Home Again, Home Again

I've just spent the past 3 weeks visiting with my three kids and our six grand-loves.  Although we only live two and half hours away from  them, (thank God they all live within 15 miles of each other) it seems we all get busy with our own lives and it's hard to spend as much time with them on weekend visits as I like; so this time I stayed for a bit longer, loving every bit of it.  But now I'm home again, home again, jiggety jig!  Which brings to mind - do you ever wonder where certain sayings come from? Well this one comes from a  Mother Goose nursery rhyme:



To market, to market, to buy a fat pig,

Home again, home again, jiggety-jig.

To market, to market, to buy a fat hog,

Home again, home again, jiggety-jog.

To market, to market, to buy a plum bun,
Home again, home again, market is done.

Okay, so maybe I didn't go and buy a fat pig or a hog or a plum bun but I did go the the Warren's Cranberry Fest with my daughters and some of their friends and I did buy 15 pounds of cranberries. Although Warrens is a small town in Wisconsin with a population of only 300 some folks; the festival draws in over 100,000 people.  They have close to 1,000 arts and crafts vendors and over 100 food vendors.  People as far as the eye can see and lots of laughs when you take this journey with family and friends.  But oh my aching feet after walking for nearly 8 hours straight checking out the booths along the main street and tucked into the side streets along a 3 plus mile trek. 

All of my kids and grand-loves also spent some time at a corn maze, took a hay ride and enjoyed the animals at the Zoromski's Homestead Farm which is just a few miles from my oldest daughters home.  Make sure you check out the tab for the 12 acre corn maze as it is AMAZING!

Before leaving we celebrated our only Grandson's upcoming 5th birhtday with a party.  In the picture he is licking the frosting off a dinosaur's leg.  The weather was great and we all had a super fun time.

It was a wonderful three weeks spending family time and individual time with all of them ~ and now I'm counting the days until Christmas! 

I had the greatest time visiting the

 Zoromski Homestead Farm

with all my kids and grand-loves!

                                                                                     

 Poor little Sloane was frightened when Grandma joined them on the rocker and it actually 'rocked' just a little.  It took me by surprise as well but she was not one bit  impressed.    

My grandson Sean prefered to have his picture taken with his dad. 

                                                          

 This is my oldest daughter with her four girls and her extended family of day care children.

and the corn maze!!   We only did a small portion of the 12 acre maze because some of the kids were under the age of three. Some still in strollers.

As you can tell by the smile on Sloane's face ~ we all enjoyed the animals. Lamas, chickens, baby pigs, goats, kittens, rabbits etc.

and the kids loved the Hay Maze!

Please click the link to the farm at the beginning of this post. Make sure to click the Corn Maze tab.  It blows my mind how they can do this ~ and a portion of the profits go to a good cause! 

To those of you who may think I'm

missing in action:

I just can't get off of my rocker!! 

Sharing a Recipe

I've had requests for the

Apple Pie in a Jar

recipe so here it is:

Apple Pie in a Jar



Peel and slice apples into clean jars. Have syrup ready to pour on as you fill them up. (Option: peel and slice apples into water with lemon juice added to stop the apples from darkening then drain and fill jars)


Syrup:


4 c sugar 1 c cornstarch 2 tsp. cinnamon 1/4 tsp. nutmeg 1 tsp. salt 8 c water


Bring to a boil.


Add 3 tbsp. lemon juice to syrup after removing it from heat. Pour over jars of apples, clean rim, seal and process 20-25 minutes in hot water bath method.


One jar makes one pie.


Fill pastry pie shell and bake at 400º F for 30-35 min.

I'm Done; or Am I ?

I honestly 'thought'

that I was done canning

for the year

But ... that was before

making 8 half pints of apple butter

21 pints of plums

& 14 quarts of apple pie filling

 But what would you do 

if someone gave you some plums

 and a neighbor offered some apples

 We cooked them up, sauced them

and made some crock pot apple butter

 then we found some more apples

and a friend had just shared

a recipe with me for

Apple-Pie-in-a-Jar

So tell me what would you do?



End of Summer Chores

The end of summer means

bringing in some of the plants

we hope to keep going 

until next spring.

 and herbs

 and the rack to hold them

 and sorting through

tomatoes and plums

 and doing yet another batch of canning

once you thought you were done

who would have thought we still

had that many vegetables left ?!

I believe I may have reached the

end of my canning for the season!

Canned Carrots and Pickled Vegetable Mix

 Refrigerator Pickles

 and now to keep up with the tomatoes as

they ripen, if we can't keep up - I think I'll freeze them

 Cherry tomatoes ripening every day

 but somehow we manage to eat them as fast as they turn red

Yummy!

Thrifty Finds

I get tickled when I find a good deal

like this rolling kitchen cart

for only twenty dollars

go ahead - price them - I got a deal

 with six inlaid tiles

 Mother Earth's

"Capturing Earth's goodness since 1861"

 and a 'fall-ish' storage box

for only a hundred pennies

and a harvest basket

for ony two hundred pennies

I haven't been posting much lately

because I've been

keeping myself busy

 preparing for winter

Ah...

Every so often

I need to recharge

my soul

I often do that

through nature

this time it was along the south shores

of Lake Superior

where nature itself puts on a smile

 and the sound of the waves
dissolves all stress

a place where I can

recapture a balance

through the power of prayer

and the beauty of nature

 I feel refreshed.

We started our weekend with a trip back home, visiting with family as we gathered in the comfort of 'Mom's' living room. The following morning we met up with some of Thom's family who made the trip 'up north' where they spent time in a cabin on a small lake. After fishing was checked off their list, we all pitched in and had a 'pot-luck' supper of fresh tomatoes, corn and cucumbers, hamburgers and good old Wisconsin bratwurst on the grill. Dessert of homemade peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies from yours truely.

 Then we shared stories and laughs over a few drinks around the campfire. Have you ever laughed so much that your cheeks hurt?

 The sunset came on so fast that we almost missed it. But thank heavens for the click of a camera to capture it forever.

On our way home we stopped at a wayside

to stretch our legs

and look at the size of this tree!

It towers over the others which are full sized. 

 It was breath-taking against that true blue sky!

 I love the contrast of the greens found in the woods

 and too soon we were on our way home

Change ~

September ...

a pause, for summer to say

an awkward and lingering

good-by

and for autumn,
sitting on a hilltop,
a jug of fresh cider

in one hand,

a bunch of wild purple asters

in the other,

waiting to say hello.

New York Times