I have countertops!

I have the day off so I put the canning stuff away.

I keep it in the basement when not in use, but from mid June (strawberry jam season) through mid October HERE IT SITS! My kitchen isn't tiny but it isn't huge either.

I like canning but i'm loving the wide open space.

With my new job, i didn't can as much as i usually do. The cool summer didn't help out the veggie growing either but we did eat a lot of fresh which is my main reason for gardening anyway.

I had an abundance of jalapenos so I made jalapeno jam. Mixed with cream cheese it makes an incredible cracker dip. Sweet with heat. mmm...

I'm still loving the job. I havent had to resort to fast food yet since the crock pot is now my new best friend in the kitchen. My kids have been helping out as well.

Another perk of the job, I missed that whole balloon boy crap and didn't find out about it until it was declared a hoax. So there's that.

My girl made this yummy frosted brownie the other night.

Its all gone now so I cant share. I'd say sorry but that would be a lie.

It was good.

We're Jamming

We are lucky to have a giant wild raspberry patch in the woods behind us.

The scratches, bug bites and purple fingers are a small price to pay.

The kids aren't as dedicated to picking as their mother.

They trudged home while the farm pup and i kept going.

(farm pup picks his own)

We're smashing.

We're Jamming.

We're Canning.

We're rubbing our tummies in anticipation.

Hand picked homemade jam and home made bread.

We hope you like jamming too.

I need a break!

I have had the respiratory bug that has been going around for the past week. Sore throat, nasty cough, off and on fever.

Yesterday our furnace went out. We are out of firewood. Luckily the weather isn't so bad and I have a little space heater that has been keeping us close to 60*. I also have a man, you know I married him for his looks, but he is handy too and thinks he can fix it with a $56 part. I love him! We just have to wait it out for the part to arrive. A good excuse to bake and keep that oven on.

Speaking of baking, I usually bake bread with the easy bread recipe, but today I figured I could use a hand and got out the old bread machine.

So after hours of hearing it whirring, then smelling fresh bread baking, it beeped!

This is what it looks like when you forget to add the yeast.

This is what it looks like after you spend 10 minutes scraping it out of the pan.

Oh what the hell, I spread on the butter and ate some anyway.

*

Oh and my helpful farm dog rolled in something. Nice.

I have been in a sewing funk lately, but have been plugging away. Last week I finished the other slipcover for the chairs in my den.

Yesterday I made some more dog food bag bags.

In different sizes.

Today I was feeling slightly better or less puny so I whipped on my garden gloves...

...and got sewing.

(when you free motion quilt, they help make guiding the fabric easier)

I made these two little pillows. Can you tell which one doesn't have the bottom stitched up yet?



Of all the pillows I've made and sold guess how many I have? ZERO. I am keeping one of these, they are just making me so happy!

*

Last week I went on a road trip with my Mom, Step dad and Sister down to Toledo. On the way back, my sis and I were in the back of their little PT Cruiser, my Step dad makes a U-Turn to show us this sign he caught out of the corner of his eye.

What the???

I have nothing more to say.

Happy St. Pattys Day!

I just finished a tasty meal of Corned Beef and Cabbage.

*

Our last 5 days weather wise couldn't have been nicer. I sure hope the Arctic blasts of winter are gone for good. The fact that it is Michigan I know we aren't done but a girl can dream, right?

Over the weekend we raked leaves and...

...demolished the old crate coop.

You served us well for 3 years but it was time to go.

We couldn't justify keeping you and your leaky roof when I have this "new" beauty.

Nothing left but the foundation.

Our yard looks less trashy now. We still have a bit of trashy left but that's how we roll.

*

I collected sap until I almost got tired of it.

All of this 8 gallon container.

Plus all these.

About 22 gallons worth, and the sap is still flowing.

I had to get our propane tank refilled so I could do this again.

Melissa asked for a close up of our hook system. Our taps had built in hooks so it made hanging the jugs easy.

*

Not all good news though.

The winter was a hard one for us but it was even harder on our pond. The inhabitants of our pond actually.

It looks like all of our large fish have been wiped out. Bass, large mouth and small, and our stripes. All of the big Bluegill and Sunfish.

Both of our carp too.

The ice hasn't melted all the way yet so I'm not sure if any small ones are left.

We were stocking up as a future meat source and had only eaten a few last summer.

We were hoping to have a fish fry with our camping guests this summer. Sorry ladies.

I'm bummed, I had caught and brought home most of these fish myself.

Of all the years we have been here we have never lost fish over the winter.

Looks like I need to renew my fishing licence.

*

The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain. Dolly Parton

A tale of two syrups.

I usually make my own syrup.

Boil 2 cups of water, add 4 cups of sugar, stir till clear, add a splash of maple flavor.

Its usually cheaper than store bought and I don't care for the butter flavor most syrups add.

It's easy and I always have those ingredients on hand.

Hubby has been wanting to tap our maple trees for quite some time. Last year he bought some old syrup taps on ebay. Don't you love a guy who does stuff like that?

You tap trees right before the temps get in the 40's, so last Sunday he drilled and tapped 7 of our maples and rigged some milk jugs to collect the sap.

And we waited.

The chickens scratched.

I took a self portrait.

It got warmer and the daffodils peeked out.

We didn't have to wait long.

In a day and a half we collected about 12 gallons of sap. (it's really like water)



You have to boil it down outside unless you like your walls and ceiling to be sticky in your home.



I manned the pot.

The guys worked on the dock.

It boiled into the night.


Our first batch was thin, but tasted amazing. Our next batch, we boiled down more and was thicker.
I filtered it through t-shirt material to get out the bits and bugs.
In total we got about a quart of syrup.




Words can't describe how good this is, all I can say it was well worth the effort.
It turned cold again and the trees have stopped producing, we hope the next warm up brings more sap but since this is our first year we don't know what to expect.
We've read that some trees like silver maples don't work well for flavor, apparently we have the good sugar maples. <3>

The power of suggestion.

I have this terrible thing,

if someone talks about a certain kind of food, I see a commercial, smell an apple pie candle (you who burn those things in your home with no real apple pie to serve are just cruel), anything really, well I want to eat it or a close enough version. I want to eat it then or by my next meal or sometime in the near future. My brain wont rest until my taste buds are satisfied.

Danni showed these amazing cinnamon rolls, that did it.

Sadly I had no starter or the patience to wait it out so I had to improvise.

I use this bread recipe, for all things bread. I add extra grains and flax seed for a healthier version. It works for bread, bread sticks, pizza dough, pepperoni or ham & cheese pockets, or even my version of...

cinnamon rolls!

Danni, I thank you and the kids thank you.

Homemade Noodles

If someone you love has a cold, and you have all the other ingredients for soup except the noodles, don't run to the store, just make some.

Put a couple cups of flour in a bowl, the nice thing is you can use whatever flour you like, I have never tried a gluten free type, but I think that would work too. Make a well and add an egg or two. My family likes a lot of noodles so I use more of both.

Mix however you like, I use my hands.

I knead it a bit, it has a tougher feel than bread.

Pinch off a bit and with floury hands, start rolling. It's just like making play dough snakes.

This can get monotonous, it's good to have free child labor. Break them off any size you like.

I make them bite sized, since they are thicker than the average noodle.

If you make a bunch, make sure to sprinkle flour each layer in the bowl or they start to stick together.

Get your soup base boiling and add the noodles. They only take a couple of minutes to cook.

(sorry for the crappy photo)

They are a bit chewy but the family loves them.