Tomatoes all in!

We have decided to go camping this week so I have picked all my tomatoes in order to not lose them to frost while we are away!!  There are more than I expected but you know there are always some that hide under the leaves.  

The box of red ones I picked last week and is the box we picked from when we made our salsa.  There is one very large one that I picked more than two weeks ago while it was green because I was hoping the others on the plant would grow more.  Not sure if that happened but it will make bacon tomato & cheese sandwiches very nicely!!!

Another fall job done.  I will be putting these upstairs in one of the bedrooms when I get home and we will be able to enjoy them over the next month or so.  Not sure if there will be any canned tomatoes this year.  Sure was hoping there would be but it is now what it is.  

Therese

Our first batch of salsa

 We made our first batch of salsa this week.  Fresh tomatoes - red, orange and yellow along with some cucumber, onion, celery and basil.  We added a bit of salt and pepper and some spice to add a bit of zing!  It was delicious!!  Added some cottage cheese and ate it up with warm multigrain tortilla chips!

The best!!          Therse

Walk around Elizabeth Lake on Sunday

We went for a walk around Elizabeth Lake on Sunday morning as it was a beautiful day!  The leaves are starting to change and the colours are good for Alberta.  You can see that the trail had very nicely dappled sunlight.  We saw lots of waterfowl and a large dragonfly.  There were also others who were enjoying the trail so we stepped off to let them by.  The little church looks like it has been there forever but I do not remember ever seeing it before.  Though, we did the walk backwards to the usual way we go so it is possible that we have simply missed it when walking in the other direction.  It seemed appropriate for Sunday morning!!

Therese

 

Slow Stitching - house panel finished

 I am finally finished my little houses panel.  I have been working on it off and on since May and I am really happy with how it has worked out.  I really like the concept add slow stitched elements to a panel which creates a larger piece for incorporating into a larger project.  This one will be the focal element of a quilt.  I have put it aside for now because I am contemplating if I want to add trees, shrubs or flowers to it before it is finished.  It has been a fun project!!       Therese

Applesauce

After supper last night I finished cutting the crabapples I had leftover and got them ready to be cooked this morning.  I started them on low at breakfast and by the time we were finished our coffee they were well on their way.  I had enough for seven pints but decided to make up 6 smaller ones to share with Sylvia.  In the end I got 6 small ones and 4 pints.  I have some on hand from two years ago so I think this will do me for this year.  I have the nanking compote that will do just as well for making muffins.  It is a bit on the pinkish side but not too much.  I prefer to have yellow applesauce for eating with meat so this will do fine.  

Therese
 

Haskapp and raspberry compote

I used haskapp and raspberries in this batch.  It tastes very good even though I added more apples that I have in the other recipes.  Will make great crisp.  

I finished this batch just before supper and it was good that Brian had planned a simple supper because I was in the kitchen until the very last minute.  

 Recipe:

12 cups of cored and cut up crab apples - 4 min at Power 10

2 cups of frozen haskapps, thawed

2 cups of frozen raspberries, thawed

1 cup of raisins & 2 tbsps of  lemon juice, softened in the microwave and well blended.   7 pints

Therese

Blueberry compote

 Blueberry compote with the same crabapples I used in the Black currant recipe!!  I am really looking forward to trying this recipe to make crisp for dessert!!

Recipe:

12 cups of large frozen blueberries, thawed

6 cups of cored and cut into pieces crab apples - cooked 4 minutes on Power 10

3 cups of frozen rhubarb, thawed

1 cup of raisins & 2 tbsps of lemon juice - softened in microwave and well blended

Combine all the fruit and cook until blended but not cooked through.  Add to hot jars 

and process for 20 minutes in a hot water bath.    7 pints

Therese

Black currant compote

I made another batch of black currant compote yesterday.  

I managed to pick three small pails of crabapples at a neighbours so I had apples to get me started.  They were very ripe so had to be cut up to remove the damaged areas but I am happy to have apples for this process.  

I am starting to be able to tell how full the dutch oven needs to be so I can fill 7 pint jars.  I was a bit short on this recipe so I added the few saskatoons leftover from earlier.  This will make yummy crisp and it sure is nice to be able to make just enough for two!!

Recipe:

10 cups of frozen black currants, thawed

2 cups of frozen saskatoons, thawed

3 cups of frozen rhubarb, thawed

6 cups of cored crabapples cut into pieces - cooked 4 minutes at Power 10

1 cup of raisins & 2 tbsps of lemon juice - softened in the microwave  - well blended

All combined and cooked until the fruits start to blend. Added to hot jars and processed 

for 20 minutes in a hot bath.    7 pints

Therese

Saskatoon compote and a little "crisp" for dessert

I made some compote for breakfast today using saskatoons, apples I picked while on my morning walks and some frozen rhubarb.  I managed to make two recipes which gave me 14 pints.  It took a little longer to cook the saskatoons than the other fruits I used which were more soft skinned.  A few more bags of frozen fruit now in jars!!

Recipe

12 cups frozen saskatoons - thawed

6 cups of cored and slightly cooked apples

(4 minutes on Power 10 for 4 cups)

3 cups of frozen rhubarb - thawed

1 cup of raisins & 2 tbsp of lemon juice - softened in the microwave for 2 minutes - fully blended

Warmed slowly to boiling and a bit more to get the saskatoons to be cooked, added to hot jars and processed for 20 minutes in a hot water bath.    7 pints

I had a bit leftover so I put it in a little casserole and added "crisp" crumble on top and heated it for twenty minutes in the toaster oven at 350F to make dessert for supper tonight!!  Worked really well!!

Therese

Another little quilt

I worked on this little quilt on Sunday afternoon and got most of it done.  I finished stitching the binding and a bit of quilting this morning.  I made up the top more than a month ago.  I added a polyester blanket for batting and dark green poly/cotton for the backer and binding.  The binding is part of the backer with the edges simply turned over to the front and stitched down.  Works really well.  I managed better on my corners than I have in the past so I am improving.  It measures 35" x 46".  I did wavy lines in the red borders for my quilting. Have not tried that before and though it is not perfect I am happy with the way it went.  More pinning next time around would be more helpful, I think!!  Another learning curve!

I have yet to figure out what I will be adding to my house panel so that will be my next project to work on.  It may take a while to sort out but in the meantime I will work on my current slow stitching project which will be fun!!          Therese
 

Suzanne came for a visit

Suzanne came for a visit on her own this weekend! It was her birthday this week and it was great to have a chance to treat her to supper and cake!!  We checked out garage sales in Clive in the morning and then headed home for lunch.  We planted the raspberries she had brought along from her yard - some of them volunteers and others that needed to be rehomed.  Brian gave her a tour of the workshop and the work he has done on their trailer.  After that we worked on a sewing project for Mina and then had take out from Tasty Bites.  They had pizza, I had Kebabs!!!  They were very good and I will be ordering that again.  Great dipping sauce!! I had made carrot cake with cream cheese icing for dessert.  

After supper, her and I spent some time discussing crafts and checking out some art supplies, etc.  Before you know it, it is bedtime. She slept in the trailer with the little heater!!  She was up, had breakfast and we discussed sewing projects until it was time for her to go at noon.  

We are blessed!!!!!  Therese

 

Pencil case with beautiful glittery butterflies & Katherine on CBC video

 It will soon be Amelyn's birthday and so I made her a little gift to open which I will be mailing soon!!  The kids got a larger gift to share earlier this year but I thought it was important that she have something to open on her special day.  I made the pencil case with some beautiful glittery butterfly fabric which was in the bag of scraps I bought last year.  I combined it with a bit of black cotton and added a black zipper.  I added some regular pencils and some fun and crazy colouring pencils which have more than one colour in the lead.  She is in kindergarten this year and going to school with the others taking the bus.  She is a very happy little girl!!        

Katherine had a sewing camp for kids this summer and they made face masks for school.  CBC did a video of the presentation and loaded it to YouTube!  You can check it out here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00NsihIYx2c

Therese

Picked my potatoes!!

I picked my potatoes this week!!!!!! They are HUGE!!!!!!!!!  I had picked 4-5 plants before and then went and picked another pail full.  I sorted out the damaged ones and put the other to dry after brushing the dirt off of them.  

With the weather being very cooperative for drying this week I decided to finish picking them yesterday.  It took me all morning but I got it done.  The last three rows were in hardpan and felt like an archeological dig!!   I brushed those off, washed the little ones and the damaged ones and put those in the house for eating first.  The others are all out for drying.  I will pick them up at the end of the day and will put them in my bins in the cold room.  I hope they all fit.  If not, I will probably trade them for raspberry plants with Tom.  They are moving their raspberry patch and he thought there would be spares available.  They have the yellow kind which would be different.  We shall see!!  It is nice to have the job done and I have MUCH more than I expected. It was a good growing year!!   Therese

Art from the grandchildren

The Magne kids have sent along a great little envelope filled with their wonderful creations!!!

It was great to get art from them and I have added them to my little string in the patio door and to the fridge door!!

Amelyn's art is very bright and cheery!!

Therese

 

Vegetable washing stand with running water and a tap

Brian has been working on a vegetable washing stand for a few weeks now.  He started by consulting with me to see what features I would like and we researched on line to see what others had created.  Once the design was set he started collecting supplies.  We got a free Moen tape with all the hardware with the double sink we picked up for FREE on KIJIJI.  Suzanne provided the wheels from a chariot she rescued from the garbage.  The whole stand is made from cedar - some from Dad and other pieces which Brian bought to make cedar chairs which are a work in progress.  The top is made from cedar from the church demolition.  He added a captured dowel handle on the right hand side. 

The wheels have been mounted in a piece of walnut which was a scrap from Richard's railing project during his condo renovation.  The cedar was too soft to properly mount the wheels too so after a bit of consideration it was decided that a piece of walnut would be hard enough to make a decent mount and so Brian cut the legs to hold the two little pieces of walnut.  You can see that the screw just to the left of the center of the wheel which holds it in place.  The rims have been restored to a shiny surface with a lot of elbow grease and some cleaner. A camping trip project!!  The cedar has been treated with a wood finish that allows the cedar to gray while still being protected.  It needs to be renewed every few years.

You can see below that the stand is now outfitted with running water.  Most of the water assembly was sourced out of the garage with only $4 being spent on a fitting to get the water connected.  It has a quick connect to the hose and the hose from the bottom of the sinks is free and can be placed into the garden so no water or soil is wasted by being put into the town sewage system.

I am super happy with the vegetable stand and it comes at the perfect time when carrots and potatoes will be starting to come in from the garden in larger quantities.  It will be really nice to be able to leave the mess outside whenever I pick garden produce.  I will be storing it on the other side of the garden which will mean it is closer to the tap and very convenient.  

I am blessed!!!!!!!

Therese

 

Piano hinge for S&S's trailer

 Brian is working on getting the piano hinge that arrived last week attached to the cowling and cover from S&S trailer.  It is coming along and things are falling into place!!  He is really enjoying working in his shop.  

Therese

More ripe tomatoes

We picked a few more tomatoes from the garden.  The little red and yellow cherry tomatoes are very delicious. They are both varieties I got from my friend, Paula.  There is one larger orange and several larger red tomatoes.  We have had to cover the garden once already and are going to have to do it again tonight as they are predicting 4C.  I hope we get a bit more warm weather that will encourage the ripening of the remaining tomatoes.  

Therese

 

The magic of ABS repair

The magic of ABS repair!!!!!!  Brian is working on Suzanne and Sal's trailer and there were several cracks in the cowling he was hoping to repair.  He did some on line research to see what others were doing in the way of repairing the damage and what he discovered is that you can repair ABS using ABS and Acetone.  

You simply cut some ABS into pieces, soak it in acetone and it will dissolve creating liquid ABS which you can use to repair any broken or cracked ABS.  Who even knew that was possible!!  YouTube is a wonderful thing.  

So Brian took some plumbing ABS black pipe and cut it up and soaked it into a jar with some acetone.  The plastic pipe pieces dissolved into a goop which he was able to paint on the back of the cracks in the cowling.  

Previously, he took straight acetone and applied it to the crack with a small brush and was able to solidify most of the crack in that way.  You apply the acetone and hold the pieces together.  The ABS in contact with the acetone softens, melds together and once the acetone evaporates the two pieces are back to being one.  It only takes a couple minutes for the process to happen.  

He will be applying several coats of the ABS goop to the areas that need repair to make sure the fix is strong enough to hold.  

Therese

 

Carrots - Mango variety

 I pulled carrots for supper yesterday and decided to check out a variety which my friend, Paula, gave me seeds for.  They were huge!!!!!!!  They are a more firm carrot compared to the Nantes Touchon which are my regular carrot variety for their crunch and taste.  These ones  are nearly as sweet and were good for supper.  I grated some into the chili and added some to the zuchinni fritters too.  We had the rest fresh.  I will have to check the other three varieties she gave me.  Some are keeper carrots which will end up in the cold room in October to so because there are still quite a few Touchons out there.  

Therese

Ataca - cranberries for turkey

 I managed to get my atacas - low bush cranberries - cooked and canned yesterday!  I am very happy with my final result of 8 - 1 cup jars and 6 - 1/2 cup jars.  At my house I am the only one who eats cranberries with turkey so I don't need very large jars so these will be perfect.  I expect this will be several years supply for me though they can certainly be mixed with other fruit for making a crisp or a fruit with cereal for breakfast.  

Therese

Ripe tomatoes

 Our first ripened in the garden tomatoes!  They are red and yellow cherry tomatoes.  We had them for supper and they were so good!!!!!   There are a lot more out there.  We had 2C last night so it was very good that we took the time to cover the garden - cucs and tomatoes last night.  Will probably have a few more cool nights this week and hopefully better weather after that to ripen more tomatoes!!

Therese