And also...

Some buttercrunch lettuce and mustard greens.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.4

Today's garden bounty

Cherry tomatoes (of various types), jalepenos, bright lights swiss chard...

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.4

No Tv challenge...

So....for reasons I'll explore more later, september is officially no tv month at our house. Day two and the boys are using one of their exceptions to watch a movie with my mom, and the camp guy and I are using one of our exceptions to watch a movie, since the boys are not here! Hmmmmm.....

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.4

Sourdough

Yea! The sourdough turned out great, and the rest of the starter is happily ensconced in the fridge. I'm also happy to report that the yogurt cheese turned out ok, too. I added some fresh herbs, cumin, salt & pepper. It was good, but still pretty tart, so I'm gonna keep working on it. I found a recipe to make ricotta with the leftover whey, and tried it, but I pretty much just ended up with a bowl of warm whey. So that one was a fail! Two out of three's not so bad, right?

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.4

Fresh cucumber salsa!

Not much bounty from the garden this year, but today I made this delicious, spicy salsa with two cukes, some red and yellow tomatoes and a handful of jalapenos from the garden. I added some onion, salt and a splash of lime juice. Turned out pretty well. Hope it's good enough to make up for the really stale chips!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.4

Making yogurt cheese!

I've missed you!  And to celebrate my return to this blog, I'm making yogurt cheese! (And also, because I wanted to experiment...) 
My cousin gave me a gift certificate to King Arthur Flour for my birthday, with which I purchased some sour dough bread starter and a yogurt maker (because I need another kitchen appliance like I need another hole in my head).  SO, I made the yogurt, and now it's hanging in this lovely bag in my kitchen, to let the whey drain out of it.  Hopefully, this will then produce a cream cheese like substance called yogurt cheese.  
I'm curious if any of you have done this before.  How did it turn out?  What did you add to it after this (salt, herbs, spices,...)?  Did you keep the whey and do something with it?  
I'll keep you posted on how mine turns out.

Holy Gingerbread, Batman!

Is it December already?  Where does the time go?  And speaking of flying time, Biscuit (our oldest.  The nickname is a story for another day.) turned NINE today. 

Nine.

n. i. n. e…..

*sigh*

We did have a fun day, despite my resistance to the idea of him being NINE.

(did I mention that he turned NINE?!)

We went to a gingerbread competition that was sponsored by the school, which turned out to be more of a craft/game/gingerbread fest.  My big concern was getting the houses there intact, which we did manage to do!  Their big concern was winning, which we didn’t manage to do.  We did, however, manage to have fun and make some new friends!

I really loved looking at all the houses and seeing how differently the kids interpreted the idea of a gingerbread “house”.  Here are ours.

One with grass, swimming pool complete with diving board and marshmallow gingerbread swimmer, and campfire.  One with a moat and people climbing the outer walls of the house.  I’ll let those of you who know my kids guess whose is whose! ;)

One of my favorites was sort of a diamond in the rough.  From the front it looked sort of lumpy and gray.  Then I looked at the other side and it made total sense.

It was the bat cave, y’all!  I didn’t meet the boy who made it, but his creation was a big hit with my boys.  Kudos to you, mystery gingerbread artist!  Love the creativity.

By the way, people, if your kid is in a contest like this, don’t do it for them.  It’s way more fun to see what they come up with!

Happy December, everybody.

Do you need a better reason…

to take care of your mother?  I read today that we lose an area of rainforest the size of Atlanta every 25 minutes.  EVERY 25 MINUTES, Y’ALL.  That’s messed up.

These pics aren’t of rainforest, but they are in some places that sure are amazing!  Did you know that the water from the Rocky Mountain snow, ends up in 80% of the water supply of the United States?  What other things are connected that we never think about?

Tomorrow, let’s all say a little prayer of thanks for this awesome planet we’ve been given. 

Enjoy the pictures! 

 

Hope you all have a wonderful, joyous Thanksgiving!

Thankful Thursday

I know I've missed a few Thursdays lately, but I'm thankful that you'll forgive me for that!

There are so many things I'm thankful for this week...

*for gatherings that support and encourage - it has been a great week, and I'm so grateful for the chance to be here and for these people.  I've also been fortunate to spend some time with my brother and his family, who I see far too rarely.

*for the beauty of the Rocky Mountains - I love Georgia, but the scenery here is stunning.  We went back to Rocky Mountain National Park this morning and it took our breath away.  I'm also tickled that we got to see some elk up close, a coyote, and various and sundry other wildlife.  The camp guy and I also had a chance to spend some time with a friend we don't see very often.  Thanks for joining in on our adventure, K.

*I'm thankful for cameras - I've been acting like a crazy tourist all week snapping a multitude of pictures.  Sometimes I take them for granted, but I love that I'll have photos to show the boys when we get home.


What are you thankful for this week?

Travelling

We haven't really done a whole lot of travelling the last few years, so it seems strange to tell you we're on another trip this week, when we just had a trip last month, but here we are!  We're in Colorado this week for a conference, staying in the mountains, which are GORGEOUS!  I'll post some pics later, but just know that you ARE going to be jealous.... at least until I tell you we've been out walking around from building to building in the snow and lots of WIND. 

Even though this is a working conference (yea, camp!), the people here are folks who get together once a year to laugh with and learn from and support each other. The camp guy comes every year, but this is the first time I've been able to join in the fun. It's a really great bunch and I am so thankful for them, for the ministries they do, for the faith with which they move through their lives and ours.

Bless one another, folks.  Be real and honest.  Live with grace and love and humor.   And if you know anyone who works at a camp or retreat center - let them know how much you appreciate what they do.  That encouragement means so much!

Jean

I think i like violet flavored candy about as much as i like lavender cookies. *blech*

Happy Halloween!

Thankful Thursday….errrr, Friday!

Ok, so my latest installment of Thankful Thursday is happening today instead of yesterday, but better late than never, right?

We spent yesterday on the road, and I am thankful, once more, for safe travel.  We had to replace the radiator in the van while we were gone, and I’m thankful that we found out while we were there and NOT while we were on the road!

I’m also so, so thankful for moment like these.  Grab them while you can, my friends.  They are SO precious.

What are you thankful for this week?

Thankful Thursday

Aaaaaaand - here is is, our first installment of Thankful Thursdays.  I'd really love for you to help me think of a better name, too.  Glimpses of Gratitude? Grateful and Glad? Thankful and ....Therrific?  .... Yeah, that's why I need your help.  Send me some ideas - please, if not for me, for your own sake - so you limit your exposure to my cheezy ideas!

All jokes aside, the things I am truly thankful for this week are...

• Safe Travel - We drove to St. Simon's today.  Every time we get on the road as a family for a trip like this I am keenly aware of how blessed we are to make it to our destination safely. (and how glad I am that our old van made another trip without something needing repair!)
• Family vacations.  We don't get these often enough (does anyone?), but I so enjoy them when we do.  The camp guy is actually working for part of this trip (it's work trip that we've extended to make into a vacation), and of course, the boys and I will be doing school work, but Mimi and P-pop are joining us the day after tomorrow and we're going to make lots of time to just have fun together.
• My family.  All of them.  They drive me crazy sometimes, but when it comes right down to it my family rocks.  I'm so, so lucky to have them.

What are you thankful for today?

Love Y'all!
Jean

Gratitude

I got a few more apples processed today.  Still have lots left, but I’m whittling them down a little at a time.  It’s harder to do a large batch in the middle of the week when we’re doing school and, well, you know – life!

While I had a moment today, I read an article in the latest Mary Jane’s Farm magazine, about a couple who have built a whole business around the idea of gratitude.  It struck me, because of the content of the article, but also because I had just read another article about changing your attitude from one of questioning to one of recognizing things to be thankful for. I love this idea, by the way – the notion that we, ALL of us, have things to be thankful for, if only we take the time to recognize and identify them.  Not that everyone’s life is just peachy every moment of every day, of course.  It’s just that, in the midst of even the worst tragedy or the most difficult times, there are small comforts, or people who care for us, or even just beautiful sunsets that we can appreciate and for which we can give thanks.

That’s why I thought I’d start a new weekly feature!  From now until the end of December, we’ll be celebrating Thankful Thursdays.  Every Thursday, I’ll list the things I’m most thankful for that week. I’d love for you to join me, and list what you’re most appreciative of that week as well.

Even though is isn’t Thursday yet, I’ll go head and tell you that I’m ALWAYS thankful for you!  I don’t know why you listen to all my ramblings, but I’m so glad you keep coming by.  Thanks for supporting this hectic eclectic girl.

Applesauce Prom

It’s apple season, y’all!  This week we went on a field trip to an orchard, and Mom and I came back with  apples.  The lady that we spoke to was kind enough to show us the “2nd grade” apples that she uses when she’s making sauce.  For $12/bushel (vs. $26 for the ones with no blemishes), we decided on three bushels of Mutsu, Golden Delicious and Winesap for applesauce and canning. 

When we got started on our project today, my Nana said, “You know… there’s this company called Motts…” which of course the Camp Guy thought was terribly funny!  I have to tell you, though, with no ill will to Motts, they never had so much entertainment in the kitchen as we do!

Here are some of the Mutsu and Golden Delicious in Mom’s sink.  You can see some of them have a few have spots, but even though we were not shy about cutting them out, we lost very few apples.  I will definitely go this route again next year!

  This is my apple peeler, corer, slicer.  I don’t know how to tell you how much I love this thing.  Many, many thanks to Aunt Jane for spending so much time working on it today.

Here is small portion of the apples we did, soaking in a lemon juice solution, waiting for their turn in the pot.

After cooking and a trip through the food mill, here is… TA-DA – Applesauce!  At one point, as I was stopping again to take another picture for you we started joking about posing, to which I replied, “It’s not prom!”  Aunt Jane immediately declared that yes, it was indeed – Applesauce prom!  I have no idea what that means, but being a bit giddy from hours in the kitchen makes many things funny, thus Applesauce Prom was born.

We ended up the day with 22 quarts and 7 pints of applesauce, plus a gallon size bag of apples that went in Mom’s freezer.  PLUS, I still have just under half of the apples left!  Guess I know what I’ll be doing tomorrow…

A little visitor

showed up in the yard the other day.  The camp guy obliged the two VERY curious boys and caught our lucky (unlucky?) visitor, so that they could get a good look at him.  He’s now back in the woodpile so he can keep hunting. Quite a fine specimen of a garter snake if you ask me – very handsome in his yellow stripes and checks. 

Autumn's Spell

The moon tonight is a somber, orange sliver of itself.

There's a wisp of a cloud in front of it,
making it look as if the man in the moon is speaking.

I imagine he's speaking to me -
some ancient wisdom of fall, of leaves and harvest
and crisp, cool weather.

His voice soothes and enchants me. 

It mingles with the music of the coyotes, singing in the distance.

Once again,
 I am under Autumn's spell.

My other new adventure

I’ve also started another project, since I’m no longer working.  I’m now an Avon lady!  I think the camp guy is happy, too, since I’ve actually been wearing makeup lately.
I’ve been pleasantly surprised by what I’m learning about the company - not that I thought they were bad, but they’re making a real effort to be a socially conscious company.  They are huge supporters of the fights against breast cancer and domestic violence.  AND more pertinently to this blog, they have a new line of products that are made with FAIR TRADE ingredients!
You can check out my Avon site at HERE.  Right now, all my new customers get FREE shipping!  You know you want to buy something…
Jean

edited to add - I fixed the link, so you can now actually get to my Avon site.

The Hectic Eclectic Family’s New Adventure

We have embarked on a new adventure, and I wasn’t sure if I should tell you about it or not.  It’s not a secret, it’s just that this is not really that sort of blog.  Since I tell you all about my antics, though, and since this is such a big part of our lives now, I’m not going to be able to NOT talk about it so here goes….

We’re homeschooling!  Well, err… sort of.  The program that we’re in is actually public school, at home.  Think of it like a hybrid – the support and resources of public school with the flexibility of homeschooling.  We have a designated curriculum, but I get to supplement as I see fit.  We’re assigned to a certified teacher for support and guidance, but I’m their learning coach.  The lesson plans are done for us, but we decide the schedule.

I won’t bore you with all the details, but we’re starting week three and we’re starting to settle in.  I’m excited about the possibilities that this holds for us – and still a little terrified about implementing it all, but that gets a little less each day.

I’ll keep you posted!

Jean

ps.  if you want more information about the program we’re in, check out Georgia Cyber Academy.