More Frozen Peaches

(it is peach season around these parts. this is the second method for freezing peaches that i've done this year. the pictures are from last year. the first method is this one.)

Deon's Frozen Peaches Recipe

2 quarts peeled/skinned and diced peaches

1 cup sugar

3 teaspoons fruit fresh

1. place all the ingredients into a bowl

2. stir and mix them all up

3. divide the batch in half and place in two labeled quart freezer bags

4. press flat and lay in your freezer to freeze

Green Beans

Let me tell you a story...

Once upon a time there was a girl that loved to garden. She loved the planning, and the planting. The watching and the waiting.

But one year, the girl didn't grow a garden. 

In the beginning, there were too many things happening all at once, and it just didn't seem quite possible. Then the spring came and went. And then the summer came and went too. And then the fall came.

The girl was sad. She missed her garden.

Luckily for her, she had a grandpa. A grandpa that loved to garden. Every year. Without fail.

This grandpa also loved to share. And so the girl was blessed.

(not) The End

 This recipe is from a girl in my ward that was kind enough to share it with me. Her husband, our bugman, raves about these green beans. So I thought I'd better give them a try. My grandpa has more beans coming on, so I will most likely be bottling more later this week. Next time I'm doing pints.

Angelene's Green Bean Recipe

1. place washed green beans into quart jars

2. sprinkle 1 tsp. sugar then 1 tsp. salt

3. fill jars with water

4. put lids on jars

5. place jars in pressure cooker with appropriate amount of water   (check the instruction booklet)

6. steam for 10 minutes

7. then cook for 25 minutes at 15 pounds pressure (depends on your elevation)

(the cooking time for pints is 20 minutes. halve the sugar and salt as well.)

How To Freeze Peaches

This year, I learned two new ways to preserve peaches. TWO. (I just love to learn.) They are both easy to do.

I thank my friend Terra, for sharing this first one with me. She told me about it one night at a great Relief Society activity (put on by Maridee, who has her own peach recipe going on over there). Later, when I called Terra for specifics, she was so very helpful in her explanantions.

We love to make smoothies. These are perfect for them.

1. wash and peel the peaches.

2. cut into quarters, then eighths.

3. place on waxed paper baking sheets. sprinkle with fruit fresh.

4. place baking sheets in freezer. freeze.

5. label freezer bags with date and content, put peaches inside. (i use the gallon sized bags.) store in the freezer.

And that's how you do it! Oh so very sastisfying. Has anyone else given this a try?

On another note...I'd just like to tell my peachy husband that I love him and HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! Fourteen years. WHOA.

Paper Airplane

When Isaac was little I checked a book out from the library on how to make paper airplanes. I never imagined that those ariplanes would become a such a part of our lives! Isaac still likes paper airplanes. Although now he can make his own. Right now, it's Asher's turn.

I know how to make two basic airplanes. I'm going to share my favorite one.

See that last picture? He crumpled it up in the time it took me to change a load of laundry from the washer to the dryer.

Paper Peonies

The birthday decorations have finally, FINALLY come down. They've been up since the end of March. MARCH. First for Aryn and then for Zoe. I have to admit though, I liked having them up. They're so pretty and added fun color to the kitchen.

I got the idea from Keri, who made some for her daughter's birthday. Heather made some cute polka dot ones for her sister-in-laws baby shower, and I saw some over on Autumn's blog for a bridal shower. So they're pretty versatile decorations, easy to make, and look beautiful hanging from the ceiling!!

My mom has made them a lot for different things, so she came over and showed me how to make them. Let me show YOU how it's done...

You will need: tissue paper, scissors, garbage ties or wire, yarn.

You can use 6 or 8 sheets of tissue paper.
Decide on the size of flower you want. Small-cut the tissue paper in half. Medium-cut some of the top off. Large-use the full size.
Fold the paper back and forth into an accordion fan.
Cut the ends on both sides into either a rounded shape or a point (like the white).

Twist the garbage tie or wire around the middle of the accordion fan.

Very carefully, pull the sheets of tissue paper apart individually toward the wired center. Go slowly because the paper rips VERY easily. Make sure to do this to both sides.

Voila! A beautiful paper peony.
Make a bunch of different colors and sizes, tie on some yarn, and hang them from your ceiling. (I'm thinking of hanging ours back up in the girls' room.)

Soil Mixture Recipe

This is the soil recipe from the book I'm reading. It's called Mel's Mix. I started this on Saturday, while Gene was away with the three older ones. IT WAS A LOT OF HARD WORK!

This will fill three 4 foot x 4 foot boxes.
ingredients:

3.8 cubic feet peat moss and 2 bags of 4 cubic feet vermiculite.

8 cubic feet of 5 different bags of compost. The dump didn't have their compost ready. I'm hoping I'll get some on the next batch!

I had to mix everything in half batches. There was SO much. This is half of the 5 bags of compost. The other half is in the wheelbarrow.

Mixing in one bag of vermiculite with the compost. Vermiculite is VERY lightweight. The bag size looks deceptively large at the nursery.
Mixing in the peat moss. Now, peat moss on the other hand, is VERY heavy. I couldn't lift it. I had to have help at the nursery, and at my house ( my dad lifted it out of the truck). And I rolled it around my backyard.
The final product.
The pitchfork was wonderful. (I'm so glad I asked for it at Christmas.) My black boots: also wonderful, for mixing up a bunch of crap. Literally. The tarp was small, but necessary for mixing everything.

The boxes filled up. By the time I got to fill them on Monday, everyone was back home. Like I said. VERY HARD WORK!

Garden Boxes

Last Friday, I took the two littlest kids with me to Home Depot. We bought these 2 x 6's and had the store cut them into 4 foot lengths to make 3 garden boxes. I also bought a bag of turkey manure compost.

Later that evening, Gene told me that my grandpa had some old 2 x 6's at his house we could cut up and use. We went over the next day, and found lumber good enough to make 4 boxes.

We drilled 3 holes into one end of each board. That took awhile because the drill bit kept slipping down. (Also, I had Gene take a picture of me drilling because it always looks like HE'S the one doing all the work.) Anyway, we thought we had the right length of screws at home, but it turns out we didn't. So we loaded everyone up and took a trip over to Ace Hardware.

We got home and started fastening the boards together by rotating the corners to make a square box. Gene and I both think we probably could have done without the predrilling.

7 boxes down, 3 more to go! I'm going to get to go back to Home Depot. Yipee!

(After many pencil erasures, this is the layout I've finally decided upon. The drawings should be switched around.)

Wherever My Nose Goes

"Where ever my nose goes, I follow.

Where ever my nose goes, I follow.

Where ever my nose goes, I follow...IT!"

Take one nose. And 2 Tablespoons sea salt.

Mix in Lavendar, Thyme,

Rosemary, Chamomile,

Lemon balm, And rose petals.

What do you get? BATH TEA!!






We had so much fun making these! We followed our noses all around the backyard learning about our Sense of SMELL. Guess which smell the girls all chose as their favorite?