Feed Store Fun.

 Some bring their kids to the toy store.  Us?  We bring ours to the feed store. In John Deere apparel, naturally.  Goodness, they both love looking at the feed, the wood shavings, the hay, the forklift. They both talk about it long after we've been.  Adrian really wants to take cow feed home (ummm....we have now cow) and Audra loves to point to all the sheep (her fave).



They were having a little festival and they invited Adrian to sell his bread to earn money for his cow.  (Thank you to everyone's kindness!)

And there was a blue grass band.

 But that which was most exciting were the steers. Two teams.  And you'd think we gave our kids the moon.  Audra kept saying "I want moo. I want moo." And we'd try to slow her down from sprinting back and forth between them.  It's hard to get good pictures of her because she moves so fast!  But I tried.

 And Adrian spent his time grinning, and dreaming of having his own.

 They were a little scared of sweet girl, but she had no fear.

 He also has no fear.  Instead, such admiration and longing.

 And this grin didn't leave his face.

 

I may have went *slightly* overboard with the pictures, but come on now...isn't this grin irresistible?

And this picture?  I think I need to frame it.

And you know what he got to do?  He got to lead these guys. 
Probably the highlight of his life.

 He already has the yoke, he just needs steers.  Come spring, little guy.  We hope to get you your own team. 

 I never imagined I would be raising a pair farmers. But that's where their interest lies.  Proud to be doing so.  My heart is happy watching my little farmers enjoy that which they love best.

Grape Ketchup

We have oodles of concord grapes around our property and around our generous neighbor's.  I've made jam, but thought I'd try something different.  Per request, here's the recipe I used.  It's not really from a source, it's created by me after researching oodles of recipes and figuring out what works. My kids love it on eggs, as a dipping sauce and as topping.  It also would be good for a sweet/sour meatball type of meal.

Grape Ketchup by Jackie

4 pounds concord grapes
4 cups apple cider vinegar (I used my own homemade version)
6 cups sugar
2 T cinnamon
1 T allspice
6oz tomato paste

1) Steam grapes using 1 cup of water until softened.  Mash grapes, strain juice, discard skins and seeds. 
2) Place grape juice in saucepan, add vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, allspice. Bring to boil.  Simmer for a few hours stirring periodically or until has reduced by half it's amount.  (Or you could leave in a crockpot with the top cracked for 24 hours).
3) Whisk in tomato paste.  Let reduce further until the consistency is ketchup-like.
4) Waterbath can for 15min.

Weekend.

Hope your weekend includes the following:

Fabulous hats/apparel.

 Pleasure reading.

 Snuggles.

Fantastic finds.

 Loveable friends.

 Something to keep you cozy and warm.

And together time.
 
Sounds like a recipe for a perfect weekend.  

Mama Made: Her new coat (Vintage/Upcycled)

Did you miss his new coat?  Click here.

And now it's time for her new coat. I love making outerwear for my kids best, as there's nothing that will get more use than a coat living in Maine.  (Note: I used a too big hanger to take this pic, which makes it look like the collars are uneven.  They are not in real life, it's bugging me in the picture.)

 I made it big, hoping to let the seams out as she grows.  Here's the details.

 Vintage thrifted buttons.  Thrifted fabric. Thrifted pattern.

 A little puff to the sleeves, Anne of Green Gables would be envious.

 Some mama embroidery.

 It's lined with my husbands old coat.  He was going to toss because the zipper was broken and it wasn't his favorite coat anyway.  Can't have that.

 It's really warm.

 I gave you a sneak peek of the pattern when I showed you my craft room.

And I love the finished product.

 I'll take you through the steps of trying to get a little model to actually model.  She was busy.  With the bunny.

 With buckets she found inside (ash buckets to be exact).

 But then she ventured outside.

 And found her outside buckets.  (She loves buckets, talks about them regularly.) 

 But then there was a dog to chase.

It's tiring trying to catch this one!  Like her brother's coat, I want this one to serve as a Halloween costume too.  I'm thinking of what to do to make it into a costume.  If you have any ideas, run them by me. 

Tangent. Thrifted. Random.

1) Tangent.

It's late again.  After midnight. I should go to bed.  But, I'm writing you first. 

Today was quite a day.  A long day of work that I had seemingly seconds only to eat my lunch, paired with 3 hours of paper work/work Emails to do once home.  I saw my husband for 8 minutes total. Sweet girl has been up three times since I put her down for bed. She's asleep in my arms again and I don't dare put her down. Those teeth are relentless. I have unanswered Emails. Blogs that I want to get to, but I just haven't. The table still isn't wiped from dinner.  The flowers in the vase are dead.  There's three loads of laundry that need to be folded.  My house is not tidy. And I'm tired. Balancing it all is sometimes hard.  Some days are just hard.  Today was hard.

But, I write you...why???

Because when I write, I look back and shake my head.  I think, why on earth am I focusing on what's hard when I have so many blessings?

I am confident that I helped kids today at work.  Today in particular, I know I helped a lot.  The paperwork is annoying, but I gave my time for the benefit of others.  And they're thankful and we're all celebrating.  And my kids had a great day with their dad and grampy and couldn't wait to tell me about it.  That's a celebration right there.

I have the most marvelous home to come home to.  Filled with good food (although leftovers), fantastic animals and amazing kids.

When I got home, I came home to cheers from my littles.  I hear from one, "Mama, I'm so happy you're home. I love you, mama!  You're my best mama in my world."  And I hear from the other, "Up, mama". 

And then I hear "Mama, I want to read oodles of farm books." 

And just like that, we're snuggled in early, learning about saddles and pastures and Holsteins. 

And when she's not feeling well, she wants me. I can make everything all better for her. And I get a warm body, a fuzzy head and those rhythmic breaths against me. 

And then I wonder what what was hard today?  I've forgotten.

2) More thrifted posts.  My $5.00 weekly splurge. That's all I allow myself with the owning two homes thing.  Saving for Christmas an the like. Again, backed up with much I haven't shown you. 

Vintage microscope, giant puzzle and vintage dishes.  $5.00.

Two games for when they're older, two like new pairs of shoes for them to grow into, a pair of baby shoes that I couldn't refuse and a whole magic kit, book included.  $4.75.

3) And for the randoms.

-The frost still hasn't been tough enough to get the garden completely. I thought the peppers were done, and went out to pick a five gallon bucket.
 
-But we did bid farewell to the last of the cucumbers in the fridge.   (Goat cheese, dates and fresh basil-yum!).
 
 -I thought I had a huge patch of Japanese Lanterns.  Instead they're tomatillos. 

 They're all over out there. How marvelous is that? Next year hope to pick them before they pass.

 -And potatoes.  Haven't grown them since I was a kid.  I randomly threw in some red bliss. Cutting two potatoes at the beginning of the season and planting them yielded a five gallon bucket.  Adrian said digging tatos was the happiest part of his day.   We will be planting more potatoes next year, I've forgotten how delicious they are.  And easy too.  I mean, we do live in Maine and potatoes are a Maine thing. Next year...

 And these kids loooooved digging them.

 And preserving.  And collecting squash.  Yup, a bit of that here and there.

 And some pumpkins.  And the last of the sunflowers.

 And eggs. Goodness, eggs.  Those girls are laying up a storm.

 -I've been trying to keep a steady supply of mini muffins for on the go snacks.  Sometimes we have had crackers, and I'm trying to eliminate that when we're on the road.  I have containers filled with mini muffins in the freezer.  I grab an assortment before we leave and they're unthawed by the time we need them. Zucchini and banana muffins here.  Cranberry orange and pumpkin muffins coming up this week, I hope. (Recipes above).

 Fall is so lovely here. I mentioned to my husband that I haven't noticed the leaves enough this year.  So, I snapped a quick picture in transit as a reminder.  Don't let time go so fast that you miss the little things, Jackie. 

So now that I have written a book, I shall go to bed and remember all that's grand.  That right there is why blogging is so good for me.  If you made it through all that, thank you for being a reader and tolerating my stream of consciousness. :)