Yogurt

August 22nd I made a gallon of yogurt in a pickle jar. I don't know why, but it makes me laugh every time I see it. A gallon of yogurt is A LOT of yogurt!

I also made some lemon and some lime curd for flavoring. For some silly reason I thought I needed to do something to distinguish the two of them because they look identical. It didn't occur to me that I could just put them in different types of containers or... (gasp) write a label...so I added green dye. I know, what was I thinking?

Little Boy Blue...or Red

On the same day that I caught Ben studying, I also caught his understudy in the barn with him. I just thought he looked cute in his red shirt and red boots.

I had to alter this photo because it was too bright, but now it seems a little dingy so imagine an image somewhere in between and you will get the idea.

Workshop

Aaron has been reorganizing and rebuilding his workshop in the barn. The of course is a major draw for the boys. Ben kept escaping out to the barn to "study." I finally followed him one night. This is how Ben studies.




These photos are from August 21st.

Oh and if anyone fears for the block of knives in the workshop and Ben's safety, the barn is now locked with a hidden key.

Canning Green Beans

On August 20th I canned 33 pints of green beans. I was washing them in a big pot and I thought it would be cool to capture a photo of the water just as it broke the surface of the pot. I was not successful, but I still think these are cool photos.

Isn't it amazing how high above the rim the water goes before it actually falls over?!


This is a green bean flower for anyone concerned.

Good Old Laundry Basket

On August 18th Ben played in a laundry basket. It does not matter how many times I tell the children that they are not toys, the children must play in them.

Ben feeling self satisfied

Let the good times roll!

I added this one because I think Ben's feet are cute.

Potatoes

August 14th I harvested a row of potatoes. We put in about 2 lbs of seed potatoes and got 31 lbs of potatoes back! Not all the rows have been that productive though.

We experimented with not mounding the potatoes. We covered them with straw. The end result...straw works, but it was so gross to harvest them. The straw was slimy and full of earwigs and other creatures.

Assuming our mounded rows produce ok, I think we will stick with mounded dirt for the potatoes.

I have added a picture with Jacob in it for scale.

Blueberry Excitement

August 13th was a momentous day. We had friends over in the morning, then we went blueberry picking. We picked 19 lbs, which is about half of what we will need for the coming year.

I brought the camera but did not use it. However it was a very hot day and the the kids were all red faced so I had them go in the car which was parked in the shade. Someone got a hold of the camera and got these pictures of me picking berries.


My sister met us at the blueberry place and then came over for the afternoon. Apparently the excitement of it all was too much for Jacob because he curled up on the bean bag and fell asleep.

Snake Bites WARNING SNAKE IMAGE INCLUDED

On August 11th Sophie found a large garter snake and tried to catch it. It was feisty and bit her twice. Then she grabbed the camera, snapped these shots and enlisted my help in catching the snake. I was also bitten. Needless to say, we let him/her go on her merry way.

Ben

Ben got a little creative on August 10th!

Whipped Cream

Aaron has been pleading with me to update the blog. I just haven't had it in me lately. However in an effort to continue documenting our family history, I post this...

July 27, 2009

Someone gave us a can of spray whipped cream. This was a novelty for the kids, and as such I determined it was ok to have some fun with it.