Teaching an old dog new tricks

Well, I decided to take the Instant Pot plunge.  The programmable electric pressure cooker that had taken the internet by storm.  And I must admit, it's pretty cool.

First off, I don't have any extra space on my kitchen.  One solution, give the bread machine to my church for our garage sale. 

Secondly, they are kinda pricey.  Enter Christmas elf, sister Merrill.  I could get it on sale at Amazon, and it was right in her giving budget.  Woo hoo. 

Gotta love Amazon.  Ordered that baby up and it was here in a day.  Then it sat in the laundry room/back porch for the past month.  I had to find the right time, study the blogs and the recipes, etc, etc, etc. 

Well that roast sitting in the freezer wasn't getting any younger, and I've had a week off to study and read, etc, etc, etc... tonight was the night. Actually it went pretty well.  I didn't blow anything up, and the pot roast was quite tasty.  Mind you it took an hour longer than I thought it would, they say "oh it cooks so much faster", but they don't mention all the time you have to wait around for it to come up to pressure or for the pressure to drop.  But now that I know that, I can allow for it. 

So, it might be a little late in the game for me to have one, but I think I'll enjoy using it.  Didn't have time to take a picture of that beautiful pot roast...someone was very hungry and I think he might have bit me if I said, "oh, wait, I have to take a picture". Ha ha.  Stay tuned for more stories from my kitchen and the Instant Pot

A little halter training

The Shepherd had started halter training before Fiber Fusion, but when Annie got sick that was put aside.  He had a couple of the boys sold and it is infinitely easier if they will walk on a lead.  Sometimes it goes well and sometimes it's like dragging a dead sheep behind you.  These lambs seemed to take to it pretty well and just hopped up into the trailer when it was time to go.

Halloween snow!

Mother Nature surprised us with an early snowfall.  Actually it wasn't on Halloween, but pretty darn close.  Like me, Gracie isn't a big fan of snow. 

Spinning

I have been making up for lost time on my new electric spinning wheel.  Since I'm working on yarn for a new vest for The Shepherd, I have decided to do one bobbin for him, one bobbin for me. (I get easily bored spinning plain white yarn) This green is some merino and fire-star that I got from Paradise Fibers in Spokane.  I finally had to unsubscribe from their newsletter because I kept buying stuff and god only knows I don't need to add to my already abundant stash. (You think I'm kidding don't you...)

This is also the last project on my Ashford Traveller wheel, so it is for sale. Contact me if you are interested.

Fall colors, etc.

Well, I have been widely rounded for neglecting my blog.  So, since I have a little time this week, I'll do little catch up.  Sadly I have a spammer who will not leave my blog alone so I've had to implement comment moderation.  I really hated to do it but the spammer was bad, so it goes.  I hope you will still leave comments. 

These are some pictures from our garden.  It was so pretty this year.  The biggest red maple was planted shortly after we moved here.  It was one of the trees that formed the background for our wedding in 1994! 

The Shepherd has planted our yard with great thought to how it will look at all times of the year.  His 45 +/- years of landscaping experience shows. 

Pumpkin harvest

The Shepherd picked all his pumpkins  (try to say that fast, ha ha) at the end of October and brought them in the greenhouse to set a while before processing.  This year he switched from the Amish pumpkins to a French variety,  they are bigger. 

Just before Thanksgiving we started baking them up.  I scrape the baked pumpkin into a big bowl and hit it with my immersion blender until it is nice and smooth.  Then I pack it in two cup amounts in freezer bags.  Just enough to make a pie or pumpkin muffins.  Nice to have as the year goes on.