Tiny Bouquet

First child-gifted bouquet of the spring.

Ode to Joy

1. Joyful, joyful, we adore thee, 

God of glory, Lord of love; 

hearts unfold like flowers before thee, 

opening to the sun above.  

Melt the clouds of sin and sadness; 

drive the dark of doubt away.  

Giver of immortal gladness, 

fill us with the light of day! 

2. All thy works with joy surround thee, 

earth and heaven reflect thy rays, 

stars and angels sing around thee, 

center of unbroken praise.  

Field and forest, vale and mountain, 

flowery meadow, flashing sea, 

chanting bird and flowing fountain, 

call us to rejoice in thee. 

3. Thou art giving and forgiving, 

ever blessing, ever blest, 

well-spring of the joy of living, 

ocean depth of happy rest!  

Thou our Father, Christ our brother, 

all who live in love are thine; 

teach us how to love each other, 

lift us to the joy divine. 

4. Mortals, join the mighty chorus 

which the morning stars began; 

love divine is reigning o'er us, 

binding all within its span.  

Ever singing, march we onward, 

victors in the midst of strife; 

joyful music leads us sunward, 

in the triumph song of life.

~Ludwig Beethoven, music 1824

~ Henry Van Dyke, text 1907

Starting the Garden

Actually, we may be having a very big Life Change (moving), but in the mean time, I'm attempting to carry on as usual. But on a much smaller scale. As in I only planted a 16 tomato plants (six different varieties) and 8 peppers (4 varieties). If we're still here, I'm focusing hard on saving seeds this year, instead of putting up. Moving canned and frozen foods 4-20+ hours away doesn't sound like my idea of a good time.

On Compost

Mostly, it's a sanity saver. Particular child or children driving you batty? Send them out with a full (or not so full) bowl and collect your wits while they're gone. Need a break? Run it out yourself. I chose to go myself today.

And enjoyed the first bit of open water the pond has had in over 5 months.

Then sat on the edge of the porch with me feet in the herb garden and enjoyed the sun while I finished my coffee.

Mayo

I started making mayonnaise a few years ago, and then combined (and halved) my two favorite recipes. I make mine in my mini food processor, someday maybe I'll own a hand-held immersion blender and use that.

Thoroughly blend together one whole egg and one yolk with 1 Tbsp. lemon juice (fresh squeezed truly gives me the best results), a pinch of salt, and a squirt of dijon mustard (1/2 - 1 tsp.)

While mixing, and with a steady hand, stream in approximately 3/4 c. of oil. (I use grape seed.)

Patience is key here, as this needs to emulsify. A few go 'rounds and you'll quit measuring the oil and just *know* like I do.  Cover and store in the fridge for 7-10 days. Yields a little over a cup.

Just As I Am

Just as I am, without one plea,

But that Thy blood was shed for me,

And that Thou bid'st me to come to Thee,

O Lamb of God I come! I come!

Just as I am and waiting not, 

To rid my soul of one dark blot;

To Thee whose blood can cleanse each spot,

O Lamb of God I come! I come!

Just as I am though tossed about,

With many a conflict, many a doubt;

Fightings within and fears without,

O Lamb of God I come! I come!

Just as I am poor, wretched, blind;

Sight, riches, healing of the mind;

Yes all I need in Thee I find, 

O Lamb of God I come! I come!

Just as I am Thou wilt receive,

Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse relieve;

Because Thy promise I believe,

O Lamb of God I come! I come!

Just as I am, Thy love unknown

Has broken every barrier down; 

Now to be Thine yea, Thine alone

O Lambd of God I come! I come!

~Charlotte Elliott 1835

Tap Tap Tap

Blow-Blow - this thing on?

Well howdy! Long time no blog! Partly because the night of my last post, everyone but me went down with the flu, (and no one ever fully recovered before we got hit with something else, wash rinse repeat until Spring and we could be outside and have the windows open), and mostly because life has been busy. I'm in the home stretch of finally, finally completely cleaning and organizing the basement. Honestly, if I wasn't waiting for the soup to come to a simmer, I wouldn't even be posting right now, because I'm that close to being done (hallelujah!). Between January and now, I hosted two 100+ in attendance funeral dinners at our church in less than a month, helped with VBS, had a crappy garden, took my twelve year old to State Fair, husband was laid off several times, homeschooling all 5 of the kids, you get the idea. Blogging has been laid aside for the foreseeable future. But. I AM on Instagram. Actually, IG is like the new blogging for me. Blurbs here and there, no pressure to have some brilliantly informative post, quick because I can do it from my phone (could never get anything to post on my blog from my phone) instead of loading pictures from my camera, fighting with the format, etc. etc.
Anyway, come visit me there if you'd like.

Signing off~
Bonnie

https://www.instagram.com/farminginmyapron/