Double Decker French Toast

Needing an easy breakfast that tastes amazing? You've got to try this! It's super easy to make, and absolutely delicious. You can match it with your favorite jam or jelly or just cream cheese.

Ingredients:

Cream Cheese

Jam or Jelly of your choice

2 slices of bread

2 eggs beaten

Splash of cream

10 drops liquid stevia 

Directions:

Heat pan over medium heat, beat eggs in a plate or bowl big enough to dip the bread into, add the cream, and stevia beat until combined. Once the pan is hot dip bread into the egg mixture and place it into the pan. Cook until golden on both sides. Spread cream cheese over one piece of french toast, top that lightly with jam or jelly, place the second piece of french toast on top. Swipe a bit more cream cheese on top and a dab of jam. 

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Plow & Hearth's Wicker Swing Review + Giveaway

Spring has come early here in Tennessee so we have spent the last few weeks getting the yard in shape, we've been mulching, planting and sprouting seeds like crazy but it is all worth it! The yard is looking amazing and will burst into full bloom any day now. In the meantime, we are pulling our furniture back out into the yard to create some cozy seating areas. This is one of my favorite projects, it's so fun to make each section of the garden inviting and ready to entertain in. From our patio with the big cowboy grill and butterfly benches to our deck with its comfortable dining area each section has, it's own purpose and style. 

Plow and Hearth helped us get this area of the yard ready to hang out with friends on sunny afternoons or on lazy mornings when the chores are done. We were so excited to get this beautiful resin wicker swing in the mail the other day! Of course, it arrived on the one day it rained this week and the UPS driver left it in the driveway so after a quick move to the porch we were able to unbox it [watch it here]. It was super easy to assemble, we just pulled it out of the box attached the chains and hooked it up. 

We wanted this area to have that sweet southern lazy summer feel so we added some galvanized buckets filled with flowers and white roses.

This swing is so comfortable even without a cushion (we plan on adding one soon!) and goes perfectly with the rest of our wicker furniture. I love the way it looks in our yard.

We absolutely love this swing, it's what our yard has always needed and this is the perfect fit. We couldn't be happier with this product, it's really well made, looks great and super easy to clean the leaves and cedar needles off of.

We are so excited to team up with Plow & Hearth to giveaway a $250 gift card so you can bring some of these cozy looks and refresh your own yard! Enter Here!

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How To Thin Peaches

It's funny as the year begins and we edge toward warmer weather it easy to get everything done in the orchard and garden but as we hit the end of April and beginning of May (at least here in Tennessee) it seems like EVERYTHING requires something done to it, and it all has to be done at the same time. It's exhausting but so fulfilling! Somewhere between mulching, pulling weeds, repairing raised beds, making more raised beds, planting seeds, spraying trees so they don't develop fungus and bugs don't descend on the fruit, tending to roses, transplanting into the garden, cleaning coops, supervising ducklings swims -the cutest job EVER you can watch HERE- and a thousand other things we finally got around to thining peaches, I know it goes against everything in you to pluck those baby peaches off the tree after all of the work you put in.

Our peach trees are covered in fruit this year and they look fabulous! In fact, it's the best they have ever looked, we took a lot of time to prune, fertilize and spray our trees with liquid copper, organic natural dormant sprays and organic natural fungicides and insecticides the last two years (we'll be writing about that and sharing our recipes and spray lineup soon) and we are seeing the fruit -pun intended- of our labor.

Why Thin Peaches?

Peaches like most stone fruit have a habit of producing more fruit than it can keep up with, which will make the fruit stay small and damage the health of the tree it takes a year or more for the tree to recover (some don't ever). When you thin out the fruit it keeps the tree from being overwhelmed and helps balance out the fertility of the trees for yearly harvests. It also keeps the branches from breaking under the weight of the fruit. It also helps to keep the flesh of the fruit looking healthy, it gives them more access to sunshine and allows them to dry faster.

When To Thin Peaches

Most fruit trees thin themselves to some degree on their own, but almost all stone fruit including nectarines and peaches will need to be thinned. Generally, plan on thining your trees one month after your trees are in full bloom or when your fruit is between 3/4" and 1" in size. If you live in warmer climates like we do this could be as early as April but if you live up in Northern states it will be as late as June. You don't want to do it when the fruit is too small because it can cause split pit in mature fruit. But if you wait until the fruit is bigger then 1" the tree's resources have already been taxed by the extra load.

How To Thin Peaches

Experts sources suggest that you thin fruit to a minimum of  3"-8" between fruit, we went with 5" for ours because they are covered in fruit. We also went ahead and removed any from the crook of branches that would likely break the branch. We thin our fruit by hand with the help of a ladder, simply measuring by palm length between fruit, and then pinch the stem of the fruit we wish to remove with our thumb (you can also gently twist them). If you find clumps of fruit go with the biggest, and remove any that are damaged or show signs of bugs. Favor the ones toward the trunk opposed to the tip of the branch where it is more likely to break off.  Another quicker but much less accurate way to do this would be striking the branch with a stick to knock fruit off.

Snag your free copy of our book Back To Our Roots filled with tips, advice, on gardening and raising animals and wholesome recipes HERE.

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