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Strawberry Pickin and Strawberry Jam

/ blair1661 / 4 Comments

Growing up, mom would take me and my brother strawberry pickin at Fulton Farms. We made freezer jam with them a few times but I don’t remember much about it. Mom and I have taken my kids a few times to pick but this year we kicked it up a few notches! On a Monday morning mom, Peyton, Edyth, me and my cousin Katey loaded up in my Jeep and headed to Fulton Farms with intentions of picking lots of strawberries and coming home to can strawberry jam. We had a blast picking!   

    

       

Peyton couldn’t stop eating them lol and even stopped to take a selfie eating one!!  

 We picked 7, 1 gallon buckets full of strawberries!!!! My Jeep smelled so good on the ride home!   

 *photos from strawberry pickin courtesy of my son Peyton and my cousin Katey* 

Next it was on to making jam!! I wanted to make a thick, chunky, lumpy basic jam. We decided on a simple strawberries and sugar recipe. 

2 quarts strawberries

6 cups sugar

1 tsp butter (keeps it form foaming up) 

We cleaned and measured out the berries into a large pot and then mashed them with a potato smasher.  

   One batch we puréed with a blender but only per request of my husband. It is good too but not the same as chunky jam. Then add the sugar and butter and heat it up stirring well until sugar dissolves, boil for approximately 25 minutes, stirring constantly until it jels to the desired consistency. Jar it up and hot water bath for 15 minutes.   

   I thought it went really well and we got a bunch of jam in the process!   

  We also froze some and ate a bunch!!! All in all it was a great experience for everyone!!! 

Growing food/treats for my chickens

/ blair1661 / 6 Comments

It’s been rough on my ladies lately with all the freshly worked ground and mulch everywhere, they just want to get in and roll around. Well that just can’t happen, I’ve been working to hard to let them tear it all up! So in return I have bored hens…. I still let them out to free range for a few hours in the evening but have to keep a close eye on them. 

In the winter I’ve read that people grow fodder for their chickens, to cut back on food cost and to supplement for the lack of greenery. So I thought why not grow some for my ladies!! It’s super quick, cheap and fun to grow!! Here’s what I did! 

I bought a 50lb bag of untreated Barley seed for roughly $12. 

I soaked 3/4 cup seeds in a mason jar for 24hrs 

 
After 24 hrs I put them in a plastic container with drain holes and set them on the counter with a drain pan underneath, the idea is to keep them moist but not wet.  

 Here’s what it looked 4 days after putting them in to soak.  

  And here 7 days later.  

   They absolutely love it!!! I bought one of those suet cages for birds and smash it in there and hang it in their run.  Not only is it nutritious but it entertains all of us and them!!  

 

  
Happy foddering people! 

Sunflower Round House

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Sunflowers are by far one of my favorite flowers! Last year I lined part of my backyard with some 4ft tall ones, I wasn’t really happy with how it turned out. This year I wanted to do something fun and unique with them. A Sunflower Round House was the final decision!!!! My dad always fondly told stories of my great grandma Edith growing a patch of them and just leaving a spot in the center open for the kids to play in. I loved that idea but wanted to change it a bit. Here’s some pics of the process.  

First I had to decide where to put it…. That was a tough one. 


Then how big…. Still thinking I should have went bigger. I went with 10ft.  

   Then we weedeated the circle and shoveled it out 

    Three hours later it looks great!  

 

Now it just needs to grow!!! I think we are really going to enjoy this!!!  

 Ever had a sunflower house? Maybe your neighbor had one growing up?… Please share your stories! 

Lemonade Stand!

/ blair1661 / 6 Comments

I’m that girl, that girl that LOVES garage sales!!! I love going to them, I love having them, I really love garage sales! This year I think is my ninth year having one. My son has set up a lemonade stand for the past few years but this year his little sister wanted to give it a try. So last Friday night she said mommy can we build me a lemonade stand now? Out to the scrap pile we went, because doesn’t every mom spend their Friday night building a lemonade stand?? 

It started like this…

  

Then it looked like this

  

And of course we had to paint it

 

  

  

When it was all said and done it turned out ADORABLY great!! She loves it and has had a great time running her stand!!  

  Peyton even got to run it for her for a little while lol 

   

  The garage sale went well considering it was cold and rainy. The lemonade stand, was a huge success!!!! 

Do you love garage sales? Maybe you have a garage sale? I would love to hear your stories. 

ReVamp

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I’m that girl, that girl that will take something I can’t use and turn it into something I can. Today I decided to work on a shirt I found at the local Goodwill. Here it is!

It was to small for me, and not really my style. So a new shirt for Edyth it is!!! After a few minutes of work, it turned out like so

I’m happy with it and so is Edyth!!! Yay!!! It feels great to put in a little work and get something really cool!!!

Happy creating!!! 

Homemade Chocolate Syrup

/ blair1661 / 2 Comments

I’m that girl that LOVES chocolate milk! A glass before bed or even in the middle of the afternoon! I don’t eat breakfast it upsets my stomach to eat before like 10am, so I drink a big glass of chocolate milk. It fills me up and tastes great!! My kids have followed in my footsteps and also enjoy a glass with me every morning. Last night I realized we were almost out….. So I thought why run out to the store just for chocolate syrup? I’ll make some!! Here it is in all its deliciousness!!!!  

 It was so quick and simple and the house smelled amazing while I was making it!! I don’t know why I wasn’t doing this before!! You can bet I won’t be buying it anymore from the store!!! Here’s my recipe:

 

 The kids and I think it’s better than store bought, which is saying something, I’ve sworn by my Hershey’s for years now!!  

 Have you ever made chocolate syrup? Please share your comments! 

Happy making stuff people!! 

  

Easter Fun!

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I love holidays!!! I love celebrating!! Easter was a great one this year! My kids and I got together with my brothers fiancé and her kids and my mom to color eggs, to kick off the holiday festivities! I love coloring eggs! We had so much fun!!  

    

 We even found some of those super awesome wrap things, which we used when I was a kid!!!        On Easter a bunch of the family gets together and enjoys a huge meal and egg hunts. But this year I added something new, an adult egg hunt!!! I found a bunch of giant eggs and filled them with tiny bottles of liquor!! Everyone loved it!!  

    I have initiated adult hunts before but never like this one. No one knew what was in the eggs but hunted anyway. It was everything I was hoping for!! To see these adults get so excited for an egg hunt like kids do, it was perfect!!! I even welled up a little bit, it just made me so happy to see everyone having so much fun!!!  

Blair Construction 

/ blair1661 / 3 Comments

My dad builds houses! Has for as long as I can remember. Growing up we would sometimes get to go visit him at work. It was always such a magical trip! He did a lot of work around the house too, so growing up building and creating was just what went on and of course I wanted to be involved, help as much as I could! After a long time of begging, on a cold winter night, dad said, if you can handle the cold you can come to work tomorrow!!! Yippie!!! I am so thankful for the 11 years I spent working for my dad! It was a family affair!! My dad, brother, uncle, cousins and dads friends that might as well be family were all a part of the crew. My grandpa even worked with us for a few years!! Some of the best years of my life they were! I retired a little over 3 years ago and am now a stay at home mom. It has been a difficult yet wonderful and challenging new life for me. As often as I can allow (I miss it and sometimes wana go back) we go visit my dad and the guys at work. Right now my dad has been working on this monster of a house and we paid him a visit the other day. Here’s a few pictures 😁 

          

Homemade Pancake Syrup! 

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My egg stock is quite full. Yay!! So tonight I wanted to fix French toast, we do a lot of breakfast for supper since we don’t eat breakfast, but, I didn’t have any syrup….. I have watched my grandma make syrup tons of times and ate it with her many times, I for some reason have never made it myself. We all know I’m that girl that likes to make anything she can so I decided tonight I was making syrup!!! Yippie! After looking through a few handfuls of recipes I made my decision and gave it a shot! 

In a medium size saucepan I put:

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 1/2 white sugar

1cup water

1/2 tsp.  moms homemade vanilla 



& 2 cups light Karo syrup

I warmed it at a medium temperature and stirred it until it all melted together and was smooth, about 12 minutes. Then I let it cool while I made French toast and chewy bacon. I poured it in a wine bottle I had lying around waiting to be reused for something and served! Yummy! The kids and husband all approved! 



It was so easy and fun to make! I don’t know why it took me so long to try it!!! 

Have you ever had or made homemade syrup? Did you like it? How did you make it? Would you do anything different? I wana hear all about it! Leave me a comment! 

Thanks and happy cooking! 



My New Nephew!! 

/ blair1661 / 1 Comment

Almost a week ago now, my brother and his fiancé had a new baby boy! They asked me to be a part of the birth, which I couldn’t say yes quick enough to!! What an honor! I was thrilled to be a part of their journey with them! I got the call last Thursday night that her water broke. Thank goodness the kids were ready for bed, so I tucked them in and kissed the husband goodbye and off I went to help them welcome their second little man into this world! 



They are a beautiful couple! 

 He is such a handsome little guy! 

A huge thank you to the both of them for letting me be a part of this!!! ❤️