Back To Work

We've been home about a week and a half from our trip and we're back in the thick of it. Work. School. Business stuff. Home stuff. Garden stuff. Lifey stuff.

Busy, but good.

Matt's been making serious progress on his canoe. It's incredible. He's incredible. Really.

I've been busy with Sweet Pine and obsessing over our garden. Love the garden.

This here Pac Choi was our first harvest! So tasty.

I'm pretty darn impressed with all the stuff we've done in the short amount of time we've been home. I'm crossing item after item off my epic to-do lists. That feels good.

Here is one thing I crossed off recently.
Make Yogurt.


I have wanted make my own yogurt for a long time and finally did it! It was easy as pie. And the yogurt tasted delicious.

I followed this recipe from this inspiring blog. If you're curious, I used the 'cooler method' she describes in her recipe to insulate and a tablespoon of Brown Cow yogurt as my starter culture.

homemade yogurt + maple syrup from WI = heaven

We also had time to can a few jars of corn relish. We had some friends over the other night for dinner and everyone brought sweet corn, so we had lots of leftovers.

We used the basic recipe from the book Put Em' Up. I just bought this book and am really excited about it. Tons of great recipes for drying, canning, freezing and preserving food. We changed the original recipe liberally because we didn't have most of the ingredients. No surprises there.

So, here is our recipe. Enjoy.

Sweet Pine Corn Relish
Makes about 3 pints

Ingredients:
6 ears corn, shucked
1 1/2 c. cider vinegar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 T. whole yellow mustard seeds
1/2 T. salt
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
6 small dried hot chilies

Boil corn for 5 minutes or so. Drain. Cut off kernels. Combine vinegar, sugar, mustard seeds, salt and chilies. Bring to a boil. Add the onion, garlic, bell pepper, and corn. Simmer for 5 minutes. Ladle into clean canning jars. Cover solids with 1/4 inch of liquid and use the boiling water method for sealing. Let jars sit for 2 weeks before eating.