Jake is here

9 pounds, 4 ounces
21 inches long
Born 8/21/14
Healthy
Sweet

Signs of Fall at the Farmhouse.....

Of all the Summer months, my favorite is August.  The reason for this is that its the closest one to Fall!  During August I start dreaming a little bit of Autumn...... I will start enjoying the scent of a pumpkin candle.... note that a few Dogwood Tree leaves have fallen..... enjoy the purple spike flowers of the Lirope that always bloom in August and other harbingers that signal that the end of Summer is coming.
 

This year I have enjoyed a Sunflower and some pumpkins from God.  The above sunflower and the below pumpkins grew with no assistance from me.  The pumpkins volunteered in the spot where some pumpkins had been discarded last winter.  Pumpkins don't grow well around here but these managed to grow to maturity.

We've had a lot of nice rain this summer and haven't hit 100 degrees on a single day.... yet.   Lots of days have been down right Fall-like.  I snapped the below picture of some grape tomatoes early one morning between showers.
 

When I saw these "three" heart shaped Morning Glory leaves I couldn't help but think "Father, Son and Holy Spirit".

Dogwood Leaf:

Leaves of Three, Leave it be?

Another nice thing about the end of August,... Baby Jake will soon be here.

Enjoy your late summer!

Now that's a sandwich!

OK, this is the ultimate summer sandwich.  Its stick to the roof of your mouth, NOT whole wheat bread, running down your chin juiciness, healthy and bad for you all at the same time, goodness.

Gotta love a tomato that's so big, one slice covers the whole piece of bread!

We didn't grow this tomato, but it was locally grown.  Our tomatoes aren't as pretty, but every bit as delicious, if not more so!

Freezing Field Peas

Out in the country, here in the South, we love our peas.  Not the little green peas that come in cans, but peas that, after being cooked, turn brownish gray.

One of my brothers called me Saturday to see if I wanted a bushel of peas.  He had already picked them and would bring them to me.  I said yes, of course.  The only problem is that they would need to all be hand shelled because the automatic shellers could not shell wet peas.  Since, it has been raining for days around here, the automatic sheller was not an option.  I could have spread them out and let them dry, but it would have been too late in the day on a Saturday.  Besides hand shelling is free.

I figured with it being a rainy day, I could just stay inside, watch tv and shell the peas, taking my time, even if I ended up shelling some on Sunday.

I didn't realize that one of my thumbs would start hurting after one pan full was shelled.  I think its early arthritis.  Anyway, when my hubby got home from a full day of work, he went right to work and shelled all but the two pans I shelled.  I was so amazed and thankful!!!

I shelled the peas in the small bowl and he shelled the peas in the large one!  However, I did do the blanching and freezing of the peas.

I have been purging and organizing our chest freezer and maybe I can show you some pictures of the frozen peas and the freezer organization later this week.  I am planning for fall and winter soups!

Meanwhile, I've got to get to work!  Have a great Monday!