Really now!

 This is 5 pounds of tomatoes.  I collected these yesterday, and the same amount today. So, 10 pounds of tomatoes...

 I found a recipe online for making pizza sauce...several ways, actually, over here. So I thought, heck...why not try it? I wanted to make 12 jars of pizza sauce for the winter.
Disclaimer - the recipe does say that plum tomatoes are best. But I didn't have plum tomatoes.

So 10 pounds of tomatoes, 4 hours or so (granted I was doing other stuff at the same time), a huge mess in the kitchen in which I use way way too many dishes to do this..and I got two one-cup jars of pizza sauce.  Rest assured, I will not be doing this again. Although, at the same site, there is a pizza sauce using oven roasted tomatoes (so you don't have to wait and wait and wait while it reduces). I will be trying that one next time. If there is a next time (*wink*). Come on now.  We all know there will, in fact, be a next time.

Disclaimer 2:  the "next time" won't be until I have lots and lots of crushed tomatoes canned up and run out of   big jars.  Just sayin.

What's growing.

 Large volunteer sunflowers.

 Did I mention they are big?  The bottom leaf in the picture is at my eye level.  These things must be at least 12 feet tall.  They are taller than the garage.

 We had a huge downpour last week following weeks and weeks of no rain.  It tipped all my tomato cages over and try as I might, I couldn't get them back up again.  So for the rest of the summer, I will be picking tomatoes that have sprawled all over the ground.  They have covered just about every path, so I have had to step on the tomato plants themselves in order to get through.

 Three days ago, I got my first red tomato...

 Yesterday, I did find one melon growing after all.  It was buried under one of the tipped over tomato plants.  I can't begin to tell you how excited I am.  It had better make it to our table.

 One of these things is not like the others!

Yesterday.  5 pounds.  This will be happening daily for the foreseeable future.

I am still canning daily, now I will switch from pickles to tomatoes.

Thirteen!

 Lemon, on lemon, on lemon.

 Birthday pancakes (I have my mom's recipe, the same pan, and the same "technique" and yet mine just never turn out just like hers - hmmm).

 Mama mades.

 sparklers...

 ...giant ones...

 ...and little ones too.

 A trip to the beach in which I forgot my camera.

Thirteen!

Stash Bash???

The harvest is coming in, and I keep telling myself I won't get into the same position I was in last year.  Last year, I filled my freezer.  I filled the freezer at work, and I had some things in the freezer at my mom's house (she lives a half hour away).  This year, I am attempting to can more items, and just plain use them up.

So, raspberries...I had a big container of them in the freezer, and I need to make room for the vegetables starting to be ready...and we don't really use a lot of frozen raspberries.  Solution:  stash bash the berries.

I just boiled them up (4 cups raspberries with 1 cup water) until the colour was pretty much drained out of the berries, and then passed them through a sieve to remove the seeds.  Rich, thick, raspberry juice.  Almost raspberry concentrate.

We poured it over vanilla ice cream (after it cooled of course) for the most intense raspberry float I have ever tasted.  The extra was stored in a mason jar in the fridge for a repeat performance the next day.  4 cups of raspberries was enough for 6 small floats like you see pictured above.

Next year, I think I might boil them without water to make a really concentrated juice, to can, that we can mix into water in the middle of winter for a nice summer reminder.

Blackberries are going into the freezer now to make jam when I have enough, but I might just have to save a few for blackberry floats.

Gonna link this one up for stash bash over at Crunchy Catholic Momma just for fun, and also to Creative Friday at Natural Suburbia

Getting the thought process going...

So, it is August, and unlike most years, I have not made one single Christmas/Winter solstice present yet (unless you count the new hats, but I am pretty sure they will have them by October - on the first cold day).

I thought I would take a moment to collect my thoughts and mark down some of the things I am thinking of.  I noticed several craft / simple living bloggers out there have started their Christmas crafting - or at least their idea collecting - and I thought we could all help each other collect some ideas.

So here we go (and also this way I have a place to come back to when I forget what I was thinking of):

-fabric bookmarks for the stockings, kind of like this one over here but "boyish"

- one pair of socks for each stocking?
-I'm thinking a knit tie for S since he will need one for graduation, and N will need a new pair of slippers unless he gets a pair for his birthday.
-toiletry bags for traveling - I don't think they like when we all have to share one.
-new Hackey sacks - I think I might use this pattern from the purl bee but shrink it a little bit...last time I knit them, but I think fabric ones will be fun.

-I have no ideas for the Hubby this year, but he did mention that he didn't think we should exchange gifts between the two of us this year, so I might just make him some treats for his stocking.  A pair of fingerless gloves perhaps, since he burned the fingers of a pair last year?

I really liked the way the cookie bags turned out last year, so I will definitely be doing some more of those to pack up the teacher gifts of baked goods...I just need to make something to decorate them.  Maybe felted acorns, maybe paper or ribbon roses, maybe felt pinecones, maybe beaded pinecones.  Still plenty of time to figure that one out.

I will need to make the Christmas cards, of course, but I have an idea in mind...actually I have two - a "quick" one and a more time consuming one.  Time will tell which one will be made.  I make 20 cards roughly, every year, so it's not like I have 100 of the things to make.

Some sort of homemade candy or treats for the stockings would be nice...I didn't end up having time for that last year, I think.

I think the boys this year will be making each other "gifts from the kitchen" but I'm not sure what.  Candy maybe.

I'm not saying I will be making everything on the list -in fact, I am almost sure I won't - but if I start in September, some of the ideas are afternoon or evening projects that I could finish up quite quickly.  That would leave December free for all of the things that pop up out of nowhere -and leave time for skating and sledding and cookie eating making and all of that.  I also want to have a few of my friends over for an evening or two of hot chocolate and crafting.  Every year, we say we will do it and every year we focus on the other "to-do's" and don't get around to it.

How about you?  Do you have your crafty list made?  Anything you care to share with us?

Slow Living - July

I'll be joining up with Slow Living Essentials with this month's slow living post.  It's a very interesting series if anyone wants to come along for the ride.

 Nourish:  Make and bake as much as possible from scratch. Ditch overpackaged, overprocessed convenience foods and opt for 'real' food instead. Share favourite links/recipes/tips from the month here.


My favourite this month has been chocolate zucchini bread.  Sorry, no pictures - we ate it up too fast.


  Prepare:Stockpile and preserve. Freeze extra meals or excess garden/market produce. Bottle/can, dehydrate or pickle foods to enjoy when they are not in season.

Stockpile you say?  That we certainly did...

We picked 18 pounds of blueberries at a blueberry farm about an hour and a bit from our place.  Most went into the freezer for winter baking.

Just look at those bushes!

They have these rubber ducky races set up for the "kids" to try.  The boys loved it...not the least because the "accidentally" kept splashing themselves ---it was darn hot out.


 Reduce:  Cut down on household waste by re-using, re-purposing and repairing. A ladder into a strawberry planter? A sheet into a dress? Share ideas and project links here, allowing others to be inspired.

This rag rug so far is made from 22 t-shirts.  I need to "wrassle" up a few more to make it the size that I want for my youngest son's room before the fall.  The instructions for cutting the t-shirts into strips are over here 


Green: Start (or continue!) using homemade cleaners, body products and basic herbal remedies. The options are endless, the savings huge and the health benefits enormous.


Still riding my bike to work when I can...about half the days this month.  I refused to ride it the days it got up into the 45 degree area (with humidex of course) cuz that just can't be good for me.


Also, I have joined a group called Mommy Market...a kind of on-line garage sale in our county that basically goes on all the time.  I have sold some of the boys outgrown clothes and some "stuff" we just weren't using.  I have also bought a couple of board games from the same site.  So basically, we are all reusing each other's things.


 Grow: plant/harvest. What's growing this month? What's being eaten from the garden? Herbs in a pot, sprouts on a windowsill or and entire fruit/vegetable garden -opt for what fits space and time constraints.  

Yep, I'm meeting this category all right.

 Create:  To fill a need or feed the soul. Create for ourselves or for others. Create something as simple as a handmade gift tag or something as extravagant as a fine knit shawl. Share project details and any new skills learnt here.


I had to go back and check the camera pictures for this one, but I for sure have made a trail mix bag for hubby, and lemon-ey herb sachets for S and I am working on the rug for N.  


Discover:   Feed the mind by reading texts relevant to current interests. Trawl libraries, second hand shops or local book shops to find titles that fill the need. Share titles/authors of what is being read this month.


Many many library books and I bought a vegetarian cookbook during my visit to Toronto.  I meant to take not of the library books because I really wanted to share, but I didn't write them down.  Lesson learned for next month - I can't in fact remember details for that long.


 Enhance:  Community: Possibilities include supporting local growers & producers, help out at a local school/kindergarten, barter or foodswap, joining a playgroup or forming a walking or craft group.


This month, the only thing I have going is the "Street Kids Scarf", details for that over here if you want to participate.

I'm a little farther along than this, thank goodness, because it is due for September, but I really need to get moving on it if I am going to have it done in time.


Enjoy:   Life! Embrace moments with friends and family. Marking the seasons, celebrations and new arrivals are all cause for enjoyment. Share a moment to be remembered from the month here.


Enjoy!  Not a problem at all.

 A trip to the beach...

...until quite late.

Rubber duck races.

Campfire cookouts.

And a visit to "the city" to see my sister for the weekend.  That's a whole lot of enjoyment packed into one month.  Plus, the pure enjoyment of eating tomatoes still hot from the sun, berries straight off the vine, and the thrill of the "firsts" of the season...first cucumber, first zucchini, first beans, first tomato.

Enjoy your month my friends!

Canning a bit a day.

If you have been reading my blog lately, you may know that I have set myself a challenge to eat something from my garden every single day this year.  That means that throughout the growing season, I pretty much have to preserve at least one thing a day if I am going to meet my challenge throughout the winter months.

So, what do you do when you only have a bit of this and a bit of that (some things are just starting, some things I am afraid may have reached the end of the run...or else I have overpicked and have to wait a bit again)?  Solution:  mix 'em all up.

I found a recipe for "Vegetable Medley" in Preserving Food without Freezing or Canning and it just fit the bill.  Basically, you slice up your vegetables (they mention zucchini, cucumber, eggplant, pepper, carrot, turnip, cauliflower, broccoli)

Sorry, I really don't know why my computer keeps rotating photos.  It drives me bonkers.

Then you chop up some herbs and mix them with seeds (I used dill, but they also mention coriander and juniper berries)

As this is an experiment, I threw in a bit of everything - oregano, sage, basil, thai basil, thyme and lemon thyme.  Oh, and one sprig of winter savory which I have never even used before, so that should be interesting.

Then you boil the veg in vinegar for one to three minutes (hence, laying them out in order of "crispness") and then drain off the vinegar, layer the veg with the chopped mixed herbs that have been mixed with the seeds, and some course salt and then cover the whole lot with oil (I used olive) and put in a cool place (for me, that is the fridge...we do not  have a root cellar - yet).

Now I have to wait a month or two to test it (and they say it will last a year).  They suggest, maybe, over some couscous.  

The whole book I find is more of "instructions" than recipes.  There are very few times where they list quantities, so everything I have made from it so far is quite an experiment.  It should make for an interesting winter.

Also today, the blackberries have started bearing fruit, so I am freezing them in pans in the freezer a bit at a time until I have enough to "do something with".  On the right is some lamb's quarters leaves that I will freeze also a bit at a time until I have a bag full and can use them up in something as well. I am told they are a power house of nutrition.

Linking up with Laura William's Musings for Carnival of Home Preserving on Friday.

Kind of a yarn along...

On my last post, I mentioned that I was preparing my T-shirt "yarn" for the rag rug I had been putting off for my youngest's room.  (see over here for how I cut the strips).  Last night, I had big plans to get a good chunk of it done, but due to "circumstances", let's say, this is how far I got.  5 t-shirts gives me about 6 1/2" (it's 30" wide) which means what I thought was a HUGE pile of old t-shirts will not go very far at all.  I will have to make sure my husband goes through his old t-shirts too, to donate to the project.

I just finished reading "We Took To The Woods" by Louise Dickinson Rich after seeing it on so many other blogs.  It had to be ordered from the University of Windsor's library and took it's time getting here, but I enjoyed it thoroughly, and if I ever come across a copy, I will be buying it.  I particularly like the parts where she explains what they make sure to have on hand for the parts of the year they are nearly housebound and can't get, as she calls it "Outside".

Also, I don't know if I have mentioned lately how much I LOVE doing my groceries in the back yard.  We were gone for the weekend, so Monday for dinner, I toured the backyard and almost the entire dinner was pulled from there.  We had green beans and cucumbers and potato latkes (and eggs and bread which I can't grow myself).  Last night...

...

...a tour of the garden yielded the ingredients for 3 salads to go with our farm market sausages.

My sister taught me the green tomato salad.  Apparently, a friend of theirs says it is Portuguese "peasant food" but the one we had at her place was delicious.  She chunked up the green tomatoes (I sliced them up a little thinner for N) and added 1/2 a red onion (I used white because that's what I had, but the red was definitely better) added some white wine vinegar (or whatever vinegar you like), a little olive oil (or whatever oil you like), salt and pepper.  I thought I made mine the same as hers, but hers was much much better.  

Not to mention it is just prettier too with the red onion instead of white.

The other salad was a mix of baby greens growing - the boys loved that one, and I think it is because we have been giving "greens" salad a rest for about a month, and the third was a zucchini coleslaw.  Grate the zucchini and let it sit for about 30 minutes and strain as much liquid out as possible, and then use that instead of cabbage in your coleslaw.  I added a few market carrots, some dressing, and there you have it.  It is much more mild than cabbage slaw...in fact, that bowl of salad was the only one empty at the end of dinner.

Linking up with Yarn Along at small things.  I haven't been for a while.

Using what I have...an update

Inspired by the lovely Tricia at Crunchy Catholic Momma, I have finally started on my next rag rug.  Well, at least I have started preparing for my rag rug.

I have been collecting all of our outgrown, stained, or torn T-shirts for a long while.  I have finally gotten around to cutting them into long strips to crochet a rug.
To make the strips, I cut the bottom off at an angle:

 Then I cut the bottom portion of the shirt into 2" strips almost, but not quite, all the way through.

 Then I open it up to the part that is still attached.  I start at the seam and cut up into the next opening, and then I cut at a diagonal from one opening to the next until the whole shirt is one long strip.

Each ball in the top picture is one t-shirt.  The part above the sleeve holes is being cut into rags that I bring to work, and any unusable parts are being inserted into my "floor poof" to stuff it.  So really, this project is pretty much zero waste.

I'll be linking up with Keep Calm Craft On over at Frontier Dreams on Tuesday and
Stash Bash over at Crunchy Catholic Momma on Thursday.

 Edited Thursday to show my progress...

 

This is how far I have gotten...I have used my entire stash of 22 old T-shirts (not all mine).  Now I just have to wait until my husband goes back through his stash of t-shirts again to donate some more to my cause and I can finish it up.

Weekends

Can it be that it has been a full week since I posted?  I can hardly believe it.

This past weekend saw us (the boys and I) taking a road trip all the way to the big T.O. (Toronto) to visit my sister.  It was a weekend of great food, great company, and great adventure.  I have a really wonderful sister that lives 3-4 hours away from the rest of us (the rest of us living within 6 km of each other) and I am ashamed to say that in the 10 years she has lived in Toronto, the boys have never made the trip to see her, and I have only been once, this past December (she always comes to see us).  This trip was eye opening, and now I realize that it isn't fair to expect her to do all the travelling, and now that I know how easy the trip was (I don't like to drive in huge cities, and the boys normally get car sick) I think I see some more visits in the future.  I'm posting that here as much as a self-commitment as anything else.

We didn't take a huge amount of photos but S did take a few "architectural pictures":

For N, it was all about the food:  live eels in Chinatown, whole sides of beef hanging in St. Lawrence market with sushi for lunch.  Watching a man make churros in the store front...

...their first ever churros after the best quesadillas we have ever eaten.  They ate them while waiting for the bus. N has decided he loves public transit...especially the subway.  Oh boy, does he ever love the subway.

I liked this:

The city is full of art, culture, and just all around "cool" things.  There was an entire store that was devoted mostly to cookbooks (with a few other books here and there, and a few kitchen gadgets thrown in for good measure).  I could have spent hours in there.  There are pianos all over the city, outside, that anyone can just walk up and play.  There is food every where you look.  Good food, authentic food, not multinational take- out chains  (although there were some of those too, but they weren't in your face like they are here).

My sister taught me how to make kale chips, and green tomato salad, and took us to all kinds of markets and food stores.  I am amazed that in the heart of one of the 3 biggest cities in the whole country (I don't actually know where it falls in the top three, isn't that awful?), they have access to such home grown, organic, artisanal food products.  I understand the demand for it is high, but you would think that food like that should be available in more agricultural communities like around where we live too. 

They took us to a fantastic show called Cavalia which had me, at least, quite literally, on the edge of my seat half the time.  It was amazing. If you have a chance to see it, I highly recommend it.

And to top it all off...the boys weren't even car sick.

The whole weekend was just amazing, and A...I hope you get so catch up on some sleep this week. Thank you, and I love you.  We all do.