Sis is moving - time to transplant her plants

Oh Happy Day! Sis is moving, so I spent the day digging up her plants from the rented house, and now we have to head over to the new house to get them planted!! 

oh yes! we had that pickup loaded down now! I followed her and could NOT resist snapping a few photos along the ride there LOL

winding through amish country

that poor truck was a workhorse, but I tell you what, we packed them in so good we had it squattin'

HA we made it, and we didn't lose a single plant WOO WOO

meanwhile back at our place the guys are putting in the chimney, we have installed a woodburner in our basement and needed to build a chimney!

 lots of block

and the handsome son mixing concrete

 a good friend is a master of everything is doing the masonry work for us

time to make more coffee, will have more updates when we get more done!

Seed gathering & storing

We have hit October and still have some very pretty fall weather here, the Japanese morning glories have just about put on their last showing, the seed pods are getting big, some are turning brown already, this means it about time for seed picking and storing to grow next year!

just look at all of those seedpods!

 yes they WERE pretty, however they are not now, I am ready for them to be gone, it's cleanup time

and wow, there is the pond LOL as each of the different variety of vines had ripe seedpods, I would pick them, label them and yank the dead vines, have to keep up with them!

If you want to save your seeds, just pick when ripe, I put all of mine into brown paper sacks until they are dry, then I just shake the bejeebers out of the bag to release the seed from the dried pod, then I still have to pick the seeds out after I am certain they are completely dry, then I get teeny tiny ziploc baggies to store the seeds in over the winter, make sure you label what they are, don't think "oh I will remember what these are" because NO YOU WON'T lol play it safe and tag them!

there are still a few giving me pretty blooms

but as soon as these seedpods are ripe, they are going to be yanked and no, I don't think I will grow them there again, they were soo messy!

even the black eyed susan vine  thunbergia alata is putting on a show yet

Homemade Vegetable Beef Soup Recipe

Today I wanted to share an easy homemade veggie beef soup recipe

I love to make this in the fall months

We grow our own vegetables, then I freeze or can everything, sauces, you name it, so my recipe is strictly from vegetables we have grown, if you don't have fresh or canned, use frozen or store bought canned ingredients. Our beef is from the farm next door.

HOMEMADE VEGETABLE BEEF SOUP

1 quart jar of stewed tomatoes

1 quart jar of tomato juice

2 carrots cut into chunks

4 celery stalks cut into chunks

4 medium potatoes cubed, diced or sliced

1 onion sliced or cubed

half stick butter

pint peas

pint beans

pint corn

3 chicken-tomato bouillon cubes (or whichever you prefer)

stew meat bite sized pieces

salt & pepper

garlic minced up (tablespoon)

start by heating up your dutch oven, add a pat or two of butter

stir in your carrots, celery & onions and saute until cooked

(or like I used this time a HUGE stock pot because I doubled recipe)

dump all the rest of the ingredients into the dutch oven.

simmer until done

*note* I use my fresh garden vegetables that have been blanched and frozen and sealed in FoodSaver storage bags, you can either use fresh, frozen or canned in yours.

       I say quarts and pints because these are things I have canned or frozen from my gardens.

Remember you can use store bought and it will still be just as yummy!!

I always make BUTTERED ROSEMARY DINNER ROLLS when I make this soup

Update on the hen house kitty

We have had the little hen house kitty for 4 months now, she is really finally growing and turning into a little beauty!

she is a little behind normal, learning how to wash herself though! and still small

 she still has not EVER made one meow sound, not so much as a little squeak

she still loves to climb up pant legs and furniture but isn't very good at jumping yet 

her favorite rug and toy, she will chase this feather around and around if someone drags it behind them or just lay there and roll it around

 she has the prettiest green eyes and look at that ear fur 

pretty baby - getting all grown up!