Rising Bread by the Fire

The house gets a bit chilly this time of year, making it difficult to get my bread to rise. Today I set up a small table near the fireplace and set my loaves to rise there. It did the trick!

Where I've Been

• In the kitchen, of course! Here's what I have " put up" for winter so far.
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• 3 pounds Carrots, dehydrated
• 5 ears Corn, dehydrated
• 5 lbs. dried black beans
• 8.5 pounds Roma tomatoes, dehydrated
• 10 pounds pears, dehydrated
• 40 pounds apples, dehydrated
• 32 Stoplight Peppers, dehydrated
• 7 half- pints Blueberry-Lime Jam
• 7 half-pints Cherry Love Jam
• 7 half- pints Spiced Rum Peach Jam
• 8 half-pints Cherry Jam
• 9 half-pints Strawberry Pineapple Jam
• 16 half-pints Strawberry-Lemon Marmalade
• 17 half-pints Blueberry Jam
• 16 half-pints Peach Jam
• 15 half-pints Blackberry Jam
• 19 half-pints Triple Berry Jam
• 19 half-pints Strawberry Jalapeno Jam
• 2 gallons Blueberries, frozen
• 3 gallons Strawberries, frozen
• 38 half-pints Strawberry Jam
• 3.5 gallons Blackberries, frozen
• 3 quarts and 20 pints Dill Pickles
• 5 quarts and 8 pints Volcano Pickles
• 7 pints Beets
• 7 pints Apple Wedges in Cinnamon Red Hot Syrup
• 5 quarts and 7 pints Tomato Sauce
• 15 quarts Applesauce
• 7 quarts Peaches
• 2 quarts and 1 pint diced Tomatoes
• 4 quarts and 14 pints Pickled Cauliflower Medley
• 11 quarts Spaghetti Sauce
• 14 quarts and 1 pint Tomato Juice
• 27 quarts and 1 pint Mixed Fruit
• 36 half-pints Banana Peppers
• 74 pints Salsa
• 55 quarts Sweet Corn
• 61 quarts Green Beans

And I'm baking for the farmers' market several times a week. I've made literally hundreds of jars of jam to sell there, too. Time's a wastin'. Gotta run!

Busy as a Bee

July has been filled with weeding, and sowing, harvesting, and canning, and little else. The days are long and the nights are short, and there never seem to be enough hours in the day.

One long day of canning I noticed the temperature was steadily climbing in the house. I called my wonderful neighbor who happens to have a wonderful husband whom installed our air conditioning. The capacitor had blown. It would be morning until it could be fixed. (Yes, I do know how short a time that is! I'm blessed by these people!) That night I thought back to summers years ago when we didn't have central air, but a few room air conditioners. In the heat of the day I would get my children settled playing, and sneak off to the boys' room where I would crawl into one of their twin beds and blissfully sleep while the air blew over me. Thankfully, those days are past.

*Disclosure- CSN asked me if I'd like to review a product for them in exchange for linking back to their company. They're offering me a gift card to use toward the purchase of anything I'd like. I couldn't pass that offer up!

On Being a Parent

Life moves quickly, ever changing. Just when I find myself settling into a routine, life happens and the cart gets turned upside down. It's not a bad thing, necessarily, just different.

Children grow into young adults before our very eyes. Many assume this means the parenting days come to a close. They assume wrong. Parenting changes? Yes. Ends? Never. Our little charges become our friends, sharing their hearts, struggles, and joys. Sometimes the struggle is harder than others. There's a delicate balance when you're a parent between helping, and helping them find their own way. For several of my children, I'm now about the business of the latter.

My two older children left our home this past year: one got married, and the other went to college. Having them back in our home has been good, but we've had to step back and re-evaluate. Working on relationships is time-consuming and sometimes emotionally draining, even when things are going well, which they are.

Having older children in the home should be beneficial to both the parents and the children. For the young adults, they need a haven, a place to return at the end of the day where they know they are loved. Home should be a place where discussions can be had without being judged, where they can try new things without too much risk. At the same time, no parent wants an adult child free-loading while they are left behind to hold everything together. Relationships are give and take, and thankfully, we've discussed that for years in our home. This doesn't mean that we don't have our conflicts just like every other family, but it does mean that they aren't hearing something new for the first time.

And so, our family dynamics keep evolving. Autumn returned home from a failed marriage, Mac returned from college for the summer, Collin headed off for 5 weeks to work as a camp counselor, and Abigail, my baby, has a regular baby-sitting job earning $10 an hour!

Mac and Autumn are working 40 hour weeks, arriving home exhausted, but still pitching in to do dishes, mow the lawn, etc. This is the stuff real life is made of. Good husbands and wives can't arrive home at the end of the day and expect to do nothing but think of themselves until they return to work the next day. And so, the training continues.

As for me, I'm busy in the garden, preparing school lessons for the upcoming year, and building relationships. My husband continues to bless me daily with his patience and love. We are well. Thanks for asking!

Jam Sessions

It's the time of year to start preparing for the winter. Here's what I've put up so far:

• 16 half-pints Strawberry-Lemon Marmalade
• 19 half-pints Triple Berry Jam
• 38 half-pints Strawberry Jam
• 7 half- pints Blueberry-Lime Jam
• 7 half-pints Blueberry Jam
• 8 half-pints Cherry Jam
• 9 half-pints Strawberry Jalapeno Jam

Are you canning yet?

Home Bakery

For years I've dreamed of opening a very small bakery with scones, and muffins for breakfast, soups, quiches, and salads for lunch. And desserts. Pies, cakes, cookies, cheesecakes- you name it.

It isn't happening anytime soon, but that doesn't stop me from selling out of my home.

Keeping Busy

In the past week I've:

visited the farmer's market three times,

baked and decorated two cakes,

made 19 half pints of strawberry jam,

frozen two gallons of strawberries,

welcomed Mac back home from college,

cooked many meals,

taken the children to piano lessons,

picked 12 baby chickens up at the post office and become a "chicken mama",

planted several gardens,

mulched the flower beds,

weeded,

and done load after load of laundry.

What have you been up to?

Rearranging

Funny how buying three new plants leads to changing the entire front flower bed around. I'm thankful for my husband who never tires of the lists I give him. It's a pleasure to work by his side.

Black Widow

I went to move a few 2 x 4's off the driveway this evening and found this little beauty. I knew what it was right away, but wanted to get a little closer for a better look.

Yes. I am crazy. My lens was about three inches from her.

I followed her for a few minutes, snapping away with my camera, and moving backwards as she crawled toward me. Finally, I'd had enough, and flipped her over for a look at her hourglass.

And then I grabbed a big shoe. She is very poisonous after all.

Cinco de Mayo

Though we have no Mexican heritage, Cinco de Mayo is a good reason to make some tasty treats. Chicken quesadillas on homemade flour tortillas, freshly made guacamole, and Pina Coladas were on the menu.

Collin whipped up a strawberry pie for dessert, but we need to work dinner off first.

Early Harvest

We've had broccoli twice now, and boy, has it ever been good! How about you? Are you eating from your garden yet?

Four Years Apart

When she was born he would hold her hand for hours. He sang to her and brought her Matchbox cars to hold, but never would I have thought that these two would be as close as they are. Yes, they do fight. Daily. But if one of them is gone for a day or an overnight, the other is lost until they return. May it always be so.

Green Smoothies

We've been enjoying these smoothies just about every day, changing up the ingredients to use what we have on hand. There's always an apple, cored and seeded, skin left on, and most always a pear, prepared the same as the apple. Variations include pineapple, bananas, blueberries, and frozen strawberries. And greens. LOTS of greens. About 4 cups! I started with kale, and have moved to spinach. Parsley is good thrown in there, too. We always add freshly ground flax seed, and some liquid. Some folks like to mix their fruit/greens with milk. You can use water and add a bit of honey or maple syrup to sweeten it, but we all love orange juice.

I puree everything in my Cuisinart blender, and serve. Four of us can have a pint from my one blender full.

Adding strawberries makes a more murky looking smoothie, but they taste great!

A Successful Trip to the Nursery

A trip to the local nursery proved more successful than the chain home improvement store, and I found my Annabelle hydrangea as well as a snow queen oak leaf variety. Bliss! Too bad I don't have a small pond to put this water lily in.

Annabelle Hydrangea

I dream of having my home landscaped in white. I'm enamored with a friend's Annabelle hydrangea, and intend to start there as soon as I can find one.

Chilly Morning

The furnace has been off for close to two months now, but Collin was quick to light a fire this morning since the house was 62 degrees upon waking. I often find him reading his schoolbooks, feet propped on the hearth, soaking in the warmth. Daisy likes to join him.

Calla Lily

Such beautiful elegance!

Salads

It seems as though I've been bitten by the salad bug. I've been trying a new one every few days, and even ate the leftovers of this one for breakfast.

Photo Challenge: Red

For more RED photos, visit Rebecca at Renaissance.

Little Man in a Fix

Autumn, Collin, and Abigail dance every week with a group who performs at festivals and the occasional odd place. Tonight they visited a nursing home and entertained the residents. The crowd was very enthusiastic.

Especially when Abigail and Olivia flew through the air during Little Man in a Fix. It went over so well, they performed an encore.

The last dance of the night was an open waltz, and Autumn convinced a resident to join her on the floor. I'm pretty sure he was the envy of all the elderly men in the room.