Thinning Beets

 I have been wanting to get Fireweed growing on our property, but haven't been sure how to start it. This lone plant has shown up in my garden. I left it. I find it to be a bit of beauty in the midst of more purposeful plants.  I plan to note when it snows at OUR PLACE and see if this little plant is a good predictor of snow for our address. They say six weeks after it seeds. 

Today's garden project is to tame my two beet beds. I had lots of seedlings and not much space. I need to get over my distaste of thinning plants. 

The beds are thinned. It's Sept 12th, I am hoping against hope there is time to produce some beets to can this year. I am not sure what is going on this year...probably something to do with my late planting and all the rain this year...but I have had lots of green, but not much to preserve. 

I gave the discarded plants to the chickens and rabbit. They loved it. Many pointed out to me on Facebook we could eat them ourselves. Who knew? I'm a total newbie to food production.

These girls have a long winter ahead of them. I don't mind giving them some extra nutritious greens this fall. 

Fall Work and Play

 9-11 always brings so many swirling memories and emotions. I remember. I'm not going to blog it this year. I have in the past. 

Fall means facing projects we haven't finished. We realize we aren't going to get the entire house stained before it snows. We are still debating HOW to do the front. I think we need to rent scaffolding. We settled for the getting the worst part done - the back and the south side. 

Michael, Jamin, Alex

Jamin commented every time he visits, he finds himself facing a childhood fear. He doesn't like ladders and heights. We sure appreciated his help.

Jamin 

I knew eventually he'd be on the high ladder.

After dinner we moved outside to the fire ring. These nights are wonderful. 

One of the trees Michael cut down was hollow at the core. He saved this chunk to burn in the fire ring. We decided to stay outside until the fire burned through the center. (Blogging in December and I'm in awe of the green...and the garden beds.)

The fire burned and we discussed our lives, read stories, made plans, checked out the garden...all the things. 

Brussel Sprouts are forming....I have hope...I think I'll plant more next year. 

Dash enjoyed getting out of his hutch to romp around. 

And finally, the fire broke through. I'm glad it took a bit of time. It was nice to simply sit together. 

Millie @ 1 Year

 Millie at a year old is definitely still a puppy. Stacia, and all of us really, have worked hard to train her. She IS strong willed, and very smart. We've never had a lap dog - but this one is determined to sit in our laps and be on the couches with us. We gave in. She's a snuggler...and we love it. 

Millie does make early morning "quiet times" interesting. She loves to study with me, the girls, or anyone sitting still in a chair. 

We love Millie. 

Belated Gift & Fall Visit

 CoRielle stopped by with Stacia's birthday gift. Amazon doesn't always get it here on time.  They gave her a cake pop maker. She promptly made cake pops and donut holes...

It's always a treat when Cory can stop by with the guys.  Cory's busy, busy, busy this summer/fall. 

Benny is protecting his food from "Michael"

Benny has taken to calling Danny, "Michael" when he wants him to really listen or thinks he's done something wrong. It seems Arielle calls him "Daniel Michael" in some cases. ::snort:: Danny reached his goal....he wasn't so sure it was worth the effort. 

That's organic rind you're chewing on there! 

On my morning walk I couldn't help but notice the fireweed everywhere is blooming to the top and starting to go to seed. That means 6 weeks until the first snow...or so the old-timers say. 

Cocomelon Cake

 Stacia has taken cake requests before. This, however, was the first cake where she screwed up her courage to ask the going rates for specialty cakes. Given the cost of ingredients in Alaska and the amount of hours she puts into baking and decorating these cakes it's TIME she charge the going rates.  

When Yadira asked us if Stacia could make a Cocomelon cake, we had to google to figure out what a coco-melon cake would look like. LOL It was needed within a week so they settled on a fairly simple design. It takes TIME to get specail doo dads up here. LOL  Stacia baked the cakes, colored fondant and created a face and such....

Yeah, she was stressed. She was CHARGING for this one and it wasn't going to family.  I think it turned out darling. She's learned some things since then that she would do even better. 

Yadira requested a couple dozen cupcakes as well. Stacia was glad to have it all done and asked to deliver it the night before it was due.  She got $100 for all this. That is NOT all profit. She makes about $5 an hour for her time on the cakes. 

Michael and the girls headed across town to deliver the baked goods.  They were happy with them. 

BUT Stacia worried for weeks that the cake had fallen apart or something was wrong with them.  As I'm back posting this and it's REALLY December, I can share a day came when Yadira contacted her and asked her to make another birthday cake - the sewing/building cake.  Yadira said it was just what they wanted and TASTED good too. 

Go, Stacia! We are proud of your growing baking skills, we are most excited to see how chasing this dream is motivating you to go beyond your comfort zone...in skills, and in "people-ing". Way to go! 

Visiting Grands, Pouting Dog & Salmon Pie

 Grandpa and I paid a surprise visit to CoRielle. I love that we have family close enough to do this.  Dad loves to visit Benny and "the boy" (Danny), but his visits are usually short. LOL 

GG, Danny, Arielle, Benny 

Danny at 10 months

Benny LOVES this bear dressed as a dino
Score - Auntie CoCo

Arielle and Boys 

CoRielle have had covid - at least 3 of them, maybe 4. They missed CyRi's wedding and this is the first day they are deemed safe for us to visit.  After the hustle of the past week it was nice to simply be with sweet ones. 

We are training Millie to stay on her bed during meals and when I'm doing something in the kitchen that works better without 50 lbs of fluff underfoot. This is her sad, pitiful, mournful attitude when told to go to her bed. 

Then begins the edging over the side...until Stacia catches her and tells her to get back on her bed. ::snort:: 

Salmon Pot Pie for dinner. Stacia and I think it's a good use of salmon. Others were appalled to get a fork of salmon when expecting chicken. Note the cute fish Stacia put on top of this pie. 

For those who want to try Salmon Pot Pie, I simply sub salmon for chicken in this recipe. 

August Garden Update

 I've started clearing out the garden... there are still several things I'm hoping will produce if given a bit more time.  I'm hoping the Brussel Sprouts (left) will produce if I clear space around them and cut off some of the greenery. I've taken a lot of cabbage from this bed already but have a few left. 

Cauliflower is just making small heads

I don't have a lot of hope for the beets, but we can have some beet greens if nothing else. 

I'm turning this empty bed into a lasagna bed. I'm alternating layers of green with brown and will let it compost. The cabbage leaves provide a green layer. 

I alternated with straw and am ready for another green layer. 

Dash! This is a great rabbit! 

Some veggies for dinner and lunch tomorrow. 

We were late planting and it's rained a lot this year. I am not going to have a lot to preserve, but we're getting some to eat.  I never got a lot of the garden planted this year, but I feel good about doing what I could. I'll figure out how to balance the need to be with Grandpa and the need to be outside. I had thought he'd want to come out and sit in the sunshine, but he really didn't want to. I'll come up with new strategies to entice him outside next year.