Apples!!

The plan for tomorrow is for this half bushel of Cortlands:

to become several jars of this:

It is calling for a much cooler day tomorrow...a great day for making applesauce!  The house will be filled with warmth and the delightful scent of freshly squeezed apples.  Almost the perfect day!

Since I'm kinda slow and I'll be by myself, a half bushel is very doable and still not be overly tired and get some other things done, too.  There is another half bushel waiting for me after this one is done.

I'll let you know how things go.

Thy will is in all thy provisions
   to enable me to grow in grace,
   and to be meet for thy eternal presence....
...I entrust myself to thee, for thou hast redeemed me.
I bless and adore thee, the eternal God,
   for the comfort of these thoughts,
     the joy of these hopes.
--an excerpt from Comforts, from The Valley of Vision

Somethings I Would Rather Not Do Twice

A couple of weeks ago, I made a large batch of tomato soup.  This is a rather involved process which includes the gathering and steaming of various veggies like carrots, celery and peppers.  There are herbs to be gathered and added as well such as parsley and basil.  Of course, the tomatoes need to be gathered, in our case bought (which is a sad tale of our tomato crop).  I get rather bothered when I have to buy something that is in my garden, but won't ripen or is being eaten by critters.  I digress.  These tomatoes are to be washed and cut and then run through my Victorio Strainer.  I do love this machine.  Tomatoes and apples are no match for it and it makes life a bit easier. 

When I cook, I make a mess (generally).  This also occurs when I can only on a grander scale.  This is because canning includes the use of very large pots and the aforementioned Strainer.  The walls of the kitchen have been splattered with apple and tomato debris most every canning season.

During the making of the soup, I decided I was done.  I don't care if the tomatoes decide to ripen, I'm done with the day-long process and clean-up.  I had hoped that what I had made would suffice.  It would seem to my husband that it was not enough for the winter.

Well, guess what I did today.  Those are seven pint and a half jars, plus a pint of tomato soup peaking out from under their covering.  The pint and a half jars are from Classico spaghetti sauce.  They are mason jars and work great for just the two of us.  We've been collecting them for a couple of years with the help of some other folks.

Sometime ya just do what ya should do.  I'll be glad this winter that I took the time.

Just a side note...one of my Amish friends wrote me a letter last week saying she canned 64 quarts of peaches! and she wasn't done yet!  And she has five boys under the age of seven.  I've never canned 64 quarts of one thing.  She is amazing!!

I am guilty, but pardoned,

   lost, but saved,

   wandering, but found,

   sinning, but cleansed.

Give me perpetual broken-heartedness,

Keep me always clinging to thy cross,

Flood me very moment with descending grace,

Open to me the springs of divine knowledge,

   sparkling like crystal,

   flowing clear and unsullied

   through my wilderness of life.

--an excerpt from The Broken Heart, from The Valley of Vision



 

James Madison Quote

I found this quote on Agraian Nation:

"The class of citizens who provide at once their own food and raiment, may be viewed as the most truly independent. It follows, the greater the proportion of this class to the whole society, the more free, the more independent, and the more happy must be the society itself."



—James Madison

Thanks, Herrick Kimball!

Muslin and more

The weather is a bit cooler in the evenings, which makes it much more comfortable to quilt.  I was able to get a project out that I've been working on for some time the other night.  It felt so good to have the thimble on my finger.  There is a comfort to having the the soft touch of muslin in my hand.  With no known babies approaching, perhaps I can actually finish this quilt this winter!!

With our garden being late, we are dealing with some of nature's issues of this growing season.  The tomatoes  aren't coming along...plenty of them, but with the rain, they split and rot.  The beans are done along with the beets and carrots.  Still waiting for the potato vines to die off and then we can dig those beauties.  We continue to harvest peppers and broccoli, too.  Even with the drought of July, God has been faithful, we have more than enough to share.  It won't be long until it is apple season.  My favorite.  Can anything compare to the scent of fresh applesauce throughout the house?  My husband would say an apple pie would be even better.


Lord, grant that my religion may not be occasional and partial,
   but universal, influential, effective,
   and may I always continue in thy words as well as thy works,
   so that I may reach my end in peace.
   --an excerpt from The Mediator, in the Valley of Vision

Summer Updates and Good (and not as good) Reading

While visiting The Midland Agrarian, I saw that he had posted a link to an interesting blog, The New Agrarian.  One of the posts is The Eightfold Agrarian Way.  There appears to be a great deal of wonderful reading on his site.  I hope to indulge as time permits.

Life seems to have consumed me of late.  A new grandbaby in Minnesota, needing to do more chores by myself, which at this stage of my life requires much more energy than it should and a great deal more time, trips to doctors (ugh), and reading.  So I regret that I have not written for so long.

My reading has included recreational, The Help and The Hunger Games.  While I enjoyed The Help and can't wait for the movie, The Hunger Games I could barely read.  It saddened me--scared me-- to think it could really happen.  I can't even think about reading the other books in the trilogy.  My theological reading includes, The Wages of Spin, Critical Writings on Historic and Contemporary Evangelicalism, by Carl Trueman, and The Letters of John Newton.  I'm in a small study that is looking at Newton's letters.  I was unable to make the first meeting, but the second study, was like no other I have attended.  Newton's writings have challenged my thinking in a profound way.  One quote:  "The Lord appoints occasions and turn in life, which try our spirits.  There are particular seasons when temptations are suited to our frames, tempers, and situations; and there are times when he is pleased to withdraw, and to permit Satan's approach, that we may feel how vile we are in ourselves.  We are prone to spiritual pride, to self-dependence, to vain confidence, to creature attachments, and a train of evils.  The Lord often discovers to us one sinful dispositions by exposing us to another.  He sometimes shows us what he can do for us and in us; and at other times how little we can do, and how unable we are to stand without him."

Thanks to my husband's skill at carrying five gallon buckets of water from the spring all the way to our garden--no small distance!!--during that hot, dry spell, our garden is doing pretty well.  I do this every year--why do I let it upset me, when God has provided every year for us despite heat and drought.  In fact, some plants are doing a little better than I would rather.  The watermelon and cantaloupe have literally taken over the west end of the garden growing over the bean row and the onions.  The tomatoes are a jungle...if they would only ripen.  The deer have kindly removed the top leaves from the green beans, which makes them so much easier to pick.  They were not so kind to my edemame--no crop this year.  The beets are canned, thanks to a very helpful neighbor for laboring beside me and keeping me from turning the entire kitchen purple.  The green beans are coming in now.  There are carrots that need to be canned or frozen.  I'll need them for tomato soup.  We have so much basil, which  means we have a great deal of pesto in the freezer.
The Japanese beetles were not near as bad this year, so the grapes look great, too.  The rainfall from the spring must have helped the apple trees.  Every road side tree is covered with apples.  I only hope my apple guy will have a good crop as the applesauce is running low.

These last few days have been lovely and easy to enjoy.  Not much heat or humidity.  Nice low temps at night for great sleeping.  Although, I don't think summer is over.

"Let us as Christians fill our various situations in life,
     escape the snares to which they expose us,
     discharge the duties that arise from our circumstances,
     enjoy with moderation their advantages,
     improve with diligence their usefulness,
And may every place and company we are in be benefited by us."
--from The Valley of Vision, Sixth Day Morning, The Gospel

Sunshine--At long last

It has rained for most of the last month.  Our yard has areas that are laying with water and are unable to be mowed.  The sun has arrived today with great delight to everyone in Western PA.  People are cutting grass, working in flower gardens and generally enjoying a long awaited beautiful spring day.

My clothesline is also happy.

As Mr. Rodgers would say, "Its a beautiful day in the neighborhood!"  And it is.

"Show me your ways, O LORD,
   teach me your paths;
guide me in your truth and teach me,
   for you are God my Savior,
   and my hope is in you all day long."
Psalm 25:5

Meet Hazel

This is Hazel.  She is all ready for this year's mowing season.  She's been washed and waxed.  Her 54 inch mowing deck has been cleaned.  The hoses fitted and everything that is supposed to have grease has been greased.  Her oil has been changed and filters cleaned and she's full of diesel fuel.  All thanks to my husband.

She and I spend many pleasurable hours together during the grass cutting season.  She has a "tool holder", which is used for holding water bottles, sunscreen and any snacks that might need consumed during our mowing sessions.

You will be pleased to know that on this very first outing, she and I were able to run down a mole and grind the thing up in her newly sharped blades.  (Pesky things make a mess out of our yard.)  This is Hazel's second mole kill.  The first one I had to drive in circles in the front yard, no less, to track the little bugger down.  (I probably looked like a crazy woman!)  Finally got him before he could sneak down a hole somewhere.  I wonder if they make decals--moles with a red circle with a line through it.  It would certainly make her look pretty tough up against the other lawn tractors in the neighborhood--even the other John Deeres.  At any rate, knowing that there are many more of these little buggers roaming under our lawn, at least there is one less critter to do damage.

Looks like the early spring is going to be great for growing grass.  We certainly have had enough rain in this neck of the woods.  It is difficult to find a dry day to get the grass cut.

I'm looking forward to many peaceful, thought-filled hours with Hazel in the coming months.

Oh, and that is my husband's 1977 Ford pickup in the background.   It is the only vehicle we ever bought new.  Ole Bessie may not be as pretty as she once was, but the heater works and she's paid for.  Nasty on gas mileage though.  She gets to sit in her little parking spot a great deal of the time lately.