The Queer Singers (Poem)

 

The Queer Singers

By Henry Beer

There are creatures that sing in the lowland,

I know not if they call or they sing,

They live by the rivers and marshes,

We hear them alone in the spring.

The notes are not truly melodious,

Their song we incessantly hear.

And yet, their strange tune is quite charming,

Reviving the heart with spring cheer.

I am at a loss to describe it,

'Tis plaintive, and yet 'tis not sad.

It blends with the song of the feathered,

And makes the heart cheerful and glad.

Their song sounds at times like the bleating

Of lambs far away in destress 

The chorus which they are repeating,

Is a very strange song, I confess.

Just listen when twilight is falling,

You'll hear their weird song in the air,

Their croaking, their bleating, their calling,

Is hard with aught else to compare.

'Tis the song of the frogs in the marshes,

They sing by the pools, - in moist ground.

Among the green cat tails and rushes

The home of this singer is found.

Just think how these queer little creatures

Take part and fulfill His great plan.

They join in the revel of springtime,

And sing there as well as they can.

Sewing This Month

 

What a lovely April we've had! 

I was able to do some of my sewing outdoors this month. Yay! I love being outside, hearing the birds, seeing the flower buds, breathing in the fresh air, and basking in the sun beams. 

It is a real treat!

I had a flannel sheet/blanket that I had bought

 for a quarter at a garage sale years ago.

The sheet just recently got a big rend in it.

I took what was left of the blanket at cut it up

into a whole bunch of "kleenex" and a couple 

cloth diapers. I used my serger to finish

all the raw edges so that they wouldn't unravel.

I have also started a formal dress for my

 little girl. I'm using a deep pink satin from 

my stash. I have cut out all the pieces for

 the dress and the lining.

The sleeves of this dress are called petal sleeves.

You can see the pieces for the sleeves above.

Petal sleeves are new to me, I have never

sewn this type of sleeve before.

I have done a lot of work on the bodice. 

My goal is to have the dress finished by the end

May. I will report my progress.

I hope these posts encourage you to set

goals for your projects and take time for hobbies.

Pruning (Poem)

 Pruning

By Henry Beer

When spring has come and snow recedes,
And the chilling March wind blows,
I go to prune the apple trees,
The grape vine, and the rose.

I prune the trees which are too high,
And such that are too low;
And some have barren rampant growth,
On which no fruit will grow.

Some trees have branches all entwined,
And thus no fruit they bear.
I cut, and saw, and prune them out,
That light may enter there.

The grape vine, too, has gone astray
And far their vines have run;
I hesitate to cut them back-
Alas! it must be done.

I prune the branches of the rose,
Which grows entwined and high.
The rose, when pruned by skillful hands,
More flowers will supply.

My friends, take note, I will explain
A truth profound and rare.
The Master's hand must prune our lives
If we good fruit would bear.

How blest the man who will submit;
He ne'er will suffer loss.
God knows just how to prune our lives,
And cut away the dross.

The barren and the harmful growth
The Master will remove.
He will, by purging of each branch,
His loving kindness prove.

Starting Sourdough!

I am so excited to start sourdough again. It has been many years since I let my sourdough starter die. I am looking forward to using a starter for bread baking again! It is so much fun!

For anyone who is curious about how to start a sourdough starter, this is the method I used.

Equal parts of flour and water are mixed together. It is important to use water the doesn't have any chlorine in it.

I am going to find some rye flour to feed the starter. In the past I have always been much happier with the activity and flavor from a rye flour starter. I looked for rye flour when I was out shopping at Walmart, but they don't carry rye flour at my Walmart. Isn't that just like Walmart? Their selection is so poor.

It the mean time I am using whole wheat flour.

Leave the mixture at room temperature with a permeable lid like a coffee filter or cheese cloth.

Everyday the equal parts flour and water have to be equivalent to the aged flour and water mixture.

Example: The aged flour and water mixture is equal to a 1/4 cup. Add a 1/4 cup flour and a 1/4 cup water. 

Everyday the mixture will double in size. I started with only 1 tsp. of flour and water so that my mixture wouldn't get out of had too quickly, doubling every day.

When my mixture reached 1 cup in volume I dumped out 3/4 of it to reduce the size. I had to do this about every other day. I did not throw this discarded portion away. I mixed it into pancake batter or bread dough.

This mark shows the starter right after feeding.

After two weeks of feeding I was begining to see a good amount of activity in my starter. You can see by the marks on the jar how much it rose after 8 hours and then 10 hours. The peak rise happened at 10 hours and then it began to deflate.

This mark shows how much it grew in 8 hours.

I am pretty excited with this amount of growth. I have been using my starter to make my Multi grain Sourdough bread and it rises superbly! I am so happy with my starter. Everyone in my family likes this bread. It makes good sandwiches; peanut butter and jelly, grilled cheese, and lunch meat. The sour flavor is not over powering with this recipe.

My starter peaked at 10 hours.
 It nearly doubled in size from the wild yeast!

I have enjoyed the process of starting a sourdough starter from scratch. It took about 3 weeks for my starter to fully develop enough yeast to rise bread really well. If you've ever wanted to try doing this yourself I hope I have encouraged you to go ahead and try! It is not anything to be intimidated by and it can be a lot of fun!

The Beauties Of Springtime (Poem)

The Beauties Of Springtime

By Henry Beer

Some people think the springtime 

A seasonable event,

With birds, and bees, and flowers,

Which nature's hand has sent.

To me spring is the season

When Heaven does bestow

On earth it's tenderest blessings,

And causes things to grow.

The Lilacs show their color,

The Cherry flowers are white,

The Apple trees are blooming

With petals sweet and bright.

In marshy vales and meadows,

How lovely to behold 

The Buttercups like sunshine,

Arrayed in shining gold.

And there out in the woodland,

What precious gems we see!

The Adder's Tongue, and Trillium,

And Rue Anemone.

There stands Jack in the Pulpit,

Without a word to say,

And everywhere Spring Beauties

Are growing by the way.

The air is filled with fragrance,

The blooming flowers and trees

Dispense their pleasing odors,

And sweetness for the bees.

The Cardinal and Robin,

The Oriole so bright,

Are singing in the orchard,

A song of sheer delight.

The Meadow Lark in rapture

Goes soaring in the air,

And Swallows in the barn-loft

Their nests of mud prepare.

If things which are created

Are truly fair to see,

How beautiful and perfect

Must the Creator be!

I hope to live in Eden,

It's joys sublime to share;

For it excels in beauty-

It's always spring-time there.

Soil Sterilization Debacle

 

This post is not a tutorial for sterilizing soil. This story is purely for entertainment purposes. You can laugh with me at all that went wrong!

I was excited to start some seeds this spring! I had heard about sterilizing soil in the oven and I wanted to try doing that with my soil in order that I might kill any weed seeds. Soil from the store is already weed free. I have recycled potting soil, though, so my soil was possibly contaminated with weed seeds. 

I dug through our garden shed to find all my bags of dirt. I had this very large, heavy duty, aluminum tray that was also in the garden shed. I thought it would be the perfect thing to bake all this dirt on in the oven.

I brought the dirt inside to my kitchen. It had to sit around for a couple of days to thaw. Once the dirt was thawed throughout I carefully piled dirt onto the giant aluminum tray. Cautiously I lifted the tray full of dirt and took it to the oven entrance only to find that the tray was too wide to fit into the oven. What a pain!

I had to scoop the dirt off the giant tray and distribute it among several of my good baking trays.

I baked the soil at 400°F. for 30 minutes.

The house was filled with the smell of wet dirt. Reminiscent of what it smells like outdoors when it starts to rain after a long dry spell. I can't say it was the most pleasing aroma to fill my house with. Little did I know how much worse the house was about to smell.

I had a lot of dirt to cook. I ended up doing several batches. I scooped the hot steaming dirt into large Tupperware containers and then refilled all my baking trays with more dirt. I was in a time crunch because I had a friend coming over in the afternoon. Maybe it wasn't the smartest move to cook a bunch of dirt before having company over. 

My thought process went like this,

"I don't want this thawed dirt sitting here on the kitchen floor when my friend comes over."

"I must get it all sterilized so that I can put it away before she gets here."

So, now my house stinks and I am having a hard time containing this dirt. It is getting on my table and floor and clothes!

The last portion of dirt that I had to sterilize was mostly peat moss. I didn't think peat moss was much different than soil. I certainly didn't think it would ignite in my oven!

Smoke began to permeate through the house. At first it blended in with steam and went unnoticed. The smell went from wet dirt to smoldering organic matter. Think of musty leaf mulch burning. It was nasty!

I opened the oven to find burning coals of peat moss and waves of stinking smoke! 

I quickly took the baking tray of peat moss outside to the porch. 

I had one more batch of peat moss to put in the oven. I soldiered on! More peat moss on the trays, back into the oven they go. Only 15 minutes this time.

Back outside to check on the tray of burning peat moss. There was a gentle breeze outside supplying my burning peat moss with plenty of oxygen. The flame continued to burn and consume more and more of my peat moss! Agh! 

I fetched a bucket of water and put an end to the fire once and for all.

I hope you take this take into consideration if you ever sterilize soil in your oven.

In conclusion, I was able to air out the house sufficiently to have my friend over in the afternoon. I had a funny story to tell her as I explained why there may be a smokey smell in my house. We had a good laugh! 

All's well that ends well!

Gethsemane (Poem)

 

Gethsemane

By Henry Beer

It was in dark Gethsemane

Where Jesus in His agony

Endured the anguish deep and great,

In view of His impending fate.

On Olive's brow, 'neath shadows deep,

In dark Gethsemane's retreat,

The Master knelt in earnest prayer,

While loved disciples slumbered there.

Gethsemane, O woeful place,

Where Jesus sought the Father's face!

"O take the cup of death from Me,

It's awful pain and agony.

Yet not my will, but thine be done."

This was the plea of God's own son.

None other could for sin atone,

In anguish deep He prayed alone.

The loved disciples did not know

The depth of sorrow and the woe

Which Crist the friend of man must bear

To save us from our dark despair.

Prophetic words must be fulfilled;

The blessed Lamb, as God had willed,

Must give His life upon the cross,

To save us from eternal loss.

And thrice He prayed in earnest tone

In dark Gethsemane alone. 

With angel's help the victory won:

Then Jesus prayed, "Thy will be done."

If we would Christ's disciples be,

Our will with His must blended be. 

Our very self must be o'ercome,

That we may say, "Thy will be done."

As Jesus in Gethsemane

By prayer attained the victory,

So shall we, when we seek His face,

Still find in Him abundant grace.

The Girl's Have Dresses Finally!

 

It took me a while. I didn't finish these dresses in February. I barely finished them in March.

My 20 minutes of sewing a day program gets pushed to the wayside more often than not. I did finish a sewing project in February. What I did was sew buttons onto a shirt that I made for Mr. In The Mid-west years ago. 

This shirt has been sitting in a pile of unfinished sewing projects for over SEVEN YEARS! A long time ago I made matching shirts for myself and Mr. In The Mid-west. But Mr. In The Mid-west never got to wear his because I didn't have enough matching buttons for both shirts. I put the buttons that I did have on my shirt. I wore my shirt out. It was stained and faded. In February I took all the buttons off of my shirt and sewed them onto Mr. In The Mid-west's shirt. It was my Valentine's gift for him this year. I was so happy to see him wearing the shirt I made for him with my own hands. He liked it and even wore it to Church!

 As the month of March drew to a close I began to cram. The last days of March saw me sewing much more than 20 minutes a day. I was determined to finish the doll dresses before April came.

As the dresses got closer to completion it became harder to put them down. I didn't want to quit sewing. I was so close to being able to put the dresses on the dolls!

I finished the last stitches. The final touch was to put the snap buttons on the back. 

The following morning my daughter helped me by posing with the dolls for my Etsy listing. She loves every doll I make. I feel a little bad selling them. She does have her own doll that I made for her a couple years ago, besides the multiple store bought dolls she has. A girl can never have too many doll, I guess! 

Check out my Etsy listing!