Camp.ing

 

We went camping.

Spencer face planted it.

I started laughing.

Someone snapped a picture.

I gave him a cookie.

He’ll need a lot of future mental health therapy.

Katie

CAN IT

{not always original, just predictable}

Here are some pictures of some of the produce I’ve canned this season:

a week’s worth of green beans from my garden,

{the least photogenic}

I always think it’s amazing that from a $1 packet of seeds, there can be so much harvest.

{not pictured, the additional 7 pints in my fridge that didn’t seal}

apple juice made from apples off my neighbor’s tree,

70 quarts of pears gleaned for free from our church’s orchard,

and apple butter.

I’ve also been making peach leather which my kids are inhaling, which is surprising since they can’t really stand fruit roll ups.

*side note, other weird things my kids won’t eat: jell-o, pudding or home made freezer strawberry jam on their crepes.

To make fruit leather, specifically peach since that’s the only kind I’ve made, have you noticed I’m not terribly well-rounded?:

peel and pit ripe peaches

puree in blender

add sugar to desired sweetness

pour onto a non-stick cookie sheet or one lined with saran wrap

I use saran wrap

(your oven won’t be hot enough to melt the saran wrap, just make sure it’s trimmed and not touching the rack or sides of oven)

I do about a quart’s worth of puree per batch, it’s about the right thickness

bake in oven for 10-12 hours at oven’s lowest temperature, mine’s 170 degrees

12 hours is a bit too long for my temperature setting and the thickness of my leather

remove from oven, roll up and cut

I put mine in the oven in the evening and let it cook all night.

Hope you’re having a good, awesome, great, tolerable, energetic, productive, above average week,

Katie

New Acquisition

I bought those red polka dot bowls from a garage sale this weekend.

I love them.

The end.

Katie

Unimportant Things I Haven’t Mentioned:

• Bryce and I canned 70 quarts of pears.
• Bryce is awesome to can with.
• I didn’t take a picture.
• No one really cares.
• My neighbor got evicted from his house.
• The estate holders put a lot of stuff in the dumpster.
• One is an old vanity.
• I’m pretty sure it could be awesome.
• Meg dumped a bucket of dirt on Spencer’s head.
• Spencer just stood there.
• I harvested 50 tomatoes last night.
• Spencer is really good at catching chickens.
• I canned apple juice.
• I’m re-doing my friend’s household’s worth of furniture.
• It’s taking forever but I’m almost done.
• I’m watching a little girl 3-4 days a week.
• So I can buy bee stuff.
• I bought some of it last week at a garage sale.
• Yes, you can buy that stuff at a garage sale.
• It’s Oregon, people.
• I’m really excited about this.
• We’re duck sitting Bryce’s co-worker’s ducks.
• Yes, the same co-worker that saw my bare bum.
• One of their ducks is laying eggs.
• I’m kind of nervous to try one.
• My kids get dropped off and picked up by the bus right in front of our house.
• It makes life worth living.
• This is not an exaggeration.
• I’m working on sewing two skirts.
• I’m planning on making peach leather tonight.
• It’s still really hot here, like 90s and 100s.
• I pick a handful of raspberries everyday.
• Someone left the back door open yesterday afternoon {not me}.
• One of the chickens came in and made it all the way through the mud room, kitchen, and dining room.
• Tried to chase chicken out.
• Apparently wood floors are very slippery.
• Finally succeeded.
• Checked for poop.
• None.
• Phew.
• I’m really inspired by my friend's blog to start sewing more clothing for myself.
• Bryce said no more projects for this year.
• I asked him to clarify ‘projects’.
• He refused.
• Boo.

Hope you have a great weekend.

We’re going to be working on putting in the sprinkler system.

Katie

Sometimes I Just Want To Take A Nap

But then I tell myself I should come up with something clever to post.

I end up not finding something clever to post.

Feel like I should post anyway.

Start to blog.

Delete post.

Start again.

Decide that I should write a post about posting but not really posting.

Wonder again what I should blog on.

Wish I had time to do a craft.

Which one would think I would have ample time with two 2! kids in school.

Does not seem to make a difference.

Found 30 chicken eggs in our yard.

They’re so naughty.

Spencer and Meg will not stop hitting, crying, spitting, or pushing, or taking time outs.

Yes, even Spencer.

Begin countdown for school starting for them.

Just left my not real blog post to put Meg in her room.

Lots of deep breathing.

 

 

Hope this finds you well, or not reading my post because you’re taking a nap.

Katie

This Week….

Bryce built a kiwi arbor.

Did you know kiwi grows in Oregon?

Well it does.

You should come visit.

Spencer got new shoes (which he won’t let me take off)….

….and chased and caught chickens and sat in chicken poop.

And realized the chickens are laying their eggs in the duck house.

One may wonder why I have a lot of pictures of Spencer…it’s because he follows me around every.where.  Sometimes happy and sometimes crying and sometimes poopy and sometimes a combination of two of the three.

Elizabeth started 2nd grade.

I picked 2lbs of green beans and the first of the corn.

I would like the record to show that after four attempts at sweet corn, I was successful this season.

I’m feeling pretty good about that.

Made tons and tons and tons and tons of tomatillo based salsa.

Maybe no tomatillos next year.

And better tomato cages.

Before

Ate this rooster for dinner

(Sometimes I sound like such a hippie.)

Put oars up in the sun room above the windows.

This weekend we’re chipping up branches, canning pears and putting in the start of a sprinkler system so that we will have lovely barefoot grass….in a section of our yard anyway.

Katie

….And the Winner Is….

Ronni!

“I follow, and I love your blog. Your the best visiting teacher and I have lots of favorite 80's movies. Maybe too many to mention?
Princess Bride, Top Gun, Ferris Bueller, Pretty in Pink, Adventures in Babysitting and who could forget the Back to the Future series?
Does that work? LOL!”

I will get that to you sometime this week.

Thanks for all those who participated, I really enjoyed reading the comments.

I’ll be back later this week.

Katie