Holachicka ~ Up till 3 am, but...

[old fashioned]

you can send it all up here I'll take it


All kidding aside...you could pickle the peppers either in a crock or use a w/b canner. If you don't have a w/b, just use a big soup pot that can hold atleast enough water to cover the jars by one inch or more. Or dry/dehydrate them too. That way you could free up some freezer space for the corn until you can get a pressure canner. You can dry the corn too.
If you have a cool enough place to store the stuff, they should be okay for a few days atleast until you can get a canner.

 

[TanksHill]

Lucky you!!!
I dry all my extra bellpeppers. I use them in my spaghetti sauce all year.
Maybe some fruit leathers from the mellons??

G

 

[Holachicka]

If you guys were near me, I'd definately share!! DH took the mornings eggs with him to share with the farmer.

I dry a lot of tomatoes and fruits, but haven't tried drying much else. I'm not sure what to do with a lot of things! I need to get better about that... Figuring out a way to cook with dried ingredients...

Pai Mae gave me 3 full quarts today!! the alfalfa pellets have helped I think, or she is just adjusting to her new home...

Went to the dollar tree store today and SCORE! they had some REALLY nice heavy duty t-shirts for kids. I picked up 4 for my son, and they had a couple of thinner fabric but still worth it t-shirts for me. yay! also got a gift for my neighbor, she turned 13 about a month ago and I hadn't gotten her a gift yet, so I picked up 10 detail nail polishes for her, so she can paint little flowers and stuff on her toes! ( she's borrowed about 20 of my nail polishes so Iknow she'll like them) I also got a couple for me .

So happy we are getting veggies, but not looking forward to all the work I'll be doing this week to preserve them. I still don't know what to do with half of them! Most of the tomatoes will be dried, because I use them a lot, and DH's grandparents will want some of them too. With all the plums they gave me I'm makeing a plum sauce for meats. It's in the fridge now because I simmered it forever and ran out of time to can. I'll bring it back to a boil for a bout 10 minutes then finish canning. We had burgers the other night that were smothered in a plum sauce, with jack cheese and a slice of pineapple on top, SOOO good!

Oh! I take meds for migraines and my doctor changed my prescription from 50 to 100 pills! That means I pay the same amount for my co pay, and get twice the meds! Yay!

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

Hiya. What meds are you taking for your migraines? I just had my doc switch from imitrex because it nothing for me ... tylenol is better. no clue what the new one is. pick it up tomorrow.

YOU take a moment! close the door to the bathroom. explain multi-tasking to the hubby. have him slice the peppers for the dehydrator while a kid arranges them on the sheet.

breathe.

 

[Holachicka]

Well, I'm on vicodin to treat the migraine, but doc and I are working on trying to find something to prevent the migraines in the first place. So far I tried topomax. While the appetite suppressent part was very nice, It also caused the degree of pain I was having with my migraines to increase to a level where I was lying in bed with icepacks (very helpful by the way I put them where my neck meets my head). I was supposed to try some more, but my doc has been going on vacation a lot over the last few months and I think he's been getting kind of lazy. hasn't been great about returning my emails, and originally the goal was to make it so I don't need to take vicodin as often (can be addictive!) and then he ups the amount he's giving me? :dunno anyways, hopefully he's done with his vacationing and gets back on track, he's normally an awesome doc. Uhg, Imetrex, I was given an injection of that once and had a bad reaction. Scarey!

So DH came home with lots of fresh veggies!! 6 cantelope, a box of tomatoes, 2 feedbags full of corn, 6 grocery bags full of mixed peppers. One of our favorites is to stuff the anaheim chilies with jack cheese and grill them, YUM!! That's just what he brought into the house, there are a few bags of the same stuff that he took to work with him to hand out to friends.

What the heck can I do with all that corn? I don't have the best tool to take the corn off the ears so I want to avoid that. Can I freeze the corn ear and all?

Last night I finished my plum sauce. The recipe I used was from the ball book, and called for a cup of cider vinegar. The result was very tart... I kept adding more sugar to the recipe and I'm not sure I'm happy with it. I'm hoping after it sits for a few months the vinegar will mellow?

Oh! I'm going to try strawberry jam without pectin. The recipe says you have to let it simmer for about an hour and a half, but I figure it will be worth a try! Also have plums in the freezer that I'll make another jam with and then if there is any leftover fruit I'll make some leather for the kids. fun times!!

 

[Holachicka]

So tomorrow I take my son to kindergarten orientation. I am so nervous!!! He's really young for kindergarten, just a couple of days before the cut off birth date. I am really stressed and worried that my sweet and smart son will be the class brat!! My SIL is an elementary school teacher and I've talked to her about my concerns, she thinks that once he gets settled that he's going to be fine. She mentioned that some parents worry about the same thing, but that their kids can be just perfect in the classroom. I'm not sure if she was just trying to make me feel better or not!!

I also plan to talk to his teacher tomorrow about my concerns. GAH! I've been a stay at home mom with him so having a "school time" structure, hasn't been part of our day. I know that he will settle in, but I worry about him having a fit, or yelling at the teacher! I'll just have to wait and see. I know in my heart that he'll settle in and do great, AND really enjoy himself. BUT I'm a worrier. *sigh*

So, Driving home on the 15 minute windy road and hills part of my drive I saw a BEAUTIFUL elderberry bush/tree on the side of the road, loaded with fruit! Looks like it would be a short hike from a turnout area but I think I'll have to convince DH to help me out -- I can't really take the kids with me on the side of this road... The property is part of the folsom lake state park, so I don't have to worry about taking someone elses berries! I may have to try my hand at some elderberry/pear pie. I've made seedless jam before. We also have a turkey farmer friend who has tons of bushes. I may have to convince dh to go coyote hunting there (does it as a favor for the farmer and enjoys hunting) and pick some berries!

Hot pants the llama and Pai Mae the milk goat are settling in. Miss Mae more so, it was hilarious to watch her and the other girls playing when the day cooled off today. Hot pants is getting more familiar with me handling her halter and not flipping out as much. still gives me the stink eye every once in a while though!

 

[Wifezilla]

I was a young starter. Of course, I was taller than most of my classmates even though I was 6 months younger...LOL

Ever figure out what to do with that corn?
http://www.pickyourown.org/freezingcorn.htm

 

[FarmerChick]

Your kid will love kindergarten!!
I worried about mine also, she starts 1st this year, but K was such fun for her. they learn so much and make good friends and learn some good manners to act with others etc. HE WILL LOVE IT!

 

[Holachicka]

How much can I get done today??

I need to:

Make cheese
slice and put tomatoes in the dehydrator
Blanch, vacume seal and freeze corn
Mark and set eggs for incubation
water and harvest in the garden
find recipies for canning peppers, Jalepenos, anaheims, serrano and bell
Start my butt on canning a whole lot of stuff, strawberries, plum jam, roasted red pepper spread... Still looking for more recipies...
clean up the house,
make dinner
all of this while watching two little ones *sigh*

Better get going! But first! Let me catch up here.

Wife, I gave some corn to the neighbors, left some out for fresh eating over the next week, and that left me with about a dozen ears. I'm going to blanch and freeze it whole. Yum!! I'm so sad though, that my home grown corn does not even compare to this stuff! SOOO GOOD!

FC, Thanks! I think your right... We kept seeing this one couple and their two boys, I think one of the boys are in his class, we ran into them again at the grocery store, and they remembered his name, and said "Hi Matt!" I think it's the beginning of a new friend already!

We went to DS's school orientation yesterday. I didn't get to talk much to the teacher because they switched teachers on me so I went to the wrong orientation. I did tell her I was worried about him being the class brat though! She just smiled in a reassuring way.

HE LOVED IT THERE!!! I definately think he's ready for this, and will just have to settle in. I think I'm really just worried that they will think poorly of my son. I may be able to volunteer a couple of times a week, depending on how my DD does. If she is or becomes a distraction to the class it won't work. It just depends on how she does. I am VERY excited about this! Plus, I think if I volunteer there, the staff will get to mknow me, and if there are any openings for accounting positions, when I'm ready to start working again, it would be nice to work near my kids. We'll see! DS starts Tuesday, and DH is taking the day off work to see him off. The first couple of days I'll drive him to and from school, but then he'll be able to take the bus, he's really excited about that!

I've been lucky in that I was able to save some milk this week! I'm making hard cheese based on the junket rennet instructions, using organic yogurt as the bactieria. I hope it works well! It's sitting in the pot now. I might be able to add the rennet this evening. soo excited!

Off to go work on my large list of chores!

 

[hillfarm]

My son was put in pre k at three for his speech needs. His a great student and does so well. I was shocked. But teachers are trained to set up a routine, schedule and rythmn and the kids fall in line. They like it.

Most kids do better than parents when it comes to school. Tell him how excited youare, wether you mean it or not, and make it so thrilling. he will look forward to it and will do great.