Applesauce + Raspberry Picking

If there's one thing Liam has done since he was born, it has been to go raspberry picking!!! See here and here . Even though raspberries are now not his favorite thing to eat, he still tried a few and picked a few and found other ways to amuse himself at the patch. Another tradition Liam loves is making applesauce with my family. Mostly because he gets to splash around in apples, take bites and turn the applesauce crank. I love these little experiences I get to share with him year after year. He remembers them and talks about them all throughout the year. We look forward to taking his little brother with us on our next adventures in the orchard.

Picking Peaches 2014

 This is the second year now that we've gone to a local orchard to pick peaches. See last year here. It's become something I look forward to all summer. After all peaches are my favorite. I easily filled up two baskets in no time at all, with some help from Liam and my Mom. It was Liam's first time being able to walk around and pick, smell, taste and pull the peach cart. He was pretty into it. Mostly pulling the peach cart. He sure likes anything with wheels. Last year I only picked one basket and that just wasn't enough, so I thought I'd pick another one this year. Well, putting by two baskets of peaches by yourself during nap time is no easy thing. Somehow it got done and Jason helped me bag the peach slices. All said and done I have 24 bags of peaches, 9 jars of peach sauce and 2 jars of peach syrup for cocktails and peach soda. Yum. I hope these last until next August.

Raspberry Picking 2013

We went raspberry picking back in September! We did last year as well, shortly after Liam was born. It's always a fun time. We went with my friend ( and wonderful photographer) this year! Liam had a ball, eating warm raspberries straight off the vine! I just received these pictures and thought these were to special not to share! It's raining and cold on this November day so, the sight of these already warms me up!

We love to freeze our raspberries. We simply sort, spread them out on cookie sheets to be frozen for several hours and then bag them! It helps the raspberries not to clump!

Delicious! We are still enjoying ours!

*please don't use these pictures without permission

Picking peaches in the orchard!

 I had a fun little date with these two, one morning last week! We went to a local orchard to pick peaches! Liam just thought they were balls and threw them to the ground every chance he got (which wasn't too many, I promise) We picked white and yellow peaches and as it was coming to the close of peach season, we had to search a little harder through the orchard, but it was worth it. We came out with baskets full of "gold" as far as I'm concerned. I love peaches, crave them all year when they aren't in season. So I'm really happy to be able to preserve them, so we can enjoy peaches  a little longer. I used this method to freeze them. I hope that it's successful!

tomato tales

its that time again. tomatoes for all! my parents had a great crop of them this year. so i've spent some days over there making spaghetti sauce. also putting up diced and whole tomatoes for whenever i need them in recipes. i used the same recipe as last year for the sauce. it turned out even better, because the tomatoes where at their ripest.
last evening we enjoyed a dinner outside on our front porch ( our favorite dining spot in the summer). its much to hot most days to stay inside. spaghetti and meatballs, made with our first jar of sauce. so fresh. so delicious. so summer.