Only Four Days....

Where has the summer went...only four days before school starts again.  I have been enjoying my summer and it is a little hard to think of going back to work.  I love my job working as an aide with the Special Education, but it always takes a while to get use to leaving home everyday again.

The tomatoes have been a little late in ripening this year so right now when it is time to go back to school the tomatoes are starting.  Yesterday I picked a 5 gallon pail.

 

There is still a lot of tomatoes on the vines that are almost ready.  Canned my first batch.

The rest of the tomatoes in the pail need to finish ripening.  There will be plenty to do next week after school.  If only school could start after the garden is done...wishful thinking.

 

Looking forward to a fun weekend.  Tomorrow my DH is taking me to the fair, love looking at the animals, produce, quilting, and all of the 4H displays, along with hopefully finding a caramel apple.  Saturday our daughter is coming home for the weekend, in her words she needs some of her mommies cooking.  Already put in a request for a couple of her favorites, this mom is more than happy to oblige.  We have a shopping trip planned to the Mennonite store and a couple of other places.  I always look forward to having my DH home for a few days.   It will be a fun ending to summer vacation.

Enjoy the last official weekend of summer!

Fermenting Update

As I had posted earlier I have been trying some fermenting this year.  I have been using the Fido Jars and they have worked great for me.   Last night for supper we used some of our first sauerkraut and the fermented dill pickles.  They were both very good.

I have another jar of sauerkraut going along with a jar that has cabbage, carrots, sweet potatoes, and some caraway seed.  Along with four more jars of the dill pickles.  On two of my jars I am trying an air lock, will see how that works for me.

  I start the fermentation in the Fido Jars and when they are ready to go into the refrigerator I take the vegetables from the Fido Jars and put them into canning jars, this way I can reuse them.  I still have some more cabbage to make into sauerkraut and am doing some reading on other vegetable combinations to ferment.  Really like how healthy fermented food is for you. 

To every thing there is a season,

and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die;

a time to plant, and a time 

to pluck up that which is planted;

Ecclesiastes 3:1-2

Kitchen Time

I spent most of my time in the kitchen today.

Had a few pickles that needed to be canned up, along with some summer squash to freeze.  

Then it was on to baking...

Batch of Blueberry Muffins in the large muffin pans.

Carmel Apple Scones

Last Cinnamon Rolls for my DH who just happened to mention last night that we haven't had them for a while.  So I thought they would be a nice surprise for him after work today.   As you can see he got to the pan before the picture was taken.  

I get joy out of spending the day baking for my family...it is a good thing.

Thou wilt show me the path of life: 

in thy presence is fullness of joy;

at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore.

Psalm 16:11

Evidence

Two signs of teenage grandsons spending the night....

More dish washing...

Empty Chocolate Cake Pan...

But do I mind...not at all!

Random picture

The Petunias in my window box are almost touching the ground this year.

For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace:

the mountains and the hills shall break forth before

you into singing, and all the trees of the field

shall clap their hands.

Isaiah 55:12

A new driver in the family and more pickling.

Where does the time go, it seems like yesterday I was holding our first grandson in my arms, today I took him driving.  On Wednesday our oldest grandson got his temps.  They are spending the weekend with us and he wanted grandma to take him driving, this would be his second time out (he got to drive home from the DMV).  I had some books that had come in at the library in a little town about six miles from us, so he drove.  This could be nice having a grandson to drive me around, seeing I can't keep them little forever.  We have entered a new stage in life...it is exciting to watch them becoming young Godly men.

He did think our van was a little easier to drive, his first time driving was with their twelve passenger van.

 Saw a post on Simply Homemaking for pickling peppers, so gave it a try today.  I had some Banana peppers, along with some that are suppose to be mildly hot, put them all together and made up just 3 pints.

They were very simple to do.  Pack the peppers into pint jars, add one teaspoon salt and one teaspoon pickling spice to each jar.  Then add 1/4 cup water to each jar, fill the rest of the way with white vinegar.  Put on lids and process win hot water bath for 15 minutes.  These will be a Christmas gift.

Also started one jar of fermented dill pickles.  Will let you know how they turn out...

The other night I was reading through a 1917 canning bulletin that I had found on line. Very interesting to see how things have changed over the years in canning.  They talked about oven canning and how you were to put a piece of  asbestos in the bottom of your oven.  Another page said to put the asbestos on the oven rack and set the jars on it.  They even told you that you could get the asbestos from your local plumber.  We have learned a lot since then.  Thankful I am not canning with asbestos!

Enjoy your weekend!

Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord:

Psalm 127:3a

Sauerkraut and Garden Update

The cabbage is doing good this year so I am trying to make sauerkraut.  I tried a couple of years ago and things did not go well, but after visiting Simply Homemaking and reading her posts on fermenting I am trying it again.  I was able to get some Fido Jars and they have made a huge difference, no mold on top of the jars this time.  These jars have been sitting on the counter for about 4 days now. 

I did learn a lesson in fermenting!  DO NOT open these jars when you still see little bubbles.  I thought they were not fermenting like they should, was only seeing a few little bubbles in the jars, so I went to open one of the jars to check on it.  Not a good thing to do I had juice and pieces of cabbage all over me and the counter, stove, and cupboards.  There is a lot of pressure in those jars, as soon as I started to loosen the clip the top sort of blew open was a mess.  I will make sure there are no bubbles before I open them again.  I am anxious to see how it turns out.

You can tell we are getting closer to fall, the garden is changing so much, it no longer has that look of lush green plants.  The potatoes are starting to die back, onions are tipping over, once again my tomatoes are showing blight....

This is the first time that I tried planting something in a container in the garden, the zucchini did not do well at all.  I have gotten a few zucchini from it, but won't be one of those years where everyone locks their doors because you are trying to give them your extra zucchini!  After doing a little research, which I should of done before planting them, the things I read said they do not do well in containers.