He Was Very Helpful

Note by Savannah and art from Tressa when she was 5.

This note was given to me by my 9 year old grand-daughter Savannah. I couldn't believe that she had this in her heart for her Lord. I told her that I would put it on my blog to share with others. I love the end......... "He was very helpful." Is that not sooooo true? From the faith of a child. I am thinking on how important it is to share with our children and grand-children our love for our God. She is being taught and she is definitely getting it.

Thank you Savannah for reminding me of a very important truth. I want to walk in a way so you can follow. I will love you forever Savannah!

This is what her note said, if you can't read it.

Nature is great because God created it

He has provided us life, family and love/joy

Jesus is are redeaimer.

He paid for our sins.

He was very helpful.

A Door To the Past

This door has been opened a many time on this farm, that we now live on. It is worn and old and I am sure has many stories to tell over the past 100 years of being owned by the Stubbs family. I was walking around our farm this morning thinking about Grandma Jo and Grandpa Jack who have since gone to live with the Lord. Grandpa had his little bird call that he would call Grandma to see where she was at. That means more to me today then it did days ago. We would come over with our little boys and work along side them in their garden. Off to the side of the garden Grandma had planted her Peonies, that she would use on Memorial Day to decorate the grave stones as she called it. Today we will use those same Peonies on Grandpa's and her grave stones. It is kind of strange, that she planted them and we are now using them for her. I was wondering if the flowers I am planting now will be used on my grave someday. It seems like when you are young you will live forever. I am not thinking that now.

I am realizing that it is so important how you love your family now. Hope your day is blessed as you think of your loved ones, that are not with you today. Know that I am praying for you. For some I know that this day will be very difficult. Know that I am praying for you.

Planting

I had wanted to use my old wood boxes some way in the garden. I think it turned out real cute. The plants I put in are the kind that will trail over the edge of the box. It is always hard to wait for them to get to that stage. If you have any ideas for containers or want to send me pic's I would love to see your ideas.

My wheel barrow was full of sugar peas and sweet pea flowers.

Sugar Snap Peas and Sweet Pea flowers together.

When I planted my Sugar Snap Peas, I wanted to see what it would be like to put in some of my Sweet Pea Flowers in between the Sugar Snap Peas. When it all blooms it is going to look so pretty.

Yesterday we were able to get almost all of our flowers and herbs planted. If you put your herbs and flowers together you will have more color. I put in so many Lemon Verbena plants! I also plant flowers in addition to the marigolds in my garden. I spend a lot of time in my garden in the summer and I just want to see pretty flowers. The weather is starting to get warmer outside and it is good to have almost all my veggies planted. Our day yesterday was very productive in getting things planted. If we can get our pumpkins and corn in I will be so glad. It has been such a wet spring for us here in Kansas. I think it has been hard for a lot of people to get things in on a timely basis. Everything is really coming up though. A little tip for everyone, who is going to plant potatoes. Our friend Alicia, said as soon as you see the first leaves on your potato plants popping out of the garden start bringing dirt up along each side up over the leaves and make another mound. Do this one more time. I guess it gives you more potatoes in the end. I hope it does what she says.

Spruce Colorado Blue Tree

My sweet husband just planted my Spruce Colorado Blue tree (that is the name on the pot). It will be a few Christmas' till I can put on lights! It will be just like Alaska here on the farm! Now all I need is to figure how to get the ocean on the farm. Enjoy your weekend.

A Big Day On The Farm

New Baby Chicks from the hatchery

Gail and Mark John came to my house this morning delivering my new little chicks, that we ordered months ago it seems. I ordered 3 White Cochin, White Crested Black Polish, 3 Black Cochin, 3 Golden Polish (they gave me a free one!) and 2 Black Silkies. We got them all from

https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com. They are the tiniest little things. I have them off the side porch of our house, so I will enjoy the little peeping noise. There always seems to be one that finds it's peeper!

Mrs. Emma is to the left and Mrs. Cluck is to the right. If you notice there are milk jugs in the middle nest? That is because all the girls in the coop would take the nest over when the moms went to go eat. Then the mom would come back and she would go to the middle nest, because another girl would have taken her place.

Mrs. Cluck turning her eggs.

TODAY is also "hatching day" for my Momma chickens, that are both laying on eggs. Mrs. Cluck & Mrs. Emma have been sitting away for 21 days today. This morning Mrs. Cluck was turning her eggs (she has one duck egg she is sitting on). She knows just when they need to be turned and which egg needs the turning. It is so amazing to me that the Lord has ordered spring time for new life. Today will be a big day!

Blessings and thank you for stopping by!

Lilly & The Garden

Hello everyone, Here are some pictures of our planting this last week. It was so nice to get out in the dirt. We have had so much rain this last spring and it has been very difficult to get the garden in the ground. Farmer's Market will be a little bit late for us.

Lilly helping me plant tomatoes and peppers

Two birthday’s ago, our son and his family took me to the Yoder Auction where the Amish and English come to sell their animals. At the last Friday of each month Yoder has an auction that has chicken, ducks, turkey’s and lots of other kind of animals. It is so fun to go and watch the people there. I ended up buying 2 male and 1 female Black Cochin. I named the female Fuzzy Feet, because she has feathers all over her feet. Well, I didn’t need two males. My neighbor friend Gail and her son Mark John love chickens. I thought I would give them one of the males. They named him Timothy and he loves living at their farm. Well soon after my male died. Not sure why, but then I didn’t have a male and I so wanted to have them have little chicks. Mark John and his family were going on a trip, so they let me borrow Timothy. Fuzzy Feet started laying eggs. I then took the eggs and incubated them. At this same time another farm family had found a nest of guinea eggs that were not

going to make it, because the nest was in the field where the sheep were. Guinea’s are really good for eating bugs in your garden, but they do make a lot of noise. Any way, Lilly was born. It was kind of late in the season. Beings that she was so small she got to lives in a bird cage, that I hung in the front room on a hook. I know that is a little weird to have her in the house, but it worked out perfect for Lilly! She is now laying eggs. I am hoping to go to the Yoder Auction at the end of this month to find Lilly a male Cochin.

I took my little "Lilly" outside for her first time. She followed me everywhere. She even fell into the tomato holes a few times. It was so funny. Her legs must have been dangling in the hole, because she could not move. We had to take her out each time. She loved it outside though. Lilly and I worked away planting tomato plants. In each hole I put in a cup of alfalfa pellets and a crushed up egg shell. My husband did some reading on the pellets. We are just trying it this year and we will see how it works.

Lilly thinks she likes the outside better then inside. I have kept her in my little milk shed, that was used for storing the milk when my husband grew up with his family. They were dairy farmers. The shed works great as a brooder house for my little chicks and ducks.

Just wanted to show you what Taylor and I built. It is a garden tepee. It was not easy and doesn't look quite like what we wanted, but when it is full of little cucumbers for our "fridge pickles" it won't matter. We had such a good time laughing. We made a special memory together that day. As you can see, we put nasturtiums by the cucumbers. They are really good for keeping squash bugs away. Yes!!!! Hope that it works for me. Then I won't have to be "a squishin squash bugs! Can't wait for Monday to start planting some more things. I will keep you posted. Blessings to you!

Ready To Eat....... And Give Away

Here is the picture I told you I would post of the bread! I let it set over night in the fridge. I also fixed up a little gift for our friend Alicia. We are going to the Abbeyville Rodeo tonite together and Alicia will be so happy to get some Lemon Verbena Bread. Wish I could give a gift to each one of you also! Tell me what you think if you ever make this recipe up. I would love to see your pictures of any of your recipes using herbs. Enjoy your weekend.

Lemon Verbena Bread

Hello everyone, a "big thank you" to all of you that came over to the conference this morning. It was such a special time talking to everyone. The girls say thank you also.

This recipe is the recipe I talked about. I really like the herb "lemon verbena". It smells so wonderful and it was said this morning that you can also make tea. I am going to have to try it. I make little muffins for our tea parties using the mini muffin tins. You might want to try that also. Enjoy and happy gardening everyone! If you want to print this off, click on this link.

Here is a picture of all the ingredients. I will post tomorrow a picture of the bread. It is so good!


http://i649.photobucket.com/albums/uu214/prairieflowerfarm/LemonVbreadrecipecardflat.jpg

Peace Creek on "Make it Lovely" Girlhood Conference

Remembrance Press wants you to join them for their Spring "Make it Lovely" Girlhood Conference. Below is the information.

We are hosting a "complimentary" conference for this issue of The Girlhood Home Companion on Thursday and Friday. If you are enjoying the Spring issue of The Girlhood Home Companion or are thinking of purchasing it for the first time, come join us for these inspiring and informative workshops.

Central Time

Thursday

5/14 Thursday 9:00 AM

Jill Novak & Nancy Baetz - Welcome to the Spring issue of The Girlhood Home Companion - Make it Lovely and Sew Up a Legacy.

5/14 Thursday 10:00 AM

Nancy Baetz - Yielding Fruit in its Season - The Joys of Family Gardening

5/14 Thursday 11:30 AM
Linda, Tressa, and Taylor Stubbs of Peace Creek Collections - Remembering God's Amazing Grace

5/14 Thursday 7:00 PM
Sandy Willoughby - Creating a Natural (Organic) Garden

Friday

5/15 Friday 11:00 AM
Rebecca Jones (our Girlhood Photographer) Roughin' It: Making Changes without Fear

5/15 Friday 12:00 PM
Wanda Gibert - Rediscovering the Spirit of Loveliness.

5/15 Friday 3:00 PM
Heather Wombacher (Our Resident Girlhood Artisan) - Using What You Have to Grow Your Own Business.

To Join the call and listen on your computer click "Join Call." To listen by phone call the number listed on the lower left corner and enter the Call ID.

http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/26283

The Girlhood Clubs: We are working on our new membership site and you 'll be able to receive passwords to the member's pages as soon as they are available. We are working on creating a functioning membership site and hope to have that done in the next couple of weeks.

Grandson's pictures

Last Sunday for Mother's Day our children planned a picnic up on our "Kansas Mountain". It really is the highest hill in Reno County where we live, but beings I am from Alaska where the mountains were all around me it is all I have. Our middle son is in the process of buying it from the estate. It is absolutely one of my favorite places on the farm. It looks out over the fields and when the moon comes up it is a sight! Anyway, everyone hopped into trucks and up the mountain we went. The had a wonderful picnic just for me. I didn't have to do a thing. Talk about feeling loved! All my grand-babies were with me, what more could you ask. Before we went up the mountain though, one of my grandsons took these pictures. This is what I see every morning out my kitchen window. I thought he did such a wonderful job, so I told him I would put them up on my blog. I can't believe the bright yellow on the male.

Well, I am out the door to plant more tomatoes and beans. I will write later about the garden. It is coming along nicely. Can't hardly wait till the peas come up. God Bless you all. You are all in my prayers!

These are momma and daddy Gold Finches

Happy Momma's Day

Just a tribute to my precious Momma. She lives in a nursing home, not far from my house. She knows me, but can not communicate with me. She just looks at me and smiles sometimes. Those day's bless me when she smiles. It is very hard to not have her so we can talk back and forth. I am sure there are many other daughters out there that experience the same as I do. It is a very hard road to walk. I do hold on to the special times I had as I was growing up in Alaska. Homesteading, being able to raise every kind of little animal, living by a glacier and getting to walk 2 miles to see it every Sat. Riding horses, eating sour dough pancakes with blueberries, I picked from the bushes next to our house. Helping her plant her rock gardens, as we called them and going up in the mountains to get beautiful wild flowers to come back home and plant. Hope that you all out there in blog land enjoy your day, with your momma or if she is gone remember the day's that the Lord gave you with her. I am praying for each and everyone of you today. I don't know your name, but the Lord does and he hears me.

My mom always loved to write letters, as we did not live close to each other. I was not a good writer. I would rather just call and hear her voice. What I would give today to get a letter in the mail from her. What I would write back....

Dear Momma, thank you for loving me like you did and correcting me when I needed it. As I have raised my own children, I see how the good and the bad make you into a better momma. Your laugh was so contagious. You always looked so beautiful to me. Specially when you would dress up to go out to dinner with daddy. I would remind you of when we went to Ladies Bible Camps and learned how to love each other better. I will remember those day's today and thank my Heavenly Father for the gift of you! Even though you can't talk back with me, I will honor you with my care and love for you. You are my gift. Can't wait for heaven, so we can sit by the crystal sea and watch the tide come in. We can talk then. I will wait for that day. It will be a special day indeed. You are so precious to me momma. Love you, Linda

Is Anyone Hurting?

Oh my, life is getting hard out there. Not because I say so, but because the Word says so. We have a Savior who wants to show Himself real in our lives in these hard days and He wants to use the body of Christ to do so. Our family has seen that when we depend on the Word to get us through the day, we will see the Lord manifest His glory. I have to confess that I do get my eyes off Him, but He always lets me start over with confession. Hold on out there! God is on the throne and will be with us. I know the news is scary and the days are hard, but if we lean in on the Lord, He will show Himself mighty. If we love and take care of the people He puts in front of us we will see lives change because of His message. I listened to a video of Sarah Groves http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=me-eSbQzlg0 “Love Is Still A Worthy Cause” this morning. She said, “God goes to great lengths to come find me and HE comes into my chaos, to walk into my despair and to bring hope to me. He has been so generous to me. I can not help not to be generous to others. He is asking me to pay attention to individual people who he brings into my life.”, Sarah. I loved this. To be like Jesus, loving each day and making a difference for Him, my Savior. He will and

does give us stories of His faithfulness to share with others.

When I was out in Nevada I saw what God had done for us. He made a mountain, so big, that I can look at it and know that He is so awesome and He cares...... for me.......... for you! We can’t forget that, even when the days are hard. He is there........ I have friends who remind me of that when life gets hard. I want to remind you, if life is hard for you today.

The beauty of what he created, so that we could see His power!

Another reminder of His Majesty

If anyone reading my blog is hurting, please contact us so we can pray for you. We want to be a part of seeing God work in your life! Isaiah 45:3 I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name. Blessings to you!

STARTING SEEDS EARLY IN THE HOUSE

The Potter’s Shed is full of lots of plants, that I started this last Jan.-Feb. in the house. It doesn’t take much time and the results will give you a head start in your garden. This year we are going to do Farmer’s Market for the first time and we wanted to be ready. I will keep you posted as we start this new adventure. To start your seeds here is what we did. It works real well. You will need to make a homemade Heat Box to help your little seeds sprout using a brown cardboard box. It will get the dirt warm and the seeds will germinate real fast. Here is what you will need to get started:

Brown cardboard box the top dimension needs to be at least 2 ft. long x 1 1/2 ft. wide. The depth of the box needs to be at least 1 1/2 ft. or 2 ft. tall.

Power cord

Plug in light bulb adapter (found at hardware store or Wal-Mart)

60 watt light bulb

Potting soil

cups or seed trays

Seeds

Make a hole through the side of the card board box at the bottom unless it already has one like mine did.

Tape the power cord to the floor of the box on the inside right in the middle part of the box. You need to be real careful to have it safe, so it won't start a fire. You may need an extension cord, if the power cord doesn’t have a long enough cord. Plug in the light bulb adapter. Screw in the 60 watt light bulb into the top of the adapter.

This is what the plug in light bulb adapter looks like.

I use styrofoam cups or seedling trays and any good potting soil to plant my seeds in. Use a pencil to poke a hole in the bottom of each styrofoam cup. Fill the cup with potting soil. Plant seed in each cup and after you have planted each seed, slip the cup or tray into a plastic bag. I buy a box of BAGGIES with ties for the styrofoam cup and gallon storage bags for seed trays. This will give a greenhouse effect. You are now ready to put the cups on the top of the heat box.

Tape the top of the heat box closed. The heat will rise and help your little seedlings sprout.

Your flat tray or cups (put on a cookie sheet) will fit on top of your heat box. One of our farm friends told us about this inexpensive method, it really works well. You will not believe how those little seeds will come up. Now you are ready to plant your seeds.

After the seed has sprouted you need to take it out of the plastic and put it under a grow light. The light needs to be 1”-2” above the plants. We buy our florescent shop light at any hardware store. Be sure to keep the seedlings watered, but not soaked. I use my little tea pot to water each plant. If the plant seems too dry, set the cup in warm water and let the soil soak from the bottom up. Let the seeds dry a little in between waterings though. That helps the stems grow stronger and the roots fuller.

This year we started tomatoes, green peppers, watermelon, cantaloupe, squash, cucumbers. marjoram, basil, thyme, sweet williams, zinnias, nasturtium, jalapeno, cilantro and oregano,. All of the seeds I planted sprout easily. You can buy your seeds from seed catalogs or at the nursery.

The picture below is in the Potter's Shed. It was an old feed bunk

that was used for the baby calves, when my husbands parents had a dairy farm.

We filled it up with dirt and I use it for planting things in the summer. I put my little plants to harden off. I have a screen window that I put over the top of the bunk when it gets cool at night. It is a great little green house for me to use to get my plants ready for the garden.

My Roma tomatoes are doing great!

I just love every part of the gardening process. It amazes me of the goodness of the Lord. To think that His word tells me Genesis 1:29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.” To have a Heavenly Father that would think of our daily need for food. I just thank Him so much. I guess that is why I love the whole garden thing. He started it!

This last weekend I was able to go to Dillon’s Nature Center. They had trees that were 2 years old for sale. One of the men there was very helpful in telling us how to plant the trees. To water them, (if you are going to have to carry water) take a pcv pipe about 1 1/2’ feet long. Drill holes in the side of the pipe and put in the ground next to the tree. When you need to water the tree take a water jug filled with water, turn it upside down into the top of the pipe. I thought this was fantastic. Have a wonderful time gardening. If you have any tips on gardening please comment. As we put our garden in I will have more information. Think about starting some herbs. They are very easy to grow.

Enjoy your thyme in your garden! I find my quiet time to be able to lift up those I love in prayer. It is so quiet around our farm. I don't have very many neighbors. To hear the birds chirping and watching them get ready to have little babies in their nests is delight to my soul.

Be sure to put up a lot of birdhouses at your place. You will be amazed that you can watch the momma and daddy birds with their young. Two years ago our oldest son's family gave me a really cute bird house for the Potter's Shed. We had a finch family come and live. We watched the momma bird teach her little ones to fly. It is a special memory of ours.

Here are some sites that I have found helpful.

http://www.sherrysgreenhouse.com/pages/seedstarting/index.html#

http://www.growbetterveggies.com/growbetterveggies/instructions-on-how-to-gr.html

http://www.gardenstuffs.com/

http://www.finegardening.com/how-to/articles/ten-seed-starting-tips.aspx