Where has the summer gone?

 Tonight supper.

Are garden has been so fun. Huge Beets, huge basil, great potatoes crop. We collected 9 cucumbers and small carrots. Even small to medium size onions.  We have enjoyed farm fresh eggs from Karolina. Our own beef.  There was a large stretch of dry weather at the start of August but this week has been rain rain rain. I can't complain.  My garden is happy again. There's even Cantaloupe growing from seeds I planted that I scooped out of a Cantaloupe I bought at No frills in May!. 

March break 2022 starts

 My day at home are my favorite.  I'm so happy in the morning thinking about all the things I will get done. Different projects I have started and cleaning jobs I have put off. I'm going to bake something yummy and make a few casseroles for this week.  It's going to be great.  

I get up at 5 or 5:15 and go to the barn at 5:30. Benny gets up with me but if it's raining or windy we won't go outside.  He sees me off though. If he goes to the barn he is tied up so he doesn't spook the cows.

I feed the calves milk and hay. I feed the cows grain and wet hay. 

The cats are around my feet meowing. They want pets but mostly food and milk. We have 6 cats under 1 year old and old mother cats. They named and spoiled with beds and toys and cat treats.

One cat rides around on my head. She repeatedly jumps on my coat,  arm or shoulder when she gets anywhere near me. 

The last chore for me is running the gutter.  I shovel 💩poo to get it safely out to the manure pit. This is necessary so the shit pump doesn't plug with straw.

In the house I take the dog out and start the coffee and run the dishwasher.  I usually have to clean the kitchen because I didn't do it the night before.  I definitely stop working by 7pm.  Any messes after that are dealt with the next day.

I have my shower, change my clothes and sometimes have a nap.  Not today 😁.  Kids are up and I can think of a million jobs for them.

I read about an organization 'little dresses for Africa ' they make dresses and sanitary pads for girls who are going to school. The pads are made with 3 layers of batting.  I have a garbage bag of small pieces of batting perfect for this. And my girls are perfect for cutting them out. March break project underway. 

My regular sewing machine is getting oiled and cleaned this week so I'm going try out this old bessy. A $20.00 find at the thrift store. I'm zigzag around the outside of this pads. Great way to clean up some scraps. After breakfast (which Gary cooks on the weekend) and some house cleaning jobs,  the girls can go back to rotting they brains on the computers.  In the afternoon we go to the barn at 3pm. 

It's a beautiful snowy day. The girls will go outside later I'm sure. The dog has to be walked and maybe I can talk Emily into cross country skiing.  Maybe Nanny Lois will come for supper.  It's a good life.

 

Harvest Canning

 

I did some canning yesterday with my friend Natalie.  She is new to canning and wanted to make some if my homade salsa. She brought all her veggies and canning equipment. We canned 31 250ml of salsa. It was absolutely delicious. 

I asked her to help me can pickled Beets. It was new to me but our Beets this year are huge and Gary likes picked Beets. 

We used this recipe 

We doubled the recipe for pickling brine. Definitely needed to be doubled.  In the canning bath one jar broke. I did not fully submerged it in the water so maybe that's why. Or cuz it was an older glass jar. We got 4 jars done. I might try another batch after I dig up all my Beets.

Garden 2021

 It has been a surprisingly wet summer.  We have had a good garden.  I did get strawberry jam made

We planted lettuce, cucumbers,  pumpkin, chives harvested rhubarb. 

 

Huge Beets and tomato plants 

Apples,  peppers and parsley 

Tons of basil, 38 potato plants, onions,  hot peppers

We have received fresh raspberries and zucchini,  green and yellow beans, snap peas from friends.  I love all the fresh veggies and seeing my kids happily snacking on them.

 

The starting of a hot week

 I tried a new recipe today. Meatloaf in the crockpot. We shall see if the family will like it tonight.  I'm getting something different cooking for supper so that the rest of the week we can have hamburgers,  sausages,  sandwiches and cold salads.  Everyone thinks it is going to be a hot summer.  It is early in the year to be this dry.

https://crockpotladies.com/recipe/crockpot-bacon-cheddar-meatloaf/#wpurp-container-recipe-31184

March break in isolation

 Today is the last day of virtual school before March break.  It is April because March break got pushed back due to covid numbers.  We are way back up in numbers so the government called a stay at home order.

I just went to Kingston and got a huge load of groceries.  I bought the girls chromebooks which they had been saving up their chores money to buy. We are ready to buckle down for some more family time. 

I made a list of activities for us to do that are hopefully fun while we are staying home. Things to get them off the computers and being active.  They are too old for some crafts now but I think I have some good ideas 

I always encourage them to sew. I have more than enough sewing stuff for us. Also Grandma Mary Lou is coming over to make pie one day. I want to try making homemade perogies.  We are going to build a bench and corn hole boards plus rice bags for tossing. Break out some board games. I want to make up some gift packages to mail for other friends stuck at home too. I think the girls could get quite creative with what goes in them. Gardening with Nanny.

Make a first aid kit for the car. Make a time capsule.  Order some photos online and do some scrap booking. Online paint night tutorials. You tube guitar lessons. Walks at a Kingston trail with picnic.  I love picnics. 

Hopefully we all survive and make it a positive time with great memories. 

March 2021

 Crazy it's been a year.  One year since we started isolating due to covid 19. So many awful times but I'm taking note of the good times.   Our local school has 2 kids with covid so children will not be returning to in class learning until further notice. 

I'm thankful that Gary and I decided to keep the kids home from school this year.  It has been a huge amount of work for me. More than I can handle some days but so many great memories and new things we have tried. 

My kids have learned to be independent.  They have to be accountable to finish their own work in time. This often means school work on weekends.   They have learned to entertain themselves.  They ask me what crafts I have stored away for them to do as a project. These are great learning opportunities.  We have knitted, sewed, skated, built, painted, felted, walk dog, made picnics, play dice or cards. Mostly cribbage but we like rummy and countdown crazy eight. 

 Here is a picture of the beautiful quilt Emily made.  Her own design and fabric choices and sewing.  I am very proud of her. 

Ashley recently got into fimo. She made tiny clay foods and animals and glued them onto earrings pieces.

This is a lamp Gary made with the girls on Saturday night.  I ordered the lamp wires and pieces online at Lowes for a rainy day. Gary used an upside-down clay flower pot for the base that Ashley painted. 

Now that's its spring, the girls ride there bikes.  Last week they wanted to see how far they got towards Bath. 

Last May I downloaded audible.  We listen to a lot of audio books.  They are a great break from the girls being on the computer all the time.  I get to sew and they paint or sew or draw and we listen.  We just finished the fablehaven series.  It was 5 books. Now we are listening to dragonwatch. Yesterday I made the girls write a short book report on the fablehaven series and I submitted it as work for their virtual school. 

We Bake a lot. We try new things. For holidays we make cards for some members of our church especially ones who live alone.  That is what we are doing tonight because Easter is this weekend.  The girls often get mail back from the people too. Which is exciting. 

We are constantly arguing about chores and the house is a continuous mess.  We all work together and get on each others nerves.  The barn chores are a big part of the day but it is actually really good to work with animals and have a reason to get outside. 

Now we are starting our seeds for spring planting.  It will be a great garden this year. We still have homemade canned salsa and frozen pumpkin and apples and zucchini to cook with.

I hope the girls return to school in September.  I can't do another intense year like this but I'm glad we had this year. We all learned a lot. If I wanted to to summarize my biggest lesson, it is : Do fun life things with your kids and count it as school lessons.