Meet Ollie and Oreo, our two new kitties!
They are sisters, 8 weeks old, and just the cutest little things ever. They've mostly been hanging out in our bathroom and bedroom; the kids just completely overwhelm them! As long as the kids are quiet and chill, the kittens will sit on their laps.....until they start fighting over who gets to hold what kitty and for how long. Hahaha
Ollie
Oreo
For now they're in the house, because they're still pretty little, but eventually they will be shop kitties. Sooner than later if they get to clawing stuff (and I get tired of scooping kitty litter). The move to the shop will suit everyone well as I personally do best with outside kitties!
Welcome to our nut house, Ollie and Oreo!
With love,
Mama Hauck
There's been lots of continued growth, harvesting, planting, and preserving going on here recently!
Anthony finally harvested his cabbage! He was so proud of that cabbage and he did a mighty fine job pulling it out of the ground! We made a cabbage-hamburger type dish out of it. Next year we'll be sure to plant at least two cabbages. Great work, Anthony.
We harvested our carrots, which totaled 7 pounds! That was a lot of fun! The kids helped pull them out of the ground and it was so awesome watching them help and be so excited about it. We shared a small amount with my friend, and have the rest all cleaned and in the fridge ready for us to process here shortly.
We planted more carrots, a bed and a half worth - two different kinds this time. Those will all be ready sometime in October. We'll have more than enough with that harvest to can and share with multiple friends. I love being able to share with others as we've had friends gracious enough to share with us.
Our peppers are coming in!! I am soooo very excited about that! I can not wait to eat a home grown pepper from our garden!
Our strawberries have new life on them. I can't wait to eat those delicious strawberries.
My raspberry plants continue to produce, though the amount is dwindling. It's just enough to eat 2-3 berries each time we make a trip to the garden.
We planted pumpkins! A bit late, but we're thinking we'll still have enough time for them to grow to a decent size for us. We put our pumpkin patch out back by the apricot and pear tree. The kids are so excited to watch them grow.
As for preserving, so far we've made raspberry jam, strawberry jam, currant-raspberry jelly, and canned potatoes. The berries we bought from the Farmers Market as well as received some from a friend, and the potatoes we received from a friend also. We are so thankful for good friends who share their bountiful harvest with us!
The kids have all helped out in the preserving process, smashing and stirring a bit....before it got too hot and was unsafe for them to help! It's dangerous, trust me! I got burned on my arm by some molten strawberry jam while stirring! Ouch!
We would still like to can peaches, apple sauce, apple pie filling, bbq sauce, salsa, tomato sauce, and our carrots. We'll also need to harvest our apricots, pears, Japanese plums, peppers, 2nd round of carrots, and then our pumpkins!
I am loving watching my garden grow and stocking up the pantry!
With love,
Mama Hauck
