DOMESTIC PURSUITS

I've been spending a lot of time in the kitchen lately. Canning green beans, is one reason. We recently did about 40 pints over three canning sessions. Some from our garden, some purchased from one of the only places we could find that actually had some this year. Apparently the weather took a toll on that crop as well.

Next was corn. This beautiful corn came from my daughter's generous employer. I think we did about 36 pints of that plus froze a little as well.

I love this close-up! There is something so satisfying about seeing all your hard work lined up on a shelf. It's kind of an insurance against inflating food prices, hard winters, and so on. I guess I got the canning bug from hearing my parents' and grandmas' references to the  depression and seeing their full pantries--a well-stocked basesment shelf was something that comforted them even 30-40 years after the end of the Great Depression. I think living through something like that changes you forever and teaches you to be prepared.

With my abundance of fresh eggs, I decided to make some noodles I hadn't made noodles this way in about 20 years, but they turned out perfectly.

Here are the strips of noodle dough drying on paper towels hanging on my clothes racks. I couldn't remember for sure how to do the noodles, so I experimented and it was perfect the first time.

This next picture is the noodle cutter. I have a strip of dough going through on the wide setting and the cookie sheet waiting to "catch" them.

Here are noodles drying on the counters. Our church used to do about 90-120 dozen eggs worth each year. This is one dozen worth here. Two days ago I did twice as many and they are even nicer, though I was very happy with these! I made an angel food cake from the whites. That was a first in 20 years as well! It was very good. Will be doing that again!

I'm keeping busy with end-of-summer activities and putting food away for the winter. I have used up almost all of the pint jars I have available and I had a big stash of jars. Now I have basically only one kind left, small mouth quarts and not much to put in them! Interestingly, of all the years for this to happen...a tree I planted thinking it was an ornamental cherry turned out to be a peach and bore some fruit for the first time! Not enough to can but an amazing feat for this drought year and a nice surprise. I ate one of my own home-grown peaches for the first time ever!

I've been reading a lot lately trying to review some books for friends as an extension of my job at the library. I am not that much of a reader, but have read some good historical books lately and all this has kept me busy too! Blessings to you! LORI

FLOWERS

Here are a few older pictures from earlier in the summer before the worst of the drought set in. This drought and heat wave is the worst I ever remember in all my 51 years. People are saying it's the worst since some time in the 1950's. Even though I took this picture quite some time ago, you can see that my yard beyond the garden is brown already.

Even during the drought, my hollyhocks, favorites of mine--and Eileen's from my book, "A Sturdy Fence," grew and blossomed profusely. Eileen tells Luke that hollyhocks are not flowers you'd see alone in bouquets like roses or carnations, but they do best blooming where they're planted, against sturdy fences, or in my case, where they volunteer--against farm buildings. Our temperatures were in the upper 90's and low 100's for days on end. This hot trend continued for weeks and hasn't actually let up yet. We've had only the occasional cooler day. I am ready for fall after all this!

This is a picture of white sweet peas against an old bed frame at the back of the English garden. The drought had not taken its toll yet in this picture. I do have a soft spot for "garden junk!"

Daylilies in profusion surround my front porch, back deck, and some places in the English garden. Normally they bloom repeatedly all summer, but this year in the drought, they bloomed once and I am concerned that I may have lost many of them after that. I cut them back this evening and am hoping for a 'rebirth' of flowers now that we've had a little rain, but we are still way, way behind normal rainfall and the leaves on these pretty flowers are all yellow and brown. We'll see. I originally started all the many plants from one start given to me by a friend in Iowa. I hate to lose them after all that effort of splitting and waiting for another season!

One more random picture from the English Garden.

Hoping your area is experiencing good weather. Blessings, LORI