The Great Pumpkin Adventure

Bryson had Columbus Day off and we had beautiful weather so we decided it would be a great opportunity to go to Linder Farms for our traditional pumpkin patch adventure!



We get to go on a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins. Nathan commented on how bumpy the ride was. He was sure that we were running over the pumpkins. :)







This year there was a petting zoo! As you can see, there was a zebra, camel, ostriches, horses, some sort of yak or something, we honestly didn't know what animal it was, sheep, puppies, turkeys, and more.

These are the pumpkins we picked out. A large family one for carving, and three little ones, one for each kid. It was a very nice sunny day. . . a little bright for everyone!

It has become a fun tradition for us and we look forward to it each year! Happy Halloween!

Visit from family

So, most of my family came to visit over the weekend (a week ago). It was great! We had lots of fun making and canning applesauce all day! We got 84 quarts done that we split between us. Things were pretty busy, hence I have no pictures of the applesauce making. After all that, there was still time to do a little shopping and go out to dinner together. And, we celebrated 4 upcoming birthdays with cake and ice cream. (Tyler's, my brother-in-law, Kayla's, Lily's, and mine)

The Land of Milk and Honey!

So, this is what I've been up to for the past month or so: canning, dehydrating, juicing, and freezing just about everything. Well, not everything, but the best part is that all of it has been FREE! We have a ward garden where we all go and help plant and weed throughout the summer and then when the harvest is on it is great! We also have a church owned orchard 10 minutes away from us and when you go and help thin, and pick, you can glean the fruit for FREE! So, here's the low down from my pantry right now:

Strawberry jam (from the garden. . . and actually, that's in my freezer, not my pantry)

Peach jam
Plum jam

110 quarts of peaches

50 pints of salsa

25 pints of sweet and sour sauce (Bryson loves it!)

14 quarts of tomatoes (with a whole bunch more in my fridge that I will be canning tomorrow)

20 quarts of apple juice

And my mom is coming next weekend and we are going to be canning some major amounts of applesauce. . .

4 gallons of dried apples (with cinnamin and sugar sprinkled on them they are sooo good!)

1 gallon of dried peaches

Tons of fruit leather. . . peach, apricot, peach/plum, so far. . .

Chopped green onions in my freezer

Garlic in my freezer

50 ears of corn (actually cut off the cob and froze - Bryson did that)

12 bags of grated zucchini in my freezer

I have squash to grate still --I like to add it to spaghetti sauce, rice casseroles, or even soups to get more hidden veggies

And I will be getting onions, carrots, and potatoes for free to store in the garage for the winter

Once it freezes outside I'm going to get grapes (for free) and do grape juice

Besides all that, we've been living on fresh potatoes, squash, cantalope, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, watermelon, all from my garden and the ward garden. It's truly like the Garden of Eden here!

This picture is already outdated. . . most of those empty jars are filled with my tomatoes. And all my dehydrated fruit is on the other side of my pantry.

Boy, I'm tired. But happy.