Homegrown and Homemade

BOY, have we had a major creative streak lately- making all sorts of things like jelly, preserves, zuchinni bread, grape juice and even real cheese! The garden is flourishing- mostly- and we picked peaches last week from our little peach tree. Here are some pictures of the fun...

We picked wild mustang grapes, cooked them, strained them, juiced them and jellied them!

We have whipped up 2 batches of homemade cheese- 1 mozzarella/ 1 ricotta- from store bought milk.

We gathered wild figs from nearby trees and cooked them into preserves. (They are DELICIOUS served warm, especially with ice cream!)

AND... we mixed up our own grape juice from left over mustang juice.. adding apple juice concentrate and sugar for sweetener.

It was all very inexpensive and educational for us. Plus, now the kids can have peanut butter and jelly all year and we've only spent $8 or $10 on jelly to last that long..now if only we can figure out how to make peanut butter.... look for that in later posts!!!!

Look what flew in!

During all the torrential downpours (courtesy of the hurricane), this little bird must have been lost or confused because he flew right in our front door and would not leave.

We had a fun time running around with nets and things to shoo him out... I was the biggest sissy because I kept thinking of that sharp beak coming at my eyes- Yikes!

And... pictures of my little sweeties!