What? Only 139 Days Until Christmas?

Yes, it is true. Only 139 days until Christmas. And holiday pumpkin pies are on my mind! I baked the pumpkins, then I scooped the meat out, pureed it in my brand new food processor, bagged it up and put it in the freezer. Each bag has enough for two pies in it. Yum! I was going to make some pumpkin bread this evening but got busy and ran out of time. I have only done these two pumpkins so far and they made enough for 7 pies! WOW! I remember my Grandma Edna baking THE BEST pumpkin bread in coffee cans! I wish I had that recipe...does anyone have a good Grandma one?


This recipe ROCKS! It is battered jalapenos and oh man, are they good! I made them last night and served them with some cheesy queso dip. Delicious! You can find the recipe here. I am going to slice up some jalapenos to freeze to make this recipe later this winter. I think this would be a perfect way to use up frozen peppers, and freezing is so easy.

Grating up Zucchini to freeze, for the ducks. Let me ask you....how did I ever live without a food processor? Don't laugh...I have been grating zucchini by hand! With one of those flat cheese graters! Until I broke it while grating all that gosh darn zucchini! : ) LOL The thought of grating up a gazillion more pounds was just a little daunting, so I invested in this baby and it has already earned it's keep between the zucchini and the pumpkin! I can already think of a ton of uses for it. I have no idea, however, where I am going to store it!

Some of the peppers I canned today. More mild jalapenos and cherry peppers.

Knitted Babe momma and boy/girl twins I made for my niece's birthday. Tomorrow is her party and I am very excited to give them to her! I hope she likes them.

I hope you have a great weekend! :) Next week I think I'll do a Christmas Is A Craft update....How are you doing on your Christmas preparations?

Pickling Tip of The Day...

Well, the pot that I used to brine/ferment the cukes in was stainless steel, but apparently the rivets that held the handles were not! So, now the pot is handle-less and I had used a lid from a smaller pot and a dinner plate to weight the cukes down and that lid's handle is off too! Oh yes, and it leaked out of the rivet holes!

I can't help but to laugh about it. It was hilarious! And what great chemistry lesson for the kids about the power of acids!

The Shack....

My last Guidepost had an article about the author of the book The Shack. Yesterday at Wal-Mart I picked up a copy of the book and read it between yesterday evening and this morning. I don't read like"normal" people, as my husband would say. In fact, we tried reading a book together over the winter, both of us had our own copies of The Oath - a book that I felt had enough spiritual significance and relationship stuff to keep my interest and enough manly stuff and sci-fi to to keep hubby's attention. A balanced book we'd both enjoy. We were going to read a chapter and discuss it, and then read some more, etc. Except I couldn't stop myself from reading the whole thing in a day or so, which frustrated him because I was so far ahead of him....and I was frustrated because I was ready to discuss and he was barely into the first chapter! Needless to say, that effort failed and he still hasn't finished the book. But he wants to finish it. And since then I have read dozens of books. We just weren't meant to read together. Or maybe we are and we're supposed to learn a lot through the very challenging process! :) LOL

Anyway, if you are looking for a fabulous book...let me recommend The Shack by Wm. Paul Young. I have to say that I truly LOVE this book and am already looking forward to reading it again! It is just THAT good. But first...I MUST PICKLE! :) LOL I have cukes in brine in the basement that had to ferment for 2 - 3 weeks. Today is the day that they will be canned and hopefully we will also can some regular dills (using a packet of Mrs. Wages dill spice stuff that I have never tried before but have high hopes for!) and maybe some peppers too.

Have a great day! :)

Canning Jar Quandry.....and Garden and Dirty Diva Duckie Updates

Hello everyone! Today my laundry is being dried by the gracious sun and I am cleaning out the pantry. Ugh. It never ceases to amaze me how easily it gets out of hand. In the process I am taking inventory of my canning jars. I currently have amassed....

18 Quart Jars
29 Pint Jars
3 half-pint jars
A million saved glass jars that are for storage and refrigerator pickles, but not canning

So, how many canning jars does one need? I have no idea. How many do you have? Is it enough? Where is the best (best meaning cheapest) place to buy them? How many do I need? Can you tell me? How and where do you store yours when not in use?

I have been working on some "canning goals" and going through that fabulous Ball Canning book and picking out the recipes that I plan to use. I figure that is a start. Is that a start? Is that a good start?

My camera sucks cow butt so I have no pictures right now. But will soon!!

The garden....is overall doing very well. I do need to weed and plan to do that this evening. We used hay (straw?) mulch around everything. One and a half of those GINORMOUS round bales to be exact. So far so good.

Successes include....

Tomato seedlings
Pepper seedlings
Cucumbers
Popcorn
Sweet Corn
Zucchini
Squash
Radishes
Carrots (have just recently made their appearance! I was so excited!)
Beets
Potatoes
Pumpkins
Strawberries
Green Beans
Peas
Melons - I am leery about the seedlings, so I direct planted some as well.
Stevia is still in pots and doing well
Recently planted Dill in the garden and Rosemary in pots. Will wait a bit longer to plant some Cilantro because last year by the time we needed it it was bolted and spent. I do have a volunteer Cilantro coming up. I let it grow. Just in case we need some sooner.

Iffy Things....

Sweet Potatoes - some of the slips are growing so we'll have some
Onions - the dozen or so I got in the ground early and then waited on the rest because I thought the soil was too wet are actually doing very well. However, ones I planted later are so-so and not a lot are making it. Even the green onions are having issues.
Lettuces - Some are coming up, but I think they needed to be planted earlier and will try a fall crop and use the cold frame
Okra - I was inspired to plant a few (thanks Mrs. S!) but so far they aren't doing so well. I am going to try re-seeding to see if we can't get it going.
Watermelon - Looking puny. Remember I tried seedlings? I went ahead and direct seeded to see if those would do better.

Total Failures...I think due to planting late

Cabbage
Broccoli
Brussels Sprouts


The Dirty Diva's got a little rearranging. As I have said and anyone with ducks knows....they are THE messiest little things when it comes to water. Their set up had their food feeder and a 5 gallon waterer inside the duck house, with their pool outside, and we'd let them out in the mornings and they'd put themselves up in the evening and lock them in. Well, they were emptying that whole 5 gallons overnight, and a lot of it (most of it!) was ending up on the floor which is essentially dirt covered with straw. The problem is that it was stinking to high freakin' heaven, to the point that I couldn't even clean it out, hubby had to do it, because I was gagging horribly! It was also becoming a breeding ground for those annoying little gnats.

So we (meaning hubby...I watched!) got the inside scooped out and cleaned up and laid down a nice thick fresh layer of straw. It is now their sleeping quarters only. Their their food got moved outside next to their pool in their play yard. When they go to bed at night, we do not shut the coop door in case they need to eat or drink overnight. Do they eat or drink overnight? I have no clue. But I do know this is working out very well and they are doing just fine. We are thinking of ways to improve the inside of the coop so they can have a waterer in there. But this will do for now. I have contemplated cutting our flock in half. My original plan was 6 or 8, but to get this kind (Khaki Campbells) we had to order a minimum of 15. No way could I eat them, they are too sweet, but I could sell some. Hubby thinks we should just keep them all. We'll probably just keep them, we'll see. Sixteen ducks is A LOT of ducks.

We are thinking about moving the majority of the garden up to the yard next year in the spot where his grandparents always had their garden. Hubby brought home a gigantic roll of thick black felt that they use under bridges. If we do, I think we are going to lay it down to (hopefully) kill off the grass over the summer and then we will remove the felt and till in some leaves to compost over the winter. But then again we may just stick to what we have been doing and keep the garden on the edge of the soybean field. We go back and forth. There are advantages and disadvantages to both.

I also did another totally cool re-purpose! The kids have a swimming pool, you know those easy set pools with the blow up top ring and soft sides? 12 X 3 I think. They love it. Anyway, last year the black lab dog chewed up the chlorine floater thing. I looked at them at the store a week or so ago and they were a whopping $10! Saving money tends to get the wheels in my head going. So I decided to make my own. I used an empty 2 liter soda bottle with lid and a small sour cream container with lid. I tied a string tightly around the neck of the soda bottle. Then poked a bunch of holes in the sour cream container and tied the string in holes on each side. I wish my camera worked, I'd show you! I'm really proud of it. :) The chlorine tablets go in the sour cream container, lid goes on, and in the pool it goes. The sour cream container fills up with water and sinks, dissolving the tablets, and the pop bottle stays afloat to keep it floating around. I'm a freakin' genius! :) No, not really.....just a momma motivated to pinch pennies and squeeze George til he screams and who saves way too many empty containers. :) LOL Or maybe that makes me a Redneck? :)

Oh, I have been knitting too. More of those Knitted Babes. I knitted a newborn one for my daughter to go with her big girl, hope to get a picture up soon. And I knitted a big one for my niece's birthday and am going to knit her TWO newborns since her mom is pregnant with twins.

Well, I think I hear the pantry calling so off I go. I hope you are enjoying your weekend!