Violin Ensemble...

I caught Em in a funny stance with Grandpa Donnie.
Here is the whole group of girls.

Em in her duet with Rachel L.

Emily was able to continue violin lessons through the summer and participate in an ensemble with six other girls. They learned a lot about working together and making a good sound! It was great and the concert was excellent. We enjoyed it very much. She was able to do a duet with another girl and then several numbers as a group. This is a great preview to being in symphony this year.

Which by the way.... I never did announce our exciting news that both girls made it into the local symphony when they auditioned this last Spring. We got the letter one day on the way to town and Emily opened it and screamed and screamed with excitement. Jordan is in Sr. High again and Emily is in the Jr. High. It was a good experience for Jordan to improve on certain techniques so I hope the same for Em.

Our days are busy canning pickles (Thanks Jan and Emmy), picking green beans, picked the rest of the Lima beans and picked some beets to make a few beet pickles and oh, raspberries (they are abundant). The last time I made beet pickles they lasted 3-4 years. I made sauerkraut in a food grade 5-gallon pail and it was closed up for 3 weeks. I opened it yesterday and it is so tasty! It is crunchy and has great flavor (not too strong). A friend gave the recipe from the Amish and makes four 5-gallon buckets a year. I know we'll eat this 5-gallon bucket by Christmas so I better get another one started. You just leave it in a cool place in the bucket and take out as you eat it. She's had it stay good for two years like that. I love finding new ways to preserve food!

The girls and I cleaned this morning and now I've got to get out and mow around the house and trees so the boys can go out and finish while I get those beet pickles finished. Our washer was broke down for a few days now and the part came yesterday (Thanks Rich) so we've kept a steady stream of laundry going! Hope it can take it. Have a good week.

The invalid...

We found a cut under a toe on Lena last night. Now the crying when we put her shoes on makes sense! Light bulb! It is under the toe hidden quite well but also quite a cut. I can't figure out when and where that happened. She was fussing about it some today so Emily had her sitting in a little chair with her feet in water and Epsom salts. Then she dried her all up and put a band aid on the top of her foot (not on the cut) because Lena wanted a band aid but not on the owie. :) Then she was laid on the couch with her legs propped. She started fussing at me and that was the end of that. She can only be coddled so long. I put a stop to every one's obsession and she's napping now after having lunch.

Rebekah on her first day of school.

We started school last week and now began our 2nd week. We are attempting this while harvesting the garden and canning or freezing food. We have been eating, freezing or canning or drying; potatoes, okra, onions, peppers, tomatoes, Lima beans, zucchini, green beans, spaghetti squash, garlic and cucumbers. We've canned all we need of green beans so now I really need to work on stewed tomatoes and salsa, beets, corn if we can get some and applesauce when the apples are ready. We take any one's surplus! I wish I had surplus. We've only been able to give a few things away. My kids can eat a lot!

More snapshots of our trip...

Isaac down on the surf at Split Rock Lighthouse after a big wave got him from top to bottom!
Dad and the boys!

A tree on the road on the way to town! Dad is walking a cocky walk that he's going to take care of that tree with the kids' help. They couldn't budge it! :) :) :) A man came by with some tools and Kevin was going to help cut it with his Sawsall (sp?) and ended up gouging his leg with it. It bled pretty good. His poor ego!

Snap of Jordan at Split Rock Lighthouse.

Camping

We went to Wisconsin for a few days to visit with my Dad who lives in Superior and has a camper 40 miles South and East of Superior. We try to visit him every year but missed the last two with Lena being born Aug 08 and Isaac not 100 percent last year. While it was cold with rain sometimes, buggy with those horrid gnats and so dirty with kids in the wet sand all the time, it was a nice and easy break from regular life. Rich did all the cooking :) Thanks! Kevin did the clean up :) :) I just kept kids in line and visited with various acquaintances we've met over the 13 years we've been going there. We left the bus at home and slept in a pop-up camper, tent, Rich's camper and a friend of his' camper. We were quite spread out but it worked well and all I packed were clothes and bedding. We spent an hour grabbing food stuff at Wal-Mart and then were off with bikes and coolers in the trailer. It was a really nice trip. I love making memories!

Canal Park, Duluth, Minnesota. We spent part of the day Sunday watching the ships come in and leave. Went through the museum there and walked around.

Lena entertained us with a show in the camper one day. She had us all in stitches and all she did was jump around being silly.

Grandpa Richard took us to White Fish Lake one day and the sand was so nice and workable. The kids walked a very long ways before it got deep and it was clear, clean water.

Split Rock Lighthouse. This was our Friday day trip. You can see Caleb in orange, Em in purple and Bekah next to her and Gideon in blue enjoying the rocks and surf. The waves crashed pretty high and the kids all got wet much to their enjoyment.

Here the kids are with the lighthouse in the back. There are about 180 steps down to the water. This is about halfway. The lighthouse is about our favorite site to visit on the North Shore Drive. They have people dressed in period costumes and talk like they live there. We enjoyed the tour they give there.

Wild Fermentation...

I have a great new book called Wild Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz. It was find on Amazon when I was purchasing school books. It has a forward by Sally Fallon for any Nourishing Traditions fans. We got into fermented foods with Isaac's diet 1 1/2 years ago. We first started with sauerkraut made on the counter for 3-5 days and then you eat it or the juice of it to introduce live "good" bacteria into your gut. Then we learned about yogurt and milk kefir and now we are making water kefir. The book is excellent and traces the history of fermented foods, their benefits, dozens of doable recipes and credibility. The author has made these foods and tried them and tweaked his method so to speak. Do ask about it before you would purchase it if you are interested or you can borrow mine. I do have a couple things to add about the book.

I am actually making pickles today but not the way the book would have you do. We are doing dill with vinegar and canning them and then there is no live bacteria. The only purpose is for flavor. I am considering his recipe for brined pickles to try. I did do this last year as Isaac could only have pickles made this way and it did not work for me. His method is much simpler without having to drain the pickles every few days and add new water. I think I will try a much smaller batch. Thanks Jan for the cucumbers. I cannot grow them well.

Have a good week!

Hello...

We are one step closer to starting school; all the books are ordered and have started arriving! We love getting packages and opening up and seeing books. We are studying reformation and medieval times in history and Isaac has been excited by some of the things we got. Em's been busy cleaning the school room but it still has a long way to go. How the stuff does accumulate in there! Em and Jordan spent part of the day helping a friend clean and weed gardens in preparation for their daughter's graduation this next weekend. They may go back "today". I was going to say tomorrow but it is already tomorrow. Kev and I both had trouble sleeping so he's paying bills and I'm doing some things online at 4:30 a.m.

We continue the daily work of picking food and putting it up. Today, a 5 gallon bucket was filled with cabbage to make sauerkraut. I'm trying a new way I learned from someone on our camping trip. It's from the Amish. In three weeks we should have sauerkraut to eat, Lord willing and that I did it all right! We got more beans canned Sunday. Jordan has canned about 80 pints of jams and jellies. We just got 10 lugs of peaches and will probably be doing them by Friday. I enjoy this work for a time. It will get long by the end of August :) but come winter it is enjoyable to feast on the fruits of our labor. Have a good week!