The garden fairies will be around soon!

Must venture into the fabric warehouse [much better to do when it is warmish out] and locate the tub of bear fabric.  This would not be to make bears out of, but has bears or woodland or mountains or forests on it.  Now that the first bound edition of “The Klondike Gold Rush, Bellybutton Bears in History” is complete, there is another project in the works.

Well, of course!

If you are interested in the latest book, email bellybuttonbears@charter.net.  Others are displayed at http://www.bellybuttonbears.com/Stories.htm

Hoping to share some other projects soon, from all of us.  Oh, someone asked about the link for the homestead stories.  http://www.homesteadline.com/Publish/

These are real survival, a compilation of diaries and memories of the Stelting family.

So here we go.

Denise; working on bears and books.  Excerpt from the latest ‘Bellybutton Bears in History’ which is about the Klondike Gold Rush
“Ma, I told you there was more to the boy than his rough and tumble brothers.    They’re solid workers, don’t get me wrong, but Roscoe, well he reminds me of my Uncle Jack.”    “But Pa, he was an, an…an adventurer!”    “Yes, he was.” Pa puffed on his pipe.    BellybuttonBears.com

Linda;  busy cleaning greenhouses and planting for the upcoming season.  That would be in addition to bringing all the bookkeeping up to date and working on two or three sewing projects.  FabricCreations.us

Nancy; reorganizing both her crafting area and living area so she is ready for the next big project in the door!  Only1Co.com

Ruth; besides creating a new supply of frames for ‘Shooting the West’ in Winnemucca, it is calf season on the ranch!  Three sets of twins so far.  WoodshopWonders.com

This just barely touches on what is happening.  As more sunshine and spring flowers inspire us, we’ll try to be more consistent in our postings and sharings.

No beer steins, no girls in cute skirts and embroidered blouses.  For us, October means fall weather, last farmer’s market, and….wait for it….our annual long weekend together! Although we figured this out a while back, I’ve already forgotten what number we are on, but it’s close to two decades.  [Waiting for one of the sister’s to chime in…]

This year, the four of us meet in south Central Oregon and have three full days of exploration planned.  The weather is going to be damp at the best, soaking at the worst, but we’ve dealt with that before.  We’ve maps, rock tools, cameras, directions and rain gear packed.  We’ve plans for historical research and laughing over old memories while creating new ones.

It is also our annual corporate meeting, complete with formal agenda, reports and minutes.  That is the formal part, because the meeting often has recurring portions during work/exploration in the field.  Inspiration DOES happen in the middle of a junk store, a rock field, looking at an historic site ~ especially when the four of us are together.

Next week, some pictures and an accounting!

That would be us, with our parents in 1962, and the first business the four of us did together.

This photo is of flowers and grasses from our front yard just yesterday. The grass is (I think) called Zebra grass and has these lovely plumes atop the very tall grass. I am wondering how one can preserve the gorgeous fully opened plumes? Maybe hairspray?? If anyone knows I would love to hear your ideas.

I harvested the last squash and pumpkins from the garden yesterday and also reaped some more green tomatoes and a few more ripe Sun Sugar ones as well.

The gardening season is winding down quickly now and I must get out there and clean up the area in prep for next season. This cleaning up part is NOT my favorite part of gardening but is a necessary evil so to speak.
I know once I get started that it really won’t take all that long and I will love the results.

The grass in the yard will get it’s final mowing of the year a little later today – it is just a bit damp from cool temps last night and the damp grass clogs up the mower! I must go visit the nursery and see about ordering a Weeping Birch for our yard. I have just the spot for it and have wanted one (or two) forever! I know that they will grow here as there are several around town and they are beautiful trees to behold. They also make me think of my Mom (thought don’t need much of anything to prompt thoughts of her-yarn, flowers, trees, shrubs, sewing…..all provide great memories) as she grew one at her place in Halfway, Oregon that was just fabulous!!!

In just about a week and a half all four of us sisters will be getting together for our annual October gathering. We will report back on that a little later. Going rock hounding, exploring and just generally enjoying each others company for a few days.

Hope everyone is enjoying the fall colors and the crispness in the air!

From our front yard!

Corn Relish

Corn on the Cob

Whole Kernel Canned Corn

CORN!!!

Today I have made corn relish, whole kernel canned corn and also frozen up a bunch of corn on the cob to enjoy later in the year. We bought the corn from a local farmer in Hagerman, Idaho while we were down there enjoying some r & r in our motorhome.  This corn was picked fresh Saturday(yesterday) morning just for us!

Lemon Thyme Butter cubes – sorry they are a little difficult to see here but trust me they smell divine!

Yes it is the season for preserving, canning, freezing, and drying things from our garden.

Even though I have been at this pretty much all day long – it’s okay because I enjoy it. My husband helped with shucking the corn and helping find space in the freezer to put the ‘on the cob’ packages once they were all vacuum sealed! I put a pat of butter inside each pkg of ‘on the cob’ corn so when we want fresh corn, we just put the whole bag in the microwave and set it for about 3 minutes and enjoy.

There will be more to come from the garden as the squash are just about read to be harvested along with three or four big pumpkins. I need to go out and snip a few more herbs as well for drying. Oh yes almost forgot I combined softened butter with a couple different herbs and have them freezing into cubes so we can just throw them in with whatever we are going to fix for dinner and we’ll have a fresh flavor. Am going to try some olive oil and herbs in the cubes as well and will report on that later.

As promised pictures of my efforts in the Elfhaus Kitchen this weekend! There is green tomato/pepper relish and pear mincemeat!  Had an ah-ha moment when getting ready to simmer the toms/peppers – according to the recipe was to put 1 teaspoon of pickling spice in a cheesecloth bag and drop in pot with the veggies , well as I could not locate my cheesecloth readily I thought hmmmm why not use my little tea diffuser?  It worked like a charm so file that for future use.  The flowers are just because!  Poppies, Mexican Tarragon (yellow flowers) and German Basil for the greenery and awesome scent! The “vase” is actually an old aluminum glass with a cute design embossed on it, found this in some of our Mom’s things a few months back.

green tomato/pepper relish

Pear Mincemeat

Just for pretty

Summer is nearly officially over – sigh I will miss it! However I do love the changing seasons and look forward to them all each year. Honestly I can not imagine living where the weather stays the same all year round. There is such a renewal in the changing of the seasons. One must find different clothes to wear, there are different types of food available at different times (fresh stuff I mean, not the normal grocery store items) and different activities to partake in.

Our garden was awesome this year and has provided us with lots of fresh veggies and herbs. I am trying some new things with herbs and as of late have dried several types (so far – German Basil, German Oregano, and Hot/Spicy Oregano) and have more to go. Also have combined fresh herbs with olive oil and with wine vinegar and will see how those work out.

We have lots of green tomatoes, which sadly I don’t think are going to ripen as the weather just is not cooperating, so with that in mind I am researching different recipes in which to use the green toms! We love fried green tomatoes so will likely make some of those. Have found some recipes to try including green tomatoe jam, mincemeat, relishes etc.

If you don’t can and preserve, you oughta try it sometime! It is fun and so rewarding not to mention SOOOOOO good later in the winter when good fresh items are hard to find. Happy Fall everyone.

The photo has nothing to do with what I am going to natter on about, but you all deserve to see a pretty picture!

a) Natter; for those of you without an English background (and I do mean English, not American in this case!) it means pretty much the same as yak or blather.  Ready?

b) Passwords; pretty sure you all have the same issues and if you do not, why?  Almost everything you sign up for or are a regular viewer of or online place you shop wants a User Name and a Password. The more complicated the better.  Do you remember them all?  Because they are each supposed to be different, and kept in a safe place NOT taped up next to your computer.  “Security is paramount.” I have been told.  Uhuh, okay, but…I have more than one email, WAY more than one user name and password.  In fact I have an entire “little black book” of them.  Is it locked in a safe, or even in another room? NO, because then I’d have to remember that code, or interrupt my projects constantly to go find it.  Hard enough in the little black (sorry it is blue) book!
A friend recently said they had attempted to access (leave a comment) on this blog but could not recall their user name.  That one I was able to help them with, wahoo! [Because, apparently I have the power!]  They did have to reset their password, something I expect all of us have had to do more and more.  Soon, “the little grey cells” (to borrow from Hercule Poirot) will be full of only, yep, passwords.  Not that we will remember what they get us into, or where they will take us…

Haines Packing Co cannery at Letnikhof Cove

c) Another picture for your enjoyment, as I attempt to recall what the other item was I planned to share.  It seems to have vanished, along with those passwords!  I’m working on this while waiting for a file to download so definitely not wasting time.

Perhaps I shall try again for the automatic notification of new posts…which supposedly is in place but has yet to happen! Oh, I know, IT is gone with the passwords too.  Or was a case of, as my sis used to say, “Pretend I said it already…”  Huh

As mentioned in a previous post, we used to use a Swede Saw to cut green alder for firewood for the kitchen range.  It had to be a certain length; ie not too long but not too short either or it didn’t stack as neatly!

Now my worries tend toward an electrical issue.  New kitchen range arriving next week and the darned plug in is not going to fit!  New one is a 4-prong [one round, three straight] whereas the old one is only a three.  Not that it was easy to figure that out, because a) I did not remember and b) could only get the stove moved part way out from the wall! Plus, will have to move the refrigerator to other side of kitchen to allow for space to remove said range/stove and insert new one.

Kinda feel like the woodpile was tilting, you know?  At least it will all be worked out in time and, like said woodpile, it is but a bump in the road.

Perhaps it was as this never came through to my ‘trial’ subscriber email, but I do know the Welcome email went out!  Now if new posts will generate the same action, we’ll be in good shape.

Winter on Glacier Point

Not to worry folks, we do not post each and every day so this mini flurry won’t jam your mailboxes.  To read earlier posts, check in at Homesteadline.com/Journal  aka Dreams and Schemes or to read more about who/what/why go to About or Children of Glacier Point.

Children of Glacier Point, Book #2, Hardbound or CD