The HARVEST has begun

So it is that time of year again.  The vegetables are coming on and they need to be harvested almost daily.  It has been a very hot dry summer and a lot of the veggies have struggled to produce much crop.  The beans have done fine and the peas are holding their own.  Some days it feels like a never ending job of picking and either snapping beans or shelling peas. 

It's not soooo bad when you get help. Especially cute little helpers like this one.   Gracie and Sydney and Amber all helped although Sydney had more fun dumping the bucket of peas.  Gracie stuck with it to the end and then even came to help snap the beans and shell the peas.  What a GREAT helper she is.  And so happy about it too.  She was so excited when she figured out how to open the pea pod.

And here are the results of one days worth of bean picking. Won't they taste yummy in the dead of winter.

9 bags of green beans

With the drought we didn't get a very good crop of raspberries this year.  I had just enough to make a batch of raspberry jam and a another one of Raspberry/Blueberry.   I also picked enough gooseberries to make one pie.  The zucchini are producing very slowly and I haven't seen any cucumbers yet.  There are a few small squash .  Half of my plant died even though we tried to keep them watered.  I guess they just couldn't take the heat. My tomato plants are barely up to my knee and have only a few tomatoes on them.  I guess I will be purchasing my tomatoes at the market for making salsa this year. 

I am hoping to get/make time to can peaches and pears this year.  If I can just coordinate with those lovely daughter of mine (all 5 of them?) maybe we can have a production line going and get enough for everyone. 

Here's to a hopeful harvest at Bellyacher Acres.

I scream, You scream .....

So what do you get when you cross fresh raspberries from the garden

with fresh goats milk?

Delicious home made ice cream and raspberries!!!

I found an easy recipe on line for homemade ice cream.  This is exactly how much ice cream it made too.  Just enough for a taste.  And it was soo yummy.  I didn't share it with anyone either!!!

To make the ice cream I used:

1/2 cup fresh goats milk (or you could use half and half cream)

1 Tbsp sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla

Place ingredients in a sandwich size ziplock bag.

In a large ziplock bag put 3 cups of ice and 1/3 cup rock salt.  Add your small ziplock bag.  Zip up tight.  

Now toss the bag back and forth between your hands.  Work it!!  Grab a tea towel cause its going to get very cold.  Keep playing with the bag of ice/ice cream for 5-10 min.  

Voila, you now have ice cream.

  

Another Merrill Wedding

So May was a busy month for us.  After our wonderful visit to Alberta in April we rushed home to finish getting ready for Talia's wedding. 

Yes that is 3, count them, 3 weddings in 3 years.  And my mother and sister have been here for all of them.  Gma Merrill made it to two and Ginamarie was here for two.  We wish Cody, Mimi and baby Hannah could have come but at least we got to visit them in Alberta.  I am so ready for the break in the action. Thank goodness Zach is only 15.

Here are a few shots of the lovely bride outside the Toronto Temple

the Bride and her Maids

check out the cowboy boots on the bride

Talia made her bouquet and the ones for the bridesmaids but the honour of making boutonnieres for the boys and corsages for the ladies was give to my wonderful sister Sheila.  As always she did a great job.

Ginamarie was able to decorate the cake for us.  Wow she is good.  

Gma Merrill is a great baby tender and story reader.  

Gma with Audrey and Gracie

 

Everyone looked beautiful

with 3 of my 4 princesses

Gracie Isabella Haw

I love the Mountains, I love the rolling hills ....

I love the varying landscapes in Alberta, the flat prairies, the rolling foothills, the deep coulees, the river valleys,  the hoodoos, the majestic mountains. 

Looks flat to me

Zach's geography teacher made a comment about how Saskatchewan was flat but Alberta was not.  I am guessing she has never been to Alberta because seems to me that Alberta has some pretty flat spaces too.  I took a picture for Zach to take to school to prove that Alberta can also lay claim to "flat land".

Folks out here in Ontario don't really know what a mountain is.  They ski down large hills or into what I would consider a coulee. They all need a trip to the Rockies to open their eyes to a true mountain.

We had the opportunity on this trip to take Zach to climb his first mountain - a real mountain.  We went to Waterton and climbed Bear's Hump.  There was quite a crew of us with Gma Merrill, Uncle Phil, Morgan, Rod, Me, Zach, Cody, Mimi and even little Hannah.  Hannah and Zach climbed their first mountain the same day.  Zach at almost 15 years and Hannah at almost 2 months. 

Oh how I love the mountains!  And of course what trip to Southern Alberta is complete with out a picture of Old Chief.  And Waterton with its sheep and deer.

And of course, when you are in the country you are bound to run into a herd of cattle somewhere.  Even on the highway.

And then there is Cardston with its' beautiful Temple.  All Temples are beautiful but this one will always be my favourite.

I have now lived more of my life in Ontario than in Alberta but I will always consider myself an Alberta girl. I've learned its OK to love two provinces. They each have their own beauty. 

Hoo Doo you think you are?

While in Alberta last month we took Zach on a field trip to Drumheller and the Dinosaur museum.  Since Zach was skipping school we figured he needed some "education".  Plus, Rod and I had never been there either.  We wandered through the Museum enjoying all the different dinosaurs. I found one I wanted to take home.

At least I think he would have been cute.  It is hard to tell when he is nothing but bones.

A few more dinos

he looks short now

Flowerpot Island

We also drove out to have a look at the Hoo Doos. They remind me of Flowerpot Island up by Tobermory, Ontario. 

Hoo Doo, Drumheller

Here's some more shots of the Hoo Doo.

I've got my EYES on you

A typical Merrill Boy

Every Princess needs a crown

How else will you know she is a princess?!?!

In April we had the opportunity to crown a new princess in the Merrill Family.  Cody and Mimi are the proud parents of a beautiful little girl.  On April 22 we were able to participate in Hannah's blessing day.   It was a wonderful experience. 

Hannah is a precious little girl.  She was long awaited and we are so happy to have her in our family.  This makes little princess #4. 

We love all our granddaughters very much.  They all come with such individual personalities. It has been fun watching them develop into little people.  We look forward to watching Hannah grow up and hope that she moves closer to us so we can see it up close.

I have started a tradition for my children that each family will receive ONE blessing gown crocheted by Grandma.  I love making them along with a blanket.  So far each gown and blanket has been different.  This year I even included a pair of white shoes and a crown.  I wish I had found the crown pattern for the other girls.  I guess I will just have to make bigger crowns for the older girls to wear for dressup.

Now that Hannah has her gown I am anxious to hear if the next baby (late September) will be another princess or if I will have to create something for a little prince.  Either way I need to get started soon. 

I would love to find more patterns for christening/blessing dresses.  I have this thing about not repeating a pattern, especially when it is a gift.

So anyway, here are some pictures of Hannah's dress and crown. 

And on his farm he had two GOATS

We are slowly accumulating animals. VERRRRY SLOWLY.  We currently own two horses, one of which is living at another farm right now so that he can be ridden in the winter.  The other one is up for sale as I don't have a lot of time for riding and it is no fun by myself. 

We also have two goats, Whinny and Miracle.  These two girls are very friendly, at least if you aren't a dog.  They love to charge the dogs and make them run.  They live in a large dog run during the week and we let them out to graze on the weekends.  We need to fix the paddock fence before we can leave them in the field.  They just crawl under the fence right now.  They will follow us all around the farm. 

On Sunday afternoon we took Gracie and the two dogs (dog sitting for Brock and Jenna) out for a walk on the trail behind the house.  We looked behind us and this is what we saw, two goats following us down the trail.

Miracle and Whinny

Zach, Gracie, Gpa and the goats

They followed us the whole way and when we turned and headed for home they actually led the way.  The found the path back into the property and were the first ones home.

This week we are also dog sitting for Brock and Jenna while they are in Alberta and BC.  Evie is a boxer puppy who just wants to play.  Tucker is an old timer and doesn't want to play.  Evie begs and begs him to come play and he just growls and chases her away.  She thinks it is a big game and keeps coming back for more.  For the past two days we have tried to wear them out by keeping them outside as much as possible.  It seems to be working because every night they both conk out in the family room - Tucker in his dog bed and Evie under the coffee table.  Last night I sent Tucker to his kennel first.  I came back and found Evie curled up in his dog bed.  She didn't fit in it as good as Tucker does.

Evie in Tucker's basket

 I'm hoping before the end of these 10 days that Tucker will finally tolerate Evie in the house.  If  not this will be along 10 days.