Spring is Arriving

Feet in Plowed Ground by frances robson

Good evening and come on into the 'Net Porch and sit a spell. I am sorry it has been so long since I posted but have not been feeling really well this week but as our Southern Lady Mama taught us, we don't talk about our maladies. Just know I have been a little under the weather this week and haven't done enough cooking to share anything special except a waffle recipe.

It is very easy and quick. To your favorite waffle recipe, and I use the one on the Bisquick box, add about 1/2 chopped apple, tsp. of cinnamon and tsp. of apple pie spice. Cook in the waffle iron as usual and I served it with warm strawberries I had frozen last spring. I take a quart of frozen strawberries and microwave them with a little sugar for about 4 minutes. I like them just a little warm.

You can also serve them with your favorite syrup or preserves. Make a double recipe and freeze some to pop on the toaster later for a quick breakfast or snack. The chopped apple adds an extra flavor with the added bonus of some fruit for the day.

As you can tell from the picture above it is plowing time in South Georgia. Standing in fresh plowed ground reminds me of Daddy and how he loved to plow, plant, grow vegetables and share them with others. Mama would put as much as we could eat in canning jars or freeze it for us to enjoy the rest of the year. There was always plenty of good food at our home which we had raised and preserved. It was hard work but worth it.

Roy and I continued to do this until a couple of years ago and we found that we didn't really need a big garden but have been planting tomatoes and a few other plants in containers or by the fence but this year we decided to try a couple of raised beds which we bought at Sams Club.Roy got them put together this week and filled with dirt today. We bordered our patio with them so we can keep the plants watered and we can pick our fresh veggies close by. We bought and put together 2 sets and this is one of them.

Roy put some good topsoil in the bottom and then potting soil on the top. They are 7ft x 4 ft and 16 inches deep but the roots can go deeper for there are sitting on top of dirt.

I plan to plant some broccoli plants, turnips, mustard and some herbs in one of the beds this week. These will be fine in the cooler weather and then soon it will be time for the tomatoes, peppers, squash and cucumbers. As it grows, I will share pictures with you and I am looking forward to seeing how much we can grow in these 2 beds.

Thought I would share some of the signs of springs in our yard. This is a branch of flowers on our Bradford pear tree.

These are our 2 Bradford pear trees which we enjoy the flowers each spring and the beautiful red leaves in the fall. We plan to plant some more this year.

One of the hyacinths which grows by our pump house which were planted before we bought the house 18 years ago. They still come up each spring and I love to bring them in the house for they smell so good.

My daffodils are slowly coming back up but when we landscaped this fall some of them were lost.

Camellias are a little late this year and not as healthy due to the freezing weather this winter. Ours was a little more harsh than usual but I have a few pretty blooms. My plants are over 20 years old but camellias will live forever if you take care of them.

Though it is and invasive weed, the dandelion is pretty to me. Because this one is growing out next to the field I will leave it for a while and enjoy the beauty of the blooms. It is one of our first signs of spring.

We still have not seen any robins which will come in flocks later on but the redbirds are all over the yard and are so pretty. One morning recently I counted over 20 in the back yard all chirping loudly and busy hunting worms and insects. I tried to get pictures but when I opened the door they flew away.

I hope you enjoy the pictures and try putting the chopped apple in your waffles and cinnamon makes everything taste better.

Ya'll come back to see me and take care going home.

Nuff said,

The Georgia Peach

The Steps to the Porch by Frances Robson

Good evening. Ya'll come on in and have a coke with me and visit for awhile. I have been to choir practice tonight and look forward with great anticipation to Sunday morning worship. It is Easter! We are going to celebrate the resurrection of our Savior and our music is awesome. Music is food for the soul and though I do not have a solo voice I enjoy being a part of the choir.

We have a great time at choir practice for our director, Chad Todd, is a wonderful director. He loves what he does and leads us to love it too. We have learned so much with Chad and one of the most important is to how to lead our congregation into worship of our God. As you can tell, I love choir. Hw also loves to laugh and we have a joyous practice each week even though we work hard to have the best sound we can for leading in worship is important and we want to give God the best we have.

Again it has been a wonderfully warm, sunny, spring day. We walked out to the pond and fed the little fish which I have not seen yet but we fed them anyway. I tell you what we do have is a jillion tadpoles. It sounds like a huge choir of frogs at night and they all have a billion little babies which will make the choir even larger. I'm not kidding, they were thick as fleas on a hound dog. It was amazing and I'll be glad when the fish get large enough to use them for food. We really don't need any more members for the "Frog Choir."

I cooked another good meal today using some pork steaks I found in the freezer. Realizing I needed to use them I looked for a recipe that also used rice so I would have a meal in 1 pot. I also wanted a recipe which would freeze well for I seem to find it impossible to cook for 2 and usually have leftovers. This can be great to save time later so I try to find ingredients which don't loose their texture when frozen and I like to use rice. It freezes really well and tastes good when reheated. I also wanted to use the new dutch oven I bought to see if it was a good as I hoped it would be and it is.

My recipe books didn't have exactly what I wanted so I took 2 recipes and made them mine. Tweaking recipes are fun and I enjoy it most of the time. Occasionally it is terrible but those you'll never see. :)

I hope you like this one and let me know what you think by using the comment at the close of the posting.

Braised Pork Steak with Rice

Ingredients :

1 1/2 lb. Shoulder steak (you could also use large pork chops)
1 onion - chopped
2 Cloves Garlic- chopped finely (you can use less or more)
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 cups beef stock or vegetable stock
1 tsp salt
creole seasoning and black pepper, to taste
1 tsp paprika
1 cup uncooked rice (I used brown rice mixed with wild rice)

Instructions:

Trim fat edging the steaks.

Season the steaks with the salt, pepper, paprika and creole seasoning
Brown meat slowly on both sides. Use a cast iron skillet or heavy Dutch oven. No added fat is necessary.

When steaks are browned, remove and keep warm.
Add the vegetables to the pan and saute until soft. Add the steaks back to the pan and add the stock. Cover pan. Cook 30 minutes on low heat.

Add rice (regular, NOT instant or converted rice) and simmer, covered, 30 to 40 minutes longer, until meat and rice are tender.

I usually remove the meat and put the rice into the liquid, then put the meat on top.

Be sure and taste it after adding the stock to see if the seasonings are alright. I served with a garden salad and fruit compote for dessert.

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I froze 2 portions to use later. This is an inexpensive dish and serves 4 - 6.

We are going up to Eufala, Al tomorrow to Lakepoint State Park to enjoy the dawning of spring in this lovely park. They have a nice lodge where we stay and the restaurant has delicious food. I am looking forward to taking lots of pictures to share with you.

Have a good night's sleep and ya'll come back to see us and sit a spell. Try the recipe and let me know what you think.

Nuff said,

The Georgia Peach

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Spring is Slowly Arriving

Matthew 6:29
" ...Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29 And yet I say to you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."

Spring is arriving in South Georgia and bringing the promise of new life, new beginnings, and revival of the soul as we see God's creation in all it's beauty. Today's posting is pictures I took this afternoon in our yard and I will let these pictures speak for themselves.

Loropetalum - Called the Fringe Plant

Loropetalum Shrub - Leaves will turn red

Tulip Tree or Japanese Magnolia - This single bloom shows the many colors of pink and white in one blossom of this beautiful tree

Pink against the blue sky

Twins - or Entrance to the Watermelon Field

Bradford Pear

Clouds Through the Pink

One Among the Many

Beauty Framed

Flowering Quince

Shy Hyacinth Brightens a Shady Spot

First Lady Banks Rose Bloom

Redbud Announcing Spring

Reflection Pool

I hope you enjoy these examples of the beauty which God blesses us with in South Georgia.

Nuff said,

The Georgia Peach

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Tuesday's Thoughts

Good evening, ya'll. Come on in for a fresh cup of coffee and sit a spell. Roy and I just finished putting some fresh strawberries in the deep freeze. We visited the Rutland Strawberry farm just below Tifton and bought a flat. I always buy the picked ones, but you can pick your own if you like. They are so good, sweet and beautiful. They smell so good I told the owner I thought I would use a couple for perfume - just rub them behind my ears. I do like fresh strawberries and plan to make a pie tomorrow using the recipe I posted last week - Yogurt Pie. A friend of mine made it with strawberries and she said it was good. Will let you know.

As I was looking through my window in front of the computer today, I realized I have got to do some spring house cleaning. What a terrible thought, but I think I will have to do it. Housecleaning is not my favorite job but the time has come when it really needs cleaning. Sweeping, dusting, and washing woodwork is a real chore for me - in fact I just plain don't like to do it. I had much rather read a book, knit or crochet.

One of my problems is that I am a pack-rat, especially books, magazines and yarn. I just have a hard time throwing any of these away. I have been slowly cleaning out some stuff and taking it to the Goodwill store. The only problem is that when I drop of a couple sacks in the back, I go in the front and bring home a couple of sacks. I'm not sure the going is more than the coming.

I do know how to spring clean for my mama was the queen of spring and fall cleaning and we all had to help. It meant taking all the mattresses outside to sun along with all the pillows. You had to turn them at noon so both sides would get the sun and smell good. Then you had to carry out the springs - this was before boxed springs - and wash them and let them air dry. Meanwhile we were dusting the bedstead and moving it to sweep and mop under the bed.

After this chore, we also carried out all the stuffed cushions from the furniture to air and you had to beat them with a broom to get out all the dust. You also had to be sure and turn these during the day so they would smell good on all sides.

Curtains were taken down, washed, hung out to dry and windows washed. Baseboards were dusted and washed, walls were swept down and all doors and door frames were washed. All woodwork and furniture was washed or wiped with a damp cloth, dried and polished. Your hands would smell like pine sol, ammonia and Dutch Girl cleanser for weeks.

Having wood floors made that job fairly easy for we swept, mopped and waxed them to a shine. We would put on white socks and slide up and down the floor to polish them and see how far we could slide before busting our backsides. They would be so pretty and clean and slick while our backsides would be sore.

Winter clothes would be taken outside to air if they couldn't be washed. We washed the rest, folded and stored them for the summer with mothballs in the big trunk. Do you know how hard it is to get rid of that mothball smell? That meant you had to hang them outside in the fall to air them out again. We did a lot of airing out and letting the sun cook them.

Cabinets were cleaned out, scrubbed and new shelf-paper put in them. All shelves were cleaned and lined and everything put back neatly. They would stay straight for about a week or two, but we had a difficult time putting stuff up neatly. So, in a week or two they would be a jumble again until mama had had enough and we had to help straighten them out.

This was not a job we looked forward to, but the house would look so good and smell fresh and clean and we would all collapse from the work. I think the term, worn to a frazzle, fit the situation. Of course, while all this was going on, mama would always cook something really special for us to enjoy when the job was done. It would take several days, but it was a good feeling to see the results.

So, Mama Tootsie, I will attempt to replicate some of this housecleaning. The mattresses and springs will just be vacuumed and some the curtains will just be dusted, but I will try to make you proud while you and Lord look down and smile.

Nuff said,

The Georgia Peach

Thursday's Thoughts

Spring Sights and SmellsDuck Love - Lime Sink or Duck Pond , Adel, GA

Lazy Lady's Garden - Bell Pepper, green and yellow

My Tomato Patch with a few squash on the side





Honeysuckle - It smells absolutely wonderful - a sure sign and smell of spring









Promise of Oranges (notice the busy bee pollinating)








The Duck Lovers stroll to the pond for a dip

Stump beautified by Blue Cornflowers

Gilded Honeysuckle

Bank of Ferns by a quiet stream

Spring is my favorite season for it reminds me that winter is over and new life is abundant here in the south. The bright green leaves of the the trees washed with spring showers glitter in the sunlight and shimmer like diamonds when the breezes pass by. Flowers are budding, blooming and perfuming the air with their wonderful aromas. Even the blooming weeds and wild ferns beautify our world and we know that nothing was created without a purpose by our Father God. I hope you liked the pictures and I will add some more as spring leads into summer

Nuff said,

The Georgia Peach