Homemaking Mondays: Fresh Food

 

Hi!  Do you like fresh food? 

Over the years I have leaned more on enjoying fresh food 

rather then store-bought  packaged food.

I know it's healthier but I find 

it's also tastier to. 

I have discovered that some in my family really like swiss chard,

especially my son who ate about half of it from the frying pan above himself. 

It was fried up with bacon and onions. 

I always just had greens in salads...but I'm starting 

to branch out more and try them in things.

 

The season for tomatoes has come to an end. 

There are still a few holding on in the window.

I shall miss their cheerful colour.

 

We were gifted this HUGE zucchini! 

It is now all chopped up and in the freezer for soups and stews this winter. 

 

We also found a great deal on bananas at the store. 

Just 32 cents/pound! 

So now we should have enough bananas for a few months of 

making bread and smoothies. 

Do you ever freeze bananas?  

I've started to freezer things in the smaller bags and then once they're frozen 

they are easy to arrange in the freezer.   

I used to have it all hap hazard, but I like now that I can find things easily.

How do you store things in your freezer?

 

zucchini, squash, tomatoes, corn and summer squash.

 

Meats all in meal portions.

 

Green beans (I found that the french style beans from the grocery store are great when no local ones are available).  Banana bread ready to go.

 

Herbs, garlic, and onions

 

I made some salsa for the family this week. 

I used the recipe from the Bernardin canning book.

It took a bit longer then I expected since I used the wood cookstove.

I'll have to remember to budget more time when I do it again. 

 

I also discovered a great way to let my buns rise over the wood cook stove. 

I set my bread pans on the top ledge, and now I use this. 

It's just a simple freezer rack. 

In the pic I have my frying pan sitting there to finish drying after it was washed.

I also enjoyed a lovely cup of earl grey vanilla tea gifted me by my friend Judith! 

The little tea strainer she gave me is perfect for a cup of tea!

 

Thanks for dropping by!  

I hope that you are enjoying the end of summer and perhaps putting some foods by.

It's so nice to have that fresh food taste in the middle of the winter! 

Love and Prayers,

Jennifer

Homemaking Mondays: It's In The Little Things

 

Hello!

I'd love to share with you some of the little things 

that have brought me joy this week.

The weather here has changed.  

We got a couple days of heavy rain, and when the clouds lifted...

there was snow on the high mountain tops.  

It was 5C in the morning...and yes we started our wood stove up

to take the chill off.  

That was followed by gale force winds!

It was incredible to have to really lean against the wind 

while doing chores outside. 

There were a few trees falling. 

Thankfully not in an area that needed to be cleaned up...

at our place at least. 

On one afternoon, while the winds had quieted a little bit.

I snuck out with my camera to take pictures of the flowers...

just because who knows what might happen to them. 

Thankfully they are all mostly intact at this time. 

I do cover them at night as the temps do drop down to or below freezing at night.

 

I have found some new favourites to hopefully add to the flower garden next year. 

 

As well as old favourites that always make me smile! :) 

 

These are called nemophelia "Baby Blue Eyes".  

They are so lovely and my children introduced them to me 

through the gardening program that they worked at this summer at our local community center.  

They seeded the flowers, watered, and cared for them. 

I bought some of their starter plants for our home. 

 

With having the wood stove on for heat...we might as well 

cook on it and save electricity right?  

I thought so...but with a newly started fire it doesn't give off enough heat to cook well.

With a hungry family...I got to thinking.

 I found that one of my skillets fit perfectly in the "hole" 

when I took the burner lid off to fill the stove with wood. 

Yup....cooks much better that way while the stove 

is getting itself going. No need to wait. :) 

Also my new favourite pancake is made with

unbleached flour and fresh ground oat flour. 

I told my family it was just like having oatmeal and toast for breakfast 

but in a different form.

 

While the stove was pipping hot, we decided that we needed some bread.  

I ground some spelt flour for the first time in awhile.

Oh does it taste delicious!  

I mix in some of the fresh flour with unbleached as we like fluffy bread.  

I make a pan of buns with three loaves of bread at a time.

 

Doesn't this look delicious? 

Yes, my son and I just had to try one before setting them aside to cool for supper. 

You know...quality control!

 

These are some of the little things that the Lord has blessed my home with. 

The things that give me pause to thank Him.  

Some people think that mundane lives are boring...but I think they are beautiful! 

Thanks for dropping by!

Love and Prayers,

Jennifer

Homemaking Mondays: Winter's Coming

 

Hello!

Welcome to Homemaking Monday! 

Sorry I'm a touch late today.  

I have been busy this week stashing food for the winter. 

I feel like a squirrel sometimes...for winter is coming! 

We've had a good frost already, and the mornings are so chilly 

that I wait a long time in the morning before uncovering my plants outside. 

The wood stove is lit to take the chill out of the air in the house.

The extra lap blankets are pulled out of their basket and snuggled under. 

I have been freezing a lot of things. 

I like to do this with most of my veggies at this time. 

Some day I'll learn to pressure can some of them, but for now frozen is great!

I learned to use a carrot peeler to peal butternut squash and then I cubed it and froze it

along with zucchini.  Then there were more herbs from the garden 

that got cleaned, chopped, and bagged. 

I had bought a large amount of bananas on sale last week. 

Some have gone into banana bread (some of which is in the freezer) and then the extra

bananas are frozen in portion sizes for making more bread with them. 

I have also been puttering about the yard picking up the odd pieces of wood for kindling.

Sawing up smaller branches/ sticks for the stove.

Then there is the spending time outdoors....while it's still nice! 

While indoors I've been crocheting more on that blanket I shared that I'd started.

It's coming along nicely...but I admit it's very warm to have it on my lap as it gets bigger. 

I'm working to use up all the sourdough starter discard that has been in the kitchen. 

I'm getting better at making bread with it.  

Last week our children began their school lessons again.  

It's hard to start so early...but we did end early last year and it's good to 

get back into the swing of things again.  

I was able to also go to a class on backyard remedies

held just up the road from me.  

It was a great class on making tinctures and salves, and 

looking for plants around us. 

Through the whole class, I couldn't help but think on how

God has put them there for our use. 

Genesis 1:29

 “And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.” 

 Genesis 9:3

 “Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.”

I thank the Lord for all that He brings into our lives and all that He teaches us. 

Oh, and the cake in the first picture was my youngest son's birthday cake.  

He requested a cheesecake...it was a chocolate orange swirl.

To make that, just add a touch of orange extract to the chocolate portion. 

My son picked the flowers from the garden for the top.

Then he asked for shepherd's pie for supper. 

I forgot to cook the corn to put in it....so it was served on the side.

Still very good. :) 

Homemaking can be wonderful...but there are times it just isn't picture perfect.

 

Thanks so much for dropping by!  

Praying you have a beautiful day!

Love and Prayers,

Jennifer

Homemaking Monday: Flowers to Cheer You!

Hello!  Do flowers cheer you? 

I find that I cannot help but smile when I see flowers.

What a gift from the Lord flowers are! 

This week flowers seem to be just bursting in my home.

I was given a few slips of geranium recently. 

One of them has brought a beautiful treasure to the dinning room window.

My snake skin plant has a few flower stems emerging. 

I've never seen it do this before.

There are tiny droplets of dew on them.

Then my sunflower in my greenhouse has brought a huge burst of colour!

It's the only one, but it has made fast friends with the bees. :) 

Then there are the violets. 

They are my ultimate favourite indoor flowering plant. 

I have a few different ones, and they are all starting to bloom.

Flowers seem to cheer my day as I putter about the home doing 

necessary things.  

Fresh flowers are wonderful and sometimes you can find them at a reasonable price. 

With potted flowers it's so nice that they are free. 

A special touch to add to your home if you like indoor plants.

Also this week we've been enjoying an abundance of blueberries!  

I found a great deal on them and it has been nice to share 

and to put some away for the winter needs. 

Then also bananas were a good price so we bought some extra to dehydrate.

They won't last long unless I hide them. Yum!

Then all the abundance of rhubarb, red raspberry leaves, and chamomile 

have been steadily been added to the pantry.  

It is so good to work in the gentleness of our homes. 

With little things like flowers to cheer us! 

Praying you have a blessed day!

Jennifer

Comforts of Home

 

Hello!  I thought I'd share some of my comforts of home with you. 

I have started on a crocheted blanket.  

At first it was just to get my hands around some yarn, but then I started to think that this blanket would look great on my daughter's bed.  So I asked her and she agreed.  

I've worked through all the yarn I have at home and will need to get another ball to finish. 

I've missed working with yarn. 

 

I love to be home and care for my sourdough starter.  It's so nice to have this bubbling away on the countertop.  I am not one to like throwing away the discard so I've been making bread with it. 

Next I want to make sourdough crackers. 

I love being home to bake bread. 

In the dutch oven is my favourite way to make sourdough bread, although I use 

glass bread pans for my regular bread. 

 

I also bought some very beautiful flowers flowers from the children's table at the community market.

I loved all the delightful colour and it's been sitting on the kitchen table for a few days.  

Simple flowers can really cheer up a room.  

 

It has been quite cool which is to be expected as we near August here in the Yukon. 

Things are going to start to transition from summer to fall here. 

It also gives me great pleasure to know I have a wood cookstove to fire up and warm up the house.

Today I was able to start my very first fire in it!  

Oh it was lovely and hot...and didn't even smoke in the house at all. Ha! 

 

We still need to learn more about how to adjust the heat and burn times as we've never had a stove like this to use.  It has a nice big box in it so it'll be easy to fill and stoke for the night. 

I am so very much looking forward to cooking on it!  

In fact we heated water and then heated up our leftover soup on it at lunch time.  

Soon there will be things in the oven...as the temperatures will call for the stove 

to be on more and more. 

 

With the hot water...there had to be tea! 

 

Another comfort of home for me is seeing these lovely tomatoes on the window sill. 

They just make me smile...and my mouth water. 

 

The comforts of home....there is so much to that.  

Most of all, as I think about all the blessings in the home my heart swells with 

thanksgiving to the Lord Jesus for providing all of this!  

In all things in life what we see and experience needs to bring our eyes off of ourselves 

and up to the Lord for all that He is and all that He does!  

God is good! 

 Psalm 105:1-4

	"O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people.
	Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his wondrous works.
	Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD.
	Seek the LORD, and his strength: seek his face evermore."

Love and Prayers, 

Jennifer