Egg Science

A homeschooling post?

Yes, a homeschooling post.  I don't blog much about homeschooling, and I know I've said that before.  I'm sure parents of public-school children don't blog about their kids' schools, either.  So we're even.

I usually take pictures of the boys' science experiments, and these pictures end up being the only photographic proof that we've completed any sort of schooling at all through the years!  Although, I'll say that the academic fruit of homeschooling--Jacob is in the JJC Honor Society, and Danny is headed there with straight A's this semester--should be proof enough.

Anyway, this was a fun experiment.  Thomas took a regular egg and soaked it in white vinegar. 

Then he pulled it out and rinsed it off.  He had to be careful, since the vinegar dissolved the shell.  The egg was still raw; the outer shell was simply gone.

He measured out the corn syrup...

...and poured it over the shell-less egg.

Then, he soaked the egg in distilled water.  Each of these steps took 24 hours.  At the end, he removed the egg from the distilled water and showed it off.

It was much larger than the regular-sized egg it started out as.  It almost looked like it was glowing!

Then, the egg broke on the counter--Danny's fault.  He cleaned it up, though.

The white was mostly water, and all that was left was the yolk.  Thomas said nothing was wrong with it and that we could eat it.  I replied that it had been sitting out for three days.  Plus, it was a store-bought egg, not one from our local farmer.  'Nuff said.  :)


Back to life,
Christine

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It's Greek!

Jacob has been such a great student at Joliet Junior College.  Though he lives at home, he took to college life very easily.  His professors love him, and he makes great grades; hence, the purpose of this post is to show him off...


He was recently inducted into Phi Theta Kappa, the honor society for two-year colleges.  He decided to attend the ceremony (he wasn't required to), and it ended up being a pretty big deal, for us anyway!

The program

The inductees walked in and I was able to snag a shot of Jacob.

Jacob enters with the inductees

After the speech--which we thought was very good for a secular college--the inductees lined up, row by row, to sign the Phi Theta Kappa register as their names were called.

Waiting in line

Next to be called

Signing the register

Smarty-pants!

We're so proud of our son who has worked so hard and accomplished so much!


Back to life,
Christine

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Used Up

"There is rhythm to being a farm girl.

It is the rhythm of working hard when there is work to be done.

It is the rhythm of finding joy in the "doing" of the work.

It is also the rhythm of slowing down to enjoy each moment."

Rene Groom

Be sure to visit Lori's blog to see what Friday Farm Girls is all about!

This morning we're getting ready to go to Wisconsin with Lori and her family to get our Christmas tree!  Everyone's running around, cleaning up from breakfast, taking showers, making sandwiches, and preparing for our fun day with friends.  Meanwhile, my Friday Farm Girls @ Heart post...

There always seems to be stuff left over.  No, not leftovers, as in dinner, though we have lots to eat from yesterday's Thanksgiving meal.  Meal leftovers doesn't usually doesn't happen much in our family.  No, I'm talking about leftovers as in one last bowl of ripening tomatoes on the counter, or a small pile of apples in the basement "bomb shelter" from our apple-picking trip.

What to do with that stuff?  Make stuff!

The last of my garden tomatoes were getting a little wrinkly as they reddened, though there was nothing else wrong with them.  I made eight cups of pico de gallo, which we ate throughout the week.

And the Northern Spy apples were starting to brown in spots.  Two of them had rotted through and we threw them out.  So I made a quick batch of applesauce.

You'll have to trust me that the applesauce was delicious, because I didn't take a picture of it and we ate it all.  Northern Spy apples are great for applesauce.  (But, they're a pain to peel.)

I'll post about Thanksgiving soon--right now I have to finish my tea and get things ready for our drive to Wisconsin!!  Blessings to you all, dear friends and readers.

Back to life,
Christine

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Tea Talk -- Be Exalted!

Welcome to my home for Ruth's Tea Talk!

Sit and share a cup of tea with me as we encourage each other in the Lord.

To participate, click on Ruth's button above.

I'm having...a cup of Trader Joe's Irish breakfast tea.

Lori has such pretty tea cups!

I'm feeling...extremely rested after a long sleep.  I think I needed to make up some snooze time, which has been lacking lately.

On my mind...is today's and tomorrow's events.  We're spending the day with my parents and younger brother at my parents' home.  My whole family lives close, so we see them all the time, but Thanksgiving makes seeing them even more special.  Then on Friday, we get to spend the day with Lori and her family; we're driving to Wisconsin to get a Christmas tree.  Fun, huh?

I leave you with...simple words of thanks and praise to God.

My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast;

I will sing, yes, I will sing praises!

Awake, my glory!

Awake, harp and lyre!

I will awaken the dawn.

I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples;

I will sing praises to You among the nations.

For Your lovingkindness is great to the heavens

And Your truth to the clouds.

Be exalted above the heavens, O God;

Let Your glory be above all the earth.

Psalm 57:7-11 NASB

Along Hermitage Road, Lake Bonaparte, NY

Back to life,
Christine

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Three Cooks in the Kitchen

The Jackson family (my side, plus my own family) is made up of mostly guys.  I have to admit that we six added a bunch of guys to the mix, too!  Even though we're small--only 11 people total--there are eight guys in the bunch!  Here we are:

Dad + Mom

had

Matt(-Char) + (Fernando-)me + Jeff

Matt married Char, and she already had two daughters and several grandchildren.  I married Fernando, and we have four young men now.  Jeff is a bachelor.

So there you have it.  Mom and Char and I are all very different, but we love to cook!  Char says that Mom and I are the bakers (desserts, cakes, pies, etc.), but she is definitely a whiz in the kitchen.  When you get us all together for a family gathering, and add food into the mix, you get a smorgasbord of delectable comestibles.  :)

Recently, we had Jackson Family Night with "breakfast at dinner" as the food theme.  Here's what we came up with:

Jeff's sausage/egg bake

Yeah, Jeff can cook, too.  Well, he makes chili and the above dish, anyway.  (What can we expect from a bachelor??)  Both of his "signature dishes" are excellent.

I never got a picture of my mom's ham and egg bake; it was gone before I thought to pull out the camera!  She is an awesome cook.  (She's Italian, what can I say?)

I made the below--Apple French Toast Breakfast Crunch.  I modified a recipe by blogger Antoinette, whose blog I've lost and can't find any more.  :(

Then, I think Char hit a grand slam with her Waffles with Maple Brown Butter and Pecans.  Just typing that made me gain a few pounds.  :)

Seriously yummy.  I love breakfast at dinner, and this meal was tops.


Back to life,
Christine

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The Autumn Garden

"There is rhythm to being a farm girl.

It is the rhythm of working hard when there is work to be done.

It is the rhythm of finding joy in the "doing" of the work.

It is also the rhythm of slowing down to enjoy each moment."

Rene Groom

Be sure to visit Lori's blog to see what Friday Farm Girls is all about!

A post from my October activities...

An autumn garden means it's time to prepare garden beds for winter.  Leaves from the church property next door floated down over the two beds closest to the back fence.  That's okay; they'll work their way into the soil for next year.  But plants that survived into October needed to be harvested, then pulled up and disposed of.  Beds needed to be weeded just a little, and some things also needed to be planted.  First, I dug up my little rosemary plant.  It was sort-of medium-sized, but I was happy since I don't use it too often.  There is nothing like fresh rosemary!  Every time I worked in my garden, I would run my hand through the needle-like leaves and breathe in the heavenly scent.  Mmmm.

I removed the "leaves" from the rosemary, then hand-chopped them up finely, and put them in a glass jar in my freezer for the winter.  The plant yielded enough to last me through next summer.

Then it was time to harvest the oregano.  I decided to dry it, since I already had a bunch in the freezer and I was running out of freezer room.  Some of the oregano was flowering; I discarded those portions.

A spider in the garden is also a good opportunity to use my camera!

I checked my autumn lettuce; I planted it rather late, so I hope I'll soon get to eat at least a little.  I've never done well with lettuce and I'm not sure why.  The little plants are really pretty, though!

A friend gave us a box full of strawberry plants!  While Thomas was digging to build up the bed where I wanted them planted, I took a few moments to snap a shot of the flowering grass.

Once they were planted, Jacob helped me water.  Actually, Jacob watered and I took pictures--naturally!

I checked on the garlic, which had already begun sprouting.  It'll stay in the ground through next spring, when it will sprout again.  At some point over the summer, I'll dig that up.  I hope a ton comes in next year, since I've already used up all the garlic from this summer!

Then it was indoor time and time to put up the parsley and oregano.  Look at all that parsley!

Fernando and Joe were real sweethearts to spend over an hour picking all the parsley leaves off for me.

That metal bowl in the photo below was filled to the brim with parsley leaves!  I usually chop my herbs with a chef's knife--they last so much better when chopped by hand--but there was simply too much.  I decided to use my immersion blender base with the cup and blade attachment.

I ended up with two storage containers full of parsley; very nice.  :)  Then it was time to sort the oregano, tie it up, and hang it on my hanging rods (thanks, dear husband!).

The basement is nice and cool, and I now have both sage and oregano hanging.  Pretty soon I'll take the dried plants down and process the herbs for storage.

I love "putting up" for the winter!

Fernando read this to me this morning in our devotions together:

She looks well to the ways of her household,

And does not eat the bread of idleness.

Proverbs 31:27 NASB

Back to life,
Christine

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