Home Sweet Home!

Jason and I have been out of town for the past week at a reading conference with about 3,000 other teachers from around the nation. It was very fun to hang out with our staff (and others from around the district), meet other teachers from various locations, eat out 3x's a day, stay in a swanky hotel, be tourists, and learn some new ideas and perspectives on teaching reading. However, by about half way into the trip we were really tired of sitting all day at workshops, and eating out.....I never thought I could be tired of eating out and "herding" with others.....but we were. We were so glad to get home yesterday......I will post some pictures, etc. later on.

Green Beans, Anyone?

I know green beans are not a lot of people's favorite recipes, but they are so easy to process. I picked them, blanched them in a hot water bath for two minutes, transferred them to a cold water bath and packaged them in pint sized bags, and put them in the freezer.
They are really yummy and easy to put in crock pot soups in the winter, casseroles, salads,and stir-fries....and they are so good for you too!

A Berry Busy Week

Last week my mom and I picked pounds and pounds of blueberries, marionberries, blackberries and boysenberries. I canned all kinds of jams, pie fillings, syrups, and froze bunches for eating throughout the year.

Haven Blueberry Farm is our favorite places to pick. Check out their website at

www.thehavenfarm.com, which is located along the banks of the Umpqua River in Umpqua. The drive out to the farm is absolutely beautiful. We were there on the opening day, and usually there is a long line of cars waiting to get in.

We were the second car in line!

Here is a view of the farm from the road side and the blueberry rows stretch for acres and acres and acres.

There are even picnicking spots where you can bring a lunch and rest in the shade.

Raspberries and Cherries

Last week Kristina and I picked and canned Raspberry jam....aren't they so pretty?

Then on Saturday my mom and I went to pick cherries on the opening day at Shady Lane Orchards. There were so many people there that it felt like 1/2 of Roseburg was out picking. Cherries are one of our favorites, and there was a boutiful supply. Tomorrow we will be picking blueberries at our favorite place. However, the berries around here are kinda scarce. Two main suppliers have now gone to strictly commercial selling. Lately, I really dislike other pickers, especially when they come onto the row that I was assigned, or when they reach their hands through the rows to my side, I just want to slap it. I am hoping to show a some restraint tomorrow, but if another picker dares to cross me I am not responsible for my actions =0)!!

Another Year Older

Tuesday was my birthday and I had a great day. I REALLY wanted and needed new car mats for my car. My old ones were nasty, deformed, and never stayed in place. Jason got me the best car mats I had ever had...who knew car mats could be so exciting? We went down to my parent's for a family celebration. They gave me this huge heavy box. I tried to guess the contents, but failed. When I opened it up there was a humongous brick wrapped in the Sunday ads, along with the product description of a Kitchen Aid food processor, which was something I really wanted with all the canning we do. It is supposed to arrive sometime today, and I can't wait. I just get excited looking at it online. It slices, diced, chops, shreds, purees, juices, has a citrus press, and comes with all the high speed blades and gadgets!Kristina got me the jars I have been admiring and they were filled with my favorite goodies from Kruse Farms, along with some home decor. What a great day!

Strawberry Time!

One of my favorite signs of summer is when the strawberries are on, which means the start of the picking and canning seasons. On Friday I showed Kristina how to make jam at her house. Last year she and I canned and made syrups, pie fillings, salsa, peaches, whole tomatoes, roasted tomato sauce, peaches, and apple sauce. This year we are going to enter some into the county fair.I always make sure that Kristina has enough ingredients on hand. She was sure she had enough sugar for the jam, and I just knew she didn't. So she had to leave in the middle of jam making and bought a 25lb bag of sugar. I didn't even know sugar came in such large quantities!!
This is about 1/2 of the jam we made. She got 32 pints and 40 half pints...all in a day's work!

Unwanted Visitor

I hate raccoons! We had this huge raccoon who would come and harass our outside kitties nightly. Finally we tried to trap him. However, this isn't an average raccoon. He is the FATTEST one I have ever seen. His rear end was so large that he was able to walk out of the first trap backwards because of his huge rear! When we got a bigger trap he was caught, however no one slept that night. He was so loud, pulled off the piece of plywood that covered the top of the trap and growled, hissed, scratched, and literally used his body to rock the trap the entire night. I wanted Jason to shoot the creature into smithereens. We live close to being out side city limits, but Jason was worried about being fined. So a trapper took the raccoon away and relocated him. However, there is a new raccoon that I saw last night visiting.....grrrr!