Ben’s Blog

I made a quick trip to Tecumseh this weekend, leaving around dawn Saturday morning and returning to Grand Rapids in time for dinner on Sunday. Its been a while since I’ve been down there, but this trip was mainly to help my mom a little in the garden and to switch vehicles with her so she could use the truck to move my youngest sister to Aquinas next week. Aside from physical labor I played with the dogs and “helped” Bailey with his swimming in the pond. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but after Bailey “jumped” off the dock he was able to swim by himself to shore. We tried this twice and it was evident that Bailey, a beagle, doesn’t like water.

I’m not sure how much I really helped with the garden - I think I just made more work for us since I wanted to take some vegetables home. The project turned even larger when I decided I wanted to can corn and carrots in addition to the normal corn for freezing. One trip to the store later, for the pressure cooker, we have the final product:

I started canning salsa last year and now I have the bug…I think I am going to try to advance my skills next to include spaghetti sauce and chili. I’m not sure why this appeals to me - it is really more expensive than buying stuff at the store; I suppose I like knowing what I put in the jar.

While I was home I also helped my mom fill the water softener with salt - the water softener is in the basement under the original half of the house. The original farm house that we added onto toward the end of my stint in elementary school is over 150 years old. I’ve always been fascinated by the old Michigan basement as you can get a real sense of how homes were built then. Notice the logs that are used as floor joists and note the bark is still attached all these years later. After that I am struck by the stone walls…