Happy October!!

Once it turns October, I feel like Fall is really here.....I love October! Maybe because I was born in October, do you think?? And it begins

looking and smelling more like Fall.......

Cut back my huge

mint plant today.....

And baked a Deep Dish Pear Pie.......maybe warmed later with Vanilla Ice Cream melting over the top!!! And sour dough starter under the cloth.....ahhh....signs of Fall!

Lovely Shade of Green......

My daughter and I layed these 20 rolls of sod yesterday....I LOVE and am so THANKFUL for every bit of green we can ad to our desert landscape! AND it was FREE!!

From Cake to Cookies......

Mmmmm.....Harvest Bars for the guys last night!!

I took a Carrot Cake recipe and poured it into two pans, so instead of cake we had bar cookies. Sometimes there is pineapple in a carrot cake, well this recipe called for mandarin oranges. I had neither. So, I used some apple/pear sauce that I had in the pantry and remember back a few posts?.......I had grated carrots in the freezer!! Made some very good bars.

Great Deals.....

OK, so we were just innocently driving along on our way to see Aunt JoAnn after her hip replacement...fresh loaf of bread in hand for her.....and what should appear but a PRODUCE STAND!!!! with a deal on peaches toooooo good to pass up......

So, guess what I am doing this week?!?

PEACHES...YAY!!!!

After, the Harvest Bars for the Shepherd's House tonight, laying the sod my son just set aside for me today (He gets it for FREE), having breakfast with a friend tomorrow, and I really needed to clean out the shed before the rain comes next weekend so I can get to my garage sale stuff and have a garage sale!!!

Peaches WILL get done!!!

I am so happy when God provides in such fun ways....we are trying to stock up on certain things that can get us through the winter and foods we just need to have on hand because hubby's jobs are not coming so fluently right now, so I am very grateful and thankful that God happened us upon this produce stand Saturday. :)

Sun in the Kitchen Window............

Home-Making.......

Today was our Home-Making class. One girl has a wheat/gluten etc, allergy, so we made "Currant Buckwheat Muffins". They are sweetened with just molasses, they were ok, needed more raisans for sweetness, but may have been better with jam or something....... :)

Then we made spaghetti for lunch. Since we were already going to make spaghetti sauce, they made sauce from a whole gallon size can of tomatoe paste! We canned 6 quarts and used the rest for lunch........they each got to take home 8 mini muffins and a quart of sauce!!
It was a beautiful day, so they spent the afternoon
on the porch swing....
After lunch they finished putting their samples in their notebooks.

Then we began a project with the stitches they know so far.
This will become the edging on a pillowcase......

Then we must end the afternoon with tea of course!

Staying on Task......or not?!?!?!?

Today in Central Oregon the sun is shining, it is warm and

I am soooo distracted!!!

A couple days ago I picked a huge amount of tarragon from my garden, it was an armload soooo big I could barely carry it. It is such a thick viney plant, I wondered if it would work like when you make a grapevine wreath, just kind of wrapping it around itself. So, this is my experiement, a tarragon wreath with some added flowers from a mint plant.......
And just a plain one for inside......we will see what happens. It may dry and fall away or it may dry into a really cool wreath.....only time will tell, :)
Then, I remembered herbs for vinegar, so while I was at it I filled some jars with sage, thyme and of course tarragon.........

I also hung some to dry....I also am going to make some sage soap, but later. Hopefully, the soap and some of the vinegars will be for sale at my upcoming teas, just in time for the holidays!!

While all this is very good and productive...it is not what I am supposed to be doing! I am supposed to be preparing for my class with the girls tomorrow and baking bread!!

Ah, it will all get done!!

Chilly Mornings.......

I love chilly mornings and warm, cozy breakfast for the family!!

Awhile back I got a recipe off a blog for Raised Waffles......

They were at Pleasant View Schoolhouse.
I also made syryp with just honey, water and maple flavoring!!

The really nice thing is you mix them the night before, let them sit on the counter overnight, in the morning you only add eggs and baking soda and cook!!

And boy are they yummy!!

In the shop.....

Some new items in my Etsy Shop....hubby's creations!!

Fall is in the Air!!!

A friend gave me this tea set years ago, it is fun to

decorate with this time of year!!

A few years ago, my daughter made this little quilt for me....I love using it to warm things up and feel cozy.......especially in the Fall......

To top it all off.....a perfectly cozy Fall lunch with my wonderful
husband and sweet daughter, who by the way just mowed all the
lawns today! Awesome she is!!
Split Pea with Ham, Muffin with homemade jam, Pears from a friends tree, a pot of Tea and freshly baked Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies!! (I was trying to use up a dab of Almond Butter that I had :)

Hope you are enjoying your Fall Days!!!!

Beautiful Picture!!!

Favorite Book.....

This is one of my very, very favorite books that we used during High School. "Training Our Daughters to be Keepers at Home" by Ann Ward.

It covers 7 years in all!!

You would start it in about Jr. High.

It has page after page of instructions in life skills and also

much Godly wisdom!!

Just look at some of the reading list over the 7 years: Kings Daughter, Dear Princess, Hidden Art, Pursuit of Holiness, The Other Side of the Garden......and the list goes on. Amazing!!
Covers basic cooking, sewing, gardening and many other hand skills. In later years it even gets into child care and more advanced skills.
I loved it!! Check it out sometime! :)

Fun Learning......

On Fridays I have started a little class at my home. The class is Home-Making and I have three girls right now between 10 and 11. Yesterday we spent the morning making Snickerdoodles, each girl made a "log" to take home for the freezer (if it lasts that long). We put the cinnamon in the cookies instead of rolling them in it as I wanted to

show them how to freeze cookie logs. :)

For lunch they made Cheese Sauce and poured it over Noodles. So, they learned how to make stove top macaroni and cheese not from a box!!

In the afternoon we did Embroidery. They began by making samples of just four stitches for their notebooks which we will use next week on a project. They also made the cover page for their notebooks.
They will come every Friday, more fun projects ahead......

Hubby's Work.............

Look at this beautiful kitchen my husband just finished today!!

Boy could I have some fun with this... :)

He left the old cabinet boxes and they were painted white and he made

new doors and drawers!!

Very Awesome job Dear Sweet Husband!! :D

Summers End Garden Tea!!

There are so many pictures of tea it is hard to choose, but I did, this is not even all of them, but it is alot, hope you enjoy.....................

Violas as they entered the yard.......
The lovely Ladies...........

The table..........

We gathered white pitchers of different sizes and filled them with flowers of white and shades of pink, the plates also had pink flowers along the edge.



Frenchesca comes to tea!
(the cat :) this was after the ladies had left...

This cup is the same as the little plates we used.
This is their take home gift, a vase of fresh herbs from the garden!!

The grande finale....fresh, homemade peach ice cream, soooo good!

The store.............

The girls helping me serve made these "heirloom tomatoe" pincushions....CUTE!!

HA, here it is!!!

Lavender by the spoonful........
Sweet rhubarb sauce.........

My lovely servers and their sister..........

The one in the front is my daughter... :)

OK, I do not like pictures of myself....but here you go..... :/

Sun setting at the end of the day......

It was a beautiful day....my friend and I sat here at the empty table after everything was cleaned up, except the table...we just wanted to sit and savor the moment with a cup of coffee (ooops...don't tell).....

Now a tour of

Our beautiful Tea Room.......