Broccoli harvested last  month

Elderberry flowers that we gather to dry and make tea with in the wintertime

Little kitty taking a nap on the front porch

Jasmine and Julia are working on editing the Homestead Blessings cookbook

Ready for blackberry pickin'?

Black Gold

Believe it or not, this picture was taken at the crack of noon, in the middle of a major thunderstorm. It got so dark in the house that we needed the lamps to see by.

Canning "pineapple" from zucchini, using pineapple juice and raw sugar.

It tastes just like pineapple and you can use it as you would in any recipe calling for pineapple. This recipe is just one of the many handy homestead recipes you can find in our upcoming cookbook!!!

Today we canned green tomatoes, also using the recipe out of our cookbook. As you can see, Jasmine is reading from the sample copy that we just got back form the printers!

The complete, finished Homestead Blessings Cookbook, is coming soon.

    "I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will show forth all thy marvellous works."
                                                                                                                                  Psalm 9:1
Well, summer is coming to an end and we are grateful for the cooler weather. But I have noticed how we are always so thankful for a new season when it begins to change around us. I reckon that's what happens when you live seasonally. Just the other day I heard an elderly lady talking to another about the heat of the summer. She mentioned how unbareable and exshausting the heat was and how she "just could not wait for the winter time to get here." The second lady agreed with her, but then added,
"You know, we always seem to want something other than what we have. Either it's too dry, too wet, too hot or too cold. We are never satisfied"
How true were her words, and I decided right then to try not to complain and bare out the rest of the summer with a joyful and gratetful attitude. And here we are! Autunm is just around the corner!!
   We have stayed very busy the past three months since we have blogged. Canning, gardening, harvesting, swimming and filming. "The Art of Crafting" was finished at the end of July, making it the 11th film we have made. The Lord has blessed us and we are thankful.
 This is just a quick blog to check in with y'all. And here are some pictures to share with y'all from our some of our summer projects.
                                          May the Lord bless and be with y'all!
                                                             Blessings,
                                                                    Cecilia for the West Family

Here are a few friends helping sort Red Wriggler Worms

Mama loves her worms!

Many hands make work light.

Our purple hull pea harvest

A basket full of garden blessings!

Georgia Peaches in a jar and water bathed for 25 minutes

Aren't  they  beautiful!

Pouring up ketchup

Ketchup is so much more fun to can over an open fire!

This is the way we wash the rugs!

Agitate with your bare feet, saves on your back!

We were able to make 16 pints of homemade ketchup!

Taking care of the hickory tree in the goat and sheep pen.

 On a farm we don't ride for fun, we get things done! Look closely, our friend Samuel is bush hogging.

Howdy Y'all!!
   It has been a while since we have blogged  because summertime on the farm brings very busy times!:) Our garden looks more like a jungle now and feels like one too with humidity and all, but somewhere in that jungle we find broccoli, cabbage, onions, peas. Today we canned a few quarts of cream of broccoli soup. That will be so wonderful in the winter when broccoli is scarce.
    Our cherry tree is giving us some cherries now and Hannah baked a most delicious cherry cobbler last Sunday for dinner. Yum!  We also have lots of beautiful tall weeds that we like to pull up and throw back onto the compost pile. It is wonderful "green food" for the garden. We planted cotton for the first time and it is coming up so well!! We are excited. Hope to use for pillow and quilts this winter. Speaking of quilts, we are blessed to announce that the 10th in the Homestead Blessings series, "The Art of Quilting" is now available on our website!
We are also, for the month of June, giving away  our CD, "Farther Along" with every order of the 3 pack, 6 pack or 9 pack of the Homestead Blessings series, but only at www.homestead-blessings.com.
These pictures are from a couple weeks ago and things are already starting  look different now. We hope to talk to y'all again soon. Thank you for all the kind words of encouragement! Enjoy your gardening and homesteading wherever you may be!!!
                                                                    Blessings,
                                                                        The West Ladies

Mama gathering from the garden.

Simple springtime beauties.

View from the back porch.

Out of railroad ties and old pots, life springs forth!

Calendula and Kohlrabi.

Broccoli harvest.

Calendula flower.

Onion bed.

Our little friend makes fresh mint tea.

Squeeze the juice from the leaves...

 And pour it up!

To see more on how to make fresh delicious mint tea go Here and check out "The Art of Herbs" in the Homestead Blessings DVD series.

Well it has been a very busy and exciting summer for us here at Homestead Blessings. Gardening, canning, swimming in the creek, cleaning house, farming, hauling hay and fellowshiping with other like minded believers on the front porch while the sun sank west over the hills. We have had some cooler weather already, a little early this year I think. The other morning we had a fire going in our wood cookstove and it felt so nice and cozy. We are always greatful for fall to come, bringing the cooler beautiful weather and bluegrass festivals in eastern Tennessee. Bluegrass festivals are a wonderful part of our lives and we always look froward to going to them and hearing good music, eating good food and meeting new people. We are currently working on the "Homestead Blessings Cookbook" which will be out sometime this fall, we're hoping. Also coming up soon we'll be filming the next three Homestead Blessings DVD's, so keep an eye out for them. Well,take care ya'll, and may you have many God given homestead blessings!

Hey Y'all!
We hope y'all are having a great summer. We have been getting ready for the 4th of July and working in the garden and canning up veggies. If any of you have not heard about our website, we would like to let y'all know about it. www.homestead-blessings.com We'll be keeping y'all up dated in the future. Till we meet again!
Blessings
The West Family