Birthday parties, the County Fair and Apple Pie!

Where to even begin! We have been so very busy, between a birthday, the fair, and our garden harvest, I barely have time for sleep! Not to mention school is right around the corner, and I have been planning, ordering, and cleaning out the school room in preparation for the coming school year, and just today, baby kittens! Wow, when I write it out on paper, I feel even more overwhelmed :) So here is a quick overview of the month of August. Our sweet, spunky, baby girl of the family celebrated her 7th birthday, which happened to be the same week as the County fair. We had a great week at the fair, with many blue ribbons and even a best of show. We squeezed a birthday party into our week, and it was small, special and very festive. We all had a great time celebrating one very smart, special girl!

I have been busy with apples around here. We headed to the orchard yesteday and purchased 3 bushels for half price. "Apple Tom" even threw in an extra bushel for free because he remembered me from last year, and was appreciative of all the apples we buy from him. I some day, hope and (dream) of having enough apples from my own orchard, but for now I enjoy supporting the local, small town apple orchards.

I made a few apple pies. Now, I am not a pie person and they never turn out looking like they should be on a magazine cover, but it's apple pie.. how can you go wrong? They always taste delicious. I have found, that since I don't do well with crust, I like to make a crumb top apple pie or an apple tart. My family loves them and that's all that counts!

I do however LOVE making applesauce and conquered my fears this year and started canning. It was my goal to learn to can, and summer is almost over, so well, I did it! I canned 24 quarts and still have a bushel in the fridge for fresh eating. If we start to slow down on eating them fresh, I may can up some apple pie filling. A few years ago I found a slow cooker applesauce recipe from Gooseberry Patch and have been using it ever since, and sharing it with all my friends. It's amazing, delicious and makes the house smell heavenly. I like to mix it all up in the crockpot, in the evening and slowcook it all night. In the morning we wake up to warm applesauce and again, the house smells divine! This year I tried something new and used a roaster as well as a crockpot, because it cooks down so much, there isn't much left after seven people are served. I recommend cooking with the roaster during the day because it cooks the apples in half the time and you don't want to burn them. I was able to make 10 quarts using my roaster. Here is the recipe: Gooseberry Patch Slow-Cooker Applesauce 3-4 lbs of sauce apples, cored, peeled and thinly sliced 1/2 c. sugar 2 T brown sugar, packed 1 tsp cinnamon (I always double or triple the cinnamon) 1/2 t. nutmeg 1/4 c water Fill your slow cooker with apple to about 2 inches from top. Stir together sugars and spices in small bowl; mix into apples and add water. Cover and cook on low setting for 8 hours, or until apples are tender. Drain; mash apples with potato masher to desired consistency. Store in refrigerator. A few things I do differently, then the recipe: I don't drain or mash the apples. We like our sauce more chunky and I have never found enough extra juice to drain. When I have cooked the applesauce for 8 hours, I mix and stir until desired consistency. Also, if you don't want to use all that sugar, you may substitute with 1/4 to 1/2 cup of honey and 1 tbsp of pure maple syrup (recipe compliments from a friend). If I am not canning the applesauce, I prefer to make it with the honey and maple syrup. Apples also freeze very well, so in years past, I have mixed up the apples with the spices and froze them in gallon size freezer bags. I pulled them out on a cold winter day and put in the crockpot. Just add a little water as they will be juicy from being in the freezer. There is nothing better then the smell of applesauce slow cooking all day, on a cold winter's day.

♥ Shannon

Yummy All American food

It has been a while since I posted.  We've been keeping busy with church events, gardening, and  every day life for a family of 7.  We have been enjoying some great meals from our garden and my husband is the best cook on the grill. 

These burgers were amazing, truly mouth watering.  We've been adding slices of tomatoes from our garden with a side of sweet corn.  All American food, if you ask me!

We are so excited to have our first crop of sweet corn ever!  It wasn't nearly enough for freezing, but we've been enjoying it every day for the past two weeks.  With a family of 7 we can go through a lot of corn.  I did manage to freeze one large bag of corn for Thanksgiving.  Next year, we have plans to expand our garden, to allow more room for sweet corn.  Here are a few more pictures of our harvest so far:

Max and Maddie picking cherry tomatoes

I have started freezing my cherry tomatoes, the same way I freeze blueberries.  Just wash and freeze!  This fall and winter when I make a stew, soup or chili, I will just take out a cup or two and add to the batch.  I added a cup of cherry tomatoes to my homemade spaghetti sauce this week and it was delicious!

Our pumpkins are ready, way too early.  In fact, so early some of them are going bad before we even pick them.  My pie pumpkins have definitely been affected by the drought.  I am saving and freezing what I can of them.  Note to self:  plant pumpkins a lot later next year! 

Overall, the garden has been bountiful and I am thankful for what we have harvested.  God is good!

♥  Shannon

Just another weekend project...

My daughter once said "I always wondered when dad would finally finish up all his projects, and then I realized they never end".   It's true, projects are his hobby.  He works in management, so his "down time", isn't really down time at all.  He loves to build, create, dream up and create.  My 8 yr. old son loves to help.  Between the two of them, I never know what they are going to come up with next.  I sometimes wish, he could just make a business of it, and do what he loves, but life isn't that simple... or is it??!!   Anyway, this weekend, he finished up, yet another one of his projects.  We had a lot of leftover wood from our shed project, and so he came up with this great idea for our Farmers Market stand.  Usually I help with the design, or even come up with the plan and then he builds it.  But not this time.  I had no idea what he was building or how it was going to turn out.  I was pleasantly surprised.  It's great, and I love it!  We are hoping to have a Farmers Market stand every Friday evening and this should attract some attention and hopefully get the kids some customers. 

Like I said, we used all leftover wood from other projects.  He built the boxes out of cedar and used metal sheets for the roof.  We stained the rest of the wood, varnished the cedar boxes and used stencils to paint the sign.  I am very  excited to try it. 

♥  Shannon

4-H Fair !

It's 4H fair week!  Wow, it's been a hot one! 

This is our first year in 4-H, and it has been a learning experience.  We just weren't sure what to expect going into the fair.  We didn't know what the judges would be looking for or expecting.  My oldest daughter, who is a wonderful, talented photographer, didn't have a great experience.  She received 2 red ribbons, which is pretty much like saying "thanks for entering"!   She even entered her prize winning photo, that she took last year, and won 1st place for in our county, for the Conservation Office, and the judge just didn't like it. I hope she doesn't get too discouraged, because she has amazing talent.  As her mom, honestly, I was a little disappointed as well with the judges remarks.  Here is one of her photos:

My two middle clover buds had a good learning experience.  They were able to enter whatever they wanted and then just had to get through the judging.  They both did excellent and got great marks! 

Max did a project on composting.  He helped Brent build an actual compost box by our garden, last fall,  and it has been "his" project ever since. 

Here, Max is talking to the judge about his project. 
Below, Marykate is talking to the judge about her loomed hats.

By the end of this week, and with the heat advisory, the kids were pretty tired and crabby.  Two of them have an ear infection and one has a sore throat.  We just had to get through one more judging, and it was taking forever, and spirits were running pretty low.

Maddie was last, but definitely not least.  Here she is below waiting patiently for her cookies to be judged.

The day and week ended on a high note.  Maddie received a blue ribbon, best of show and is headed to the State Fair!

Here are the prize winning, oatmeal choc chip drop cookies!

So, my second child who usually takes a back seat to her older sister, is pretty pleased with her accomplishment, and I am proud of her.  It did take her 3 attempts to get these cookies right, but in the end, her hard work and persistence paid off!

Next month, we have our county fair, and we are all looking forward to entering some more projects.  From photography, to agriculture, to culinary, to arts and crafts.  It should be another busy, fun, crazy, and hopefully much cooler week!

♥  Shannon

More then heart breaking....

This is all that has been on my heart and mind lately....

These two precious girls have been missing for 3 days.  Evansdale, Iowa is very near my hometown, where I grew up... less then 10 miles.  I have close friends who know the family.  My grandma goes to church with their grandma.  They were on a bike ride, and never came home.  That's it.  There is nothing more to the story.  They were still close to home, and their bikes and purse were found.  Please keep these girls, and their families in your prayers!  It was just a bike ride on a Friday afternoon.... 

Thankfully we have a God who is in control.  He knows where they are.  Please, Dear God, allow these girls to be found and brought home safe to their families!!!

♥ Shannon

God's beautiful creations

We have been having fun watching the deer lately.  There is a mother and two fawns living in the woods next to our house.  I try to get pictures and videos, but they are fast :)  They keep a look out for us as well.  Any sound from us, and they are back in the woods.  I have taken a few pictures of the mother, but the babies are too small and hard to see over the tall grasses. 

She caught me, so back in the woods for her.  So I decided to take some pictures of the birds.

My daughters took a walk through the woods yesterday, with their camera in hand, hoping to find the them and get some pictures for the 4H fair next week, but no luck.  Maybe next time. 

♥  Shannon

Bountiful

Talk about being busy!  The garden harvest is in full swing here.  The above picture is what we picked over the weekend, just for Saturday's meals.  I have been either in the garden weeding and picking, or in the kitchen peeling, freezing and cooking.  It is definitely a blessing to have the abundance of food for our table, but my back feels differently :)

Thanks goodness for my little helpers.  Today we picked beans and peas and I have been freezing them and saving some for fresh eating.

I also tried a cucumber salad recipe that I found on pinterest, and I am anxious for my husband to try it tonight.  It supposedly lasts up to 2 months in the fridge.... we shall see, if it lasts that long!

At the end of the day, I've run my dishwasher a few times, done a few dishes by hand, and my counter tops usually are full of clean dishes and bowls of fresh veggies for tomorrow.

 

So, we are keeping very busy here, but so thankful for a great garden this year.  My freezer is already filling up, and up next tomatoes!

♥  Shannon