Adventures Of Life!

I don't know about you but I will not turn down goods that are FREE! My Inlaws brought us 4 banana boxes full of corn in the husks. Not all were good but we salvaged what we could. And we ended up removing the corn from the cob and canning them in pint jars. So grateful to my Mtn Man for helping me in this task. From peeling the corn out of the husk to removing the corn off the cob! Wonderful Man he is!! Results: 25 pints all together!! Yay!! I pack them raw as I don't believe they need to be cooked twice! Never had an issue ever!! Aren't they pretty? This was my first batch...the second is getting fired up in the caner now. And my little stove is working beautifully!! Mtn Man mentioned to me...says you know you start out saying how much work it is but then you get those jars out and the caner out and you are beaming from ear to ear! Never seen the like! My reply.... I love providing for my family! Even if it is just the two of us! Never know when we will be sha...

I finally was able to get out in the garden yesterday. Oh my goodness! I came out with a lot more than I thought was in there! Look for yourself I went to baggin up the jalapenos, okra and the green beans while I ate my only lemon cuke. So good! I put the squash in my bucket for eatin on later. I then sliced into the Sugar Baby watermelon! Oh it is sweet!!  Talkin about watermelon I had to go and look up when to pick them. I found this great video on Sugar Baby's. The tendril that is above the stem on the watermelon should be brown before picking the melon. It works! The roma tomatoes that filled my big bowl I had to do something with. I remembered seeing a post over at 5 acres and a dream on canning pizza sauce . I am on day one..started last night. Hopefully by tomorrow evening I will have the sauce in jars! Yeah! This morning I woke to sauce that was done....I turned it off and took the crock out of the cooler so it could cool! This cooked down to about a serving f...

Went to the garden and lo, behold the green beans were giving again. I now had about 5-7 lbs as best we can figure of beans. In the canner they went! Off to the pantry they go! Love hearing from ya!!!! FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK TOO! https://www.facebook.com/adventuresofmylife Copyright © 2015 M.E. Masterson All Photographs Copyright © 2015 M.E. Masterson

I wanted to give ya an update on my crop storage.  #1 The carrots that I stuck in 5 gal buckets with their own dirt are coming to their end. I have used almost the whole lot! I have been keeping a layer on top of the good ones which seems to work. The top get a bit dried out while the ones underneath stay crisp. Although we are getting towards the bottom of the last bucket and they are hit and miss on the good ones. I am really happy with our results but would be much happier if I could have saved them all. So next year I am going to try the sand method. Sand, Carrots, Sand and so on. will use sand out of our creek that has washed up in the front yard so to speak. Will rinse it this spring to make it clean dry it.....then use it in the fall to store the carrots...very exciting prospects! #2 The sweet potatoes stored nicely! I used a wax box to store them in and they remain the same as when I put them in there. Crispy! #3 We have decided that Contender beans are the "b...

 http://www5.bountifulbaskets.org/  https://www.communityhelpingscoop.com/ I have personally participated in the bountiful baskets coop when I lived in Montana. It was great! For $15 I got a basketful of fruits and veggies much like that one you see in the picture. Twice a month I could participate in this program. Now I have plenty from my garden although I would enjoy the fruit. I now just donate to the cause to feed others who may need it. This is a great way to donate...... there are many states who participate in this program. If interested go to the link above.... The other link is for the St.Louis and surrounding areas so I have participated in it for our area. Cost is about $25 for a basketful too!  I love feeding people and found this is a great way to do that..... Check it out!!! If neither of these work for you ....check out places close to you one never knows until they look!  UPDATE: If you donate don't be surprised to get a call from the ...

Whew! What A Weekend! We saw all kinds of folks this weekend. Some repeats and some new. Great visiting with everybody. Installed a bathroom cabinet and faucet at the neighbors farm house with Mtn Man's assistance. Then had supper with them which was a nice change. Tator went home with the InLaws Sunday. Sure he was happy to be back to his own place! Peanut sure misses him... Saturday we went to Pioneer Days here in town was a little disappointed. Let me explain, after installing the bathroom cabinet we came home and changed our clothes. We got there about 3 pm and the festival was folding up. Most of the booths were gone, the band was playing but nothing else going on. They had the parade at 3pm which I can only imagine wasn't all that big but never have heard of it going at the end of a festival instead of the beginning. And folding up shops at 3 because they were told to. Poor management! I did get some local honey. We got to look over the Sitze's cabin and the...

******************************************************************************************** 14 qts=8 qts tomato sauce w/okra, 6 qts green beans Contact by email (marye.masterson@gmail.com) with comments or subscribe to receive by email and reply directly to it........ Copyright © 2014 M.E. Masterson All Photographs Copyright © 2014 M.E. Masterson

Worked at the sawmill on Sat. then went for a much needed swim at the creek. Company stayed the night for some much needed R&R at our Serenity Valley (as he calls it, altho I like the name) Sunday Mtn Man worked the rototiller in the garden... I planted turnips. And after a much needed nap we moved the sewing room into the laundry room.... So excited!  The heat is terrible right now... Thank the Lord we haven't had this all summer! k gotta go the Doctor Appt this morning.... Prayers please! ******************************************************************************* UPDATE- Mtn Man continues PTfor another 6wks..... ******************************************************************************** 12qts & 1pt homemade tomato sauce out of 40lbs of tomatoes Contact by email (marye.masterson@gmail.com) with comments or subscribe to receive by email and reply directly to it........ Copyright © 2014 M.E. Masterson All Photographs Copyright © 2014 M.E. Ma...

Our pork, beef, chicken & tuna arrived today. As soon as we got home we set the table up right there outside and processed it. We had all the meat but 6 butts in the freezer in an hour and half.  What a deal!  The canned stuff went on the shelves and viola' we are ready for winter. I have been hearing, not sure if it's true or not, that storing up food has become or is becoming illegal in some states. As long as there has been Americans in this United States we have been storing food in our pantries/root cellars or what have ya. I personally, have been helping with and storing food since I was in my tweens. Many a time did I have raw hands from hot food for jars and many a time we ate straight out of these same jars time and time again. I tend to believe that those who are either jealous or ignorant or envious or just plain ol meanies have no clue what they are missing. Storing food is also the way God has directed us to do to make sure we eat healthy and do fo...

MIL found a deal on peaches a bushel for $20. Of course, I jumped on the deal! We tackled the peaches and put up 21 qts for the pantry.... After we finished these up we headed over to a neighbors for some canning jars that were in storage. They need a bit of cleaning up and will be used for sure..... he also gave us a rototiller. Beans are coming along some are blooming, the carrots are coming up nicely. The beets are about 4" high and the kohlrabi is up 3 ". Planting turnips tomorrow, hopefully!   Contact by email (marye.masterson@gmail.com) with comments or subscribe to receive by email and reply directly to it........ Copyright © 2014 M.E. Masterson All Photographs Copyright © 2014 M.E. Masterson

If you must know I am canning up tomatoes..... yes more canning. We sat down and roughly figured out that if we used 3 qts a day for 300 days we would need 900 qts!!! If we used 3 qts a day for 180 days or 6 mos. we would need 540 qts. I have ways to go yet...... as it stands we have enough for 40 days. Or if we used 1 qt a day for 120 days. Will keep on canning. Mtn Man has added more gravel/dirt to his shop pad and is now watering it to pack it down.. One week left until the dr appt.. praying for a release..... Contact by email (marye.masterson@gmail.com) with comments or subscribe to receive by email and reply directly to it........ Copyright © 2014 M.E. Masterson All Photographs Copyright © 2014 M.E. Masterson

10 qts Tomatoes & 1 pint 7 pints strawberry jam 14 half pints triple berry jam 6 half pints pear/apple jam 1 pint whole cranberries Most of these items came out of the freezer from the clean up what I could save. Pooped... its 10 pm and am done!! This all done after cleaning up Shorty's hair cut....pic tomorrow. Contact by email (marye.masterson@gmail.com) with comments or subscribe to receive by email and reply directly to it........ Copyright © 2014 M.E. Masterson All Photographs Copyright © 2014 M.E. Masterson

7 pints roasted salsa verde 7 pints green peppers 3 pints, 8 half pints okra *** 17 qts whole tomatoes, 2 tomato juice **************************** Mtn Man has been shoring up the storage container for burial this will become our root cellar so it does not cave. Using the same principles as mine shaft... or close to it! I think this is much more sturdy. We used our lumber we cut.. so exciting! The outside will be covered in a tar like substance (foundation sealer) to that directly will stick 1/2 inch insulation then cover that with plywood then 6 mil plastic then dirt. Will have more as we progress in next couple days... *********************** Got to go... tomatoes on agenda today! Mtn Man is clearing around container then will start the outside process....  Have a great day! Contact by email (marye.masterson@gmail.com) with comments or subscribe to receive by email and reply directly to it........ Copyright © 2014 M.E. Masterson All Photographs Copyright © 201...

12 pints of salsa 10 quarts of sauce Finally caught up on the tomato front..... wait for the next round! Some of those maters were 1lb each had one that was 1 1/2. Now to figure out what to do with all the squash???? Contact by email (marye.masterson@gmail.com) with comments or subscribe to receive by email and reply directly to it........ Copyright © 2014 M.E. Masterson All Photographs Copyright © 2014 M.E. Masterson

1 pint & 3 qts of peaches 28 half pints of peach butter & preserves 14 pints of red sauce (supposed to be salsa but it was juicy so turned into sauce) Tomorrow more tomatoes in jars.....  Woke up to rain today.... Contact by email (marye.masterson@gmail.com) with comments or subscribe to receive by email and reply directly to it........ Copyright © 2014 M.E. Masterson All Photographs Copyright © 2014 M.E. Masterson

It started out with the both of us working on my mower to clean it up to see if maybe we could avoid taking it to the shop.... it ended up at the shop! We found out that the mower has transmission issues so they are replacing it with a new one ... thank goodness for warranty! While cleaning up the mower...one ofthe neighbors came flying down the drive, jumping out of his truck while blurting out that a mule was out and on the road. We dropped the hose grabbed a few halters and down the drive we went. Einstein was trying to return to the herd but could not figure a way back in so we opened the gate to let him back in... Hank and Teddy decided to hop out for a few too! After couple minutes all returned to the pasture. We found where he got out by the water holes in the creek so we fixed that problem. Then Mtn Man went back with the welding truck to fix the gate which broke. By this time he had to leave to drop off mower and make it PT on time. I came back to the house with intentio...