Blue Barn Bulletin

Salamanders

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:50:00 +0000

Each year, my inlaws haul our camping trailer to their house and store it for the winter in their yard. They have nice, wide open, mostly tree-free space; we have hilly property that's full of trees.

A few weeks ago, it was time.

As Clarence and his dad worked to hook the trailer to the truck, the girls and I stood nearby with Grandma, chatting. The guys jacked up the tongue of the trailer to take out the cement blocks they had under it. Underneath was a surprise. Two salamanders.

Clarence tried to hand them to Julianne but there was no way she planned on taking them from him.

For whatever reason, she changed her mind.

At first, they were cold and just laid on her hand.

Then they seemed to wake up and started to scurry away. She wasn't quite as keen on holding them anymore.

The girls played with them for a few minutes, then released them into the garden.

Hopefully, Clarence's mom didn't have flashback nightmares to his childhood when he put a big washtub with salamanders under his bed and she, unsuspecting, pulled it out to see why he'd have a washtub under his bed. The dark skittering movements drove her quickly from his room-never to return, as the story goes.

More Air Zoo shots

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:16:00 +0000

These shots are from the main campus at the Air Zoo. We were particularly delighted to see this P-40 Warhawk. In the book we read, the main character wants to learn to fly one of these. It was interesting that it was pink, too, since the character in the book is an 11 year old girl. This plane was owned, and flown, by Suzanne Parish, who co-founded the museum with her husband.

There are various rides available but my girls only went on this very tame one. I was concerned about the long ride home if they didn't feel well after riding, so we avoided the more exciting rides.

It ended up being a long day away from home but we really enjoyed ourselves and learned some interesting things.

Air Zoo

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:24:00 +0000

Our small literature co-op read the book Born to Fly this month and took a field trip to the Kalamazoo Air Zoo. One of the moms had discovered that the Air Zoo was offering free admission until the end of the year and we wanted to take advantage of that.

They have two campuses and one of the moms got docents scheduled to guide us through each campus. They both did such a great job! I figure if they can make it interesting and enjoyable to someone like me, who has no knowledge and very little interest in airplanes, they must be very good at what they do.

We got to climb inside this plane, which was a WWII era plane for hauling paratroopers. (Don't ask me what kind of plane it was-I have no recollection whatsoever.) The kids are huddled in the front looking at the shower stall they found there. One of the moms asked about it and the docent told us he thought the "shower head" was a microphone so someone could talk to the troops over the PA system. We giggled a good bit about Julianne's guess that it was a shower but she insists that it even looked like there was a spot for soap.

One interesting thing I learned was that during WWII, the military trained pilots to take off and land on aircraft carriers on Lake Michigan. I don't remember ever hearing about that before. They couldn't get actual aircraft carriers into the Great Lakes, of course, so they improvised by adding decking to a couple boats, creating the runways they needed for training.

As you'd expect, some planes were lost in these practice sessions. The Air Zoo, with help from others, pulled one fairly intact plane out of Lake Michigan a few years ago and worked to restore it. The above picture of the info board shows how it looked before restoration started. (You can click to enlarge it.)

Here it is today. I was amazed, as I always am when something so far gone is restored so beautifully.

These pictures are from the East Campus. I'll try to share a few pics from the Main Campus in the next few days.

Flower Child

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:34:00 +0000

Our church had its annual "Trunk or Treat" event on Saturday. Clarence handed out candy from the back of the van and the girls helped at the craft table inside. (I stayed home where it was warm, peaceful, and quiet. I am not a fan of Halloween.)

Costumes were optional. My girls love many things about the 70's look, so these are actually clothes that Allison wears normally.

She added a long ribbon as a head band

and made a "Peace" necklace to complete the look.

She was wearing the necklace again yesterday, so I think I'll probably see this "costume" again. Won't that be groovy?

Allison's helmet

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:51:00 +0000

You may remember that Clarence helped put up some hay this summer. He really enjoyed it and was able to go help on another occasion, too.

Are you wondering what that has to do with this picture?

The people who were haying have horses. They recently got a horse back from having the Amish break it for them and need to ride it every day. The wife said that she'd like someone to ride her other horse when she takes the new horse out and asked if Allison would be interested.

Interested? Are you kidding?

Finally, she found something she really wanted to spend her saved birthday and Christmas money on. Her very own riding helmet, in a lovely light purple.

We've been slow about calling them to set things up and now, unfortunately, one of the horses is injured and can't be ridden for three more weeks. Allison is trying to be patient.

Twins!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 20:05:00 +0000

Well, almost.

The girls have discovered that Salvation Army and Goodwill are great places to find interesting and unique clothes. They love making their own fashion statements and both have a particular affection for paisley.

Julianne got these pink paisley capris last year. They are one of four different pairs of paisley pants she owns. Allison was lagging behind with only one pair. I tried to console her with the knowledge that Julianne would be handing them all down to her some day.

That was fine until she found a pair of paisley pants identical to Julianne's in our local Goodwill last week. I told her I didn't think I needed to buy them, since we already had a pair at home that she would eventually get. Mean, aren't I?

Yesterday we stopped in looking for something else I had seen the last time I was there (which, of course, was long gone) and everything in the store was half price. Allison went looking and came back with the pants.

I guess I'm an old softie after all.

Presto Change-O

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 01:59:00 +0000

Ta-Da!

This is our "new" van. The Montana was, indeed, totaled and we were happy to find this '03 Chevy Venture. We intentionally ordered the Montana mud-colored. This one is actually red but, as it's been raining since we drove it off the lot yesterday, you'd think it was the same old color (which gives you a hint as to why we ordered that ugly brown in the first place).

Some friends told us they'd seen a used Montana at a local dealer. We went to look at it Thursday night but it was a smoker's car, so not for us. This Venture was sitting next to it. We didn't want to look at something that old, as we were hoping to get at least 5 years out of this vehicle. However, the relatively low mileage made us reconsider.

It seemed like God was putting all the pieces into place, in perfect timing. We even got a much more generous settlement from the insurance company than we expected.

We are excited have both a cassette and cd player so we can listen to audio books in either format. There's also a dvd player, which means we won't have to haul the inverter, tv/vcr, and dvd player along when we drive to Florida. That will be a huge space saver, plus this has headsets so the girls can watch a movie and we can still talk or listen to the radio.

Our poor Montana was 10 years old and showing its age. Over 200,000 miles, the air conditioning, rear wiper, automatic door, and gas gauge had all broken, the driver's window would go down but had to be helped up, and some of the trim was loose where it had been repaired after the first deer ran into it. "But there ain't nothin' wrong with the radio." (Although I don't normally listen to Country, when I heard that song a few years ago I thought it was hilarious.) Having all those extras working makes this seem like a brand new car to us. We feel very blessed.

The Score

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 17:29:00 +0000

Deer 2

Clarence 0

Here's what he was wearing when he hit the deer Saturday morning.

Oh, the irony.

Allison's chickens

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 02:06:00 +0000

A few years ago, some friends bought some dollar store chicken yard ornaments and decorated our campsite with them at Family Camp. When we could sneak them over to their campsite, we "chickened" them in return.

The chickens have broken or been given away in a teen scavenger hunt until, last year, we were down to only one left. We left it at our friends' campsite right before we pulled out. This year they reciprocated, since they pulled out ahead of us.

Allison thought we needed more chickens but the place that used to sell them burned last summer. What to do?

She decided to make her own.

She has spent a lot of time in the playhouse painting since camp.

I find the "Chickens Rock" rock hilarious.

Clarence taught her how to use a saw to cut out shapes. For my own good, I was unaware of that at first.

She has them all packed away in the trailer, waiting for next summer.

Hopefully, we'll have room to pack the stuff we actually need.

Shirt to Skirt

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:05:00 +0000

I saw an idea in a magazine a few months back and shared it with Julianne. It was how to transform a man's shirt into a woman's skirt. She was intrigued.

We picked up a couple shirts at Salvation Army for $1 each so she could experiment.

She chose to start with a red plaid.

I removed the pocket for her, then she started cutting. The project got put aside for a while for various reasons and when she pulled it out again, I was surprised to see that she had embellished the pocket. Cute idea, and not one that the magazine article had suggested. I love her creativity.

We finally got around to purchasing some cording for the drawstring, which was the final delay. Last week, she stitched the pocket in its new location, turned down the top and sewed it, then learned how to make buttonholes on my sewing machine and threaded the drawstring through.

(I'm kicking myself for not taking a detail shot of her crocheted flower on the pocket.)

The drawstring didn't look good to me with her fancy embellished pocket so I encouraged her to tuck it in. I'm thinking elastic might be a better idea the next time.

Overall, it was a pretty simple project. Julianne was able to pick up a couple new sewing skills in the process and is tickled with her new skirt.

October quiz

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 21:51:00 +0000

The first quiz of the season was yesterday.

This year they are quizzing on I & II Corinthians. We actually have a three person team this year, although the girls' teammate wasn't able to go to yesterday's competition.

In individual competition, both girls made it to the final round. Allison didn't place but Julianne took first place.

In team competition, the girls took first place in the young teen veteran division. The other girl who is quizzing this year is in 10th grade, so when she attends, they will be quizzing in the senior teen division.

Julianne quizzed out in every round she was in yesterday (7). Allison managed to get two quiz outs during the course of the day. They continually amaze me.

Everyday miracles

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:52:00 +0000

Yesterday was Allison's night to cook. She asked her dad to stop on his way home for an ingredient, as he often does for me. He took a slight detour from his normal route home to go to Sam's Club.

On his ride into work, he had been unable to avoid something in the road. He checked his tires when he got to work and again before leaving, then started his commute home.

As he exited the freeway, almost to Sam's, his tire went flat. He continued, driving slowly, and made it to Sam's Club safely. I saw several miracles in his adventure.

He didn't take his normal route home, which would have left him stranded roadside, nowhere near a tire place.
The tire didn't go flat until he was off the freeway, moving at a much slower, safer speed.
He was the only customer in the tire dept. and was able to get the tire changed in mere minutes. (That seems like a huge miracle to me!)
He was at Sam's Club, where the tire was originally purchased, so the road hazard coverage was usable, giving him a discount on the new tire.

Prayer for their dad's safety is something the girls often add when asking a blessing on their food at mealtime. Sometimes it seems so rote and repetitious to my ears, sincere though they are. I'm glad God doesn't look at it that way and orchestrated all the details so perfectly yesterday, allowing us to glimpse some of the miracles I'm sure He performs unnoticed every day.

An anniversary surprise

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 20:33:00 +0000

The girls spent some time with their adopted grandma this past week. We have been so busy of late that we had a hard time finding a day they could go when she invited them.

There was a lot of whispering going on and when I asked why she wanted them to come over, there was no direct answer. Allison finally told me it was like "Grandma's craft day" that my mom has with the grandkids every Christmas.

Only this time, it involved baking instead of crafting.

The girls spent the afternoon there, after finishing their schoolwork. Clarence and I were invited to join them for dinner and were surprised by these cakes when we arrived.

Allison decorated "Happy" and Julianne did the honors on "Anniversary". The decorations were on top of cake called "Death by chocolate". It was delicious-and we lived to tell about it!

Baby gifts

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:30:00 +0000

I went to a baby shower last Saturday while my family picked pears.

I've started making my shower gifts and adding something small to go with the things I sew. Saturday, I didn't have any baby gift bags so I ended up using my scrap fabric to make a tote bag to hold everything. I thought it was kind of floppy, being unlined, and wasn't very impressed with it. But, it did the job of holding the gift. I figured they could pitch it, just like gift wrap, if they didn't have a use for it. Oddly enough, the bag was what the mom-to-be seemed most delighted with.

Their nursery is done in Curious George, hence my fabric choice. The family told me that they are having a hard time finding anything with Curious George and although there were many monkey gifts, I don't think there was anything else with Curious George on it at the shower. Thank you JoAnn Fabrics!

Since I knew the baby's first name, I machine embroidered it randomly on one of the burp cloths. I would have used his initials, too, but the parents haven't chosen a middle name yet-at least not that they're telling.

We're visiting friends in Indiana this week whose son and daughter-in-law are expecting their first, too. Another boy. They aren't sharing the name they've picked either, so no personalization on this set.

Rite Aid had an extremely good deal on baby products last week so I used those to round out my gifts.

Do you always give the same thing for shower gifts or do you pick something different each time? I'm liking having a standard gift to fall back on for baby showers. Bridal showers are a whole 'nuther issue.

We're spending a couple days away for our anniversary. I'll see you all when we get back.

Apple time

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:09:00 +0000

This is Clarence's latest creation. It's part of a fire extinguisher (not the foam kind), refashioned into a fruit picker. Mounted on an extension handle, it'll reach way up into a tree to get the fruit. We put a piece of foam in to help prevent bruising.

We don't know the owner of this apple tree but it's right around the corner from our house. Clarence and Allison were brave and knocked on the door to ask if we could pick his apples. The man gave them permission, then shut the door rather abruptly. As they turned to walk away, he re-opened the door and said "Thanks for asking."

There are two trees that seem to be the same variety that we really like. They are sweet with a bit of tartness. Allison has made some fantastic pies with them, plus we've got some in the freezer for later. They were delicious to eat fresh, too.

We each took a turn trying the picker out. It worked just like he hoped it would.

We've walked down and picked two or three times now. The spots that some of the apples have seem to be only skin deep. Once peeled, there's seldom any problems to deal with.

The neighbor has another tree, with a different variety of apples, that is just ripening now. We don't like the flavor as well, but Allison made an apple crisp with some of those apples and it was great-so we'll be going back for more.

(A couple pies Allison made.)

We dropped off a pie to the neighbor last week. He still wasn't all that friendly, but seemed to be quite happy to have the treat. Clarence thought he was already getting a fork by the time we left the driveway.

Picking pears with Grandpa

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 01:03:00 +0000

Clarence and the girls went to pick pears at his folks' today while I attended a baby shower. We were trying to beat a frost that's predicted for next week.

Grandpa told the girls that there were four possible ways to pick the pears, because the tree hangs over a ditch and into the cornfield.

Use a ladder.
Shake the pears out of the tree.
Get in the bucket of the backhoe.
Cut the tree down. He's been thinking about doing that anyway.

Grandma didn't think he was serious about the backhoe. He was.

Sometimes, Grandpa tells the girls "We don't need to tell Grandma about this." and they understand that they don't need to tell Mom, either. I'm a little surprised that not only did Allison tell me about this as soon as I got home, Clarence had taken these pictures.

They had a lot of fun, we got a nice harvest of free fruit, and they all came home safely. It was a good day.

Recycled Potatoes-the results

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 01:18:00 +0000

The vines of our recycled red potatoes died a few weeks ago. We got around to harvesting them over Labor Day weekend.

Allison joined Clarence in searching for hidden treasure.

The lasagna garden technique seemed like it would make for much cleaner potatoes than planting them in the soil. Hmm, not so much.

We ran out of newspapers when making our lasagna layers and started using grocery bags. The bags had red lettering on them which led to a lot of false excitement on my part. I kept thinking I was seeing a bit of red potato, when it was only the ink on the bag.

We did end up with this bucket filled. Not as great a harvest as we hoped for, but from potatoes that were beyond their useful life, it isn't too bad.

We haven't harvested the potatoes planted from seed potatoes yet. They don't look any more promising than these, actually, but we'll enjoy them, however many we find.

Tomato Corn Pie

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 01:12:00 +0000

I like reading Smitten Kitchen. She has fantastic photos, witty writing, and I often learn new things from her blog.

I've tried very few of her tempting recipes and, in fact, Allison reminded me that we haven't really cared for the few I have attempted. Hope springs eternal, I suppose, because she posted a Tomato and Corn Pie a couple weeks ago and I decided I had to try it. (Or, more accurately, use her recipe as a jumping off point.)

I made a single instead of a double crust pie, I cut the salt, cheese, and butter, and used whole wheat pastry flour, light mayo, and skim milk but, other than that, this is just like hers.

I recommend it highly.

Tomato and Corn Pie

1 cup whole wheat flour (pastry flour)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
3 ounces milk, skim
1/3 cup light mayonnaise
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 3/4 pounds tomatoes, whole
1 1/2 cups corn kernels, divided
2 tablespoons basil, fresh, finely chopped, divided
1 tablespoon chives, finely chopped, divided
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, divided
4 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, 1 cup, divided

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and 1/4 tsp salt in a bowl, then blend in cold butter with a pastry blender until it resembles coarse meal. Add milk, stirring until mixture just forms a dough, then gather into a ball.

Roll out into a 12-inch round (1/8 inch thick), and place in a 9-inch pie plate (or press it into the pie plate with your fingers instead of rolling it out). Trim any overhang.

Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in middle. Whisk together mayonnaise and lemon juice.

Cut an X in bottom of each tomato and blanch in a large pot of boiling water 10 seconds. Immediately transfer with a slotted spoon to an ice bath to cool. Peel tomatoes, then slice crosswise 1/4 inch thick and, if desired, gently remove seeds and extra juices (I spun them in my salad spinner. It helped but didn't completely eliminate the excess liquid.). Arrange half of tomatoes in crust, overlapping, and sprinkle with half of corn, one tablespoon basil, 1/2 tablespoon chives, 1/8 teaspoon pepper and one-half cup of grated cheese. Repeat layering with remaining tomatoes, corn, basil, chives, salt, and pepper. Pour lemon mayonnaise over filling and sprinkle with remaining cheese.
Bake pie until crust is golden and filling is bubbling, 30 to 35 minutes.

Candle holder re-do

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 03:00:00 +0000

I bought these at a yard sale. I realized shortly after getting them home that they are slightly different colors. Never one to rush into things, I've left them as-is for a couple years.

I have fears of spray painting but I finally bought some anyhow and gave it a try. It turned out better than I was afraid it might.

After I got them painted, Clarence asked if I planned to use some of the tiles I bought recently. I was so taken with this tile, I bought a sheet of it to bring home to consider for our bathroom. I still haven't decided about it for the bathroom but I'm really liking it on the candle holder.

The simple spray paint job now requires grouting. Somehow, that seems about right for us.

Julianne's hot pads

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 02:20:00 +0000

Julianne saw hot pads like these on Whip Up one day several months ago.

She really liked them so she followed the link to the directions. Unfortunately, they were in German. She tried google translate but apparently crochet abbreviations don't translate well. Imagine that.

She sent the link to our friend Julene. Julianne ~~whined just a bit~~ mentioned that she couldn't figure out the pattern. Julene doesn't know German, either, but somehow she figured out the pattern and shared it with Julianne.

(This one was on the clothesline when she took the other pictures. We couldn't leave out the one with her favorite colors, could we?)

My hot pad drawer is starting to look like one of Julianne's flower gardens.

I like it.

Part-time kitchen help

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 01:29:00 +0000

My refrigerator has taken some time off this summer.

Right before Family Camp we had trouble but Clarence got it running again.

Last week it happened again. Things didn't feel cold enough, although the frozen stuff was still rock hard, just like before. Sure enough, I stuck the thermometer in there and it was in the 50's.

Clarence tore it further apart this time and found the ~~thingamajig~~ evaporator was iced up. Some defrosting courtesy of my hair dryer gave us refrigeration again.

What to do with all the milk gone bad? So far, we've had one batch of bread and two quadruple batches of waffles. My girls love homemade waffles. We'll be making more. Lots more. I had over a gallon and a half of milk when the fridge quit.

Whole Wheat Waffles
(just slightly adapted from Whole Foods for the Whole Family)

2 eggs, separated

1 1/2 cups sour milk

1/4 c. oil

1 T. brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 c. whole wheat pastry flour

Beat egg whites with mixer until stiff. Mix egg yolks and milk together in large bowl. Add remaining ingredients, beating well after each addition; fold in egg whites. Pour into lightly greased waffle iron. Cook until steaming stops.

We think these waffles are delicious enough to eat plain.

Oh, and yes, we're looking for a new refrigerator. Twice in two months makes us think we're on borrowed time. Hopefully, we can get a new one delivered before our part time one decides to retire once and for all.

Added to LifeasMom's breakfast URS

Nicholas!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 01:46:00 +0000

Last weekend, the girls went on a canoe trip with friends. Consequently, they missed our annual family reunion. Aunt Sharon was disappointed that she couldn't see them so we made arrangements to get together on Monday.

We got a bonus visit with Nicholas and his mom, Marie.

Julianne let Nicholas go through her bag. He found some very entertaining things, like a hairbrush and several skeins of yarn.

Allison let him check her bag out as well. We think he's definitely going to be ~~crafty~~ handy.

Or maybe not. Maybe he's just going to have great dental hygiene habits. I think he flossed all five teeth.

Allison bribed Nicholas to sit on her lap by sharing her needlepoint chicken with him. He didn't stay long but she was pretty excited that he let her hold him at all.

I've got other things to blog about when I get some time but now that Aunt Sharon is back in Florida, I thought I'd better start with Nicholas pictures first to help ease her withdrawal.

Tomatoes

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 17:18:00 +0000

I'm hoping this year to can some tomatoes as, well, tomatoes.

Mostly, I can tomato juice/sauce. It's just so much easier.

Clarence picked all the ripe tomatoes he could one night this week, in anticipation of a coming rain. He wanted to get them before the rain made the skins split. It wasn't a large harvest, but more than we would eat fresh before they spoiled, so he got out our Presto "Food Strainer and Sauce Maker". Dandy sounding name, isn't it?

The girls have always loved helping with this job. I'm kind of surprised that their enthusiasm hasn't waned much as they've gotten older. I guess there's just something about throwing tomatoes in the hopper, cranking the handle, and watching the sauce come out while the seeds and skins spit out the end. Or maybe we're just easily entertained.

A few years ago Clarence started lining a mesh colander with cheesecloth to catch the sauce. Some of the excess water drains into the cake pan he sets below the colander. We scoop the tomato sauce into a stock pot, cook it down a little more, and then I can it.

This batch of tomatoes yielded about 6 cups of sauce so we put it in the fridge. We'll add it to the next batch we get and cook it all down at once.

I'm sure Allison can hardly wait since she didn't get to help with this batch.

Flowers for fall

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 02:08:00 +0000

Kathy is always busy crafting one thing or another. Julianne has given her some crocheted flowers to use for her crafts and a few weeks ago, Kathy requested some flowers in fall colors.

Julianne is taken with black pansies this year. She planted some and is really enjoying how striking they are. Somehow, I wasn't surprised to see one among her crocheted flowers.

Julianne indulged me by making the sunflowers because I think they are so cute. Kathy was looking for the larger flowers for a project she has in mind.

She is taking these to Kathy this week so I thought I'd post a picture of them before they get away.

Now, back to summer! I am not ready to move on to fall yet.

More harvesting and preserving

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 16:03:00 +0000

We're starting to get a few more tomatoes but so far have only had enough to enjoy fresh. Unfortunately, we'll be racing against the blight that seems to already be started. I'm low on home-canned tomatoes so I'm really hoping for a good harvest before the blight takes over.

The first of our cukes are finally ready to pick. As with the tomatoes, Clarence grows them on fencing so they can climb, rather than spread all over. It's fairly effective, although the tomatoes, in particular, still seem to spread out quite a bit.

This is the strawberry tower, planted with beans this year. Clarence and Allison picked the beans last night and enjoyed picking them while standing.

Last night's harvest wasn't huge, but I was able to can 5 quarts of beans. It's a start.

Yesterday I also made a batch of bread and butter pickles. I'd never made them before but the girls' adopted grandparents shared some with us a few months ago and we all loved them.

Wednesday night they gave us a couple bags of cucumbers so I tried using her refrigerator pickle recipe, but followed the instructions in my Ball Blue Book to process them as I don't have a lot of refrigerator space to store them in. Hopefully, they will still be good. I'm afraid they won't be very crisp after being processed. Anybody know?

Visit Teaching Good Things for more From Seeds to Harvest updates.