Applesauce :-)

It sure is October around here.... nothing but wet ! I'll almost be glad to see winter just to be rid of the mud. October means applesauce and sticky floors around here !! Last year, we made sauce and pie filling from our own apples, but this year, the harvest was terrible. We purchased our apples from the orchard down the road. I've heard that fruit trees don't give fruit every year..... it's kind of an 'every other year' thing. Ryan sure was a big help with the applesauce (making and EATING it :-).


Sean can't be bothered with kitchen duties right now as he's riveted to Legos, he can't seem to get enough of them. Every nite we have a Lego date at the dining room table. He's actually a pretty good builder..... but he's SO 'Type A' about it :-) We're still trying to build all of the lego contraptions he got for his birthday.

Lyndsay is all about the bread, lately. She's bound and determined to be Sean's bread maker. We grind our own wheat for bread and whenever Lilo hears the grinder he comes BOLTING into the kitchen to 'help'. Actually, he knows what's coming after the grind :-)---- The whole time we make bread, Liam snatches bits of the dough and runs out of the kitchen. The whole house smells wonderful while it's baking. Unfortunately, we've discovered that Sean has an allergy to regular wheat berries so we purchase special berries for his bread (Kamut & Spelt). He seems to tolerate both types very well. I tried grinding unpolished rice and making his bread out of the rice flour but it was so crumbly and DENSE !!

Seany's New Pet

It's starting to get busy around here, again.... but I don't think any of us mind. We're all trying to prep the place for winter (if that's possible :-). Sean helped move our rams out of the lambing run and made a friend in the process. He's decided that he wants to keep the little black ram as a pet. Since rams don't make the best of pets, I s'pose daddy will have to change his gender :-) Normally, we butcher the males or use them for breeding, but this one has exceptional jet black wool and a marvelous disposition. No, Sean, we're not naming him "horny".

About 6 months ago, Lyndsay & I decided to NOT market our wool at the shows this year. Well.... the 2008 fall clip came back from the processor and now we can't access the loft due to the 50,000 boxes of wool !!! We may have to re-think this whole thing. I had some of the Icelandic wool blended with Angora goat-----HOLY COW----it's the softest fiber I've ever felt! I'll be 'feeling' it for a LONG time as we have 30lbs. of the stuff.....

Lyndsay bought 2 new breeder Hampshires the other day and they arrived at the farm yesterday. She was *so* excited! Let's see how excited she is when she has to trudge down to the barn in January when they lamb :-) It was hard for her to sell her Hamps from last year..... she got a little too attached. When you ask her about the sale, she'll be quick to tell you that she sold them to a farmer up the road who's NOT going to eat them :-)

Kirby.... the Destructo-Dog

Lilo is getting rather irritated with the dog, lately......

New Discoveries

Well.... Ryan has discovered HULU and is now hooked.  It's great for me as I'm really growing tired of the garbage on TV.  Now,  I have the challenge of preventing him from clicking on a 'less than wholesome' movie :-)  He's forced me to imbed the HULU tag at the bottom of our blog (oh great.... now you, too, can discover the joys of a mantis eating a fly).  Sean trumped Ryry in rock/paper/scissors so now we have Woody for awhile.

Computers are a wonderful thing.  Case in point:  Lyndsay's TV restriction.  I limit TV to 1.5 hours/day----I read that number somewhere.  Maybey more than 1.5 hours causes extreme brainrot??  Not sure.  Anyhow, when I tell (more like scream) at her to "SHUT OFF THE ROT BOX", she jumps on the 'lil computer (it's so tiny, she can jam it in her American Girl Doll wardrobe box).

Lilo has even jumped on the computer bandwagon..... he's addicted to the 'Chutes & Ladders' themesong.  Now I'm forced to listen to singing/screaming little cyber kids at 6am while he eats breakfast.

I think I've done a bad thing..... oh well, it won't be the first.

Sean's Grape Jelly

 

 

 

 

 

Seany lives for this time of year... "grape jelly season". I still think mulberry jelly is his favorite, but grape comes in a close second.  He'd better hide the 2nd grape crate cuz daddy's got a taste for grape wine this year :-)

Lyndsay has been a *tremendous* help with the jelly this year.  She even mashed the grapes while they were on the stove !!  BIG improvement from last year----Lyndsay has this major aversion to gas stoves??  Her biggest job was chasing Lilo out of the kitchen.

Naturally..... we have to test the grape juice before making the jelly.  I couldn't figure out why Liam wouldn't take a nap t'day until I looked at this pic.  Can you say 'SUGAR BUZZ' ?

I think I'll try this........

Fall on the farm

It's beautiful this time of year..... not too hot..... not too cold..... not too green. Green means mowing and I tire quickly of that. Although, the kids and I truly enjoyed 'bush-hogging' new paths through the land. Ryan is the man when it comes to planning the trails. He knows where EVERY bump is on our property.

We've finally downsized the farm and all of us are beginning to feel the relief. We now run about 25 head altogether which is a fine size for us. Lyndsay did a stellar job selling her hampshires---5 in one day !! She's decided to use part of the money she earned from the sale to go to the American Girl Shop in Chicago. I think she's MORE than deserving of that trip :-) We've finished breeding the Hampshires and the Merino/Icelandic crosses. In November we'll be breeding our Icelandic herd. I so hate to pen those girls up..... they love to run free.

We took the garden down yesterday. In a week or so we'll be tilling it up and increasing the size. I want to have a canning garden for next year so we'll probably need to triple the size of the garden. Sean really has enjoyed the garden..... his sunflowers graced him with big beautiful heads this year. He'd live in the garden if you'd let him. Lilo even joined in the harvest this year... although he harvested the WHOLE plant, instead of the vegetable :-)