tomatoes...finally!

Finn & I were so excited to find ripe pineapple & pink brandywine heirloom tomatoes today!

It has been such a slow season for the tomatoes, I was having a hard time staying positive. :\

What a tasty meal we are in store for. I've been excited to try marinating tomatoes, after reading these ideas. Can't wait!

I'm sharing this with the Tuesday Garden Party at An Oregon Cottage!

emma turns 2

On Sunday, September 26th, we attended a birthday party for our friend Emma. She turned 2!

The swing set was put to good use!

Finn can't be far if cake is around. :P

Keeping close watch as Emma blows out her 2 candles...with some help. :)

Cedar is practicing kisses with cousin Ronan. I think Ronan was a little grossed out by the drooly kiss! :P

After ice cream sundaes, it was time to open presents!

A princess puzzle for the birthday girl.

Cedar found the lens cap...

...and knew just where to put it. :)

We sure had fun...birthday parties are a favorite activity for Finn. :) Thanks for inviting us to your party Emma. We love you!

art supplies

Last week, Finn & Cedar were thrilled to find a package addressed to each of them, sent from Alaska. They each were filled with tons of art supplies from Kenton's super cool & generous cousin Jake, his wife Britni & their kids Kaiden & Riley! What fun!

Finn got to work right away with the watercolors outside. We just love how focused he is when he paints. Such a serious process! :P

Cedar wanted in on the action too. We set him up with crayons, colored pencils & paper in his high chair. The paper ended up on the floor pretty quickly & he started requesting something to eat...he was in his high chair after all. :) Then he showed us a new skill with the colored pencils...

Nicely done, Cedar! :P Love to see you figure things out.

canning

Yesterday, my mom & I invaded Gretchen's kitchen so that we could can green beans & tomatoes.

Gretchen is the only one in the family who has a non-glass top stove & glass top stoves are not up to the job of canning...or so I've read. I didn't really want to risk it...but the Ruddicks were very gracious & let us take over for an afternoon, so I didn't have to risk it!

My mom bought almost 23 lbs of tomatoes from the Farmer's Market...since our own tomatoes are being so SLOW to ripen. :\

So pretty!

We canned them whole & the process was very quick & easy!

We canned about 2 lbs of green beans from my garden & another 4 lbs from the Market...I think. We ended up with 16 pints of green beans & 9 quarts of tomatoes...I think. Now I can't remember, since we divvied them up. :P

It was my first time canning & I'm glad my mom was there to walk me through the process. That pressure cooker is intimidating! But everything went smoothly & we ended up with lots of preserved food. Yay! Thanks, Mom!


I'm sharing this post on An Oregon Cottage for the Tuesday Garden Party! :)

first day of preschool

On Monday, September 13th, Finn went to his first day of preschool at Grace Community Preschool.

He was so excited to wear his new school clothes & his backpack!

I was a little sad to miss dropping him off & picking him up. I would have loved to have been there, but it was my first day with students in my class. :(

Luckily, Dad was able to take him!

The drop off went so smoothly...

...it sure helps to have a cousin in your class! Griffin & Finn get to be in Miss Debby's class together. So fun!

Finn had a great first day & really enjoyed school. He's excited to go back on Wednesday. What a fun year he has in store for him! I can't wait to hear all about it. :)

corn feed 2010

Sunday, September 12th was the annual Young Families Corn Feed!

Corn dogs, corn on the cob, corn bread, corn flake cookies, caramel corn, candy corn...etc. Fun!

The Schar family hosts this event every year on their beautiful farm...I dream of farm life (EVEN MORE) every time I visit this home!

After dinner, we got to go on a tractor ride down to the garden to pick flowers & raspberries. Cedar was working on finishing his cookie the whole ride!

In the trailer, waiting for the ride.

Cousins
Cedar, Cohen, Ronan, Griffin & Sadie

Finn was so excited to pick flowers, he went a little over board. We're working on impulse control. :)

Beautiful flowers

A bouquet for Mama

Chocolate-face Cedar. Brave Dad. ;)

eggs!

We have been loving gathering eggs every day. Finn insists on being a part of the process, which is great because I need him to crawl into the back of the coop. ;)

Such beautiful colors!
Each hen lays different colors. The only ones we can't tell apart are Fern's & Dorothy's, since they both lay brown eggs. But Brunhilde lays white, Hazel lays green & Opal lays creamy/peach/pink...whatever you wanna call it. Her eggs are a little more pink looking on the inside of the shells. So fun!

I used garden vegetables to make an egg casserole. (Of course, I forgot to include a photo of the end result.) I like to make a casserole on Sunday night so that we can eat a square of it for breakfast each morning for the following week. For this casserole, I used tomatoes & basil from the garden. It feels so good to feed ourselves with food that our garden & chickens have provided. :) Now if only I could get up the nerve to get a goat! Fresh goat cheese would be amazing. ;)

backyard smores

We took advantage of Target's summer clearance & got a fire bowl. I have dreams of fixing up the side of our house & making it a brick-paved, "bistro" area...rather than hanging out by the garbage cans...

Carolyn & Jesse came over on to celebrate Labor day with bbq sliders & smores!

Lucky Finn got to stay up later than Cedar & join in on the fun!

Marshmallows!

Sticky hands! I'm pretty sure I have marshmallow on my lips, but I blame Finn. ;)

The fire master.

couldn't be more excited...

Brunhilde is a hen!
We thought for weeks now that Brunhilde was a rooster. Her comb is really big, she's tall & she crows. But just sometimes. We were sure she was a rooster, but she really didn't bother us too often with her random crows so we figured we'd keep her/him around until it became a nuisance.

We keep white, wooden eggs in the nesting boxes to try to convince the hens that that's the place to lay eggs (instead of the farthest corner of the coop). Today when I went out to check for eggs, I thought I saw one of the wooden eggs in their run. I checked the nesting boxes & all 4 wooden eggs were in their boxes, but when I checked the run, I did find a wooden egg. So I checked the nesting boxes again & found the longest, white egg I've ever seen! Brunhilde is the only breed that lays white eggs, so I was thrilled! Hooray! She's not a rooster. Now I can relax. All five of the remaining chickens are confirmed hens. :)


I also wanted to share the colorful flowers that are still brightening up my yard...before Fall takes over. :)

Pink dahlias

Orange dahlias

Echinacea

Heliotrope

Fall blooming flowers - asters?

Lovely tomatoes that are oh-so-close to ripe! :P

Purple beauty sweet peppers - can't wait!

I'm linking to the Tuesday Garden Party at An Oregon Cottage! :)