A Continuation To A Busy Week

I am apologizing for my last post. I sent it out last week and only realized last night that it was still siting in my drafts. ( yes I guess I have to much on my plate some weeks) :)


These next few weeks are going to be full busy ones. So I wanted to pop in and let you all know what has been going on around here.

Lets start with the weather. It snowed everyday last week, except Friday where the temps climbed and we had a full day of rain. Then by supper time the temps dropped and it turned to freezing rain.
Saturday was a cold day. I slept in till 830 Yeah!!!   I stayed indoors all day and cleaned the house.I put a Roast of pork smothered in marmalade into the over on low for the day.then we turned them into pork sandwiches on crusty rolls smothered in butter and toasted in the oven.we had homemade fries with them.mmmmm.
 Justin helped me put up some garlands until he got a call to go to work for the farmer over the road. Then our new fridge came just before supper. I love it and am super excited with all the room. Unfourtally there were a couple of  little damages inside on a self and a drawer, but the service guy will be coming out to the house to change them in the next few days.

Here it is......

Sunday morning Hubby and I were up early. -18 degrees outdoors. We got the fires stocked up and the fans running, so it did not take long for the house to warm up. I had my morning coffee,watched my pioneer woman, and started on Sunday brunch. We had a lovely brunch of ham, sausages,fried eggs, and biscuits. Mmmmmm.

Hubby cleaned out the hot water heater room, and reoragainzed it and made much more room in there. It is where I store our toilet paper,paper towels,garbage bags, paint, cleanning supplies, homemade laundry soap in buckets, extra toiletries,and light bulbs. yep I sure can store alot in there, besides having our water tank and hot water heater. You should have seen all the jusk he through out of there.I cleaned a bit more in the house  and got all the laundry caught up.
I put a beef stew on to cook on the wood stove for the day and made doughboys to go on top. Talk about yummy! After a cold day.
I filled the slow cooker with oatmeal to cook over night.

I brought some meat in for the week into our new freezer on the fridge. Meatballs and rice with beef mac are on tonight's menu.

In between looking after Mom today, I am trying to clean out my cupboards under my island. I think I have a whole lot of junk that can be thrown out and space can be used for my stock and canning pots.

We are under a snow storm warning for tonight and tomorrow morning.

A Busy Week

Wow December already.....
It sure is coming fast. Time has flown here these past couple of weeks. Blogging has been put on the back burner, and I feel sad about that.

Our trip away was great. We had a warm beautiful day.We never stopped all day, and were able to stock up on a lot of good buys. I think the best part was just getting away with my family.

Mother Nature sure has been undecided on weather here in our part of the country. After nice warm temps, it switched over to freezing cold, with a whole lot of wind. We already have had to snow storms, and I think the snow on the ground is here to stay now.
It pretty much snows everyday now.

The girls enjoyed the first storm of the season last weekend.

My parents are pretty much the same, Mom has good days and others are not as good.

Justin spent the weekend working for the farmer over the road, and his evenings tearing apart my Summer chicken coop which was a 8x12' mini barn. He is going to transform it into a small garage to work in.

My chickens are now all moved into the chicken coop inside the barn. The guys promise me they are going to build me a brand new more efficient chicken coop in the spring. I would like it to be round. We will wait and see how that turns out.

Hubby is still working full time, and spending the evening in his garage doing bodywork on company    Trucks for the mine.
Both Justin and Hubby are also filling a extra shed with extra firewood every moment they get.

Jillian received student of the month last Friday. We were super excited for her.

Jayne has been so busy with a heavy work load of essays to get in before Christmas. Our printer went on the bum, and it put her back a couple of days. I was able to take a run into the next town and get a new one with the great warranty I had. ( $10 well spent)

The girls worked on the tree and finished it up Sunday afternoon.

I was able last week to get a night with Hubby and we got our bathroom painted. I still have a lot more i would like to do in there to make it more country looking, but time is a hard thing to manage these days.

We bought a new fridge with our Canadian Black Friday sales. It is super huge just what I was looking for. It will be delivered on Saturday and I will post pics of it when I get it.
I am really happy about it, as I so needed a bigger fridge. Best of all it was a great deal :)

 As for our farm family. We have added to new heifer calves to our home. Phoebe has friends like her now.

On a sad note out old Shetland pony passed away Saturday morning. She was close to 30. She has had the heaves for years, and that was the reason we ended up getting her, as she could no longer live in the barn at another farm. We keep our horses out doors with a shelter and they do fine. Muffin lasted 8 years here with us.

Hubby and his friend moved the horses to there winter pen on Sunday afternoon. They divided up the pen with the other animals and after a long cold afternoon they all came in to sit and enjoy a yummy turkey dinner with all the trimmings.

Monday it snowed again, Tuesday was mild with rain, and this morniing we awoke to yet another snowstorm....
yes I would say it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

A Happy Ending

Well it has been a long few days here on our homestead.
Jill got her IPod back safe and sound, and she has found out lesson learned as well. As did I.

Mom is still having a lot of confusion, but is a bit better.

I attended both Jaynes and Jill's parent teacher interviews and they both did very well. They are just where they need to be. I was how ever late for Jill's meeting as Jaynes ran late, and I had to pick up my Dad from work, and hurry all the way home to pick up Jill. But she does however have a great teacher and he was very understanding.

I put on a big old pot of hamburger soup into the slow cooker this morning, and thank goodness, Justin and Jill  had something to eat when they got off the bus, Jayne ate when she got home. I was really late getting home with Jill, as we stopped to fill the jeep upwith gas for the morning, and we had coupons and the gas attendent had a lot of trouble to punch them in. We were there for 20 minutes. HB had just sat down from work to eat when I got home, so we ate together.

I tided up a little and got my little carry on bag packed for the morning.
HB went to talk to our neighbour down the road to let him know we would be away for the day.
I am super excited to get away with my family.

I love going to stock up for Winter at Costco. Do you ever get there and if so what are your favorite things to stock up on?

Mid Week Already

I think we have had all four seasons in the last few days. We had freezing temps up to -15, then it warmed up to 10 degrees and we had plenty of fog, wind and rain. Yesterday afternoon it began to snow and it snowed right till I went to bed. We were awake most of the night as the wind blew so hard.

Jayne had a wonderful 13th Birthday. We had a lovely Roast chicken supper with all the trimmings.

I made from Jayne's request a desert pizza birthday cake.

Just what she ordered

Here are a few pictures from Saturday night


Jaynes birthday supper was super delish. She had nachos, Jill and I had fish &chips.
Jill did not want cake just ice cream.

The girls

We had our very own box seats. Ours even had a couch in it.

Jillian also got her report card on Monday and it was straight A's as usual. Way to go Jill!
Justin and Jayne only get there's later at different times.

Tuesday was one of those days that I wished I could have just went back to bed and let it go by.

It started off with a cool morning, with having to get the fires going. The kiddies got up to maple sausages, and pancakes.
Jayne got up not feeling good,and she did not touch her breakfast. She had a sore belly and sore head. After taking something for it she decided to go to school and at least try as she has so much work at school going on right now that she would fall behind staying home.
It was also nurse day for my Mom. She called late as we now have a new nurse. This put me behind:(

Mom was not having a good day, she was very week, hallucinations, and a low sugar:( but the nurse also decided there was not to much they could do and decided only to come every second week now....again :(

I was only able to come home later then I usually do and I came home to no power. The power did come back on after a couple of hours, but no phone. It is still out and the phone company is not sure why and what is wrong

Then I allow the kids to bring there iPods to school with them as long as they keep them in there book bags. It is a long bus ride and they find reading on the bus makes them motion sickness.

Well poor Jill had hers in her book bag and a little boy in her class took it out of her front pouch of her book bag while it was on her back. She did not know until she got on her bus. She thought he was just punching on Her back.
She cried all evening.
I had to go into town this morning and take Jill to school so I could let the teacher know what had happened. they are going to look into it.
Jayne came home feeling better. Thank goodness. Hubby came home from work a little early, and Justin went to set some more snares.

We had chicken fried rice, boneless pork chops in cream of mushroom soup, and coleslaw.

I did up after supper a 5 gallon pale of beautiful ripe tomatoes that were grown in a greenhouse and given to me from a friend of ours that supply produce to the local grocery stores. He dropped them off Sunday and I have ben putting them off. What a lovely treat.

The kiddies have Friday off for teachers meeting and were are planning a family day to the big city three hours away. Hubby is taking the day off, and my Dad has it off as well to look after my Mom. I am looking so forward to just getting away with my family.
We want to get a little Christmas shopping done, go to the big craft sale, go to John Derre, Costco, and the big Mall. And yes even Wal Mart. :)

Tonight's supper is fried steak, and cheese scalloped potatoes.
I so hope Jill comes home Happy.
well off to Moms for the day.

Sunday Stuff

Our weather has finally warmed up a bit, making it much easier to get outdoor jobs done.
Yesterday we celebrated Jaynes Birthday with her friend. Jayne,Jillian and myself went out to supper at the restaurant in town with Jaynes best friend and her Mom who is a good friend of mine. After a wonderful meal we had a little cake and then headed over to the Civic centre,which is where our ice Rick is located to watch a hockey game. Jayne received box seat tickets for her Birthday from my Dad who got them from work. The girls had a wonderful night.

Today I was up early watched a few of my cooking shows with my cup of coffee. The girls slept in. So the house stayed nice and quite. The guys had went to bring home the rest of the round hay bales that were still in the fields. I then got a great brunch made up of ham, bacon,sausages,eggs,and mini cheese biscuits.

I spent most of the afternoon outdoors it was very damp and foggy but a lot warmer then it has been.

I made up sweet and sour meatballs and a lovely homemade Mac and cheese casserole for supper and it smells so good in here at the moment with them cooking in the oven.

Tonight is our family TV night with our Heartland show, and then Alaska the last frontier. I made up some special treats of spring rolls for this.

Tomorrow is Jaynes 13th Birthday. I can not believe she is going to be a teenager.

I smell supper ready and Jill is trying to set the table around me, so I better go.

I wish you all a good evening.

Cold Weather

There was only one word to describe this morning. Burrrrr!
We awoke to -15 with our wind chill. We kept both fires going all night. I got up and took the dogs out and almost froze with the wind.

It sure felt good to come back indoors and have a cup of coffee next to the fire. 

The farm animals water bowls are freezing so I am going to have to haul out the heaters. We will need to move the Chickens over to their winter residence in the barn over the weekend too.

It seems winter is coming faster then I thought.

Mom is doing about the same. Tomorrow she has a eye treatment at the hospital, and I will pick my Dad up at 1 from work and we will take her for 2. After they are settled into the hospital I will run over to pick Jill up from School and see if we can get her hair cut. Her bangs are in her eyes and I am not sure if I can cut her hair straight. Better to get someone else to do it. :)

We had our first thick pork chops with the bone in for supper tonight from this years pork. They were delish. I marinaded them in crushed pineapple for the day and fried them up in the cast iron fry pan with butter and oil. We had fanned baked potatoes and rice with them. 

Tonight we tryed a new donut recipe. We found our sugar donuts that we made last year for Christmas  got hard after the next day. So I was on the lookout for a light and fluffy recipe. I found one on the Internet with grand reviews. They called to rise the dough. The girls and I made a batch and so far not to bad. 

If anyone has a great donut recipe, I would love to her about it. 

Being Canadian we had our Thanksgiving a few weeks back. We had a turkey then, but I'm still craving  turkey. I don't think I can wait till Christmas before having another. I am planning on Monday for Jaynes Birthday. ( great reason right?)

 

Well that's all for tonight Ladies. Time for this chicky to hit the sack. 

Goodnight and keep warm.

More Picture Update

The snow has finally hit beginning Sunday night, we awoke on Monday morning to a white blanket.

Last week we had meatloaf for supper, and the next day I made these delicious meatloaf sandwiches. These I can say are far by the best meatloaf sandwiches I have ever made.

Backing up a bit here is our Halloween evening of trick or treating with friends.

Jerry celebrated his 40th Birthday on the 5th along side with Jillian our youngest who turned 10.
I had a surprise supper for HB 2 Saturdays ago at a local resturant. Besides me having no voice we had a wonderful evening out.
Tuesday we had a roast chicken birthday supper and I made a farm cake for the 2 Farmers.

I even put a few raisins for poop.  :)

On Sunday Jillian had her Birthday party with her friends at the local pool in town.
everyone had a great time.

November is a big Birthday month in our household. Tomorrow is my Dads Birthday and Jayne is next Monday.

Everyone is doing good a the moment here in our Family. Phoebe is back home and I am pretty sure that everyone is bred now. Spring Babies will be coming just around the corner. Hard to believe.

Christmas music has been filling our home and we have started the cooking and baking menu dates already. I am slowly hauling out holiday decor and putting away the fall decor.

i have so many ideas of crafts to do with the girls in the next few weeks, and some special ones i am wanting to make for Christmas gifts.

I hope you are all doing well as well.

Baking powder???

I have always used just plain baking powder. I guess it is wht you call single acting.
The other day I went into the next town to the local coop store there. They always have great items marked down in the front of the store in shopping carts. I can find at least one great deal. Well that day I hit a good one. I got lots of candy decorating sprinkles in a variety of Christmas colors for 50cents a pack, a few packs of icing, and a large can of double acting baking powder for $1.00
BUT......
I'm not sure what it is. Can you substitute double acting for single?
Does anyone else know? Has anyone ever used the double acting before?
I wonder if I use the same amount?

I figure I should try and make something with it and see if it turns out :)

Baby It's Cold Outside

The weather has sure taken a bitten cold turn. We have even had a couple of days where we have seen snow flurries in the air.
Fires are now needed to stay on all day, and warmer coats are needed to go outdoors. The girls are wearing there mittens to the bus in the morning as well.

My Mom has been very weak lately and she has good days and bad ones. She spends a lot more time in bed now and I try to keep her as comfortable as I can.
My Dad landed up back in the hospital on Wednesday and they kept him as his gull bladder needed to come out. So I spent 6 days at my moms till yesterday when he finally got out after they missed a stone and then he took a reaction to the meds. Let me tell you it sure felt good to sleep in my own bed last night. I am really feeling it trying to run 2 households. My family was feeling it as well. But I thank God everyday for the understanding family I have.

Friday night was Jaynes Halloween school dance. She had a wonderful time.

Saturday night Jill had a Halloween party at her friends house ( they happen to be twins) she too a wonderful time.

HB has been working steading as he had lost a day with a terrible head cold. He has a jeep in the garage he is working on for a guy in the evenings and when ever he gets a moment, besides working at the mine.

He was also able to get our beef done and put into the cooler on Thursday.

Sunday he brought Phoebe home from the farm over the road, we are sure hoping she is now bred.

Tonight we butchered one quarter of our beef. It was so cold out in the meat room. There was frost on the ground already when we came in the house for the night.
Tomorrow night we will get the rest done and the ground beef grounded as well. We started to late tonight.

It is suppose to go down to -10 tonight, it is already -5 out there. Burrrr. So with the fires crackling away, and the heavy quilts on the beds we are toasty and it is time for me to go to bed. My back is sore tonight and I am feeling it now. Goodnight dear friends.

Fall Picture Update

I sure wish I was more computer literate when it comes to my blog. I take a lot of my pictures with my iPhone, and or my IPad. I have tried to download my pics from my iPad,or iPhone while I'm writing my posts and they never show up.so I always need to send my pics to my email and open and download them on our laptop. This sometimes makes me very very slow or late posting. I am sorry for this. So I sent all my updated fall pics to my laptop and finally.....

So without further ado......

The girls made a wonderful salsa

We finally got our pumpkin pies made.....

I am using up all the fall apples by making up apple crisps

I times my recipe by 4 and make 4 crisps at a time, as I get my foil trays in 4 packs.

The wood shed got underway thanks to Justin

I have switched to making my daily soups on our wood stove now.

hope you enjoy

More Fall

Fall is sure here. The mornings are cold and frosty. Fires are needed and by 1:00 it is nice and warm out. By 4:00 you can feel the differance in the air. By 7:00 the fires are needed again.

Fire wood is under way. The small wood shed is now full, and I cleaned the big one out and Justin has been busy spilting and piling.

Just when we thought tomatoes were done, we had more ripen in the house that left us with enough to make salsa. The girls did all the cutting up and they learned to make salsa.

It turned out great.

We got a little fall decorating done around the house.

I'm having trouble again with downloading my pictures on here. I wish I knew more about this stuff. But as soon as I get it figured out ill post them.

I spent the ending of the week cutting up pumpkin, cooking it, making pie crusts, and making pumpkin pie. They turned out good.
I ended up cooking my pumpkin in a roaster with a little water.

I also cooked some on the stove as well.


I really like the way the pumpkin turned out in the oven.

I purée it in the food processer and froze what I did not make into pies.

I was pretty tired after getting it all done. But those pies are sure worth all the work.

Thursday morning I got a pot of turkey soup on the wood stove to simmer away for the day. I got the kitchen cleaned up and then went ahead and got bread on to rise. Then I cleaned the kitchen again.We had chicken parmigiana Thursday night for supper with garlic bread, it was a hit the whole family loved it.

Friday it rained, and I felt terrible all day. I was very tired. My Dad had to go back to the hospital again as his stomach was so sore on Thursday. I thought he was going to take the day off Friday and get some rest,but nope, he went to work and I looked after my Mom.

I think all the stress was finally getting to me by Friday. I made garlic fingers and sweet potato fries for supper and relaxed on the couch before going to bed early.

Today I felt better. I took it slow this morning, I slept in and then had coffee on the couch and watched my cooking shows. The kids made there on breakfast, and Hubby went to the woods.

After I felt myself again, I did up all the baby carrots that were left in the garden. These were all the tiny ones. I left some out for our supper. I made sausages for lunch for the family. 

Then after getting all the barn work done we headed back to the gardens in the woods to dig our potatoes. Justin and Jill came to help us, while Jayne stayed home and made a boiled dinner for supper. 

We only got one out of the two gardens done. We have over 300 pounds already :)

If it dose not rain tomorrow we will dig the rest. If not it will be next week. 

Jaynes barn cat Aleena had 2 more kittens this afternoon as well in the hay mound. I am sure the girls will be out naming them first thing in the morning. 

We have a bear hanging around the yard a little to close. Justin seen him Friday and Hubby seen the prints this morning by the pumpkin patch. Then when we went back to the woods on the ATV we saw more tracks over Hubby's Backhoe tracks from when he went to cut wood this morning. 

Tomorrow morning we will have our usual Sunday morning brunch, then after all the house and barn work gets done I will do up another pumpkin. 

Hubby has to finish working on a body job on a jeep that he is doing in his spare time for a guy. 

Well time for this old girl to hit the sack. Take care my dear friends and happy blogging.

A Little Late Catch Up

It has been way way to long since my last blogging post, and I so apologize for that. I kinda got swallowed up by Fall  preparations around the farm, and having both parents not well.
But I'm back, and wanting to bring you all up to date on what I was so busy with.

So I'm going to back up a week ago or a little more and start. Lets start in the kitchen.

I finally got the last of the cucumbers used up and finished off with another batch of Celery Relish.we have had some heavy frosts the last few nights.
If any would like the recipe let me know.

I got 2 batches more of apple jelly made. I only get a crop of apples every second year here so I have been trying to make enough apple items for two years.


If you would like my apple jelly recipe again I will certinally share it.

I also tried out Donna's Apple pie filling Recipe over at Merry Heart Crafts. Thank you Donna it turned out lovely.
I highly recommend it for you go to pie filling. :)

We picked tomatoes, and more tomatoes, and filled our baskets with ripe ones. It seemed like it took forever this year for them to ripen, but once they started.
We also had way to many cherry tomatoes. I planted to many and my mouth is all broken out from eating so many. But they are so good.

I bottled 18 quarts for the winter,and made Ketchup in the slow cooker with the rest. We ended up with 16 pint jars of ketchup.
Then a neighbour dropped by and gave us more tomatoes. I did up another 11 quarts of sauce. They also brought me 6 more heads of cauliflower so we did 4 up and blanched and froze them. We are still eating the rest with our own.

I have my windows sills in my home filled with green ones waiting for them to ripen.
I should be making a batch of chow with the green ones,but just have not had the time as of yet.

We got the corn all picked and I have been storing the bags in the cooler to preserve it longer. The girls helped me and we were able to do up some cream corn. I also blanched and froze some on the cob for winter eating. There is still a half bag and we have been enjoying a lot of corn on the cob with our suppers.

As for our pork.....

2 Thursday evenings ago we cut up the first one. It went well and after babysitting a cooler for the week  I was happy it was done. Well most of the week that is.Then our weather changed back to rain and cold about mid week and the cooler worked perfect.

2 Friday evenings ago  we butchered our second one,and hung it in the cooler. We grounded up all the pork that was left from the first pig,and put it back into the fridge for Saturday to make Sausages.
Saturday afternoon we made our first batch of sausages with my husbands cousin that had came to help out. We were only able to get medium casings for the sausages as we were completely out and I was having trouble finding them as our normal rep was out of province. But they worked. We usually always made our maple ones in the breakfast size and our honey garlic in the large size. But this year is a it different. No worries they still taste wonderful.
This year we were able to try a new flavour.. Donair ......  They are wonderful and I bet they would be even better wrapped in a pita, added with shredded lettuce, a little tomato, onion, and topped with Donair sauce. Can't wait to try this out.

Tuesday evening we cut up our bigger more fattier pig. It went well as well.


Here you can start to see a little of what the meat room, and cooler looks like

long ways to go yet, but it sure beats where we were before. We have not had enough time yet to get the counters built so we had to use a table for now to wrap the meat.

Jill loved to help wrap the meat.

Wednesday  morning we had our annual family breakfast at Jill's school. It was family week and every year they host the most wonderful continental breakfast of pancakes,cereal,toast, muffins,fruit, cheeses,tea,coffee,and juices.
After sitting eating and chatting I said my goodbyes to Jill and Jayne and I headed over to her school to drop her off. Then it was off to Moms for my routine day.

The kiddies had the remainder of the week off for teachers meetings, and with it being Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada, they will not have to go back until Tuesday.

We had a very easy chicken burger and fry supper, as I had a meeting for Jill's grade 5 end of year trip at 630 which went well.
I got back home around 740 and Hubby has just finished grounding up the pork for the sausages. We all got involved and got more made.

Another job done. It feels great to have all the pork done up in the freezer. Along with all those Sausages.
I am not sure if we will need a deer this year for our sausages. We have a little time to think about it. We still have our beef left to do.
Partridge season has started here as well back on the 1st, and we have not had time as of yet to go hunting.Justin has gotten one so far. I was hoping over the long weekend we will get a chance to start. I have been craving a bouillon, but this was not the case as Friday after noon my Dad ended up in the hospital with very high blood pressure and a gull bladder attack. So I spent Friday, Saturday, and Sunday running back and forth to the hospital and looking after my Mom. Thank goodness I have such a understanding family. No pumpkin pie got made, no pie crust got done, and no apple pie. But my family says that we have all this week to get them done and we will eat pumpkin pie all next weekend. I love my Family.

Dad is feeling a bit better. he still wants to go back to work tomorrow.We had a  wonderful brunch with my family this morning.

We worked on our wood shed filling it today and cooked a turkey for Supper. It will certinally be a Thanksgiving to remember that's for sure. 

Take care and Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian Friends.

Busy Weekend and A Little Vinagar

After a ton of rain the sun came out, and we had the most beautiful weekend. High 20's which were very abnormal for this time of year.
I went into town on Friday and picked up the girls after school. We went to the general store and picked up some items we needed, and picked up a special order that was brought in for me. Gary the great guy who seems to be able to get me anything I am looking for brought me in my winters flour. He loaded the back of my jeep with 4 twenty pound bags of flour, yep that makes 80 pounds total. This should just about do us out the winter.
He also got my meat tray order ready for me. Thanks to Gary for making my life a little bit easier.

Saturday I worked in the heat in my front flower beds. Oh my poor perennials have been so neglected. Our walk way went from four feet wide to 2. I pulled weeds inbetween the bricks and trimmed my rose bushes and like magic my walk way was back. The kiddies made me laugh they could not beleive how wide it was, they said they forgot.
I was able to get another bushel of apples done up into apple sauce, and we made a homemade pizza for a late supper.

This morning we had a nice brunch of sausages, mini cheese biscuits, and eggs. Then it was outside to put in a full day. We turned on the cooler and went to butcher our pigs. The day was heating up quick, and then our new cooler decided to have trouble. The radiator completely froze up solid, and poor Hubby had worked most of the day at it. We did get one pig butchered, and hung in the cooler, while we worked at the cooling unit.

I came in doors just long enough to get some fried chicken made and into the oven. I went back out to help Hubby in anyway I could. We worked on it till 630 and it seems to be ok. Hubby is out now making sure.

The other day I mentioned I put some Vinagar on. I wanted to try in words to describe how I do this. Ok so here it goes.

First I do this when I do up my apples, I save my cores and peelings and use large jars that are I think a half gallon. I put my peelings and cores and little bits into them and fill with water just to cover.

Then because my jars are wide mouth I use a lid(seal) from my normal size mason jars on top to hold the apple down under the water. Then I use some breathable fabric or heavy cheese cloth over the tops and use the jar rings to secure it. I leave it for 36 hours or so, after about 24 hours you should see some bubbles around the lid if you take off the fabric and look. I need the fabric because the fruit flies love this stuff if I don't.

Then after 36 hours I open them and strain and give the chickens the apple parts, put into clean mason jar without the lid again use breathable fabric and the ring and leave for a month. I found that after 2 weeks it still is a bit cloudy and I'm hoping it clears up in the month. I also notice it kinda bubbles up and goes away again and it dose smell yeasty yet. But we will see in a month.

Good luck to anyone who wants to give it a try. Let me know if I can help anymore. I wished I had taken pictures as I was doing it. The girls want to do some more  so if I do I will take pictures this time around. I was hoping to make some this past weekend thats why I had not blogged about it till now. But after such a busy weekend I did not get it done.

Wednesday

I can't believe we're mid week already.

Monday I kept the house quite as the girls slept in, and made them some chicken soup to sip away on throughout the day. It was a Jammie day for them and by mid afternoon they were feeling better.
It rained all day, and it has been raining ever since.
We had meatballs,chicken fried rice,and beef fried macaroni for supper.I managed to get apple butter made and apple sauce.

Tuesday was my busy day with Mom, as it was nurse day visit. I spent most of the day with her and did not get back home till 3 and began cutting up the cucs, onions, peppers and celery for another batch of celery relish. I got 14 bottles this batch and now have enough for Winter. I made a frittata with ham and cheese and fresh herbs, I fried up the left over potatoes we had from Sunday nights supper, warm up the left over rice,meatballs, and beef fried Mac, and had a little stuffing left from the chicken as well. It made a great supper. I was pretty tired after all that cutting up and went to bed early.

Today I woke up with a headache and it bothered me most of the day. I got a few things done around the house and Jayne had called and told me that she forgot her lunch bag on the bus, so I had to make her a new lunch and drive it to the school. By the time I got back and went to my Moms it was after 10. Mom was not feeling to good today. She has became so weak over the last week or so, I find it a lot of effort to get her from the bed to the wheel chair now. My head hurt so much, I left there and came home and finished up my house work. I decided to lay down till the kiddies got home. We had a easy hotdog and french fry supper.
I went outside after supper between aim showers to help Hubby with the barn work. Te girls cleaned up from supper and I laid  back down again to watch Pioneer Woman. I feel a bit better now.

I filled the slow cooker with apples and will make another batch of apple sauce in the morning. It is such a wonderful smell to awake to in the morning. I also started some vinegar with the cores and peelings.

I will post pictures of our new meat room as soon as it is done. We had decided to use our first ever barn to make it in.it is a bit bigger to move around in then our last one. It is 2 sections. The back part is the cooler room. Where we will hang our meat. Then the front is where we cut it up. We will store our meat saw, slicer, sausage maker, and the hamburger maker in there. We will wrap our meat in there as well.
We have 2 pigs, and 2 beef waiting to be butchered now. One beef is our winter beef, and the other s our hamburger for the winter.( a older cow)

Justin went for a drive on the 4 wheeler today after school to the back fields of our neighbour to check on and see if he could see Phoebe. He seen her with a few cattle up in the higher pasture among the trees. He said she looked fine.

Tomorrow I would like to get some apple pie filling made and canned. We still have 4 bushels of apples in the back room to use up. Hubby is suppose to take Friday off to get some work done here at home. If the rain ever stops. We are wanting to make cider over the weekend as well.

Such a busy time of year, BUT..... I would not trade it for anything.....It is so worth it......

Take care and goodnight.

Saturday And Sunday

Well my Saturday plans of outdoor work kinda got changed around. It began the way I wanted it to with getting to sleep in. I got up around 8 and began to relax with my cup of coffee.
Hubby came in from the barn work and asked if I wanted to go to the next town for a drive with him to look at a cooler unit for the new meat room. I waited till 9 till the girls got up and checked to see how they were feeling. Jill had a runny nose when she went to bed Friday night, Jayne was not feeling the best, mostly played out from her trip, and Justin well we knew he still was not feeling the best. Justin stayed in bed and the girls were not feeling that bad. We left and we had a nice visit with friends who had the unit. Unfourtally it was not the right style we were looking for. After leaving we went to get some lunch at the Dairy Queen ( a real treat as we don't have anything close by like that)
We decided to go out further and visit with some other fiends we had not seen in a long time. We had a really nice visit there. We went to the bulk barn to stock up on all the fall and winter spices,cake decorating needs, and brown sugar I needed for the next few months. I was very happy with what I ended up with. Then it was one last stop at the Dollar Store. I picked up some really nice fall decorations. We only returned home at 5, so I did a little outdoor work. We all headed to bed early as the kiddies were not feeling to good.

This morning I was still tired. Phoebe kept me up all night. She cried all night. Hubby got up twice throughout the night to check and make sure everything was ok in the barn.
Hubby went into town before I got up this morning and found a cooler unit. He picked up coffee at the coffee shop for me, and I made brunch for the family. Pancakes, sausages,and patato patties. We went outdoors and I decided to clean the chicken coop. Phoebe continued to ball even after she had her grain. Hubby got looking close at her and we discovered the problem. Miss Phoebe is is heat..... So we loaded her up in the trailer and took her down the road to the farmer over the roads barn to have a visit with his bull. She will stay there for around a month or a little more as he is not bringing his cattle in till then.
Hubby and I finished the cooler room in the meat room and worked on the meat room. I cooked a roast chicken for supper and Justin is feeling better today,and helped us in the meat room. BUT......Jayne and Jillian on the other hand are not really the best. Red runny noses, and sore throats.i will be having 2 little girls home tomorrow with me I guess.
I will use the rest of the chicken after I make sandwiches for the guys tomorrow to make some soup for the girls to sip away on for the day.
Well this old chicken is tired too. I think that it is time for me to hit the sack. Goodnight and I hope you all are well.

The Camper Returns

That's right my girl is home. After three days away roughing it in a tent, she's back.....

She had a great time. With tons of stories to tell us, and a very tired little girl. They had great weather and came back today just as it was turning damp.
We treated her to a take out supper of Chinese food at home, and she crashed on the couch with her blankey in her  pjs after along hot bubble bath. "TV and the couch is just how I want to spend my evening she said"
I picked her up just after 1 , and we had a few errands to run in town before picking Jill up at school. Hubby decided to work a bit more this evening on the meat room,while Jill made her way to the horse paddock and groomed the horses.

Justin on the other hand is down and out with a terrible head cold. Spending his day in bed with a box of Kleenex and honey. He did get up and joined up for supper but went back to bed again. No school for him today. At least it's Friday and he will have the weekend to get rest and be on the mend for Monday. This way he won't miss to much school work.

We are expecting a very nice weekend weather wise. So I tend to get outdoors and clean up and get some fall decorating done. I was able to get a few decorations in town.

BUT.....tonight I plan on PJs, cozy fire, my crochet, and a glass of blackberry wine......

Have a great weekend blogging friends!

Green Pepper Harvest

I finally got the basket of green peppers out of the garden chopped up and froze for winter. I ended up  with 21 bags total of the green and 14 of orange. I got only 8 jalapeño ones.
I had 4 cauliflowers that I picked before the frost and the last 2 brocolli. I blanched and froze them as well.

Jayne got off this morning for her three day, two night camping trip with her class. I had one very excited little girl who could barely eat her breakfast this morning.  She sent me a message from her iPod as they have wifi there. ( I thought this was camping) :)
It is suppose to be a few nice days, but the nights as still very cool. A low tonight of 8 and 4 for tomorrow night. Burrrr!

Tomorrow I am beginning with all the apples we have picked. I am going to start with the apple jelly. I should be ale to get some apple sauce done up as well, as I am having a pork roast in the slow cooker tomorrow night for super with sweet and sour sauce that I have in the freezer and this will save me time in the kitchen and more time with my apples.

Tonight I had a lovely visit with my dear friends who's daughter is gone away as well. It was so nice for her to pop in.

Now I need to get to bed as I feel my eyes getting heavy.
Good night my dear blogging friends.

A Cool Morning Frost

This morning we awoke to frost. Thank goodness I prepared the kitchen garden for it last night by covering it.
We had to put fires on in both stoves when we got up. It did not take long for the house to heat up. I made pancakes and bacon for breakfast and the kiddies enjoyed them in the heat.

Today was a busy one as I had nurse visit for my Mom, which went well. We had to do a urine test as we think she might have another infection once again though.

I had put rolls on to rise early this morning for Jayne to take away with her on her camping trip tomorrow.

I made a lasagna for supper to go with the rest of the rolls.

I packed a big hockey bag for Jayne.

I did up the rest of the laundry as it was a cool but windy day (which is great for drying )

I made up a huge batch of high chocolate chip muffins again for Jayne to take way with her.

Now I see the kiddies coming up the lane....ahhh....my day is complete....
Take care my blogging friends

Another Productive Weekend

Dispite a very rainy Saturday I was able to get a lot done in the kitchen.

The girls gave me a helping hand and pickled and canned 20 more pounds of beets. That makes a total of 40 pounds done up in the pantry for winter.
We also had the carrots pulled were also ready to get them done up so after the beets we got busy and cut up all them. But I was super tired by the time we got finished so we put them in a big bowl of cold water and salt and left them till morning to blanch them. We got 28 bags into the freezer. I left the little ones in the garden for a little longer. So I'll get a few more bags before Winter. I made a banana bread for Hubby's break time treat for work. I finally set up the dehydrator and got 2 gallons of over grown green beans into it.


After the trays were all dried,

I bag them into freezer zip lock bags for winter use. I decided on putting them into the freezer instead of canning so that we don't lose them to mold just in case they still have moisture in there.

Sunday the Sun came out and it was a beautiful warm day after a week of heavy rains. After all the kitchen work we headed outdoors with the family to get some outdoor work done. After getting all the barn work done, we went and helped Hubby work on our new meat shop. We are using our first ornignal barn that we started out with. Our old meat room needed so much work that we decided to move it instead. Plus a little bigger is going to be a real nice change.
We were finally called it quits just after 8 and headed in to make some bacon cheese burgers and homemade fries with fry sauce.

This morning we got rain again. But it has now moved on. Besides helping Mom I have been busy getting Jayne prepared for her camping trip on Wednesday with her class. She is going to be gone for three days. They are suppose to have beautiful weather according to the long range forcast. Which is good as they are camping in tents. I will pick her up Friday afternoon after 2.

Well I better get super on as we are having oven fried pork chops, turkey fried rice and noodles.

Take care and have a wonderful evening my blogging friends.

Rain On The Roof

It's 8 PM and I just finished up my day. I did my normal daily routine, made lunches, sent Hubby off to work,made the kiddies breakfast, walked down the lane and sent them off on the bus for a day of learning, tided up, did the barn work,and went to my Moms, helped her for the day, came home and made a wonderful baked salmon dinner, met my kiddies at the door and fed them a warm bowl of chicken noodle soup, got supper on the table, tided up again, got Hubby his supper, ran to the feed store with Hubby, fed the animals there supper, and washed up for the night.
During all of this day it rained. It rained very hard. And it is still raini g very hard. As I type I hear it pouring down hard on the roof of the house. It has been a very foggy rainy day. A very sleepy drury kinda day. We are expecting 4 more days of this. Sigh...... Where did Summer hot and humid go?

PS..... I did not get to my beans....it's on the top of the todo list tomorrow.....

Another Cool Morning

The last 2 mornings we have had to put small fires on in the kitchen stove. Just enough to take the chill out of the house at 4:30, so by the time the kiddies awoke for school the house was warmed. I took out the winter quilts and hung them on the line yesterday to air out before placing them on the beds. It is so strange how as soon as September hit, it was like someone turned a switch to Fall.

We had a lovely roast chicken dinner for supper last night. I also made 2 pans of rolls. We all ate to much as usual, and I had enough chicken left over to make sandwiches for the lunch boxes today. Tomorrow I will use the rest to make a noodle soup. 

After I got back from Moms this afternoon I decided to clean off my desk in my crafting corner, as it has became a collect all over the summer. I was in there and heard the dogs barking. I came out to look out the window to see what was going on. Jayne was coming up the lane as she took the early bus home. I was very surprised because she had washer toss after school today. But poor Jayne had a ear ache and was not feeling the best. I warmed up some ear drops,placed a piece of cotton and gave her a Advil. She had a bowl of soup with a roll, and began to feel a little better. 

Tonight we had shepherds pie, toss salad, and mini biscuits. I so love to see my family come home and enjoy a good hearty meal after a long day away. They ate up the rest of the turkey soup that was left in the soup pot before supper was ready. ( I guess school makes you hungry) :)

We worked in the barn yard tiding up after supper, Hubby worked late and joined us after he got home and ate. Hubby took the backhoe and scraped out the horse paddock. We were just finishing up when friends of ours pulled up the lane. They are farmers as well and wanted to come and see Phoebe our new addition to the family. We had coffee and then they headed on their way as it gets dark so early now and they still had to bring there sheep in. 

Tomorrow is a drying green bean day. ( at least I'm going to try) I have never done this before but I'm willing to give it a try. Thanks to Donna over at Merry Heart Crafts, I feel I am ready to take on the challenge. 

We are expecting a lot of rain over the next few days well right till Monday I guess. So I was busy pulling and picking in the garden before the rains. 

Beets, relish, brocolli,cauliflower, and apple jelly is on the agenda over the week end.

We ladies I guess my eyes are starting to get heavy so good night, and I wish you all a great evening.

Catch Up On A Fast Past Week

The first week of routine is complete. We survived and man it went by fast. This is such a busy time of year.

I'll give a little recap of the past week here from our neck of the woods.

Let's start with the weather. We had a rainy , humidity week. We had a lot of thunder storms that left us without power a couple nights. Heavy rains did not help the grain fields, and made it to wet to bring home hay that is still in the fields. We had a couple of cold mornings where we even almost had frost. We covered the kitchen garden but were lucky. We did however put a small fire on in the house burning the paper garbage and warming up the floors. Then by 2 in the afternoon we could see the temps raising from 5 degrees to 32 with the humidity. Talk about wacky weather.

Coming home after picking up my Dad one day we had to go into town as he needed to pick up a few items for Mom. We were not sure we were going to make it home ahead of the rain and thunder storms.


Mom is still holding her own. She did not have to bad of a week. She rested a lot yesterday for my Dad and was a bit weaker. It seems to be a day to day lifestyle with her. Up and then down. I wish I could do more for her. But for now I'll keep going everyday and try to help her the best I can.

I had a welcome back BBQ on Friday afternoon at Jaynes school. The weather was perfect for it and I got to talk to people I have not seen in a long time. We left there and went to pick up Jill after she got out of school. We picked up take out and headed home to meet Hubby and Justin ( as he took the bus home) had supper and loaded up the horse trailer and went to pick up our new Diary cow.
She is a purebred jersey with her papers( I did not need all this, but this was the deal we got) she just turned 3 and we are awaiting her to go into heat. We have 2 options we can bring her over to the neighbours farm as he has a couple of bulls there. Or we can have her artifically bred with jersey. This will cost us a bit but we will either way have a purebred again. Another Holstein for us to keep or a purebred bull to sell and get our money back. ( a win win story) so while we wait for her to into heat we need to make up our minds.
Our new cow is named Phoebe. I have always wanted a jersey named phoebe and now I have one. We need to get a couple more beef cattle for the winter now. Hubby works Sundays for the livestock dealer doing his mechanical. He has banked his hours since spring and then we tell him what to look for in livestock and he brings it home for us. So far a new ram after losing my old one, and now Phoebe.

All the farm family are getting along.

 look how much Cookie has grown over the Summer

Here is Malbec the new ram.

Saturday we all slept in. It felt great. We got up and had a pick breakfast. (Pick your own whats left over) lol  after we cleaned up the house, and did the barn work, Hubby headed to the field, Justin went to help my Dad with his firewood,and the girls and I went to the fair in the next town. We go every year, we go to stock up on our winter honey supply, as I find the bee keeper there has the best honey. We always pick up some bees wax for winter, and honeycomb for those winter sick days...
The girls had ribbon fries, cotton candy and snow cones.


We came home and made pizza dough and while it was rising we made up a banana bread.

We headed out doors and picked more out of the kitchen garden for Sundays nights supper. We all went to help Hubby put up a new fence that he got from a guy. It was called a deer fence 380 ft roll. Never been used and was given to us. It makes great goat fence. So we all worked together and got it up around the back pen. We headed in at 8 and made up a homemade pizza. We were all pretty hungry. I sat and relaxed with the family while they watched TV. I worked on my crochet,and had a lovely glass of green apple wine.  It began to rain and the winds picked up again. It rained hard throughout the night.

Sunday morning it was windy but it dried up we worked outdoors all day. It was firewood day. We put in all the wood in the small wood shed.  Over 3 cords cut,split,and piled in the shed. I made a wonderful pot roast for Sunday supper with all the fresh veggies from the garden in it.
We all headed off to bed around 9. and were ready for routine once again this week.

Busy Blanching

Today while my turkey was in the oven cooking and the devil chocolate cake was cooling, I decided to go to the garden and pick. I have had a lot of brocolli and cauliflower ready and brought it in saved a bit in the fridge and blanched and froze the rest. I also to to Blanch and freeze 4 cabbages as well. The cabbages are really tuning out nice this year and we are g owing to have a lot if they keep growing this way.
The kiddies and hubby got home and we all had a nice turkey supper with all the trimmings from the garden. Yum! I ate way to much.
Even the kiddies decided to wait and have cake as there snack tonight. Instead of desert.
Justin's first day went well he has a busy semester of hard courses. He will have to work really hard.
Tomorrow evening we are going to get our new milking cow. Hubby just got the call and our buyer has found the perfect one we are looking for. I am super excited.

Routine....

Today began routine once again in our household. The children are back in school after a wonderful but way to short summer.
I began my morning bright and early by sending Hubby of to work and getting some bread on to rise, and some pork ribs on to boil.then into the slow cooker for the day in some sweet and sticky sauce.  After a couple morning coffees I packed lunch boxes and made a wonderful pancake breakfast of chocolate chip and blueberry pancakes with a big big old pound of bacon. Apple juice and orange juice and some homemade warmed maple syrup.mmmmmm no better way to start a school year off.

I drove the girls into town to school for their first day and headed to my Moms for a busy nurse day visit.

I made rice and beef fried macaroni to go with the ribs for supper. It sure was a pleasure seeing them all eat and enjoying supper after a long day. (Even though tomorrow is Justin's first day he was still hungry after working in the garage all day on his motors :)
The girls had both a great day, and had so much to talk about.

I have always cooked a turkey the first day back to school as a little family tradition here, so we have decided tomorrow will be our turkey night. With all 3 children going to school tomorrow.

I am happy for routine. I love summer but miss routine.

I'll be back later this week with a little recap of my weekend get away. But for now this girl is staying on routine and going to kiss my little ones goodnight and hit the sack myself as I'm back on ROUTINE...... Goodnight......

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?