Nuggets: Headed Home

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.

Lots of tomatoes

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

Huge tomato

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?

Red peppers

:: 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.

Quay

:: 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.

Raspberries

:: 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.

Pepsi

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

Don's gardenYellow beans

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

Onion

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

Tall sunflowersRed sunflower

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

Picking from Don's garden

:: 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.

Farmer Jesse

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.

Mower rideRide to barn

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.

Trash burning

:: 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.

Beef and noodles

:: 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.

Church produce

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.

Me and Bill

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!

Produce to bring home

Happy Sunday 🙂

Green Bean Canning Lesson

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.

Bucket of beans

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

Snapping beans

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.

Grandma and me snapping beans

Washing beans

First, Grandma washed the beans

Filling cans

I drained and filled the cans

Can of beansMe canning

Salt in cans

A little salt was added to each can

Water in cans

Each can was filled with water

Boiled lids

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

Lids on jars

Each can got a hot lid

Tightening cans

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.

Pressure cooker

The big pressure cooker on the stove

Pressure cooker guage

We payed close attention to the gauge while the beans cooked

Can in pressure cooker

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

Grandma taking cans out

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

Finished cans

Our finished cans!

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

Busy, Busy

Today has been such a busy day. In fact, I began writing this post hours ago and I am only now getting back to finishing it. We had several visitors stop at different times, two of which were the home health nurse and the physical therapist. None of us got too much sleep last night so we were all struggling a little to get through all of the activities of the day.

Last night Jesse and I went for a walk down to the end of the driveway and back. It’s the perfect distance for an evening stroll. The silly, stray cat followed closely behind us the whole way. I think it thought the purpose of the walk was to bring it food.

Driveway

It was “freezing” last night. Well, at least for this Floridian! The crisp, cool air feels nice, but it sure gets chilly in a hurry as soon as the sun disappears. I bought this new jacket at Goodwill a couple of weeks ago. Mom and Ashley almost talked me out of buying it because they thought it looked like a space suit (and because it was about 100 degrees outside at the time), but I liked it so I bought it anyways. I’m glad I threw it in the car to bring it along. It’s nice and warm and blocks the wind well.

Me walking

I just had to sit out in the sun for a little while this afternoon. It was a perfect sunny day and the perfect temperature. I set out a towel and relaxed in shorts and a tank top. It was nice to be able to do that without sweating to death. There is no way we can enjoy much time outside at home this time of the year.

Sunny day

While I was soaking up the sun, Jesse finished up almost all of the mowing. That is… until he broke the lawn mower. Luckily, great-uncle Danny happened to stop by at just the right time. After a quick trip to pick up the needed part they got to work and got the mower fixed “right quick.”

Broken lawn mower

Grandpa used to own a John Deere shop so he knows everything there is to know about fixing them. He was close by to supervise the work being done.

Fixing lawn mower

This evening aunt Linda came over with some new book shelves for the living room. We worked quickly to organize things and clear some floor space. Hopefully it will make it easier for Grandpa to get around with his walker while he needs it.

Linda cleaningNew shelves

It’s been a very full day so I hope that we will all be able to get some good sleep tonight.