Today's Harvest...

This sunset is from the other night. 

Apparently there was an Aurora, and although it was too bright for us to see its full impact, the colours in the sunset were certainly intensified.

As always, the photos do not do the colours justice at all, but suffice to say, it was beautiful to look at.

Can you see how the sun is setting further away from the Eye of the Butt? Only a month or so ago, the sun set towards the right hand side of this photo.

Anyway, to the plot...

 I went out today to do some weeding and came back with these! There are Duke of York Reds (new potatoes) and Accord potatoes in the basket. The brocolli is Calabrese. This means that a centre floret grows, and many, many side shoots with smaller florets. The sooner the centre stem is cut, the more opportunity is given to the side shoots.

Here's a centre floret which hasn't been cut yet. It'll grow slightly larger than this so I'll leave it for another week or so.

 This photo isn't too clear, but you may be able to see some of the smaller side florets in amongst all the foliage.

 See the centre cauliflower? It's begun to split: I probably ought to have harvested it a few days ago. The cauliflower is okay to eat, but it doesn't look as nice as the others.

You remember the turnip a few weeks ago....

This was them when we'd just thinned them.

See the difference! The Builder covered them this year with netting to stop the butterflies laying their eggs on the leaves. Last year, the turnip leaves were decimated by caterpillars. Pesky butterflies!

Hopefully, very soon we'll have some of the baby carrots taken from the thinnings. They are always so tasty, and I can't wait to have them. Also our courgettes (zucchini for you Americans!) are growing like mad! I made another huge pan of soup today with them, and that'll go in the freezer for later in the year.

It seems like only a couple of weeks since we were slogging to get the seedlings planted. I don't remember the brassicas being ready this early in the past years, but now I'm wishing I'd been organised enough to have other seedlings to plant right now. Hopefully, I'll learn from this year, and be 'on the ball' next year.

I can't tell y'all what a blessing it is to be harvesting these vegetables. I really do feel like they are special, God-given gifts. I pray I would be truly thankful for them, and never take them for granted.

Twenty Years...

Twenty years ago today, I said

"I do"

to this guy...

Because this is the man God had for me....

... I am Mum to these four blessings,

 ... I get to walk on the machair with this mutt and his master,

... I get to have my kitchen utensils fixed. Builder style.

 ... I get to work in the plot, and look up to this,

 I hadn't known that if I 'buy-one-I-get-two-free'...

 ...I get to look out of my kitchen window at this.

 ...I get to wear these and get told I'm lovely,

 ...my kids get to work in the fresh air. 

Yes, often they'd choose to work in air that was less, er, fresh. 

And often they'd choose not to work at all! 

 ...I get to admire the Butt from my kitchen window too. 

Girls, girls.... you know I mean the Butt of Lewis.

... I get to admire this sky in mid-winter mornings,

.

 ... What was that about 'buy one get two free'??

...I get to have these arms ALL to myself

 And I get this. 

Twenty years of giving it. And twenty years of receiving it...

From this guy.

I am so tired tonight, that I can barely think straight to say Hi to y'all.


But the words of Psalm 130 are precious to me tonight (as they often are)

Lord from the depths to Thee I cried

my voice Lord, do thou hear

Unto my supplication's voice

give an attentive ear.

Lord, who shall stand, if Thou, O Lord

shouldst mark iniquity?

But yet with Thee forgiveness is

that feared Thou mayest be.

I wait for God my soul doth wait,

my hope is in His word,

More than they that for morning watch

My soul waits for the Lord.

I say, more than they that do watch

the morning light to see.

Let Israel hope in the Lord

for with Him mercies be.

And plenteous redemption

Is ever found with Him

and from all their iniquities,

He Israel shall redeem

PS 130 (Scottish psalter)

Those of you who follow me on Facebook have already seen the Builder's solution to my broken hand whisk.

I checked it out today, on some Franzipans I was making.

It worked, so I reckon it's in my kitchen to stay.

A couple of months ago, I transplanted these Lemon Basil seedlings. 

The Lemon Basil plants are now huge, and they smell absolutely wonderful. In fact, in the greenhouse, surrounded by tomato plants, the lemon basil is still the strongest (and loveliest) aroma.

So, I now want ideas. I've had a couple of ideas on Facebook, but I need you guys to give me more ideas. What would you do with this Lemon Basil? I also have Basil, and Lime Basil growing. 

C'mon. Give me ideas. 

We've had a month of wonderful weather. No, the temperatures haven't been as high as they could have been in summer, but it's been dry and reasonably sunny. Actually, Big Brother was complaining of the heat today. Ahem, it was 16C - that's 60F. Clearly, his tolerance to heat - er, or even warmth - is non-existent.

Marriage with a Difference

Twenty-five years ago this week, I entered into marriage.


No, not with the Builder, but into a marriage even more life-changing and more permanent than my marriage with him.


Twenty-five years ago I was saved, and entered into union with Christ: an unbreakable, eternal union. The amazing thing about this union is that the Bridegroom had everything to offer, and I had nothing. In fact, I had less than nothing.


He, from all eternity, had entered into a covenant with the Father, and the terms of this covenant meant that He would come in the flesh, live a righteous life, and die the cursed death of the cross. For me. And for all who put their trust in Him. 


We say, 'What's yours is mine, and what's mine is yours', but can you imagine what that means in this marriage?


He has His perfect righteousness that He bestows on us in our union with Him.


We can only bring our sin and our shame. Yet, He takes all that sin and shame to Himself, and makes the exchange gladly. What a Saviour! Truly we can say, 

"Nothing in my hand I bring, 

simply to the Cross I cling".

In these years since He 'took me from a fearful pit, and from the miry clay; and set my feet on a Rock, and put a new song in my mouth' (Psalm 40), He has proved Himself to be the perfect Husband. He has infinite love, infinite patience, and is faithful in all ways.


I wish I could say that, in these years, I have loved Him with all my heart and soul as I ought; and that I have been totally faithful in all my ways. But I cannot. 


But that's what is so amazing about grace. We fail; He restores. We fall; He uplifts. We sin; He covers us with His own righteousness.


If I live another 25 years, my prayer is that I would grow in love to Him, who is 'altogether lovely'; that I would be more faithful to Him who is 'faithful to the end'.


If you do not know Christ Jesus as your own saviour, may I recommend you seek Him with your whole heart. There is not one person who has put their trust in Him who would not commend Him as the best Friend you could wish for, the greatest Master you could hope to serve, and the only way of eternal security.


Unlike our earthly husbands, this One we wish to share with as many as possible. With the woman of Samaria, we wish to say, 'Come see a man who told me all things that ever I did. Is this not the Christ'. (John 4)


Come to Him. And rest totally in Him. You will find rest for your soul.

Chats on the Farmhouse Porch

I'm joining Patrice again on her porch. I know the weather is really hot where she is, so we may go inside after a wee while. But for now, I'm loving the heat!

We've had a lovely spell of weather here. It's been cool - just hitting the 60s - but it's been reasonably sunny and it's been dry. My veggies are happy, so I am too...

Here are Patrice's questions for today:

What season was your wedding? If you aren't married, the what season is your birthday?

We were married in August. Oh, that's this month. You probably wont believe me, but we have hardly ever remembered our wedding anniversary. Most years, towards the end of August, one of us will say, 'Oh... the end of August? That means we forgot our anniversary.' Again! I know most folks will find that almost unbelievable, but for some reason our wedding date never established itself on my brain's memory card. It's not far off now, so I'm going to try and remember it. 

What names did you call your grandparents?(ie- grandma, granny, gran, grammie)

Granny and Grampa. I've spoken about my Grampa who lived with us here. 

What's your favorite smell that comes from your oven?

Oooh, that's a difficult one, because there are too many choices. Patrice said something with cinnamon in it, and that would definitely be close to the top of the list. Mind you, when we walk in the door from church on a Sunday afternoon, the smell of our roast takes a beating. Aaahhh, Bisto! (You'd have to be British to understand :)

If you eat eggs- scrambled, fried, over easy, sunny side up, or other?

Nope. Don't do eggs. Except in baking. My favourite way then is in cakes. And pancakes. For the past few days I reckon I'm attempting to set a record for the most number of pancakes made and eaten in the shortest space of time.

What's the tidiest room in your house? What's the messiest?

Gulp. Oh, the Lounge is normally the tidiest, because we use the Family Room most of the time. It does mean that the lounge is tidy and therefore very relaxing when we use it.

The messiest? Er, can 'the rest of the house' be a valid answer? No?

Well, the Wee Guy's bedroom is bad....really bad. In fact, it's so bad that the Builder took a photo of it last night. You wanna see?

I can't believe I'm actually showing this photo.

Do you like the sticker on his middle drawer: Lifejackets stowed here.

I wish to reassure all my readers that none of us was hurt during the robbery. 

I'd also like to assure y'all that the robbers found nothing worth taking.

Oh, Patrice, I've suddenly begun to feel the heat. Let's go in for a cuppa. 

Tea? Hot tea? Er, yes.... and I'll have some eggs - as long as they're inside cake.   

See what I found in the Plot Today

 I'd taken a wander through the cages Saturday, and had noticed that some of the brocolli was coming on. This is actually Calabrese, so the head in the centre is pretty much ready for cutting, and then the side stalks produce mini-heads for the months to come.

I noticed that the vegetables in the cages were looking healthy.

But I could hardly believe my eyes when I took a wander through one of the cages today.

Cauliflower. Ready and waiting.

In all, there were three cauliflowers ready to be harvested. And once a cauli is ready, it's got to be harvested, otherwise it discolours badly.

So, I guess it's blanching and freezing on my agenda for tonight.

I took these photos last week. This is one of the sections with carrots and parsnips. This year, for the first time, we used the taped seeds. The row furthest left in the photo was not from taped seeds, but the next two rows were. See the gaps? 

...lots of gaps.

I don't think we'll use the tapes again.

Beetroot...

...coming on well.

And have a look at this gorgeous visitor. The photo doesn't show the amazing beauty and perfection of this creature. Again, God's amazing design - visiting my plot. I feel utterly privileged.

Oh, one more thing: I had a number of folks telling me they weren't able to leave comments on my posts. Well, I asked my Homeschool on the Croft Facebook friends why, and guess what: I got an answer, and now it's sorted. I reckon the comments will work for any of you now. 

I have such clever friends. Thank you Crystal!

Wiser Eating Grass...

They say there's wiser eating grass...

What gives them that notion, I have no idea.

Er, or maybe I do

In fact, yes. I reckon they may be right.

Er.... this is a compliment to you, mate.

'Though...not to you, pal.

'Me, Mum?'

'ME?!'

Yes. Definitely you.