So here is my blog (http://goddesshobbies.blogspot.com/) at the moment. It shows much of what I have been up to for the last two weeks. Canning peaches, applesauce, pickles, and just general ramblings.

I thought perhaps some of you would like to see the canning etc. I am starting to get tired of it now, but it feels good to be doing it anyway... I have one more box of peaches and then I am back to applesauce. After that I am going to get black berries and then zucchini (but I just freeze and/or grate those for the most part), and then I will be done for a while. YAY!

And here are some more pictures of the garden this week:
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y299/bluerosemama/Garden%20Pictures/IMG_3059.jpg
The newest Daliah Beauty

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y299/bluerosemama/Garden%20Pictures/IMG_3066.jpg
Evening hanging cuke

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y299/bluerosemama/Garden%20Pictures/IMG_3078.jpg
black currents... Almost ripe!

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y299/bluerosemama/Garden%20Pictures/IMG_3086.jpg
Cherry Roma Tomatos... these are SO good but I dont' know what to do with them. lol!

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y299/bluerosemama/Garden%20Pictures/IMG_3084.jpg
Peppers... PERFECT for chili!

Anyhow... enjoy! And thanks for looking!

Val

Thanks for sharing that, Val! I love the pictures. Just wonderful. And I'm totally impressed by your canning ability. I am hoping to get some pickling cukes from the local organic farm this week. :) Apples aren't ready yet but I will be trying your recipe when they are!

I hope once school starts to have a better format for my blog than lots of text, then lots of pictures in a bunch, but for now, with my connection, this is the only way I can do it. :) Link is in my sig and I updated yesterday with pics of the garden, the chickens, and our blackberry patch (one of them, anyway!).

I love your blog Lauren... I have it linked in mine. :D I check it every couple days but you haven't been writing much lately... I am sure that will change for both of us with the kids getting back in school. I know blogger pretty well now, so if you want some help with your blog I would be happy to help. Just call me when I am at home and we can hash it out together. I learned a LOT of tricks making this one... it was fun!

I have one more box of peaches to go, and then I move on to blackberries and drying currents, and I still have apples to do (I only need 4 more quarts to have our yearly supply, but so far I have about 60lbs of apples in my kitchen). *sigh*... I am getting tired. Still throwing up some, and this kid moves ALL THE TIME! I woke up puking at 4 am this morning... couldn't get back to sleep. There is something that is WAY more like Alex than Cyan... my pregnancy symptoms. Cyan was so easy compared to my boys so far. lol... Although Cyan let me sleep while I was pg and then DIDN'T when she was born... and Alex was the opposite. I think I'll take Alex as a babe anyday over Cyan (who woke up to nurse 5 times a night for 19 MONTHS).

Thanks Val! I appreciate the offer of help, but it isn't the lack of knowledge that keeps my blog the way it is. It is my very slow (16-24 Kbps due to poor phone lines) and unreliable (drops me every 3 min on one computer, every 15-20 on the other) Internet connection here. I just can't start modifying links or prettying things up, or posting text/pics at the same time, because I sit here for 5-7 minutes waiting for the change to go through, and many times I have lost posts with images while trying to upload them. Somehow the Picasa interface is more reliable, so I slowly upload pics with that when I can.

It's frustrating to say the least. So I haven't played around with anything yet. Once the kids are back at school I'll be transferring my photos to my laptop and taking the laptop to Internet hot spots (our local library, though their hours are terrible, and I just found a great cafe 20 minutes away that does wifi!!!) and working all day online, writing. They start school Monday but the first two weeks are four day weeks, and we're probably spending Labor Day weekend in Montreal for a music festival and to see the town...so look for lots of updates and info come mid-September, LOL!

Anyway if I do get stuck, thanks for the offer of help. Just a fast, solid Internet connection would be great. I'd even take 56K at this point. However - bringing this back to relevance in this forum - our monthly finances are pretty tight and winter expenses (wood, winter tires for car, some means of clearing the snow from our long-ass driveway) are coming up - so we decided to shelve satellite internet until my writing business has enough money to pay for it rather than it coming from our personal finances.

didn't have a ton of time to read, but i couldn't resist looking at your blog. beautiful, beautiful pictures...of food, yes...but more than that. you can see the energy and time and your hard work in all of that. inspirational. oh...and that twig art is very cool!! can you come to my house and help me get some real nature pieces around here?!

What a great blog!

I want a blog. I have some nice pix of my garden I'd love to share.

Do you have to know anything technical to have a blog? I am so frustrated by my lack of computer savvy. :(

Oh I'm so jealous - I wish I had a place to grow food!!

What a great blog!

I want a blog. I have some nice pix of my garden I'd love to share.

Do you have to know anything technical to have a blog? I am so frustrated by my lack of computer savvy. :(

Depending on what you want, you do... but I like sharing knowledge (you know us Aquarians... ;) ) so if you want help I would be happy to help you get set up Laurie. I just barreled through it, and I got help from another Laurie on here (lauriemama) and figured it all out. So I would be wonderfully happy to pay that forward and help you if you need.

Besides, we would LOVE for you to join us in passing comments back and forth. ;) I think we have three now... please please, join us. :heart:

Val

Oh I'm so jealous - I wish I had a place to grow food!!

When you are up to it, check out the book "Roots, Shoots, Buckets and Boots" and the book "The Patio Kitchen Garden" (of which I have a copy you can have)... trust me, you have plenty of places to grow food. :smooch:

And thank you for the compliment. :D

Val

Depending on what you want, you do... but I like sharing knowledge (you know us Aquarians... ;) ) so if you want help I would be happy to help you get set up Laurie. I just barreled through it, and I got help from another Laurie on here (lauriemama) and figured it all out. So I would be wonderfully happy to pay that forward and help you if you need.

Besides, we would LOVE for you to join us in passing comments back and forth. ;) I think we have three now... please please, join us. :heart:

Val


I just got a place on Blogspot! I have no idea how to make it pretty, but I did set it up! I would love to link with you all. How do I do that?

Anyway-- here is my addy blog addy:

http://www.geminifamilyblog.blogspot.com/

I will try to not drive you crazy with questions! But my first is how to change the back ground color?! I don't like it! :lol:

I would adjust your templete first... find one that the basics are what you want where you don't have to change a whole lot to enjoy it. Then you can adjust the colors via this website:
http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=41431&topic=8920

I found colormatch5K to be very helpful when I was picking colors that matched my current blog format. I would find one, test it out on something small like the 'comments' line and then see if it would go with the whole blog before I republished it, by previewing the change. Then I changed other things to that color, or a coordinating color (which on that colormatch5k website they make some for you that are very nice, and if you click on the color you like the best, it will take you to 5 coordinating colors that will work with your favored color). You change the color of something by finding this line:
body {
background:#dd9;
margin:0;
padding:40px 20px;
font:x-small Georgia,Serif;
text-align:center;
color:#333;
font-size/* */:/**/small;
font-size: /**/small;
}

In each area of your template. For my template, this line is the background color... that sagey green color.

For example; The purples in my blog all were not there when I started with the templete. I added them later, as well as the frame around my pictures (which I also added in purple). For each section in the template there are a few color lines that you can play with. If you find a template that you enjoy the look of, then a lot of the work is done for you and all you are doing is adding personal touches (like the purples in mine). That makes it MUCH easier. ;)

ALWAYS preview before you republish your blog. Always. Because you will loose all of your template changes if you do not.

Val

Hi!

I am sorry I have been mia... I started a full time positon at the hospital; strictly for the money! I miss my extended periods off at home. sigh. enough whining.

My blog is open for all of you to visit: www.xanga.com/simplespirit

I have been busy getting kids ready for school, my oldest ready for freshman year at college and my tomatoes are everywhere! So far I have stewed tomatoes and today was homemade (then canned) cream of tomato soup. Yum! I already have my bread n butter pickles done and I chose to freeze my peaches this year because I am still learning so much about canning. Tomatoes and pickling are the easiest place to start.

I am planning on tomato juice next weekend and soon...applesauce and apple pie filling.

I love gardening and canning. I am also getting the sewing itch... I wanna make a new skirt! I have been knitting during the evenings. I have another blanket nearing completion which is good because propane is at record high price and it's still August! We will need lots of blankets to keep warm this winter!

I have missed being here with my kindreds. love to all...

Patti

Patti, thanks for sharing your blog! I love it. I love your post about making the tomato soup. :hbeat:

And hey - big Eragon fan here, too! I can't wait for the next book. I have listened to both on my iPod while knitting. ;) Also Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials - have you read it? I have listened to it. Forty-something hours of blissful knitting and sewing!

I love that picture! I am sure those are full of nutrients; just look at that color! Are they hard to grow? Are they expensive plants and will they split and spread (like strawberries) or should one plan on more bushes like blueberries?

tia!

http://www.homeorchardsociety.org/

Blackcurrant bushes can get pretty big after a while. Usually 2 plants is enough to do jam (my favourite use for blackcurrants) and drying or whatever other uses you have. Personally, I just love to eat them. But they're a really strong flavour that's unfamiliar at first, unless you grew up eating them like me! I also love blackcurrant juice or punch.

And I just got a plant for $3 this week at a season close-out sale at the hardware store. This is the time of year to pick through whatever plants might be left and see what's going for 70% off.

Kerri

Val,
Great blog! I have to check out the others listed here now, too!

How do you use nosturtiums in a salad? I know the blooms are edible, but do you eat the leaves too? I grew some this year, knowing they were edible, but I don't know what to do with them!

Patti,
I'm glad to see your sunflowers just blooming in your blog. Ours just started blooming too, and I thought I was doing something wrong! This is just how long it takes in MI???

Val,
Great blog! I have to check out the others listed here now, too!

How do you use nosturtiums in a salad? I know the blooms are edible, but do you eat the leaves too? I grew some this year, knowing they were edible, but I don't know what to do with them!

I mostly use the blooms but that is because they are typical of getting spider mites so I don't want to hand wash each leaf I want to eat... yk? There are easier things to add to my salad than that... ;) I really do like flowers in my food though. Borage, garlic chive and onion chive flowers, nesturtiums, some rose varieties, broccoli flowers, and of course, sugar snap pea flowers (these are the BEST, they are like even sweeter pea tasting, I add them to the tops of salads during this late season (second planting of peas comes up just after labor day). People come over and I feed them flowers... lol... some don't even know that you can eat some of the flower I have here.

Val

Patti... so far they are super easy. When I first planted them they had a dying off phase they went through, but now, 6 months later, they are obviously thriving and happy here. Can't wait until I can put them in the ground. I was told that two plants, planted 3ft apart would produce all I would ever need in two full seasons time (like not next summer, but the summer after that). So I am thinking that is what I want to do.. but I have to find a spot to put them in the ground, which means I have to not be in a rental. ;) lol...

Val