Palm Challenge thru a Prim Sister's Inspiration

I'm in a couple of primitive creation groups thru eBay.  In my TMAP group, the sweet leader is Kareybeth.  I sent her an inscribed bookmark and it really inspired her to start a creativity challenge and then in turn she inspired the prim sisters to take the inspriation challenge.  On the bookmark I had written one of my favorite scriptures about 'we are inscribed in the palm of His hand' found in Isaiah 49 in the Bible.  So the challenge was to make something from the things around us that would fit in the palm of our hands.  What I am posting next is what I created thru the inspiration of Kareybeth's challenge.

Well here goes....

I thought about this journal challenge and you know me, I'm gonna go to the Bible first.  So I typed in "Palm" in the search box and this was the first scripture that came up... now mind you it's thinking outside the box so to speak. The children of Israel were constantly murmuring about their plight in the wilderness, all the things they had to endure, and I thought dear Lord is this me!?

"If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee.
And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters."

Palm here is a tree, but it got me to thinking what does it take to grow a tree or any other living thing... a SEED!  I looked over and in my garden bag sitting here by the desk was a packet of seeds.  They fit in the palm of my hand!  I started thinking about the scriptures above and knew within my heart that I was striving to do just as the children of Israel... to come out of oppression, so if I harkened to the scriptures above, then the Lord promised that he would heal me!  There were 3 score (a score is 20 yrs) and ten palm trees and that equals 70.  For 70 days starting today, I will praise God for healing!!  I will plant seeds of healing within my heart, soul and mind by claiming God's promise.

Everything you see in my project was within arms reach of my computer. When finished, I placed it in the palm of my hand and confirmed to God that I trusted Him to keep His promise. The heart in my hand (doll) states my love for Christ. The tiny heart means my heart has been changed forever by His love. The Scrabble W stands for Wanda. 

So... my journey has begun.  We will see what happens in 3 score and 10 from now.

Thanks Karen for starting this!!!  I'm already inspired.

Wanda

A Bountiful Blessing

So much to write about here at the farm, but little time to write it since there's so much to do.  I'll have a quiet night soon and I'll try to catch up with my blogging. I promise!

 I'm thankful for today's bounty. We will be eating fresh
squash, aparagus beans, bell peppers, and assorted lettuce tonight for dinner.

What I'm most thankful for is being able to grow it ourselves. Watching something grow and then produce to me is one of life's greatest pleasures.  World, go ahead with your indulgences of cappaccinos, escargo, caviar, and file mignon, but give me a garden that grows from the loving care of a homesteader any day! My indulgence doesn't require fancy china or a crystal serving dish.  This simple pleasure is served up on a jadeite plate with an old red wood handled collectible fork with a freezer canning jar filled with iced tea. (photo soon!) Add all of the above to the garden table laid out with a red checked table cloth under a very aged raibow striped umbrella surrounded by blooming flowers and in my opinion there's magic happening. Friend, it just doesn't get much better than this for this country girl.

Aaahhhh! I AM blessed!

Romeo and Juliette are thriving and growing like weeds.  It seems they grow an inch each day.  As my Granny use to say I may have to "put a brick on their head" to keep them small so the enjoyment of them being young and loving lasts longer. One thing is for certain, we do need to get a bigger water pan for them and soon!

Aren't these sweet faces worthy of a smile?!  They follow me around all over the yard and diligently keep bugs off me when I am hanging out clothes.

Some of the later blooming daylilies are gracing my farm with a showing this morning.  And what a show it is!

This dwarf daylily is a production giant among daylilies.  It never fails to please me and just keeps giving all through the summer. I would have to look up it's true name, but I call this one Baby Face. I like naming things.

I truly never tire of looking at this beauty. It's like it calls to me. I stand and stare at it as if mesmerized by the color that came to be in this one lily.  We are trying now to move it closer to the cottage in it's new home in front of the cottage porch.  Then daily I will be able to sit on the porch and stare for however long I want.

I had a visitor this morning on the large peach lily.  He was a hefty guy and seemed to be enjoying his visit. 

Please pardon my mess, but doesn't it always take chaos before creating order and beauty?  The pot lady still lacks her gloves and boots, but I have to wait until the porch is finished and the bed in front to be prepared before giving her the final touches.  You can also see the many shipping boxes I keep for my online business.  I simply must organize those better and maybe keep them in the loft which will keep them more out of sight. OR I could just put a curtain on the windows and you won't see it. LOL  I will be so glad when the porch is finished, but I will say I already have my garden table up on what is there. I just couldn't wait! 

Just one more photo of the daylilies and I'll be done for today... maybe! I call this one Joli shortened from Rouge de Joli.  

And that's all for now.  I know I will be back soon... the zinnias are about to bloom! 

A Day in the Life of My Garden

Just catching up since last post. So many things are blooming and I'd love to share them with you.

We've got a fair stand of asparagus beans growing with squash and radishes planted around the edges and middle. We used the willow tipi again. I just love how it looks and it's so functional.

Below: The asparagus has made all it's going to make for this Spring, but I leave the tops because I think they are so beautiful and lacey.

The next photos will just be a mixture of what's blooming and making me happy. Although I must mention that this is the first year I've had to contend with snails! My friend Bobbi Chukran has them and was saying how fast they multiplied and now I'm leary of having even one.  I think they must have come with some plant I purchased although I have no idea which one; just know it was an herb.

Tiny little snails! YIKES!

This is my friend Herman. He watches for the thyme to sprout and keeps me a fresh batch of purslane to put into my salads.

The red in this photo is the barn I live in.  We are building the porch onto the cottage so had to move all my plants away from the gorgeous plum color. But... the porch is going to be awesome. It's huge! Stay tuned!

Dwarf Daylily. It's so sweet!

2 yr old Collard Plant and Egyptian Onions

Lettuce going to seed!

This my dear friends is my largest rosemary bush ever! And I cut it back just two weeks ago so it really was taller than this. Now if I could just get my patriotic decor done without catching fire. It's so hot already that I don't do much outside unless it involves gardening. 

This is the smaller rosemary in the front porch bed. Notice the lovely arbor my darling Hubby built for me over the double doors. We put mesh twinkle lights on it and it's awesome at night. My steps are stone and step up every so slightly to help me go off the porch.  With old Arther in my knees it really helps.

This is the only spider daylily I have, but isn't it showy?! I love it!

Ok, don't run! This is not I repeat NOT an alien pod that will hatch and take over the world.  Or at least I hope not!  This was growing on the bottom of one of our collard plants which is strange in itself, but there was another one growing on the bottom of a turnip plant too!  Wow! Sometimes there's nothing stranger or more shocking than nature.

My sweet hubster made me this planter to grow my favorite flower in Zinnias. They've taken quite a while to sprout and hoping I get to see a bloom soon. I love the way the iron stars shadowed the planter.

Part of my watering can collection sits on the front porch on my old timey shelf. I remember my Granny having one of these on her house when I was a kid. Now to find some flags to put in one of the cans. I have them, just can't find them.

We've planted trees AND planted trees for 10 yrs. This little cypress and one lone oak survived the drought last year.  We'll begin again and hope we live long enough to sit under then shade one day talking about how long it took to get that shade and how wonderful it is to enjoy it.  I bought Hubby a peach tree.  He was like a little kid looking at them. He wanted it so badly.  When he gets it planted and it takes on a life of growing on the farm, I'll take a photo of it.  It already has 3 little peaches on it. So cute!

This has been a lengthy post so I thank you for staying with me and viewing my photos.  Now I'll close with how peaceful it is to be on a farm and share with you the way I relax and ponder on more things to grow.  You maybe won't understand my thinking on this being relaxing, but you'll get to see the colors of my milking cloths.  I love color! lol

Now to get the bed planted by the clothes line pole. I put up an old bed frame for the vines to run on.

Until next thyme....

Spring Has Sprung... a leak!

I've been a busy girl to say the least.  That old adage 'too many irons in the fire' is gaining ground on me and just about to bite me in the seat of the pants or skirt I should say.  I've been busy with my primitive doll making business, but as Granny said, I'm slow as cream arisin'.  Gardening is done in dollops of time since it's been such a rainy Spring here in East Texas.  Although it makes everything looks so clean and new I must add that the crawfish are working over-time and that leads to me working over-time trying to keep them at bay.  They are making mega mounds this year for some unknown reason. If the mound size was according to crawfish size there are some monsters out there!!!

We are building a little cottage for the granddaughters now. They have named it the PolkaDot Cottage so you can guess  how the outside will be painted. LOL  They are so excited. Abigail has formed the PolkaDot Girls Club and has graciously allowed me to be a member (I guess I have pull since I know the cottage builder aka Papaw) so I have offered to design our club uniforms. What else? PolkaDot t-shirts to match the Pink w/Lime dot color scheme. I'll have them this weekend so we will be working on it. Sarah and Elizabeth work equally as hard all be it with more giggles.

Posting just a few photos of my petunia collection this Spring. I do love petunias. I've planted so much more, but these beauties are the first to share their abundant blooms with me.

Pure white in an old whiskey barrel planter makes me smile every time I walk by.  Isn't that what flowers are for... to make us smile?! 

This barrel is right beside the kitchen garden and that makes me love to work in the kitchen bed no matter if I'm weeding around the edge or harvesting something from the garden. Purple!!! oh my, one of my favorite colors don't you know!

Now these mini petunias are something new for me. I saw them first at a nursing home I do the program at on Thursdays. I knew when I saw them I had to have some just like them. You'll notice the rock in the pot with them. I'm a rock fanatic and try to use what I've found anywhere I can.  That rock happen to come from Colorado. Don't tell them please! LOL It called to me as I was walking by a stream. Funny how rocks seem to know my name.

Yea, I know this is not flowers, but my darling sweetheart of a husband made it for me and I just love it. I have it out by the petrified rocks in the front yard (which I haven't planted anything around yet... soon!) and I know it looks lonely, but just you wait until I can get the black-eyed Susan vine growing on it.  It will be marvelous. 

It's time to get back to my little prim bunnie dolls to put on eBay, so I'll bid you bye for now.  See ya soon.

Sometimes Ya Just Gotta Chill

The last few weeks have hence become a blurr.  I've been making items for our church booth at the ladies conference (which I have to brag that we made $1500 for the new tabernacle!!!) and then it's choir practice getting ready for the Easter program, so there's been little time to spare.  Ahhh, but today my friends is 'down' day and I'm enjoying every minute of it. Just puttering around doing odd jobs that's needed doing for such a long time and even though I've been dreading them it's such a relief to finally see the end of it.  Well the end until it needs doing again. Don't you just hate housework when there's so many prims that could be created?  Friday and Saturday I have declared as creating prims day! It's official! I'm going to be listing new prims on Monday if I have to call a guard to stand over me to make sure I produce. :>)

There's an abundance of goat milk to 'play' with now so hopefully I will get the kitchen installed into the cottage soon.  The cottage has taken a back seat to so many other things that I've almost lost hope that it will be this year when it's finished. Aw, well, what else do I have to do but sit and dream up stuff for my honey to do. He's a keeper!!

It's time to make bread for the week, so during your busy schedule, take time to be joyful for this is the day the Lord has made!

New 2012 Babies!!!

We've been really busy here on the farm the last few weeks.  The first doe had twins that wasn't even suppose to be bred. They were born dead. Sad but for the best I'm sure.  Then the second doe had twin bucks... awww no girls! The third doe had quads, all girls, but they were born dead.  I was really getting a depressed feeling coming on, but two days later, Nell had triplets ... all girls!!! Today another doe had triplets, 2 bucks and 1 doe. They are Nigerian Dwarf so they are tiny! I just love having all the babies to watch and cuddle with. I am milking Sweetie Pie who lost her quads and she's taking to the milkstand so nicely. She's a stately looking doe and has salt and pepper curly hair. I hope she has a better year next season.  It felt like my heart was going to break when I saw those gorgeous little quad does laying on the ground not alive. But the good Lord knows what He's doing and I can't question what happens especially when we haven't done anything different that could cause such tragedy.

Annah and her twins, Oreo and Britches. 3rd generation Mini Nubians.

Nell's triplets, Ari, Atti, and Api.  (Arithemea, Attalia, and Apollonia) 4th generation Mini Nubians.

Mocha's triplets, Michael (front), Gabriel (middle), and Angelea (at back, her other side almost has a heart on it).  (names for Archangels and a spin-off of angel) We will wether Gabriel so he will always be a pet for the 3 granddaughers. They are full blood Nigerian Dwarf.

So Plumrose Cottage has come full circle even though it's not completed.  It is a bonafide milk house now. Just wish it had the sink put in. :>)  well, and the refrigerator, ahhh, and the table, the cabinets, LOL.

I could say it was just another day at the farm, but I'm going to have to say it was a wonderful special day here on the farm. For you see, this is the first year since we began the farm (11 yrs ago) that we've had anything but singles and twins born. I'm feeling blessed beyond measure even though there were some downs along the way.  God is good!

Take Joy!

2012 ? ALREADY???!!!!

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted.  Time flying and all that is true!  I WILL however keep my promise to post photos of the big birdhouse we made for our pastor's wife. She's as crazy about pink as I am, so I was tickled when she ordered this one and had a ball creating it.

Someday I'm going to make myself one of these!

I've been offering on ebay again. I've gone back to creating primitive dolls and doing fair with them.  Lots of good compliments on them... well except from my daughter who just doesn't 'get' primitives. LOL  I think maybe they gave me the wrong baby in the hospital, except she looks just like me. :>)  Today I listed a mammy doll named Mable Berniece when you see her you'll know why I named her that. She looks like a Mable Berniece. LOL

Didn't I tell ya so?!  She's a big gal at 30" and sitting in the granddaughter's chair.  Gotta love those knobby knees. Then I got the notion to reproduce the antique tool box that sits in my dining room window, but scale it down a bit, so Reidel made a small one and I filled it with stump dolls.

I've listed lots more on there so if you get the time go check it out. My ebay ID is: barefootcreek  and then PRAY I sell it all. LOL  No kidding, Pray, NOW! PLease.

Well, I've got to get back to dolling around. I've got 5 more cut out ready to sew up and gotta make a pot of chili to boot. I love my life!!! I think God has blessed me more than anyone else on earth.

Until next time... Take JOY!