October already!

Here it is Sunday, Oct 4th and I finally have some time to sit down and blog. Yes, I have been sewing; the latest being a "black capsule" for work. That was a Loes Hinse Garbo jacket and Loes Hinse New York dress, both in black RPL. I also made another NY dress in a matte jersey red/black oriental style print from JoAnns. No photos as black isn't too exciting to photograph. Anyhow, I digress. September was full of lots of things to do. First off, I entered a brown/black brocade jacket in the fair and won a blue ribbon. The big cash prize when to a person who made two 3 piece outfits for children. I know now I need to made an ensemble to be in the running I think. I was very happy to get the blue ribbon though!

The weather continued to be really hot all month so the garden kept going. We finally yanked it all out last weekend. We made tomato sauce with all the tomato surplus. Yet, because of the hot weather, it is delaying my fuji apples from ripening up. They are still on the tree. Now it has been cold the past week so I think it won't be long.

Our Italian plum produced well so I dried them all into prunes. Very tasty. The bosc pears were a little less fruitful this year but I got enough to make 4 half pints of pear butter, which I love. I may buy more pears to make more. I also bought some local Elberta peaches to freeze (sliced) since our peach trees lost their flowers last Spring-no fruit.

The big purchase though this past month was a Vita-Mix. I had never given this any attention until a friend of mine got one and I got to see it in action. Wow! It really blends up ANYTHING. I have made soup, ice cream, green drinks and salsa to name a few. It is a spendy item but we figured with the produce/farm thing going, it would get used a lot. And it has. Last weekend I did applesauce--blended up and filled up a 7 quart crock pot to cook all day. Yum! I still have apples from our golden delicious tree which were picked in August. Yesterday I cleaned out the pantry and found a Southwest Black bean soup mix. So, I made that up and at the end, decided to blend it in the Vita Mix--perfect! I do not sell these things but really think they are worth every dime.

We have also been busy with Winter preperations. Not quite like Alaska but close, maybe. We now have almost 7 cords of wood out there stacked. Some of it we split and some we bought. We have a lot of trees on our property but only have cut a dozen or two down to burn. It is a lot of work. Last night, we lit our first fire in the wood stove. It is so cozy. The freezer is packed with veggies, soup and fruit that I have prepared. We also have some chicken and turkeys that we have raised. The pantry is full of jam, fruit juice, fruit brandy, fruit wine, and other dry goods. It is a great feeling to have a full pantry, freezer and wood pile going into the cold weather. Unfortunately, my DH now has the flu. Not sure if it is the H1N1 strain, but he feels crummy.

Now, I need to continue my "Fall organizing" and tackle my sock drawer and closet. I also have ambitions to re-organize my pattern collection and revisit the fabric stash to see what I really have. It is all in cabinets which makes it easy for me to forget what is in there pushed behind other fabrics. The current project that is cut and ready to go is another pair of the Simplicity pants 2700 out of a heathered brown denim I purchased from Emma One Sock a few years back.