My Weekend On The Farm

Going into the weekend I was kind of dreading it. Hans had to work a 72 hour shift which meant I was going to be home alone and bored out of my mind if I didn't find something to keep myself occupied. I don't realize how secluded we are until I have spent a couple days by myself out here and have had nobody to talk to other than the dogs. Can you say major cabin fever?!?  Not that there is ever a lack of things to do out on the farm but you can only do so many projects or cleaning before you get totally burnt out. So...I spent the first day doing all of that boring stuff. Pruning the roses, pulling weeds, cleaning the house, hanging the newly painted door and closet doors in Olive's room (which I unfortunately found out still need a little sanding to close smoothly now that they have a couple coats of paint on them), getting caught up on some tv shows, etc....

On day two, I had a little date day with Pop all set up. He was also home alone because Terry was teaching a Spiritual Leadership seminar in California and since most of her family is down there she extended her trip so she could see all of them.  Since the second crop of peaches were getting ready to be harvested we were going to grab a couple boxes and can them for this winter. Like I mentioned in my last post, anything we can pick we get for free so might as well stock up our freezers and pantries with as much as possible. I must say not only is it nice to be able to save a pretty big chunk of change on produce, it feels even better to know exactly what is going into our food. I never have to read a label to see how much sugar or sodium was dumped in the can or jar and you can really tell the difference in the flavor.  Canning is pretty darn time consuming but it's incredibly easy and if you have the time and the space to do it, why not? Grab a loved one or a friend and make an afternoon out of it. You would be surprised at how much fun you can have and the feeling of accomplishment at the end is pretty cool.  

You can find recipes for canning peaches all over the internet, especially Pinterest (what on earth did we do before Pintrest came along?) but pretty much every recipe is the same so I think you are pretty safe with anyone you choose. Here is a link to one that came up on google and it looks pretty explanatory.  
 http://www.pickyourown.org/peachescanning.htm 

We used 3 boxes of peaches which ended up giving us 25 jars. Well more like 27 because I kept sneaking bites while peeling and we had one jar break on us in the water bath. What a sticky mess that was!

Don't they look AMAZING? 

It's nice knowing that these are the only two things in the jars other than the peaches themselves. We made a very light sugar water to help them stay sweet and a sprinkle of this powder keeps the fruit from turning brown over time. You could use lemon juice as well but this is just as easy.

There is no keeping yourself clean during this project so make sure you wear scrubby clothes. You just have to dig in with two hands and go for it. You may end up a sticky mess but you will smell really, really good!

Once you get the jars in the water, you just hang out and wait. We just hung out in the shop drinking (him beer and me water), eating snacks, and watching a repeat of the Espy awards. If you haven't heard the story of the Boston man that runs marathons while pushing his disabled son, you need to check it out. The tears flow every time!  Check out the story here   http://www.teamhoyt.com/

Finished product....we nailed it! Can you say PROFESSIONAL!

Now by the third day of Hans being at work, I am really starting to miss him so I was pretty thrilled when he asked if I wanted to head into the station for a family dinner with him and the guys on his shift. For some reason they do not do a whole lot of these in their department. I think it is due to the fact that their department seems to be either really young guys who do not have families yet and the older guys who have been there forever and probably really look forward to the time by themselves. The crew that Hans was working with today though all are really close to each other and all family men so they like a little company from the wives and kids. 

The guys cooked up a big taco dinner that was delish and they cleaned up afterwards. I could get used to that! We even had brownies and ice cream for dessert. The more time I spend with these guys, the more I find out that they all have a huge sweet tooth and I don't think they go a single shift without consuming huge amounts of desserts...at every meal. Thank goodness they have a gym at the station and actually get paid to workout or else I think we would have some seriously overweight firefighters on our hands. I really enjoyed spending a couple hours chatting and laughing with everyone and really hope that we can all do it again soon.

This is station 1 of the RFD. Roseburg has 3 stations total but station 1 is by far the nicest. Actually, I think it could be one of the nicest buildings in all of Downtown Roseburg.

I have to brag a little bit...When Hans completed his year long probation and was officially hired on, him and the two guys he graduated with made this shield as a gift to the department. Hans painted the flag on the helmet and it looks so cool! I almost forget how talented of an artist he is until I see some of his work. 

Well, now it's late Sunday night and I enjoyed my weekend but I sure am glad to have Hans coming home tomorrow for a few days. One more shift this week and then he is off for a week. Woohoo!!!