Late October, end of garden

 I started pulling out the last of our garden.  There is supposed to be frost this weekend.  I brought in my 3 celery plants. I have washed and chopped them up for the freezer.  That will help make a couple of soups in the winter. I got more carrots than I expected.  I left a few more plants out there. They should be ok underground.  The last of the cucumbers are inside. We sure had the best summer ever on cucumbers.  The beets are pulled. We will eat these tomorrow.  All the Butternut squash is inside.  I grew at least 14 this year. Gary brought me a pail of apples from our tree and from Al, our neighbors yard. They were great apples.  This afternoon I will harvest my herbs and dehydrate parsley,  basil, Thyme and Oregano.

I will also be hanging my dried beans upside-down in the garage to see if they will continue to dry . Then in a month I will peel off the shells. 

We got 5 pie pumpkins from a neighbor.  I cooked up one and froze it. We dug up all the potatoes but 2 plants and one bag plant. Today I am making more chicken broth. Chicken noodle soup and potatoes, sausage bean soup to share with the Hough's. 

Beautiful harvest days

 Guess what Gary found 

He is quite proud of his puffball. He also got one for Stephanie and Kevin next door. I don't want to cook it but I hope he does.  We cut some off for Bob and Grace McCordy and my mom to eat.

Today I am pressure canning. I cooked up fresh tomatoes for an hour. I ran the tomatoes through the food mill. I canned 5 jars of tomatoes.  It looked like tomato juice.  I also soaked white navy beans overnight and I put 1/2 a cup in a hot pint jar. Added boiling water to 1 inch head space. 

I am pressure cooking in my backyard in my trailer.  The propane stove top works better with my pressure canner since my stove top is glass and it could suction  to it and shatter the glass. Plus it keeps the heat outside. 

The garden is over grown with weeds but still bursting with cucumbers and tomatoes.  I still have a few peppers, onions and beets and jalapeños. Zucchini and celery are still producing.  Still growing is Butternut squash potatoes and apples.  I planted a few bean seeds in July in the front raised garden. They look great now. I hope they grown big before it gets cold. They are a dried beans. So that is a new plant for me.

Sept 1 2026 making Salsa

 

Making Salsa with Jane was a big success. One triple batch medium spicy and second (double) batch very spicy.  

Jane got making veggies from her work at Hagemans Farm stand. I still have tomatoes and hot peppers,  cucumbers and zucchini coming out of the garden. 

This year with all the rain we have had it's been a very prolific garden.  I have been canning like crazy.  

Also I tried making marinara tomato sauce. I water bath canned 10 jars but 5 jars didn't seal. With my my veggies and unsealed tomatoes sauce i made a delicious sausage,  vegetables tomato soup that i took to the Hough's.  I freezer bagged a chili with unsealed tomato sauce and cooked ground beef and veggies. 

I also tried a freezer meal of chopped chicken and butter chicken sauce recipe with homemade crushed tomatoes.  It is so nice to make meals for the future now while all the veggies are being harvested. 

Marinara sauce above 

Things I canned.  I bought cucumbers from Garys sister Lori, I made 20 plus bread and butter pickles and 8 big jars of dill pickles.  Then later I picked 7 more jars of dill pickles with my own cucumbers.  Also 2 jars of dill beans. 

I made salsa with Nicole one day and I kept 4 jars. She brought me tons of jalapeños. 

I pickled 8 jars of pickled Beets with my own beets and a few of Karolina's beets. She also gave me a Butternut squash.  

July 2026

 Its been a busy 4 months. March we took a family trip to Holland to see Garys aunts and uncles. We had a amazing time traveling to Bleiswijk,  Delft haarlem, Gouda, Amsterdam etc. 

I started my seeds inside with the aero garden in April when we returned from our trip.  It is always fun for me to see what grows.

In May Emily had her 16th birthday. The next day she took her G1 and passed.  Happily Keefe was there doing his G1 test at the same time. They both passed. Ashley passed her G1 the next week. 

The girls finished the school year. Emily did exceptional in her marks, Ashley did very good with 72, 72, 78, 78 to complete her classes in grade 11. 

Emily got a job at Dairy Queen.  She has been doing a great job. She gets 4 shifts a week. She is saving up her money for her big School Trip in March 2027  Germany, Netherlands,  Paris. 

Aug 3 to 6 the girls will be taking driving lessons in Kingston with First Route company.  On Aug 11 Emily will be having her 4 wisdom teeth removed. We are staying home this summer.  Aug 22 is our family Kimmett reunion.  We are at Adoulphtown park this year.

MY GARDEN

The lettuce is at the front raised garden.  It was amazing this summer.  We ate tons of lettuce and shared it with Jen, Deb, Lois and a few others people.  We probably got more than 8 heads of lettuce.  We have had a great rhubarb patch also. My kids have been enjoying many rhubarb crisp. Rhubarb cake, rhubarb muffins.  Our snap peas are starting now and the Beets are ready to eat.

In my garden i have 6 garlic heads, leeks, lots of carrots, green beans, Beets, canary melon, Cantaloupe, Butternut squash, peppers ,shititos peppers,basil, Thyme, parsley, potatoes, cucumber, dill, Tomatoes,  onions,  celery! I just planted beans for drying.  We will see how that goes. 

Emily's garden is growing amazing cucumbers.  She has lots of flowers and hopefully lots of cucumbers. 

Chocolate chip oatmeal cookies

 My favorite cookie, actually molasses ginger cookies are my favorite but these are maybe tied

https://www.hersheyland.ca/en_ca/recipes/chocolate-chip-oatmeal-cookies-recipe.html

These always turn out when I substitute regular flour for gluten-free flour.  Yummy. 

Winter storm watch 2026

 This winter has been very snowy. Our chimney had a small fire at the beginning of Dec. The house is fine but we have to replace the Woodstove and put in a chimney liner. We have a guy arranged to do it but it hasn't happened yet so we are using oil to heat the house. Its going to be expensive but it is working well to heat the house. The kids had exams this past week but they only went to school 2 days. Now they have exams moved to this coming week.  The weather network predicts a big snow storm Sunday into Monday.  I expect there will be a snowday on Monday.  

Everyone on media is getting prepared for being snowed in. I am always prepared to be snowed in. I am a bit of a doomsday prepper.  If I was to get advice to anyone getting ready for a week of being snowed in.

For groceries I would stock up and always have on hand. Dried beans, oats, flour, yeast, sugar, canned foods thst you can eat without heat like tuna, fruit. Also I would buy tomato sauce. You can get powdered milk or cans of evaporated milk. Dried soup mix.  Its handy to have small portable stove with propane canisters for back up just in case the power goes out.

I like to buy a whole chicken or turkey.  Cooking the chicken the first day while you still have power. Chicken can be eaten cold with sandwiches.  Remember you can cook up the bones for chicken broth which makes soup with dried beans and chopped chicken. You can get alot of meals out of a whole chicken. If the power goes out, Remember you can keep your chicken in a cooler outside.

Another great food staple is that you may already have the ingredients on hand for is vegetarian chili. I always have salsa, tomato sauce, spices and beans.

I canned a lot of food thst is ready to eat. Mostly all vegetables.  I  froze a lot of sliced apples from our apple tree. We like apple crisp and I always have the ingredients on hand. We also like to make cinnamon buns or regular buns since I have flour and yeast. Also pizza crust for another meal. 

Today I made homemade granola with oats and shredded coconut craisins, Chia seeds, maple syrup. 

Fill a 5 gallon pail of water to flush the toilet if the power goes out. Bring out your candles, board games, books. 

Sept 2025

 Well the kids are back to school.  I am working on bringing in and preserving the garden harvest.  Its apple season now. I totalled up the canning jars in the cupboard.  Here is the breakdown. 

3 jars of crushed tomatoes I did in the pressure canner 

12 jars of bread and butter pickles 

9  1-quart size jars of dill pickles 

8 strawberry jam

4 applesauce 

22 salsa

6 pickled Beets 

3 jars of dilly beans 

5 Rhubarb sauce

1 jars of zucchini relish

In the freezer I did

 6 medium ziplock bag of Houghs corn

Frozen Rhubarb 

Frozen zucchini 

Frozen tomatoes 

Frozen pizza sauce

Many bags of Frozen peeled and sliced apples 

What a satisfying feeling 

Dry garden and pesto supper

 We are in a drought.  I have to water the garden almost twice a day. Its very hot and we have been running the air conditioner in our bedrooms and the dining room.  The water that comes off the air-conditioning goes on the garden.  

I made salsa from frozen tomatoes Jen had. I used my own ingredients but Lori's garlic. I also canned spicy dill green beans with mine and Jen's yellow, green beans. 

I have tons of canning items for the winter.  Today i canned 5 jars of pickled Beets. 

I have been enjoying making meals from the garden.  Every morning I pick a carrot to eat. I have zucchini's ready.  Tonight for supper Emily and I made Cashew Pesto. It was good. I cooked chicken breast and zucchini with noodles and pesto.  It was full of flavor. 

https://therecipewell.com/easy-cashew-pesto/#recipe

Dill pickles

 https://dishnthekitchen.com/homemade-garlic-dill-pickles/

I made dill pickles. It was cucumbers I bought.  It was a lot of work.  I hope they are good.  They need to sit for 4 weeks now. 8 big jars and 2 -500ml jars. 

I also made green and yellow beans into dilly beans with a kick. I added dried jalapeños to the brine .

Now they have to rest 4 weeks. 

Potato salad

 6 large potatoes peeled and cut

Boil potatoes until pierce with a fork, drain add to a salad bowl with 3 tbsp of white vinegar . 

Cook 3 strips of bacon until crispy. Chop up and add to potatoes. Stir, Put in fridge to cool. I often chop up potatoes smaller if needed when cool.

Boil 5 eggs, hard boiled,  peel and loosely chopped. 

Add eggs, 1/2 cup of mayo. 1 tbsp of ranch dressing,  1tbsp of mustard.  Fresh dill chopped,  fresh chives chopped,  lots of pepper and salt

Chopped red or green pepper, chopped celery, diced 1/2 and onion or green onions 

Mix and cool. Let it sit for 2 hours.  Yum

Chicken gnocchi stew

 2 stalks of celery

1 small onion 

1 large carrot

Dice these ingredients and put in a soup pot

2 chicken breast chopped 

Saute these ingredients with 1 tbsp of oil. Once vegetables are tender, add 1 tbsp of butter melt in pot. Add two tablespoons of flour stir to incorporate flour. 

Add 8 cups of chicken broth,  I have used homemade turkey broth also

Add 1/2 tsp garlic salt, 1/2 tsp of dried oregano,  1 tsp basil, and pepper 

Stir and scrape bottom of pot to lift flour. Bring to a boil , lower to simmer.  Let cook 15 mins 

Add 1 can of coconut milk  400ml

Add gnocchi to pot 500grams 

I use 2 frozen balls of spinach, but you could use baby spinach or chopped frozen kale.

Cook 10 minutes with spinach and let sit for another 10 minutes.  The gnocchi keeps cooking and it will help thicken the stew.   Adjust seasoning if needed. 

May 6th

 

I'm so excited because our rhubarb is ready. I've made rhubarb muffins and rhubarb crisp. This means we will have our own produce soon. 

We had a surprise birthday party for Gary last Wed.  I over bought food. Costco sandwiches,  3 veggies trays. Lori brought cupcakes,  Jane did a cheese and crackers tray.  Debbie Batchilder did a fruit tray and a veggies tray.   The party was huge success.  

With leftover veggies I made cheese broccoli soup and tomato vegetables soup for my neighbors with rhubarb crisp. 

Today I made 2 Sheppard pie for my neighbors and greek pasta salad for both of us. A lasagna for us and a rhubarb crisp for supper.  I'm going to try a chicken tortellini broccoli Alfredo bake later this week. 

April Fools day!

 Today is Tuesday April 1st.  My girls LOVE a joke. I didn't want to let them down so even though it was 10:30pm I googled easy pranks and made red jello in cups and left them to set in the fridge overnight. 

Ashley and Emily thought it was funny. I told them it was fruit punch.

I'm still cooking. We had a huge bag of potatoes that weren't great.  So peeled and peeled.  I followed a website about making freezer hashbrowns. Peel potatoes and shred/grate.  Rinse in cold water, drain,  three times. Squeeze in a clean tea towel to get all moisture out.  Lay out in one layer on cookie sheets and freeze.

Gary gave me a vacume and seal device for Christmas.  I used it for the first time for my freezer hashbrowns.

I also made cream of potato soup with ham. (Yum)  and Mashed potatoes for Sheppard pie for supper.

Today I made 2 Sheppard pie for a friend. I got frozen tomatoes from jen and all the ingredients to can salsa. I figure if I feel like cooking I better keep doing it. When the weather is nicer I'll be outside gardening and not want to cook. 

March 30

 

Today was the second day of ice storm.  I made homemade pizza crust. I oiled the cast iron frying pan. Put corn meal in the bottom of the pan. Laid out the pizza dough and filled with toppings.  Baked at 445. For 20 minutes they turned out great. Crust was a little thick. Next time I will roll thinner.  It was great to clean out the fridge and put the toppings on pizza.  I used the homemade tomato sauce from yesterday and the day before. 

Emily tried baking balsamic Brussel sprouts. She likes them. I'm about to try them.

Also I blanched broccoli and carrots.  I got out my dehydrator. I put celery on the bottom then slightly cooked carrots,  broccoli and Shallots.  I'm going to use these in a dehydrated soup with Mr noodles if i ever get to go camping. It was a great day. Now I have to do the dishes. 

March 29th

 

It's an ice storm day today. We canceled our plans and are staying home for a quiet weekend at home.  Which is my favorite. 

I asked my kids what they were going to do today.  I'm proud to say that they understand that a day at home is a day to create.  Emily wanted to start with

Cinnamon buns. But her recipe was a baking powder instead of yeast so she agreed to turn them into  tea biscuits.  Then she made amazing chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. 

Ashley has alot of homework to do this weekend.  But also she made me the yellow spoon rest in the photo.  I'm very proud of the people my girls are. I made crockpot tomatoes sauce yesterday.  Today I pureed it and made spaghetti sauce for supper. 

Great day inside. Emily is now sewing pockets into her female pants thst have no pockets.  Why do female pants have no pockets? There is nothing these girls can't do.

 Also this march the girls had 2 weeks of march break.  It was alot like this weekend.  Time at home , playing,  creating,  eating.  Ashley worked on her civics project.  She has to help her community.  She made cat beds for the Napanee Ospca.

Great kid, great project.  These are great times

Apple crisp

 I don't know where I first got this apple crisp recipe.  I learned from my mom how to make apple crisp this way. It's delicious and everyone loves it. Often my kids eat apple crisp for breakfast.  In my mind it's just apples and granola.  When apples are in season I peel, slice and freeze apples in freezer bags so I can make apple crisp all winter.

Apple Crisp

topping

1/2 cup of soft butter

1 tsp of cinnamon 

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup of all purpose flour

2 cups of oats,   I usually use quick oats but also rolled oats work.

1 cup of brown sugar. Mix until wet, if dry add 2 tbsp of vegetable oil.  I usually do this.

10 or twelve apples peeled and sliced 

Put in bottom of 9x11 inch pan.  Sprinkle top of apples with 2 tbsp of white sugar and 1 tsp of cinnamon. 

Cover apples with topping and bake 50 mins at 350.

Sometimes I use apples straight from the freezer. Apple crisp is great with frozen apples but the apples cook down like apple sauce. Still delicious.  

Feb 5th 2025

 Happy middle of winter.  It's minus 15 today.  We returned from Mexico on Saturday night.  It was a great trip with the girls.  Since we got home I've been craving homemade meals.  Especially soup. I did a big grocery order on Sunday.  I had a few recipes in mind. I bought frozen spinach in balls for the first time.  I made a new recipe sausage,  potatoes white kidney beans and spinach soup.  It was so good. The sausage was a bit spicy so the soup had a kick. I made a pot for the Hough's and a pot for us. 

https://thecozyapron.com/sausage-soup/#recipe-bookmark

 Gary had a bad cold so I also made him chicken noodles soup with my famous Mr Noodles. 

Tuesday I made spaghetti sauce and a lasagna for the freezer.  I pulled some homemade applesauce muffins out of the freezer and made applesauce muffins for the kids. They loved them.  I also made chocolate chip cookies and ate them all. Just kidding,  I froze half.

Today I made beef vegetable soup to share with the houghs. Andrew said they loved my sausage spinach soup so I will send this soup over too.

I also made a freezer soup , Dump Taco Soup for them to cook in the crockpot a different day. 

I also made a canned peaches cake from allrecipes.com  it didn't turn out great.  I think it needs more flour.  I'm enjoying experimenting with my ingredients from the cupboard and freezer like frozen tomatoes and ham broth.

Tomorrow I plan on making potatoes soup with more frozen ham broth and a ham steak. 

Fresh tomato sauce

 Today my sweet friend Karolina offered me, tomatoes from her garden.  She has a Beautiful garden.  She said she has canned all the salsa and tomato sauce she wants for this year.

Holy money, lots of tomatoes, peppers and hot peppers.  I washed and froze 2 bags of tomatoes.   I peeled tomatoes.  I'm trying a crockpot recipe for tomato sauce. 

https://growagoodlife.com/crockpot-tomato-sauce/

I will be freezing this sauce. Its not suitable for canning.  Toasted tomato sandwiches for supper tonight 

Tomorrow Jane is coming over in the morning to make salsa with me. That will use up some.

My garden is pretty much done. I'm so thankful for these veggies.  I'm going to have lots of canning for the winter

🙋