Sweet Harvest Homestead

www.TheNakedPig.com

This morning, I enjoyed a symphony.   The owls, wrens, and crows all got together and sang a hauntingly beautiful tune that told of rainy mornings, melting into golden October afternoons. The thick gray clouds along with the trees that are on the verge of a color change made for pretty scenery. Feeling the cooler temperatures and seeing the pumpkins that are in my neighbor's garden reminded me of a recipe that I got on a school day, long ago. It was around Halloween, and Buddig Beef was at our school doing a promotion.  They treated us to boxed lunches with sandwiches made with their luncheon meat, along with some chips & cookies. There were stickers in the sandwiches and whoever was lucky enough to bite into a sandwich with a sticker slapped on the meat, got a prize.    The boxes in which the lunch was served,  looked like the old Happy Meal boxes. They had interesting facts and games about Halloween.   I took my box home because there was a recipe for Toaste

Every year the R.I.F (Reading is Fundamental) program would come to my school and set up thousands of new books on tables in the gymnasium.  They would generously let each student pick out not one, but two books.  These books were not for borrowing, but for us to keep forever.  That thrilled me to no end because I dearly loved reading and loved the look, feel, and smell of a brand new book.   I would go home and devour the book in one night.   I still have all of those books from those carefree school days.  After all, they were treasures to me then and still are.  Sweet, simple gifts like that make the best memories. When we first started our homeschooling journey, I was lucky to read a paper by Carole Joy Seid, a veteran homeschooling mother, on the benefits of not only reading but being read to.  My Daddy read to us often when I was a child and when he wasn't reading from a book, he would recite a short story or poem from memory.  He was a radio broadc

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Last weekend, my sweetheart and I drove over to Blowing Rock and had lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, a British styled pub called Sixpence.  Have you ever been there?  Great food & atmosphere! On our way home, we picked up a half bushel of mountain apples and a bag of chestnuts.  Chinquapin; I believe that is what the old timers called the type of chestnuts we bought.  They will be a tasty snack after we roast them. The variety of apples that I purchased was Winesap, and I was very busy this week making them into apple butter.  Have you ever made apple butter?  It is sinfully easy.  Apple Butter doesn't have butter in it; it get's its name from the smooth texture that occurs after a lengthy cooking time.  The old fashioned way of making apple butter involved cooking it outdoors over an open fire and usually in a copper pot.  I couldn't  manage to procure a copper pot without shelling out a ton of cash for it, so I opted for an easier method and a

Welcome to the Sweet Harvest homestead  podcast, old fashioned homemaking for the modern woman.  This podcast, episode #27 is brought to you by- The naked pig, pasture raised pork and grass fed beef.  Located in Oakboro North Carolina.  Don't forget, the Tiny Boutique at Sweet Harvest Homestead is a drop off point for the naked pig, if you want to pick up your naked pig items here on Friday's, call ahead and Jenny will bring your order here to sweet harvest homestead.  For more information on their great products, visit their website at thenakedpig.com   Summer's over; now it's fall, just the nicest time of all.- Lois Lenski. I love to drive on our country roads early in the morning.  The morning glories are out in full bloom, and the cornfields look like they are sprinkled with colorful confetti.  The blooms are pink, purple, white, orange and blue, and I always wonder if someone planted them or if they are volunteers.  Once, on a  frosty autumn morning, I pa

The farmers have been busy working day and night to harvest the corn in the fields around our home.  The sound of the combine is the sound of summer coming to a close. The earth seems to give birth in September; the orchards are full of apples and pears weighing heavy on branches.  Muscadine grapes are purpling, and brown nuts are falling on these September days. Yesterday, during my morning walk down our country lane, I noticed that the spiders are casting thick webs on the tops of my neighbor's hedgerow.  When the morning sun hits the dewy webs, there is an iridescent glow to them that reminds me of a soft blanket. When I paused to study them, I had a childlike thought that these thick webs could be used to cover tiny animals or fairy babies.  I think we need to get out in nature more, without taking our phones with us so that our imaginations can take us to other worlds, if only for a short time. The goldenrod that grows along our back fence is bursting with tiny yellow flowers and is r

Hello & Welcome to the sweet harvest homestead podcast.  Old fashioned homemaking for the modern woman. This podcast is brought to you by the naked pig – grass fed beef and pasture raised pork.  For more information visit their website at the naked pig.com and by my book From farm to market stories of farmers and artisans in the Carolina piedmont.  Filled with beautiful photographs, endearing stories and delicious recipes, I hope this book will become a favorite.  You can grab your copy at amazon.com today. I wanted to say a big thank you for listening to my podcast!  I write a weekly column for two small newspapers in north Carolina and I thought a podcast in which I spoke what I wrote would be a good idea for a broader reach.  After all, everyone enjoys reading or hearing (in this case) slice of life stories.  Well, I was growing a bit worried that no one was listening to this podcast, - until I looked at the statistics. There are quite a few of you out there who downl

Hello and welcome friends to the sweet harvest homestead podcast, old fashioned homemaking for the modern woman, This podcst is brought to you in part by the naked pig.  Located in Oakboro north Carolina, the naked pig is home to some of the best grass fed beef and pasture raised pork around.  For more information, visit their website at the naked pig.com Early this morning I went outside to my herb garden to gather Comfrey to make a healing salve.  Herbs are best gathered in the morning after the dew has cleared, but before the heat of the day sets in and draws off volatile oils. While I was out there, I noticed that the persimmons on our tree are big and fat and have a muted peach tint to them.  After the first frost, they will make a delicious persimmon pudding. The pumpkin seeds that we planted in the summer have many bright yellow blooms on them, and a few tiny baby pumpkins are beginning to form.  You have to get out in the garden very early to even see the flowers opened becaus

Hello and welcome to the sweet harvest homestead podcast, old fashioned homemaking for the modern woman. This podcast is brought to you in part by the naked pig, pasture raised pork and grass fed beef.  For more information visit their website at the naked pig.com With the cooler mornings that we have experienced the past few days and the gentle pulling away of summer, my mind starts thinking ahead to filling our larder full of the last of the summer garden fruits.  We are fortunate to have a grape growing friend who generously shares his bounty with us.  One of my favorite things to can or *put up* is jelly, made with the rosy pink, reliance grape.  I thought all grape jelly was purple until I discovered this little gem last year. The taste of a reliance grape isn't quite as strong as a concord grape; it has a milder flavor.  While making jelly with reliance grapes this week, I added 1 Tablespoon of freshly ground nutmeg to the mix.  I was pleasantly surprised at the difference

Elderberries are ripe and plentiful right now, here in the Carolina Piedmont.  We have several bushes that we planted a few years ago that are growing profusely, and dripping with the dark, rich, tiny berries that hold so many immune boosting and anti- inflammatory properties. I have written many times about the wealth of herbs available in our own backyards that the good Lord provided to us, if we just take the time to learn about, and properly identify them.  Of course, when using herbs, you must exercise caution, just like with any allopathic medicine, but usually, there are no side effects, and they work better (for my family anyway). Each year when the elderberries ripen, I like to go out and gather them and make up this simple syrup.  We take this daily starting in October, and it has helped ward off colds for my family for many years. If you don't have access to fresh elderberries, you can buy them dried from online herb suppliers. Recipe for Elderberry Syrup 2 oz dried or fresh elderber

It happened this morning; did you sense it, see it, feel it too? When I walked downstairs at day break and looked outside our windows, the dappled light was hitting the trees in the woods just a touch differently than it has all summer. And there was a difference in the overall feeling in the atmosphere. My younger two children each saw and mentioned the same thing to me, independent of one another. I love that they are sensitive to this sort of thing too. The clouds even had different formations than they do the rest of the year. It's coming. I can feel the change, the contrast from yesterday to this morning was evident; the summertime haze wasn't as thick, so the sky was clearer and a shade of blue that only comes with this gentle turn of the earth. Even though the official start is over a month away, it's coming. Mother nature is taking her last dance in her gown of green and blue gossamer and will soon change into her loveliest frock of all; one of crimson and gold with trimmings of purple and orange. I s

Hello and welcome to sweet harvest homestead, old fashioned homemaking for the modern woman.  Sweet harvest homestead is brought to you in part by the naked pig, pasture raised pork and grass fed beef.  For more information you can find them at the naked pig.com If you've received a card from me in the past few years or if I have ever signed my book to you, chances are, it came with a tagline that read "you are great." Why do I do that? Well, a couple of years ago, tucked down in an old forgotten box, I found a card that my mother gave to me the year before she died. In it, she wrote "you are great, love Mama & Daddy." Since then, I have tried to do my best to live up to the potential that she saw in me. That is why I like to write that little bit of encouragement, when I get a chance. You never know when someone might read those words and take it to heart; if not at the time you wrote it to them, then maybe a few years down the road, like I did. I believe that everyone has the power to be great

Hello and welcome to the sweet harvest homestead podcast, old fashioned homemaking for the modern woman. Sweet Harvest homestead is brought to you in part by, The Naked Pig located in downtown Oakboro, North Carolina.  The naked pig has fresh grass fed beef and pastured raised pork and if you use the naked pig's lard to make biscuits, folks who eat them will think you are the best cook around! For more information visit their website at the naked pig.com "Men's stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning. Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o'clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum…" - Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird. Even though that passage was written over 50 years ago, it is still fitting right now on these humid, sweltering, summer days. A great way to cool off in this heat is with a bowl of home-made ice cream.  I remember when I was about 11 years old, my granddaddy bought an electric ice-cream maker.  He let me go to the s

Basil Dressing and a Tiny Shop. There is just something about the taste of fresh basil that speaks summertime to me.  My basil is growing abundantly this year, and I think it is because I took the advice of a sage gardening friend, and planted it next to my tomatoes.  Apparently, basil and tomato are companion plants; that is they benefit each other when grown side by side. Creamy Basil Dressing is a warm weather treat to my family, and we love to have a light supper of a homemade cornbread and salad with this dressing. ½ cup fresh basil leaves 1 cup mayonnaise ½ cup sour cream One clove garlic 3 TBS vinegar One tsp Worcestershire sauce ½ teaspoon dry mustard Place all ingredients in blender and process until smooth and creamy.  Keep refrigerated.  This is the ultimate taste of summer! This Thursday is my last for the summer at the Farmers Market.  Don't forget to go by and see my other friends who will still be there until October, providing you with freshly grown fruits and vegetabl

There is a woman who I have known since I was around ten years old.  We grew up together, but I wouldn't call her a friend.  In fact, I don't like her at all.  She is mean, rude and sometimes downright ugly to me. The first time I met her was in the 4th grade; I discovered that I had a knack for making people laugh, and I would tell jokes or do funny things on occasion.  People would get a kick out of my jokes and giggle, and I enjoyed the feeling I got from making other people feel good.  Well, one day she said to me "Nothing you say is funny."  That stung my little heart, but I tried to ignore her as much as I could. When I got to be a teenager, things really started getting bad.  If I missed questions on a test, she would tell me I was stupid, (quite often in fact)  or when I tried out for the dance team she told me "you can't dance"  the problem was, she told me things like this so often that I started believing her, and stopped trying. I managed to get her out

Hello and welcome to the sweet harvest homestead podcast-old fashioned homemaking for the modern woman.  Sweet Harvest homestead is brought to you by the Naked Pig, pasture raised pork and grass fed beef.  Located in their brand new red building in downtown Oakboro North Carolina.  Stop by and see them sometime and be sure to visit their website http://www.thenakedpig.com   Are your gardens starting to produce?  I love this time of year when all of the hard work that goes into planting a garden starts paying off and we are rewarded with an abundance of vegetables, herbs and fruits. Eating produce fresh from your garden is an excellent way to save money, and it provides your body with important vitamins and minerals.  If you grow more than you can eat, preserving your food by drying, freezing or canning will ensure food on the table this winter and a little extra money in the bank (because you don't have to run out to the grocery store every time you need a can of corn or tomatoes

It is powerful when you write a column stating all of the benefits of a product and people use that product and see results instantly.  What am I talking about?  Handmade soap. When I wrote about making and using handcrafted soap a few weeks ago, I never expected the response that I received from you, dear readers.   You came out to the market, bought a bar and tried it out for yourselves.  The very best part, though, was hearing so many of you tell me that your eczema improved tremendously after taking a bath with the soap.  Listening to your testimonies over and over was beautiful music to my ears, and I am so glad that you found relief. We have the power to take charge of our health.  The good Lord gave us the brains, and the knowledge is everywhere, we just have to take the time to study on it.  We have come to rely on pharmaceuticals to cure all of our ills when there is a natural pharmacy out in our yard with healing herbs.  Many remedies can be made up by ou

Summer afternoons are blissful around here. Find out how we celebrate the end of the day!

Homeschooling in North Carolina. Awesome family experience!  Lifeschooling conference coming up July 7-9. For more information, visit their website at www.lifeschoolingconference.com