All this rain has given me time to work in the kitchen. Between last night (cooked beans) and today, I have cooked and canned 4 dozen pints of beans. It is wonderful to be able to just open a can of beans and heat them or not to add to a meal. I still want to can another 3 dozen pints of beans and energy permitting, some potatoes. Potato soup is so tasty when it’s cold outside. I could do more if I had another pressure cooker, but then I’d have more to store. It takes about half an hour to heat up, 75 minutes to process and another half hour to remove the pressure, so there is a lot of time in each kettle full. And most of the time, we are very close by so that we can keep the temperature and pressure where it should be.
Today, I also rescued from the refrigerator a number of red and orange peppers which I cut up and froze. And yes, I pushed the date just a bit on both items. It is nearly the 12th month! And I like to know when I processed them so I can use the older items first.
I also had a bit of time, so I removed all the stitches from the quilt that I felt needed to be removed. I’m very happy that is not a huge quilt. Now to start again on the quilting.
This package arrived – wonder how that happened. There are now 27 wash clothes waiting to be made. Or maybe these will turn into something else. This is the problem with internet. It is too easy to spend money. No, it wasn’t necessary, but the price was right and I can use it for small, easy projects. I did manage to ignore most of the weekend ads. However, I ran out of empty pint jars and went to buy some, when what to my wondering eyes, one of my enabling friends posted that Target was having a sale on Ball jars. I did order what I needed and will pick them up at the store tomorrow. I also need some ink for my printer, but that is not on sale this weekend. Therefore, I have not purchased that, yet. So really I have done very good at ignoring all those temptations that have been flowing into my email box. The ads will be coming in for awhile yet, so I still have to be careful. How about you? What tempted you that you yielded to?
The Autumn quilt is finished (except I for the hanging sleeve). Actually, I’m not sure if I’ll put the sleeve on, so maybe it is finished. It’s wonderful to have a finish as it has been awhile.
I wanted to share my daughter’s kitchen with you so you can see how much room she has after her remodel last summer. Isn’t all that space wonderful when one has guests? And it is so inviting, all the guests hang out here.
I hope each of you had a fulfilling Thanksgiving, a wonderful Black Friday and will have a most needed Sabbath this weekend.
I have begun the next pair of socks = the Swirl E socks. This yarn is Knit Picks “Felici” rainbow and the pattern is a Prairie Girl Design by Susie White which is free on Ravelry. With all this gray weather, I’m enjoying knitting with the spring colors and they are knitting up fast. The yarn is nice and soft even though it is a superwash fiber of 75% merino wool and 25% nylon.
We did go to the gym this morning and then grocery shopping for the last minute items. I also spent several hours on the computer doing research. Tomorrow, we are going to our daughter’s and enjoy the family and friends. One of our children and family will be missing since they are on a trip to Israel. But we’ll get together for Christmas.
To all our American friends: Enjoy a
Happy Thanksgiving and drive carefully.
Gray skies and our errands started here. This is a marvelous store in Puyallup, WA. They have everything to make your dreams come true and I have to be very, VERY careful when I step inside.
Somehow (probably from a few escapes it made over the years, my bobbin holder was out of round and I had to acquire a new one at the cost of $75.00. These things are not inexpensive!
From there we found our way to the post office and the library. Then back home to a very late lunch. DH wanted something raw. So I found these Brussels sprouts and red pepper in the refrigerator, thinly sliced both and put a bit of vinegar over them for a colorful salad. And now to remove a few threads from yesterday’s mishap.
November 29 and the peppers are done! They are no longer ripening properly, so I picked the peppers to finish ripening in the house and pulled the plants. It’s hard to believe that the weather has been this mild. By late October, they should have frozen. As soon as they ripen, the extras will go into the freezer to remind me of summer when I use them.
Here is a sink full of Swiss chard and a few carrots, I pulled on which to munch. The chard will also go into the freezer to be used in smoothies and other recipes. The carrots will be pulled throughout the winter as we need them. I would have been more than happy to share some of the produce, but it seems children don’t want food that they know comes out of the ground – they prefer food from the pretty racks in the store. And adults don’t want to pick their own food. It’s too much work. Interesting, isn’t it? So this year the sheep and chickens ate the extra pumpkins, cabbage, peppers, celery and other foods. They do enjoy them.
More canning today – the beans – pinto, great northern, and garbanzos – for now are finished. And while waiting on the pressure canner,
Just look at the beautiful sunset the Lord prepared for us to enjoy as we were preparing the sheep for the night. There are massive benefits to caring for animals.
Today we got so much done. The fellow that sometimes works here had the day off, so he came over to help with some of the little things that needed to get done. Then we went fence supply shopping because what else does one do when a windfall appears in the mail. We need the fencing and a he borrowed a truck. We now have 3 rolls of 330′ goat/sheep fencing and the metal posts to put it up. We still need the wood posts that go with the gates. It is just a matter of when I can get man power to do the work. I think (and hope) they may get started the first of December and I will be out there, cheering them on with coffee, doughnuts or whatever they need to keep going. The sheep and I will be so happy to get the main part of the fencing done. I’ll think about cross fencing later.
As long as we had the truck, we picked up all the potted trees that the renters didn’t want cluttering the place. They are now parked beside the barn. I’m sure when spring comes, we will find many places to put them. Some of them may even go into the ground at the rental. There are still rose bushes to pick up, but we filled the truck out to the end of the tailgate with what were in the front yard. The prior people liked to propagate plants which is why there are so many.
I took the time to quilt this today as well. The binding is on hold.
Better days are coming – they have to be, don’t they? I had a fellow over with a truck today which was a big help as he moved 30 bales of hay from the big barn to the little one. That would have been many trips with a wheelbarrow that only holds one bale. Now the hay is near where we use it. I’m hoping the fence will be up by the end of the year which will solve much of this issue.
And look at all the offspring. This is how bananas reproduce. After a tree has bananas, it dies and the little ones grow up to produce more bananas.
We started putting the garden to bed for the winter. We don’t put all of it to bed as there is still food to eat throughout the winter. But as we clean a bed, we put ground cloth down to save ourselves some spring time work. First we picked this large bowl of peppers (with more ripening) and a few salad greens.
