The little guy

Hes able to rest easily.

Knowing that the doorknobs are gonna stay warm.

Road trip with a side of yay!

A few days ago I packed my suitcase and my snack bag and went with my ma up to Michigan to visit some family. A road trip!

Well, a little over halfway into the the 5 hour trip, I was looking out the window, cuz thats what you do when youre in the car, and I saw a huge pasture with lots of animals in it. Okay, so thats not so out of place in the Midwest...upon closer observation tho(as close as you can do when the car is speeding along at 75 mph) I said...OMG, ma. Those are LLAMAS! There had to have been like 40 of them, at least.

She says, do you wanna turn around? And I look at her and say, nah.... Are you kidding me? Hell yeah, lets turn around! So, we took the next exit and drove around a bit, asked a gas station attendant and some people pumping gas if they knew how to get to the llama farm...they laughed a little at the idea of a llama farm(jerks), but no, they had no idea what we were talking about. Hmpf.

We headed back the way we came, got back on the interstate, and drove past the farm again to get some better landmarks. Thats when ma noticed the railroad tracks that ran along behind the farm....you would think that I would have noticed that. Seeings how I have one that I can see from my back window at home, but nope, I didnt. So, we make our way to the tracks and kinda follow them for a bit hoping that at some point we will just run into the llama farm. Yeah, that didnt happen.

But I did see this cute little bike while we were driving around.


Finally, before we just gave up, ma decided to pull into this little flower stand.


We walked in and ma asked the owner if she knew of the farm. She asked us a few questions about it and tho she wasnt certain, she thought she knew the place and proceeded to give us some directions.

Back in the car we go...looking for the railroad tracks again....and lo and behold...


Sigh....Im in heaven.

Ma heads to the front door to see if anyone is around. And I head to the fence.


To see the pretty llamas.

Oops...my hand was nudged by a llama head.

We walked a little further back on the drive thinking that maybe somebody would be back there and unable to hear us....sadly, nobody was home.

After a bit more looking, we began to feel a little funny hanging around when the owners werent there. So, we made our way back to the car.

Not before I said goodbye to these gals tho.


Later, when we got to our "real" destination, I set about looking for the farm online. While we were at the farm I had seen a livestock trailer tucked away next to the barn that had some info on it. I sent them an email asking if we could stop back by on our way home. I didnt hear from them and was a little sad about that, but when we got home I received an email from them stating that they had been at a llama show in WI. They were sorry that they had missed me, but went on to say that I was more than welcome to come back anytime and they would let me visit with the llamas and answer any questions that I may have. This made me very happy.

I see another road trip in my future!

B is for Basil

And Basket.


And a basket with basil.


With the temps hovering in the high 30's at night, I thought it best to harvest all of my basil before I lost it due to a freeze. Ideally, you want to harvest your basil before it begins blooming. It is said that once the basil blooms it changes the flavor somewhat. Being the great rule follower that I am, I generally push that a bit. And if I see some blooms and Im not ready to use my basil then I just pinch the blooms off and that gives me a few more days.

So, after I hauled all that basil inside, I then decided to take it back out to the patio so I could cut of all the roots.

But, before I could do that G wanted to pick out some basil plants for grammy.


A little discussion over just which ones are going to go in the bag.


This one, while upside down, must have made the cut.

Grammy listening very intently to my instruction on how to make the pesto.

After I gave grammy her basil and she made her way home that meant that I had to get to work. Sigh. The weighing of the basil begins.


This is what one pound of basil looks like.


This is what one boy doing his homework and five pounds of basil looks like.


I decided to dry all this basil since I have some pesto stored in the freezer already.

Most of the basil I tied into little bundles of about 2 stems or so.

I did read tho, that you could tear the leaves off the stem, and put them in a dish and dry them out that way. Making sure to toss them around a bit every day to help them dry out. I thought I would give that a try this time as well and see which process I preferred.


After doing that, I grabbed my trusty stool and headed downstairs.

Then I hung all my little bundles up.

It normally takes about a week to dry them out fully. And they will begin to brown and look not very pretty. But thats okay. Once they are thoroughly dry all you have to do is strip all the leaves off the stems and smash them up a bit. Store them in an airtight container and you can have freshly dried basil all winter long. It makes a very nice addition to pasta sauces, pizza sauces, and many kinds of soups.

Fun in the morning

Its always a fun time when you get to go hang out with your kids at school.


J's class has been studying Native Americans and they thought it would be fun and interesting to host their own potlatch.

So, some time ago, he brought home a little cookbook that was filled with all kinds of Native American recipes. The item he chose to bring was called Honey Corn Cakes.

Here. Take a peek.


I got out my trusty griddle and began heating it up.


All the while I mixed all the ingredients.


Dont they look yummy?

I lined my dish with some parchment paper in hopes that the little cakes wouldnt stick.


Fill her up.


I got them all cooked and and transferred them to my little heated portable thingie and headed out to the school.


A festive little table with all kinds of good things lined up to try.

So happy to see me! (please note that hes the only one with stuff strewn all over his space)

Tasting a salmon cake. While this picture is not very convincing, I can honestly say that he really liked those salmon cakes.

Which is why he is in line again...for the third time....

And when the teacher went around the room and asked everyone what their favorite item was, J, devoted to his salmon cake at this point, of course, said the salmon cakes. But it didnt end there. He then went on to say that he wasnt surprised at all that he liked the salmon cake, because he really enjoys fish. However, he doesnt see the opportunity arising to have them again anytime soon because his dad had a bad experience with salmon when he was growing up.

See, the story, as I know it was that when S was younger salmon patties were cooked at his house only when his dad(J's grandpa) had gotten in "trouble". Those were the nights that his mom(J's grandma) decided that salmon patties were in order. And evidently S didnt like the salmon patties either. And he carries this story with him to this day.... But clearly, this story didnt have a negative impact on J!

A fun time was had by all and as you can see....everyone loved the Honey Corn Cakes.

For the love of Pumpkins

I heart pumpkins. Maybe because one of my favorite colors is orange? Maybe because they are so fun to grow in the garden? Maybe because it means that fall is right around the corner? Maybe because I love eating things that are made with pumpkin? I cant know.

What I do know is that my pumpkins had been harvested for about 10 days and it was time to process them into yummy, orange goodness.

You start with a freshly bathed pumpkin.


Cut it in half. This can prove to be a challenge, especially if you have a larger variety of pumpkin. Just make sure you have a really sharp knife. That helps a lot.


Scoop out all the seeds and scrape out as much of the stringy pulp as you can.

Place them cut side down onto a baking sheet. I actually coat my baking sheet with a bit of cooking spray so that the pumpkins dont stick to the sheet.


Put them into a 350 degree oven for about one hour. (and I assume no liability if this does not turn out for you unless it is exactly 930 when you do it.)


When you can easily pierce them with a fork then you know they are good to go.


Let them cool until they are easy to handle. Id say about 20 min or so.

Scoop out all the cooked flesh.

At this point, I cover my bowls of pumpkin with a towel and let them set for an hour or so. I find that this helps draw out some of the extra moisture that most squash contain.

Then I place the cooked pumpkin into a colander to drain off the excess liquid.

After that I puree the cooked pumpkin in the food processor until it is smooth.



Most preserving information that you read strongly suggests not to preserve pumpkin by canning it. So, I store all of mine in freezer bags.

This time I processed 6 pie pumpkins and ended up with 24 cups of cooked pumpkin. You can use it for pies, breads, muffins, waffles, cakes....That should last me well until next season....right?


And if cooking and preserving pumpkins isnt for you, well, find a friend that has a lovely flock of amazing chickens and put those pumpkins in a box...then send that box to that friend....she will know what to do with those pumpkins when they arrive. Not that I did that. But its a good idea. Im just sayin.