Canning!

I thought for today's blog I would share some photos of all the hard work I do in my spare time. OK, so it takes up ALL the time that I am not at my day job earning money, or running around with the children... I have to note that hubby has been very helpful in this endeavor so I can't take all the credit here.

Sitting back and looking at these photos makes me think - wow we really do a lot of work to enjoy this tasteful food. We plant, tend, harvest and process it all ourselves.

These are by no means "professional" photos but I do my best. So now sit back and enjoy.

First, we have some pickle relish. I love all the colors in one jar.

 

Here we have a new jar of peaches canned in a honey sauce. Since everyone is yelling about sugar these days and how honey is more natural, I thought I would try a batch or so and see how they turned out. I have yet to taste them but they sure look pretty.

Here we have some canned tomatoes and onions. It is a nice bright red that contrasts well to the previous jars.

 

These are dill pickle slices. I usually do dill refrigerator pickles but we have so many cucumbers this year I had to branch out and can some of them as I ran out of refrigerator space. So picture about 20 jars in my garage refrigerator in addition to all the jars I have in the basement.

 

 

This is peach sauce. It is just like applesauce only you use peaches instead of apples. Can I say Y-U-M in a jar? I have to ration out a large quart jar for dinner so everyone gets a taste. I am sure you could use this in baking also but ours never gets that far. It is a great way to use a lot of peaches at one time which our trees deliver.

This is another one of my pride and joys. This is seedless blackberry jam. I planted some blackberry sticks a few years ago and they have gone wild! They produced a lot of berries this year so with one batch I made this jam.  Isn't the color beautiful?

This last shot is of pickled beets. I know a lot of people do not like beets but I happen to love them, especially pickled. Some years they don't grow well and other years the rabbits eat them so to get enough to can was great. Plus this year we tried beet greens just to eat fresh. They were pretty good and I may do that again next year.

I don't think I could choose which canned product is my favorite. I pretty much love it all or I wouldn't do it.  The next two shots are more an overall view on my basement shelves of the bountiful harvest.  We still have apples to do this year so I will have to squeeze them in somewhere!!!

 

Boy this makes me a bit hungry looking at everything...

Off to college!

Well, we got the oldest off to college. He was SO excited to go. Then occasionally he would throw in some nervousness and freak out and then back to excited. It was like riding a roller coaster the last week before he left.

I let him determine all his packing supplies on what he wanted to bring. I did the usual you might want to think about bringing this or that which I am sure he was grateful for. My friends at work were placing bets on when I would start to cry. I told them I would be fine and they just looked at me and smiled.

We had to get an early start to be there when the dorms opened at 9 am! We made it on time and a lot of folks were all ready there unloading kids. By the time we registered and got keys his room mate had his stuff in the room all ready.  They were nice folks and between us all we figured out the most space saving way to arrange the room. Here are some photos.

Just a shot of his desk area. The sink and closet are on the other side of this wall. They have to have a common toilet/shower area but they are very close to those facilities.

 

Here we are facing the other way, showing their sleeping quarters. The window faces the south so they can get some breeze flowing through but no air conditioning!

 



Here is hubby with son. They get along very well and it makes my heart happy for the kids to have such a good role model for them!

 



Here is me with my firstborn baby! This was shortly before we parted ways. Notice I am still smiling!!! So proud.

 

We left in mid-afternoon. Son had some more orientations and we needed to get back as the youngest had a football practice we needed to get him too.  I gave him one final big hug and (I hate it when my friends are right) it hit me like a freight train. I stopped it up the best I could until we were out the door and my son was off the other way. Then I let the tears flow freely down my cheeks. Boy the sun was sure hard on my eyes this particular afternoon!!!!!

CRIPES!

I swear - I have BLOGS sitting in draft status but I can't get them finished. I do not want to do a dis-service to myself, my writing, or my favorite you readers but I just do not have enough hours in the day to get them done.

First, I have my full time 40 hour + job.
1/2 hour commute each way
Children...
Pets
Vegetable garden
Fruit trees
Husband
House/yard

It is just very busy right now. You will not be disappointed when I get you some good blogs.

I promise!

Fighting my inner child

I don't wanna work.
I just want to bang on my drum all day...

So the song goes.

Some days it is so hard to concentrate on my job that I need to be doing and am getting paid for.

My brain wonders off to things I'd rather be doing.
My brain wonders off to things I know I shouldn't be doing!
My brain wonders off the job I should be doing.
My brain just wonders...

Yes - today is one of those days and you can see what is winning...sigh.

I think today I could be talked into skipping, playing on a swing set, or jumping into a swimming pool. My brain is doing 1000 things and none of them are productive but then again I think we all need these days to be creative and feel better. It's just that this should happen AFTER I am done with my daytime job.

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE!!!!!

Wreaking Havoc - heat

100 + degrees

For over a month now.  Can I just say I am S-I-C-K of it?

I water the poor little plants every night.  They look pathetic.

I let the outside kitties come in for a couple minutes to try and cool off. Mostly they just languish on the garage floor concrete or under a tree. I even put ice cubes in their water to try and cool them off.

The weather people promised 60% chance of rain last night. My house, not ONE drop.

Today they promised oh highs only 95... LIES. When I got home over 100 again.

Weather is supposed to change in the Midwest. I am ready for some change!

Writing a book?

I am thinking about writing a book. I am completely in the dark on this topic. I mean I have a good idea for this book and I think it would do well as I haven't seen any books written on what I am thinking about but how do I go about it?

I know first I have to write a rough draft...that may take me years alone. Then I know I have to send it to publishers and try to get them to notice it. That is the part that has me concerned. How do I get noticed being a first-time author?  Will anyone take what I have to say seriously?

I wish I had a big audience that read my blogs so y'all could give me advice on this. Should I even tackle this? I mean I love to blog. Is that even a step in the right direction?  Please send me ideas or places to look!

Signed,
Budding Author.

Evil bugs!

We had a mild winter so I should have expected it, yet it always seems to come as a surprise.
Bugs.
They have arrived in my garden with a vengeance.  They are eating and killing more than their share of garden goodies. Sure I will reluctantly share but when you bugs start taking over my garden I get upset and fight back!

I should say hubby has been fighting back. We have tried expensive sprays, reliable old Seven, and old fashioned squashing them under our shoes.  Still the bugs seem to be winning.

I had a beautiful melon plant with baby melons on it. It was the best melon I had ever grown.

DEAD!

Killed by a borer bug.




Those aren't the only evilness in my garden. We also have squash bugs and cucumber beetles. Summer squash - almost dead. Cucumbers - suffering.


Squash bug shown above.


Cucumber beetle shown above.

I don't know how I will get anything out of the garden with all these pests taking over but I guess we will keep trying. Everything I read on the bugs, is they are hard to control and eradicate.

Any ideas?