Week 6 Showers of Blessing

Showers of Blessings!

Your Share Contains:

Tomatoes
Sugar Snap Peas
Lettuce
New Potatoes
Yellow Squash
Zucchini
Beets
Radishes

Another week has flown by and we've been blessed

with several showers this week! God was good to hear our cries and answer! Our home farm pond was at "mud level" and the main pond that irrigates the main farm was inching lower and lower. This week we've felt the refreshment that                                          God's blessings brings!

Water is an essential to our farm. The hogs and chickens take over 350 gallons a day! The

Our family enjoyed an Independence Day
picnic and swim in our farm pond.
Grass is growing now above the normal
water line.

greenhouses take more to keep the upcoming transplants thriving. So when our pond and creek went dry, we were at the mercy of the weather, and ultimately God himself.

The Next Day...

 As I was reading in Psalm 23 this morning...yes, I am reading through Psalms.  I began to study David's life in Greg Laurie's book, The Greatest Stories Ever Told a door was opened in my mind. I've always thought David and I were "kindred spirits", and now I know we are! A question that has nagged my mind for years is answered. And now I have a peace and direction for the future. Then the Lord led me to the still waters mentioned in verse 2. "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters." Suffice it to say I'm sitting quietly by the Living Water and reallllly enjoying the peace it is bringing. PRAISE HIS NAME!

Are you seeking God's peace? Sit by the Still Waters (Jesus) and seek His heart...His truth...and wait until He answers. Remember though that His timing is not our own. There are probably MANY lessons to learn along the way, but the journey is WORTH IT in the "end". 

News from the Farm

One constant in most gardeners summers is zucchini. With us, we've either had toooo much or none. There doesn't seem to a middle ground. I see tub after tubs of zucchini on my porch, so I know this is a good year. 

There is sooo much you can do with the squash! I've

made a mock apple pie with it, grilled it, roasted it, made "noodles" with it, I've hid it in a green smoothie for the children, (they never knew it was there!). I've stir fried it, pickled it like mustard pickles, and made mock crab cakes with it! People sure have been creative over the years!

Here's one way I've used this bounty this summer.

You don't have to use the same vegetables I used. I want this to inspire you to use whatever that is in your refrigerator. I made this before the bounty of the season overflowed into my kitchen, so I used what I had at the time...avocados.

Zoodle Stir Fry

Serves 1

1 small zucchini

Olive Oil

1 T. minced garlic

1 boneless Chicken Thigh or 1/2 Chicken Breast, cut into bite-sized chunks

1/2 onion, diced

1/2- 1 Avocado

Salt & Pepper to taste

 Turn your zucchini into zoodles. 
If you don't have a cutter, try making narrow noodles with a vegetable peeler.

 Heat a skillet and drizzle some olive oil on to it. I added a big spoon of the convenient minced garlic I keep in my refrigerator. I stirred it until it was just wilted. Then I removed it to my plate, and covered it with a bowl to keep it warm.

  In the same hot skillet, add a bit more olive oil and add your cut up chicken. Stir until color begins to disappear. 

Add your diced onion, and stir continually until the onion begins to look caramelized. 

 Cut the avocodo while still in the skin by drawing a paring knife through the fruit in this way.

 Add the avocado by scooping it out with a small spoon into the frying pan.

Gently stir once or twice until the avocado is heated through. (This doesn't take long, so be prepared.)

Top your zoodles with your stir fry and enjoy!

Gluten-Free, Low Carb, YUMMY & QUICK!

Another Colvin family favorite!

Oven Zucchini Chips

2 medium zucchini (about 1 pound)

3 T. milk

1/4 C. grated Parmesan Cheese

1/4 C. plain dry bread crumbs

1/8 t. salt

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Either spray the cookie sheet with cooking spray or line it with parchment (recommended). First mix the bread crumbs with all dry seasonings. Next wash the zucchini, and slice it in 1/8" slices. Dip each zucchini round into  the milk, then into the seasoned bread crumb mixture, coating both sides. (It is best to move most of the bread crumbs to one side of your dish and only dip the wet zucchini into a small portion or you will have a hard time getting the crumbs to stick. If this happens, just press the crumbs into the slices as you coat them. Working with a small portion at a time helps prevent this.) Place them on your prepared cookie sheet. Spray with olive oil or canola cooking spray. Bake 25 -30 minutes until browned and crisp. Serve immediately.

Another market favorite that REALLY hides the zucchini!

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

3 Eggs

1 C. Honey

1/2 C. Oil

1 t. Vanilla

3 T. Butter

6 T. Cocoa powder

2 C. Grated zucchini

2 C.  Flour 

1 t. Salt

1 1/2 t. Cinnamon

2/3 C. Chocolate Chips

In mixing bowl combine eggs, sugar, oil, vanilla. In saucepan or microwave, melt butter and add cocoa powder. Set aside to cool. Grate zucchini. Mix zucchini, with cocoa powder/butter mixture and when cooled combine with egg mixture. Add flour, soda, salt, cinnamon. Mix only enough to blend. Dampen chocolate chips slightly in a small bowl. Coat with a few pinches of flour to keep them from sinking to the bottom of your bread. Fold into batter. Pour into 2 greased 8" pans. (I use bread pans or muffin pans.) Bake at 350 degrees until cake tester inserted comes out clean, depending on pan size.

" Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."
John 14:27



Have a Great Week!

Abundant Blessings,
The Farmer's Wife,
Val

Week 5 Chicky Baby

Week 5

Chicky Baby!

This Week's Shares Contain:

Broccoli
Lettuce
Cherry Tomatoes
Basil
New Potatoes
Green Beans
Cucumbers
Squash

On the home farm the hogs are growing fat in the

woods, with a lot of little piglets scurrying in and out of the electric fence! Our second batch of pastured broilers arrived as adorable chicks, and our new egg layer flock are now outside on grass pasture! With close to 800 chickens on the farm to tend, no wonder the Lord has my mind focusing on the lessons in this blog. There is SO much going on!

Our broiler chickens spend the first few weeks of

their short lives in our brooder. Then they are moved

These little chicks arrived Thursday

and have found a new home in the brooder.

to the movable pens that are pulled daily up and down the field near the house. They get fresh water and feed daily that is augmented by bugs, grass, and worms.
But for now, they're huddled under heat lamps staying warm and getting used to being on the farm.

I have to confess that the main idea for this post is a repost from last fall. I was reading back through my posts and said, "Val, you can see this truth lived out before you again." I have a new reminder scratching around outside as two of our rogue egg layers had made a nest under our porch and hatched 3 chicks. They stick pretty close to the edge of the porch right now as the chicks are only a few days old. But soon they'll venture to the orchard and beyond and the chicks will take refuge under the hen's wings when danger threatens.

Several years ago we let our heritage breeds of

chickens hatch their eggs...our whole pen of chickens thought they were Mommas too! EVERYONE stopped laying, and EVERYONE mothered the new chicks. It was really interesting to watch. One hen could swell up and shelter a dozen chicks under her wings! 

During one of my devotional times this week I read Psalm 57:1. "Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be over past" 

My mind went back to those fun days of watching the hens mother the chicks as they scratched here and

there about the farmyard. Many times we couldn't see the "danger" the chicks sensed as they dashed for the nearest fluffy breast of a hen. But that didn't matter...the fact that the security was there mattered. Many times in my life, others don't sense the urgency of a situation as I do. Like one of those chicks learning about life in the farmyard, I seek shelter in the presence of God. All that matters is that I know where my security is! He is MY GOD...He has offered me the protection of His presence, and I often find shelter there. 

It wasn't always like this for me. God ALWAYS has loved me and offered His protection, but I have had to learn to trust. God has never failed to protect...I have failed to trust. Time and again He's been there, and I praise Him for it!

Often I would pray that God would remove the "chicken hawk" from my life. (Figuratively speaking) But instead He wanted me to learn to live victoriously in the midst of the trial...to learn to run to Him for safety. He wanted me to learn to cry out to Him, "Make me like You in the midst of my problems!" I can only do this knowing I am safely sheltered by God.  If God doesn't "shoot down" the "chicken hawk", I should feel perfectly safe and secure under my Savior's wings even while the enemy is hovering over me. That's the kind of trust God wants me to learn!

Daniel, an Old Testament example, lived confidently in the very presence of the enemy in captivity. He spent a long and perhaps dreary night in the lion's den. When he emerged "no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God". Daniel 6:1-24 Oh, that this may be said of us! May God help us to seek His presence that we can rest safely in perfect confidence under the shelter of His wings! 

There may be a voice whispering in your mind right now (I've heard it myself before!) ...If you only knew what I was facing...this trial never seems to end!...I DO know some of what your are facing, for the Word says trials, temptations, hardships, and heartaches are "common to man". We are born into it. And there are times when God in His all-knowing providence knows it's not best for us to be removed from it. He wants to teach us to live victoriously in the midst of the heartache. He knows that great eternal benefits are being accomplished by our being kept in the midst of the calamities...kept in them, as well as from them. We can bring more honor to Him than should He remove all trials and pitfalls from our path.

So, come learn the lesson with me. Let us strive to be less impatient and less discouraged while we seek to be "kept" in whatever trials God may call upon us to live through daily. Let us cultivate, by the teaching of the Spirit, and the sure, unchangeable Word of God that determined trust which will enable us to say, "In the shadow of thy wings I will make my refuge until these calamities be overpast." 

   I've been having fun creating new or inspired vegetable dishes in the farm kitchen. Now that some of our favorite vegetables are regularly rolling in on

the trucks I "sneak" a few for the family. I'm asking myself what is a new way to serve this family favorite. Like the squash I pulled out of a truck tonight...jalapenos came to mind. Our family loves squash and onions sauteed in butter.  So tonight I cut up my zucchini and crookneck squash and a large onion. I sauteed the onion in the butter adding the equivalent of 2 sliced jalapenos to the  butter for the large mixture for this heat loving family. (We can sliced jalapenos, so don't think your missing anything at the market if you haven't seen them yet. It'll be a few weeks still till they are ripe.)  Then as the onions went limp I added the sliced squash and stirred it as it cooked. I've covered it to finish cooking with just the heat of the cast iron skillet while the family packs your shares out on the porch.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                Another idea to use your squash is to stir fry it with your favorite meat, onions and garlic. (In this picture I've used boneless chicken thighs.) 

1. Cut up your meat in bite sized pieces. Put them into a small bowl with a crushed garlic clove, olive oil, and either Worcestershire or Soy Sauce. The amounts vary according to the amount of meat you have. Don't be shy, just cover the meat. 

2. Slice your squash in 1/4" slices. I like to make sure they fit into my mouth without an embarrassing struggle! :) 

3. Take the outer skin off an onion, and cut off the ends. Cut the onion in half lengthwise. Next, cut a half into wedges, set aside and continue with the remaining half.

4. Pour a bit of olive or grapeseed oil (vegetable oil will also do, but is not as healthy of a choice) into a wok or frying pan. Heat the oil.

5. With a fork or slotted spoon, add the meat to the oil. Stir. The meat will be finished cooking when the color has disappeared. Take the cooked meat  and put it back into the marinade bowl.

6. Next add the onion and garlic to the now empty frying pan and stir. When the onions are limp, add the cut up zucchini and crookneck squash. (You can use one or the other, but we like a mixture.) Stir till the squash is fork-tender. Add the meat along with any marinade that is leftover. Continue stirring until the squash is fork-tender.

7. Serve over rice or Chinese noodles. 

P.S. This also makes a great pizza topping! (When doing this I don't use soy sauce, but Italian salad dressing along with Italian Seasoning.) 

I pray these ideas help you to start thinking "outside the box" in using your share or garden's bounty.

 What is your favorite way to use the summer's bounty of squash? We'd all like to know, so share it in the comments section below! You may be like me and need all the help you can get to be inspired to use your vegetables after a long day. Let's help each other!

Have a blessed week!

Abundant Blessings As You Seek His Face,

The Farmer's Wife,

Val Colvin

Visit our website @ http://www.colvinfamilyfarm.com/

Week 4 The Hot Pursuit!

Week 4

Shares

Crookneck Squash

Zucchini

Basil

Collards

Kohlrabi

Baby Lettuce Mix

Daikon Radish

Red Russian Kale

Welcome to my front porch...the breeze is blowing

This nectarine tree now has ripe fruit on

it!

across the field, the birds are singing in the distance, and it's a beautiful day for relaxing a bit.  While most of the family is off at one of our 4 Saturday markets I get to enjoy the quietness of our farm with Charity (8). There is MUCH to do later, but now is my quiet time!

We had two chickens find a secluded spot under the porch and hatch a chick each this week! The chickens are pecking around the front porch right now. Never far from their mothers, the chicks are in hot pursuit of the protection she gives.

I've been doing a lot of thinking this week on the relationships in my life. This morning, the sweet Holy Spirit sat with me as I read Psalm 34. The theme of the chapter for me is relationship...relationship with Him.

I have friends up north in my home church that I

Charity gave me these flowers this

week!

admire, and am pursuing a close relationship with. One friend is funny, and teases a lot. I try to reciprocate...because they are light-hearted, I am pursing this quality in my life. Both friends desire to be close with Jesus Christ. This encourages me to dig deeper still in His Word, and live my life in a way that reflects God's heart.

I think about my distant friends often. I remember the fun work times we had together last summer as they helped me cleaned out my childhood home. The times of worship, fellowship, quiet talks, jokes told, and pranks played. I have some fond, lasting memoires.

Pursue - to follow after with a view to overtake, to chose, to strive.   ~Webster's 1828 Dictionary~

My husband pursued me...smile...He and I pursue our marriage. We strive to please each other... there is an ideal marriage that we are "following after with a view to overtake". I see what pleases him, and with the Lord's help, become that pleasant thing.

In remembering the definition I looked up of pursue, I wonder if I'm REALLY daily in pursuit of Christ? Are Jesus' delights becoming mine? Do I think of Him often, and even "day dream" of being with Him some day? Do I anticipate reading His letters to me (Scripture) like I do with the letters from my friends or the texts from my husband? Do I "light up" when I'm with Him? Do I seek to be found "admirable" to Him?

I'm encouraging you to read Psalm 34 with these thoughts in mind...are you on a "Hot Pursuit"?

Adam & Allison picked my

favorite heat loving flower

for me this week. (Wild

Milkweed) I am truly

blessed!

It's truly been a hot week here on the farm. I bake for 5 markets, so my kitchen is often "warm". I won't let my mind focus on it though, as it will cause me to grumble.

The heat made it the perfect time for the men to plant okra and other heat loving vegetables. We'll have to wait till late summer though for the harvest.

We saw the first red tomatoes, thousands of pounds of squash, beautiful lettuce, snap peas,beets, greens, and other vegetables being harvested. God's hand of blessing is truly bountiful!

I tried a few new ideas with the vegetables that came into the farmhouse. Here is one of our favorites. I've been making meal-in-a-loaf meals for years, but I love to experiment with fillings. Use what the Lord has put in your refrigerator this week. Use your imagination as you can put just about anything in your loaf! I have even put spaghetti in a loaf and my family LOVED it! Adjust the amounts to feed your family. It's the technique that I'm showing.

Yield: 1 large loaf

Feeds: 6 hungry farm boys

Meal-A-Loaf

1 1/2 lb. bread dough

1 bunch greens (I used Swiss Chard)

1 onion, sliced in wedges

Bacon or Ham, cut up and browned

1/3 C. Shredded Cheese

(This can be put inside the "braid" instead of sprinkled on top.)

Salt & Pepper

Cut up your greens, saving your stems for stir fry later in the week.

Sauté your onion in the last few minutes of browning your bacon or ham.

Using a bit of bacon drippings if needed to stir fry the greens in with the bacon and onion. 

Roll out your dough (frozen bread dough is sold in the freezer section of the grocery store if you're not making it) into a rectangle the length of your cookie sheet.

I switch to a single hand rolling pin (Pampered Chef)

to finish rolling out my dough. I picked it up off the counter and put it on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. You could finish rolling it out with a drinking glass laid on its' side. You want it to be the length of your pan.

Lay your greens mixture down the center of the dough. If you choose, you can spread your cheese on top of the filling (not pictured).

Next, make the same number of cuts on either side of the filling using a pizza cutter.

Now comes the fun part!

Simply take a strip in each hand and cross them over the mixture in the center. Work your way down to the end, stopping about 3 strips from the end.

Take the last strips on both sides and cross them over the filling. Then proceed as normal crossing the remaining dough strips. This will give you a pretty and secure finish to your loaf.

Cover the loaf with a dish towel, and let it rise until it's "puffy" looking. Bake at 350 degrees, about 1/2 hour. Watch your loaf, as all ovens differ a bit.

Pull your pan out of the oven and sprinkle shredded cheese down the length of the loaf. Return the pan to the oven until the cheese is melted, but not browned.

Remove the  pan from the oven, and let the loaf sit for a few minutes to set. Then remove it to a cutting board or platter for a special dinner. Serve in 2 inch slices.

It's a pretty meal, so it's a good company meal...

It's portable, so it's a good picnic meal...

It's a versatile meal that freezes GREAT when you have leftovers.

Experiment and have fun using the vegetables in your shares this week! I'm going to try tucking squash, onions, and stir fried chicken in a loaf this week!

Abundant Blessings in Your "Hot Pursuit",

The Farmer's Wife,

Val

"Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

What man is he that disireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good?

Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from

speaking guile

Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace,

and pursue it.

The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous,

and his ears are open unto their cry. "

Psalm 34:11-15