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Friday, November 2, 2012

Kraut and Potatoes

This summer was NOT a busy summer in the garden, but I will get to that later. We did however plant a couple of things..... cabbage and potatoes (we are good irish gardeners!). They both made a great crop this year and we have a lot of goodies from them.
 
 
KRAUT:
 
 
Cabbage in full bloom (and amazingly no bugs this year!)
 



The girls helped pick, cut and wash the cabbage. Such hard workers!

Look how pretty!
 

Chopping the cabbage to make kraut.
 

 
 Little Bit helps pour the canning salt and press the cabbage down into the bucket. (Our "recipe" is a layer of cabbage, a layer of canning salt, press, repeat. When bucket is 3/4 full, fill with water. Cover with cheese cloth and lid with pressure release value. Let sit for 4 to 6 weeks (depending on the temp), adding water and scraping top layer as needed. When finished fermenting, scrap top inch off and discard. Use remaining to fill pint or quart jars and process.)
 
 
 
POTATOES:
 
 
Potatoes looking all green and beautiful! Interesting fact about potatoes...they are not ready to dig up until the nice pretty green leaves die and turn brown. So these spuds still have a few weeks to go.
 
 
 
 After digging up all the potatoes, the girls helped the woodsman collect all the spuds into a 50 gal drum. We had enough potatoes to fill the drum about half full. That's a lot of spuds!!!
 
 
Look I was there too! ;)
 
We collected a great bounty from out cabbage and potatoes this year. I managed to make around 30 pints of kraut and although we lost some potatoes to rot, I think we will have enough to make it through the winter.
 
 
 

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Too long....


It has been ENTIRELY way to long since I posted something to the blog. I promise I have not gone MIA!! For some reason my laptop will not load the images correctly everytime. Its very frustrating and I don't know why its doing what its doing! Our desktop computer seems to have died on us even though we've had it serviced! So as soon as I can I will be back! I have not bailed on the blogging world I promise!

Here are a couple of images I managed to upload for a small sneak peek: (More to come soon!)





Tuesday, July 24, 2012

My Husband - The Carpenter - part 1

So the Woodsman has become quite the carver over the past couple of months. He's carved spoons and ladles and bowls....oh my! And he's pretty darn good at it too. Eventually I want him to start his own blog for his carving adventures, but until then I want to show off for him! ;)

The following pictures show the process of carving a bowl from beginning to almost end. I don't have pictures of the final piece, but I will take some soon.

This is a piece of a cherry tree that fell at his parents house during the storms last year. The first step is to cut around the pith. The pith is the center of the log and can cause the wood to crack. Gotta get rid of that!


Next the Woodsman likes to knock the bark off the bottom so the log will lay flat while he's carving.

Back in the shop, the Woodsman uses a sharpie to draw what he wants the shape of the bowl to be.

Once the bowl is drawn, the fun part begins! He is using an adze to remove the big chunks of wood from the center of the bowl. The picture below looks like he's having a little too much fun!



After using the adze for a while, the interior of the bowl is really starting to take shape! I love all this tool marks and wood shavings.

Now its time to cut the bowl down to size and remove a lot of the extra pieces. 

Its startin to take shape.





The pelican box of tools. The adze on the right and all the carving knives on the left. There are several different knives and they all do something different. These are just the first of many more I'm sure we'll buy!
Let the carving begin!


Hard at work and ready for me to stop taking pictures.
Shelby likes to lay in her bed The Woodsman made for her when he first built the shop and watch as The Woodsman carves.


Little Bit turns 6 at the splash pad!

This year for Little Bit's birthday, we dedided to venture out for a change. Since her birthday is in the middle of summer, we've always been able to plan a great party at the house. With all the changes going on around here, we decided the splash pad would be an easy, fun idea. It was a great (and if I may add CHEAP) party! Too bad Miss Priss's b'day is in the winter, otherwise we would have another party here!
The birthday day girl loving the water!

Miss Priss and D discussing something important I'm sure. Probably more like Miss Priss trying to talk D into something! ;)
Little Bit and Little Bit - BFFs.
Buddies.
Katie (in the back ground) saying please don't leave me!
My dad thought this picture was funny. It was not a posed picture, he just happened to be across the park and captured what he called "Meg and her posse."
Papa Perry, Cindy and Mimi.
Sisters!
AJ and his goggles. Love this! What an awesome way to play at the Splash pad!

Getting ready for some cake. The wind was kickin' and made it hard for the candle to stay lit.
We managed and Little Bit officially turned 6 as she blew out her candle.
Brody eye-balling that cake! Katie better hurry and let that baby dig in!
Papa Perry and Mimi.... lookin' good!
The girls enjoying the yummy cake!
Brody-man!

Time for presents.
Opening....
looking at Granny T in disbelief.....
super excited about her new Merida doll.
Looks like everyone had a great time.

Happy Birthday Little Bit!!
(Thanks to Pop for all the great pictures!)