Finished With The Garden ...

November 12, 2016

One last visit to the garden for this year ...

All the beets were pulled out of the ground ...

cleaned ... cooked and peeled ...

The beets were ready to be cut up into pieces ...

and put into the jars to be processed ...

These are the last of the tomatoes to be preserved ...

Today the tomatoes were going to be diced ...

using my handy ... dandy ... dicer ...

The diced tomatoes were put into a pot and cooked for a few minutes ...

then ladled into hot jars ... and placed in a water bath this time ...

for processing ...

While working in the garden earlier ...

the green and purple Kale ... was also picked ...

brought in ... washed and torn into pieces ...

then placed on the trays for the dehydrator ...

It only took a few hours for the Kale to dry ...

Finished canned diced tomatoes ...

perfect for soups and sauces ...

The dried vegetables in the canning jars ... were also vacuumed sealed ...

using the FoodSaver attachment for canning jars ...

All these canned goods ...

were ready to be taken down to the cold room ...

and put on the pantry shelves ...

 

Well ... I do believe I am finished with processing the produce ...

from my garden ...

Just in time to start my ...

Christmas baking ... !!!

 

 

Dehydrator Madness ...

November 5, 2016

From fresh to dried ...

After our fishing trip ... checking the carrots in the dehydrator ...

the drying process was completed ...

 

 

November 6, 2016

There were still lots of ripened tomatoes ...

and no room in the freezer or on the pantry shelves ...

the next best is dehydrating them ...

I was given variety of hot peppers ... from the neighbour up the hill ...

and decided to dehydrate them as well ...

 

November 7, 2016

 

Here are the tomatoes and hot peppers ...

The peppers were combined and crushed up into flakes ...

Some will also be ground up into a powder ...

The sliced tomatoes will put into a jar ... and sealed ...

 

 

Getting Chores Done ...

September 27, 2016

This morning was spent with ... "apples" ...

thought it would be the perfect day to make applesauce ...

I like to pre-freeze the sauce in individual containers ...

then pop them out and pack them into vacuum sealer bags ... there is always room in the freezer ...

for these small packages ...

When needed ... the discs serving is enough for our meals ...

 

 

September 28, 2016

Once again ... looking out the kitchen window ...

a flock of wild turkeys were out on the grass ...

My first thought was ... "where were you turkeys?" ...

when Nathan and his buddies were here hunting for these birds ...

I did send Nathan a picture ... and he had said the same thing ...

in wondering where they were ...

They are smart these birds ... thinking they must read the hunting regulations ... !!!

It was such a beautiful day ... to head down to the garden ...

and get some fresh potatoes ... for our dinner ...

These were the red skinned potatoes ... an early variety ...

I was also pleased to see a few worms ... working the soil ...

 

September 29, 2016

There was still a tray full of plums ... to be dealt with ...

Today two batches of plum jam were made ...

one batch of sugar-free jam for Mike ...

and a traditional one for others ...

These plums were so sweet and delicious ...

a few were consumed while preparing the jam ...

The weather was supposed to be nice in the afternoon ...

so it was decided to close up the swimming pool ...

It was also time for the hot tub to be emptied and fresh water put in ...

Once the hot tub was emptied and scrubbed clean ... and the pool vacuumed ...

we proceeded to empty the pool water into the hot tub ...

That's our way of recycling the water ...

When the hut tub was full ... we drained the pool ... to the level needed for winterization ...

All the pool accessories ... ladder ... solar panels etc. were cleaned and put away ...

The winter cover was placed ... the filter cleaned and all the lines blown out ...

Ready for the next season ...

 

 

September 30, 2016

The sun was shining ...

and it was time to get a few more loads of firewood ...

into the wood shed ...

We were excited to see how our new log splitter would perform ...

It was amazing ... while Mike was cutting the logs ...

I was splitting and loading it into the truck ...

When Mike was finished cutting ...

we worked together splitting and loading ...

 

 

It didn't take us long to get a couple loads of wood ...

The nights were getting cooler ... we needed to spend some time filling up the wood shed now ...

We both had mentioned that we miss our cousins Klaus and Resi ...

who were here visiting from Austria last year ...

and helped with getting firewood and filling the woodshed early ...

We're just a little behind ... because we're out enjoying life ... travelling and fishing ...

 

 

 

The Boy's Birthday ...

September 1, 2016

A special birthday for the boys ... Daniel and Timothy ...

these Cabbage Patch dolls ...

were "born" on September 1, 1986 ...

It's wonderful to see the grandchildren play with them ...

knowing they were their dad's toys ...

Mike helped in the kitchen today ...

with filleting the Kokanee ...

We loved the last batch of smoked fish ... so we decided to make more ...

Once the fish were filleted ...

they were put into the brine ... then placed in the refrigerator for 8 hours ...

While the fish were marinating ...

there was time to work with the Huckleberries ...

and make a batch of Huckleberry jam ...

The Kokanee were finished marinating in the brine ...

It was around 11:00 pm ... the fish were drained ... patted dry ...

and placed on the racks to set overnight in the refrigerator ...

They would be ready first thing in the morning ...

to be placed in the smoker ...

It was a productive day with all the jobs accomplished today ...

 

MMMM ... Huckleberries ...

August 30, 2016

An early morning ... cleaning our pot of gold ... Huckleberries ...

The easiest way to clean them ...

is to place dampened paper towel on a cookie sheet ...

add a few berries then roll them around ...

the paper towel will pick up any debris ... leaves or twigs ...

The berries were put into a bowl ... divided up ... some sealed in bags for the freezer ...

enough left out for making jam ... and a few extras to eat ...

and for making Huckleberry pancakes for breakfast ...

We enjoyed our breakfast this morning ...

of fresh Huckleberry pancakes ...

Later in the day ...

another trip to the garden to gather ...

fresh fruit and vegetables for out dinner ...

August 31, 2016

With it being the last day of August ...

Mike and I decided to spend the day fishing ...

We were not sure how many more beautiful days like this one ...

we were going to have ...

The long weekend ahead of us ... was going to be busy ...

with Nathan and the family coming ...

 

Beets & Beans ...

August 9, 2016

The beets were picked ... washed ... pealed ...

and packed into cannon jars to be processed ...

Next on the agenda was to deal with all the beans ...

yellow and green beans ...

packed into jars and ready to be processed as well ....

Canning process completed ...

and ready to be stored in the cold room ... with the other jars of produce ...

The shelves are filling up ...

to be enjoyed thru the cold winter season ... !!!

 

A Few Busy Days ...

July 19, 2016

Finally after a few busy days ... and arriving back home from visiting Ian ...

it was time to venture into the garden ...

Delighted to see the fresh produce ... ready to be gathered ...

 

July 20, 2016

We decided to get up early this morning ...

to spend a day on the lake ...

Enjoying a lovely day and catching our limit of Kokanees once again ...

This batch was packaged up and vacuumed sealed ...

to be put into the freezer ...

with a few left out for our dinner tomorrow ...

July 21, 2016

Up early to head to the garden again ...

wanting a few vegetables to make a batch of leek ... beet ... garlic soup ...

Raspberries were abundant and ready to be processed ...

Today making a batch of raspberry jam ...

It's my favourite ... !!!

Jam was cooked up and poured into jars ...

waiting for it to set ...

I always save a sample in a little dish to have a taste ...

MMMMMMM

Cooking up the Kokanee ...

on the BBQ ...

for our dinner ... with a fresh garden salad ...

and corn on the cob ...

It felt great to have the time to get a few things done ...

these past few days ...

 

Garden Time ...

July 9, 2016

The morning was spent in the garden ...

gathering the broccoli ... peas... cauliflower ... Kohlrabi ...

a few potatoes and carrots ...

The kids taking time out for some lunch ...

then back into the pool ... swimming around with their snorkels ...

Ella helped out with hanging up the towels ...

while I was busy in the kitchen ...

There were afternoon showers ... with a beautiful rainbow over the field ...

we headed back down to the garden ...

to pick fresh raspberries ... lettuce and peas ...

perfect for our evening meal ...

The vegetables were prepared and vacuumed sealed ... ready for the freezer ...

then it was time to get dinner prepared ...

the kids were starving ...

Craig finally made it back to the house ...

from his canoeing trip ...

and James and Ella went up to Marysville for the night ...

Craig was determined to check out the box ...

that had been stored in the white shed out back ...

These little toys had been tucked away for years ...

Craig spent a few hours going thru them all ...

tossing out the broken ones ...

then hauling the good ones downstairs to be washed and disinfected ...

He was amazed at what their dad and Uncle Ian collected ...

most of them were from the Happy Meals from McDonald's ...

 

It was nice to spend the evening with Craig ...