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Wednesday, September 13, 2006

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?

4 comments:

Justin said...

I'm afraid you're not the only one. I need something more diverse to do here; studying twelve hours a day just isn't cutting it.

As for pumpkin, I bake a mean pumpkin pie and also enjoy pumpkin tempura. I could live off of pumpkin if the situation presented itself.

Parlancheq said...

Pumpkin bread! (Similar to banana bread.) Or at least this is what I might do if I had lots of pumpkins. I live in the city and buy pumpkin bread at the farmer's market. I know that's cheating, but it is delicious. :)

Cheryl said...

I'm sorry to hear you're feeling low, I hate days like that.
Any chance that you'll be posting your pumpkin butter recipe in the future? I tried making some last year and was terribly disappointed with it. I'd love to find a good one.
I hope you're feeling better soon.

Phelan said...

Justin, you might have to share that recipe for the pumpkin tempura.

parlancheq, I love pumbkin bread, and pumpkin cookies. It's ok to cheat if your helping the family farm :D

Cheryl, yes I am feeling better today, thank you. As soon as I make the butter I will post a recipe for you. This last batch we had, I think, had too much clove in it.

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