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Cay Gibson
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| Posted: Sept 20 2006 at 2:51pm | IP Logged
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You know you're a CM-mother who does nature study with her children when you sit down at the computer and, go to sweep your bangs off your sweaty forehead only to have a strand of grayish hair stick to your fingers.
As you pull, the gray hair gets longer and longer and longer and doesn't seem to be coming out of your head, so you take a closer look...
...only to discover it's a cobweb.
I'm pretty sure the cobweb came from the pear tree, but go here to see the snake skins we found near the house:
Sankes and Puppy Tales
I'll post the pear harvesting pictures tomorrow.
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Cay Gibson
"There are 49 states, then there is Louisiana." ~ Chef Emeril
wife to Mark '86
mom to 5
Cajun Cottage Under the Oaks
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mrsgranola
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| Posted: Sept 20 2006 at 9:25pm | IP Logged
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Hee--hee.. been there, Cay.
Hey, we're about to plant some fruit trees on our property. I can't wait! What kind of pears do you have?
A couple years ago I made some pear butter with some pears given to us. It was SO good! You ought to try it!
Back to the s-l-o-w lane with dial-up...
JoAnna, HATING being so behind on reading everything I want to because of this bleepity, bleep bleep dial-up
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Mom to Jacob, Grace, Mary, Lucas, Emma, Carrie and Gianna
Parente Adventures
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saintanneshs
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| Posted: Sept 21 2006 at 1:55pm | IP Logged
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Cay Gibson wrote:
| You know you're a CM-mother who does nature study with her children... |
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 Gotta love it, don't ya', Cay?
Right now I have a lovely centerpiece on my diningroom table, courtesy of the boys who thought EVERYONE who visited us might like a look at it...
It's our bug jar filled with the caterpillars we found eating up our fennel on the farm! They've each begun making a chrysalis this morning. Nice conversation piece, eh?
I think I'll put my foot down and remove them before dinner...
Looking forward to hearing about the harvest!
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Kristine
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Cay Gibson
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| Posted: Sept 21 2006 at 2:21pm | IP Logged
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saintanneshs wrote:
Right now I have a lovely centerpiece on my diningroom table, courtesy of the boys who thought EVERYONE who visited us might like a look at it...
It's our bug jar filled with the caterpillars we found eating up our fennel on the farm! They've each begun making a chrysalis this morning. Nice conversation piece, eh?
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Now, see! If you had a blog we could all view this lovely natural centerpiece! 
I'm afraid the pear harvest pics will have to wait till tonight or tomorrow. We are in and out of the house today and I'm having to take care of a thousand other things. No time for blogging... 
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Cay Gibson
"There are 49 states, then there is Louisiana." ~ Chef Emeril
wife to Mark '86
mom to 5
Cajun Cottage Under the Oaks
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Dawn
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Cay, I can't wait to see the pear harvesting pictures! We always make pearsauce instead of applesauce because youngest can't tolerate apples!
JoAnna, would you share your pear butter recipe - sounds delicious! 
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Dawn, mum to 3 boys 
By Sun and Candlelight
The Nature Corner
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Angel
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We've had one or two centerpieces like that in our time, too.
--Angela
Mom to 3+2
Three Plus Two
Wild Things
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mrsgranola
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Today we went to the NC State Farmer's Market in Raleigh for Sweet Potato Day  and I brought home a bushel of yummy apples. So I'll be making applesauce the next couple days. The girls even made it on the evening news beside "Sidney" the Sweet Potato mascot.
I'll go track down that pear butter recipe...I think I used the one in the Ball Book of Canning...
JoAnna
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mrsgranola
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Note to any newbies: My dad grows sweetpotatoes and he and my brother have one of the biggest grower/shipper businesses in NC of sweetpotatoes. This is the time of year for the harvest so I have to put in a plug for the incredible sweetpotato. 
www.sweettater.com is their site and there are recipes and links from there to other sweetpotato sites and recipes.
Yum!
JoAnna, who only recieves free potatoes for her advertising...
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marihalojen
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| Posted: Sept 21 2006 at 9:39pm | IP Logged
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saintanneshs wrote:
Cay Gibson wrote:
| You know you're a CM-mother who does nature study with her children... |
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It's our bug jar filled with the caterpillars we found eating up our fennel on the farm! They've each begun making a chrysalis this morning. Nice conversation piece, eh?
I think I'll put my foot down and remove them before dinner... |
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You've sparked a memory here - Maybe this CMing Nature Study goes further back than I've guessed...
I recall going to visit my Dad's Mom, who being a good Irish Catholic still had kids around, including Aunt Cheryl who had a great big Mason Jar on the dining room table with the most beautiful spider inside - a female black widow! She had a great web (did you know black widow webs aren't sticky? You can drag a stick across them and it sounds like paper ripping, very odd) and we would feed her (the spider) stuff while we ate too.
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Mother to Mariannna, age 13
The Mari Hal-O-Jen
SSR = Sailing, Snorkling, Reading
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Cay Gibson
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| Posted: Sept 22 2006 at 9:44am | IP Logged
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Here are the pear harvesting pictures.
Not a big expedition or production. Just a quaint little backyard trek. I can't help but compare it to to this Exposure vs. Mastery concept.
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Cay Gibson
"There are 49 states, then there is Louisiana." ~ Chef Emeril
wife to Mark '86
mom to 5
Cajun Cottage Under the Oaks
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chicken lady
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| Posted: Sept 25 2006 at 9:38am | IP Logged
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We too have apples and pears galore. I was going to make pear sauce, bit pear butter sounds great, please do send that recipe. I have been canning for a month straight our harvest of tomatoes, and beans, pumpkins, apples, you name it we are canning it. Funny how when folks realize you can they give you all their extras, thankfully my dc enjoy helping, and this year I have had 3 different friends ask me to teach them canning, It means more help for me, as I tell them come on over roll up your sleeves, and don't mind the chickens that keep running in the back door. Some days I think we qualify for a looney tunes cartoon. Now if I could learn how to blog I could enlighten you all with true insanity
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mrsgranola
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Finally, here's the pear butter recipe. Sorry it's taken me so long to get to this! 
Enjoy!
JoAnna
Pear Butter (from Ball Blue Book: Guide to Home Canning, Freezing and Dehydration
20 medium pears
4 cups sugar
1/3 cup orange juice
1 t grated orange peel
1/2 t nutmeg
To prepare pulp: Wash and quarter pears. Cook until soft, adding only enough water to prevent sticking (about 1/2 cup). Press through a sieve or food mill. Measure 2 quarts pear pulp.
To prepare butter: Combine pear pulp and sugar in a large saucepot, stirring to dissolve sugar. Add remaining ingredients. Cook until thick enough to round up on a spoon. As mixture thickens, stir frequently to prevent sticking. Ladle hot butter into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 10 mins. in a boiling water canner. Yield: about 4 pints.
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4Real Forums : Exploring God's Creation in Nature and Science
Topic: Cobwebs on the Brain
