When I picture the windows open in a room, I imagine warm sunshine streaming through as the wind gently blows the curtains. Fresh air hits me and I am compelled to take a deep breath. The refreshing energy fills my soul. Of course there are only certain seasons when it's practical to open the windows, but my goal is to fill my heart, home, and family with a beautiful serenity that always makes me think the windows are open!

Tuesday, August 24

Pears, Pears, Pears!!

pear tree3

The other day, my sister came to help me out with the kids so I could spend the day processing and canning the pears from our pear tree.

pear tree1


pear tree2
It’s a variety of Asian pear that is similar to a Bartlett, but juicier and ripens earlier in the season.  With all the rain we had this past winter and spring, we are enjoying a bumper crop from all of our fruit trees.  So I was happy to have some time for putting away the pears to enjoy throughout the year and to share with others.

fruit trio2

As a child I helped my mom process the apples from the big apple tree, so doing the pears was very similar.  I cut some into halves or quarters and canned them in a light sugar syrup. 

cut

Then I made a big batch of pear sauce (just like apple sauce).   I saved some sauce to feed my little ones, but the rest I made into pear butter and pear leather.
butter

I love to eat the pear butter on toast in the morning.
breakfast

Pear leather is just like the fruit roll ups you buy at the store, only this is organic with no sugar added.
leather

To make it, I flavored some of the pear sauce with cinnamon and cloves and spread it into a tray on my dehydrator.  A few hours later and I have a great snack that’s easy to take on the go or pack in lunches.


dehydrator

This dehydrator was a wedding gift and I don’t use it enough.  I love it!  And I love to share homegrown foods with my family and friends.
 




Fun fact: Pears are best when they are picked a little green and allowed to ripen indoors in a cool dry place.  This gives them a less gritty texture.

Blessings,
Rebecca


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Tuesday, August 10

Earn Spending $$ for your DIY Projects

 
I wouldn’t normally use my blog as a way to advertise or promote something, but knowing these are hard times and everyone is looking for more ways to make an extra buck I thought I’d share.



Search & Win


Now, I’m usually a VERY skeptical person when it comes to online money making deals.  I do my research and almost always realize it’s not worth entering my personal information or risking being scammed.  But a friend turned me on to one and I’ve been trying it for the last few months.  I’m very pleased and wanted to share it with you.

It’s an easy way to earn a little spending money that’s actually safe, easy and free.  It’s a search tool called Swagbucks.  By using this search tool, I can “win” points which I use towards prizes and gift cards.  In just a few months time I’ve already cashed in for $75 in Amazon gift cards. 

Woohoo!! That’s not bad for free money!!



Search & Win


Of course, at I first I didn’t want to leave my beloved Google search engine.  We’d been besties for the last several years and got along great.  But then I found out that Swagbucks is powered by Google.  Woot!  This means that I get the same search results back from my searches.  The layout is just different on the Swagbucks page.

So, now I’m doing my searches just like before AND getting MONEY, MULLAH, DINERO, BUCKS!!!

(btw, I just used my Swagbucks search engine to lookup how to spell dinero and won 11 swagbucks!!  It's so easy!)

I love free money.



Search & Win



So, if you think this is something you’d like to try, please click on any of the links in the blog post or the link in the sidebar.  That way Swagbucks can thank me for referring you.

Thanks gals and happy earning!!
Rebecca

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