Canning Thus Far

I have begun canning this summer... But, there will be much more to come!

Here are a few photos of what I have done so far:

Canned Peaches.  (What a sticky mess!)

Canned Blackberry Jam.  

I like to use the low sugar recipe, as I think the fruit has plenty of natural sweetness to it already. 

Wash lids and rings with hot, soapy water. 

The largest blackberry I've ever seen.  The berries came from a local Farm on the mountain and had less seeds than an average blackberry, which is what was most attractive to me, so I wouldn't have to try and take all the seeds out!  ;)

Place measured prepared fruit, sugar and pectin in pot to boil. 

Boil 1 minute.

Pour into jars.  Wipe rims clean.  Place lids and rings firmly onto jars. 

Put into water bath canner with water at least an inch over the lids.  Bring water to boil.  Boil 10 minutes. 

Take jars out with jar lifer and set on towel to cool. 

Enjoy! 

First time pickling.  I'll let you know how they taste when they are ready!  ;)

Harvesting

Evelyn is quite the gardener let me tell ya!  She loves planting things, playing in the dirt and watering our seeds/plants...  But the weeding, well, we still need to work on that!  ;)

Andy and I found this little handmade Pepsi-Cola wagon a an antique store that was moving to a smaller place across the street from where they currently were, and were just wanting to get rid of as much stuff as they possibly could and for cheep, so we got it for just $5.  Ev loves to put produce in it, as well as sticks as we picked up today from our crazy rain/wind storm last night.  

I mean, really, how cute is that?!

Beautiful things from around the Home...

Family Reunions

The past two weekends there were 2 Family Reunions to attend.  The first one,  in Elkins,  WV had been planned for us to go to for quite sometime.  At the last minute, Andy wasn't able to go.  My dad was back and forth about himself going with my step-mom and their custodial granddaughter...  But I called and asked if he could ride with me and Evie, and so that is what we did!  It was very nice to just be me, my dad and Ev!  We had a great time!   

Pool at our hotel in Elkins. 

Pool games.  I so loved seeing my family on my dad's side!  Especially getting to hang out with my cousin Amber and her kids!  I hadn't seen them in a few years.

It was a last-minute thing, even as we were in the car leaving Elkins, I decided to have my Dad drop me and Evelyn off in Summersville to stay with Andy's cousins through the week.  It was his mom's side of the family who was having a reunion in South Carolina that following weekend, and his cousin Laura (who we stayed with) was going and said that we could ride with her down there.  So Andy brought his mom to the reunion from Tennessee and we went to South Carolina from Summersville and met them there.

We had a great time in Summersville!  We went to the community pool twice (thank you Lacey), shopping for a whole day (Thank you Laura!   ;) and just mainly relaxing in between and spending time with some of his other family there as well.   We also set off fireworks Thursday night with Evelyn, but those pictures and many more are on my regular camera and not so easy for me to download as I am posting this from my phone.  :)

Evelyn's first movie theatre experience.  Finding Dory.  And she did so good and was super excited to be there! 

Her 2nd cousin, Brynlee.

Her other second cousins, Jace, Lexi and again Brynlee. 

After they had run around and played at the playground that evening, Evelyn just made a seat out of this ornamental grass.  It was so cute how she just sat down!  ;)

Our drive through the Blue Ridge Mountains into South Carolina.

Happy 4th of July and nothing like frog catching in the morning! 

Oh, and don't forget the bugs!   She is really into catching and playing with them - (we all know how that ends for the poor fellers).

More 2nd cousins of very distant origin. 

These two were born exactly a week apart.  Cute!

More mountains on the way home. 

Evelyn did really well with all the traveling. A fun time was had by all!   But I must say, we were all very glad to be home!!