Beyond Busy

Well hello there, I Am just popping in to reassure you all that I haven't given up blogging. I just have hardly had enough energy left to drag myself to bed after non-stop busy days of harvesting and canning. I haven't taken the extra time I snap many photos lately either. I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel and harvest time is starting to slow down a little. I am over the moon thankful for all we have been blessed with this year despite the terrible drought. I have noticed many of the blogs I LOVE to follow have been pretty quiet too, so I think many of you understand my silence. Also in the crazy mix, I'm gearing up for another great year of schooling my kiddos! 
So while I continue my blogging break to take care of the things I love to do.....Happy Harvest to you all. As well as, Happy back to school time.

Looky Looky What I've Been Doing....

It's been crazy busy around here at our house while we have been taking in our garden harvest. So busy that I just don't have enough steam left at the end of the day to blog about it. So I'll play a little catch with you all today! Beginning last week, my tomatoes are coming on strong.

 I have been working on spaghetti sauce, some tomato juice, and salsa. I'm not sure what my over all total is at this point, but Tuesday I canned 17 quarts plus 19 pints of salsa!

 If I'm not canning up the garden goodness I've been cooking with it as much as possible!

 We also have added to our freezer this past week...bringing our total of meat chickens to around fifty, and we added almost 200 pounds of pork...yum!

 I have decided to wait on starting school with everyone until the garden is mostly finished. 

 Today is the first day of school for my two little ones.....the saw there new books yesterday and wanted to dive right in. So we enjoyed some yummy rhubarb and blueberry cobbler to start our day!

I'm going to continue to reap the blessings of our harvest, and I'll try to keep you updated on our progress along the way. If you don't hear from me....I'm probably standing and gawking at all the pretty jars on my shelves....LOVE IT!

A Date Night With Zach

Once a year we try to take each of the kids out on a "Date Night". The other night was Zach's turn to go on a date with me...and boy did we have fun! Our first stop was supper at Bob Evans. While we were eating supper it sounded a little like this:

Me: Let's ask each other a few questions and see if we can get them right. 

Zach: Okay, I'll go first. What's my favorite color?

Me: BLUE!

Zach: Yep....What's my favorite number?

Me: Hmmm..I didn't know you had a favorite number, but I'll go with 7.

Zach: Nope..17. I always take my age and then add 10 and that's my favorite number. Every time I have a birthday, my favorite number changes.

Me: Ohhh nice, good to know. Okay, now it's my turn. If someone asked you what mommy likes to do, what would you say?

Zach: Spend time with her kids and family.

Me: Wow, great answer  Zach, your right about that! What is someone asked you what does your enjoy doing? (I wash fishing for what hobbies I enjoy).

Zach: Cleaning the house....

Me: Trying REALLY HARD not to burst out with loud obnoxious laughter....a few giggles might have slipped out. While I was giggling Zach looked at me confused and with hand gestures an shrugging shoulders says " What you do like cleaning...you always say you  like a tidy house." To which I reply, "Yes, Zach I do enjoy a tidy house (even if it only lasts a meager 5 minutes). I was just wondering what hobbies you think I enjoy...

Zach: Ohh...Quilting and gardening stuff like that

Also during our dinner we had some great discussion about:

 **How things will go when he finds a girl he might  like to marry. He thinks he might meet her in college..dad said that's a great place to meet new people.

**How his dad once told him that when he a  teenager he might not think we are super cool & smart like he does now. Never fear, he thinks dad said this will only last about 4 days....lol!

**He thinks that around 17 is when most people get a job. That gives them enough time to save money to buy a car...which cost around $4000.

I love the memories we make on these date nights! I love the discussion and discovering how my children view life...some times are more educational than others. 

If you haven't taken your child (young or old) on a date night, I would highly recommend it. It can be as frugal or over- the-top as you want it to be. I spent $15 on supper and some tokens to play some fun arcade style games and he said, "Mom, I've had the best night!" It melted my heart and made me even more thankful that I had carved out time to make him feel special. 

Flower Friday

I've been pretty quiet around here the past two weeks. I think it has something to do with the garden (and mowing) keep me busy during the day and the Olympics is keeping me up WAY PAST BY BEDTIME at night. The whole family is having so much fun watching all the events we can, and enjoying the carefree schedule that summer time allows. I do have a few flower photos (WOW, say that three times fast) to share with you this week...So sit back, relax, and sip some coffee and enjoy!

 False Sunflower

 Delphinium (I wish I had 100's of these)

 African Daisy ( I got these perennials on clearnace for .50 each!)

 Hibiscus

 

 I just can't resist my sunflower patch....especially with the honeybees

 Did you know that now is the perfect time for collecting seeds for next years garden?

When you sunflowers are past their peak and they start to look like this (you can see the birds are starting to eat some of the seeds.) Pop off the head of the flower.

 Then lay in out to dry out. I'm keeping mine in my garden shed. Once they completely dry out the seeds pop right out and you can use them next year. I like to collect mine when they are done blooming and still have dead petals on them. It's make it easier to label.

 I also love saving zinnias....

 Cosmos are also really easy to collect!

It's best to dry them  out on a flat surface...even a paper plate would work. I've leaned that putting the spent blooms in a container will invite mold on the flowers in the bottom. After they sit out for 5-7 days then you can put them in a container on top of one another. When Fall arrives I will put my treasure into a brown paper bag and label them. I keep them in a dry cool place (usually a cabinet in the house) until next Spring. It's a easy frugal way to enjoy beautiful blooms.

DISCLAIMER: I'm positive their are more professional/technical procedure to collecting seeds. Let's just call this the "Busy Mom/Lazy Homesteader Way" of collecting seed!