Random Five Friday

1.  We are officially in the midst of soccer season.  What could be better than to watch his dedication coupled with pure enjoyment.

2.  These brown sugar oatmeal cookies of PW Woman, are fantastic!!

3.   Remember our bumper garlic harvest??  Well, I sold 60 heads of garlic to a local organic grocery store this week!  So exciting!

4.  Our larder is filling nicely with beautiful canned goods.  My hope is that we can keep our energy high through mid-fall to increase this exponentially. 

5.  One of the first things that we did when we moved to the farm was have a big party and to give it a twist, we made it a chili cook-off.  Over the years it has taken on a life of its own and tomorrow is our 6th installment.  We are running around finishing last minute preparations for around 80 people (almost half of who are children)!   This year we have 7 chili entries and 5 pie entries for their respective competitions.  Who will get to keep the chili pig and the golden rolling pin this year??  What better way to spend the final weekend of summer!?

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I See You

This giant beauty was situated on our screen door this morning.  Its mate was directly adjacent to it on the eve.

It was so serene, and did not seem to mind my photo shoot.  I tried to get a shot from the side to better capture its legs.

When I loaded the photos, this one seemed to say....I see you!  Happy Thursday!!

A Well Processed Apple

With the fall schedules beginning to take shape, I know what will happen. It will soon be October and we will have not made it apple picking yet. So, we took the opportunity between soccer games at the tournament on Saturday to pick some early season apples....just in case time flies as I suspect.

The apples were small but flavorful, a perfect combination to pack in school lunches and to make a first batch of applesauce.  I can see that I will need to get many more apples processed into sauce, if Charles polishing off an entire pint for breakfast yesterday morning is any indicator of its popularity.

I always love processing garden and fresh picked goodness.  Any waste immediately becomes chicken treats so not really waste at all.  At B's suggestion, we took the apples one step further.  We cooked down all of the cores and skins until they were complete mush.  Then strained the mush through a jelly bag.  We were left with right at 4 cups of the most amazing smelling apple juice, which we immediately added (equal amounts of ) sugar to and cooked to the magic 220 degrees and now also have 6 jars of beautiful pink apple jelly.  To top it off...the chickens loved the remaining mush!  So win, win...a well processed apple!

Random Five Friday

1.  I am balancing my oh so frou-frou picnic basket for our Ravinia concert experience tonight by filling it with only homemade and garden grown items; cucumber salad, dill pickles, dilly beans, honey, red currant jelly, sweet potato biscuits, and elderberry wine.  I cannot tell you how excited I am to see Lyle Lovett tonight, a long time wish, granted.

2.  In order to milk every last moment out of summer, this week we made our annual trip to the Renaissance Faire, I love that place.  I then took the kids to the pool every day when I got home from work, and we were sure to indulge in ice cream and special meals...because what else do you do during the summer!?

3.  My little girl began the 7th grade yesterday.  Where does the time go?  She is growing up so fast, and meeting the new year head on with grace.

4. The kids are HUGE David Tennant fans.  He is their favorite Doctor (yet they will always give the new ones a chance),  and being not just a pretty face, he's a fabulous Shakespearean actor.  Since we are suckers for BBC America and quite proud that we are cultivating that in the children, we have begun watching Broadchurch.  Beyond my crying through most of the first episode, it looks to be a great whodunnit.  Are you watching it??

5.  Yep, it appears we have another batch of these little ones!

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There's a Fungus Among Us

The last couple of weeks have just flown by.   There has been a recent return of more summer-like weather,  and we are soaking up every last moment of summer vacation.  The warm weather also has the garden going gangbusters!  Check out the back to the garden page to see what we have been harvesting and what our farm bag families have been enjoying. 

Similarly to this little guy we saw a month or so ago, a beautiful shelf mushroom is emerging from this tree.  It seems that overnight it has gone from a little speck to a rather massive presence.  I am headed out now to do the nightly garden harvest, and put together a special fresh dinner for the girl who begins the 7th grade tomorrow!  We will squeeze every last drop out of summer for her this evening.