Frankenmuth Auto Fest, Apple Pie Jam, and The Missing Car Ride!

 

We went to the Frankenmuth Auto Fest this past weekend and we had a great time.   As we were leaving,  Auto Value gave us all this free stuff, tshirts, hats, umbrellas, tire gauges, two gallons of rain x windshield washer fluid plus more!  It's too much to list!  So fun!

It's good to take a break from work around the home but I knew I needed to get busy on Wednesday and do something with the apples husband bought a couple of weeks ago.  This apple peeler corer makes my life so much easier in the Fall.

In just a few minutes I had enough apples to make 5 pints apple pie jam.  The chickens loved the peelings.

The days have grown shorter and the gas is much higher so our rides in the car have now gone down to 1 instead of 2 a day.  Usually in the morning it's all the errands and the evening one was for pleasure. So now we just have one a day so we make sure we go around the block.  The temp is about 60 degrees in the morning and goes down below that at night so it's about too cool for a bike ride but we might try it soon.  Frost is just around the corner.

 

 As of the last time we went out gas was $4.99 a gallon on average here well except for the new Amoco gas station just down the road  who has a little lower gas price. Hey, we got some.  How much is it in your area?

That's all I have for this week...I hope you are having a good week.

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Harvest and Canning Season, Making Cereal, and the Price of Gas!!!

 

Our tomato crop was pretty good this year.  Yesterday. I took out all the ziploc bags of tomatoes out of the freezer and with the ones that I put on the porch to ripen,  I was able to can 7 quarts and 2 pints of tomatoes (I have previously canned some spaghetti sauce and some more regular jars of tomatoes).  So, we did well.  I can even see where we will have some green tomatoes to save.

Then. last night we harvested a row of potatoes.  Most were marble sized, we just had a few good ones.  The drought hit them hard.  We will use the marbles in stews and with green beans.  Might even use them for mashed potatoes. 

I made cinnamon toast crunch with my low carb cinnamon bread.  I also used truvia to sweeten.  I followed the recipe on emmymade on youtube and then substitued what I wanted. Turned out pretty good!

The price of gas went up and since this was taken I believe it's went up again.  The price of diesel is the concerning part.  Trucks that deliver everything we need (groceries and other goods) use diesel.  This is real bad news.

How much is gas in your area?

**Thanks so much for helping to support Vickie's Kitchen and Garden! As a Amazon affiliate I earn a small percentage when you purchase items from one of my links (the item doesn't have to be what I have linked here).       

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Happy Labor Day!

 

Have a great day!  

Different kind of Estate Sale Finds

Just a short one today...it's something different to think about buying when you go to estate sales.

Although we have found a lot of our furniture at estate sales sometimes we stock up on cleaning supplies if they have them.  I wish I could tell you exactly how much everything cost here but it was part of the deal I guess.

Husband bought a lot of car stuff and battery stuff for his tools so they just put it all in together.

Last week we bought this whole box for $8.00 -one of the foils was pretty well full.  

Don't overlook this stuff...it's worth a lot of money!

**Thanks so much for helping to support Vickie's Kitchen and Garden! As a Amazon affiliate I earn a small percentage when you purchase items from one of my links (the item doesn't have to be what I have linked here).       

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What is Happening at Our House -8/21/26 (we got free stuff, harvesting, varmits, and a mini vacation)

 

We stopped at a church that was having a free trunk sale.  Everything was free in their trunk- kind of like Trunk or treating.  We got a new fishing rod plus some books and tea.  We had fun and so did the people giving it away!  

We took a mini vacation (cheaper that way) and stopped in Fishtown, Michigan.   An old town built on the waterfront.  It was very cool to visit.  We recommend the Cove resturant -Fresh fish and chips.  Delicious.

Back to work -We came home and picked a mess of beans.  

That involved stringing and breaking them up.  We saved a few seeds too while we were at it.  Because of the drought and the groundhog we don't expect too many more beans out of the garden.  I believe that varmit ate all our greasy beans.

In other wildlife news:

How can there be only two apples left in our whole apple tree?  In order to answer that you would need to talk to the squirrel family.  One day I looked and the whole tree had been wiped clean except for two apples.  They will probably be gone before it's over.

I keep thinking about how if we had to live on what we grow -between the drought and varmits...well I would be a lot smaller...just saying. 

I did can 6 pints of spaghetti sauce.  I have not done this before so I believe I'll have to doctor it up when I make spaghetti. LOL

How's it going at your house?

**Thanks so much for helping to support Vickie's Kitchen and Garden! As a Amazon affiliate I earn a small percentage when you purchase items from one of my links (the item doesn't have to be what I have linked here).      

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I've Grown Some Weird Looking Tomatoes and These beans are not MIne!

 

From this angle the tomatoes look normal.

But get up close...and they kind of look like a small pumpkin.  I've grown some weird looking tomatoes. I believe it's from the drought we've had.  Although I've watered there is nothing like real rain water on a garden.  We finally were blessed with some rain last night and we are expected more this weekend.

Just in case your wondering, I've been picking them and letting them ripen on the porch, hoping to get ahead of the groundhog.  He seems to like them more ripe.

These beans are not my mine.

Husband got afraid with the dry weather that we would not have any beans to can.  We found a man on facebook marketplace selling white half runners by the pound, half bushel, and bushel, so we made a hour trip to his small farm. We ended up buying a half bushel plus a few more pounds. He also gave us some extra seed for us to plant next year.   

This man was 94 years old and going strong.  He had irrigation helping him in this dry weather and he showed us how he supported his beans...he put us to shame.  Now I just need a few more acres and a small pond for irrigation.  

You know, I dream of doing things like I'm 30 years younger and I think that this man does too, maybe that's what keeps him going.  My body is not in great working shape but you know his wasn't either but he just kept rolling along doing what he could.

Now, if you can imagine a former KY man and a former TN man talking ...oh my.. they relived all their childhood.  I finally got tired standing and smiling and waited in the van.  It was there that I found my shirt was on backwards. So, that's why I got funny looks at the gas station.

I canned 5 quarts and 7 pints of green beans.  

This should do for now.

**Thanks so much for helping to support Vickie's Kitchen and Garden! As a Amazon affiliate I earn a small percentage when you purchase items from one of my links (the item doesn't have to be what I have linked here).      

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What we Spent on Groceries this Week (my grocery haul) 7/30/26

.  With the high cost of groceries I decided to let you know how I save money grocery shopping.  This is my last week's grocery haul.  

We stopped at a farmers stand alongside the road.  We bought a dozen ears of corn, 6 cukes, 4 peppers, and 3 tomatoes for $9.00.

 Farm stands (individual) gave me the most bang for my buck this week.

Then I came home and picked my first cucumber out of the garden..wouldn't you know it.  

We bought two packages of spareribs from Meijer on Flashfood for $13.01.  One was $5.81 and the other $6.24

Total $13.01

 

Meijer Shopping

4 quarts of strawberries

Cherries

Watermelon

Bananas

2 quarts of low carb ice cream and one box of low carb ice cream bars (2 of which are not shown-straight to the freezer)

Jar of Mayo

2 jars of pickled beets

2 gallons of milk

a loaf of Aunt Millie's low carb cinnamon swirl bread

Total $50.15

 

We went to Williams Cheese Store in Pinconning MI and bought ...cheese!  

  There were actually 3 (3 for $10) little blocks of cheese ...who knows where he put the other one so 

fast.

Big wheel of cheese 11.01

Total:   $21.01

We stopped at another farm stand later in the week and spent $5.00 on  zucchini, corn, and cukes. 

Total for this week:  $89.17  

Sunday -we had bbq spareribs with cukes and tomatoes sliced up on the side.

Monday -bbq chicken wings with mashed potatoes and corn

Tuesday- We went to Culver's on the way back from Pinconning and split a 3 pc fish meal with extra fries for $20.00-I came home and sold a item on Facebook for $20.00. That was perfect. 

Wednesday:    BLT (ok -BT's no lettuce)

Thursday: ham and cheese omelettes  

Today Friday:   Hamburgers on the grill-I plan on making zucchini bread this morning.

**Thanks so much for helping to support Vickie's Kitchen and Garden! As a Amazon affiliate I earn a small percentage when you purchase items from one of my links (the item doesn't have to be what I have linked here).     

Be sure to follow me on Facebook,and Bloglovin where I share my frugal list, gardening, recipes, and more!  You can also sign up for my email list on the top right hand side of the blog.