This post is a bit different from many of my ‘daily’ articles. This one should rightly be called ‘real time’, as I tried to keep things as they happen for you. Let me know if you enjoy this point of view! I took photos and am relying on their time stamp for the times below…

6:50 am– First things first- I like to get my dishes put away from the night before if at all possible before jumping into other things.

6:57 am– I still had enough time to get the tomato sauce and juice from the weekend labeled and put in the basement on our canning shelves.

7:13 am– My 11 year old and I went out and picked tomatoes, giving the bad ones to the chickens and grabbing 3 peppers while we were at it.

7:35 am– Back inside, I began a batch of homemade bread with milled flour. I love Melissa K. Norris’s recipe- I have it memorized!

7:45 am– While the wet dough sat for it’s 15 minutes, I put a few piles of towels and dishtowels away.

7:51 am– Timer hasn’t gone off yet! Get those dirty dishes rinsed and into the dishwasher.

7:56 am– Now we can knead again! While the mixer kneaded, I wiped the counter down and washed the kitchen window… we have had flies and my 13 year old has gotten ‘flyswatter happy’ trying to kill them… the window was a mess, but he got them!

8:02 am– The bread is rising and school needs to begin. We are reading this book each morning at the beginning of our day before prayer and the pledge.

8:10am– Let’s keep moving! This is an example of our prayer cards (yellow means ‘confession’). This was my card today and it is resting on my 8 year olds’ planner page for the week. I fill it out on Wednesday mornings after our homeschool group community day on Tuesdays.

8:40 am– After getting everyone started on their work, I began cutting up cooked turkey for lunch and field snacks.

9:06 am– The dough was ready to form. I chose to make half into a loaf and half into rolls. I continued working with my 8 year old on her school subjects.

9:11 am– Snack time! In our house that is between 9-9:30 in the morning and 3:15-ish in the afternoon. We are routine people. Today was apple slices with homemade peanut butter we had picked up from an Amish store we like. We did more school, I was there as I was needed for 8 and 11 year olds.

9:53 am– I decided to try boiling the rolls as I would bagels. I had heard of others doing so. One of my rolls wasn’t well made so it fell into 2-3 pieces. But the others held. Now it is time for math with my 8 year old!

10:35 am– More dishes! Keep them washed in little bits and it isn’t as overwhelming…. though, I don’t often do this. I generally wash dishes 2 times per day and my 13 year old finishes up the after-supper pots and pans.

10:45 am– I had hoped to powder my dried tomato skins but they weren’t yet dry. So, back into the dehydrator they went. I have never made tomato powder, but I’ve heard great things about it. We had my 8 year olds’ birthday party with taco salad recently and I added some into the taco meat. Tip: my cousin, who purchases the powder regularly, says to keep it in the fridge or freezer for best results.

10:48 am– The bread was finished baking and cools.

10:51 am– Since it wasn’t lunch time yet, I went ahead and washed my tomatoes to prep for saucing.

11:19 am– You have to love kids’ timing… last night right before bed and again this morning right before lunch, my 8 year old asked for fabric to embroider on. So I cut her a piece of cream colored fabric and she drew her own design. She is sitting beside me as I type, sewing with fusia thread.

11:22 am– I have a bit of cooked chicken to add to lunch/field snacks. We use Stubbs BBQ sauce regularly. It has no High Fructose Corn Syrup or artificial dyes and the ingredients are very basic. However, I hope to try making my own soon!

11:29 am– The oven was hot from baked bread and cookies (my 11 year old loves to make!), so why not get the table cleared off of cored tomatoes on cookie sheets and have them baking during lunch?

12:11 pm– This is just a screenshot of the audio book we are currently relistening to. I found it perfect as I preserved a ton on Saturday, right alongside Ma Ingalls. We ate the bbq meat and a salad for lunch.

12:51 pm– I sat down from 12:15-12:51 and read! The kids had their chore and quiet time til 1:30 when we do science or history together (2 youngest kids). I am reading this Grace Livingston Hill book currently during my down times.

12:55 pm– The tomatoes were finished roasting and cooled on the kitchen table. I am back to doing my tomato sauce this way after not really liking the freezer method.

12:57 pm– I sliced the bread so that it would make easy toast for Sweet Husband and the rest of the family along with the rest of their breakfast.

1:18 pm– After a bit more quiet time, I read a couple of fall books to my 8 year old daughter. I love these times.

3:08 pm– I let my kids have about an hour of tv time each afternoon (Currently they’re loving some older westerns). I rest and read or work while they are watching. During this time, my Sweet Mama called and we got to have a nice chat! Now, it was time to get field snacks ready. Today= bbq turkey rolls, cookies, and lemonade.

4:06 pm– Back from the field, I began taking the skins off of the tomatoes and letting them drain as much as possible. Here is the first pan complete.

4:19 pm– All finished! Now to drain and then sauce.

What a day! I am finishing typing this post as my 8 year old sets the table for supper (leftover bbq meat with goat cheese pasta and baked beans). This evening we will finish cleaning the supper up and probably watch some logic videos to go with my 13 year olds’ current curriculum.

Good night, friends! I hope this moment by moment post shows you a bit of a normal Wednesday at our home (at least during harvest time!). We don’t always have the produce to preserve and some days more time definitely gets wasted. Please subscribe to our emails! I would love to heat from you!