Sprouting Sweet Potatoes

I started my sweet potatoes this week. I just placed 3 sweet potatoes in jars of water with toothpicks pushed in the potatoes to hold them straight in the jar mouth. I should see roots in 4 or 5 days and sprouts in about 2 weeks. Once the sprouts are long enough I will show you how to remove them from the potato and root them. I hope to have slips ready for planting by late May.

                                                                       

                                                                    source: romesticity.com via Canned on Pinterest

I found this on Pinterest and found it interesting. This lady starts hers in soil cut in half and placed on the soil in old recycled bread containers. I might try one this way just to see how it does.

Anyone else started their sweet potato slips yet?

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

S

Gainfully Employed

It is indeed a great day for me as a mother. The last of my children is gainfully employed. Baby O has went to work babysitting for the tax lady in town during tax season. She watches her children after school several evenings a week and on the weekends. Located only a few miles from our house so that we are close enough should a problem arise and her employer is thrilled. Says this is the first babysitter she has ever had that could cook. She is learning first hand the responsibility of not only taking care of children but seeing  the difficulties of the working single Mom that employs her. I laughed because she worked all weekend and then came home and slept for 14 hours. Guess she was tired. So another milestone in my 16 year old daughter's life is marked. Now she can buy her own books and music. Amen.

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

Plow Ahead

                                                                          Source: google.com via Canned on Pinterest

                       Blessings from The Holler

                     The Canned Quilter

Quilting Bee

Source: greenwichworkshop.com via Canned on Pinterest

I love the above painting found online by Morgan Weistling. It's appropriately called the quilting bee. See the little boy under the quilt frame. That's where I learned to quilt. I was playing under my grandmother's frame as far back as I can remember. When my mother married my father her gift from her father was her own quilt frame. My grandparents lived way out in the woods so my grandmother was, like myself, a solitary quilter. Most of her quilts were done by her alone sitting in her parlor as she called it. My mother in law was also an avid quilter . When I moved to Missouri the first place she invited me was the weekly church quilting bee at The Methodist Church. The church ladies hand quilted for people and the money raised was used for different projects within the church and charities.  Every Wednesday I would load up Baby O, then a toddler of two, and we would go quilt. Of the dozen or so ladies that quilted I was the baby. The only one not on social security yet. My first day there I was adopted so to speak by a 90 year old named Clara, the oldest in the group. Clara immediately snagged me to sit by her and announced that we were "shirt tail cousins". Seems she and my husband's deceased father were cousins. Their grandmother's were sister's. So since she was a cousin to my husband  that made me a shirt tail cousin. Now the real reason that Clara snagged me I think was that I could still see to thread her needles for her.  O the things those little gray haired ladies taught me. The evils of whiskey, the fine art of raising children, we mourned the deaths within the community and made baby blankets for the new babies. We swapped recipes and touched each other's lives in ways that can never be explained. The old teaching the young. Baby O at 3 sitting under that quilt frame on a couple of giant hymnals  in that little church that her great grandparents had helped found quilting uneven stitches with her pudgy little baby fingers to the delight of every lady there. Another quilter was born. Another generation to carry on the age old skill so lovingly passed to them. 

Well Clara lived to be 100. And we remained shirt tailed cousins to the end. She ran her own quilt shop until she was 95. Most of those ladies are gone now. The group no longer meets. Baby O has hung up her quilting needles....for now. After all at 16 the world is a giant adventure and who has time to quilt. I like to think Clara is up there somewhere, sitting under a giant quilt frame in the sky. I just wonder who she has snagged to thread her needles now?  

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

Visit To The Goat Farm

Last week I loaded up both my daughters and both my grandchildren and took them to my friends goat farm to see the baby goats. Thought I would share the pictures of all that cuteness. Have some projects going on this weekend so I will be back on Monday. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Blessings From The Holler

The Canned Quilter

Quilter's Knot

Recently I had a comment left on a post by a follower that I wanted to answer.


Kathy writes:

I didn't realize I could plant peas now (Missouri). I'll do that. I have another question-about your quilt. You're hand quilting this. What do you do to start the thread? Is there a knot and if so, how do you hide it?

Her question was about the quilters knot. This is how I was taught to do a quilter's knot. After a little practice I can do these in just a second.

How To Hide It

Hope this helps!

By the way this time of year there isn't lots going on and I love questions like this. It helps give me ideas for posts that the readers of this blog really want to read about. So keep those questions coming.

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter 

Link to Homestead Revival Barn Hop

When To Plant ?

Recently I received this comment from Michelle and wanted to share my experience with her.

Michelle says:

You're in Missouri, right? I am. I am trying really hard to be more deliberate about the garden this year. I want to get my plants in the ground on time. I am thinking it's about time to plant peas, cabbage, brussels sprouts, broccoli, and cauliflower. Is this correct? Is there anything I'm missing? Onions? It would be so great to have a chart that tells everything to plant in each zone including time frames! You don't know of one, do you?

Michelle the answer to your question is yes I am in Northern Missouri about an hour from the Iowa line. I garden in zone 5A. I understand you wanting to get things in on time and can relate. When I first moved here to Missouri from Louisiana that was the hardest thing for me to learn was when to plant. I had always gardened but never where it snowed or temperatures were this low. I had so much to learn. I can say since you are in Missouri that you are probably also in zone 5. Now is the time to have started your cool weather crops from seeds. This includes cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale and onions. Right now I have small onions that I started from seeds in trays. I also have my  cabbage and broccoli seeds started. The onions  will continue to grow for at the least 3 more weeks and may be ready by St. Patrick's Day which is the middle of March. Many people in my area actually plant their leaf lettuce now by throwing the seeds in the snow. As the snow melts the seeds go into the soil and germinate. My neighbor has lettuce up.

Broccoli plants ready to go into garden

Peas may be planted as soon as you can get into your garden. They are forecasting a possibility of snow flurries next week so I will wait until at least after that.   The reason for planting cool weather crops early is to allow them time to fully develop before the hot weather gets here. Once it turns hot your cool weather crops want to bolt and go to seed. Once the weather gets hot your peas will get hard quickly and not be as sweet. Your lettuce will turn bitter. All of these crops will germinate and grow under cooler conditions some even tolerating light frost. As the weather continues to improve within the next several weeks you will be able to start planting your peas, mustard, spinach and leaf lettuce seed directly into your garden soil. Also potatoes and onion bulbs or sets can be planted the same time as potatoes which is mid March.

This is my cool weather garden from last year. In the row closest to you there is mustard and lettuce. The next row is broccoli. The next row with the fence is sweet peas. The next several rows are potatoes with onions growing beyond the potatoes. 

Again the same cool weather garden with a different view of the potatoes. As you can see we are just starting to pull dirt around them or hill them. The row of onions and another later row of sweet peas. Again staggering plantings to prolong the harvest. Beyond the peas growing on rings is a row of cabbage. This view is probably mid to late April.  

By the beginning of March I will start my tomato and pepper seeds inside.

There also is a website that can help you with planting schedules. You simply put in your zip code and it will give you planting times for your area. It is called sprout robot. I have never used it but you may want to take a look at it. It is free. 

Sprout Robot.com

Just remember there are lots of variables that effect planting schedules such as weather conditions, soil types and also vegetable varieties. Some require a longer growing season to maturity than others. As you continue to garden through the years you will get better at knowing when to plant what.   

Hope this helps!

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

t

Fat Tuesday

 
Yesterday was "Fat Tuesday" better known around the world as Mardi Gras Day. Growing up in the cajun country of Louisiana we celebrated Mardi Gras every year. My mother and father would load up us kids and away to New Orleans we would go for the parades. My aunt lived along one of the parade routes and we would go to her house for good food and lots of beads and family fun.  Here in Hickery Holler I cleaned house yesterday, did laundry and some cooking and planted some lettuce seeds. I did put on a little Mardi Gras music to keep me company during the day though.

I threw some steaks in the crockpot to cook in some dried onions and some morel mushrooms out of the freezer that we had foraged last year in the woods out back. Topped that off with a baked potato, green beans and some asparagus and we had a hot meal

And for dessert a skillet blackberry cobbler from blackberries from the freezer. You can find my recipe HERE

Now the traditional sweet for Mardi Gras is King Cake but in the spirit of "we eat what we grow" we had cobbler. Hot sweet blackberry filling with a sweet and crunchy golden crust. Scooped right out of the skillet still warm.

And cobbler wouldn't be cobbler without a scoop of vanilla ice cream melting over the top

Hope everyone had a Happy Mardi Gras!

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

President's Day

In this area the traditional thing to do on President's Day is plant peas. That's right... peas on President's Day and potatoes on St.Patrick's Day. Unfortunately my peas will have to wait for another day. Today ended up being overcast, windy and drizzling rain. Although my garden is ready to plant soil wise I will wait for it to dry up a little now and try planting my first planting of peas. I like to stagger my rows a week or two apart so that I am not sitting for days shelling peas when they all get ripe at once.

So instead of gardening I worked on my quilt on the frame for awhile. I am about half way done with it and making good progress. And I cooked lunch. Baby Hank was here since his mama had to work and the day care was closed for the day. So he spent the day with grandma and grandpa.

 Pork chops marinated in a lemon and garlic marinade and then cooked on the stovetop.

 Cloverleaf rolls

 Smothered okra, onions, bacon and tomatoes

And Rice Pudding.

Did anyone else out there get to plant peas today?

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

To Live Content

Young at Heart Chorus

For those of you that have not seen the Young At Heart film I have to say that we laughed, we cried, we clapped and sang along and it was wonderful. A must see for the young at heart...

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

Fried Chicken

Nobody grows up in the south without loving fried chicken. Many Sundays my family through the years of my childhood spent entertaining the preacher with a big platter of mama's fried chicken or fried catfish and hush puppies. Cooked in her big cast iron skillets that I treasure today. Cooked in the lard from the hogs butchered on our farm and the chickens raised right out in our chicken yard from hatching to butcher to pot.My mama loved them black and white speckled dominque hens.

It's now considered a heritage breed and you don't see them very often. She always pronounced it Dominecker! That's what she always raised along with a few bantie hens for hatching. And they sure tasted good beside some mashed potatoes and creamy chicken gravy, biscuits, coleslaw and blackberry dumplins and you had a meal fit for a queen. With some fresh homemade butter and maybe some huckle berry jam for those biscuits and cold milk with little flecks of cream still floating on the top. Those are the family meals of my memories full of good home grown food and family. 

With yesterday being Valentines Day I wanted a special meal of my own. My husband and I are unique in our gifts to one another. I asked him what he would like for Valentines Day and his answer was fried chicken. Seems his mama fried alot of chicken too. I fry very rarely anymore. For us we eat things like fried fish and french fries cooked in the oven. Every holiday O Wise One requests the same thing for a special lunch or dinner. His mama's fried chicken. She said this was a  knock off for KFC's spicy fried chicken that went around in the eighties. This chicken is spicy from the Italian Dressing Seasoning packets that are added to the rub. So every Valentines Day, Father's Day and his birthday O Wise One gets a special fried chicken dinner. I figure as long as we are not frying everyday that three times a year his cardiologist can live with it.

Fried Chicken

3 pounds chicken pieces for frying.

Rub   (Make into paste)
3 Tbsp flour
2 pkgs Italian Dressing Seasoning Mix
2 tsp salt
1/4 cup lemon Juice

Dredge
2 Tbsp Butter (softened)
1 tsp oil

Coating
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups Baking mix such as Bisquick
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp sage
1/4 tsp pepper

 Take pieces of chicken wash well and dry with paper towel.

Apply rub to chicken pieces and allow to sit for 30 minutes in fridge.

Dredge seasoned pieces in butter oil mixture.

Then immediately dip in Coating batter

Drop in hot oil in skillet and fry until brown and chicken is done.

Drain on paper towels and allow to cool slightly.

Serve warm

As for me I got a gift certificate for some new rose bushes. Lord that man knows how to spoil a girl : )

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter




Homestead Revival Barn Hop #50

Valentines Day 2012

This year our winter has been dubbed "The winter that never was" by the local media. Baby O kind of liked that, said it sounded kind of Narnia like. Now that we have snow I guess the winter finally is. Not much, maybe an inch or two drifting and blowing around. Just enough to actually have a little snow to shovel and a husband with burned hands and not able to do it. Guess we know who's shoveling sidewalks.Calling for rain and warmer temperatures all day tomorrow so that snow won't last long.

On my mind today is Katy's little boy Jaxson over at The Country Blossom Blog who was injured several days ago playing. He had a pencil stuck in his little eye and had to have surgery. He is on the way to recovery but still could use some praying if anyone out there wants to join me. I pray everyday for his eyesight to return to normal. I have followed Katy since I first started blogging and almost feel like I know those kids.

As for me I am cooking a fried chicken dinner for my husband for Valentine's Day. ( His choice : ) But this morning I am planting cabbage.

I hope everyone has a great Valentines Day today.

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

Awards Coming Out Of My Ears

This week I was presented an award. Twice. By two different people. I know alot of people don't  do awards but I seem to rarely get them so I just post them with gratitude and move on. This week lots of people have been thinking of me. I am truly touched that people think of me for these honors so in the spirit that these awards were given I would like to thank Kathy Felsted Usher over at Moving On To The Past Blogspot for both thinking of me and her kind words on my blog. She has presented me with The Versatile Blogger Award


I would like to also thank Heidi over at White Wolf Summit Farmgirl for both thinking of me and her kind words also. She also presented me with The Versatile Blogger Award.


I would also like to thank Alla over at Mountain Valley Farms for her kind words and The Versatile Blogger Award. 


Thank you again ladies and congrats on your own awards.  


Here are the RULES for the Versatile Blogger Award-

1. Add the award to your blog. 
2. Thank the blogger who gave it to you.
3. Mention seven random things about yourself. (see below)
4. List the rules.
5. Award to 15 bloggers.
6. Inform each of those 15 by leaving a comment on their blog.

Here are seven random things about me...
1. I love the color Blue.
2. I am the second oldest in my family with 4 brothers and no sisters. Only three brothers living. 
3. I adore Scottie Dogs and English Shepherds.
4. I am color blind which is very rare in women.  My husband is also color blind as is one of my three sons. So far none of my grandchildren are color blind. This makes quilting real interesting. Yes I am that lady that goes to church wearing one blue and one black shoe : ) 
5. I live to go fishing and used to even own my very own bass boat. I do not hunt though. 
6. My favorite Music....Willie Nelson... Old Gospel......CCR....The Eagles....Wow what a mix !
7. I am scared to death of power tools : )








Now I am supposed to list 15 bloggers. Sorry guys but I am only listing 7 as it seems everyone is getting these awards and if I name more I may never finish with these as they seem to return to me full circle.  I am trying to pick really unique blogs of the 175 blogs that I follow.  Something a little different maybe. Hope you'll give some of these a visit.  

1. Agrarian Nation  This blog and number two on my list are both written and maintained by Herrick Kimball. Agrarian Nation looks at agricultural writings from 1825 to roughly 1900. It is an excellent view into agriculture and traditions of the past.

2. The Deliberate Agrarian This blog is also by Herrick Kimball but us a great resource into the christian agrarian lifestyle as well as a source for some wonderful gardening tools and know how. Don't forget to take a look at his planet wheelbang garden cart, wheel hoe and chicken plucker. A very ingenuitive man and a great read. My husband loves his post on pulling a deer hide with a golf ball. He is the only person other than my husband I have ever seen do it this way. I guess great minds think alike.

3. Aspiring Homemaker   I adore this blog and am so impressed with the young, christian, African American woman that writes it. The photography alone on this blog is stunning and well worth the visit. It is simply a look into the life of a christian family living frugally and simply but Mia is able to turn it into a work of art. In a world where homemaking has become a dying art is is so refreshing to see one so young striving to learn it. 

4.Frugally Sustainable This is a great blog for all yo do it yourselfers out there. Learn how to make lotions to cough drops and everything in between. A great blog to camp out at and read for awhile.

5. lafermedesourrou.blogspot....Permaculture In France  I love foreign Blogs and this french one is great. You'll find a translation button on the side and make sure and scroll to some of her earlier posts and look at her gardens.

6. Mias Landliv This is a phenomenal Norwegian Blog with plenty of quilting, knitting, and gardening.

7. Snowcatcher Any of you that follow my blog know that I am crocheting snowflakes for my Christmas Tree. Every Monday is snowflake Monday with a new snowflake design. Check it out.

And now for the kicker....before I could get this published I received yet another award. LOL 

I received the Liebster Blog Award from  Baskets By Rose Blog Spot  Congrats on your award and thank you so much for thinking of Hickery Holler Farm. 

I am supposed to pass it on to 5 blogs but since I am out of ideas I am just going to pass it on to all my readers. You have all just received the Liebster Blog Award because I said so. 

Congratulations! I'm feelin the love! 

Now I am going to publish this really quickly before I get anymore.

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

Snacks At Hand

Now that I am home schooling with a teenager at home full time I have had to rethink some things and one of those is snacks.  For those of you who haven't had teenagers yet they tend to be bottomless pits : ) As my daughter laughingly points out all those raging teenage hormones require sustenance. So I have started making what I call a snack box. It is actually a dishpan that is on the pantry shelf with optional snacks in it. I do this to try to guide her towards healthier snacks that are already prepared in single servings.  Things like cereal chex mixes, dried fruit and homemade granola bars. My daughter loves Chex mix so I try to sneak in a few healthy things that she might not ordinarily try on her own. Toasted walnuts right off our farm and high in Omega 3. Dried apples bits again off of our own farm. Sunflower seeds, toasted flax seed. Just a few thrown in with the mix.

This is the original Chex Mix recipe found on the box. 

  Ingredients

3	cups Corn Chex® cereal
3	cups Rice Chex® cereal
3	cups Wheat Chex® cereal
1	cup mixed nuts
1	cup bite-size pretzels
1	cup garlic-flavor bite-size bagel chips or regular-size bagel chips, broken into 1-inch pieces
6	tablespoons butter or margarine
2	tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2	teaspoons seasoned salt
3/4	teaspoon garlic powder
1/2	teaspoon onion powder

1.	In large microwavable bowl, mix cereals, nuts, pretzels and bagel chips; set aside. In small microwavable bowl, microwave butter uncovered on High about 40 seconds or until melted. Stir in seasonings. Pour over cereal mixture; stir until evenly coated.
2.	Microwave uncovered on High 5 to 6 minutes, thoroughly stirring every 2 minutes. Spread on paper towels to cool. Store in airtight container.
Oven Directions Heat oven to 250°F. In large bowl, mix cereals, nuts, pretzels and bagel chips; set aside. In ungreased large roasting pan, melt butter in oven. Stir in seasonings. Gradually stir in cereal mixture until evenly coated. Bake 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Spread on paper towels to cool, about 15 minutes. Store in airtight container.

  

After baking I added 2 cups of cheese crackers. You can add goldfish crackers or even a small bag of cheese puffs. Dried fruit such as raisins and even a small bag of M and M's after it has cooled.  Try adding popcorn seasoning to it for a variety of flavors. Once cooled I bag in small off brand ziploc sandwich bags and throw in our snack dishpan in the pantry. Waiting for a hungry teenager or grandkids. 

Anyone out there have any great recipe additions for your Chex Mix.

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

Too Old

Recently as most of you know O Wise One was injured in attempting to burn off grass on our property. When he was at the local clinic being treated the young doctor was quick to tell him that he was "too old for this kind of  s@*t" !  I was kind of offended in that we are not ready for the nursing home yet and I personally think we do pretty good on the whole. Of course I have shoes older than that doctor...REALLY..


So anyway O Wise One proceeded to tell me a story that I just have to share. His Grandpa Bill lived to be 99. He was an avid gardener and just wanted to live to be 100. My husband took him to the doctor one day and the doctor gave him some pills for his arthritis because it was interfering with his gardening. About a week later Grandpa Bill called my husband and wanted him to take him back to that doctor. When my husband asked him why he said he wanted his money back because they didn't work. What he didn't say was that at 98 years old he was spending on average about 8 hours a day on his hands and knees crawling around in that garden. He was doing his own planting, weeding and picking. I had to laugh as it seems Grandpa Bill wasn't ready for the nursing home yet either. 


May we all be gardening 8 hours a day at 98.

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

Fire

With the warmer temperatures early in the year the smell of smoke hangs in the air here in the country surrounding Hickery Holler Farm. The farmers are practicing the common use of prescribed burning to clear the ditches and grasslands surrounding their fields. They do this to keep down the invasive species of trees that try to invade the grasslands such as locust and fast growing cedars. It also reduces the fuel for wildfires later in the year. It is normally done early in the spring when the ground is wet such as after a rain or light snow.  

You have seen the pictures before of O Wise One burning small sections on our farm to control small Locust trees that come up on the borders of our hay fields. If left to grow they become invasive and have horrible thorns such as the ones pictured below.  

  We have more flat tractor, four wheeler and mower tires to these thorns than anything on the property. Burning helps to kill the small trees that want to come back on property we have cleared for pastures and hay.

You can see in this picture the difference between burning and not burning grassland. Notice how nice and green the grass comes back that has been burned. Before settling fire was a natural and common occurrence on the prairies. 

But when you lose control of that fire this is the result. I am afraid O Wise One is down for awhile with second degree burns on both hands and first degree on his face.  Just a reminder to those of you out there that own farms. Fire can be a very dangerous weapon for us in our fight to maintain our acreage. Most of us are lulled into thinking that with the implementation of 911 in most places that help is just a phone call away. For us the fire department NEVER made an appearance. Why you might ask. Because with the closing of local businesses most of our able bodied young men have gone to the city for employment. Our volunteer fire department has lost most of it's trained young men to the call of employment out of the area. Welcome to small town America.

 Blessings from The Holler 

The Canned Quilter