Tag Archives: Launching Jessie

Beans Gone Wild

24 Jul

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

I'm a winner

 

We returned to North Carolina after nine days in Florida celebrating the launch of our daughter, Rebekah Lyn’s new novel,  Jessie. I couldn’t wait to see if our tiny garden had survived the days of neglect. I would say it has survived!

Beans Gone Wild

Beans Gone Wild

 

Gardening in North Carolina clay is very different from gardening in Florida  so our  garden is  an experimental project. The past two years we grew bush beans and they did quite well. This year we decided to try runner beans. Is this height normal? I suspect we may have made the poles too high as we have more vines than beans.  I picked this morning and the majority of the beans came from two bush bean plants  from last years seeds.

Picked beans copy

 

There should be enough for my husband and I to have one serving each for dinner tonight.

We have decided to give up on bell peppers. We just don’t have enough sunlight for them. The first year we planted, our tomato plants grew great but the last two years have been awful. We did plant them in different locations but it hasn’t helped.  Nasty greem tomato worms love to eat the foilage and have to be picked off by hand and smashed. This so grosses me out!  If anyone has suggestions for deterring them without pesticides please leave them in comments.

In the Fall we add in compost from our compost heap and in the Spring add mushroom compost to enrich the clay soil.  I have to admit, I took the Florida sand for  granted. I had no idea it was such a great soil for growing. So far, in North Carolina  we haven’t been able to germinate flower seeds directly in the soil, unlike Florida where one simply  fluffs the soil, spreads the seeds and gently push a thin layer of sand over the seeds. Within a week, the seeds have popped up.

Do you have any gardening tips you can share?

If you would like the chance to enter a super easy giveaway from Rebekah Lyn 

CLICK HERE

I AM Breaking a Big Rule

15 May

Blackberry blooms copy

On the Porch 

Onisha Ellis

I am breaking a big rule of blogging today. I am going to ramble, go off topic, bounce around. I am NOT going to stay focused. Why oh why would I commit this crime? Because I can. Because that is what my brain is doing. So let’s rock and ramble!

 RAMBLE ONE

I enjoy eating boiled eggs. For seventy calories I can grab a God created protein snack. I do not enjoy boiling them and peeling them is even worse. So this Easter when Facebook was filled with posts about baking your eggs in the oven I joined the frenzy and tried. It worked!! They peel like a dream even a week after I baked them! My eggs had a slight brown spot on the egg white but it was very easy to flick off.

Here is the “recipe” and you can visit Unsophisticook! to read the complete story.

 

How to Bake Hard Boiled Eggs

 

Total Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

eggs

ice water

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
  2. Place desired number of eggs in a regular or mini muffin tin and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove eggs from oven and, using a pair of tongs (I like these tongs with rubber tips from OXO), immediately transfer the eggs to an ice water bath. Allow to cool down for at least 10 minutes.

RAMBLE TWO

I have been working my way through book blogger websites, looking for bloggers who would be willing to accept an ARC (advanced reader copy) of Rebekah Lyn’s (otherwise known as my daughter Beck) upcoming release, Jessie. I feel the same anxiety I felt when I left her with a babysitter, sent her off on her first sleepover and drove her to college. Do mothers EVER get over the instinct to protect their children? I am pretty sure I have spent more time praying over my children in their adult like than I did when they were little tykes.

If you happen to be a book blogger or just enjoy reading and reviewing, speak up in comments and I will email you an ARC.

I am humbled and thankful that my BFF Pam has joined the Rebekah Lyn Books team as a marketing and Publicist assistant. Launching Jessie and planning Teas has so many elements to pull together, I was feeling totally overwhelmed.

RAMBLE THREE

My heart has been filled with prayers for a sweet thirteen year old, Kylie Myers who is receiving chemo for a rare cancer. You can visit her Facebook page Smiiey For Kylie. She has had a rough time adjusting to having cancer and the side effects of chemo.

Her dad is author Mark Myers who wrote Virgil Creech Takes a Swipe at Redemption.

When I think of Kylie, I wish she could meet my friend Wanda and her daughter, Allie who has been on a similar chemo schedule with Kylie. Allie shines with joy and confidence in Christ and my faith is made stronger when I see her on Facebook rocking the headscarf or sporting the smooth head style with her brother.

That’s the end of my ramble. There is a lot more in my brain such as why does the male cardinal insist on constantly banging his head on anything shiny, but that is for another day. Our blackberries are in full bloom and the locals say if we get a frost while they are blooming, our winter will be called a blackberry winter. Temps are expected to drop this weekend so we will see, I like blackberry blossoms because they remind me the flower of life is beautiful and even though there will be thorns, the fruit will be delicious.