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This summer to celebrate our anniversary, I signed us up for weekend classes at the John C Campbell Folk School deep in the mountains of NC.  Jason signed up for a Blacksmithing class, something he's always wanted to do.   I finally kind of reluctantly settled on a soap making class.   We both got waitlisted.   I got into my class and the more I thought about it the more I looked forward to it.    Jason never made it into his class, so I was very disappointed to have to withdrawal out of mine.

Last week I saw an add for a local soap making class and I jumped on it.   It was alot of fun!  The instructor is Blaire Bothayre from Good Karma soaps (standing in the grey sweater)



This was a Lego mold, I snatched it up to make soap for the kids.



I made the lego soap and the diamond shaped soap in the class.  The others were gifts from the instructor.



I left the class and decided to come home and give it a try on my own since I needed to make a gift for a friend for the next day.  I went with a brown and blue color theme and a standard bar shape.  JW helped me every step of the way and LOVED it.  He told me I needed to quit making medicine and start making soaps to sell.

These soaps were made with an Avocado and Cucumber white glycerine soap.  Glycerine is an all natural soap that is a humectant, meaning it draws moisture from the air to the skin.  The avocado and cucumber are good for the skin as well.   I added a cucumber/melon fragrance which has a smooth, calming effect.











This is a bar I made with oatmeal, which is also great for the skin.



Here is a 2 layer bar with a layer of poppy seeds (for exfoliation) in between.



The final product.




I think this is the beginning of a new hobby for me.

There are so many different ways to be creative with this, I love it!

For those of you on my Christmas list this year,  you did not see ANY of this.

This is my kitchen.  



For those of you who have seen my kitchen on any day other than a special occasion, you know that my kitchen NEVER looks like this.  See that major structure there that some would call an island?   I call it a junk collector.   It took me about an hour to clear it off tonight.  

Here is a partial list of what I had to find a new home for:

1.   Half of a toy dinosaur egg and the dinosaur that recently hatched and other random toys.

2.   About 264 pieces of mail.

3.   About 46 catalogs and magazines.

4.   126 pieces of schoolwork, notices, calendars, etc.

5.   6 glasses, 3 plastic cups, 5 empty snack food wrappers.

6.   Approx. $7.55 in change in 5 different piles.

7.   A tire gauge, random bolts, unidentified parts to a transmission?

I should have taken a "before" picture.   One thing that I can guarantee is that all of the above items will collect here again within 24 hours.    Which brings me to my most recent idea to solve this problem.   Here it is.  Ready?

I want to redo my countertop in some sort of metal.   Stainless steel won't work for reasons I will soon describe.  I want the countertop to be sloping at about a 30-45 degree angle.   This way things that don't belong will slide right off.    Things that do belong like cutting boards, bowls, utensils will all need to be magnetized so that they will NOT slide off.    So stainless won't work because magnets won't stick to it.   I'm not sure how to keep the actual food from sliding off, still trying to work out the bugs of my plan.

Here is another idea I'm kicking around that is slightly more feasible.

It seems like I spend 25% of my life loading or unloading the dishwasher.  It is a never ending cycle:  sink -> dishwasher -> cabinet -> sink -> dishwasher -> cabinet.    My idea is to have TWO dishwashers.  One for the clean dishes, one for the dirty and use only enough dishes/glasses/silverware to fit in a dishwasher.    This eliminates the whole cabinet step.   Dishes will just go back and forth between the dishwashers.   The cabinet space I will lose with the 2nd dishwasher, I will gain by not having to store dishes/glasses in a cabinet.   I honestly think I might do this.   I'm going to experiment by trying to live on a dishwasher full of dishes/glasses first, to see if we can do it.


These are my random kitchen thoughts for the day.   Gotta go, a pile of stuff was just thrown on the counter by my husband who just walked in the door and there are dishes in the sink.

It is November and I am still being overrun with banana peppers from the garden.   I have never been so successful at growing anything in all my life.   They just keep coming and coming.   So after our harvest this week (hopefully our final harvest), I decided to make sweet pickled peppers.



Seed the peppers just like I described for hot pepper butter and remember to wear gloves!  I got brazen and wore only one pair of gloves and my hands are burning as I type this.

Slice them into rings.



Stir together 4 cups vinegar and 1 1/3 cup sugar in a large pot.  (This will make about 5 pints, make more or less of the brine depending on how many peppers you have)



Add 1 teaspoon mustard seeds.



Add 1 teaspoon celery seeds.  stir and heat to a boil.



Pack sterilized pint or quart jars with peppers and fill with vinegar mixture leaving 1/2" headspace.



Process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.


I promise my next canning post will not involve peppers.

A good friend of mine mentioned a few weeks ago that she was craving "Apple Jacks" that her mom used to make for her but she didn't know how to make it (not the cereal or alcoholic variety Apple Jacks).   I'd never heard of this before so I was intrigued.     Later that week at the state fair, I found an apple concession stand that advertised Apple Jacks.   I talked to the woman behind the counter and asked her how to make them and I also did some searching on the internet.  It is basically like a flat apple pie, kind of like a cross between an apple pie, a turnover and a pop-tart.

Here's how to make them.

Start with 3-4 good tart apples like a Granny Smith.   Peel and slice thinly.



Roll out a pie crust (I use a pre-made crust) onto a cookie sheet.  
Press it out as far as you can stretch it without tearing it.



In a small bowl, mix together 1 Tablespoon flour, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 3/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg



Spread the apples over the pie crust, sprinkle with the sugar mixture to coat the apples.



Cover with another pie crust and pinch to seal the edges.



Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.



The final product.   Delicious and easy to pick up and eat.



If you want to go over the top, make a glaze by mixing 2 1/2 T melted butter with 1 cup powdered sugar and 1/4 tsp vanilla.   (I was out of powdered sugar when I made this one but if not I would have definitely done this)

Drizzle over top of the Apple Jack.  Yum!

This weekend we had a Halloween Ho-down horse show at our farm.    We had horse trailer trick or treating, a pumpkin carving contest, a horse/rider costume contest and a silent auction to benefit a fellow barrel racing family who is battling cancer.    It was a lot of fun!

JW was an Indian brave and Casey was a princess.  Jason made JW's costume after my failed attempts to find one in a store and after I told them my idea to make one out of a pillow case and felt.  This was not acceptable.  We had some spare leather and cowhide from when we made our cow chair that worked out perfectly.  I am so glad I married into sewing skills.



He even made him some moccasins.





After the photo op, it was on to the horse trailer trick or treating.



My poor children had to settle for a Walmart and Michaels bag because my last minute attempt to find their halloween pumpkin buckets was unsuccessful.   I vaguely remember back in June getting tired of looking at them in my pantry but have no idea where they wound up.  I'm sure I will run into them in time for Easter.



This is a good shot of the back of JW's costume.



There were lots of trailers to visit.





Getting ready for the costume contest.   Jason was my goto guy all day.  I threw him the unicorn horn so he could figure out how to get it to stay on Lulu and he did!   Lulu is such a trooper.


Lulu was a rare black unicorn, you don't see many of them.  She looks thrilled.





Walker was an Indian pony, we put feathers in his mane and tail and painted him up for battle.


JW rode him bareback, Indian style.  He won 2nd place in the Youth class.



Here I am dressed as Pacman, on my horse named Pacman.



This is Brooke and Missy as Ballerinas.



Little Bo Peep - the winner of the adult costume class. 



2nd place, a dalmation and a fire hydrant.



I think you know who these two are.



Here are a few of the pumpkins in the carving contest.   JW stuck with a dinosaur theme.







And finally the silent auction, we had a ton of nice stuff donated and raised a lot of money!

I am blessed with a son who is obsessed with pumpkins.  Seriously, he has a problem.   He is a pumpkin hoarder.   He can't pass a pumpkin patch without going into convulsions.   He usually grows his own pumpkins, but this year was not successful.   We do have several small pumpkin plants growing in bowls on our dining room table right now though, he hasn't given up.    They should be ready by Christmas if they survive... which is usually when JW allows us to get rid of our pumpkins to make room for presents.   He did manage to hide one in his room last year until March.  See I told you, he has a problem.

So far this year, we have had 9 pumpkins in this house, 4 are currently still here and I'm sure there will be more.   2 met their fate by being carved and then rotted and 3 were cooked.   I made the mistake this past weekend of suggesting we go to the Raleigh farmer's market to get some apples, forgetting completely that pumpkins would also be there...huge pumpkins, white pumpkins, tiny pumpkins, weird shaped pumpkins.   JW was shaking from pure pumpkin joy.   Somehow he talked us into a giant white pumpkin (probably weighs 80 pounds).


JW also loves pumpkin pie and will not hear of using canned pumpkin (something about being against the pumpkin lover's bill of rights or something).  So each year we make pumpkin pie from scratch (well right up to the end it's from scratch) and here's how we do it.

First you need to use small pumpkins, also called sugar pumpkins.  The smaller they are, the sweeter they are.  If you use a larger pumpkin, you may want to add more sugar.  These 2 pumpkins made about 5 cups of pumpkin puree, enough for 2 pies or 1 pie and 1 loaf of pumpkin bread (subject of a later post).



Cut the tops off, clean it out and chop it up.  Strangely, JW is ok with this step.  You wouldn't think he would be.  He likes to collect the seeds with future pumpkins in mind.



Arrange the pieces on a baking sheet and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes or until the pieces are fork tender.   I have also steamed the pumpkin with a little water in the microwave (takes too long due to too many small batches), and I have boiled it (too watery).   The easiest and best results I've got is by baking it.



Now peel the pieces to just leave the good stuff.



Puree the pumpkin in a food processor.  You may need to add some water if it is too dry.   At this point we usually run out of time or need a break, so we put it in the refrigerator for the night and aim to start fresh the next day.   I should say that this is a risky practice though, because distractions and life in general tend to get in the way and the pumpkin gets forgotten until it's too late and all that work was for nothing.  This usually happens to us every year so don't feel bad if it happens to you.  We understand.



Once you get your life back in order, add a 12 oz can of evaporated milk to 2 cups of the pumpkin puree.




Add 3/4 cup brown sugar.



Add 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 2 eggs.  Beat well with a mixer or by hand if you have some aggression to work out.



Pour into a frozen 9" deep dish pie shell (this is where the from scratch part falls apart) or make your own crust if you insist.   I personally try to avoid using a rolling pin wherever possible.  But that's just me.  You might be completely different.

Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.



Serve with whipped cream of course.


I don't like pumpkin pie but reviews from the family were all good.  This is a true labor of love for my pumpkin lovin' boy.

"Each year, the Great Pumpkin rises out of the pumpkin patch that he thinks is the most sincere. He's gotta pick this one. He's got to. I don't see how a pumpkin patch can be more sincere than this one. You can look around and there's not a sign of hypocrisy. Nothing but sincerity as far as the eye can see."  ~ Linus

I was excited today to find out that some pictures that I snapped of our rooster "Roosty" won honorable mention in the Purina Mills fanciest and funniest chicken photo contest.   I entered the funniest category.  I took these pictures one afternoon back in the spring before and during a thunderstorm.  When the storm kicked up we moved to the garage for lots of rooster fun.   It was so long ago that I sent the pictures in that I have forgotten which ones I submitted.

Roosty was a stray rooster that wandered up to our farm last spring and decided to stay.  He is the nicest rooster without a mean bone in his body (which is unusual for a rooster)  He puts up with alot from the kids who love to tote him around the farm.





I took these pictures with some kind of funky color setting accidently set on my camera.  But I think they turned out nice!













Let the fun begin.  I love this shot with Nickel in the background thinking he'd like chicken for supper.

One of the reasons I love the month of October is the NC State Fair.   We have certain things we HAVE to do or see each year, but each year we always find a few new things as well.     Here is a summary of our fair experience this year.

Casey here is modeling the latest in fair fashion.   Beautiful dahhhlingg!

She is also showing her "wheels" for the day.   We have never attempted the state fair without something with wheels to tote the kids around and I don't think we ever will until they are like 19.     We walked pretty much nonstop for 5 hours there is no way we could have survived without this wagon.



This year I got brave and decided to enter one of the Cooking Contests.  It was the Hidden Valley Ranch cooking contest.  There were 21 entries.   I didn't win this year, but have some ideas for next year.   I consoled myself with some chocolate covered bacon (it happened to be right next door to this booth, how convenient).    I don't recommended it though, it did nothing but make us feel queasy, imagine that!

Our favorite thing to see at the fair are the animals.  We got to watch some of the heifer judging.  They all looked good to me, but what do I know.


This is something we never miss...the cow milking.  For $2 the kids get to milk a cow and get a little half pint of regular or chocolate milk afterward (not directly from the cow!)  The kids love it, it's harder than it looks.   Last year JW was sitting across from Casey and he squirted milk on Casey's shoe.  They are still talking about that one.


I want to take the time now to apologize to the cow above.  She'd be so embarrassed that such an intimate picture of her is on the internet.   My apologies, lady cow.



Gotta love the babies.


The baby piggies are a must see every year.


We also love the Heritage Village area of the fair, but I didn't get any pictures, probably was reaching exhaustion by then.  It has the blacksmith shop where Jason could spend hours and I usually have to drag him away.

Of course there is the eating.   Here is a picture of JW eating Fried Alligator on a Stick.  He loved it, he said "it is better than chicken!"  He told me to go to the grocery store and get some alligator, I said "um, don't think that's going to happen"


Other things we ate today:  Chicken Pita (it's a 12 yr tradition for Jason and I), Cajun fries, Cotton Candy, Chocolate covered peanuts, roasted peanuts, fresh pressed apple cider, kettle corn, corn dog, giant turkey leg, soft pretzel.   All this added up to $12,000.  Not really, but it was close and was probably 12,000 calories.

And of course there are the rides.  If it was up to Jason and me, we would avoid the rides completely, but Casey loves to go on rides and insisted on a Ferris Wheel ride.   For the 3 of us to go on the Ferris Wheel was $12!   But it was worth it, it made Casey happy.



The view from the ferris wheel.   All the mud on the right is where they were doing truck/tractor pulls.


Casey got to do one more ride.  There is a short list of rides that I deem safe with these portable rides and one of them is the giant slide.




JW talked Jason into doing to dart throw instead of going on a ride.   This is their loot (you don't even want to know what this cost us)

Finally when the fair looks like this, it's time to go!   You can see my mom next to me in this picture (we both have the navy coats).  Mom and Dad joined us today, Dad was the primary photographer as usual and didn't make it into any pictures.

This is a great time of year to make fried green tomatoes since tomato plants are still producing tomatoes that probably won't ripen before the end of the season.   They should be available in the farmer's market as well.    This is my own secret recipe that I've created from combining different elements of many different recipes I've tried, though using ranch dressing is a twist of my own that was probably a sub for buttermilk somewhere along the way.


This is one of the heirloom varieties that I grew this year.  It's actually a purple tomato, if it had been allowed to live life to it's fullest.



Slice the tomato and season with salt.  Sometimes I sprinkle a little sugar on them too, but I love sugar on my tomatoes, I'm just weird that way.  Trust me, it's good.



In one bowl put equal amounts of flour, corn meal and bread crumbs.  I used Panko breadcrumbs here, but I think I really prefer just plain old dry breadcrumbs.  I just like their texture and taste better for this.

In another bowl put ranch dressing and a couple splashes of hot sauce and mix.


Dredge the tomato slices in the dressing and then coat with the breadcrumb mixture.



Fry in 2 tablespoons of oil and 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat until they are golden brown, about 3-4 minutes per side.



Introducing the star of this movie...take a bow fried green tomatoes!  2 thumbs up!  5 stars! 

Sorry, no more corny movie quotes, I promise!