Audrey In Pink

 

I have been knitting madly on my Audrey in Undst sweater,  I just finished the sleeves which are made by picking up stitches around the arm and then adding short rows.  Now I am putting on the button bands.  I love this construction, but sadly made it too small.  I never get gauge and then I try and adjust the pattern.  I don't think it worked in this case, but I still love the sweater and plan on squeezing into it if it kills me!  I plan on making it in brown too.

Spinning out of control

 

After months of focusing on planting and growing, harvesting and then preparing food from the garden, I am ready to be done.  With the shorter hours of daylight and slightly cooler night temperatures, the vegetables are beginning to die back.  I am harvesting the last of the tomatoes, peppers and zucchinis and the pumpkins are all round, ripe and ready for picking.  It's time to turn my attention to my other obsession.
Knitting!  And now spinning....

I recently took a class at the Fancy Tiger in Denver, a drop spindle class.  I knew I would be smitten and I am.  The feel and smell of that sheepy fiber, the way it slips through your fingers, magically transforming into one of my favorite things, yarn!
The drop spindle is so beautiful and basic.  Just a smooth piece of wood

I love the fact that is has been used for centuries, that it has a long history and that is so streamlined.  I also love how rustic the spun yarn looks.  Right now I guess I don't want the yarn to look perfect, like machine-spun yarn.  I am sure that that would have it's benefits too, but I like the look of unevenly spun yarn for some projects,  And the price was right.
Two ounces of fiber and the lovely Ashford drop spindle were included in the class for just $35.00!  It was well worth the money, and Jamie was a wonderful teacher.  
After class I purchases 2 more ounces of this:

Blue Face Leicester

Which came from him, isn't he cute?  I will call the Fancy Tiger to see if he was a Canadian sheep, American or is imported from England.I just read where they have recently introduced this breed in the US.  I love this wool!

washed and dried

My photography does not do this beautiful little skein justice.  I want to sleep with it is is so scrumptious

Coming soon.....

worm compost

Happily, this year we will participate in The Denver Botanic Gardens Homesteading Tour. 


Last year we were on the Denver Botanic Gardens tour of the chicken coops and we loved loved it.  It was wonderful sharing ideas with like-minded folks.  We met many people who already had gardens, some had chickens or goats, and some who were interested in starting the process and wanted to get some ideas.  Since this whole homesteading movement is so dear to my heart, and I love spreading the word about how gratifying it can be, this is the perfect venue!
Homesteading is so much more than just having a garden.  To me, it's about trying to become more sustainable and more self-sufficient, and about connecting to our seasons, to our land and to our ancestors.  
Its about growing food, and then preparing or canning, drying or storing that food.  Its about composting, or seed saving, raising animals for food or fiber.  It's about handmade.
There is still time to apply if you want to share your way of homesteading.  

http://www.botanicgardens.org/events-exhibits/special-events/urban-homestead-tour

Apples Galore

My mother-in-law, who lives just a few blocks away has one of the most majestic apple trees in the neighborhood.  It must be over 20 years old, and my mother-in-law admits it was the reason she bought the house.  It's the perfect climbing tree for the kids and even sports a tree swing. What's not to love about it? 

I will tell you what's not to love.  The hundreds of apples that fall from the tree daily and immediately begin to rot and turn to mush.  The man from the city who gives you a warning that if you don't clean up the apples you will get fined. 
So we have spent many a day helping our Granny out, picking up rotting apples, only to have them replaced with new fallen apples next day.  The upside is that we have gotten to pick lots of fresh apples too.  Not a bad deal.

     Martha Stewart's pie crust Pate Brisee with Bobby Flay's Apple Pie recipe. Although it was much easier, I don't I don't like this recipe as much as the recipe that sautes the apples in a little butter first.and reduces the juices. 
After so many pies this summer, I really am enjoying a good apple crumble more.  Cook's Illustrated has a great crumble recipe.  

Everything is peachy

This peach tree which was planted in the chicken yard 3 years ago, has grown so fast that the branches are bowed over and almost lay on the ground.  Early on in the season I tried removing the fruit so that they were all a hand's breadth apart. This should allow for bigger, healthier fruit. Looking at it now that the fruit is larger, I see that I wasn't very diligent.  There are many areas of clumps of fruit. I also failed to prune the tree, resulting in too much growth.  I read recently that if the branches are bowed too much it releases a hormone that prevents the tree from fruiting next year.  I was so excited at how much it had grown, I didn't want to prune it.  Ahh well, live and learn.   

In order to grow anything in the chicken yard I wrap chicken wire in large circle around the base to prevent the girls from scratching and killing the roots.  I have great luck growing anise hyssop, which smell wonderful and the hens don't like to eat.  As long as the base is protected it grows great. It is very drought tolerant as well. 
(The first photo is not from my garden, it's just a great shot of hyssop)

 



Those are the hyssops in the background, they have gotten quite a bit larger since this picture

Here you can see that these peaches are not a hand's breadth apart.  It is hard to tell from the photos but many of the peaches are tiny. 

There are still many big fat juicy ones though, just in time to start making peach pies!   I use Martha Stewart's wonderful Pate Brisee pie crust recipe and Cooks Illustrated's filling.  
First you blanch the peaches for easy peeling.  (This works amazing well.)  Then pit and slice them, and toss them with lemon juice sugar and a pinch of salt.  I used less than half the sugar and it still tasted a little on the sweet side.
Cooks Illustrated has tested out several ways to create the perfect filling, juicy but not too runny.  It tested flour, tapioca corn starch and potato starch added to the peaches for thickening.  They concluded that potato starch is by far the best with crushed tapioca second.  I didn't have any potato starch on hand and although it is not the same thing, I used potato flour. 

The photo does not do this pie justice.  It is amazing served warm with vanilla ice cream, or with a pinch of heavy cream drizzled over the top. Perfection! 

The moment we've all been waiting for.....

That's right, the long awaited San Maranzano's are ready. (and a brandywine or two). I spent the morning in the garden picking tomatoes and trying to manage the tangle of plants.  I cut out tons of the dreaded borage, tied up some slumping sunflowers,  and now can see what is in my raised beds.  
I picked over 5 lbs of San Maranzano's.

the

 This year we are slow roasting them (200 degrees for 12-12 hours) with a bit of olive oil, dried basil salt and garlic. Then they can be used for recipes or frozen for up to 6 months.  They fill the house with the most intoxicating aroma.  I also roasted mushrooms, eggplant and zucchini to toss over warm pasta for dinner tonight.  Unfortunately I got called into work tonight and won't be able to enjoy this with my family tonight, but I hope to enjoy these throughout the winter. 

....

Crazy Gardener

Fin peeping through tomatoes and sunflowers

I am obviously a more-is-better kind of gardener.  I can not seem to pull out anything that is green and alive including some weeds.  I love jungle feeling I get from a closely packed garden.  
A few weeks ago friends visited us from Tucson.  Dry, desert-y Tucson. When the family headed out to our back yard my friend turned to me and said concernedly "Diane, this looks like a crazy old woman's garden!"  
Not "Wow, what talented gardener created this lush garden?"  Not "Wow, what an abundance of fresh food you must have." 
Just a crazy old woman's garden.  Crazy?  Old?? 
Of course I went through the various stages of grief. Denial, anger, depression and then finally acceptance. Yes, perhaps my borage is a little bit out of control, and yes sunflowers and holly locks are coming up in the middle of the few walking paths are still passable, but they are flowers after all.    
Today when I made a scrambled egg on bread with thick slices of Brandywine tomato, mayo with fresh chives, I didn't care one smidgen about being a crazy old gardener.     

  

Borage.  Do not plant this plant unless you would like it around in abundance for years to come

                                   

Volunteer Holly Hocks

Raised beds with flowers around outside