Sun Chokes

We planted sun chokes (also known as Jerusalem artichokes) last year and what a lovely surprise to see these beautiful yellow blossoms this fall! 

They seem to glow in the sunshine.  :)

Pear Harvest

Green beans

We've been picking green beans this past week and a half and got enough niw for a canner load.  All jars sealed but one.  Oops.

First Peas

Picked the first peas of the season.... enough for supper! 

Happy Birthday Aidan

Aidan's birthday was a couple of weeks ago and I got him this clown upside down ice cream cone!

Modern Quilt in Greens and Blues

Here is the quilt I made for my nephew Jeremy and his beautiful bride Stephanie.

I did free-motion machine quilting with a blue variegated thread.

Reverse Side

New socks

Finished this pair of hand-knit socks and am wearing them today.

The yarn is "self-striping" so the pattern developed all by itself.... no changing yarn to change colors.  Clever!

My feet feel like they're getting a good hug!

Pork and Beans

Cooked up a large pot of beans and bacon yesterday and canned it up. Made 12 jars for the larder plus 2 jars that didn't seal so we'll be eating those right away.

Yummy!

Eggs!

We found the first egg from our new batch of chickens!

We had gotten 20 chicks in late September, butchered 15 of them in late December and kept 5.  We did good since only one of them turned out to be a rooster.

Deer Tallow

A couple of weeks ago we got out the deer suet we'd put in the freezer when the Man was cutting up the deer he'd hunted this winter.

 Chopped it up rather finely and put it into this big pot with a little bit of water to keep it from burning until some of the fat could render out.  The water just cooks off during the process. 

The final tallow after straining out the cracklings which got fed to the chickens. The tallow turns nice and white when cooled.

I saw a recipe for tallow body balm on Pinterest that looks like a good one to try!

Aidan's Christmas

The button-down shirt and boxers I made for Aidan... I think he likes them!