Cherry picking came a bit earlier this year. Last week I harvested almost a pound – enough for a cobbler – from our little tree we planted back in 2007. It made this yummy cherry cobbler. Friday we went to Farview Orchards which is 45 minutes from here. This is the only orchard in the…
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Harvesting Lavender 2016
This year has turned out to be a great year for our lavender. I thought I’d take you through the process of harvesting and then show how we have used our lavenders in the past. Here are the plants before the harvest. Grosso lavender, which I’ve cut off in the back of this picture, is…
Read MoreOrganizing and more
Can you believe the summer is almost over? I sure can’t. Here is a little of what I’ve been up to the last couple of weeks. I have been reading this organizing book since I have a strong urge to move stuff out of here! I really like her idea of organizing not by room,…
Read MoreYummy Veggie Recipes
As most of you know, Dave and I trade off cooking every two weeks. It really has been fun, but especially a challenge this time of the year when we are trying to move the harvest from the garden to the table. Since veggies are plentiful, I’ve been looking for recipes to use them. I’m…
Read MoreSunday Round Up
It’s been another busy week with nothing really artsy to show you. I did mix up some dyes and dyed some fabric which I’m really excited about, but can’t show you quite yet. (Yes, my muse returned!) Otherwise I made ketchup. Here is the recipe. I also made this tuna casserole from scratch (no canned…
Read MoreHow to: Dried Blueberries
We have been blessed this year with lots and lots of blueberries. Usually we have to buy some to last through the winter, but this year we’ve stocked the freezer. We are planning on making jam in the next day or two with a different kind of pectin. Crafty Gemini recorded a great tutorial on…
Read MoreEverything is growing up!
I took this picture of one of our beds of lavender recently and was amazed at how much it has grown. But then to look back at the pictures from two years back – Oh my! Two years ago it looked like this: And then last year: Last year everything was early so I was…
Read MoreOde to our dear cherry tree
Yesterday was a sad day here at Happy Acres. Our tree guys came out and proceeded to cut down the assigned trees – most of them were dead. However, in their zeal to cut down the old apple trees they also cut down our beloved cherry tree. I was not only angry but so sad.…
Read MoreHow to: Tomato Leather
We have been blessed this summer with an ample supply of tomatoes. Our freezer is full of tomato sauce, puree, marinara sauce, and slow roasted tomatoes. I’ve also dried lots of these red jewels and Dave’s made ketchup. So I thought I’d try making leather again. I made some several years ago but it didn’t…
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