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Sunday, August 7, 2016

THE GOOD LIFE

Hello dear friends!  Hope you are having a wonderful start to the last month of summer!  When we go outside we can feel a cool breeze coming off the lake.  Autumn is on it's way.  In the garden the russet and golden flowers are making their appearance and the pinks and whites are ebbing away.
In the vegetable garden, we are harvesting things daily.  Lack of rain has caused our onions to finish up early. 
Not our best harvest, we usually get about one hundred pounds, but we are thankful for any this year.  We are picking our beautiful Turkish eggplants, and eating lots of eggplant Parmesan.
BTW, in between tasks, I've been weaving those old-fashioned cotton  loop potholders shown in the picture.  The best potholders ever!  And so easy to make.  They are a great craft to keep the youngsters busy.

We're picking lots of berries too.  They're on the smallish side, but still wonderful.  Time for a mixed berry pie.
A simple recipe for a berry pie is to fit a pie plate with a pie crust and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of flour and 1/3 C. sugar. Add enough berries to make a nice rounded pie and sprinkle with another tablespoon of flour and 1/3 C. sugar.  Sprinkle with some cinnamon,  if you like, and dot with some butter.  Cover with a top crust.  Bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes or until the juice from the berries starts to bubble through the top.  We like to top our pie with a thin icing made from confectioners' sugar and a bit of cream or milk.

Pie isn't the only thing keeping me busy in the kitchen this week.  On Friday and Saturday I had a massive canning session; 24 pints of corn, 32 pints of carrots, 8 quarts of crushed tomatoes and 8 pints of yellow wax beans. 
Whew!  Carrots are a lot of work!  Usually we root cellar them, but because they had to be harvested so early this year, do to the drought killing their tops, we had to can them all.  They simply wouldn't last in this heat.  We bought the corn from a very generous gentleman that gave us 14 ears for the price of a dozen.  Truck farmers are some of the best people in the world!

Speaking of carrots, here's one of our favorite recipes for them:

Honey Glazed Carrots

1 lb. carrots, cut up
2 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. lemon juice
salt to taste
pepper to taste

In a medium saucepan bring water to boil.  Add carrots and cook until tender. Drain and add back to the pan.  Add the remaining ingredients and cook until the glaze coats the carrots.

Even if you don't grow your own carrots, they should be on your shopping list.  They are one of the cheapest and readily available vegetables out there.  And so good for you too!  Around here, the carrot farms sell big 10 pound bags of "deer" carrots for cheap.  They are perfectly good carrots, just misshapen or small that can't be sold commercially because consumers must have straight large carrots.  Heaven help us if we eat a crooked one!

Anyway, that's a good start to restocking the pantry.  Just thinking of all those chowders, soups, stews and pot pies I'll be able to make with those jars, makes the effort well worth it.  Happiness is a well-stocked pantry.   One thing that helped this year is that I bought a steam canner.  Heats the house up a lot less than the old-fashioned water bath canner, with it's gallons and gallons of boiling water.  Now though, I sterilize my jars in the oven by heating them to 225 degrees for 10 minutes.

Less you think I'm all work and no play, on Thursday two local villages were holding village-wide garage sales.  Although, I must confess, I do take my garage sale-ing very seriously, for me it's an opportunity to purchase things to make our home a quiet little respite from all the craziness out there.  I've discovered over the years that the more content I am with my home, the less I desire to be away from it spending money on dining out and entertainment.  I purchased these lace-edged curtains for $3.
They're a nice change from the linen insulated ones that I use in the cold months.  Another thrifty little buy (50 cents) for the sitting room were these pillow shams that I intended to make into a valance for the kitchen, but couldn't bear to cut, I love the prints and the colors are perfect for the sitting room. 
So I sewed them together to make a cover for a chair.   I don't know what possessed me to upholster that chair in white fabric!   A very impractical color for gardeners.
But the best buy of the day was this antique green wire planter that will be used for our bay tree.


These things are so expensive in the antique stores and the reproductions look so shoddy, so I was happy to pay ten dollars for this one. Other items I purchased were 3 vintage white tea towels with tatted edges for 75 cents each, a pair of 1928 jewelry company earrings for a dime, a pretty hanging oil lamp for $5, two antique pieces of door hardware (so beautiful) for $3 each, and an antique hand crochet lace panel for 50 cents.  

Not all my "treasures" came via garage sales this week.  I framed the cover of a catalog that I got  in the mail with a picture frame I had for the bathroom. Thank you Victorian Trading Company!
Makes a very striking picture for free!  So you see, I live the good life on a pauper's budget.  One part imagination, one part inspiration, one part perspiration equals a very good life indeed!


THRIFTY THINGS WE DID THIS WEEK

Harvested about 25 pounds of onions.

Harvested blueberries, blackberries, raspberries,carrots, yellow wax beans, eggplants, zucchinis, peppers  and tomatoes.

Canned 32 pints of carrots, 24 pints of corn, 8 quarts of tomatoes and 8 pints of yellow wax beans.

Bought things for the house at garage sales.

Framed a free "print" with  a picture frame I already had.

Ate from the garden, and the pantry.

Made a batch of refrigerator pickles.

So that's another week at the old home place!   Hope you all have the loveliest week!

Hugs
Jane




28 comments:

  1. Hi Jane! I had to look up Turkish eggplants - they are so cute!
    Love those potholders. I've never made one, but I didn't need to since I made sure our daughters had a great stash for making them. ;) Our garden sort of stunk this year except for the mother lode of strawberries. Tomatoes are a bust with blossom end rot. Maybe next year...
    Have a great week!
    Toni

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    1. Hi Toni! The Turkish eggplants are great, they don't have that bitterness that eggplant can sometimes have.

      I bought the loom for my granddaughter but she wasn't interested in it, so I'm enjoying it. It's nice to make something that doesn't take days to finish. And they really are the nicest potholders.

      Our garden isn't doing too well this year either. We've only had one rain since before the 4th of July. So that accounts for lots of blossom end rot on our tomatoes too. Will be lucky to get 16 quarts out of them this year. Oh well! At least the garden will be finished early and I can get on to other projects! Hope you're staying cool!

      Hugs
      Jane

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  2. Having food in the pantry or cellar is worth the long hours of hovering over a canner in hot weather. We will have to buy tomatoes from the Mennonite market if I am to can this year--we don't have room in the current garden to raise enough produce to put up--but we're glad to have it for fresh eating.
    I love the lace-edged curtains you found--fresh and pretty.

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    1. Good morning Sharon! I always figure all the perspiring over the hot stove serves dual purposes; one is stocking up the pantry, the second is it's getting rid of all the toxins in my body. Ha! That's making the best of a big task.

      A big garden is a lot of work, I don't fault you for having a smaller more manageable one, especially if you can buy fresh produce nearby.

      Enjoying the curtains, it's nice to have a change, and at that price it's as cheap as chips! Hope you are enjoying your summer!

      Hugs
      Jane

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  3. You have had a busy week! That berry tart looks wonderful, I have blackberries from last summer in the freezer just enough to make a tart. Thanks for the recipe. That is a lot of canning, I noticed from reading past posts that you can meat etc, I have never heard of that, we only tend to can fruit, tomatoes and I do remember my Mum salting down runner beans. To can meat do you need a special pressure cooker or could the ordinary run of the mill pressure cooker do? The idea of canning meats appeals as I always think that power cuts could make your carefully frozen goods useless. We had a power cut for 2 days last week because of the bad weather Some remote areas are still without power, ovewr a week! I love garage sales too and we have a couple of good thrift shops in town, I have a weakness for old china! Have a happy week, Sharon

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    1. Hello Sharon! You need a pressure canner for canning meats and vegetables. Pressure cookers can't keep the pressure at an even pressure, plus they are too small. They cost around $200 US for a good quality one but I feel they are well-worth the cost, I'd go as far as to say that a pressure canner is a vital piece of equipment for a self-sustaining lifestyle. They last forever, so it's a one-time expense, as opposed to a freezer that uses electricity all year long and tend to have to be replaced more often. We have a lot of power outages here also, so that is why I can everything. Plus it's so convenient, no waiting for food to defrost, and some things, such as hamburgers, I've found, the flavor improves with canning.

      I love old china also! Used to have so many sets of different patterns, but now I've narrowed it down just (ha!) to three, Spode Blue Tower, Johnson Brother's Friendly Village and a mixture of Royal Winton Chintz. Hope you are having a lovely week down in NZ!

      Hugs
      Jane

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  4. Great post! You are one busy lady and you will enjoy the 'fruits of your labors' all winter long.

    Love your weekend finds. Making our nests comfy and homey is fun and rewarding, even on a budget.

    Have a wonderful week, enjoying your cooler temps.

    Love & hugs ~ FlowerLady

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    1. As a fellow nest-builder, I know you understand the importance of those little touches that make a house a home, Rainey. I'm glad to read that you are doing better these days. Hope you get all that business licensing mess worked out soon. The government sure likes to have us jump through a lot of hoops, just to keep our heads above water!

      Hugs
      Jane

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  5. Dear Jane,
    I'm a new reader to your blog and I really love it. I'm all caught up now, having read through your archives (and very grateful that you continue to blog.) I was wondering if you would consider doing a post about what you and your family ate for say, a week? I (for one) would find that very interesting!
    Many thanks for sharing your knowledge and lovely personality with the wider world.
    Sincerely,
    Dana

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    1. I could do that for you, Dana. I'll start taking notes today and make a that my post next Sunday. Thanks for the suggestion and the lovely compliments!

      Hugs
      Jane

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  6. dear jane,
    your week was very busy.all the hard work it's worth,you will enjoy your veggies
    in the cold winter month. i love eggplants but this year have I no luck with my plants,it's to cold and wet.your wire planter is a dream.
    have a nice week,
    hugs regina

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    1. We've had just the opposite problem, Regina. Too dry and too hot. I wonder what all this bad weather will do to the cost of groceries? Hope you are safe and well!


      Hugs
      Jane

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  7. Great post! Always enjoy reading your thrifty ways. I know you will enjoy your canned foods this winter. My garden hasn't been that great this year. I'm still waiting on tomatoes to ripen. If I had to rely on my garden to survive, I'm afraid that we would starve to death. Thanks for the recipes. I didn't plant carrots this year, but I will be buying some to make those honey glazed carrots. Yum! Love your garage sale finds; so pretty!
    Have a great week! School starts back tomorrow for my youngest...it has seemed like a short summer.

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    1. Our garden isn't producing like it usually does either, Kathy. Guess we just have to be grateful for what we get. Carrots are always cheap, so it's not a tragedy if you don't grow them.

      Isn't summer passing quickly? It's my least favorite season, so I don't mind terribly, but still it's shocking how fleeting time is. Wait until you get my age. It's always Monday or Friday!

      Hugs
      Jane

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  8. My goodness Jane, you have been very busy indeed! All those canning jars lined up with food in them just give me a sense of security for you and your family. :) That last edged curtain is so beautiful and I love the shams you sewed into a furniture cover. I was wondering, how do you keep your onions from going soft when you store them? I have always had problems with that.

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    1. Hi Debbie! A well-stocked pantry is better than insurance!
      As to the onions, firstly, we plant those that are lower in sugar, old-fashioned yellow onions and Alisa Craigs. The sweeter red onions, Vidalias and Walla Wallas just have too much sugar to keep well. Those we use up quickly after they are dug.

      After we dig them, we let them sit out on hot and dry days (no problem this year) to thoroughly dry out before placing them in special bags that are designed for keeping out the sun. We got ours from the Current catalog. We store them in a dark, dry place that stays cool. Ideally it would be a root cellar, but our basement is too damp and warm. We have a closet on the north side of our house that stays constantly cool around 45-60 degrees even in the summer,that we keep our onions and potatoes in. We had good luck keeping them this way up until spring. We plant those that have developed green shoots in the garden to save for seeds.

      Hope that helps!

      Hugs
      Jane

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    2. Thanks for your reply on how you keep thee onions. Maybe that has been my problem...we get the Walla Walla onions around here. ;)

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    3. You're welcome, Debbie. Hope the info helps!

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  9. Oh my goodness all those beautiful jars of home canned food lined up are gorgeous and bring back so many good memories of my small town childhood. You sure have been busy. I love love love old fashioned lace curtains at windows and have got one done here...it just adds to the whole look of the room doesn't it? No signs of Fall's arrival here AT ALL...we have several more months of hot weather left here...the trade off is lovely Fall and Winter when it arrives here is lovely weather and all winter we can walk the beaches and be outside and there is no snow or ice. Plus we have beautiful flowers blooming here year round. We just have TO SURVIVE the blasting heat furnace of summer first....ha ha ha ha LOL Oh I just love a good yard sale! We raised our kids that way....always been frugal and made what we could ourselves. It's just a way of life for us. Enjoy your posts.

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    1. I always felt bad for those of you in the South, with your hot hot summer weather, but you probably feel the same about us Northerners and our winters. Actually I love the snow and cold, and getting a break from gardening. Ha! Sounds like you and I raised our children the same way. I think it's a very fun lifestyle. JUst imagine if the world was laid out at your feet. How would you ever make choices? It would be overwhelming! Hope you're staying cool!

      Hugs
      Jane

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  10. Thanks for sharing all your bargains and the "fruits" of your labor! I'm canning tomatoes and wild plums as they ripen. We've had such rain in Missouri that it slows the ripening.
    Blessings,
    Leslie

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    1. Hi Leslie! It seems this summer, no one is happy with the weather. I'm canning tomatoes too. Small batches as they ripen, just as you are. Sometimes I think it's better to just have a massive canning day and get it done with. But I won't complain. With this year's drought, I'm glad to be able to can anything. Happy canning!


      Hugs
      Jane

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  11. Jane, Your harvest is much bigger than ours as been. We are now in a severe drought in our part of the state. Even though I water -it's just not the same. I'm so glad I have canned goods from last year. I will be taking inventory soon and see how much is left. We are scheduled for some rain today. Any rain is good but I wish it would have came earlier!

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    1. Hi Vickie! Isn't this drought horrible. We only had one brief rain since before the 4th of July. We've given up on watering and are just harvesting what we can. I wanted to can several dozen quarts of tomatoes this year, but I'll be lucky to get one dozen. The one thing it hasn't hurt is peppers. I don't know what to do with them all! We were supposed to get rain today too, but no luck. Went on the Blue Lake garage sale trail today. Slim pickings. Hope you are having a fun summer!

      Hugs
      Jane

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  12. I love to see all the vegetables canned. This is so good when in the Winter you can enjoy it!

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    1. Those jars are better than money in the bank, Angela! Just one of those things we do to gain a measure of independence. Thanks for visiting!

      Jane

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  13. Hi Jane! I am still enjoying your blog! I am trying not to comment too much or else I might decide to come back to blogging and I want to give it a try without that. It is very very hot (98 with heat index 115) here in Delaware. We will begin house-hunting in a couple weeks. I am busy eating tomatoes right now...ha...Hugs, Andrea

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    1. Hi Andrea! It's so good to hear from you again! Are you enjoying retirement? It was hot here too. In the 90s and humid. Fortunately today it cooled down. And we finally got some rain! I'm so excited for you with your house-hunting. I want so badly to build another house with all the salvaged parts I find. Oh well! I'll have to be content with putting in new counter tops. I'm busy canning tomatoes. Ha! Hope you are enjoying your summer!

      Hugs
      Jane

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