forge turned to canning kitchen

I thought today was going to be about sewing but I was wrong.  Living where we currently do, I have no way to preserve pumpkins in a root cellar or someplace cool.  There is no place cool unless you are in an artificial environment.  I had to can pumpkins.  It was time.

I spent six hours cleaning, peeling, and "cubing" pumpkin to go in jars and to be canned.  My Beloved told me to close my eyes at one point.  He brought in another eight pumpkins from the garden.  He says there are still more.  He set up a turkey fryer base in his forge and watches over the pressure cooker for me.  

I told him I took over the forge and made it a canning kitchen.  He said that was always the plan!  I could not gotten through this day without him.  He is a most beloved Beloved.

This is two thirds of the pumpkin I canned.  There are nineteen more still processing.  So far, everything has sealed.  The canned pumpkin will make wonderful soup.  I will need to cook it down to make good pie or bread but that does not surprise me.

My knees, legs, and feet are stiff from standing.  My right hand is swollen and both hands are stiff.  They would be much worse if I had not been using my Beloved's knives!  But for today, the canning is done.

Guess what is for dinner.  Pumpkin soup!

black bottom oatmeal pie

One of the design blogs I read mentioned a black bottom oatmeal pie.  It sounded interesting so I decide some research.  It is actually very similar to pecan pie without as many pecans.  I thought I would give it a try.  It is easy easy.  The hardest part for me was putting the pie crust together.  I used my carmelita pasty recipe.  And I made it gluten free. 

Both My Beloved and myself liked this.  I would leave out the pecans.  He liked them.  If I left out the pecans, I would probably increase the oatmeal a bit.  But that is just me.  Out of the oven, it would be lovely with vanilla ice cream.  It would make candied crunchy bits.  

Just remember this is a lot like pecan pie.  Very sweet.  Very rich.  

black bottom oatmeal pie

1/2 caramelita pastry recipe or another pie crust of your choice

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

2 eggs

7 tablespoons and 1 teaspoon sugar

2/3 cup dark corn syrup

1 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons melted butter

2 pinches salt

2/3 cup oatmeal

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Put a pie plate on a baking sheet.  Grease the pie plate with butter.  Smash the caramelita pastry into the bottom of the pie plate and up the sides.  

Sprinkle the pecans on the pastry.  Melt the chocolate.  Mix all the other ingredients together.  Mix 1/2 the egg/sugar mixture into the chocolate.

Pour the chocolate mixture over the pecans.  Pour the plain egg/sugar mixture over the chocolate mixture in the pie pan.

Bake for 40 minutes.

It will be lovely golden.

We could not wait until it was completely cool so this is not a pretty piece.  But tasty!  And always in season.

my one "souvenir"

In our travels, we really did not buy anything frivoulous.  Yes, I bought some more metal water bottles of the size I like.  I have difficulty finding them here.  And I bought a ceramic to go cup.  I use it everyday and it is NOT white!  That is what I liked about it.  Tea is so much better not out of paper or metal.

We did make a stop in Laramie, Wyoming to look at anitque tools.  There was nothing of interest for My Beloved this time.  Maybe there will be next time.  He would really like a crosscut saw.  We (I) decided to wander downtown Laramie.  I loved the name of the yarn shop, Cowgirl Yarn.  They had a lot of nice yarns.  Some you can find anywhere.  Some I had not seen before.  Some spun from local fiber.  But they had local roving!  I picked up a very large roll of roving from Wyoming.  Since we have been home, I have used my drop spindle to spin in front of videos.  There is so much lanolin in this wool, I am crocheting a shawl as I spin.  It is a very fun texture.  

A way to get my spinning better.  I do find it translates to my spinning wheel.  

just had to share from our northern backyard

We took a little holiday one day.  My Dad had come to see our land and once he left we decided we were all done in.

So we took a little drive in our "backyard."  Mt Baker National Forest.

The Tall Short Person had never been.  She actually took all these pictures.

And she had a fabulous time doing so!

This way you actually get to see some pictures of me.  The temperatures were in the low 70's but there was still much snow.  Small Mister did not like it!

The dog thought it was pretty cool though.

My Beloved, Bandit, myself, and Small Mister.  We rarely have a picture together.

And this is Mount Baker.  Beautiful.

We actually are on one of the ridges of Red Mountain.  About as far north on Red Mountain as you can get in the United States.

Can you tell I am missing working outside everyday?  And missing temperatures that are not triple digits?  We will go back soon just because there is that much work to do.  That is life and the care of the land.

working in the country

I am back in the world of internet.  I found out that the cell phone connection I had out in the country was actually an international connection so I decided not to even try.  Most of the time, all our phones did not even connect.

My family and I spent the greater part of four days clearing this road.  By hand.  My brother asked if we brought a bulldozer in.  No.  It was a Stihl weedwacker and clippers.  The weather was great.  I needed to wear a sweater for most of it if I was not working.

The Tall Short Person weed wacked most of this.  She decided she liked the weed wacker.  My Beloved used the chain saws.  I forgot to take the pictures of the wood piles and the clearing we created.

This was one of my favorite places to sit.  I had Small Mister on my back most of the time.  I was only who did not use power tools.

Once Small Mister realized he was going to the woods everyday, he loved the back pack.  

He liked seeing what every one was doing.

Especially when he was on longer on my back.  I am considered the short person in the family.  He was taller with everyone else.

There is much work still to do but I could go back today.  

Going back into an office setting today was MOST interesting!