Last week was a week filled with visitors.
Kayla and Jasper were here for two overnights. Jasper was all about watering my flowers. Kayla discovered that she loves having a wand for watering as Jasper can control that a little better.
I had a blog reader ask if there was anything special I do for my flowers. I use Jack’s Classic Petunia Feed. You can find it HERE. I use it once a week on any planter that had Supertunia’s in them. I use regular Miracle Grow once a week on the rest of my flowers. Other than that, I water regularly…in August that means about every 36 hours.
Kayla was making… the most of her last few days of freedom. For those of you who don’t know, Kayla left her teaching job and is going back to school for computers. School for her starts this week. It is supposed to be an intense boot camp so she’s a little nervous. She has had to pick and choose the things she can continue with. So…her moonlighting on helping people with blogs and tech stuff has come to a close. I had to “beg” (not really) her to continue to help me.
I hope she loves the new adventure. She is going to miss the school kids but is really looking forward to a new direction where she can be at home with Jasper more and have a more flexible schedule.
I had some of my old childcare kiddos here last week too. Their regular childcare provider was on vacation so they hung out here with me. Carver was in heaven to have his bestie hanging here.  I loved it too.
The two boys spent Thursday edging the neighbor’s sidewalk. The owner doesn’t have a house on the empty lot and she didn’t mind…they actually did a great job with the section they did.
Check out Carver’s dirty-dirty feet. They did the edging completely unprovoked. Carver had helped me do my sidewalk a couple of weeks earlier and loved the look so wanted to extend it into the neighbor’s walk.
I wrote a little Facebook post about the boys:
“New Business in Waucoma:
Reicks Friedman Lawn Edging Services
Will work for freeze pops. They have been at this for over an hour completely unprovoked.”
Who says town kids don’t get dirty!!
I got my first dose of fresh salsa. Oh my. I love this stuff. It’s often my lunch of choice. I can eat tomatoes night and day and be perfectly content. Honestly, my favorite food is probably tomatoes.
I also made my first batch of Yard Sauce for the year. HERE is the recipe if you missed it. I cooked it all up, processed it, and froze it. I kept enough out, doctored it up, and called it tomato basil soup. I’ll share what I did in another blog post coming up.
I was completely out of my normal routine last week which was kind of fun. If days run into days, life gets a little boring. Seeing Kayla and Jasper, hanging out with the childcare kiddos, and tackling the tomatoes all added the little change I needed to keep life interesting.
“Canned”, red sauce,( I’m orginulially from New Jersey, it’s red sauce). I use crock pots, as many as needed, all from thrift shops. Cur & core tomatoes, no peeling, no seeding. Into crocks with 1 half to 1 cup of water. Cover, set on high. Every 2/3 hours remove as much water as possible, discard. It’s red but it’s water! Cook for 8 to 10 hours, i start in am & turn down to liw iver night. As toms collapse I move to larger crocks. When completely cooked doen I use a ‘boat motor’, blender, immersion, to blend down to sauce. Usually put in a 15 oz., can of tomatoe paste , blend in with any seasonings/spices you prefer. Heat to fairly hot to blend flavors. Fill 3/4 full , quart zip locks, lay into 8 inch alun.pans, stack & freeze. NO HOT KITCHEN. I’ve done this for years , this sauce is just right for my needs. Easy peasy. No watched pots, pans, clocks. Just making sure to check red water time to time. I’ve even turned down cricks & left to do errands or ???. Turned up next day or when ever.
Good for Kayla! It must be hard to give up teaching, but I guess so many teachers are doing that about now. I’m sure she will be great at school. Carver and friend so cute doing their “job.” Yes city kids whose roots are farming can get dirty. To me it is a sign of good times. Your salsa looks mighty good as does your yard sauce.
I’m with you on those tomatoes – morning, noon, and night! And I love seeing all the kiddos doing outdoor stuff – there is plenty of time for dealing with computers and electronics later in life.
What fun those two boys are having and getting their feet super dirty. I wish Kayla good luck with her new adventure in school. I have made your “yard sauce” a few times and it is tasty in so many winter dishes.
I love the dirty feet. That is me all the way. I hate wearing shoes especially in the summer. I always had the dirtiest feet growing up. Still do.