Fundraising for Italy

          As many of you know I am planning a trip to Italy in the Spring of next year. And as most of you probably know trips to Italy are not cheap. c ;
   So I would like to ask for prayers.
  The way I see it: If it is in God's will for me to go, than He will provide the way. Thus far He's provided a good group of people to go with, whom we trust. The peace my parents have about letting me go. And a way to earn the money needed to fund the trip. Now comes my part.
   I ask God before every decision and make sure I'm staying in His will, and put forth the effort to raise the money and prepare myself to go.
   So when you pray, pray that I stay in God's will, and stay optimistic. c ;


   The group I am going with is doing a lot of fundraisers to help all the kids who want to go earn up the money. One of which is a Spirit Night at the Chick-Fil-A in Moody on Thursday June 30th. Those of us going on the trip will be helping serve, cleaning up after the customers, ect. All the customers have to do is come and order dinner with a voucher, which we will be giving out before hand.
      If any of you are interested in going in order to support us, let me know and I will get a voucher for you.
   I am excited about this, because it will give those of us going a chance to earn money for the trip and get to know each other better. c ;


  There will be more group oriented fund-raisers in the future, but as for my own efforts in raising money, not only for the trip but also to contribute to my family and share the things we make with all of you, I have a handful of good ideas. Some of which have already been implemented, just never advertised on a blog. c ;




    Along with my family I have made many homemade products, and while we are not pros, I have found that organic, homegrown fruits, vegetables, and herbs are the best when they are fresh. Not only are they good to have around when your preparing dinner. But the growing process is fun too.
   It's like your working with God to create something beautiful, only He does most of the work. He created the seed, the soil, the water and the sun. All we do is plant it, nurture and protect it and watch Him provide all it's basic needs. And when it's done growing we are able to enjoy them in many different ways, through taste, sight, touch and smell.

Here are a few of the products we've made:



  Apple Preserves
 
    This delicious fruit makes makes a sweet and savory jam that is perfect to spread on toast or bagels.
    We were given a lot of apples in the weeks after the storm and decided to make preserves so that they didn't all go bad. So we didn't actually grow these apples ourselves but they are delicious!

   We were able to make two types of these preserves, green apple and red apple. There is only a slight difference in color and taste, although I prefer the red. c ;
 





Bread and Butter Pickles



   The pickles were my older brothers idea. Since he loves Bread and Butter Pickles and we had an overflow of cucumbers in our garden, we decided to try it. And I must say it was easy and fun to make them, although as soon as I broke the vinegar out my little sister walked in the kitchen holding her nose and said "What is that awful smell?!"
    But, aside from the initial smell, they are very good.
    You can use these pickles just like any others, on sandwiches, in saleds or just when you want a crunchy snack. Only you can be assured that they are completely homegrown and homemade. c ;






    Blackberry Jam   
                             
        Last year we made I don't even know how many jars of Blackberry Jam. We ended up giving them away to family and friends and still have some jars leftover, unopened. We are going to start our Blackberry picking in a week or two and after that we will have lots of blackberries to jam.
  They are very good, especially if you love blackberries but don't like the bitter taste they sometimes leave in your mouth. The jamming process makes them nice and sweet.
  I will be sure to let you know when we have jars of jam ready.
                                                  



        



         Jarred Honey

   We do not have this specific product yet, but the bees are busy making it as I write this. When it is ready, which should be soon, we will be jarring them (  just like at the left ) only possible without the comb.
  I've tasted honey straight from the comb, nothing tastes better. It's the perfect thing to add to your tea to use as an alternative to sugar. It helps cure soar throats in the winter, provides a nice topping for pancakes, and if you mix it with butter you get the most delicious concoction in the world. Honey is a favorite in our house but we can't eat it all, so we'll share it with you!













      That's all we have as far as canned goods for now. These are some of the things I would like to sell in order to start earning up for the trip to Italy. So if you are interested in any of these products please let me know by leaving me a comment or sending me a message and I will try and get it to you as soon as possible. c :
  As of right now the prices are $8.00 for the large jars and $6.00 for the small ones. However prices may change in the future, if they do I'll be sure to let you know. c ;

   And even if you can't purchase any of these items ( or any of the others which I have yet to blog about ) I thank you for your prayers and support. They mean far more to me than money ever will. c ;