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Archive for June, 2011

Blueberry Round-up

Photo by {Blue Eyed Yonder}

I had an extra special delivery this week. My Grandpa drove up from South Georgia and brought me a cooler full of fresh picked blueberries from my family’s farm. With all of these blueberries, I thought it would be fun to have an entire week of blueberry bliss!

Here’s where I need your help…

Leave a message in the comment section with a link to your favorite blueberry recipe or if your favorite recipe is not online, shoot a quick email to blueeyedyonder{at}gmail{dot}com with the recipe.

I’ll pick several of these recipes to make next week and feature them on Blue Eyed Yonder.

So dig deep into your recipe files and share that blueberry recipe that keeps you coming back time and time again. I can’t wait to see your favorites!

Posted 6/23/11, Topic: Eats

True Grits

Sisters – Atkinson County, Georgia

I have the funny suspicion these ladies really knew the meaning of a DIY wedding.

I just love pouring over the tiny details of this photo. Their outfits, their faces, the food, the cake! It reminds me of the many family gatherings I went to growing up. Those ladies could lay down a spread like the good Lord himself was coming for supper: fried chicken, creamed corn, fresh zipper peas, squash casserole, cornbread and biscuits. Oh the biscuits!

A scattering of pots, pans and platters. Tables loaded down with the bounty of the farm. A warm breeze blowing off the field, wrapping around you like a hug. You’d listen as the men raved about the cookin’ and watch as the ladies bashfully said, “Aww, it ain’t no good.”

These people didn’t drive to town and pick up their dinner at a drive-thru. They didn’t hire a fancy caterer to feed the crowds. They bent over on their own two legs and picked the beans in a misty morning field. They walked through the hot, sticky rows of corn, grasping through the wet stalks for the plump ears. Did they go to the deli and ask for a rotisserie? Uh-hem, I think not. They walked outside and grabbed that hen by the neck.

Life was so much tougher, so much sweeter, and definitely not a place for sissies!

I love looking at these ladies and imagining what life would have been like for them. Their personalities seem so very different, but I like to think that the time they spent together held some of the best memories of their lives.

Posted 6/22/11, Topic: Blog

Sweet Belly Pickles

We’re almost at the end June, can you believe it? The weather has been absolutely stifling here in the South. I’m talkin’ backsides-melting-to-car-seats hot! With all of this heat I can’t help but notice all of the pregnant gals out and about, and boy are there a lot of them this year. {Must have been a cold winter.}
To celebrate all of the pregnant troopers out there I thought I would share a little preggo gift I made for my bestie, Shea. 
Yes, I made this in 2010. 
Yes, her baby’s teething and crawling now. 
Yes, I’m only now getting around to finally posting this project. 
Don’t judge.

I wish I could tell you that this recipe is “top secret” and that if I told you I would have to… well, you know. Unfortunately the story is not that dramatic. Truth is, I looked up several recipes online, picked and chose ingredients that sounded good and winged it. I’m sure at one point I could have told you what went in it, but like I said, that was 2010. If you want to try your hand at a similar recipe, try Martha Stewart’s Fast Homemade Pickle Recipe. It will get you pretty darn close to these bad boys.
If you know me, you know the fun is in the packaging…

Custom designed logo, handcrafted tags, linen and twine toppers. 
I call them “Sweet Belly” Pickles, as a little nod to all the pregnant, pickle-craving ladies out there with “sweet bellies”. The “SB” also happens to be Shea’s initials. She loves pickles more than anyone I know, so it was only fitting that she have a little part in their naming.
Add a hand-painted wooden crate and a darling pickle fork carved by Jonathan and you’ve got yourself one precious package. 

Photos by {Blue Eyed Yonder}

Man, I’m not pregnant, but I think I’ve got a cravin’ coming on. How about you?

Posted 6/21/11, Topic: DIY, Eats

A place to rest your soul

Quaint cottage door, Village of Crillon le Brave, France

People use to think photos could rob your soul. For me, they continue to do quite the opposite.

I often browse through our pictures from France and I feel like I am staring at the reflection of my heart.  How can a place you’ve visited only once make your heart race and give you a lump in your throat? Sometimes it hurts too much to look at the pictures. Is is funny that I miss it that much?

I know we’ll go back one day, we have to. Until then I will just have to continue visiting in my dreams, and I do dream about it… all the time. I close my eyes at night and decide which place I’m going to travel to. Will it be quiet town of St. Remy? The slight smokey smell of burning leaves in the autumn air.  Will it be the charming hilltop town of Chateauneuf de Pape? The long shadows stretching out on the village streets as the last rays of the golden sun kiss the tiles of the clay roofs. Or will it be the sleepy village of Crillon le Brave? A quiet refuge, beckoning you to take shelter and rest your soul within its pebbled walls.

I think every soul has its home, and I’m pretty sure I’ve found mine.

{If you have the hankering to skip across the pond to France, you should enter Oh Happy Day’s France Trip Giveaway. It’s got to be one of the best giveaways ever!}

Posted 6/16/11, Topic: Blog

Tips for Cut Blooms

This weekend, in between the pop-up thunderstorms, Mr. Blue Eyed Yonder and I worked a little in the yard. We visited our local nursery to pick up some more brightly blooming perennials to plant around our mailbox. We have lots of pretty cone flowers there now, so we bought some taller growing black-eyed susan’s to plant behind them. I think the bright pink and yellow blooms will look so cheery. Now we just have to water and wait, the black-eyed-susan’s should bloom soon.
These perennials make the prettiest cut flower, which brings me back to the tips I have found to make those cut flower blooms last longer. I mean who doesn’t want those gorgeous little blooms to shine as long as they can?

8 Easy Tips for Cut Blooms
  1. When possible, cut flowers in the early morning or in the late evening.
  2. Cut the flowers at a ‘slant’, this allows more surface area for water absorption.
  3. Always place stems in lukewarm water, never cold water. Even better, put them in a little flower potion.
  4. Remove any leaves that may be submerged under water.
  5. Stems need a constant supply of water. When you cut a stem, an air bubble forms at the base. This air bubble can stay in the stem even after you have submerged the stems in water and will prevent water from traveling up the stem. To prevent this, re-cut the stems under running water to prevent the air bubble from forming.
  6. Keep flowers out of direct sunlight.
  7. Keep flowers away from fresh fruit. Fruits release gases that cause flowers to wilt faster.
  8. Always change the flower’s water every 2-3 days, don’t just top it off. This is the most important thing you can do to prolong the life of your blooms.
Photos by {Blue Eyed Yonder}

Do you have any tips for making cut blooms last? I would love to hear your secrets.

Posted 6/15/11, Topic: Home

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