Home in the Pines

Tomorrow will be a busy day here at my home.  Lots of folks are coming by for my annual Independence Day Cookout.  Here is this year's menu:

Deviled Eggs

Grilled Burgers and Hot Dogs

Potato Salad

Spaghetti Salad

Pea Salad

Baked Beans

Cole Slaw & Hot Dog Sauce

Relish/Toppings Plate

5-cup Fruit Salad

Cream Pies

Patriotic Cupcakes (red, white, & blue!)

Watermelon

Sweet Tea

Actually, its just like most of you will be having tomorrow--an All-American Cookout with all the fixin's!  However, first and foremost in the day will be prayers of thanksgiving to God for the freedoms we are given each and every day.  Many lives were lost, many others dedicated to insuring our freedom, and I am ever so thankful for this.  Our God is faithful, and we must be also.

May you and your family and loved ones have a most blessed and safe Independence Day this year!

Hugs,

Cynthia Robin

My parents made it here safe and sound.  We are so happy to have them here.  We went and saw My Sister's Keeper yesterday afternoon.  It was a tear-jerker for sure.

The same old things have been going on around here in the day to day.  The weather has been a little cooler during the morning and early afternoon then warming up mid afternoon.  Here is a picture of our weather station thingy that tells us the indoor/outdoor temp, how to dress, the time, and the humidity.

My daughters are busy baking cookies and boiling homegrown potatoes to make a homemade potatoe salad.

We are going to visit my sister today and have dinner there.  I better get things in order.  Write more later. 

I made a yummy salad tonight from the garden.  It had green onions, red sails lettuce, swiss chard and beet greens.  I made up some ranch dressing from scratch and threw in some chives.  I had a few leftover cooked shrimp that Rod had caught and sent down for me.  Fresh shrimp are SO good!  This is the first time I've had swiss chard and I really like it!

Tonight I started moving dirt into the last two garden beds.  I filled up the skinny one first to satisfy that part of me that needs to have immediate gratification.  Then I hauled a few loads into the big bed - I have a ways to go on that one. 

Once the skinny bed was full, I planted eight of the red currant bushes that I rooted from thinnings this spring.  I just had them in water to see if they would get roots - which they did!  I have 18 more of them that I think I will plant in pots for now until I decide where they should go.

Last night I potted up some strawberry starts.  The runners take over the garden paths pretty quickly - I and just hate to pulll them up and throw them in the compost, seems like such a waste.  So I dig up the ones that really have roots and plant them in little 3" pots.  I also try to pot as many extra runners as I can.  I set out a bunch of little pots on a bench at the end of the strawberry bed.  I picked up some runners that had little plants starting and put one in each pot, using a rock to hold the runner down until the plant establishes some roots.  Once the plant is secure, I will cut it from the runner.  Then I will start again with more pots.  Strawberry plants make a good barter item  :o)

I've been thinking about trying to propagate some blueberry bushes.  There are some really productive ones over by one of the storage buildings.  I have some powdered rooting hormone that I could use, or I may trim some willow branches from the tree across the street and try that.  Maybe I should try both and see which one works best.  There are blueberry bushes everywhere along the side of the road, but it would be nice to have a good, productive patch of my own.  Then I won't have to worry about someone else finding my favorite picking spot  :o)

Things look pretty good in the garden.  The red currants are just starting to turn pink.  I have two baby zucchini.  The potato plants look good.  I pulled up some radishes and green onions and sent up to Rod in Skagway.  The strawberries are loaded with unripe berries and more blossoms.  The raspberry patch is buzzing - lots of bumble bees on the blossoms.  The new rhubarb patch looks great - I think the plants must have reached down into the layer of chicken manure I put in that bed - they have really taken off in the last week.  In the greenhouse, I have one little green pepper and a bunch more babies just starting to form.  Nothing on the cucumbers yet, but they are getting bigger - I need to put up a trellis for them.  The 3 tomato plants are getting huge - there are 6 little fruits forming now.  I notice though that some of the leaves are turning yellow, brown and dry on the ends.  I need to look that up and see what is going on with them - must be something about being too cold, too much water, or not enough ventilation is my guess.  I picked some mint leaves and calendula blossoms and dehydrated them to use in my soaps.  The chickens are doing good - getting only 3 or 4 eggs per day though.  If they don't pick up soon, we will be putting them in the freezer.

Hi all....Tomorrow if the big day for my surgery...I'll have to keep my ankle elevated for awhile.  I"ll be back as soon as I can...I'm going to read a few post before I leave....Until then...byeeeeeeeeee   Jeanne

It is just sooo amazing to me to read of all of you who are already not just harvesting your gardens but actually pulling them up!! YOW! Here we are struggling to get ours planted. One~ this old traditional garden plot didn't get rototilled by the tractor until late so the grass and dandelion roots and red clover is all throughout the garden. Two: The garden is 60 some feet by 90 some f

Hi Everyone,  We finally had our second day of rain this month.  Yipppeee.   lol   We really need it.  My flowers, bushes and trees and the food i'm growing is really pleased.  When it rains i try and save water.  I have  buckets outside that can hold almost 5 gallons of water and so far i have 4 of them filled and I have another bucket I bought for a fish pond and  it holds appr. 20 gallons of water and thats half full.  I think this will last me for a little while.  I would rather use rain instead of water from the faucet.  The sun is really hot during the day and every night I water everything but finally I dont have to.  We also use our underground sprinkler system every other day morning. 

I'm slowing getting our house ready before my surgery Thursday.  I have to be at outpatient 6:30 am.  Looks like I will be the first.  I'm having a ligament reconstruction in my ankle.  Sure hope everything goes  find and I'll be able to walk normal again.  Hubby bought a glass door for the front of our house and installed it today.  We decided not to use a screen door.  I really like it.  I'll close for not since it's late.  I'll talk to ya soon.   Jeanne

I spent some time this weekend working on my website for my soap business - Homesteaders Cache.  I redesigned the entire site and am pleased with how it turned out.  I reserved a few more names also and they all point to the same site - juneausoap.com, alaskahandmadesoap.com, and alaskansoaps.com.  My goal is to improve my listings with the search engines and hopefully attract more visitors - and buyers  :o)

I have added more soaps to my store.  They are all listed except the new one I made recently - White Ginger - that matches the solid lotion bar.

I reserved a spot July 11 & 12 at the Nugget Mall for the Christmas in July Arts & Crafts Fair.  Between now and then I'll make up some fresh lotion bars.  I also want to have a sign with my logo and business name - but that will depend on how much free time I have.

My first canning project of the season was cherry pie filling.  I wish I could say the cherries were from my tree, but they weren't.  They were on a great sale though - only $1.28 per pound!

I used the recipe from The Big Book of Preserving the Harvest.  I made this recipe once before and my notes said I used 8 pounds to make 15 pints.  The original recipe is for 2 pints - I multiplied everything by 8. 

Cherry Pie Filling - makes about 15 pints

8 pounds cherries
Ascorbic acid
8 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups Clearjel (regular, not instant)
10 2/3 cups water
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons vanilla (or almond extract)
1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons lemon juice

1.  Wash and pit fresh cherries and use ascorbic acid dip to prevent darkening.

2.  Place cherries in boiling water.  Boil 1 minute after water returns to a boil.  Drain, but keep fruit hot and covered.

3.  Combine sugar and Clearjel in a large saucepan and add water.

4.  Add cinnamon and vanilla.  Stir over medium heat until mixture thickens.  (I had to turn to high to get it to thicken, but once it starts to thicken - watch out!  :o)  It happens really fast.)

5.  Add lemon juice and boil mixture 1 minute stirring constantly.

6.  Fold in the cherries.

7.  Fill jars with hot fruit mixture leaving 1/2 inch headspace.  Put on lids and rings.

8.  Process in a boiling water bath canner for 30 minutes.

Here are the jars after processing - the liquid changed color from light goopy pink to a nice red  :o)

I like to use a can or two in the bottom of a pie plate and top with a mixture of butter, flour and oatmeal to make a quick crisp - also good with peach pie filling or blueberry pie filling.

Cherries are on sale all week - while supplies last - so I may go back and get more and make something else...  :o)