Chats on the Farmhouse Porch 98

<center> <a href="http://www.everydayruralty.com/"target="_blank"><img src="http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa445/Cathy_Kennedy61/chatsonthefarmhouseporch.jpg" border="0" alt="Everyday Ruralty"></a></center> Hello! I want to apologize for visiting your blogs so late. I spent the week with some nasty headaches. This week is much better. Wendell was pleased with all of the dinner invitations he received. I will work on his manners so he can be more social. I managed to freeze 48 quarts of strawberries from our friend's farm. Some of them will become jam on a cool day. I love making jams and jelly in the fall and winter. One day I will get our own plants in, but it hasn't happened yet. We planted lots of them several years ago, then C.S.Farmer decided  to free range the chickens. In less than a week, they destroyed the berry plants. With what they cost, they weren't "just chicken feed"! ahem- humor- pathetic, but at least I try Yes! You're trying!
I hope you will check out my NuNaturals Stevia giveaway here. It is very low entry, so you stand a good chance. I enjoy my stevia. I like sweetened iced tea and it means I can have that without getting all the sugar in my system. It is a great way to sweeten plain yogurt, too!
It's very hot today, so Wendell decided to look for a place for our chat. Patrice, I have found the perfect place for the chat. Okay. Where? The people can bring their carrots and join us near the pool. That sounds lovely, but we don't have a pool. Silly, Patrice! Of course we have a pool. Look... Wendell, that's your water trough. Yes. So, what's the problem? You and the ladies can have little drinks with umbrellas while you sit near the pool. We would need umbrellas with the way you drink water! Patrice! There's no need for character assassination. It was simply a wonderful idea for entertaining. Okay, Wen. I'm sorry. I know you were just trying. Trying! I saw that! Oops! Why do they have to bring carrots? Patrice. Patrice. Patrice. You really are a "special" one! You don't know why I want them to bring carrots. Let's just say that I want them to appreciate that it's better to give than to receive. Oh, I see. What are you going to give? The use of my pool! Of course. Of course! QUESTIONS

1. Is there a friend or relative who has been on your mind a lot lately?
2. Do you sunburn?
3. If you were visiting my farm for a week (or weekend) would you want to cook with me, pick veggies or pull weeds with the farm crew, or just feed Wendell carrots until he outgrew his horse suit?
4. Do you like to tell jokes or hear them?
5. Do you wear sunglasses often?

My answers:

1. I have been thinking about my friend, Kim. She just had a wedding in her family and I have enjoyed seeing pictures. I really need to write a letter to reconnect after this busy time for her.
2. You know the color a cooked lobster turns? That's me!
3. I hope they all pick the horse option!
4. I like to tell jokes and hear them- most of the time. I especially like to tell them. I'm a rather silly person and a good joke can be such fun. My mom liked to tell them, but she had a habit of weaving the punchline into the body of the joke and it never made sense. It was actually funnier than most jokes.:)
5. I am a mole. I actually sunburn like a lobster, but I have to have my sunglasses on year round, when it's sunny. They say folks with lighter eyes are more sensitive. I wonder if that's true. Hmmm?

I hope everyone who read this has a great week!

I just ate one of the umbrellas from someone's drink.

Wen, you aren't suppose to do that.

It's fiber.

That doesn't deserve an answer. Tell the "Chats" folks good-bye.

Good-bye! Happy Carrots!

NuNaturals Stevia Giveaway

My blog friend, Julia at Blissfully Content has allowed me to share this wonderful recipe with you. She uses stevia to sweeten it. It is really good and it fills that need to have chocolate. I know I'm not the only one out there with chocolate cravings! I hope that you will visit Julia and her wonderful blog

Photo from Blissfully Content

Deep Rich Skinny Chocolate

1 cup coconut oil melted on low heat

About 4 shakes of NuNaturals NuStevia or 1 pkt stevia

2 heaping tablespoons organic cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Optional: 1/2 c chopped almonds and tiny shake of sea salt

Combine everything and stir well.

Line a bread pan with parchment paper or wax paper.

Pour into pan and freeze for at least an hour.

Thanks for sharing this, Julia!

I love to drink iced tea this time of year. Sugared tea was common for me for many years, but now I use NuNaturals stevia. I like knowing I'm consuming less sugar. Let me show you some of their  products.

I really like all four flavors, but I have been enjoying the chocolate one the most,  in yogurt and plain tea.

GIVEAWAY:

NuNaturals has offered to give four of my readers the four flavors of stevia pictured above. I really like these products and I think you will enjoy them too. Here is what you have to do to enter.

1. Go to FB and like NuNaturals.(1 entry)

2. Visit their website and tell me something else you would like to try. NuNaturals Website.(1 entry)

3. Post something about this giveaway on your blog.(5 entries)

When you have completed any of the above,please leave a comment on this post. You can list up to three things in the comment, but please don't forget to leave an email if it is different than your profile.This giveaway will be open for one week. Drawing on June 19th midnight EST. This contest is open worldwide!!!

If you do not want to wait for this giveaway, or you want to order other things from the website, you can get a 15% discount on your total order through June 30, 2013. You must use the code: BLG0613 on the checkout page.

Disclaimer: I was sent stevia products to try with no obligation to blog about them. The opinions here are my own. I like their products, so who needs this disclaimer stuff. :) 

Chats on the Farmhouse Porch 97

<center> <a href="http://www.everydayruralty.com/"target="_blank"><img src="http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa445/Cathy_Kennedy61/chatsonthefarmhouseporch.jpg" border="0" alt="Everyday Ruralty"></a></center> Summer is in full swing, the family is busy, and life is anything but boring. Welcome to the farmhouse. I think it would be a wonderful day to visit under the crab apple tree like we did two weeks ago. We had an interesting sheep situation. Two ewes gave birth at the same time. The weaker ewe gave birth to a big, healthy baby. The stronger ewe gave birth to a tiny lamb. The stronger one preferred the big lamb, so she stole it. She wouldn't let the other ewe take the tiny lamb, but she wasn't being the best mom to it. The weaker ewe is still wondering what happened. We have taken the smaller lamb to bottle feed. We could see that it wasn't doing as well as it should with her. The other lamb would not have it.The big strong lamb was named Solomon, after the Bible story where King Solomon had two women both claiming the same baby. In his wisdom, he threatened to cut the baby with a knife. The real mother spoke up to stop him by saying that the baby could be given to the other woman. She loved her baby so much that she wanted to protect it. King Solomon knew that she was the real mother by her act of love and unselfishness. Her gave the baby back (unharmed) to its real mother. The woman falsely claiming the baby was really Baaaaaaaaaaad! Oh, Patrice! That was a pathetic attempt at humor!
Wendell won't be at our chat today. He is staying with his friend, Cocoa. They are living in one of our barns for the time being. Cocoa is our Houdini horse. He ran away the fist day we returned him to the horse pasture, after his sickness last month. Wendell had been back out with the draft horses, but we had a super hot day (96 degrees) two weeks ago and he refused to come up for water. He managed to get pretty dehydrated, so we brought him up to the barn for some TLC. You might ask why a horse would not come up for water on a hot day. Good question. I think the Lyme disease two years ago left him- hmm, how do I say this- it left him so he is no longer the sharpest pencil in the box. Thankfully, C.S.Farmer and D3 figured out he was in trouble very quickly. He's okay. He and Cocoa want cable so they can watch Mr. Ed, The Black Stallion, Flicka, Sea Biscuit, and old westerns. Send Popcorn and carrot juice!
Questions

1. How many times a week do you have a green or veggie salad?
2. Do you pray? (You may skip this if you do not wish to answer.)
3. What season is your birthday? You do not need to give us the date.
4. Do you have dinner guests often, every now and then or not at all? Wendell says he can be there for dinner as quick as a wink!
5. Could you describe yourself as a DIY- Do It Yourselfer?

My answers:

1. This time of year, maybe five or six times a week. I would like to have them year round, but I usually only have spinach growing in the greenhouse. I love spinach!. By the way, I have started making salad dressing each week. I used to buy certain brands (organic, gluten and soy free). They were really adding to the grocery bill, so I dabbled with salad dressing recipes until I found one everybody liked. It is so cheap compared to buying them. With the family and the employees, we were emptying a bottle in one to two days. Now I just throw more in the blender. It takes less than ten minutes, start to finish and costs a little more than a dollar a recipe.
2. Yes! I'd be lost without it.
3. I was a spring baby.
4. I have folks visit for dinner every now and then, but I have farm employees and volunteers for a big mid-day meal each of the week days. It is often just our farm manager, but it can be as many as five extra people.
5. I am definitely a DIY type of person. Partially because I hate wasting money. Partially because I get a kick out of being able to do things myself. I have a re-upholstering project that I have been procrastinating. It intimidates me, but I will be a big girl and tackle it one of these days. There are so many tutorials online, that it is really easy to find out how to do things.