Picking Wildflowers and Canning

One of the joys of living in the country, is that we're surrounded by beautiful wildflowers.  They are everywhere, bringing pops of color here and there.

So when I want to bring some of that prettiness inside, all I need to do is step outside with a basket and some scissors.

As I gather flowers here and there, I watch the butterflies fluttering around, the bees buzzing around and the birds chirping as they fly from tree to tree, curious as to what I'm doing.

"Each flower is a soul opening out to nature."

- Gerald De Nerval

I now have various jars with the pretties pink, purple and yellow flowers, sitting on windowsills, coffee tables and shelves.

"To pick a flower is so much more satisfying than just observing it, or photographing it ... So in later years, I have grown in my garden as many flowers as possible for children to pick."

- Anne Scott-James 

Aside from the wildflower picking, I've also been in my kitchen, canning quite a bit.  I was blessed to find tomatoes at a very good price and since I was completely out of my tomato jam, I rolled up my sleeves and go to canning.

By the way, I've been asked a few times what the jam is like as I know it's not exactly something very common here in the States.  I think the closest I can maybe compare it too would be an Apple Butter kind of taste.  So if you like apple butter, you will most certainly enjoy it.

My daughter's boyfriend absolutely loves my tomato jam and goes through jars of it, like crazy.  I had promised him I would send him some next time I made it, so I made a few extra jars for him.  Or rather, I didn't, because Jasmine has been asking to learn and this was the perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.

She made a whole batch by herself and it came out beautiful and delicious too.  She was so proud of her jam, and I was proud of her for showing incentive and learning. I've often said that I want my children to learn my recipes, especially family ones that have been passed down from generation to generation.

It's so incredibly delicious, especially on toast with butter. 

I've also been busy with meal planning and bill paying and life in general.

As we get closer to Fall, life seems to take on a whole new routine.  Isn't it funny how there are season specific activities and chores?

For us, we're getting ready to harvest our pecans, which are pretty close to being completely ready.  We didn't get a harvest last year, but this year the 5 trees are filled, so I'm quite eager to get in there and harvest as much as we can before the squirrels and birds get to them.

One thing I plan on making this year, aside from the obligatory Pecan Pies for Thanksgiving, is Pecan Butter.  It is so good and I don't think it gets the attention and recognition it truly deserves.

We've also been chopping wood and getting our wood pile ready for the cold months ahead, I plan on using my central heating as little as possible, without freezing of course, but being in Texas that is not likely to happen anyway.

School is going well for Nicholas.  He is taking Sign Language this year and is loving every minute of it, I am too, to be honest.  It's fascinating and so interesting.  One of his first projects was to make a video of himself saying hello, fingerspelling his first and last name, saying that he is Hearing and then ending with Nice to Meet You.

We had some good laughs because he kept getting confused, or mixing up letters.  But it was such a cool project to do and we had a great time learning together.

Jasmine is still looking for work, she's put in for a lot of different places, but so far nothing has come up, which she is finding extremely frustrating.  She's decided to take a year off before going to college, as well as moving to Arkansas.

Curt is doing great at his work, he has his first class and is loving it too.  He really was born to teach, I believe.

I'm doing well, I'm just living and homemaking and caring for my husband and children.  Time goes by so fast and I honestly thought that as school started things would slow down a bit, but it's never the case is it?  There's always something to be done and before you know it, a whole week has whizzed by in the blink of an eye.

Yesterday we went to watch my nephew's first Freshman Football Game.  He is doing so well, and it's a big achievement coming from South Africa and now playing Football in High School.  So proud of him :)

You see my friends, even though I say that everything is so busy and time is going too fast, I try to live life to the absolute fullest, soaking in every second of every day, and making it all count.  It really is the only way to live.

I'm going to end this post by leaving you my grocery haul.  I've been asked quite a few times the past few months, to please continue with the grocery haul videos, and even though I usually don't have the time to do it because I basically get home and quickly need to get things put away before running back out for one thing or another......I had a pretty quiet morning today, so was able to record it for you.



If you enjoy it and would like to watch future hauls, be sure to subscribe to my Youtube channel.

Have a beautiful, restful blessed Friday night :)