Zucchini Relish

There are two reasons why I grow mass quantities of zucchini. The first is for my Mama's chocolate chip zucchini cake - my all time fave cake in the whole entire world. And the second is for my Mama's zucchini relish.

This is another "side of your plate" kind of a relish. It's more of a garnish, really - a little goes a long way. And it's kind of a treat, in a way; there is an insane amount of sugar in this recipe. If I were to make it again, I would do a little research on some sort of substitution. But, we do so love it just the way it is. And just a spoonful on the side of your plate isn't too much of a horror show.

So, here's how it's done:
You will need about 10-12 ginormous zucchini's. I let these babies grow just as big as they can. Cut them in half, scoop out the seeds, and grate them with a hand grater - or if you're a professional, you could use a grinder.

You need to end up with 24 heaping cups of grated zucchini.
This is an amazing arm workout, so really you'll burn all of the calories ahead of time. It's all good.

Add to this:
2 red sweet peppers, chopped fine.
8 cups green pepper, chopped fine.
8 cups coarsely ground onions.

Might I insert here...
this recipe is just as easy as any other, but it IS a labor of love. This is a bit time consuming, and I would certainly invest in a little $10.00 chopper from Wal-Mart. This is also a two step process, which I always find handy.

Once you get all of your veggies grated and chopped, mix them all together, put 10 Tablespoons of pickling salt over them, and put cold water over everything. They don't need to be totally covered - there's no need to drown them. Then, let them sit overnight.

I usually put that whole mix of stuff in a cooler.

If you're anything like me, you'll be thankful for the two step process, because your kitchen will look like this, and the snot and tears will be flowing so bad from all of the onions you just chopped, that you won't be able to see straight.

It's a beautiful sight.

In the morning, drain off the water.
Rinse under cold water, and drain again.

In a large kettle - before the hoolies awaken and all you-know-what breaks loose, and after brewing a nice pot of coffee - add:
2 tsp. nutmeg
2 tsp. dried mustard
2 tsp. turmeric
2 TBlsp. celery seed
2 TBlsp. cornstarch
5 cups cider vinegar (or white)
10 cups (gasp. I told you it was sinful) white sugar

Bring this to a boil, stirring constantly.
Then add the veggies.
Turn down to a simmer for approximately 15 minutes, stirring all the while.

Pull out hot, sterilized jars.
Add 1/4 alum to each pint or 1/2 tsp. to each quart - (this adds to the crispness)
Put relish into jars, leaving 1/4" to 1/2" space at top.
Use spatula along the sides to get out the bubbles.
Seal with lids and covers.

Voila!

This yeilds about 16 pints. If you want less, you can half the entire recipe. But if you're going to go through all the work, go all the way, baby. Enjoy immediately or hide away for winter.

Reflection.

“Son – you’re too close to the road!”
“MOM! I’m TRYING to catch a snake!” he snarls back.

I’m thrown. Shaken. Hurt at his tone.
This is my gentle one. My tender heart.
This is the one who brings me flowers and knows when I am sad.
This is new.

I hear the lack of sleep. The late nights. The frustration at his net’s miss of this treasure.
And then, there’s the boy his age who has come over to play, standing beside him.
It is this more than anything, I am quite sure.
He is in the presence of a peer, he so badly wants to impress, he is boy becoming man, and his Mama has embarrassed him.

I get it.

Oh Love. Might you learn early on that seeking other’s approval and putting on airs in the presence of others will serve no purpose in the long term. Might you see that seeking to be like Christ and to please Him alone is the only thing that matters in this life. Might you learn that gentleness with humility wins others far more quickly than pride with arrogance.

Who did he remind me of yesterday?

Oh, that’s right.
It was me.

Might I learn this lesson, as well….

************************
1714. Learning lessons the same as my oldest.
1715. Being kept humble in the presence of my own peers.
1716. A father who intercedes on my behalf.
1717. A Heavenly Father who does as well - even more so.
1718. His tender heart and gentle conscience.
1719. Reconciliation.
1720. Forgiveness asked for, and given - from both sides. Always.

Summer At Home.

While there's nothing much more fun than kicking it for the day for an adventure, or leaving town for a week of vacay, there's still something quite lovely about just being HOME. Summer at home can be just as nice as summer away, and days at home can be just as great as days on crazy adventures.

HOME is slower.
Home is simple.
Home is safe and known and sure.

Home is also sometimes much easier. There are no "go bags" to pack, the littles can nap in their own beds, and there are no new boundaries that need to be established. The kids are settled and content. They know what they can and can't do, and they all have their little places that they love to be and things that they love to do.

And with the garden and chickens and wood and mowing, there's always something to be done, as well. But this sort of thing is my kind of work. I think I was made to work with my hands. I was made for the simple life and the simple pleasures that come with that lifestyle.

I love the simple suppers that summer brings. I love the pace of all things growing and spreading, I love the sunkissed skin, the filthy bare feet, and the days that are spent almost entirely outside.

A yard to run in, a swingset to ride on, a garden for snacking, a driveway for biking, and a slip'n'slide for cooling off...all simple things. But, all amazing gifts.

And after living in the city for three years and in an apartment in town for a fourth - two years in the country still feels brand new to me. And for this Mama of three little boys - I will not take that for granted.

We are blessed.
Exceedingly, abundantly, above and beyond all that we could ever ask for or imagine.

********************
1706. HOME and all that live within.
1707. Grass to run in and play...we remember the pavement.
1708. Cucumber ends and peapods ALL over the yard.
1709. 3 chickens left - safe for now.
1710. Bare feet and dirty fingernails.
1711. Simple summer suppers.
1712. Frogs in the pond next door.
1713. Sleepy, sweaty, satisfaction by day's end!

Bread and Butter Pickles

Tis the season for all things beans and pickles!

This is only my second year gardening, pickling, and canning, so I am definitely still learning. Last year's canning experience yielded some awesome results right alongside many epic fails. And this year, we've already had a few of both, as well.

Last year, the texture of my dilly beans was right on, but the taste was wretched. Only my brother and one of my dearest friends said that they liked them all right...but that's what friends and family are supposed to say, right? They tasted like a McDonald's Big Mac, and you could only eat one or two at a time before your mouth puckered up like an old lady! Nasty little buggers.

This year, we tried again. The taste was right on, however the recipe that I was reading called for a ten minute hot water bath - which my Mama taught me that you don't ever do with pickles - because they actually get cooked a bit and they lose their crunch. Very controversial amongst old timer cooks and newer recipe books. Old timers say that with everything super hot going into the jars (which are also boiling) along with the massive amounts of vinegar used, there is no need to worry about botulism spores or whatever the germs you hot water bath to get rid of. As long as they seal, you're good. Each to his own, but I always forego this step, and I forgot this time. Although the taste is exactly what I was going for...the floppiness is not.

Ah well. Third time will be a charm, methinks.
Anyway, now we move on to the cukes and Bread and Butter pickles - our all time favorite "side of your plate with any meal" kind of a pickle.

Easy sneezy, and super delish.
Start with a bucket of the smallest cukes you can find:

For about 9 pints of pickles, you will need approximately 16-18 heaping cups of small cukes sliced about 1/4 inch and 6 onions sliced into little rings.

This can be a two day event if need be, which I always find helpful with little hoolies running all around. Once you slice all of your veggies, you will sprinkle 1/3 cup of pickling salt all over them, and just mix them around really gently with your hands.

Put them in a big container, like a cooler - or I've even used my sink in the past - and completely cover everything with crushed ice. Let this sit for 3-4 hours or overnight. I've always let it set overnight. Either would be fine.

After appropriate time has passed, drain everything, but DO NOT rinse them off.

Take a ginormous pot (with a wire under it to prevent burning) and heat all of these ingredients to boiling:
3 cups cider vinegar
5 cups white sugar (I know. Yikes).
1/2 tsp. tumeric
1 tsp. celery seed
2 TBlsp. mustard seed

As soon as these ingredients boil, dump in the drained onions and cukes.

Use a tall wooden spoon to stir the cukes, and bring everything back to the boiling point. As soon as the veggies start to boil, turn the burner down to medium. You want everything kept hot but not at a full boil.

You will also see that the color of the cukes has changed from that super bright green to a more pickle looking green.

Take hot, sterilized jars (out from another pot of boiling water, along with hot sterilized lids and covers). Use a slotted spoon to pack down veggies only up to about 3/4 of the jar. Put in some juice, add more veggies up to the neck of the jar and pack down. Add more juice. All cukes must be under the juice.

Leave 1/2 space.
Use a spatula to get the bubbles out - just bob it up and down around the sides of the jars.

Screw the lids on tight, wipe your jars down, and set them on your counter to settle.

Wait expectantly for the happy sounds of jar lids popping declaring they've sealed!

With any juice left over, you can hard boil some eggs, and just throw them in the juice and put them in your fridge to eat whenever. Good times. Good times.

*******************
1702. The gift of my garden's bounty.
1703. Making my Mama's pickles.
1704. Hearing the happy sounds of lids popping.
1705. Seeing my shelves filling up once again.

Family Reunion

Every fourth of July from the time I was an infant right up until the summer before I got married, Mom's side of the family would gather - from far and wide - for the day down at East Grande Lake, and we would spend the entire afternoon at my Grampy's camp. It was an older camp; one of the first ever built on that particular part of the lake. Grampy built it himself when my mother was only a baby. And the memories from that little cabin and the family times there will stay forever with me.

Grampy was the patriarch of the family, and he wanted his family all together whenever possible. So, we would come from far and wide, cousins who only got together that one time every year, and we would swim, and play, and eat, and visit at that little cabin from noon time until it was time to head back into town for the fireworks.

When Grampy passed away, the camp stayed in the family for many more years, but the year that I got married, some family members decided to put it up for sale. While I will forever grieve the loss of that camp and all of the memories and moments that came with it that no amount of money could ever buy, the fact remains that the camp is sold and it is what it is.

And, if we're ever going to re-create those family reunions, then someone is going to have to put a little time and energy and effort into making it happen. All it takes is one person to say that enough time has gone by without all of us hanging out, and we're going to do something about it. Our cousins Joshua and Trina did just that. They said enough was enough, they sent out invites, they opened up their home and their backyard...

And we came.
And it was amazing.

And while it's impossible to replicate being at a family camp on a lake for an afternoon, there is much to be said for tenting out in a backyard and being together for an entire day and night and part of a following day. We have never spent that amount of time together - all of us in one setting. We ate, we played horseshoes, we threw around the football, the little cousins made slingshots and learned how to make fire with flint, we made cowboy coffee, and we just enjoyed each other's company.

(Homemade slingshots. They may or may not have been the most novel idea).

(The three little cousins made our bonfire for us. Pretty impressive).

When it got dark, we built a fire and pulled our thirty chairs close. We told stories, we reminisced, we laughed, we ate more, and we savored. It was Midnight before we crashed in our various locations for sleeping. The next morning we woke up to a huge pancake breakfast and all the clean up that followed.

And now we eagerly await the next gathering and the anticipation of where it will be and what it will look like. I feel like I know my cousins so much better now, the little nephews and neices are now best friends, and the family is closer.

This was good.
This was right.
We stopped. We slowed. We put in the effort to make it happen.
And it was wonderful.
And this needs to be done again!

*************************
1694. Cousins - running & playing.
1695. Family bonds strengthened.
1696. Labors of love in the cooking and the clean up.
1697. Beautiful day, starlit night.
1698. Memories remembered - new ones made.
1699. Multiple generations all together.
1700. Food & fellowship.
1701. Remembering what truly matters - FAMILY!

Helpers.

I'm sure I've written this before...but I read somewhere that when you're living life with little ones, you should always add at least a half hour of additional time onto whatever task or event you are doing to really be able to experience things the way that they do and to really be able to see things through their eyes.

And might I add onto that... to not lose your sanity!

There's no getting around it, having little helpers around is going to take more time, make more mess, call for more deep, cleansing breathes, and (more often than not), finish with less than perfect results.

At least in THIS home.

But, that's all right. It's all good.
This season is fleeting.

And how else are they to learn the value of hard work, the satisfaction of seeing something through from start to finish, and learn important skills for life?

It's here. In the home. Living life together.

Don't get me wrong...there are times when I totally want to bust a move, conquer Rome in a day, and get 'er done, too, without stopping to take the time to look at every bug, sweep up an epic mess, or make a task an entire event of an afternoon.

Balance, right?

Ransom's favorite job is to go to the chickies with his Mama every day.
He very much loves going headfirst into the feed bin to get fistfuls of food to chuck at the girls.
After every chuck, he gleefully yells: "THERE!!!!"
He is a VERY proud little helper.
The girls are less than impressed...

He also loves to dump out all of Mama's beans.
(This is where the deep cleansing breathes come in).

I find that they are also very helpful during the mixing up of the bread dough...

While we made bread together yesterday, I couldn't help but think back to all of the many times that I let both Kaden and Jesse mix up the bread just like Ransom was doing. This has been going on for seven plus years now!

And the three styles of "helping" have been fun to remember, as well.

Kaden was meticulous. He did not want to drop a crumb, and he made sure every ingredient made it safely into the pan. Jesse stirred with gusto, and often our loaf of bread was significantly smaller than it should have been, because half of it ended up on the floor! Ransom is a bit in the middle. Not as crazy as Jesse, but not wanting near the amount of help from Mama that Kaden allowed. So funny.

I am growing.
I have so far to go, but I am learning.
Only seven years into motherhood, but I am learning to let go of so many things.
I am relaxing. I am loosening my grip. I am trying to say "yes" more often.
I am trying to major on the eternal and minor on the external.

I am learning to see beauty in the mess.
And sacred in the chaos.


***********************
1688. Three little helpers with their own little styles.
1689. Grace and patience for this Mama to (always) learn and to give.
1690. Leaving (far) behind the expectation of perfect results and minimal clean up.
1691. Knowing that this season will be gone in the bink of an eye.
1692. Striving to savor the help and see beyond the mess.
1693. Praying "Jesus, help me to slow and see the sacred amidst the chaos."

Because that's what all of it is...
Sacred holiness amidst beautiful messes.

Remembering Not to Forget...

Stuff I'm thinking about for our life and our journey...

Psalm 105:4 says: "Seek the Lord and His strength. See His face continually."
Hmn. Methinks I'm not so good at this at times.

vs. 5 - "REMEMBER His works which He has done".
Remember. Do what it takes to not forget.

The very next Psalm goes into reminding us about how the Israelites DID forget.
Help us Lord, to not repeat their pattern.
May this NOT be said of us.

Psalm 106:13 & 14...
:: They quickly forgot His works.
:: They did not wait for His counsel.
:: They "craved intensely" in the wilderness.
:: They tempted God in the desert.

Jesus, what do I crave intensely that is not of You?
How often do I rush blindly into things without waiting for Your counsel?
How often do I go to others for my strength?
How often do I forget?

Major consequences took place in their forgetting...(verses 20-25)
:: They exchanged their glory.
:: They forgot God their Savior.
:: They forgot His good things.
:: They forgot His wonders.
:: They forgot the awesome things He had done.
:: They despised.
:: They did not believe.
:: They grumbled.
:: They did not listen.

Hmn. I guess the apple still doesn't fall too far from the family tree.
They forgot all of the miracles, the deliverances, the protection...the gifts.

And then verse 47.
~ "Save us, oh Lord our God, TO GIVE THANKS."
I wonder, is that the secret?

Giving thanks - in both the big and the small, the easy and the hard - helps us to REMEMBER...

And so I continue this journey....
*******************
1664. Hearing, listening, resting, waiting.
1665. Doing it peacefully - not striving.
1666. Creation's sounds - God all around me.
1676. Simple pleasures - amazing gifts.
1677. Faithfulness of my Heavenly Father.
1679. Dilly beans and strawberry jam.
1680. Food canned for the winter.
1681. Remembering God's blessings.
1682. Practicing thanks.
1683. Daily falls - daily forgiveness.
1684. Contentment in Christ - fulfillment in Him.
1685. Trusting with the details of life.
1686. Getting blessed and BEING a blessing.
1687. "The nearness of God is my GOOD." ~ Psalm 73:28

Gangbusters

That's where our garden went while we were away.

Crazy, out of control. But, in a good way.
I think things literally grew a foot in all of the sunshine.

I think I won the war on the weeds this year. I have always coveted my nieghbor, Lew's garden because there's hardly any weeds in it. Well, he always takes all of his grass clippings and puts it around all of his veggies to keep the weeds at bay.

This essentially has the same effect that straw does, only free...you just have to work for it a little more. Our lawn mower has a mulching bag, so everytime I mowed this summer, I just kept emptying it in the garden, mulching around everything, and that - along with black plastic in between the rows, has done wonders.

However. I was not the wisest in the amount of space that I chose to leave between my rows. In trying to utilize as much space as possible, I only gave myself three and a half feet between rows as opposed to (Lew's suggestion) four strong feet.

So, as everything grows, things are starting to mesh and lean into each other. My tomatoes are leaning over and kissing my beans, which are kind of winding themselves into my potatoes. My three random watermelons are spilling over into my corn, and all of my squashes and zucchinis are gettting quite cozy with my cukes. No big deal, really, but it is NOT condusive for three little pairs of boy feet to run at will - and to help their Mama with all of the harvesting. So far, one huge arm of one of my tomatoes has been broken off, and a few others have been trampled. Grace is NOT my children's middle name...

This Mama is taking deep, cleansing breathes - and a few mental notes for next year - and I am welcoming them to come and pick their peas and beans at will...often just as the sun is coming up, and in their undies, no less. And I'm not stressing (too much) the small stuff. I love seeing little fistfuls of pea pods and string beans while they're riding their bikes and swinging on the swingset.

It's all good.

And to keep up with my "G Alliteration" Theme...

Gone...is what happened to my girls while we were away.

And then there were three. Bah.

We have a young fox who is decimating my girls in broad daylight.

We built our pen to be Margaret proof - she's my neighbor who was not appreciating the visits of my ladies - we did NOT build it to be foxy loxy proof. So, some major revamping needs to be done.

By summer's end, my goal is to have these three girls still living and a lovely fox pellet rug for one of my little boys' rooms.

Just kidding.
Not really.

Lessons From Another Mama

Remember that post a few weeks back where I wrote about comparison destroying contentment?

It's subtle.
It's dangerous.
And it's something that I feel like I constantly have to guard myself against - always checking my motives and my reasons for doing what I do, handing my insecurities over to Christ, and striving to - in a good way - worry far less about what others think and do and be far more concerned about what Jesus thinks.

As my sons are growing older, I'm seeing that this is a truth that I really need to nurture in them, as well. And I need to make sure that I don't add to the problem by comparing them to each other or continuously lumping them into their little group of "the boys" - when they truly are their own little people.

They are individuals.

I see this comparing played out in the lives of my older two already. Not in bad ways, necessarily - yet - but in ways that have me watching and paying attention.

My middle one, especially, so badly wants to be like his big brother, it's almost funny. He can be to the point where he's falling asleep on his feet, but he refuses to let himself go as long as Kaden is awake. This happens especially on car trips, and he will not close his eyes until he sees that Kaden is going to take a nap, as well.

If Kaden has on a tank top, Jesse does NOT want a t-shirt. If Kaden doesn't want his life jacket on, Jesse is offended if we make him wear his. Some things come with the privilege of being the oldest, some things aren't so big of a deal, some things come with the younger brother idolizing his older. Other things need to be put into check a little bit.

In some things, as their Mama I can be helpful. But if I'm not careful, sometimes I can make matters worse. There are three little boys in my home who are their own individual selves. One is brave and daring. One is a little more tough. One is a little more tender. One has a stronger will. One is sensitive. One is more quiet. One is more social. One has a quick temper. One rarely lets his surface. One has a tender conscience. One is not afraid to take a stand.

Different interests. Three different personalities. Three different sets of giftings and passions already. This is right and this is good.

So long as I never compare.

I learned a few lessons from some Mama birds while we were at camp. It's the time of summer when the babies are starting to take their first flights, their learning to catch their own bugs, and they are becoming increasingly independent from the nest. I believe the experts call this fledging?

I found it very interesting to watch this one Mama with her little brood. She knew exactly which babies could be pushed a little bit and with which ones she needed to have a little more time and patience. I was impressed.

My kids are not cookie cutter kids.
I need to get this lesson.

In some things - like house rules - I can have the same, age appropriate expectations. I expect them to be respectful, to obey the first time, and to tell the truth.

But in other things - for one of them, I need to be a little more patient, for one I can be a little more firm, for another, I need to keep a pretty tight rein on him. One can be broken with a look. A couple others need much stronger convincing that Mama is serious.

I'm pretty sure that's why Scripture says to "train up a child in the way that HE should go." I need to be a student of my boys. I need to not compare them with each other. I need to love them individually. I need to nurture individuality in each of them.

Looking up to someone is good and right. And even wanting to wear the same clothes is okay, too. Just as long as this Mama doesn't place any undue expectations on one to perform like the other, or on one to act just like the other.

I love them all for who they are, and for who God is making them to be. I just need to make sure that they daily get this message from me - in both my words and my actions. I would never want my boys to struggle with discontentment as a result of feeling like their Mama wished them to be some other way.

Lessons learning...