Kuhlweins Farm Market

Yesterday I went to a farm market with Jennifer way out in the boonies. It was nice being virtually in the middle of no where again. I really miss it!

Anyways, we planned to take photos there expecting it to be a pick your own pumpkin patch. I had such plans. But it turned out to be a market like Yutzy's.

I get ahead of myself. We started by meeting up at this cute little cafe in Old Dublin for an afternoon cap. I planned on getting there with enough time to do some knitting but since she knew that she showed up early. I only got a few rows done and a couple sips of my latte then we were off to the country. I did pick up an application while I was there. We even got the meet the owner. It was funny because while he was outside chatting on his phone Jen's like 'he looks like Brad Pitt' and I turn to look then say 'not really'. It was a funny conversation. No really it was!

At the market we moseyed around for a bit then made our selections. I got a sharpie and marked the weight of the pumpkins I was getting so that I would know when I make my recipes which ones to use. Jen got a bunch of decorative gourds and some Indian corn. They had a nice selection as these things go.

Afterwards we visited mothers and Jen took some photos of me with Trouper. I'd say she did a nice job! I can't wait to get some printed off!

Do I prefer B&W or color?

He's so dirty. I really should have brushed him before I handed over my camera!

I had to play with the white balance on the photos ... still needs work.

Horse Kisses!

Book is all finished and garnished with a lovely gourd I found at the market!
Abesolam showed up and bought some jam and suffered through a short photoshoot. Little did I know that yesterday was Gentleman Biker Day. He was all snazzy in a suite riding around on his bike. I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to get some photos.

Another thank you card I made Saturday

A lovely field of flowers.

Keeping Busy

This is how I show my depression to the world. By putting out crafts of all types and keeping myself very busy so that I might not have to think about that which is killing me inside. In the past few days it hasn't been helping but with time I imagine this pain will become as manageable as all the others. In light of my crying myself to sleep and waking up with those horrid crusty eyes I treated myself to a Starbucks Soy Pumpkin Latte and a warmed blueberry muffin after dropping Daniel off at work. He's driving my rental home tonight. Since I'll be heading back to Virginia in the morning with father and cousin Esther. My pumpkin cozy still fits Starbucks cups beautifully!

My quote of the day "You're really spoiling me this morning!" They got a kick out of that. The guy who rung me up said they try or always or something like that ... I can't remember (it's my alzheimer's kicking in).

So yesterday; my day off, I spent the whole time either in front of the stove or my sewing machine. I started by waking up really early (10am ;3), grabbed a backpack, and hopped on my Saoirse and took off for The Andersons. Totally without eating breakfast first. I warn you, don't try that at home! Lucky me they were making things all over the store so I helped myself to some samples ... watermelon, apple slices with honey peanut butter! So yum! Anywho, I filled both my backpack and saddle bag with Pint Ball jars, rolls, grapefruit (because I was freakin' hungry), some liquor, Darjeeling loose tea, half a gallon of apple cider and a large red bell pepper. Then tromped home!

My colors! Don't you love them!

Once there I put everything away, jumped back into my jammies and started cooking. I put the bell peppers in the oven (I had some green ones from mothers garden) and sat down to sew.

I made a lovely knitting/crochet needle scroll that I have been meaning to make for quite some time just never got around to. I realized after I was sewing on all the pockets that the lovely tan fabric with the brown reliefs is reminiscent of fall and the other two are more spring. In the end as long as one doesn't look too closely it still works. I blame the ornery children who were distracting me while shopping for these fabrics!

Once the peppers were scorched I put them into a calonder in a bowl and covered them for 2 hrs (which I continued to sew during).

1hr till time, I put the apples, cider and water on the stove to cook. After about 30 min I had to take them off and puree them then put them back on with spices and sugar. At which point I had to do some juggling. I had to make sure the apples didn't scorch and peal and seed the peppers. I actually was able to do all this with out making too big a mess. Since I was not actually thinking freely but rather concentrating on each task at hand I never thought to take photos so sadly there's no photos of my peppers or apple butter ... sorry! I did get photos of my peaches and Jalapenos from my other jam I made!

I'm sure you can guess what these are!

All in all I finished cooking at about 5pm. I didn't finish my scroll until 10:00pm. Then I had to take a damn shower! Oui! My day off went by super fast!  I clearly slept in too long!

I got 3 and a half pints of apple butter. The half I brought to work this morning for everyone to enjoy. & I got 1 jar of roasted bell peppers with garlic. I'm so getting ready for winter ... can ya tell?! Next up I believe is pumpkin butter. I just love pumpkins! Unless of course mother wants some roasted peppers.

I'm slowly adding to this span but in the mean time it's all paternal.

I found this on my jump. I made it a while ago when I was really board. It's my blood line following my for fathers, going back till I reached the bonny shores of England at which point it gets harder ... for me anyways. They were all listed as farmers which I guess is were I get my desire to have my own land to toil in. Slowly I will be adding their other children and making it look less like a tree branch and more like chaos!

Also without a photo is the blanket I'm knitting for Bare Baby Photography. It's a chunky knit with i-cord edges for her newborn photography and a pair of fingerless gloves I'm making for a friend client. I'm slowly getting a lot of commissions, I think everyone is realizing I need the crafts to stay sane.

Strawberry Balsamic Jam

Heidi Knitting

Got my jam on with Heidi. After work on Thursday we went to my apartment to do some knitting and make some jam. I fully used her for stirring the goopy goodies whilst I poured in the sugar. But for the most part she was practicing her knitting.

It smelt so divine! For my first time making jam and without any instructional help I'd have to say we did a damn fine job. Didn't take all that long from start to finish. Which might have something to do with the fact that I already had the strawberries washed, cut and cleaned; so there was none of that to slow us down. All I had to do was measure out my ingredients, prep my jars and cook.

Strawberries in a pot!

We did run into a hitch when pouring them into jars. By that I mean we ran out. So while Heidi finished cleaning off the rims and putting lids on I quickly washed more in water that made my hands hurt it was so hot. See I have this thing with glass ... I fear it'll shatter. So I was so nervous on this step I'm surprised I didn't make a bigger mess. Once we got the jam into the jars we cleaned the pot and put the jars into a water bath. This freaked even Heidi and Daniel out because the jars were doing a jig in that damn pot.

And done! They sat in the post boiled water for a wee bit then Heidi used the tongs and placed then in my mitted hands to be set on the counter to cool. Once we made sure everything was turned off Daniel and I took Heidi home with a nice warm jar of jam. I could have driven her on my motorcycle but she didn't seem to want to hop on. Not sure why!

I left the jam sitting out all night and this morning made sure all the tops were compressed and stored them in the curio cabinet. Made myself some toast and slathered on some fresh, still slightly warm strawberry jam. It set up nicely.  A soft, creamy jell that just melts on your tongue. The strawberries are very prominent and the vinegar gives a nice depth to the jam.

Knitting

I went to a former co-workers house to learn to knit. She did an awesome job teaching me! So much so that I now can cable!

Now I'm knitting like crazy! I made a cute little headband for my niece with a rose on it. It was per my sister's request of course but I had fun making it. Images will come once my sister decides to take them. Or maybe I'll just take it home and take the images myself!

At this moment in time I'm working on a baby blanket for a little Irish boy. The blanket is turning out nicely considering I've only been knitting for about 3 weeks. :3 It's a basic design with checker board and cables running up the sides and changes colors to match one of the Irish flags. Again I don't have images but then the blanket isn't done. I'm so excited to finish it though! I love doing customs for people!