More Cherry Jam

Posted on June 30, 2014 by atangledyarn84

Summer in Kansas is in full swing! During a recent trip to my parents house I noticed the cherry trees were ripe and ready to go. Two and a half hours later and five large ice cream buckets later, this pregnant lady was hot and tired. And, I might note, the three trees were only half picked!

As reward for my sweaty work I went home with two buckets of pitted and washed fruit. My most favorite jam of all time is cherry. So after a quick trip to the grocery store for sugar and pectin. I transformed all that fruit into jar after jar of delicious jam. Three hours and some swollen ankles I have this…

Last Bits of Summer

Posted on September 21, 2013 by atangledyarn84

The yard has been weeded and seeded. The apple trees have been harvested. The shrubs and tree limbs are trimmed back. And the patio is now clean. All that is left is to wait for gentle fall rains and grass growing. Then the leaves will begin to change and fall and we will have a whole new set of chores to get this house ready for winter.

For now we celebrate the last bits of summer with wine and a good reading…

Puppy snuggles….

Weanie roasts and smores….

Happy Saturday!!!

Sometimes You Just Need Ice Cream!

Posted on September 19, 2013 by atangledyarn84

It’s hot….like really hot here in Kansas right now. And sometimes you just need ice cream. So the husband and I hit a local Sheridan’s for some custard. We let Chloe lick that last of the goodies from one of our cup.

I gotta give her points for both enthusiasm and perseverance!! She managed to get all the way to the bottom, lol.

Dex mean while had his taste and decided to sleep through the heat, lol.

It’s a hard knock life for dogs in this house!

Tomato Madness

Posted on September 7, 2013 by atangledyarn84

My family has always grown a HUGE garden. The tomatoes set and produced like gangbusters this year. I have been dying to put up some homemade salsa and tomato sauce. I use so much sauce in my crock pot recipes and the hubby eats salsa by the gallon. But the problem is that I didn’t know how to can either of those.

So over Labor Day weekend, my Grandma and Aunt Janice offered to teach me. It was SOOO much work but it was awesome! I love making stuff in my Grandma’s kitchen. It reminds me of being a kid again.

Start with the freshest tomatoes a garden can produce. Remove skins and seeds leaving only the yummy pulp and juice…

Pick some yummy green chilies and throw on the grill…

Roast until toasty and blistery and sweat until skins come off…

Take tomato goodness and cook down until you have thick saucy goodness…

Season with yummy veggies and spices and pour into jars and process until sealed tight!

In 13 hours (over two days with many helping hands) I was able to make 14 pints of tomato and roasted chili salsa and 17 pints of tomato sauce. My cupboard is so happy now!!! I can’t wait to savor these goodies in the winter when everything is cold and dreary.

Now What?

Posted on August 22, 2013 by atangledyarn84

Remember my apple trees? Well it’s harvest time…

I now have two five gallon buckets of apples. And I only picked half of one tree!!! There are a few gems in there but mostly they are all covered in worm/bug/bird marks. It’s going to take a lot to dice and clean these babies up. For now they are bathed and chilling in my fridge.

My question is now what? What you guys make with all these green apples? My leading preservation options are:

– apple butter

– apple sauce

– apple pie filling

Anything else sound good?

Take Me Out To The Ballgame

Posted on July 22, 2013 by atangledyarn84

Plaaaaaayyyy Ball!

The family and I made the trek to KC for a Royals game this past Friday. Such a wonderful ball field and we don’t completely suck this year!!

I want to say it was amazing family evening….but….it was 95 degrees in the shade with NO breeze. The game was sold out and we were packed in their like sardines. We were seated under middle deck and couldn’t see the whole scoreboard. My mother found the margarita stand, several times. My sister got a stomach ache from buck night hot dogs. And I sweat through my t-shirt and shorts. It was even too hot and crowded to knit!!

My husband was a trooper through it all! I love him do much 🙂

On the up side, we won 1-0!! And there were fireworks!!

Boy am I glad it’s Monday and I’m headed to an air conditioned office. Next year I vote we stay home and watch the game on the plasma in the a/c and make our own margaritas and hot dogs, lol!!!

Apple Tree Progress

Posted on July 21, 2013 by atangledyarn84

My apple trees are coming along nicely. My summer apple tree is LOADED with fruit.

My fall apple tree has less fruit but still doing reasonably well in this heat and drought.

This fall apple tree has a great deal of worm invasion and other assorted bugs crawling on it. The summer apple tree also shows some bug sign but to a lesser degree. I did some internet research and found that the local extension office recommended Sevin, an all purpose big killer for fruit trees. But now I must decide to spray or not to spray. It’s a laborious process but would increase my fruit yield. And I would introducing chemicals to my fruit.

Anyone out there have any experience on this? All advice is welcome 🙂

New Potatoes and Peas!!!

Posted on July 18, 2013 by atangledyarn84

Mmmmmm….new potatoes and peas

Every summer right after the first hill of potatoes was dug I can remember Grandma and Grandpa making this delectable dish. It’s so simple and yummy it’s crazy. It’s just boiled potatoes covered in a garlicky white sauce and peas. I just made a quick roux and thickened some milk. I seasoned with garlic powder, salt, and pepper.

These tiny red potatoes came from our family garden. Their skin is so thin and tender. The meat of potato is soft and perfectly mealy. It tasted of home and family to me. Paired with some fried chicken the husband and I had an awesome sit down dinner last night.

It might not be the healthiest….but you gotta live once in awhile right? Does your family have any traditional summer dish?

A Tradition of Craftmanship

Posted on July 8, 2013 by atangledyarn84

My parents have finally finished their wrap around porch. Built board by board by the hands of my father. It’s the perfect place to sit and enjoy the breeze and a cold adult beverage!

My favorite touch is the deer antler name above the bay window. Very fitting for my redneck family!

My father in fact designed and built this house from the ground up. He is a teacher by trade but he teaches Industrial Arts like wood shop, drafting, and AutoCad. It’s the only home I knew growing up. I am so unbelievably proud of him and the house just feels so much more like home because he crafted it. His work is impeccable.

Over the years we have added a covered second story deck, apple trees in the side yard, and now wrap around porch. I just wish I didn’t live three hours away! Oh the knitting I could get done on these porches!! My favorite is to sit on the top deck and watch the sun come up with a hot cup of coffee….

Another recent addition is the terraced steppes in the yard. Trust me this is a much needed improvement! Growing up our yard was incredibly steep as the house is built into a hill. It could be terrifying riding the lawn mower up and down the steep slopes and praying you didn’t fall the down the hill or tip over, lol. The sprinkler system keeps the grass lush and green. I swear it’s like carpet under your feet. And my mom has been tending her roses and they bloomed beautifully this year!

I guess I can say I come by my “craftiness” honestly. I may not build beautiful homes or furniture but I do build garments and blankets stitch by stitch. Speaking of my knitting it’s time to get off my butt and go to my big kid job so I can afford to keep knitting!

Happy Monday to all!!

Harvest Has Begun!

Posted on June 27, 2013 by atangledyarn84

Kansas has officially turned golden! Its wheat harvest time baby!! This is one of my favorite times of year with hues of golden wheat as far as the eye can see. Which is pretty far considering the flatness of the prairie, lol.

I snapped a few photos on our drive home from a wedding last weekend. I can’t get enough of golden grain against green grass and deep blue skies. If you listen closely you can hear the combines starting their throaty rumble and lumbering out into the fields…

Just a little cheer from The Wheat State on this Thursday!!

My Tangled Yarn Knitting Adventures

Ramblings from an obsessed knitter

Tag Archives: summer