The aftermath

of making sauerkraut is a MESS

And it's a lot of hard work... but I am excited and hope that it turns out well:-/

All done and ready to go:)

Hank, my faithful helper is all that I do:)

My plat with a big jar filled with water to weigh it down. I don't know what I'm doing here.. and you may be able to tell..? I just did it to try it and went off of what I read on the internet.

I'll keep you updated.

making salsa!

Matt was sweet enough to peel the tomatos for me:)

cooling, ready to have the peels taken off..

he's such a GOOD helper:)

pretty color.. will miss that this winter

*insert picture of Hank "helping" here*

ready to stew it a little

more pretty color!

Ready to put into jars

first hot water bath I've done and years! My grandma Olson use to can a lot and I got her big canning pot when they were moving. I was thrilled. how many 26 year olds do you know that would be thrilled to get a huge canning pot!?

Waiting to boil... and that takes forever

I forgot to take a picture of the finished jars. they were pretty! There were fourteen of them, two batches. it was fun. made me miss doing it.

This is what my husband (co-coupon shopper, partner in crime) was doing Thursday, Friday and today. He was hauling corn silage at the farm. I love the smell of the fresh cut corn silage. Love it! I love about every aspect of farm life, though.. if you want to see more pictures, you can go here.

He's a natural. After a few jerky rides that is.

It's been busy on the farm this last week. They are obviously chopping, the pit was overflowing, and I bred about 30 cows in four and a half days... and that's just the stuff I know about and have dealt with.. that's not all of it:)

This was our Target trip last night. We got all of this, plus four more boxes of poptarts for about $3!! At Target they'll let you do one of their Target coupons and a manufacture coupon! The only thing we ended up really paying for was the salad dressing.. For buying five Kashi products (we had coupons for all of them) we got a $5 Target gift card The poptarts we have to do a $10 mail in thing and then our total will be about $3! Amazing, ha!?

WalMart trip. This one I don't know exactly what we spent and saved... I do know that those four things of wipes (56 count), I made a $1 by "buying" them:) Pretty sweet, ha?! I went back and got two more today. And same thing, I made $1 on those two things! I also found those pizza's at a different store for about 50¢ cheaper then walmart so used my other two coupons for them at that store instead:) The candles were 97¢ each. w/ a $2/1. Last week I got two of them for FREE cause of $3/1 coupons! It's so much fun!

I also went out today and did some more shopping. I didn't take pictures. It's kind of a lot more work to take pictures of it all before you have to put it all away too:) I got some Bagleful's for 88¢ each... and some more pasta for about 70¢ a box (the good, wheat kind).

If it's something we don't normally eat then I want it to be really cheap or free, if it's something I already eat, I just figure I'm saving myself $1 off of what I'd already be getting. That's my theory for now. However, I've found it pretty hard to spend full price on anything when you know what you could get it for it you just had a good coupon and sale!

I am gutsy. But, I've been taking Matt with me for "back up"... or, you could say I'm still a little chicken. I will get better. I did it all by myself today. The man was farming.

My first real coupon deal. I went to Quillon's to get one of their adds to see what I could find that was on sale that I had coupon(s) for. These were 3/$5. I had four 1/$1 off and one 2/$1.00 I hope I'm doing the coupon lingo right! lol.. I am so new! So, on average they were 83¢ each. I spent $5.02 and saved $15.32!!! I got them for 78% off. I went back and got six more tonight. They weren't as cheap ($1.12 each) but still cheap:) I can't wait to get my LaCrosse Tribune tomorrow and go through the adds. There's no one around here, that I know of, w/ a blog about couponing. Do you know of any? I sure wish I did:) Raychel told me I should be that person.. I told her I have a job. This takes lots of time, but is so much fun knowing your saved so much!

more to come... :)

He know how to relax! The only reason he picked up his head was cause I was taking his picture!

My FREE candles (with coupons!)

Hank....

He helped my make sauerkraut and salsa!

Last days of summer

...and we are stocked! A friend of my dad's planted a huge garden at my parents house. Matt and I went after work on Friday and took a bunch home. With a lot of this stuff.. this is just the tip of the ice berg. It's a huge garden. I didn't even know or think about growing egg plant in this area. It was fun. I had told Matt about two weeks ago that I want to have a big garden next summer.. and this made me want one even more. But, someone else did all this work and all I did was pick it.... so we'll see!

Oliver watching me take pictures. Wants to be out there with me of course.

Onions that have not been cleaned. Anyone know if you can pickle onions? On anything good to do with a lot of them!?!?

purple cabbage..

The egg plan was such a beautiful color!

oops, you get to see the dirty onions twice...

my pretty flox..

Little orange tomato's and green peppers..

More beautiful color..

These are like candy! Green beans...

rutabaga.. haven't had these in years! My dad would like to eat them when we were little..

Matt and I worked on doing stuff with some of it tonight. He's such a great partner! Such a willing and mellow man! Are you enjoying any fresh produce right now? And if so, what??