This past week, I did a lot of rearranging of pictures in the house. I changed out some pictures in frames that we already had and hung pictures in the house in new places. I also redesigned my gallery wall above the dining table. I had to steal three matching frames from elsewhere in…
It’s the middle of summer and temperatures here reached 114º (45ºC) last week. We’re mostly staying indoors, but we did get some things picked from the garden, including table grapes and Concord grapes. I’ve had a Concord vine for many years, and this is the first time I’ve harvested from it. I have 2…
This post contains affiliate links. I spent a lot of time organizing this past week. We moved furniture around in the house to other rooms, filled several bags to donate (and dropped them off at the thrift shop), sold furniture on the local Facebook garage sale page (and put a price tag of $0…
We picked peaches, apricots, and grapes from the garden. I canned 4 quarts of applesauce, 10 1/2 pints apricot vanilla jam, 9 quarts of peaches, and 9 quarts of grape juice from our garden produce. I canned 4 quarts of cranberry juice and 4 1/2 pints of cranberry sauce with cranberries I had bought in…
With so many fruits ripe in the garden all at once (which are normally spread out from June through August) my first priority is to take care of the fruit in the garden. I need to cover grapes from the birds, pick apricots, peaches, and grapes. I’ll also be canning. Because so much has been…
Peaches and grapes are ripe in my garden, albeit a few weeks earlier than normal. This year, the mockingbirds have appeared in my garden, and they have figured out that my green grapes are ripe. I’ll be covering as many grape bunches as I can with paper bags to allow them to continue to ripen…
Note: This post contains affiliate links. My 14-year-old daughter, Winter, has been working on a sewing project for the last couple of months. She participated in a Pioneer handcart trek, and everyone was supposed to dress for the time period. This is a living history event where groups of people recreate a Mormon pioneer handcart…
Last week did not go at all as I had planned. The garden has a myriad of fruit ripe all at once, which is normally ripe over a three month period, leaving me scrambling to harvest and preserve it. Normally we would just eat most of it fresh and preserve some of it, but the…
We picked apples, plums, peaches, and apricots from the garden. I cut two bunches of grapes from the garden. We cut larkspur, gladiolas, and lilies from the garden for three flower arrangements inside. I planted seeds for cucumbers yet again in my garden, as most of my seedlings have once again disappeared. Though I…
I harvested Green Gage plums, Dorsett Golden apples, 2 bunches of Red Flame grapes, and the last of the blackberries from the garden. I cut garlic chives, Swiss chard, and green onions from the garden. I cut larkspur and roses from the garden. I sewed a peasant blouse for Elsa from some fabric trim I…
Last week I had three family members gone at camp for the majority of the week. I took on many of their chores myself, so my list for this week is much shorter than usual. When everyone asks how I get so much done, it really is because everyone helps with chores. We picked figs…
Pavlovas are such a simple thing to make. Hands’ on time is very little. The hardest part is waiting for the meringues to cook. Everything is quick and easy. You can top them with any fruit you have on hand. I used blackberries and white strawberries from my garden that I simply tossed with…