Peaches

Earlier this summer I thought about my childhood and that my grand-ma used to can peaches additionally to the cherries and pears. I love peaches and thought that if I get a good deal on them, I might try my hand on it this year. Yesterday while I was out shopping, I found 2,5 kg of peaces for  €1,99 and decided to take them home with me. It was 8;30pm when I finally had the boys asleep & an was able to prepare the peaches for canning. I have now 6 jars with canned peaches, no pictures of the canning process as I was really tired and just wanted to get the work done.

Garden Update July 21st

peas & hopefully carrots

Last night I took a long overdue walk through the garden. It's been a busy couple of days and I have not been in the garden for 5 days. I was curious to see if I have already little cucumbers but also wanted to check on the rest of the garden. Anything that is planted in pots is doing great, the tomato plants are coming along nicely, as are all the herbs and the bell peppers, I have never harvested so much basil in my life like I have this year. Strawberries and the first peas are at the end of their season. The strawberries need weeding first and the peas, well I ripped them out tonight. The second planting of onions is doing OK , I am harvesting some now and then already but I don't think they will stay in the ground till September, it looks like they will be harvested much sooner. The first carrots are doing well and are ready for harvesting now. When I get some time over the next 2-3 weeks I will get to that. Next to the carrots is the second planting of radish, which I harvest a bit each day. The lettuce is doing great too, but I need to plant some more for late harvest. 

The second half of the garden has the potatoes and beans. It will take two more weeks I guess for the beans to be full and ready for harvesting, also I harvested about 3 handfuls today already, which will go into tomorrows dinner. Next to the beans I hope for 3 rows of carrots to come (well to be honest I can see a few already peeking through) and the new peas are next to it, growing nicely.

The raised beds are doing OK ish. Unfortunately the hot weather and harsh rains that we got destroyed the white cabbage more or less. It's busted but I hope to save and use them at least. The red cabbage is ok so far and the cucumber plants are doing well. The berry bushes have been harvested, apart from the raspberries who will continue to carry fruit until October and then the blackberries should be ready in a few weeks too.

So all in all it's not to bad actually. What goes on in your garden?

Community Festival

I have been quite busy the last few weeks, but especially last week. Last year I was voted in as chair man (chair woman) for our local community club and we had organized the annual community festival for this past weekend. It's just a small celebration really, with cakes in the afternoon & BBQ in the late afternoon evening, some things for the kids and in general, a place for the people form the village to get together and have a good time really. I could delegate parts of the preparation work to my fellow members but still needed to do some things myself and oversee everything, to make sure it all comes together, so I was busy, especially last week.
 

all the cake

all set up

 We set up the tent on Friday evening and then had the celebrations on Saturday. It was a warm and sunny day, not too hot and we had many people come to join us. The cake was great and the evening was long. I kept popping in and out all day, as obviously I had the boys with me. The boys did great but we went home at 5:30pm so that I could start the usual go to bed procedure at 6pm. I had them sleeping by 7:115pm and at 7:30pm my mom got home and was looking after the boys, so I could help out some more at the festival. I got back to the festival by 8pm and then went behind the bar to sell drinks for an hour or so. After that things calmed down and while I was still selling drinks, I was also mingling with some friends until my mom called at 10:30pm to tell me that the boys are up and that Niki is hungry. So I went home to my boys and after feeding both of them went to bed.

Jacob is helping selling the cake with my mom

A day in the life of a SMC of twins

My twin boys Niklas and Jacob are 9 weeks old now and I figured it would be interesting to post about a day in my life as a Single Mom by Choice. In a few month I will post another day, just to see how things are going or have changed.

It's 0:30 and Jacob is waking up and wants a feed. I change his diaper and prepare the bottle, he is not happy  and crying that it takes so long, yet he is still half asleep. While I am feeding Jacob, Niklas wakes up, he usually waits patiently when this happens for his turn but not today. I stop feeding Jacob to change Niklas and grab my nursing pillow to tandem feed them. When Jacob is finished I swaddle him, he is falling asleep within minutes, so I lay down with Niklas to continue to nurse him. We both fall asleep over this.

I wake up at around 3am and figure I might as well put my breast away now that Niklas is sleeping, turns out he was not as deep asleep as I thought and he starts to stir, so I quickly put the boob back in and he is back asleep and so am I. To be honest I feel very contend and peaceful when nursing and love the feeling.

At around 5:15am Jacob stirs and wakes up. I prepare him another bottle and change his diaper, Jacob used to refuse the breast and we are just now getting there that he is latching on but during the night he still gets the bottle, while I increase the milk supply. He is finished and I swaddle him again. I get up and put the diapers in the washing maschine (05:35am). When I get back Niklas stirs, so I change his diaper and then nurse him until he falls asleep at 06:15am. There is no point in going back to sleep, so I get up and make breakfast (fresh eggs, sausage, bread) and enjoy an early morning cuddle with the dogs.

At 7am my mom comes over to look after the boys while I take the dogs for a quick walk. We are back by 7:20am as Lily doesn't walk very far nowdays, I feed the dogs and the quickly go to the garden to harvest some lettuce and red onions for my lunch salad. Afterwards I have a second cup of tea and enjoy a few minutes of solitude while the boys are still asleep. 

07:45am the peace didn't last and Niklas is waking up. I lay down with him and cuddle & nurse him for a few minutes, what a nice way to wake up. Jacob stirs about 10 minutes later and I repeat the process of cuddling & nursing with him. 

 
08:05 am I set up the play mat & let the boys play to wake up. While they play I sort out their cloth. They have outgrown their current bodies and I sorted them out and out the next size up in the wardrobe, I also hang up the diapers and put the baby cloth in the washing maschine. 

 

By 8:50am they have played enough and they get cranky, so I wash & feed them and by 10am we head out for a walk in the pram. I looks as though it might rain, so we just go on a small round (meaning about an hour walk), I meet some people and stop to chat for a while. I enjoy those walks out in the country and work on my to do list in my head. Today I am working out all the things I need to do in order to raise meat rabbits again. The big question is still if I get a doe this fall or wait till spring.

We get home around 11am and after a quick diaper change, I nurse of them, while the potatoes are boiling on the stove. At 12pm Jacob is asleep but Niklas is still awake. I put him in the carrier, transfer the potatoes to the oven and head outside to hang up the washing. I have lunch at 12:30pm (port sausages, salad and crashed rosemary potatoes) and afterwards lay down with Niklas, who falls asleep with me.
I didn't get a chance to actually sleep for more then 10 minutes and Jacob is awake and crying. I nurse him but he wakes up Niklas anyway, so I grab both boys & we go for another walk in the pram. This time we go in the woods and to a nice park in the close by town. It takes me 30 minutes to walk there at a leasurley pace and we walk through the park and watch the ducks at the lake. There is some shade and especially when it's hot like this afternoon, I love going there, plus the boys sleep well in the pram.

We get home shortly before 4pm & after another diaper change both get something to eat. I hear the doorbell and my old neighbor is coming for a visit. Vera used to live in the house next door and I have known her since I was a little girl. She was in hospital and now wanted to meet the boys. Together with my mom we sit in the bedroom chatting for nearly 1.5 hours, in between the boys play on the play mat or nurse.

It's 5:30pm and Jacob and Niklas both fell asleep or so I thought. By 6pm they are both awake again and need their night time feeding(they usually get their evening meal between 6pm-7pm). It takes about an hour for Jacob to finally fall asleep and Niklas eventually followed him at 7:30pm. Bed time usually takes an hour till an hour and a half but now they are out until about midnight and I have some time for myself.

7:30pm, I do the dishes & bottles that have piled up in the sink, I make myself a cup of tea and have a quick dinner (sandwich). I call the dogs in from the garden and they get their evening meal. I walk through the garden to see if anything needs harvesting right now. I have read about calendula last night and since I have some in the garden, I harvested some and set them up to dry.



By 08:15pm I catch up quickly on my e-mail and the blog world. I want to try and be in bed by 9pm tonight and not 10pm like the last few day but there is still some things to do, like putting a parcel together to return the items I had ordered.

It's 9pm now, I just finished writing this post, I will wrap up the parcel & then head to bed.

Garden Update July 15th

beans & potatoes

my favorite bush, only 2 years old

cucmbers

sunflowers

bell peppers

Its 8:30pm, the boys are finally asleep after a nearly 2 hour struggle (e.g. feeding session) and I should probably do the dishes but instead, I decided to take a walk through the garden and get the last rays of sunshine in. I am feeling exhausted today and will probably head to bed as soon as the dishes are cleaned. 

we have a had a bit of a wet week or two going on, not much sun and low temperatures with lots of rain. The garden is growing and I love the fact that I can have salad every day. My freezer is full with fruits from the berry bushes as well as some cherries. The tomatoes are growing and I can't wait for them (or the cucumbers). My second planting of peas and carrots are coming out now too, the carrots will be for the fall garden. I can't believe how big the potatoes have grown, despite the fact that I have a mouse in there somewhere all year already, that keeps eating my plants (it can happen that a full plan just disappears, morning she is there, by evening it's gone).

Well before I actually fall asleep writing this, I better go and do the dishes so I can go to bed. What is going on in your garden?

5 things

1. I spend Saturday morning meeting up with my friend Nicole. I had the boys with me of course and we spend a couple hours just chatting. It was so nice to get out and have grown up conversation and just hang out and enjoy each other company. That's definitely something I need to do more often.

2. the boys are two month old today. I can't believe how quick time flies, it feels just like yesterday that I brought them home from the hospital.

3. Time is something that I don't feel I have right now. At least not time to sit down and do nothing or have me time. During the day I am pretty much on demand there for the boys (and I don't mind, I love them to bits), the few minutes in between that I have, I either try to do something in the garden or do the dishes, or eat something myself or spend five minutes with the dogs. In the evenings I am usually just able to wash the dishes before I either fall asleep with the boys or with the dogs. I know this will change one day (or so I hope)

4. I go out for a walk with the boys daily. We usually spend around 2-4 hours outside, them in the pram and me walking. Out daily walk usually takes us out in the nature around the village or towards the Osterbergsee. Being the introvert that I am I love those daily walks and get a lot of energy back that way.

5. I have tickets to see Jesus Christ Superstar in August and can't wait, hope I will be able to actually leave the boys alone with my mom for those 2-3 hours in the evening

Garden Update July 2nd

July has arrived and with it came the heat. The last few days temperatures soared to the high 30th Celsius (high 90s to 100 F)and for the next few days we days we expect to hit the 40th daily. The only time I am able to spend in the garden is very early morning. Even at 8pm it's still way too hot. I have been busy harvesting and processing black and red currents as well as gooseberries. So far I have harvested about 10 pounds of red currents, 8 pounds of black currents and 5 pounds of gooseberries. The black currents are all gone now but I still have many red ones left.

The peas have started to grow and I enjoy eating them fresh from the bush, so far they have not made it inside the house. Salad, onions and kohlrabi are on my table daily. Onions are ready for harvest and raspberries are getting there too. Oh and don't forget the cherry tree needs to be relieved of it's burden too. So far all the cherries went straight in my mouth.  The strawberries are overgrown with weeds now and need cleaning (desperately). A new batch of radish is coming along nicely and the cucumbers too. 

Life is good right now.

What is going on in your garden?