The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread....As it Pertains to Apple Pie :)

The bushel of apples that were picked by my little chef (more on this later) and the skilled diva sat in the kitchen for a couple of days...  waiting....waiting....waiting....

Finally, my husband rounded up the kids and gathered them around the apple peeler....I guess he figured somebody needed to have some initiative since mine seemed to be lacking.

Look at that gentle instruction going on....you go, honey...  I'll just sit over here and take pictures...

Sarah made an apple slinky..  which made me sing the slinky song...  ahh..they are such cute little kids....

I so love the sight of a pile of apple cores and peelings....the cores look like little thread spools.....

Okay...  so, as the kids and Darren are peeling the apples, it becomes evident that I am going to have to put the camera down and do something with them.  I had previously found some information via the internet regarding freezing apples for pie.  I was very interested to try it.  Here's what you do....  Fold two pieces of tin foil together to make one big piece.  You then lay that into a foil pan...or whatever you make your pie in..  press it around the edges to get the shape... put your apples and spices, sugar, etc in the foil lined pan....

Fold the foil up and press it down to retain the shape of the pie...

Now tell me how cool that is????  You freeze the little pie shape, wrapped in foil, and slid into a gallon bag....when you are ready for pie, you take it out of the freezer, put it in a crust laden pan like the one you pressed it into and voila!  Pie!!  I'm in love...seriously..  WHAT A COOL IDEA!!  If you already knew all about this and you are wondering where I've been...please...don't burst my bubble...I'm fragile ...  :)  We had enough apples to make six pies to freeze.  I just think it's so neat.... 

Normally, I use store bought crusts...but I'm thinking, since the pie is already ready, I could make use of the time I would've spent on peeling, slicing, etc and make homemade pie crusts.  :)  Which is why www.myhomecooking.net is written on every bag....there is an easy recipe for crusts there.. :)  I did read that you should not thaw the apples first...put them in frozen.  And to help the bottom crust to keep from getting soggy, sprinkle flour and/or sugar on the it before putting the apples in...

I had lots of help mixing up the spices and sugar.....

Early O'Clock Fruit Picking

Last week, the kids and I went to pick blueberries.  Based on the fun we had last year and the amount of blueberries that we picked, I was really looking forward to going.  Of course, there was the drawback of going early...  I'm not a morning person...  and it was very early o'clock....  okay, so I didn't leave until a little after 8 am...but I got up early...with the intention of leaving earlier.  It was my two year old's fault...  he has to have his breakfast noodles.  I know, I know...  there's no such thing.  But, there *is*..  although we live on a little farm in the making, with fresh eggs and goat milk ...  he is in a rut... he only wants Ramen noodles for breakfast....and I oblige him...  because I know that this is only a phase and this, too, shall pass.  {I hope... I mean, it will...right??}  And it probably wasn't ALL his fault...  the other kids are slow, too...  ;)  Anyway.....

We got there finally....kids were all smiles...  I had some cappuccino with creamer on the way, so I was all smiles...  we broke out the buckets and started picking.  In defense of the kids, it was early.... the blueberry bushes were wet ...  the grass was wet ... and there weren't as many ripe blueberries as there were last year.

"Look, Mom...a blueberry... "...  ok..he didn't really say that...but that's what it looks like he's saying...   the other one is checking his nails for dirt...  because he's already getting bored...

What a cute little girl with her cute little bucket....  it's really her old Easter bucket basket....from several years ago...  we believe in reuse around here.. 

The smallest blueberry picker...  he seems to be finished picking and has moved on to eating....

So, after a bit, I lost one to pacing....  and two to ...something other than blueberry picking... which left only one child...and me...picking blueberries.  Soon after, it was discovered that there was a peach tree and we should help ourselves...  Okay, so now I've lost all four helpers..that's okay...  I like picking blueberries...alone...early in the morning...getting my favorite Batman shirt soaking wet on the dew laden bushes... it's okay....really....sniffle...

See....I'm smiling...  and yeah...my eyes are puffy...it's called early o'clock syndrome...

Yeah, it's probably best he did this job anyway...  me and heights have a mutual distrust...

 The other two are happily picking apples...  you have to be one skilled diva to pick apples with one hand on your hip....  :)

 This is what we ended up with...  not a bumper crop...but enough to do a little sumpin, sumpin with  :)
  I ended up freezing the blueberries, as is.  I was out of pectin and sugar and it wasn't time for a trip to the general store.  Besides, at this point I was thinking I'd rather have blueberries to use in cobblers, pies, syrups, eaten frozen, etc..than have blueberry freezer jam.  Don't get me wrong.....blueberry freezer jam is some dang tasty stuff....but strawberry freezer jam is the best...and I made some of that earlier in the spring.  The peaches we just ate.  There wasn't enough to do anything with....plus, they were wormy...not that I'm complaining...no sirree... not at all..  I appreciated them.  They were tasty...  I just got a little less hungry while cutting around the tiny little worm that was all stretchy and satiated on the peach pulp next to the seed.  What I did with the apples deserves its own post... which I will proceed to next.... :)  so, don't touch that cursor....  it's coming right up :)

Pickled Beets and A Funny Story

Two years ago, at an autumn home school Back to School party, a friend of mine brought some home canned pickled beets.  Man, were they ever tasty.  So, the next spring, we planted a whole row of beets...which failed.  Yeah....they didn't come up...  well, maybe a couple of them did.... but they only poked their little heads through the soil... nothing else.  It was a complete failure.   Our soil is very rocky and red clay....perhaps they just needed more water and wiggle room.
This spring, we decided to try again.  We only planted a few in some raised garden boxes.  Failure number two.  I think we planted those too late.  Beets are a cold weather crop...you've got to plant them early in the spring or late summer.  
A couple of weeks ago, a family friend asked me if I wanted a basket of beets...be still my beating heart.  I was so excited! 
So, I call up my canning master friend and got her recipe...  easy as pie.  You wash the beets, put them in a big pot and boil them till tender.  You then take them out, pull the skins off ...which will make your hands (especially your nails) a beautiful shade of magenta if you don't use gloves....I know this from experience...  :)
After sliding the skins off, you cut them into chunks, put them into a big pot, cover with 1/2 vinegar, 1/2 water and add sugar.  She said she thought they used 2-3 cups of sugar per gallon.  You have to taste as you go...see how you like it..  :D  Bring that mixture to a boil and ladle into your jars that are hot.  Wipe the rims, put your hot lid on, screw on the top!  Voila!  Pickled beets.  You don't even process these.  Crazy easy, huh?  And let me tell you...they are soooo good.  Another cool thing...you can use the leftover brine to make pickled eggs. {This was actually my introduction to pickled eggs.}  You just put a few hard boiled, shelled eggs into a jar and pour the brine over them...let it sit about a week and you have pickled eggs!  Another idea that can't be "beet" ~ ahem, sorry....veggie humor.... the water that you boil your beets in till tender...well, I was thinking that would make an eye-catching tie-dyed shirt... too bad I didn't have any white t-shirts that day....

Okay...funny story... well, funny in an embarrassing way....
Those first beets I ate at the home school party??  Well, I only got a few bites.  My sense of propriety kept me from going to the table and taking the entire jar back to my seat...which is what I *really* wanted to do.  So, I mentioned to the bringer of the beets later how good they were and how much I just loved them.  Sweet person that she is, she brought me a quart jar to our next meeting.

Soooo, after the meeting, I go home with MY OWN JAR OF PICKLED BEETS....propriety be gone!!!  Unable to stop myself, I ate a half a quart of pickled beets ....yeah, they were that good. 
Next morning I wake up and go about my day.  It was then that I began to notice something.  Hmmmm...how shall I put this delicately?  Well, I thought I was getting a urinary tract infection...  it was really weird tho...no fever, no pain....just {I can't believe I'm telling you this} pink in the potty.  Oh dear...I've now lost all sense of propriety...   Anyway, I was very concerned.  I had previously had a UTI... not pretty.  I woke up one night burning up with a fever..  I hated to wake up my husband since he has to get up early to go to work, so I decided I'd go get some fever reducing medicine myself...  I felt a bit woozy while standing at the sink taking the medicine and had to hold on to the counter for a few minutes before I could walk back to the bedroom.  I got all the way to the little hall right before the bedroom door, before I started passing out..  So, as I'm sliding down the wall, I managed to weakly call for my husband...  thankfully, he wasn't sleeping as soundly as he did all those months when the babies cried at night ... hmmm...but that's another story... LOL
Anyway, he caught me before I hit the floor and well...  anyway, back to my previous story...
So, I was concerned.  Magenta hands and nails are kinda cool...peeing magenta is not.  {Blush}  I drank lots of water and prayed that I wasn't getting a UTI.  However, by nightfall, things had "cleared" up, so to speak...  :)  I was ecstatic!!  I had succeeded in flushing out the UTI!!  YES!
The next evening, I found myself alone again with the remaining 1/2 quart of pickled beets.  Mmmmm...sooo tasty...I slowly savored every last one.
The next day I woke up and OMGOSH!!  Magenta ~ and not on my hands and nails.  I was so darn perplexed.  I mean, you can't have a UTI one day...it go away for a day..and then just come back, can you?!?!?  And no fever!! How crazy is that???  Fear was starting to set in...I could even imagine that I felt some pain...and maybe I had a bit of a fever, too...  heck, I should probably already be on meds. 
And then ..epiphany!  Magenta.  Where had I seen magenta?  Ah, yes...the beets..and on my hands and nails...and then in the ...well, you know...  bathroom.  (Actually, my husband *might* have made this connection first....but only because I was really sick with a UTI...wait, I didn't actually have a UTI...well, I thought I did).. Oh man, I didn't have a UTI.  Which was good news.  Bad news was the amusement this gave my canning buddy...  :D  So, just so you know, in the future, when you can your beets and savor every bite...  when you wake up seeing magenta, you're okay...  :D

Warning: Transparent Posting Alert

I did eventually find some solitude...  although it wasn't on a mountain top, at dusk, with the breeze kissing my face...  it was hiding out in the barn, during a thunderstorm, watching the wind blow the tops of the pines...  either one works for me...  so long as there is solitude.  :)

As I sat, alone, musing over the intricacies of life, I was struck with the thought of how different a person I am from just this time last year.  Some of the changes I see as positive....some I am still contemplating ...

***  I am definitely not as uptight.  I don't hang on to as many fears and worries.

***  I have way less patience for "religion"...  of course, this is not to imply that I am "impatient" with it..  but rather have a lack of concern in general.  By "religion", I mean the motions, the rituals, the organization, the big band, the "right" way to do it.....

***  I am still idealistic and love "happy"...but I realize that underneath all the pretty colors lies a cold, hard steel.  I just figure you might as well brace yourself for the difficult stuff, but all the while savoring the kaleidoscope of colors.

***  I see people differently.  I am much more ready to overlook faults and differences.  As this applies to looking at my own person has been interesting.  Overlooking faults in others is more simple...it is their journey...their road.  But, my journey must be more closely observed, for it is...MY journey.  I find it hard to be content with my faults...but yet, I have finally come to the point where I find trying to be all things to all people is just absurd.  I'm still learning how to balance those two...  accepting personal faults while still striving to be what you want to be....  Allowing yourself to be human, but not losing your drive.  That is difficult for me.  I tend to want things to be one or the other.   Instead, it's a balancing act.

***  I don't know if I've always been this way regarding the next change or not...seems like I remember inclinations toward it...  My heart swells with the beauty I see in people - yet, I feel at any given moment, even a true friend would betray me if push came to shove.  It's weird... I am, therefore, both overjoyed and saddened by the beauty I see in others.  ...  Maybe as I've come to discover the light and dark in myself, it makes me more intensely aware of its existence in others.....  The existence of that beautiful, shining goodness that coexists with the baser, still, darkness...  Perhaps that is it...

***  I have come to view myself as human.  I know ...  that sounds ridiculous...but it has taken me 33 years to realize that, dare I say it????....  I deserve a few breaks, too.  I don't always have to be the one everybody counts on.  I'm human.  I make mistakes like everyone else and that doesn't mean I'm not acceptable....no...it means I'm human.

***  I have become both more content, and more discontent.  I am content to no longer argue anything theologically.  I just no longer feel I have answers that will hold water.   Besides, for every theological discussion, there is so much speculation.  I've grown tired of it.  I no longer feel the need to defend every little thing I was taught.  Heck, I don't even believe some of the things I was taught anymore.  And yet, I am more content that that some things are true and need no defense....and the things that are of the upmost importance... well, they stand strong without any input from me.
I am content with my daily life...  most days.  I like farm stuff and raising my children.  I like homeschooling....wouldn't have it any other way.  I like being married.
I have become discontent with mediocre emotion.  I like love out loud.  I appreciate emotion in full color....it calls to me....it is the rainbow of life.  This is not to say that I expect responsibility and levelheadedness to cease to exist.  - but just to live and love vibrantly...to let your heart expand and splash its contents joyously.

Sometimes...

I wish I could be high on a mountain at dusk...  looking out over the vast sea of treetops...  knees drawn to my chest...turning to let the light breeze kiss my face...and just let the silence speak to me.  Actually, I don't just wish it...I need it.  I'm the kind of person who has to have some quiet time of reflection.  I no longer function well if, on occasion, I don't steal away and allow my soul to breathe.  I am in need of that at the moment....  some time... to breathe....quietly...  soak in some peace...  get a little balm to soothe my heart...

(picture taken from the internet...)

Look What I Found in the Squash Patch

Guess what little beauty I found all hidden in the midst of the squash leaves...

Yep....it's one of mine...  my favorite kind of treasure...  :)

Just to See....

You know how I told you those potatoes started sprouting in the compost bin??

Well, here's another one sending out sturdy green stems ...

I left the pineapple top lying beside it...just to see, of course.... 

So far, no pineapple tree.... :D