So many changes, preparing for winter…

 So much has been changing here and yet nothing at all. So many new things and yet they have been done before, many times in our own home. It is a kind a blissful nostalgia tinged with adventure when seen through new eyes.

We have a new sewist! (Or seamster, as I recently learned a male seamstress was called in ye olden days…) Azariah has caught the sewing bug.<3

it started last week when I was cutting strips for a scrappy quilt I am working on (I will share about it in a separate post!) and he found a scrappy quilt that he loved. It was too short for my purposes so I happily gave it to him. It was a toy in various forms for about 20 minutes before he came back asking for a scrap of his “baby blanket” to make a bracelet with. He sat beside me and stitched away quite expertly! After I did one stitch to demonstrate he said he didn’t need my help anymore. About halfway through he got a tangle and this was how the conversation went roughly

A: I shouldn’t have done that..

J: oh it’s ok I still have tangles sometimes. It happens.

A: oh well you should have helped me so it didnt get tangled!

J: yeah, well I would have but a little boy told me “oh it’s ok I know how to do it! Don’t help me! I can do it!”

A (clapping his hand over his mouth and gasping) Ohhh I shouldn’t have said that! Cause I did need your help!

We both had a laugh over it! That was about a week ago and he has been sewing often ever since! So far he has made several bracelets, a wallet, and helped wisdom make a coat and mittens for his bear/puppy (a knitting fail of mine that gets played with none the less)

We are working on the pad for the shop, well the guys are. Hauling gravel, laying block, compacting it all and getting it to grade. Racing against the winter cold. 

I made ricotta today, it turned out delicious. Sweet and milky. A flavor hard to describe to those who haven’t experienced fresh milk and fresh milk products. You may disagree but it truly is different to what you may find in your typical grocery store. We are having it on burritos today but I think it would be yummy so many ways. This past weekend we went to a friend’s house and they had made some fresh ricotta for pizza toppings. Delicious. I want to make all the cheeses but i also often put it on the back burner to craft with wool or do some deep cleaning. The weather has turned fully autumnal, seemingly over night. I think because we are so used to such back and forth weather for weeks or months that we didn’t believe it immediately. But the days are mostly a bit chilly and very grey. The leaves are turning, possibly as much as they will turn before the frost gets them. I am hoping the big tree that dropped golden leaves all at once one beautiful autumn day last year will do the same again this year. 

I am feeling the push to be cozy and settle in for winter, but also the need to prepare and put up as much food as possible for winter for easy meals. Our garden wasn’t very big or complete to start with and didn’t yield well at the end so there is only so much preserving to be done.

I pray that you are all well! Shalom!

Joelle