The Seasons – Page 22 – The Dackel Princess

What I did This Weekend!!!

Our host is Gattina. Come join us and tell us what YOU did this past weekend!

COOK

I really wanted to relax and rest and catch up on my sleep, and down time. However, it was not to be. In some ways I feel like a Pioneer Woman. I know that winter is coming, and I am putting up as much food as possible.

In some ways this endeavor is quite satisfying. Seeing our freezer full of sauces and soups and stuffed zucchini boats and zucchini bread is a wonderful thing. I know that on those cold days when I long for the warmth of summer, I can open my freezer, thaw out something wonderful from my garden and enjoy!

On Sunday I was making a complete turkey dinner. Turkey, stuffing, gravy, butternut squash, mashed potatoes and I made an apple pie for dessert! Best of all, we got to sit down and share this meal with my cousin Janet and Dave, and Emily and Ben. Janet is finally feeling better and today was the last time I will see Emily until March as her family leaves on Tuesday for the Midwest. Their new home.

The cold front moved in and our temperatures dropped a great deal. I’ve actually got a sweater on! The weekend is nearly over and finally, finally, I am sitting down!

Apples

Friday found us following the track of Hurricane Earl. Turns out that the most we will get up here in New Hampshire is rain and a little wind, but pretty much, it will blow on by us. Unfortnately, my hometown on Cape Cod may not be so lucky.

So while the Weather Channel predicted their madness and mayhem, Hubby, the dogs and I were out in the yard.

Hubby picked apples, I ate an apple and the dackels watched, played and ate pieces of apple too!

Greta is actually quite a ham when you point a camera at her. I swear, she is smiling in this picture!

Fritz does like to play, but he also oversees all the work that Hubby is doing. A more faithful dog I have never known!

Even Anneliese is getting back in the swing of things and she ran around the back yard checking everything out. I love this, as she is getting back in shape.

I must say, that the Macintosh apples are really great! Not only is the tree heavy with apples,

But they are really pretty this year too!

I’ve got a bunch of cooking coming up over the weekend. I’m thinking another batch of tomato sauce, and my first batch of Plum Jam. I’m still trying to work out a Green Tomato Relish Recipe that makes sense to me (I will probably take some things from one recipe and some things from another to make what I’d like).

Have a great weekend, everyone!

The Fruits of Our Labor

What a beautiful day it was here in New Hampshire! The sun shone brightly and it was right around 80 degrees with a slight breeze. Perfect! While I cooked, and tended to Anneliese, Hubby worked on the fruit trees. They are amazing. Of course his constant companion during his trips around the yard is Fritz.

The fruit is growing so quickly now and ripening too. Hubby called me out to look at the pears, which have come on so strongly this year. I love pears and hope we will be able to can some for enjoyment during the winter.

As you can see the pears really are getting big! That is so exciting. In years past we have had some pears, but they were not very big or very good. This year, I am hoping that we will strike gold with them!

We also have plums coming along too. Several different varieties. Castleton Plums have already been picked, The Stanley Plums will be ready soon and the Mount Royal Plums, pictured here, will also be ready soon.

We’ve actually found a couple of them that were fully ripe and boy, were they tasty! When the Stanley Plums are ready I will make some jam. I simply love Plum Jam and the Stanley Plum seems to be a nice plum for that.

Yes, August in New Hampshire is a wonderful month. The garden is still growing vegetables, the fruit trees are producing and I’m busy in my kitchen!

It’s August, Already?

What Do You Think?

The first picture was 6 days before she gave birth the first time. The second picture was yesterday. Last time I gave her belly a little maternity trim, but I haven’t done that this time. I’ve just let her be. I will see what the Veterinarians say today at noon. If they suggest I do it, then I will.

Sunday, I spent the morning slicing, scooping out the center and then blanching zucchini, to make zucchini boats. I will post the recipe for them. I made 12 boats, wrapped them tightly in plastic and then put them in a Ziploc Freezer Bag.

They are now frozen and I think they will taste wonderful in January. By then, I may be ready to eat zucchini again! Right now, I am sick to death of them, and summer squash. I’ve had a bumper crop of both of them this year!

I think today I will bring a bag full of squash with me to the Vet’s Office. Then I can pass it out and share the wealth.

Happy Monday, Everyone!

The Garden

Even though it was a very hot day, gardens must be tended. So, between Hubby and I we managed to do a fair bit of weeding. While buried deep in the garden I discovered this:

I really had to go foraging for the zucchini, because anyone who knows zucchini, knows that they like to hide, and grow to be the size of a baseball bat! Thankfully, I found this one in time!

As you can see, I really had to go into the middle of the garden to get this baby. But it was worth it. I now have three big zucchinis that I plan to make into zucchini boats which I will then freeze for later consumption. I mean, how many zucchinis can you eat before you fall over in a dead faint?

I’m expecting the tomatoes will be coming in very soon. We’ve been eating the potted tomato plant fruit for a while, but the ones that I planted in the garden are just starting to bear fruit. And yes tomatoes are fruit, even though we think of them as vegetables!

Soon our peaches will be coming in and then I will be busy making Peach Jam, and doing some canning. We’ve got a great crop this year, so I think that Hubby will be selling them to the Farm Stand once again.

I love it when we harvest things. There really is a sense of accomplishment that is hard to describe.

Meanwhile, Anneliese is still getting bigger. My hope is that on Monday we can find that she has, perhaps a twin in there. Wouldn’t that be nice.

One can hope.

Hot, Hot, Hot!

Yes folks, today here in the usually cool northeastern part of the USA, we sweltered for the second day of, what looks to be, a week long heatwave! The air is thick with humidity, and at 7:30 it was already 86 degrees!

The day progressed with the thermometer continually rising. The dogs lay around and I only did things that I could do in our air conditioned rooms. Yes, life in a heatwave can only continue, if you have air conditioning, or just cease to do much of anything.

I always enjoy the summer heat, but I prefer drier, slightly cooler temperatures. But…I’ll survive, until the heat breaks and life as I know it (and like it) returns!

Stay cool everyone!

Cherries, Cherries & More Cherries!!!

Tuesday, while I went in to work, Hubby finished picking the cherries, and he cleaned two bushels of them for me to cook down and make jelly out of.

So after lunch, and a previously scheduled doctors appointment, I came home and cooked the cherries down.

Once they were soft and juicy, I mashed them and then strained the juice, filled some nylon bags with the last of the mash, and tomorrow I will take all the juice and make jelly!

If you have never had cherry jelly, you have never lived. It is totally amazing and delicious! At least mine is!

Here is a jar from last year’s batch.

Wednesday is Weight Watchers and I sure hope I have done okay. Either way, I will report in.

Happy Wednesday!

Tuesday In New Hampshire!

Tuesday I was officially initiated into my Altrusa Club. Altrusa is a great way to give back to your community and there are a wonderful group of women here in town that I will be working with. I’d started several months back to apply and tonight was the ceremony. It was so special and made me feel very much wanted and needed as an important part of our community.

Here we are being initiated. It was such a lovely ceremony, full of care and love.

With my sponsor, Vickie. She has been so supportive of my desire not only to join Altrusa, but to run for Library Trustee.

I arrived home rather late and found Hubby had enjoyed some of the Beef Burgundy that I prepared for him. He said it was very good. It definitely smelled like it!

Anneliese is still going to sleep very early at night. Either she is pregnant and feeling exhausted by it, or she has very bad “doggy jet lag”.

I planted a few extra squash plants today that I had been growing as backups in the green house. Now everything is planted.

We have just one last skirting to tie onto the smaller cherry tree. I think next year we will have to get new netting and figure out another way to net those trees. It has really been a challenge to net them this year!

It was an amazingly beautiful day here today! 74 degrees, bright sunshine and a gentle breeze! It reminded me why I love New England summers!

Have a great Wednesday Everyone!

Planting

Sunday was a hard work day for me. Hubby helped early on to turn the soil in the garden and then I raked and set about planting all my enormous seedlings in the garden. Zucchini, summer squash, pickling cucumbers, regular cucumbers, green peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, brussel sprouts, peas and green and purple beans!

Betty asked me if we eat all the vegetables that we grow. Yes and no. We cook a lot of them, and we also preserve them by canning them. Our fruit trees yield so much more than we actually eat, so we sell what we can to a local farm stand. But the vegetables are pretty much just for us.

I did plant twice as many pickling cucumbers this year because I made bread and butter pickles last year and they were a real treat! I only made one batch, and they got eaten far too quickly! So I am hoping to make two or three batches this year!

I had a lot of help planting the garden too. Fritz stood guard, along with his favorite ball.

And I had Anneliese out with me so she could stretch her legs and enjoy the day. I did use a leash with her though, as I am a tad nervous with her in an impregnable condition!

All in all the six hours I spent, along with Hubby part of the time, planting were nice. The weather is warm, although it was a bit windy. I slathered on sunscreen and later in the day actually put on a light weight turtleneck to protect my shoulders and neck.

Sunday night found me watching the Family Channel’s Harry Potter Marathon. I never get tired of that! Monday is laundry, ironing and packing day, and Tuesday I finish up Anneliese’s paperwork by getting her documents stamped!

It’s getting very close now!

Cucumbers & Squash & Tomatoes, Oh My!

Okay, I have to say that today was probably the nicest day we have had this year. It was 90 degrees, with bright sunshine and a little breeze. I got out early into my garden to plant my purple and green beans! Then I watered like crazy so that they would germinate.

Of course due to the heat, I had to go out and water again so that they didn’t dry up. I was trying to also do some raking of the soil, but it was so dry and with that gentle breeze, the dirt was coming up in clouds. Not too good for my breathing.

Hubby was working again today, so I was alone with the beasts, and that meant I had time to get some work done out in the green house. In just a few more days I will be transplanting my ‘seedlings’ into the garden.

Here in my growing zone, we wait until after the last weekend in May before putting any plants in the garden. Up until then, there is always the possibility of a frost. However, the way our temperatures have been, I am pretty sure that this isn’t going to be a problem.

And as you can see, my ‘seedlings’ are pretty healthy looking plants now!

I do have four tomato plants outside in large patio pots. These will remain like this all summer and usually I get a lot of fruit from them.

Below, I also have several tomato plants that I started from seed that I will put at the edges of my garden to grow as they may.

Lastly, there are my two beautiful Ichiban Eggplants. (Japanese Eggplants) They are prolific and the fruit is sweet!

I hope that the new fence I have put up around the garden will keep my bunny friends out and my beautiful leafy ‘seedlings’ will grow and flourish!