Fixing an Ant Problem 🐜

Here is a quick tip to help keep ants out of you humming bird feeder. My feeder is hanging on a shepherds hook so the ants have access to it from the ground, they were taking full advantage of it too, this morning it was covered with them! 

I started noticing that the humming birds were not coming nearly as often as before, and wondered if it might have something to do with the ants.  

To fix the problem, I rinsed the feeder and refilled it with fresh sugar water, then I took packing tape and starting with the sticky side out, wrapped the pole with it. Two sided tape may work as well, but I think if it rains I may have to replace the tape, and it would be messy to remove. This way, using regular tape, it will slide right off because it's not sticky on the inside and it only takes about a minute to put on again. 

Here's the pole after I put the tape on. 

 

It was funny to watch the ants after! They would crawl up the pole and when they reached the tape they stopped short for one to two seconds then promptly turned around and headed down again, only to be replaced by another one coming up from behind. I watched, off and on, for around 20 minutes before they started slowing down. It looks like the tape is a big success! :) 

Hopefully the humming birds will start coming back as much as they were before the ant problem! 

 

Spring Cookout

A few weeks back I thought it would be fun to have a cookout. The weather was beautiful and the children were excited, especially about the idea of roasting marshmallows. :) 

Getting all the food together. 

Out at the picnic table.

The fire.

We ate our marshmallows first to give the fire a chance to burn down a bit before I cooked the smokies. :)   Graham was able to join us, which made it even better. With spring planting on the farm he stays very busy and we love to see him when we can. :) 

 

Blueberry Muffins

I mixed up the dry ingredients for these muffins several days ago before realizing I didn't have eggs.  I have a bad habit of not checking to make sure I have all the things I need before starting a recipe. :b  It all turned out well in the end, I bought some eggs today and just finished making them. Here's a plateful warm from the oven. The children are enjoying eating them as I type. :) 

Blueberry Muffins 

1 egg

1 c. milk

1/4 c. oil

2 c. flour

1/2 c. sugar

3 t. baking powder

1 t. salt

1 c. fresh blueberries, or 3/4 c. frozen

Mix together the wet ingredients, set aside. In a different bowl stir together all the dry ingredients. Stir the blueberries into the dry ingredients. Poor the liquids into the dry and mix just until moist. The batter should be lumpy. Fill twelve muffin cups. Bake at 375 for around 12-15 minutes, or until done.

Because He Lives!

 

Loving Mercy

"To love mercy is to find it delightful to extend compassion where religion would judge and walk on by. Mercy sees the need for patience, for sympathy, for longsuffering, for suspension of retaliation and rejection. Mercy is putting others before your repulsion and disgust. Mercy is having pity, compassion, and understanding. Mercy is a willingness to lay down your life for another. Mercy is responding in a positive manner first, and then, if you have to judge, doing so with humility. Mercy is seeing each person as a soul destined for eternity. It is caring deeply enough to pray, and looking for any way possible to lead them to the right path....God says...[we are to] “love mercy.” -selected 

"He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" Micah 6:8

Looking Forward to Doing some Organizing!

For what seems like forever I've had the idea to organize my kitchen cupboards.  I just never took the time and I was a bit frustrated because I didn't have the items I needed. I very rarely make it into town to just to shop,  small children make it difficult to go by myself.  In any event, it was one of those projects that I kept putting off.   I wanted a few lazy Susan turntables for the spice cabinet, and under-shelf baskets to hold other items as well as a few more space saving shelves. I finally took the time to look online and purchased the things I needed, and they have now been arriving in the mail. 

Some of the under shelf baskets. 

Lazy Susans!  I ordered these off Amazon.ca the large size was expensive, but after looking other places and getting frustrated by not finding what I needed I went ahead and brought them. If you live in the States you can get them for around half the price of what I paid. With our low dollar it wasn't worth it for me to buy them on Amazon.com after the conversion and shipping. 

Hopefully I can do some before and after pictures of my cabinets soon! :) 

Little Cats

Its been fun having a few new kittens on the farm. :) 

Pretty cute

Yesterday, was the first time we took them all out of the cat box to play on the grass. The children and I had fun watching them explore. :) 

 

Caramel Pecan Sticky Buns

A few days ago I thought it would be good to try making some sort of cinnamon rolls.   After searching Pinterest, I settled on this recipe : Caramel Pecan Sticky Buns.  They turned out good!  The only things I was a bit disappointed in was that they seemed to dry out quickly, and the caramel was too hard after they cooled. They were wonderful fresh and warm from the oven though. :) 

Kneading the dough.

Ready for the first rise.

Rolling out the dough, with help from some of the children. :) 

Yum! 

The finished buns after I had flipped them out of the pan they baked in. Yummy! :)  If you make this recipe be sure to remove them from the pan while they are still warm, otherwise the caramel sticks pretty bad. 

Hope everyone is having a good Tuesday! :) 

 

Loving, as He Loved Us

"A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another."  John 13:34

"In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.  Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another." 1 John 4:9-11

I Just Want to Thank You Lord

"In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." 1Thes 5:18

"O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever."  Psalm 136:1

I was thinking about this song this morning and thought I'd post it here.  I have so much to be thankful and grateful for!  There have been times when feel things are not going how I think they should be, and I will start dwelling on the negative things, instead of looking to the Lord Jesus, and being thankful for all the wonderful blessings around me.  I'm glad for God's mercy toward me each and every day. He is so very good!

"It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness." Lam 3:22-23