Harvesting and Canning

All the apples are gone. They were made into crispy apple chips, dried apples and eaten out of hand. It was nearly a week of daily morning and night peeling and slicing, before I finally ran out of apples. Good thing, I was starting to get sick of arranging apple slices neatly on the dehydrator trays for maximum effect.

My break from apples won't be for very long, they just advertised Gala apples and I like to use those in my applesauce, along with jonagolds. As soon as the jonagolds are ready, I'll buy several bushels of each and get to saucing!

After I made the Damson plum liquors, I waited a little too long (I got busy with the apple chips) to make plum jam, and found that about half had gone moldy. I was able to salvage enough for two batches of plum jam and the rest went to the chickens and compost. It was my first time making plum jam and it's very good! When I mentioned the jam to my mom, her eyes lit up and she said she has not had plum jam since she left home for college. My grandmother had a plum tree behind the shed and made jam with the plums. I am eager for my mom to taste my plum jam and see if it compares to my grandmother's.

We have gotten 4 eggs so far from our chickens. I think it is a possibility that some of the chickens are laying in the woods, because there should be more than just four. We passed some one's home with a pile of rolled up chain link fencing for sale. I think I'll stop by and see how much they are asking, and if it is reasonable, get some for making an enclosure around the coop. Fall is in the air around here, and fallen leaves will make it hard for me to search for eggs, so as much as I want them to free-range, I also want them to lay eggs in the coop.

Our tomatoes are finally starting to come in. It was just a trickle these past couple of weeks, with a tomato here and there. When I was canning the plum jam, I had enough tomatoes to can a quart. Only a quart, I know, but it's a start. Checking on the plants today, I am hoping that by next week, I'll have at least enough ripe tomatoes for 10 more quarts. Not even enough to last the whole winter, but that's what I get for not being more careful where I put my tomato and pepper starts and then getting a puppy that thinks the plants were for her to chew on. I consider myself lucky to have found tomato starts when I did. So I'll take what I can get and have better hopes for next year's garden.

I am considering getting a bushel of tomatoes from the farm market, they ask $15 for a bushel, but every time I inquire about them, they tell me not today, maybe next week. Meanwhile, there are plenty of tomatoes for sale on the table. I suspect they pick the best looking ones for sale and save the ugly ones for canning tomatoes. This is what makes me hesitate.. Why can't they just sell me a bushel of those tomatoes when I want them now? Maybe I'll just do without and concentrate on apples. I will miss not having rows of pretty canned tomatoes in my basement, but I have plenty of other lovely canned goods to make up for it.

I am also harvesting items from the stores, buying a little extra here and there, when we can afford it, to get ready for the winter months. My step-mom taught me some tricks for shopping with coupons, and I am getting some pretty good deals, now that I know where to find them. Recently at the rite-aid, they had a pretty good sale for certain items-- buy one get one free type sales and combined with manufacturer's coupons, store coupons and rebates, I managed to get about $75 worth of items for about $15. I'm pretty pleased about that. It's a thrill to see the total on the register go down, down, down and walk away with quite a few bags of items.

I am trying a batch of peach wine. It's made the same way I made the strawberry wine and it is smelling mighty fine. I strain the peaches out in a couple days, then add the sugar, stir daily for another week, then divide into gallon jars and let it sit for a couple of months. I won't wait a year this time around, before checking them, to make sure I don't end up with 50/50 vinegar and wine.

I am going to enjoy this little break from canning anything, catching up on things I need to do around the house. I have a project going on right now and I look forward to sharing it with you as soon as I am finished.

From This, To That!

We are working hard to clean up and get rid of the clutter around here. It's not as easy as one might think, because as soon as I get one surface cleaned off, in come 4 little ones with their (pick one) puzzles/books/drawing paper and markers/barbies/etc., which then get dumped on the formerly clean surface. *sigh!*

I started with the basement and got new cupboards to help corral school supplies and craft supplies, but then we moved my Mom's things into the basement and I cannot get into the cupboards anymore. So I need to set up a new school area upstairs. We have a fairly large living room, so I'm going to use a corner for keeping school supplies handy.

Now... what to keep the supplies in. Hmmm...

I found this nice, old wire basket at a yard sale a couple weeks ago. It looks like it would be just the right size...

Voila! A handy dandy carrier for keeping markers and construction paper all in one place! I'll be adding a recycled, cleaned can to the corner and attach it with wires, to hold scissors and glue sticks. I so love it when I can re-purpose something like this into something I need.

Now, if I can just re-purpose something to make a bounce shield for my clean surfaces so that when the kids put something down, it'll bounce right off! :o)

Thrifty Finds

We went to the thrift stores, yesterday and today, hoping to score another dehydrator for my apples. It'd be nice to have two dehydrators going, working twice as fast. We found one, but it only had two trays and they were asking a bloated $25 for it. bah! I got the two I have for way less than that. I'll just keep looking and hope I can score another dehydrator soon.

I have been on the lookout for the Bobbsey Twins books. I read the whole set when I was about 8 or 9 and then moved onto Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. Oldest is a voracious reader and I am trying to get her some classics and other stories for her to read. The used book store we frequent sells Bobbsey twin books for $5 apiece (too much!). I found a flea market that was selling some for $2.50 each (eh). Then today, at the thrift shop, I found 9 books for $1 each (whoo-hoo!)!! I bought them all! I am so excited and can't wait for Oldest to read them! I may read them with her!

I also found another Bobbsey Twins book (not pictured) at a yard sale for 25 cents, so that gives me 10 books in all.

At the same yard sale where I found the lone Bobbsey Twins book, I found the complete set of Childcraft books at a yard sale for $10! I was so excited! They had lots and lots of older books and vintage children's items, and I think I would have bought more if I had the money, but I was pretty satisfied with finding the whole set of Childcraft. This is a great asset to our home schooling lessons.

At the thrift store yesterday, I came across THREE of these Texas Ware melamine splattered mixing bowls! They are so hard to find and go for a pretty penny on ebay, so I was really happy to find these. Especially 3 of them! After I got home and washed them, I discovered a crack in one of them, so that will be my new scraps bowl. I'll be posting these for sale in my etsy shop this week. *Teena, you want one?? If you do, I save it for you and sell the other one.*

Damson Plum Liquor (recipe follows)

There was an ad in our local paper, from the same orchard where I got my cherries, for rambo apples and damson plums. I looked up damson plums on the internet and found they make a great jam and liquor. The rambo apples are good for pies, jelly, and drying.

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I definitely wanted more apples for making apple chips. They went so fast last year and I didn't make a whole lot of them, so this time, I got a whole bushel that will be just for apple chips. The rambos were only $9 a bushel so that's a great deal! This also breaks up some of the labor of peeling hundreds of apples all at once for applesauce and chips. The apples I use for applesauce are not ready yet, so this is nice to only work on making chips.

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I am intrigued by the idea of making damson plum liquor, and at 80 cents a pound, I thought it would be worth a try. I bought 25 pounds worth of plums, some for making liquor and some for jam.

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I am not a big drinker. In college, I went to my fair share of parties and night clubs, and I did the whole party-hearty thing, but now, I just like the occasional wine and a swig of the "hard stuff" when I feel rough around the edges. I have always liked fruity flavors, so I enjoy sangria and margaritas and such, and I really like the strawberry wine we made last year, so I think (and hope) the damson plum liquor will be something I like.

I found 2 different recipes on the internet for damson liquor. I am trying both. They are basically the same, except one uses more plums and more sugar, but less alcohol.

Recipe 1:

1 quart of damson plums (it didn't specify, but I halved and pitted them)
1 1/2 pound of sugar
375 ml vodka or gin (I used vodka)

Combine ingredients and pour into a gallon jar. Keep lid loose for fermentation. Stir weekly for 6 to 8 weeks until sugar is dissolved. Should be ready by December.


Recipe 2:

1 pound of damson plums, pitted ( I halved them and pitted them)
1 pound of sugar
1 quart of gin or vodka (I used gin)

Combine ingredients and pour into gallon jar. Stir weekly. Should be ready in 3 months. (Didn't specify, but I'm keeping lid on this loose as well)


I'll be keeping these in a cool dark place, the heat and humidity will spoil the fruit and I don't want that to happen. Hopefully this turns out yummy and I'll let you know how it tastes.

Now, I need to get started on peeling and slicing a batch of apples for the dehydrator. If I get it in tonight, they'll be dry by morning and ready for another batch!

At Last!

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One of our chickens has finally laid an egg! I suspect it was a Speckled Sussex, as those two are always in and around the chicken coop. It's a little on the small side, but it's an actual egg! What a feeling to put my hand in the nest box and feel an egg inside the bed of straw! I'm so proud!

* Go hens! *

What Little Girls Wish For...

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(watch out for the puddle of drool on the floor!)
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County Fair 2009

We went to the County Fair tonight.

A photo of the kids before going in,

just in case we got separated and I would have a picture to show.

I wasn't going for smiles, just documentation of their clothing.

I made a beeline to the homemakers building to check on the results of my jam entries.

My Crazyberry jam (center, left) got a red ribbon for 2nd place.

My Rhuberry (center, right) got a blue ribbon for first place!

yay! I'm happy!

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I wonder how they judged them, though, because they were not opened.

I guess they judge based on how they look in the jar?

I think it would have been "Best of Show" had they tasted my jams!

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Time for rides!

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The girls got on this one and then when we got in line for another ride, the guy asked for tickets. "Tickets?" we asked.

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Apparently, things are different this year. Last year, the kids got to ride the kiddie stuff for free, but there was a hefty entrance fee. This year, the kids got in for free, but rides are now ticketed.

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I counted 7 kiddie rides-- the merry-go-round, the elephant ride, race cars, baby train, baby ferris wheel, space ship (but the lift didn't work) and alligator bouncy thing.

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2 tickets per ride, per kid. $1 each ticket equals $2 per kid times 3 kids equals $6 per ride.

--OR--

Buy unlimited rides in the form of a bracelet for $12 per kid times 3 kids equals $36.

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Yeah, um, no.

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We compromised with the girls:

One more ride and they could have cotton candy.

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They enjoyed every minute of that merry-go-round ride!

Baby kept me company while we waited for Daddy and the girls.



The girls liked their very first taste of cotton candy!

"More Daddy! More!"
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We enjoyed the Fair. Next year, we'll have to remember to take out a loan first.
At least the kids seemed to understand why they couldn't go on all the rides, and they are happy. Before they went to bed tonight, Oldest told me she had fun at the Fair. And then she drifted off to sleep, probably dreaming of bouncing on blue and pink cotton candy clouds.