The weather is finally changing from Indian Summer to Fall here on the hilltop. We had a long, lovely hot Summer...a big rain storm and major weather change...and then a week of warm, sunny days and chilly nights. Now, the rains have returned, temperatures have dropped, and the outside chores are dwindling as we've mostly tucked everything away until Spring.
Tiptoe down to the red cellar door and see how much we've accomplished this canning season!
Neighbor Jean and I traded veggies, milk....and turkeys! This is a pair of Midget Whites. First we thought it was a pink one and a blue one. Now we're not so sure WHAT they are, lol.
Any guesses?
The Speckled Sussex hens started laying and they have taken off like rockets! Well, except for that one teensy weensy egg there....somebody was slacking!
Our birds free range through our orchard, but one of them is a LONE FREE RANGER, lol, as I often see her strolling through the yard or chasing grasshoppers out in the pasture. It is a time of plenty and I have at least 6 or 8 dozen eggs in my fridge. I send them home with anyone who stops by, so if you need eggs, you know where to come, lol!
This is my good and diligent husband of nearly 38 years (yes, we got married at birth...) cleaning our cookstove chimney. We have a two story house with a very steep roof, but he gets right up there and cleans it out every Fall. We work together on the inside chimney and inner stove parts and now it's good to go for all those cozy Winter fires. Everything tastes better cooked on a wood cook stove, by the way. Just ask your Grandma!
Sometimes Fall here in Western Washington is boring. It rains, leaves turn brown and fall off. This year, the colors have been stunning and I have exclaimed many times over all the colorful gifts to view....on trees, in mud puddles, stuck to my shoes....
Seems like there have been a million things to do. We had a cider-pressing party and after everyone took cider home, we still had 14 gallons to can. We've been canning apple butter & apple sauce, harvested onions, garlic, squash, tomatoes, raspberries, blackberries....and I'm sure more stuff I've already forgotten!
This ole King apple is aptly named as it came in at over a pound! We planted our semi-dwarf trees twenty years ago when we bought this land and are reaping a bounty!
Today I canned applesauce for my married daughter and her hubby as she is expecting my first grandbaby and lives in a house too tiny to think about canning at the moment. Did you hear that??? My FIRST GRANDBABY! Can you say...GrammyPammy? I'm already starting a collection of toys. Of course, I've always loved toys and still have quite a few from my own childhood!
Mr. Ripley likes to stare at me while I sit in my chair with my laptop. After this picture, he proceeded to walk calmly across my keyboard and my screen turned sideways! I didn't even know it could do that, so of course had to enlist help in getting it back to normal! No, no...BAD CAT!
My husband calls my activities at this time of the year "Squirrel Sickness" as I madly harvest, store, dry, can and freeze EVERYTHING in sight so that our nest will be well stocked until the growing season comes 'round again.
In between all the canning, I'm working on a quilt, an afghan and primitives as someone purchases some.
This is all the apple butter....about 60 pints. Pancakes are yummy with apple butter!
People usually comment on how busy I am. It's true, I do a lot of things, but I don't work outside of home, so I have more time to do it all than some. I'm also a type A, like my mother before me, so I hit the ground running around 5:30 or 6 each morning and don't usually slow down until after dinner. I LIKE to work. I LOVE my farm and all the chores. Sometimes I feel a little overwhelmed and wish I had a few extra hands to help with it all, but still, I'm never bored!
These are the apples that we turned in the 60 pints of apple butter - three boxes of Liberty apples and two boxes of mixed Kings and Jonagolds.
The gourds and Jack-be-Littles were a gift from my neighbor!
This bread is about 2/3 whole wheat
and 1/3 unbleached flour. I usually make 5 loaves at a time, but this time I made 3 loaves and 8 big sandwich or hamburger buns.
We joke that even after a trip to the grocery store or Costco, there's nothing to eat around here except ingredients. That's the only disadvantage to cooking everything from scratch....if you don't cook, you don't eat!
Life on this farm repeats itself season after season and year after year. Not everything stays the same, but a lot of it does, and that's a comfort. Daughter married & moved, but my son & younger daughter pick up where she left off, helping with everyday life and increasing our joy.
My son is a wonderful, Godly young man and he and I enjoy working on a lot of the outdoor projects together. Yesterday we repaired this fence and moved animals around to their winter pens. His sheep are now in their winter pen and all the goats are in theirs and waiting for the kidding season....hopefully by Christmas we'll be milking again! I cleaned the milk room down at the barn and all the milking equipment - probably the first time ever that I'm ready in advance!
Well, 'nuf of this sitting around with a computer on my lap. Those ingredients will not be supper-time's meal if I don't get a move on! I'll leave you with a song that's been blessing me all week...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzhmI6U6sAs
This bread is about 2/3 whole wheat 
