Cucumbers to Pickles

Yesterday I drove to a local produce farm and purchased 50 lbs of cucumbers, 2 large bunches of dill, several bulbs of garlic and two gallons of vinegar. Today I canned 23 quarts of pickles. There is a limit to how many jars I can pack and water bath in a day....23 quarts(one jar broke or there would have been 24)! :) Tomorrow I will pickle the last 25 lb bag of cukes! What was I thinking? To tell you the truth it is a labor of love for my husband. He really likes the pickles and it's the least I can do! :))

I set up an outdoor kitchen with a two burner propane stove and all the needed extras.
Every jar was freshly washed and ready for the assembly line: 1 garlic clove, 1 red pepper, 1 dill head, 1 grape leaf, several cucumbers and hot brine.
Into the water bath goes the filled jars. This takes five minutes after coming to a boil.
Tadaaa! Now, we wait for them to turn to pickles. It takes about a month. Off in the distance you can see that I treated myself to a hot pot of tea and zucchini bread. This day was cool and the hot tea was perfect!
Here is the recipe for Dill Pickles. It is the best one I've found. Enjoy!

A reAwarding time....

I have had to the honor to be given this award twice by two blog friends: Kendra Wolf from Nest Half Empty and Tracy from Pink Purl both thought of me. Thanks to both of you!

Now I am to state six random facts about myself that are true today.
1. Today was perfect because I stayed home doing the things I love to do in the summer like canning pickles and making a cardboard caboose to use for a baby shower. :)
2. I sleep outside all summer long from May until October.
3. The glasses I wear most are purple/blue. There is something about them that make me feel good. :)
4. I read several books at one time.
5. My car looks like I live in it. :) I'm ready for anything..let's just say that.
6. I collect bird feathers and found a couple today.
I nominate Willow at Willows Cottage, Cindy at Red Door Galleria, Fifi Flowers Design Decor, Nature Girl at Nature Trail, Sandy at Quill Cottage, A Peek At My BookShelf and Monica at My Forever House. You may send this award on to seven blog friends and follow the same thought of writing six random truths about you for today. Be sure to include the links to each person.

Summer Green

Each of these pictures were taken while on a walk through the woods near the Santiam River. The colors are so rich, vibrant and worth sharing with those of you who appreciate nature as much as I do.

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Maple tree beneath a Black Cottonwood tree Wild Blackberry.... not yet ripe
Goats Beard surrounded by a Douglas Fir tree
Oregon Grape in the brambles
Very large Spider web cradled in a Maple tree and surrounded by dripping moss

And....

One last thing about our camping trip. Bath time was a challenge but this grammy and mommy figured out a solution! Use the wash tub for a bath! LA loved her bath and didn't want it to end.

After she was all clean there was time for stories in the tent before bedtime.

Camping under blue skies and sunshine!

A quick overview of our camping trip.......
beautiful skies, overlooking the North Santiam River.....
Camp site C-6........this is before we got everything out......but had made a fire.....
...the kids going to get wood........and getting the fishing reel out....
..a walk down to the river for a fishing lesson.....
.....playing in the sand and mud......mmmm....love the feel between my fingers.......oops....guess I sat in the mud too......a tromp back to camp through the woods....It has been another good weekend filled with camp fires, hot dogs, and time at the water's edge.

We are going camping!

Each summer we like to take at least one camping trip and our favorite location is the Rogue River in Southern Oregon. Due to fuel prices we are staying close to home and heading to Fishermen's Bend Park, 28 miles east of Salem, Oregon, at Mill City. Next week I'll post about our trip but now I want to share what we are driving and staying in on this camping trip. This little bus was given to me by my husband and I have used it for delivering wedding flowers. We have recently added a bed in the back and it has become our motor home!! It's simple and roomy. We are loading it up, including a child's car seat, throwing in the dog and off we'll go!! I'll let you know how we do....next week! Happy camping!

Wedding flowers come from the Willamette Valley Growers.

The big wedding weekend, at our farm, is behind us. There are so many fun memories to think about and for me buying the flowers was a highlight!! My assignment was to choose flowers in very light colors of pink, purple and blue. The beautiful bride wanted a garden look and there was no other way to go than buying from our local growers. Each flower was picked at it's prime and delivered in perfect condition.

I hope you enjoy see these amazing flowers as much as I do!

Sweet Avalanche grown by PeterKort Roses

Hydrangea's: Standard and Popcorn grown by Northern Pacific FarmStock grown by 4T Acres ... Sweetest smelling flower by far!

Ocean Song grown by PeterKort Roses
Gypsophila, white and pink grown by 4TAcres
Wigellia and Sedium grown by Sunflower Kid
Scabiosa grown by Sunflower KidSolid Aster grown by Sunflower KidThis combination of flowers were amazing when put into simple but elegant designs.

Tinkerer in our family makes a potato gun that shoots water too.

I don't know how to explain this ...but I will try. My son, who is 27 years old, is a tinkerer. He tinkered around with several components and came up with a potato gun that will shoot a long, longs ways. As he is shooting the potato he thinks it would be fun to try putting water into the gun and shoot that. I'll attempt to tell you what the components are.....pvc pipe, glue, pressure valves, duct tape, and a air compressor. How does it work? You turn on the air compressor to build up pressure, wait until it reaches a certain percentage of pressure by watching the gage, aim...release the valve and shoot!
Andra is holding the gun, that looks like a machine gun, and points at Derin. He kind of chickens outs by turning sideways so he doesn't get the pressure of the water straight on.


Mom, on the other hand takes the pressure full on! Ok, I may be standing a bit further away. :)

Jim just stands there and gets soaked! Derin looks a little intense while aiming at his dad. I know what you are thinking! Weird family! Yep! :)) That's me on the porch watching.

Treasures found....and random happenings.

This last weekend, in our area of the Northwest, it was very hot and windy. In years past, when these two conditions have existed, bird nests have fallen from the trees. We found this tiny nest under a fir tree on Sunday. It is a hummingbird nest, made of hair from our Angora and Cashmere goats. The nest couldn't be softer or more comfortable for a baby bird! The hummingbird family was done with their nest so we don't worry about them not having a home.
Another gift from the woods this week are Smoke Pipes or Monotropa uniflora. They grow up out of the earth like ghosts and look like smoke pipes. They are not common but we usually find a few growing in our woods. They grow in dark shady areas, and we have found them at the woods' edge under Douglas Fir trees. If we touch them the heads fall off, indicating their delicate nature.
This is an example of what the heat did to lazy Bart and Simon. They seemed to be unable to move even after several photos were taken during this quiet time, and they could have come in the house where it was cool at any time. We call them "flat cats."
Last night we drove up the Columbia Gorge to have dinner at Skamania Lodge. We took highway 14 out of Camas, Washington. The Lodge sits above the Columbia River and our table looked out over the striking landscape, one we never get tired of seeing.When we returned home we found some very, very guilty looking goats standing outside the fence. After a quick inspection we knew just how much damage they had done!! The good news is that they devoured only the vegetation near the barn and chicken coop. We did find hoof prints at each flower site near the wedding area, but they didn't eat them! Well, one of them bit off a zinnia head but spit it out. Goats are not good pets for people who can't laugh at this kind of behavior!! Stripped roses bushes.....We don't blame them because we left a chain unlatched on the gate after painting the fence, and though we care about our flowers...we love the animals more!! :)) How could anyone be mad at those faces!! That's life on the farm!