Skagit Mamas it's SUMMER!! - Page 5

[Doula Dani]

I'll bring Asher...the two of them is almost too much sometimes. I'll bring Ian's gift also.

[naturegirl]

[strawberryfields08]

Yay Cheryl! I am so excited for you!

Amy, I wish I could help. I wanted to dry some of these too, but since I don't have a dehydrator I was going to try the oven.
I do know my MIL who took half of mine put them in her dehydrator and said that this morning they are still like she just cut them so maybe it will do the same thing.

What a beautiful day!

[aimlesslu]

Abundance of apricots!!

OK, this batch I cut the apricots in quarters and tossed them in a mixture of lemon juice and honey. That should keep them from discoloring, stop them from mildewing, and help them dry faster.

I made 85475.3 jars of jam, canned some halves and pieces, made apricot ginger nectar, dried some, and made some fruit leather. And I still have a few sitting on a bowl on the counter for snacking.

What did everyone else do?

[strawberryfields08]

Hey everyone! I don't think that we will be at playgroup today. We are in need of a stay home and catch up on life day! I hope you all have fun.
Rachel

[inthezoo]

Robin dumped the entire container of foaming bubble bath out onto Dallas' activity bouncer which is the only place i can safely contain my little climber so I can take a shower. Rather than inflict my stinky self on you all, I think I should just stay home and continue washing suds off the thing wallowing in my own personal tragedy. Have fun at playgroup!

I should add the dumping of the bubble bath was really a kind gesture, Robin was trying to make me a cookie because I was making breakfast for him. I'm not sure how powdered soap makes cookies but I tried not to freak out.

[naturegirl]

I am so stumped on names...Here is a potential list. Please vote and send me your suggestions or comments. DH isn't much help as he doesn't like anything I come up with but also doesn't supply any names himself. : So this is basically "my" baby name list as dh hasn't even seen or heard a few of these yet.

Oh and if you missed playgroup today...Ian's b-day party is a Maiben park on Sunday from 2-4 if anyone wants to drop by to say hi.

[strawberryfields08]

Cheryl,
I absolutely LOVE Liora Elizabeth! Beautiful! (I might just steal it from you someday if you don't use it ) Good Luck with your names. It can be so hard to agree. I hope you are able to know right away the perfect name when you see your precious little one.
Side Note-When Ava was born we called her every name we liked for 3 days before finally deciding she was "Ava"! Which was the name we had chosen from the beginning anyway.

So a guy that Jesse just started carpooling with today brought me over an entire cooler full of cherries from his tree tonight! Jesse told him I was a good cook so he was hoping to get some fresh cherry pie made for him So I am canning a batch of cherry jam right now. I have never had it before we'll see. And am doing 2 cherry pies tomorrow. I would like to can some cherry pie filling. Has anyone ever done this? Have any recipies?

Amy~ I just made jam from my apricots. I was too lazy to do much else!

[inthezoo]

Cheryl, I voted on your list of names. You have quite a few good ones to choose from. I hope you can agree on one when the time comes. We are having more difficulty ourselves this time too.

Rachel, Pies are really all I like to use my canned fruit for. I add some arrowroot or cornstarch to the fruit to thicken it, I'm probably doing it all wrong though and certainly don't claim to be an expert. I don't care for canned fruit straight up, but the rest of the family doesn't mind it.

Amy, I have dried one box of Apricots and I'm planning fruit leather for the second if we don't eat them all first. Dallas is a bottomless pit when it comes to fruit (really anything come to think of it, he inherited Dh's hollow legs) I had to shut myself in another room to cut the apricots for drying because it was one for the dehydrator, one for him, one for the dehydrator, two for him...you get the idea. Really how many can a little baby fit in there?? How did that last batch in the Ronco turn out?

I did dry 7lbs of the cherries, again that was hard to do. He loves those too, you should have seen the look on his face when he climbed up to the table and found my huge bowl of freshly pitted cherries just sitting there.

Freezing the strawberries is moving slowly. I ran out of freezer space and have to wait for Dh to make some more wine out of last years leftover fruits before I can fit more.

It have been a very good week for Dallas he's surrounded by fruit of all kinds. The house smells wonderful too!

[naturegirl]

I love Liora too. It is one of the names I haven't tested with dh yet though...: It means "my light" which I also love.

All this talk of fruit is making me HUNGRY. Ian and I ate a flat (I know a measily small quantity compared to you guys!) of raspberries and blueberries in one day. YUMMMM.

[aimlesslu]

I like Adalia and Liora. Very nice!

My last batch of dried apricots with the honey/lemon juice glaze worked WONDERFUL! The honey/lemon juice combo really helped the apricots keep their color and the intense sweet flavor is awesome! I also made some fruit leather and it came out fantastic, flavorful and bright. I added very little sugar so the true apricot taste shines through.

I hope you like the cherry jam! Have you been using regular pectin or Pomona pectin? I like the Pomona pectin because it jells up nicely without using so ding dang much sugar.

Yes, Sev also shoves the fruit in as fast as I can cut/pit it. He's a maniac!

Next month I'm hoping for peaches - I'm thinking third week in August. Mostly I'm interested in canning some, no jam or anything else. I'll probably pick up one box. When I get closer to going I'll let everyone know in case others want some too! My main objective is to visit my elderly mom once a month, but picking up fresh produce is a plus.

We'll be camping Sunday so we'll miss the party, but happy birthday! Wheee!

[nurnur]

Love Liora with Adalia as a close runner up!

Winter is a fruit nut, but doesn't need all the help in the pooping department, oh golly.

[inthezoo]

Azure Order

I waited too long to place my Azure order this last time and several things I needed didn't come. They do run out of thing if you order last minute. Cheryl and Amy are the only two others on drop spot list but several more people have mentioned interest. My question for you is, when is better for you? We could do an order twice a month if we had enough orders. Our next two order dates are August 8th and August 22nd. I could do either one. Does anyone want to order with me?

[strawberryfields08]

Misty,
I really really want to order. I am not sure about once a month or twice a month. Is the order due on the 8th? I could order that one.


You would not believe that my family is sick AGAIN! Now we have terrible colds and Ava was up half the night coughing. I can't believe it I don't know what is going on. I am really working on our diet and I thought I had made progress. Ava is on vitamins every day. I just don't know what else to do.

[naturegirl]

Rachel. There is an icky cough "going around" right now.

I will try to place another order Misty...probably once a month is good for me at this point. At least until after baby and the move.

Well dh hates Liora. He is such a "common name" type guy. I think I will just wait until after the baby is born and maybe in my postpartum tears he will agree to it. We will actually probably stick with our original...Zoe, if it's a girl and we are leaning towards Gavin if it is a boy. But baby isn't here yet and they may have ideas on names all their own. Gotta get the house clean. The nest is a mess!

[inthezoo]

Ok let's order for the 8th then. When you place your order you have until the cut off time to add to or modify your order but I think that the sooner you place the order the higher in the cue your stuff is and I will be more likely not to miss out on the hot items. Also I should tell you the money charged until the following Tuesday when the load the truck because they only charge for what's in stock.

PM me if anyone needs help signing up.

I just love Azure! :

[aimlesslu]

I'll check and see if I have enough to order to make up the minimum.

[QTRANDI]

Freezer and/or Lawn Mower

Anyone have a self-defrosting freezer and/or well working mulching mower they want to get rid of?? Our lawn mower poop'd out...... and with our garden we're needing a freezer as we don't have enough store room!!

Let me know!!

Randi

[inthezoo]

I'm sorry Randi, I can't help you out. Now if you needed a loveseat in desperate need of a deep cleaning or recovering, you would save me a posting on craigslist. How about 2 crazy biting ferrets or 4 lovely soft and quiet chinchillas, anyone?

[naturegirl]

Made it through the birthday and Ian had a blast! My hubby was asking if he could get a ferret....I think he wanted it to eat something but I can't remember what?? No crazy ferrets for me. At least not for a few months!