What We Have Been Doing

Wednesday, 20 October 2010

• What We Have Been Doing

  The last few weeks have busy, as usual, and we got alot accomplished.  I'll try to bring you up on the latest Weidenhammer happenings.
  I did more canning................pumpkins and dried navy beans.
  
  I use the neck pumpkins to can.  I cut the pumpkins and pressure cook very, very briefly.  Just enough to make them soft enough to peel and cut up.  Put into jars with 1 tsp. salt and pressure can.  For the dry beans, put 1 1/2 cups of dry beans in jar, 1 tsp. salt, fill with water and pressure can.  When you are ready to use, open up, drain liquid off and add other ingred. to make baked beans or put into soup, etc..
  We had the chance to see The Reading Symphony Orchestra.  What a fun, new experience!  It took place in a beautiful theater and we were able to sit up in the balcony.  It was student day, so it was full of homeschoolers and public school students.
   
  On Sunday, we hiked the 500 steps near Bethel.  When I say "we", I mean that I only made it half way up, but Dave and the boys went all the way to the top.  Reality hit me on how out of shape I really am.  Dave is determined to change that!  Boot camp, here I come!  While they hiked the rest of the way, I got to visit with another woman who only made it that far, also.  She was a dairy farmer's wife, so it was fun to be able to relate to each other.  When at the top, you can see for miles and miles.
  
  
  On Monday, the boys & I dug our potatoes.  I love doing that!  It's like finding treasures hidden in rich, warm soil.  Treasures that become good, nutritious meals for the family.  When digging potatoes, forget the idea of staying clean.  It is so much more fun to crawl on hands and knees rooting through the earth.  We use a potatoe plow on the tractor to dig up the rows and then we come behind and pick up (and sometimes dig out of hills) the spuds.
  
  
  Only part of the harvest....what a blessing!
  
  So.....who worked the hardest????
  
  
  Later in the afternoon, we discovered 2 newborn calves.  They were born in the same location, and the oldest calf, which was a brown swiss, was confused on who her momma was.  She was nursing off the holstein momma while she was cleaning up her own calf.
  
  The 3 younger boys & I finally received clearance on becoming volunteers at a local nursing home.   To be approved, I had to have a chest x-ray to prove that I do not have TB.   Seems like the requirements to work around the elderly are becoming more and more strict.  We are hoping to serve the elderly folks there at least once month.  My goal in this endeavor is to grow more of a servants heart in myself and the boys, plus be a blessing and brighten the days of those dear people who are shut in all the time.   I know from experience that we will be the ones who will come home feeling more blessed.  We can learn so much from the aged, if we would only take the time to sit and listen to them.
  It is such a privilege to have our health, strength and our right minds (even though I question mine sometimes - hee hee) to be able to work, play and experience life around us.  We should never take anything for granted!
  Until next time.............