Catching up!

It's hard to believe that it has been 3 months since my last post!

My Mom always said that time goes quicker the older you get, and I believe her!

Little Country Girl kept us busy for March with her figure skating ... a few competitions, a spring skating session in another town and a test day. She has now hung up her skates until August when there is a summer skate program before regular season starts again in Septemeber.

She had a great season!

April was a busy month, with my return to work and skating classes. It was hard to juggle it all, but we did it!  On April 29th, we suddenly lost our beloved family dog. We all took it hard and miss her very much. She would have been 12 this year. RIP Boomer :(

May was a busy time out in the gardens, prepping and getting the veggies planted. May was a cold month, and the gardens were late getting in. We had a terrific asparagus harvest this year, and the rhubarb grew freakishly large!

I made jam, crumble, crisp and just about everything rhubarb, and froze a lot too.

Little Country Girl ran her first 5km marathon in May.

I think it's safe to say it will probably be her last one too!

Country Boy finished College and moved back home. Now's looking for the perfect job, while working at McDonalds.

Big Country Girl has been busy planning her wedding this fall. 

We had a great turnout for their 'Buck & Doe', it really was amazing.

Heading into June, we picked out a German Shepherd puppy that came home the end of the month.

Say hello to Sargent, just 9 weeks old here!

He is certainly a handful!

I guess that gets me up to date on the goings on around here.

The gardens are doing OK, despite getting only one small rain shower the whole month of June. I did lose a lot of the annuals I planted due to the dry conditions. Yet to replace them.

I picked the first Sugar Snap peas this week, and garlic scapes mmmmm!

I leave you with a few shots of whats been going on in the gardens

*I almost forgot to add that I lost 20lbs in the first 100 days of changing the way I eat!

I finally got my harvest table!

When we moved here almost 13 years ago, Hubby promised to make me a harvest table.

For years I made due with the old, round, glass top table in the dining room.

It was getting harder and harder to fit the whole family at the table.

Hubby said that he hadn't forgotten, but with all the projects around the house using up all the extra money he just hadn't gotten to it.

Last year, at Thanksgiving, I knew that something had to be done for thanksgiving dinner - now that we had Country Fellow coming for supper there was no room for everyone!

I moved the rectangular patio table inside.

That patio table was our dining room table for over a year!

It was a little lower than a regular table, but with a tablecloth on no one really knew.

Then, in September of 2015, the farm across the street was sold to a 'cash cropper' and they wanted to remove all the buildings.

It had a beautiful barn, that was built in the late 1800's

I came home from work one day not long after that picture was taken to find this!

 

The barn and other outbuildings had been bulldozed!

I quickly ran over and asked the equipment operator if I could have some of the wood from the pile.

He was very nice, telling me that the whole pile was going to be set ablaze, so if I wanted anything I had better take it quick!

It really was sad to stand and look at the ruins of this old barn, especially knowing the value in reclaimed barn wood projects these days.

I quickly got to work, carefully picking through the piles.

I collected a dozen or so good planks and carted them home.

I stacked them in front of the garage, and explained to Hubby that THIS pile of wood was going to be my harvest table! It was a few weeks before he was able to get to it,but he did indeed make me a harvest table for my dining room. And just in time for Christmas dinner!

12 years late, but worth the wait!

 

 

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Now that the dust has settled and we have welcomed in the New Year, it's time to think about what we want to accomplish in 2016. 

2015 was such a busy year!!

It was a good year though, and there isn't too much I would change for 2016.

2015 saw a few changes - Big Country Girl starting her career, getting engaged to Country Fellow, buying their first home, moving out, and getting a puppy.

Me learning to can, and trying to keep up with work, the kids, new clients, and the house.

Little Country Girl getting more serious about figure skating, and less serious about soccer.

Country Boy continuing his College education.

Hubby starting a new job.

We were all kept so busy, that it seems things outside 'our world' were a little forgotten, including this blog. There are friends we haven't seen, places we haven't been, projects we didn't get to.

I am really going to try to be better about keeping in touch this year, and not being so crazy busy all the time. But that could prove to be difficult ... we have a wedding to plan!

WELCOME 2016!

Spring is in the air!

Oh my goodness, it has been a long time coming!

After a long, snowy, cold winter, spring is finally here!

Winter technically ended for us with the Skating Pot Luck Luncheon and awards ceremony, at which Little Country Girl was awarded Top Junior Skater! Way to go!!

Time to hang up those skates for the summer and lace up those soccer shoes!

So the long winter allowed me to plan out my veggie gardens and one of the top items was to improve the soil out in the plots. I took advantage of our towns compost giveaway as well as neighbors manure pile and spent a weekend working it in. I am now convinced the soil is in top condition for my crops.

I am happy to see that last years new apple tree survived the winter and is doing well.

I added a Plum tree this spring too, I hope it 'takes'. It didn't have too much root.

The last old apple tree had all the dead wood trimmed out this spring and we are being rewarded for our efforts. I do hope there are enough pollinators out and we get a heavy crop this fall.

The old apple tree we lost 3 years ago has sprouted.  A few new 'trees' have grown and been pruned. I will eventually have to decide which one I want to keep and cut the other out. I do hope it grows and produces Apples one day!

Mother Nature is rewarding us for the long winter with fragrance from the Lilac's. They are just loaded with blooms this year!

 I wish I could remember the name of these beauties

These were added last fall - 'China Town'

This is the second season for the Frittilaria Imperialis

Some other pretties

The cold weather crops have been planted and are coming up.We had a frost this week, and there is another predicted for this week. I wont be able to put my tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and zucchini in just yet.

I am just so glad I can be out in my gardens again!

Hosta eating cat!

I never thought I would have to worry about my cat eating my Hosta's, after all she is an indoor cat.

 

 

I bought a few miniatures a few weeks ago and was keeping them in the back room until the weather got warm enough to plant them outside.

'Grand Prize'

'Thumbelina'

And this one called 'Masquarade'

 

After doing a little research online, I discovered that 'Masquarade' was supposed to be variegated, and that is was commen for this Hosta to revert to all green. While not impressed with my all green 'Masquarade', I discovered that one section had the proper colors.

 

I decided that I would remove the part with the correct colors when I got home from work, and repot it in its own pot and it's all green siblings in another pot. Then the cat found it ...

Anyone else have plant eating cats?

It's COLD outside!

Somehow February seems like the longest month of the year.

We've had bitter cold temperatures, snow, and then more bitter cold.

I did take advantage of a sunny day to go outside and snap a few pictures around the yard.

A cold morning sunrise

Lots of snow this year!

Because it has been so cold outside, I have been spending a lot of time inside.

Father has been busy painting and I have been busy in the kitchen.

I have always wanted to learn how to make bread by hand - without the use of a breadmaker.

This week I tried some basic buns

Not the prettiest buns I've seen, but they tasted great. Not bad for a first attempt!

I've also been making a lot of pizza dough, and so pizza once a week.

Today I want to make some black current jam with some frozen currents from the garden.

And muffins ... Mmmmm.

I hope spring gets here soon so I can get out of the kitchen!

All this cooking isn't good for my waistline!

;)

Home made laundy soap!

It always bothers me that laundry soap is so expensive.

Recently I found a recipe that I just HAD to try for homemade laundry soap.

It only has 3 ingredients

I found all three ingredients at our No Frills store for less than $12.

I started by grating the sunlight soap with a cheese grater - it was easy!

I put the grated soap in a pot with about 4 cups of water and carefully heated the mix until the soap was dissolved, stirring frequently.

I had a clean 4.5 gallon pail with a lid, and filled it 3/4 with HOT water.

To this I slowly added 3/4 cup of the washing soda and 3/4 cup borax and stirred until dissolved.

Then I added the soap mix and stirred well, then topped up the pail with more hot water.

Put on the lid and allowed the pail to sit overnight. When I opened the lid the next day the mix had gelled. No, that OK ... it was supposed to do that!

All this needed now was a good stirring. I decided to make it easier by using a paint mixer on a drill

And VOILA! Time to bottle it up. This was the whole batch ... not bad!

 

 

I thought I would test this out on Father's dirty work pants before I sang the praises of this stuff. If this can clean Father's work pants it will clean anything!  I put a load of his dirtiest,  greasy work clothes in and added only a cup of laundry soap. I had to remember this was soap and not detergent and so it would have less bubbles. I popped it in and couldn't believe my eyes!

 

It was the dirtiest water I have ever seen in my washing machine!

I was almost tempted to add more soap, but I wanted to see how well it worked.

I had just barely pulled it out of the dryer when Father came looking for clean pants, so no photo I'm afraid. But they were CLEAN! And so this recipe gets thumbs up from me.

The best part is that I only used 3/4 cup from each box so there is plenty left for the next few batches. And it was so EASY to make!

Now I need to find a recipe for dishwasher soap!