Harvest Lane Cottage

If you want to make and eat the very best BLT ever , go read, my husband, Lowell's recipe for onion aioli sauce and how to cook and assemble the BLT. THE VERY BEST BLT EVER   

  Graphic by Twin Creek Primitives Good weekend to you! I am very happy to be spending my Saturday at home this week. I'm just plugging away at some things on my to do list that really must get to done. ~ smile ~ It's a chilly day, just 62°. It's not cool enough for the heater; but, truthfully, I would put my sweater on if it weren't at the other end of the house. I know that if I get up from this computer, I won't get back to it for awhile. In fact, I have just five minutes before I need to help my husband with a project for awhile.  Some of the things that I'm doing today: ~ A little housework and laundry ~ Some reviews on Amazon. Here's my public profile if you'd like to see some items that I've reviewed.  ~ A little writing including this blog post ~ I'm making a pot of black beans and smoked pork for supper. I'm sure I'll make a pan of cornbread to eat with it.  ~ I'm going to spend a bit of time cleaning and organizing my workr...

 Last summer, I began using a random number generator to choose a year between 1969, when I have my first memories, to 2024.  So far, I've written about 1996 , 1998 , 1978 , 2004 , and 1973 .   Wow! I had no idea that this was going to set off a chain reaction of others' memories of the same years.   This time the random number generator chose 1972. I was a little girl then. We lived in Westland, Michigan. It's a suburb of Detroit. We lived in a ranch style house in a neighborhood that backed up to a large wooded lot. To me, it was a forest! The elementary school was at the opposite side of the block. I'll be honest. I was very young. I remember where we lived and things that happened when we lived there, but I went to first grade and part of second grade while we lived there. I could be mixing it up a bit.  Here are some random memories in no particular order: ~ Early in the morning, before school, we had to stand in lines outside the school. We were ...

I love Autumn. It has long been my favorite time of year. We live in Carthage, the Maple Leaf City. Fall means the Maple Leaf Festival and the biggest parade in the four states. Fall means pumpkins! A few years ago, my family lived in the country and had a pumpkin patch. I loved everything about it. I loved seeing the baby pumpkins as they formed and grew. I loved harvesting them. I loved selling them and the craft items I'd made. The name Harvest Lane came from our farm, Harvest Lane Farm. I'd been  Laura of Harvest Lane  online for awhile; so, when we moved to town, we called our home  Harvest Lane Cottage . Autumn is fresh apple cider with mulling spices, chai latte tea, homemade cocoa, soup simmering on the stove, bread baking in the oven, the smells of pumpkin and cinnamon coming from my oven or my favorite candles. Autumn is snuggling up with a good book while I listen to the rain falling outside. Autumn is knitting a wheat gold sweater for my grandson. Autumn means...

  We live in southern Missouri. While not as cold as Vermont, it still gets quite cold here. A furnace or woodstove is necessary. Well, this past year, we didn't have that luxury. Our furnace broke at the end of the previous winter, and we were unable to get it fixed. God was good to us. The insulation that we were blessed with last summer helped keep us warm without the furnace.  We used space heaters, more clothes, baked and sometimes just sat in blankets next to the heaters. I'm so glad we had more than one.  Somehow, God took care of us, even during the sub zero temperatures and wind chills. You do what you have to do, but I must admit, I do hope to get it fixed for this winter.  Whatever comes, God's already there in the situation helping us every step of the way. Laura Trusting God in All Situations

 Hello!      I love fall! It's absolutely my favorite time of year. We had an unexpected 93° yesterday, but we should have cool weather coming in this week. Cool is what I want, not cold! That will come soon enough.       It's time for warm drinks again. That means we use creamer, half and half and cream more often. Dairy's gotten a bit expensive here in Missouri, so I recently found a recipe that makes a delicious, homemade creamer.      My husband likes this creamer in his coffee. I like it in my cappucino (powdered) or my chai latte. I'm not a full-fledged coffee girl... yet. I need lots of sweet and creamy to make it palatable. ~ smile ~     This is so easy to make. You might even have the ingredients on hand. I did.   First, I measured 1 1/2 cups of whole milk into a quart jar.  Next, I added a full can of sweetened condensed milk.      Lastly, I added a tablespoon of vanilla.   ...

"All those golden autumn days the sky was full of wings. Wings beating low over the blue water of Silver Lake, wings beating high in the blue air far above it . . . bearing them all away to the green fields in the South." - Laura Ingalls Wilder By the Shores of Silver Lake

  I'd like to introduce you to a marvelous new book by Ruth Chou Simons:  HOME is RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE, Inspired by Psalm 23. I read Mrs. Simons' introduction, A Word from the Author. It touched my heart. She wrote this for her six sons, some of whom are now adults, to help them remember "that the love and faithfulness of God is incomparable." It's written for adults who may be launching their beloved children into the adult world. It's written for children who are learning the love and faithfulness of God. It is written for me as a reminder of the goodness of the LORD.  The overwhelming feeling that came over me as I read was calmness and peace. The book is written in a poetry format with couplets and rhymes, but I was so enthralled by the author's illustrations, it all just flowed together to form a composite of the love and care of our Heavenly Father. Rather than illustrate the 23rd Psalm, this book brings the principles to a beautiful fruition in the r...