Holloween is FUCKING ON!!!

Friday, August 19. So like always.... lagging around.

Went out an about shopping in SH.. Menards for a propane tank.. and guess what? THEY ARE PUTTING OUT HALLOWEEN!!!! SQUEEEEE!!!!
Guess who picked up a tiny freestanding birdhouse for ghosts, and a creepy monster standing town square clock? This girl! Three bucks each, ouch. But I pretty much totally missed any smalls last year due to putting off to wait till sales, then missing it.
I've hit the amount of buildings point that I really wasn't interested in any buildings at all. I've almost got a couple too many honestly, and might be culling out a "poorer christmas" or two to set aside for next year to give me extra time.
I'll hit Michaels soon to see what they got for village shit this year too.

I'm far more interested in now that I legitimately have Halloween on- hey man, candy in the aisles counts.. anywho. I have a lot of projects that I want to work on.
150 tiny brains I picked up at GenCon to turn into various stuff like farmers brain patches, a brain tree, and some fun jewelry.
A lot of random stuff, like a bunch of presents from Christmas that I now get to bust out with and touch up for evil farming :)
A few buildings.. and other random detail stuff.
And now that I have a bunch of the materials saved up... I want to take a crack at some set building, and start a vertical cavern system for the fireplace corner.

So yeah, Menards, Meijer, Hardings, and Rite Aid.. vape shop, bank and auto store too. Had to get it done before evening cuz sis is borrowing the car to get to work this weekend- her truck is puking oil like mad and needs repair.

Sat, August 20.
Had severe storm action blow in mid-morning, and kind of effectively put a hold on a lot of preserving plans till after one in the afternoon. I wasn't going to start firing up a canning kettle unless I knew darn well I could keep it going till the canning was done. And a dozen pint jars of Brussels sprouts got done, along with two quart jars of fridge zesty lime zucchini spears. Got the two cases of beets and 8jars of jalapeno slices from before GenCon de-ringed, labeled, boxed, and shelved. Sure feels damn good to actually have canned goods back on the shelf again. I have to get into the spare bedroom and really clean up previous stock and take a tally of what we got. I know we still have some jellies and jams, and a bunch of sauces, especially enchilada sauces. And it's a good thing we had such a boom tomato year last year that I felt good with making up two years worth of those products- because this summers tomato crop is pretty much null- been too damn dry to keep up with most of the summer, and some late planting really stunted the shit out of everything.
I do have a couple of volunteer white tomatoes from last year going strong in the kennel beds. I've decided to support them as much as possible so I can at least try to get one good batch of white tomatoes set aside for my brother.
In general, haven't been out in the garden in about two weeks. Got in a couple good days of weeding right after GenCon, on the 9th and 10th- but overpushed it in light of my plauge- and we have had three solid days of good rain in the days between.. just enough that I was only doing up some mandatory and much needed mowing. And stringing up clothesline and getting a lot of wash done.

Heh, we have been without a dryer for a couple weeks now. I managed to break the knob on the dryer- cracked it so it spun out of round. Glued and clamped knob. Then the back panel that has to hold the knob falls out while trying to put knob back on. Well fuck.
We have mom and sisters dryer sitting down in the pole barn, so we can swap out- but sheesh, it's been bloody hell trying to get that done. We need the dolly.. and I finally go to fix the tires, and discover that they are tubeless, and I picked up those innertubes long ago for no reason, and I don't have any tire sealant- need another trip to the auto store.

Anywho.. I picked up a nice package of top round steak slices- not enough to make rouladen, sadly. So I did it up kind of swiss steak style with a pound and a half of fresh mushrooms that were on clearance, some baby carrots, and mashed potatoes. Yum.

Sunday, August 21:

Summer has broken. The earliest of Autumnal cools blew in overnight. I don't think we will see any more summer heat this season honestly. The Dog Days are over. Weather is predicting a particularly hard cold winter this year for us. I can't help but think of last year Labor Day Weekend and Argent passing away and summer broke when he did. I kind of have to wonder if I will always think about the first breaking of summer this way.
But no melancholy like that today.

Got a half dozen pints of sweet and sour pickled red onions done. Three trays of hot banana pepper slices dehydrating- I actually picked those up a couple weeks ago for canning, but other shit happened, and they ripened on the counter in the solarium instead. Now they are past prime for pickling, but perfect for dehydrating. Seven trays of mushrooms on the dehydrator- they too are past their perfection for pickling already from the day I bought them, but perfect for drying. Shucked 8 ears of corn, 4/buck, and drying- made stock from the cobs, as usual. It's still cooling, so I don't know final yield yet.

And hey... been cooking a LOT out in the solarium this summer. Using the nesco as a steam oven, canning and cooking over the electric hotplate and coleman stove.. and I really, really love it.  So much so that I have kind of decided to do this much more year round. In the winter months I can do canning and it would be a welcome help to warm the solarium while still leaving the kitchen free for other cooking.
I'm also now much more comfortable with being not chained to the kitchen directly for use this way. I'm ready for firing up really big burners- AKA the darkstars, in a more outdoor kitchen situation.
I have noted that for outdoor kitchen action, I really need to pick up a few 5 gallon water jugs for potable water. The outdoor spigot on that side still isn't working for sink action. And I just want to use more potable water than the spigot for some of the cooking action.
I'm also much more comfortable now with small batch hotplate canning. When sales hit and it is cold, I will have no problem picking up a few more pounds and cranking out winter goods.

Something tells me that this winter will be buckling down for more than just the cold... I feel kind of instinctively  prompted to extra store up now. It might just be fearful of me.. but I don't think a bit of an extra stock up now to prepare for the coming winter is a bad idea.
Perhaps it's because I've been closely reading over last years preservation tallies and feel the need to catch up too.


Dryer still broken- but the day was cooler and winds were crisply clipping along. So a load of house linens, bed linens washed and line dried. Must fix the line, lol. It's cheap cotton, and even with my poor props, it needs tightening up and I need to cut a couple of those long bits of wood for some proper clothesline props. I strung up a secondary line in another more discreet side yard for more delicate outdoor drying, as well as a three pole rack in the solarium.

I've now dedicated myself to being out at, and working at Bristol for the last two weekends. You know it I'm excited about this. It should be good times, and good friends, and hopefully not too much drama.. cuz, lol, you know there is always at least some drama out at faire. And holy crap, as always, figuring out five days worth of garb is a PITA- especially now that I have an expanded yesteryear collection to choose from.

Cleared off the workbench today while cooking in the solarium.

And LAMO.. it's September 12..
Nightvale county has been waking up since the day after Labor Day. Picked up a shitton of produce to start firing up. Dryer still broken. Bristol was frigging awesome.  Started taking cuttings off the hibiscuses and fuchsias today. Made a couple gallons of ham stock. Taco night for dinner. It's sis's b-day, and I couldn't think of a better dinner request :)

Getting it done...

I've gotten a couple things done over the last few days...

Weeded out the root crop area of the herb garden. And yes, I gave up to temptation and pulled up 4 white icicle radishes- they were ready to be picked :) Nothing else was, and I was good and left the rest alone. I think after I pull all of them I need to put down a load of horse poo and leaves this year to overwinter.

I also got the daffodils planted in, yay! Took a goodly bit of time, but here's the result.

I know, the edge is still scrappy as hell- that will get more properly trimmed out in the spring when the next set of bulbs go in. I left in a couple of the milkweeds too. I planted small patches at a time. You can sort of see where I started out along the wall line and worked my way around the bird bath going counter clockwise. I'm kind of hoping this will look nice and fill in decently. I wanted to work around the birdbath since I knew that's where the drip point off the corner of the roof is. The line closest to me is approximately where I want the slab to edge up to eventually. Next step before winter will be sinking in a line of recycled cans to finish out that line.
This whole area took a while because I went through with a hand trowel and dug out a lot of root bits and a bit of gravel. I wasn't meticulous about getting the gravel out, but I did pick out all the bigger rocks. Those got dumped at the top of the hill where I want a patch of gravel.
I'm hoping to be able to pick up a couple bags of grape hyacinth on clearance soon like I did last year, and cut in blocks in the spring like I did last year.

Monday, Monday..
Got the seed trades packed and ready to go, along with other mail.. Even drove it to the post office- then discovered it was a holiday today, Columbus day. Oops. Decided while out an about to hit up the local stores for their Halloween wares. See what my local shops had compared to when I was out visiting. Glad I did because that stuff was already being clearanced out.
I now have three buildings. A candy shop and a B&B from JoAnns, and a blood bar from Michaels. Rather happy about the blood bar, I snagged it from the display to get it. I also picked up a handful of smalls. All in all, making a rather tight gathering on the mantel at the moment. I have to clean up Gluggs tank and install his heater before I can do final arranging.
I hit the local places that carry bulbs too- everyone is currently in full selling mode, no clearances yet on bulbs. 

I've added a couple new links to the right...
http://listeningtoleaves.blogspot.com/2012/11/kintsugi-art-of-repairing-teaware.html a blog posting about Kintsugi, the art of repairing ceramic with precious metals. Very informative. It's under Making Stuff.

http://www.archaeoastronomy.com/myclock.html  earth's position relative to seasonal cusps. As in what on todays date is the real times for the eight holidays. Brings up some fun points :)
Or wedding this year was truly on Beltane eve. True Beltane struck at three AM on the 5th, and we celebrated from Friday to Sunday :)
Halloween this year is actually on the light side of midnight on November 7th.
This link is under Cool Links.

Tuesday is gloomy. Stayed indoors and did some cleaning. Set up the Halloween stuff in the living room.
I needed to clean Gluggs tank and set up the heater for him first. I decided to move the whole tank to the other side of the mantel closer to the power supply in the corner. I hope he's happy where he's at now, and feeling a bit better about having warmer water. Apparently betas like warmer water in the upper 70's. And leaving the light on does not heat the water enough, promotes algae too much, and sort of messes with the betas normally preferred light and dark cycle.
So after that I was able to set up my new Halloween village.

 Starting on the outer corner is the big ghostie I made as a kid and the local candy shop. Chocolate eyeballs and poison apples are in stock right now :)

 Next to the candy shop is the local B&B. Grim is hanging out having his morning coffee and doughnuts while other folks go about their daily business.

 On through the pumpkin patch, where the Great Pumpkin reigns supreme.

 And into the graveyard, overseen by Job... He is being backlit by Gluggs tank :)

 And up the way on the first shelf is the local blood bar. All sorts of folks hang out here! There are many vintages on special today, and the ever running blood fountain for general refreshment.

I did have all the pieces on the mantle at first, and everything was just too squashed up. Gluggs tank seriously makes a footprint! Spreading it out to take up the first shelf makes it all look a tad sparse, but that's a good thing. I know I will end up collecting more- possibly more than I really have space for, lol.

And this is the little witch that tells me how many days till Halloween, she resides on my filing cabinet. Off to her left is her little box of pumpkin numbers, and I can change the numbers daily :)

Decided to look around at what all there is in the world of Halloween village, and my goodness there is a lot of really neat stuff out there.. and a ton of stuff I'm kind of meh about. A couple that have particularly struck my fancy..

 

The Retching Pumpkin by Dept 56

The Grinning Goblin Brewery by Lemax

There are tons of smalls that strike my fancy as well. And I've realized that just with the houses, pumpkin, and tombstone to light up that using all plug in cords will not do. I want to instead use battery operated lights, preferably led and maybe on a timer if I get really lucky. Huh, wonder if that sort of thing is within the realm of a raspberry pi- that would be a neat thing for folks that like to run holiday villages. Just hook up all the much smaller led leads, and have a Rpi programed to run the lights.
I also need to "give back" the second Halloween decor bin. Those three buildings come in some large boxes, and you bet I will be packing them away in those boxes. Right now the second bin is holding a full bin of shredded paper that needs to go out to trace in the garlic bed. I'm going to use the paper as sort of a base marker mulch that hopefully will show up nicely under a leaf layer. It just started raining, so I don't have to water in the bed before I start spreading paper :)
I want to grind up another batch of paper or two to lay down over the area at the top of the hill that leads down to the sanctuary. I've put in a lot of dug up gravel from the herb garden and around the solarium, and now I want a tamping in layer. I might also want to layer in a bag of beer caps. I want to firm pack in this spot before I terrace out any further. And allow the other side of the opening to firm up with mints- the chocolate mint is bordering this area, and doing well. After a large die off of moving the pineapple mint as I did, we have firm areas of this mint taking off too where it's supposed to. And several starts of leftovers from where I removed it that can now go into the die off areas.
This first terrace area is taking a while to firm up, but it's worth it.

Back to indoor stuff.. Started rearranging the library over the weekend past. Had a couple of menfolk on hand to shuffle bookcases. Set up the beta globe on the top of one, and it makes for wonderful lighting in the area. Need to fill it with water and some reflecting filler. Thinking through the rearranging, I want to set up the hermit crab tank in the library too. But as a tank for living stones this time.

Back at Growbox Hill

I got back home yesterday afternoon. I love visiting, but always love being home more :) It was a rather nice and boring kind of drive home- always a bonus when driving through Chicago :) So after getting home was pretty much hanging with my love and meows, unloading the car.. Just getting back home.
Today was some cleanup. Starting in on kitchen cleanup, mostly dishes. Unpacking from being gone- and that's always a thing, hehehe. Picked up the garlic and garden raid that I talked about in the last post. And a bunch of other stuff too.
A couple of sweaters and fall coat- all from Goodwill at damn fine prices. A goodly stack of books, ranging from 49 to 99 cents, most of them being on the low end. A couple odds and ends.
The books reminded me- I need to check in with the local library and see what I can drop off or not. I have a heap of books and such to donate, and I'd like to see them in the best donating sources. 

And a fantastically cool board game- Gourmet Challenge. It's kind of a trivial pursuit, only in all things culinary. Origins of foods, eating etiquette, ingredients... And checking out the game of 2 boxed decks, a lot of stuff I know, a lot of stuff I don't. You have to build a cake of layers instead of filling in your pie. And the game was 100% complete- all for 6 bucks.
So, here's the catalog of what I got from my brothers yard.

 I picked some of the fluffy ariels from this plant. You can see a cluster that I left to the right, and the frilly leaves of the plant in the center.

 This is a purple spikes something- I gather seed heads from this one.

 Stripped a few heads off what I think is an allium of some sort. At least the seed heads looked just like the ones I stripped off the solarium allium. This variety has a much thinner stem and leaf set.

 Stripped seed heads from this daisy

 This is a Wisconsin native of some sort, has large daisyish blooms

 This plant has blooms, and grows by sending out runners to make new starts- I collected several of the starts.

 This is a fast growing creeper that sends out runners and puts up starts. I plucked up a container of this stuff too.

 Deadheaded this one

 This plant is similar to the purple spiked one, but has pink spikes instead of purple.

 This one is like the other that looks like it, but with greener leaves and different color blooms

 This parsleyish looking thing puts out large blue flowers. I pulled some of the spent flowers in hopes of getting some seed

 And spent flowerheads from this ladys mantle.

I also collected a bunch of seeds from the clematis, but I can't remember what the colors are on them, lol. And I got to take home a chocolate iris!

Got the garlic planted in this morning...

 Here's the bed and how much it has settled since I set it up a couple weeks ago.

 Marked off my 1 foot square boxes. Used map pins and some crappy leftover embroidery floss.

 Here's my template to give 6 inch spacing. Made from a recycled bag.

 Here's the bed with all the divots done and all the cloves planted in. Rows are 6 each going across- made for the easiest way with the varieties I had and how many I have. Going from the fenceline forward is:
Giant Russian
Leningrad
UP North
Skips 1
Skips 2
Skips 3
Pearl Porcelain- two rows of it
Kankakee Hardneck- three rows of it
Kankakee Softneck
Our earliest luffa was ready to pick, I was a tad leery since it had gotten damaged early..

 Here they all are hanging

 The one for picking is in the background, brown and shriveled up

 Ready for peeling open

 Starting to pull off the peel

This is what it looks like cut and split open. I already kind of knew that the seeds would not be good in this one, and I was correct in that assumption
The one tomato I planted in the ground- Lemon Boy- while I was gone, it somehow managed to overheave the two tomato cages I had set up to contain it. Did some serious pruning to it and reset the cages. Was able to get at a few ripe and overripe tomatoes finally.
Weeded out a goodly chunk of that whole patch to better expose the fall Top Crop beans for drying- need seed stock for next year :)
Picked what might be the last of the Hutterite soup beans and Gold Marie beans- I now have excellent seed stock for both varieties.

Still got tons to do...
I need to address and weed out the herb garden. The radishes and beets look great. Must resist the urge to pull any of them right now. And a lot of green to pull up and add to fall compost bed.
Rake up under the apple trees. What to do with all the fallen stuff? Perhaps a bottom layer to fall compost bed?
To mow or not to mow? The flowering shag I usually use for need to mow is popping up, but the grass isn't too shaggy yet. Right now I might just leave it because we are on the cusp of frost time- October 15.
Seriously have leaves and needles to rake up for our first bed. It will make for a rather nice top mulch to bury all those garlic seeds.
Thinking about taking fallen or cut brush to weave up the next box or two in rough form. Lordy knows I have enough of all of that.
Need to plant in daffodil bulbs.
Was able to finally pick some milkweed pods today, woot!! I collected about a half dozen heads and now they are drying in a bag :)
I have blooms starting to show up on the fall peas. hooray! Need to pull back all of the containers to the solarium access. 
Got in a stack of seeds today, five kinds of peppers and one tomato. Need to package up my trade seed for shipping off on Monday. 

First raised bed :)

Set up our very first raised bed today. It measures 3x6' I.D. and will be used for planting in all my garlic :)

First the garlic.

On the left is the garlic I got in adoption. Russian Giant, Leningrad, and Up North. The rest is garlic I picked up the other day from Skips farmers market. Top is Skips #3, bottom is Skips #1, and the right is Skips #2.
Russian Giant- Hardneck purple stripe, purported to be the sweetest of the roasting garlics. When I broke it apart it had 6 large/huge cloves around a central stem. Purple neck has a 3/4 loop scape.
Leningrad- Hardnect Porcelain, kind of a best all around in taste, quality, and storage, a rather rare type. 4 large cloves around a central stem. Porcelain garlic has a random snake scape.
Up North- no info really on this one, it's a hardneck, possibly a rocombole. Rocomboles are best for dehydrating and have the shortest shelf life, 5-6 months. 6 large cloves clustered around central stem. Rocomboles have a double loope scape.
Skips #1- Sold by a lady, called it Italain Largo? 12 or so small to medium cloves, with 3 more starting an inside ring. Skins are rather hard to peel open to break the head, but come off clove decent.
Skips #2- Sold by same lady as one, she said it was a different kind that was more robust and pungent. 10 large to huge outer bulbs, with 2 medium cloves starting inside ring. Same tough skins as #1.
Skips #3- Sold by the other person selling garlic, a guy. He peeled and broke open a clove for me and it smelled wonderful! 10 medium to large bulbs with 2 small bulbs starting inside. Easy to peel thick skins.
I have 6 of each kind of garlic I can plant in.

On to the raised bed, our first.
Had my love assemble the bed. It was made out of pieces of scrap wood that has been laying around since before we got the house. Two inside brackets in each corner- it's just the way the divots went for the screws, and if later we need reinforcement we can attach outside brackets. We had a miscommunication about one of the boards that was initially to be used, but I think it ended up better this way- a more manageable bed. Heh, I would have been cursing a lot more today if the original larger bed had been built instead!
On to some pics :)

I started out with the bed snugged right up against the edge of the wood that marks off the bee patio. But in my initial dig down, I discovered a frigging fence post. I dug down quite a bit around it, but it was solid as a rock. Shit. I wasn't going to go away from the fence any more than I had already, so it was shift it to the right. I dug down a few inches inside the bed to give me some dirt base for building the bed and to help level out the bed bed a bit. Yes, the rest of the pic is indeed the scrappy remains of the first year black plastic- I've found it rather helpful to keep this area dead as prep for dropping in beds at will.
After I shoveled out a pile o dirt I put in newspapers. We get weekly mailers and I just folded them open, took out the glossy and smaller center section, and laid them face down. Sprinkled a little dirt over the papers to keep them from blowing around while I moved onto the next section.

Another nice pic of the newspaper layer. Each mailer is 8-10 pages thick when folded open. This layer helps with a slow water retention, weed barrier, and lowest level of composting layer. After I got this done, I watered it real well till there was puddles of standing water (ok, the bed bed wasn't perfect, sue me). Soak in the paper real well. Then while it was soaking in I went and raked up a barrow of pine needles.

Here's that frigging post. Decided if I couldn't remove it and didn't want it in the middle of my bed, it could at least serve as an anchor. Though it does make me fear for what I will find as I go down the row with more beds. Though with that notion in mind I will be prepared to be able to cut down/dig out future posts since they won't take me by surprise like this one did.

This is the barrow of pine needles. After I dumped them in and spread them evenish, I watered well again. Started out with the shower head, then switched to jet head to sort of tamp the needles down. While that was soaking in, I went and raked up a barrow of fallen leaves from the cherry trees.

After filling and evening out the box, guess what I did? Yep, watered it again, first using shower head, then jet head to tamp down. This looks like a lot of leaves, but by the time I was done watering the mass down, the bed was only a third full again. Then I sprinkled a coffee can of crushed eggshells over the whole pile for slow release calcium, and then watered again.
Then it was time to go collect a bunch of ash from the firepit and the lil grill. Ash adds some lime and potassium to the soil. And fill up the barrow with horsepoo- for compost, duh.

First was a barrow of horse poo spread out, then half the dirt shoveled in over that, then a goodly dose of the ash on top. This pic shows the layers before it's watering down. And it got watered real well. Since I put in a thick layer of pine needles- which can be acidic- at the bottom, the lime in the ash helps sweeten the needles.

Another layer of poo and then the rest of the dirt. Off to the left you can see the edge of the bee patio, the wooden line I initially had the bed snugged up against. And the first set of pavers I've made for the bee patio. All the wood here was originally smothering the raspberry bed. Nice to be able to use it for at least garden purposes.

And once again, water it real well. The bed looks full up right now, right? Well, this bed is going to sit for a week or two before I put in the garlic, and in that time it will settle in at least an inch I'm thinking, due to all the needles and leaves at the bottom. So before I plant in the garlic I will add another layer of horse poo, then after planting it will be a thick mulch of shredded paper- more mailers :) And then watering the crap out of the whole thing.
Still not positive how I want to do my grid for planting- they will be 6x6" for placement, but not positive how permanent of a grid I want to put up for marking off.
In the background you can get a better view of what will eventually be the bee patio. In the foreground that black plastic blocker.
Believe it or not, this whole corner has been a total PITA to figure out. It's the cornerstone to all the veggie row and living hedge strips as well as one of the crappiest spots of the yard to tame and figure out without killing off what I want to keep. But we are sort of on time with this project- I was hoping that whatever property we moved into we could start raised beds in season 3- and it's the tail end of season 3 and we got the first raised bed in.

I really need to check into getting some garbage carpet for putting in between beds. For the spring probably. I can put in a border agent of recycled brown paper bags and if needed a leaf layer to make the surrounds for this box for this fall into winter. But I will need more long term walkway action come spring.

Since I'm using a 6x6" spacing for the cloves on SQFT method, I will only be filling half the box. I only have 36 cloves to plant, 6 each of 6 kinds. So I need to figure out what I'm going to do with the rest of the bed for now since the garlic won't be ready to harvest till next summer. I'm torn between nightshades and brassicas. I want to really launch some tomato action next year and could do an early spring radish crop, but I think I could get a rather nice double crop of spring carrot and fall kale or maybe even cauliflower if I plan carefully. I think I might be better off doing the "easier" plan of radishes and tomatoes.
Of course, I could/should do in a bit of cover crop compost as well.. hmmm...

Methyel jam and more canning to come

Well well well... woke up today to the sounds of Mama N throwing a storm. We got some heavy rain, thunder and lightning, and even some hail! Made me glad I pulled that pot onto the porch and planted in the basil- I don't think it could stand any more water right now, lol.
Of course through the day, the rain stopped, the sun came out... And the temps went up. So it was a little like breathing water, heh.

The juicer I picked up over the weekend from Goodwill ended up being a dud. Well, a half dud. The low speed didn't work, and the high speed just overly pulverized soft fruit. So I returned it. Went to Meijer and Target to see what they had, and ended up getting one from Target. Cost 20 bucks more than the Goodwill one, but I like this one better, and I know for sure it will work properly. Stopped at Lowes to look at shelving since I got a gift certificate there, and wow they are over priced. So I picked up two more cartons of half pint canning jars. Ran to Home Depot to check out their shelves, and they are much more reasonably priced- but realized I left that gift card at home, drats.
On the way back to the house I decided to stop at the berry place and see what they had for plums, and got some advice on how to prune my fruit trees. That was a nice bonus. I also got propositioned by a person working there, and that was not nice. But I got to gossip with a gal that works there, and that was pretty cool, she is a really neat gal.
So I picked up a bunch of Methley plums- they are small, dark red, and utterly delicious. Ended up with too many of them for what was required for one batch of jam, but not quite enough for two. Hmmm, guess we will just have to suck it up and eat them, lol.
It had turned so muggy that I debated whether or not to even make jam. But the guy had picked out riper plumper plums so I could get to jamming right away, and I didn't want to waste the effort. 
So I canned up 10 half pint jars of Methyel Plum jam. As usual, I sanitized more jars than the recipe called for- it said a yield of 8 cups, but I sure did fill 10 jars. Even had enough left over that I almost could have filled an 11th jar, I was not anticipating that. So the 3/4 full jar 11 went into the fridge, lol.
After trying out a couple of other folks recipes for the peach spread and cantaloupe syrup that were supposed to be jams, I stuck strictly to the recipe that came with the pectin. My confidence has been shaken.
Of course, by the time I was done canning, the kitchen was sweltering muggy. So I closed up the windows and turned on the basement door box fan- it's almost nice here again :) In another hour or so I will be able to kill the fan and open windows again.

Happy Thursday!!
So first thing when I went to get coffee this morning- my love is always wonderful and makes coffee- I checked my jars of Methley Plum jam... And they all set! Woot, happy dance!! Tomorrow I get to wipe them down and label them.

A note on canning labels. When you buy new, they come with a little sheet of stickers, and I pretty much never use them. I ALWAYS write on the lids with a sharpie marker instead. Why? Because those labels stick real well and are a bitch to scrape back off again, and because you do not reuse the lids anyway, and when I take them off, I know what lids have been used. If I'm making up a special batch of something for gifts, then I will use the stickers.

It was another running around day for me. I realized I had not made one jot of salsa, and seriously needed to remedy that. So my first stop was off the the little Mexican joint- they got the best tacos in town purportedly, but as of yet I still need to take the time to eat some, lol. They also have a lovely little grocer, great for picking up what I need. Some peppers, limes, and cilantro. Then it was off to Home Depot- I remembered to pack my gift cards :) Ended up picking up plastic shelves instead of metal ones cuz I could get 2 plastic for the price of 1 metal. And because they didn't carry extra metal shelves, so there was no point in blowing the extra cash there. Then it was over to the produce place, again, lol. Picked up 20 pounds of tomatoes, some sweet potatoes, and a lovely large pitty pan for roasting, fucking yum-o! The sweet potatoes were huge, so I was only able to shred a couple of them for the dehydrator. I shred them raw and dehydrate at 125 till dry and crispy. What do I use them for? All sorts of added in extra veggie kick to a lot of stews, casseroles, and soups, but the fave around here is sprinkling onto a frozen pizza- I always add stuff to frozen pizzas, and this is a great way to add some veggie bonus! And no, it does not make the pizza all crazy sweet.
Decided to take the back way home, and I'm soooo glad I did. Ended up hitting a rummage sale- they had already sold their pressure canner :( But I picked up 7 cases of canning jars for 28 bucks! In the stores new that would have run me 70 bucks. 4 cases of quarts, 1 case of wide mouth quart, and 2 cases of half pints, woot. Stopped at a little other produce stand and picked up some rather nice little orange sweet peppers. Also hit Waterlviet and picket up another 8 banana peppers for some more jars of pepper rings. 2 bucks for 4 jars of yummy goodness, yay!
I dropped my fifth seed trade in the mailbox today, and decided to check the apples in the orchard on the way back into the house. Looks like our red apples are just about ripe :) Which means some serious apple canning in the near future! That juicer is going to see some serious use right soon.

With all the new jars, I'm seriously considering canning up homemade V-8 juice. We drink a lot of it around here, but it's rather expensive to be guzzling down, and it's usually loaded with salt. So poking around recipes this morning, I discovered someone that takes the leftover solids from making it and they dehydrate it! Instant veggie powder. Hmmm, I think I'm going to try that. Some folks do it with the tomato goo leftover from canning, so I think perhaps that will be tried first with the leftovers from salsa I'm making tomorrow. Can't hurt to try, right?

And just a woah note- so far I've gotten 40 pounds of tomatoes, and will likely get another 40 pounds before canning season is done- I seriously need to plant a shitton of tomatoes next year!

So on my to do list for tomorrow..
Assemble the shelves and get the canned goods loaded onto them
Make and can salsa
Can up pepper rings
Dehydrate up some onions and whatever leftover hot peppers from salsa
Dehydrate the rest of the sweet potatoes- this will be done later, if the onions and peppers are dried

Puttering around...

Yes, been trying to keep up on regular bottle returns... I'm down to my last batch of small box recycling. Now it's just taking care of the return boxes, hooray! And I can start on my small returns at Hardings... But boo, need to do some cleanup of all the rest of stuff too. Now I'm starting to end up with empty boxes- what to do with them? Use some duct tape and set up some temporary shelving to store up all the wedding stuff as it accumulates. It's now getting stored in the workshop instead of in the florida room, so that's nice for my love :)
Got some bottles turning up as no-go for auto turn in. We shall see how those accumulate in the future. When I get a full box or few I will shuffle them down to the pole barn. 

But I've been spending some serious hours in the workshop. Choosing inspired days over duty days.

Got a lot of cleanup and organizing done in the workshop. I cleared all the storage off my bench, pulled it away from the wall a bit, and took out the unnecessary center support on the shelf- and hung a slim light there instead. I now have almost the entire bench for workspace instead of just the front strip. And when I get long sewing projects, I can just let them hang over the back edge of the bench instead of bunching it up. HOORAY!!
What did I do with all that stuff? Some creative shelving stacking. I also cleaned up the floor space too- and did a serious sweeping and drymopping of the floor so I can start laying out fabric to get some sewing projects done in time for christmas.
Also did a bunch of rearranging done between the costume room and the storage room. And a bunch of stuff swapped out between upstairs and downstairs.
Got a couple of Kusudama done, and a trio of geodesic ornaments. And a big goody sized box geodesic ornament.

I'm going to make a few giant paper goodie ornaments. I currently have 2 other good shapes that I have saved up that I am going to use for patterns. Those are flattening out right now.
The two batches of bath salts are curing away.
Been working on the snowflake pin ornaments, much more of a pita than I anticipated. Probably because this is the first time I'm trying them. Still turning out pretty darn sweet. I'm down to the last set of pins that need to go in, only problem is that now there are so many pins crossing the center I know darn well I won't be able to properly sink the last 24 pins in- tried some silk pins, too short and too small of a head- looks like I did need to get the glass head pins after all.

Figured out some creative lighting for the outdoors. Solar lamp in a jar.
I shot a couple papers with the glow in the dark paint, but I think I prefer just using a tad of glitter dust to coat the insides of the bottles rather than anything more fussy. I'll still have the late fall and christmas sales to hit for more lights. And I have a goodly batch of recycled jars to take upstairs to put to use too.
Using the lights as I currently am leaves me with a quandry of refuse. All of the original tubes and spikes that will not be used with the lights project. Crap, that's a lot of junk. Or not. I'm going to recycle those into the gardening areas as plant marker spikes. That way they can be reused year after year. I think my first ones are going to be marking off herbs in the herb garden. Want to do this very soon so I can sink them in before the ground starts freezing up. At least the stakes, I can do up the cards after that.

I got all the origami boxes for garden in a box favors done, yay! Now I just need to sit down in my "best handwriting" mode to make the tags. I'll use up a bunch of the leftover strips from cutting out the squares to do so.
Picked up a bunch of tulip bulbs on clearance. A couple of bigger bags of mixes, and a handful of bags of particular cultivars. I think they will be nice to try to force for the wedding. I'm betting that I can do up a bunch of pots, keep them in the garage or workshop porch, and force them in the solarium when I need to. Some real blooms to ensure for decor. I will have to make sure I put a note on them, or make them hard to pick up and go for setup. I want to put in some tulip border action for future use.
Made up the rough wiring for the quartz and rings neckpiece for my sister. I want to try out the hang before I start working in square wire.

Picked up the big sheets of mesh at the fabric store and cut out the inserts for the new dehydrator. I had a good coupon, so I was able to do four inserts for less than the price of two of the ones sold to go with the machine. And they fit all the way around with no cutouts like the intended ones. I used one of the jelly trays as the template :)

Got in some more seeds :) Marigolds from the last person that offered on my initial share request, yay! And my first packet of trade seed. I sent off some beans, carrots, and tomatoes, and got in beans, melons, cukes, Fish pepper, Lemon Balm, and a random flower seed.
Heard back on the government seed. The decided to turn down my pepper and squash requests, but it looks like everything else is on the list. I got a second notification that at least my soy is being shipped out. Looks like bean, tomato, and asparagus are still on the list. One of their notes says oat? and I'm not sure why. I thought I had requested coffee.
Still haven't seen back from GardenHoard :(

Got a badly needed reorganization of the pantry done. Well, almost done. Still need to move the mixer out of there. Hung up a bunch of stuff on the kitchen walls too.
I also hung up my trivets on the wall and all the potholders on the side of the fridge. So I was then able to resort all my cooking utensils- no more buckets of utensils eating up cooking area space :)

Got the organization of the recycling done in the garage. Not as much crap there as there used to be, but still got a lot to get done out there.

Hardings had celery on sale so I picked up 3 bunches of it for drying. Amazingly, the new dehydrator can handle 3 bunches at a time! Sadly, the two celery stubs I had growing puked out- too much kitty interference. So now with my new stubs I'm going to put them in a much safer kitty free place- the workshop.

Woot! seeds coming in!!

Got in some seeds today :)

A HUGE bag of marigold seed.. I sent off postage and got enough of it to hopefully be able to successfully line the keyhole next year. Of course I will be reserving some to pot up some flowers next year too so I at least have some startover seed if the borders fail. And there's enough for me to make up a few envelopes of them for the seed favors :) That was on the Gardenweb If Mama N is nice next year, we will establish the first line of defense against skeeter and ticks and provide a nice mowing border I can stick lamp posts in.

Got in my SASE from Wintersown.org ... and even more seeds than I was expecting!! I had to choose 6 with 4 backups. They sent me 8 tomatoes and 2 bonus packets! Well worth the price of 2 stamps. I reserved their card so I can send them off some seed as I can while collecting. I will have to send off to them again :) For a $5.00 donation, I get to pick 10 I want, and get them all. It will fill out the rest of my tomato collection except for whites. And it's going to a good cause.

Here is what I got in the mail..

Roughwood Golden Plum tomato
Early Ssubakus Aliana tomato
Yellow Banana tomato
Principe Borghese tomato
Sausage tomato
Lyuda's Mom's Large Red Ukrainian tomato
College Challenger tomato
Piovano tomato
Cilantro
Cayenne pepper 

I'm extra excited about the cayenne- I want to grow some for myself, and there's enough to share a couple seeds too :) I now have my first rotations of tomato seed too- I will probably plant all yellows/golds next year. I may have to build a couple of pollination isolation cases to do so, hmmmm...

I'm also going through my seeds enough that I now have a good idea on what I got for seed trading too. I need to make up a bunch of origami envelopes for them all. Need to do it anyway, I'm almost out and still need a bunch more for the seed favors.
I'm building up seed lists and tearing them down. By the time ordering season comes I will hopefully get very little purchased seed :)

Got the last of the pumpkin puree on the dehydrator... I ran out about 2 1/2 sheets in so I kept filling with the delecata, dumpling, and buttercup squashes from yesterdays roasting. Today I'm roasting off the green and golden acorns and butternut squashes.
So, 2 medium carving pumpkins, one large delecata, one large dumpling, 5 small to medium buttercups, 1 large green and 2 small golden acorn squashes, 1 medium large (filled the pan in it's own roasting) and 1 small butternut squash. I have no idea how many pounds that all is before dehydration. But by the end of today I will have 7 trays dried, and I think I have 6-7 to go. Once todays squash are roasted up, I'll mash them together and we shall see what we get. Squashes are so much dryer than the pumpkins- I had to puree and drain off extra water from the pumpkins. The squashes are ready to go right from the fridge.

food preservation and a bunch more done

Ok, so I made another bottle run to Meijer.. This time to the further away one. And I'm very glad I did!

They had 12 oz canning jars on price drop for 5 bucks for 12- half off.. I picked up three flats. They also had food dehydrators on the shelf, hell yeah!! 50 bucks got me a nice 4 tray with adjustable heat fan blown dehydrator. It's a bit larger than the one I currently own- big enough that I have to set it up on the counter instead of on the shelf. I got an extra 2 pack of trays for it for 10 bucks. Apparently you can stack up to 12 on the darn thing, but I doubt I will go over 6. Sadly fine mesh inserts cost 5 bucks each- so I will be hitting the fabric store and see how much their large sheets of mesh cost. If they are only a couple bucks, you bet your bottom I will be taking the time to cut up my own. Besides, the most recent flyer had a couple half off coupons and a 25% off total purchase coupon. The Meijer also has the fruit roll sheets for 5 bucks a pop. One came with the dehydrator, but I think I will be investing in getting 5 of them.
Because of the kind of dehydrator this is, I can make jerky on it too!
And yes, I will still be using the first dehydrator too. It's perfect for some of the softer drying or have more time to let it dry kind of stuff.  Once I pull the current batch of mushrooms off tomorrow, I will pick a bunch more herbs to go on it.
Right now the new one has 5 trays of broccoli slaw dehydrating- that's 3 12oz packages that I got for 99 cents each, and I had a tray left over. The first dehydrator could only handle a bag and a half. Already the house smells like dehydrating food, and after an hour and a half I felt the need to reshuffle the stuff- it's drying out fast enough I think it may be ready to jar up before I go to bed tonight. Tomorrow I will set up the rest of the frozen peas, and probably do up a batch of the fresh carrots too- I got a couple of pounds for free on a buy deal at Hardings.
Stopped by the hardware store and picked up a big 21 quart canner pot too. Meijer had a 25 quart enamel stock without the rack for 25 bucks and it looked too big for my stove, but the hardware store had the enamel canner pot with the rack for 26.50- for the extra buck and a half and having a rack and an appropriate size to fit on my stove, it was worth it. And it helps support my local hardware store- it's a value beyond price to me in the experience and time those folks have.

Got all excited and bought a couple pumpkins from the local grower... and a bunch more squash from Hardings- on sale for 49 cents a pound... Was planning on using some of my cool new canning equipment. Hardeharhar on me, you can't safely can that using a water bath. So I will be making my puree and dehydrating a bunch on the fruit roll sheets- instant squash powder for soups.. I will likely freeze up at least a couple quarts of the stuff too for more cook and eat kind of consistency.
Between Meijer and Hardings, I was able to pick up a couple pound containers of strawberries and a bag of mixed berries for cheap- and I have a bag of macerated strawberries in the freezer. Gonna whup them all up into some jam and can that all up. I think I will end up with 4-5 12 oz jars when I'm done, so I can always toss in a jar with a few Christmas presents.

I picked up some nice scents for Christmas presents too. Cinnamon to make scented filling for the geodesic ornaments. Jasmine and a soothing green tea and cucumber for making bath salts and some warm/chill pillows. I figure I will make up a couple of those too. A little bit here and there and I will have some pretty decent pampering sets for the ladies. The oils were under 5 bucks each, and I should be able to get quite a bit of mileage out of them. I still have a couple of candy molds sitting around that were complete failures for making seed bombs, but I think they might still be good for making little "butter lumps". A mixture of wax and oils for using on rough spots like elbows and heels.

Got work done on the Rosepetal Pavilion. The posts are now mounted into place and all the final floor tiles are mounted in. Next up is laying in the primary roof struts and backfilling the entire outer edge of the floor. I wanted to give that final layer a couple goodly days to set in before messing around with the next layer. Then it's laying in roof cross beams and doing the primary petal roof layout.

I've noticed where the bottles are stacked was a major drip spot- so I've done a few bottle returns and cleared out most of those boxes. Now I need to keep up on it. I think I'm gonna fold up the yucky boxes and twine them off for easy start logs.

To do list:
Want to start working on birdseed ornaments for wedding favors. Birdseed has been on sale so I figure I will pick up a bag now. That stuff stores forever. Then over the course of winter, I can bake up batches of them and sock them away for bundling. I think I want to pick up some tulle and make nyjer seed bags to pack them up a couple feeders each all nice.
Need to go through the pile of seed envelopes for my garden in a box favors. Ugh, need to hit Office Depot- the are going out of business and got super sale going on. Pick up some printable labels if they have them. Hand written or printed, if the sale is good enough, a box or two will last me ages.
I need to get into touch with the Enchanted Bead lady up the road from us. Need to see if she has/can order square wire for me. My sister handed over some seriously cool chainmail link pieces and a handful of large quarts points for me to make into a necklace for her. I think this particular piece will require the structured edges of square wire. I'm going to use soft wire for now to quick wrap everything into the basic measurements and try the shape on my sister before I squarewire it.
Do another bottle return- pick up a couple jelly sheets for the new dehydrator.
Move a load of gardening stuff. The hoses and basket stuff for sure. That's a couple loads of space eating stuff I want moved.
Move the jug stuff. I know I got at least a bag or two of plastic bottles for smaller turn in action. And a stack of bottles to soak off the labels from and spray up in glow spray for herb garden border action.
Spray a couple test papers with glow spray and glitter to make into glow jars for hanging in the trees. 
Stick in stakes to mark off the future steps down the hill to the easement drive. Plug in the solar lights along that marked area.
If the weather is good, mow out a single path along all borders in the yard. I know it's late in the season and could be killing off.. but if I'm careful and think about it I can cut in a mulch side to work with into the freezing time and able to put in spring time.
Take a trip up to the local tree nursery and inquire to early spring ordering of a pair of trees for wedding planting. Might not be a bad idea to mark in and possibly mow in the planting aisle.
Trim up the branches that need trimming in the yard.
Pick up and drop off fallen branches in the yard to the firepit. Even if the weather is crappy, I want to build up a goodly firepit burning for Halloween. 

Got things going on in the coolness...

Got the paint and adhesive...
John Deere green for the cans in the solarium. I did up a test dozen at first and set them up. I like them quite a bit, enough so that I shot the next 30 cans- then I ran out of paint. So I will have to get another can to finish up that part of the project.
Flat white and clear adhesive for the Rose Petal Pavilion. I now have the bases glued to the mounting plate, and the thing sprayed white. Tiled in the hexagon rooms except the final outside row. I wanted to let it sit and cure in well before mounting in the roof poles and the final tiling- I'll fill in the two hallways then too. Still dithering around with how tall I want those roofpoles- I got 9 dowels, so I'm undecided as to how I want to cut them up to make my 18 needed for the three hexagons.
And need more adhesive- different stuff. I got E6000 clear, and it's working great for the mounting and tile setting, but is way too thick for the thinset I need to do to seal the tiles into the floor.
And I want to do a basic petal layout for the roof tiles while the whole thing is still flat enough to make it easy. It wont be so easy once poles are in place. 
The hardware store had glow in the dark paint too. So I tried it out on a couple whiskey bottles. Looks like we might have the glass border for the herb garden. I've been kicking around the notion of glow paint, perhaps some reflective too.. But I'm liking the glow alone so far. I think I might try a glitter and glow too for shits and giggles since I have the mats already to try that. It may be that a whole heap of bottles are getting moved to workspace rather than pole barn.
Now I'm tinkering around with other notions for this paint, like perhaps some hanging glow jars for trees :)

And hey hey, got the workshop cleaned up today- didn't scrub down the kitchen area yet, but the place sure does look a LOT better than it did yesterday. And just a note- I really want to install a kitchen sink up there. I did give a good eye to what exactly I need to scrub up and attend to in the kitchen- I really got to get that done so I can start using the cabinet space more effectively. I got stuff to store up there, and it's just sitting in the wrong place right now.
Also managed to overfill a big laundry basket of random crap that needs to come downstairs. Workshirts, empty hangers, books- and oohh, my off white ringwar cloak.

I'm getting all impatient about the gourds and pumpkins. The first frost has been reported by my favorite seed company, and I know October will bring us our first official frost too. So, whatever is out there once the frosts hit and the vines wither, that's what I'm bringing in. Everything. We shall see whats good and such from there. I got a bushel gourd that looks fantastic.. Accidentally broke the stem off the snake gourd a week ago- it's been sitting on the kitchen table being watched ever since to see if it will take to drying or if it will be scrapped. Have a whole handful of smaller shapes and sizes that are looking good, and a nice handful of batwing pumpkins are just starting to come into their proper color. So there will be gourds on the Halloween table that we grew :)
I dunno what's going to happen with the pumpkin pepper- it has a lot of green fruits, but none of them show signs of oranging up at all. I guess if worst comes to worst I can always pull them up and string them up like tomatoes. All those are still green too- I might try up a green tomato recipe with those.
I need to pull up and put away the milk jug waterers for the season.

Gotta do garage cleanup. I got stuff tossed around all over the frigging place. And I need to figure out how to dress the place up before the wedding. I want to do a tent between the garage and the house and clear out the garage for the event anyway for all weather party space. However, if the weather proves too crappy for backyard, we will have to set up the ceremony in the garage. The roof leaks, badly in some spots, the floors and walls are gross and the walls are full of nails in some places. So I really need to figure out some low cost fixes, and pretty damn fast.
I was thinking perhaps just strapping down some big ass tarps over the roof to temporarily fix the leaky roof problem. Cut up some of the plywood currently serving as my gardening bench to board up the weak and rotten vertical spots between the rafters. Probably would have to do it this fall to make sure the inside is dry enough for painting. I figure the floor can just be really well scrubbed, and we will have to leave it at that. Perhaps yoink a couple off carpets from in the house for the ends.
And recycle, recycle, recycle. The more crap I use up from out there, the less stuff that has to be moved around to do stuff in there. And yeah, still move a bunch of stuff to the pole barn.
I think a lot of my basic gardening paraphernalia can be stowed down there. All my strings of milk jugs, hand tools, tarps and bedding bits. And crap, I totally forgot about our tent being spread out in the pull barn- again. So lots of stuff this fall can be relocated to the pull barn, lol.

Made up a big ass batch of chicken stew a couple days ago- we had it twice for dinner now, and I'm going to bag and freeze up the last 3 servings. I think I'm gonna make a big ass skillit tonight for dinner- I'm ravenous. I think potato, bacon, and spinach, yum.
I still haven't started up the smoker for pork bits. I realized since I'm using frozen hocks too I need to plan the smoking process for three or more days instead of an afternoon. Gotta thaw stuff properly and possibly brine it before smoking it.
Been drying lots of stuff- Based off their fresh hydrated weights, I got 10 pounds each freezer corn and mixed veggies, a couple pounds each of fresh from cob corn, peas, onion, and of course a few pounds of mushrooms. Got some slaw mixes and a couple pounds of kale still. Have a batch of celery in the dehydrator now- and the celery end soaking in water for planting in a day or two. I've also plucked quite a bit of tarragon, sage, rosemary, marjoram, pineapple mint, and a bit of winter savory so far. No thyme- I decided the pant really wasn't up to trimming yet. I've finally gotten to the point of emptying out the big jars, so I've started relabeling them for the stuff that's homegrown. I'm taking out all the nice glass jars I saved up- gonna use those for gifting since I got a lot- and I'm going to start using all my cool odd jars for herb mixes. This will really help streamline that area of the pantry. Kicking around the notion of putting in a shelf for the back row of bottle to sit on- and all my oddbit tiny jars to sit under.
Last time I was at the GFS, I picked up a giant jug of parsley, and big jars of oregano and basil, and a 5 lb tub of instant potato powder. I usually like the flake, but that was 3 lbs for the same price. And I've already used the potato powder to help thicken up the chicken stew, and I think I liked it better than using flake.

I'm a tad concerned for the holiday this weekend- forecast calls for a 50% chance of rain and temps in the 50's. It's supposed to be a getting stuff done, got some yardwork to do, want a bonfire kind of weekend, and I'm not sure if that is going to happen or not.
However, got good food prospects anyway. Making up a mess of spinach and beans, and some other contributions to the cook and bitch are scalloped potatoes and squash, and a cornbread stuffing.

And as a general yard hooray!! It looks entirely possible that at least the fenceposts, if not the entire fence will be set in place before the first snow between our property and that to the south. It's all in the east neighbors hands right now as to when it happens. We had a rather extra disturbing episode of the southern neighbors on our easement drive a couple weekends ago, so I am heartily glad that fence plans are moving forward. I don't care what those southern neighbors are doing on their property, but they sure as heck need to keep it off mine. Geez, this last time I saw one of their vehicles on our easement facing the street, and it burned out all the way down my drive. They were fighting and she was at the end of the drive- and at the moment I watched the vehicle move out I had a sudden horrific thought of I'm about to witness a vehicular homicide. It didn't end up that way thank goodness, but the whole thing was still icky. I walked up to the driver and asked them politely to not be on my property. Since they were outside by then already off on their whatever, I asked the father and son regularly staying there to please not let people of their property on my property. It was one of the most unsettling episodes to date since moving here.
I've been PO'd about some, er, right un-neighborly things that have happened. Flaked out with the whole looked like a nefarious deeds going on next door- and when it happened on my easement drive, that is what prompted the surveying of the fenceline. The whole thing with the call the police, and stabbing, and neighbors tripping over into my yard weird earlier this year was really.. odd. Whatever it is they got going on, we, and by this I mean us and the easement neighbors, don't need it on our property.
And, yeah, the deadwood fence still looks awesome. Not quite as perfect as when it was first constructed, and we took photos.. Anywho, it's now nicely grown in. After the main fence is put up, I was thinking about taking it down because it won't be as needed. Thinking of redistributing the wood along the easement ditchline to help give some hard structure definition to the cattail line. But maybe it will sit where it is and get more nasturtium attention next year.
I do need to do some serious tree grooming along that line- as in, cut down every effing one I see to the soil line. Can mow over some stuff, but not that. Figure if I stack it nice when I gut it, could have the first course row of wood to lay down on the ponds edge.  Since we got nice cattails coming up there, that's the area I cut my sisters cattails from, I want to encourage that to grow in all along the line. A thin line of ditch cattails in an easily harvestable space is useful in the long term and pretty.
I think next spring we will rent a tiller, and do a serious and large replanting of ditch lillies in the NW area of the roadside. The clumps we transplanted this spring did wonderfully well down in the corner. But it was a lot and long labor busting up and moving around with just spade and fork.

And as a gravelish, fillin, whatever... I want to start exploring around with using a little concrete to bind together recycled garbage bits into gravel or pavemently bits. Like the whole area along the southern fenceline so we don't need to mow there, around mailbox areas, that sort of thing. We end up with a lot of bottle caps of all sorts, and oddbit shreddibles that I think could end up being a goodly recycled mass for those areas. If it works well, trim out driveway edges with it. Cements are the cheapest binders I can find right now. I think if I really hunker down and start shredding up pulp paper that could work as well- but we would need to get a bunch more buckets with covers to do it.

Holiday plans already?

Yeah, holiday plans already...

The heat of summer has passed along with the first harvest. Lughnassad was a total failure in August. For all the hundreds of corn seeds I dealt with this spring, only got 3 plants- and one of those didn't have any ears :( Local farmers might have looked better, but the corn celebrations were definitely a no-go this year.

But we have more holidays coming up :)

This equinox we are having a couple family and friends over for a celebration- seriously yummy seasonal eats, perhaps a run to the local cider mill to see what they got for mulling (our trees didn't do squat).. a bonfire if the weather is nice. Some two-man yard clean up stuff. If we are really lucky, our favorite harpist who's coming might be able to bring one of her instruments so we can have joyous music for the occasion. So already second harvest is looking better than first harvest did. Tomorrow I get to check the cattails I cut recently and see if they are ready to be sprayed with hairspray to preserve the spindles. I'm really hoping they will be ready for the equinox table- and for my sister to take home. She wanted a bunch, and it's a nice bday present I think, home grown and preserved with special wishes for her.

Third harvest and one of my favorite holidays, Halloween :) Woot, making some preliminary plans to hit a haunted house or two this year. Quite a few of those Beltane planted gourds will go onto the Halloween table. Of course food and the usual rituals.. And a bonfire weather permitting.

Looking forward to Thanksgiving and my sisters turkey.. and the carcass to make big delicious pot of turkey stock with. Tis been requested that I make squash soup this year. Which is a good thing, I need to write down how I make it when I make it, lol. It's going into this years family cookbook.

Christmas- yeah, christmas planning already. Started working on the second volume of the family cookbook this week. Already got the second spiral typed up, recipe list sent off, and starting on adding my part of the list. Thinking about what to make for folks too. Perhaps some big jars of spice mixes- those are always popular with some folks, maybe some bath salts- those were loved by a couple folks too. Probably some ornaments- I always have ideas and new stuff I can do with those. And I got some lovely new origami paper this summer in Ann Arbor to use. And a couple books of pretty cardstock paper. I have to check over my seed stock, but I'm thinking some young herb plants might be nice too. Of course, I have to go hunt down addresses for christmas cards- but that's ok, need to make sure I got addresses for the wedding too. Maybe make some jewelry for a couple of the gals I know will like the kind of stuff I make. Maybe some sewing of house clothes and buying some basic smallclothes for the boys- stuff they can leave here.

Just as a random thought while I'm thinking about it.. I'd also like to update my desk to something more suited. I'm looking to go metal, or at least metal base so I can just leave my desk in one spot year round. Move my current desk into one of the boys rooms, and get another for the other room.. Lol, make them go through what they got, make space for their own regular stuff here. Probably clean out a bunch of stuff. Put things in order for a handful of christmas clothes, lol.

On the To Do List..
We now have enough cans recycled for me to put in the pond border in the solarium. Need to pick up some rust resistant paint, and paint them all up so I can sink them in.
Time to start in on the next phase of building the Rose ballroom for the wee folk. It was just too hot to try painting and using adhesives. Now that it's cooled down, it's time to kick it up and work on it again- need to pick up some suitable adhesives.
Need to do a serious scrubdown of the upstairs kitchen, and the workshop in general.
Cut down the willow withies in the sanctuary. Though I'm enamored with the idea of creating a living space with them, some serious cutting down and work is needed in the area.
Start turning in bottles again- geez, we got a mess in the garage. STILL need to move the other bottles down to the pole barn. Snort- and clean up the tent from the pole barn- I had forgotten about that till just now. Anywho, move pole barn stuff down to the pole barn. Resume turning in recyclables.
Find out where to turn in toxic/unwanted recyclables for 2013. We have a dead TV, a small pile of dead batteries, and a couple empty paint icks to dispose of.
Drop off the paper bags of donations to the local resale shop. We have several built up now, mostly fall stuff like business sweaters and warmer formal clothes- we just don't wear so much of them here. And they just reorganized the store to show and move the goods much better. There is a goodwill nearby too, but I'd rather donate to the more local folks if they can handle it. I really do know where their donations and dollars go to.
Lol, feed us before the evening goes on much longer....

Wow, time for catchup!!

Well, we got some rain, glorious rain!!

Had a front move in last Wed night into Thurs morning. I was betting the rain was going to split to the north and south, and when it was rolling it it was quite the light show while I could still see stars overhead. Then slowly, clouds rolled over us.. then suddenly a cool gust hit the house and little splatters.. then a goodly half hour to hour of hard rain, followed by gentler rain till just before dawn.

YAY RAIN!!!!

Then on Thurs I left early to go to my family for an OUTSTANDING visit.. and when I got back yesterday evening.. Wow, I have a lot of catchup. The lawn has gone from crispy and lagging to a full field of wild carrot blooms. It's quite lovely but seriously needs to be mowed down. The herb garden looks more like a weed bed- didn't put enough mulch in there. But hey, that's fresh greens for the compost pile.
The rows look good- probably mostly because my love stayed home and watered the gardens real well while I was gone- bet they all would have died without his care.
I was figuring on mowing today.. but we got in more rain during the night so everything was too wet. Forecast looks like more rain off and on till Sat. So I might just have to let the lawn go crazy till then, but hell no I'm not complaining. It's extra mulch, hahaha.
We sooo need the rain. But the moment it is dry enough to start mowing I have to do so- I sooo also don't want a jungle yard again.

The surveyors have been in to mark off the property line between the easement drive and the neighbors to the south. They came out initially while I was gone but were back today to put in some markers. For several reasons, the time has come to put up the final segment of fence between our property and theirs. It may make us look like an unfriendly property from the street by being flanked by fences, but it also will clearly and legally define us from other activities. I was told there's a quote of "Good fences make for good neighbors" and that just may be the case. Well, for some neighbors. I honestly think a lack of fence between us an our east neighbors makes for better neighbor action too.

Got some of the news and plans spread around this weekend for the wedding. I saw a LOT of family this weekend :) I now know I got a couple carboys of good homemade brew, and I'm hoping that my loves parents can bring some wine- his folks have wonderful taste in wines. Been letting people know about my potluck concept so I don't have to explain so much in the invites. And telling the campers I know about camping action.
And thank goodness for my sister mon fluer.. geez I didn't realize how much I didn't know about invite action! And yay, she just has downsized her paper arts, not given them up completely and she is willing to work up some nice stuff for me.
So now it's me word invite- my new mom translating into german- my sister bear writing it up in calligraphy- my sister mon fluer making some fancy invites and stuff. And I think I'm still printing off the other instruction letter for the invites. Wow, for being low key my invites are really turning out to be very cool. And getting a few of my ladies involved, which I think is great :)
And I also have a good idea on what my gown is going to be.. fucking sweet.

So I got to get busy for the rest of the week. I can still pull weeds even if I can't mow. Now I have a much better idea of what I need to start working on in the workshop. Now I have a much clearer idea of what I need to keep my eye out for when I go for bottle returns. And now I know just what/how I need to word up for invite stuff for it's rounds.

And on the crafty side.. my garb for the weekend went really well. I'm pretty pleased with how my new Tawny turned out, and my Shii was great too! I will have to post up some pics later once I have everything unpacked and clean and all. Shii is something I made long ago that I hadn't worn in a long time. But I was particularly pleased with the way my new Tawny vest and skirt turned out.
My accoutrements were courtesy of Bad Bear. And I got to take them home with me! Thank you to Bad Bear, you made my nice garb fantastic!