Off the Clock

I've managed to get caught up on finishing some quilts and starting new ones this year. First up is the quilt above intended for stepson's wedding. Life got very busy after I started it and then I thought perhaps they would get it for their first anniversary. Well that didn't happen either but it was only two months late for their second anniversary! It was all worthwhile as they love both it.  DIL is into new-age things and had her own meditation room, so along with the nature theme of the fabrics I thought "Zen" would be an appropriate name for this quilt.      Once I finished up with Zen I made a point of finishing the quilt for the trailer that I had worked on when Thor was so sick.  I initially wanted to name it after Thor but then decided I don't need to name it after him to feel his connection to it.  Being that I will use this quilt camping along with the theme of the fabrics and embroidery I thought "Algonquin" would be appropriate.        W

Folded edges in front, zigzagged behind  Along with the pandemic 2020 has had devestating effects on our family.  My mother-in-law was hospitalized early this year and my father-in-law passed away shortly afterward.  Now my mother-in-law is in a long term care home.  Most of her personal support has been done by my sister-in-law who is doing her personal shopping among many other things.  Being in long term care means all her possessions (including clothing) needs to be labeled.  This is where I come in. I made a first batch on fabric stretched across the hoop of my embroidery machine.  I then folded all four sides under and topstitched.  They were fussy, time consuming, not very professional and the stabilizer made them stiff which would not be comfortable against the skin. The second batch I made with twill tape.  I was able to stretch them across the hoop without using any stabilizer.  This was much better.  The problem with twill tape is it quickly unravels, so again I folded the c

 A few good things happened this weekend.  First, I've been waiting all summer for my yard-leveling guy to come and finish my yard.  Every week it's been "I'll be there next week".  Well he finally showed up yesterday, and today there is a bulldozer and a tractor-pulled rototiller busy working away.  That makes me a happy girl.  I've been worried that if it didn't happen soon my septic system would freeze - not good!  Also I have bulbs to go in the ground.  I planted my daffodils around my clump of trees (on the left in the above pic) a few weeks ago but still need to bury 40 crocus bulbs. Also today I got outside and dug up my summer flowers to put in the compost pile and put away the planters.  I also closed up the back porch.  I put the hosta planters up against the walls hoping that will help them to survive the winter, and all the cushions went down the basement.   Finally, we agreed that my poor apricot tree (on the right in the top pic) that I tried

 One of the design features I really wanted in a house was a cold cellar.  Of course when I first had this idea I still drank and thought it would be a great place to store home made wine.  Well those days have been behind me for quite a few years, but when I designed my new house last year I included a cold cellar anyway.  According to my builder it will take probably five years before the cement has dried out enough to not cause a moisture problem.  I have a fan running on a timer to keep the air moving.  I initially had it running 24/7 but that was really bringing in all the warm summer air and the room was staying at about 72F.  This was ok for my shelves of canned food, but not so much for fresh produce.  I reduced the timer to four hours at midnight, and along with the colder weather it is currently staying at about 60F and has been for about a week now.  So for the record, when I come back looking for this information,  the cellar starts cooling down by the end of September. The

 Just leaving myself a note about some soup I made tonight that was oh-so-good. I roasted a butternut squash cut in half lengthwise, brushed with oil and salt and peppered at 375F for about 1hr 15min.  Then I sauted in the saucepan maybe half a cup of chopped onions and a little less chopped red peppers (the frozen ones).  After they had sauted for 5-10 minutes I added the meat from one half of the squash and 2 cups of chicken broth.  Sprinkled with a little cayenne pepper and nutmeg.  Then pureed with the stick blender.  It made a thick soup to which I added a dollop of sour cream.  Delicious!!!  

  This wraps up my week of homesteading.  All I have left to do is one more butternut squash.  So what I've ended up processing and freezing: 10 bags of Mirepoix 3 pounds of red peppers 5 pounds of zucchini 10 pounds of butternut squash 10 pounds of beets 15 pounds of carrots 15 pounds of onions 30 pounds of potatoes The Mirepoix was unprocessed; I've done this before and as it goes into soup or stew I haven't noticed any problems with the quality of the veg.  The onions and peppers were frozen raw.  The zucchini, squash, carrots, and potatoes cut into fries were all blanched for 2 minutes.  The beets and potatoes were fully cooked. The blanching was a bit of a learning curve.  When I did the carrots and zucchini I probably put too much in at a time.  It took quite a few minutes for the water to return to a boil which is when you start the timer.  They may be cooked a bit more than expected.  I'm hoping this isn't a problem, but I'll need to remember this when I

 This is a continuation of the freezing obsession that I blogged about here.   I mangaged to get all the onions bagged up.  I think I prefer the ones frozen flat on the baking sheets.  The parchment paper really helped to break them up as I pulled up on it and as long as they don't thaw and refreeze I think they should stay scoopable.  The ones I froze in the muffin trays, on the other hand, didn't stick together as well as you'd think.  I froze them in a separate bag but I'm not optimistic that they will work out any better than the loose ones.  I won't bother with these next time. Then I started on the potatoes.  I cut maybe 4lbs into french fries, blanched them for a couple minutes and froze them flat on the baking sheets.  Then I vacuum sealed them into a large bag.  I then cubed and fully cooked the remaining potatoes and froze them in ten 1lb portions in ziplock bags.  Google says you can reheat them by putting them in a pot of boiling water and then mash them

 I've been trying to keep my freezer stocked so that I don't have to shop as often during these covid days.  Now that fall is here my local grocery store had 10lb bags of onions, carrots and potatoes on for a very good price.  I bought 10lb each of carrots and onions (even though I already had more than 5lb at home) and 20lb of potatoes.  I also bought two bundles of celery since they have come back to a reasonable price.  That may not seem like a lot until you consider that I mostly cook dinners for just two adults.  So how to make sure that my frugal finds don't end up rotten in the compost pile in a month?  Well Google says that I can freeze all of it. I started with making bags of Mirepoix.  I use this mixture often with soups and stews and it is a real time saver having a bag already peeled and chopped in the freezer ready to go.  I made up ten freezer bags, each with 1 cup chopped carrots, 1 cup chopped celery and 1 chopped onion.   That used up all the celery, but I

This young pup took a wander through our backyard earlier this summer.  We thought he was quite young to be on his own, so hopefully his pack was not too far away for him.  On the other hand maybe this is the age where young males go off on their own.  I haven't researched coyotes much yet. We've also had very majestic bald eagles flying through the yard and high overhead but I've yet to get a good pic or video.  I did get a shot of this hawk, which I think is a Northern Goshawk.  It was huge; I'm guessing at least two feet tall.

  This big girl showed up on June 10.  She is quite large, with her shell being easily over a foot long.  I watched her move around the back of the meadow where she must have come up from the river.  She finally settled in one spot and on closer inspection I realized she was laying eggs!  In the above pic she has one leg digging in the dirt to bury the eggs as she laid them.   The next day one of her relatives showed up and this time I had the idea to get out a yardstick.  These are big turtles!  If this second one laid a nest I didn't see it happen. After doing some Google research it looks like the eggs should be hatching by late August or early September.  I've marked the site so that we don't run it over with the lawn tractor and pack the dirt down any more than it already is.  Some folks will make a cage to cover and protect a turtle nest but my concern was if they hatch and I'm not around to set them free, would they cook under the sun?  So I am just letting natur

Once again a long time has gone by since my last post.  My life has been very busy, but in a nutshell I've sold my house, moved in with my mother while my new house was being built and have now moved into the new house.  During all of this the covid 19 pandemic hit, which added layers of challenges to be able to do all that needed to be done.  It has been a double edged sword though as being confined to the house has given me time to get organized.  I've never been as far along that road so quickly after a move. Anyway I am going to try and document much of the wildlife I encounter at my new home, both flora and fauna.  If nothing else it may help me remember the names and nature of things that I look up along the way.  I will start with the deer. It took a long time before I actually saw any deer.  I constantly ran across their tracks across the building site but even though I was living next door I never actually saw any until living in the house.   Yesterday I watched a momm