Cabin Crafted

Tag: Market

  • Market and Turkey Day

    Yesterday, I was silent, it was a birthday, another senior one that I am ready to ignore.  Mountaingdad took me to breakfast at our local diner, gave me an LLBean, leather Healthy Back bag and let me sit around and knit and read until dinner time, then took me for the best dinner at one of our local more upscale restaurants.  Usually when we go out, we skip appetizers and desserts and I typically get soup and salad or a veggie plate.  Not last night.  We shared a Charcuterie plate with a delightful whole grain mustard and an onion/hot pepper jam.  They had homemade mushroom stuffed ravioli with hazelnut butternut squash sauce, adorned with toasted pepitas, white raisens and asiago cheese.  It was delightful.  Makes me want to learn to make my own pasta.  A glass of Malbec, and ended with a shared slice of New York Cheesecake and a scoop of pumpkin ice cream.  I left stuffed and happy.

    Today was both Farmers’ Market day and the day we drove to a county about an hour away to pick up our freshly killed and cleaned pasture raised turkey for Thanksgiving.  I cleaned out a market stall of all of their remaining Yukon Gold potatoes and picked up some pork for us and for son to take home after the holiday.  He is still hoping for a successful deer hunt while here and we have a few chores that we need help with, repairing a strip of log siding on the back of the basement and reattaching a downspout that has come loose and may be the cause of the strip of buckled siding.  We also got a cord of seasoned hardwood dumped but not stacked and we need to do that in preparation for the cold and occasional power loss due to ice and snow.

    Knitting is progressing on Granddaughter #2’s Christmas sweater, a Wallaby.  It looks like a knitted hooded sweatshirt with the pouch pocket.  I am about to finish the body and start on the hood.  The sleeves are on as this is a bottom up sweater and most of the loose ends are woven in.  I had lots of knitting time between yesterday and the two hours of car time going and returning for the turkey.  Granddaughter #2 called me a couple of days ago and asked for mittens too.  I thought I would have enough of the sweater yarn to make them, but now I don’t think so, so we stopped at one of my favorite yarn shops on the way to get the turkey and bought a skein of a tweedy yarn with the same color in it to make them.

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    We came home with a 14.5 pound fresh turkey, a 2.5 pound Boston Butt Roast, 2 pounds of ground pork, 4 chops, a pound each of Garlic Brats and Hot Italian Sausage.

    Once this sweater is finished, I need to make her big brother one of a different color, then I will tackle her mittens and hope it all gets done in time for their Christmas.

    Today was a balmy day compared to the recent weather, tomorrow is to be about the same but rainy, so I will tackle cleaning up my craft area, vacuuming the whole house, make guest beds, and make bread and prebake the rolls for Thanksgiving Dinner.  Tuesday morning, I will drive to Northern Virginia, pick up son’s family once they are done with their school and work days and we will all drive back to the mountains for some family time.

    Love our life in the mountains, our local products, and my ability to make warm cozy sweaters and mittens for family.

  • Olio – August 23, 2014

    A few days ago in the pouring rain, we pressure washed the deck and porch in preparation for resurfacing them with one of the new deck resurface products.  As the outdoor cats often settle on the front porch and have their supplemental food on that porch, it was all moved.  One of the garage doors was open and the dog crate that is used to move the cats to the vet for rabies shots, used to transport chicks when they are purchased locally, but otherwise stored in the garage was sitting on the floor.  We prepared to leave to buy the deck resurface paint and went to close the garage door.  This is what we found. . .

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    This guy is our sickly male who is about 5 years old, much older than we were led to believe that he would live as he was born with Feline Aids before we rescued him.  The healthy female bolted for the barn as soon as the powerwasher was started.  I would give him access to stay there, but the 2 week old Rainbow Ranger chicks are in the brooder in the garage.  There is an old window screen over the top, but that wouldn’t stop a dedicated cat.

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    In spite of the rain, or maybe because of it, we have had some spectacular sunsets.  We would love to get the decks painted, but the forecast calls for one more day of rain before we finally get a period of dry days, hopefully enough to get the job done.

    Tonight as I surveyed the refrigerator for dinner, I remembered about a quart of beef stew made earlier in the week and not wanting another meal of just stew, I added some vegetables and a crust and made one of my favorite comfort foods, pot pie.  Usually I make chicken or turkey pot pie, but the beef stew was just too tempting.

    Broody Girl finally gave up her empty nest sit, but she still hasn’t begun to lay.  We are getting 3 eggs most days from the 13 hens and pullets.  Hopefully, we will start seeing more eggs soon.  The pullet eggs are getting larger, but as the only laying hen’s eggs are speckled, I can still distinguish who is laying.  I need at least 3 extra dozen a week to break even on their feed, since we are also feeding 15 Rainbow Ranger chicks.  The chicks are rapidly outgrowing the water tank we use as a brooder.  I am at a loss about what to do with them.  They are only 2 weeks old and still need a heat source.  The chicken tractor is hardware cloth on the lower half and I can’t get power out to it or I would consider putting plastic sheeting on the lower half and moving them there.  If any of my readers have good brooder pen idea for 15 rapidly growing meat chicks, I would love some ideas.

    Most Saturday mornings, though not for the past few weeks, we travel into town, enjoy breakfast at Joe’s Diner, a local landmark then wander the Farmers’ Market for goodies.  Today we were able to get potatoes, onions, carrots, and green beans (ours are still not producing).  Some beef and pork from our favorite meat farmers and flowers for the table were scored as well.  It is such a pleasure to visit on Saturday mornings and chat with friends, pet pups and supply with goodies we aren’t producing. Today was a bit crazy in town as this week has been move in week at the University and the town is bursting with new students and parents who are bringing or returning them to school.  The summer of being able to eat at the local restaurants without a wait is over until Winter Break, but the energy they bring to the town is worth that inconvenience.

    We love life on our mountain farm.