Memories

This past week, I have spent a lot of extra time putting the final touches on powerpoint slide shows for our church's 25th anniversary celebration this weekend. I have enjoyed looking over old pictures and watch children grow up right before my eyes as I page through the different pictures. Along the way I have remembered special events and days which have faded from my immediate memory. I have experienced little pangs of regret or sadness at the loss of friends who have moved away and I have not kept up with them. I also remember the friends and acquaintances who have died over the 20 plus years and the times spent with them. Many times over the past couple of weeks, my husband has come into the room to peak at a picture after he hears a chuckle from me. I appreciate the people who asked me to take on this task. It has been a blessing. Happy 25th anniversary Word of Hope Lutheran Church!

End of the Pears

Last night, we finally completed all of the pears. After several marathon canning sessions we have peeled our last pear for the year.We will have plenty of pears to eat and share this winter. The final count was 29 quarts and 12 pints of pears, 18 jars of jams, 6 big and 7 small loaves of bread, 47 pints of sauce, 4 frozen pie fillings, 2 crisps, a large gallon bag of dehydrated pears and several fresh eaten ones. The bast part of the pears though was the many hours that my husband, oldest daughter and I have spent around the table talking and spending time together. That time is priceless.

Cultural Exchange

My youngest daughter and I have spent the morning with Sawako, the Japanese exchange student who stayed with us when we were young. We looked on a world map to show Makenzie where we live and where Sawako lives. We then showed her the country and city (Tokyo) where she lives. We then got on Google earth where we could see the front of her apartment building where she lives. I think it is important for my children to learn about other countries and other cultures but it is really neat to meet and spend time with someone from another country. I think it helps us keep in mind that they are people like us who get up every morning, get dressed, eat, work in some capacity and go to bed at night. I think that it is a valuable lesson that hopefully will carry over to meeting other new people in her life.

Exchange Student

I am excited. This afternoon I travel to my parents house for a few days visit. This evening, an exchange student we had when I was younger is coming for a visit. She is from Japan and we have kept in contact over the years. When I was in high school and college we had exchange students. We had four total, two from Germany, one from Japan and one from Chile. These were very enriching experiences for not only my immediate family but my church, our family friends, extended family, school and even community.

Exchange students can come through many different programs. Ours came through Youth for Understanding. A high school age student came to live with our family for a year of their life. They lived and went to school with us. They immersed themselves in our culture and we learned so much about their culture. It was a great way to learn about the world. Several of our friends also had exchange students. We were exposed to many more cultures besides the three countries represented in our home.

I am sad that it never worked for us to provide this wonderful experience to our children. I am excited though to spend a few days with a dear sister from Japan this week. 

Pears, Pears and More Pears

After a marathon session of canning again today, the end of the pears is in sight. We spent 6 hours cutting, pealing and coring them today. We ended up with 29 quarts and 12 pints of pears. This week I will work on some more pie filling. We will also keep the dehydrator running. Next up, tomatoes and apples. 

Freezer Pear Pie Filling

Yesterday, I went downstairs to check on how the pears were ripening and found several of them ripe. Looks like we will be spending some time this weekend canning pears. Last night, I made carrot cake jam. I will share the recipe later but it was good. I also made prepared pie filling and dehydrated some of them. Here is how I do the frozen pie filling. I find this much easier than canning it and I usually have plenty of freezer space.

8 cups sliced, peeled pears
3/4 cup sugar or Splenda
2 Tbls flour (I use whole wheat pastry)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

I peel and slice pears into a bowl of water treated with lemon juice. I then measure out 8 cups of pear slices at a time. I add rest of ingredients to the 8 cups of pears. I pour all of it into a gallon size freezer bag and shake it to mix in ingredients. I then freeze until needed later. When you want to use it, you simply thaw them, put them in a prepared, unbaked pie crust and bake for 20-30 minutes at 350 degrees or until crust is brown and pears soft. This makes a quick dessert for company. You can also put the pie filling in a dish, cover with your favorite crisp topping and make pear crisp. 

Thrift Stores

Yesterday, I took my daughter, Mary, on a college visit. On the way there we passed a nice looking thrift store in a small town. Mary has needed shirts for quite a while. We decided to make a stop. We shop at thrift stores  and garage sales first when we need clothes. It is economical but most of all it helps the environment. We are reusing items that might otherwise end up in the landfill. It also saves all the resources needed to manufacture new clothing. Mary is an average size so has luck finding things there. I am larger so have a harder time finding clothes for me there. Mary has even found 2 of her prom dresses at thrift stores. If you have not looked in your local thrift store lately try it sometime. You have to be patient and look through the clothes but Mary is well dressed and her friends have no clue where her clothing comes from by looking at it. .

Electronics

Electronics have been a wonderful invention and have simplified our lives as well as kept us more up to date with what is going on with each other as well as the world around us. With that said, we all know there are drawbacks to electronics.  They can be an easy way to withdrawal from the world and each other. They can fill us with so many negative images, we forget to look at the positives. They can influence us in ways we do not want to be influenced.

In our house, we use our electronics but I feel like it is always a battle of balancing screen time with other things. I also realize how dependent I am on them. Last week, our computer died. It took a few days for my husband to analyze and fix it. It was hard doing some of the things I normally do-accessing my recipes, putting out church liturgy, tracking checking account and planning for my classes I teach. Here are some guidelines and rules I try to follow in my life to help me balance the electronics.

1) We do not have cable TV. We figure why increase our temptation plus it is a cost savings for us.
2) I only check e-mails and facebook 1-2 times daily unless I am expecting something.
3) I have specific shows I like to watch and then I turn the TV off. I also do not watch reruns of these shows.
4) The only video games that are allowed in our house are active ones. This is an adjusted rule for us. It used to be no video games but this changed when the WII became available. It is good exercise for my daughter who has motor problems. Even that is limited to 1/2 hour daily on days we cannot go outside due to weather. Her disability makes her heat and cold intolerant.
5) The computer is used for school, education and research purposes. Not just something to surf when I am bored. 

I usually do pretty well with electronics but always seem to have to come back to my rules. Sometimes the temptation can be too much when I am tired or stressed.

Pear Bread

I found this recipe online and modified it a little bit to suit our tastes more. It was a hit at a get together at our church Friday night. Looks like with all the pears we have I will have to make some more and put it in the freezer for the future. Here is the recipe:

Pear Bread

Dry ingredients:
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 ½ cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp soda
½ tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp baking powder

Wet ingredients:
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1/3 cup applesauce
1/3 cup canola oil

Other
2 cups chopped pears

Combine dry ingredients in large bowl. Set aside. In another bowl, beat eggs. Add rest of wet ingredients to eggs and stir until combined. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Stir until just combined. Gently stir in chopped pears. Place in greased loaf pan. Bake 375 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

Pear Sauce

My friend has a pear tree and has always talked about making pear sauce. Her kids love it and so do mine when they visit her. Since I had so many pears I thought I would try it. I made it the exact same way that I make applesauce. First, I cut up the pears and cooked them until soft. Next, I ran them through the saucer (there are manual ones which are cheap to electric ones). I then added cinnamon and nutmeg to taste (I do not add sugar). I put the sauce in pint jars and water bathed canned them for 20 minutes. Pear sauce is the same consistency as applesauce. It is naturally sweeter tasting though then applesauce. Try it next time when you have some leftover pears. 

Chicken Update

Our injured chicken seems to be holding her own. She is very active in the temporary cage we put her in and even escaped briefly on me this afternoon when I went to give her more food and water. Her wound seems to be healing. Time will tell. Chuck will be adding some nesting boxes this weekend just to make sure there are no more fights over them. We are not sure how the chicken got cornered to be pecked so brutally but they had been fighting over the nesting boxes recently so we are going to add more just to be safe. We will keep you updated. 

Chicken Meanies

One of the bad things about chicken flock mentality is they can be brutal to each other. Tonight, we went out to check on the chickens to find one had a very serious head wound from being pecked. My husband and I caught her to check out the seriousness of the would and found it to be very deep. It was obvious she had been pecked quite brutally. We removed her from the coop, treated her wound as best we could and then isolated her in her own cage. We will monitor her and keep her isolated from the rest until the wound heals. When the weather is nice, we will place the cage next to the others so she will not be so lonely but will be safe. This is the downside to raising chickens. Hopefully, she will recover and get reestablished within the flock. Time will tell.   

Pears

On Saturday, Chuck and I spent the afternoon picking pears. The best thing about them was it only cost us our labor. About a year ago, a friend of ours moved into a new house. He noticed the neighbors tree two doors down produced pears but they did no seem to get used. This year he has since met this neighbor so he asked if he could pick some of them. He brought them to me a couple of weeks ago. They were great pears and they made some nice canned pears along with some jam.

Our friend then told our neighbor about me and that I liked to can. He then asked if it would be OK if I came and picked the pears since they did not want them. The neighbor was glad to have someone pick and use them. Chuck and I packed up ladders and boxes and met our friend over at the house. We spent about 2 hours picking them off the tree. We also picked up the rotten ones which had already dropped from the tree.We then raked up all the leaves around the tree. We will then share some of the can goods with our friend as well as a few for his neighbor with the tree.

I had read in some books to look around for trees in the area where the fruit is dropping and does not seem to be harvested. This is a great way to get free fruit. Many times people will buy houses where fruit trees have been planted and they are not interested in doing things with the produce besides eating a few of them. They also may be elderly or disabled and cannot harvest the fruit themselves. This may be a great place to help someone as well as get some free fruit.

Here are some guidelines I use when I do this. First, I ask before harvesting. (this should be a no brainer). I arrange a time which will be convenient for all and tell them when I will be there and who will be with me. I make sure to clean up any and all fruit laying on the ground as well as leaves. I share a little of the harvest (canned goods/raw fruit) with the owner of the tree. I am always courteous and make sure to thank the owner.

I encourage you to look around your neighborhood when you are out walking and biking. You may be surprised at the number of trees that you find in the neighborhood.  

New Pullets

The new chickens are finally laying their first eggs which are called pullet eggs. They are about half the size of regular eggs. They lays these for a little bit until they completely mature. It has been exciting watching them begin to lay eggs. They are usually quite proud of themselves and announce it to the whole neighborhood when they have been successful. The old hens, Rhode Island Reds, were having a hard time sharing this last domain they still had exclusive use of in the coop. It seems like things are settling down though. Looks like they were all able to work it out.

I apologize to my readers for the lack of posting lately. A lot going on with the start of the school year. I am going to try and be more regular in my posts from now on. Hope all of you are doing well.