Maybury State Park

We took a break this past weekend.  We've been so busy lately that we have barely even slept (or at least it feels that way).  So Saturday, after the cable guy came earlier than expected, we decided to take a day adventure out to Maybury State Park here in Michigan. You can find out more information about the history of the park here.  It was simply beautiful! 

One of the trails we walked on.

All in all our visit was cut short, but we really enjoyed it.  About 20 minutes into us walking the winding trail near where we parked, we started to hear rumblings of thunder.  We decided to continue on the shorter trail and head to the car.  About 10 minutes later, we came across the site above (near the old water tower consequently) and it started to very lightly sprinkle.  We found a pavilion and restroom.  As we got our poor puppy, (he was exhausted.  He hasn't been on walks like this in a while) something to drink, we waited out for a bit.  Once the rain calmed down to a light sprinkle again, we headed to the nearest map.  We headed in what we thought was the correct direction and passed a couple walking their large dogs who were very upset to see our little one (he's half Shih Tzu and half *insert crazy name* poodle).  We got to the next map (not more than a 5 or 6 minute walk) to discover we had gone the wrong way.  As we turned around and headed in the correct direction, the storm began to pick up.  The pavilion that we would need to pass again seemed to be our best bet.  What did we find when we got there?  The couple with the large angry dogs were there (and shooting us dirty looks!).  At that point, we knew we were maybe 10 minutes walk from the car.  We continued on.  As we walked quickly, a crack filled the air.  Turning, to our horror we saw a tree branch fall to the ground we were had just passed.  The rain was so heavy at one point that it was better for me to remove my glasses and walk than to try and see through them.  Our clothes were soaked through (and so was our poor little puppy).  At about 8 minutes into our walk, we got to an empty pavilion and waited for the storm to calm down a bit.  It was on the outskirts of the walking trails and had no tree cover to speak of.  (It was cold).  Once it was lightly drizzling again, we continued to our car.  I feel bad because we walked by the Rice family picnic sopping wet.  My tank top and pants were stuck to me and I felt ashamed to be seen like that.  Finally seeing our car and getting there, we discovered my husband had left the sunroof down!  (That shows you how little we were expecting the rain and storm when we went in!)  All in all, it was a fun, scary, wet experience.  Now now, before I get lectured on anything.  We are not normally risk takers.  The storm was fast and hard hitting.  Everyone is safe and fine (Thank God!).  I'm excited to go back (on a nicer day hopefully) to take more pictures.  With as fast as everything happened, my camera was in it's case to protect it more than it was out to take pictures.  As always, what few other pictures I took can be found here. 

In regards to the garden, the green bean and cucumber plants are no longer with us :(  They produced like troopers though so I'm glad we planted them!  We are starting to get some red tomatoes (although for the most part they stay stubbornly green!).  Corn is beginning to form in our squirrel planted corn plants and the honey dew is getting larger!  We also discovered that the jalapeno plants we thought had disappeared and died actually have baby jalapenos.  Hopefully in the next week or so I'm going to take updated garden pictures for everyone :)  Until then, Stay safe!

Busy Busy Busy August!

July has come to an end.  Kind of sad, isn't it?  With August comes the beginnings of harvests and to me (I grew up in Texas *shrugs*) the beginning of school and fall.  My mind has been a flutter with thoughts of Carmel apples and pumpkin picking.  The rest of me however has been occupied with friends, work, and food preservation!  I've made stewed tomatoes, brined pickles, plum sauce, frozen zucchini, frozen green beans, frozen corn, and dried zucchini.  Yes, I know it doesn't sound like much but add in my half-brother's passing (rest in peace Jeremy :( ) and all the day to day work I do as a housewife and I'm impressed with my accomplishments. 

I think one of the more exciting parts of this past weekend was finding my dehydrator!  I've been wanting one, but they add up in cost quickly and I wasn't 100% sure I would even use it all that much.  I have fallen in love.  We found my dehydrator at a garage sale brand new and never opened for (now get this) five bucks!  I was extremely excited to take it out and play with it all day Saturday (we had other errands we were doing while we were garage sale shopping and then guest for dinner).  When I finally did get a chance to open it, I pulled it out, read the cleaning instructions and tossed the book aside (not literally).  I cleaned it and started slicing some of the zucchini in my fridge to put on there.  I looked in my Ball's Canning guide for their directions on zucchini drying and began.  After I had started the process, I then took the time to read the instructions for the machine.  It was a special edition one (apparently packaged for Wal-Mart specifically) and it came with a starting jerky maker set.  I'm not that brave yet, but one of these days I will be!

I got an order for some more of my blushing peach jam!  I'm really excited :)  I love making it (and eating it).  Two jars are ordered and the rest will go in the pantry for now.  I still have to find raspberries for it though.  When I was out and about picking up tomatoes and things to preserve, each place I went was sold out.  I'm going out to look some more tonight.

Things I learned this weekend about food preservation:

1. Two people cutting up 10 lbs of tomatoes goes a lot faster than one
2. About two ears of corn blanched equals a pint bag half filled in the freezer.
3. 5 or 6 hours of dehydrating time seems epic when you are excited and anticipating the process, but in reality it's really not that long.

As for my garden (I really need new pictures up >.>) we went ahead and bit the bulled and pulled our potatoes up.  We had the mole living in a burrow in them (it finally made it's way to the garden) and between the June bug problem we had and the hail from the storm earlier this year, the plants themselves weren't looking too spiffy.  We got 5-10 lbs of potatoes from our little plants (even with the pulling up early and everything else that happened to these poor guys) and there were still lots of tiny little baby potatoes we could have had if we had let them keep growing.  Oh well!  We're excited with what we have and I'm planning on turning them into freezer french fries (the kind that normally cost an arm and a leg in a store that you bake in the oven to eat!).  We also thinned out our green bean plants.  Some of them were looking worn so we went ahead and pulled them up to make room for the ones that aren't as beaten up.  The honey dew melons look like little fuzzy green baseballs!  I love them!  I can't help but rub my fingers over them when I'm out in the garden at least once.  I hope it doesn't hurt them!  The main reason for the garden work however was that our tomato plants out grew their cages!  We had to buy stakes and tie them up over the weekend.  I didn't know they would/could do that!  I guess we should chalk it up to another lesson learned!  Of course, after we spent a few hours in the garden, another severe storm rolled through!  Thankfully we didn't get any of the hail they had predicted with it.  I still have more pickles to make and a few beans to freeze and the french fries to prepare, but besides that, I think one of the next things I want to try is home made hot pockets!  In the Ball's Canning Guide they have directions for making ham and cheese ones, so I'm going to try and adjust it for peperoni ones!  Wish me luck folks :)

I don't think there's much else really worthy of posting about (I'm sure after I finish this I'll thing of 101 things I should have said but that's just how it goes) so I'm just going to wish you all a wonderful weekend!

Hello World

Some of the tomato plants are now taller than I am!

Well, I'm back.  I went to a funeral in Texas this last week or so for my half-brother.  He will be missed.  :(  When I came back however, my garden had grown quite larger! 

I had to add more growing room for the cucumbers.

My husband and I are starting to think that maybe the "suggested" planting guidelines are a bit inaccurate because everything is just growing everywhere!  Is this much growing normal or are we just extra blessed this year? 

Baby Honeydews like this are popping up everywhere!

There's lots of catch up work to do in the garden.  I think it'll be good for me.  I've had quite a bit on my mind and not alot of time to go over each thought.  The trip was nice enough, but I had forgotten what a drive it is.  On the way home we saw tornado touch down.  (We were in the Texas panhandle so we were able to see from far enough away to not be in danger) but that was the most excitement we experienced on the trip.

A growing cucumber.  I'm not sure why some of them do this, but I think they are still good to eat.

I've updated my gallery with a few pictures from the trip, so go and check it out!