I've" Bean" Blessed!

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We've "bean" blessed! We don't deserve God's blessings, but His love reaches out to us non-the-less!

As the old hymn goes, "Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your blessings, see what God hath done! Count your blessings; name them one by one...count your many blessings see what God hath done."

With the leftover beans from last week's markets we

You can hardly see
Charity breaking beans
beside Destany!

canned 74 quarts of beans, and bartered the rest for 6 gallons of raw milk from a neighboring farm. (A double blessing!) I've "bean" blessed with two special helpers, Destany and Shelby. (Isaac's and Caleb's gals) The look on their faces as they came in the door and saw the mountain of beans was priceless! The men had mounded alllllllll the beans on our 12' farmhouse table and it was at least 3 feet high and 8' long! Their gasps led to proclamations of, "I've never seen that many beans in one place!" We worked most of the day, and then said, "That's enough." The pressure canner jiggled well into the night!

The men are pulling up our mulch, discing the ground and getting things cleaned up a bit at both farms. The strawberries will go into the high tunnels this week! I'm looking forward to the strawberry harvest of 2015 since I missed this year's harvest.

300 broilers (meat chickens) being taken to the USDA processing facility on Tuesday. The guys have a count on how many more times they need to be moved! ha ha! It's a lot of work, but these chickens get fresh pasture daily. They also eat bugs, NON-GMO feed, and drink lots and lots of fresh well water daily. We've "bean" blessed with a good chicken season, and want to share it with you! The meat will be available soon! 

I've "bean" blessed to bake lots of pumpkins this week in the

farm kitchen. I hope to make a big batch of pumpkin butter along with some savory breads that make the kitchen smell like...well, FALL! 

The final jamming is done...and we've "bean" blessed with great sales all ready! The blueberry, blackberry, and peach are quicly being snatched up by our customers! We had fun working two long days getting it all done, but it was well worth it! I hope you enjoy it. There are a few jars left of the above jams left and plenty of strawberry. I thought it would sell throughout the winter...not. Get what you want now before it's gone.

Do ya'll make a major switch in your clothing when fall morning temperatures dip below 50 degrees? We need warm clothing working outside in the fall and winter. So this week I switch everyone's clothing, adding "long-handles" (long johns) flannel shirts, and heavy socks to the mix of long sleeved shirts. It's a huge job getting it sorted, marked with the right amount of dots representing who is wearing it, washed, and finally ironed. I've spent the better part of the week working on this project. I finally got it all into the men's and family closets! Yahooo! We've "bean" blessed to see how God provides our clothing from season to season!

One of the racks of clothes that's been washed and hung...
It was just the beginning as I had 11 people's clothes to sort, wash,hang, iron, and put away.

We've "bean" blessed with good harvests this year!

We've "bean" blessed by a great packing crew that
comes out to help each Friday afternoon!

Packing shares!
Next year we pray we'll be in our new packing shed. Life will be very different...and I'll have a
porch again!

Timmy (the Friday Night Farmer) and
Noah wash bundles of sweet turnips! Noah's "bean" blessed by Timmy's friendship, encouragement, and good Christian example!

With me sticking close to the farm this season, someone needed to jump into my shoes at two markets. We've "bean" blessed with Cerina taking

over the Cumberland Sustainable Farmer's Market in Crossville, and Destany and Jeannie working the drop off in Dayton (no store this season). They have all been faithful to represent our Lord and farm each week and I want to say a BIG thank you to them!!

I've "bean" blessed with the Farmer and my Farmer Boys who work diligently for us all every day. They are up before the sun moving chicken pens and caring for their needs, watering the greenhouses, and keep going all day (okay, Noah collapses during his lunch break) providing fresh, nutritious food for us all! Many days it's well into the night before they call it quits, or come driving home from a market in the city. 

There are sooo many blessings in my life! I could go on for days! But I've "bean" blessed the most for how the Lord foresaw my depravity and  provided a way for me to spend eternity with Him in heaven! Jesus Christ was beaten unmercifully, and hung on a cross to pay for my sins and yours. Now, because I have believed on His name, accepted His provision for my sin, and made Him Lord of my life I can live in daily victory over sin!

I've "bean" blessed with eternal life!

Have you? Accept His gift today!

"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." 

1 Peter 3:23

This Week's Recipes

If you are like me there are days when I pull alllll the vegetables out of my refrigerator and want to use them in a supper! Well, here is a recipe that will work on those evenings. You can also hide vegetables that are harder for some folks to eat in these cheesy patties! It's a clean out the fridge day meal.

Cheesy Roasted Vegetable Patties

2 T. butter/olive oil

2 cloves garlic

1/2 of a medium onion, diced

1 C. assorted vegetables, diced*

1 C. bread crumbs

1 C.  shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 C. Shredded Parmesan Cheese (green shaker if you don't have fresh)

3 eggs, beaten

salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

2. Saute onion in oil until clear, add garlic and stir until fragrant. (Do not brown.)

3. If vegetables are wet, pat dry. No extra moisture is needed.

4. In a large bowl combine vegetables, garlicky onions, eggs, bread crumbs, and cheese. Mix well. Add salt and pepper if desired.

5. On a parchment or foil lined cookie sheet (spray foil), form the mixture into 10 patties.

If the mixture is too wet to form a patty, add more bread crumbs. If it's too dry, add another egg.

6.Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown.

My grandson would eat his with Ranch dressing or catsup. I prefer the taste of cheesy vegetables.

*Try what is in your frig...squash, green beans, turnip, peppers, onions, kale, butternut squash, or what's in your freezer or pantry like corn, broccoli, cauliflower, etc. *

With about 30 cups of pumpkin in my refrigerator I'm getting the pumpkin bread itch! We have our family favorite recipe, but this year I'm going to add some diced apples that just came from the orchard here on the mountain.

Pumpkin Apple Bread

2 1/2 C. flour (we use freshly ground whole wheat)

1 1/2-2 C. sugar or honey 

1 T. pumpkin pie spice

1 t. baking soda

1/2 t. sea salt

2 eggs, beaten

1 C. pumpkin puree (if homemade, drain)

1/2 C. coconut oil

2 C. apples, peeled and chopped

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease two 9" bread pans, or muffin pans.

2. In a mixer or bowl add wet ingredients and mix.

3. Add spices, leavening, then flour. Mix just until the flour is moistened.

4. Add chopped apples and stir briefly.

5. Pour into prepared bread pans.

6. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes (muffins) or 50 minutes for loaves. Test to determine if it's done by inserting a turkey skewer/toothpick. If it comes out clean it's done!

Abundant Blessings!

The Farmer's Wife,

Val