Furry Friday

Leo was featured earlier in the week, and I wanted to give the cats their share of blog time.  A couple of the rabbits posed for photos also.  Next week it will be all about the feathered family members.

Lucy would never look directly at the camera.  This was her only pose.

 

 

Paris started off in the house peeking from behind a curtain.  When I went outside to photograph the garden, she came out to keep a watchful eye on the chickens.

 

JJ prefers to spy on the yard from behind some flowers.

 

Tubbs escaped a couple of times over the past few weeks.  Fortunately he never went farther than his corner of the yard and was easy enough to catch.

 

Crockett made one break for freedom earlier this spring.  He spent all of his time out trying to dig back into this pen. 

Garden Update

In the South I am able to get an early start with the garden.  That means that some vegetables fizzle out more quickly.  Some things that are no longer growing in my garden are garden peas, potatoes, string beans, squash, and zucchini.  The lettuce and cucumbers will not last much longer.  There are still plenty of fresh vegetables.  We also have an abundance of potatoes that we dug as well as squash, zucchini, and cucumbers in the fridge for a few more weeks.

Yesterday I picked some lettuce and an abundance of tomatoes.  I had nearly four pounds and over half of those were red cherry and yellow pear tomatoes.

These are the plants that produced most of the yellow pear tomatoes I picked.  They came up voluntarily in my compost pile, and I moved them to the garden.  They are still loaded.

 

Okra and Jalapeno Peppers - We are picking an average of 75 jalapeno peppers each week.

 

 

Corn, Tomatoes, and Cucumbers - All of the extra tomato plants went into the garden this year.

 

Sprouting Herbs

 

Raspberries

 

Radishes & Carrots

 

Tomato Jungle in the raised bed

 

The other end of the Tomato Jungle

 

Pumpkins

 

Dill growing in a container

 

More Jalapeno Peppers growing in buckets

 

This is not quite everything, but it does cover most of what is growing now.  I have a variety of herbs with more sprouting.  I also have many more peppers.  I got a bit carried away with those this year.  I think I will be drying some as well as some tomatoes.  I do not want any of my garden produce to go to waste.



FCCB Challenge # 164 - Father's Day

I cannot remember the last time I made my dad a Father's Day card.  This week's Fantabulous Cricut Challenge was a perfect opportunity.  I used the Celebrate with Flourish cartridge and chose the fishing pole since my dad loves to fish.  I used a blend of colors including a background piece this week.  I think he will love it.  The card is still not fancy, but I am making progress.

Low Sugar Blackberry Jam with Pomona Pectin

I love making homemade jam.  I am not so fond of all the sugar required when using traditional pectin products.  I have heard mixed reviews on the usual low-sugar pectin and getting the jam/jelly to set properly.  Last year I started using Pomona Pectin, and I love it! 

A typical recipe for blackberry jam requires 4 cups of mashed fruit and 7(!) cups of sugar.  The recipe using Pomona Pectin also uses 4 cups of mashed fruit, but I only added 1 1/2 cups of sugar.  The resulting jam tastes like the fruit rather than sugar.  I did only get 4 1/2 cups of jam compared to the 8 cups that a traditional pectin recipe would yield.  You have to consider the differnece in the amounts of sugar though.

I do prefer to can the low sugar jams in half pint jars.  The jam will last 3 weeks in the refrigerator once it has been opened.  A lower sugar content means less preservative so the jam needs to be eaten within 3 weeks.  It is delicious so that is not a problem. 

You can double, triple, halve, or even quarter a recipe with this pectin.  The directions even include some guidelines for developing your own recipes.  The new Preserving with Pomona's Pectin book is absolutely on my birthday wish list.  You can purchase Pomona Pectin from the Pomona website. 

Give a Puppy a Bed.......

And he will sleep in a box.  Leo has several very soft pillows to sleep on as well as tunnel bed.  His spot of choice at the moment is a cardboard box.

When he is really tired, he will sleep on one of his pillows - sort of.

He started out on the pillow but ended up half off the pillow with his blanket all in a bunch.  The #1 rule of being a puppy - Play hard; Sleep hard!

I'm Back

The garden, crafting, and the animals have been keeping me busy.  You can see half of the 73 jalapeno peppers I picked at the end of last week.  I have some posts lined up all this week including a garden update and updates on the animals.

FCCB Challenge #163 - Ribbons, Ruffles, & Bows

I am such a novice that I  feel like I should not be taking part in any paper craft/Cricut challenges.  At the same time I know the only way I will improve is by challenging myself.  I am joining in on the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog's weekly challenge.  The challenge for this week is to create a project with ribbons, ruffles, or bows.

I used the Birthday Bash Cartridge to cut out the balloons.  Then I attached a ribbon bow with a small pop dot.  It is a very simple card, but the bow is a nice addition.