Island Trip

The camping trip was not the end of Hubby's vacation.  He planned out the entire week, and made sure we had a few nights to ourselves. 

Sort of.

He took me to the island.  The Yurts were booked, so this time he got us a very nice Bed and Breakfast to stay at.

We actually got the chance to see the sunset on the island this trip.  It happens on the west of the island where there is just one marina and restaurant/pub.  You can see all the people that walk all the way out and get photos of it.
 

Camping Trip ~ Campfire Mac n' Cheese

We've been "off line" for a while so these are posts will catch up all up to date.  Hubby took us camping!  Oh the fun!

This is the fire ring that we cooked on.  We bring along a tri-pod as well.

July 4th Fun

I was so excited to hear Hubby could take a little vacation time, so I started doing laundry, watering houseplants.....oh the fun that awaited.

First the garden got a good watering.  Hubby took to the vegetable garden, and I to the flower and herb gardens.  

With dogs and farm animals vacationing is a bit tricky.  I'm glad a few adult kids cold help out. 

Hubby surprised us and booked a hotel near a large firework display.   We stayed overnight and watched the show from our hotel window.  They had music to go along, via the radio station, and we listened and watched from the 6th floor.  It was a very nice show.

Rascals ~ Kitchen Happenings

This post should have been up a few days back. I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July.  I'll have an more current update in a few days.  Until then....
 
If you have been following my blog, you have heard about the raccoon that was taunting me.  We'll several days have gone by with nothing getting into my pots, so I replanted my organic medicinal seeds (I had to reorder all of my seeds).

A few days went by and the pots where untouched, until this happened.  Grr!  So frustrated.  I'll be buying whatever herbs do not make it this year.  I could put them all inside until they start, but I really don't want to buy seeds a third time.

Lemon Extract ~ Tinctures

I drained the last jar of lemon extract I had in the making.  this will last about a year or longer in our house.  It's not used as much as vanilla extract, which we go through a lot faster.

Sweet Cherry Jam and the Strawberry Saga

First, I have to tell you about the strawberries.  We have one plant that survived last year's monsoon, so we have zero strawberries.  Some years it's just how it goes.  We planted everybearing, and we did not like them anyway (small harvest, small berries, and never enough to can jam).

There is a place about 25 minutes or so from our house which sells very good strawberries.  This place is known for their strawberries.  They are huge and tasty.

I called, and found out that they were selling for only for one more day, and were picking that morning, and were to start selling at 9am.

Peas and Cauliflower for Breakfast ~ Mixing up Herbs ~ Timmy

Shell peas are slowly coming on, so I decided to take the first picked bit, and toss it into a breakfast frittata.  I did not have enough for a meal for all of us, nor enough to freeze.

This time I used cauliflower, potatoes (sliced), and peas. 

I had one green bell pepper ready to pick, and one hot banana pepper.  I tossed all of that into my cast iron skillet (cooking all the vegetables first), and did not add any other spice/herb.  I just added salt and pepper and it was delicious.