Sweet Pepper Salsa

Anxious to pickle up the banana peppers, I began the process eagerly.  After an unwise choice of not wearing gloves when cutting up some hot peppers several years ago, I am very careful to slip them on even for jalapenos.  Did I consider wearing them for the banana peppers?  Yes I did, however, how hot can banana peppers be?  

After slicing 3 quarts of them, my hands began to feel very warm.  I touched one of my fingers to my tongue (quick test to determine pepper heat, not exactly the smartest way)  and wow, I knew I was in trouble.  The rest of the evening was spent attempting to remove the heat from my fingertips and scolding myself for not using a little more

Championship Bareback Riding

Here in the Ozarks, as in the rest of the world, we treasure our horses and those who have created a unique bond with them that can be seen when they ride.  This video demonstrates that very thing and is also quite a tribute from this young lady to her father who had recently passed away.  This is for all of my horse loving friends, family and the girls in the local 4-H horse club, you know who you are!    Enjoy!

Secret Gift and the Coming of Autumn's Harvest

After a few weeks of wandering off to secretly work in the shop, my dear husband presented me with this today!  He is so clever and I am very pleased with it!  After weeks of getting back into the swing of homeschooling, and the weather not being able to decide if it's autumn or summer, my temperament has been showing wear.  This time of year seems to be the busiest with the blessing of a good harvest, there

Summer Squash Bug Trouble

Has everyone had as much trouble with these squash bugs as I have this year?  I have never, ever let a crop go because I couldn't keep up, but this year, I met my match with these two insects.  Last year I only mixed up three bottles of organic dish soap and water throughout the entire growing season.  This year, I was using almost two bottles a day!  Then the continuous heat of July came where the temperatures were over 100 degrees every day.  Now if anyone is familiar with southern Missouri, July also means extreme humidity.  This form of

Lost Duck

It has been a very interesting week.  Tuesday evening we discovered our female duck was missing.  See, I'm pretty partial to my ducks.  We have a mated Mallard pair that we got from the local farm store just before Easter.  They were the last two ducklings for sale, and as ducklings, you can't tell which is a boy and which is a girl.  We waited patiently for over 10 weeks to discover which they were.  Easter time was still pretty

Harvest Festival

Today was the first Harvest Festival of the season and what a beautiful day it was here in the Ozarks.  Blue sky, mild temperatures, a cool breeze every now and then, good southern bluegrass music and friendly faces, what more could one ask for today?  Nothing, that's what.  After a wonderful morning with a great lesson from Ephesians 4:31-32, we headed for the rolling hills of Wright County.  Great finds were to be

Baking Day

It is so nice to come to the end of a long day of baking, however, I tried several new recipes today and they are all scrumptious!  It's too bad that we were only able to taste the small crumbs that aren't going to the Amish auction tomorrow.  We tried a wonderful new recipe for Cinnamon Swirl Bread that was extremely easy.  Toss all the