Old Friends

Reese, Riley, Hannah, and Sophie at Ridgeview Park in Waynesboro in June

Today we had the pleasure of meeting up with several old friends from central Virginia.  I wanted to take the girls peach picking at Carter Mountain Orchard in Charlottesville, so we invited our friends to join us. Riley and Hannah have been friends since before they were born.  Charles and I had the pleasure of becoming friends with her parents during the childbirthing class we took at Martha Jefferson while I was pregnant with Hannah.  Though we've only seen these friends about once a year since we moved to the valley, it's fun to see the girls jump in and play like they never spent a day apart.

Carter Mountain Apple Barn

We were unable to pick peaches today because they had a big peach festival this past weekend, and they were picked out.  Fortunately they were still selling ready-picked peaches since I wanted at least another half bushel for canning.  We could pick apples, however, so I decided to pick some Virginia Golds to make apple pie filling with for canning.

Hannah, Reese, Sophie

Hannah and Riley

The girls had a great time traipsing through the orchard finding apples big enough and red enough to pick.  At one point I thought we were going to be lost forever in the abyss of the orchard, but we eventually found our way out.

Posing on the steps of the overlook at Carter Mtn.

After picking apples, we met our dear friend and former babysitter for both girls, Ms. Net.  We went to Bodo's Bagels to meet her on her lunch break from her new job (no more taking care of kids, boo!).  It was nice to see her, even though both girls had trouble remembering who she was.  This makes me kind of sad given what a very important part she played in their early life.

Hannah, Sophie, Ms. Net

After lunch, the girls and I wanted to sample Bloop, the frozen yogurt shop on the ground floor of Charles' Charlottesville office building.  Hannah wanted chocolate-peanut butter swirl with lots of toppings, and Sophie got white chocolate-cookies 'n cream swirl, also with lots of toppings.  Bloop had a cool kids corner with chalkboard paint on the wall, which the girls enjoyed after eating their frozen yogurt.

Posing with their yogurt cups

See where Hannah wrote "Bloop" on the chalkboard?

We also visited the restroom before we left, where Sophie hugged the wall because she loved the color so much.

Now that's a girl who likes pink!

Canning Tomatoes

"You will listen to me because I am the princess!"

It was a beautiful morning, and I was able to convince the girls to go play outside.  They've been a little too attached to Netflix and playing the Wii lately, so this was a good thing.  In their play, Sophie was the princess who had "kindly" taken in her orphan cousin as her servant.  There seemed to be a lot of shoe-shining because the princess' shoes were "awfully filthy." 

Speaking of filthy, I hung quite a lot of laundry on the line this morning.  I think Sophie has worn 2-3 different outfits each day the last week or so.  Sheesh!

Lots of laundry out to dry

My goal for today was to can some diced tomatoes.  I had 18 or so good sized tomatoes that I figured would yield maybe 8 pints. I actually ended up with 15, which took me about two hours to prep before firing up the old pressure canner.

Funny-looking tomato with a "horn"

We ate lunch while the tomatoes were in the canner.  I used the 20 cherry tomatoes I had to make myself a caprese salad with fresh mozzarella, basil from the garden, and a little olive oil.  Doesn't it look good? 

Caprese salad

It also tasted good, especially with a toasted slice of homemade bread and a delicious peach for dessert.  After all that, my windowsill where I keep my tomatoes for ripening was all cleaned out!

Windowsill empty of tomatoes

Until I went back out to the garden, that is.

More tomatoes!

The girls and I also went to the library because we had books due today.  We've given ourselves the challenge of finding and reading as many books from their summer reading lists as we can.

Picking books at the library

When we got home it was still nice outside so we spread a blanket in the shade for a little reading time.  All cited this as the best part of the day when doing "favorites" at dinner time.

My spot was right in the middle

11th Anniversary

Charles and I celebrated our 11th anniversary on July 14th.  One of the gifts that we received from my mother was a "kid-free" night so that we could go out and celebrate.  We finally got around to doing just that on Saturday.  I have been bored lately with the restaurant offerings in Harrisonburg, so I planned an evening for us in Old Town Winchester on the pedestrian mall.  We arrived in Winchester a little past 5pm and decided to find a place to have appetizers.  We both found something that looked good on Union Jack's menu.  Charles had a buffalo chicken dip with chips and I had asparagus spears wrapped in puff pastry with a tangy garlic mustard sauce for dipping.  Both were very good.  We sat at the bar because we wanted to walk and explore the pedestrian mall after having our appetizers.

Waiting for our appetizers at Union Jack

After walking for a bit, we were disappointed to see that not many of the stores and shops were open, despite it being a "special" weekend where places were supposed to stay open later.  Many of the storefronts were also empty.  Since we are accustomed to the vibrant Charlottesville downtown mall scene, Old Town Winchester was a bit disappointing.  There were several good restaurant options, however, so we decided to do a bit of a progressive dinner.  We debated between Italian and Thai for our main meal, deciding to go with Violino's Italian Restaurant.  The service here was excellent, and the food was good as well.  Charles had a four-meat special, and I had an angel hair primavera that was chock full of good veggies.  We were treated to a cold peach soup sent out ahead of our entrees, and we also enjoyed a live violinist.

We thought he looked like a frat boy

After finishing our meal at Violino's, we definitely needed to try out Red Fox Creamery, where they make their own homemade ice cream.  It was delicious!

Enjoying ice cream at Red Fox Creamery

On our way back home we stopped at the Spring House Tavern in Woodstock for a second dessert and coffee.  Here I had a very sweet apple dumpling with ice cream, and Charles had the peanut butter pie, which was very rich.  After partaking in two desserts, I might have fallen asleep a bit on the ride home.  It was definitely past my bedtime!  We did watch a bit of the Olympics when we got home and enjoyed sleeping in since the girls were staying overnight at Grandma's.  Overall, it was a nice way to celebrate 11 years together.

Sunday was all about the garden, once again, as we continued our quest to preserve as much food as we can while it is in abundance.  Charles bought 5 dozen ears of corn from Lohr's farm on Saturday, and we froze that, yielding 10 quarts of corn for the freezer.

Corn cleaned and ready for blanching

We also harvested the first of the corn from our garden, eating it on the cob for both lunch and dinner.  Also from the garden came a number of cucumbers and tomatoes.  I'll need to can my first batch of tomatoes and perhaps make some cucumber salad.  Here's what Charles harvested:

The day's harvest

Canning Peaches

Yesterday morning we all slept a little late (6:30 is late in this household).  Hannah and I were the first to rise.  While I was taking care of morning things, she was setting up a game of Life.  The picture below may look like she's playing by herself but rest assured she has a companion, her trusty Blankie.

Playing Life with Blankie

This pink Blankie has been a security item since she was a baby.  She used to rub the tag while sucking her thumb.  She's long since given up thumb-sucking, but you'll still find her rubbing the tag from time to time.  I think it's a comfort thing.  Here she is posing with Dad, Blankie, and Sophie's Banky.

Posing with Dad and Blankie

Sophie's Banky is her security item.  It used to resemble a butterfly, with two big eyes, antenna, and wings that formed the blanket part of her lovey.  This item has been loved and is quite well-worn, much like the Velveteen Rabbit.  Here's Sophie smiling pretty with her Banky:

Sophie and Banky

Back to the game of Life, Hannah gained a real-life opponent once Sophie woke up.  They played this game for a chunk of the morning, with having as many children as possible seeming to be their goal of the game.

Found a playmate

I worked a good chunk of the day on canning the mountain of peaches that you see below.  I canned 14 quarts, to add to the 16 quarts I canned last weekend.  This week we're going peach picking at Carter Mountain Orchard in Charlottesville.  Whatever I can from that trip will probably be the last peaches that I put up for this year.

Pile 'o peaches ready to can

As the canning process was winding down, this princess came to visit me in the kitchen.  Of course, I had to take a picture!

Pretty princess

Week at Camp

The girls spent Monday through Friday at day camp at Highland Retreat this year, as they did last year.  The camp lasts from 9-5 each day and has been a fun time for them.  Hannah was old enough to stay overnight on Thursday night this year, which she was excited about.  I worried about her... not because she was away from home and sleeping in a cabin, but because severe weather was in the forecast for around midnight.  Since Hannah is terrified of thunder, I was awake that night worrying about how she would fare in a cabin out in the elements of a windy thunderstorm.  Thankfully, the forecasted events did not occur, so my worry was unfounded.

We attended a closing program on Friday afternoon where the kids sang songs from the week at camp, recited their theme verse (1 Timothy 1:6), heard the camp director tell about the events of the week (swimming, hiking, crafts, etc.), and saw a slide show of pictures.  Here's a picture I took of Sophie after the program.  She is a cutie, isn't she?

Sophia 'Bella

Once the program was over, Sophie walked us to the "fort" that she and her campmates created one day.  She was quite proud of their work!  I have no pictures of Hannah from this event because she was too busy being a social butterfly and saying goodbye to her campmates and counselors.

The fort Sophie built with her team

Next year Hannah will be ready for a "big girl" camp where she stays overnight for two or three nights.  We'll have to see what Sophie will be up for.  She's been coming out of her shell some over the past few weeks, even ordering her own food at a restaurant last weekend!

Garden 2012

This is our second season as amateur gardeners, and we've had some successes and some failures.  One success has been white potatoes.

Potatoes all in a row, out to dry in the sunshine

We planted one row of them in our big garden plot, and despite battling potato beetles all season long (as we did last year also), we have already harvested quite a good crop of taters.  These filled two 5-gallon buckets that are now in our basement for storage to eat throughout the fall and winter.

I've recently grown very fond of sweet potatoes, so we tried planting some this year.  Unfortunately, the vines don't have a chance to grow because the 50 zillion bunnies in our yard keep nibbling at them.  We'll dig them up eventually to see what's there, but I don't have high hopes for much of a sweet potato crop this year.

Main garden bed

Here's our big garden.  From the left we have a row of various types of tomatoes (started by a colleague who teaches Environmental Science and planted as seedlings), corn and pumpkins intermingled, watermelon vines, and the potatoes were on the far right.  We also have just a few pepper plants that you can't see in this photograph.  I also really wanted cantaloupe (another new favorite of mine), but they didn't grow well either.  The seeds came up, but I believe they also were enjoyed by the bunnies.  The watermelons are growing like crazy, however.  We don't have any large enough to eat yet, but we're hoping for a good harvest.

Raised beds

Behind the main garden we have four raised beds.  One was on the property when we moved here in December 2010, and we added the rest.  The first one has cucumbers, which aren't producing as well for me this year as last.  I think maybe they liked the shadier spot they were in last year better.  They seem kind of scorched this year.  Next are a few tomato plants.  This is the bed where I tried (unsuccessfully, I might add) to plant lettuce and spinach on three different occasions.  It never would come up for me this year.  Why, I don't know.  It's a mystery, and a frustrating one at that since fresh garden lettuce is one of my favorites.  Just this week I planted some lettuce seed where my cantaloupes failed to come up in the main garden, so we'll see how it goes this round.  I'm afraid the bunnies will like the lettuce too!

The next bed is more of a perennial bed.  It has our asparagus (which we may be able to harvest some of next year) and mint.  I also planted some basil in there this year and tried to plant cilantro, but it never came up.  The last bed has four zucchini and four squash plants.  These have given us some good fruit, but I don't have nearly the bounty of squash and zucchini that I had last year at this time.  Right now we're fighting a losing battle with the squash bugs, I think.  I also planted two more of each of these in the main garden, where the potatoes were.  We'll see if they are able to grow and produce anything before it gets too cold.

Behind the raised beds is our growing berry patch.  We have three raspberry plants (which have yet to produce anything).  Last year the birds got about 99% of our berries, not that there were many there to start with.  We also have tried to plant strawberries the last two years, without success either time.  Recently we planted a dwarf peach tree near the garden.  (Peaches are my favorite fruit!)  We're hoping to add other fruit trees to create a mini-orchard in that area.

Charles also likes to plant sunflowers.  They haven't fared so well this year, but I'll leave you with one that I find quite fun to look at :

My favorite sunflower

Applesauce Day!

Well, I'm awake and posting at 4:30am because I am unable to sleep.  Hannah is spending her first night away at camp, and the forecast was calling for severe storms and strong winds to come through around midnight.  Since she is terrified of thunder, I was worrying about her even before going to bed last night.  I woke at 1:30 and decided to look at the radar, and I haven't been able to sleep since then.  So, I decided to just get up.  Thankfully, it looks like the severe weather will not affect her/us, though I am hoping for at least a little rain for the garden since I planted some new seeds yesterday.

I also did this yesterday...

41 finished pints of homemade applesauce

... made applesauce!  And a boatload of it, if I do say so myself.  This was my first time making/canning applesauce, and I'm really pleased with how it turned out.  Earlier this week I bought a bushel of Summer Rambo apples from Ryan's Fruit Market (where I'm hoping to get another half bushel of peaches for canning today).  The lady there told me these apples are good for sauce, and after tasting the finished product, I would have to agree.  I started by washing the apples in a sinkful of water with vinegar and then quartering the apples for cooking.  No need to peel or core them because I borrowed a Victorio strainer from my friend Sue, which takes care of that nasty work for you (see well-worn box in the background).  I cooked 1/4 bushel at a time in my big 16-quart stockpot, along with about 3 1/2-4 cups of water.  I learned with the first batch to stir every 5 minutes or so, unfortunately I burned the bottom of my pot to learn that lesson!

Slicing apples

Once the apples cooked for 40 minutes or so, I added a bit of Splenda (1/2-3/4 cup) and some cinnamon for seasoning.  Sweeter apples probably wouldn't require any sweetener but these were a bit tart, which is fine with me since I like them that way.  Then they went into the top of the strainer.  You turn the little handle on the side and get applesauce down the chute and yucky waste stuff (good for compost!) out the front.  This thing works amazingly well, and I'm thinking I need to get one for myself!

Running cooked apples through strainer, waste out the front and applesauce out the side

Finally the sauce goes into jars for canning. (Notice the stacked boxes of Ball jars in the background.)  I was planning to process them in a water bath, but when I figured out I was going to have so many pints I asked my mom to bring down her pressure canner.  It makes quicker work of canning since the jars process for a shorter time and her canner is big enough to allow pint jars to be stacked two deep.  So we could process 16 jars at once, which made the process go much faster.

The first jars, I ended up with 41 pints

One of my goals for this summer is to "put up" lots of good fruits and veggies for consumption during the colder months.  I've already processed one half bushel of canned peaches (16 quarts) and am hoping to do two more batches the same size.  Earlier in the summer I also made strawberry jam and canned 24 half-pints, some with Splenda, some low-sugar, and some sweetened with honey.  I also want to can diced tomatoes and make marinara sauce and salsa to can.

Sandwich Cozies

So, the girls have been at Highland for day camp this week, which means lots of quality alone time for me.  It's been a week of projects.  Here's one I completed the other day:

Sandwich Cozies

I'll use these to wrap the girls' sandwiches for their school lunches this year.  They are washable, reusable, and best of all, totally non-toxic because there's no plastic whatsoever.  I can't take credit for this idea, as I found it on Pinterest (http://smashedpeasandcarrots.blogspot.com.au/2011/06/sandwich-cozy-tutorial.html).  Of course hers are much cuter than mine, but I'm still quite impressed with my handiwork.

The first thing Sophie wanted to do after seeing these (I made four, one for each family member) was practice wrapping a pretend sandwich in it.  It was satisfying to see her wholly embracing what I made for them.  I'll post later about some of my other projects this week.