Thankful Sunday--October 14, 2012

I am thankful for this kind woman who explained the quilts at the Apple Harvest Festival quilt show.

Last weekend Miss Landers and I attended a quilt show. As we were looking at the quilts, this woman struck up a conversation with us. She is a member of one of the local quilting groups so she knew a story for every quilt. She not only told us about the different patterns and techniques used to make them, she told us about the people who made them. It was the highlight of our day.

Food Waste Friday and True Food Confessions--Oct. 12, 2012

 It's time for Food Waste Friday, when the Frugalgirl encourages us to post pictures from the previous week of wasted food from our household. This accountability hopefully will help us to be more careful with our food and maybe save some money. Also, I am using this public forum to encourage us to eat out less which includes better meal planning. You can follow how we are doing in this endeavor by reading True Food Confessions.

 This Week's Food Waste

After many weeks, we finally have a week with no waste. Hooray! In the past, produce always seemed to be our nemesis, but not this week. All of tomatoes that were ripening on the counter are finally gone, so I think that helped. Also, we didn't bring any new produce into the house except apples which also helped.

This Week's True Food Confessions

"Once again, plans to cook a grand dinner were dashed on the rocks of apathy and proximity to a Chipotle."

I borrowed these words from Eddie's Facebook page because they perfectly explain our day yesterday. No one was interested in cooking, so we had Chipotle. However, I will say that we are having fewer of those days than we used to. We went away for the weekend to Miss Landers' cabin and planned ahead for our food there. It was nice to come back from the Apple Harvest Festival and find chili in the crock pot and wake up the next morning to bacon and eggs. Although we didn't have a menu planned this week, we managed to cook a big pot of tuna mac which, along with leftovers from the weekend, kept us at home for our other meals.

Letters of a Pioneer Homesteader

or A Book Review

"When you think of me you must think of me as one who is truly happy. It is true, I want a great many things I haven't got, but I don't want them enough to be discontented and not enjoy the many blessings that are mine."

I discovered these inspiring words recently when I read  Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart. This nonfiction book is comprised of letters that Stewart wrote from 1909 to 1913 to a former employer. During this time, she was trying to establish a homestead in Wyoming and gives a good snapshot of life during these frontier times. The letters are published just as she wrote them except for an occasional omission or name change.

Although Stewart had no formal education, she is a good storyteller and writer. She tells stories about her life, her neighbors, and adventures she had when she was traveling throughout the vast area. At that time in Wyoming, your neighbor could be days away by horse or wagon and she thought nothing about gathering up her babies and heading out. Though usually not the main emphasis of her letters, you also get a good idea of what every day life was like. 



What did I think of the book?

• I enjoyed this book more that any others I have read for a while. I found myself wanting to know what was going to happen next in her little community.
• Stewart is clever.  She made me smile more than once with a joke or humorous word play.
• I highly recommend it especially if you like to read personal accounts of history.

The book also gave me some food for thought.

• Oh, my goodness, people were isolated during those times.
• They had so little access to things, they really took pride in what little they did have.
• Life went on even when the snow was over their heads or mountains were hard to cross.
• When letters were the main form of communication, everyday writing was rich.
• Hard work and determination were very important assets.
• A positive attitude can help you survive most anything.

In conclusion:

• When I grow up, I want to be like Stewart. She lived life trying to better herself, working hard, and having a positive attitude. A winning combination if there ever was one.

A Second Look--October 10, 2012

We've had some cold, overcast days this week with rain here and there. The result was that I've been cold, but I haven't gotten out my heavy jacket yet. The marigolds are still blooming and the maple trees have just started to turn. Many plants are ready for winter either by setting their blooms for next year or forming seeds to sprout in the spring. During this week's Second Look, I focused on seeds. Although they may not be as colorful as the flowers before them, I find seeds have their own beauty.

Here's What I Found This Week

Coneflower seed heads. Notice the flower on the right has had some seeds eaten by a goldfinch.

Acorns from our biggest oak tree

I plan to save seeds from these marigolds for next year.

Siberian iris seed pods. I leave these up during the winter for interest.

Japanese maple seeds

Milkweed seed pod with milkweed bugs (and a lone lady bug).  Even though they look like two different kinds of bugs, they are all milkweed bugs. The difference is maturity. The more mature the bug, the more black it has.

Day lily seed pod

Dogwood berries

Sunflower

Apple Harvest Festival

or How Did They Do That?

Ward and I spent the weekend with Miss Landers at her cabin. As part of our plan, we visited the Apple Harvest Festival in Burlington, WV, where the showcase event was apple butter making. There were several large copper kettles cooking apples and spices that produced gallons and gallons of apple butter. All of the stirring was done by volunteers and started a week before the festival began. People came from far and near to stir and to buy the finished product. We didn't help with the stirring, but we certainly helped with the buying.

In addition to the apple butter making, there was an Apple Dumpling Contest, continuous live music, a fiddle contest, a parade, a quilt show, crafts, a car show, a big flea market, an ox roast, a carnival, and lots of friendly people. Even though the grounds were crowded, everyone seemed to be in a good mood and to be having a good time.

While we enjoyed ourselves at the festival, we wouldn't normally think much about an outing like this later. However this time, we had a lot of food for thought. Burlington is a town of 182 people. How could a town of 182* manage to put on something this big? I actually talked to someone at the information booth about this very question. She told me that since it was for Burlington United Methodist Family Services, the local library, and the local fire department; everyone pulled together to make it happen. And after almost 40 years, it has become a local tradition.

Now that's an interesting idea--people helping their neighbors. They just saw a need in their community and did what it took to make it work. No magic, just hard work. And that's how they did it.

 Our Day at the Apple Festival

The apples for the apple butter came from a local orchard.

Sometimes families worked together to stir the cooking apple butter.

There were some amazing quilts in the quilt show.

We also bought some cider.

Ward browsed a lot of the flea market, but didn't buy anything.

This stage hosted the music

* In case you're wondering, Burlington is not a suburb in a large metropolitan area. The next closest town is about 15 miles away has around 5000 people in its"metropolitan area".