Mon-21-Jul-2008 - The Miracle of the Pear Tree
Last year, Jonathan cut down some dead trees in the back yard.
He also trimmed up this "alive" tree, though it was leaning so he considered cutting it down. He was a bit chain-saw happy at the moment, but I said I thought the leaves of this particular tree were pretty, so he trimmed it and let it stand.
This year, it is loaded with pears. I'm a bit in shock. WE HAVE A PEAR TREE IN OUR BACK YARD!!!!!
It's not like we have a forest back there. Within the fence we have a giant maple, this pear tree, and two scrawny slippery elms by my clothesline.
It's a PEAR TREE. Loaded with PEARS!!!!!!!
Organic pears . . . is there any chance I'll have enough to can some? I have no idea yet. They aren't quite ready . . . .
God is so good!!!
~Ashley~
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Sat-19-Jul-2008 - Photo blog & GOOT
This week the boys have been sick. Samuel is lots better. He seemed to have an ear infection and be teething, and I panicked and gave him lots of echinacia when his ear began draining gunk out of it (he told us it hurt frequently) and put a drop of colodial silver in it as well. He never complained after that.
Elijah has been coughing, and we put GOOT on his feet in a desperate attempt to help him. He'd been coughing for half an hour, we applied the GOOT, he was much improved for about 2 hours. We marveled. We took the socks off. Shortly thereafter he began to cough again, painfully. So we put socks on him last night with more GOOT and put it on Samuel as well. I didn't wake up to hear Samuel cough once. Hooray! Our house does smell like an Italian restaurant and I crave garlic bread, though!!!!
Samuel, my sick one. Holding cheese sticks he could never bring himself to eat!
He fell asleep like this. The weight of the pillow must have felt good???
I canned 18 pints of new potatoes despite the boys been sick.
Elijah sleeping . . .
Elijah playing with our cat. The kitty was flipping his tail around and playing with him - they both really enjoyed it!
Jonathan made Elijah his first fort while Samuel was asleep. Elijah just crawled right through it! We were a bit suprised, since Samuel was VERY cautious about stuff like this at Elijah's age. However, Elijah has certainly proved over and over that he is not his brother! He was fearless and Jonathan was thrilled that he enjoyed it!!!
I went and picked blackberries Thursday night. It was very warm. I can stand the heat when I'm not pregnant, but it was obvious to me this time that I was! LOL It was 92 degrees when I started and 87 when I stopped, but I picked 10# of blackberries. And it was SO WORTH IT when I got home! (I had two boxes but only one is pictured below.)
Elijah loved them!
Samuel and Daddy enjoyed them . . . .
And the stains came out of the carpet and off of Purple Boy!
So all's well that ends well . . . at least when it came to our blackberries!
Hope everyone is having a great weekend!
~Ashley~
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Sat-19-Jul-2008 - Freezing Sweet Corn w/pics
I bought 12 dozen ears of corn and Jonathan and I put them up yesterday. Here's how it all goes down. You get about one trash bag of corn husks per box of 4 dozen.
You throw the mainly de-silked ears in a big pot of boiling water. Stick the lid on for 5-6 minutes.
Take 'em out, put them in cool water in the sink.
I have done this by myself, but not this quantity. So, my wonderful husband cut the corn off the cob. (Oh, and this part tends to get backed up pretty easily so after a while he had quite the pile to work on!)
Elijah woke up from his nap part-way through, so he chilled on the floor chewing on a corn cob. This whole process is not really hectic, so we were able to keep a good eye on him. Though for a while I was husking, boiling, carrying them to the sink, then bagging the cut-off corn. I was busy!
This is the end result. After 2.5 hours, we had 45 meals of the best sweet corn EVER! Each bag has 3 cups in it, which is a big deal, because in past years we've only put 2 cups per meal. But now there are more than just me and Jonathan around the table! And Elijah already shows great promise as a Champion Eater. So we increased it to 3 cups, and I tried not to think about the extra 22 meals or so we didn't have as a result. I would much rather enjoy my boys and watch them eat corn than have more corn go farther! But I also may need to buy another box of corn or two this summer yet!
Anyway, this is how we do it. 
~Ashley~
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