Look what I made

Over the past while josh and I have been committed to buying locally, handmade and fresh. So as part of that we have decided to make as much as possible for ourselves. This has involved learning many new skills which have included bread making(without a bread maker) sewing my own clothes, raising hens, growing a garden and most recently canning. Kristen and I went berry picking on Thursday and got a ton of blueberries and raspberries. The next morning I made my first ever batches of blueberry and raspberry jam. guess what? They turned out perfectly:) I used the no sugar needed pectin and added only 1 1/2 cups of sugar per batch which is much better than the 7 cups per batch with regular pectin. We will be getting 300 lbs of peaches and 100 lbs. of pears in the next few weeks so that should keep me busy for a few days:)

crafting

Since it has been like 90 degrees(that's Fahrenheit Liz)all I've done is hang out at the beach and sew. The kids only have 3 weeks left until school starts and they all need new kit bags. So we headed to the mall to check them out and once I saw the $30+ price tags I knew I'd be making them instead of buying them. It then required a trip to the fabric store(woohoo) where I found 100% wool for $1 a meter yes that's right $1 A METER!!!! The first messenger bag I made was a little big for the kids so I guess I'll be forced to use it:) but the second turned out awesome. It is a grey wool outer with a skull and cross bones fabric on the inside. Noah loves it and thinks he looks pretty cool with his new bag. now there are only 3 more to do but since I know how they go together they should only take about an hour or two each to make. I am going to make the younger ones lunch bags too but I'll spare Nesta and let him paper bag.

I have made a few purses for myself( A girl can never have too many purses) and a few pairs of PJ pants($1.50 a pair) But the best so far has been the shirt I made for Paige last night. It was so simple, it only took me about an hour to make and all materials cost me no more than $1.50 a meter. I love bargain priced fabrics!.

Wow it's been a while

I can't belsive it has been almost a month since I last updated my blog. Things have been very busy on this little island of ours. We finished the chicken coop and moved them in. I'd say we have some pretty happy birds. We were on tv yesterday being interviewed about having chickens in the city. We were pleased to find out that our neighbours and the mayor of Charlottetown are OK with our chickens and in fact some of our neighbours are quite happy about it.

The garden is doing quite well, although some things never quite made it past the sprout stage. We do have sugar snap peas, beans,corn ,zuccini, squash, beats, turnips, cucumbers, a few brussell sprouts and brocoli but this year we have TONS of carrrots which is something we couldn't grow last year. We did decide that our garden is a little bigger than we need so we are going to move it to the side yard next year and try the square foot gardening. I love thae garden and spending time in it. I never thought I would enjoy it so much.

What kept us the bussiest was having my mom here for 10 days. We spent some time driving around, enjoying all the beauty of this little island. We had quite a bit of rain and that ment my mom was able to teach Paige and I how to knit. I have to admit that Paige is a better knitter than I am, her tension is perfect. When the sun was shinning we were at the beach. I think this was the kids favorite part of her visit. It was nice for me too. The kids got to play in the water and it gave my mom and I time to hang out and talk. Paige got a special trip with grandma. They headed downtown on the bus and while downtown they had a fish and chip lunch and did some shopping at the Anne of green gables store. It seemed that the 10 days just flew bye. Before we knew it we were dropping my mom off at the airport and saying good-bye(with just a few tears)

Now we are getting ready to have Josh's parents here for 12 days. I am looking forward to having time alone with Josh. He was able to get his vacation at the same time so we plan on making a trip to the temple and taking a day or two to do the PEI antique circuit. I am sure it is going to be another busy month!

Our Canada Day

This was the first year we celebrated Canada Day downtown. Back home we never went downtown because most of the time the streets were filled with loud drunk people so it was a nice change to be able to head downtown and enjoy the festivities. We saw some guys doing some crazy pogo stick tricks and a guy who swallowed fire. We also got to see the animals at the petting zoo and got our picture taken with the Olympic mascots. Paige was able to get her face painted and looked super cute. A trip downtown just wouldn't be complete without a trip to cows so we waited in the long line for our super duper chocolaty and bubble gummy ice cream cones. I think Sam wore more than he ate. We had a great time and I think we might plan to do even more next year.

One of my favorite recipes

Last night we had a curry chicken but I had less time than usual to make it since the kiddies were having something different. So I through a can of coconut milk and 2 TBS of curry paste into a pot and let it heat up. I browned the chicken put it in an oven proof pan and covered it with the coconut milk and curry paste. Put the rice in the rice cooker and walked away and let it cook for 30 min. Through some vegies in the frying pan with some salt and pepper and about 5 min later we were ready to eat. Simple quick and delish.

P.S I feel kind of bad thinking this was such a good meal and sharing it after my post about the "girls"

new pics of the girls

Hi everyone it has been a week since I last updated my blog butyoucan blame the "girls " for that. They have kept me busy with cleaning their brooder, feeding them and just hanging out with them. Our littlest one "chitty" has been pasted up(his vent is blocked with poop) so I have been cleaning him and cuddling with her all day. He is sooooo sweet. She lays on my chest and falls asleep. When she's in the brooder with the other chicks she sticks her little head under their wings and cuddles up to them.

All the birds have gotten much bigger over the past week. They fly from one end of the brooder to the other and they were even chasing a fly around today. They are alot of work but they are so worth it.

the "girls" are here

Well we finally got our chicks. Last night we drove just over an hour to an organic fam to pick up our chicks. We got 4 New Hampshire, 4 Delaware and 4 Americana also known as easter eggers due to the blue eggs that they lay. I must say they are sooooo cute. They are 2 weeks old and seem to be adjusting very well. At first they would all scatter to the back of the cage when you looked inside, then they would back up only if you opened the cage but now they are coming closer to us when the cage is open. They spend alot of time sleeping. But when they sleep they lay all over each other and some even sleep standing up. There is already a pecking order, you can tell which ones are at the top although they aren't mean to the others they are deffinately more pushy. They don't poop as much as I thought they would but they do drink alot more than I expected. Paige is very attached to them already in fact she picked the smallest one to be "hers" It is a delaware and she has named her Peace. Hopefully it is a hen or there will be alot of tears shed.