Independence Day Update....

The garden is calling me today.....so this

will be short and sweet! :D

Plant Something: I have had many

packages of seeds sitting around for years!!

This year I finally got

them scattered into egg carton lids just to

see if any of them are any good. LOL. Some

are VERY old....I just could not bare throwing

out a seed if it was good. Also I have green beans

and hollyhocks sprouting that I planted.

I also planted cucumbers, zucchini and

spaghetti squash all indoors, too early

for outdoors....

Harvest Something: Sadly

not this week. My good intnetions were

to take a bouquet of herbs to my son's

on Mothers Day....but I forgot!! :(

Preserve Something: Not this week.

Reduce Waste: Reclaimed this

thrifted basket that was broken, fixed

it with bows and am now using it for my

sewing basket...works great!

Preparation and Storage: Starting

over with our baby chickens.....

preparing to have eggs!

Community: Our community does

not really have a food storage system....but

we do have a couple of shelters. This week

made cornbread and cookies to send for the meal.

Eat the food: Eating our pickles,

applesauce, peach butter, giving away

jam and fruit butters....using my

sourdough starter for pancakes

and biscuits. I think just about

every meal last week came from

our food storage.

Independence Day Update #1

Thought I would join in on the fun over at Sharon's blog...

Casaubon's Book. She tells all about it, check it

out at sharonastyk.com

Here is my update....

Planted Something:

Inside have planted cabbage, broccoli,

cherry tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, various herbs,

squashes, cucumbers, beans, hollyhock, ......

Outside have planted lettuce, carrots, spinach, onions,

potatoes, radishes, beets, kale.....

Harvest Something:

Too early, but we did eat the cabbage sprouts that

I thinned out. They were really good on a baked

potatoe with cheese for lunch!

Reduce Waste:

Used old newspapers to make pots, also used some

egg cartons and toilet paper rolls.

Preparation & Storage:

Have been organizing my canning pantry and working

on a years food supply. Lately have been canning beans.

Did Boston Baked Beans and have done

some Pork and Beans ......

Community:

We serve dinner at the Shepherds House

once a week. That is our local mission. Last week I

made pasta, vegetarian spaghetti sauce and sent

cones for the ice cream.

Eat the Food:

I have been trying to use up some of what is in

my canning pantry. Eating the applesauce

and using up jam, alot of jam left. And....

we did eat sprouts........

Hope you will check out Sharon's blog and read what

the Independence Day Update is

all about!!

And....be sure to check here every Monday

for my Update!!

Spring, Canning, Organizing.....

This is our usual Spring/April weather here

on the High Desert........

This is exactly why gardening in the spring can

be very challenging here. But...know what?!?!?

My garden is surviving!! Yay!

But in the meantime, while we wait for warm

weather I keep doing some canning for my stockpile.

Bought a 25 pound bag of Navy Beans to can Navy Bean

Soup, Boston Baked Beans, Pork and Beans and

anything else I think of with Navy Beans.....

I found the recipes in the Ball Blue Book. The Pork

and Bean recipe uses tomatoe juice boiled with

onions and spices.....mmmmmm.....
That recipe only had you boil the beans for about

3 minutes, boil the juice and pour over beans

in jars and process.

The Boston Baked Beans had to cook 3 1/2 hours,

so I had those cooking in my roaster pan in the back

room while I canned the others. Then when they

were done, I processed them.

A pretty full day, but don't you just love the results

at the end of the day when you can sit back

and enjoy the fruits of your labor.....

Soooo, all this canning lead me to organize my

canning pantry which is outside in a shed. Something

that I probably should have done first. :D

So, how about a bit of sillyness....

Designer Buckets!! LOL.

Yep! Someone gave me some old wallpaper

books....I keep forgetting to use up any

of the wallpaper....

So, how about this, it only took minutes!
You need a small bucket, this is my dishwasher soap

bucket from Costco. (Once I have used up all this

store-bought stuff, I plan on making my own:)

I chose the wallpaper strips that are trims.......

how about apples for canning??
Cut it to fit around the bucket then slit it
up 3/4 of the way as the bucket is not
straight.......

and Voila!!
Designer Buckets!!

I put them in the bottom of my canning

pantry to keep my jar rings in......

What a great feeling to get an area organized. :D

Springtime happenings....

Well, when life keeps going on, it sure is hard

to think a about blogging. Or rather, sit down

and do it.....I do think about it. :D

I had planted some cold hardy seeds outside

and am happy to say most came up. Here

in the High Desert, that is a big

accomplishment. I also have several seeds

that came up in my back room.

So far inside: Peppers, Cherry Tomatoes, Eggplant,

Roman Chamomile, St. Johns Wort, Broccolli,

Cabbage, Squashes, and maybe a couple

more things.

Outside things that came up are: Kale, onions, radishes,

lettuce, beets, maybe I see some

carrots and spinach. Our nights are in the

low 30's sometimes high 20's, so I am

pretty excited about these things working.

I am just trying to figure out now, with small

sprouts, do I keep covering them with plastic

or just straw or what?? Much experimenting

going on here. I knew from the beginning that

this is an experiment, so that if I do have

to replant anything I will not be too disappointed.

Today I am going to plant turnips and peas, these

could have already been planted and hubby is

going to make me potatoe boxes, so Iwill

plant potatoes today.

I have also been canning some more. I canned

Boston Baked Beans and Pork and Beans the

other day. Grama Belle where we crochet

on Tuesdays gave me alot of jars from her

shed, so I have been pretty busy just

running jars through the dishwasher

Very few real canning jars and lots of

odd ball jars. But I used to can with mayo

jars, so will try it again for fruit and applesauce.

Also, there are alot of jars with lids just

right for freezer jam, since I am always

short of plastic containers and plastic

lids can easily crack.

As I started canning and cleaning jars, it was hard

to get into my shed where the canning goes.

So, I decided to clean that first and get

it organized and hubby put in the extra

shelves I needed!! Happy day.

I had planned on doing something else and my daughter

said, Mum, do what you are passionate about

today, you will get more done that way.

And, she was right!! I made wonderful

progress on the shed.

I am sad to say that I do not have the pics of

all these doings yet. Something happened

awhile back and I cannot load my pics like

I used to, so I do not know how to do

it anymore and have to always wait

for someone to do it for me.

That is why my posts get so far apart.

It is my hope and prayer that wherever you

are and whatever stage of life you are in

you are enjoying peace and contentment.

Living life as shared above gives me a true sense

of contentment and inner joy and peace.

Knowing that with God's help I am doing all

I can do to make our home a shelter and

restful place for my family.

Winter Preserving

Well, I guess technically it is Spring!! But it is still very

cold here like winter!!

I enjoy canning in the winter when it is not so hot.

Here is my recipe for some easy Spaghetti Sauce to can

and have on hand. Very nice to open a jar for spaghetti or

pizza or chili or soup or.........whatever you like!!

Spaghetti Sauce
1 can Tomatoe Paste

(the large almost gallon size, I get this at

Costco for around $3)

2 cans of water

1/4 C Italian Seasoning (to taste)

(I buy this in bulk from my food co-op, so

it is not very expensive)

2+ T Salt (to taste)

(also in bulk from food co-op)

Mix all together and warm in pan on top of stove,

stirring occasionally to keep from scorching.

Warm your jars and lids.

Fill jars, wipe rims, put lids on.

Cook in boiling water bath for 20 minutes.

This makes 8 or 9 quarts.

I have not calculated the cost of my seasonings exactly,

but this comes out to be right around 30-40 cents

for a quart. I do not know about your area

but we do not ever see a sale like that!!

TIP: When you bake your bread, roll out a couple

pizza crusts for the freezer, nice to be able to just take

those out, use this sauce, do some toppings, have

grated cheese in the freezer and VOILA! Easy Pizza!

Other things that are fun to can in the winter are

soups, beans and meats and things that you do not

have to do something with right now because it

is ready in the garden.

Just Dreaming and Keeping Busy......

Dreaming.......

Gathering a few seeds, reading up to see what can be planted early.

I am determined to try this year to grow some things in

a cold frame type structure......planning it out.......

More Dreaming.......

Have you ever seen these books?!?!?

I just got these three from the library. I had run across the

name awhile back when one book was part of a give

away over at "Warm Pie, Happy Home".

I have NEVER had so much enjoyment from

reading a cookbook. I am sure we are related, when

I browse through these books I just

feel a connection with this woman!! :)

Between my garden books, "The Pioneer Lady", reading

"Granny Miller's" blog and some of her links.....

I am anxious to grow more this year, trying to

supply us with our years food. I am excited,

we will see how it goes.

My husband built this new addition to our back

sunroom/dining room.....I love it, there will be doors later.

It is all from scraps off a job he did. It is right in the corner as

a built in....someday off the side of it will be

a bench that goes to the corner and around

for seating at a table. All built in...like an old

farmhouse breakfast nook. :)

Besides dreaming, I have been

Busy..........
Made some Nutty Coconut Granola.....

Bought a 25 pound bag of carrots to freeze or can....
and a large box of apples....
so....how about Apple Carrot Cake!!

Our food co-op had some end of season apples for a

very LOW price....when they came,

they were actually free!!

So, I am also drying a few for winter snacks and lunches.

And then, yes, it is time for yet another Tea!!

Valentines Tea in the waiting......

I am doing two Teas on Valentines Day!!

Ladies Victorian Pink Tea

and

Couples Candlelight Tea

in the evening. 21 ladies at noon and 7 couples that night.

In the above picture are some teacups I found for the

men, a bit bigger and a bigger handle that they

can hold on to. Can you believe they were 50 cents!!

Not my usual choice for a teacup, but they are red

and will go very well with the decos and I think

look quite elegant once on the table.

Best get busy....making Cornish Chicken Pasties today,

made the Cornish Beef Pasties yesterday. These are for the couples

since there will be men with heartier appetites.

Which, by the way, I was beyond excited when in

one of the "Pioneer Lady" cookbooks, I found

the recipe for Cornish Pasties.....and they

sounded EXACTLY like what we had in Cornwall.

I made some to try for lunch yesterday and

they are just the same.

Now, if I could just get down that

Cornish Clotted Cream recipe. There is

nothing here or a recipe for "mock" creams that

comes even close. But a friend found one on line

that looks and sounds just like the real

thing. Tried it the other day with store bought

cream and it does not work, you need unpasturized

cream for it to work properly. Alas, I shall search!!

Probably won't be back until after Tea....lot's to do!!

In the meantime, have a WONDERFUL

VALENTINES DAY!!

"Greater LOVE hath no man than this, that a

man lay down his life for his friends".

John 15:13

"We LOVE, because He first LOVED us".

I John 4:19

Titus 2 Day

I am sad to have no pictures of our day together....

but we just started up our meetings again now that the

holidays are over. We are only going to

meet once a month, that way we can meet just

a little longer and do more.

This month we focused on:

"Peace in Perilous Times"

Everything we did was in an effort to help

bring peace to our own hearts as well as

our families and in our home.

As they arrived I had bread dough ready to go and

each rolled out Cinnamon Bread. The point was, when you

make a batch of bread, once in awhile do a cinnamon one for

a treat, nothing like Cinnamon Toast with a bowl of

hot cereal on a cold winters morning. Sounds

peaceful right?? Making our families happy and

contented brings PEACE.

Then I had our soup done to a point, meat browned, veggies

chopped, and it had to be boiled for just 5 minutes

before you could can it in the pressure canner.

Food ready to go in the pantry keeps us at PEACE.

So, we enjoyed lunch together and then had a short devotional

about peace in our lives. Peace comes when we draw

closer and closer to God. When we are close to

Him, we will be able to trust Him more

and that brings PEACE to our whole household.

Then we did a project that is fun to use with homeschool

curriculum or just for a fun scrapbook project idea. We made

a Lap Booklet with Minit Books inside.

Lap books are a file folder folded to the center so it

opens like shutters and you put different bits of

information or pictures or whatever on the little

booklets that you glue inside. Fun for all

ages. Once the older kids master the little

books, they can help the younger ones.

Busy children on a cold winters day

is very PEACEFUL indeed. :)

Then I showed them how to use a fabric pen

and write a verse on a piece of fabric to

embroider. Scripture on your walls is a

very good thing.....it reminds us of God and

who He is and keeps our minds focused

on Him throughout the day. Which brings

more PEACE to our homes.

The verse I chose is one that has ministered to

me ALOT lately.....

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect PEACE,

whose mind is stayed on thee."

Isaiah 26:3

So, some knew embroidery and some learned that day

as we moved on and learned how to do a granny

square. Some knew crochet and some had to

learn. So, at that point we just spent the next

bit of our time crocheting or embroidering

and encouraging one another. :)

All in all it was a very PEACEFUL day. :D

Next month, we will do two more embroidery stitches

and possibly work on crocheting a bit more. And

some other fun things I have up my sleeve. :) Our

theme next time is PREPAREDNESS.

(But not to an extreme, just some things we

can easily do).....which also brings PEACE!!

If you are ever interested in doing your own Titus 2 group,

Lisa at New Harvest Homestead

on my side bar will send you a free meeting

guide. It has some fun ideas and encouragement

for how to start a group.

The Store......

At the Nutcracker Tea.....

All my ornaments that didn't sell are soon to be in my Etsy shop.

I LOVE this paper!! It is from a grocery bag!!!!

Soon I will have my daughter's link on my sidebar.

She has been busy making some very fun things for winter!!

Plums!!!

Awhile back, one of the girls in our Titus 2 group

brought lots of plums from her tree!!

Have you ever used a steam juicer?? I LOVE mine!! All you do is rinse the fruit and put it into the top basket there, it steams and juice comes out the little hose, right into the jar. It is sooo hot, you can

just put a lid on and it will seal.
Beautiful Plum Juice!!
Beautiful Plum Jelly from the Plum Juice!!

However, I do have a confession to make....I could not find a recipe for Plum Jelly anywhere. After making plum jam that came out realllly thick, I decided plums have alot of natural pectin, so should not need pectin for jelly. So, I decided we would follow directions for Grape Jelly. Similar shape and color, riggghhhhtt??? This was for our Titus 2 meeting. I, the older woman, was showing them how to make jelly. Directions said to boil until it reached the stage where the juice is clinging to the spoon and drips off twice....2 drips. We stirred and boiled and stirred and boiled. Finally, we decided to take a break from that, have our lunch and come back to it. After lunch, it had hardened soooo hard, I almost broke the wooden spoon trying to remove it from the pan!! It was quite amazing and we laughed very much!!!

So, later I followed the pectin directions, using pectin, still for Grape Jelly. You only boil that for 2 minutes. :) It made the above jelly, which is very thick, but it is jelly!! So, we had a fun class that day....

learning how NOT to make Plum Jelly!!

More Canning........

Done with all my peaches and done with a few plums that were brought over! Have 10 quarts of peaches, 2 quarts of peach juice and some pints of peach butter! Then there are 5 quarts of plum juice and several pints, etc. of peach-plum jam! Some of the juice will be saved for the Holidays to mix with maybe apple juice and something sparkling!! Some will be made into beautiful jelly, later when I have more time, but hopefully in time for Tea!!

So....I did another experiment!! When you use a steam juicer to make juice, you are left with alot of pulp in the basket. I usually throw that away thinking it wouldnt have much flavor after just taking all the juice out of it, I always really hated throwing it out!! Well, I made some peach-plum jam this time and it is good!
I also did some of the jam with wax.....did you know as wax cools if you whip it, you get a "cloud" of wax for the topping....These will get bows tied around them to sell at my Anne Tea that is coming soon!!

Ok, so this has nothing to do with canning......Look at this huge Herb Bread!! All you have to do to make it is ad a good bunch of herbs, I use my Italian Seasoning, here I made two rounds instead of loaves....they were Yummy!!