Week In Feminine Dress, Day 2

Green "Faded Glory" sweater from Goodwill, "Angels Jeanwear" skirt from eBay. I like the skirt but I can't get used to wearing skirts slung around my hips, I like them better to be at my waist.

Week In Feminine Dress, Day 1

I have wanted to do a "week in feminine dress" forever but never got around to it. This week I'm determined to post an outfit a day! I really enjoy when other ladies/girls post their clothes, I get so many cute ideas. I could also tag this as "week in thrift store clothes" because that's where almost everything that I own came from.

"SO" Steampunk army green jacket (I have to think of Lauren when I wear this :D ), black "Cherokee" turtleneck, "Jeanology" denim skirt, black leather boots. All thrift store buys except the skirt was an eBay find.

A haircut gone awry

I got a haircut today, my first honest-to-goodness professional haircut in a long time. I have had long hair for decades, I *like* long hair. But, what started as a homegrown "just trim the ends off" spun wildly out of control, when I saw it I felt like throwing up. :-) So, first thing this morning I called and got an appointment to try to fix the damage. The result is this.

It barely skims my shoulders and I feel somewhat like a shorn sheep. Mr. G loves it and said all kinds of nice things about it but I feel so.....so.......modern. So like this isn't me. I needed the catharsis of a blog post, the need to throw it out into cyberspace to see what the consensus is.

Wassail Apples

Today we are canning Wassail Apples. This is a recipe that I came up with as a healthier alternative to Spiced Apple Rings which I like, but not the corn syrup content. They cause one problem (diluting the appley-ness by using water) and then "fix" the problem by adding lots of corn syrup. Yuck! My recipe is healthier and yummy besides.
Wassail Apples
*Bring to a boil 2 quarts of water, 1.5 cups white sugar, 1.5 cups brown sugar, 1 tablespoon cinnamon and a pinch of cloves (optional)
*Fill quart canning jars with apples (I like Empires) cut in eighths or twelths (apple rings waste space and so require more cider to fill the jars)
*Add cider to apples, leaving 1/2" head space
*Can for 30 minutes in a boiling water bath canner
These are a tasty compliment to ham or sausage and are delectable atop pancakes or waffles with whipped cream!

We are making pulled pork sandwiches for supper tonight and the whole house smells good. It's chilly today so the fire is going in the living room, adding the wood smoke smell to the sweet scent of the spiced apples and spicy smell of the pork. Mmm!

Of commanding generals and tasty cakes

Just a couple of quick things on this brisk Saturday evening. After a few years of being dogless we amended that situation and brought this



home today. Our neighbors raise Black Labs to sell but have a few from a recent litter that didn't sell due to the economy. We bartered a grassfed Tamworth ham for him, a good deal I think! The boys now have a hunting dog and the girls have a pet. He is fairly calm and easy going, even when Asa bit him. :-) I have to protect the dog from the baby, ha ha. We haven't settled on a name just yet, but I think it will be either Ashby or Patton.



In other news we are celebrating Tabitha's birthday this weekend. No pictures other than her cake which is *so* good. It tastes like Autumn should taste.




Pumpkin Spice and Pecan Cake

1. 1 box of yellow cake mix


2. 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (I didn't have this so I used cinnamon, ginger and cloves until it tasted good)


3. 2/3 cup pureed pumpkin


4. 1/4 soft butter


5. 3 large eggs


6. 1 cup ground pecans


7. 2/3 cup water

Mix ingredients and bake at 350 in a buttered and floured bundt pan until done. When cool frost with:

Honey and Spice Buttercream

1. 1/2 teaspoon unflavored knox gelatin


2. 1/4 cup honey


3. 1/4 cup sugar


4. 1/4 teaspoon salt


5. 1 teaspoon cinnamon


6. 14 soft tablespoons butter

Combine gelatin with 1 tablespoon of water and let set for 10 minutes. Bring honey, sugar and 1 tablespoon water to boil and then simmer for 5 minutes. Let cool and then stir a tablespoon or so of honey mix into the gelatin water, mix well and then dump back into the rest of the honey mixture. Add salt and cinnamon and beat until fluffy, add the butter 2 tablespoons at a time while beating, stir in vanilla and use immediately.

Perry Cider

We reached another Fall milestone last week when we pressed apples for the first and only time. Actually, we have "perry cider" not just plain cider this year. Our neighbor brought over 4 bushels of pears which we pressed along with the apples (pressed pears being perry) and the yield was 67 gallons! We use the community press here in our community and the cost for the 67 gallons was $43, over half of that charge was the plastic gallon jugs that we brought it home in, the actual pressing charge is a pittance. I was very pleased with such abundance and as of Sunday evening we have it all canned. A few jugs got a bit of a "nip" to them, the children love this stuff, it fizzes like pop and Sunday morning they were drinking it for breakfast. :-D I have so many half gallon jars full and it makes a very striking sight, but our camera isn't feeling up to par and doesn't want to take any pictures. A have a few of the jugs set aside for vinegar making; hopefully the camera will straighten up before then so I can take pictures step by step. Making vinegar is an important part of homestead life and being able to home manufacture it will be a boon for food preservation should very hard economic times become a reality.

Saturday was my 40th birthday and we spent it rearranging the living room and moving chicken fence in anticipation of getting 30 more layers. In the Winter we bring the dining room table and benches into the living room so that we can eat where it's warmer, it makes a snug fit but it is also nice to have all evening activities center in one room, I like being all together. Our neighbor is giving us their 30 laying hens as they no longer want them so I will be raiding the recipe books for recipes heavy on eggs!

Sewing and knitting are carrying on as usual, but I don't really want to write about something that I can't take pictures of. I hope that situation will rectify itself before long.

So!

So, today is my birthday, the big four-oh. 40 in the abstract seems, oh I don't know, old, but I don't feel the least bit decrepit. We are "celebrating" by rearranging the living room to try to accommodate the living room furniture and the dining room table. We eat and live in the same room throughout the winter, it's much warmer in here by the stove. :-) We got apples pressed at the community press on Thursday and got 67 gallons of Perry Cider, that's pear cider and apple cider in case you've never experienced the sweet deliciousness that is the combination of these 2 fruits pressed together. It is *so* good! We are trying to get it into half gallon jars before it turns, I don't like nipping cider but the canning is d-r-a-g-g-i-n-g so slowly. Mr. G spent the day trying to fix the hot water tank so that we can enjoy the privilege of hot running water in the house. Our neighbor is giving us 30 laying hens on Monday so we're making shift to have a suitable place for them. I have been sewing and knitting and really want to get a post finished about that aspect of my life, but Autumn is unraveling quickly and there is so much to do before the snow really flies. It's at moments like this when I think that if I really got my act together for once I might not find myself continually swamped. (For those deluded souls that think that I really have my ducks in a row, well, I won't laugh in your face but I will snicker about it). I am the Queen of "fly by the seat of your pants", I like orderliness but it eludes me, though I confess that I don't stalk it very earnestly either. So, for all of you "management" types out there, my hat's off to you. I think it's easy on blogger to read about somebody's life and get a skewed picture of how wonderful or how whatever they are but really, my life is nothing special. I have, like, 4 nifty subjects in my life that are blog worthy. I just don't write about the 96 mundane/crappy/depressing subjects that are part and parcel of my life.

Depressing post

I don't have an upbeat post today, it hasn't been an upbeat weekend so you must bear with this somewhat depressing missive. We went to a thrift store on Saturday in the Big City, it is further away but generally has a better selection of wool coats. I wanted to cannibalize an adult coat to make a little coat for Asa that coordinated with his knit cap that is finished but I didn't want to post about until I had the coat done. I couldn't find anything suitable though, so that was a wasted trip. Outside the door was a man begging for money for food, he said he was a diabetic and hadn't eaten in two days. I don't know about that, but I do know that he's asking and I believe that if you have something, then you have enough to share. Mr. G of course gave him some money. We don't see that sort of situation here in Little Town but we do in the city more and more often. I feel so sorry for the people that have given up hope. Where will they turn if no one can help them?

Mr. G has been underemployed for a long while and his hours keep getting cut, we now are making what he made in 1990 but with 11 people to support on it. It's very hard to say the least. Despite his degree he can't find a job in his field and he is basically applying for any type of work. We went today so he could apply at a pallet shop, they are hiring 5 people and paying $8.50 an hour. The man interviewed him on the spot and said he would stop taking applications when he had interviewed 100 men, he expected that to happen later today at the rate people were flocking in. 100 men in a day, all desperate enough to take a $8.50 job. The interviewer said an 80 year old man had come in needing work. It just breaks my heart, for us and for them. I am thankful that at least we have the ability to meet many of our own needs, we are shielded from a lot by our lifestyle.

Excellent speech becometh not a fool

A lot of what I write is the result of conversations that I have with people; whether inspiring, thought provoking or irritating. I was speaking to someone last week and I said that "I told so-and-so that I'd be there in the forenoon" and the person I was speaking to laughed me to scorn for using the term "forenoon". I wasn't trying to be quaint or deliberately old fashioned, "forenoon" is in common usage where I live. It might be the Amish influence, I don't know, but there it is. Folks here also use the word "already" where you would say "before" as in "I've canned tomato soup already and it turned out well......". I do use the word foreworn, it's listed as archaic in my dictionary, but I like it. It means worn out, as in "his coat is so foreworn that it's held together with patches". The English language has such a rich history and I'm afraid that though we add words to the dictionary every year, we are in actuality left with fewer ways to intelligently express ourselves. Vulgarity has replaced the adjective. I overheard a conversation that a man was having to his wife (she was a woman anyway..) they were bicycling and stopped for a rest and his conversation was peppered with like. Since when do grown men speak like Valley girls? It was funny in a pathetic sort of way.

I enjoy listening to F/friends who speak as the traditional Quakers did, I like to hear "thee needs some lunch", it has a beauty of its own. I don't personally speak that way, but I also have no desire to laugh at them for not updating their means of communication. I am also not suggesting that we have a mass exodus back to King James English (though I think we'd be better for it). I don't desire to live in the past, but the flip side is that I don't desire to fully fit in with the status quo either. It is no measure of mental health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. There are elements from the past that we would do well to keep alive and I'm trying in my own small way. Those who scoff at the past or at those who would maintain outdated customs show an alarming absence of wisdom.

Proverbs 17:7 Excellent speech becometh not a fool: much less do lying lips a prince.

Little boy and Big boy have a birthday

Today is Asa's very first birthday! It is so unbelievable that we've had him for a whole year, the time certainly flew by. He isn't walking yet, but gets around very well. He pulls up on everything and is all boy. I don't know if he really is a "boy's boy" or if it's just the difference is more noticible after 4 little girls, but let me attest that boys play different and communicate different than do little girls. It's been such a pleasure having his rough, loud self to love. I suppose now that he's officially a big boy I should try to get him to nurse less and sleep more during the night, he still nurses 3 or 4 times at night, I am beyond sleep deprived!

Tomorrow is Aleks' 20th birthday, I find the whole notion of me having a son that old to be a bit absurd. :-) We will celebrate both birthdays together today since Mr. G and Aleks both work 2nd shift. I know it seems like a cliche' to say "it seems like only yesterday..." but it really does, how could 20 years fly by that swiftly? In some ways I wish that I could just stop the clock right now, right here, with everybody still at home. But it isn't to be, a Mother has so few years to teach and train her babies. I want to cherish every single minute that I have with them.

An Abundance Of Fresh Meat

Today we went to pick up the meat from the pair of pigs that we had butchered this month. These were grass fed Tamworth pigs, born right here on our farm; they had an ideal piggy existence with one very bad day. :-) Because Tamworths are an old heritage breed they don't reach market weight in 6 months, they were also slower growing than pigs that are exclusively fed grain. We could have butchered them last Fall, but we held them over for another year and consequently they were huge. We ended up with well over 400 pounds of meat! We have 8 large hams, 70ish pounds of bacon, spare ribs, 100 pounds of sausage and about that much of pork chunks to can. I am going to be very busy getting as much as I can into jars because we have chickens to do next. For the curious, our butcher's bill was $336, I have no idea what we would pay for that much meat if we had to buy it retail. I'm pretty sure it would have been more than that though. :-)


I stopped at my friend Anna's house on our way home. They have 10 children and haven't butchered yet this Fall so it has been a while since they've had fresh meat. I left some bacon with them and got a box of zucchini to turn into pickles. Anna is the one that I have make shirts for Mr. G and the boys, she charges $10. When we gather apples in the Autumn and have cider pressed we always take some over to their place because they don't have apples to turn into cider. I enjoy the rural give and take friendship that we have, it is the "community" that is largely lost in our modern world. Both Anna and I live in a world that has more similarities to the 19th century existence than it does to the 21st century. So, anyway, for Supper tonight there are fresh porkchops and homemade baked beans. And tomorrow we will have ham! Which, as a matter of fact, is another vestige of a by-gone era. What I mean by that is what was once common place, plain rural food such as: maple sugar/syrup or organic fresh meat is now a high priced specialty food that is beyond the means of most people. Only by creating an underground, homemade economy can I enjoy the life that I do. Of course the downside is that there is an awful lot of hard, unromantic work involved. :-) I don't know if you envy me or pity me, I hope that I paint a realistic picture of my life showing both the good and bad.

September Means The County Fair!

I know a lot of people are celebrating the end of Summer and delighting in the cooler temperatures that September brings. There is a charm in the change of seasons and a calm associated with the slower pace of Autumn and especially Winter. I will eventually join you, but for us the pace has yet to slacken. The cooler temperatures are a starting gun in the race between a killing frost and us. Many, many things are still in the garden and are yet to be harvested. On the farmwive's porches are makeshift tables sagging under the weight of bumper tomato crops. They will finish ripening and then be put to rest in the larder dressed as spaghetti sauce or salsa, barbecue sauce or perhaps plain tomato juice. My own porch has the requisite tomatoes as well as white peaches and pears. Most of the dry beans are out of the garden and strung upside down from the barn rafters awaiting shelling. The men shell about a bushel a day and have many more days work ahead of them.



Amidst the press of work comes the quintessential rural experience of the County Fair. Our county has held a fair every year since 1849, a chance to showcase the hard work that is a farmer's lot, a change to renew acquaintances and perhaps sell some breeding stock.



I was especially interested in the displays of canned goods, I'd like to enter next year and it was instructive to see which jars the judges favored. There are categories for cookies and decorated cakes, knitting and sewing, quilts and wood working, all signalling the effort to be the best in their class.
There were tables and tables of produce, giant pumpkins, wafers of hay, ear corn, dry soybeans and wheat.

We toured the dairy barns (mostly Holsteins with a few Jerseys and a very few Ayrshires), the pig barns (all of the same boring variety that can survive the stress of a confinement hog facility) and the poultry barn where there were some interesting varieties in addition to the far over represented Cornish Rock Cross (these are the brainless white chickens that you eat and spent their pathetic lives in chicken concentration camps). The only turkeys were Broad Breasted Whites. :-(


The fair used to be the place to witness innovation and see new breeds, but it has unfortunately become a showcase of what works in confinement. Still, I am glad to be a part of the rural heritage that is part and parcel with living here. It was nice to take a day off in the middle of the week and enjoy being with other farm folks. We came home, ate lunch and tried to fit some work in this afternoon. Most of the children want to enter produce in next year's fair, I want to enter some canned goods and perhaps some sewing. It refreshes and revitalizes us to remember some of the entries and think "I could beat that!"

Supper is waiting and there are tomatoes to can yet tonight. Thanks for stopping by!

A New Dress Styled in 1850s Fashion

To obtain clothes was an even more difficult matter. Mothers of families sometimes said in despair that they supposed they would have to black their own backsides and go naked. They never quite came to that; but it was difficult to keep decently covered....

Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thompson

Well, I can almost concur with that though blacking children's backsides had never occurred to me before reading this. :-) I began Tabitha's first dress on Friday and finished it over the week's end, she has had the fabric waiting for almost a year so it was about time. The print is an 1850s reproduction that is loud, she really loves bright prints though (more so than my other girls) and she's happy that it's finally made up.

The bodice has 3 diagonal tucks on each side that meet in a "V", smooth elbow length sleeves set in the armscye with very little ease, though this is offset by them being cut on the bias, ruching at the elbow and a full skirt supported by 4 petticoats.

This is Anna Emerson Bowditch, she was 10 years old in 1850. I love her bodice construction. The bodices for 1850s are cut longer than they are for Civil War era clothes, can have a "dip" at the center front and the sleeves are relatively tight.

Sleeve ruching detail.

I never actually finished Rebekah's 3rd dress before starting this one, so much for that resolution. :-/ I am furiously knitting something in my "spare" time that is very needed before the mild days of Autumn pass, I can't wait to show you!

Antebellum Baby Shoes

Asa is ready for his first pair of shoes due to the cooler weather we've been enjoying. We are attending an auction tomorrow and I wanted to be assured that his little toes were adequately warm, so I made these shoes this afternoon. They are a proper shape for the Civil War era but the pattern is a modern one that several reenacting Moms have adapted, it can be found here.

They were cut from the bottom of a brown wool blanket that the boys use, they are unlined and the edges are stitched with embroidery floss. I *think* the embroidery is period appropriate but I'm not positive (Sarah Jane, do you know?). The main difference between the inspiration pattern and these are the squared off toe, modern shoes have rounded toes but shoes in the 1860s have square toes. I squared the toe portion of the sole and then cut the toe portion of the "upper" to match. The hardest part was getting the pattern tweaked to where I liked how it looked, the actual sewing can be completed in a jiffy. I'd like to make him a silk quilted pair so these served as my test run and will be his "everyday" shoes.