{ Harvesting Pecans }

Typically, we like to get the Pecans harvested as soon as they're ready, which for us could mean middle of October, but usually very beginning of November.

However, with all the craziness happening around here, it is not something we had a chance to do, until yesterday.

We've been blessed with 6 Pecan trees on the property.

When we first moved into this house, I had no clue we had so many, and the first year we didn't even realize there were pecans to harvest.  The second year we had quite a bit to harvest and we got as many as we could.

What we also didn't realize is that Pecan trees don't produce a huge crop, every single year.  So last year we were all set on harvesting and were quite disappointed not to see many at all.

This year however, we have an abundance.  Two of our trees put out a huge crop, enough that last week, my husband went out back to check on the trees and came back after an hour, with a full box.

Yesterday we decided that we needed to take some time and get out there, so we could gather as many as we could before they went bad, and before the squirrels went through them.

As it is, one of the trees was depleted and all that was left were a bunch of shells scattered at it's feet, with half eaten pecans.  Those silly squirrels!

However, there were still plenty to harvest.  We spent, maybe two hours and came back in with boxes full.  I have never seen so many pecans in my life.

The job is far from over, I now need to cure all these pecans.  If you don't cure them, you run the risk of mold growing and the nuts being inedible.

Now that we've harvested them, they will need to be placed in a single layer, on a surface that allows for good ventilation.  They will have to sit like this for about 2 weeks, and then we will shell them, freeze some, make pies, make pecan milk and all sorts of goodies.

These are the kind of chores that some people will turn their noses at, wonder why bother with all this work, just go to the store and buy them.  Absolutely, if you're willing to pay over 6 dollars for a small bag of pecans.  I don't know how much they are where you live, but I've always found pecans to be incredibly expensive, it's almost heartbreaking paying that much for a small bag of crushed pecans.

When you have an abundance that the Lord has blessed you with, you use it.  You make the effort, you harvest and cure and then enjoy the rewards.

For us, it's just part of living in the country, of homesteading so to speak.

It's not easy work, and after harvesting for just a few hours yesterday, my lower back was killing me, but it's work that I do with a smile on my face. 

If we are blessed to stay in this house, Curt and I have so many plans for the property, and I can not wait to take you along.

{ Pecans everywhere }

I've sat so many times, stared out the window, and counted my blessings. 

To be living in the country, which was always a dream of Curt's and I, is amazing in and of itself, but to be surrounded by beautiful land, and then to top that with an abundance of Pecan Trees, seems almost too good to be true.

I have loved Pecans from as far back as I remember.  When living in South Africa, one of my favorite desserts was the Pecan Nut Pie, or the Pecan Pie as it's known here in the States.  My dad loved it just as much as I did, and I even recall one certain day, in my teens, attempting to make a Pecan Pie using Golden Syrup.  Needless to say, it really didn't turn out quite well, more like a mushy watery mess, but it tasted amazing.

I have made many Pecan pies since then, or PEE-CUN nut pies as we pronounced in South Africa :)

October seems to be our harvest month, every year our Pecan trees dump an enormous amount of bounty on the ground.  The first year the crop was not very good, the pecans were mostly bad, the few that weren't tasted quite bitter and I was a bit disappointed thinking that, here we were, surrounded by Pecan trees and not able to enjoy them.

This past weekend was our Pecan harvest, we spent a few hours under the watchful eyes of these guys across the street.  We gathered as much as we could off the grass, and shook as many branches as we could, but there are quite a few still left on the upper branches that we either couldn't reach, or they weren't ready yet.

This weekend, we will be back out there, going from tree to tree, with bucket in hand gathering as many as we can.

This week, I've spent my time cracking pecans and working on the bucket we already have in hand.  The weather has cooled down, I'm not outside as much as I am during the summer, so it's been the perfect thing to do, well, aside from the usual house chores.

I sit at my dining table with pecans in hand, pop a show on my laptop, and spend an hour or so just cracking and shelling.  It often reminds me of my great grandmother Ema, she would sit around the holidays time, with a bowl of varied nuts before her, and just crack away, popping them into her mouth, happily munching.

Back in her day, she would have sat at the table with a bucket of green beans, working on those, or peeling potatoes. 

Different chores, but very alike in a way and I'm so proud to follow in her footsteps when it comes to homemaking. 

I'm nowhere near finished, it seems that it takes hours just to shell a handful of pecans, so I gather I'll be at this for quite a few days. 

I'm kind of pushing myself to get it all done this week because I want to get them stored, frozen etc. as soon as I can, certainly don't want them to go bad.

It's a truly blessing to have God's bounty bestowed upon us.  For many years, I shied away from buying Pecans because of how expensive they are, so I really am thankful for what I now have. :)

With that said, I best get on with my work.  Have a wonderful day :)

Fall is right around the corner

The past few days I've been watching the trees changing color, my grass becoming littered with leaves and the mornings starting to feel crisp and cool.

I think Fall is just around the corner and I'm quite happy with that.

The summer has been quite hot, and I don't know if it's because I'm getting older, but I'm finding that I don't handle the heat as well as I used to.  I get hot easily, I sweat quicker, I wake up in the middle of the night with hot flushes, then I'm cold and back under the covers, then sweating again.

I'm a bit of a mess, if I do say so myself  Hahah

We've started the job of chopping wood and making sure we have a good enough supply to get us through the winter.  It's a never ending job and you can't quite ever have enough wood to burn, when you think you do, just go ahead and chop up a LOT more.

The back of my hubby's truck is piled with fire wood at the moment, until we can move it all to the side of the house this weekend.  We still have quite a bit of tree trunks and downed branches to clear up, chop and stash.  It's a lot of work but I enjoy it.

We also need to check on the pecan trees and see if they're ready to harvest.  At first I was quite worried that they would affect our pecan harvest, but after doing much research, it seems that they are more aesthetically annoying than anything else, and they do little to no damage at all to the trees.

Will have to see when we get out there and up close.   If you're curious as to what they are, they are called Fall Webworms and are actually moths, or white moths.  Did I ever tell you how much I dislike moths?  I have this insane fear of moths for some reason.

These are supposed to be quite beautiful but I have yet to see one, other than their webs all over my pecan trees.

As the Fall slowly creeps towards us, I'm as always, enjoying the beautiful golden orange hues that everything seems to be taking on. 

I can't wait for cool nights, soft candles, pumpkin spice lattes and gingerbread......yes I believe I'm more than ready to be done with summer and get my first fire going :)

Are you seeing signs of Fall in your area?

Outside work

It's a pretty day here in North Texas, the wind is blowing and the temperatures are staying around 79 degrees.

We've been waiting for cooler temps to do some work outside because any other time during the summer, is just too scorching hot and within 10 minutes we are drenched in sweat, bit by chiggers and ready to get back in the house.


We have quite a few Pecan trees on our property and it's getting to that time of the year, so they're starting to fall to the ground by the hundreds, some already out of their outer shell, others working on it.

Our yards are literally covered in pecans and so it's time to start harvesting the ones already on the ground.  I spent an hour out there going from tree to tree and grabbing the ones I could, not all made it into my basket because certain little birds had already gotten to them.

I can't tell you how exciting it is to be surrounded by pecan trees, I've always been such a fan of pecans and being able to harvest them in my own yard is a wonderful thing.  I know with the holidays coming up they will certainly help with all the pecan pies I will be baking.


While I got busy harvesting the pecans, Curt and Nick worked on gathering, chopping and starting a wood pile up against one of the fences.

Nick had never yielded an axe so he found it a lot of fun and before long was chopping here and there, wood bits flying all over.


Living in the country is beautiful, and peaceful and just what we have always wanted, but for anyone who has never lived away from a city, you would never understand the amount of work that goes into keeping a home and acreage on a place like this.

We've never been ones to shy away from work and so I face it with a smile on my face and thankful for every pecan I pick up, every prickly weed I remove from my pants and every gorgeous sunrise I get to witness every morning.



It's now a quarter to 3 in the afternoon, and I thought I would sit down and write up a quick post while I watch some TV with Jasmine.  We just finished watching True Monsters and are now starting one of the episodes of My Haunted House from the DVR.

The rest of the afternoon I'll be spending doing laundry, ironing, catching up on the DVR and just trying to have a restful Sunday.

I sure hope you are enjoying your weekend.  Thank you for stopping by for a visit, I appreciate every reader that stops in, comments and continues to read my blog :)