Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Busy Weekend, Snow and Farmer's Market





Time sure has been flying by! I cannot believe how hard it is to get on here and gather my thoughts enough to type out our doings, ways and wonders! Speaking of wonders, it's been a crazy winter wonderland outside as of late! We initially had about 5 or so inches of snow and then it was topped with ice. Today I took four of the children for a dental appointment and I was amazed how the landscape was one solid sheet of ice. I had tempting thoughts of skating across the farmer's fields by our house. I didn't, of course, as I would have whined about how cold and wet I was or how I broke my hand again. Ick!




So, we've had fun with the snow. Maybe I should re-phrase that so you'll understand. The children had fun outside in the snow but I had my fun inside while dispersing learning into the theme. We watched the Little House Survival movie as well as talked of how to survive in a blizzard. Funny as it seems, some things aren't so far fetched. We've been heating with our wood stove so I made use of it and have cooked much of our food there. I had the children to copy a few poems dealing with snow. The oldest has been making beautiful paper snowflakes and is getting ready to share in the craft with the younger ones. We made snow cream as well. It was pretty tasty, albeit a little hard to harvest the snow with the layer of ice coating the top. We studied a bit on weather and, as much as I could, went over how snow is made. I really think I'd like to find a good weather unit to study with the crew. I've had a weather center on my want list for a time. That was so neat!


On Saturday we had a super busy day. First off we went to the scrap metal place and James sold some copper he saves from jobs he's worked at. We went to church and had breakfast, prayer and then went out on church visitation. Once this was over we went out for a bite to eat. We ate at Zaxby's. We'd never been there before so we were oohing and ahhhing the interior of the place and then savoured our meals. You can tell we don't get out much. Ha-ha! We encountered another nice family while there. The dad of that family talked of how great it is to meet another family who knows what it takes to be rich. He was talking of our large family, of course. :)

After we ate there we made a quick stop in Goodwill and then headed off to the SC Farmer's Market. It was bitter cold out and we had hunch that there wouldn't be many vendors out. We were right. :( We did buy 50 pounds of potatoes at $10. Also, we bought a bushel each of green apples and tangerines. We picked up a small basket each of jalapenos and tomatoes as well. I am hoping that on the first warm Saturday we can head back out and be able to stock up on some more produce. I have yet to do it but tomorrow I need to lay out the potatoes on the attic floor. I'll have to take a picture when I do.
With the apples we have been having skillet apples and I hope to use the rest of them to make apple pies and apple sauce. I may dry some apples in the dehydrator for some sweet snacks as well. We are eating the tangerines quickly but if I have extra left I may section those off and fill a freezer bag for snacks later.
I'd like to save some of the zest as well to make orange flavored cakes as well.





This morning I took four of the children for dental checkups. It was the first time for us to get out on the roads after the storm. The trickiest part was getting out of our driveway. Once we were done with the dentist we stopped off at a thrift shop and then to Dollar General. We ran by the bank and then headed on home.

We've had lunch and now it's time for some quiet time for me and the littles! I am in hopes that once I'm back up I can hang another load of clothes, start supper, clean the kitchen and get us ready for church services tonight. Have a great wintry evening in the Lord!

3 comments:

April said...

Getting out sounds good, even if it is the dentist! Your studies sound fun!3 days of snow/ice is quite enough for me!! :)

Cheryl said...

I like your idea of freezing tangerines. I tried to can some last year after visiting my in-laws, bad idea as they were yucky.

You have been busy. We generally start buying potatoes in May or so when the ones we harvested in the fall are too wrinkly to use.

Have a great day and stay safe as you go out on the ice.

~Cheryl

Dana said...

You sound busy in spite of the bad weather!!

Curious about the Little House Survival Movie, can you give me more details?

Thanks!!
Dana