Time is Flying!

Well, here it is September and I haven't posted for over a month!   Hubby and I took #1 Daughter to airport 3 weeks ago and she is now living across the country in the Desert Southwest.  

I've canned lots of pepper jelly, a few tomatoes, and a batch of spaghetti sauce.  Not much else is doing really well in my garden except for the jalapenos.  Speaking of which, it's time to pick them again, and then make more jelly.

My 2 younger kids started a new school year 3 weeks ago.  And  since this coming Monday is Labor Day, they'll have a day off and so will Hubby.  We were thinking of visiting Elephant Rock State Park for the day, but I guess we'll wait and see.  May just grill or smoke something here and enjoy the day at home.

I had a tour at our small farm this past Monday morning.  It was fun!  Four moms and their 2 year olds came out to see the baby goats.  I had the babies' milk bottles ready so the tots could feed them.  First off though, the goats were in the woods and all came to the barn when I called, except that they left the youngest baby goat in the woods by himself.  So I hurried out to find him and he followed me back to the barn.  He was the most playful and the 3 little girls and 1 little boy could hug and pet him; and he followed them all around the barn and the field.   The moms took lots of pictures.

I'm trying something new for two of my three farmers' markets.  In addition to selling my soaps, I made home-made breads and dinner rolls this last week.  I sold everything but 2 breads at the Tuesday market.  Of those two,  I gave one away and the other one sold at my Wednesday morning market first thing before I even finished setting up.  That night I searched the internet and found some sources for bread bags and bought 2 cases.  Guess that means I have to bake breads now so the bags don't go to waste.  Ha, ha!  I recently bought a new Artisan bread book and it has lots of great recipe ideas.  In fact, I made couple of the breads in this book and sold them at the farmers' market.  I have some Deli Rye Bread rising right now and will bake it later to go with our supper.

I've been so busy lately that I haven't been able to spend much time knitting.  However, I had to take my vehicle into the shop this morning and I did finish a dishcloth.  Something mindless to work on while waiting.   

I haven't been able to make soap lately, but I finally made a batch of Black Raspberry-Vanilla.  It seems to be the "It" fragrance this summer.  It will be ready to sell before the market season is over.

The kids are home from school now, so I should go and get their snacks ready.

Dog Days are Coming

The dog days of summer are soon to be upon us.  After a cooler than usual July, the weatherman says it's finally going to be our normal hot and sticky Southeast Missouri summertime weather.

I made 5 half-pints of Jalapeno Pepper Jelly last Friday.  There was 1 large red pepper and it was hot enough that I'll have to label this batch of pepper jelly "Medium hot".  I was able to eat it, but I don't think I'd like it to be much hotter.  I don't like to cry when I'm eating or for my mouth to be numb.

Yesterday my family and I picked almost 2 bushels of sweet corn from my parents' garden and I put 11 quarts in the freezer.  That will be yummy later this fall/winter.  We also picked cucumbers, tomatoes, and eggplants.  Now it's time for me to can tomatoes, salsa, and spaghetti sauce.  I have a recipe in my canning book for Red Tomato Jam that I'd like to try.  I'm curious as to what it tastes like and it would be something different from "normal" jams.  Will post about that later. For now, I'd better start the smoker.  I'm making smoked pork steaks for supper and then I have to pick tomatoes in my garden and get busy canning.

Goat babies, pepper jelly, soap, knitting

My son's goat gave birth 3 weeks ago to beautiful twins!  Another buck and doe set of goat babies.  They were born sometime in the early morning hours as they were already clean and dry by the time we made it to the barn for morning chores.  

I picked a gallon of jalapeno peppers yesterday morning and I made a double batch of Jalapeno Jelly.  I made another double batch this morning making a total of 23 half-pint jars.  Mmmm, it tastes delicious on cream cheese and crackers!  Most of the recipes I looked at called for a combination of red and green sweet peppers with a few hot peppers.  I wanted to use all jalapenos.  So in order to do that, I had to use liquid pectin, which I've never used before.  It's a bit more costly than the powered pectin and my canning books said the two were not interchangeable.  Anyway, the recipe was really simple:  jalapenos, sugar, cider vinegar, and liquid pectin.  And if my pepper plants keep doing so well, I'll be making a lot more pepper jelly and selling it at my farmers' markets.

Several weeks ago, my hubby, son and I put together a portable garage for our new hay shed.   It seems to be much better than the cheap blue tarp we used last year to cover the hay.  Hubby decided to put metal screws in at all the joins to make absolutely sure it stays together.  Now it's time to fill it up with hay.

I made a batch of Green Irish Tweed (type) goat milk soap today.  It's one of the scents to fill a customer order.  I have 3 more batches to go and this order will be filled.  One batch of soap for the B&B is ready and the other will be ready tomorrow.

I've been so busy lately that I haven't had much time to knit.  I took the time this weekend to start a red cotton lace cardigan for my younger daughter.  It's going to be beautiful when finished, hopefully in time for school this fall when the weather starts cooling down.  I'm also knitting her a pair of socks made from a wool, bamboo, & nylon yarn.  The Scottish lace shawl that I knitted for most of a year for my older daughter is finished except for sewing a small border seam together, washing, and blocking it.  Hopefully I will complete it before she leaves for AZ.

Hmmm, guess I'd better bake a dessert and get supper started because Hubby will be home before too long.

  

Lots Going on at Patchwork Acres

Gee, I'm not blogging very often, am I?  What's happened since I last wrote.....well, our big news is that we have twin baby goats, a buck and a doe, born the day before we left for Chicago.  I thought they might wait to arrive while we were gone.  They are beautiful and look very much like their sire...black and white with a little brown.  My son's goat is due next.  The poor thing grunts and groans as she moves around and even while laying down.  Anyway, it's great to again have goat milk to drink and to save for my soap making.  In fact, after I finish blogging, I will make yogurt and buttermilk.  Have to have buttermilk to make cheese and my family and I love fresh yogurt with fruit and granola cereal.  

Hubby and I drove to Chicago for our oldest daughter's college graduation.  That is the most memorable graduation I have ever attended.  It was cold and it rained and the graduation ceremony was held outdoors, rain or shine.  I didn't bring a jacket, though we had Hubby's umbrella with us.  University staff handed out emergency rain ponchos for the graduates and their guests.  I bought a colorful, Mexican blanket at a gas station on our way into Chicago that I used as a shawl.   The rain eventually stopped before the end of the ceremony; but we were sitting under a tree and it dripped on us for a while.  We were surprised by how many people were standing up during the graduation ceremony, thus blocking our view.  I was thinking that we drove all that way to see our daughter graduate, then I'd better be able to see her walk across the stage.  Hubby finally asked one woman who was standing up if she'd mind moving because we couldn't see.  She did move, but I don't think she was too happy.  We could hear a few people behind us talking..."yeah, that guy asked her to move.   We can see now."  Hubby and I aren't fond of  big cities and we were glad to see Chicago in our rear view mirror.  We're happy to be back home in rural MO.  And a big thanks to my in-laws, who stayed with the kids while Hubby and I were in Chicago.  The kids don't get to see this set of grandparents as often as they'd like and they all enjoyed spending time together.  The kids will get to spend a week with Grandma and Gramps later in the summer before school starts again.

Last week was very uncomfortable with high temperatures and high humidity.  Heat advisories were out for much of the area for several days.  (I'm not looking forward to seeing our electric bill.)  The first hour of the last Tuesday's farmers' market was miserable until the sun started setting and a few clouds came in.  The breeze would blow a little and that helped a lot.  

Yesterday was nice, though warm, with low humidity.  Hubby, son, and I worked on cleaning up the spot for our new portable garage which will serve as our new hay shed.  It's nice again today.  My son worked down at the barn.  He was supposed to finish cleaning so we can start putting up the new hay shed.  I spent some much needed time this morning out in my garden weeding tomatoes until it was too hot.   I have jalapeno peppers ready, so it's time to get out the pepper jelly recipe!  Yum, yum!

Younger daughter isn't home this week.  She's on a servant event trip with the youth group from our church.  They went to North Carolina this year.  When she called she said the area/mountains were beautiful!

And of course, I'm still making soaps to fill my customer order.  The soaps for the B&B will be ready by next week.   I think I will next make goat milk soap with Dead Sea clay in it.  That is one of my favorite soaps and it's one needed for my customer order.  Plus, my supply for the markets is low. 

My son loves fruit pies and I made a delicious strawberry pie this week.  He and I finished it for dessert after lunch today.  Hmmm, what to make next.....maybe a blackberry, blueberry, and strawberry pie?  Sounds good to me!

So with that said, I should go for now!