A Mundane World

There are days I wake up thinking that I no longer want to do this. It has become repetitive. My previous job, or should I say life, had some sort of a different challenge daily. Now it seems the only challenges I face daily are emotional ones. Yet as soon as I become complacent, something sneaks into the mundane world and new challenges crop up and tangle your feet.

Fall is finally here in Kansas. I am a little worried about it as my garden hasn't done as well as it has in the past. Not enough tomatoes to make it through the winter. We are ok on green beans and jams, but everything else was late.

Here soon I will dig up my sweet potatoes and peanuts and see how well we did there. I am hoping for the best, but expecting the moderate.

The homestead must start preparations for winter. Birds need trimmed, coops need washing, rooster legs need to be salved {last year their spurs turned purple, and they got so dry the skin would crack and bleed} Goats need to be washed down and bugs removed. Our house needs to go into winter mode as well. And the garden has to be turned out. We also have to prepare the barn for stabling horses in the winter, just in case the land next to ours sells. And on top of all that I have to preserve fall harvest. {and for those that don't know, I am also working on a novella that has to be finished by October 30th and then I do NANOWRIMO} Just thinking about this feels me with dread and exhaustion. But it must be done, all of it.

I made nine ½ pint jars of Plum Jam yesterday. My father is moving from Florida, to live with us and he mentioned that he loved Italian Prune plums, but was unable to find them any more. I just happened to find them on sale here. We have saved the seeds and will be planting some outdoors {to see if the will make it} and some indoors to be placed in our future green house. Now my dad will never want for prune plums again. { the jam is a little soft, but that just means it's spreadable}


My children have discovered the wonders that is pumpkin butter. They finished off a full pint of it in 3 days. I don't think they ate anything else. The pumpkins that survived here will be turned into butter, but we do plan on going to The Pumpkin Patch and buying a wheelbarrow full {only $20 US} {Where to find a pick your own farm in your area} Here's my question for you today, what do you use your pumpkin for?