Besides Canning Beans.....

We have been very busy here in our neck of the woods. Time seems to be flying by. Summer is almost over and I can hardly believe it.
Next Tuesday is the first day of school here for the girls. Justin only goes back on Wednesday as the first day is set aside for the newcomers entering high school. ( I still have a hard time believing that he is in high school, it seems not so long ago I was waiting at the end of the lane for this little boy to get off the bus :(....)
The girls and I went to the trailer on Friday evening and got some pretty disappointing news. It seems it is only the trails that will remain open till the 29th, as the campground part of the park is still closing on the 2nd. :(
Inspite of our bad news we had a wonderful weekend.  We had a fire Friday night in the fire pit. We made a big old pot of mussels, and after cleaning up and washing up for the night settled in with a good movie. The Secret Of Moonacres.
Saturday morning we got the fire pit going, made a pot of coffee. ( there is nothing better then coffee perked in a enamel coffee pot on a fire) I even brought some of my homemade creamer....mmmmmmm.
We tried out our new grill cheese campfire maker. We fried up some bacon and made grill cheeses with bacon for breakfast. Mmmmmm.
After breakfast I showed the girls how to make gimp bracelets. I use to make these all the time as a young girl at camp. We found the gimp at the dollar store awhile back and I have been waiting for the right moment to make them with them.

I kept the fire going all day. Even though it was pretty warm out, it felt right to have it going as I cuddled up with my blanket over my legs and my cup of coffee in hand and a new scrap booking magazine. Yep! I could not think of a better way to spend a Saturday relaxing......

We had some hotdogs for lunch and decided to go out on the hill and get some sun. Our very talented neighbour joined us. She does everything. She paints,and her and Jayne clicked with sharing some of their techniques. She is a yoga teacher. She has been giving Jillian her oun private classes all summer as she tells her that she is a natural.
And Saturday afternoon she took out her beautiful drum, that was given to her as a gift from the natives on the other side of the country. It is made out of elk and she taught the girls some of the heartbeats of different animals. They really enjoyed this.

Saturday evening I crocheted a bit. I have 8 dish cloths made for Christmas gifts so far. We had cheese burgers and corn on the cob for supper. We washed up the dishes and sat by the fire and the girls made some campfire popcorn. We listened across the way to Ann play her guitar. ( another one of her many talents)
We settled in with the movie Epic....very cute

Sunday we came home early afternoon as Mom was not having a good weekend. We has really gone down hill this past week. She has became a bit dehydrated and the doctor says that it is up to her if she wants to go into the hospital. We have decided to play it by the hour and see how today goes. If she gets weeker then we will need to bring her back in. :(

Last evening for supper I tried something new. I used a half of my french bread I had in the freezer and made a little oil and tomato with onion topping and topped it with some cheese. It turned out very yummy and I would make it again.

We served it with pasta and green salad.


After supper I went to the kitchen garden and picked yellow beans again another 3 gals to make more mustard beans. Got them made, and hope go pick the green beans and peas today before the rain.
Hubby went to the field to bale up some more round bales.

Tomorrow the girls and I are heading to the trailer for the last weekend. We are leaving after supper as my Dad has Friday off. ( and that is if everything goes ok with Mom) we are staying for 2 nights, and then on Satuday morning Hubby, Justin, and Hubby' s cousin are coming to the trailer to get it,and the canoe, and the BBQ. Saturday afternoon I have to come home as I have a hair appointment at 2.
BECAUSE ..........
Sunday........is a day for ME!!!

Why? You might ask?
Because I'm going with my very best girl friend to see Dwight Yoakam play at the casino in Moncton ( about 3hours away) we are staying in a suite there and the 2 of us are super excited. We both need this little mini vacation,and are looking forward to it. I even bought myself new boots for the event...it was so about time.

Well I'm off to put bread on to rise and clean the kitchen.take care and I hope you all are well.

My Families Mustard Bean Recipe

I grew up on mustard beans as one of the nightly pickled side dish  on the supper table. My aunt Marjorie made these along with my aunt Ruthie. They taught me at a young age to make them and as a young child I did not like them. But by my teen years I adorable them.

I wanted to share my Aunts recipe with you, and maybe this might be one you will add to your canning recipes too.

Enjoy!

Mustard Beans

2qts string beans (I use yellow) cook until tender
3 pounds white sugar
1/4 cup dry mustard
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp. salt
1TBSP turmeric
1TBSP celery salt
6 cups vinegar
4 cups water or less depends on how strong you like them.
Make sauce and pour over beans, bring to a boil. Fill jars and put in a hot water canner for 15 minutes

We also love mustard pickles..... :)

Blueberries, Beans And Of Course Peas And A Full Moon

My title just about sums up my week. Justin got to go again on Monday blueberry picking with the farmer over the road. He brought home double from the week before. This week we have been busy making jam, pies, blueberry deserts like blueberry buckle and muffins. We made juice and froze all the rest for winter.

At the very same time my kitchen garden decided to go into full swing producing. Peas and green beans hit, then the last few days the yellow beans are over loading. We have snapped and blanched gallons and gallons of beans. We have cleaned out the freezer for them and have stocked it all up again. It is looking wonderful. We canned yellow beans, and we are going to make some mustard beans today. My pantry is starting to look amazing as well with all the winters goodies in there.
The girls cleaned up the rest of the hazelnuts yesterday afternoon before going for a swim. We froze another 8 bags.

It was a record breaking hot day here yesterday hitting 38 degrees and for August that's is hot.
After supper I made another batch of jam, and then the kids and I went to meet Hubby in the field to gather up square bales to take to the mines. We loaded 2 fields and finished at 930 it was dark but the moon was amazing last night. I hope you all had a chance to take a look at it. Full, red, and beautiful.

I just received the most wonderful news this morning. The park where our trailer is ,is owned by our provincal govererment here in our province of New Brunswick. This year the season had been shortened for the park. It opens the long weekend in May which is the15th, and it was to close on the 2nd of Sept. but now they have extended the season till the 29th :)

Have a wonderful day!

Wet Wednedsay

Tuesday afternoon was a normal one, I left mom to rest at 2 and came home to help the girls tidy up. Justin was off for the day so he went blueberry picking with the farmer over the road. We decided to take out the last of the dinner rolls that were in the freezer, and some ground beef and whip up a shepherds pie for supper. Hubby came home from work and left right away to go pick up the square bales that were left in the field. They are not for the animals they are to sell to the mine for a wall, but he wanted them off the field before the heavy rains. The girls and I ate and made up the guys plates. We quickly cleaned up and headed down to the field to help. I drove the tractor and hubby piled the hay on the trailer while the girls made piles in the field with the square bales.
We just made it back home, got a big tarp out and the rain began. Justin came along with 6 gals of berries at the same time, and we all worked to cover the trailer up. We did up the evening barn work, and then moved in to the house socked, I washed up and changed and got to work cleaning the berries while the guys ate.
It rained so hard all night and right up to 8 this morning, it is still misting out. I put bread on to rise as well as rolls, as we were complety out. Today I will make jam, and the girls can help make a few pies. I will freeze some berries, and make some juice. OUR FAVOURITE !
So I better get a move on if I plan on getting all that done today. Take care

More Signs

It was a nice weekend at the trailer. The weather was not perfect but we made the best of it. Friday night it rained and we put up our big blue tarp over most of our lot. We had a campfire and then the wind picked up and it got to big, and I had to put it out.
We retired with a movie and some snacks indoors before heading off to bed.
Saturday the weather was ok, it was about 23 degrees but the high winds made it hard to do much. We had a peanut butter pancake breakfast with bacon.and then the children spent the day out playing, and I crocheted most of mine. We had hotdogs for lunch and got to make a small fire just before supper. I cooked supper on the fire. We had corn on the cob, hamburgers, and Kraft dinner. Yep, gotta love the woods for cooking strange combos.
We came home early Sunday as we had a big day ahead.

It was a hot day but we managed to get all our meat birds butchered, along with the turkeys. 59 and 8 turkeys. Done and in the freezer. Not as many meat birds this year but this will do.
Yesterday the girls picked more peas, and we had some with our supper, of oven fried porkchops and potatoes, I  have enough to go with tonight's supper as well. I picked all the green beans with the girls that were ready after supper before we had a huge thunderstorm. We came in and blanched them and got them vacuumed sealed and into the freezer. 8 bags to start off the season. The yellow beans should be ready tomorrow for picking.

I was told yesterday that the baskets of peaches from Ontario have began to arrive at the general store. I will have to take a run into town this week to get some. My family loves peach jam, as do I. I make 3 kinds every year. Pineapple peach jam, peach jam with cherries, and regular peach jam. YUM!
I also like to freeze some, and Make a few deserts too.
What do you do with peaches?

Fall Is In The Air, And In My Kitchen As Well

I can not believe we are already in August. It is funny how quick the weather changes with the months. July was a very hot month here. ( it always is warmer in July but never that hot) we had some record breaking temps this summer.  I am sad to see the heat gone. I love the heat and we don't get very much of it that it felt nice.

August is turning out to be still nice with the cooler temps in the low to mid 20's. but we have had so much rain, and it seems to rain every couple of days making it hard to finish up the hay, and enjoy the rest of summer before Fall arrives. 

It is not going to be to long before that happens as the signs are already all around us. The big one beginning  preparation! 

We have been busy making jams and jellies for the seasons ahead. 

We went through rhurbarb season, with making wonderful goodies. Jams,  stewed rhurbarb, juice, deserts for the freezer, and frozen rhurbarb for the long winter months ahead.

Next it was strawberry season. Jams, deserts for the freezers along with bags of berries for later use.

Then we were able to get enough Raspberries to make more jam, and make a couple of our favourite deserts, like pie, Danishes, and a batch of raspberry muffins.

We are still picking the raspberries. 

The girls picked buckets of hazelnuts and put them away in the dark in burlap bags to dry. We will do them up in bags for the freezer for those lazy days of winter ahead to make all sorts of goodies as well.

We have made a couple batches of Queen Anne's Lace jelly ( Jaynes favourite) and hope to get enough Queen Anne's lace picked next week for one more batch. 

We have started this past week to pick peas from the garden. We have enjoyed fresh peas in a couple of our suppers and will shell more today to blanch and freeze. 

Next will be blueberries, cherries, plums, and apples. I love what Mother Nature has given us for free. 

And in the middle our very own garden harvests, and all the canning and blanching and pickling that goes along with it. 

The herbs will be picked and dried. The beef and pork will be butchered. The pork fat rendered for lard, and  Partridge hunting season will begin. Hopefully we will be blessed with enough for another winter. 

Sunday afternoon when we get back fom the trailer we are doing up our meat birds, and turkeys.Big job but it needs to get done. 

These will cover a big dent in one of the freezers. 

And all through making the jams, jellies, deserts, picking the havrests, the guys have been slowly bring in fire wood and fishing for trout for the freezer for the upcoming cold seasons. 

Yes....Fall is sure in the air.....

A Wonderful Family Road Trip

Last Friday evening we packed up the Escape and headed to the trailer for the night. ( by the way if anyone is wondering our trailer is about 1 1/2 hours away from home) we took a season pass for a provincial park for the summer.
We enjoyed a lovely family evening. Campfire, a little junk food, a little crochet by the fire,
and then tucked in early to bed, as we were getting up pretty early for our annual family road trip.
Saturday morning we were up at 7, packed the escape once again, and packed up a little breakfast for us. We left the park and had muffins,and orange juice on the way. We drove about a hour or so to the town of Grand falls. It is a border town with Hamlin Maine. They have the nicest Farmers Market there. We filled up on fresh goodness of honey, kale, a few candles, a new doggie blanket for Frannie, and soap.
Then it was off to giant tigar and the country decor store.
We went for coffee, and shopped for back to school items at Walmart. Bought new cordless phones and then headed to the city of Edmudston. After having to pull over for a terrible rain storm we made it there. We had a picnic lunch of wraps, subs, cookies, juice, and garnola bars. We shopped at all the local shops, and enjoyed the little city. We went to Walmart there, and then to the pet store. We made our last stop in edmudston at the mall,and Jill got to ride the elephant.

 before grabbing a cool treat at Mac Donald's and hitting the highway for Quebec.
We drove through Quebec to where they had a government ferry dock. We decided to wait for the ferry to come in and see where it led to. After waiting a while I went to the little resturant next door that over looked the harbour to find out more. Unfourtally the ferry was docked on the other side and was not in service at the moment. :(
We continued on our journey, and after a couple hours of diving and viewing some of the most beautiful country side of farms, we arrived in Rumoski. We visited a information station to get directions and to see what this big city had to offer. They had it all but unfourtally again we were to late. We had 10 minutes and everything was closing. ( in Quebec everything closes at 5 on Saturdays)
So we headed out of the city and drove to Amqui where I had visited with the children on a road trip a little while back. We stopped for supper, gas up and headed back home.
We arrived home around 1030 and were all pretty tired. But I must we all enjoyed the family time together.
Sunday afternoon after everything was done around the house and the farm, the girls and I decided to head back up to the trailer for the night as the weather was so nice., And Monday was a holiday here.( provincial holiday)We did and we had a wonderful evening. Camp fire, had a lovely chat with the neighbours who just got up there for the month. ( same couple as last year)
Roasted marshmellows and made s'mores, had pizza, nachos, and garlic fingers, watched amazing  storm cloud show move in over the mountains.

Then the thunder and lightening put on a real good show before we had to move in for the night.
We tucked in with bee movie, and the rain poured so hard.
We went to bed and slept like babies. We woke up at 1030 YEP! That's right....1030.....it felt great....

We had a campfire breakfast and the girls went and played around while I sat by the ire a d read my newest country sampler magazine, and crocheted,and sipped on my coffee. Very relaxing day. We headed down at supper time and can't wait to do it again  tomorrow.

End Of Week In Pictures A Little Late...After A long NO Internet...

Here is my post that i tried so hard to get up and running.


I finally got my window shelf complete and up in my dining room. I think Hubby's and my hard work   Finally paid off.

Oh way to many eggs........ What to do?????
Why you make pickled eggs for the family.

Here's our pickled egg recipe

4 cups of vinegar
1/2 cup of white sugar
2TBSP pickling spice
2tsp. Salt
2 bay leaves
Onion rings made from a large onion cut into rings
Boil all together until dissolved
Let cool and add to hard boiled eggs
Let sit for as long as you can keep your family away from them.



We had a ham cooked in the slow cooker with rice Wednesday night for supper with  potato scallop
And corn
After making sandwiches for the working men in my family, I decided to make Jayne's favourite soup. A big old pot of ham soup. I added fresh mushrooms to it for the first time. ( they needed to be used up, before they became pig sloop )
I think they turned out pretty good.

We had company over Saturday for supper. The girls decided to take Cinnie Belle out for a stroll

Our turkey supper was a hit. We all ate way to much.

I'll be back tomorrow with how this past weekend went. take care.

Computer Glich On The Blog

Sunday evening I decided to go ahead and post some pictures of weeks end here in our little neck of the woods. I typed out my entry placed all my pictures in and went to publish and nothing....
I tryed again nothing....
Then I tryed one more time and lost everything....
Ok enough. I gave up and went to bed. I tryed again on Monday, but same nothing happened.
Then Monday afternoon our phone line went out and then our Internet. I was only connected to the world through my phone. I can not post pictures through my phone to my blog.
So no posts for me.

Tuesday was a beautiful day here and our friends invited us over to there pool for a swim, as their heater in there pool is electric and there pool was set at 88. We went and had a very nice evening until the thunder moved in and the dark clouds settled in. The lighting started and it was time to head home. It rained so hard coming home we were barly able to see the road. We made it back and just the run from the jeep into the house we were socked.

Wednesday Mom had a terrible day. She did not eat at all, and she was very sick to her stomach. She stayed in bed all day.
It was warm here on Wednesday and the kiddies had a pool evening. Later after we were about to settle in we noticed our drake duck was not around. Howard often spends his days back at the pond, so Hubby and I went for a walk to see if maybe he was on his island. No Howard. It has been to long of time since we last seen him and I am expecting something might have gotten him.
Poor Lucky I'm thinking she might be a widow.
We were headed back to the yard and my cousin and his wife and their daughter that live across the road from us came over for a little spin on there new atv. It is very nice and they told Justin to take the girls and go for a drive around. They all had so much fun.



Thursday Mom started out fine but had a little episode on me before lunch and I really thought I was going to have to call for a ambulance. She did come out of it and she was able to talk. Both her and I got a terrible scare.
Last evening I was able to get the front yard mowed, with the sticky weather. The ride on mower decided to quit on me and I had to do it with the push mower. I was pretty tired after that, but I want it all done before we leave.

Yep were going away today....... I am so excited. ( that is if Mom has a good day, and I feel that her and my Dad will be alright for the weekend)

We are going to the trailer tonight, then getting up early in the morning and heading over to Grand Falls for there wonderful farmers market. Some shopping at the wal mart and giant tigar. Grand falls is a border town with the States and I find that they are very good with their prices.
We will have a pinic lunch then we are on the road again to Edmudston. We are super excited to go there as it has been a long time. We will decide from where to next from there.
I have been waiting for a family trip for awhile now, and am so excited I can barly wait. With so much going on with my Mother it as been very hard to go or do anything. I miss my family. I miss our little road trips. I miss our family vacation. And I miss most of all just being with them.