I really want to try and make this yogurt w/ milk from the farm! Let me know if you've ever make homemade yogurt and if so what was the recipe and how did it go??

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We are VERY excited to be going into this new pase of our lives together!

What's rollin' around in YOUR dryer?

This is what's in mine...

I found this big box or wool yarn outside on my door step one day when I got home from work. I was thrilled. Rae was so sweet and sent it to me to make dryer balls. My friend, Raychel, was starting cloth diapers and wanted some dryer balls to cut down on the time it took to dry all her newly acquired laundry. You need wool so that they felt well and don't fall apart when in use.

Here's how I did it...

Start by making small balls of yarn. The ones on the far left are done.

Done and ready to be felted. the first layer anyway.

Now, you get an old nylon sock and put one of the balls all the way at the end, tie a knot and do it all over again..

Like this... and then you'll have a string of yarn balls in nylon like sausage:)

all done and ready for a very hot wash cycle and then the dryer. This might need to be done a few times in a row.

They are now felted and ready for the second layer.

This is the second layer. I'm using this yarn on the top because it looked like it would felt really well, and it did!

The brown ones are ready to go into a nylon again and the little ones are still needing a second layer.

I took a picture of the finished project with my phone so it's not a great picture, but you get the idea:) They really felted well! And, I'm happy to report that they cut way down on the drying time of the cloth diapers! She had to dry them one and a half cycles and now they're dry after just one! So, it was worth it. Now, I'm making myself some. This yarn has gone a long ways, so I'm excited I get some too:)

Thank you, Rae! It was awesome to get to make a bunch of these and not have to buy yarn. You made our day! We are so excited. You might know you've grown up and are boring when you get excited about wool dryer balls that speed up drying and in turn lower electric bills:)

an update on this post:

I think I put too much garlic in it. It was unbelievable. I emanated garlic. Even my pee smelled like garlic. And, I was hoping that the cloves would stay more whole. So, I think I'd have to put the garlic in at a later stage in the bread making, and use way less of it;-)

I Love her illustrations! Saw her stuff on a blog and wanted to share. She is so fun and talented.

We've been busy. Just getting back into the routine of back to school and lots of work for both of us. September promises to be just a busy. Trips with family, trips to see family, wedding, hopefully some boating *fingers crossed*

Have a great week!

PiCkLeS!

Icing the cucumbers.

Sterilizing the jars. I read that you can do them in the oven.. and that made me excited cause doing those in a water bath is so time consuming.

Jalapeno, garlic and all that good stuff in the jars, waiting for the rest!

The brine:)

Pickling seasonings

chili peppers from our "garden"

The dill and alum is in there too

and then packing the jars

Packed and ready to be bathed in brine

Still so many left!

the ends need to be thrown away and then there are all the slices ready to be backed

such pretty color!

in the hot water bath they go

MORE

They're done. Now they just have to sit for a few weeks before we can try them.

I was in high school last time I did pickles so I'm excited to see how they turn out.

Garlic Bread

Ingredients

• 1 3/8 cups water
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 4 cups bread flour
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
• 1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
• 2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

This is what's in my bread maker. Except..... *ppl who know me will roll their eyes at this point* I didn't really do/use everything the recipe said *Grin*. I actually used TWO garlic bulbs and peeled them and roasted the chunks of garlic. YUM. So, I added that instead of the tiny amount of garlic they wanted me to use. I also didn't use basil or chives. Also, agents my better judgment, I put the pepper in....? You see, I'm trying to replicate a kind of bread that you can get for, ahem, $4 for a small loaf at Festival!!! That's too much for a small loaf of bread. But. I LOVE THE STUFF. We will see how it turns out. It's baking as I write:)