GA Peaches make the Best ~Peach Butter~

For seven years I have been using the The Dillard House Cookbook, from the famous Dillard House Restaurant in Dillard, GA., to put up Peach Butter!!  My Granny gave me the cookbook one summer on her way back from the mountains.  She is no longer with us making the cookbook even more special to me. I remember when I was young going to the Dillard House with her and my Grandpa and having the best time.

I love this recipe because 1. IT’S REALLY GOOD, 2. IT’S REALLY EASY, and 3. IT’S REALLY GOOD & REALLY EASY!!  lol!!

I love to put this up in the summer and then give it as Christmas presents.  Put a pretty fabric over the top, tie a ribbon around the lid, make a pretty tag to attach and viola you have a special gift.

 peaches peeled and pitted, ready to be cooked

Peach Butter – The Dillard House Cookbook

• 4 cups of peeled, pitted peaches
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 box Sure Jell
• 5 1/2 cups sugar

Cook peaches until tender.  Bring peaches, lemon juice, and Sure Jell to a boil.  Add sugar and cook until thick.  Pour into hot sterilized jelly jars.  Clean rims thoroughly.  Process.  Yield: six 8 ounce jars

Hope you get a chance to enjoy this sweet, southern, pleasure!  I love putting things up in the summer.  And this recipe is always a huge hit with everyone.

God is good…..ALL the time,

~jct~

Sweet Prizes from the West

At the beginning of June, my in-laws took a trip out west.  Seeing all the wonderful places and history of our “old west”. 

One of the things the kids told them before they left is to make sure they brought back prizes!!  Lol!  My youngin’s wanted to make sure Grandma and Da didn’t forget about them!  Like that could ever happen!!  So yep they all got a prize from the west! 

Whit loves his Indian feathers and drum set!  That was a HUGE hit with him……and the girls!!  He is just too precious marching around the house in his outfit!!  Sweet memories!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The girls received these beautiful dolls from the Indian reservation, along with silver and turquoise earrings.  Just what little girls want!!

So needless to say Grandma and Da did not forget the kids and their request for prizes!

After they got home and got settled in, my Vera wanted to stay the night with them for several nights in a row.  I think she was afraid they were going to leave again.  Sweetness!!

We are so thankful Grandma and Da are back safe and sound.  And there are no trips in sight!  Sweet!

God is good…..ALL the time,

~jct~

~~Flashback Friday~~GA YF Conference 2010

My babies

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Young Farmer Conference 2010 ~ Lake Blackshear, GA

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What a great weekend of fun and fellowship we had with fellow farmers and their families.  God is good….ALL the time!!

~jct~

it’s go time!

~my farmer n me~

The last few weeks our area has been very fortunate and blessed to have been getting so much rain.  We are very thankful for the showers of blessings upon our hay fields.  Now because the showers have subsided that means……it’s go time!!

Just like most farmer’s productions, when it’s time to harvest…it’s time to harvest….go time takes precedence over everything.  It has too…it’s our way of life.  Thankfully we have had a few good weeks in between cuttings so we’ve been able to get the equipment and fields ready. So the CT is at it again.

  Hay cut

This week my hay man has been hard at it working more than 15 hour days.  But that’s just par for the course.  We feel very blessed to have our fields, equipment, and guys going in full swing.  God has richly blessed us!!  I always tell Cory that he and God work really well together because they make some beautiful hay!!

So for the next few weeks we will be in go time mode.  CT will be working really hard and I’ll be keeping the home fires burning (if you will).  With the kids home they have to keep really quiet some mornings so that Daddy can get some extra rest and be ready for the late nights.

I of course love going to the fields with the kids and taking pictures.  Next I want to share a video of the tractors running in the field.  It is amazing at how fast they run!  There is nothing like it and there is nothing like the farm life!

God is good…….ALL the time,

~jct~

SOAP 1

Scripture:  James 3:16, “For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.” NIV

Objective:  Negativity come in all different forms.  Are you going to allow it to take away a precious moment or more away from you?  One thought of negativity can allow us to lose focus of the REAL promises of God.  These can allow anger, rage, jealousy, etc. to grow and destroy.

Application:  When you feel a negative situation coming on step back and examine your heart.  Ask God to show you His desires and His power in helping you overcome this emotion.  Submit to God and let Him take over.

Prayer:  Father, today when those negative emotions want to seep their way into my life I pray for your POWER to overtake me.  May your words of wisdom and grace overcome me and allow the devil’s work to dissipate from my world.  I love you Father, thank you for your unending love!  Amen.

God is good…..ALL the time,

~jct~

fiSHerMen and WomEN in the MakiNG

 

Me and the fish hunters

I am very blessed to have two brothers who adore my kids.  And spoil them.  And love them too pieces.  That being said, my youngest brother, Uncle Bubba, is the fisherman of the family and bless his heart goes whenever the tractor isn’t calling. 

My girls have been after Uncle Bubba for AWHILE to take them fishing….and since the girls asked they got it!!!  Uncle Bubba got the boat and their Daddy got them fishing poles-pink ones-too cute!!  LIl’ Bubba, aka Whitman, also got him a fishing rod…a little green one that was too sweet!  We got our bait, drinks, ice, and we were ready to board the boat.  I was equally excited because I hadn’t been out on the Gulf in along time.

It was a ReEL fun afternoon!  Uncle Bubba took us to all kinds of trout holes.  The kids were “reel” excited to each catch their own fish!  Whitman was a little on the skittish side of the fish once they were in the boat.  But he was all about catching them.  He was too funny!!

The fishin’ crew

 

 

 

 

 

Sissy and Daddy showing off her trout!

 

V-Bug showing off her trout with her Daddy!!

It was a great trip with lots of great memories.  We can’t wait for many more memories Uncle Bubba and Daddy put together!!

“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”  Matthew 4:19

God is good….ALL the time,

~jct~

Fourth FUN

Granny and her babies in the Cedar Key 4th Golf Cart Parade

What fun we had on the fourth this year!  LOTS and LOTS of FUN!!  We started our day out with the golf cart parade around the island of Cedar Key…we’ve been participating in this for years…and the kids really enjoy it…OK, OK, so do the adults!!

We loved our golf cart this year that Daddy got us!  It was perfect for everyone to ride on!  She was nick-named “the limo” by all the kids!!

Another fun thing we did for the fourth was spend time with cousins!  Aunt Sarah had us all over to her house for some “4th cupcake decorating” fun!!

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~~ firework fun ~~

Our family is very grateful for the men and women who have served and continue to serve our country, fighting for our freedom.  I know the 4th is to celebrate our country’s freedom but let us not forget the greatest freedom that ever was…….our freedom from sin. 

Hope your 4th was as special and memorable as ours!

God is good….ALL the time,

~jct~

Birthday Fun, Fun, Fun!!

 

Around the house I try to make our baby’s birthdays as special as they are.  And this time of year two of my luvs have birthdays less than a week apart…so its party time at the house.  Vera Kate is so sweet to have shared her party with her little brother.  Whitman has never known any different….and I don’t think he really cares at this point!  But I love this time to share these moments together…..it won’t always be this way.

Usually I have someone make my cupcakes or cake for my kid’s parties.  BUT since we have a BIGGER kitchen now I can finally have the room to store and keep cupcakes.  I love to bake cupcakes and I love ‘lil cupcake toppers (they are so cute and easy at the same time).  The cake toppers adorned the cutest little fish, the age, and child’s name.  And the cute little cupcake holders were this sweet fish paper in blue, pink, and green.

The Birthday Babies

A June birthday just isn’t any fun without some kind of water…..the heat is almost miserable in south Georgia.  So we are very blessed to have had a waterslide.  The kids AND the adults all enjoyed it to a T!!!  Slide, slide, slide.  It seems we slid the enTyre weekend……well I guess we did.

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(I found this in my drafts….oops….guess I forgot to post!)  We still had BLAST!!

God is good…..ALL the time

~jct~

A Peaceful Place

Since I was a little girl, our family has been taking regular trips to a unique, little, island off the Gulf.  You see, my Granny and Grandpa Folks had a place on this beautiful piece of heaven.  She was raised there.  So it was convenient to just take off and go there, but also meaningful.  This beautiful, quaint, fisherman’s village, is known as Cedar Key.

Throughout my entire life if ever I needed a place to go……a peaceful place…..it was Cedar Key.  If ever a friend or family member was in need of a peaceful place….the family always made it available for them.  Now that I have a family and live so far away from my peaceful place its hard to make time to get there.  Thankfully every 4th of July our family congregates there.  Not just for family fun, fireworks, fishing, and the golf cart rides, but for a peaceful place.

We all farm in my family.  My dad and brothers have peanuts and a hay business.  While we have our hay operation.  This is a busy time of year….very busy….for all of us.  Even if our get-away is only for a few days, our peaceful place allows time for rest and rejuvenation.  I LOVE our peaceful place. 

 

This was our view from the porch….love, love, love it!!

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  Matthew 11:28-30

God is good………ALL the time,

~jct~