Applesauce~Some of my first canning this season!

I love to make use out of things that go to waste. I'm not talking trash to treasure, here really, I'm talking about fruit that hangs on trees and bushes and falls on the ground and wastes. I went to a baby shower recently, we're in the country you know? Well, I walked through the backyard to get to the entry door, and I ended up, like always, getting twigs stuck in my hair, etc., tomboy that I seem to be. You know, my sister always went everywhere and never got dirty. Me??? I attracted messes and forgot things, like...underwear???? I only did that twice that I know of, but the time I did it in 2nd grade, when I had to wear a dress, was pretty traumatic. I remember distinctly scooting around in my desk, because the seat swiveled, you know what I mean?? Well, as I scooted, I thought, "Oh gosh, I forgot my underwear". What's a girl to do??? Well, I went up and told the teacher, and she says, "What do you want me to do??" I said, "I've got to talk to my sister!" So I rush down to the next room, to the 4th grade class, interrupt the class and ask for my sister. I tell her, "Sister, (yes, that's what I called her), Sister, I say, I forgot my underwear!" Well, you know what my big sister did for me?? She told the teacher she had to go to the locker room, she took off her underwear for me to wear, and she wore her gym shorts under her dress! Can you believe it??
Well, I got side tracked, I was under the apple tree, getting twigs in my hair, but amazed at all the apples on the tree. So, I asked my friend what her MIL does with all those apples, and she says they get fed to the cows! So, this year, my daughter and I got them! We didn't even begin to pick enough to notice, but I did get 42 quarts of applesauce out of them! Oh, yum, nice and tart, I added a very little bit of brown sugar and some cinnamon, and got them down unbelieveably quick! Did you ever use one of these saucer things? I can't remember right off what brand mine is, but it is a wonderful tool! I sauces apples, tomatoes, berries, etc. All I did with the apples, was cook them in a little water to steam them soft, after I washed them , left them whole, and put them through the machine. My 9 yo son enjoyed helping crank the handle, and we got done very quickly, compared to peeling and coring, etc. The sauce comes out the grate, and the peel, stem, core, etc, come out the chute at the end! They sell for I believe $30-$60, but I was fortunate enough to buy one for $5. at a garage sale!!

It's nice & hot outside, why am I in the house???

Yikes, I started an avalanche!! OK, I really needed to till some more in the garden, and the kids really needed to get the wood stacked that dad cut last night. But, since it was getting hotter out by the time we were done with regular daily stuff, I had the bright idea that we would attack those bedrooms. OOOOHHHH, what a mess! Randy said he was going to go through a bunch of the boys' (I have 9 yo twin boys) treasures. I mean, they have that shriveled rattlesnake skin as a decoration on their wall, yep, all boy. One of my boys is like my oldest son, he loves to take apart anything he can get his hands on. So, he has.....switches and wires from my dryer we were getting rid of.....and screws he found that he'd thought he'd need (actually all my "boys" are like this, since daddy is a carpenter). He is saving all this stuff, because he is planning to build a spaceship with it. It's a good thing we live in the country, people would really wonder about us ! They have those kinds of lego sets with a million pieces, mixed with other stuff, I don't know, I've lost track. My twins love to draw and create stuff.....especially the one that doesn't have all the wires, switches, and other treasures. He has tons of "creations". OK, I have a hard time throwing those out, but you have to draw a line somewhere. I did let him help me draw the line.
I just don't know where they get it LOL. What packrats!! I always use the excuse with myself, that a lot of it is and "investment" :-) But Randy, now he is a collector at heart. It doesn't matter if it is 1st Edition Henty books from England (been there, done that), or Disney toys he wants to get for Chantel, he has this thing about complete sets. I don't. It doesn't bother me if I don't have a whole set of anything. Which saves him a ton of money. I mean, I can find one plate, and cherish it, I don't have to have the whole entire set.
Well, I'm pretty tired of looking at my boys' bedroom about now, although we have most of it done. I have a stack of books, some are tempting me to put on Etsy, b/c I know they are something altered artists use, but....I'll wait and see what he says. They may be from a collection, like the Heloise something or others art work in the little Golden books, however I love those, too!
Well, we're now taking a break, and we're going swimming!

Clatskanie Bluegrass & Quilt Show Fun!!

Well, it was too hectic for me to get pictures of our local festivities- the Clatskanie Bluegrass Festival and Annual Quilt Show that was this weekend, (got them from clatscom) but what a good time! I didn't drag everything Kristin and I had to the Quilt Show crafter's fair, (Kristin wasn't going to be there, and I knew I'd be tired!), but, I did quickly sell out of everything I baked, YES!!! I could have sold more, but sometimes it's hard to tell how much will sell, how busy it will be, etc.
Between the estate sales, the Library book sale, the Bluegrass, and the Quilt Show, it was a pretty full weekend in Clatskanie. For such a small town, we sure do have a lot of events, it seems to me!
Tomorrow, we've got to get up early and get the outside stuff done in a hurry. It's supposed to be hot, which I love, and we won't want to work hard in the heat. The kids will be stacking firewood & I'll be weeding and tilling the garden. Then we can all swim the rest of the day, and drink raspberry lemonade.
I got really attached to the strawberry and raspberry lemonade they had at Burgerville, so we've been making our own, probably a lot less sugar anyway, and it is sooooo good! I need to call a friend who is letting me have some of her apples are her huge old tree, and see when they'll be ready, and that will be sooooo good. I love fresh apples. I love real apples! The ones in the store are usually tasteless. I love a crispy, sweet-tart apple, and I'm looking forward to canning applesauce, pie filling, and making apple cider. Cider usually calls for a party, you know, the guys have to crank the press, although every year they talk about how easy it would be to put a motor on it LOL, so it serves them right to have to crank the handle!
I've been looking for a crispy dill pickle recipe. My dill pickles are great tasting, but just not as crunch as the ones from the store. A friend told me about something called "Pickle Crisp", and I'm wanting to see what is actually in it, and if I want to can my pickles with it. It seems like canning comes on like a flood, you have to hurry and get it in jars, but it looks so gorgeous when it's done! It seems to me like you look at it on the shelf, at least I do, and think, "It's canned work", you know what I mean, like the work is bottled up in that jar, it keeps, you remember it, all the labor of love, right there in the jar, sealed. Jar after jar after jar of beautiful work, stuff God gave us to keep sustain us through that cold weather. OK, I'm wandering, it's after midnight, and I've got to get up early. I'm so glad Randy makes the coffee!!!

Less than a hour left in the day.....Can I get more done??

Gosh, it's been a busy day! I got up EARLYer than usual this morning to go to an estate sale. I actually went to two this week, and did I find some neat stuff. The sale today was IMO overpriced, but I did find some neat smalls that I really liked, that evidentally they didn't put much stock in, good for ME! The sale this morning was actually in a garage, we get there early, they take numbers, then let probably 20 people into a garage with 4 rows of tables to go through! I dislike it when they put an ebay printout letting you know how much you'd have to pay through ebay, so they're charging that. The least they could do is put more than one printout showing that not every one of those things sales for that price.
But oh well, I did find some cute stuff! I found two different sets of vintage rubber stamps, letters, which I liked. Also, in the stamp box were a few sets of Olive Oyle and Popeye stamps and Tear???? I hadn't heard of him, and Whimpy. Those were kind of neat. I found a bunch of S&H Greenstamps, and stampbooks, plus some silver dollar grocery store ones. Some vintage aprongs, I'll have to hurry and put the scarecrow apron on my Etsy right away for fall. Found a bunch of playing cards, a 1950s Christmas ornament, great for my collection, and you never have enough cheese boxes, right?? An old pink clipboard I thought was cute. I loved these little pink birds that go on Birthday cakes!
The other estate sale I got stuff from was even better! 5!!! sets of Fisher Prices play family sets from the 60s and 70s, really nice ones, 3 with their boxes! They took care of the toys, too! Mixed in with the pieces of people and accesories was a surprise of some really neat Tootsie Toys that I was more than happy to find. A cute little FP Tip Toe Turtle, in good condition, still has the box! A FP Circus set, although I'll need to replace the clowns and a few other pieces. I found a tin Farm Barn which was kinda cool. I found a few vintage games, and even a bike! The Coca Cola tray was kind neat. One of those weeks that makes you love a good sale! I've never had a weakness for shopping in the malls too much, but garage sales and estate sales and stuff like that, yep, I love.

When I got home, I got started with baking my bread for the Quilt Show Bazaar tomorrow during the Bluegrass Festival here in Clatskanie. I got 32 loaves of Finnish cardamom bread baked and a huge pan of marionberry coffeecakes. Am I tired, yes. Am I fatigued?, yes! Do I fall right to sleep when I'm fatigued? NO! But I'm getting there and by midnight I'm going to be in that bed, getting some sleep before I have to get up and go do that show. It will be fun seeing all the quilts around town and in the park where I'll be, and the bluegrass I'll get to go relax and enjoy afterwards. Well, better "git".

Boats & Goats

Sometimes life just brings you the strangest sights, don't you think? I had to go clean my MILs windows yesterday, she lives right on the Columbia. She sees these ships go by more often that she sees cars, and although I'm only a few miles from her, it amazes me to see these ships go by from all over the world! Isn't this one just huge?? It feels like it's right in your lap watching them go by.
The road's are being repaved out near our home, and the traffic gets held up lately, for longer than I sometimes want to wait. So, I needing to get the PO before it closed, I decided to take the dike road, so I wouldn't be held up in traffic. I'm driving a little ways, and although I'm alone, I just had to laugh at my "plan" to not be held up. Ahead of me in the road, coming at me, are a mass of goats. I'm not talking 20 goats, I'm talking I'VE NEVER SEEN SO MANY GOATS IN MY LIFE! Here I am on a dike road, the slough on one side, no room to turn around, and goats are coming at me. Finally, I can make out that thee are actually humans among them and a dog. Although I've grown up around farmer-type people, I've never met a goat-herd guy before! Well, I just stayed there, had my camera with me, and started taking pictures. They kept getting closer and closer, until they were all around me. We once had a goat that jumped on my car, and I started thinking I could get mauled by these goats. They were all around me. It was something odd, something that I will never probably experience again, but God is so good to let me enjoy the oddest things, don't you think? When they finally were herded down the bank, I got out and took another picture, and asked the goatherd, "How many are there?" He didn't speak much English I could tell, but he said "One thousand, five hundred". Have you ever been close to 1500 goats at one time?

Blueberry-ing

Yum, don't you just love the taste of fresh blueberries? The kids and I, my eldest daughter and her kids, and some friends, all went out to the blueberry field today and picked gallons of berries!! Of course, we had a discussion on whether they should have weighed us first, but this place is so cool, they don't even stay outside to wait for you! They have a scale, a money box, and a sign, all based on the good old honor system! Who does that anymore??
We were talking about how many berries each of us had eaten. Some people eat one at a time, others, ahem..eat all they pick, and my philosophy on blueberries is.. When you're standing there in the field, the birds are chirping the sun is pleasantly shining, and the berries are big and wonderful, the berries should only be eaten by the HANDFUL! Eating one or two here and there is ok for frozen, or even for when you've gotten back home with your buckets, but definitely in the field, they should only be eaten a gob at a time.
Not to get off the subject, but blueberries eaten one at a time in the field, would be like...ok, one of my other favorite things in the whole work...Roake's footlong hotdogs! We've driven to Milwaukee to get a Roake's dog. Would a person ever drive from Clatskanie to Portland to get a regular hot dog??? NO WAY! I would so love to have that recipe Roake's uses for their coney sauce. It's one of those tradition type things. My oldest kids grandmother ate at Roakes when she was a teenager! She is now in her 70s! Then I learned about them, and of course, my kids love them. They would be on their list of favorite foods in the top 10! So, it's like generational thing!
People have gotten teary telling me how important my Finnish Cardamom bread is to their family's holiday tradition, and I can believe it based on how much I sell them LOL! Why does food do that to people?? I think it's kinda Biblical, the fellowship people have around food, you know?
So, anyway, the blueberries! They are going into the freezer, at least this batch. I told one of my twin sons that he needs to pick 365 cups of blueberries, since he likes to eat a cupful every night right out of the freezer! But, we'll be back out for more in just a few days. First, I have to clean Grandmas windows tomorrow, then Friday, it's bake all day for a craft fair at the Clatskanie Bluegrass Festival. Then, back to get more blueberries!

Recent Finds

I was thrilled to get these couple tables, found them in an old house of a Finnish family. Can't decide, do I want to keep, or do I want to sell, you know how that goes! The size of the cream table is really wonderful, and I love the taller-ness of it! That's a corner shelf on top of it that I'm going to do something with.
The wood stained on has some neat design, too. It does have a glass top on it, but I'm going to take that off. It does have some character. I think the wire one once had a handle on it, like a buggy, but it looks fine like it is.
I'm still pouting about the bicycle I missed, but here my 3-wheeler. And I think I may still get another to replace the Schwinn I'm pouting about.