Our Busy Weekend!

We had another busy Saturday.  Thank heaven for Sundays!  I need those days of rest!  With school as  busy as it is, and the harvest coming in....  Yesterday was no exception.  Susan did all the housework yesterday, while the dad and I kept on keeping on.  We did several things that weren't even picture worthy, like clean the church, clean the chicken coop, work at school, get the gardens cleaned up a bit, grocery shop...  Here are the picture-worthy parts of our weekend.

Dad had another use-it-or-lose-it vacation day on Friday.  A few months ago, when I found out he had lost SEVERAL vacation days from not having used them, I told him that I didn't want him losing any more vacation days, even if he stayed home and just watched movies all day.  Well, he's been taking off just about every-other-Friday for several weeks, and I think they've done him a world of good.  Not only have they helped him stress-wise, but he's worked on some really great projects, which have helped him feel like he's accomplishing something worthwhile.  This is his newest project.  He's  building us a hoop-house to extend the growing season a few extra months. 



He's got the frame just about done.  Do you see the white holders at the bottom?  Those can stay in the ground if we want them to.  They go down a couple of feet.   Then the hoopes slide into those holders for easy removal in the summer time.  I think he's going to shorten the house a couple of feet.  It's pretty tall--two-feet taller than he is.  That way it'll be more sturdy, and it'll use less plastic to cover it.  Yesterday, he finished bracing the top (after I took the picture.  He also re-plowed the rows that we replanted, and we planted radish and lettuce seed.  We still have the carrots, kale and chard growing there.  We cut a tub-load of chard yesterday, and hopefully, with the hoop-house, we'll be able to get at least one more cutting this year.  We dont' really like kale, but it is probably the single hightest in nutritional value vegetable there is, so we cut it and put it in smoothies two or three times a week.  (Remember how we made fun of Papa's green drink?)

We had a good crop of rhubarb this year.  We had some last year, but didn't know what to do with it, so it's still in the freezer awaiting it's final end.  Michelle Ferguson gave me her mom's prize-winning rhubarb crumble recipe.  She said there's a group of novels (She thought I would have heard about them, but I don't think I have.  She couldn't remember what they were right off hand.) where they gave a shout-out for different recipes.  Her mom sent in a couple, and I think this is the one that got published in the book.  I'm going to make some of that today.  During the week, I think I will make some strawberry rhubarb jam.  Chelsea said she made some of that in Activity Days, and loved it.  Safeway had strawberries on a great sale this week.  Talk about good timing.

More of the rhubarb getting ready to meet it's final end.

Angela said she really likes Strawberry Rhubarb Pie.  In my canning book, I found a recipe for Strawberry-Rhubarb pie filling.  We bottled 8 pints yesterday, so we'll be having that all winter long.  (By the way, we had some left over that didn't fill a whole jar.  It's delicious!)

We cooked a roast in the Sun Oven on Saturday for Sunday dinner because it's supposed to be cloudy Sunday afternoon.  We picked our first two kabocha, and we're going to have kabocha with it.  We also picked a ton of dill that's in the dehydrator right now, and two buckets full of chard.  I washed all the chard while the dad worked on fixing one of the rain barrels yesterday.  It's in the refrigerator ready to go.  We'll probably get a good six meals out of it!  (Steve, I  bet you're jealous!)

Gallup had it's first annual Chile Fest on Saturday.  It was held in  a big tent in the mall parking lot.  It was a lot of fun!  For a $5 ticket, we got to go around and taste salsa, red chile and green chile from a whole lot of restaurants in the area, and then we got to vote on our favorite.  It was easy for me. I thought Alicia's Burrito Express (It's the little restaurant in the back of Lowe's Super Save, which used to be the California Supermarket on the corner of Ford and 66.) was the best.  But then again, it's my favorite place to eat out in town.  Susan and Dad had a hard time deciding between Sammy C's and Alicias.  In the end, I think Alicia's won Dad's vote.  Susan lost her ballot, she she didn't ever vote.  We bought a ristra from Holiday Nursery's booth.   

Here we are at the Chile Fest.  We have't heard the final outcome of who won.  There are judges prizes, and People's Choice awards.  We'll let you know when we know.

I was going my facebook messages to print off Michelle's recipe when I saw Angela's post about Women's Conference.  I had totally spaced that out.  Fortunately, it was early on in the conference, so I was able to see most of it.  Thanks for the reminder, Angela.