Archives for September 2011

Nuggets: Headed Home

Filed Under: Family, Nuggets, Travel3 Comments

We are packing up our things, hoping to be on the road tomorrow morning. As much as I love being at the Sipes’ farm, I’m ready to be home to our normal routine. We’ve had a very good visit with Grandpa and Grandma. We’ll miss being with them as well as many other fun things that we’ve done here…

:: I’ve already said this, but I’m still excited about the super fresh produce that has shown up at the house.

Everything that has come has been extra tasty and I have thoroughly enjoyed them!

I’m thinking that when I get home I’ll just sit in my own living room and wait for people to bring me over some veggies from their gardens. What do you think?

:: Since we ended up staying into September, Jesse ran out of a couple of his prescriptions. Of course our awesome CF coordinator, Sue, was able to call in what we needed to the local pharmacy. I like the cute, old-town look and feel of the Galion pharmacy.

:: We’ve been eating lots and lots of raspberries all week. They were on special for only $1 per pack, way cheaper than home. We made sure to enjoy plenty of them while we could.

:: Guess what else I found? Pepsi made with real sugar. Now, I know I can get this at home every once in a while when they decide to come out with it, but I decided to take advantage of it being on sale and buy some. The kind I usually buy is caffeine free so I’m happy to have the option of caffeine when I want it. Plus I’ve always preferred the taste of Pepsi.

:: I got a good gardening lesson yesterday. We walked across the street to Don’s to see how things grow.

Of course, I knew that carrots and potatoes and onions grow under the ground, but I’ve never actually seen them growing!

We saw all types of vegetables and even got to dig out a potato and a radish. We liked the tall sunflowers too.

We came home with potatoes, turnips, a radish, tomatoes, and a cucumber… that I picked!

:: Jesse helped out with a lot of chores this week. The first time he mowed, he wore a tank top and completely fried his neck and shoulders. Yesterday, Grandma set him up with a long sleeve shirt and a hat to avoid him getting more sun on his sunburn. He looked like a regular farmer.

Grandpa wanted to help Jesse clean out the mower properly when he finished. I thought this was a sweet picture of Grandpa catching a ride on the side of the mower down to the barn with Jesse.

Jesse also fit in some trash burning. He was looking forward to that chore the whole drive up here. There is no trash pickup here, so that’s the way to get rid of it.

:: My chore has been cooking. We’ve really enjoyed having meals with Grandpa and Grandma. Jesse had one special request meal while we were here… Grandma’s beef and noodles. She made that for him yesterday so he could enjoy one of his favorites.

:: Lastly, more produce! There were boxes full of produce to greet us at church this morning. We were instructed to take plenty so that it wouldn’t spoil.

A lot of our produce this week came from farmer Bill. He even had a few butternut squash set aside in his car especially for me. I can’t wait to try them when we get home. I told him I REALLY appreciated all these yummy veggies.

We are coming home with enough fresh veggies to last us a while. My list includes: radish, turnips, potatoes, cucumber, tomatoes, red peppers, zucchini, yellow squash, and butternut squash. Hooray!

Happy Sunday 🙂

Green Bean Canning Lesson

Filed Under: Family, Travel2 Comments

Today I had the chance to help Grandma can some green beans. I realize this may sound like a chore to some people, but it’s exciting when I’ve never done it before. Danny and Linda brought us over a whole bucket full to work on.

Frist we snapped off the end and snapped them into smaller pieces. I definitely snacked on a few raw ones in the process.

We’ve had a couple different varieties of beans this week, but I think theirs were the best. I’m not sure how to explain the taste… maybe sweeter or just green bean-ier. They sure were good. I’ll have to find out what kind they are and see if we can get them at home. Or maybe they’re just extra good because they’re so fresh.

First, Grandma washed the beans

I drained and filled the cans

A little salt was added to each can

Each can was filled with water

The lids soaked in boiling water while the cans were being filled

Each can got a hot lid

Each can was tightened and secured

I had assumed that we would use the same method of canning we had used for tomatoes, but I was wrong and we did it a little differently. The huge pressure cooker came up from the basement for the most important step. That was interesting. I’ve never used one of those before either.

The big pressure cooker on the stove

We payed close attention to the gauge while the beans cooked

A little water and all the cans were added to the pressure cooker

The beans were ready to come out about half an hour later

Our finished cans!

That was a fun experience. I’m glad I was able to help can something while we were here.

Morrow County Fair

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We headed out to the fair yesterday. It was quite a bit warmer than it was when we went to the fair last year. Last year we were bundled up with a couple of layers. This year we dressed in our coordinating Ohio State shirts. Grandma took a picture on our way out.

It was nice and sunny when we first got to the fair. A little later it drizzled a little which cooled it down and made me need to put on a sweater.

First thing we did was admire some of the tractors, since Grandpa wasn’t able to go with us to enjoy them this year. Jesse even climbed into a couple of the ones on display like he remembers doing as a kid.

We walked over to look at the sheep. They were in the middle of showing them to the judge. We weren’t quite sure exactly what they were grading them on. The owners made sure the sheep had all their legs lined up nicely and then the judge was feeling their back before he awarded them a ribbon.

Then we watched some people show their cows. Again it was hard to determine how the cows were being graded. We kept picking our favorite, but our favorite never won. I guess our standards weren’t the same as the judges’ standards.

It was pretty amazing how these people handled such large animals. One little girl had to be no more than eight and was getting this huge cow to do everything she wanted it to.

We also watched some of the horses in action. We saw all these same animals last year, but we walked through their pens instead of watching them in action. It was neat to see them doing stuff.

They were doing some contest where the riders had to hold a piece of paper under their leg while they rode in circles. Not sure what they point was, but the last person to still have their paper seems to have won.

We walked through the work horses barn. Jesse couldn’t resist one of the little guys. He was kicking the door of his pen like he wanted to be pet.

We grabbed some lunch too. Jesse was really looking forward to his fair food. He had a pulled pork sandwich on thick texas toast and curly fries with cheese. I think he enjoyed it!

I brought my own, not-so-fun lunch of ham and veggies. Boo! There’s no way I could have handled that food, but it did look good.

We walked through the craft barn and saw all the winning produce. We were talking with one of Grandpa and Grandma’s friends the other day about kohlrabi. I hadn’t had it before, so Jesse was able to point one out to me. The huge sunflowers were cool too, they were bigger than my head.

We did a quick walk through of the pig and cow barns on our way out. They’re just fun to look at. We got to see a few of each getting a bath too. I headed straight to the shower when we got home. The combination of the animal smells mixed with the dust getting kicked up off the ground had my nose running pretty good. We had a fun fair day!

Archives for September 2011

Nuggets: Headed Home

Green Bean Canning Lesson

Morrow County Fair

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