Category Archives: Garden

food preservation, Garden

More Preserving–Aug. 15, 2024

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I’ve been working a little bit most days to try to keep caught up on the piles of produce that our amazing garden is producing right now. Some days, though, there’s more than a little bit that needs dealt with. Yesterday was one of those days. While I work, I always take the time to admire the flowers. This delphinium is one that Rob started from seed in the greenhouse for me. It is my favorite flower right now!

I started by picking what I could find and added it to the considerable pile that was already in the house. (This is the raised bed in the side yard. Most of what I picked was from the main garden.) I got about 6-7 zucchinis, a bowl of regular tomatoes and some cherry tomatoes. I harvested yellow bush beans, purple ones and a handful of green ones from the pole beans. I snipped off the basil was that was going to seed, trimmed it up and left the bushes to grow another crop.

It was a bit overwhelming, so I just started in, and tried to process as much as I could.

I used all that basil to make pesto. I will pop that out of the ice cube trays today and put in a baggie to stay frozen and easy to use. I filled 3 ice cube trays, plus had a little more which I spooned onto a cookie tray to flash freeze.

I processed the beans, with another bag from 2 days ago, into dilly beans. The dill is producing well, right now, so I’m happy I can pick it and use it as needed.

The third project I got done yesterday was 5-1/2 pints of crushed tomatoes. There were enough to do something, but not enough to do a big batch of anything. I just went ahead and made a small batch because we could not use that many up before they went bad.

The cucumbers have been producing lightly and I did these 2 pints of pickles a couple of days ago. There weren’t more ready yesterday, but I’ll check each day as they grow quickly once they set on.

I got a few jars of beets pickled last week.

The broccoli is almost done producing. I blanched and froze a large pot of it the other day. That took care of the last few large main heads and a bunch of side shoots. Now, all that’s left is tiny side shoots. I’ll give it a few more days and if it really is done, I’ll pull it out.

This past week, I also got a jar of bread crumbs preserved. I was given a loaf of gluten free bread, which I did not like. It had been around a while and was very dry. I laid it on a cookie rack on top of a cookie sheet and let it air dry for a few days. Once dried, I pulverized it in my little smoothie maker/blender. Now I’ve got an entire jar for free!

There’s still lots growing out there in the garden and I”m looking forward to putting lots more away for winter in the next week and beyond! I do love this time of year:)

food preservation, Fruit, Garden

Odds and Ends in the Kitchen and Garden-Aug. 8, 2024

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One of the things that has been keeping me super busy is that I am working quite a bit more than I used to. One of the super fun things I get to do right now at work is make milkshakes! They are a super popular item this summer. I’ve been getting ice cream at a super low price ($3 for a carton) and just making them at home. When I was little, I thought milkshakes were such a mysterious, special thing. Now, they are still special, but not mysterious. Put ice cream in my little blender, add milk, blend. squirt whipped cream. Add sprinkles. Done!

We went peach picking a couple of times.

I canned 14 quarts.

I made 6 quarts of peach pie filling as I was completely out of that.

I told people to eat what they wanted and I froze the rest.

As you can tell, I am canning/preserving less this year of many things. I have a large amount left over and my freezers are very full. I planted less in the garden, am u-picking less and preserving less so I can work on getting some of that used up this year.

The funny thing is….the bean patch did not get the memo. My 5 short rows gave me 45 pints and 7 quarts canned, around 10 quarts frozen, and numerous bowls to give away. We also ate as many as we could hold.

Let’s not even talk about zucchini. I’m just glad my relatives and friends are still talking to me. They have been given so many! I froze a bunch, and we’ve been enjoying it, as well.

I pulled most of the beets. I have more growing, but these were the ones that were ready. I have never seen a beet as large as the one in the middle. I wasn’t sure if it would even be good, but it was super sweet and tasted great.

We ate a lot of them and I pickled the rest. I ended up with about 7 or 8 pints.

Because I am struggling for freezer space since I’m getting so much produce, I pulled out a turkey, had Rob cook it on the BBQ and made broth from the bones.

I also pulled all the beef bones I could find from the quarter beef we bought last fall and made beef broth and canned it.

The beans are now all pulled up and fall crops are planted. We have more beets, carrots, spinach, lettuce, boc choi, cabbage and snow peas I planted yesterday. I have a second crop of cucumbers, zucchini, beets and green onions I planted a few weeks ago on the upper right of this photo.

But, even in the midst of it all…Papa has the time to take the little man down to Costco for some pizza and hot dogs. It has been a busy, but very fun summer so far!

Garden, Mission trip, Watching my pennies

Thriving In My Thrifty Week+Bits From Rob’s Trip to Kenya–May 29, 2024

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I was able to use our OMSI membership again last week when Malcolm and I took Rob to the airport. Malcolm sure loves it there and it just seemed like a good way to get his mind off the fact that Papa was leaving on that airplane! It kind of worked. He had a lot of fun while we were there. He sure misses his Papa, though, and asks for him repeatedly.

I’ve been working in the yard and garden whenever I can get a few minutes. I’m purposing to work at least a little every day and I’ve reached that goal most days. I did get the back raised bed cleaned out at last! I planted a few veggies in there and a few seeds last evening. I put in a few more snow peas, lettuce and green onions for a succession planting, along with the 2 tomatoes, basil and parsley I planted. There are a few garlic plants that survived the winter. Frankly, I was surprised. I thought they were super hardy, but most did not live through our winter. I didn’t think it was very harsh, except for one week. But, for whatever reason, most died.

We had a nice day with the little boys. My daughter and I thought we could handle them together, so we had Zai over to play with Malcolm. They are quite a handful when they get together, but we all had a great time, I thought. They played outside a lot, I made them ice cream cones, they played with the car, the hose, and dug up my cucumbers before I caught them…..you know….just a simple afternoon in the yard:). They “helped” me plant a few flowerpots and did a thousand other things.

Rob is having a wonderful trip to Kenya. Communication is spotty, brief and intermittent. But some pictures have come through on What’s App, along with a few texts and even a few broken-up at times phone calls. It looks like he’s staying in a wonderful place…so beautiful.

I guess this is him doing devotions for the staff. Of what, I’m not sure, but maybe a children’s home. I do know he’s working there in the evenings. All will be explained fully once he gets home:). He has also taken several perilous rides on extremely bumpy, slippery roads, if his pictures are any indications. I know he’s gone to orphanages in the evenings and played with kids, helped with Sunday School for around 200 kids last Sunday (with only about 2 local helpers and the 4 of them that were on that project–yikes!!), toured several chicken farms, ate one of the chickens for lunch, went to a coffee farm, and worked at a hospice home yesterday. He actually rolled bandages! He also spent time with the residents.

The organization he’s gone to Kenya with is a mission organization that works with local organizations in each country. That is why the work is so diverse. On this trip, there is the work with children, the hospice center, and agriculture. Many women have enrolled in the program “Women of Change” and started agricultural businesses so they can have another option from brewing alcohol like they used to do. Many are becoming very successful. There is also a large coffee-growing componant that is part of the work. Rob did mention that although they grow wonderful coffee, most people there drink instant….???? I guess on this upcoming weekend, they will be inviting lots of people to church, and having a VBS for around 300 (they guess) kids, along with Sunday School for another group this weekend. They’ve asked for a few more helpers:).

My information is spotty, and may be a bit inaccurate, but that is what I’m gleaning fro the pictures and bits of information I’m getting here and there. Once he gets home next week, I’m very eager to hear all about it in every detail.

Garden, Mission trip

This is Me…Cutting Down on the Garden. Hmmmmmmm—May 20, 2024.

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We are in a flurry of activity around here, getting the garden ready. We are weeding, planting, hoeing, watering, setting up sprinkler systems…all the things that need to be done. I promised myself that I was going to cut down a little bit this year, since I’m working so many hours. I have had limited success with that! It’s just so fun to plant things.

I have some spinach coming up in this raised bed, There is lettuce in there as well. The bed behind it still has not been cleaned out. I’m way late on some of my chores around here!

I have spaced the tomatoes much further apart. I can walk between the rows much better than I usually can and I hope it is easier to hoe and harvest.

There are only 3 rows of peas instead of the 6-8 I usually plant. My carrots came up very sparsely, as did my beets. So…..those I actually need to plant over again, I think. I finally have been able to get some lettuce to survive. I had some small plants Rob started in the greenhouse that are taking off at last, and some seeds did come up and escape the slugs’ voracious appetites after 3 tries.

We did not plant anything in the very back of the garden. We didn’t do corn at all, anywhere, and there are much fewer rows of beans than normal.

There are some seeds in the ground in this raised bed that have not come up. There are a few tomatoes against the fence and the remains of my strawberry plants. They aren’t doing super well, for whatever reason. We shall see what happens. That’s part of the fun of gardening….the anticipation.

I have been out in the garden early and late…whenever I can spare some time. Even with cutting down our planting, we still have a pretty big garden! I’m excited to finally have the weather dry off enough to get out there. It’s been a long spring for us here and I’m eager. I’ m almost done planting, and I can’t wait until it really starts to grow and produce.

As Rob prepares to be gone for almost 2 weeks to Kenya, he has been scurrying around here setting up the sprinklers in the garden, making sure the lawn mower has gas for me to use, setting up the automatic lawn sprinkler system, and a million other things. That lawn system required some work as we had a couple of broken sprinkler heads and some sprinklers were overgrown with grass. We just got that done this weekend, and just in time. After incessant rain for weeks and weeks, it dried off and didn’t rain a drop for quite some time, leaving me to water every little plant with old milk jugs, watering cans and the hose….let’s just say I’m super glad it’s fixed. We ran a round immediately and saved me quite a bit of time.

Rob leaves on Thursday. He will be working with kids in Sunday Schools (300 at a time, we are told), orphanages in the evenings (150 at a time, they say), and doing some work with agricultural projects during the days (not sure exactly what that will entail–time will tell). We are both super excited to see how it all unfolds. Prayers are much appreciated!

Garden, Saving Money

Thriving In My Thrifty Week–April 21, 2024

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We finally emptied the finished compost bin! This has been a process I’ve been working on for a few weeks. Malcolm loves to help me. When I said I was going out to dig up the compost heap, he yelled, “YEA! Let’s go!” Some compost went on 2 raised beds I’ve been cleaning out when I have a moment. Some went on one row of dahlias I cleaned out, some on the raspberry row and the rest was thrown onto the garden to be tilled in later on.

We tied up the raspberries. We are very late with that chore, but at least it’s done now. The Marion (black) berries were done a couple of weeks ago. Rob and I worked together–one held up floppy vines and the other tied the knots. Of course, our grandson was right in there helping out. At one point, he pulled the baling twine string out of the bucket all the way down the row, around the end, around my boots, around to the other side where Papa was, to try to give him some string. Once I got untangled, we continued on with the project. It really was quite cute, since I didn’t fall or anything.

Last week, we worked a crazy amount of hours. We did a lot of fun activities as part of that work, and some just for fun. It was so busy, though, that Rob and I divided and conquered at times. One or both of us took kids to the aquarium, OMSI, swimming pool, store, church, a nerf gun war, to volunteer at the food bank, to volunteer at the after school program our church runs for a local school, school, preschool (back and forth on both counts), choir practice (one wanted to go watch one day, another wanted to “sing in the choir” as I practiced Sunday morning), played games, watched movies, ate popcorn, had my mom and sister over for a day, and had a hot dog roast in the back yard. My mom and sister played games and visited with whichever kids were there at the time. There were more things we did, but those were the highlights. We did as many of the mundane activities of life as we had time for, but everyone ate every meal they wanted and had snacks, if desired, as well. Laundry was done, and everyone washed and bathed, as needed. The rest….I didn’t sweat over.

I canned up several pineapples I got on sale for $1.49 each, right after Easter. I cooked a turkey I purchased last Thanksgiving and canned 7 quarts of broth from that. I froze bits of meat ate some and made soup, which is gone. I had an easy assignment for the Young Adult group and only needed to take some gf/df cookies this week.

We have a small section of garden that is planted. My peas and snow peas are up well. The beets and carrots are up a little–they are kind of patchy. The lettuce was up super well, but the slugs ate it. I have 3 left. Time to replant.

The bags of leaves have been decomposing in their plastic bags all winter. Since this picture was taken, the bags have been emptied and the leaves spread over the garden to be tilled in later this week.

I thought there was a good picture of the plants in the greenhouse, but I can’t find it if there is. The plants in there are doing very well. I’ll try to get some shots taken this week.

Rob has started having meetings concerning his Kenya trip, and is getting excited about the things he will be helping with when he goes. We are very thankful, as his support for the trip has been flowing in, as the Lord lays this ministry on people’s hearts. He has almost 3/4 of what he needs and we are very thankful, especially when you realize that he only found out that he was going on this trip a very few weeks ago. I am so excited that he gets to go and will hopefully be helping with a little pre-prep if something needs to be done. I’m planning out a few things to make my life easier while I’m holding down the fort here at home and have promises of family members who can help me like they did last year when Rob was gone to Bangladesh.

Garden, Saving Money

Thriving in My Thrifty Week-Oct. 18, 2023

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We are still getting a few scraggly vegetables from the garden; a few cucumbers, snow peas, tomatoes, boc choi, a handful of green beans, and carrots. It’s nice to have more manageable quantities, but to not be entirely finished with produce.

I’m delighted with my new mixer. One day, on the way to church, Rob noticed a “free” box on the sidewalk. This mixer caught his eye and he hopped out and snagged it. Of course, we had no idea if it worked, but after church he found the switch wasn’t working properly. He tore it apart, and fixed it, which I find quite amazing, especially with a toddler 2 inches away, “helping.” Now it works great. It looks like it was used very little. So fun to have!

I have lots of kitchen help. He’s especially fascinated with washing dishes right now. That is good because I have been cooking and cooking lately. We have so much good food and it makes me happy to use it, so we eat at home. Since I’m in an extra-busy season of life, I have been writing out my menu plans. This helps me use food I already have from my abundant harvest this summer, but more importantly gives me a list to follow when I’m in a hurry. I don’t have to think it up AND make it, and I can get some things prepped ahead. There are a couple of evenings where people here need to eat before I get home from work on my new schedule and I like to leave easy home-made healthy options.

Although the flowers are waning, I’ve been picking bouquets. There are still many lovely blooms.

We’ve saved seeds from some zinnias and marigolds, dill, and some other plants. I was also unable to keep up with it all and I noticed the dill has reseeded and is about 3 inches tall. It won’t survive the winter but I hope there are plenty of volunteers next spring. I’ve been using what did come up—just snipped off entire tiny plants and cooked with them.

We’ve been utilizing free and inexpensive activities with the kids, since my niece and nephew have been spending the week with us. Our grandson loves to run so we try to get him out as much as possible. Our nephew likes Pokémon Go annd for me to read aloud to him. Our niece likes car rides. They all like popcorn and a movie. We ate SO much popcorn this week. Thankfully, we had plenty as my mom gave us a big bag not long ago. And butter…….we kept the dairy industry going this week? It was a fun week and I think we all had fun most of the time. I will admit I’m looking forward to a few more restful days that are coming up before long, though.

camping, Garden, House Projects

Where Have I Been?-October 13, 2023

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Thank you for all the concern from all of you checking if I’m ok. I am more than all right, but have had an extremely crazy summer, which is why I haven’t found time to post very often. Also, our laptop will no longer make posts —it’s very old— so all blogging has to be done on my iPad, which is harder, and I find myself putting it off. I hope to do better because I want these posts for myself in the future to look back on.

In September, we spent a week camping. We went to Detroit Lake, which is in the mountains not far from our home.

Although our youngest grandson didn’t sleep in the campground with us, his dad brought him up a couple of times. One time we took both boys fishing. It took all of us and we caught nothing. We had so much fun, though. We went back to the campsite and roasted marshmallows and the boys played. Another day, Rob, Malcolm and I all went fishing and we did get 5 between us. Fun! We ate 2 and froze the rest.

Rob and I have been working so many hours in October that I can hardly catch a breath. My sister’s family will be going on a vacation in the future, including the kids, so we will be having a vacation, too. We have been able to work extra before and will work extra after, so we will be financially fine, as long as we stay frugal. My project list is growing by the day in anticipation, plus we will go camping again for a few days.


The garden is almost finished. Rob chopped up the last of the peppers yesterday and I dried them. I’ve been pulling plants as I can and have about 1/4 of the garden cleared. There are a few more fall crops but most are finished.

I’ve filled so many jars I’ve lost count. I do have a written list so I could count them, but I haven’t had time lately. We cleaned out all 3 deep freezers, completely organized the canning to make sure older items are in front and the new stuff is behind. I’ve frozen veggies and fruit and the newest are on the bottom and the older on top. We have already finished up quite a few of the older things I found. We received our 1/4 beef from the farmer we buy from each year and now have any leftover beef from last year in a place to grab before we grab the new. We had a gift to spend at Costco and did that and put those staples in the pantry to be rotated correctly. In August, I utopped up some pantry items with an Azure Standard order and have our drop next week that I have ordered from. As well. I tend to order a bunch then skip a month or two or even three since I get bulk items from there and they last a long time.

We are slowly cleaning the shop and garage and other areas. Rob has already been hauling things off to donate and we have more ready when he gets time. Our neighbor kindly took a bunch of our stuff to the dump. We have tossed, recycled and even burned quite a bit. This is a big project but we have at least started and can tell where we’ve worked.

I didn’t keep the garden weeded very well, but still got lots of food from it. I didn’t sew or quilt at all. I went so far as to take my sewing machine camping and didn’t even sew one stitch. I have been cooking, but not baking as often as I do sometimes.

These are just a few of the things we have filled our time with over these past few weeks. I hope to catch up with you all soon!

Garden, Saving Money

Thriving In My Thrifty Week-Aug. 28, 2023

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I spent a lot of time preserving last week. I also enjoyed my flowers as I went to and from the garden.

My table looked like this for most of the week. Early in the week, my sister shared beans, corn and peaches from her place. The tomatoes keep ripening on our vines and other veggies do, too.

This is how my outside table looked late that same night.

Rob dug out my drying racks and I pulled the onions. We had many more, but we have been eating, sharing and preserving with them. We have plenty left for winter use.

I used quite a few mild and spicy peppers to make a pepper sauce, canned whole and diced tomatoes and made bruschetta in a jar.

I used lots of odds and ends of food up. I made the rest of the tomatoes that wouldn’t fit in a canner into pizza sauce. I will make pizza soon or freeze it.

Bananas became banana bread. You can also see the melons I picked—Ha Ogen. We have had several from our bushes and there are more ripening. They are like a honeydew in many ways, but maybe a little firmer. Peppers were put into a big pot of refried beans. The last bit of a Costco chicken was boiled to make broth, then made into chicken and noodles. Because we’ve been preserving so much, some meals have been less than stellar, so it’s been nice to get time to make a few that are more tasty.

The yard and garden look terrible because they are so weedy. Once I get through this busy preserving time, I think they will be getting some serious attention. I’m glad the weather has cooled down—it’s so much easier to work out there?

Garden, Saving Money

Thriving In My Thrifty Week-Aug. 13, 2023

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I turned all my ripe tomatoes into pizza/pasta sauce this week. That is one of the most time consuming things I preserve, but also one of our favorite things to eat.

I shredded and dried zucchini. I also did get some thyme and basil dried and sorted out the thyme stems from it and put it away. I have been organizing my food storage a little when I have a few minutes.

We are going into a heat wave this week and it’s supposed to top 100 degrees for several days. I’m not sure what that’s going to do to the garden, but likely nothing good….

I was able to get most of the newly planted veggies to sprout, so if I keep them well watered I will hopefully keep them alive through the heat so I will have fall Lakeside spinach, Marvel de Seasons lettuce, Joy Choi Boc Choi and more. You may notice I put old lettuce leaves over the carrot row in hopes they would hold moisture in. They still haven’t sprouted. Neither have the green onions or snow peas.

The Quick Start cabbage, Pinetree cabbage mix and Hybrid broccoli blend are coming along nicely. I watered them this morning before church and just did it again this evening. They were already dried out. There’s also lettuce in there.

This basil has been cut several times. It’s lookimg a little heat stressed but I’m hoping to make pesto again. I’ve frozen several ice cube trays full already this summer. We love, love, love it!

I’ve also been weeding. I gave this raised bed a complete re-set. I pulled old snap peas, lettuce, an amazing pile of weeds and put strawberry runners back up into the bed. They had grown down below by the concrete! I left some cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes. I will add lettuce when it cools.

I’m pretty far behind with my weeding but I won’t get much done this week. We will be helping at church every morning because it’s Vacation Bible School week. Rob and I are in charge of the snacks again this year. We have a team and pre-packed 160 paper bags of prizes and snacks today after church. We are now set for 80 kids Monday and Tuesday, with the ability to quickly pack more if needed. We will finish packing bags later in the week once the numbers stabilize.

I need to run up to another county one day to do some judging for 4-H food preservation and it’s going to be quite hot. This is a good week to do those other activities because I would absolutely not be weeding in the heat anyway?. What I have done has been in the very early mornings and has taken me quite a few days to accomplish, as I just do a little each time I can.

We went to a small local parade with my sister and family. Both grandsons were able to go and they enjoyed the big trucks and rescue vehicles. My nephew was super excited about getting things at McDonald’s. We were on the sidewalk by it. So he kept going in there and buying food for the babies….we didn’t need to do lunch! He had it covered.

food preservation, Garden

Preserving and gardening—August 2023

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I am having trouble with my computer. I’ll do my best with my iPad.

I am spending much of my time these days picking and preserving food from the garden.

I first inventoried my canning. I counted every jar and arranged them logically. Then I knew what I needed to can.

My sister gave me peaches and I canned them. I made jam and froze some as well.

I’ve canned and frozen green and yellow beans and pulled the bushes. I still have pole beans so we’ve been eating them fresh and will until frost. I will can a few more later when my sister has extra.

I’ve done a half batch of sweet pickles and a very few dills. I have lots left over.

We are eating zucchini frequently and I froze a few packages I have made zucchini bread often as well.

I pulled all the beets that were left from the spring planting. We ate lots, shared some and I pickled the rest.

I picked lots of tomatoes and need to start processing them. I need pizza/ pasta sauce and enchilada sauce. I also need whole tomatoes so there’s lots to do as they ripen.

There is more produce out there so I just try to do a little bit each day and more on days when I’m not working. I’m getting there!