Homemade Mosquito Repellent ~ Summer is Not Over

I know it's a bit late in the season, but I have been wanting to try a recipe using basil and vodka.  The temperatures soared up to the 90's this week.  It definitely feels like summer is still here.  

I spent the early part of the week deep cleaning my kitchen.  That was a relief, and it kept me out of the heat.

I also took some time to file recipes, pitch the ones that didn't make the cut, and recycle most of the paper.  

The kids are still sick, and I am feeling better.  There is nothing worse than to have severe congestion when it's 95°F outside.

Days to Myself, Projects, and Sickness

I have had the wonderful pleasure of more days to myself.  In a way it's saving me gas too.  I tend to get so involved with my projects and work, that I leave little time for running errands. 

We've had some very relaxing, and cool nights here, but a camping trip with Hubby and I may not be the picture. Sigh....he's being asked to work over a lot lately.  It's good for the pocket book, but bad for our dedicated time to each other. The other night, I was in town (finally) buying jeans for 2 girls, when he called and said he'd love to have a date night with me.  Shortly after, he called again.  Work called him back. Double sigh.....

Spinach Sausage Pizza ~ Hunting for Tomatoes

It's that time of year again, where I weed out the garden, and get it tilled for next year.  The weeds, due to neglect (I guess I was a bit depressed to even care for it after the weather flooded it out), have grown to 4-5 feet out there.  What a mess.

More Spiced Pickled Beets ~ Candy Apple Jelly

Despite waking up aching, worn out,  the starting-to-feel-sick overall heaviness, I decided not to sleep in.  Maybe I should have, but I saw another beautiful start to a beautiful sunrise this morning.

Sunshine is always good for the soul.  Right?  Maybe it can zap some energy into me today.

I've been catching up on things around here, since our 3 night camping trip - laundry, housework, fun mail, bills, floors, bathrooms, etc.  Then Hubby springs one on me....

One of Hubby's co-workers found fall beets, and picked us up 15 pounds.  Or so he thought.  After I weighed out the 6 pounds I needed for canning 7 pints, I was left with about 3 pounds.  Hm?  Either way, I am very thankful he brought them home, and we now have more put up for winter/spring.

Weekend Pop-Up Camping Trip #2

We now call ourselves "popupologists."  (Snort) The definition is a devotee of camping with a pop-up camper. 

Pour yourself a cup of your favorite beverage, and join us while we show you are camping adventure.

We took another camping trip.  This is the back of our campsite, where there is a secluded area for more tents or simply "chilling out."

Dehydrating Garlic ~ Making Garlic Powder

Dehydrating garlic was next on my list of "to-do's," and to make garlic powder from my home grown garlic.  Some of my followers have probably already made homemade garlic powder, so forgive me if it's a boring post.  This is a first time for me.

We were gifted garlic two years ago, and planted all of them in the garden in the fall.  I dug them up the next season, and repeated that for one more year, expanding our harvest this year.  

Sorghum, Honey, Ginger, and Cinnamon ~ Baking a Healthier Gingerbread

I have been looking through some of the recipes I collected over last summer.  Recipes that I had not yet tried.  I found one that uses sorghum, and I just had to bake it!  I buy locally produced sorghum and honey, so I had the ingredients.  I just adapted it with organic ingredients and our fresh farm eggs.

Sorghum is still a form of sugar, so it is not recommended for diabetics.  However, from the articles I have read, most forms of sorghum do not contain gluten.  And like Molasses, it is a good source for iron, potassium, and calcium.  In one article, I read that it contains more antioxidants than blueberries.  I find this interesting.