Catsup, catch-up

Let's see; catsup is made from tomatoes.

Tomatoes are often red; so are these trees in town:

I'm in town right now covering for Rick's vacationing secretary, taking a break from knitting this:

but wishing I was home being productive like this girl and her friends:

But I'm not in control of my own schedule, so I might as well smell the roses flowers,

and watch the sun rise,

before dashing off through another crazy day.

That's it for now from . . .

Processes

Today was all about processes. Top priority: apples. This morning Rick peeled while I cored and sliced 10 quarts of apples for apple pie filling. Once that was assembled and set aside to juice, I sent Brian out to pick another bucket of apples while I set up my work station for applesauce production. But before actually beginning, I took time out to help someone else on their "start to finish" project. A mom from our homeschool co-op is taking a multi-media production class at a local college, and asked if she could interview me for a short "from sheep to shawl" production. Today was when our schedules meshed best. We looked at sheep and their fleece, spindles, my e-spinner, my current knitting project, and several finished pieces. It was uncomfortable to be in front of the camera (and microphone), but I'm trying to "do unto others" as I would want them to do unto me. Hopefully she got all the material she needs for a satisfactory piece.

Oh, our neighbors gave us a gallon of fresh cider, and I started marinating a huge, beautiful eggplant using apple cider vinegar. So we really have covered most of the bases from apple trees to end products today!

Time to fall into bed at . . .

Soundtrack of change

Trust me; Babette wasn't the only one yelling this morning (although she is exceptionally vociferous). Whenever there is change involving sheep, they talk, and there was lots of change this morning. First, I caught Blake (which involved rubbing his chin then slipping the halter on him from the other side of the fence; I love my calm and cooperative homegrown ram-man!) and led him to the honeymoon suite Ram-ada Inn lot. That set off the three wethers.

Then I caught Sarai and Vienna (they need to take lessons from Blake!), realized they both needed pedicures and tied them up to take care of that, then led them to join their beau, setting off the four girls left in the Sheep Sheraton.

Do we want to be here – or back with our buddies?

All three of these mature Shetlands have Premium Fine fleeces (see this chart) and have produced lovely offspring together, so I anticipate quality lambs next spring once again. If they are taking special requests, I'd love a couple of black-based ewe lambs out of Sarai, and a moorit ewe from Vienna. ;-)

And if YOU have any special requests, I'm taking reservations!

Let the breeding begin at . . .

Taking stock

We're back, and back at it. We got home late Sunday night, then scattered to jobs and school early Monday morning – but not before this lovely homecoming gift in the eastern sky:

Another homecoming gift was waiting in the henhouse – our first pullet bullet! Got another one yesterday; here's the two-day total:

These may not have been the first of the three Australorps' contributions, since I don't know what our chores person collected while we were gone. I'm just glad they're finally laying!

A remarkable transformation was wrought around our place in the short time we were away. The cooler weather and moisture has transformed our pastures . . . and garden.

I need to save my beet seedlings with some industrious hand-weeding, and tackle the rest with a hoe!

On our way to Canada, we rendezvoused with an old friend to pick up this sweet, sheep-sized stock tank:

Having that in our back seat prompted an interesting exchange with the Canadian Border Patrol agent, let me tell you.

I've got to get ready to meet another old friend for lunch while she's in town, then drive to Salem to pick up Brian, then make supper, then try to catch and move the three sheep in my first breeding group. I've got photos from our trip to share – once I find time to get them edited!

That's it for now from . . .