Hot Hot Hot

Wow, it's been a long hot week - I'm convinced it hasn't been below 90 on any given day. Apparently we are going to get a break for the weekend, when it will be REAL summer weather here - in the 70's. Perfect! My favorite!

Things are going great at our house! My pregnancy is still rolling along smoothly. It's been hot, albeit only June! It's probably best I get used to this....the last three months of my pregnancy will be mid-summer. We finally have the rest of our garden planted. We didn't do much for variety this year. We have strawberries, which have provided me much joy of eating! We have around 12 or more tomato plants since Tim's Aunt and Uncle had some extra's to give away. We have two eggplants (one that came up from last year and one gifted). Our garlics are coming along real nice. That's it though. We wanted to keep it realistic since baby is due during harvest season! I'm sure we'll still have our hands full when it comes to those tomatoes. We'll probably do a combination of canning and freezing. A gal I work with roasts her tomatoes in the oven and freezes them. She said it's quick and easy to use when thawed. Might give that a whirl. Sounds good with pasta! I'd also like to try canning salsa this year. Salsa is so great on so many things, potatoes, chicken, chips, burittos, etc. For our strawberries, we ate some fresh, and froze the rest whole so we can thaw and use for pancake topping, etc in winter. I'll have to post some pictures of our strawberry abundance!

Another project Tim did this summer was to let a portion of the backyard grow out. Well, it wasn't exactly a high labor project. He just don't cut the grass there, which has been a huge time and gas saver for mowing! The grow out is getting interesting. Some flowering plants are popping up, including white and purple clover, thistle, and we planted some coneflower and transplanted daisy. It's looking good - but we aren't sure exactly how our neighbors feel about it! We've noticed a significant increase in birds this summer. The long grass is probably a great place for them to hide out and eat bugs of all sorts! We have some really orange orioles, many robins, starlings, grackles, sparrow, chickadee's, and we also have some squirrels and a bunnies. The front yard, which is much more groomed is looking great! The groundcover I have in the beds is blooming, so there is a carpet of white and pink all over, looks great!

Oh, did you hear Michael Jackson died? I'm being facetious of course. It's all over the media. A very talented man with a mixed-up life. I won't be surprised when the autospy comes back stating he had an overdoes of prescription drugs in his system.

On that note, happy Friday and here's to a safe and happy weekend!!

Due North!

Tim and I just returned from a little escape to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  I have been to the U.P. before, but wasn't there long enough, nor was I quite mature enough to understand the true beauty that the U.P. has.  Where we went was a very northern area of the U.P. - the Keweenaw Peninsula.  It was just amazing!  Pretty much the entire time we were there it was snowing, but it was a light, gentle snow fall - lake effect.  The peninsula has Lake Superior on the west, north, and east side.  We spent time outdoor snowshoeing as well as spending time in the Houghton/Hancock area.  My favorite areas that we visited was the north west and north east side of the peninsula.  It was so beautiful!  Since the population is smaller, taking in the scenery was easy...we didn't have to fight for a picture, and we rarely crossed paths with other people on the road. When we did, they were locals and usually raised their hand to wave.  Some day, when we achieve our dream of having a homestead, we would like to make it in the northwoods (WI or MI).  The Keweenaw Peninsula was surely a fit for our goals. To the right are some pictures from our travels of the Lake Superior area.  Our trip was the perfect scenery of snow, trees, water, and peace.  -L

Homesteading...away from home!

It is officially fall here in Wisconsin. Blue skys, sunny days, but blustery with a temperature hanging in the 60's during the day. Perfect in my opinion! Last weekend was probably the last chance to do some unoffical camping. As you know, we've had a few staycations this summer, camping in the backyard. This time we took it offbase, and went to visit family in Western Wisconsin. We were really looking forward to it since they have something similar to our dream property. I believe it's 80 acres that they have. It's part farmed/open area, part forest/treed area. They have groomed trails throughout the property and ponds with wildlife. We camped by one of the small ponds. The dogs absolutely loved exploring the property, and so did Tim and I! We walked the trails several times and got a good tour of the property, describing much of the work that went into creating it and developing it to the way it was today. We also fully enjoyed the garden! A little bit to a lot of just about everything was growing! They have an area of fruit trees, grape vines, turkeys, and they even bee keep!! Wow, Tim and I were in heaven, dreaming of our own real homestead we plan to have someday. We came away with many practical ideas!

Roxie and Doug were very helpful in sharing a lot of what and how they do things on their organic homestead. We were really spoiled, eating several wholesome meals while we were there. We were only there from Saturday afternoon to Sunday afternoon, but it felt like we accomplished so much more. Not only was it great to visit and learn so much about homesteading, but also to see family! Also, Roxie sent us home with fresh foods from the garden that we helped pick. Tomatoes (which we made 4 jars of sauce with), carrots, jalapenos, raspberries, and eggplant. We have been eating well this entire past week, cooking together the tomatoes, eggplant, and carrots, and serving it over bulgar, or whole wheat pasta. Yum! Since we have quite a few eggplant, I'm also going to try something new. I found a recipe for "Eggplant Meatballs", so I'm going to give it a whirl tonight. I'll post the recipe if it's anything worth sharing.

It was a great weekend away and we look forward to visiting again! It was helpful to understand their homestead so we can help plan ours. -L