Sorry.  I just didn’t know a different way to say it.  Well, I knew one other way to say it, but that was even less appropriate.

We had this particular probably pop up this year with our new tumbler compost bin.  I wasn’t used to it, since we hadn’t had that happen before (at least that I noticed) with our inexpensive homemade compost bin (which we are still using as well).  When it first happened, I ignored it.  But, the next time I went out to add in some things and spin it, I almost thought I was going to get sick.  Not good.

So, just in case you run into that problem too, I thought I would share how to help that issue.

Help!  My Compost Bin Stinks!

If your compost has a poop smell, it probably means that you have too much green material (which isn’t all green, of course, but includes things like your banana peels and apple cores, as well as things like grass clippings).  These things add a lot of nitrogen to your compost bin.  Another issue may be that your compost is too wet.  (It should be damp, but not wet.)  When I had this problem, both of these things worked together to cause the issue.

The best way to combat this issue is to add more brown material, which is high in carbon. In a house of five family members, one of our favorite brown materials is the cardboard paper tubes from toilet paper.  These used to go to our recycling, but now they pretty much exclusively are composted.  We also add in things like newspaper (best to use ones that aren’t glossy or super colorful), paper towel, and shredded paper.  Another fabulous brown material addition at this time of year are Autumn leaves.  (The live leaves are green material, but dead leaves are brown material.)  It is best to try to shred some brown materials before adding them into your compost.

Even if you aren’t having a smell issue, it’s still best to try to keep a nice mix of both green and brown materials in your composting bin.  Just remember – your compost should not smell bad.  If it does, it’s definitely time to consider if you’ve been adding too much of one type of material.

Do you have a compost bin/pile?  What things do you find you are most often adding?

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What to Do When Your Compost Bin Smells Like Poop is a post from: Many Little Blessings

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The 12th of the month has come and gone, and that means that it’s time for 12 of 12 again. For 12 of 12, I take at least 12 pictures on the 12th of the month, in order to give a small snapshot of our lives.  Then, I pick the 12 that I want to share in a collage.  (Shh…this month, I barely managed to squeak by with exactly 12 pictures taken.  Whew!)

1: Having gone to Mass on Saturday night, I spent all morning (literally) asleep.  I took a snapshot of my iPhone screen when I finally rolled out of bed.  Oh yeah, that’s right.  12:59 pm.

2: We just got a treadmill!  Sure, it may not be the most beautiful thing to have in our living room, but we’ve been using it often.  Even if each of us isn’t using it everyday, there has always been at least a few people to use it every day.  Bonus!

3: Yum!  Eric had taco salad fixings ready when I finally got out of bed.  (He used this taco salad recipe, except he used very lean ground turkey instead of ground beef.)

4: Of course, here is the monthly temperature snapshot.  It was a beautiful 73 degrees.  (This is actually 13 degrees cooler than on May 12th.)

5: There was an awful lot of discussion on the 12th about the contents of my computer screen here.  It’s a Fort Wilderness Cabin at Walt Disney World.  Could the kids’ first trip to Disney World be in the future?

6 & 7: If I just told you that our garden was gorgeously green, you might be jealous.  Don’t be jealous though — look at how green it is from weeds and grasses.  Yikes!

8 & 9: We weeded and weeded.  Then we weeded some more.  I was glad that the kids are all old enough to help, though some were considerably more helpful than others.

10, 11, & 12: My babies, in their jammies watching a movie in our playroom.  They needed the break after the busy day of weeding, and then shopping (no pictures!) for wood for their woodworking projects for 4-H.

Whew!  I’m glad that I managed to have taken 12 pictures, but that was pretty close.  I usually have a little more variety.  But, I guess our day didn’t really have that much variety, though it was busy.

Want to participate in 12 of 12?

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June 2011: 12 of 12 is a post from: Many Little Blessings

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~ 1 ~

This is the beginning of our second summer with a grape arbor. I’ll love it when we actually have grapes.  But, for right now, check this out:

~ 2 ~

We have one day of school left for this school year!  Yes — just one!

Yes, of course, we will be learning all summer long.  We may even have some official days of school.  We will be busily working on 4-H projects.  We will learn by experiences.  (We will even be doing math at least a couple of times a week.)

But, Thursday marked 179 instructional day for the 2010 – 2011 school year, and I am awaiting the end of school tomorrow with great anticipation.

~ 3 ~

I have yet to really start planning for next school year. I do have some things planned out already, but other things are still kind of up in the air.  I have, again, run into the problem that I often run into — it doesn’t seem like there is enough time to do all of the things that I think we need to do, plus all of the things that I would like to do.

I wonder if people ever just up and totally change their homeschooling philosophy.  I have thought that other methods sound really great sometimes, but I think I may just be the way that I am and run schooling the way that I run it.

~ 4 ~

Know what one of the most fun and unexpected things that we did for school this week?  Went and pet sharks, that’s what.  (Just wish I had a better picture, but I don’t.)

~ 5 ~

This week, I was dealing with a bunch of itching and hot upper arms mostly in the evenings.  Sometimes they would get red and rash like.  I was not pleased, at all, as you can imagine.  I took two Benadryl the first night that it happened.  I then found myself sleeping in my recliner about four hours later.

The next night, I had the same thing happen.  The night after that, it seemed pretty mild and then all of the sudden really flared up and was the worst it had been.  I had been concerned it was from the weight loss program that I’m using, since there were some mentions of it happening to other people on their message boards.

I kept trying to think of what I had eaten on all of those days that I might not have eaten on other days.  Finally, I realized (and then did some extensive web reading) that it might be because I tried Splenda for the first time on the day when it happened.  I had used it on all of those days.  I didn’t really mind not using it, so the past two days, I made sure not to have anything with Splenda in it.

So far, so good.  I have had some slight itching on my arms (though I tend to have kind of itchy arms anyway).  From what I read, if it was a reaction to it, it might take a little while to get rid of the itching.  But, I’m hopeful, especially since it has gotten so much better without it.

~ 6 ~

I haven’t worked on any art projects since I went to a scrapbooking bed and breakfast at the end of April/beginning of May. That’s starting to make me feel a little sad.  (I have actually worked on some design work since then, which is like art.  But, not quite so free form.  And, I miss that it doesn’t make my hands all painty.)

I have become increasingly aware of the fact that the only way I will make that work a priority is if I schedule a particular evening a week as a “check in on the computer, but then walk away and work on art” kind of night.  Or, even if I don’t feel like I can commit to every week, at least every other week.

How do you find time for art, crafts, or any other projects that you want to do?

~ 7 ~

Some of my lovely, caring, beautiful friends sent me an Amazon gift card this week, plus left me sweet messages. I was pretty overwhelmed.  Honestly – when I got their gift, I had to stand up, walk away from the computer, and then take some deep breaths in the other room.  I’m generally pretty tough on myself, so those kinds of things always really get me – no matter what the amount.

Oh, and seriously — if anyone ever tells you that online friends can’t be real friends, they are just mistaken.

Of course, I do now have one small dilemma. Use the gift card on myself and things from my own Amazon wishlist or use it toward buying some homeschool materials for next school year.  (Shhh…I’m leaning toward just getting things for myself.)

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7 Quick Takes: May 20, 2011 (Vol. 81) is a post from: Many Little Blessings

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~ 1 ~

We have continued with another week of sickness.  I’m really ready for Spring and the hopes of everyone being well again.

While the kids and I were out this week, someone that I haven’t seen in probably around four years saw us at the store.  She came around the corner and said, “I thought I heard your voice!” I wasn’t really sure what to think about that, considering that my voice sounds like a total sick voice.  I couldn’t help but wonder, “Is this really what you remember my voice sounding like?”  Yikes!

~ 2 ~

We are officially not behind the times.  Well, at least as far as our television goes, that is.  I have felt a bit freakish for a while that we don’t have DVR or Tivo or anything like that.  I didn’t mind, although it did sound like something that would be fun to have.

Well, we now have DVR!

Here’s the thing though — we only got it because while canceling our fax line, I told Eric to ask the cable company if there were any deals that might lower our bill.  What they came up with was a plan that is more channels and includes a DVR, plus it lowered our bill (and not just by a little bit either).  We do have to sign a contract for two years, but considering that I now have guaranteed that our bill will be less than it is now for the next two years (plus extras), I say, “Awesome!”

~ 3 ~

We now have a new challenge — figuring out how to use a DVR.

~ 4 ~

I think that my only new addition to my Etsy shop this week was the following TTV-style photograph titled “Tiny Dancer”:

"Tiny Dancer" 8x8 TTV-style Print

~ 5 ~

While we still have our homemade composter, we bought a tumbler style composter that they had at our local Sam’s Club for only $100. (They also had another type of composter for just under $40.)  The only bad thing about it was that there was “some assembly required.”  When something takes Eric around 2 1/2 hours to assemble, that’s definitely some assembly required.

I’m excited to have two composters to let one just cook and break down while we’re daily adding things to the other one.

(I read on another website that they have the same type of one at Costco for that price as well.)

~ 6 ~

Why is it that I always get stuck on item number six on the quick takes list? It seems odd that if I ever get stuck, it is most often on number six.

A haiku for item number six:

You vex me so, Six.
Why do I always get stuck?
With this, you are done.

~ 7 ~

Eric and I have made some plans for what to give up for Lent (and what to add).  In theory, sitting in Culver’s, it all sounded good.  I’ll post about it next week once I’m sure that we really are serious.  It will also mark the first time where we’re going to get the kids involved in giving up/adding things in a more serious way than before.

If you observe Lent, have you decided what to give up or add?

This post is linked to 7 Quick Takes and Weekly Wrap Up.

7 Quick Takes: March 4, 2011 (Vol. 73) is a post from: Many Little Blessings

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~ 1 ~

Apparently this is the year of the U-Pick Farms in our house.  We had never taken the kids to any U-Pick farms prior to this year.  However, in the early summer, we went to the strawberry patch (where they kids were less than helpful).  Then, this week, we went an apple orchard where you could pick your own apples (for $.75/pound).

The kids had a good time, and we got plenty of exercise walking around while picking.  Plus, we got to try a couple of types of apples that we haven’t had before and some yummy apple cider.

Oh yeah — and it was a school field trip!

~ 2 ~

The kids were not so thrilled that they still did all of their language arts assignments for the day, as well as their math lesson.

I’m a kill joy like that.

~ 3 ~

I officially have one of my favorite playlists ever on my iPod.  I used the Genius feature to build a playlist of songs that went with “Just Like Heaven” by the Cure.  It made for a nice listen on the way to and from the apple orchard.

~ 4 ~

I have had a strong urge to work on some more things for my Etsy shop (Just a Tiny Owl) lately.  Or, even if not for my Etsy shop, just to do some creative work.  I guess I just feel like creating.

Do you ever feel that way?

~ 5 ~

Want to know a soda secret?

I’m back to drinking soda.  Yeah, I know — it’s not good.  But, it’s mostly just when we’re out.  So, at least I’ll take some comfort into the fact that it’s a lot better than when we always had a ton of it at home.  Plus, I’m drinking a ton of water.

That’s got to count for something, right?

~ 6 ~

I fear that this is my most boring quick takes ever.  I apologize.

(I, apparently, don’t apologize enough to just erase it and start over.)

~ 7 ~

“Be patient with everyone, but above all with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections but instantly set about remedying them – every day begin the task anew.” – St. Francis de Sales

This post is linked to 7 Quick Takes and Weekly Wrap Up.

7 Quick Takes: October 1, 2010 (Vol. 55) is a post from: Many Little Blessings

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~ 1 ~

This week, Molly started in the religious education program at our parish, since she’s in kindergarten now.  She was so excited, especially since she is in class with her two BFFs.

Yes, my five year old does call her best girlfriends her “BFFs.”

~ 2 ~

Because I don’t spend enough time online (or something like that) between this blog, The Homeschool Classroom, and Catholic Mothers Online, on top of twitter and Facebook, and then all of the random clicking that seems to lead me in a maze around the only world, I have been pretty seriously considering starting another blog.

Yeah, I know.

Still, I’ve been thinking about it.  Enough to have bought a domain name.

~ 3 ~

I officially love the Mozilla Firefox add on “Easy Comment.” I can’t remember where I first read about it.  Maybe it was Oh Amanda.  (If not, you can go check out her blog anyway, okay?)

Perhaps I’ll be writing on that fourth blog with all the time I now save not having to fill out all of the name/blog/email fields when leaving comments. They now fill in with the click of a button.

Love it!

~ 4 ~

Why is it that as a 33 year old woman, I have had more pimples in the last few years than I did throughout all of my teen years?  There is just something so wrong about it.  I am, however, getting a lot of sympathy from my 11 year old who is just starting to get pimples from time to time.

Know what makes an 11 year old boy with a lot of sensory issues crazy?  Pimples.  (Poor kiddo!)

~ 5 ~

I was sitting on the porch on Thursday, staring out at our vegetable garden.  I feel like I have been a gardening flunkie this year.  We have just left it alone so much.  I have overgrown areas, some dead plants, things that need to be picked that haven’t been, and lots of weeds popping up.  It kind of makes me want to just go out and pull everything out.

But, you know what?  On my overgrown basil plant, we have lots of butterfly visitors.  It seems like they love the flowers on the basil plant.  So, I may have weeds, but I also have butterflies. I guess life is a lot like that, huh?

~ 6 ~

I got to number six on this list, and I hit a road block.  I have stared at number six for about 30 minutes.

Number six, you’re done now.

~ 7 ~

I keep thinking that I would love to have a camper of some sort, and the kids seem pretty keen on the idea too.  Every time I really think it’s a great idea though, we have a conversation like this:

Molly: We could go camping in Florida!

Jack: Yeah!  That would be so cool!

Me: You know where would be really cool to go camping?  Wisconsin!

Molly (with a voice that says Mom doesn’t know anything): You can’t really go camping in Wisconsin.

Jack: Yeah, there are things like bats and ticks in Wisconsin.

It’s conversations like that that make me think we might be destined to be hotel people forever.

This post is linked to 7 Quick Takes and Weekly Wrap Up.

7 Quick Takes: August 27, 2010 (Vol. 50) is a post from: Many Little Blessings

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~ 1 ~

Very soon, we will be having a Chuck E. Cheese birthday party (for Jack and Noah) where there will be right around 20 children.  Yes, that’s a two and a zero.  So much for homeschool kids being unsocialized.

On a funny note, I think it’s a sign that they’re homeschooled as none of the guests are relatives of ours (all friends), yet the ages of the children attending will range from several children who are about to start kindergarten to the oldest two children attending about to start 7th and 8th grade.

~ 2 ~

Molly (age 5) declared that she needed to prepare for the boys’ birthday party.  She then dropped to the floor and began doing push ups.

Who knows what she was thinking.  Apparently Chuck E. was formerly a drill sergeant, and Molly just wants to be ready.  (That girl is just a hoot!)

~ 3 ~

The children have now officially attended their very first county fair!

We rode rides (the Tilt-a-Whirl was everyone’s favorite), ate tasty food (“Hello rib eye sandwiches and elephant ears!”), saw all kinds of animals, and got to look all through the 4-H exhibits.  Jack was thrilled to find that he got an extra ribbon on one of his posters that is going to the state fair.

~ 4 ~

I prepared eggplant for the first time ever, making these Eggplant Parm Rolls that I had while I was at Blissdom.  It was a little time intensive, but it was very tasty.  And, the best part to me was that we grew the eggplant, zucchini, and basil that the recipe called for.  Yeah, Garden!

~ 5 ~

Eric just downloaded his grades for this past semester and he got A’s in both of his classes.  He was thrilled, and we all gave him hugs and kudos.  This semester put him just about half way done with his bachelors degree as well as giving him a total GPA of just over 3.8 (out of 4.0).

None too shabby for the guy whose first college attempt transcripts gave me a cold chill up my spine.

Clearly this college success has made him insane though, as he just couldn’t help himself but to look into a Masters degree program that would work well for him, even though he has several years left (since he just goes part time) on his undergraduate work.

Apparently he doesn’t remember that my Master’s degree is just sitting in a filing cabinet — I would be happy to share with him.

~ 6 ~

Last week, I wrote in my 7 Quick Takes that I was looking forward to a quiet and uneventful weekend, as I hadn’t had that in such a long time.  Then, thinking better of actually putting that in writing, I deleted that line.

Apparently I didn’t hit delete quickly enough.

On Friday of last week, my minivan died.  It ended up needing to be towed to the repair center.  Ironically, we already had an appointment on Monday morning for maintenance service.  It ended up that the alternator had died.  Over $600 later (includes that maintenance service), I’m back to driving again.

Of course, before the weekend could be done though, I also spent about five hours in the ER with my Mom for a leg infection and bronchitis.  Poor Mom!

~ 7 ~

I ordered several books that I needed for the kids for this coming school year.  I also added in the book Whoopie Pies.  I haven’t had a chance to make any yet, but oh my goodness — these look so tasty!  I can’t wait for a reason (or even a non-reason) to try out some of the recipes.

Do you have any favorite single topic cookbooks?

This post is linked to 7 Quick Takes and Weekly Wrap Up.

7 Quick Takes: July 23, 2010 (Vol. 46) is a post from: Many Little Blessings

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photo by Joe Lanman

~ 1 ~

This is now the third month in a row where I have spent a week (or more) out of state.  Quite frankly, I’m pretty exhausted now.  I have been admonishing myself for getting so far behind in many things in my life (online and offline).  But, I guess when I have spent about 25% of my time away since April, it’s just bound to happen.

I think my plan is to be at home as much as possible in July, though I will, of course, be attending the Savvy Blogging Summit in Colorado.  (But, unlike all of my previous trips in the last few months, I’ll be making it a solo trip.)

~ 2 ~

On Thursday, I picked up two new pairs of glasses.  These are my first new glasses in about seven years or so.  I suspect it’s going to take some getting used to.  I’m pretty psyched to actually own two pairs of glasses though — one of my fears is always that my glasses will break when I’m on a trip.  So, now I’ll be sure to bring an extra pair with me!

The glasses that I have now are quite a bit different from my old glasses, so hopefully everyone else will get used to the new ones too.  I saw Molly’s gymnastics teacher out and after saying hi, she immediately asked if I had new glasses.

~ 3 ~

On Sunday of this week, I spent three hours weeding my Grandma’s garden along with two of my sisters.  I would not have anticipated that the afternoon would have been as amusing as it was.  We decided that we all looked like hippies on a commune.  I also often lamented the fact that when sweat drips in your eye, it hurts like crazy.

We were so excited with the hard work that we had done that we had to wake Papa up to show him the garden.  Poor Papa!

~ 4 ~

I have decided that I need either an online assistant or a Mother’s helper with some mad Internet skills.

Have you ever had a Mother’s Helper?

I once worked as one in college.  I felt like I probably wasn’t much of a help, but the Mom always seemed excited for me to come over.  I always thought that she just wanted someone to hang out with because she was lonely.

~ 5 ~

I picked up the coolest thing at Walmart a couple of weeks ago — a cooling mat for my laptop by Targus.  Love this thing!  It sure beats using one of the kids’ oversized books as a laptop mat.  By the time I would be done using the laptop (away from my desk), my lap would be warm, the laptop would be warm, and so would the book that I had it sitting on.

So, while I was away a couple of weekends ago, I bought this cooling mat with fans (it is cheaper on Amazon than when I got it).  Too, too cool.  (Ha!  Get it?)

~ 6 ~

It’s probably a sign that a person is really tired when they have to stop writing their 7 Quick Takes to take a break before writing out item number six.  This break takes place at 1 am and involves closing of the eyes and the wish that someone would just carry that person to bed.

You know, theoretically.

~ 7 ~

I decided to be adventurous this week, and I finally tried sushi that had raw fish in it.  I have stuck with things likecucumber rolls and California rolls until Wednesday when I finally had a salmon roll.  It took a lot of courage, but I actually enjoyed it.  Go figure.

Although, I do have to admit that when I get sushi from the Thai/Japanese restaurant that we enjoy so much, I will probably still cop out and mostly stick to the California rolls.

When was the last time that you tried a food that you were leery of?  Did you like it?

This post is linked to 7 Quick Takes and Weekly Wrap Up.

7 Quick Takes: June 25, 2010 (Vol. 44) is a post from: Many Little Blessings

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~ 1 ~

This week, my kids attended Vacation Bible School.  They had such a good time!  Can I just admit that I am such a softie that I get choked up watching all of the kids at VBS dancing and singing about things like God being their hero? It’s just so wonderful to see.

Of course, it was also fun to see one of our priests stick his whole face in a whipped cream pie.  The kids at VBS, as you can imagine, went insane over this.

~ 2 ~

After reading about them extensively on Sycamore Stirrings, I finally got to try macarons this week.  Holy cow!  They were delicious!

Every time I have seen them online (at a few different places), I have thought that I would just have to make them to be able to try them.  So, I was excited to actually see them in the freezer case at Trader Joe’s.

Now, I’m thinking that I really have to have this macaron cookbook.  I already had it on my wishlist, but now I really want it.

~ 3 ~

Apparently despite having lots of cookbooks, I’m in the mood for some cookbooks, as I just noticed that these are all of  the most recent additions to my Amazon wishlist:

Hmmm…maybe I’m looking on Amazon too often when I’m hungry.

~ 4 ~

We still need to work on 4-H projects. I’m praying that we’ll make some progress on them over the next week or so.  If we don’t seriously get down to work soon, we’ll be headed to the county fair empty handed.  How in the world did we put this off so long?

~ 5 ~

I had an eye exam last June (June 25, 2009, to be exact).  It was my eye exam in about seven years or so, and my prescription had changed.

Why does this warrant being a quick take?  Well, it’s probably the fact that I ordered glasses from this prescription — about two days ago.  I have a few guesses why I put it off so long, but now it does seem at least a tiny bit foolish that I waited so long that my glasses are set to be delivered right around when my prescription is expiring.

Have you ever put off something really silly like that?

~ 6 ~

In what I hope wasn’t a move of stupidity, I have placed all of my pots of lettuce and spinach on the ground now. I had put them on a picnic table to keep them safe from the bunnies, but now the hot weather has turned them too bitter for us to eat anymore.  So, I figured that I would be kind to the rabbits and just let them have a greens buffet.

Now, if they decide to try to eat in my garden, it’s going into the “no good deed goes unpunished” book.

~ 7 ~

I’m finally getting ready to design my business cards for use at Savvy Blogging Summit.  Apparently I didn’t want to rush into it.

I’m so excited that Catholic Child is covering most of my expenses.  Not only are they a great company, but I just love every time we talk in emails.  Such a nice family!

I could still use a little help with my trip though, so if you think you might be interested in one of the sponsorship options, be sure to be in touch before I manage to get to work on these business cards!

This post is linked to 7 Quick Takes and Weekly Wrap Up.

7 Quick Takes: June 18, 2010 (Vol. 43) is a post from: Many Little Blessings

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Earlier this week, the kids and I went strawberry picking at a U-Pick Farm.  I was so excited prior to the picking day!  Not only were the strawberries just $1.25 per pound, but I can still remember going strawberry picking with my Mom, so I was pleased to be able to start forming those same memories with the kids.

As an added bonus to our trip, I had emailed out to my homeschooling group about when we planned on going, and was pleased to have three other families decide to join us as well.  Of course, this did mean that my kids that I thought might be good pickers (but I should have known better) were even less help, as they happily chatted away with the family in the row next to us.  (I wasn’t too upset though, as this is not a family they knew, and they got along really well right away.  So, that was nice.)

It’s funny (and probably a sign of some of those differences between being a kid and being an adult), I remember strawberry picking being very fun and I remember eating lots of strawberries.  Nowhere in my memory do I recall being horribly tired and sore that night.  Now, however, even a couple of days later, I still have a very strong memory of it (especially since my legs are still sore).

We picked for just under an hour, and we left the farm with 17 pounds of strawberries.  And, I left knowing that I had a lot of work ahead of me.

First, I hulled and washed all of the berries.  (I mostly just hulled them with my thumb nail, as this wasted the least amount of berry.  (However, I also used a little hulling tool for part of the time as well.)

After the hulling and washing, I moved on to making only the second pie that I have ever made before.  It was so tasty, however, we are now calling it Mama’s Ugly Strawberry Pie.  You know, because it was ugly.  There just seemed to be too much liquid, and it got everywhere.  Still, like I said, it sure was tasty!  (If you’re going to fail at making a food, if it’s tasty, it helps to make up for the failure.)

I then moved on to making strawberry freezer jam.  I made three batches (using about six pounds of strawberries), and ended up with 18 containers of jam.  We got to try it for the first time tonight at dinner and it was delicious.  We had breakfast for dinner, so it was a perfect opportunity for toast with butter and jam.  In interest of full disclosure, I will share that at least some of us then moved on to trying cottage cheese and strawberry jam, as well as bacon and strawberry jam.  Yeah, you read that right.  And, as far as I’m concerned, they were all winners.

After making jam, I flash froze both whole berries and quartered berries.  I will use these for a variety of uses, but especially for making smoothies.  This will be a much more frugal option than buying bags of frozen strawberries to add to my smoothies!

My next to last stop in strawberry processing was to quarter berries and mix them with sugar.  I let it set for just a few minutes before putting this mixture into one cup portions to freeze.

And finally, we got out some melting chocolates and had some “fondue” for dessert, including our new berries, bananas, marshmallows, and graham crackers.  Delicious!

What are your favorite things to do with strawberries?  Do you pick strawberries (or anything else) at U-Pick Farms?

This post is linked to: Tasty Tuesday, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, Friday Fails, and Frugal Fridays.

My Legs May Be Tired, But We Have a Lot of Strawberries is a post from: Many Little Blessings

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