from the Homesteading Journal . . .

Blanched and froze 40 cups of sweet corn.

Staked 20 more tomato plants.

Froze 7 cups of shredded zucchini.

Canned 4 more pints of Sweat Pickle Relish.

Dug up 2 rows of red potatoes.

Number of eggs we got in June: 121

Baked up some beet chips for the first time every.  Delicious!  A bit of olive oil and sea salt.  These were amazing.  Now I have to buy a mandolin.  Otherwise, these won't bake evenly and some will burn. I used Martha Stewart's recipe for reference on temperature etc.

Spent days and days weeding out all the flower, herb, and vegetable/fruit gardens.  Weeds, weeds, and more weeds.

Purchased 12 wooden fence posts for the new goat pen.

The 4-1/2 pints of apricot-jalapeno jelly that I made are half gone already.  Hubby loves it so much I am down to 2 jars.  I hope I get more peppers after the next rain. I need to can more to sell.

Planted 4 more loofah seeds.  I'm taking a chance and trying to grow some sponges here in my state.  These seeds came from my Aunt.  If I can get them to grow here, we'll be selling them at the Farmer's Market, as well as for personal use.  The weather is just finicky this summer.

from the Family Journal . . .

Two of the kids went camping with my brothers.  My oldest brother wants to teach them how to fly fish. I'm taking over the milking of the goats for one of them, so she can have a vacation (I've never taken over her milking other than once and I skipped the Farmer's Market due to how tired I have been).

While we were waiting for my oldest brother to pull in with his airstream camper at noon, we got a text message - still shopping and won't be there until 3pm or so.  At 4pm.  He still wasn't here.  Then we get a text from my younger brother - he's unloading his truck to come get the girls, as my older brother was stuck on the highway with a flat trailer tire.  I texted back - I'll bring the girls to you.  


After we got there, hubby left the keys in the Explorer.  It locked on us and we spent quit a time getting into it.   We got a laugh when the alarm went off too.  Over an hour later we were back in the Explorer.


I think that was chapter 1 and 2 in my new book. Ha ha ha!

I snapped this photo of Tiger.  It's almost as if he's saying "turn out the lights." So cute!

Then I snapped this photo of Jasper.  Oh...such a life to have.

The older two girls drove to town for me and ended up bringing home an abandoned kitten.  The poor thing was panting and starved.  If the girls had not found him, he would have surely died the next day.  Temperatures went up to 100°F. 

Upon further inspection, we discovered the tip of the kitten's tail missing and half of his whiskers missing.  On one of the hottest days here, we drove this little guy to town, and prayed that the Humane Society would take him.  They did (after a long debate).  

On the same hot day (car must have been above 100°F inside, even with windows down), I drove a large box of books to the Hospice Care Center.  They will be given to families that have a terminally ill family member, and need a book to read when they can't sleep etc.

During these past hot days, the wrens haven't been seen nor heard from.  As soon as the rains arrived, they are singing non-stop. I took this photo and will add it to our bird identification journal.