Christmas in the bayou

In Lutcher, Louisiana, (which is where I am originally from,) we have a special Christmas tradition for lighting Santa's way on Christmas Eve. We build huge unique Bon fires on our levees that boarder the Mississippi River. The construction of these elaborate Bon fires begin at the end of November. The residents build Bon fires in the form of swamp cabins, castles, tanks, or whatever floats their boat. On Christmas Eve night around 7:00 pm we light the Bon fires to light papa Noel's way through the bayous. In the bayou papa Noel doesn't have a sleigh of reindeer instead he arrives in a pirogue driven by gators. Papa Noel uses this method of transportation in the swamps and bayous of Louisiana because according to legend and history the reindeer refused to go through swamps and his sleigh was too big to navigate the swamps. Many of the original settlers would build homes in the swamps and lived on whatever food the swamps provided. There are still homes and camps in our bayous and swamps that are very much inhabitable and to many living in the swamps as their anscetors did is still very much apart of every day life as well as tradition. With the lighting of the Bon fires to light the way there is yet another tradition, the festival of the Bon fire. Being Louisiana we tend to find any reason to throw a party. So the festival of the Bon fires began. On this night everyone and their families come out to do a little celebrating while lighting the Bon fires on the levee. We come together as a community andput differences aside and pass on the tradition to our kids. 

The Tea Party

Since being with Sean the last couple of years and us moving onto  our farm, I have grown a lot as a person and have been thrown into a pleasantly strange new little world. While Sean seems to have grown up in a family that has a bit more social standing than mine, I have realized that I'm not completely out of place.  Keep in mind that neither I nor Sean have ever come from money although neither of us have ever really wanted for anything.

My grandparents, like most peoples grandparents who came up during the great depression, had a classy refinement that would be hard pressed to be found in the younger generations. My grandmother, who to this day has always had an Audrey Hepburn quality to her, tried her hardest to teach me proper manors and how to be a lady. My Grandfather, who seemed to have a clark gable refinement to him even when hunting and fishing, always tried to teach me to be smart and tough. I think my Grandfather won out as I grew up a tomboy. Always wanted to go fishing and hunting when I was little. My Grandmother use to try and talk me out of fishing but would give in as it was more lady like than hunting, which I was never allowed to do.

My mother, as well as my grandparents, has always worked but my mom has never been an outspoken person where my aunt, her sister, has always had a refinement that matched my grandmothers and an outspoken wit to match my grandfathers. I myself have always been more on the shy quiet side and always lacked a certain confidence when around others. Although I have mastered the art of "social illusion".  Most people who meet me, even the ones who've known me awhile, don't believe me when I tell them I'm shy.

When I say I've grown a lot since being with Sean, it's true. I've been yanked out of my shell and  thrown into social situations that I'm not use to being in.  One of the things that the Sweeney women love to do and have seemed to make into an art form is to throw tea parties.

When most people think of a tea party they either think of little girls sitting around playing dress up and taking to stuffed animals and drinking imaginary tea from tiny cups. The other image that comes to mind is of old Victorian women sipping tea in the gardens and having idle chit chat and gossiping.

Well, I can assure you that I had no idea what to expect when I was told that I was attending a tea in lieu of a bridal shower last October.

My soon to be sister in law, Bridget, who is also the tea party throwing guru of the Sweeney women , told me that sky and I were to wear dresses and funny hats to the tea. Luckily I had two 50's style sundress that fit both sky and myself and I just so happened to have an old straw sunhat from when I was a kid, Sky had a fedora that just so happened to go perfectly with the dress she was to wear.

Well, the day of the tea party arrived and as always sky and I were fashionably late. I was a nervous wreck and it takes a while for me to get half way descent looking hair.

When we got there, Bridget's living room had been turned into a very formal dinning room. The tables were set with fine china, candles, napkins, silverware, the works. Finger foods were passed around and tea was poured. There was laughter and idle conversations. To me it was something out of the handbook for the rich and social.

As of recently, Sky and I had been invited to another Tea. This one for Sean's grandmother's birthday. This time it was a little less formal but equally as nice. When we got home from this last tea, I had made up my mind that We needed a tea set. I do like to drink hot tea from time to time, but I've never had a "proper" Tea set.


By the time Sean had gotten home from work I was busy studying and shopping for tea sets.
I even read up on the proper etiquette for tea parties. Sean and I finally agreed on a tea set by the time we went to bed, which if all goes well I'll get for Christmas. I even went as far as to take Sky and her best friend Cindy to the English tea room the following Saturday. Sometimes I tend to throw myself full heartedly into things, This whole tea thing is one of them.

In all of my craziness I did learn a ton of new information. Apparently the art of the Tea party is not dead and is actually making a come back. The art of Tea has never and will never be dead in England, mind you. However, it does seem to be making a come back in the southern states. I can't speak for the northern states. 

I will be posting another blog on tea etiquette, for those of you who may be interested and I will try to also post a few recipes on tea party foods.  

Halloween party

Well our first annual Halloween party went over really well. Everyone who came out had a great time and enjoyed great food. However, next year will go a little smoother. We'll have all the decorations up no later than the night before and most of the cooking will be done the night before Or the morning of. For Sean and I Halloween night was hectic trying to get everything done and cooking while people were showing up. Needless to say we had so many leftovers that we're still eating them. 

Halloween at Sweeney manor

This year on the farm, or as we've come to call it "Sweeney manor", we are hosting our first annual Halloween party. We don't seem to have as many Halloween decorations as I remember so aside from buying most of my Halloween decorations to expand our assortment of ghoulishness I found a few diy projects. 

Since we don't have nearly enough decorations for inside as out, I got creative. I remembered that I had an old deck of tarot cards (been having them since highschool) grabbed some black felt large enough for our round coffee table, and while searching high an low for the cards stumbled across an old brass candle holder that Sean had and a pillar candle that I bought recently. So all I did was lay out the felt, place the cards on the felt( 7 lined face up and the rest face down spread out), placed the candle holder and candle on the table and presto simple diy creepy Halloween fortune ( or misfortune) telling table complete ( as pictured above with effects added).The only thing I'm missing is a crystal ball:) 

My next diy project was a ghost :

I used a styrofoam head

Cheese  4 large layers of cloth 

Glue

Modgepodge

eyeshadow

Fishing line

Basically, you glue the cheesecloth to the styrofoam head in a cross pattern. One strip unfolded goes on from the front of the head to the back. The next strip goes on from ear to ear. Next you glue on the two other strips where there is room on too of the head. Let glue dry. Then cover the head and face with the modgepodge. Once dry attach the fishing line through the top of the head for hanging. Finally add eyeshadow to the eyes and highlight the nose, cheeks and chin and add color to the lips. Let dry completely and you're ready to hang.

My next project was the guest bathroom:) 

While the shower curtain, the toilet cover, and the mirror cling are obviously store bought, the bathmat and guest towels are painted by hand..... Literally. 

I saw the bathmat done up and for sale for 27.00. That was way too much to pay for a bathmat. So I went to dollar general and picked up a bathmat for 6.00. Already had the red acrylic paint and also purchased the towels for about 2.00 a piece. All we had to do was put the red paint on our hands and feet and go to town:) so we did. I was also able to make a tablecloth for our outdoor BBQ table the same way using a plastic tablecloth we got for a dollar at dollar general. These are great for adding a bit of gory slasher fun that kinda has a very Norman bates feel to it ;) 

My other favorite, is "mr. Creeper". 

He's almost as simple as the bathroom. All we used for him was an upright wooden coat rack, Sean's old black cowboy duster, some old shirts and rags for stuffing and an old goofy mask. Really anyone can make mr. Creeper. He's actually one of the best props we have at Sweeney manor. 

Halloween lantern

A quick inexpensive way to light your path on Halloween. Mason jars are so versitle they can be used in so many ways. We had done some mason jar lanterns for sky's 12th birthday as part of her Rustic themed birthday party a couple years ago and I've decided to repurpose them for Halloween. 

All you need is mason jars

Copper wire

Votive or tea light candles (flame or flame less)

Water color paint

Wrap the copper wire around the top of the mason jar creating a handle.

Use red paint to create the blood drip on the jar

Let dry and place the candle inside and you're done. 

Super simple lantern for Halloween either for the little ones to carry on their hunt for treats on dark Halloween nights (for this use led candles) or to light a pathway. 

Simple Halloween decoration

All you need for this cool decoration is some Spanish moss and two ravens or crows. 

Take the Spanish moss and create a nest around the chandelier or wherever you're using it and then attach the ravens or crows with floral wire to make them stand up. 

Simple, quick, and super easy:) 

Quick and easy pumpkin bread

Makes two loaves.

3 cups of sugar

1 cup of cooking oil

4 eggs

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

11/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

2/3 cups water

1 15 ounce can pumpkin

Grease the bottom and sides of two 9x5x3 inch loaf pans and set aside.

In a very large mixing bowl beat sugar and oil with an electric mixer on medium speed. Add eggs and beat well. Set aside. 

In a large bowl combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Alternately add flour mix and water to sugar mixture beating on low speed after each addition just until combined. Beat in pumpkin. Spoon batter into prepared loaf pans.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 55-65 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.

Cool in pans until completely cool. Remove from pans and serve

Halloween preparations

It's never too early to plan for a Halloween party or to welcome the changing of the seasons. 

This year we are hosting our first annual Halloween party on the farm. If we had thought of it sooner I would've started planing back in July, but as it goes we're starting now. Since this is our first Halloween party on the farm we're starting off kind of small..... Meaning lots of people and a small amount of decorations. 

Since Halloween is about fun and mischief and things that go bump in the night...for most people ,We've decided the creepier the better:) but we have not forgotten the more traditional reasons for Halloween. It's a time to honor our loved ones that have past and to include them in our gatherings on Halloween. It's also a time to welcome the fall and ask for blessings over our crops and livestock to be fruitful in the coming year. 

With all of that in mind we're incorporating a little bit of everything into out Halloween festivities this year.

 A quick and very easy DIY decoration 

Idea that can be used year round and can incorporate any season, mine are in honor of the coming fall,are homemade broomsticks;) 

I happened to see this cool little set of very long dried grass and wood chip flowers and decided it would make a perfect broom and started looking around for a "broom stick" and found these twisted bamboo looking sticks which went perfectly. 

Basically to make the broom all you need is:

Twine

Something stick like that is sterdy 

Long grass or very fine wooden sticks

And flowers

To make the broom place the bouquet on top of the sticks and bind the very top of the bouquet onto the sticks with the twine tying the twine into a knot to secure it. Next take a small length of twine and tie it to the top of the stick making a loop for a hanger. Super simple and takes all of 10 minute to make. 

Most craft stores should have similar bouquets like the one pictured above and those fun long twisty sticks used in floral arrangements. 

Another cool decoration idea, if you have a fireplace, is candles. I found some black candle holders at hobby lobby that have that antique rustic look to them and some deep red pillar candles. 

These give an elegant touch to any fireplace, but on Halloween with a little cobwebing it'll have a creepy yet elegant feel. 

When decorating for a Halloween party it never hurts to use your own furniture in the creepy decor. For example if you have an old grandfather clock like we do 

( kind of odd to have a grandfather clock in a mobile home, but then again I've always called this place my doublewide mansion.) feel free to put cobwebs all over that bad boy, and don't forget to add some to the inside ( provided it's not so old that your fiancé who is sometimes like a bull in a china store hasn't broken the key in two and you can still open the clock). Also winged back chairs and even lazy boys can be made to look creepy so use them. 

 

I've also ordered a couple of animated props from spirithalloween.com

This website has everything for a perfect Halloween party. Personally we had to have the animated antique doll that roams around and because my daughter loves to "sew" her mouth shut (just a fun little creepy makeup thing she's come up with using string and glue) we also had to have the evil rag doll that  consequently sews her mouth. 

I also found a three tiered planter that I will be using as a food tray and as a centerpiece for the table. 

It was one of those things that you're not looking for and happen to find that just happens to be perfect for Halloween, but can be used even for a southern springtime tea party when dressed up with some bright flowers. 

The next thing is food... What to serve your guests. 

This year I will be making pumpkin bread as one of my finger foods. Pumpkin bread just screams fall and Halloween and oddly enough thanksgiving. 

The recipe I use makes two loaves and is super simple. I'll put this recipe, and other recipes I mention  up in another post. 

The next thing I will be serving is a bat ball. Basically it's a cheese ball with blue tortilla chips for wings and olives for eyes. I don't currently have a picture of this but I will post one closer to Halloween. 

We will have finger sandwiches,a veggie tray, and some devilish deviled eggs. 

Since we have a pile of logs that need to be gotten rid of we're also planning to have a bonfire complete with hot dogs and toasted marshmellows. Along with whatever other creepy goodies I can come up with:) 

Hope this gives all of my wonderful readers some good ideas for any fall and Halloween preparations this year :)   

Healthy back to school snack

Looking for the perfect back to school snack for the kids? Here's a great recipe for even the pickiest of kids and a great idea to preserve your tomato harvest....if there's any left to save:)

Homemade sun-dried tomatoes!!!!!

I found this recipe the other day and even though I'm not a fan of tomatoes,unless they're in salsa or tomato sauce, I found that I was unable to stop eating them. 

This recipe is so simple it's a wonder I hadn't tried it before. 

All you need is:

Tomatoes (any amount you'd like )

Brown sugar

Olive oil ( I use homemade herb infused 

               Olive oil but any olive oil will do)

Sea salt

Dried hebs (optional)

Non stick baking or cookie sheets. 

Preheat oven to 225 degrees 

While the oven is heating, slice the tomatoes lengthwise. Place in single layers on the baking sheets. Once the tomatoes are on the sheets add salt to taste, drizzle the olive oil over the tomatoes, sprinkle with brown sugar and your dried herbs if using. 

Place in oven and bake for about 5 hours. check the tomatoes at 2 hours and flip the tomatoes over sprinkling with a little brown sugar as needed. 

At the 5 hour mark take the pans out. If done the tomatoes should be dried and slightly crunchy. If they still look a little on the juicy side you can put them back in for another hour or two but make sure bit to burn them. 

Once all the tomatoes are finished let cool about 5 minutes and serve or store in an air tight container or ziplock and freeze. 

Been busy

I know I've been away from the blog for a little over a month now, but we've been pretty busy lately. Aside from working on the farm we have two other houses that we're trying to fix up so we can get them on the market to sell. As far as the farm goes the vegetables and trees are doing beautifully although we lost our avocado tree do to too much water last month. Our strawberries are pretty much finished for the year and our tomatoes are out of control with their production. The herbs are still doing very well and the mint has exploded and is growing faster than I can clip it back. We've produced the best tasting squash and have watermelons still on the vine. 

We also have two does that frequent the property, twitchy and peanut. Peanut likes to graze through the garden from time to time and just today I figured out why we hadn't seen much of twitchy in a while. Twitchy is a momma. I was watching some survailance video from our cameras and saw twitchy grazing through the front tree line and noticed something following her. Well at first I thought it was a smallish dog stalking her, the footage isn't that great, until she crossed our driveway and a few seconds later this cute little fawn jumps out of the tall grass plays in the driveway for a second or two and playfully runs off after twitchy. Sky and I decided that the new baby is to be called sprite since she seemed to be so playful. 

Summertime canning

June and July are two of my favorite months in the garden. The blueberries are in full swing and either just right for harvesting or just about right depending on the blueberry bushes you have. On the farm we have two different types, couldn't tell you the names lol, but one type gets ripe berries in June and the other in July. I am not expecting a big blueberry harvest this year since my blueberry bushes are still young yet, but I have been getting a few. 

Also, the wild blackberries are continuing to ripen daily around the farm. I love blackberries but I don't love their thorns. Earlier in blackberry season we managed to pick about 8 cups of blackberries before I kind of have up:) all of the blackberries we have on the farm are wild, which means they're all in the woods. That's great and all but the Mosquitos are a pain in the neck literally and then you have to watch for ticks and snakes. I haven't given up totally on blackberry picking, simply because they're there and they're free. I'll be picking more again soon. 

With all of the summertime blooming of fruits, vegetables, and berries it's no wonder that the summer is also canning season. Lately I've been steadily canning anything and everything I can get my hands on. So far I've done blackberry jam, berry wine jelly, salsa, tomatoes, mint jelly, red pepper and garlic jelly (which tastes like sweet and sour sauce), red onion jelly, lavender wine jelly, orange/ pineapple marmalade, and have also made two herb infused oils. I haven't even touched my yearly flavored syrups yet but that will be coming shortly. 

Vacation and the farm

Trying to get vacation time is hard enough, but when you have jobs,a farm,and animals to take care of it's even harder. On Monday and Tuesday Sean decided that we needed a mini vacation. So, we packed up the truck and picked up a good friend of Skylar's and Sean's mom and went to Biloxi. The five of us had a great time. The girls stayed with Sean's mom at one of the casino hotels and Sean and I stayed in one of the other casino hotels. The hardest part of this trip was the planning. We could leave mini monster (the cat) home alone for days with enough food and water but we can't do that with jack(the dog). So, we had sky's boyfriend zack take care of the animals while we were gone. The other thing was what to do about farm itself and all of the plants and trees. So again zack came to the rescue and took care of the farm for us aswell. 

While having a 16 year old boy take care of our beloved pets, the house, and the farm made me very apprehensive I'm glad he came through for us and he seemed happy to help out. 

Ordinarally I would've brought jack to my moms house and have them take care of jack for us while we were away. Jack tends to be somewhat of a handful at times and I guess my biggest worry about having zack take care of him was that jack would act up or get loose while zack was taking him out.

We are currently scheduled to take another mini vacation sometime this month, but this time it'll just be Sean and me. I'm looking forward to it and even though it's just for two nights I'll have to decide what to do ,not only with sky, but with jack as well. Sky's wanting to stay home for those two nights and she's old enough and responsible enough to do so, but we'll see if I let her stay home. 

Attempted murder and a creepy pasta

The title of this post sounds like the plot or title from an Alfred Hitchcock movie, unfortunately, however, that is sadly not the case. I write this post today in light of a senseless tragedy that took place over the weekend in Wisconsin involving three 12 year old girls. According to the news articles I've read about this case two of the 12 year old girls had planned to kill their friend, also 12, by stabbing her to death during a sleep over at one of the girls houses but then changed the plan and instead brought her to a wooded park area and took turns stabbing her there all because of a popular creepy pasta character named slender man. The two girls who were arrested both seemed to feel or acknowledge some degree of remorse for what they had done, with one stating that neither could go through with the act at first and then one of the girls saying that part of her wanted her friend to live. The 12 year old victim thankfully survived and is, at last news update, in stable condition.

I only know about the slender man stories and the creepy pastas because my very creative daughter, Skylar and her friends, love to read all of the creepy pastas, including the ones about slender man.
I find nothing wrong with the creepy pastas myself as they are creative and no worse than kids telling scary stories at a slumber party. One of the guys who hosts a creepy pasta website had said in a written statement on his site  that he started his site for writers so that they may  improve their writing techniques and styles. He then noticed that not only were young adults enjoying the stories posted but also teens, so he used his website to also help teens become interested in reading and help them to improve upon their writing skills as well by allowing them to send him stories they had written themselves and would critique them giving helpful hints encouraging them to improve and only posting certain ones to the site.  

Being that he knew that the creepy pastas may not have some parents approval, whether due to story content or character portrayal and violence, he writes in his statement that he had gladly helped many parents to block his website from their children, when a parent would email him on how to do so. 

I mention all of this because the media and the general public, including the two 12 year old girls who committed this heinous act of violence toward their friend, are all looking for someone to blame and unfortunately in this case the blame will not fall entirely on the two girls, nor their parents, but sadly on fictional stories about very fictional characters and events.

As history has shown us time and time again, when there is no one to actually place blame upon due to our fear as parents to say hey, maybe I was a bad parent, or maybe I really should have been paying more attention to what my child was doing or who they were talking to, or I should've been more vigilant and then I would have noticed odd behavioral patterns in my child. Or us as a society that can't be accountable for what is taking place in our country and to admit that we as a society have failed our children in more ways than we can count, or even to place blame upon a child for what atrocities they may have committed because it is too unbearable to think that someone so young could be so cruel and ruthless, and never ever admitting to ourselves that their innocence has been replaced with cruelness because of what we as a society have taught them.  We place the blame squarely on the shoulders of inanimate objects, guns for example, someone's ideas, whether in movies or music, or the creative scribbling's of an imaginative mind. Simply because we cannot face our inner demons and admit that maybe, just maybe we as a society are to blame.

As a mother, I take great pride in my child. I strive as any good parent would to push her in the right direction both in school and in life. I let her be her own person and even though we may not always see eye to eye on everything, I at least know that I've instilled within her good moral and family values, to be a strong person, free thinker, a good friend, and to accept other people for their differences, and to stand up for her peers that may not be strong enough to stand up for themselves. I have never really had to worry about what Skylar reads or what she looks at online, or even who she talks to or hangs around. I give Skylar the trust that she earns. I have never had any false pretenses about Skylar making mistakes, because everyone makes mistakes everyday. I also never had to worry about her not knowing the difference between fantasy and reality.

I am not a  perfect parent by any means, nor is Skylar the perfect child...... not even close. Skylar and I have come to the comfortable understanding that both of us are still learning. I'm still learning how to be a good parent, even though she's 14, and I still have a lot of learning to do as each day is different and I never know what is going to come out of that child's mouth at any given moment or what she may get herself into, and Skylar is still learning about the harsh realities and great pleasures of life. How to become her own person and learning who she is and who she wants to be.


Here at Sweeney's Farms and Orchards, lovingly referred to as simply "the farm", our hearts and prayers go out to the family of the courageous 12 year old victim, the victim herself who has a very strong will to live and a guardian angel protecting her. Our Hearts and prayers also go out to the families of the two girls who committed this horrible act as I'm sure this is not easy for them to have to go through and live with. Prayers also go out to the two girls who committed this crime in hopes that they will fully understand the error of their ways.

I would  like to take this time to remind everyone to spend more time with their children and pay better attention to what goes on in their child's lives. What happened to these three girls was a very preventable and horrific tragedy.

 It is not for us to find and place blame where there is no fault. 

Lavender Wine Jelly

 

This wonderfully fragrant jelly is a lost treasure and perfect for Springtime. The blend of herbs and lavender compliment each other for a uniquely delicious jelly that is reminiscent of Victorian springtime picnics.

 

2 cups dry white wine

2 combined tbsp. of fresh lavender, sweet basil, lemon thyme, pineapple sage, cinnamon basil, and rosemary. 

2 cups granulated sugar

1 pouch liquid pectin

 

 

In a large sauce pan combine the wine and herbs. Bring to full rolling boil over high heat. Remove from heat, cover, and let steep for 20 minutes.

Transfer to a dampened jelly bag or sieve covered with dampened cheesecloth over glass measure. Let drip undisturbed for 20 minutes or until you have 1 3/4 cups of infused wine.

 

In a large sauce pan over high heat combine infused wine and sugar stirring constantly. Bring to rolling boil that can't be stirred down, add liquid pectin and boil hard stirring constantly for 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Quickly skim off foam, and ladle into hot jars.

Process in water bath canner for 10 minutes.

Chocolate Mint Jelly

While I'm relatively new to the whole Jelly making process, I find it fascinating. To read how to make certain jellies, it sounds like a long drawn out process, but in actuality it's as easy as making tea.

One of the herbs I planted on the farm this year was Chocolate Mint. Chocolate Mint is one of my all time favorite herbs to grow for no other reason than it's flavor and fragrance. I read recently that chocolate mint is named more for it's chocolaty purple colored stem more so than it's flavor. I tend to disagree as the author of that article must not have ever tasted chocolate mint fresh off the vine. Chocolate mint has a strong mint flavor with a notably soft chocolate undertone that mellows out the strong mint flavor for a delectably unique taste.

Since Mint will grow like wild fire in any garden, yard, or farm once planted it's always a good idea to make use of the abundance of mint leaves.  Mint has a few good uses for all sorts of things. It's used in marinades, meat rubs, desserts, jelly and most commonly tea. It also has medicinal uses. A great example of this is using mint leaves to settle a nauseous stomach or to settle the nerves.

So here's how you make Mint Jelly:

You will need 1 1/2 cups firmly packed mint leaves

2 1/4 cups of water

2 tbsp. lemon juice

3 1/2 cups of sugar

1 pouch of liquid pectin

damp cheesecloth or jelly bag

food coloring


Wash mint leaves in cool water. Shake off excess water and finely chop the leaves.

In a large stainless steel pot, add water and mint leaves. Bring to boil over medium - high heat. remove from heat, cover and let steep for 10 minutes. Pour liquid into a damp jelly bag or sieve lined with damp cheesecloth set over a large glass measure. Let drip until you have 1 3/4 cups of mint flavored liquid.

In a deep sauce pan add mint flavored liquid,lemon juice, and sugar. Stirring constantly bring to a full rolling boil, that can't be stirred down,over high heat. Add in pectin and food coloring and continue to boil hard for 1 full minute. Remove from heat. Skim off foam and ladle into hot jars. Seal jars and process in water bath canner for 10 minutes.

Putting the Farm to work ?

After giving away a couple of jars of my apple butter, strawberry Jam, Cherry Chutney, and Orange Pineapple Marmalade to a few people to try or as gifts, I've had several requests to start selling them.
I've been contemplating the idea for a little while now and think it's a great idea. It's also an opportunity to put our farm to good use aside from providing for our family and just selling our fruits and vegetables. The hardest part of selling my canned foods is coming up with a logo and labeling the jars. I've found a few good websites for the jar labels and for making a logo, the problem is I can't decide on the logo and need to find someone to make ingredient labels for the back of the jars. The easiest part of this is that we grow most of the fruits and vegetables here on the farm. I'm still contemplating the idea and gathering as much info as I can get my hands on and thinking up a business plan. I do think this would be a great opportunity to make a little extra income for us, but I guess I just need to see how it goes first and not bite off more than I can handle. 

Strawberry Jelly

 

Strawberry Jelly is a tasty treat for the whole family to enjoy!!!

 

 

Directions:

 

3 1/2 cups Fresh Strawberry Juice for Jelly

 

1 Package regular powdered fruit pectin

 

4 1/2 cups granulated sugar

 

 

To make the Strawberry Juice for Jelly :

 

Gently wash and drain  3 1/4 cups of strawberries, handling carefully to avoid juice loss. Remove the stems and caps. In a large sauce pan combine the strawberries and just enough water to prevent scorching, about 1/4 to 1/2 cups of water. Bring to boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently. Reduce heat, cover loosely and boil gently, stirring and crushing berries occasionally, just until the berries are softened, about 5 to 10 minutes.

 

Transfer strawberry mixture to a dampened jelly bag or strainer lined with several layers of damp cheesecloth set over a deep bowl. Let drip, undisturbed, for at least 2 hours or overnight to collect juice.

 

Once you have all of your juice, place the juice in a deep saucepan. Whisk in the Pectin until dissolved. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring frequently. Add sugar all at once and return to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil hard, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Remove from heat and quickly skim off foam.

 

Quickly pour hot jelly into jars leaving 1/4 head space. Wipe rim and place lid and band. Tighten Band until fingertip tight.

 

Process in water bath canner for 10 minutes 

 

 

 

The Crazy Cat Lady

We've all heard about, or seen first hand, the Crazy Cat lady. She's usually old and unmarried and most often relatively reclusive, but how did she become the Crazy cat lady? I'm sure she started off with one or two cats as pets and couldn't turn away a stray preferring to be in the company of cats rather than the company of man, But is that the whole story or how it even began?

Since we've moved to the farm and inadvertently adopted the neighbors cat Big Ben, we've noticed more and more cats showing up. Tiny was the first to show up after Big Ben. Tiny belongs to the same neighbor as Ben but was the reason Ben preferred to stay at our farm. Tiny had a bad habit of beating Ben up and stealing his food. When tiny shows up we keep her occupied with a very small amount of food so that Ben can eat in peace and don't really give Tiny any kind of attention. We prefer to give Ben all of our affection as he's adopted us as much as we have him. From time to time we've also had a large long haired charcoal tabby with the cutest face a cat has ever possessed. He doesn't ever seem interested in a food hand out and too skittish for any kind of contact. We've also noticed a black and white cat on two occasions in the driveway that never gets closer than 100 feet of the house and seems to only be passing through. There's also the large orange tabby that seems to stay in the back close to the deer trail running at the sight of anyone. As of yesterday, we now have a skittish calico who is small and beautiful. She was looking for the Hand out of food we give Ben. She won't let you get anywhere near her but I did spot her sneaking onto the porch last night looking for anything Ben may have left. Of course if Ben doesn't finish his food we do bring his bowl and food inside, I'm not feeding every cat in the neighborhood after all.

Like I've told Sean, when I'm out in the country I seem to have the ability to attract every animal, domestic or wild, within a 5 mile radius.  I'm not sure why this is but I've been that way my whole life. On the two acre farm I lived on previously we had wild rabbits and raccoons. The wild rabbits would come running toward me from out of the woods as soon as they heard my voice or saw me. they use to stay by feet and eat from my hand whatever grasses I had picked. I really don't mind the cats, but I do miss my rabbits and raccoons.

way too much time on their hands

Recently I was reading a yahoo article about McDonald's new mascot "Happy."  Now I know McDonalds and other large businesses are constantly marketing and promoting their business and products and everyone and their brother will have something to say about it, but is this really news?

It seems to me that people have WAY too much time on their hands and not nearly enough going on in their on little lives when they're all in a frenzy over a cartoon character that is suppose to promote good health and fun, not saying that McDonalds if ever a healthy choice in any situation.

The problem with "Happy" is there is a major debate on, of all things, whether or not he's creepy. The debate has nothing to do with whether the food he's promoting is healthy or not for the kids, or if he's trying to teach children a lesson on healthy eating and good hygiene habits with his white teeth and thin arms and legs. Maybe even trying to send a message with his sneakers that making healthy choices, eating healthy foods, and getting out and being active and getting exercise is enjoyable and fun and can make you "Happy."

Sadly, no, the debate is on whether or not he's creepy looking. The worst thing of all is that all of the major news stations, not just the tabloid and gossip news for idiots, has picked up and reported on this new advertising technique. Apparently this cartoon mascot is more news worthy now a days then what is going on in the world. It's a sad day when you realize that people everywhere are so petty, immature, and uneducated and have nothing better to do with their time, that the most important thing in their lives to talk about is whether or not a cartoon is creepy.

Welcome to "Idiocracy".......... where we all sit around saying real slow "I like money"

Illusions or delusions on the farm

Since being on the farm I've come to realize that things aren't always as they seem. For instance, when the neighbors decide that target practice should last all day on Saturday and Sunday, it's hard to pin point a particular direction from where the gun is being shot and how close the shots are to your proximity. This is a very common occurrence in the country that I've been fully aware of for a very long time and it still sets me on edge, not mention, that if you need your target practice to last two full days from sun up to sun set then you're a crappy shot, your aim obviously won't ever improve, and more importantly you're wasting bullets.

What I didn't realize, simply because it's never happened to me before, is that things such as animals are completely misconstrued visually and it doesn't matter whether it's full daylight or dark out. Let's take Big Ben for example, He's a fairly large house cat. We're use to seeing Ben all the time, but every now and then, even if we were just playing with him and he walks off, he can look like a small to medium sized dog even if he's just a few yards away. More recently there has been a large orange tabby slightly larger than Ben, that I'll spot close to the back tree line where we have a large pile of cut pines and a large section of clay that had been spread out. Upon first spotting this cat, she looked to be the height and size of a cougar. Only After going outside and towards her did I clearly see the huge height comparison, of course looking through the camera lens I could tell by her head that she was a regular house cat, hence the reason I walked outside and toward her.

Last night, while trying to figure out what jack was acting up about, I took the flash light out front and swept the area in front and on the sides of the front porch seeing and hearing nothing. So, I go back in and shine the spotlight out of the back window and see what appears to be a small coyote running through the yard to the tree line. Now there's a couple things that told me mentally coyote. Number one, size, number 2, color, and number 3, his tail was straight out and fluffy as he ran. So I grab Sean and out the backdoor we go with spotlight in hand. I trained the spotlight on the tree in front of me seeing the tell tale glow of eyes in the brush underneath the tree. We got closer and the animal never seemed to move but seemed to be frantically looking at us and watching. I decided to go up front and get in the tuck so I could safely get closer to the animal and to better see what it was. As I pulled up Sean, in redneck backwoods fashion, jumped into the bed of my truck training the spotlight on the animal so I could see better. At this point I got out the truck, walked to the tree line only to realize that it was one of the neighbor's (The same neighbor who owns Big Ben)  larger Chihuahua mix. In thinking this poor dog was a small coyote, we apparently scared this poor dog half to death with the spotlight and the truck. The only thing I could imagine going through this poor dog's mind was that he had just stepped into the movie deliverance and that we were probably nuts.

Solution to high food prices?

Last Thursday while flipping through the guide on direct tv, I stumbled across a program called "Louisiana agriculture." The thirty minute program is basically a news program for farmers about, you guessed it, farming!

 I recorded tonight's show so that I wouldn't miss it. On the show tonight, one of their segments was about the rising cost of food and "food desserts."

While talking about the food desserts in urban metropolitan areas, they made mention of community, school, and small backyard gardens, and how more and more people were planting vegetable gardens. 

The show then turned to focus on the rising costs of food. They interviewed a variety of people at a local produce market in Baton Rouge. I remember one lady saying how just the other day she had purchased a small package of chicken wings for about 12 dollars and thinking to myself that sanderson farms poultry plant, or as sky and I refer to it as the "chicken death farm", is right up the road. 

While I was listening to the interviews and other topics on the program, I couldn't help but think on the topic of high food prices and came up with a solution. 

I understand that gas prices keep rising, which baffles me since Louisiana and Texas are two of the biggest manufacturing ports of oil and gas in this country. I still don't understand, completely, the dependancey on foreign oil. I do understand the greed of the oil companies and our government, but that's a topic for another time. 

So,with the cost of fuel sky rocketing out of control causing the price of food and other essential needs to go up and the "food desserts" in poor neighborhoods and metropolitan areas, the solution seems to be a no brainier.

Aside from buying only locally grown vegetables, fruits, and meat from small local or family farms, which everyone should be doing anyway, we should all be growing,and /or,raising our own food. 

I know not everyone has acrage or even large backyards, but you really don't need them for a simple private vegetable garden or even to raise a couple of hens. 

When you grow your own vegetables, the bennifits really do cancel out any downfalls. Think about it, when you grow your own produce or even raise your own meat, you know exactly what goes into the soil for the plants, where the plants came from, what fertilizers are used 

(Whether chemical or organic), what types of pest control was used, and what, if any, diseases the plants may have had. The same goes for livestock, you know what the animals are eating, if they were vaccinated, sick or healthy, where they came from, how old they were, how well they were cared for and treated, and how and in what manner they died, not to mention the money saved from growing or raising your own food. 

Now granted, you can't live solely on your own vegetables....... At first. You know, there's that whole planting and waiting for the plants to grow stage.Then you have to wait for the vegetables and fruits to start growing and ripening. A person could starve to death while waiting for the garden to grow...lol. 

So this is where buying locally grown food comes into play. While waiting on your garden to grow, only buy from the local farmers market for your produce and if your farmers market has a local farmer selling his/ or her own farm raised meats,eggs,and dairy products you're in luck, if not find a local livestock farm that sells to the public. The reason for this is that, not only are you supporting your local farmers, but the prices are usually better since they don't have high shipping costs tacked on to the price of the food, the food that you are buying is healthier for you, and it's fresher then what is normally found in the grocery stores, God only knows how long those "fresh" meats have been frozen for or if it's been sitting there on the shelf for two weeks because it didn't look bad and the stock crew didn't think it necessary to rotate the stock that morning.its also not usually genetically altered or pumped full of chemicals and steroids. The other best part about buying from local farmers is that 9 times out of 10 you are either buying directly from the farmers themselves or you can sometimes visit the farms where your food came from, which is nearly impossible to do if your produce came from another state or country. 

Basically all of this boils down to knowing where your food comes from, saving money on your food bill while eating healthier, and being (to some degree) self sufficient.

 Remember, you don't need a huge backyard or small farm to grow vegetables or raise a couple chickens. Even if you live in an apartment or condo, You may not be able to grow vegetables outside, but you can grow most vegetables such as tomatoes indoors with the help of grow lights. And unless you have some strange, unrealistic land lord most apartment complexes and condos will allow you to have plants on patios or balconies, although they may not feel the same way about you raising chickens... I'd save that for people who have houses and even a small backyard...lol.

There is NO excuse not to at least grow your own produce. 

Cherry chutney

This is a new recipe I decided to try. Chutneys are actually a member of the pickle family, meaning that they use a combination of fruits, vegetables, and vinegar or citrus juice to elevate the level of acidity of the ingredients allowing them to be safely preserved in a water canner. 

Chutneys go great with grilled meats such as pork,poultry, or fish. They can also be served up as a nice addition to a cheese tray. 

This recipe makes about six 8 ounce jars.

For this recipe you will need:

Cheesecloth ( this can been found at any grocery store in the kitchen utensil aisle)

Water bath canner

Jars with lids

Large, deep stainless steel sauce pot

Jar funnel

4 1/2 tsp Whole all spice

1 cinnamon stick (about 6inches) broken.

10 cups frozen red tart or sweet black cherries, partially thawed, coarsley chopped

2 large apples, peeled, cored, and chopped.

1 1/2 cups finely chopped red or other sweet onions, such as Vidalia.

1 cup white vinegar

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup lightly packed brown sugar

1 1/2 cups rasins

Directions:

Tie the allspice and cinnamon stick in a square of cheese cloth, creating a spice bag.

In a large sauce pot combine cherries, apples, onions, vinegar, garlic, salt, and spice bag. 

Bring to boil over medium- high heat and boil hard, stirring frequently, for 20 minutes. Add brown sugar and stir to dissolve. Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring frequently, until thick enough to mound on spoon, about 20 minutes. 

Add raisins and return to boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Discard spice bag. 

Spoon hot chutney into clean jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Place lids on jars and screw bands on firmly, but do not over tighten. Place jars into water bath canner cover and bring to rolling boil and process for 10 minutes. Remove jars and store in a cool dry place

Easy strawberry jam

This recipe is one of Skylar's favorites, she absolutely loves when I make strawberry jam. The best part about strawberry jam is that not only is it easy to make but it saves you money in the long run especially for those of us with kids. When I make this recipe I usually get a flat or two of fresh strawberries. This seems like a lot since you don't need that many strawberries for the recipe, but I actually use the strawberries in other things not just jam. 

This recipe makes about eight 8 ounce jars of jam. 

Things you'll need:

Canning jars with lids

Funnel

Ladle or large cooking spoon

Water bath canner or a large, deep, stainless steel stock pot.

Jar lifter

7 full cups of granulated sugar

8 cups of whole strawberries (approx.)

4 tbsp lemon juice

1 package ( 1.75 oz) regular powdered

   Fruit pectin

Directions:

Place 8 clean jars in the water bath canner. Fill jars and canner with cool water that reaches the tips of the jars. Cover and bring to summer over medium heat. Do not boil.

Prepare the jar lids. Set the screw bands aside and place the lids in a small saucepan and cover with water. Heat just to a simmer over medium heat. Do not boil. Keep warm until ready to use. Do not heat the screw bands.

Next measure out all of the sugar into a bowl and set aside for later. The sugar is added in all at once, so measuring ahead of time prevents any errors in quantity. 

In a colander placed over the sink wash the berries in cool  running water. Drain thoroughly. At this point you want to hull the strawberries using the round end of a potato peeler or a strawberry huller. 

In a glass pie plate or flat bottomed bowl, place strawberries in a single layer and mash with a potato masher, or with your hands if you're like me and are not skilled with a potato masher, crushing the berries and Transfer to a 1 cup liquid measure. As you accumulate each cup transfer crushed berries to a large deep stainless steel saucepan. Repeat until you have 5 cups of crushed strawberries.

Next add the lemon juice to the crushed berries in the saucepan. Whisk in the package of pectin until the pectin is dissolved. Bring to a full rolling boil over high heat, stirring frequently. Add sugar in all at once, stirring constantly, return to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down. Boil hard stirring constantly for 1 full minute. Remove from heat and,using a slotted spoon, skim off foam. 

Lastly, using a funnel as to not make a huge sticky mess, spoon the hot jam into the clean jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace.Wipe rims, place lids on the jars, screw on the bands firmly,but not too tight. Place in water bath canner,cover, and Bring to full rolling boil. Continue to Boil rapidly for 10 minutes, starting timer only when water reaches a full rolling boil. 

Finally, remove jars carefully with the jar lifter and set jars on a towel covered counter. Never set hot jars on a cold or unprotected counter as this could result in the breakage of jars due to the rapid temperature change or in burning or discoloration of the counter top.

 

Full moon delight

Last night the moon was full and bright, the stars were out and the light from the full moon lit up the sky so bright that it was like silvery daylight on the farm. My family and I love full moon nights, there's something magical in them. 

With the full moon and warm damp air last night Sean and I decided to go and lay in the hammocks out back and listen to the nocturnal noises on the farm enjoying each other's company and lite conversation, then inside to tell Skylar goodnight and for a little tv before bed. 

Needless to say I didn't get to bed until about 2 this morning slept for an hour and woke up and wandered out the bedroom to find Sean wide awake on the couch still watching tv. He doesn't go to work until tonight but I needed to go to work this morning and needed my "snuggle bunny." Look he has a stuffed chimp to sleep with when I'm not there, all I have are cold pillows....lol. 

After he came to bed I seemed to just toss and turn trying desperately to goto sleep, but sleep seemed to elude me until about 6 this morning. I made sure Skylar was up and getting ready for school went back to sleep for about 15 minutes only to wake up to tell Skylar the time and that it was raining. Once she was safely on the bus I finally fell back to sleep only to be awake at about 7 to Sean coming back to bed.... Apparently he got up at some point. 

The point to all of this is that apparently the full moon and night air reenergized me some how because without much sleep I actually woke up in a good mood an full of energy this morning. Maybe I didn't need much sleep or I'm just sleep deprived and delerious and can't tell the differance ;) 

A new critter on the farm??

Being in the country you never know what may cross your path. We've heard the coyote pack close to the house, we've spotted the deer that I mistook for a brown floppy dog, and I'm sure we have raccoons around and even foxes and rabbits ( not that I've actually seen them....yet), even thought I heard a bobcat the other afternoon. Now rumor has it, ever since we moved to albany a few years ago and every local will tell you, that on the other side of the tracks where we currently live they have cougars and bear. Well there may be something to those local rumors. 

Yesterday, while I was putting groceries away, sky was out back in the garden  playing with Big Ben. Before long sky came running into the house and the first words out of her mouth were "mom, there's a puma in the woods!"  I couldn't help but laugh "a puma?" I asked and in her excited exasperation she replied " cougar, panther, whatever" again I couldn't help but laugh at my teenage daughter. So thinking she was maybe seeing things incorrectly, because I myself have mistaken Big Ben as a small dog on several occasions,  I asked her if it could have been a bobcat. This is usually where she makes a short answer into a long story.  So she proceeds to tell me that she noticed Big Ben get very still and started looking at something intently. So sky was curious to see what he was looking at and followed his gaze to the back tree line which is approximately 250 feet away from where she was standing. She said she saw a large cat, bigger than our dog jack with jacks tan coloring. So again I asked bobcat or maybe one of the coyotes. Again she replied no, saying that not only was the large cat definatly a cat, because it looked right at her, but that the marking were not right for a bobcat, the tail was way too long and slender, and the head although cat like was bigger than that of a bobcat. 

For the record, Skylar and I have both been very up close and personal with a couple resident bobcats in the area, so I have no doubt that she could distinguish between the two. So, being that I did not see this animal myself, I have to take her word for it. I do know for a fact that we have a large cat of some sort on the farm. I found its tracks all over one of the plant tarps I used during the last freeze we had. Well, to be on the side of caution, I put a call into Jason's ( Sean's nephew) wife Lindsey,not to worry her but to let her know that there is that possibility of a cougar on our place. I also informed her that I would let her know if we spot any black bears or Bigfoot lurking out in woods on our farm. 

Redneck grass cutting

As many of you know we do not have a tractor, riding lawn mower, self propelled mower, or a weed eater on the farm as of yet, so the grass is high. I do however have a rake which I use to take down the dead hay like grass before planting. This weekend I discovered redneck grass cutting. Sean's nephew, Jason and his little boy Preston, came over to help with our grass situation yesterday.

As it turned out,in a funny coincidence, when buying the farm before I met Sean, our farm backs right up to his nephews house the only division between us is what the locals call blood river, which is more like a deep drainage canal. 

So let me explain what redneck grass cutting is all about. I'm assuming Most you have heard about tractor supply. Tractor supply stores across the country sell tractor and grass cutting attachment for 4wheelers. These are wonderful if you have a large 4 wheeler that works. Well, the redneck version of these implements consists of a chain link fence gate with a little bit of square hole fencing (similar to large chicken wire, three large tires stacked on top of the gate ,strapped down with ratchet straps, attached to the 4wheeler. Now according to Sean's nephew Jason, and I'm not doubting it one little bit, this will cut most grass. 

However, all we succeeded to do was flatten the tall grass on our farm. Which was just fine by me. Now we can actually see any large sticks that need to be picked up, we can see what's in the grass, and I don't have to get completely itchy from the grass sticking me as I garden. 

Jason had also informed us that when we get all the large sticks up and into a pile he would be more than happy to come over with the riding lawn mower and cut our grass until we can get a tractor of our own or until we can get Sean's riding mower fixed, which ever comes first. 

I am so thankful for all of the rednecks in our family and glad that at least one lives right behind us. Which also brings up another project we need to get started on. We need to build a bridge across the river in the back to Jason's house and make a "safe" trail through the woods so that little Preston, who is ALL boy and very adventurous and sweet, can come over and visit his Uncle Donkey whenever he likes. It would also be a lot more convienet for me and sky to go visit Lindsey, Jason's wife, that way I can just go walk through the woods instead of driving over ;)

first pack of the season

How I've missed the sweet sounds of the coyote packs. When Sky and I first moved to Albany,la on a 2 acre piece of land, we had two regular coyote packs that would run through. The packs were small in size about 6 adults to each pack. They always stayed close to our tree lines when they'd move through and their howls and yips were somewhat eerie and comforting at the same time. One morning I accidently mistook a lone coyote for a fox. In my defense the grass in the tree line was really high and I couldn't see his feet and thought he was lounging on a fallen tree trunk. The animal I saw in the tree line watched me slowly closing his eyes unthreatened as I approached him. He didn't seem to care that I was getting slowly closer and seemed to be just as curious about me as I was about him. It wasn't until I was about 10 feet from him that he jumped up and turned to run off deeper into the woods. That's when I realized he was not a fox but a coyote. I probably should've been a little more Leary about approaching a wild animal, but I didn't feel threatened by the coyote in the least and he didn't seem threatened by me at all.

Well tonight was our first encounter with a very large pack of coyotes on the farm. Jack had been acting up like he does when he needs to go out. I had asked Skylar to take him out yet again. She wasn't out there but a minute when I jumped up off the couch and told Sean something didn't sound right outside. Before I made it to the door Skylar was rushing Jack back inside. I asked what was all the noise outside and Sky's only answer was coyotes. So I grabbed Sean and out the door we went with flashlight in hand. Little did I know we were in for a Huge surprise. The coyotes, never seen of course not even the reflections of their eyes, had surrounded the house and were moving through the tree line of the farm. The majority of the pack just off to our left heading toward the front of the farm. Their Howls were so loud it was almost deafening. I heard at least 20 distinctly different howls all sound off at once like a war cry had been sent up. My only thought was that I didn't know where Big Ben had gotten off to and hoped that he had hid somewhere safe. My next thought after the howls had died down was to jump into the truck and to let Big Ben's owner know that a pack was moving through and to check on his chickens. Sadly though Ben's owners weren't home so I left and came back home.

Even though Coyotes can be a nuisance to livestock and to small family pets and small children, I do love having them around. I love their howls in the middle of the night and the fact that they eat snakes. In the years we've had coyote packs move through we've had less problems with poisonous snakes. Of course anyone who owns persimmon trees, probably don't care for coyotes too much since the coyotes like to eat the persimmons. However, the persimmons make the coyotes rather sleepy and a little more docile.

Quick, easy, and Delicious roasted veggies

Now for this recipe I just used carrots, but you can use the same recipe for any vegetable. 

All you need is:

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt 

Pepper

Mixing bowl

Roasting pan or glass Pyrex tray

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees

Clean and wash veggies (when doing carrots peel them a little first)

Cut up the veggies ( when using longer vegetables like carrots,zucchini, squash, and bellpeppers cut lengthwise)

Place in mixing bowl pour in the olive oil.

Mix the veggies until well coated

Salt and pepper to taste

Transfer to the roasting pan or Pyrex

Place in oven and cook for about 15 minutes until veggies are soft but still firm be careful not to burn them. 

As a substitute or for some added flavor you can also add mrs. Dash original seasoning or Tony's Cajun blend. If you have some fresh herbs and spices growing in the garden you can throw in some fresh basil, thyme, pineapple sage, parsley, and oregano.