Grapes, Grapes and More Grapes!

I got grapes (concord)!

5 or so years ago, hubby bought me a grape plant for mother's day, or an anniversary, or a birthday, I don't remember. I planted it out in the yard and it entertained me for a few years. I cut off the grape vines, made stuff out of them, and occasionally would it provide me with a handful of yummy, tart grapes.

This year, I GOT GRAPES! Lots and lots of grapes. And they are soooo yummy. They have seeds, but no matter.

So this morning I went out and gathered them all up, not sure what I would do with them. Showed them to hubby and he said "jelly"! I said, "no"!

I don't make jelly, only because I can't stand to throw away all of that flavorful pulp just to make a clear jelly, so we compromised on jam.

Never made grape jam before, so I Googled a recipe and came up with the one below. Have a birthday party to go to this afternoon, so later on today I'll make my jam. I'm estimating I have about 2 gallons of grapes, so that should make for quite a bit of jam. Sooo excited.

Still have to gather up the remaining tomatoes, we will likely have frost this week, and the cabbages are almost ready too.

The steers have been butchered and the new roosters are starting to fertilize eggs (red spots when I crack them open).

Fall on the farm! Time for harvest, and this year, harvest I will. Didn't plant any pumpkins so I'll have to buy some, but that's ok. I'll put them out on the front deck for decorations, then can them up for pies and butters in the winter. After the first hard freeze I'll go after apples. Hoping to make tons of butters and applesauce. Yum! The smells of autumn in the kitchen.

Grandson #1 got his first deer this morning, very excited for him, now he can enjoy venison that he actually harvested.

Lit the woodstove for the first time this season last night. It only got down to about 39, but it's been cool for a few days, so the cabin is starting to cool down. Time to bring up more wood to the deck! I LOVE the hustle and bustle of autumn, and the colors of the trees? Let's not even go there. Spectacular!!

Taking a motorcycle trip over to the Western side of Michigan in a week or so to see the colors over there! Can't wait!!

This weekend was the Northern Michigan Lamb and Wood Festival and while I didn't do much shopping, I did take a couple of classes. One was in hand painting sock blanks, and the other was knitting 2 socks at once. It was fun and relaxing. Between classes I sat on a picnic table outside and enjoyed the smell of the cooking vendors and the cool breeze blowing through the gigantic oaks out on the fairgrounds.

Life is Good!!

Grape Jam

2 qts of grapes

6 cups of sugar.

Wash and mash the grapes in a stock pot, mash them to get the juices flowing

Heat until soft, then run through a mill to get rid of seeds (keep them in the fridge so they can be germinated next year!)

Stir in 6 cups of sugar

Bring to a boil and boil rapidly until the sugar is dissolved. Skim off any foam.

When it has boiled long enough that the cooled jam is of gel consistency (a frozen spoon will tell you immediately if it's cooked long enough) ladle it into clean, sterilized jars.

Process in a boiling water bath for 15 mins (either pints or quarts).

I'll let you know how it turns out!

Relaxation!

Did ya ever feel like you needed to go back to work to relax?

I feel like that a lot, however, it's not so much going back to work to relax, but just going. Somewhere. Anywhere. Other than here. Wherever "here" is.

Thursday and Friday I worked until late, like 11-12 hrs a day. Saturday and Sunday I was at my fibery best at the Lamb and Wool Festival at the fairgrounds locally here.

Doesn't that just evoke all kinds of warm and cuddly feelings? Lamb and Wool. mmmmmmmmmmm

It was great. Very relaxing, but not the kind of relaxing I need after life beats me up a bit.

I bought stuff I shouldn't have bought, which while at the time is relaxing and all kinds of immediate gratification-ing, I then have to go back and figure out how to pay for it. Not so relaxing.

Years ago, hubby got me an antique spinning wheel at an estate sale. I was gonna learn to spin. You know, get fleece from, well, fleece bearing critters, and make beautiful designer yarns from which I would knit beautiful sweaters, socks, afghans and all manner of other knitted fun things.

It didn't work. The spinning wheel.

Went online to find a diagram of what it should look like as it was a bit obvious that there were pieces missing. Couldn't find one, so it sat in the corner for years.

Last year at the same festival I found a guy who makes wheels. Well, if he makes them, he could restore them, right? You know, all fix them up and everything?

Cool! He was up to the challenge so I sent him on his way with my little antique wheel. I figured if I never saw him again, it was all good, I was only out a wheel that so far had only taken up space (a premium in my little cabin). If he couldn't fix it I was only out, well, nothing.

So we agreed on a "not to exceed" price and he up the challenge and went home.

Anxiously, I sought out his booth this year to see the results of my challenge. (there were a few emails in between too). There it was. All cleaned up. There were pieces attached to it that weren't there before. He proclaimed success, told me all about what he'd done, how to do this and that to it and sent me on my way with the agreed apon amount in his hands.

And I learned to spin on it. It's not a big spinning wheel, nor is it fancy, but it's worn out, used a lot and very comfortable. It makes this noise while I spin that's reminiscent of an old rocking chair, now that's relaxation!

And life was all good. I was happy. Happy enough to try to further my relaxation by taking a day off from work.

Cleaned up the house (very relaxing to come home to a semi clean house), made some turkey noodle soup from a leftover turkey frame, and made home made rolls. Yummy. Very relaxing.

Today, I'll only probably work 1/2 a day and go with hubby on a road trip, score some serious knitting time.

And there's only one obvious path to this spinning wheel solution. Leave it to me to go backwards on this. First I learned to knit. Now I'm learning to make the yarn I knit with. What's next?

I thought you'd never ask.

Alpacas!

Oh, and I found some yarn made from possum fur too. This opens up all kinds of new uses for road kill.

Just sayin'....

A New Toy

Squeeeeeeeee!

Last night, as I pulled into the driveway, what did I see in the back of hubby's truck?

A Snowmobile! Not a new one, but it's new! It's 1979, hardly new, but it was driven twice a year by a little old lady who only took it to church.....

You know the story.

Seriously, the paint on the running boards isn't even worn off yet. Stuff isn't even rusty. The tunnel still has paint on it.

I probably has less than 50 miles on it. But you know what's the best part???

It's ELECTRIC START!! I'll leave you with that for a moment, let it sink in!

Ok. Electric Start. You can't even imagine what electric start +snow machine means to a little old 50 year old lady. Ok little is stretching it. Lady is out of the park, and old? well, that's just ridiculous, but the fact is that I already have one sled, that I can't start cause it's a pull start. Not one of those Fresh-Out-Of-The-Showroom ones that start the instant you start to pull the rope. Nope, this one required triceps the size of Lisa's. Er, I mean, well, you have to be really, really strong to start it, and I never could. Unless it was already warmed up. Which it never was cause Lisa's not here to start it for me, er I mean, cause I could never pull it hard enough to start it to get it warmed up. (add in the layers and layers of restrictive clothing usually accompanied by snow machine rides).

It cost me...... NOTHING!! Well, it cost hubby some sort of trade or something or other, I've learned not to even try to keep track of his horse trading. If I were you, I wouldn't bother either.

Electric Start rocks. Now I don't even have to think about putting my 4x4 gas guzzling truck on the road for the winter. Nope, if my egg won't make it through, my sled will! YAY!

Do they make side cars for sleds? Hmmmm. Wonder what Bu-Dawgh's gonna do?

It does get better, really it does. Know where I'm gonna hang out this weekend? All weekend? From sun up saturday morning, till sundown sunday night weekend?

At the Northern Michigan Lamb and Wool Festival. I will be face down drooling in fiber and yarn and new books and patterns, and needles and, and, and, and.

And I will ride my motorcycle there, cause I am a biker chick (with sticks) and one of the gals in the office is a biker chick too, but her bike is a bit, well, more modern than mine (she has a new 1500 Harley). Mine's, well, not a new 1500 Harley. But's it's all good. Mine will beat hers any day! I'll even bet hers lives in the garage and never see's inclement weather. Mine laughs at rain, sleet, bugs and the errant killer leaf. It also laughs at me once in awhile. I can live with that. When I can't ride my bike anymore, I'll just get on my sled! Ye-hawwwww!

Sleds, Motorcycles, Fiber Festivals, and Bu-Dawghs. Life is good!! Electric Start? Life is REAL GOOD. This was just what I needed to jump start me into the impending fall/winter season.

Bring on the snow.................