Friday, November 27, 2009

Apple Cider Soup


This is too delicious not to share! I roasted some squash and root veggies from my CSA veggie box for dinner yesterday. This soup is made of leftover veggies simmered in vegetable broth and leftover apple cider. The roasted beets give it the beautiful color, and it tastes amazing!

A Successful Thanksgiving!

What a feast! Thanksgiving is always a great time to enjoy the bounties of the fall harvest, and it was a blessing to have lots of family to share with! I couldn't believe how much food there ended up being, and everyone was happy to have leftover goodies to take home with them. Its always funny to watch my husband at Thanksgiving... you can set a timer to the exact number of minutes it will take him to fall asleep after finishing his meal. Its always the family joke.

We had a great day, and now I'm looking forward to a day of no spending, to protest "Black Friday." This world is too focused on consumerism, and I am boycotting the concept this holiday season. It amazes me that so many are so blind to the state our economy is in right now, as well as to the obvious things you can do to make it a little better. Start by spending your money wisely, focusing on supporting your local economy rather than China! Buy gifts from little shops rather than big box stores, or better yet, buy the basic ingredients or materials and make it yourself! A well thought out gift means so much more than 10 cheap little things you grabbed off the shelf, in the race to beat the person next to you to the next aisle over!

This year I am giving gift bags full of homemade goodies and useful items. The gift bag is really a re-useable shopping bag, and it will contain a few homemade preserves, like the Ginger-Pear Marmalade I made last week, Banana Bread, Cookies, and even a few neat dish-scrubbies that I have been crocheting over the last month or so. A few special people may get a few extra goodies that I found at a thrift store, or maybe a CSA box for the week of their choice. My point is just to be thoughtful, rather than tv-commercial driven. You will feel better about the whole season, knowing you didn't give in to the little voices coming out of your television that tell you what to buy and how to think.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

I am thankful...

I am thankful for a day to spend with family, and I am not going to waste it by hanging out on the computer! I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Monday, November 16, 2009

Winter is definitely here!

Wow! What a sudden change! Winter is definitely here!

It is -24F at my house this morning. Cold enough that I have the water trickling in the bathroom sinks so that the pipes don't freeze. Every time I think about getting chickens, this is the one drawback I come up with. What about in the middle of winter? I know that they can survive quite comfortably with the right setup, but am I really going to want to go collect eggs at 40 below? The answer, of course, is no, but I would do it anyway! I just need to think about this when I determine how far from the house I decide to locate the coop.

Stephen has expressed an interest in vegetable gardening and raising chickens, so I recently requested some information from our local 4-H folks. The packet just got here, so I need to read and see what they have to offer. We wouldn't be joining until summer at the earliest, but I think this will be more of a next-year project. At any rate, I'm glad he's interested. That means that he is listening to what I am trying to teach him!

Now that there is real snow on the ground, I am really starting to think about Christmas. I have about half of my gifts made, and I need to decide what type of preserves to make. I want it to be something festive, so maybe something like pear/pomegranate jelly? I'll have to start flipping through my canning cookbooks for ideas.

We had an early Thanksgiving dinner with some close friends of ours last weekend. Today I am making turkey soup with the leftovers. The house will soon be smelling warm and delicious, which is perfect for a cold day like today. I love turkey leftovers!

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Be careful what you wish for!



We got almost 6 inches of fresh snow yesterday. Everything is all white and sparkling now, but the clouds are gone and its cold! -9F, but its so beautiful... I just love it! We lost power for about 1/2 hour this morning, but nothing to be too concerned about. Now, if I just had a wood stove, life would be perfectly cozy!

Monday, November 9, 2009

Finally Snow!


I thought it was never going to happen, but look at what we woke up to this morning!!

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Its still not snowing!

Well, the weather warmed up a bit, hovering right at freezing at the moment. But its still not snowing! I love the first REAL snowfall. (as opposed to the dusting we got the other day.) Big, white fluffy snowflakes drifting slowly to the ground, it makes me feel warm, even if they are made of ice! I want to look out the window and see a perfect blanket of white staring back at me, undisturbed except for the occasional moose tracks, or mouse tracks, depending on how close to the house you happen to be looking!

Ok, my neighbor already put up a Christmas tree in their living room... that, my friends, is overkill. What about Thanksgiving? We seem to rush these things more and more each year. This year I intend to slow things down a bit. Hand-making my Christmas gifts will be a big part of that. I am looking forward to putting the baskets together, probably making a few more jams or jellies to include, and making the dishcloths one by one. I've just never had the time to do it before, and I am excited! A real, home-made holiday season!

Monday, November 2, 2009

Brrrrrrr!

Zero degrees Fahrenheit this morning!!! The weather sure can change fast around here! We need snow pronto to act as insulation for the long winter ahead. The reports all seem to say its going to snow tomorrow, so here's hoping!