What Has Been Keeping Me Busy? Food Preservation!

Among other activities, I have been busy preserving fresh food from our garden and some produce from other people's gardens that they had extra.

I thought I would share a few pictures that I have taken along the way.

I don't have a separate post on each of these, but I just wanted to share some of what I have been up to quickly.

These pictures of my garden beds were taken back in June. The squash plants that you can see in this picture were volunteer. I wasn't sure what type of squash they would be, but I was pretty sure that they would be a cross. They turned out to be something like a pink banana squash. The squash beetles ended killing the plants, but only after they had produced several mature squash for us.

My tomato plants were just babies back then. :) Now they have exploded to be taller than me in some places! And, they are producing some good yields. I have been able to can a few batches of plain tomato sauce this past week.

This sink full of tomatoes came from a neighbor's garden. They were not able to use them and kindly offered some to me. I turned them into 30 pints of salsa.

I am so happy to see my cupboard filling up with canning jars. :)

A relative gave me lots of homegrown cabbage. I don't remember how many pounds I was able to make into sauerkraut. In the end I had a gallon size jar and a quart jar. It is sure to last me a while.

I have also learned how to ferment cumbers into pickles, and have made a few quarts of those with cucumbers from the garden. Sorry I don't have an pictures of that.

These are some tubs of washed and drained kale from the garden. I froze these and got 9 serving sized (maybe 2 cups each) bags in the freezer.

That's a wrap!

Have any of you been preserving Summer's bounty? What types of food do you put up for your family? What preservation methods do you employ the most?

Let me know in the comment section! :)

Genesis 8:22 

While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. 

My Total Eclipse Experience!

I spent a lot of time looking forward to and planning to see the total solar eclipse of August 21, 2017.

I first learned about the upcoming eclipse over two years ago. I made up my mind that nothing short of a disaster would keep me from being in the shadow. At that time the employer that Mr. In The Mid-west had was not likely to give him a day off for something like an eclipse. I was also pregnant. My initial thought was that I would be traveling to see the eclipse with a two year old by myself, without Mr. In The Mid-west. Thankfully, Mr. In The Mid-west's employment has changed and he was able to have the day off.

I looked at the eclipse maps to figure out where I would like to be located along the path of totality. I saw that there was a pretty easy route along interstates to somewhere south of St. Louis, Missouri. The general area was pretty rural and didn't have any very large cities. I just used my fingers to zoom in on the map in the center of the path of totality and came to the town of Sullivan. Close by to Sullivan is a small state park, Maramec State Park. I thought, "Perfect, we can camp at the park Sunday night and watch the eclipse on Monday." I went to the park website to look into reservation and prices. The price was very reasonable, but I couldn't make a reservation more than 6 months in advance.

I didn't check back, about the reservation, until only 2 months before the eclipse. By that time all the camp sites were taken at the Maramec State Park. I looked up all of the state parks in Missouri that were located in the belt of totality. I only found 2 campsites that were available and they weren't even in the best locations. They were kind of on the edge of the shadow band. When I called to make a reservation I was informed that due to the eclipse event they were only allowing reservations that were 3 days in length, and not any 3 days, it had to be that Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. I was not to happy about that, and decided not to make a reservation. We only wanted to stay one night. We would just sleep in our car. We have done it many times. The back seats fold down and we spread our blankets out in the trunk and onto the folded down seats. All of us fit comfortably, and I sleep soundly. Mr. In The Mid-west has trouble getting comfortable sometimes, but he'd rather sleep in the car than rent a hotel room.

In April I bought the solar veiwing glasses. I used some of the money I had made from selling my hair (there is a post about that here) to buy the glasses. I considered it an investment and was hoping to make money on them. Back in June I didn't think my business proposition was going to work out. No one that I talked to was really interested in the eclipse. But, the general population's enthusiasm finally did catch up to mine, and I was able to sell all of my eclipse glasses. Of course, I kept three for our family.

When we were a week out from the Eclipse date I could finally check the weather forecast. We were planning to leave home after church on Sunday night and drive to our veiwing location. In that amount of driving time it would be possible for us to get to Central/Eastern Missouri, Southern Illinois, or Western Kentucky. During the day on Sunday I kept checking the weather forecasts and cloud coverage maps for these areas, trying to make a final decision about which direction we should head that night. The forecasts were similar. They changed slightly throughout the day. It was predicted to be, "Party sunny with a 20-30% chance of thunder storms after 1pm." And, later they switched it to 3 pm. After studying the maps I settled on Sullivan, Missouri. I had asked God many times to allow us to see the total eclipse. All I could do was use what information I had to try and make a good choice and trust God to answer prayer.

We packed the car with our blankets, pillows, stroller, cooler, snacks and water. We double checked a couple times that we did indeed have our solar veiwing glasses. That would have been gut wrenching to arrive and discover that we had left our glasses at home! We had a pretty smooth drive. We got to the Walmart in Sullivan around 12:30am. There were a few other travellers using the Walmart parking lot as a stopping place for the night. We parked and set up our blankets in the car. We left the car running to keep the air conditioning on, and slept soundly until about 6:30am.

The sun was just coming over the horizon, bright and clear. It looked like the beginning of a beautiful day!

We strolled through Walmart for a while. Funny story: I was trying to occupy Boy In The Mid-west while we were in the store. I took him to the sporting goods section and found the fishing bait refrigerator. I opened a few different containers of nightcrawlers to show BMW. He loved it. He touched the clump of worms and then was thrilled to watch them wriggle. As he observed them he said, "Beeauutifull!" And that is BMW for you. He loves critters. He stops to wave and say, "Hi!" to all the caterpillars, birdies, and rabbits he comes across. :)

We drove around and explored Sullivan. We found the fairgrounds, where they were hosting public eclipse veiwing. Some people were already set up with their lawn chairs. The fairgrounds were plenty big and we didn't see any need to find a spot yet. We spent time at the city playground until about 10:30am. Then we went to the fairgrounds to "stake our claim." There was still plenty of room. We parked under a couple of large, sprawling oak trees.

It was a beautiful day! The eclipse began at 11:48am. At that moment Mr. In The Mid-west and I had our glasses on and our eyes on the sun. We could see the ever-so-slight dent at the one o'clock potion on the sun. I could hardly believe that I was actually there getting to see this in real person. I was so excited! I was so grateful for the clear skies.

At first we couldn't take our eyes off of the spectacle. When we did look away we noticed some discomfort in our eyes. I re-read the safety warnings on the glasses and found that we were not supposed to be looking directly at the sun for more than 3 consecutive minutes. After that we only took short glimpses, and our eyes felt fine again.

The eclipse grew, the temperature dropped, and the lighting became strange. All of the things I knew to expect happen, happened. I knew the logistics of what was happening, but no amount of reading or head knowledge could fully prepare me to see the total eclipse. I couldn't experience it through a description. And to be honest I don't have words to describe what it felt like to be in the moon's shadow, to see the sun's Corona, to look at stars in the middle of the day. It was amazing! It was beautiful! It was unbelievable!

As the last vestiges of sunlight were being blocked from veiw our family was up on a grassy knoll, away from the crowd. (I am really surprised none of our fellow watchers came up to that place.) It was eerily dim. The lighting felt heavy.

And if that is all you ever see of an eclipse, it is definitely worth seeing. But, even that minute percentage of sunlight was bright compared to the instant that totality began. It doesn't compare. It was as if the lights were turned out. It wasn't as dark as the mid-night sky, but it was darker than sunset. It was too dark for my cell phone camera to take a decent picture.

As the shadow passed over the grounds you could hear a cheer rise from the crowd, begining off in the distance and coming closer. The people weren't wild or crazy they just sounded happy. And then it was quite. I heard it coming and when the sun became completely blocked I couldn't help but make a noise. A surge of joy and amazement and pure wonder overwhelmed me. I was filled with emotion and I am not sure what feeling to call it. It was a mixture of feelings, I suppose. It was to great of a feeling to hold inside, though, and it came out as laughter. I was tickled, but not in a giddy gleefully way. I was touched. I couldn't believe that I was getting to see something so amazing and beautiful. I felt a huge sense of gratitude. I was grateful to be there, to have a clear view, to have eye sight, to share this experience with my loved ones. I was excited. This all probably sounds sappy, but you would have to be there to experience it with all of your senses to know what you would feel like.

There were 2 minutes and 31 seconds to enjoy this phenomenal event. We took a picture of us all together under the moon's shadow. We looked around. I saw the night lights come on down by a hospital building.  I saw two stars, that were probably planets. I saw a moth fluttering about. We stared at the "sun". It was a black hole in the sky with a shimmering Halo. It was unlike anything else you see in the natural world. BMW was amazed. I hope he can remember some of the event. I remember somethings from when I was two years old, so I know it is possible.

And, just like that, it was over. As the first beams of sunlight touched Earth again (at least that particular spot on Earth) we had to put on our glasses again. I heard someone holler to the man who had driven 13 hours from Texas with his young son to be there, "Was that worth the trip from Texas?" Which was answered with a hardy, "Absolutely!"

And, I agree, it was definitely worth the drive. I am glad we didn't have to travel that far, but if I had to drive 13 hours to see it again I would. It was so worth the trip!

I guess another thing that makes an eclipse so special is that they are so rare and exclusive. You have to be in a limited location at a particular time to see it. It only lasts for a few minutes. You only have those few minutes to soak up enough eclipse experience to last a lifetime. Very rarely will an average person get to see more than one total eclipse in their life. And if you are privileged with the ability to travel the world you are only likely to see a handful of eclipses in your entire life. You can't rewind the experience. You can't fully relive the event through video. I can think of few things in life that are so rare and un-repeatable.

I have looked at the maps for future eclipses and I hope to see at least two more total eclipse of the sun before I die. The one in 2024 and 2045.

And I want to encourage you, my reader, if it is at all possible for you to see a total solar eclipse, please, please, make the trip. You won't regret it. I promise!

Psalms 40:5

Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.

Butterfly Metamorphosis!

We found a caterpillar in my herb bed a couple of weeks ago.

I brought the dill plant, that the caterpillar was on, inside. I put the dill sprig into a quart jar.

It was sticking out of the jar, much like flowers in a vase would. I had a suspicion that this caterpillar was preparing to form it's chrysalis because of how slowly it was moving and how uninterested it was on eating.

Sure enough, with in a day it climbing off of the dill and found a place on my recipe box to form it's chrysalis.

After about two weeks the butterfly was ready to hatch. I noticed the chrysalis had turned a dark color yesterday morning. This made me think that I would be seeing a butterfly before the day was over.

We didn't catch the butterfly coming out of the chrysalis, but when we saw it it was still very floppy and wilted. It took several hours for it to pump it's wings full of fluid and let them dry out.

It was so fun to release the butterfly and watch it use it wings for the first time. It is amazing what a transformation takes place in just a couple of weeks inside a chrysalis!

Genesis 1:25 (KJV) 

And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

No Bake Cheese Cake Recipe: One Of Our Favorites

Yesterday was Mr. In The Mid-west's birthday! He requested this no bake cheese cake for his birthday.

This cheese cake is easy and delicious! It requires no baking, and therefore, no unnecessary heating of the house in the summer, always a plus. :)

No Bake Cheese Cake

Graham Cracker Crust: (Optional: I often make a shortbread crust instead of graham cracker. Both are good.)

1 1/2 cups Graham Cracker Crumbs

2 TBS. Sugar

6 TBS. Butter, melted

Filling:

1 - 8 oz. pkg. Cream Cheese, softened

1/2 cup Granulated Sugar

1 cup Sour Cream

2 tsp. Vanilla Favoring

8 oz. Whipped Cream (cool whip will work.)

Combine cracker crumbs, 2 TBS. sugar, and butter to make the graham cracker crust.  Press into the bottom of a 8×8 inch baking dish. This crust tastes better if it is toasted in a 350° F. oven for 15 minutes, but if you don't want to run your oven, it still tastes good without baking.

To make the filling, cream softened cream cheese and sugar until light and combined. Add sour cream and vanilla flavoring, mix well.

Whip cream until soft peaks form. Fold whipped cream into cream cheese mixture.

Pour into prepared crust. Chill in refrigerator for a minimum of 4 hours, preferably over night.

Serve with your choice of toppings.
Enjoy!

Sleeping Dogs Pigs In A Blanket Recipe

I saw this idea on a cooking video. Making these Sleeping Dog Pigs in A Blanket was a fun project.

My Sleeping Dogs were not nearly as cute as the lady's in the video. Some of the heads got pretty lopsided, and the faces were challenging to draw.

I made a few practice faces on the cutting board. The angle of the heads made it difficult to "draw" the faces on, not to mention, they were piping hot, straight out of the oven.

More important than the looks was the taste. Mr. In The Mid-west said the bread on these Pigs In A Blanket was excellent! He really liked it. :)

To make the Sleeping Dog shape, I took the portion of dough and divided it into two pieces. The smaller piece was about 1/3 of the portion of dough.

I rolled the larger piece out big enough to fit a half of a hot dog onto.

I pinched the long edges together.

 At one end of the hot dog I folded the dough under.

At the other end I pinched the open to seal it shut. The I used scissors to snip the flap into what would be the dog's front legs.

To make the dog's head I formed the small piece of dough into a flattened circle.

I used scissors to cut the ears away from the face.

I pinched the corners of the face together to make a rounded chin.

I used the egg wash to attach the dog's head to the body. I think this was a mistake. The egg wash made the area very slippery. I think the heads would have had a better connection without the egg wash.

Before going into the oven the whole surface of the dough got an egg wash. This made them turn out nicely browned and glossy.

To make the "paint" for the faces I mixed together a small amount of flour and cocoa powder with a tiny amount of water. I didn't have a recipe for this part, so I had to improvise.

Here is the recipe:

Sleeping Dogs Pigs In A Blanket

1 pound of hotdogs (8 hotdogs) cut in half

4 1/2 tsp. Yeast

3/4 cup Warm Water

1/3 cup Sugar

1 tsp. Salt

2 eggs

1/2 cup Butter, room temperature

4 cups All-purpose Flour

Egg Wash:

1 Egg, beaten

2 TBS. Water

Face Paint:

Flour

Cocoa powder

Water

To make the bread dough, dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Stir in the sugar, salt, 2 eggs, butter, and 2 cups of flour. Beat until smooth. Mix in remaining flour until smooth. Knead dough until elastic and gluten is developed. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 1 1/2 hours.

Punch down dough. Divide into 16 even pieces. Shape each piece around the hot dog halves as described above to make sleeping dog shapes.

Place on a greased baking sheet. Brush with egg wash. Bake in preheated oven at 400° F. for 10 minutes. 

Remove from oven. Quickly pipe on faces with cocoa powder/flour/water paste.

Return to oven for 1 minute.

Remove from oven cool slightly. Serve warm with ketchup (if desired).

Wednesday Hodgepodge #314

1. Growing up, were you close to your grandparents? Tell us one or two specific things you remember about them.

I have memories of my maternal grandparents and my paternal grandmother, as well as, a few great-grandparents. 
I have the most memories of my paternal grandmother because she lived the closest. I remember fishing with her, going to spend the night at her house, and cutting fire wood with her and my Dad, just to name a few memories. I remember weekends when my family and my Uncle's family would all go to Grandma's house. We would order pizza from the local Casey's General Store and Grandma would make her "famous" salad. I got to be the taste tester for Grandma's Salad dressing quiet often. I would always say it needed to be more sour. "The sourer the better!" I love my Grandma's Salad. She chopped iceberg lettuce and tossed in black olives and Parmesan cheese. For the dressing she mixed lemon juice and salad oil. She put the seasoning straight on the salad. She uses a generous amount of celery salt and garlic salt. I still love Grandma's Salad. I need to make some. :)

2. What's an item you were attached to as a child? What happened to it?

I don't remember having a particular item that I was attached to growing up. The non-person things that I spent the most time playing with were our swing set, my bicycle, and my favorite climbing tree. My siblings were what I was most attached to growing up. We were best friends and had such good times together. We still have a great time when we get together! :)

3. When you look out your window, do you see the forest or the trees (literally and figuratively)? Explain.

The trees, literally and figuratively. We live in a neighborhood and there are no forests near by. As far as figuratively goes, it is easy to think about the things that pertain to today and tomorrow, but looking at the big picture doesn't happen as often.

4. Do you like sour candies? Which of the 'sour' foods listed below would you say is your favorite?

grapefruit, Greek yogurt, tart cherries, lemons, limes, sauerkraut, buttermilk, or kumquats 

Have you ever eaten a kumquat? What's your favorite dish containing one of the sour foods on the list?

This is a long question!
I do like sour candies.
I like grapefruit, Greek yogurt, tart cherries, lemons, limes, and sauerkraut. My favorite is lemon.
I have never eaten a kumquat.
I like all of these sour foods plain, for the most part. I would like some lemon juice on a salad rightnow. :)

5. July 1st marked the mid point of 2017. In fifteen words or less, tell us how it's going so far.

Half a year over,
Cold will come soon.
Why did you remind me?

6. Insert your own random thought here.

I really enjoyed thinking about my memories of my Grandparents. I think it would be a good project for me to write down more of these memories. It would probably be something to pass on to my children.

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Embroidered Hair Band

I made this hair band as a birthday gift for my sister. Her birthday is actually today, so, "Happy 6th Birthday!" to her. :)

(Picture used with permission.)

Isn't she so cute! She has such lovely curly hair, but, she gets really frustrated by it being in her way. I thought maybe the hair band would help her a little.

I did some modeling with it just to get pictures. And, I did take LOTS of pictures!

I would like to make a few more of these hair bands in the future. I made this design up as I went, so the pictures will help me replicate it someday.

I have been wearing more hair accessories lately. I style my hair very plainly. Almost every single day of my life I put hair in a bun, and that is all I do.

I put my hair in a bun every day because it is easy, convenient, and protects my hair, and, since I want to be able to sell it for a high price I want it to stay in good condition.

I have found adding accessories to my plain style has been a fun way to express some of my personality. I think I would use an embroidered piece like this pretty frequently.

The design was inspired by Mexican and Hungarian styles of embroidery (what a combination! Right?). I did several searches on Pinterest that gave me some good ideas.

The flowers are comprised mostly from satin stitch with a backstitch boarder. I used 3 strands of floss for the satin stitch as well as the backstitch.

The stems between the larger flowers is a stem stitch using 3 strands of floss while the smaller stems are backstitching using 2 stands of floss. The leaves are some type of herring bone stitch, I believe. I did a blanket stitch detail around some of the leaves using just 1 strand if thread.

I used an unbleached linen to make the band from. I liked the end product, but it would be easier to embroider finer details with a more tightly woven fabric.

After I stitched the design I sewed the back on by putting the right sides together, adding a layer between the front and back to act as interfacing, stitching with a 1/4" seam allowance down the long edges, and then turning it right side out.

I decided to make the tie straps from the linen, as opposed to using a ribbon, because the linen would offer more grip and be more likely to stay tied.

The overall length is slightly over 30 inches. I think it is a good length. It was not hard to tie on nor was there a lot of excess.

When I finish assembling the band I did a boarder stitch through all the layers to add visual completeness as well as to keep the casing from rolling.

Favorite Picture Book: Goody O'Grumpity

This picture book is one of our favorites. Boy In The Mid-west brings it to me quite often, and I almost have it memorized. ;) The rhyming words give clues to what is going on, but the pictures are where the real story is told. The artwork is exquisite, and well researched.

This story is set in colonial America. The day to day life of the eighteenth century is portrayed through the illustrations. Goody O'Grumpity is up early, even before the story starts (in the cover page illustrations), stiring her pot over the open hearth. She has to tend the fire. Milk the cow. Churn the butter. Collect the eggs. Prepare her cake, (which, true to eighteenth century cooking resembles a yeast bread more than anything we consider "cake" today.) All the while, the sing-song words to the story barely touch  on these tasks, and focus more on describing the sights and sounds.

When she takes the cake to bake in the oven, you can see another aspect of colonial cooking. The oven is an earthenware structure, built on on elevated surface, and protected from rain by a slanting roof. To cook in an oven like this you have to start a fire inside the oven and let it burn for a few hours. When the oven is thoroughly heated, the coals and ashes are removed from the oven, and the, un-baked, baked goods are added. The oven would stay hot for hours, and the whole village would do all of their baking on one day in the community oven or ovens.

As the cake bakes the aroma fills the country side. The pictures take us through the settlement. We observe that is fall. The tree leaves are changing color. Families are harvesting pumpkins. A man is catching a trout from the river. A fine lady sits and stitches on a tapestry. We get a glimpse into the neighboring Indian village. The story ends with all (of the many) children getting a slice of Goody's freshly baked cake.

At the end of the book is a recipe for Goody O'Grumpity's Cake, which is good because my mouth is watering by the end of the story. I hope to try it someday. Maybe it will make it into a future blog post. ;)

When Goody O'Grumpity Baked A Cake

By Carol Ryrie Brink

When Goody O'Grumpity baked a cake

The tall reeds danced by the mournful lake,

The pigs came nuzling out of their pens,

The dogs run sniffing  and so did the hens,

And the children flocked by dozens and tens.

They came from the north, the east and the south.

With wishful eyes and watering mouth,

And stood in a crowd about Goody's door,

Their muddy feet on her sanded floor.

And what's do you s'pose they came to do!

Why, to lick the dish when Goody was through!

And throughout the land went such a smell

Of citron and spice - no words can tell

How cinnamon bark and lemon rind,

And round, brown nutmeg grated fine

A wonderful haunting perfume wove,

Together with allspice, ginger and  clove,

When Goody but opened the door of her stove.

The children moved close in a narrowing ring,

They were hungry - as hungry as bears in the spring;

They said not a word, just breathed in the spice

And at last when the cake was all golden and nice,

Goody took a great knife and cut each a slice.