We Have Tomatoes!

This year has been rather different in the tomato area. I started my seeds several weeks earlier hoping that would make harvest time a good while before I could expect frost. Well, they didn't grow. I mean, I had seedlings pop up and they looked wonderful, but they didn't mature much past tiny little 2-3 inch sprouts. Weeks went by and they weren't amounting to much. I started a few more seeds of other varieties wondering if it had been too cold indoors for the first batch to thrive? They didn't do so swell, either. This was the first year I tried using starter potting soil and peat pots, and I decided I did not like it at all. (Last year I used Jiffy pellets and I had a 65/66 success rate with my tomato plants!) We made efforts to save them, and gave them extra care by getting a mini greenhouse for better warmth and sunlight. Although it was nice having them out of my dining room, they didn't thrive out there like I thought they would. Aaron thought it was a hopeless cause and was ready to throw them out, but I wasn't about to give up and just waste all that work. I mean, what if....? In the back of my mind though, I wondered if he was right. But I insisted we plant them anyway because we had the extra garden space. Maybe rain and real dirt would do them good! A week after transplanting our itty-bitties (the one tall, most hardy plant was scrawny, but stood 6-7 inches), we discovered most of them had withered and died. Oh well. We did try. I had enough stew tomatoes and pizza sauce left from last year that we'd be fine. But it was sad. 

Fast forward and add some rain, and something happened where it looked like a few of our plants might survive! They didn't take off, but they were definitely growing. We at least had recognizable plants and didn't have to search for green amongst the cages! It was a dry summer so we used a sprinkler in the evening, but nothing does a garden well quite like a good rain. After one such downpour, the tomatoes exploded. If you look at the picture above, I'd say you can take me literally! Only that was more because we didn't do a good job pruning or training them to stay in the cages. :/

My one wish was to have enough tomatoes to make a batch of ketchup, since that was the one product we didn't have enough of to supply us another year. 

Mid-September, the same time of year we were picking tomatoes last season, we brought in our first fruits! Obviously our plan to have some ready in August didn't work, but there has been much celebrating with every handful, bowl full, or 5-gallon bucket full we bring in! WE HAVE TOMATOES!!!!! I've been freezing them so I'd have enough for a decent batch of ketchup, that way I wouldn't have to make it twice since it's a bit more time consuming. We recently opened our last quart of 2015 ketchup, and today I process the delicious red fruit for this year's batch! 

We prayed for rain and asked God to give us a good harvest, and not only has He heard and answered, but he has given us so much more than we dreamed of. And the vines are still loaded. I can't tell you how excited and thankful I am. My wish has been granted. 

Now to do my part and get that ketchup made!

Grapes!

Grapes. This was my new experiment! We have a vine on our property that normally gives a handful or two of pitiful looking grapes. Over the weekend though, as I headed back from an evening walk to the garden, there husband and son sat happily munching. (It was absolutely adorable seeing Adam pull them off and stuff them into his mouth!) Aaron exclaimed at how the vines were loaded and it was a shame that they would have to go to waste. There were indeed a fair amount ripening, so I suggested grape juice. 

Something else had found the delicious fruit before us and left a scattering of skins behind, so we knew our chance to pick them was now. Grabbing a colander, I got as many as I could before dark. Often grapes are pretty buggy (at least ours are), so I had to do a fair amount of sorting when I got in the house. I'd say around 60% were good, useable grapes. 

My mom had made grape juice back home and let me tell you! That stuff was addicting. Every Sunday evening Dad would make popcorn, and that grape juice paired ever so perfectly! The recipe mom had was for filling half gallon jars, but being as there are only three of us in this household, we didn't need two quarts in one sitting. At least not now with how limited our grape production is. I had just over three cups salvaged, which was enough for three quart jars of juice. Three days that we will get to enjoy this delicious treat! 

Here's how I made it. Put one cup of grapes in each jar. Ideally you should have just over a cup per quart, but this is what I had. Add 2-3 Tbsp honey. (I accidentally added twice the amount per jar, as I was cutting the recipe in half but forgot during this step. The grapes weren't quite at their prime full-ripeness, so it probably needed a touch more sweetener, anyway.) If you wish to use sugar instead, add 1/4-1/2 cup per jar, depending on how sweet you think you'd prefer it. I like to be able to taste as much natural sweetness and flavor from the fruit as possible, so I normally try to aim a bit lower on the amount of sweetener added. Pour hot water into the jars until full, leaving a little bit of headspace. Process in a hot water bath canner for 10 minutes, let set for another 10 minutes before removing your jars, and done! (Note: if you used sugar and it hasn't completely dissolved at this point, simply tip the jar on its side.)

I can't wait to see how it turned out! I'll have to give you an update when we do open a jar to taste. That is, if I don't die from it's awesomeness. I'm counting on it being everything grape juice should.

Yard Sale Season

It's just about the end of yard sale season and I realized I haven't spent much time roaming sales this summer! I guess it's a good thing, even if I didn't find most of what I had on my wish list, because our pocketbook wasn't able to handle much extra spending. This last weekend I was able to stop by an estate sale down the road though! I had seen they had two extra-large stainless steel bowls there and was hoping to snag one. You don't have to have 10 kids to use one of those regularly. We were gifted a super-sized one as a wedding gift and I find I use it rather often. I wasn't able to get to the sale until after noon, so I wasn't sure there would be one left. Living in an Amish community, I knew there was no way I'd stand a chance if those buggies had made it over! 

It was my lucky day. One of them was still there! For $5, I knew I'd get my money's worth out of it. There were a few other smaller bowls tucked underneath it that weren't priced, so I asked the lady about them. She told me "Oh, those all go with the big one." So, for $5, I got not one, but FOUR bowls! The two are fairly small so I doubt I'll be using them frequently, but there was another big one in a size that I also use pretty often as well. I couldn't turn down the buy one, get three free deal on these! Throw in that box of 12 brand-new (antique) zinc canning caps for $1..... Ummm.... yes, that sale was worth my time. I was one happy lady coming home and showing off my purchases to the husband. And he was proud of me! So glad he supports my deal catching.

1st birthday

I can't believe it has been a year since this little guy entered the world. He has grown from a tiny little helpless babe to an independent, fun-loving toddler. He adores his daddy, loves to eat at any time of day, and enjoys playing with cars, trains and anything else with moving parts or wheels.

Just like dad, music seems to be second-nature to him. He's always bobbing up and down or tapping a foot when he hears a tune, and loves plunking on the piano. Such a boy, his other love is dirt. The garden, sand, driveway gravel... put him outside and it's pretty guaranteed he'll need a bath!

Vintage Camping

One thing my husband and I enjoy doing together is camping. There is nothing like getting out and enjoying God's amazing creation without modern distractions. Last year we had a pop-up camper that we used on a several-day trip with a bunch of friends, but it ended up pouring rain a night or two... and we discovered it leaked pretty bad. We had quite the night as we constantly woke looking for higher ground on the mattress. Later that summer we ended up selling it while it was still worth a little bit. Our dream was to find a vintage-style camper one day. Within the year, opportunity struck!

Tucked back on a side road in a neighboring town, there it was. A 1969 Franklin. It wasn't the most beautiful thing you've seen, but it had some potential, and we didn't have the wallet for one that was ready for use tomorrow. We knew we'd probably have to do some restoring to a fixer-upper. But with Frank's price tag and an eager, adventuresome couple, he captured our heart and became part of the family.

...yeah. It needed some help. Ugly cushions, big sloppy painting on the side wall. It looked more like an art project than a homey little camping space!

Normally we go on a camping trip every June, but with everyone's extra-busy schedules, it got cancelled until further notice. That gave us a little time to work on it! When the weather got nice enough this spring, my handy, experienced husband set to work getting the outside shell all nice, fixing any leakage, painting, and sealing the roof. Every now and then when it was a nice free day, he was out repairing.

Then the camping trip got rescheduled for August, and we realized we really needed to get to work if we wanted to use it. The inside walls needed torn out, wood replaced, insulation redone, everything repainted... as well as a number of other smaller projects that just added up to a lot of time! As we got to crunch time, he was given the last two weeks before the trip off work so we could get everything finished. It was a chore, and he worked SO hard from morning 'til night, but we made it. Everything was done two days before we were scheduled to leave! What a vacation we were planning on. Rest, sleep, relaxation....

Isn't it a beaut?!

A Salad [or two] a Day

In our household we eat according to what's in season. Not only does it provide a nice variety of fresh, healthy foods to our table in the course of a year, but it's sure easy on the wallet. 

Our goal each year is to stay as far from the grocery store as possible. We keep that in mind when we plan our garden... hence it being extra large in size! Last winter was a pretty good success trying to live off what we had stored up from the summer (Although potatoes were starting to get a little boring around April). When I did make it to the store, it was for little things that would enhance what we already had. (Things like sour cream and butter, or a treat of mushrooms) Both husband and I look back with satisfaction that our labor from the summer paid off by feeding our family well all through the winter months. 

Now that garden season is in full swing once again, we have a delicious selection of fresh to choose from. Several months ago my husband told me he didn't care if he eats salad every day, he just wants to eat as much good, natural food as possible. When it came time to plant the garden, we decided to plant heavy on the lettuce and plan on eating salad every day while it produces. Sounded good to me! Easy meal planning! I don't have to wonder what to make for supper, I just have to make sure and have enough lettuce washed and all that's left to do is have fun and come up with ideas for toppings. Our favorite add-ons to a nice bowl of lettuce is boiled eggs and roasted sunflower seeds. It just makes a salad sooo yummy. Of course we don't stop there. The nice thing about salad is that it is very versatile. You can add whatever vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, meat or cheese you want! It makes it easy to switch up. You can change out your dressings for a new flavor, too! 

We've been enjoying it so much that we both eat a salad twice a day. We're not the least bit vegetarian and I have to be sure to get enough protein being pregnant, so last night's salad was accompanied by a little side of steak. My lunch today (pictured) was topped with dried cranberries, roasted sunflower seeds, pecans, a light sprinkling of parmesan, and some homemade balsamic vinaigrette.

Baked Beans

My sister and brother-in-law called me earlier today to invite themselves over for a couple hours this evening. They said they'll bring the steaks to grill, so... there's no turning them down. They live a couple of hours away and were going to be almost in the area anyway, so we take them as visitors whenever they happen to be around!

I decided I'm going to make a few dishes to go along with the meal. Baked beans. They just sounded good to me. I don't know if it's because it was lunch time, because I'm pregnant, or if that's just what I have on hand and it goes well with meat, but they sure sounded appetizing. The problem was I didn't feel like a had a ton of time to prepare them so I decided to skip a step and not use a recipe. It's too much work finding one I think I might like! Besides that, a quick trip to Pinterest told me that most people's bean recipes call for canned pork and beans. Can somebody tell me why? I thought pork+beans was basically pre made baked beans? I guess it doesn't make sense to me. I generally only have raw simple ingredients on hand, so my only option was to start from dry beans. 

I didn't measure the beans. I said I was just going to throw something together, so I poured in what I thought might be enough, added water, and started cooking. Meanwhile I mixed a few random ingredients that I thought might be good in baked beans. Homemade ketchup, molasses, maple syrup, dry mustard, and salt. When the beans had finished cooking I reserved the bean liquid, salted the beans, mixed in my concoction, added some chopped onion, and poured enough bean juice back in to reach the desired consistency. Of course I taste tested them to make sure I was satisfied. A couple spoonfuls later I decided it not only was good enough, but I didn't make as much as I should've. I'm sure I consumed my portion already. I had to stick them in the oven to bake pretty quick just to keep my spoon from dipping back in. I have the oven set somewhere between 325-350* and plan to bake them for 3 hours. It really helps the flavors blend when you bake them over a longer amount of time. You just need to make sure they don't dry out in the process.

Now to torture myself with the aromas floating from the kitchen for the next hour or two. 

I think the no recipe was a success, but we'll have to wait for the final taste post-baking to double check. ;) This is how I cook. It's no wonder after being married over a year my husband still told people I hardly made the same dish twice!