Farms, Grape Juice, and Pickles, oh my!

Labor day came and went so quickly that I must have forgotten about it! :) We didn't forget to have some fun though.  We went to a local farm/park to have a picnic and play some ball.  Joel was shocked to find out that I can actually throw a football pretty well...who knew?  Had and Ellie joined in on the fun while Syd and Paige ran around with the geese.  After our tummies were full and our arms were tired, we toured the farm.  The kids have been there so many times, you'd think it would get old.  Nope.  They still love it!  Paige thought it was hilarious to throw the duck food on top of the ducks.  They didn't seem to mind, but she would laugh every single time.  :)  When we got home 3 hours later, the boys headed down to Provo to watch the BSU game with Annie and Dennis, and the girls settled in with a movie and some soup for dinner.  I love fall!! It's not quite here yet, but yesterday sure felt like it!

So this morning, I woke up convinced that it was Monday. I had all kinds of fall decorating plans in mind for the day.  Just as I was putting the finishing touches on the girls' hair, it occurred to me that it is, afterall, Tuesday, and that I was supposed to have homemade rolls to a funeral luncheon by 11am.  Ack! I scrambled to get them started while Joel took the kids in the carpool - (one of the many pluses to having him home!).  I made the deadline, but, apparently, it was too much for this pregnant body to handle, 'cuz now I'm splayed out on the couch during naptime with no desire to do much of anything...and so it goes!  I am, however, enjoying an extra roll, and mmmmm are they good! 

Since I'm not doing much of anything right now, I thought maybe I'd share a few pics of what I was crazy busy doing late last week...Canning!  Maybe that's why it feels like fall to me!  It is that time of the year...

Thursday I did white grape juice and pickles.  I'm hoping that white concords are just like purple concords, because I treated them just the same by juicing and canning them.  The juice is heavenly, even if it does "look like our skin", which the  kids promptly noticed. :)  The pickles were a first, and I'm sad to say my dills didn't turn out so well - they're all cloudy and I'm not so sure whether they're safe to eat.  Any advice??  My Bread and Butters look perfect though, so I'm excited about those!

Friday, a few friends in the neighborhood wanted to learn how to make pickles, so we did! I offered to let them use my setup, since I was already doing tomatoes that day.  I didn't realize what a grandiose scale they had planned, and we ended up making 21 quart jars of heirloom dills.  It was quite the adventure...and a lot of fun with girlfriends!  Suzette had a recipe that was her grandmother's, which recommended putting a grape leaf in for crunch, and a slice of horseradish to clear out the scum.  Dang.  If only I had known that Thursday!  As you can tell, they turned out beautiful, and I got to keep a jar to enjoy.  Thanks Suzette, Kelly, and Lisa!  I still have more grapes to juice, and tons of tomatoes to work with...and of course, the pear tree is almost ready...I think I'd better muster up some energy! :)