10.13.15 – 10.27.15

Dust top of armoire

I love this time of year! It’s been a very dry Fall for us but they’re predicting a wetter than usual winter. I dread it but we do need the water. Hopefully it will be warm enough that ours comes in the form of rain instead of ice or snow.

October Mantle

I’ve finished drying the last of the apples. I’ve been doing this for many years and still amazes me how you can start out with so much and end up with so little. Around 12 apples fit into 2 quart jars once dried. Of course once piece of dried cinnamon apple is soooo good, it almost equals a whole one  :)

Dried cinnamon apples. Excellent for winter munching and added to oatmeal etc...

I still have more squash and pumpkins to dry and I’ll be making more pumpkin bark as well.

It was down in the in the 30s the other night, around 38, so the day was about getting all the potted plants inside. The hard part is finding a place to put them.

I made chocolates for the Kith & Kin potluck. White, dark and milk chocolate with our own black walnuts and purchased English walnuts, our own and purchased sunflower seeds, our own pumpkin seeds and our own cayenne. I made dark chocolate pumpkin seed clusters… dark, milk and white chocolate walnut and sunflower seed clusters…. Milk and white chocolate sunflower seed cluster and dark chocolate cayenne drops. They’re magically delicious!

Chocolates for the Oct. Kith & Kin

The Kith & kin Trade Gathering turned out wonderfully. We sat around a table, like family, and shared and talked together. I learned how to card wool by hand, without carders. Very simple and anyone interested in spinning should know it but I could find no reference to it online. Every place I searched said you had to have carders but I knew that ancient folk didn’t and still managed to turn wool into yarn.

I’ve also taught myself how to spin without anything or with something as simple as a stone or stick. A drop spindle is on my list and a spinning wheel too but I can do it without either.

Lovely mushrooms

We got our other sheep on sunday. A lovely black Shetland wether. His name was Evan, Nik named him Evan Oaken-Horn, we’ve been calling him Oak. He’s a companion for Sage and I really wanted black wool  :)  We got him from a wonderful woman who raises them north of Ava. She has a big, beautiful flock, all colors and so sweet. It made me want a tiny flock here. Shetland sheep are a primitive, landrace breed and produce wool, meat and milk. Very hardy in every way. When we get all fenced in I might just get a few ewes   :)

When we first put Oak in with Sage, Sage was terrified of him. That was last evening and now they’re eating together  :)  I look forward to lots of wool and sheep time!

Me

-Learned-

About The Rose Line

About banding male smallstock and horns

Hand carding wool without carders

More on Shetland sheep husbandry (primitive, landrace)

-Harvest  –

Horseradish root

Burdock root

Wild ginger

Cultivated ginger

Ginseng (tiny amount)

Dandelion root

Rosehips

Chicory (small amount)

Hickory nuts

Walnuts

Acorns

-Barter –

Sweater

Small bag

Ribbon holder

Emerald Bell Peppers

Motherwort plant and seeds

A black shetland sheep wether

-Gifts –

Organic Life magazine

Jar of dried Gala apples

Baby food jars

Assorted glass jars

Mule magazines

80 lbs of dirty Gulf wax

Daikon radishes and greens

Motherwort tincture

Cushaw Sp? squash

-Baking-

*Oat/wheat bread

*Wheat rolls

*Pumpkin bread and muffins

*Apple Bake

*Biscuits

-Meals-

*Baked potatoes topped with baked beans and horse radish coleslaw

*Omelets with our eggs, our onions, local peppers and local mushrooms with potato cakes (from leftover mashed potatoes) and toasted homemade potato flour bread and homemade butter.

*Ham salad made with commercial mayo and our onions, on oat/wheat bread with shredded violet and dandelion leaves. Apple slices on the side

*Fast food breakfast wraps – directions below

*Spaghetti – organic whole wheat pasta with my homemade and a heap of parmesan. Organic green beans with real butter, pepper and onion. Meager wild salad of violet leaves, dandelion and dock.

*Biscuits and vegetarian pepper gravy (olive oil base and organic flour base with Daikon radish tops) with home-canned green beans cooked in their own juice with onion, sea salt and ground pepper.

-Snacks-

*Corn ships with homemade salsa

*All natural peanut butter and organic jam on home bread

*Last of the pears

*My homemade chocolate seed and nut clusters

*Dried apples

-Evening Tea- (dessert)

*Apple bake

*Pumpkin banana ice cream

*Chocolate nut and see clusters

*Baked caramel apples  :)

-Sunday Dinners-

*Roast ham with roasted potatoes and squash

*Potluck

-Drinks-

*Lemon spice tea, made with black pekoe, lemon balm and a pinch of cinnamon. Sweetened with honey. Hot and cold

*Stash Chai with commercial creamer - hot

*Cold chocolate milk

*Hot chocolate

*Hot pekoe with honey, vanilla and goat milk

* Spiced Rosehip tea- hot

*Rootbeer!

-Recipes-………………………………………………………………………

Spiced Rosehip Tea

1 t tea base (pekoe, rooibos, oolong etc..)

1 t rosehips, lightly crushed

3 to 4 cloves

honey to taste

Add the first 3 to your tea bag or ball etc.. Bring water to just before boiling and pour over tea. Cover and steep for a few minutes. Remove bag, add honey to taste and enjoy!

Also great with a splash of goat milk.

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Fast Food Breakfast Wraps –

To make 8 to 10 wraps I use 6 eggs, a splash of goat milk, chopped onion and sweet pepper, sea salt and black pepper powder. Whisk well and scramble in medium hot CI skillet. Fry ham in separate CI skillet. Drain but leave a little grease and then cook potatoes (shredded, diced or sliced thin). Use homemade or commercial tortillas precooked but not warmed. On each tortilla add cheese then meat, potatoes and ham. Fold and place single file on cookie sheet to freeze. When frozen through, carefully put each one in a storage container or large freezer baggie etc. You can also wrap individually in plastic wrap for taking to lunch. You can reheat them in a microwave, oven, grill or woodstove. To heat in microwave – heat uncovered on safe plate for 1 minute. For oven, grill or woodstove – wrap in foil or place on CI skillet and cover with something ovenproof. In hot oven around 1 minute, top of hot woodstove 1 to 2 minutes, on low coals 1 minute. On woodstove and coals, turn halfway through. Just check it to see that it’s hot through and cheese is melted.

You can use the same basic idea to make all sorts of fast food wraps. One of my favorites is chicken, cheese, bacon, rice, lettuce and ranch (homemade or commercial). Just assemble everything but the lettuce and ranch – add them after reheating.

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Pumpkin banana ice cream

2 frozen bananas

½ c cooked pumpkin, cooled completely (could use canned)

1 t pumpkin pie spice (or 1 t total of your choice clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, pinch on ginger)

In a heavy bowl, mash the bananas and pumpkin with the spice until they take on an ice cream texture. Deliciouso!