our garden harvest~

our garden has struggled this year

but we are grateful for the food it has produced

we continue to get tomatoes & kale

the peppers are almost done but produced enough to pickle a batch

the egg plant looks as though we'll get 4 or 5 more

this was our first year planting corn & while we have fought with the raccoons

we have been enjoying some very sweet corn

sadly,  we won't have enough to put up because we keep eating it!

our first planting of green beans was lost to the heat but.....

a big thanks goes out to our friend rich for giving us his surplus of green beans

he & my mom even helped me snap & can the beans!

~i am one lucky girl~

the hubs re-planted beans so 

we're keeping our fingers crossed that fall doesn't come too quickly & we'll have more beans to can

rich also gave us apples & my daughter & i  canned several pints of applesauce

i can't tell you how thrilled i am that she loves growing & canning as much as my mom & i!

she helped me can grape jelly from our concord grapes...our first harvest!

so we traded jam for apples...a fair trade indeed!

nothing smells as delicious as concord grapes

we planted pimento peppers for the first time 

and they are doing well

i've been looking up recipes & idea's of how to can them 

having our own canned pimento's to add to our homemade pimento spread

 would make it extra special

all in all, considering we've had very little rain this season

our garden will feed us into the winter

a huge thanks

 to my mom for passing onto me her love of canning

and to rich for sharing his bounty

and to my sweet girl for always helping out her mom & dad

how did your garden do this year?

~*~

tuesday afternoon love~

welcome to our tuesday afternoon knitting group

i look forward to this day all week

it is the day i meet up with friends at our local library 

we have several things in common

our love of needlework

knitting

crochet

rug hooking

quilting

along with being moms, daughters & wife's

and mostof all

friends

it isn't a large group

and our ages vary as much as the projects we work on

we are different in many ways

but one thing we share

is our love of snacking!

check out this spread

homemade bread with pesto,homemade jam or local honey

homemade

mocha brownies & chocolate chip cookies

sweet tea

fiesta cheeseball & crackers

fresh fruit & dip

we eat & catch up during the first of our three hours together

there is lots of munching & chatting

but we do eventually get to our projects

(of course eating & chatting all the while)

ok...enough about food, lets meet the group and see their projects!

rachael.....working on a plate of munchies

ruby..rachael's daughter

she's knitting a sweater for herself 

she has many talents, cooking, sewing & knitting

 my favorite thing about

ruby is her sweetness

rosa & her son luis

rosa hasn't decided what her project will be in the end

but with such pretty yarn, whatever it becomes, will be soft & sweet

while we haven't convinced luis to knit or crochet,

he enjoys snacking & conversation

and even washed our dishes for us!

and you met rachael earlier

 she's cleared her plate and is hard at work

on bunny slippers

cutest pattern ever!

and here we have kim working

on a teeny tiny preemie hat

she is the queen of hat knitting

and donates many of them

and bea is working on baby booties

her smile is as infectious as her laugh

she ferments & dries the best goodies to share with us

and here we have megan who is kim's daughter

she can knit, crochet, quilt

 and

 she & her siblings often bake the goodies they share with the group

there's a lot of talent in this young one!

and last but not least, we have ruth

she does such beautiful work

 be it crochet, knitting or sewing

she also bakes goodies to share with us

not only do we have needle projects going on

the past several weeks, we have shared our room with the chess club

and those who desire to learn the game

price, our local honey producer

teaches chess to anyone that wants to learn

because we have shared our snacks with his group of chess players

he shared his honey with everyone in our group

how sweet is that!!!!

this week he was teaching the children of the knitting group

emilina is beside price, she is bea's daughter (also a knitter)

next is ellen, kim's daughter (knit s& reads like crazy)

 &

 megan, also kim's daughter

the young man in blue & white is owen

who is kim's son

he also knits!

then we have egan & william

such sweet boys

they are bea's sons

and on the end is rex, rachaels son

our resident cookie tester

all of the children are home schooled allowing them to be a part

our group

i can't finish this blog without mentioning barbara

she is the reason we became a group

she wasn't with us the day i took the pictures for this post

 as she travels and spends much of her time in canada

but i found a picture of her when she was home

she is teaching us how to make yarn into a hank  

we miss her & look forward to her return in october

if you are in the area

stop by, have a snack, and hang out

with a great group of people

and thanks to our librarian Nancy

who encourages us & shares a wonderful place 

for us to be a family

~*~

blue blue beautiful blue

it's been glorious in the morning

that must be how they got their name

~*~

cheesy smiles & sheep in pajama's~

we headed to our county fair

last week

it's the same fair i went to as a kid

and the same fair my mom went to as a kid

so keeping in tradition

we took our kids, grandkids & great grandkids

my big kid!

gigi (my mom) strapping the littles onto their cycles

she wanted to ride but she was too tall!

again, again, again!

we saw lots of cheesy smiles through out the day

and first time drivers

we also saw sheep in jammies

and other mama's who also brought their littles to the fair

and chicks with puffy hair do's

we ended our day with the littles having meltdowns

mama's trying to remember where we parked our cars

and the big kids ticked because we were leaving before dark

all in all

a great day at the fair!

~*~

a visit with our bestie~

my daughter & i took the two littles

&

the big one

to our bestie's

 little farm

i call terri st. francie

as she is a lover of all things animal

(aren't her little barns adorable!)

she let the littles pet, brush & love on her babies

then she treated shelden to a ride on her big baby

he has never been on a horse before!

i believe the first words out of his mouth were

"mom....can we get a horse?"

lol

while they were walking about

the littles made some new friends

(one little made some friends, the other was uncertain of all this animal business)

she hung back and observed 

and did a little photography

this little wasn't afraid of anything

thanks for treating us to a day of fun!

we love ya!

~*~

irish for a day~

my son & i decided to celebrate our birthdays

by being irish for a day

the hubs & i met up with

our son, daughter in law & grandgirlie

and headed to the irish festival in dublin

dublin, ohio that is!

we chose this festival to celebrate

because gaelic storm was playing

we enjoyed fish & chips

&

sausages with all the goodies piled on top

the grandgirlie had the best time

her & dada raced lawnmowers

she loved playing with all the toys

and she modeled eye wear for everyone

and danced the night away!

around 9:30 she was all danced out

they hopped the shuttle & headed home

the hubs & i stayed behind

as

the best was yet to come!

if you haven't had the chance to listen to

or

see gaelic storm live

you are missing out on a truly entertaining group!

we he comes on stage with those bagpipes

the crowd goes crazy!

they played for two hours to a crowd who never sat down!

find out if they will be in your area

gaelic storm

~*~



finally!

we have grapes!

we planted them 4 years ago

and waited

and waited

and waited

and....well you get the picture

just this morning i picked 3 pounds of concord

just enough for one batch of jelly

yum!

~*~