Monthly Archives: September 2010

It is not Death to Die

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It Is Not Death To Die

It is not death to die
To leave this weary road
And join the saints who dwell on high
Who’ve found their home with God
It is not death to close
The eyes long dimmed by tears
And wake in joy before Your throne
Delivered from our fears

CHORUS:
O Jesus, conquering the grave
Your precious blood has power to save
Those who trust in You
Will in Your mercy find
That it is not death to die

It is not death to fling
Aside this earthly dust
And rise with strong and noble wing
To live among the just
It is not death to hear
The key unlock the door
That sets us free from mortal years
To praise You evermore

~A song from the album Come Weary Saints. By Bob Kauflin

Photos from a trip to the farmers market

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It’s difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato.  ~Lewis Grizzard

The teenage boy at the vegetable stand was laughing at me most heartly as I yelled out with a huge smile on my face "Those brussel sprouts are beautiful! Look at those Mum! I have to take a picture!"

The man at the raspberry stand always give sample. Even if you are just passing by not even looking at him he yells out for you to take some. 🙂

These flowers sell for 5 bucks a bunch. They are lovely!

September wonderfulness

At the "Little Flower farm". I just had to add it in the bunch.

Grape Vine Wreaths

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My Mum, my Sister Becca, and I made Grape Vine Wreaths this week. You see my Dad has this thing about vines growing on the house, so we have to cut them down each fall (Happy second Anniversary House!).  So we started making wreaths. It is very tedious work but also very simple (does that make any sense at all?).  It is very satisfying work, it looks beautiful when finished. This was a very good year for our vine and we got four odd shaped wreaths out of it ( I know that doesn’t sound like much but it is for a summers worth of vines).

So if you want to make your own grape vine wreaths you will need clippers and of course grape vines.

First you cut down the vine in the longest strips you can get without getting scratched. Its a good idea to not cut them all down at once so you don’t have a massive pile in case you want to finish later, also the vines get tangly and it can be a pain to untangle them. You then rip all the leafs off the vine. This step can not be skipped. I know what you are thinking ” oh but the leafs look so pretty and celtic and magical”. Hahaha, no. Rip those things off. they will look terrible once they dry.

With the thickest longest vine in the heap make a frame. you can make it as big as you want. To get it to stay in a circle just wrap one end around the other.

Then it gets fun. Just pick up random vine and twist it around the frame. Those cute little curly things sticking out of the vine are great sealers, and they look super cute when they are dry.

Once you have it to the desirable size you are done. Hang up too dry  for a while, add some garnishing, and you will have a beautiful homemade wreath.

Enjoy some photos of our fun.

Come back later for some photos of the wreaths once dried, and also photos of some of our dried flowers!

Such lame lyrics, paired with such beautiful music!

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I love the song “O mio babbino caro”. Every time I hear it is get goose bumps. So I though I would look up the lyrics in english.  What I found made me laugh! First listen to the music then read the lyrics. Enjoy!

Oh my dear father,
I like him, he is very handsome.
I want to go to Porta Rossa
to buy the ring!
Yes, yes, I want to go there!
And if my love were in vain,
I would go to Ponte Vecchio
and throw myself in the Arno!
I am pining and I am tormented,
Oh God! I would want to die!
Daddy, have mercy, have mercy!
Daddy, have mercy, have mercy!

Jekyll and Hyde

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This is a song for the musical based on the book Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I have never seen this musical and I have only heard a few other songs from it. But I really liked this song when I heard it, so I thought I would pass it on to you (Bronte) in the most convenient way. Enjoy!

::Caution: She says the D word at the end of the song. *gasp!*::

The Journey of a plump Chicken.

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::This post  contains some potentially disturbing photos of chickens::

A few weeks ago I was able to visit my CSA farm for a work party. When I was thinking of farm work I assumed I would be, weeding, harvsting, and feeding chickens…not slaughtering them.

We were the only ones there for the first 45 minutes.  And this is what we did.

First “Mr. Farmer” entered the part of the yard where the chickens run free. He then attempted to capture one. after about 3 minutes of struggling he fialy has the chicken which he then kills, he does this by snapping the neck ( this is the most humane way to do it).

He then cut the dead chickens head off with an axe.

Then the chicken held upside down by the feet till most of the blood has dripped out. After the blood stops dripping they take the chicken inside and quickly dunk it in boiling hot water (this makes it easier to pluck the feathers).

We then plucked the chicken until there were no feathers left.

Then comes the fun part…gutting.

“Mr. Farmer” Asked me very suddenly if I wanted to try gutting the chicken. And before I knew what has happened I had a knife in one hand and a chicken in the other.

First I cut off the feet, then I pulled out the neck. I then cut a strip in the lower belly and proceeded to pull out innards… with my bare hands…I still cant believe I did it.

We then feed the “leftovers” to the pigs, and washed out the inside of the body. Once the chicken was bagged we went to help with weeding.

The next day I woke up to find this is the crock pot.

It was a very good lunch which I enjoyed even more knowing I had earned it. Yay!