Secrest Arboretum
I’ve been on the road, traveling to Ohio to visit family, to Pennsylvania for the Mother Earth News Fair, and then on to Philly to go to Longwood and a few other places. My first day in Ohio, I met up with my sister and the nieces & nephew at Secrest Arboretum at the OARDC in Wooster, OH.
It’s quite a lovely place to spend a day. There are perennial gardens, trees, water features, and amphitheater, catcus gardens, and a children’s garden complete with slide.
It’s a great place to spend a day, walking, spending time outside and with each other. Admiring plants, taking photos, running, laughing, playing, everything a family fun day should be. If you’re ever in the area, I highly recommending spending a few hours at this lovely place.
Do you have lovely gardens to visit in your area?
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The Apple
I’ve been in Ohio for a few days and walking around her garden. As you can see, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
I used to spend a lot of time working in this garden with my mom. It’s interesting to see it change from year to year without seeing it continually.
Did your parents garden?
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Fun, Fun, Fun
Yesterday, I spent the day with my mom, my sister, and my nieces & nephew. We met early to walk around the Secrest Arboretum at the OARDC in Wooster, OH. There was walking, chatting, running, photo taking, and lots of fun.
We then went to our favorite local ice cream place, Hartzler’s Family Dairy.
In the evening, we ended up at the Wayne County Fair for Lerch’s Donuts and to look at all the flowers and vegetables.
Overall, a super fun day. I have always loved going to the fair and this was no exception. Lucky me, we are going back on Wednesday when Mr Chiots is here. I’ll get more donuts!
Do you attend a local agricultural fair?
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On The Road
Mr Chiots and I are traveling, he’s driving around for business, I’m taking the opportunity to visit family in Ohio. It’s nice when you can mix a business trip with a family visit, it certainly helps with travel expenses. After getting the farm set up and giving the house sitter instructions we set off yesterday morning.
While driving we listened to the audio version of The Bear in the Attic and it was FANTASTIC. The perfect road trip book. We have a few others as well, one we started and couldn’t get into it. Thank goodness for the local library and audio books!!!
Do you have a favorite audio book you listen to while traveling?
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Quote of the Day: Preserving
“It is the natural course of events for food to be abundant for a little window in time. Blackberries will be lusciously ripe for just a couple weeks. Rich porcini flush quickly as the rain comes. They won’t wait for your schedule. Be it pickling or jelly making,r ally yourself for gathering and deal yourself into the working game in your kitchen. BEtter yet, deal in some friends or family too: have a working party. Putting up food together links you with thousands of years of human traditions. And it’s a blast.”
Connie Green and Sarah Scott The Wild Table: Seasonal Foraged Food and Recipes
This past week a lot of the garden has been at maximum production. It doesn’t matter how I plan, it seems everything comes ripe at once, and always before a trip or some other big event. The result is LONG days of frantically putting up food for the depths of winter.
This has been one of my best tomato years every, the bounty just keeps coming. So far I’ve canned around 40 pints of tomato soup, 15 quarts of tomatoes, along with putting a bushel in the freezer to be made into sauce when there is more time. I have also been drying my ‘Principe Borghese’ tomatoes, which are perfection. I grow this variety just for drying and I dry as many racks as I can. They are amazing in omelets and sprinkled on top of pizza.
My late flush of zucchini and beans are coming on strong, I did the first picking of beans yesterday and put a gallon of blanched haricots verts in the freezer. Zucchini was cubed and blanched, and grated as well, both varieties are tucked away in the freezer to be added to winter soups and frittatas.
The apple trees are also producing by the bushel this year. One variety is ready even though I am not. I picked a half bushel for eating and then froze the rest to be turned into apple butter and some applesauce for Mr Chiots. Yesterday, I managed to preserve over 150 lbs of homegrown fruits and vegetables for us to feast on this winter. Not only will I save a bundle on my groceries, we’ll be eating healthfully as well. The satisfaction of nourishing yourself is an amazing feeling!
What are you putting by for winter?
