Good morning everyone! I hope you are all having a wonderful morning! We are having a beautiful morning. Our temperature this morning was 55°. So nice!

Tuesday we did a hike on one of our local trails. This is such a nice little hike and only about 15 minutes from our house!

We have walked this trail many times however this is the first time we have walked it in the rain! Thankfully, we had umbrellas in the car. The rain actually made for a very nice walk!

A little challenging to keep the cameras dry but that just added to the fun!

Grace going after that one perfect picture!

She got some really nice pictures from there!

The trail is so pretty!

We look forward to walking it again very soon!

God bless!

Just look at these beautiful jalapenos. They were given to us by the same friend and neighbor that gave us the grapes. So today Sam and I made hot sauce.

First we started chopping. He loves chopping!

After we cooked it, we blended it all together. Then we filled his jars.

I LOVE that smile!

Recipe came from https://spicysouthernkitchen.com/peach-habanero-hot-sauce/. We used jalapenos instead of habaneros.

This is the fermented peach jalapeno hot sauce. Recipe says to let it ferment for two weeks before blending it all together. This recipe came from here https://farmsteady.com/blogs/field-guide/recipe-fermented-peach-hot-sauce

Sam and I had a great time making this together.

God bless!

We were blessed with an abundance of grapes given to us by our neighbor. Just look how beautiful they are. These grapes come from a grapevine that is at least 70 years old. Possibly older.

From these, we got 10 gallon bags to put in the freezer to use to make juice later in the year and 6 qts of juice for drinking now. Delicious. I can also make jelly from the juice. Grape jelly is one of our favorites.

We have started to get a few apples from our little apple tree. They are very good.

Grace had a dentist appointment Friday. She surprised us with a treat!

Lastly, I did a little fall decorating at the coffee bar. I like it.

Well, time to start my next project. I am making more corn relish. Enjoy your day and God bless.

Hello everyone!

Trying a new recipe today. I love trying new things! This is spicy corn relish. I think it is so pretty! I did taste it and it is really good. To make it spicy, I used about 1/2 cup of hot peppers in the 2 cups of peppers. Definitely want to make more!

The recipe came from here: https://www.ballmasonjars.com/corn-relish.html

I got the idea from watching Acre Homestead. I love watching her videos.

I also made our first batch of pepper powder. I dehydrate the peppers then grind them up to a powder. It makes awesome seasoning. It is one of my favorite ways to use peppers.

I love preserving food! God bless!

Hello everyone! I hope you all are having a great weekend!

Yesterday was a busy day. First I put 40 ears of corn in the freezer that was given to us by a dear friend.

Then I canned 11 quarts of beef stew. I got the idea from Homesteading Family. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DyTQMVyIfjU&t=24s.

I changed my recipe up a bit by adding corn to some of the jars. It looks really pretty in the jar. It took me all day to can as it was hard for me to chop the vegetables. Thursday I cut my thumb on a can seal. I know that sounds crazy but that’s what happened. It is really sore!

Today we are going to Jess’s. I will be helping her with her closet and Grace and the three older kids will be playing d and d. They love playing that game.

I hope you all have a good day. God bless.

Update: 14 qt jars

Ingredients: 10 lb canning beef cut in small cubes, bouillon cubes, 1 32 oz bag of frozen cubed potatoes, 1 28 oz bag frozen corn. 1 28 oz bag frozen combination peas and carrots, 1 12 oz bag frozen onions

In each jar: layer 1 cup beef, 1 cup potatoes,  1/4 cup onion, corn, peas and carrots, 1 bouillon cube. Fill with water. Process 90 minute 10 lb pressure.

Our peppers are starting to be ready for harvest. I like to chop them into small pieces and freeze them on a cookie sheet. I love those beautiful colors. I then package them into freezer bags for winter. By freezing them on a cookie sheet first, they don’t all clump together when I bag them up. I can just get out however many I want to use .

Another thing I like to do with our peppers is dehydrate them. This is the first batch for the year. When I have dehydrated them all, I will blend them all up into a powder and use them as seasoning. It is so good!

We have been experiencing some cooler weather here and it feels so nice. Feels like fall. Our lows this week have been in the upper 50’s and our highs are mid 70’s. I love it!

I have a few tomatoes to can today but I think that may be the last canning. Probably just eating tomatoes from now on but we’ll see.

I hope you all have a good day and God bless.

Good morning everyone! I hope you have all been having a great week. I made something new to me yesterday. Corn cob syrup! This is the recipe I used.

I got the recipe from http://canninggranny.blogspot.com/2014/07/corn-cob-syrup.html?m=1

I got the idea from That 1870’s Homestead https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ONu6L334ICA

This syrup was so much fun to make.

First I boiled the cobs in a big pot for about two hours.

I was amazed at the pretty color of the juice.

I then boiled it down for about one and a half hours until it reached a temperature of 220 degrees Fahrenheit. I removed the foam as it boiled. I used 8 cups of corn juice, 4 cups of brown sugar and about 1/4 cup of molasses and got nine 4 oz jars. I also canned 3 qts of just corn juice to use later to make more.

I thought it was very good. Next time I want to make a batch using white sugar and vanilla to see which one I like best.

I always like to try new things. God bless.

Good morning everyone! I hope you are all enjoying your summer so far. Things are good here. The garden is doing good.

We are starting to get some harvests. I have dehydrated some squash and zucchini.

I made some kraut from our cabbage.

The recipe I use is 1/2 tsp vinegar, 1/2 tsp sugar and 1/2 tsp salt in each jar. Process 20 minutes in water bath canner.

I have also did a few jars of refrigerator pickles. This one is bread and butter pickles.

This one is dill pickles.

The Bates crew are on vacation. We sure do miss them. Before they left we did a birthday hike with Jess. It was so much fun.

I guess that’s all for now. God bless.

This is one of my new sitting places. For those of you who have been reading my blog for a while, you know I love my shady sitting places.

The rose bush is beautiful this year! It makes the entire yard such a happy place. It blooms right on time every year.

Today is a HARD day. My sweet Julie’s birthday. She would have been 24. It’s so hard to me to think she has been gone from us for 4 years. Sometimes it feels like forever and sometimes it feels like just this morning.

I don’t talk much about her passing on here. It’s just too hard. But today I felt like I could mention it. God is good! All the time!

I hope you all have a good day. God bless!

Good morning everyone! I hope you have all had a good week so far.

Dave and the three older kids came over Sunday to ride their bikes. Dave, Daniel and Sam now have electric bikes. Dave is working on building Katie one. They had a great time.

I have a new tool. It is a Cosori dehydrator. It is SO quiet. I used my birthday money to help me purchase it. I am dehydrating peppers I put in the freezer last summer. I think this will be so helpful for preserving our harvest this year.

Isn’t it pretty!

That’s about all for today. I have tons of work to get done in the garden. So I better get started.

God bless!