Vacation Day (Sort Of) Peach Blueberry Bread and More, My New Etsy Shop!

Curtido Making

Vacation Day (Sort Of) Peach Blueberry Bread and More-
I had planned on taking the day off work today to can peaches, etc. We've been giving peaches to our kids, freezing some, making jams, eating raw and making desserts. We didn't really have enough to bother canning, since we'd frozen and used up some last week. I wanted to do something different today with some of our peaches. I saw we had some frozen blueberries, did some research and made this- Bigbearswife.com peach blueberry bread. Excellent! Moist and delish! I did add some cinnamon sugar on top before baking. It's not overly sweet, and next time I might add some chopped nuts/ brown sugar/butter crumbles on top-

I also made a big blueberry peach cobbler using a modified version of this Nancy's Apple Blueberry Cobbler subbing peaches for apples-

I wanted to make Fermented Curtido Salvadorian Sauerkraut for a while. It's fermented, so there's lots of probiotics, and it's spicy! I made it a few years and it's worth the prep time. Lots of slicing on my little mandolin (very sharp!). Didn't cut myself :) I got 90% of the pounded mixture into my fermenting jar, amazing! It's setup is really fool proof and safe, so it was a good investment. A cheap mandolin was great for this too, just slice carefully. For the price of two heads of cabbage, etc., you have a great side dish!

I used a giant mixed bowl, and finished pounding with a french pastry roller, works great. Bought up the brine pretty quickly. Do this before you mop, it's messy!

Now on the pantry rack, but covered with a towel, 10 days to go!

My New Etsy Shop!
I'm happy to announce I have a new Etsy shop! It's called LittlehomesteadFinds, and there's a link on the right border of this blog. I have one item for sale right now. It's an amazing African tribal basket, leather with Cowrie seashells that I've had for years-

I've been downsizing lots of things over the years, and still had this. If you're interested, please let me know, might be able to give you a reader discount :) I will be adding more over time, and have a farm style organizing craft in the works. No details yet. I'm excited!

Organic Peach Harvest Time! Fave Kitchen Re-Do From Design On A Dime

Peach Harvest Time!
Happy dance, we finally have peaches! Two years ago we added a peach tree to our front yard, detailed here How To Add A Fruit Tree To Your Landscaping . Last year we had one peach, this year it's a BUMPER CROP!  I think the wet spring helped. I chose the Red Haven variety as it is a freestone (pit comes out easily), ripens early (since we have 2 other fruit trees) and is a thin-skinned peach. less fuzz. The last time I made anything it from local peaches was 2012 More Peach Jam . We lost our nectarine tree, and had an amazing peach tree at our last house 10+ years ago. It was a long wait but worth it! We've been eating them fresh, and I made a peach milkshake last night! OMG!!! Yummy. I used this low sugar recipe last time and it was a keeper, just buy the low sugar pectin -Easy Low Sugar Peach Jam. I do make a small part pf the batch "spiced", add some cinnamon and cloves. Tastes like a peach pie :) Anya said all the peach processing sounded exhausting-

Then she took a nap in my enamel washbasin for picking-

We realized today the squirrels were after the peaches so we picked all of them. We already froze 10 one gallon bags last week. I am taking Tuesday off work to process more, if the kids haven't picked up the rest. The rest are inside where it's safe and cooler. I want to make a peach bread too this weekend. Lots of recipe online. First I got out my jars and supplies, set up the processing areas, disinfected the sink, etc.- 

Cooling area

Cleaned jars

Where I will fill jars, easier to cover, then wash

Cooking-

I love the color of the jam! I made 14 1/2 pints, 2 pints, not bad for a few hours work!

I made 2/3 regular and 1/3 spiced, all labeled. It's fun to hear the pinging of the lids. While some don't do this I follow the old method- put boiling jam into hot, sterilized jars, seal, turn upside down for about 15 minutes. Turn back over, put on a cooling rack. As they cool the seals ping. Easy for jams and jellies. I've never had a seal fail this way.

We realized today the squirrels were after the peaches so we picked all of them. We already froze 10 - one gallon bags last week. I am taking Tuesday off work to process more, if the kids haven't picked up the rest. The rest are inside where it's safe and cooler. I want to make a peach bread too this weekend. Lots of recipe online. I also need to blanch and freeze collard greens, kale and make pesto to freeze. Tuesday will be busy preserving foods! It's amazing to cut up fruit, still warm from the tree, throw it in a pot and preserve! Talk about local! It will be nice to have the apples too, when they get ripe. Pears as well. It's been a great harvest year. Tomatoes are getting there slowly, lot there but green. Peppers doing well, eating batches of green beans weekly.

Love the color! Red haven indeed!

My peach crisp last weekend was great!

Fave Kitchen Re-Do From Design On A Dime-

I recently checked out the Design On A Dime book from the library for some bedroom ideas. I spotted this and remembered it from years ago. How cute, bright and colorful! Just paint, new pendant lights, art, mini curtains, small accessories and lots of vibrant colors. They were shooting for a colorful old world bistro look, sorry for the lighting on the photos. Link here Kitchen On A Dime

Painted canvas floor mat, love it!

Nice dressed up seating area

Thrifting Scores, French Country/Shabby Chic Ideas, Fire Season, A Different View

$2.50 Cute little nest display, I have plans for that!

Thrifting Scores-

We harvested our first peach today! Much more to come, and I will fill the freezer and can some. It's been hot and smoky, but we ventured out today! We hit two thrift stores while we were out. First I found two cute books for the grand babies-

69 cents, like new!!!

Each animal face has a flap that says "goodnight" underneath

This one from my fave author, Jan Brett-

I have been looking for one of these for years!!! Just a very small wall rack for my little bathroom, to clear the counter of daily use things, like-new $3.00, fits my beachy theme-

Dave mounted it on the wall with a few small nails, looks great! 

When I spot something vintage looking I stop and look! A little French here, translated to a grocery store list, $1.99. I'll hang it on my kitchen wall- 

 Keeping with some French country, $3.00-

More sunflowers, $2.00, great for summer or Fall, will take off the sparkly bow, maybe add a burlap ribbon?

Love it!

French Country/Shabby Chic Ideas-

Speaking of French country decor.... I borrowed several books from my local public library, only five minutes from my house. One I checked out was Romantic Prairie Style by Fifi O'Neill, and it gave me some great ideas- 

While I'm not into the chandeliers, lace, etc. I've always loved old pieces. Worn by time and well-loved. Here are a few of my favorite shots- 

Kitchen, great use of faux stone wallpaper

Kitchen, love the textures

Note the tin roof section over the desk, brilliant!!!

Porch, what's not to love?

  

Love the light and wire fruit rack

Cheap couch rehabbed by simply stapling fabric over seat, smart!

LOVE this bedroom! More inspiration for my paint job next month! Maybe light blue???

Smoky view down our neighborhood street today

Fire Season-

Fire season and smoke has hit the West. The triple digit heat is bad enough, but I'm thankful for the A/C. It has been smoky the last few days, but today was the worst- 

We decided to drive up to Idaho City for lunch hoping it would be more clear-

A bit better!

We stopped at our favorite little spot Trudy's, with her vintage collections on the walls- 

The whole place was full of these kinds of things! Love it and GREAT Food!

Bedroom view, morning chickens out

A Different View-

So many photos I post show the back and front yard, but from similar angles. I realized this morning I never showed a different view from our master bedroom window, see above and below- 

Bird food I put out on the fence top

  

Hummingbird near the center, it LOVES that plant!!!

From living room, faces the backyard