It's funny the things a person can miss. Five years ago, my family made a major, non-military related move from beautiful Southern Maryland to Northern Alabama. Alabama is pretty, but I have to say that Maryland had a charm that is hard to duplicate. One of the major things I miss in the strong Mennonite influence. The Mennonites I was familiar with in Maryland were Old Order Mennonites, which means that many of them dress and live like the Amish. I never was real clear on what made them Old Order rather than Amish, and I don't really care. Because of their presence, there was a greater emphasis on gardening and food preservation. I had a large garden, and put up alot of food, and what I didn't grow, I could buy at many of the vegetable stands run by the Mennonite community. I have not found anything like that in this area. I try to duplicate the life I had there, but it's just not the same. For example, there are no True Value hardware stores in the Huntsville. I lived within five minutes of one in Maryland, and would go there to buy canning and kitchen supplies that are not available at WalMart. Imagine how happy I was yesterday when I found a True Value (of sorts) in Fayetteville, TN. I made the trip up to the store. It was on the main square and was more like an old time hardware store and a True Value combined. But I was happy because I was able to find this food mill. I'll use it while putting up peach and apple butters this summer. While I was in the store, I found this dehydrator. I had one before, and used it to dehydrate many fruits. One of the kids favorite things was dried strawberries. It's been years since I had used one, and I've toyed with the idea of buying another one for a couple of years. As you can see, I gave in and bought this one (I'm not sure it wasn't a case of temporary insanity). The dehyrator I had used before had a large base with trays that stacked on top. This one is smaller, enclosed and has the heating unit and fan on top. It has a temperature control on top; a feature that I like. Last night I put some blueberries on to dry, and it did a nice job.

Last May I was very run down and sick with walking pneumonia. During a rare doctor's visit, I was dignosed with anemia, and have been taking iron suppliments. While I think the suppliments are helping, I am still easily fatigued. One afternoon, Eric came home with this bottle of liquid B vitamins. He had tried it at work, and it was so helpful that he wanted me to try it. I have used it for three days now, and I believe it is helping. The main thing I notice is a greater mental clarity. I have more energy as well.

Peaches are in season now, and these are from a local orchard. They are really sweet, and I love being able to buy them. I cut up a little over half of these and they are in the crock pot as I type, cooking down into a peach butter. I wish there was a way for you to smell them cooking. It makes my mouth water. Hopefully I will be able to do this a few more times while they are in season.

These are some of the blueberries I've picked from my bushes. The heat and dry conditions have kept the berries small this year, but they are sweet. I used some of this batch to dry and the rest I used to make blueberry pie filling. I want to use the dried berries in granola.

This is a picture of the chicken coop that Eric built last spring. The picture doesn't do it justice. I wish I had taken pictures of it while he was building it. It is portable, and has a mesh flooring to make clean up easy. I took this picture as a thunderstorm was blowing in. Maybe I'll get some better shots in the next few days.

Last year I planted sunflowers. These flowers are volunteers that came up along the edge of the garden. I bought seeds to plant this year, but didn't get them in (being so sick during the prime planting season). I'm glad these came up.

Life is busy these days. I've thought about what to post for a couple of days now, and this has just touched to surface of what I want to say. It's been so long since I wrote anything. I'll try to post again real soon. Until then, I wish blessings on all who read this.