Monday, September 2, 2013

Country Home, Here We Come!

The view out our back yard. Isn't it gorgeous?!

Well, we finally made it to our new home!! I thought it would never happen. I packed boxes for almost a full week. When we finally got all moved in I looked over everything we had and thought, “wow, I have no clue how I got all this in that tiny two bedroom apartment!” Every room of this three bedroom house has furniture in it with a few pieces to spare. We’re not lacking in the furniture department at all! I’m grateful to have so much. It’s been a steady gathering process over the past year but when we moved in here we didn't have any room needing furniture so it was worth it.

One day we had all these tomatoes & greenbeans ready to pick and the apples were off the ground under the trees.

I've been out in the garden almost every day since the big move. We have had tons of tomatoes ripening. I plan to can most of them because there are just too many to use up right away. I've made several BLT sandwiches with the garden tomatoes and they are better than anything you could buy from a store!

We have 4 different garden sections (which I explain more in another post coming soon). In them we have tomato bushes, sweet potato plants, green beans, red beans, and several rows of onions! The grape vines are loaded and are close to being ready to pick. The blackberry bushes haven’t had much on them. I've decided that next year I will pick the berries as they are ready and then put them in the freezer until I have enough to actually make something worthwhile. The apples have been doing wonderful. I made the first apple pie of the season a few weeks after we moved in.  It was DELICIOUS! Instead of using white sugar I used brown sugar and it had a caramel like flavor to it which was amazing!

My first attempt at jelly making. I made Strawberry Preserves.

I made my first batch of jelly. It was strawberry and tastes heavenly! I have a recipe & directions for it coming soon. For as long as I can help it I won’t be buying jelly from the store! This homemade stuff is just too good to not make my own! I have plans to make blueberry jam, more strawberry preserves, and hopefully some grape jelly as well! Making jelly is one of my new favorite things!

We are very excited about our new house. I love being out away from everything. The lack of internet has caused me some stress a few times when I wanted to look something up right away but couldn't. I’ve learned to keep a running list that I bring with me when I do go to a place that has internet. That way I can look up those things and save the info to my computer to read up on later. This little system has been working quite well for me so far.

I have a few posts lined up and scheduled about different things hubby & I are working on around here. We are considering chickens...probably in the spring. I have a whole post on that coming up next week. Then there is a post with more details about our gardens scheduled for later next week as well. There is so much to them that I thought it would be easier if they had their own post. I love living out here and I really like that we have our own place. There's nothing quite like this feeling!

A few related posts from the blog:

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9 comments:

  1. Helen, Congrats on the new digs! Best of luck to you. If you are looking for a fabulous grape jam recipe, I thought I'd share the post I wrote and my own experience. The jam was so delicious and I was sad when we got to our last jar:-(

    I was looking forward to making more this year but our friend's farm from where we picked the Concord grapes had a black fungus develop on the vines so no picking this year. Oh, the pain! Our friend is taking out the grapes later this year because of the fungus and the fact that they aren't as profitable as other crops that could take the place of the grapes.

    Well, here's my post for making Concord Grape Jam. Let me know if you make it and how yours turns out!

    http://feellovdeveryday.blogspot.com/2012/09/what-i-made-wednesday-concord-grape-jam.html

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  2. That jelly looks scrumptious, Helen! Are you going to share the recipe? 'Can't wait to hear more about your adventures in the country! -Marci @ Stone Cottage Adventures

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    1. I planned to, but it was on my laptop and it crashed about a week ago and I don't know if Geek Squad will be able to recover the stuff on it or not...I do have the recipe on paper though, I just don't have all the directions and what all I did.

      Helen

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  3. Congratulations on your new home!

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  4. Congrats on your new place:) The picture of the view from your backyard looks amazing and all those fuits and veggies look delicious.

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  5. Congratulations on your new home!!! The view is so beautiful! :)

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  6. Helen, I would love to see pics of your house!!! Inside and out!!! So happy for you!!! :)

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  7. Hi Helen, sorry to hear about the mishap on your laptop :(
    Excited to read more about your adventures in your new home. Just taking time to thank you that http://gardenchefsneedleandpen.blogspot.com/ has been chosen as the caboose and the featured blog for the month of August in the blog hop. Enjoy every minute in your new abode with your family!

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  8. Congratulations, Helen! How exciting to have a new home and a bounty of fresh foods to stock up for winter :)

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