Felting magic

Like I said, the knitting kicks in around October 15 around the OAH!

My first project of the season was a Bible cover as my brand-spankin' new purse sized Bible was taking a beating. I decided that said Bible cover would need to be felted so the fabric would be solid and durable. I also decided that it needed to be created out of the beautiful wool yarn that I purchased during a recent trip to Seattle. The yarn is Poems by Wisdom Yarns which just seems right for a Bible cover! Special thanks to the ladies at A Dropped Stitch yarn shop in Sequim, WA!

Here's the final product:

I also needle felted a small cross on the corner. I'm pretty pleased with the results. What do you think.

Puttin' up apples

These are gonna be yummmy this winter! I used a recipe called "Crock Pot Apple Butter" that I found online. Here's a shot of the apples cut, peeled, cored, and sprinkled with sugar, apple pie spice, and cinnamon.

After two and a half hours on high, they looked like this:

After five hours they were perfect!! I wanted my applebutter to have some big chunks of apple in it, so I scooped out about half of the mix and gave it a couple of turns around the blender before dumping it right back into the crockpot. Here's what it looked like when I was done:

Time for a water bath!

Then a cup of coffee while I sat and listened to all the jars pinging...what an awesome sound...

Apples, apples, who's got apples?

WE DO! They were on sale at our local grocery, so we took advantage of it and got 15 pounds of apples. I canned 7 jars of apple butter and froze four batches of pie filling. I had hoped to share some photos with you today, but my camera battery went kapooey, so you'll just have to wait a bit while it is recharging.

I couldn't help but look forward to our own trees putting out enough apples for us to preserve. It is so hard to wait! I know we're making improvements on our little chunk of Oklahoma that will really pay off in the long run, though, and I'm trying to be patient. It's a lesson God has been trying to teach me for years, peace and tranquility in the waiting, and I think He's found a way to get through to me in the garden...or at least force me to practice.

The girls have put their stamp of approval on the apple butter...they've already eaten the half jar that was not full enough to process.

Our OTHER crop...

Here at the OAH, we do have another crop that we routinely grow...Miniature Australian Shepherds! DH recently did a business plan for running cattle or goats on a larger parcel of land and found that we were profitting much more on the puppies we breed, love on, and bless other families with. Here's a taste of the puppies we get to love on for 8 short weeks before sending them off to "forever homes."

We've only got one puppy left from this litter and it's always a bit *too* quite around here after the last pup is sold. The girls go in the back and seem a bit lost without little pups nibbling at their toes and tugging at their socks...begging to play.

Mini Aussies are great dogs and we keep in touch with many of our buyers...getting photo updates and hearing about how their furriest family member enriches their lives. It's an awesome, fun side business that allows my girls to learn responsibility and get tons of payoff in puppy kisses!

If you'd like to see more info about our Aussies, check out our business website at sitekreator.com/miniaussiepups.

Busy...busy...busy!

DH found a big sale at Lowe's and brought home just a few trees & bushes. After planting them all, here's the current count:

4 Peach Trees
2 Apple Trees
1 Pear Tree
1 Apricot Tree
2 Pecan Trees
8 Blackberry Bushes
3 Blueberry Bushes

WHEW!!!!!!

The veggie garden was a bit slow this year, but I hear that from a lot of gardeners. The stars of the garden were the potatoes and the black-eyed peas. My tomatoes have JUST started producing and I'm holding my breath that the first frost will hold off a bit longer.

As for Fall...I've taken my knitting needles back up. You see, knitting is my fall and winter hobby (aside from perusing seed catalogs, that is). In the spring and summer, I'll be back outside in the garden with perpetual dirt under my raggedy nails.

If you'd like to branch out this fall and winter, keep reading and I'll share some knitting magic with you! It's all part of the homestead! ;-)