Entering The Christmas Zone!

It’s that time again!

Gearing up for Christmas!

🙂

Thanksgiving is over, Black Friday and Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday have all passed without further ado! Now is the time to think about the reason for the season.

LOVE!

Brrr, baby it’s cold out there!  I need hot chocolate. (I love hot chocolate!)

Cup of hot chocolate with whipped cream (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Here’s a  quick  holiday idea for making gifts teachers, friends, etc. My kids love  this hot chocolate mix.  Adapted and tweaked from Grandma Dot’s recipe to…

Evie’s  Hot Chocolate Mix!

1 – 8  ounce jar cocoa powder

1 – 8 quart package  non fat dry milk (about 10 cups)

1 -16 ounce package sifted powdered sugar (about 3 -3/4 cups)

1 -10 ounce jar powdered non dairy creamer

Optional * pinch of cinnamon and whipped cream or marshmallows. I like to add a peppermint stick to my gifts!

My grandson, Justin doesn’t like cinnamon so I just add it to my cup!

~ In large bowl mix all ingredients except optional items. Store in airtight container. For one serving add about one fourth cup hot chocolate mix to one cup boiled water. Let cool before drinking!

Last year for teachers and friends, the grand kids and I did Rudolph Hot Chocolate Treats .

For over a year I have pinned these holiday ideas, and here’s the mother load! I thought maybe you would like to check out my Pinterest board full of Christmas ideas.

Many are do-it-yourself, easy decorations, crafts, and ornaments that will make your holiday brighter.

Enjoy and don’t forget to follow Evie’s Gardens here and on Facebook!

Thanks ~ Evie

Related articles

• 4 Secrets To A Well Stocked Holiday Pantry (designmom.com)
• Christmas Ornament Craft: Recycled Snowman (inspiredbyfamilymag.com)

Inspired Again!

Every day something inspires me to do better. Pinterest boards inspire me to do so much more… I love the hints, tips, and recipes!

Hot chocolate, anyone?

Last year while living and spending time with two of my favorite kids, we  looked on Pinterest to make Christmas presents for their teachers. We decided  to make our own Rudolphs!  After seeing  hot chocolate gifts, we started with a basic hot chocolate mix and did our thing.  This is the end result! We had fun making all them all.

You can use store-bought mix, or just comment and let me know, I will send you a link to the recipe that I have tweaked and used for years. It’s G’ma Dot’s!

Check it out… there are lots of inspiring links on my Pinterest boards. People inspire me to do crafty things around this homestead!

My friend and auxiliary sister turned eighteen recently. She inspires me!

Always amazes me to see a lady (Yes, you are a lady!) at this age, knowing what she wants from her life, and making to effort to do the best she can.

I get inspiration from those who supports our military at this young age and doing good for others,  when most are concentrating on the fun side of life.

The auxiliary I belong to… you inspire me, sisters!

Thank you for your service and your friendship!  I hope what we do helps someone along the way!

If you would be interested in joining the cause, check out www.ladiesauxvfw.org

Will you be my inspiration tomorrow? Looking forward to finding out.

My sister-in-law inspires me. Happy birthday, Evelyn Kay Thompson. Sharing her world tomorrow, maybe. 🙂

Have a fruit filled day! ~ Evie

Related articles

• What Inspires You? (eviesgardens.com)

Every Day I Am…

If you spend a lot of time nurturing and tending your garden, you will understand what I mean when I say… every day I am shoveling, trellising, pruning, fertilizing, watering, transplanting, etc. You kindred gardening spirits will get it when I say I love it!

Grab your favorite beverage and follow me as I go through my day! I promise it will be informative, though tiring!  God knows I am tuckered out afterwards and we all are getting older by the minute!

Strawberries, oh, so sweet fresh from the patch… are you with me?

5 AM -ish. Alarm! I mean, rooster! George is already crowing, telling me to get up.

I stumble out of bed, into the kitchen, make coffee, and check in with Facebook!

I give all my peeps good wishes and catch up on my notifications.

Oh, wait… first, I ate breakfast, (quinoa,) and drank  more coffee! (Great start, great day!)

I spend the next few hours doing the above… shoveling, planting, watering, mulching, etc.

English: Quinua (Quinoa) plants near Cachora, Apurímac, Peru. Altitude: 3800m Deutsch: Quinua-Pflanzen (Quinoa) in der Nähe von Cachora, Apurímac, Peru. 3800m.ü.M. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Fast forward. About one o’clock  the smarter half of my brain said, “Eat! Woman!” (Notice the punctuation!) I decided I should (eat), so I stopped long enough to make (and eat) a sandwich.

Sit + eat + surf web = me

Last year on Pinterest I pinned this site and I discovered this wonderfully versatile, high protein, low starch; eat for breakfast, lunch, or dinner; food spelled quinoa, (pronounced keen-wah)… which I love. This is my best food find of the year or maybe a lifetime!  It’s almost as good as chocolate. You should try this!

No, I am not affiliated with the quinoa industry. I checked the web for info on growing this seed, and put together a Quinoa board on Pinterest! Lots of good links here!

By the way, quinoa is great in a meatloaf sandwich! Paula, did you know you were eating quinoa in that sandwich? 🙂

I did plant seed! They are already about two inches tall! If you’re interested in locating the seed, leave a comment below!

Needing to watch blood sugar levels, I limit my sugar intake. I have heard about the stevia plant for several years and want to learn more.

Still at the laptop, I searched for stevia. I am growing this plant, too!

I realize there is a controversy about this, same as with saccharin back in the day. I am learning more about stevia!  Supposedly it is sweeter than sugar, but doesn’t affect your blood sugar. I’m thinking, oh yes, sweet tea for me again!

I learned this tidbit about growing the plant. Pinch the top leaves off so the plant will spread. Lots of other species of plants will bush out if pruned this way, too.

Outside again, I prune stevia and pineapple sage. (And then I dug, watered, planted, fertilized some more – you know!)

I filled and started the dehydrator! It’s great for drying stevia and pineapple sage for later use. It’s doing that for me as I work. I love multitasking!

Now the next time I harvest these two plants, I plan to make jelly! I pinned this yummy sounding recipe for Pineapple Sage Jelly from the Herb Companion. Can’t wait to try it! I did make  four jars of strawberry orange marmalade yesterday, yum!

Outside, it  looks like grasshoppers are having a feast on my Mirandy rose-bush. Back to the computer for pest control info.

My Pinterest board on Pest Resistant links

Tiny Farm and Garden has a great post today about controlling garden pests the natural way!

My chicks loved the stinking hoppers. I think they were singing Party Hopping In The Yard Tonight as they were shuffling!

Hey, Fern! Grasshoppers! Come on! It’s a line dance… shuffle, shuffle!

Rose, Dorothy, and Blanche all tuckered, too, after eating all those hoppers!

The evening sun is sinking low, my blessings are calling… and it’s time to raid the garden for stir fry!

God bless you, have a great day, I’m glad you stopped by!

Evie 🙂

Related articles

• WHFoods: Quinoa (healthfire.wordpress.com)
• Stevia (theingredientdatabase.wordpress.com)
• Cancer loves Sugar (biosil.wordpress.com)

Mint

When Jennifer was referred to me as to the person to go to about the herbs she wanted to grow, first, I told I would re-pin some pins from my boards.

Then, I thought I should write my post about it, and share it with more of you.

So here goes.

The first herb I want to share is Mentha, also known as mint. There are many types of mint from apple to wooly,  probably  a lot more that I don’t know about. It smells good, it is wonderful to cook with, and it’s good for your health!

Mint is very easily rooted, just top it off leaving about four leaves and a couple of leaf joints below that intact. Stick it in the ground, making sure the bottom leaf joints are buried. Keep moist and it will root. It will also root if you pull up a stem, strip most of the leaves and bury it sideways, shallow. Actually it can be very invasive, so be careful!

Personally, I love it as a ground cover, and I don’t care if it spreads. In fact, on any given day, you might see me tucking some in the ground, spreading that joy around!

Mint thrives in partially shaded, moist soil, but also does well in the sun.

If you don’t want it to spread, bury a twelve inch deep barrier of some sort in the ground between your plants and where you don’t want it to grow. Mint makes a great container plant.

I love to brush across it and spill the fragrance. I am particularly fond of chocolate, lemon, and pineapple mints. What am I saying? I love them all. Spearmint, peppermint, the works.

Basil is even related to the mint family, and just as easy to grow.

Most prefer using mint leaves fresh, but you can dry them also for teas, potpourri, and other uses.

I harvest mine by cutting the tops off with a pair of scissors when it gets taller than I want it. This makes it bushier and it seems to spread faster! Some say harvest twice a year, some say harvest throughout. I do it when it is convenient for me.

Grab sicssors and cut a handful of peppermint with stems and leaves. Bunch together and turn  the bundle upside down. Secure with a rubber band, or whatever you use. (I use clean pantyhose cut in one half inch circles from the legs of the pantyhose.)

Hang upside down to dry in a dry place. It doesn’t really matter where. Dry them over your kitchen sink, in the window, in the pantry… just so it’s a dry place. When  completely dry, store in a airtight container.

Here again, frugal me… I recycle Folger’s coffee cans.

Mint is repellent to many pesky insects. I keep it in my cupboards to repel mice. Some say ants don’t like it. On my DIY board there is instructions for making your own insect repellent using peppermint essential oil.

Here is a link for making your own essential oil with herbs. Sounds fun. Maybe when I get back home I will attempt this.

I do enjoy cooking with peppermint oil, and always have some drying for uses around the house. I love peppermint tea.

Come on over, I will make you a cuppa! I’ll even make you a peanut butter sandwich!

Wikipedia has quite a lot  about mint, so instead of repeating what they say I will link you in!

If you have any good tidbits about mint, please share in the comments.

So what do YOU want to know about next?

God bless you and have a great day!

Related articles

• Growing Mint Plant: How to Grow Mint Herb Organically (growinganything.com)
• Peppermint phyto-power! (diabloclinicalresearch.wordpress.com)
• Essential Herbs: Lemon Balm (showmeoz.wordpress.com)
• Mint Jelly (thedailymeal.com)

Hi, It’s Just Me!

For those of you on Pinterest… just thought I would introduce myself and share a  few flowers in Evie’s Gardens! For those of you who read my blog… I  am back!

If you follow me on Pinterest, and wonder who I am and why I pin such diverse objects, let me introduce myself.  I’m Evelyn aka Evie. Passionate about life in general, I wear many hats. A gardener and crafter at heart, I incorporate both.

My yard and greenhouse are usually full of handmade, recycled, DIY objects. My many family members and my friends are the perks in my life. I enjoy making peanut butter sandwiches… aka… random acts of kindness.

I started this blog last year, then my computer crashed. My daughter was diagnosed with lymphoma and my husband was diagnosed with skin cancer. So… the blog was put on hold.

Unfortunately all of my Evie’s Gardens files were lost when my computer crashed. So I must start over. 😦

Computer is fixed. Life goes on. (Still haven’t retrieved all my files, but we are working on that.)

My news years resolution was to embrace the life God has given me, to live it, love it, and laugh and enjoy it and definitely be thankful for it!

No worrying about what ifs, no dwelling on why I didn’t. To do what I am led, no questions asked!

This is  my granddaughter Ashley. I have challenged her to eat healthier.

We’re working on this! Click on the picture and see what Doctor Oz says about healthy foods!

ft

We are making healthy choices this year!

When cancer strikes your family you question your mortality. We have a challenge to eat healthier! We are doing this daily in the choices we make!

Let's get healthy!

If my grandson Cooper can hoola hoop, I can, too!

My daughter Mirandy received the results for her pet scan. Halfway through chemo, the cancer has shrunk in half! Yeah, I’m praising the Lord!

Team Mandy

 This is my daughter Mirandy (front row – center), her family, my son and his family, and me!

This guy on the right is my husband. At this time I am staying with my daughter in IL while he remains at home in OK.

We are just a small part of Team Mandy. There are so many who support her through this battle in her life. We had t-shirts made as a gesture to show her we care, and they are proudly worn in Illinois, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Arkansas! Go Team Mandy!

Even though we are having some bumps in the road, life is not going to get us down! We are fighting like a hoot! (Mirandy, aka, Mandy’s nickname)

I Pinned This!

I tried out the aluminum foil ball for the dryer that is supposed to get rid of static electricity. It didn’t. If anyone else tried it and it worked, tell me what you did right and what I didn’t!

If you would like to follow me as I go through my life in Evie’s Gardens… jump on board.

I’m you will find something that interest you, whether it is gardening, spiritual, crafts, food, DIY, kids fun, or just some good humorous fun! Please get involved!

Glad you dropped by.

Today I just wanted to introduce myself.

Hope your day is blessed beyond belief! ~Evie

In remembrance of  MLK… “Faith is taking the first step, even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”~Martin Luther King

Related articles

• The Flowers In God’s Gardens! (eviesgardens.com)
• First Times… A New Chapter In Life (eviesgardens.com)
• Life Is What It Is! (eviesgardens.com)