playing with the goats and the electric fence

My daughters and I went for a Sunday drive, cameras in tow, to look for pretty pictures. Well actually our goal was to pick up our last CSA share. Yes another season is over - almost - turns out we get a bonus week! Yay! While at Stoney Lonesome Farm we enjoyed walking the farm and enjoying the crisp air and the view. The leaves didn't seem to be too much changed at the farm (there's an awkward sentence). but Fall was definitely in the air. We were walking along minding our own business, calling to the horses and goats in the field, when "something" bit me. "I think that fence is electric," called Kayla! DUH! without thinking she had put her hands down on the wire. As she got zapped she pulled back which cause the wire to rock and hit me while leaning over to take a picture. No one was hurt but it sure gave us the giggles for a few minutes. Kayla refused to open any gates or touch anything after that. The scenery was gorgeous and I am happy to share it with you.

 still coming - pumpkins

 a group of kids were picking beans for "the hungry" in DC

 a little taste of fall

 another "taste" of fall...colorful swiss chard

" come play with me"

keeping her distance from the fence

Fall...My Favorite Time of Year

I do love fall; the cooler temps, the beautiful colors, the pep in the air, the time of renewal. But this year I have let it get away from me. It's been a busy month+ with a wedding, some travels, sickness and more travels. We have been to the farm twice - quick trips each time but oh so relaxing as you drive onto our property and feel peace. If only it were closer! We even missed out on most of the apples this year. It wasn't too great a year for production with the crazy weather but after one picking we returned to find the majority of them on the ground. Darn - I am almost out of homemade applesauce too! The Arkansas Blacks are still on the tree and will get picked next trip. They really are best if they sit a while over the winter so hopefully I'll get a few pies and so forth out of them around the holidays. Here's a review of the last month - in pictures and if you "read" all the way down to the end have I got some fun news for me - squeal!!!

 the last of the flowers from the farm

and "Making Hay while the Sun Shines"

 Baby boy gets married - Oct 1, 2011

Mike and his lovely wife Laura

 playing peek-a-boo - see the bride on the right? 

great shot captured by our friend Steve

 Grandma and Kayla - after collapsing at the rehearsal dinner and spending much of the night in the ER, grandma was present and perky the next day!

 The Underwood clan

My daughter shows me what she'll look like as a mommy - Be Still my Heart

 The Love of My Life!

 The signature Underwood candle holder

available for sale

Goodbye flowers - hello leaves

And my news - which really isn't that big but still exciting - Bon Apetit magazine has contacted me about using a picture of mine in an upcoming issue - they actually found it on my other blog - the one I get paid to do - Woot Woot - will let you know the details when I know them.

Traveling and neglecting real life

This world is not my home, I'm just a passin' through.....
I always have a song in my head - it's a genetic thing I am told. These last weeks have been so busy and then yesterday I sat down to blog about it and after finishing the writing and adding all the pictures, I lost it. Yup pushed the darn button and woops - all gone. This new interface makes me so mad but I suppose I have no one to blame but myself. I am impatient! and I don't take my time! and then I've wasted it!
So I will try again this evening to catch you up on things.

 

Can he always stay this age in my heart?

First of all in less than a week my only son gets married. Yesterday was his 26th birthday. As happy as I am for him and as much as I love his soon-to-be bride I find it is hard to let go. I never thought of him as a momma's boy but I will miss him. We enjoy each other and we do a lot together. He's been home and "in my way" these last few weeks and they have been precious. And in less than a week, he reminds me he is "leaving" and "cleaving" to someone else who will take first place in his life. And in one week after the honeymoon they move all the way across the country to San Diego. I'll miss his always messy room and his creatures that he paints, and the paint spills on the bedding and the carpet and the jerseys that hang on the wall. He has moved it all out of his room and it felt so empty I had him push the elliptical trainer down there to fill up some space. That actually frees up some space in "my" craft room so I am working on organizing that so I can actually get some work done in there.
Aside from the wedding I have been busy getting ready for speaking at two women's retreats. The first is in San Francisco and the second here in VA., all within the next 4 weeks. My material is almost ready to go but I find I am usually doing my best work at night so in the morning I work, in the afternoons I run errands and do household chores and in the evening I write and study. I am definitely reaching my goal of less TV! My CSA job is almost over - just a few weeks left of blogging about vegetables and that unfortunately means time to get them from the grocery store or get up early enough on a Sat morning to go to the farmer's market. I've also started a new job at my church in the childcare department so I work several mornings a week with kids - all ages from 8 weeks to 4 yrs old although I try to get in with the babies as much as I can - that gives me my granny fix for a bit and I can stop pressuring my kids to produce! On any given week I can see and hold and play with up to 60 different kids (Wed is Bible Study, Thursdays is MOPS, Fridays is Body and Soul and they are all attended by different people) so I definitely think I am getting my fix. On Thursday nights I've started tutoring in a low income neighborhood nearby. Everything starts up new in the fall!

 

near Pemaquid Point - after "Irene" had been through

Before all this crazy schedule got ramped up I did have a beautiful trip up the east coast to Maine and then down the southern route to GA. Ten days, 12 states and lots of people in between, made for a really fun time.

 Sunset on North Pond

And getting to see Kayla play volleyball again was a bonus. I almost missed my coaching days - but not enough to sign up for that too!

October 1, 2011

Chapel at Quantico

 the bride and groom

Now in five days I will have a house full of the ones I love. And we'll be making memories to last a life time!

Veggie Sauce or Cleaning out the frig before travel

Tomorrow I leave for Maine - part vacation and part serving someone else- I am looking forward to the time away. Not so much with a hurricane and the forecast but I am sure that we will have some beautiful days somewhere along the way. But first I have to clean out my frig and prepare a few meals for the menfolk who are staying behind.

Enter lots of veggies...between my own garden and my CSA share and my family dwindling in size I have a bunch of misc veggies that need something done to them. A few weeks ago I made a lasagna from a recipe that was submitted for the CSA newsletter and I tucked away the idea that this sauce could really be used for lots of things. So this morning I pulled everything out and began to reconstruct the recipe based on what I had available

Part one - You really want to do the prep ahead of time, there is nothing worse than something burning in the pan while you chop the next ingredient. The only exception to this was I saved my eggplant to chop at the last minute because it browns so quickly.
So: peel tomatoes and chop veggies. I used a leek and a red onion, garlic, peppers, yellow squash, zucchini, eggplant, okra, chopped tomatoes, fresh herbs and fish pepper.
Cook in a skillet w olive oil in the above order. When the onions and peppers are soft, add the squash, when the squash is soft, add the eggplant, etc. adding oil as needed. Then once you have everything softened add the chopped tomatoes and herbs. Then I added a can of diced tomatoes and a can of tomato sauce. Cook everything until desired consistency, add salt and pepper to taste and you have a delicious multi-purpose sauce.

Excellent in lasagna, yummy on pasta or my favorite - scooped over focaccia bread. Just for fun lets call it upside down pizza. I took one focaccia bread, topped it with grated cheese and some chunks of Brie, then put a scoop of sauce on top. The juices soak into the bread making a cross between a panzanella experience or a soup with croutons. I love it - hope you will too.

As for amounts - you can really use whatever. The first time I made it I had one of each vegetable, and 1 can of each kind of tomato. Made just enough for a 9x13 lasagna. The second time I made it I doubled the ingredients and had enough for pasta with dinner plus put a qt in the freezer. Today when I made it I used about 6 of everything, used three cans of each kind of tomatoes, two pans and will can all of it for later use. Just finishing the canning process - made 6 qts of sauce.

Small Batch Canning

this week's pickle relish

I used to enjoy canning large batches of anything. We had a larger garden so had more produce. I had friends who enjoyed canning too so every summer we would get together and put up food for the winter - salsa and spaghetti sauce with Laurie T., applesauce and peaches with Linda S., Then I got busy - I guess working or something, and canning sort of fell by the wayside. When I found myself with a little more free time and the surge of farmer's markets and CSA picked up I also found that I no longer had the right equipment. My new fangled glass top stove couldn't handle my "antique" hot water bath canner, I had given most of my plethora of jars away. I WANTED to can - I just didn't want to make the investment all over again with much fewer people at home to eat the results. I tried freezing but my freezer always seems to be full of treats from my boyfriend - I mean the Schwan's man, and I don't think far enough out to thaw things. (We do love frozen applesauce though!)

Then I discovered this - aptly named the Ball Discovery kit - and this summer I have fallen in love with small batch canning.
The schnazzy green plastic basket fits in my stock pot - flat bottom I might add, and I "can" do 4 jars at a time or just one if I want. It fits small half pints and large quarts so I can do whatever size jar works for my needs. It plus three jars cost me about $20 bucks at Southern States and I've seen it elsewhere recently so it must be catching on.

To date I have made rhubarb jam, peach jam, peach butter, salsa, and this weekend pickle relish. I love to listen to the ping, ping, ping as the jars settle on the counter. I love the bright jewel colors glistening in the sunshine. I love that I can stick them in the closet and not take up valuable freezer or pantry space. And I especially love the fresh taste of sweet summer each time I open a jar.

2 qts of veggie sauce nicknamed "Clean out the frig" sauce
ready for canning

peach extras from the farmer's market

Home Again, Dancing a Jig

the sound of freedom (way up there)

It seems like every week has a trip somewhere for the next month or so. Things always seem to pile up like that. Now that we are six weeks to the wedding I guess it just seems like things are rolling along faster and faster. This is a big year for us in some ways. Son is getting married AND just celebrated his last day of commitment to the Army for a total of 8 years! He's been counting down the days and keeping his fingers crossed that he doesn't get deployed at the last minute and now that it is passed it seems surreal. We are very proud of him and the commitment he made to serve his country and his time spent at two deployments, Djibouti and Iraq.

six weeks, but who's counting?

He grew up a lot and now he's getting married and becoming a spouse to a Naval Officer who is serving as well. They will have 6 weeks together before she is shipped out on deployment so the sacrifice on both their parts continues. I was sitting on the beach at VA Beach this past week and every few minutes a fighter jet drowned out all noise and flew over the water. A friend commented on my facebook status "That's the sound of Freedom!" and it is and thanks to my kids and many other mother's children for their part in making that freedom possible. To all my friends out there who have experienced what I am talking about - God Bless You!
Next on our list of exciting milestones is dear daughter number one who is celebrating her FIRST Anniversary of marriage this week AND her FIFTH year of teaching. Neither one seem possible. I still feel like I am planning her wedding or attending her college graduation. Little children from her first year of teaching 5th grade are now in high school and from her second year (2nd grade) are in Middle School. SHE was just in middle school - where did that time go?

FIVE!

AND then there is Baby girl - leaving this weekend for her Senior year in college. Be Still My Heart - how did this happen so fast? This summer was packed full or responsibility as she worked with 14 and 15 yr old boys with special needs. Her heart is SO Big and she will do BIG things for God's Kingdom, I just know it! Even if she doesn't know what that exactly looks like yet.

"For I know the plans I have for you,
says the Lord." Jer 29:11

Life is one big transition of hello's and goodbyes. My heart is full to think of my children as adults but on the plus side they add wonderful people into our family and their adventures give me something to write about :)
So I am off on some adventures of my own. Next week I leave for a vacation in Maine - with just a girlfriend, well I guess I should call her a lady friend since she is old enough to be my mother. But we do have fun together and as long as we don't carry our purses into antique shops we usually stay out of trouble (accidents not theft - haha). I am looking forward to cool temps and some away time and seeing friends along the way.

Then my agenda gets crazy with not only wedding but I have agreed to speak at a Women's Retreat in San Francisco - three weeks after the wedding so I am preparing for that as well. This is something I have always wanted to do (on my bucket list if you will) and haven't done much of since the Philippines trip in 2007 and so I was thrilled when the opportunity developed for me to speak. No butterflies yet, but I better stop flitting around and get down to business! Some of my busiest weeks are ahead of me.

AND I have grand plans for a fall garden - planted lettuce spinach, radishes and beans last week

AND I still have my Stoney Lonesome Farm blog to work until the end of October and I plan to have another Mary and Bright show in December so who has time to sit around and be sad - not me!

Well there you have it - my busy, crazy, wonderful life just got crazier, busier and more wonderful! God is good!