For our final week of Christmas in July, I am offering the complete set of 32 Snowberry Cuties as our Featured Item. Use to give as small tokens of appreciation or to decorate you tree this year. These little cuties will bring joy where ever you hang them!

Snowberry Cuties Military

Snowberry Cuties Mom Ornament

Snowberry Cuties Techie

These are just a few sample of the cuties, click on any image to see the full line.

So, how can we make these Cuties any better deal then what is at Diamond M Sales right NOW! Simple, by packaging all 32 Cuties together for one low price of $50 plus S&H.

But, this deal will not be repeated anywhere else!

Enjoy a festive time anytime with these great chili pepper kitchen accessories. Diamond M Sales is featuring these this week, and has made a bundled sale just for the readers of Cloud 9 Ranch. Enjoy a 40% discount on the total price of these 4 pieces to help make your kitchen festive any time of the year.

No need to pay full retail price of $44.80, when you can get all four items for just $26.88 (plus s&H)! But, only when you purchase from this post!

Freshly canned Green Beans

I finally took the plunge, and did my first canning of fresh garden vegitables. Our neigbor gave us some fresh green beans out of their garden, and I just could not stand to let them go to waste. So, while in town yesterday, I picked up a Ball 21 -quart Canning Pot,  and a dozen each pint and quart wide mouth canning jars.

I’m not sure how many he gave us, but I ended up with a little over 5 pints of fresh green beans, ready to go in my pantry! And folks, let me tell you, IF I can do this,, ANYONE can!! Maybe I have missed my calling all together, and I should be gardening and making jams, canning and just truly putting my work where my heart is,, in the country!

Although I did the process a bit backwards, it still worked out great. The green beans were tasty, and not to crip, or too soft. I used just enough salt to do the job, and will add my own Everglades Seasoning when I heat them up like I always do.

I started by cleaning the beans, and snipping the ends off. I cheated here, and used scissors because I have no fingernails right now, and it was starting to hurt my hand. After snipping the ends off, I cut the beans to size, no size in particular, just various sizes. and then boiled them for about 25 minutes until they were tender.

Once tender (and tasty), I put them in ice cold water, to stop the cooking process, and filled my pint jars to capacity ( I actually stuffed the jars full). I then placed them in my 21 quart canning pot, and brought that to a boil, and let them sit in boiling water for about 15 minutes, to seal the tops on tight. Took them out of the water and let them cool on a towel overnight, and they are now ready to be put away for later use.

First batch of canned fresh green beans

I have to say again, I never thought I would be canning my own veggies, and now that I have started, I wish I had not waited so long! I have tomatoes I want to make a spaghetti sauce with, and dice for later use in salsa dips. We have TONS of blackberries that I can can, freeze, and make jams and jellies with.

Today, starts a new learning adventure. Since I have so many blackberries, and more to be picked. I’m going to be making some freezer jam today. Considering how easy it was to can the green beans, I feel I’ll be able to pull this one off with ease! So stay tuned, and I’ll update tomorrow or later tonight!

Okay, so not really. But we did just get home from a trip to Georgia two days ago. Yesterday was spent cleaning stalls, mowing, picking potatoes from the garden, and getting a new boarder. Very busy day, and very hot!

We took some of our fresh blackberries down, and made a blackberry cobbler for everyone. Must have been good, cause it was GONE! Simple enough recipce too, just used a pack a cobbler mix, water, and our own berries.

Georgia was nice, but I felt like I was back in Florida again. We went down to visit my mom, while she was within a decent driving distance.  She has a new fence around her place, and it looks great. The guys who did the work did a fantastic job, and didn’t leave a mess!

We took a quick trip to Banks Lake National Wildlife Refuge. A good size lake with lots of cypress heads, water lilies along the shores and an American Bullfrog! The lake, swamps, and uplands provide a diversity of habitats for wildlife. Banks Lake is part of a 13,000-acre complex known as Grand Bay, located near the Florida border. Excluding the Okefenokee Swamp, Grand Bay is the largest natural blackwater lake-swamp in Georgia’s Coastal Plain.

Banks Lake Wildlife Refuge

Water lily at Banks Lake

American Bullfrog at Banks Lake (YUMM,, frog legs anyone?)

Biologists from the Department of Natural Resources have found the predominantly pond-cypress habitat suitable for osprey hacking programs. Between 1988 and 1990, 10 ospreys were raised and released. In March of 1993, a local wildlife rehabilitator spotted the first osprey nest on Banks Lake in 40 years, an encouraging sign of success for the program.

“Hacking” is a procedure developed by falconers hundreds of years ago. “Falconry” is the art of training hawks to hunt in cooperation with a person. By raising young falcons in artificial aeries (nests), feeding them before and after fledging and controlling their release, falconers discovered that the birds were easier to train.

The technique was adopted for use in reintroduction programs because it is an effective way to raise and release birds, particularly raptors, into the wild. With slight variations the method works quite well for many species, including ospreys.

To learn more about the Osprey, visit The Osprey Website.

Our trip home was very nice. Instead of doing the I-75 through Chattanooga and Atlanta, we bypassed Atlanta, and came up through North Carolina. Lot’s of nice little places I want to go back and visit, and it was about 50 miles shorter. There are a couple of other little cut-offs we could have made on the way home, and cut more miles off, but we missed them. But that is okay, we will just have something new to look forward to next trip!

As promised, I am starting to move Diamond M Round Up over to this site. So, to get things rolling, I wanted to start with our Featured Item for the week of July 13-19.

This Western Wall Mirror is a simple but elegant addition to any western home decor theme. With a wood frame, and bronze stars on each each corner, it’s sure to be eye-catching.

Western Wall Mirror

$39.95 plus S&H