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Showing posts with label raspberries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label raspberries. Show all posts

Saturday, July 3, 2010

life's been busy...

I just realized it's been more then 15 days since I last blogged - such a bad little blogger I am.  I find things get busy and well our blog is what suffers.  What have we been up to these days?

Put up a fence last week...

The picture tells you all.



Play dates with friends.

I just love this picture of C Monster and his "BFF" yes I think my 2 year old has a BFF.  Z Monster lives next door to us - so I think he sees her more like a sister.



Sand Box - Part 1

On Canada Day we spent the morning building a sand box. We used 2x10 for the sides, some 2x8 for 2 seat to sit on, some 1x6 for the bottom along with some gardening weed barrier stuff...  It was surprisingly very easy to build.  Today I hope to get out to sand the sides down (make sure all the splinters are gone); then tomorrow we are hopping to build a lid for it and then fill it up...

C Monster has a swing

Also on the toddler fun front; I made a swing for C Monster. I used an old piece of 2x6 that was lying around from all the construction that happened to the house in the last 5 years. Sanded it down and primed and painted it with the left over paint from the house projects.  I also had tones of rope left over; I braided 3 nylon ropes together - that way it's sturdier but also a bigger rope for him to grab onto.  Then we hung it in the back under our walk out.  When it's not in use I can lift it up and hang it away. I have to say I was pretty impressed with how it turned out...



Sluggy

Our garden is doing great this year except for a few crops that slugs are eating faster then I can deal with.  And I think Sluggy might have had something to do about it...


I guess a 4" slug eats a lot and fast because since we relocated him to the park my garden is doing a whole lot better.



 Berry picking

This morning we spent the day raspberry and black currant picking - here is our loot.


We went to Organics in Markham - definitely will return again next year or sooner.  They have much more then just raspberries and black currants.  We also got some home made jam and some fresh bread made on site in their stone oven... It smelled oh so yummy.

They had some chickens and a turkey roaming about - C Monster quite liked that.  If you live in the Markham area make sure to check out their website or visit them.



 Drying vegetables

One of the things we love making is crackers - but if you want to hide veggies in crackers it's best to dry them up first.  About a month ago now I built a frame out of wood and attached a mesh bottom to it - simple drying rack like our ancestors used to use many many moons ago.  Here I am drying carrots and onions.  As I write this I have zucchini drying.  The carrots so far turned out fine; still waiting on the others to dry up.  Will let you guys know how it goes.



Looking forward to...

The pride parade tomorrow.  (HAPPY PRIDE EVERYONE)

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Tasty Tuesdays

OK I know I am a day late with this one...

This is something simple and easy to make that dresses up any drink... During the summer months many of you guys know that I live making ice-tea and have even found a few blends that taste pretty much like KoolAid but with no sugar. Durring the past few weeks I have started making a variety of ice cubs to add to my drinks.

Just take an ice cube tray fill up each section just shy of half way with water. Add a few leafs of fresh mint to each section and place in the freezer for 2 hours. After the 2 hours finish filling up the ice cub tray with water and freeze until solid. The reason why you do these in 2 steps is to make sure the leaf gets trapped in the center. I like using perfect cube shaped silicon ice cube trays; Tovolo makes some great ones that can also be used to freeze baby food.

I have also made these following the same steps with fresh raspberries (about 2 per cube), Blueberries (3-5 per cube), strawberry slices. I am sure you could use almost any fruit.

For those of you wondering what is the magical KoolAid tea . Both of them are from The Tea Emporium in Toronto: Sunburst Raspberry and Blend 1592. For Blend 1592 I add about 1 tablespoon of honey per 1 litre of tea, add the honey when the tea is hot. Sunburst Raspberry is perfect just as is.