Yummy yummy Marinara sauce!

Good evening my friends,

It was another busy weekend for us - lots of lovely visitors and all those little jobs that wait so patiently for you... (read: mowing the lawn...urgh) However, the tomatoes were screaming to be picked and so thankfully, I had a go-to recipe that would allow the tomatoes to be used without having me chained to the stove!

I found this delicious recipe for marinara sauce on Pinterest!  You can find the full recipe here on the Yummymummykitchen blog.  :)

What I love most about this sauce is there is no added sugar, I can spice it up to our liking by adding a little or a little more of the red pepper flakes.... and the recipe calls for wine, which is lovely because when cooking with wine, its always nice to have a little glass!

Okay, this time around I had  A LOT of tomatoes.. romas, giants and cherry tomatoes.  They all got added in.  It took me about 20 minutes to chop, saute and cook off the wine and then voila, the sauce gets to simmer on low on the stove and I get to return outdoors and to the lawn cutting!

I would pop in, check that I wasn't burning the house down and stir the sauce every 40 minutes or so...  the kitchen smelled sooo good!

After pureeing the sauce I decided to jar it up using the regular hot water bath canning method and at the end of it I had six and a half pints of delicious marinara sauce in the pantry.

Cracking one of these open in the middle of winter will be like a little taste of summer.

Jeanette

Don't be discouraged...

Good morning!

Its Saturday; we've been up since before the sun but its a wonderful day.  :)

Our goal of a simple, self sufficient life has been a roller coaster.  I have a new appreciation for what the pioneering Canadians went through a century and a half ago.... growing a life that is healthy, fulfilling and puts food in your tummy is HARD work.  And not just physically!

Our second summer here - though the first summer with plants in the ground - has been a tough one.  We have seen two months of drought conditions... dry hard earth that has challenged even the hardiest of plants not to mention how rough it has been on animals' hooves and feet.

We also have had our share of pests!  From picking off cabbage loopers early on to finding our poor tomatoes crawling with ugly HORNWORMS!  Acckk!  Leaning away from insecticides, we tried home remedies... but in the end plain old hand picking was what worked.

Our chickens ate these uglies only AFTER I drowned the worms!

At times, I just didn't want to walk through the veggie patch.

But then you know what?  I looked around and counted my blessings.  Our hard work was paying off.  I harvested tons of carrots!  The freezer is full, bunches were given away and I replanted a second bed of these beauties!

Beans and peas were abundant - harvested once and replanted!

I have a pantry FULL of crispy pickles in all kinds of flavours.

And this week's harvest had us eating broccoli and  cauliflower with cheese AND homemade marinara sauce on fresh pasta.

Tomatoes, peppers and onions!

Though I had been feeling pretty low, the last few nights of rain has brightened my outlook and  I can  see we're not out for the count just yet!  These small triumphs put enough fuel in the tank to keep going and show our girls that we can do this.  :)


Jeanette

Horse Run-in shed

Hi there!

Last month we completed one of our remaining tasks on the year one to do list.  A horse run in shed.  A lot of friends have asked "what is a run-in"?  A run in is exactly as it sounds.  A small shelter that horses (or other animals) can run into, should inclement weather hit.

With wide open paddocks on our homestead, we knew we either needed to convert part of the barn to a run in with fencing so that the horses could come in should they need to OR we needed to purchase or construct a free standing shelter.

After much researching and planning, Derek concluded TWO things.  One - there are very few plans/instructions for a build your own run in shed; and Two - we could totally plan and build our own.  And that is exactly what we did.

Measurements were calculated and plans were drawn before Derek spent a weekend in the workshop cutting boards and beams and assembling the frame.  I got the glamorous job of putting together the roof trusses.

Again.. love me some power tools.  ;)

Next the frame was moved into place in the paddock and assembled and the outside of the run-in was covered with 2 inch barn board.

We opted for a corrugated steel roof.. in green to match the other buildings.  :)  My trusses are holding!  Yay!  And with a busy family of six, these projects sometimes have to happen by moonlight.

The last step was the wooden battens, and metal corner covers.

Pretty cozy! Now, a few days after completion we had a massive thunderstorm and guess where the ponies were?!

Standing head to rump side by side in the middle of the field.  Ugh.  Ah well... at least I felt better.

Plans are being organized and written up to be shared online with anyone else looking to build a run in shed of their own.

Thanks for stopping by!
Jeanette

FIVE on the farm!

How is it August already??  According to the calendar we are halfway through summer vacation; boy its going fast.

I had still been hoping that our girls would use this blog as well - especially to keep up writing but it hasn't happened and although Krista has a lot to share, she lacks the ability to sit and type it all out on her own.  So I'm helping her out.  Last weekend Krista and her friends celebrated her turning FIVE with a "down on the farm" themed party!

Here is where I really wished I had delegated photo taking to someone because I had loads of prep work and then activity leading to do and I didn't get a lot of photos.  :(

As the guests arrived they were invited to do any number of activities while waiting for the others to arrive.  They could choose from:

The Pig Pen where we had the guinea pigs out in their cages and a picnic table with craft supplies to make a paper plate mask of their favourite farm animals or colour a picture of a horse!

The Bunny Bounce - our trampoline.  :)

Pony rides - I had found the idea of placing saddles on straw bales on Pinterest but decided I needed heads for the full effect.  In four days I crocheted up a "Tye" pony head and a "Cricket" pony head and mounted them on wooden poles.  And now after the party we are using them as hobby horses!  :) I didn't have a pattern and should have written down what I did - basically a large crocheted sock, stuffed and embellished!

Once everyone had arrived and had had a chance to play, we took a tour of the barnyard.  Kittens, ducks, chickens, ponies and Jessie the lamb all got tons of cuddles and treats!

A farmer's lunch was served on the back deck.  The tables were covered with red plaid tablecloths with burlap accents.  Here's where I really wish I had taken pictures.  We had a veggie patch vegetable tray with veggies from our garden, a fruit orchard tray, tractor wheel treats (two bite brownies, cinnamon rolls and cookies) and straw bales (rice krispie treats).

I fashioned "the watering hole" from a kid friendly lemonade jug with spigot and there was an array of tea sandwiches and pinwheels.  The most popular seemed to be the cream cheese and gherkin pinwheels and the ham and cheese rolls.  :)

After lunch we had sack races with some of the empty feed sacks I had collected, a blindfold duck catching game that we played using the small kiddie pool and a chicken egg hatch game where we had to cluck like chickens and pop prized filled balloons using our bottoms.  :)  My favourite!

Happy Birthday was sung while Krista blew out five candles on ice cream cake!

I had spent the previous couple of weeks begging, borrowing and stealing berry baskets from friends and neighbours to make up the favours.  Each basket held crayons, bubbles, candy, a note pad and the rubber ducky that each guest caught during the duck pond game.

It was a successful party and a wonderful birthday!  Happy Birthday to our little chicken.  xo

Jeanette