Monday, October 31, 2011

Homemade Sauerkraut




 Start with a nice home grown organic cabbage...remove outer leaves and rinse off any dirt.  Try not to get too much water into the inside of your cabbage.
Boiling water used to disinfect your crock.
Just like with canning, etc, always disinfect your pots/jars/crocks.

Use Kosher Salt...not your regular salt, your cabbage will get soggy!

We borrowed a nice cabbage slicer from a neighbor and Mom got to show off her muscles!  Do not cut off any digits ~ you'll need those!

The slicer 

Shredded cabbage

Adding Kosher salt
 The idea is to layer shredded cabbage and salt...pound away as you do this.
Pounding the cabbage

Notice the liquid coming up ~ that's from the cabbage
 What worked well for us was my Mom shredding the cabbage while I pounded it.  Jiggly arms and all...great fun!
Place a plate over the cabbage

Plastic wrap/bag over the top

Add something heavy to weigh down the plate.
The cabbage will rinse and fall and sometimes it may spill over!  This is ok.  Don't put your crock in a warm spot...furthest from the heat source is good.  Remove the weight for awhile if it is spilling over.
Sauerkraut Day 15
We ate some the other day on Day 15.  It was wonderful.  We will can it up in the next few days when our schedule allows.  SO YUMMY!

Friday, October 28, 2011

My Mom's Wedding Quilt

 When my Mom and Dad got married in 1985, they had a 2 month engagement.  Not much time to get a lot done, but never say that to her friends.  We were in a wonderful little Mennonite church in Ontario and they quickly stitched up this quilt for her.

 We were looking at it the other day, it needs a little repair now.  It is done in her favorite color and Mom remembers being with the ladies when they bought the material.  They said it was for dresses for their girls and Mom believed them!  Sneaky them.  I remember the surprise shower that they presented it to her at.  What a wonderful time!





These are just some of the baskets of flowers that the ladies hand stitched with love for my Mom.  What a blessing!

Rest in Peace little Fluff Ball


Fluffball looked a bit like an Oreo cookie











We had a great day with her yesterday
Fluffball you will be missed terribly.  We were looking forward to your babies and seeing you Momma them up real good.  We're so sad.  Thank you for the many many fun times.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Scouts Island Williams Lake

June 16th saw a few local home school families head out to a nearby "city" of Williams Lake to a little area called "Scout's Island".  Now this was a few months ago and my memory is not that great.  I remember we had a great little group together and they gave us a superb tour and walk for very cheap.  You can stop by here anytime and do the walk yourself and just leave them a donation.  They were very kid friendly and everyone really enjoyed all the bugs and water life!



 Lots of displays to look at and be interactive with.
"Is it going to bite me?"


Walking the benches as we waited for others to arrive



Catching our own little critters!

Viewing these little critters



Thank you home school parents for passing along this information on Scout's Island so more of us could take part.  Hopefully it becomes a yearly outing!

Now, what do you with a car load of giggles after an outing?  Well, you take them shopping at a Dollar Store of course, then you go for a picnic at the local Water Park!




 It was a little chilly, but they were determined to enjoy the sprinklers!

The older ones decided to do an experiment ~
if we run really fast, will we still get wet?

I absolutely love this photo ~ look at her feet and her face!
It didn't work out so well ~
We had a delightful time and what we remember the most of that day was
 1. buying big containers of ice cream, then having to give it away to random people because it was melting
2. The playground had rubberized ground cover which was great fun
3. A delightful 8 year old girl telling us a made up story all the way home...the best part including something about "the Dr. said to go to Tim Hortons and get an Ice Cap"  We have never laughed so hard and been so amused on a drive.  The 2.5 hours went by very quickly!