Trade!

Well, we didn't get the chicken coop cleaned out today.  Our friend Roger called and asked for help.  He has been having health issues since losing part of a leg a couple of years ago and just isn't able to do all those things he used to do. And his wife has just recently returned home after her father's funeral so she has problems of her own.  They asked for help cleaning out their garden and taking down fences and trellises.  It was a lovely day and the coop can wait til next weekend.  

Sharon and I dug sweet potatoes among other things and we were sent home with a big bag of them.  Yum!  Roasted sweet potatoes for dinner tonight!

Fun!

Vernon and I actually went out to a social event last night!  Shocking, I know!  We went to a local wine bar to meet up with other members of a local steampunk group.  A grand time was had by all!

Still in the deep freeze

I know we're not alone in being stuck in the depths of winter. I had planned to start some little things inside to put out in the greenhouse in February.  Well... it's February and we're still having overnight temps in the minus teens.  I don't care how hardy something is, it's not gonna survive overnight with temps like that.  The sun is shining today so I'll try to get out there and water while it has the chance to be warm.  I did have a few little spinach seedlings that had somehow survived out there but I haven't checked recently.
But, I'm an optimist and this afternoon (after belly dancing class) I'm going to start some kale, chard and lettuce for the greenhouse.  Maybe by March it will be warm enough for it to survive.

I'll be honest, I'm getting tired of cold weather.  And snow.  I know there are people struggling with ice and I'm grateful that we haven't had to deal with that this year.  And there are people struggling with crippling drought.  We'll take the moisture we're getting with the snow. I just wish it wasn't so regular.  It seems like every three of four days we get another inch or four of snow.  And the wind this year seems particularly nasty.  But enough of complaining about the weather.  It has it's beauty as well.

Sunrise this morning, shining off the frost on the trees.  Stunning!

 I caught this guy at the bird feeder yesterday.  By the time I got the camera he was up the tree, eating snow off the branch.  Must have needed to wash down all that birdseed.

The titmouse is fluffed up against the cold.   I do think they are adorable.

Things haven't been totally rosy here.  We've had some bad news and a few problems around the house.  A friend of ours slipped on his basement stairs, fell and hit his head and now is minimally responsive in a coma.  That was over a week ago and not much change in his condition.  We're all hoping and praying for the best.  And my cousin's husband got his hand in the table saw while working on a project and ended up losing a couple of fingers.  (those things terrify me every time!)  We've been lucky in that we are all healthy.
A few "mechanical" glitches around the house involving a non-working furnace this morning (intake vent blocked by snow!) and a clogged sewer pipe last week.  The sewer issues, of course, necessitated a trip to the home improvement store in the middle of a snowstorm to get a 40 ft sewer rod and poor V working outside at the clean-out pipe in terrible, snowy, windy, single digit weather. But all those problems we (or should I say V) were able to fix ourselves.
I have been working out much more regularly.  Justine and I hope to do a few runs this summer while she's home, including another shot at a zombie run.  Maybe I can survive this year!  Regardless, I do need to get in better shape and I've been working on it.  My schedule is 30 minutes on the elliptical 3 days a week, 20 minute zumba with the x-box two days, belly dance class one day and a day off.  We'll see how long I can keep that up.  I missed a day last week because of the sewer problems but I'm trying....

All in all, we're doing OK.  Hope you are all faring as well in the seemingly endless winter.

Happy September!

Wow!  I can't believe it's September already.  Where has the year gone!?  This first day of September saw me spending time in the garden.  The remnants of Isaac have us cooler temperatures and lots of clouds but only a few sprinkles (my parents got over an inch and a half just 78 miles away)  I've been working on removing the head high lambs quarters that seemed to spring up overnight around the edges of the garden (OK... and a few spots IN the garden!) while we were on vacation.  The deforestation went well and I drafted two energetic boys as my "debris management specialists" to haul everything to the compost pile.  I really, really want to get these before they go to seed or I'll just keep having trouble. I have had such an issue with weeds since we moved out here.  Since my garden spot is in the barnyard (which had been unused for over a year) the weed seed load is HUGE.  Every time I move any soil a hundred little weeds emerge. I thought about moving the garden but the soil is so, so lovely after years and years of manure where the rest of the property is clay.  I've been trying to mulch well but the weeds still seem to be an issue.  This year has been a little better so I hope I'm starting to get the upper hand.
I picked a whole bunch of tomatoes again while I was out there.  Some aren't fully ripe so I'll probably wait until the Monday holiday to can.  I also put together a goody box for our friend Jim.  He had bunny problems with his little garden this year and lost almost all of the plants I gave him.  So, I took him a whole bunch of peppers, some eggplant, a couple of tomatoes, a zucchini and 18 eggs.  He is definitely a foodie and was thrilled!  He was hospitalized last week with a kidney infection so was needing a little cheering up.

Doesn't that make a lovely get well present!

And another thing that I discovered today.  The White House released their beer recipes:  a Honey Ale and a Honey Porter (that they make with the honey from the White House bee hive! How cool is that?).  Hmm,  V and I have been talking about brewing.  Maybe this will inspire us to take the plunge.
I15 has to acolyte at church tomorrow but hopefully after he is done, we will head down to Old Threshers.  It rained there all afternoon today so we opted to not go today.  Also, today Justine had a visitor at Moore. V's mom went to visit her and to take Justine her stuff.  Justine says that the eggcrate mattress pad makes an incredible difference on her bed.  I also tucked in a jar of Gelatinous Yum (peach jam).  Hopefully she enjoys it.

A little link love

A friend of mine sent me this link today.  I thought I'd share.  After all the crap in the news lately, it is nice to finally see something good.  I hope it brightens your day as much as it did mine.  (I'll confess- I even got a little teary)

A sad but good day

I traveled solo down to my parents early this morning.  I left the car at their house and traveled with them to my cousin's husband's funeral.  While it was a sad occasion, it was wonderful to see relatives that I haven't seen for YEARS.  For a funeral, there was much laughter and good conversation.
And even more remarkable- I was able to reconnect with a friend of mine from high school that I haven't seen for 30 years.  We both moved off to college and got married and moved again- and all before the days of email and Facebook. Somewhere along the line we lost touch. Eventually, we both moved back to Iowa- unbeknownst to the other.   It turns out that she was the pianist at the service. We had a lovely, tearful reunion and tried to catch up on about 30 years in 15 minutes.  But, we exchanged phone numbers and emails and hopes to get together sometime sooner rather than later.  I can't wait.

Otherwise, (commence random babbling) the weather continues unseasonably warm.  V and the children were working on the last large indoor construction project today (replacing some floor joists and rerouting heating ducts) while I was gone.  We got eight eggs today from the hens.  Mom sent me home with six jars of tomatoes since we are almost out and have been rationing and they still have 20+ jars.  It's almost hot in the house (79*F at 9:30 pm).  I broke down and turned on the air conditioning in the car on the way home.  Tomorrow will be a day to bake sourdough, do laundry, work on baby quilt and enjoy the continuing 80F weather.

One nice thing...

One thing about this unseasonably warm weather. Since I KNOW that it's too early to be out in the garden, I don't have to rush around when I get home from work. I actually took time to sit out on the deck and just enjoy the weather... unheard of!
I'm not sure but I think we may have hit 80 here today.  It was still 60F when I got up at 5:40 this morning.  Sunny and warm with a lovely breeze.  Ahh...  heavenly.  The trees are exploding into life so, so quickly and we're likely to actually have to mow the lawn soon!  But I can rake up those clippings for a little bit of chicken heaven.
I've given up stressing about the baby quilt.  I'm not likely to have it finished by Saturday, but I'm not going to the baby shower either, so I'll have Sunday and Monday to finish it up and give it to Katie on Tuesday at work.  I'd really like to go to the baby shower but I'm going to be out of town. The husband of one of my cousins passed away this week and the funeral is on Saturday so I'll be driving down to my parents again on Saturday.  V and the children will stay here so I'll be going on my own. The funeral is at 11 and even if I drove straight back afterwards (which is unlikely) I still wouldn't make it back in time for the shower.
This weekend I'll be starting my broccoli and cauliflower.  It seems so odd to be starting cool weather crops when it's 80 out there.  V has had the windows open recently and it hasn't done my tiny seedlings any good.  Evidently there was a bit of a breeze from the window and a few of them look a bit worse for wear- almost burned.  I've had them uncovered for a while because it was time- but I think the breeze dried out some of the leaves a bit.  Fortunately most of them look just fine.
Roger and Sharon came over for a bit this evening.  Roger was showing off how well (or not) he is getting around on his new prosthetic leg.   It was nice to see them.  We've been over to their house but Roger hasn't ventured out much (except to appointments and therapy) since his surgery last summer.  He is still struggling with stairs but otherwise is doing pretty well. We chatted for a while and sent them off with a dozen eggs.  Sharon said the eggs look too pretty to eat but thought they could probably manage.  She thought they may need to have some more before Easter so they wouldn't have to color eggs.  They would be quite welcome to more.

Today is the Ides of March... I hope there isn't anything to beware....

Paged to the ER

Fortunately, it wasn't bad.
Yesterday afternoon, about 3:30, my pager went off at work.  It was a text to call the emergency room.  NEVER a good thing!!  Our friend Sharon was in the ER and wanted me to get in touch with Roger.  She had been at work and had become dizzy and short of breath- bad enough that her employer thought to get her to the hospital.  Fortunately, it was nothing serious- well, not bad- serious.  She was dehydrated, overstressed, overworked and not sleeping.  The poor thing, she has been so stressed, taking on more and more responsibilities since Roger had his amputation.
I did manage to get hold of Roger- he already had gotten her phone message.  V picked me up from work and we went to their house, brought in the mail and walked the dog since Roger doesn't have his prosthesis yet and can't walk their energetic big dog.
Sharon was released and we picked her up at the ER and took her to her car which was still at work.  I did admonish her that "IT IS OK TO ASK FOR HELP!!!"  I'll have to be more diligent about checking in with HER and not just Roger to see how things are going.

Today, I finally got the heat lamp hung in the chicken coop for when the temps get really frigid this winter.  We've got spoiled chickens.  We've already got the heated water base so their water doesn't freeze.  For the heat lamp, we found a 'thermo-cube' with a built in thermostat that will turn the lamp off and on between preset temperatures so it isn't on all the time.

I'm planning to cut out V's smoking jacket this afternoon.  I haven't had time to get to it yet and I wanted to prewash the fabric.  Yes, even the velvet.  I know that this jacket will get thrown in the wash so I want the fabric to be able to stand up to it.
J17 is working to design a logo for me.  For one of her computer graphics classes she is taking, she had to design one anyway so she is using my hopeful business to kill two birds with one stone.  I'll hopefully be unveiling a new blog soon for the crafty stuff.  I have secured a custom domain and may ask our friend Mike if he will host it for me.  I do think J17 is at least as excited about this venture as I am.

Gotta go- I've got too much on my list for the day to spend much time with blogger... as tempting as it is. I've already wasted time researching sergers.  I'm thinking that maybe I'll ask Santa for one of those.  Anyone have any recommendations or warnings??  I've used one before but don't own one.

Mmm... Brains....

And other Saturday trivia!

J17's Dungeons and Dragons party went off well this afternoon.  The brains were quite tasty!  But, boy, it was loud here!!  Seven teenagers having fun is quite noisy.  But a grand time was had by all.  They only had a few hours this afternoon since J17 is off this evening being a roving violinist at an Italian Dinner fundraiser.  Most of the time they were all together this afternoon was spent creating characters and for most of the group this is their first time with an RPG.
We had lots of snacks- including some junk that I don't normally buy.  And one boy brought a giant bag of pizza rolls that I cooked in the oven for them all.  I made the mistake of eating a few of those and some candy corn and now I feel a bit sick.  It's amazing how quickly you get 'un-used' to eating processed food and junk.  But I was heartened that the first thing the kids finished was the bowl of grapes.  And they are all getting together again in two weeks to continue the game.  They don't have school on Nov 11 so they're planning an all day game-fest.  I'm kind of glad I've got to work that day!!
I spent part of the afternoon (while the party was going on) in the kitchen.  I'm still there off and on.  I'm having a quiche making marathon.  I had over 4 dozen eggs in the fridge so I decided to make some quiche- 6 of them!  Two each of the following:  Southwestern (sweet corn, chili peppers, onions and bacon), Broccoli/ cheese and sausage/ mushroom.  Two we will work on for dinner tonight (and leftovers!) and the other 4 will be frozen for future use.  More quick meals for the freezer.  Yeah!!
Tomorrow, I14 will be confirmed.  One more entertainment event to get through.  Whew.  But I've got everything ready but dessert.  One more thing for the oven today and then I'm done.
Gotta run and check the oven.  Hope you are all having a productive weekend.

Three years and I'm still here

Today is my three year blogiversary.  Amazing that I've been at this for three years now. My first post was October 3, 2008.  How far we've come in that time. 

And, yes, I'm still here.  Visiting with grieving friends yesterday kind of took it out of me.  But, a few photos of the weekend.  

First, my beautiful daughter!!

 J17 ready for the Homecoming  Dance on Saturday night.
We went off Sunday afternoon (before funeral) to the fabric shop and she picked up her pattern and fabric for her prom dress.  Yup, she's going to make her dress again.  And she picked up a job application since they're hiring.  She's hoping they can make an exception to the over 18 rule they state on the application.  I even picked out some fabric and two new patterns for myself.  I'm really planning to spend some time sewing once the weather turns this year.
Speaking of weather turning- this is the view from the deck:

 The leaves are really changing.  Of course, the frost we had both Saturday and Sunday mornings helped.  I covered a few things in the garden but most of the peppers and tomatoes fared for themselves.   The peppers that weren't covered took a hit but the tomatoes don't look too bad.  Of course, the ones with lots of huge green tomatoes got covered.
I tried my hand at soap making again this weekend.  Well, kind of... I still had some goat milk soap base left over so this was the melt and pour stuff.

 The yellow is an herbal blend with calendula petals.  The blue is lavender vanilla.
Lastly... Recognize this girl?

She was merely the precursor.  Today, the south side of the house is crawling with boxelder bugs.  No asian ladybugs yet but I'm sure it's only a matter of time.

So, happy blogiversary to me.  I'm saving a giveaway for 1000 posts.  But I've got a while yet so you're safe! 

Have a great week.

A day in Annapolis

V and I arrived in Annapolis last night and had a late dinner in a local restaurant.  This morning, we set out to explore.

It was a lovely day. This is the view down Main Street outside the hotel:

 We are staying at the historic Maryland Inn.  It was built in the late 1700s and many delegates of the Continental Congress stayed there when Annapolis was the national capitol- when the Treaty of Paris was ratified at the end of the Revolutionary War.
The hotel is built on a triangle between streets and is an interesting shape:

It is said that Ben Franklin and many other notables had drinks in the restaurant/tavern in the basement of the inn.  How cool is that!!
From the hotel, we walked the few blocks down the the city harbor:

And back inland to the State House:

Sadly, the State House is under renovation and we couldn't go in.  We wanted to see the room where George Washington resigned his commission prior to accepting the presidency.  We are such geeks!!
Right after lunch time we headed just a few miles East to V's friend's home.  Here is the birthday girl cutting her cake!

We had a wonderful time and met lots of great, interesting people.
V even got to do his very first book signing!

Tomorrow, we will go back to his friend's house for brunch and then will meet my sister here in Annapolis. 

So far, we're having a wonderful time and have managed to unwind.  There is a bit of tension though, being this close to DC on the anniversary of 9/11.  The terror alert is high and it was so odd to see signs along the highway urging people to report suspicious activity.  A bit of culture shock for those of us who have been out of the East Coast mentality for the past 17 years.

Now off to bed.  Tomorrow is another busy, hopefully relaxing day.

Middle aged white guys

pretending they're 20 again...

The party was a success.  Several people we expected were unable to make it but we still had lots of fun.  Good food, good friends, good times.

V's friend E flies out this afternoon and V's brother K leaves tomorrow.  It has been a joy to have them here. It is hard to think of them as high powered executives

Happy Birthday, Love.

My sweetie has a birthday today.  A big one... although he doesn't seem a day over 25 to me.  Things have been hopping around here and I'm going to be busy through the weekend.  But I thought I'd share a few photos of the day.
Egg number 2 arrived today.  V came in to tell me that Micah was sitting in the nest box and that I should come out to take a photo.

As you can see, by the time I came out with the camera, she had hopped out of the nest box and laid her egg underneath.  sigh... We've got decoy eggs in the boxes, hoping to encourage them to use the nests. Maybe next time.

V's brother K arrived this afternoon.  Yes, he is who K11 is named after.  So I was busy getting the guest bedroom ready and general cleaning today.  I also had to bake a cake.

A special cake:

The hourglass was J17's idea.  I tried to make it still really full!

Obviously, V was amused:

 Not too bad for an old man- he is 50 today.
V's brother shipped his guitars to our house so they can play together.

Tomorrow, E, who was the drummer for their band long ago, will arrive and then the fun will really begin.  They haven't played together for probably 25 years so things will be interesting.
Tomorrow for me, I am set to do the final shopping for the party (except for a few last minute produce items from the Saturday market) and I'll start cooking.  I'm so excited that I've finally got two eggplant in the garden that should be ready to make baba ganoush.  I'm also doing some hummus.  The rest of the party menu includes cheese tortellini (frozen) with pesto, caprese salad, some black bean/corn salsa with tomatoes, peppers and tomatillos from the garden, a veggie tray, a fruit tray and a variety of chips for dipping.  There will be local brats and hamburgers for dinner.  I'm also thinking of some local cheeses with crackers.  I'm trying as much as possible to do local, seasonal food.
I still need to do my alphabet catch up post sometime-- but not tonight.  I'll probably try to catch up the entire week on Sunday after the party.

Score!!

You've gotta love FREE!
OK, I'll admit it.  I didn't really NEED any more plants, especially annual flowers.  But they were free.  How could I pass them up!  See...

I swung by the grocery store on my way home this evening.  They are closing out their garden center.  All the shrubs are 75% off (I resisted- probably only because they were closed already)  But sitting outside the fenced-in area was what was left of their annuals with a sign posted: Free Plants.  How great is that.  So I got a few.
I got two trailing verbena plants (raspberry colored) a few lobelia (8 plants- three 3 packs but one plant was dead) that looked really sad.  I also got four 3-packs of marigolds but I think there are only 10 plants total.
The trailers went in some neglected hanging baskets (one verbena, three lobelia per basket) and the two extra lobelia went one each into clay pots to set on the steps)  I'll plant the marigolds out in the garden soon.  The poor plants were all so root bound.  I spread out the roots so hopefully they will be alright and flourish now that they have been transplanted into more soil.
Tomorrow, bright and early, V and J17 head out to Pennsylvania.  They will visit her first choice for college (Kutztown University) and see V's Mom and sister as well as a bunch of his friends out there since that is his original stomping ground.  It seems that they have quite the trip planned. They will be gone 6 days.
The boys will be home alone tomorrow but then I will be off with them for five days.  Friday because I worked last weekend, the weekend and then two vacation days.  FIVE WHOLE DAYS!!  And so far the weather looks hot but great.  I've got my to-do list in full swing!  I'll be exhausted, I'm sure, but oh, so happy.  I'll be sure to post about my progress.
Roger will be discharged from the hospital tomorrow.  He will be transferred to a rehab facility in Waterloo, a couple of hours away.  He is adjusting mentally and seems in better spirits now that his pain is in better control.  I don't know that we will drive to visit him there but I'll definitely stay in touch and try to help out Sharon as I can.  I'll certainly be peeking in on his garden from time to time.

Stuff

It has been a long, emotionally draining day.  I didn't manage to get up to see Roger before surgery- today was really busy at work.  But I did get to spend a little time with Sharon, his wife, not long after she had met with the surgeons to learn the outcome.   Sadly,  none of Roger's foot was salvageable.  He ended up with an amputation about mid calf.  Sharon was looking shell shocked.  They had known that this was a possibility but had hoped for the best. She is feeling totally overwhelmed.  Unfortunately, there is little I can do to make things better.  They had relied mostly on Roger's income and with him not working, even before she got laid off her job, it was a struggle to make ends meet.  She is panicking that they may need to move (they live in a split foyer home) but I urged her to wait to see how he progresses in rehab before she makes any rash decisions.  And even after the amputation, they still have the cancer diagnosis to deal with- which hasn't really even been addressed.
It looks like the weekend is shaping up for better weather than I had hoped.  So, I think, we plan to go to their house, as a family, on Monday morning to weed the garden.  Anyone in the IC area interested in a charity weed, let me know- we would be glad of the help.
It about broke my heart when Sharon was going on about needing the food from the garden, especially if she can't find a decent job.   She was asking about drying tomatoes and if they would store that way, or if she could freeze them.  Roger is the gardener and canner in the family and she is feeling a bit out of her element-- but realizing just how important that stored food has been in their lives in the past. I did volunteer to come help with canning tomatoes if they need it.  I'm not sure how I'll be able to do that- can my produce as well as theirs- but I'll give it my best shot if necessary.
But on a brighter note- I picked the first handful of black raspberries this evening.  They didn't last long enough to make it into the house to be photographed.  V and I shared them outside in the heat.
Yes- it finally feels like summer!!  It made it over 90 today!! and mid 90's tomorrow... with high humidity, of course- it wouldn't be summer without it.  Not much work got done outside this evening with the weather.  However, I14 has decided he wants to earn some money.  So, tomorrow morning, he is going to weed the iris bed for me.  He's figured out that he needs to work for 3 hours to have enough money to buy a game that he wants. Definitely doable in his  eyes.
I feel like I've been a bit of a downer these past few days.  I'll try to be more upbeat in the future- I'm just beat.

News: Good, Bad and Ugly

News flash!!! The Good: V has finished his book!!  Woo Hoo!!! He still has a little formating to do but the text is done.  What a relief!  Now, he will have time to do other things around the house and homestead. Yeah!! This has been such a stressor for both of us.  I've been picking up lots of slack while he struggled to finish.  So maybe now my days won't be quite so overloaded.  Of course, he has now picked up another freelance project.
But also, I heard bad news today.  Around lunchtime I got a page.  It was Roger's nurse wondering if I could get away from what I was doing to come see him.  He got some bad news.  The infection in his foot has continued to spread, in spite of the IV antibiotics, and is into the bone.  So, tomorrow morning, they will amputate a significant portion of his foot.  He was not handling this well, as can be expected.  It is a terrible blow for someone who has always been quite active and has a large garden planted.  To make matters worse, his wife just got laid off her job so now they have no income.  Talk about stressful.  I'm going to try really, really hard to not complain about my lot in life... I've got absolutely nothing to complain about.  Weeds- bah- who's going to complain about them now.
But one last bit of ugly ugly.  I discovered the first Japanese Beetle of the year this afternoon while I was out weeding.  I disposed of him or her quietly, no witnesses...   I didn't get my peppers mulched- maybe tomorrow when J17 is home to help (She's working at the farmer's market this evening)  I'm using that corn based mulching plastic stuff under the grass clippings (I discovered the hard way that it really needs mulch over it as just burying the edges like it says lets it blow away) and it is so flimsy that the slightest breeze is a problem.  We got a good system worked out when we did the tomatoes.  J17 and I put down the plastic stuff while the boys gather grass clippings, they we all scatter clippings.
I'll have to see if I can talk J17 into doing a bit more weeding tomorrow.  I'm getting much, much closer to having a handle on the weeds in the garden.  Then, to tackle the flower beds :)  I've been working on my pre-party 'to do' list.  hahahahahaha.......  I must be delusional to think I'll get it all done.

Sunday Scenes

I'm tired.  I didn't sleep well last night and have been busy all day.
V and I visited Roger in the hospital this morning for a bit.  He isn't doing very well emotionally.  The cancer was a 'surprise' discovered when he was hospitalized for something else.  He has a terrible infection in his foot that has been cleaned out (down to the tendons!) and they are hoping it doesn't continue to spread.  He is worried that he may lose his foot.  Add onto that the new diagnosis that was  found and he is a wreck.
Of course, like any gardener, he is worried about the weeds in his garden that he hasn't been able to tend.   I wish I had a better handle on the weeds in my own garden or I would go weed his.
But, on to more positive things.  It was a lovely, sunny day today after it dried out this morning. I spent the afternoon outside in the garden.  Here are a few images of the day
Chickens doing chicken-y sorts of things in the temporary run:

 Broccoli peeking our of its leaves-

Purple cabbage: as beautiful as any flower-

Raspberries beginning to ripen-

 And blueberries, too- our first!

 Red currants ready to pick-

 The first tomato!  Black Krim

 Peppers- Volcano (hot hungarian wax)

My asiatic lilies that I planted this spring are blooming- at only about 8 inches tall!

 The Goth Garden:

 Grrr- bugs were on my basil!

I hope you all had a peaceful Sunday.

Happy Birthday big sister!!

Whirlwind weekend

Ok, I'm officially exhausted!  It has been such a wild, busy weekend.  But, MUCH, MUCH, MUCH has been accomplished.  Sorry, no photos, my camera batteries are dead.  We are almost finished with the chicken coop!!!  Only the interior screen door to install and the wire wall to put up (the wall is framed, just the wire needs installed.  The exterior is done and the chicken and clean out doors are finished (I'm particularly proud of those!  I did them myself!)  V took time this morning to help me out and finished the electrics this afternoon so there is now a light and a covered outlet (for the heated waterer in the winter).  Of course, the outdoor run isn't finished (the materials won't be delivered until we order stuff for the rest of the deck) but I plan to put up a temporary fence so we can let them out.
Also, this morning, I FINALLY got the rest of the garden planted!  Woo Hoo!!  What a great feeling.  There are still many, many weeds out there but things are looking up.
This afternoon, J17 and I took a break and went to Wapsi-no-noc Gardens (where she works) for an herbal tincture making workshop.  What a nice break.  We learned about some herbs, got a tour of the gardens and had the opportunity to prepare some tinctures.  I made some with Motherwort, Skullcap and Burdock root.  J17 made Valerian, lemon balm and feverfew. They still need to set for at least 6 weeks.  We also got a couple of plant starts (motherwort and pennyroyal).
After the workshop, we went to Jim's house and helped him prepare his garden.  So, now that is done and I can stop feeling guilty.  We didn't dig up a very big area.  Maybe only 8x8 feet- but it is sufficient for a few tomato and pepper plants and some basil.  That's all he wants.  Not bad for a first garden.
Now, I've had it. I was up at 6:30 this morning and worked hard all day.  Tomorrow I'm back to work.  After work, I hope to finish the coop!!!  Woot!!!  But, now, it's time for a bit of wine, maybe some strawberries and off to bed for me.
I hope you all had an equally productive weekend.

What's a little lasagna between friends...

We had friends over last night for a lasagna feed. It was a wonderful evening full of good conversation and good food. I made two batches of lasagna. Well, actually, J16 made lasagna while I did other things. I had all the children in the kitchen helping since I was so far behind schedule. J16 was the kitchen assistant/prep chef, I16 was the sous chef and K10 was the bus boy and runner.

The first was a traditional lasagna with tomato sauce and italian sausage- that was the lasagna "with". The lasagna "without" (the vegetarian option) was something new for me. I made a winter squash lasagna. One of my pumpkins was starting to get soft and needed used so I researched recipes online and then made my own creation...

Mmmm, tasty!

I started by peeling and cubing about 2.5 lbs of squash. This I tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper, chopped onions and garlic then roasted it at 400* until tender and beginning to get a bit of caramelization. Once out of the oven, I added finely chopped fresh sage leaves (5 leaves) and a bit of dried rosemary. I used a pretty traditional cheese filling with ricotta, mozzarella and parmesan but substituted some shredded provolone for some of the mozzarella. The sauce over all was a garlic white sauce. That's where I13 came in as sous chef since I didn't have time to stand there and stir the sauce with a whisk for 15 minutes. The layering was noodles, cheese, squash mixture, a bit of sauce, repeat, ending with noodles and sauce over all. I didn't let it brown as much as I would have liked on top but the cheese was beginning to bubble over the edge of the pan onto the bottom of the oven- ick.

For sides, we had breadsticks and salad. Thanks to Jena at Married to the Farm for the recipe for The Best homemade breadsticks EVER! They were definitely a hit. I made a tossed salad and yes, even after all the frost and cold weather, I was still able to pick some leaf lettuce out of the yard to dress up our purchased lettuce.

All in all, it was a great night. We'll have to do it again soon.

Busy, Busy

Today flew by. I didn't get several of the things on my original "to do" list done but I got lots of others done. It was such a beautiful day that V decided that we should burn some of the brush that has accumulated over the summer. So, we were outside most of the afternoon tending the fire. We kept it fairly small since there was a little breeze and there is lots of dry grass about. While we were out and about, since we started the fire in the barnyard, not too far from the garden, I decided to get started cleaning out the garden. I gathered frosted tiny pumpkins and pattypan squash and started pulling the tomato supports. I got just over half of the tomatoes pulled. I probably would have done more but we ended up having visitors.

Our friend Jim stopped by with two other friends who were interested in getting pumpkins. All of these people had already had the experience of one of our fabulous pumpkins and came back for more. So, between the three of them (and picking up for another friend who was working today) we parted with seven pumpkins! Woot! I've got 4 reserved in the house for us, one for the guy who is the food writer for the local paper (maybe we'll get a feature!) and still have at least 6 more in the shop. I'm still waiting for one other person to come pick up some (tomorrow or Monday) so hopefully I'll have a much more manageable number. I've still got some leads out there to give away some more. They need to find homes or be moved into the house because it's getting far too cold for them to remain in the shop. It was kind of fun to see the expression on their faces when they saw the pile of pumpkins and learned that they all came from two little seeds. I gave up weighing after a while but our best estimate is about 450 pounds of pumpkins. Yowza! The bounty of nature is AMAZING!

It felt good to be putting the garden to bed and now I'm tired, a good tired, from working outside in the fresh air, laughing with friends and eating good food (and of course, getting to burn things!!). I've still got some more to do but tomorrow is supposed to be another beautiful day. Of course, we still haven't carved pumpkins for Halloween- we're a bit behind the times. And it's my turn to take the children trick or treating tomorrow night.

J16 is at a birthday party for one of her friends this evening. She chose for a gift, a jar of the July Gelatinous Yum (peach jam) that she and I made this summer. What a great gift, although I was somewhat reluctant to part with it- that means less for us to eat! She is hoping to be able to practice some of her bellydance moves at this party. This particular friend (who is a Muslim of middle eastern origin.) is the one who got her hooked on bellydancing a few years ago.

Well, I've got to get the dishes done so I don't have a mess to clean up tomorrow. I've got plenty enough other things to do.