Happy Birthday Mom

Today is my Mother-in-law's 93rd birthday.

Portraits taken by K Aulger, September 2013

Man and Boy took a flight out this morning to spend the evening with her. 

This will likely be the "Good-bye for now" trip as she went into hospice care last week.

The "Fall Festival" is coming!!

It's just a little over a month (YIKES) until 

our 3rd annual "Really Local Farm Market & Craft Fair"!!

As you know I've been making jam, jelly and salsa like crazy for our booth!  

I was asked by a (new) reader (Hi, D!) for more information about the Festival.

It's always on the second Saturday of October, so this year it is on October 8th.

10 am to 2 pm.

I will have farm fresh produce, eggs, and (if I can get the chickens to quit eating them) pumpkins. 

Also, if weather cooperates, we will have fall decorations (Indian corn, mums, corn stalks, etc).

Additionally, we will have our Homestead Yummies

Jams, Jellies, Salsa, Pickles

Bread, Cookies, Candies

Possibly Jerky

Man will be cooking up his delicious BBQ Ribs and Pulled Pork.

Boy will have his Snack Shack with chips and drinks

He will also have a limited number of his wood and acrylic turned pens. And some other handmade gifts from wood.

Our vendors so far this year are outstanding!!  Applications are still rolling in, so there will be plenty more but currently we have:

NikCo is all about adding a little beauty and whimsy to every day life. http://www.etsy.com/shop/NikCo

https://www.facebook.com/NikCo-361111847309832/

Trigeminal Neuralgia Awareness Earrings.

Our "Kid Collection"-These are girls in our homeschooling group that have some of their homemade goodies to share including cupcakes, crocheted dish c

lothes, American Girl clothes, and friendship bracelets.

Daryl Roche Glass Artisan will be sharing his handmade Glass Drinking Straws, Glass icicles, and Glass Pendants.

Then we have the 5 Savvy Sisters each with a booth:

The Country Road: Variety of Hand crafted primitive decor items

Natures Emporium: Hand crafter potpourri, dried flowers, seeds

Take a Hike:  Walking sticks, bird houses, seeds

Houseplant Fever:  Houseplants home started and grown, in a variety of pots.

Bobbin Robin: Grocery bag holders, burp cloths, denim aprons, purses and more.

I'll update again on the 15th with all the additional vendors!!

BE SURE TO COME OUT TO SEE US!

Iona's Spa Day

About two weeks ago, Iona our guard Pyrenees broke her line and she and Danny went for a "run."  The two of them were gone the WHOLE night.  (usually when they go out for a run they are back within a few hours....but I digress.  When they got back both were covered in burrs from the sticker bushes.  All Pyrenees have double coats.  See how big our girl looks!  

Here's the "bad" dogs a few days before their adventure:

Well, after much brushing and sweat and tears, it became obvious that I was going to have to have Iona clipped.  As much as I hated to....

Here is my "Poodle" now:

She looks so small!!!

Jam...Jelly...Salsa!

We are in full swing getting ready for the coming "Really Local Farm Market & Craft Fair" and winter.

My whole family has been such a blessing, pitching in to chop, dice and stir stuff.  Both of my guys have helped and just this past week, my parents came out to put in long full days on the farm! Between the 5 of us, we have canned over 175 jars in the past 10 days!!  Mostly it's been Salsa, as I've come up with a recipe that is so yummy that everyone likes it!  We have 30 pints ready for the Festival, and another 60 quarts/pints for the winter.  On the "hot side", I have 27 jars of "cowboy candy" mellowing.


Plus, the jam/jelly machine has started.  Last year we sold out of 3 flavors of jam right away, so already I've been making double and triple batches of those (Strawberry/Rhubarb, Razzleberry, and Elderberry).  Plus Dad came up with a new combo to add to our selection this year of Strawberry/Blueberry--it is outstanding!!  This week, we also added more straight Strawberry and Lilac syrup for Ice cream.  Here's the list of what we have on hand so far:

• Strawberry
• Strawberry/Rhubarb
• Strawberry/Blueberry
• Blueberry
• Cherry
• Apple Cider
• Watermelon
• Black Raspberry (Jelly-no seeds)
• Red Raspberry
• Golden Raspberry
• Blackberry
• Peach
• Concord Grape
• Cinnamon Apple
• Peach Vanilla
• Carrot Cake
• Razzleberry (Red Raspberry/Blackberry)
• Coffee
• Lilac Jelly *
• Lilac Syrup *
• Violet *

*Small Batch, limited quantity, slightly higher priced due to nature of product.

On the current "To Make" list is:

• More Carrot Cake
• Sweet Tea Jelly
• Tomato Jam
• "Traffic" Jam
• Christmas Jelly
• Gingerbread Spice Jelly
• Red Pepper Jelly
• Root Beer or Mt.Dew Jelly (??)
• Pumpkin Pie Jam

What do you think?  What jams / jellies do you love?  What one have I forgotten??

Countdown to Blogoversary!!

I have been blogging on and off (more off than on lately) for 10 years!  Unbelievable!!! 

September 27, 2006 was the first post I ever wrote....it's on a blog that is no longer public and journals all the trials and tribulations as we worked on getting ready to open our scrapbook bed & breakfast in Amish country only to have the whole thing implode 3 days before closing...but that it was definitely God's will because shortly after that, I had to have spinal surgery.  

Then when I was spending all my time writing about our first chickens, and our dreams went a different direction, I started this blog.

Look at how little our Boy was with his first chicken!!

I haven't been writing for lots of reasons.  My beloved Canon Camera bit the bullet in the one day between the calves births this spring.  And not having pictures, has made it less fun to blog.  Add to that the crazy busy of teaching two new mamas the whole milking routine and growing (AND WEEDING-UG) for the CSA, milk delivery....etc.  I haven't had much down time. 

 Add to that a new tablet that will not post correctly (I got the tablet specifically to be able to "blog on the fly") and it's just been too frustrating.

Eh, excuses, excuses!  Enough of that!

But I've discovered, I miss doing it.  

And since I have a milestone blogoversary coming up, we are going to do something about that!!

So starting today, I will endeavor to blog everyday between now and then (September 27, 2016).  And for every comment posted on the posts, I will put your name into a drawing for a gift of our Wallace Homestead Jam/Jelly Gift package!  So if you comment every day, then you have 32 chances to win!!  If you refer a new reader and they comment and say you sent them, I'll add another entry for you!

Thanks for reading!  I appreciate you more than you know!