Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop # 82

 

 Welcome back to the Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop now it its 82'nd week and growing!

This is the place to get your farmgirl fun on! 

 The ORIGINAL Farmgirl Friday is hosted by

 Heidi of My Simple Country Living,

Dolly of Hibiscus House and yours truly.

It's been a crazy week due to the presidential election and the no-name Nor' Easter we've been having the last couple of days. Once again those of us on the more northern stretch of the coastline have been spared. Despite more fallen trees due to the very high winds, rain and power outages we are holding our own! Here's hoping our south coast friends are making their way through and will be in the comfort of their own homes with power soon! 

MaryJanesFarm has created a Hurricane Sandy Disaster Relief Fund! 

Do a little shopping with MaryJane and the proceeds will go directly to the fund to help those harshly effected but these devastating storms.

Now, on with the hop news!

Thank you to all who come by and link up every Friday!

Here are your top three from last weeks hop! 

Manuela from A Cultivated Nest shared some fun and Frugal Christmas Gift ideas like making your own gift baskets or cookie recipes like the Gingerbread Playdough pictured above!

The Homesteading Wife shared how to make great garden soil with old coffee grounds!

And last but not least Maple Grove featured her Snowmen in a Jar that last all year round'!

Now, it's time to do it all over again!  
 Here are the rules for the Farmgirl/guy Blog Hop!

1.) Write a post about your farmgirl lifestyle and brag a little about your farmgirl talents while your at it! Share what being a farmgirl means to you. Include lots of photos of your farm, crafts, animals,  quilts, home decor projects and thrifty make overs, your backyard garden, chicken coop, recipes, studio or workshop. You get the idea!

2). Leave your entry in the  Linky tools space to your  Farmgirl Friday post.

3). Please include the Farmgirl Friday button ( or link back here ) in your post and remember to share this hop with all of your blogging friends!
4.) Enter up to three entries per hop! 

 DON'T BE SHY~  

Be sure to leave a note if you're new to the hop!

We want to get to know you better! 
Have a great week and I'll see you on the hop!
Thanks to all who participate and welcome new linker- uppers!

An HONEST to goodness COTTAGE kitchen

Don't you love that timer? Those numbers are large enough to read no matter what your vision challenges are and when it rings it sounds just like an old dial up telephone!

Not much has changed in our cozy cottage kitchen over the last 23 years. And that's a good thing! I've brightened the walls with an aptly named Kayak Yellow paint, changed the window coverings from dated slate blue cafe' curtains with ruffles, to something a little more SEA worthy. Recently I stripped off the old bright blue contact paper ( CIRCA 1970 something ) that covered the warn out, marked up  AGED TO PERFECTION wooden counter tops along with the character and memories of  previous cottage dwellers. Now, glass stains cuts and dings shine through!

Walla! No more icky, sticky contact paper!

It was during our most recent stay that I casually mentioned to our daughter how much I love cooking in our cottage kitchen. With out hesitation she replied, "that's because it's an HONEST kitchen mom, you know, it's humble ".  I thought, she's right! It's a bare bones kitchen.

We manage to make the most of  the fact that we have no running hot water, microwave or electric coffee pot. You won't find an electric mixer or can opener either. With it's 1950's Hoosier cabinet, four burner gas stove, hand- held cheese grater, egg beater and bottle opener we do quite well.  A tea kettle which does double duty heats water for doing dishes once a day in the old farmhouse sink and again at bed-time for washing- up cottage style!

Nope, I don't think Coastal Living will be knocking down our door anytime soon for a glossy magazine spread on how we live the " modern  cottage lifestyle ".  

Our frig is half the size of our roomy side by side at home yet we manage to create some tasty, good for you too meals with only the bare essentials on hand.

These cute dishes were a  thank you gift from my cousin and her hubby after they joined us for Memorial Weekend a few years back and these vintage melmac/melamine dishes have been in this cottage as long as we have.  

Storage is at a minimum, with one set of open shelves for dishes and another for dry goods.

( How bout that mix of organic and not- so organic food on my shelves? )  With two hungry teens and two er...uh... middle aged adults in the house I'm just more mindful of what I'm putting on the table these days. 

I'm adding more fresh fruits and veggies to our diet and choosing organically produced food more often too!

I've found it's much easier to make slow changes than to toss your old UN- healthy ways overboard all at once! Call me a late bloomer with the whole organic idea...I've always "gotten it " and I've made several half - hearted efforts at it over the years. Maybe it's just a combination of a new phase of life and more time on my hands but this time around I'm having more fun experimenting with new recipes and products since I discovered Mary Jane's Farm, the everyday Organic life-style magazine. She just makes it so EASY! 

I arrived at the cottage prepared to try some new healthy and wholesome recipe's for my family.

I was feeling very inspired armed with my new Budget Mix and the FARM KITCHEN special recipe issue! I won't keep you in suspense any longer...

From the Farm Kitchen Special Recipe Issue book I made the Strawberry Scones but substituted with some plump and juicy blueberries I had on hand. YUMMY.

Do you see what I see? Someone stole a blueberry right off the tip of a scone!

 Now how am I supposed to look like a professional magazine stylist if I'm missing a blueberry?

 I couldn't resist trying this simple cheesy oven baked Pan Bread topped with some spicy pepperoni!

The Get Acquainted Sampler Includes:

1 Farm Kitchen issue of Mary Jane's Farm magazine

1 Box Organic Budget Mix, Unbleached White

1 Box Chill Over Powder

1 Farmhouse Organic Red Pesto Pasta

1 Outpost Organic Kettle Chili
 

It's worth every budget minded penny you'll spend and the recipe book will have you jumping into your fall cooking early!

Do you like a good  INSPIRING story? Read about Mary Jane's Historic Flower Mill.  

You'll just feel better! I promise!

Deborah Jean

Happy and Healthy cooking to you from

 An HONEST to goodness COTTAGE kitchen 

Do you have an HONEST cottage KITCHEN? I'd love to see it!

Link to this post or send me a photo!