The Future of Our Wonderful Cafe Blog

 Missy Tippens

The Yankee-Belle Cafe was started as an extension of the Seekerville Blog for writers back in 2011 when we developed a website laid out like a downtown. We decided to have virtual shops in our Village. Ruthy and I decided to pair up to open a place to chat and share recipes from New York and Georgia, and we later added bloggers from around the country to add more local flavor. The Cafe has been going strong all these years! It has been so much fun to share recipes and lifestyle posts and to chat with y'all.

We here at the Cafe have been thinking off and on for a while now about when we might decide to close the doors at our blog. I recently retired from the main Seekerville blog and had been thinking it might be time to retire here as well. Once we started discussing my retirement, we decided that because all of us have our time pulled in many directions, maybe it was time to end our wonderful adventure here at the Cafe. Though a difficult decision, we plan to close at the end of January.

BUT... we are not going to be removing all our posts. They will remain here as an archive. Especially since some of us (me included!) have told our children that anytime they want one of Mom's recipes, they can come here to find it. :)

We appreciate all of you, our wonderful readers who have been with us over the years--almost a decade! What's amazing is that when we look at our stats, we see several thousand visitors a month. We've had almost a million views!!

Over the next couple of weeks, I would love to hear from you in the comments if you feel comfortable. I'd love to learn more about those who have been with us every week but have never commented.

You have kept us going all these years! That and the fun we've had. I have to say that you have probably helped keep my family fed much better than if I hadn't had someone out there reading what I've been cooking lately. LOL So my family thanks you, too!  :)

We look forward to spending the next weeks with you and chatting. And of course, all the other ladies will still be on the Seekerville blog. And I'll still be writing and will be on social media. So please look me up there. I may even share an occasional recipe!

After more than 10 years of pursuing her dream of publication, Missy Tippens, a pastor’s wife and mom of three from near Atlanta, Georgia, made her first sale to Harlequin Love Inspired in 2007. Her books have since been nominated for the Booksellers Best, Holt Medallion, American Christian Fiction Writers Carol Award, Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence, Maggie Award, Beacon Contest, RT Reviewer’s Choice Award, and the Romance Writers of America RITA^® Award. Missy also writes devotionals for several publications from Guideposts. Visit Missy at www.missytippens.com, https://twitter.com/MissyTippens and http://www.facebook.com/missy.tippens.readers.

Moving On

Warning! Tissue alert!

I have been blessed. Truly blessed. There have been many dogs in my life, and three of them have been "that dog."

Caleb. March 1980-August 1989

Caleb was the first of those three. He was a puppy in the Humane Society shelter in 1980. I had just gotten my first apartment and wanted a "protector" dog as I lived alone in the not-so-nice part of town. A collie-shepherd mix, he had contracted distemper in the shelter, and I nursed him back to health. He was my best bud as I navigated things like my first job, marrying my dear husband, and giving birth to my first two children. He was my comfort when I suffered my first two miscarriages, and my joy in everyday life.

It was when I lost Caleb that I realized I was one of those people with a dog-shaped pocket in the corner of my heart. His sudden loss was heart-wrenching.

Connor. March 1999 - July 2012
He never did understand the camera.

Ten years and a couple dogs later, the next one of those dogs came into my life. He fit perfectly into that dog-shaped pocket from the first time I saw him at the Humane Society. When I went back to pick him up the next day, he was as happy to see me as I was to see him. He was a Border Collie, and as smart and wonderful as any of his breed. When I sat on the floor, he would put his front paws on my shoulders and "talk" to me, his nose next to my ear. He understood almost everything I said. When we had to put him down - old and worn from battling hip displaysia - I grieved for a month. Or more. 

Thatcher. March 2013-May 2019

You all know the third of those dogs. He was part of life here at the Cafe from the time he was born.

In the middle of a dead snake derp-fest. The smell
astounded him!

When Thatcher died, I went through a week of "I can't do this again. I'll never get another dog." And a few more weeks of getting teary eyed whenever I was reminded of him. I still get teary-eyed. Life without him is quiet. Empty.

Maggie and Thatcher in the "big dog" bed.

We're in a season of change right now. Losing both Wynter and Thatcher has been tough. That dog-shaped pocket in the corner of my heart feels awfully hollow right now.

At the same time, we're in the middle of moving, and our children are flinging themselves hither and yon (all right, we do have two that are still in town!), and we're making decisions about what furniture to move, which plants to move, etc. etc.

A big season of change. But it's time to put the past in the past and look toward the future.

Good-bye Thatcher. I'll never forget you. You were my BFF -  my best furry friend. I'm sorry you never got to go on turkey patrol at our new home.

But looking forward and moving on...perhaps in a few months...

Pearl's puppies. Photo credit: Tammy Roberson

Maybe one of these little ones will take their place in that dog-shaped pocket.

Could I be so blessed?

By the way, four of these cuties are still available. They were born on June 6th. If you're interested in adding one to your family, I'll put you in contact with their breeder.

Jan Drexler spent her childhood dreaming of living in the Wild West and is now thrilled to call the Black Hills of South Dakota her home. When she isn’t writing she spends much of her time satisfying her cross-stitch addiction or hiking and enjoying the Black Hills with her husband of more than thirty-six years.

A Season of Change on the Farm!

Well, it's that time of year, folks, when pumpkins of all colors...

And mums of all colors!!!

Come join us up front to be sold.

Bales of hay and straw to decorate people's yards.... Cute kids not included!

 Mums, just showing color! Pinks and yellows and reds and whites and purple and bronze and all shades in between! 1600 mums to choose from....

And the pumpkins!!!!

 Pink "Porcelain Doll" and peachy "Indian Doll" pumpkins, two beauties that have amazingly delicious dark orange squash inside... great for meals, pies, soups, whatever!

 Stacking pumpkins.... you have a "Fairytale" on the bottom, a Porcelain doll in between and a Speckled Hound on top... The Speckled Hound is like a buttercup squash and the other two are intense orange pumpkin.... Crazy good, and part of our French Heirloom pumpkin collection!

 A little side garden idea for customers... half a dozen mums (not quite blooming) and an array of pumpkins including one of our 60+ lb. Polar Bears.... a bale of straw... and a couple of stacks and single pumpkins finish it off. We do displays to give folks an idea of what they can do and at our wonderful prices, they can afford to have some real fun decorating for harvest... and then eat the decorations! Win!!!!

 Above are French Heirlooms: The green/tan are Fairytale, the orange are Cinderella and the bright red are Rouge D'Vif.... and yes, sometimes they cross and we get all kinds of fun mixed up colors (you can see a couple here!) but the pumpkin inside is still wonderful. Great pumpkin + great pumpkin = Great pumpkin! And we cook these (I roast them in the oven when it cools off) and use them in pumpkin muffins, pies, cakes, soups.... and just to eat.

Below you have more Indian Dolls and Porcelain dolls... and this doesn't even touch the BLUE PUMPKINS, the  Blue Dolls and the Jarrahdales (my personal favorite)

And the Tondos and Mini-warts and Warty Gnomes and One-too-manys.

:)

It's the season of color. A season of change... and it brings us right to Thanksgiving and Advent... a season of waiting.

But that's a blog for another day because right now, on this pumpkin farm, we've got color galore... and books releasing, and cookies to bake and animals to feed....

What's fall like in your part of the world? Are you surrounded by "leaf peepers", tourists looking for peak color in the trees... or are you in aspen world, turning gold?

And I first saw Larch trees, all golden and needly in the Southern Tier of NY.... I didn't even know what a Larch tree was!

Or are you in the desert Southwest? Or coastal crazy?

I love my Northeast woodlands. I love the change of seasons, I love all four seasons... and I might be part dryad because I love trees....

But when I'm in the Southwest and see those vast vistas of colored rock and rim...  I see the beauty there, too!

Multi-published, bestselling author Ruth Logan Herne loves her quaint pumpkin farm in Western New York and all its trees and colors and critters.... Did you know the woodlands have lots of critters??? :) She's got a bunch of kids and twice that many grandkids and a couple of dogs, cats, way too many chickens and two mini donkeys that she loves.... and a huge assortment of toads, frogs and snakes. She does not love the snakes. Or having a flying squirrel in her kitchen. Or for that matter, a baby gray squirrel in her kitchen. Mostly she likes cookies in her kitchen.

Find her online at ruthloganherne.com, friend her on facebook, follow Blodgett Family Farm on facebook or follow Ruthy on twitter @RuthLoganHerne.... And mostly she covets your prayers and gives hers in kind.


2 Chronicles 7:14 "if my people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land..."

I'm in favor of that!!