Mmmm, mmmm, good!

My house smells incredibly good...wish there was smellivision so I could share it with ya'll!

The kids have been asking me to get back to baking bread. We all love it, but I stopped for a bit with so many things going on here and then traveling a bit.

I've decided to start again and this morning, had a hankering for some cinnamon raisin bread. I found this recipe from this site. That website is excellent for anyone wanting to start to make their own bread. I've learned a few pointers already.

The bread is so yummy and made three loaves! The kids and I have eaten half of one already and I'm sharing one with my neighbor who is graciously mowing my lawn today since our mower is once again broken! He told me what I needed to get though and will help Steve fix it.

Then I remembered that I promised Steve that I'd make him a carrotcake. This is the man that doesn't really eat carrots, but likes a good carrot cake, lol! So then I got to working on that. It's still cooling so you'll be spared the watering of your mouth, lol!

Of course it's time to move on to dinner. It's karate tonight and I'm going to go do a little scrapbooking with the girls so I'm making a chicken tortilla soup in the dutch pot and sticking it in the oven to finish out. mmmmmmmm!

October...

I love the fall season. I only wish that we had more of it here. It pretty much goes from green to brown after our first frost. The only trees that seem to change color are the horrible Tallow Trees. The air is cooler, a breeze flows most mornings and soon it'll be crispy cool out there. Fall is a much welcomed change to the July and August

We love visiting pumpkin farms, seeing the fall decorations, carving pumpkins, making costumes for Halloween, eating lots of pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread and my pumpkin cookies that the recipe calls to be frosted, but have never been since no one in this house can stand to wait for me to do so and honestly are really good without it! I plan to take the kids to a corn maze and I want to put together a Harvest Party.

I saw this pic of a pumpkin carved...I thought it was funny. Gross...but funny, LOL !

The Winter Garden...

I've never really planted a winter garden. I just never seemed to get to it, plus we always needed someone to come out and till the big garden and I'd forget to call someone in time.

This summer we did a smaller garden-although I said I wasn't doing one at all...I say we, but really it was just me with a little help from the kids. 'Someone' here said he'd help me tend it this year if it was smaller and sort of pushed me to do it with that proclamation. Well he tilled it a couple of times after I dumped a bunch of manure and dirt in there to add to the soil, and he tilled it after it was weedy and done producing, but that was the extent of his help...And he wonders why I don't believe him when he says he'll do something (insert rolling eyes icon here). I didn't hardly weed after the first couple of times because he who I'll not name, didn't want to come help me weed it...

Well anyways, the kids wanted to try some winter gardening this year and so I hoed up three rows with the kids help and we planted broccoli, cabbage, romaine lettuce, brussell sprouts (I don't know why I did those! I don't remember liking them really...we'll see I guess) and some radish seeds thrown in for good measure since both Jacob and I love those.

I want to pickle some of our eggs soon. I've been looking for a recipe online that was similar to one we had when we were visiting Amish Country . They were soooo good there and I think I may have found a few to try out.

My friend called me and let me know that she had a bread order for me...10 loaves! My goodness! I'll be making bread all this weekend. That's good for me though since they are good and I sold those loaves at $3.00 each! More money in the kitty for the barn! I have to go pick up flour now and some more yeast. I am going to look online and see if I what it'll cost me to buy in bulk quantities. This is another of those reasons that I wish I lived more near the Amish. They always sell this type of stuff in bulk at their stores and at a good price. I hate the stores here that want to charge you $3.50 for a 5lb bag of wheat flour and sometimes when you get it, it's got bugs in it! UGH!

Planting radish seeds...

Thanks Hurricane Humberto!

Here's the weather in our neck of the woods today. YUCK! So no soccer practice today as of right now...bummer, since my team doesn't practice but once a week...and today is that day...

I have to run out and feed all my animals in this mess in a minute. I'm normally done by 8 am, but I've been putting it off to see if it'll clear up a little...no such luck so far. I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and head out there. (where's the rolling eyes icon when you need one!?)

We're going to take today and catch up on some reading for school and I've got to bake some more bread.

Gifts from the Heart...

While I love the holidays, especially Christmas, I don't like all the hoopla surrounding them. All the junk stores put out for us to buy that most everyone ends up returning later (most of it probably made in China or some other country where the laborers typically get paid a dollar or two a day). The crowds just make me a nervous wreck and I normally avoid going into Wally-World at all costs between November and January! It's insane in there on a normal day much less the holidays. I've got to where I buy some things online early, make goodies to send out and send cash to the kids. I personally like making things though and sending them out. Seems much more personal that way.

At church we ladies get together one night a month for our 'Enrichment' meetings; ours is the second Tuesday. It's a night to do something fun, learn a few new things, share our talents, and uplift each other. I am in charge of those meetings; I like doing them. Our topic last night was "Gifts from the Heart". I've been trying to showcase our sisters and their talents at each meeting. I presented a lesson on putting together jar mixes and different ideas on gift baskets to give. I made a few mixes and drew names later for the jars. I did up a turkey/chicken noodle soup mix (minus the turkey!) and a cookie mix. I had actually made both that day to try (I had to make sure they were good-I've had a few mixes before that were gross!). They were quite yummy and so I plan to do some up for Christmas...I have more than enough jars too. I brought some of my homemade bread and jam for refreshments (plus the jar cookies already made) and actually had two people ask if they could buy some of my bread on a regular basis!

I agreed so now I'm baking our bread and their's. I don't mind really. I'm just putting the money aside for now. Probably end up being Christmas money anyways, LOL!

Yummy Bread!

I have to admit that I did buy two loaves of bread since I began making our own...I truely don't want to do that again; it's like eating fluff...there is not much to it. Homemade bread is just way better once you find the right recipe that your family enjoys. I have found it...it was another recipe that I found and then did a little tweaking with for our own likes. It's an oatmeal wheat bread that is just Yum! I'll have to post the recipe if anyone wants to try it. I do mix it in my bread machine, but take it out to rise and bake. I do not like the way my machine does it.

There is nothing better than a warm slice of this bread slathered with butter and homemade jam. Today my jam of choice happens to be peach...tomorrow may be blueberry or blackberry! The kids love it this way too, although J prefers it 2 slices toasted and buttered with one of our farm fresh eggs fried and put in between. That is just a little piece of heaven right there!