Pumpkin and Goat's Milk Fudge ~ Sunny Day for Dog Play

I'll have to make these again, I realized I should have double checked and tested my thermometer.  I am still using a candy thermometer I've had for over 12 years.  It's an acurite thermometer by Chaney Instruments.  I really need to invest in a better candy thermometer.

I later tested my thermometer (sigh).  It read 195°F at boiling point.  That means I should have taken my fudge off the heat at  219°F instead of 236°F.  Quite a difference.

I just had a brain lapse.  My word!  My mother gave me a nice stainless steel candy thermometer made by Taylor (Smacking myself in the head!)  Sheesh, I definitely have to make this fudge again.

What a tasty treat to make.  I did not have an 8 x 8 inch pan so these came out a bit thin.

Gus

Jesse and Sadie

Books and More Books

"Uh...do you ever have time to actually read those?" asked my husband. He he he he!

The weather is absolutely gorgeous today.  Yesterday's fate in the garden, has caused me to play "hookie" from it today.  Ragweed grew in one section, and as I pulled, a seed went straight into my eye.  

Aside from daily chores, I plan to purposely spend time reading through some of these books.  I have more than what's in that pile too. Ha ha ha!  We just love the library, and I have a wide assortment to read today.

I also have a stack of odd newspapers to read through.  I try to do this often, and clip ideas for writing.  National Novel Writing Month is next month, and I hope to create an ominous miscreant in this year's novel.  Although, I do try to wait until the first day to even begin a plot, create characters etc.  


I best get my chores finished, or I really won't have time to read.

Excerpts from a Journal Junkie

From the garden journal . . .

. . .pulled many tomato stakes, dead plants and still have much to do.  Swiss chard, green peppers, banana peppers and cayenne are all still producing.

I started to bring in herbs for the winter.  I still need more pots and soil for the rosemary.  So far, I have brought in spearmint and basil.

The fall garlic is finally planted.

From the homesteading journal . . .

  . . . with no more room in my freezer, I am dehydrating more and more green peppers.  I really love my dehydrator.  

  . . . we started harvesting our first home grown sunflower seeds.

. . . baked up the last of our pie pumpkins.  I will save the puree for tomorrow's meal, and roast the seeds today for an after school snack.

 . . . today's is perfect for drying clothes outside.  We have had a few wet and cold days where I've had to hang clothes all over the house to dry.  Soon, I will by drying them in front of the wood burning stove.

From the crafting journal . . .

  . . . I'm still chugging away at embroidering my 9 year-old's hope chest flour sack towels.
 

  . . . I'm still chugging away at crocheting my 12 year-old's blanket.  I just found out that the day she went to the store to pick out yarn, they did not have a dark purple, which is what she really wanted.  She may get a second blanket later.

 . . . I'm still chugging away on knitting blocks for my first knitted blanket.  I'm getting pretty good at the basket weave stitch.  

From the gratitude journal . . . 

Today I am thankful for :

1.  having more pumpkin to puree

2. the milk from our goat

3. God's Promises

4. the sun shining today

5.  free books to read from the library

6. Coffee

7. my front porch 

8. having the wood splitter to borrow

9. having a dehydrator this year

10. my kids

From the Family Journal . . . 

"I have sawdust in places I didn't even know I have!" exclaimed my 12 year-old as she plopped on my bed.

I had to laugh.  She volunteered to help her oldest sister muck horse stalls at the stable.

 

 

Food Recalls Oh My!

Yesterday's newspaper had an article about a lettuce recall  that involves listeria.  Just a few days ago, I read about a ground beef recall, and weeks before that a cantaloupe recall.  

Today I am thankful for the swiss chard that is still growing in my garden.  

It is starting to get the nickname "poor man's lettuce" in our house.  It's so easy to grow too.

While spending an hour clearing out the garden for next year, I noticed some swiss chard that needed picked.  I decided to slice it up to top bean burritos again.

Deep Cleaning and Garden Clean Up

(Before I started)

The photo is only one small corner of the 3 vegetable and fruit gardens we have this year.  Day one started with pulling dead tomato plants and pulling stakes.  A good portion of the back is still under water.  This clean up, considering I'm doing it by myself, will take a week or two.  

After starting to clear the corn stalks from the garden, I got an idea.  I took a few of them to the front of the house and added a few pumpkins and squash that won't make it to the table (vines died before they ripened, or bugs got to them).  They will make a nice decoration for fall, without having to buy anything or waste anything.  It's a blessing that the garden keeps giving in different ways.

And speaking of the garden blessings, we are still getting more green peppers.  I am dehydrating some of them today, and may be doing that for the rest of the week.  I have no room in my freezer for anymore.  These can be used in soups/meatloaves/stews, and all sorts of goodies.  Instead of drying my cayenne in the dehydrator, I simply pulled the plants and tied them to hang upside down in the garage.  I still want to build my solar dehydrator for spicy peppers.

In between it all, I am working on deep cleaning the house.  The garden kept me busy, now the house/home will - windows, walls, doors, the inside of the fridge and so on (sigh).

I put notes on a few jars in the fridge yesterday.  They all say "Eat Me!" on them.  There are a few jars of salsa and some pear butter that need eaten up.  I may try to "wing" a recipe tonight and use the salsa to spice it up.  I bet it would taste good mixed in with baked spaghetti squash.

I Got "Notered"

 Cat, Tat and Note

I went into my bedroom to find Tiger with a note gently attached to him.  My 9 year-old daughter used a small section of my first tatting I ever did, and gently but Tiger on my bed to deliver the "noter."


She wrote "Enjoy your made bed, and cat, as a wonderful bonus.  Oh what a joy he is (he likes it when you scratch his tummy).  If you come to the kitchen for a spa treatment you can choose manicure, pedicure or both.  It will only cost you one all nighter.  Then you can enjoy yourself to any treatment. Oh and there's also a hair-do."


Well, she never did stay up late.  She fell asleep before I did.  It's just having the idea that she can stay up that makes her happy.  I never did cash in on that spa treatment either.  Maybe she'll be in "business" today. 

Homemade Pumpkin Pies

The crusts were made using crushed homemade whole wheat (honey) graham crackers.  I really need to buy another pie pan.  The clear glass one is a teensy too small.  It's not as big as my other one.  My  9 year-old helped with the crusts.   

I have never baked a pumpkin pie from home grown (or store bought) pie pumpkins.  I used my own home grown ones for these pies, and put more puree in my freezer.  There were so delicious.   Of course our farm fresh eggs went into this pie.  I used a recipe from Allrecipes, that required a can of sweetened condensed milk, but now I am searching for a recipe that uses yogurt instead.

Once I learn to make yogurt from raw milk, I can make these pies even more homemade, avoiding high fructose corn syrup and other unwanted elements.

I found this recipe to try when we do make our own yogurt:

Alton Brown's Yogurt Pumpkin Pie

You can't get more "pioneer" than that.  

(The recipe we used is Perfect Pumpkin Pie)