Applesauce and New Hampshire?

The cool fall air is a wonderful change from the summer.  I got some pre-used row cover for one dollar from Agway, and the rest of the garden gets covered with a tarp on nights when the frost might come.  We've been lucky so far.  Friday night, I had been frantically covering the plants with every spare blanket I could find in the house.  It seemed like a good idea at the time, until I realized that I would have to wash all of those blankets and that while they were keeping frost off of my tomatoes, I had no fleece to curl up with on the couch.  I have a very large pot of apples on the stove working down to sauce.  There is good apple tree in the backyard, and with Jon's request for applesauce for breakfast in the mornings, I decided that it was a good time to pick every single apple that I could reach with a step ladder.  Halfway through that, and with the information that these apples didn't usually keep beyond a couple days, I retreated to the kitchen to start what I realized was a couple days' worth of applesauce making.

Hindsight: Apples sauce 10x better than pears.  What was I thinking doing about 12 quarts of pear sauce a few weeks ago?!

This should have been the time that Jon and I would start packing, finishing projects, and avoiding packing for a move to Vermont (this time I'm very glad that I procrastinated).  We found a cute 3rd floor 1 bedroom in Bellows Falls, and gave a deposit.  It seemed perfect until....

1.  Got a call from that landlord saying one of my references said some bad things about me.  Me!

2.  Found out that we might be able to live in the apartment of our dreams in New Hampshire, but it wouldn't be available until February or March.

My very first landlady had made up things about me so that this new person wouldn't rent to us.  We found out that she had said that I had broken the lease, moved out early, and left her with no one to live in the apartment.  Jen and I moved in May 23, 2009, and left May 23, 2010.  Jen even called her to ask specifically if we had until the end of the month, and she said no, we had to be out on the 23rd.  I never found out what else she said about me, but the perspective landlord said that it sounded made up and that she was searching for not nice things.  Be careful who you rent from in Dover!!! 

Because all of this happened in one day, it got us thinking why we were moving to Vermont in the first place.  So for now, we are going to stick it out here at Jon's parents', and wait to hear about the apartment of our dreams.  Moving isn't something to rush into, especially when you aren't just by yourself.  I was a gypsy when I was single, but now that I'm married to someone with their own business....I can't just hop around.

I also will probably continue to be a housewife-translator over the winter with the hope of moving back to New Hampshire.  And I will bake too many things and spin yarn.

Canning and Old Sturbridge Village

I have been translating when I can get the work, but I have quite a bit more free time now.  So, I decided to get started on Christmas presents, hostess presents, and stocking up the pantry for winter.  Canning!

Yesterday, I did 3 quarts and 1 pint of pear butter.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/pear-butter/detail.aspx

It tastes so good!  The orange flavor is perfect with the pear.  But...it takes 2 lbs of pears to make 1 quart.  Fortunately, we have maybe 50 lbs of pears (friend of the family sent Jon home with half a truck full), so I can and should make as much as I want.

Today, I started two more batches.

That one is a saged pear butter.
http://tigressinajam.blogspot.com/2010/04/saged-pear-butter.html
It has pepper and sage, and is making the house smell wonderful!

The next batch is a caramel pear butter.
http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2008/10/caramel_pear_butter
These take half a day to cook down, but they are completely worth it.

My other project today was making pickles.  My grandparents had the most amazing sour mustard pickle recipe, which my uncle continues to make, that make your mouth pucker and eyes water.  I found this recipe, which is the closest I could find.
http://www.almanac.com/recipe/ruth-feeneys-mothers-sour-mustard-pickles
I am canning them, though, so I used these instructions.
http://www.pickyourown.org/makingpickles.htm

Three of the jars are filled with lemon cucumbers, and the other five are regular straight eights.  I've never actually canned before, besides making the jam, so I hope that they turn out alright.  The smell of the brine was enough to make me cough, so they should be strong enough!

My biggest problem now is running out of counter space.

Jon and I went to Old Sturbridge Village for the second time last Saturday.  We had an amazing time there in the rain, with very few people around!  I got some photos to save for inspiration when we are building our house.  I love the little house in the front of the village.  I want to live there, right now.  Can I just stay there, get paid to just work and live, and not have people ask me a million questions?

Here are some of the pictures from that day.

 I want this wallpaper!

 My parents have a fireplace in their kitchen just like this, but not used in a very long time.

 Timberframing

 Very nice step.

 The siding has something to do with ship siding

Jon, sporting his new beard

Translating

Yesterday morning, after channel surfing, I started to think...I hadn't got any translating work from the source that I always get work from in a while...So I made myself rewrite my resume, bid on as many jobs as I could find, and...I got a document!  All on my own!  The document took maybe 15 hours to do...and I did it in two days.  My mind is mush, but I can now relax for a moment and enjoy my trip to see a good friend this evening!  I'm hoping that I get much better at translating, but I am just so happy that I can get my own documents now =)  One step closer to translating full-time!

Peaches, Vermont, and Unemployment

The good news.  Peaches are wonderfully fun to bake with.

 http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1810,143179-235207,00.html

Yugoslavian Peach Cookies,

filled with homemade peach jam.

 They look like peaches!!!

My attempt to beautifully plate my homemade vanilla pudding with peach sauce.

Another piece of good news:  We are thinking of moving to Vermont!  Cheap health care, maternity included (someday...!), cheaper housing, and hopefully stonework for Jon!  Also, it is Not living with our parents-in-law.

The bad news: I stopped working as a nanny for the kids.  Their mom left her job (very good reasons for this), so they don't need me anymore.  I miss them so much!  I knew it would end eventually, though.

Better news: I have been getting quite a lot of translating work recently.  I have pretty much had enough to make it my entire income.  This will really work out when we move, because I have no idea when or where in VT we are going!  Any suggestions out there for good places to live in VT with lots of stone walls?  Jon needs to be able to keep up his work.  I have also had more time to catch up on knitting and baking projects, hence the peach cookies that took me an entire day to make.  I usually go crazy stuck around the house all day, but I am trying to keep myself busy and productive!

Raw milk and peaches

Today, Jon and I are going to go pick some peaches and pick up a gallon of raw milk that I ordered.  I'm very excited!  I've been wanting to make some stove top vanilla pudding- it's so much better than pudding from a mix, or even from a microwave recipe!  I grew up drinking raw milk and never got sick from it- I believe that it is good for you!  A farm that I know posted this link about raw milk:

http://westonaprice.org/press/press/government-data-proves-raw-milk-safe

Baby phonology

Yesterday, Iorek started moving his lower lip downwards and tensing it, while saying [i].  Today, he said [gi].
He is now 7 months, 3 weeks old.

Photos

 Baby sling!

 I wrapped the extra fabric around the back.  I'm very happy with it!  The sling works very well, and fit better and more comfortably than any other sling I've tried.  Iorek loves it!  (Ander, bottom left, approves, also)

 Ander poses for a picture.

 Iorek, aged 7 months 3 weeks, standing!  He's going to take off running any minute.

Here is my first attempt at a onesie.  It is infant sizes, so obviously Iorek couldn't model it.  I love how it came out!  The collar is a bit funny looking, so I need to think up a solution to finish it better.  The snaps worked like a dream.

Update on projects.

Summer is going by far too quickly!  I've been running back and forth quite a bit for appointments, seeing friends before they move away (JenJen!), and finishing things like the rabbit hutch and thank you notes from the wedding.

Yeah, JenJen and I are pretty much awesome.

The hutch is done, except for shingles, which we will make.  These pictures were taken before the roof was put on.

 It is a beautiful, luxury home!  Jon did such an amazing job, and I was glad to help him when I could.  The rabbits love it, too.

And here the first cucumber of the season, next to a bowl of the most amazing lettuce, all from the garden.  I've been getting a ton of greens and not much else, so the cucumber was a big treat.  The lemon cucumbers are coming along nicely, I've planted some more greens, the new beans have sprouted, there are little green cherry tomatoes, and the zucchini and summer squash have large blossoms.  Jon made me some tomato stakes, and I learned that I am terrible at tying tomatoes.  I never got assigned that job at the farm I worked on, beyond clipping tomatoes in greenhouses.  I will post pictures later how funny it looks.  Did I mention that I used orange yarn?

I finished the baby sling and one onesie.  Pictures should follow in the next post.  The sling is great!  I might want to add some padding for the shoulder, though.  The onsie is adorable in the blueberry fabric!  I finished two more skeins of yarn and made a little change purse from 12 yards of scrap silk yarn leftover from the yarn I used to make a glasses case for Jon.

Summer of Projects

I pulled out the sewing machine to do a project for a family member:

It is made from a burlap coffee bag and is lined with a pretty fabric.  It turned out that my machine couldn't handle the burlap, so I ended up sewing most of it by hand.

The weather has been too warm for me to pull out the wool and work on spinning, and I've been neglecting my sewing skills for a while, so I decided to work on a bunch of sewing projects this summer!

The theme that I am starting out with is baby-related.  One of my good friends is expecting, and I figure that this is a good time to start experimenting with what I can sew myself.

Here is a list of projects that I will be working on when I get the supplies I ordered in the mail!

1.  Baby Sling.

Pattern: https://www.mayawrap.com/n_sewsling.php

Fabric: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003CU1ZJ0

Rings: http://www.slingrings.com/proddetail.php?prod=lgalum

2.  Onsies.

Pattern: http://www.newconceptions.com/onehour.htm

Fabrics: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004D5FC92

             http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0046VBUWG

3.  Cloth Diapers.

Pattern: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001G91SQY

Fabrics: Waiting to get pattern first.

Snaps: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004HR9UDA

Also knitting:

4.  Baby Kimono Style Sweater

Pattern: http://thecompletefabrication.blogspot.com/2007/11/seamless-baby-kimono.html

Yarn: http://www.fabulousyarn.com/plymouthOE_05nutmarl.shtml

I have a lot of work to do!  I'm hoping that after I make prototypes, I can modify the patterns and sell some natural material baby things!

Busy Summer

I haven't posted in quite a long time...So here's what's been happening:
-I quit my morning job.  My body just does not want to get up at 6 AND keep going until evening anyways.  I was also not really qualified to provide care for a special needs child.  I can change diapers, but only when I'm stronger than the child!
-I've been translating quite a bit.  This was also another reason to quit the other job.  I really need to keep up with vocabulary.  I'm hoping that I continue to receive a lot of work!
-The baby I nanny is now crawling at top speed and can pull up on things.  He also has object permanence and eats a TON.  He's only 6 months...The toddler's favorite word is 'no', and his favorite activity is to lie on the floor, talk to himself, and push a car back and forth.
-I'm getting extremely tired of living with my parents-in-law.  Rent may be low, but if I put something down, it gets moved by 1 of 3 people, we fight over tv's, the fridge is packed with leftovers no one eats/expired food, I 'get in trouble', I had to pack away almost all of my bridal shower and wedding presents 'cause there's no room for them...you get the idea.  We've only been there since the end of March!

Here are some more wedding pictures, with DIY ideas and projects:

We had the reception in a historic building, using their tables and chairs, with added padding.  

The tables had lilacs in mason jars, plastic silverware that was actually silver, plastic champagne flutes for sparkling apple cider, borrowed table clothes and runners...The place settings also had wedding mad libs, a sheet with information about the historic church we had the ceremony in, and a wildflower seed packet with our picture, names, and the date.

It was catered by the Celery Stick Cafe.  Great food, great prices.  And they are a co-op!

The church was old, and also very cheap to rent.

We rode in a family friend/distant cousin's antique truck.

With the help of several friends, I made this cake.  There are violets from my backyard on it.  There were also 9 small sheet cakes that we handed out to the tables for the guests.  It was delicious!  The cake mixes were only a dollar each at Walmart, and I made the frosting with some friends.  The piping came from tubes with decorative tips already on them.

Small guest book, basket for the wedding mad libs, and box for cards.  The ring bearer's pillow that my mom made from leftover wedding dress fabric is on top of the box.

Pictures were done for free by an old roommate's father and my cousin.  This one is taken in front of my favorite mountains!  Bridesmaids' dresses were bought on clearance from David's Bridal.

I made my dress, got the veil from Veilubridal.com, got the slip and underthings online, and my shoes were from Payless.  The flowers were extremely simple and cost a total of $330.

(I'm not that heavy!!!)

With a tiny bit of altering to make it fit properly (still ended up needing double sided tape and safety pins...), I used this pattern to make the dress.  It was easier than the prom dresses that I had made with boning and multiple layers.  I was able to have the wedding dress of my dreams, for a price that I could afford!  With all of the fabric and notions, this dress cost me a little over $100.

Yes, I finally did finish the shawl...a week after.  Thankfully, it was far to warm to even think about a shawl for the wedding day.  Its still beautiful and an heirloom to keep!

That's all for now.  I'll write again soon about my garden's progress!