Galloway Farm

One of my favorite things about the farm is growing fun things to eat. For some reason the squirrels spared our apple tree this year (very unusual) and we’ve waited patiently for them to start turning red. Faith made good use of the truck to reach some tasty apples high up in the tree.

And nothing taste better than a cobbler made from your own apples!

The long labor day weekend was just the excuse we needed to have everyone out for hot dogs, bbq, and lots of good visiting.

September 1st means opening day of dove hunting season. Opening day is a social event of sorts among hunters. Lots of eating and sitting in the shade while waiting for the birds to come in. This year I took all four boys with me. Their job was spotting incoming birds and chasing down shot birds. It was a great day of being together and passing on the tradition of hunting.

A long Saturday on the farm with the family. Lunchtime was leftover fried, cooked by my 91 year old grandmother, in the back of the truck.

New wind chimes:

Making your own sunflower seeds is easy and fun!

1). First, start by growing sunflower varieties like ‘Mammoth’ that give you the big seeds you are familiar with. Cut them when the faces are dark and the backs are yellowish brown.

2) Using your hand, brush the faces and the seeds will easily come out. Kids love this part!

3) Seperate out anything you don’t want to eat. Then soak your seeds in water overnight in about a cup of salt.

4) Spread the seeds in a single, thin layer on a cookie sheet and bake for 35 minutes at 300 degrees
5) Eat and enjoy!

Tips we learned:
* Don’t cut your sunflowers too soon or your seeds will be small and flat.
* Don’t oversoak your seeds or they won’t be as crunchy.
* The black seeds in our picture have a little different taste and they turn everything black.

Rhonda & our (six) children went to visit family in KY. That leaves me a night by myself and there are few things that re-charge my batteries more than hours beside a fire. A t-bone steak with some mushrooms and a fire roasted potato are tough to beat. In fact, Persimmon (our Corgi) and I just decided to sleep outside and make it an all nighter beneath the stars.

Piggy (pink) and Baby are still doing great and are best friends. I’ve never seen anything grow quite so fast. One of my most favorite things about mini piglets is the way they smack their food.

Learning to shoot real guns with Dad is a big day in a boy’s life. We spent lots of time (all 4 boys) talking about the parts of gun, holding the guns, pointing out the differences in the two guns we had out today (410 and 12 gauge), and lots of time talking about gun safety. And because as dad’s we spend so much time telling our sons they are too young to do dangerous things, it adds to the special times when you let them do man sized things.

Lola Jane, who turns two this week, knew exactly how to cool off on a hot July afternoon.