Can you believe August is here already?! Last week we saw a lot of rain which has really helped out garden but unfortunately, also helped the weeds. grrr!
Gardening Report:
- Friday - Errand Day mostly and hitting some of the World Longest Yard Sale stops.
- Saturday - picked beans
- snipped rhubarb
- snipped Swiss Chard
- picked tomatoes
- picked peppers
- cut stevia (25 stalks to be exact)
- Dh finally got the remainder of the fruit trees PLANTED! YAY! (that was 5 peaches, 2 figs trees and 3 apples that he put in today)
- watered gardens and fruit trees
- Sunday - rest and church
- Monday - watered all gardens and fruit trees
- picked tomatoes
- picked okra
- picked basil leaves
- Tuesday - just inside work and enjoying the cooler temps (well cooler than what they have been)
- Wednesday -
- snipped 2 more packed cups of Basil leaves to make more pesto
- picked tomatoes
- picked 2 pints grapes from neighbors' vine... they said we could have them as they didn't want them
- gathered 4 pears that had fallen on the ground at the neighbors (will pick in a few more weeks)... they gave us free pickings from their two trees
- watered all gardens and fruit trees
- Thursday - just waiting for harvest
Harvesting Records for the week:
- 2 green onions
- 54 stalks of Swiss Chard (stalks... aka leaves)
- 25 tomatoes
- 6 cowhorn peppers
- 6 stalks of Rhubarb
- 2 gallon basket of green beans
- 1 hot red cherry pepper
- 25 stalks of stevia
- 4 okra pods
- 3 cherry tomatoes
- 2 packed cups of bail leaves
- 2 eggs
- 4 pears from neighbors' tree
- 2 pints of grapes from neighbors' vines
- 2 figs from our trees
Home Preserving Log:
Canning
- 6 quarts of green beans
- 7 quarts spaghetti sauce
- 4 quarts of grape juice (trying something new this year... 1 cup of grapes per quart jar with a water/sugar mixture as per Ball Blue Book of Home Canning for recipe Grape Juice II)
Freezing
- 2 pint baggies of basil pesto
- took 6 hot peppers, deseeded, and froze whole (3 cowhorns, 2 cayenne, and 1 hot red cherry) will use for salsa in the coming weeks
- added the okra to the freezer bag that we've been filling up.
Dehydrating
- stevia - ended up with 1/2 pint jar (aka jelly jar) of stevia powder
- lavender leaves and blooms
Inside Work:
- Saturday --
- put the 25 stalks .... well the good leaves of the stevia on the dehydrator
- cut up about 1/3 of the Swiss Chard for salad along with 1 of the 2 green onions that got brought in on Friday.
- washed and refrigerated the rhubarb for the moment
- snapped the green beans and canned those
- put groceries away from big monthly shopping day
- Sunday - rest
- Monday -
- school started back today! The children were excited to dig into their new school books
- made a small batch of salsa (only used 3 tomatoes) from a recipe in the back of CountrySide Magazine. Hubby requested I try it to see how it was. He said it was just as good as the recipe I use. The only difference was the one I use calls for Lemon Juice and this one used Vinegar. So either one is fine with him. lol
- Laundry (3 loads washed and dd#1 hung all out on line to dry)
- DD#1 ironed
- friend stopped by to use computer and to look at our garden (I try to get some updated photos up soon).
- made basil pesto using this recipe.
- stripped dried lavender leaves from the stems and separated the flower buds
- light household cleaning
- Tuesday -
- 3 loads of laundry which dd#1 hung out on line for me
- schoolwork with children
- searched high an lo for the gasket for my Victorio Strainer and can't find it... ugh!
- more cleaning done
- straightened up dining room book shelves
- Wednesday -
- school work with children
- mending
- laundry - 3 loads
- ironing by dd#1
- picked grapes off the bunches to process
- snapped beans, washed, and canned
- heated tomatoes in boiling water until the skins cracked so I could run them through my Victorio Strainer to make spaghetti sauce
- called Focus Electrics (home of Back To Basics products) and order a gasket for my strainer as well as the spring because we've lost them since last canning season...ugh! Also ordered another spout for it as mine had cracked and won't stay on most of the time
- washed the basil leaves I gathered this morning and made basil pesto -- 1 pint frozen
- Thursday -
- washed the grapes and made grape juice (see above note under canning)
- oldest dd went through her closet and drawers to pull out clothes in size 7/8 (must be nice! I was once that size.. um 11 years ago.. lol) to give to a lady that was recently saved who works with someone at church and has asked for dresses, etc. DD is thrilled to be able to bless someone else with these. DD has been recently been blessed with clothes and has an abundance of them. The 7/8's are too big on DD now.. She now wears a size 6 (the skinny thing)
Menus:
- Friday Breakfast: Bacon, Eggs, Toasts
- Friday Dinner: Calico Bean Soup
- Friday Supper: ate out to celebrate 3 birthdays in one event... Jakob turned 8 on the 4th // Nathan turns 3 on the 19th // Emma turns 6 on the 22nd // and our anniversary which is the 15th --- We take the children out to eat on their birthday except instead of taking each individual one out in August we do a combined and opt for Ryan's where we can get more for our money
- Saturday Breakfast - Granola, Grits, HG Tomato Slices, Toast
- Saturday Dinner - leftovers
- Saturday Supper - Pizza and a salad
- Sunday Breakfast - Fruit
- Sunday Dinner - Soup, leftover pizza, salad
- Sunday Supper - Sandwiches
- Monday Breakfast: eggs, bacon, toast
- Monday Dinner: soup, grilled cheese sandwiches
- Monday Supper: beef, beans, and cheese tortillas, HM guacamole, the new recipe of salsa I made (see above note for Monday)
- Tuesday Breakfast - oatmeal & fruit
- Tuesday Dinner: leftovers
- Tuesday Supper: spaghetti & salad
- Wednesday Breakfast - Granola and Fruit
- Wednesday Dinner - pasta pouches I received to review
- Wednesday Supper - Sandwiches
- Thursday Breakfast - French Toast and bacon
- Thursday Dinner - leftovers and sandwiches
- Thursday Supper - velveety cheese soup (recipe from Amish Cookbook we tried for the first time.... good!) and we had garlic bread
Other:
- Saturday - Our Big Monthly Grocery Shopping Excursion
- Sunday - our farmer friend came by again with two bags of tomatoes (32 large ones) and 2 large watermelons for us.
- Thursday - We were blessed by a friend with a box of speciality breads and little snack cakes. We normally don't buy the speciality breads and snack cakes so this was a treat for us.
- Thursday - a surprise came by UPS from my sister. She sent us:
- a pack of Paula Dean's St. Louis Style Pork Ribs
- a pack of Paula Dean's Wild Wings
- and 4 rolls of Paula Dean's Ham Sausage
Blessings Abound!
Don't forget you still have time to submit something for the The Carnival of Home Preserving!
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Laura