Wild Alaska Roses and Rose Petal Jelly

Wild Alaska Rose 

The link above will take you to a pdf document from the UAF Cooperative Extension that tells all about Wild Roses and recipes using Wild Roses. 

A friend of mine and I made Rose Petal Jelly a couple of weeks ago. The wild roses bloom for just a couple of weeks in June and if you miss them, well, they are gone. The jelly is just a beautiful color in the jars.

 My friend had the pretty blue seals and rings that Ball has out right now, such a great color combination.

The first food preservation of the season. Yummy!

Now to harvest those Rose Hips in the late summer/early fall for their vitamin c goodness.

Garden Progress June 20

Yes, I took a selfie of myself and our garden

The whole garden, we had two and a half days of rain and the garden loved it. 

See the frog? He was hiding out at one end the garden. 

I weeded eight rows tonight and planted a few more seeds where some things didn't come up. 

Right before I came in for the night my husband and kids found this bird's nest under a tarp. We oohed and awwed and then my husband covered it back up. Those eggs were so tiny. 

Such a great Friday night. We were all outside working and playing. After I came in the kids were out until 10:00 pm playing kickball and baseball. 

Washing the Dog

Emmy is still shedding her winter coat and the clumps of dog hair in the house were driving me up the wall. Today she got a bath and this poor dog greatly dislikes the water hose. She has been washed brushed and washed again.

Summer Reading Program at the Library

Today was summer reading program at the library. The theme this year is science and today we looked at water bugs.

A Very Good Read

I am beginning with a really good read:

 Be Still: Learning to live in the goodness of His grace.

Monday afternoon brought Benjamin a headache, stomach ache, and fever. He spent the afternoon and evening on the couch sick. He didn't want to watch television and he wanted Mom sitting with him the entire time. He was absolutely precious though. He talked and talked and asked questions and was very emotional. He would talk and a tear would form. We talked about Jesus, God's love, family, the pain he was feeling, and so much more. He was so precious. I really enjoyed the afternoon, minus the fact that my son was sick. 

Judith made dinner while I was being held down on the couch. That was a huge blessing for our family as Levi, Elisabeth and Daddy had to eat before the baseball game.

Elisabeth Shoots a Black Bear

Elisabeth and the black bear she shot this weekend. We now have bear breakfast sausage tucked away in the freezer. I love it when the Blessings get to help feed the family.

The bottom picture shows the stand they were sitting in when the bear came in below. He was a nice full grown black bear, her first big game animal as well.

Summer

Birds have nested in our nesting box.

If you find a box of Lincoln logs and tinker toys at the recycle center they will occupy a crew of kids for a while. 

Wildflowers are blooming

And there is baseball. 

This is Levi on the mound

Benjamin playing at the field

Thursday and Friday. Wow, I Come Up With Original Titles

This picture was actually from Wednesday night. He makes many people laugh with his sign. 

Thursday I finally left the house for something besides a baseball game. We spent the afternoon with friends, this is George and I taking an "us"ie. I crack myself up. Oh, this young man isn't really named George but that is what I call him from the old Looney Tunes cartoon. Ya know, I will hug him and squeeze him and call him George. Yea, I have been calling him George since he was about five or six.

The sky in the way home from an afternoon with friends. I was not driving because you know, I get chauffeured now. 

Friday morning called for a big kick off the weekend breakfast. Bacon, biscuits, gravy, hashbrowns and eggs. 

I am spending the afternoon and turning I to early evening deep cleaning kitchen cabinets. When I finish here in a bit, I will be half way finished with the upper cabinets. I clearing the tops and cleaning canning jars and the top of the cabinets, cleaning the exterior of the cabinets, clearing out the cabinets and cleaning inside and getting rid of anything old, broken or unused. 

A cleared, cleaned and back together cabinet. The empty spot is where we keep the sugar but the container just doesn't work well so I am changing containers. 

Judith is making pizza dough and then we will

be having make your own mini pizza night and movie night. 

Good night!

Picnic

Benjamin loves picnics.

So, I planned a picnic lunch today since the day was so sunny.

We had salmon spread, crackers, cheese, fruit salad, sugar snap peas and pumpkin muffins.

Four Ball lids and straws and one Mason Bar Company lid. I prefer the Mason Bar Company lids for my personal use but the Ball lids are cost effective for use by all family members and the straws are great for smoothies or milkshakes.

Clearing Out

Back in the day, as in back in the early blog/website days, there was a lot of talk about home keeping journals. Lots of free printables and ideas and information were out there for the viewing and printing. Like many other well meaning home keepers I got myself a three ring binder and started filling it with checklists 

and planning sheets and other home making information. And so it has sat unused for many years. Disclaimer: I did use my book for many years and then I stopped. 

A picture of my book before purging, yes, I purged the book. 

Out of all the pages I only kept seven pages of information. 

I have started using a bullet journal and am working on a post about mine and the overall system. I do not think I will go back to a premade planner again, ever. I do not even plan on purchasing a Well-Planned Day school planner and I love those things.