Apricot Jam

So, a few years a go I tried my hand at canning for the fist time. I canned apricots and made apricot jam. The jam was fabulous but the fruit was a disaster. We don't like them and haven't eaten them. The jam was gone in a matter of months. I realized that the problem was I processed them far too long in the water bath. They are just a mushy mess. I decided to make them into apricot jam and I have been doing that today.

20 pints done, many more to do. It feels good!

Seeds are here!

A box of seeds arrived today! This is most of them, a few are backordered and will ship when they are in.


Aren't they pretty?

Baking bread is good for the soul

Jack, Hannah and I made banana bread this morning. Three beautiful loaves!


While we baked bread Toby laid in misery on the living room floor and Christy read to him. We are having banana bread, cheese and juice for lunch.

We have decided(starting this year)that we are going to focus on the Resurrection on Easter and not do secular Easter stuff. We are going to do "spring" baskets instead of Easter baskets. We will give the children these baskets on the first day of Spring. This way they still get the fun of Easter eggs and hunts and baskets and Easter Sunday will be about Christ.

I am planning on our Easter supper being broiled fish and honeycomb. I will probably add something to the meal as that seems not a lot to eat. I was thinking of serving cheese, and grapes, dates, flat bread...

We are also taking a few minutes each evening this week and talking about what Christ did on that day during His last week. So, Sunday we talked about His Triumphal Entry, yesterday about cleansing the Temple and tonight we will talk about some of His parables and teachings.

I have this great book called A Christ-Centered Easter that has a bunch of great ideas and has been very inspirational in our quest to truly have a Christ-Centered Easter. The authors are LDS. I picked it up at Walgreens a couple of years ago and am just now getting around to making the changes.

Nothing to say and too much to say

It seems that I have nothing to say, and too much to say all at the same time.

Life goes on and for that I am grateful. I have four beautiful children who are the light of my life. I have lost three little ones and I mourn them and the "could have beens".

I am about to the heal flap on John's second sock. I am trying to finish it before Friday(our anniversary). He loves these socks so much and I have been dragging my feet knitting them. Poor guy! What better way to show him I love him than give him squishy, wooly hand knit socks?

Little Tobias started throwing up last night. He was vomiting every two hours all night long and it has continued this morning. I had the pleasure of washing towels last night because there are never clean towels when the children are puking. This morning I washed bedding. Gah! I hope the other children do not get sick too!

We are spending the day camped out in front of the t.v. I do not have it in me to be creative today.

Another Loss

I lost another sweet baby last week.

I knew from the moment of conception that I was pregnant. I felt her spirit and energy so strongly around me and inside of me. We weren't trying to conceive but I absolutely fell in love with the baby and desperately wanted her. I knit two tiny baby items(the longies and the sleepy soaker sack that I posted here earlier)and had such hopes and dreams. I was pregnant and then I was not. Just like that.

My heart hurts.

Teeny, Tiny Longies

pattern: LTK Picky Pants
size: Preemie
yarn: Patons SWS
colorway: Natural Denim
needles: US 8

Aren't they just so very sweet?

Here is a shot to get the feel of just how little they are:



The sage green longies are ones I finished for Hannah a few weeks ago. She is 20 months old.

Dreaming of compost

The last couple of nights I have dreamed of compost. Kinda weird, I know. Because we rent here I wasn't going to compost. We plan on moving next spring and my plan was to build a beautiful compost pile then. I really want to compost now though. I am thinking about vermiculture(worm composting)and I might go ahead and do that now and then have an outside compost pile next year. I have also been thinking of getting one of those tumbling bins to put out in the back. Decisions, decisions. I just know that I need to compost this year. *grin*

I am really excited for our seeds to arrive. We live in zone 5b so it will be awhile before we can plant. Confession here: I have never really liked the look of Square Foot gardens. I don't like the look of the boxes and it just seems so controlled and man made. I LOVE traditional row gardens but we just do not have the space here. I started planning our garden a bit grudgingly this year because I didn't want to use this method. The excitement has taken hold though and I am happy to be able to garden at all. I have fallen in love with my little garden on paper and I think it will be spectacular. I do not want to think it is ugly.

I knit a tiny pair of longies last week and I will post pictures soon. They are just too adorable!

Seeds have been ordered

I ordered our seeds from Seeds of Change yesterday. I cannot wait for them to arrive!

Ordered:

PEA, SNAP, SUGAR
BEAN, BUSH, BOUNTIFUL STRINGLESS SNAP
BEAN, BUSH, GOLDEN LUMEN WAX
BEET, DETROIT DARK RED
CARROT, OXHEART
CHARD, RHUBARB
CUCUMBER, LEMON
LETTUCE, OSCARDE
LETTUCE, LOOSELEAF, SIMPSON BLACK-SEEDED
MELON, WATERMELON, MOON & STARS
RADISH, GARDEN, FRENCH BREAKFAST
SPINACH, AMERICA
SUMMER SQUASH, BLACK BEAUTY ZUCCHINI
PUMPKIN, SMALL SUGAR
BEAN, BUSH, ROYALTY PURPLE
CALENDULA, PACIFIC BEAUTY
BASIL, GENOVESE SWEET
CILANTRO, SLOW BOLT (SANTO CILANTRO)