Meeting The Fabulous Beekman Boys

First Grade...before I had a pet goat...

When I was a little girl I had a goat named Nannie. She followed me around like a dog.  My parents divorced so we had to move to my mawmaw and pawpaws house (southern lingo for grandparents).

 I had to leave my dear Nannie behind. 

When I went back for a visit my dad avoided the questions about Nannie and he then reluctantly stated he had given her away to a friend. 

 I really did not buy that answer, it was more likely that he took her to a stockyard and sold her.  I wanted to believe  that she was running around with other goats in a big ole field of daisies... 

That has always stayed with me and I always had a dream of owning my own goat farm with a big field of daisies.

This was in about fourth grade...major tom boy, animal lover ...  my poor mother .... she said I would refuse to wear anything else!

Fast Forward 33 years

My husband and I live on a little over an acre of land with forty chickens,

two dogs and two almost grown children.

 But because we live on one busy highway and have thousands of hours in landscaping and box gardens we can not chance having run away goats.



Working on our landscape.



Do goats eat roses?  They would have a rose buffet, we have fifteen bushes just in the back landscape.

Besides our neighbor is Camo Mans mawmaw and she would die if we had goats running around.

You all know we have a "Little House in the Big Woods"  in Mississippi. 

 We are blessed to call this place home on the weekends. We are half a mile from the highway and there is more than enough land to have animals.



This is my goat from one of my Road Trips and my field of clover.



  Problem it is a two hour drive from my home so a

 goat farm is out of the question for now.

 Well at "Little House in the Big Woods"  as crazy as it sounds
 I catch a channel called Planet Green.

One night I watched the premiere of a show called
The Fabulous Beekman Boys. 

There it was, on that show, the goat farm I have always dreamed of owning.

Two city fellows from New York City (Dr. Brent and Josh)
 started a farm and opened a business.

 But, if that is not enough Josh has written a book about their life
and has a  cookbook in the works.  

They have put a small town (Sharon Springs) with its wonderful citizens out there for the world to see and love.

Dr. Brent and Josh of course have wonderful friends that
 help them pull all of this together. One of those characters is none other
than Farmer John and his now famous goats.
(the goats have their very own live web cam)

  Farmer John captured my heart from the very first episode.
 His love and compassion  for his goats is to be admired.
They are living their dream...of course with lots of hard work and sacrifice.

Can I tell you that night, I learned how to DVR real quick.
 I had to watch and see what they were going to do next.
Would their dream work out or go bust?

I found them right away on FB so that I could follow along...then had to add twitter in the mix.

  You can not even imagine my excitement when I was able to

 meet them in New Orleans.  They are such genuine hard working guys.

Dr. Brent, myself, and Josh

Camo Man had to ride to N.O. with me. He was so curious about
 why I kept gushing about Josh and Brent.  
Who are those guys that now make our family question 
" where does the food they eat come from".
After hearing them speak about their love of Sharon Spring and working hard to get where they are,  Camo Man is hooked too! 
While I was running my mouth, Camo Man was busy buying their

Back Porch Soap Collection and Josh's book! 

 Review of that in another post.

Only about 30 miles from home did I realize that I forgot my camera!

A BIG shout out to McGreevy-Squier Photograghy 

 they are the sweetest couple! 

They were visiting all the way from San Antonio.  They so graciously took my picture.  THANK YA'LL

"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal."

i Heart Photo Challenge/ Touch of Whimsy

Madison Grace...

She is so spunky and fun...

We had so much fun taking pictures that day...we tromped all over her back yard

              (which just happens to be on the edge of a swamp). 

We even picked up a few things...like  pieces of moss in our hair and bug bites!  Yikes

Stop by i heart faces  and check out all the entries to the Photo Challeng/ Touch of Whismy

Old T Shirts = Quilts

Take one women + no quilting experience + directions printed from the computer + less than one month to make TWO quilts

= I  have lost my mind!

What do you do with bags and bags of T Shirts ? 

I promised my daughter a T shirt quilt when she graduated in 2007

Of course I was so busy with work I never got around to it.

So I got this insane idea that I would make hers and also

 my son a quilt and surprise them at his graduation party!

His party was less than one month away...

My kids are in my business know about every project going

 on in this house...so this was a challenge!

I ended up making two trips to our "Little House In The Woods"

The kids could not understand ... they know I am scared to death to stay by myself.

I got over my fear of being in the woods alone and the fear of  making something that might not be perfect.

Challenges...  OH YES THERE WERE MANY

    The challenge for his quilt was finding his

 freshman band  'Football Marching'  Tshirt.

Asking around without him knowing!

 Thank goodness a really sweet fellow band mom let me have her shirt.

She had kept her shirt over the years and still wore it.

 Some Tshirts had just small designs, so I picked a few

 and made one block with them.

 For her quilt, I had tons of shirts, the challenge for her quilt was

 deciding which shirts to leave out.

Because they had so many shirts ...I kept sewing them together and before I knew it they BOTH had queen size quilts..

(quite a large quilt for a beginner to make) 

 Of course I wanted to quilt them myself,

so I had to take a class on how to use a long arm quilting machine. 

The  local shop would let me rent their machine. Challenge..their machine was not big enough.   I had to drive to New Orleans twice to quilt them.

(I told the kids that I was shopping in New Orleans for a dress for his party,
 they know I hate to shop,   so it was hard to make that believable.)

I had them almost finished...I had to complete the edge binding,
 but I wrapped them up and gave them at the party just like that!

They were so surprised...but I think that really I was the one surprised. 

 I actually took on this challenge and completed it!  It was so rewarding.

I'm not sure about you,

but with every project I learn a little more about myself.

( I have linked to MADE BY YOU MONDAY @ Skip to my Lou  please go and check out all the great ideas)

Idea For Your Patches

When my daughter was a Brownie, I could not wait to volunteer. 

The leader was more that happy to let me help.  She was the sweetest lady I ever met.  Whenever we had an activity and she had an extra patch
she would give me one. 

 I had no idea what to do with them, but wanted to show them off .

 (Secret Dream, always wanted to be a Blue Bird). 

 I found this cute denim tote at a Big Box Store for just a few dollars 

 So the 'Patch Bag' was started.

This is the little patch that started it all ... we had taken the girls caroling at the local nursing home.

I also was a paraprofessional at the time for a special education class.

A sweet students mother  brought me a pin and I had just the right place for it.

When on vacation I now look for patches instead of t shirts. 

 I love to use my tote for carrying my library books, or the newest crochet project.  

Camo Man received this lounge chair for Fathers Day...He opened it in the kitchen and has not taken it to the patio yet.

 I loved trying it out while sewing on my newest patches. 

I always sew the patches in place, I have found if I ironed them on they just don't hold up to the use.

   If you have a few patches laying around what have you added them to?

i Heart Photo Challenge / Let's Hear It For Blaise and All That Jazz

I was all jazzed up to be able to take these pictures of Blaise.
 It was a special day he and I will not soon forget.
 These railroad tracks are not located in a very safe area, so we joked around about getting outta their before dark.

Please check out the link  i heart faces to see all the entries.

Simple Salsa

Ok, I never could not make up my mind on a recipe,
and I am  still unsure about the jarring thing.

 For some reason the hot water bath and sterilization kinda freak me out.  

 Thinking......"WHY"

 After some thought  REAL  REASON:  if I do not jar it right,  my salsa would kill my family this winter when they eat it. I know crazy.

So I just made my own recipe, I added a little of this and that

 till I liked the taste.

Camo Man and I rode around and gave jars of salsa to family and friends.

 I let them know that it had not been preserved and they

 need to enjoy it within a few days.

I made a semi homemade pizza using a few fresh Roma tomatoes.

YUM! 

And as you can see on the kitchen window sill our

tomato days are not over yet.

Here is a basic recipe for salsa that I have had for years, it is really good.

Simple Salsa

4 cans stewed tomatoes (I prefer Delmonte)

1 sm. can diced green chillies

Jalapenos to taste

1  tomato (diced to how chunky you like your salsa)

1 onion (diced)

1/2 bunch cilantro (I use a little less, because I rather more Jalapenos)

Mix all ingredients together and ENJOY!

 

I am lucky...my dad reads our blogs ( my sister). 

 So it is only right to wish you Happy Fathers Day here.

Hope you try and relax today ...

 even if you sit on the computer all day and only get up to eat. LOL

Happy Fathers Day...Happy Fathers Day Dad!

 LOVE YOU

That's Not What I Planted...

Last summer I added a few new plants to the landscape.

Some did not bloom...

So what I thought was going to be purple agapanthus...

Let's just say does not even resemble them. LOL

No clue what they are. 

 But, they sure are giving the agapanthus a run for their money  

So glad for unexpected surprises! 

 Have you ever had an unexpected garden surprise?

ABUNDANCE...

This was an ugly sand pile  in the side yard that we turned into box gardens.

When I returned home...WOW our little box gardens have grown and are just beautiful. Camo Man has out done himself.

I have gotten wonderful comments from neighbors and even texts messages   about our little gardens. 

This is the zucchini...

Yellow

Green

What to you do with abundance? 

We have eaten it until I think my skin now has a tint of green to it.

Make bread...

lots and lots of bread

to share and freeze

NOW...

Abundance...of tomatoes..

We have Romas and many other varieties

I have a great salsa recipe, but it is not one that you can jar for later use. 

(not to mention, I am scared to  jar)

 If you have ANY tips, suggestions or recipes on how to jar salsa i would love to have it, please leave me a comment...

HOME AT LAST

WOW...now that was the mother of ALL road trips! 

 I logged over 6,000 miles, 15 days and tooo much fast food!

But we (Susie ) made it there and back in one piece. 

 The car...well something was falling off of it, but Camo Man fixed it.

 Yes...That would be Heather and I.  

 I have read Heathers blog for years, she is so genuine and sincere. If you have never been to her blog, STOP NOW and go see her awesome pictures.

 I do not blog bunches, but I have traveled far to blog events and shows to meet fellow bloggers...lets just say some bloggers  still think they are in high school and need to do a reality check at their "NEST". 

They can not hold a candle to this sweet lady!!

Ok moving on...

LOVED THIS!

We went on Sunday and the booths where just beautiful...All vendors had  restocked.

As you can see Maddie racked up! That petite girl can shop...

These sisters were just the sweetest things!

 They welcomed us in their booth, we chatted and hope to see them soon in Texas!

Ok by this point you so get a little gitty !  

Wouldn't you grab a string hanging from a bunch of cotton candy?

 Hey I had been on the open road 12 days with my sister, a ten year old, and a three pound chihuahua.

Have a great weekend..