of our new friend soon.

Enjoying Dixie Living,
Melissa

Just Peachy

True to my word this is the second installment of my Weekly Update format. It helps me to organize the few topics that I like to faithfully blog about rather than having to pull from the tons of random events of daily life.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sew Cute: This week I spent some time working on some bib, sock, and bow sets that I plan to put in my shop. The bright pink and green are a perfect color combination for summertime little girls. I just cant get enough of these frilly socks for the days when you have to cover up those adorable little toesies!

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Taste Test: We are just starting to get some peaches in some of the local farmer's markets here in Georgia. Peaches are so versatile, fitting in seamlessly in any course of the meal whether in an appetizer salad, poached atop a main entree, grilled on the side, or featured in a tasty dessert. Here I served them in a tasty traditional Peach Muffin which I served at a brunch hosted in my home. I did substitute some of my home ground wheat for half of the white flour but just could not bring myself to trade it out entirely. Let me know how it turns out if you decide to use all wheat instead of half and half.
Georgia Girl Peach Muffins
Peel & Dice about 1-2 fresh peaches so that you have ½ cup
1 cup sugar, divided
1 egg
1 ½ cup all purpose flour (or substitute as I did)
1 ½ tsp. Baking Powder
½ tsp Salt
¼ tsp. Ground Nutmeg :)
1/2 cup milk
For Topping: 1 tsp. Ground Cinnamon and ½ cup real butter, melted
Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Line or spray muffin cups. Cream butter and ½ cup sugar. Add egg; mix. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg; stir flour mixture into butter mixture alternately with the milk. Gently fold in peaches. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake 20 to 25 minutes. While baking, melt butter. Mix ½ cup sugar with cinnamon. When muffins are done, immediately dip tops into melted butter, then into cinnamon-sugar mixture.
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Family Matters: We are participating this summer in our county Swim League. I cannot tell you what a great recreation this has been for all of us. I cannot fathom running from practice to practice and field to field as each of my children participate in a sport of some sort. Swimming, for us, has been the perfect solution.**Here's Tender Heart in the Backstroke**

Each week we not only compete against another swim team for points, but each child also competes against himself in an effort to improve his/her personal time. The top 50 times in each event will qualify to swim in the County Finals at the end of the season at Georgia Tech. As you know our family is a Tech family. Tech was also where the Olympic swimming events were helf when Atlanta hosted the Olympics here in 1996. For those to reasons, we would love to qualify. We were excited this week as Freckles earned his first "heat winner" ribbon so I am putting up a shot of my happy little fishy below. What makes my heart happiest though is seeing his sisters standing at the end of his lane cheering him on and being the first to give him a congratulatory hug when he comes out of the water.

**Yeah!!!! Heat Winner**

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Keeping Hearts and Home: It is summertime so we are in the garden. This week the kids and I had a lot of fun putting up some pickles for the first time. It was important to me that they be crunchy after processing, not just sour. I was pleased with the results. It is also quite rewarding to see my stash of home-canned items growing in the pantry.**We did some quick-process and some traditional**

As this was my first time canning with the girls it went a little slower than when I'm just buzzing right along on my own. As with all aspects of training the results will show up according to my patience and effort. This endeavor was no different. Lil' Liss ended up getting bored and leaving halfway through, Freckles scrubbed and chopped, disappeared, showed up periodically for tasting, and Tender Heart excitedly saw the entire process through to completion, helping and learning much along the way.
My Deal of the Week was found again at CVS. I am sorry but I do use disposable diapers for when we are out and about. It is just tidier for me not to have to tote around Jolly's soiled diapers until we get home. Consequently, we buy diapers in bulk. This week I bought a case of 96 diapers at CVS for $19.99, used a $3 off store coupon plus a $3 off Huggies coupon printed from here. That brought me down to $13.99 for the diapers. I paid that with Extra Care Bucks, scanned my Green Bag Card and left having paid $0 out of pocket, money added to my Green Tag fund, another $5 off store coupon, PLUS $10 more in Extra Care Bucks!!! Now if I can just find someone else to change Merry's diapers since she has started solid food...pyuuuwie!!!

Enjoying Dixie Living,
Melissa

Summertime Redesign for the Blog

This summer I plan to start a new format with my blogging. I am thinking it will be easier for me to do a weekend update post. I plan to include a Sew Cute section (for my creative endeavors), a Taste Test section (for new or interesting recipes), Homestead Happenings (to update you on our progress) a Keeping Hearts & Home section (for uplifting or thought-provoking musings, and an additional section known as Family Matters that will have the sole purpose of allowing me to blog about my wonderful blessings. Somewhere in one of the sections I will also plan to post my Deal of the Week as I have had a great time super couponing.
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Sew Cute: We recently learned that my husband's sister and her family will be relocating to Charlotte with her job. We are excited for her but disappointed that we will be missing out on a lot of time together with her two little boys. To give them something to remember us by, the girls helped me design and create a couple of hooded towels. This is a project that went together really easily. Once I got the designs embroidered on the back, Freckles was able to help me choose a fun train-themed fabric that would suit their boyish tastes. These towels should last them several years. It is our hope they will think of us giving them a great big hug every time they wrap up snug and warm after their baths.
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Taste Test: Some of our “first fruits” from the summer garden are in and Tender Heart is here with me to share the beginnings of our bounty. The onions are some that are still left from the spring garden and the squash is what is coming on now. Yellow squash is not one of my favorites but it will be plentiful so I decided to get my family off on the right track with a tasty recipe to start the season. I have been trying to do a meatless meal one night per week as a matter of health as well as frugality. To stretch the meal you could add in some corn. Feel free to substitute your favorite cheese variety instead of mine. This recipe was well-received by my gang and not a bite was left!
Squash Strata
5 to 6 large squash
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
Salt & Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/2 cup crumbled butter-type crackers (Ritz or Club crackers)
3-4 T real butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup shredded Colby jack cheese, or similar
2 eggs slightly beaten
1/2 cup milk
6 slices Asiago cheese
Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Butter a 9- by 13-inch casserole dish.
Clean the squash then slice into 1/4-inch circles. Here I've used the mandolin slicer.

Arrange the slices of squash in a strainer or rack over 1/2-inch of boiling water. Cover and steam just until barely tender, approximately 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain any excess liquid from the squash, and mix in the onion and garlic.

So that I could do something else I've used my steamer instead.

Arrange half of the cooked squash mixture in the prepared casserole dish. Add a layer of crumbled crackers, butter pieces, and 1/4 cup of the shredded cheese; then continue layering with the remaining squash, butter pieces, and shredded cheese to use it all. In a small bowl, mix the slightly beaten eggs into the milk with a small whisk or a fork, adding the salt and pepper while you are mixing. Pour the milk/egg mixture over the top of the entire dish and cover with the sliced Asiago cheese.

Here it is ready to go into the oven.
Cook approximately 30 to 40 minutes or until just beginning to brown on top. Serves about 6.
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Keeping Hearts & Home: I was so humbled this week by God's faithfulness. While working together in our garden my son was given the job of hoeing between the rows while the rest of us girls picked weeds from the plants. Even in the morning it was hot, hard work especially for him. Sometimes we sing as we work or just talk casually as a though strikes one of us. Here in Georgia the red clay in our soil can really bake pretty hard making the dry ground quite unforgiving. As Freckles pounded away he stopped to remark, “Mama, this ground reminds me to keep my heart nice and soft for God.” I smiled, thrilled that he had made his own application but as I continued to work it was hard for my grateful heart not to give thanks to our Faithful God who promises us that His Word will not return void.

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Family Matters: We are having a good summer enjoying more leisure time. It has been nice to have time off from formal school work, etc. I am not taking time off from frugal living though. This Deal of the Week comes from CVS, courtesy of those wonderful Extra Care Bucks! Again, I made money shopping. Here's what I got paid $10 to buy:

I bought a $9 fancy Schick Hydro Razor, used a coupon for $5 off so I paid $4, scanned my Green Card, and got $4 in Extra Care Bucks. They were out of the body wash I had also come there to buy so I visited another CVS on my outings. This time my coupon was for a BOGO any Gillette body wash. My husband really loves his body wash so I was excited to have this coupon. I grabbed the last two off the shelf, scanned them, scanned my Green Card, scanned my coupon, scanned my ECB card, then paid with my existing Extra Care Bucks. I left with a store coupon for my next purchase of $15 or more and $10 in Extra Care Bucks! This of course does not include the money they loaded on my Green Card too. Lest I forget I am also waiting for a check from Schick for $4 since they are offering a Schick Hydro Try Me Free rebate for the purchase of this razor. My earnings may go up to $14. Now if we could just turn off the lights when we leave a room...

Enjoying Dixie Living,
Melissa

Dare To Compare

• What if my savings at the co-op don't compare to others savings at the grocery store?
  You really should not compare non-organic food prices to organic food prices.  You really aren't comparing apples to apples!   Actually, I’ve found that when you simply don’t compare yourself to others, you enjoy life a lot more.
  Make decisions based upon what is best for your family as you are led by the Lord, and then be inspired by others... but don’t feel guilted by them.
  
• How can I put my money where my mouth is?  
•  Folks, if you can afford it, spend it. We are in trouble here in America.  Consumers need to use our funds to support small family farms AND organic food whenever possible.  This is not just because organic is better for our bodies, but it is better for the land as too.  Did you know that chemicals actually turn the soil to dust?  There is no enrichment taking place.            
• Where can I get the most bang for my couponing buck?  
• Have some fun and play the drug store game.  Use Register Rewards and Extra Care Bucks, etc. to get all the other stuff–toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, razors, toilet paper, feminine products for FREE or close to it. This is probably the only area that you can really be an Extreme Coupon Queen.  If you don't do paper goods, you can also find natural/cheap alternatives to these things-we don’t use paper towels, disposable diapers/wipes when at home, etc.  I know some folks make their own deodorant-which eliminates the aluminum dangers of the store bought brands. I just began using Dr. Bronner's for almost everything in our house-which is natural and organic. You can even brush your teeth with it   I know, why would you, right?? If you look around, there really is so much *stuff* you can just stop buying once you find cheaper, smarter alternatives!  You can really build up your pantry and preps this way.
• I too have struggled with many of these same questions…you can read many of my conclusions here.  Eating WELL does cost more, that is the ugly, naked truth. Would you consider the alternative? I would much rather have my spending set a little higher (if it is affordable) to support local, organic, agriculture.  Quality fresh fruits and seasonal vegetables are worth the extra cost for our family! I’m LEARNING to do my best to determine works for our family without comparing my numbers with others…Blessings to you!
• What are some of the new things your family is attempting in an effort to live healthier lives?

Enjoying Dixie Living,

Melissa

Bring on the Sizzle

Although not officially, summer has definitely come to Hotlanta. Today we are enjoying some Sesame Ginger Marinated Pork with Grilled Pineapple Slices. I got most of the strawberries put up into freezer jam from the 18 gallons of berries we picked this week and after tonight's outing we will enjoy some fresh Strawberry Sorbet. The kids just love watching the ice cream maker spin them up a delicious treat! As the countdown to camp draws closer I am happy to be on schedule with the culottes that I am making for Tender Heart. As with most of Mommy's Creations, she can hardly wait to wear them...am I mean for making her wait?

It was nice to get the rest of our summer garden put out this week. With the exception of the beans it looks like everything is off to a good start. As soon as the plants are a little bigger we will get them in the ground. I would definitely have to say this is the beginning of one of the best summers we have had together in a while. We are all enjoying to longer and more playful days and the time together our more relaxed summer schedule affords. Daily I am grateful to God for the privilege of homeschooling and the precious gift of time with my children that it brings.

While reading my Bible this morning it occurred to me that I had been impatient with my "helpers" earlier this week as we planted and they spilled soil as we potted some of our container plants. As I recalled my earlier frustrations I was painfully aware of my shortcomings as I attempt to lead a Christ-like life. As a parent, what right do I have to become impatient with my children when God has always been longsuffering with me? When I am frustrated by the shortcomings of others, why do I think I have any right to feel that way when daily I know I fail the One who matters most? Praise God for His longsuffering!

Tonight for Family Fun Night we will be attending the graduation recital of one of the young men at our church. He is the eldest brother of Freckles' violin teacher and we are all looking forward to a lovely evening together enjoying his artistry. As many of you know Fine Arts education has always been high on the list of priorities for our family but I suspect the promise of cake at the reception has most of my brood looking forward to tonight with greater anticipation than that of lovely Viola tunes! Hey, a Mama can always hope.

In constant pursuit...

The Homestylemom