Mower tire is fixed and I’m back in business. I have a few photos for you today.
Does anybody harvest elderberries for wine making or jam? I have enough elderberries to fill a bathtub several times.
And Rick has green beans by the bushel! The dogs love to go to the garden with him as he sits on a stool picking beans. Oh, they are delicious with just salt, pepper and butter!
Here is my rain barrel that I’m trying to empty into containers to save for winter plant watering. I’m going to move my basement plants to the kennel in the south end of the quilt shop this year. Hopefully I’ll be able to sell some at Gypsy Junk Fest so there won’t be so many to take care of.
Number #3’s are rolling in – you’ve been busy!
I have several quilts in progress which I’ll show you soon. I’m still pulling fabrics for Hiding In Plain Sight – the quilt isn’t very big, about 30″ square, so I need to pick a place for it to hang.
I’m off to the grocery store this morning.
I’m not getting photos 🙁
Sadly no photos unless I go through the comments. Enjoy your day!
I’m getting most of the photoz.
I see your pics! I remember my mom making elderberry pie… it’s one of my favorites! Haven’t had it in years.. we do have elderberries at the lake.. but not a lot. My dog growing up was a yellow lab named Pat. He loved to go to the garden or woods to pick raspberries or gooseberries. He would lay on his back and push himself under the raspberry bushes and lick off the largest, ripe berries! He’d have a pink muzzle for days… lol
Your elderberries look great, Mary. I make jam (jelly) when I have them, and cordial from the flowers in the spring. I can mail you a recipe, if you want! 😊
I think i broke the code on the pix. Just read/start writing comments and they show up! No ads, though, and i really enjoy the exercise of closing them – glad to help you out there.
As usual, love your pictures and your comments.
I must have missed it, but did you or Reed win ribbons at the fair?
I got the photos but no “x”s to click on the ads. I’ll try later in the day. What a great idea – to bring a stool out to pick beans! We had wonderful beans but such a back breaking chore to pick them! We were contemplating growing pole beans next year! Maybe we will do both as I love canned beans. The pictures of Rick and Hazel are so cute. And the #3’s are great! Vicki in Seattlei, your star quilt is lovely, I love the pinwheel pillows! Or are they pinkeeps? Adorable. Everyone does such nice work! It’s hot here in MA today. Been making Bread and Butter pickles, trying to decide what to do with our abundant tomatoes. They are beefsteak type, not a plum. Not sure it would be worth making them into a sauce. Oh! I mowed yesterday, thought of you, Mary! My husband usually does it but has sciatica and can’t right now. I’m kind of enjoying my mowing time. Jan in MA
I love beefsteaks canned in quarters or into juice. When I open the jar for juice, I carefully pour the clear liquid as much as I can. Or you can cook and cook the liquid down before jarring.
those beefsteak tomatoes will make wonderful tomato sandwiches. your favorite bread and some mayo with it. maybe some salt and pepper. yummmm patti in florida
Good Wednesday morning to you…
Like bummer didn’t get your pictures yesterday..an now today just blank squares where picture should be….I’m I to be doing something???
I saw pics only after opening the comments, except the rain barrel one. Can’t close ads as no “x” in the corner. I ‘ve not seen elder berries before…they’re beautiful!
Several ads, but no X’s to close them!
Good Morning! I can only see pictures if I hit comments. In addition there were no ads to close today.
You made my mouth water with the green beans!
The pictures pop right up for me too if I hit Comments. Your Iowa garden looks green and lush!
Same here
A friend gave me some elderberry jelly last year and I loved it! They gave me around 20 pounds of berries this year and I cooked and juiced and froze to make jelly when it cools down a little.
I didn’t get all of the pictures and wasn’t able to close any ads.
No photos in the email BUT they come up great when I click on the URL (http://..)
I appreciate all your hard work and love this blog and visiting with you each day
Didn’t get pictures until I went to comments.
Pictures come through when you go to comments
I’m jealous of your garden! I planted mine & the next day we got 10” of rain to be followed by several more days of lots of rain. I had to replant my beans & cucumbers & the tomatoes which looked great going in suddenly looked horrible. The 2nd planting of beans the rabbits loved so they never got big enough to bloom & the cucumbers have blooms now but no fruit! Needless to say after more rain the past few days..the tomatoes are just about done too! Some days I wonder why I try to grow anything! I do enjoy eating though so I will keep trying!
Vicki in Seattle I love your little quilt!
Jane from St Mary’s IA – we saw all the rain your area got again! You have been pounded this year, haven’t you? We have had perfect rains this summer – nothing is too dry and for that we’re thankful. Now I wish I had planted some onions and cukes but just didn’t get it done last spring. Rick’s beans and corn have been phenomenal!
Yes Mary…this has been quite the year for rain & Mother Nature! She has kept us on our toes all year! I looked tonight & there is another 1.10” to go along with the 1.8” & 2.5” all since Sunday! And to think about a couple of weeks ago my yard was burnt up & hay was short! Eat some beans for me!!
I got the pictures just fine this morning. Lots of beautiful #3s!
I got all except the rain barrel photo.
Lucky you to have all those blue elderberries. I want to make a forage run inland to find some blue elderberries. Here on the coast, we have tons of red elderberries, but humans do not eat the red ones. Only birds do and then they plant them everywhere. I make elderberry medicine syrup. A teaspoon a day reportedly keeps the doctor away. Great for the immune system.
Wonderful #3’s so far. I am so far behind with mine.
Today we will be blanching corn, taking it off the cob and freezing it for winter meals.
This is another Sue in Oregon 🙂 (who originated in MN) and is also always on the lookout for blue elderberries! They are not easy to find here! I use what I find to make juice or syrup, too, to improve our immune systems.
I got the photos! Elderberry jelly is a bit labor intensive but it is the best jelly ever! I finally finished #8 at 1230 a.m yesterday morning …took it to the quilter yesterday!! By the way it was mt THIRD (and last) Good Fortune!! Will send pictures when it is back from the quilter. Ready for #3!!
Closed several ads. Got pics after going thru comments.
My Mom would always make elderberry jam for my brother for his birthday, which was in September. This morning on my walk I was just thinking I wish I knew someone with elderberries, I loved the jam too! Do you make anything with them? Fresh green beans are the best!!!
Love seeing Rick with Hazel – she certainly loves him!! AND he her!! Elderberies are something that my daughter has done. She has made several things with them. You sure have a huge amount! Rick’s garden sure look lush. We have had beans and we have them with salt and pepper and love them. There are getting fewer now. We have had lots of cucumbers and have been taking them to neighbors as well as eating them with every meal. So good. Now the tomatoes are coming. I will have to send my #3 picture as I am done now with that, how wonderful to be getting things done! Hope you enjoy your trip to the grocery store, sometimes I enjoy it and sometimes it is a chore!!! lol Glad your mower is all fixed!
Good morning. I got all the pictures except the rain barrel after clicking on comments. Love the #3 projects. Hopefully mine will be done tomorrow. I had 6 ads with X ‘s that I could close today.
No photos in the original blog but click on the title of the blog and go to The Chicken Scratch and photos are all there (except one I think the one of your rain barrel didn’t show up). Also, none of the ads have x’s in the corners to close them for your credit???? Other than that – loved reading about what’s happening – enjoyed Rick and the dogs.
I meant to add that I used to have terrible sinus problems. Then a friend told me how elderberry concentrate helped her. I put some in my 7 UP and it really did help. I need to check out the elderberry jam or jelly.
I’ve always thought it would be a good idea to save all the water from the sump pumps…..but how would I store it? I didn’t get the water barrel picture either.
When I was a kid we lived on a farm north of Goldfield. At the end of the shelter belt there was a bunch of elderberries. When they got ripe, Dad would leave me at the entrance of that field and I’d eat berries til he finished. They were so good. As I remember he wasn’t gone very long. It was a different world then.
Love the pictures of finished UFO’s!
Good morning ! Glad you got trie fixed. So that’s what elderberry looks like! Remember going up a tree like having those berries! What I miss is mulberries. Got all picture but one when press on comments. No pictures in email, sometimes email dont.
I have green beans, too! My friends grow them and they had a bumper crop this year! I break the ends off, put them in a plastic bag with just enough Italian salad dressing to coat them and then spread them on a baking sheet and broil them for 5 or 6 minutes! YUMMY!
I would love your elderberries. I make syrup out of them, and use it when we are under the weather. They are very expensive to purchase. But I’m in northern Minnesota, and not planning on a trip to Iowa soon. (Sigh). I love the #3’s coming in. Jo from Minnesota
Closed 5 adv. and pictures showed up too.
Ads to close after I read the comments, but no rain barrel picture. Love the garden pictures of Rick and Hazel, wish I was picking beans with them, but it is a back breaking job, isn’t it?
Everyone is doing such a great job with their Dirty Dozens, nice pictures.
That picture of Rick and Hazel in the beans with her pink tongue out and the corn behind could be a poster for Iowa, or Ohio, or Minnesota etc farm country:) Love it.
I love Vicki’s #3. It looks like that pattern you taught us a while ago for using scraps in those little stars. It is gorgeous. I make 3 or 4 of those every time I go on a retreat so someday I should join them together–lol.
I always have clicked on See All Comments first so I get pictures or ads to close 99% of the time. Maybe that’s the secret.
Hot and humid in Central Ohio, but we should be getting a break tomorrow.
Thanks for the post Mary! The photos didn’t open but it is what it is 😊
I have a recipe for Elderberry Cream Pie… my grandma used to make it… it is to die for..do you ever sell your Elderberries? My grandma canned them by the quart for use all winter…
Love seeing a happy person with their dogs……you can just feel how content the dogs feel being so close to their owner. Like your flower beds, your garden looks spectacular. Love seeing all the projects our friends here make. Very inspiring.
When I clicked om Comments, I got beautiful photos and 5 ads with Xs to click on. The photo of Rick and Hazel in the bean patch is delightful. You can really see that they enjoy each other’s company.
So glad to have your blog back,but i am also not getting all the picture acept in the comments and still missed the rain barrel. Peace Micky
Some times when a pic does not come up, I “right click” the mouse in the blank picture box and click on “view” and a new tab appears with the pic coming up. Then there is a left arrow to click to get back to blog. Don’t know if that would help anyone else. Love the pictures and never had elderberries. Do have a Mulberry bush/tree and the birds love them.
I had photos tho the rain barrel pic came separately. The ads are still an issue. I could only close 3 of 6 today. The ads that run under the picture of you & Connie have no “X” to close them; only that other symbol that takes you to the website of whatever product is being sold. 🙁 This is cutting into what little money you would regularly get for us to close ads. But, if you’re not concerned then I won’t be either!
I have no need for elderberries or green beans, but thanks!
Hazel is soooooooooooooo darn cute!
Jan from TN – it’s not that I’m NOT concerned but right now it’s all I can do to just stay afloat with posts. Don’t quit closing ads – we appreciate it!
Got the rain barrel when I tapped your logo. Everything came up fine, I also was able to close lots of ads.
I have not been keeping up with #3, my mom lives with me and has been very ill, age 89 and very big surgery scheduled for Monday afternoon. This surgery is not recommended for her age group, but the alternative is too risky. Most of today on the phone with hospital and doctors and lawyer. More of the same tomorrow and Friday…oh well…everything in it’s own time.
Carol at Pin Oak – oh, your poor mom! Hate to think what kind of surgery – it’s wonderful that she can live with you – has she been living there long?
I don’t get any photos until I click see comments. And then there was one photo (rain barrels, I think) that still didn’t come through. But the ones I do get are great.
I got all the photos and was able to close a few ads!
I had to go to comments to see the pictures and only one of them didn’t show up. I don’t believe I have ever tasted elderberries before but I imagine they taste great! There is always something to do on the farm, right? Lol