Tag: autumn

homesteading, in the kitchen, Seasons

Harvest Time: Apples!

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The apple tree in the back yard has gone bonkers this year. I’ve made a first run at the apple harvest, filling this box more than half way. The apples are small and slightly underripe (read: pleasingly tart) and bake into lovely things. Like this yeast-based apple bread, which smells amazing when it’s baking and goes wonderfully with cheeses (we’ve tried chevre and cheddar so far; brie would be delightful). Or these apple muffins. I may have made 6 batches of these for a neighborhood End of Summer community event, and my neighbors may have eaten every single one. And …

homesteading, in the kitchen, Seasons

Finishing up the Harvest

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I think I’m coming to the end of the harvest season. The tomatoes are slowing down (although they barely got up to speed in the first place), and I’ve pulled out the squashes, bringing in these tiny pumpkins. I’ve been digging potatoes for more than a month now. There are still several plants going strong in the p-patch, so I hope to double this: There’s a little basil in the garden that we’re eating up. There are some carrots that will stay out there until we need them. Otherwise, it’s all pretty much done. The blueberry shrubs are turning red, …

homesteading, in the kitchen, Seasons

My Weekend

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I have a small problem with stubbornness. I plan to do something and by darn I’m going to do all of it. Even at the expense of, well, health and sanity. Which is why I spent Sunday stumbling around the house in a fog of exhaustion. Because apparently I don’t have the good sense to not start something at 5pm. Saturday: one batch of Pear+Ginger Preserves, one batch of Pear-Apple Sauce (using up the rest of the fruit from the backyard), freezing three bundles of spinach, and one batch of spicy Chinese Plum Sauce. It’s not Can-o-Rama by any measure. …

homesteading, in the kitchen, Seasons

Harvest Time

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These are not my tomatoes: Or rather, they are now. That is, I didn’t nurture these beauties. But my neighbors moved out and I rescued their tomatoes before the landscapers came through to ‘tidy up’. Isn’t it sad that productive vegetables aren’t considered a selling point in real estate? It’s harvest time in these parts. My tomatoes aren’t producing quite like these were, but I’m bring in a handful every couple of days. There are pumpkins on the vine and it looks like I might get a handful of green beans after all. (My garden is punishing me for going …

Seasons

Off to the Races

 

It’s the first day of school here in Seattle. You can’t tell from this photo, but the crowd at our bus stop is even bigger than last year’s, flush with this year’s crop of kindergarteners, younger siblings and other new students. There’s a mix of apprehension and anticipation in the air. Caitlyn, of course, is all anticipation. And so it begins: old patterns, new routine, settling in, stepping out. Fall. Save

Seasons

To be sure of hitting the target

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Shoot first, and call whatever you hit the target. I wasn’t slacking for all of August when it came to posting here, I was taking a break. Well, I didn’t realize I was “taking a break” until someone else posted that they were taking a break as part of a formal challenge. (I suppose it’s not the break-taking itself that is the challenge but the feeling-ok-about-the-break-taking.) August is gone, a break was taken, and here we are stepping into September, fall, second grade. I’ve a list of things to post about from the last month (blueberries, swords, our vacation, pears) …