Pickin' Beans

This morning, I picked (what I hope is) my last batch of green beans (with the help of Gram).

I had two rows of beans this year: one row of Contender variety and one row of Blue Lake variety.  One of those buckets was the "third picking" off the Contender row, and the other two buckets are from the Blue Lake.  I have already picked 2.5 buckets off the Contender row.  It was my first time planting the Blue Lake, but I'm happy to report they did well.  I found that all the beans on the Blue Lake were ready at one time (as in I am only going to pick once off that row), unlike the Contender where there were small beans on the plants letting me know there was more to come.  If that makes any sense...

Looks like I have a date breaking beans and running the pressure cooker tomorrow :)

Until next time...

Kitchen Helpers

This year has been one of the best ever for the tomatoes in my garden.  With that being said, I have tomatoes upon tomatoes to process and can!  Thankfully, I have a couple of very willing helpers.

Reba did a wonderful job of helping washing the tomatoes before I would chunk them.  She then, placed every single piece in the funnel of my Sauce Master.  (She tried cranking, but decided she didn't have enough muscles for that)

Julianne thought she needed to help to, but I think we'll let her wait another year.

We have enjoyed many BLT sandwiches, and this winter we will be enjoying homemade spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, tomato sauce, chili base, salsa, and tomato soup!

Until next time...

Fun Friday Fotos

On Friday, August 16th, while Dallas was at school, Reba helped me put the tomatoes through the sauce master before heading out of town for the weekend.  She loved being able to wear her apron like Momma, and she was a great helper putting the tomato pieces into the funnel for me.

She even tried to crank the handle, but quickly decided to give that job back to Momma!

In the end, we had enough tomato juice to make 5 more quarts of spaghetti sauce and 3 half-gallon jars of plain tomato juice.

Until next time...

Strawberries!

This is only the second year for our strawberries, but they sure have done well!

This was the first night we picked...

We all enjoyed a bowl of ice cream and berries that night

The next night we enjoyed a strawberry pie

Then, after the next pickin', I made 15 jars of strawberry jam.

And after the third pickin', I made 9 jars of strawberry-rhubarb jam and froze about a gallon-sized bag of berries to use in pies later!

Until next time...

Fun Friday Fotos

Last week the kiddos finished up swimming lessons for the summer.  We celebrated by going out for pizza with friends

Ciara, Mattison, Carla, Reba and Dallas

The kiddos LOVE helping in the garden.  We have to watch Little Miss very carefully because she would pull every slightly red tomato or the tiniest bell peppers!

One afternoon, we got stuck in a traffic jam in our little town...luckily, I knew a way to cut through the country to get around it.  About 10 minutes after we got home, we watched the cause of the back-up roll by the house.  The electric company was having to go ahead of the rig to lift up (or in some instances take down) the wires going across the road.

The kiddos sat on the front porch and watched.  They even pumped their arms and got the truck driver to blow his air horn!

A while back I bought Dallas some new socks.  He was so proud that he was able to get them on by himself!

Finally, last weekend, Doug helped me put up 24 pints of salsa and 10 pints of spaghetti sauce!

Until next time...

Glimpse into my Garden Galley

Here are some snapshots of what's been going on in (and out of) my kitchen lately...

The kiddos loved helping shuck the sweet corn

Even Charlie tried to help...

Ears of sweet corn are piling up...

waiting to be cut off the cob

Big Bertha and her apprentice, Stainless Steel Suzie

Tomatoes going through the Sauce Master

5 Quarts of Chili Base and 3 Quarts of Tomato Juice

10 pounds of cucumbers soaking in pickling lime...

...makes 7 Quarts of Dill Pickles! (that puts me up to 21 Quarts for the season thus far)

2 LARGE zucchinis shredded

My first 3 loaves of zucchini bread

I was able to make 4 more loaves from what remained of those 2 zucchinis!...my chickens need to start picking up their production rate so I can bake some more yummy-ness :)

Until next time...I'll be canning up some more goodness from my garden!

The Sprinkler, More Canning, and Packing Again?

I know Dallas will probably hate me one day for posting pictures like these:

...but he was having such a great time!

I did some more canning yesterday as well, but first I had to find a different/taller water bath canner. Yep, Doug's turkey fryer canister should work...

Why did I need such a tall canner? I was using these half-gallon jars for tomato juice!

One more picture this morning...

Apparently, Dallas is packed and ready to head back to Indiana.

Until next time...

Freezing and Canning

Thursday, I did another batch (15 dozen ears) of sweet corn for the freezer
I hope the 40 quarts I have put up will last us until next summer! I am thinking about trying to freeze some on the ear. Has anyone ever done this? What are your thoughts about the taste?

Friday (my birthday) I made a carrot cake and canned 5 pints of carrots (yes, I pulled a LOT of carrots from the garden Thursday evening). Apparently, Reba thought it was boring work, so she fell asleep on the kitchen floor...

Yep, that's her big toe right by her mouth...I bet you can't do that!

Until next time...

Garden Goodness

My first cutting of broccoli
My second pulling of carrots (this was a few days ago, I pulled more than double this today)

My second mess of green beans (again, this was the other day, I picked this much again today...puts me up to 13 quarts of green beans canned thus far)

My first picking of zucchinis...I see some zucchini pie in our near future :)

A few cucumbers...I wish I had more so I could make some pickles. Why don't they all come on at the same time?

I had a very busy day today - thanks to Gram Bergman. She is here visiting and watched/played with the kids while I worked in the garden and around the house! I was able to do 5 loads of laundry this morning, pick/break/can green beans, and pull/blanch/freeze carrots just to name a few things.

Also...last night, Doug and I butchered our 9 chickens! Ths was the main reason for Gram coming. She entertained the kiddos and kept them inside while Doug and I worked. We started about 5 p.m. and finished about 9:30 last night. It was quite an experience, but we learned a lot and got it done. I decided not to take pictures because (frankly) I didn't think you would want to see them, and I really didn't want to capture those "memories". Dallas didn't say anything today about the "cluck-clucks". Let's see how long it takes before he realizes they are gone...

Until next time...

A Bountiful Harvest

With the possibility of our first frost tonight, I decided to gather the remaining veggies from the garden. All in all, we had a very successful year with our garden.

I canned 43 pints of sweet corn, 34 quarts of green beans, 14 quarts of pickles, 7 quarts of zucchini, 7 quarts of beef and veggie stew, 4 quarts of tomato juice, 7 pints of pizza sauce, 7 pints of spaghetti sauce, 8 pints of whole tomatoes, 7 quarts of chili base, and 20 quarts of salsa.

In my freezer, I have 5 gallon-sized bags of green beans, 10 pint-sized bags of broccoli, 6 pint-sized bags of kohlrabi, 2 gallon-sized bags of chopped green peppers, 6 gallon-sized bags of spinach, and 3 pint-sized bags of carrots.

Lastly, I have a gallon-sized bag of each of the following baby food: green beans, carrots, zucchini, and broccoli.

Today, Doug and I dug up the sweet potatoes (which I need to figure out what to do with them)
I pulled all my onions...these were my "prize winners"

And, I finished cutting the celery

Until next time...

My Camera Drives Me Crazy!

I'm sorry for not having posted anything in a few days. Something is going crazy with my camera at the current moment. Each time I turn it on, it says that I need to format my card. It has done this before, and I have solved the problem by either removing the battery and/or memory card for a few moments. I have done this multiple times for the past 3 days, and it is not working. I am scared to format the card because there are pictures from our afternoon at the Grinnell Ag Appreciation Day. They had a petting zoo, and there were some great pictures of Dallas with the animals! I have even tried downloading the pictures to my computer, but the computer won't recognize that the camera is connected. {frustration!}

In other news, Doug and I have been busy over the weekend working on the bathroom closet. We did not worry about it for the Labor Day reunion...so it was still showing the studs and subfloor when all our visitors were here. Over the weekend, we were able to lay the new vinyl floor and hang the drywall. I have been able to complete the spackling (which I'm afraid looks better than the rest of the bathroom) yesterday and today. Tonight, Doug and I finished hanging the supports for the new shelves. With a little luck, I will be able to paint it tomorrow. We still need to cut the shelves and paint them, as well as paint the new door.

Today, I canned more tomatoes while Dallas napped. I did 9 pints of whole tomatoes...they will taste great in chili this winter! We have a few more tomatoes; not sure what we will make next, but we are leaning toward more salsa!

Dallas and I even found time to go to the chiropractor and play outside today, too! Needless to say, I'm tired. With that being said...I'm going to bed.

Until next time...

The BiG, eNoRmOuS, gArGaNtUaN, hUgE, jUmBo, MaMmOtH, oVeRsIzEd, SuPeR, tReMeNdOuS, wHoPpInG Post

No fear...we are still here!

It has been a very busy week and a half for the Bergman household. We were on a vacation of sorts last week (the 16th - 23rd). My parents and sister, Lisa, came out for a visit and brought these along with them...Yep, it was the Iowa State Fair time. They loaded up the flock of 12 on Sunday the 16th and made the trip west.

High-five, Grandpa!
Dallas loved spending time in the barn with us and the animals.

On Tuesday the 18th, we were able to take the sheep to the fair. My other sister, Katie, met up with us there. After getting the sheep bedded down, it was time to find something for dinner. After a confusing bout with directions...we finally found Buffalo Wild Wings. Dallas loved it!

Wednesday the 19th was the show. Yep, that's me the preggers out there helping show!

What did Dallas think of the show...

Yep, it was during his nap time.

Dallas and Daddy taking a break after the show was finished.

We took his tractor along with us...it provided lots of entertainment for the little guy - along with a few new bumps and bruises.

The weather was awesome for the fair - in the mid 70's and low humidity...but Dallas still thought he needed to cool off after the show.

What a great facial expression - I think someone just splashed the water up in his face.The child was soaked head to toe!

Resting up for day two of the fair!.I was going to delete this picture at first, but then I realized that I could use it as my week 27 picture! Sorry I didn't get to it last week.

The famous Iowa State Fair Butter CowThis year's extra butter sculpture - Neil Armstrong's walk on the moon.

Do you remember watching it on TV? Did you have this much butter with your popcorn?

We came across this exhibit - "How Tall at This Fair?" Dallas was standing in front of it...until we got out the cameras.

Grandma's grand prize winner!

There was an animal learning center that had many different baby animals on display, including these baby ostriches. Checking out the baby ducks with Grandpa and Grandma

Take a second look...it's made out of wood!

The wood carver demonstration.It's always a good time when there is a tractor involved!

Sharing a lemonade shake-up with Daddy.

We loaded up the sheep on Thursday early evening and headed back to our house. Mom, Dad and Lisa stayed until Sunday. I put Dad to work on a "little" remodeling project, and Lisa and Mom kept Dallas entertained!

My "little" remodeling project is my one and only bathroom. We are still in the process of working on it, so I can't show pictures yet...well, here's a sneak peak

Dallas was quite the helper - fetching tools and what not.

Well, that was our vacation in a nut shell! Again, sorry for my long absence. I will try and do better.

In other news, this week I have been doing lots of canning - trying to catch up from my vacation. One day I did 14 quarts of green beans; another day, I did 6 quarts of chili base and 5 quarts of salsa; and today, I did 7 quarts of beef stew with veggies.

I also harvested some of my celery from the garden today. We gave Dallas a piece to see if he would try it (he kept spitting it out of Buffalo Wild Wings the other night). This time...success!

There is just something about homegrown being much tastier!

Until next time...