Preserving

This year was the first year we grew Kohlrabi.  Neither Travis nor I had ever even tasted the stuff before but we heard it was good so we went for it.  It IS good.  I made a coleslaw with the first couple and it was tasty.  I also tried Lacto-Fermenting some and it's really good too.

I know have a huge pile of them I really need to do something with.  Do I lacto-ferment more? Freeze some? I don't know but I'm going to have to decide soon.

 

This was the first zucchini to make it's way out of garden this year.  The Zucchini has done amazingly well this year and the first 2 big ones I pulled out got me a good 8 bags full of grated goodness in the freezer.  That  means a lot of muffins/loaves/soups this winter. I'm happy.

 

Remember those Saskatoons I picked while on holidays in BC?  Those got turned into jam using this recipe.  I also made peach/nectarine jam and blueberry jam but it's all going fast so I may have to get some more made while the fruits are in season and somewhat local.

This was my very first time canning and every jar sealed! 

Side note:  I promise I will still take "real" pictures despite the ease that is instagram.  I get tired of only looking at instagram pics too.

Did You Know?

Yup! That's baby number four in there!  I'm now 24.5 weeks and feeling great.  Ultrasound says this baby is another boy!  We've never found out before but decided to go for it this time.  It's kind of neat knowing baby is a "he" but I think I prefer the surprise way more.

Little dude is due to come out December 17th but we all know how that goes.  I'm secretly hoping for a couple of days early so we can still make it to Saskatchewan for Christmas.

Holidays Part 3 - Holidays in Instagram

 I'm on instagram now, did ya know? (find me as handmadetherapy)

The first week we were in Smithers, my little sis, her husband, and their friend were there too.  We totally kid bombed their holidays but I think they secretly enjoyed it.  Or so I tell myself ;)

 

Saskatoons were fully ready when we were there.  I brought some home and made jam out of them.

 

We did a hike up to Crater Lake which is above the ski hill in Smithers.  The kids did amazing and the view was well worth it.

Shooting Pake's (grandpa) 3-D target.

Boats at the shared neighbour dock.

We went out to visit a good friend who lives on a full on Beef Farm.  They have chickens.  The kids were so stoked about collecting the one egg.

Bringing in a Sokeye!

Holidays Part 2 - Salmon Fishing

 The second week we were in BC we spent fishing on Babine Lake.  The Sokeye were running and it was a seriously good time.

 

3 years ago, the last time we were in Northern BC we spent a few days Salmon fishing on the river.  Unfortunately the water was really high at the time which made it really muddy and some really bad fishing.  This year was more than a little better.

 These two Sokeye were pulled in at the same time.  We had more than one fish on at a time a few times and it made for some really great fishing.

Each of my boys got to reel in their very first trout, which made them pretty darn happy.  We ate them our first night back at home and they were fantastic.

 

Some really amazing friends of my parents loaned us their fishing boat and cabin for 4 days.  The cabin was beautiful and the boat was perfect for fishing with kids.

 

I spent a lot of time sitting on a camping chair in the boat with my feet up watching the rods for signs of "fish on!"

 

Another highlight was watching a black bear swim across the lake just beside us.

The best part of the whole trip?  Coming home with almost our limit.  This was a 2 hour haul on our best evening.  Not bad!  Our freezer is full, the Sokeye tastes great, and we had a fantastic time.

Holidays - Part One

 

my mom's patio tomatoes

We recently got back from spending 2 weeks in Northern BC. We had an amazing time and got to do some pretty neat things.  Too much happened to blog about it all so I'll share a few pictures every post until you've gotten the basic idea!

 View from above my parents house, a short hike up the neighbours farm.

 

We spent a bunch of time canoeing on the lake my parents live right beside. We even managed to have all 3 kids in there at one point.

Check out those mountains!!