Wonderful Delicacys

When I started shopping at The Natural Grocers in Norman, I came across this wonderful jelly.  It is made in France and it is all natural, no sugar, sweetened with fruit juice.  My husband and I love it.  They have just about every flavor you can think of.  Probably other health food stores carry it but I don't shop at a lot of other places so I can't tell you that for sure.  Lately, my husband and I have gotten hooked on sour dough toast with this jelly.  Oh my goodness, I tell can't tell you how wonderful this taste.  Sour dough bread makes the most wonderful toast.  I love things that are crunchy and sour dough gets very crunchy in the toaster.  Treat yourself to a loaf of sour dough bread and a jar of this jelly.  I think I'm pretty safe in saying you will love it!

Now for Kombucha.  My oldest daughter turned me on to this my moons ago.  She was consulting a health professional who suggested trying Kombucha in place of soda pop.  It has lots of health benefits and it is a great alternative when you would like to have a pop.  It is fizzy like a carbonated drink and comes in all kinds of flavors.  It is a wonderful probiotic.  The man that invented this did so to help his mom fight cancer.  As usual, the FDA, entered in and several years ago made him redo his drink because they thought it had to high of an alcohol content.  For almost a year you couldn't buy it.  It is pricey but well worth the money.  The best prices I have found are again are at the Natural Grocer and especially  when they have it on sale.  I think Sprouts runs it on sale occasionally also.  When I have these on hand I will drink one for my lunch.  I have taken the bottles and soaked the label off and use the glass bottles for drinking water.  I keep about 6 in our frig all the time.  When you get an ice cold glass bottle with water it is so good.  Nothing gets cold like glass........it's just the best!  Not to mention the health benefits of not drinking from a plastic bottle and the trash issue of all the plastic. 

This rain is so wonderful, I know everyone is enjoying it.  I took all of my house plants outside this morning and set them in the yard to get all of the rain.  I'll bring them in this evening after they have had a wonderful drink.

I plan on kicking back and resting today and I may even take a nap.
Have a restful Sunday!

Cherry Tomatoes

If you don't grow cherry tomatoes, I would like to encourage you to try a couple of varieties next year.  They are easy to grow and usually very prolific.  You can grow cherry tomatoes in a large pot on the patio or in your flower bed.  I have two planted in my herb garden.  They need six hours of full sun and well drained rich soil. Once you start growing these you will never stop.  They are so sweet and colorful.  They look beautiful in salads or pasta.....they liven things up with their beautiful colors and taste.

Here are some of the varieties I chose this year; Black Cherry (it's pictured in the yellow bowl).  This is the first year I have tried this one.  It is full flavored, acidic, has dark red fruit on very strong plants.  I really like it but it's not my favorite.  Sun Gold (one of my favorites) very sweet, orange fruit and the plant is prolific.  Cherry Falls is sweet, cherry pink fruit.  This one is also prolific and it does well in pots or this one would do well in a hanging basket.  Sweet Million is super sweet and has long trusses of tiny delicious tomatoes.  This tomato is so sweet if is burst before you get it off the vine it is sticky.  Sweet Baby Girl is a smaller plant than the others it is sweet with red fruit.  Lemon Cherry is one I want to try.  I couldn't find it this year but I hope to find it next year. 

I had so many cherry tomatoes last year that I used them to make my Tomato Jam.  I also made roasted cherry tomatoes and this is so wonderful.  Here's the recipe.

4 pints of cherry tomatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon sugar

Bake at 350 in a jelly roll pan 1 hour and 20 minutes.  Remove and discard garlic.  Stir in 1.2 cup chopped fresh basil, 2 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar, and 1/2 salt. 

You can put this over some pasta or put a spoon full on a crosstini.  It's delicious.

I just got home from the Farmer's Market in Chickasha.  It was wonderful this morning.  You could smell the sweetness in the air from all the produce.  I got wonderful cantaloupes and a huge watermelon from Rush Springs.  They also had fresh okra......guess we'll be having some fried okra either tonight or tomorrow. 

Summer is GREAT!

My Garden

The first picture is of my cherry tomatoes.  I have about 6 plants in that section and there are 3 different varieties.  A lot of the tomatoes are the size of my little finger (they are ripe) and some of the shapes are elongated  instead of round and  the leaves are teeny tiny, thanks to chem trails. So far this year the tomatoes are making 1/3 of what they produced last year. 

The vacant plot I'm going to use for a fall garden.  The next area is where I had spinach and lettuce which is gone because of the heat but my eggplant are doing great. The next area are my large heirloom tomatoes.  They all look pretty good but some have a good amount of green tomatoes and one plant is large and it has nothing yet. 

The next picture is my cantaloupe.  I am really excited about them.  So far, I have six.  I was concerned about the cantaloupe lying in the water and mud after watering and I read you can put a paver or brick under them or use straw.  I opted for straw because if the sun is shining on the brick I thought that might make them hotter than they should be. 

The last picture is from a magazine.  I love these steps, so natural!  This may not be new to you but I had never seen this before and thought I would share it with you.

Eternal Truth

I was reading a couple of days ago and came across this information which I thought was very interesting. 

In five different religions this fact is stated and taught as part of their belief system.

Christianity - Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Buddhism - Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.

Judaism - What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man.  That is the entire Law; all the rest is commentary.

Islam - No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself.

Baha"i Faith - Blessed is he who preferreth his brother before himself.

I didn't know that all of these different religious beliefs believed this truth.  It's evident that this is an eternal truth.  I was thinking after I read this, if only we would all practice this what a different world this would be.

Looking for a few New Clients

All of our children are working and going to school and about six months ago I was trying to think of a way I could help simplify their lives.  I talked to them and asked how I could help and this is what they came up with.  I cook for them sometimes every week or every other week, depending upon their needs.  It has been so helpful to them, they love it and it really helps them with their busy schedules.  After thinking about this, I thought this might be a service I could offer to busy households where both husband and wife are working or you may be retired and not interested in cooking now because you want to spend your time doing other things.

Life can be hectic and challenging these days and after a long day at the office it is usually a fast trip through the drive through or something thrown together at home that you would rather not eat.  To come home to a good nutritious meal that would take little preparation would give you more time to spend with family or to do the things you would enjoy.

I will prepare food that will last five or six days.  The first day will be a hot meal ready for you when you get home.  The other days, the food will be prepared in the frig either already to eat or it may just need to be placed in the oven to cook.

I have recipes for the conservative calorie counter to wonderful comfort foods.  I can make any desserts if you are interested in that.  I will prepare the food at your home and will leave directions on what has been prepared and what preparations need to be done. I can do this weekly or every other week.

If you are interested, I would love to sit down and talk with you about this and give you all the details.  I am looking for 3 or 4 more clients.  You can contact me at ggschwartz2@juno.com and I will get in touch with you.

Re-arranging Outdoor Pots

These are some pots that have sat on my front porch forever.  A couple of weeks ago, I decided to move them into the flower bed.  I like them a lot better there.  As I look at these pictures, I think the pot of the left could be moved a little more to the left. 

Just some ideas of what you could do with large pots.  They don't always have to sit on the porch or patio.

Lots to Talk About

First, let me tell you about these pictures.  I have lots of different containers around our farm and I started thinking of ways I could put something in them without going to buy it.  I have lots of morning glories coming up from seed so I started transferring them to various locations and that is what these pictures are all about.  I have a succulent in the middle of this wheel barrow that I transferred along with some morning glories.  I love vines that flower and I would have them everywhere.  Eventually maybe that will happen.  :) 

If you don't have a pouch of chewing tobacco in your freezer, be sure and get one.  I have one in my freezer from last year.  I was stung yesterday by a wasp.  That is a very painful sting and I immediately came inside and got the tobacco, put a little water on it to dampen it, put it in a paper towel that was damp and wrapped it around my finger.  It's the perfect remedy, works every time.  No swelling and after a short time the pain is gone. 

Also, several months ago I had a post on using white vinegar for weeds.  The vinegar did kill the weeds for a short time but I saw a post on facebook where the recipe called for one cup of salt to a gallon of vinegar with a few drops of liquid soap.  I tried this and it works a lot better and last a lot longer.

In the winter I had a post on the book The Healing Codes.  If you haven't read it, I would just like to encourage you again to read it.  I have had wonderful results with the healing codes.  I was taking a natural supplement for blood pressure and for the last two months I have not needed it. I am sleeping a lot better.  I would normally sleep about 5 maybe 6 hours on a good night and now I'm sleeping 7 hours and a lot more sound.  My son called me on Friday and had a fever of 102 and a pounding headache.  I told him how to do the healing codes over the phone and he sent me a text and in about an hour his fever was gone and his headache had improved majorly.  I've been trying to get all my kids to read the book but they are busy and have school books to read but I think this made a believer out of him.

I need to get outside and start watering.  Looks like it's going to be a hot week.  Let's pray for another one of those cool fronts to make it our way.  Have a productive week and give your love to all of those in need!