headbands in orange and pink so far...

My beautiful and amazing sister, Megan, sent me a link to this site wondering if I could copy it. So I gave it a whirl and tada:

reds

These heirloom tomatoes are amazing. I can't get over how beautiful they are and how good they taste!



We picked some raspberries today. The kidlets don't love raspberries as much as I do so we just got two quarts. That was enough to make 6 jars of jam and have a bowl left over.


For dessert I used that bowl of rasapberries to make sugar cakes.

1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup milk
3/4 cup berries

Cream together the shortening, sugar and salt. Gradually stir in eggs one at a time. Add flour and baking powder. Add milk gradually and beat mixture for 60 strokes until dough is smooth and satiny. Carefully fold in berries. Spoon batter into well greased muffin pans. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes.

blue cowl- winter prep.

close-up view of the blue yarn


I'm not wanting to rush into winter, but I do want to be prepared. So I've started knitting a few things to help me keep warm this winter. I finished this cowl last night. It is a loose neck warmer that can also be used as a hood. It's basically just a big tube knitted in the round (k1 p1).

Using it as a neck warmer...



Using it as a hood...

insert witty title here

Gardenia Pickles and Dilly Beans! Gardenia pickels are cauliflower, cucumbers (from the garden), zucchini (from mom's garden), green pepper (from TC's dad's garden), carrots, and green beans (from my garden). The dilly beans are thanks to my friend Amy who brought me a big bag of beans this morning.



cucumber from the garden


green beans and pea pods from the garden


dinner the other night: fresh biscuits, cherries and green beans. I love summer.


xoxo

Goose berries

We went blueberry picking again today with my mom. We picked 15 pounds of blueberries in a little over an hour. When we got back to our house, my mom cleaned and sorted them. We then made a few types of blueberry jam. The first one we had talked about before; it uses blueberries, sugar and lemon jello. I told her we need to call it Damn Jello Jam.(you either get that joke, or you don't) It smelled great but it hasn't set yet so we'll see. Then I made a more conventional freezer jam. The first batch was awesome but the second batch was a total flop. So that batch was turned into some blueberry sauce and I made yet another batch of freezer jam. They are such an amazing color. I stocked up the freezer some more with berries and have just a little out for breakfast tomorrow.



Today was Solstice's birthday! My Goose is 11 years old already. She wanted a chocolate cake, which isn't my favorite but it went well with the bluebrries. The cake stuck to the pan and I thought it was ruined, but Andre saved the day by bringing home a box of pudding mix. I made that and filled in the space between the two cake layers with the pudding. Then frosted it and topped it with blueberries. And we had some of the blueberry sauce on our ice cream. It made a perfect summer dinner!

cowl and pear jam

I'm not only prepping my cupboards and kitchen for winter, I'm also building my supply of neck warmers. I wanted to make this cowl last winter but never got it done. I love this blue yarn, so soft and pretty. I cast on 90 stitches in the round and am knitting it k1p1. So far I love it.



We have a pear tree in the back yard. I am always at war with the squirells over the pears. This year, I picked them a little early and so I won. I canned some a few days ago and today make pear jam/butter. I slow cooked the pears with some bourbon vanilla in the crock pot all day and then processed it this afternoon. It tastes awesome.

more pickles and new sprouts

Making pickles at my moms today. We make dill zucchini pickles, bread and butter pickles and bread and butter squash pickles.


Cucumber sprouts! Take that, ground hog!!!


I love how tomatillas look like Japanese lanterns at this stage.


I picked a bowl of pears to make pear butter with tomorrow.

pickles and pants

Boy shorts I finished today. I didn't end up knitting them rainbow style, I like the stripes more. I think they will make good pajamas.


Canned pears from the pear tree in our back yard. They are cooked in simple syrup with some lemon juice. So good.


Zucchini Pickles


Bread and Butter Pickled Green Beans. Might be good?

first tomato of the year

and ohhh it was good! Isaiah and I split it :)

summer bounty!

freezer corn

veggies before---

veggies after!!!

18 jars of pickles: 7 dill, 3 hot and sweet, 5 bread and butter and 3 yellow squash.
I also made zucchini bread and shredded 7 bags of zucchini ready for bread making this winter.