Encouraging Hearts and Home 07.16.2020

Easy Southern Pickled Okra, How to Single Crochet, and How to Cook Dried Beans are this week's featured posts!

Hello and Welcome!

We are home on our 2-day leave from Camp Hosting and it appears the cat has missed us! While he has been a stubborn one most of his 17 years, this time back home is different. He is cuddly, and a solid lap cat should I take a moment between laundry and other chores to sit for a minute. 

When we traveled for a year volunteering at National Parks, he went with us! It was quite an adventure for us all, as he had never been further than his own backdoor for a little sunshine! But we made him a hide-y hole in the storage under the bed, where he could come and go as needed/wanted, and he took to travel lickity split! But for our current adventures, we have a much smaller trailer and he is too fat to fit in the current storage space! 

Since we home share with our daughter and son-in-law, he is really never alone. Plus we are home twice a week for him to get plenty of treats and love, should he be in the mood! Cats are funny, they run hot and cold on attention, but he seems to be softening in his demands for things to be given on his agenda...

Favorites to remake in July Menu Plan

Some recipes are too good to make only once. And that is the problem with food blogging! But we have a fix for that...

Here at Scratch Made Food! & DIY Homemade Household, I have always felt the need to share something NEW from my very first day of blogging! But here lately I have come to realize that many of the delicious dishes we have enjoyed in the past are calling out to be made again. And so we shall...

Encouraging Hearts and Home 07.09.2020

A Rock Rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner, Grilled Pork Kabobs, Volunteerism, and DIY Memo Board are this week's featured posts!

Hello and Welcome!

Today I am knee-deep in dirty laundry! When we come home from Camp Hosting for our two days off, there is laundry to do, bread to bake, and a few other assorted chores to take care of before we return to camp. It is funny really, even in the summertime, life keeps humming along on the chores we must do each day! 

I thought I would offer a glimpse into our campsite and the beauty of the Bitterroot Mountains...

Honestly, this volunteer life is not so bad! We get some exercise, lots of fresh air and the best part is the wonderful people we get to meet while being of service. 

Encouraging Hearts and Home 07.02.2020

Planning A Staycation, Brown Sugar Peach Ice Cream, Mosaic Garden Art, and Simple Embroidery for Beginners are this week's featured posts. 

Hello and welcome!

Our time at camp is going well, we have met so many nice people from all over! Most of the campers are from our own state of Montana, but we see more and more license plates for surrounding states as well as one from as far away as New York...which as it turns out is a state we hope to visit someday.

I have been working on different dried fruit (so easy to pack and store when camping!) poached in black tea and honey syrup. I have to say, it is so delicious, even though when I poached the dried figs I had in the camping pantry, they were not very pretty. My second attempt was with home-dried plums and those little jewels were delicious spooned overcooked oatmeal. The method couldn't be simpler, and it is perfect for just about any dried fruit you have in your pantry. You could even change out the tea flavor if you choose. 

Black Tea and Honey Poached Dried Plums served for breakfast over oatmeal.

Tea and Honey Poached Fruit

by the seat of my pants!

2 black tea bags

2 c water

2 c (loosely packed) dried fruit

2-4 T honey (if your fruit is sweet like figs, use the smaller amount) as desired

dash of salt

Place water, tea bags, and fruit in a medium-sized pan. Bring to a boil. Turn off heat and let "steep" until room temperature. Remove tea bags (do not squeeze out, the tannins will affect the flavor), bring back to a boil, add honey and simmer until half of the liquid has evaporated. 

Let cool. Enjoy!

#campfood!

Encouraging Hearts and Home 06.25.2020

A Patriotic Flag, Fiber Feathers, Lemon Sugar Cookies, and Black-Eyed Susan Planters are this week's featured posts. 

Hello and Welcome!

We have had chilly weather at camp, but that did not stop the campers from arriving and enjoying as much as they could of the beautiful mountains and the lake! I have to admit at this point in my life's journey, I prefer comfort over adventure, but back there in the memory bank I too have stories of how I braved the cold, the wet, and the wind during a camping trip. 

There was this one day, however, that we had non-stop rain! And for the most part, the campground was empty save for our trailer and the camper of the second host. This gave me time to get my commemorative afghan completed. When we set out for Montana I began a Weather of the Day afghan for our first year in Montana. And finally, this piece has been completed! I had to take a break from knitting for a while due to a broken wrist (I recorded the day's weather for accuracy) because the first year also brought a fall on a frozen puddle during a hike one day...

But here is my completed piece, still a novice knitter, however, I enjoy the process and try to add a skill to each new piece I make. For the record, this piece is plain knit stitch. The color key I chose was blue for sun, white for snow, grey for overcast and purple for rain...

The afghan fits nicely along the bottom of the bed in our little 5thwheel while we travel, and is a great source of warmth during those cold evenings. 

Encouraging Hearts and Home 06.18.2020

Easy, reusable face shield, 111 Best Dad Jokes, Grilled French Fries, and A summertime Bucket List are this week's featured posts. 

Hello and Welcome!

It has been very cold from time to time at our campground. Some mornings there is a fresh dusting of snow on the mountain caps! But when the sun comes out, it is the best place to be to hear the birds sing, breathe in the fresh piney air, and see so many families having a great time with each other. 

Our tubs of Swiss Chard proved to be too easy for the ground gophers to keep out of, but they ate well until we brought them back home on our days off! I will say I am never afraid to try something new...tubs of growing vegetables was in fact something new!

We are hoping to hike around the lake to see the waterfall on the otherwise along the mountains. We have been told it is running faster than ever before, due to all the snowmelt. It will be a fun day... and a good bit of exercise, around the lake is 7 miles!

Encouraging Hearts and Home 06.11.2020

How to regrown lettuce, Bread Vada, No-Bake Cheesecake with Rhubarb, and Tres Leches Filipino Egg Pie are this week's featured posts!

Hello and Welcome!

We have been at "camp" for a week now, and currently at home for our two days off. I had a lot to get done, with laundry, bread baking, and of course visiting here! Funny retirement seems pretty consistent with all those working years, days off simply mean a different set of chores to get done...

One thing we did differently this time for our volunteer stint was to take a couple of tubs of Swiss Chard with us. they did not take up much room in the back of the truck and so far they have provided us with a delicious side dish of cooked chard for our supper one night last week. I believe that this week the small tender leaves will provide us with a nice bowl of greens and vinaigrette to go along with one of our suppers. 

During the day they are covered with bird netting, and at night we turn a large storage tub over the top to prevent any possible Swiss Chard eating wanderers to get to our crop before we can! The cooked chard was perfect along-side grilled salmon and buttered corn...UPDATE: we still lost, they were eaten to nubs in the tubs!

Encouraging Hearts and Home 06.04.2020

A mess-free way to pit cherries, amazing Garlic Harvest techniques, attracting bees to your garden, and No Fuss Easy Dill Zucchini Pickles are this week's featured posts. 

Hello and Welcome!

We are heading out of town tomorrow, we will be volunteering with Montana State Parks as Camp Ground Hosts to open camping season here in Montana! I have been busy getting a few things cooked up ahead so our first few days learning our new duties! We spent a year traveling and working for the National Park System (2018-2019) as Interpretive Guides. It was a lot of fun, but now as volunteers, we just want to hike and camp! Once our duties are done for the day we can just kick back, camp, and relax! It is exciting to me that our parks are opening up once again...