Apple pie baked over a fire

One of my favorite cooking methods is over an open fire, Today I decided to make an apple pie in my dutch oven!

This is the oven over the bed of coals

Here is the finished pie!

I used to do alot of cooking over a fire, It really isn't all that hard, it just takes a little longer and it is alot hotter!
but, the food comes out wonderful and has a better taste than it does from a conventional oven.

For baking I use a three footed dutch oven and get a good fire going, once I have enough coals I then pull the coals from the fire and place them on a pile on the ground where the dutch oven sits and then put coals on top the lid.
I elevate the food I am baking on a wire frame to get a good air flow around it.
for this pie it took about an hour to bake and came out tasting perfect!

First Broccoli Harvest!

Broccoli harvested from our garden, the first of the season!

All organically grown!

I cut the broccoli up and added it to penne pasta with diced cucumber, fresh peas from our garden and fresh herbs also from my garden, then I covered it with sweet vidalia dressing.....The only thing missing was some good homegrown tomatoes!

A walk in the park

We had a rain storm come through this afternoon and cooled things down a bit, so we decided to get sandwiches and have dinner by the river.

After we ate, we all went for a walk in a local park

We had a great walk except for the mosquitos!

We found this guy on the side of the path!

It was a nice evening away from the house for a little while, now everyone is just relaxing and the dogs are sleeping!

Thief in the hen house!

When I went into the chicken coop tonight to collect eggs and secure the chickens....I found a thief!

All curled up in one of the nest boxes, caught red handed!

He had several big bulges in his belly and yolk dripping from his mouth!

I called Alan down to the barn to apprehend the felon

court was held, the jury... Robin and Myself voted for execution but the high court... Alan, ruled against us and decided that this egg bandit should be banished from the land and so Alan took the snake in custody... inside of a cooler, to a land far, far away... well, actually about five miles down the road and released him.

I hope that is the last we see of him!

No chickens were harmed, just robbed or their eggs!!!

My Birthday

Yesterday was my Birthday, the big 4.0.

We went to my Moms river lot for a get together, we had Hamburgers and Hot dogs on the grill, potato salad, baked beans, deviled eggs and more!

We made home made cherry vanilla Ice cream with the cherries we had picked last week!


Mom made two cakes that had a blackberry filling and coconut frosting!
After we ate we all sat around the camp fire and enjoyed some good company while others played a few games.
We talked and visited until midnight!

Thank You Mom, I had a great time and all your work is greatly appreciated!

Today is my Daughter Amanda's 20th Birthday!!!
Happy Birthday Amanda!!!

Fathers Day annual Picnic

We had our annual Fathers Day picnic yesterday, I didn't get as many pictures of all the family that I wanted because I was too busy talking to everyone!

My Dad at the Grill

Ryan and his Great, Great Grandma!

My Step Mom, Cousin Buffy, her daughter and my Grandmother

Playing pass the cup, we had alot more people playing than this,

I started taking pictures after I was eliminated.

Volley Ball

Ryan enjoyed the playground!

Robin, Ryan and myself at a campground we stopped by on the way home!

Everyone had a good time, we had great food, games, swimming in the pool and visiting with Grandparents, Parents, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins!

Sweet Cherries!

I went Saturday morning to pick cherries,

I picked 3 gallons which gave me;

9 quarts and 1 pint

with enough left out to eat and to make home made

cherry Ice Cream!

I would liked to have more but,

the cherries are expensive at $ 2.25 a lb for pick your own!

The Garden is Growing!

The garden is growing very well, we had a heat wave come through early this year with 100 degree temps so now I don't have any more spinach but everything else is growing great!

Tomatoes

Flowers on the Tomato plants

Peas

Potatoes in the front and Broccoli in the back

Broccoli

Zucchini

Cucumbers

Chives and English Thyme

Herbs in containers.... Mint, Dill, Summer Savory and more Thyme.

Sweet Basil, Lemon Balm and Coleus

I planted 52 seeds of bush beans but only 5 have germinated, I'm not sure what I did wrong... we had ALOT of rain though and I think that might have been part of the problem. The Spinach bolted and now I have to do some research to see what I can plant in its place!

Everything that I have growing right now, I started from seed!

To me it is exciting to watch my garden grow and I enjoy the time I spend with all the plants, there is just something very therapeutic about working in the garden!

Gone Fishing!

Last night we were invited to a friends house for a cookout and to do some fishing in their pond, It was Ryan's first fishing experience and he had a great time, fishing and watching everyone else catch fish!

Alan fishing in the pond


Robin casting her line

Robin caught the first fish of the evening!

One of the Sunfish Alan caught

My first fish of the evening

Sun Fish

Ryan's very first fish!


Alan helped Ryan with his fishing but let him cast the line out and reel it in, Ryan cast out twice and got a bite immediately each time!

Our final count came to twelve! a few small mouth Bass and Sun fish!... Not bad for a few hours of fishing and socializing with friends!

Guess whats on the menu for dinner tonight?!

Big Black Snake

We decided to camp out on our property this past weekend and while we were sitting around enjoying a nice camp fire, Trevor noticed that we had a visitor.

Trevor holding the Black snake

Closer view of Alan holding the snake

Robin checking it out

Alan guessed the snake to be over 5 feet long

After everyone was done looking at it and taking pictures, we set it free in the woods.

Black snake or not you will not find me holding it, but it was neat to look at it anyway!