Drying Herbs

 Over this summer, thanks to the ever loving and benevolent Pyper Jean, I've amassed a nice little stash of delicious herbs.

Chocolate mint

I've never dried my own herbs before, and I was under the impression that it takes tons of effort. I mean, yeah, I'll use the heck out of fresh stuff from people's gardens, but that's as far as it can go. Mostly because I was terrified of the process. I vaguely remember seeing a screen set up that required a fan and carefully timed leaf turning schedules. Yeah, you don't need any of that nonsense.

Chocolate mint dried for tea

All ya gotta do is pop those plants on a wall outside. Or inside. Or anywhere!! Lucky for me, the previous tenants in our apartment put lots of nails in the wall on our balcony: perfect for herb drying.

Sage

I dried chocolate mint, oregano, sage, rosemary, tarragon, orange thyme, lemon thyme, and regular thyme. I am so pleased to now be culinarily adept enough to be able to say to myself, "Oh I should season this with some of my home-dried herbs!"

Because I'm the only one who really feels special about it.

Well, my wallet does too. Do you know how expensive herbs are at the grocery store?? It is straight up RIDICULOUS, yo. But now, I'm not slave to the Spice Islands or  old man Mckormic anymore.

Herb gardens!!!!! For the win!!

Oregano

Have you ever dried herbs at home? What's your favorite herb?

On the Needles Teaser

Been a while since I've done one of these posts.

A little something simple and lovely.

Autumnal Adventures: My Seasonal Bucket List

I don't think I'm the only person who does this, but I make a mental bucket list of sorts for each new season as we go into it. Autumn, being my favorite season, has the longest bucket list. And so far, (although some of my staple activities can't be done since we live elsewhere) I've been doing pretty good a knocking things off the list this year...

 

 Make a giagantor pot of Chili

It's kind of cheating to count making chili as being crossed off my list, because it's something I don't actually do. Mr. Sailor is a chili-making fiend and refuses to allow me to help. It's "his thing" and I am completely happy reaping the benefits without having to input any of the labor. He even does the dishes after he makes it!! Well, some of them. Regardless, chili-making is only allowed to be done during the fall/winter, according to Sailor. Since he is the Chief Chili-Maker, I can't really argue.

This big pot of yum yums he made a couple weeks ago was a sure sign that, yes, fall had arrived. It's my unofficial official indication of the changing seasons. "Is Sailor in the mood to cook chili? Yes? Must be autumn."

Nature hikes to enjoy the colors

This one we've already done, too, but (like chili-making) it can happen several times through the season. In fact, I want to to happen several times, but if I get at least one good nature outing in, I'm somewhat less put out that there weren't more.

Out here, there isn't too much of the whole "massive riot of color" for the changing trees. I mean, some of the stuff changes colors, but it's not like the reds and oranges and yellows from back home. A fall nature hike here is most likely to include snow, if you go into the mountains like I am inclined to do.

Last Thursday, Ernest and I surprised Daddy by picking him up from work with a picnic already loaded in the back. We drove around some new neighborhoods and headed waaayyyy up into the canyons. We ended up taking a very, very bumpy dirt road up to the tip top of the Alta ski resort. There was a little parking area, and you could look down and see the whole canyon. It was beautiful, awesome, and chilly. But totally worth it.

SNOW!!!

I packed grilled salami and provolone sandwiches (on GF bread, for both of us), pasta salad made with gf corn pasta, garlic hummus and gf pretzels, and sugared raspberries. The icing on the cake? Homemade hot cocoa made with real dutch cocoa and delicious whole milk. I felt so fancy unpacking it all. Sailor was quite impressed with my picnic planning skillz.

Other important things on the autumnal bucket list:

Apple picking (done, a couple times, over at Pyper Jeans)

Apple doughnuts (gotta find GF ones!!)

Carve a pumpkin

Make The Best Ever Pumpkin Cookies

Campfire

 Collect some nice leaves

Decorate porch for fall

Canning and preserving (I could cross this off, but it's never really done)

Make socks

Get Pumpkin Shakes at Culver's 

See a Harvest moon (Coming up!!!)

What do you do each fall?

Apple Party: Classic Apple Pie Filling Recipe

Last Thursday, I had the privilege to go to a canning party at my friend Pyper Jean's house. She has three apple trees that are just bursting with fruit this year!! The need to can and preserve is at it's all time peak. The bounty of the county is upon us!!

Pyper invited me over just in time. Autumn is my favorite season. This is the first time I have ever lived outside the Midwest, and it is surprisingly hard. I've felt homesick for people since we moved out here: I miss family and friends to the max. But since fall has...fallen here in Utah, I've found myself missing a season. I miss Midwestern harvest.

Harvest out here is different. Not bad different, but different nonetheless. There are no massive fields of corn here to watch turn from green to brown. No sounds of combines and grain dryers running through the night. Being able to soothe my longing for harvest by getting out in the yard at Pyper's and picking produce was wonderful.

And you can't beat having great company for picking!! Ernest was such good help. He slept through the whole thing. Well, until I ran out of room in the basket and started piling apples on top of him in his car seat. Haha. At least he was a good sport about it.

Dat faaacceeee!

Once we got all the produce inside, it was time to start the real work! Meika, Pyper, and I donned our aprons and set to work. We peeled, cored, sliced, and measured and ended up with ten quarts of apple sauce and ten quarts of apple pie filling. Maybe more? I didn't count exactly. But I can tell you what, it made the whole house smell delicious. And that's what counts.

We were a whirlwind of canning!!

With the permission of the lovely Pyper Jean, I'm going to share her recipe with you all out here in internet land. It is simply lovely, and I guarantee it will make your house smell so astoundingly, autumn-ly intoxicating.

The Recipe: Classic Apple Pie Filling

18 cups baking apples, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup lemon juice
4 cups brown sugar
1 cup corn starch
2 tbs cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
8 cups water

In a large bowl mix apples with lemon juice to keep them from browning. Set aside. In a large bowl combine brown sugar, corn starch, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg. Add water and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly.Boil for 2 minutes. Add apples and return to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until apples are tender, about 6-8 minutes. Have your quart jars and lids hot and ready. Pack each jar with the filling to 1/2 inch from the top. Screw down lids. Process in a hot water bath for 20 minutes. 

Meika brought over her spinning wheel and made a bit of yarn while we gossiped during the processing time of the batches. Despite all the work, there was still time to get some cuddles in and enjoy the view.

If I'm going to miss autumn in the Midwest, at least I'm in a beautiful place.

Thrift Score: Fabric Bonanza

 I am super excited about this thrift score: $3 for ALL THIS FABRIC. Can you believe it? Well, you better believe it. Because it's true. It's what happened.

Sailor and I found this adorable little thrift shop. It's a Christian run little shop called Calvary Thrift. It is super well organized, the prices are incredibly low, and it smells good. I don't think I can emphasize that last point enough. At least the day we went there, the place smelled really good. IT smelled like clean flowers and delicious rainstorms. Such a rare thing when it comes to a thrift store.

They had a big table full of fabric right at the front of the store. It was just $3 to fill a huge bag! Most of the fabric I selected was upholstery fabric. I grabbed some sheers too. Think I'm going to make some scarves out of the sheer stuffs!! 

I've got a lot of plans for bags and whatnot with all this fabric. I just need to get in contact with someone out here who will let me borrow their sewing machine for endless hours of seam-steaming fun.

I was drawn to these freaky calves on the flannel. Are they frolicking? Are they falling? Where are their eyes?? What's up with their hooves?!? So many important questions. The most important of which is: what am I going to do with this? I'm thinking +Becca Lynn is going to get some weird cow related thing.

Got any projects going on? Had any big thrift scores?

Hat Month

There comes a season of knitting when drastic decisions need to be made. It's go time. There are only -only- a few months left until Christmas, so it's time to crank out gifts and delightful woolies.

The powers that be (aka me and my dear friend Pyper Jean) decided that September would be hat month. All hats all the time. Only hat related projects were made, and it was glorious. Setting aside an entire month and dedicating it to making one type of thing and one thing only seemed a little crazy to me at first. But let me tell you, it is well worth it.

During hat month, I completed ten hats. Unfortunately, I cannot give you a very in depth look at the hats, because a lot of them (read: all of them except 3) are gifts. The hat above is a gift for my husband. I was so excited to be able to rock out the cables on that one. It's a free Knitty pattern. Knit up with some delicious Alpaca.

My husband is so lucky.

 Like my crock? It's my brown yarn/hat crock. I scored it for $2. Cannot complain. Cannot complain at all.

TARDIS hat, another freebie. This one is for me, so I can show it to you. I'm a bit grumpy about the fact that my colorwork floats are tight and wrinkly. But, it looks fine when I am wearing it. Practice makes perfect?

I can also show you this one: it's a hat for Ernest. Delightful yarn to work with. There's so much more of this yarn in my stash, I cannot wait to use it up. Silk and wool. YUM.

And here's a fun little bonus picture of Ernest and I wearing our hats. Look how cute he is!! Lil babu. I think I'll be making him a million more. I love making the tiny stuff.

So, that was hat month! Next up, socks, headbands, and scarves month. Aka October. Let's rock this beast!! Let me know what you are working on!

A Sweet Little Distraction...

We've been a bit distracted here, with a sweet little bundle of joy! But after four weeks, I think I'm beginning to get the hang of this motherhood thing. I joke, I joke, this is only the beginning. But little Mr. E is just about the best baby ever. I know I may be a bit biased on that topic, but really, he sleeps from 10pm-3am every night. I cannot complain at all. We've been doing some bonding and lots of cuddling and netflixing.

I have to admit, I have the best life. Truly blessed, am I.

Though we (Mr. E and I, that is) are enjoying hanging out at home doing just about nothing, I feel like it is time to reboot the good-old blog machine and share some of our lovely adventures with you all out there in internet land. Be looking forward