On The Banks Of Cedar Creek

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Moved

Since disconnecting our Internet in our home, I have had to move this blog over to Wordpress. Their site is easy to access with a mobile phone, which is the only form of Internet that we currently have. Please come over and visit me here: www.onthebanksofcedarcreek.wordpress.com

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Hello again!

Seems it's been almost 5 mos. since I last updated this blog. A lot has gone on since then! First off, we no longer have internet access in the house. Our computer got a very deep-rooted virus that could have possibly erased years of our lives in pictures if we tried to dig it out. So now it's just used off-line. The only internet we have now is through our phones. Please excuse the lack of paragraphs or misspelled words on here. =) Our oldest DD is now attending a local community college for her basics in nursing. She is also dating! He is the son of a family that we've known for 8 yrs. His sister & our youngest DD are BFFs. Katie, our youngest DD, is now a freshman in HS. so far she's doing very well. All A's & B's! She is anxiously waiting for softball training to start. Last Tuesday was my 37th birthday. This Saturday will be our 19th anniversary & next Tuesday is my husband's birthday. November is a very busy month around here. Thanks for visiting!

Monday, June 27, 2011

The Amish Cook by Lovina Eicher

June 27, 2011

Church services were held here at our house on Sunday. Our church district has around 175 people, with over 100 being children under the age of 16. We had very nice weather on Sunday and now today it is rainy. The rain took laundry off of our list. It is a relief to have all of the cleaning done for now. Our garden is doing very well so far. Corn has really grown and is pretty tall already. I had enough lettuce to serve with the church lunch. The services were held in our basement. After the services, tables were set up and lunch was served to everyone.

Our menu consisted of egg salad, peanut butter spread, red beets, hot peppers, lettuce, freezer pickles, dill pickles, rhubarb jam, butter, homemade wheat and white bread, and chocolate chip, sugar and oatmeal cookies. We also served ice cream to everyone in honor of Father’s Day. Along with the lunch, coffee and iced tea were also served.

Sister Emma made the tea fresh from her garden. The flavors were spearmint and peppermint. It is a good thirst-quencher on a hot day. She also made the rhubarb jam fresh from her rhubarb. We made the egg salad using 15 dozen eggs and 15 pounds of hot dogs. Some say that it resembles a ham salad. We had plenty of leftover egg salad. It is nice having our own chickens, so I didn’t have to buy any eggs. I cooked a kettle of chicken noodle soup for the younger children and older babies. Our church has a container that they call the “cookie jar.” The last lady who hosts services has to fill the container with some kind of homemade baked goods. They then have to deliver it to the next house where church services will be held. This helps the next lady preparing for church services to have a container of goodies on hand. The baked items can be used as either a snack for helpers , something to put in her husband’s lunch pail or just to feed to her family. I think it is a very good idea since it is hard to find time for baking while preparing the house for church.

The lady that brought the container to our house had whoopie pies and monster cookies in it for us. This was a treat for us all and was a good snack to put in my husband Joe’s lunch for work. Needless to say they did not last long around here. We made cookies to fill the container to pass on to the next person.

This is late afternoon now and I need to finish this. The sun is shining and it turned out to be a nice afternoon. The clothes might have dried after all but I am glad we have the basement back in order again. We cleaned it up instead of doing laundry. The bench wagon stores all of our benches and the church dishes. I remember when I used to hold church services in Indiana we had to use our own dishes. That was a lot of coffee pots, coffee cups, plates, glasses, and silverware to store every time in between. Now when the ladies help wash dishes after church they go back in the containers and into the bench wagon again. Sure saves a lot of work.

I told the children they can have the afternoon off to do whatever they want. They all did a good job helping with the work the last few weeks. Daughters Elizabeth, 17, and Susan, 15, were to help clean a house in town today but it has been rescheduled for another day. I think they were glad not to have to go today.

Corn de-tasseling will probably be starting soon. It is hard to believe it is that time of year again. Here is the recipe for egg salad that we served for church.

Egg Salad

6 pounds of hot dogs

5 dozen eggs, hard-boiled

6 c. salad dressing (Miracle Whip could be used)

2 c. mayonnaise

Salt and ground pepper

Grind the hot dogs in a meat grinder. In a large bowl, stir the ground meat, eggs, Miracle Whip, and mayonnaise together. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Can be stored covered in the refrigerator for up to three days.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Updated Garden Pics

Proverbs 12:11

He who works his land will have abundant food...

My weed-FREE garden:

The garden is weed-FREE thanks to this:

GREATEST TOOL EVER!!!
Best $20 I ever spent!!!!!!
Weeding is not work anymore!!!

Potatoes

Carrots & onions

Cucumbers

Cabbage

Cauliflower

Banana peppers

Zucchini

Zucchini leaf

Green beans

1 lettuce
A whole row was planted & this was all that came up.

Green pepper
For some reason I can not get green peppers to grow in my garden!
Last year they grew to be about 3 ft. tall but never produced a pepper.

4 rows of bicolor corn

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Frugal Friday Tip

Getting more tomato plants for FREE!!

Use tomato suckers to make new plants! Tomato vines are one of nature's great survivers. If allowed to run over the ground, they will develop roots and form entirely new plants. This ensures that if the mail vine is broken or eaten, the plants continues through it's cycle to produce lots of tomato seeds which will grow next year. It's easy to use this survival mechanism to produce lots of free tomato plants to share and to keep. If you have a heated greenhouse, or can bring some plants indoors, you can also use this process to create free tomato plants to start next years garden.

Suckers are the new branches that grow at the joint of each leaf on a healthy tomato stem. Allow the stem to grow about 8 inches long, then gently cut the stem off just above the joint where it is starting. If the suckers have started growing tomatoes, cut the sucker about 8 inches from the end, allow the tomatoes on the vine to finish growing.

Fill a planter with good potting soil. Pick a lightweight potting soil, not soil from your garden. You can choose a brand with fertilizer, or you can go with an organic variety. Fertilizer is not necessary to root tomato suckers.

Gently remove any branches on the lower half of the sucker.

Plant the tomato suckers into the soil. You do not need to use rotting hormone to root tomatoes. About half of the sucker should be in the potting soil, while the upper half should be above the soil line. You can place several tomatoes in the same planter.

Water the planter thoroughly.

Place the planter to a spot with full shade. Water as needed to keep the soil from getting dry while the suckers are rooting. The plants will wilt for the first two days, but should spring back.

In about two weeks, start checking the plants to see if roots are developing. In about three weeks, roots should have developed enough to move each plant to an individual planter. When they are grown another week or so, place the plant in it's permanent location.

Plant the new tomato in good soil, and water thoroughly. Water as needed while the tomato plant is becoming established in its new location. Provide structure for the new plant to grow, then enjoy the fruit of your new plants!

I've done this in the past & had great results. Turned into a full grown tomato plant! I did this again this week to expand my tomato plants with 3 new ones since we lost a few plants after buying & planting them.