A Rainy Summer Day On The Farm

Let's start the morning off by mixing some zucchini relish. I love canning this stuff for the winter. We actually just finished our last jar from last year about a week or two ago and so I'm excited to have that on hand again. But this needs to sit for the majority of the day which means I need to get it started as early as possible and then they're actually calling for some pretty severe storms this afternoon. We'll see whether or not it hits. It's actually been about a month since we've had a good rain so we would be incredibly grateful for a good rain here on the farm. That's a pretty big deal when it's that dry. So we are really praying that it pours for a good deep rain. The grass has turned really brown. Our cornfields are not looking so good but we will be grateful for whatever the Lord gives us. For now let's get started on this and then hopefully we can also pick some more flowers before that rain comes. Okay, I'm the filler. Whenever possible I like to do my canning outside. Keep all that mess out of the house and it makes it so much easier to hose down. Plus I have that outdoor burner and then my big canning pot as we like to call it when we're really getting serious about canning. I think that thing holds 80 some quarts and so there's no reason to do it inside especially when the weather is this nice too. So anyway, I think I'm going to do a pretty large recipe and just maybe get all my zucchini relish canned for the year but I will do this with six large zucchinis. After peeling a couple of them I do feel like the peel should be soft enough especially considering that we'll be cooking this later. Not peeling them will give us that beautiful green color as well so I'm going to try it. Obviously this is such a big batch that I think if it does not turn out I will be sure to remember next year. I have a really fun job for you guys. It's supposed to rain soon so how would you like to get a little basket and pick as many flowers as you can from the dahlia patch and all the flowers in the garden because that helps them grow better if they're picked. And then pick the stems long enough that we can put them in vases. That's a food processor. We'll have to go grab some more onions inside but next I want to take 12 large onions and we'll also run those through the food processor. Well that filled us up right to the tippy top of our bowl. Next we want to take 3 quarter cup of pickling salt and just sprinkle this over the top. And then I need to go grab a big spoon, we'll stir this together and then cover it tightly with saran wrap. Normally I mix this in the evenings and then proceed in the morning so I like to give it at least 8 to 10 hours but it is already almost noon and so I'm thinking I will probably let this sit until tomorrow. I'm going to message my mom just to make sure that actually works but I don't see why it wouldn't. I'd rather have a little bit of a longer time period for this to sit than to shorten it too much. But I will make sure to film the rest of the process in case you're also looking for a delicious way to use up a bunch of zucchini. Letting this mixture sit with the salt like this for an extended period of time really helps the liquid come out of the zucchini and the onions giving you a much less watery relish in the end. So this relish is thick and delicious and flavorful but it is not watery at all. To describe yourself, fill in each blank with a word or a set of words from the bank by each sentence. So first read this. I blank, I like bananas. Okay, so which one says like? Oh my goodness, it's raining! Thank you Lord! Yes! The question is, I'm away from the house, I was taking that zucchini slop out to the chickens. Do I just book it and get drenched? I mean I'm already wet anyway, I guess I may as well. Or do I wait and see if it lets up? But lunch is waiting in the oven. I guess we'll make a run for it. Let your grace and mercy follow, give me strength in my tomorrow, shine on me. Shine your light on me, shine your light on me. Well it is the next day and we are ready to cook our zucchini relish. So this has been sitting a lot longer than the typical 8 hours but better longer than shorter. So I just washed my hands and I'm just going to take this mixture and squeeze out as much of the liquid as I can before throwing it into the pot here and then we'll be ready to add the vinegar and all the spices and things like that. Then we're going to add 9 cups of white vinegar and then 3 cups water and a cup and a half of flour. Now you want to make sure you mix that in quickly so that you don't have lumps. I ran ahead of myself a little bit this time. Technically I would want to mix the flour with the sugar and the spices ahead of time and then actually add my zucchini last. So I will leave the actual recipe for you in the description box below. This works as well. You just want to make sure that you quickly stir in the flour before it starts forming any lumps. 3 teaspoons of turmeric, 3 teaspoons ginger and then 3 teaspoons of celery seed as well as 6 teaspoons garlic powder and 8 cups of sugar. We'll stir this in until it is well combined, dissolve all that sugar and then we'll let this come to a boil again and just boil until it's thick. Let's talk about New Flora's August collection. As always, my discount code GOLDENHOUR10 is good on the entire collection as well as the entire website and for reference as I'm trying these on, I am 5'7 and normally like in a size 6. But starting off with the Arlington dress, first up a moment for the fabric because wow, what a stunning print and then it has this little trim detail. The dress is lined and 100% cotton which is amazing. Let me step back. Can you see the length there? This is a very typical midi length dress. It does have pockets and then this drawstring on the waist is functional. So you can tighten this, you can wear it loose. This function also makes it bump friendly and then it has a little snap up here so also nursing friendly as well. The lilac sweater has so many beautiful details. First up and the biggest eye catcher I feel like is the sleeve. Is that not so feminine and beautiful? I really love that. It also has a really pretty design all throughout. Buttons obviously are functional. It has a fun little flounce that goes all the way around the back of it. And it's more lightweight so I would say perfect as you transition into some cooler fall days. It is also 100% cotton and I am wearing an extra small in this one. This blouse is one of my very favorite things in the entire collection. This is the veil blouse. It has so many beautiful little details in it but the first one that caught my attention is the eyelet. And then obviously we have some smocking going on. The top is stretchy so you could nurse in it but I just love the shape, the silhouette that it gives but while still being really easy and just comfortable to wear. This one is also 100% cotton and I paired it with the Costa Mesa jeans. These are such a comfortable jean. They are a higher rise and if you're a little bit taller like me, I love that it has this kind of laid over hem. I don't know what you call that but you could totally adjust that to your liking. If you're shorter, it would be easy to just fold it over another time. Jeans have pockets front and back and then a straight leg. Next up is kind of a fun combination. This is the Pendleton blouse with a Suzy cardigan. Now I don't know how well it's showing up. The Suzy cardigan is a beautiful kind of baby blue color and you can see it has this gorgeous like crocheted detail with wooden buttons. And oh my goodness, I just love this. It's so, so pretty. It also has that little crocheted look around the cuffs. Pairing that with the Pendleton blouse which this one has these brighter pink florals and then while we're up here, what a beautiful little ruffle on the neckline. It does have a little bit puffed sleeves and then my favorite part being again that beautiful ruffle with actually some lace on the trim as well. And then the last combination I want to show you is the Whitfield top with the Rhodes jacket. The Whitfield top is just so darling. I don't know, it's almost like a baby doll style I feel like but it has no seam across. It's just with how the pleats are done which are so very pretty. It also is that eyelet detail. Love the ruffle sleeves. Love the shape of the neckline. Buttons are functioning. It is also 100% cotton and then I paired that with the Rhodes jacket. I sized up to a medium in this one thinking, you know, sometimes it's fun just to have a nice oversized jacket to throw on especially in the autumn months. I love the length of the sleeves which is a little bit long on me but you can easily roll up the sleeve. This jacket is also 100% cotton and the star of the show has got to be the scallops all along the front. Buttons are functioning and it is too warm today for a jacket, that's for sure. But I hope that whether you're looking to buy some pieces yourself or just looking for some outfit inspo that this was a fun little try on for you. We are getting so excited for all things school and I know some of you have been asking what we're doing and so I wanted to just put a little bit of that in here. I need to bind my unit study here. So I pulled that out and I want to kind of show you what I've gathered so far. We have already started math. The older kids are doing teaching textbooks and then the younger ones, one of them is doing the good and the beautiful. The other one is doing math with confidence so it's a little bit of a mix with that. And then we are so excited to at least start the year with unit studies. We'll see a little bit how that goes. I'm still kind of fine-tuning some of the things. For history, we are doing Tuttle Twins. They came out with their third textbooks. We really enjoyed the first two. In fact, let me pull that really quick because some of you might like to see that. Okay, this is what that looks like and it just is full of pictures. It's written like story form and the kids just really, really love that. For Abby, I was going to do Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. She's been begging to read, but she is already reading beginner-level books, which is amazing and you love to read, right? So we'll see if we end up actually even doing much in here. She's kind of taught herself through the summer. Okay, and then for unit studies, and we are doing other things. Another thing from the Good and the Beautiful that we're doing is the music appreciation. We did music appreciation two years ago whenever it had just come out. And then this year, we just started the music appreciation too and we really enjoy those. They kind of deep dive into classical music and that kind of thing. Just yesterday, we were learning about Beethoven and the kids really enjoyed that. So there's definitely some more things we're doing on the sides and maybe I can kind of take you along for more of that here as we dive into it further again. But what I really was excited to show you was the unit studies. We're back in Campfire Unit Studies. This is actually one of their older courses with the skills of a photographer, but it was kid requested. So I thought, you know what? That would be such a fun one to start the year off with. And so one of my favorite things about unit studies is making them feel just like an experience. So I'll often find some books that are related to whatever we're studying, even though there's so, so much information in the unit itself. And it is not at all required that you get anything on the side. They have some different crafts or experiments and that kind of thing in there if you want to do them. But a lot of that is just things you'd have around the house anyway. So this is totally just like, I love to do this. Not required. I feel like it really enhances the experience to get, you know, some picture books, maybe some chapter books for the older kids. And my books for this aren't here yet. I did order a handful of books to go with this. And I'm hoping maybe once I have everything together, I can kind of share that. Maybe I'll just do that over on Instagram. I have found games. Like when we went through the Titanic, I found games. But for this one, the thing that popped into my mind immediately was, okay, they want to study photography. That is amazing. Having done YouTube now for, oh, what has it been? Seven years, I think. I have gone through quite a number of cameras. And I actually need to go get another one up in the storage room. I think I have exactly enough cameras that each of the kids can take one and use it through this course as we practice the skills of a photographer. And then I picked up these little, they're just little photo albums. It's like four by six, one picture per page. Just, you know, old school photo albums like I would have had when I was a kid. And for them to kind of document their work and their photography skills, I think they're going to have so much fun. Avi is just hearing about this now, right? The other kids, it's still a surprise. Do you think that sounds like fun? Yeah. And then I also picked up this. It's just a Lego, the creators. So this is a camera and they can all just share this and put it together. But all the kids really enjoy Legos. That's everything that I have for this unit so far. The picture books, like I said, are ordered, but not here yet. But I'm just itching to get back into a routine with all of that. Well, thank you so much for joining me. I hope you have a beautiful week and I'll look forward to seeing you next time. Bye, friends.