grape harvest 2012

it will soon be obvious that there are no pics of the actual harvesting of the grapes.  good reason for that.... the camera and i were in the kitchen slaving over a hot stove making harvest soup (everything in the soup was harvested here in my queendom), baking bread, making Greek salad of tomatoes, cucumbers and onions topped with feta cheese, olive oil and balsamic vinegar, preparing dessert of peach crumble (from peaches we picked and froze several weeks ago).  just totally being harriet-housewife-pioneer-woman and being happy that once again i wasn't out there doing back breaking labor, fighting off the yellow-jackets and stumbling over dirt clods in order to harvest the fruit of the vine.

but, however... here is Carla pressing the grapes to extract the juice to be fermented in 5 gallon carboys over the next year+.

and Ethan getting a moment of well-deserved rest while Carla slaves over the pressing.

pick-up bed with 3 happy wine makers loving the carboys full of juice.

ahhhh - muscat!!  one of my most favorites.

this is the must... what's left after pressing the juice from the grapes (see top photo).  the must will be left to ferment for 6 weeks or so and then will be distilled to make tzikoudia/raki, or Greek fire water, also called "nectar of the gods" or "the end of the evening", depending on the amount consumed.  seriously, in Crete it is an important element of hospitality and is offered just about any time of the day (sometimes accompanied by bread or cookies) when you visit someone in their home, or go into a taverna and know the owner or a waiter or see someone you know.  it's kind of part of a Cretan greeting!

a compact "cake" of must after pressing.

it's hard to believe this muddy looking liquid from the grape pressing will end up as a drinkable and enjoyable beverage.  you'll just have to believe me on this, and don't spend a lot of time thinking about how your wine started out.











and so... the beginning of one more harvest.  the reds still need to be harvested.  hmmm - and what will i cook up for the next harvest dinner?

from my desktop

this is a wonderful carving from a whale rib.  it was in a shop in Ketchikan.  would have loved to bring it home with me, but knew it was so cost prohibitive that i didn't even ask what was the price.  it is fabulous!

imagination is such a key and basic component of creativity.  important words from Albert.

this is a mosaic.  i saved it because it is such an inspiration for a quilting project.

so true.  makes me smile just looking at it!

garden and attitude adjustment

dragonfly!  damn how i do love when i see one in my garden.  kinda makes my day.  that and taking time to meditate and appreciate all the magnificence surrounding me.  breathtaking.  goes a long way toward attitude adjustment.  and the amazing fact is that it is right there all the time, just waiting to be tapped into.

from my garden... one of the ugliest lookin' tomatoes i have ever seen... and HUGE.  and oh so sweet!

and enough ripe tomatoes to put some in the food dehydrator, including that humongous one.

WOW fiber from Woolgatherings

this is BFL/Silk/glitz fiber that spun up into the most awesome freakin' gorgeous yarn i've made in a long time.  the sheen and sparkle is amazing.  was thinking socks would be a good project, then decided the beauty of the fiber wouldn't be as visible as it would in mitts or hat or scarf.  and this deserves to be seen!

thank you Kate and Chris!  hope there will be more of these colors.  big wow factor.  and i really do love this fiber blend.  it is so lovely to spin!

harvest time

i really do love the time when i can harvest from the plants i've put so much time and love into thru the summer.  it also brings me incredible sadness to know that with the harvest and autumn comes the end of summer.  i love the colors of fall and the changing of seasons... and i SO don't look forward to month after month of rain and grey after that.

i have one lovely eggplant in my garden.  from 3 plants that went in at the same time.  one goal for next year is to find the secret of successful growing of eggplant.  i need to know.  i love eggplant and sometimes am tempted to just buy 'em at Trader Joes and at farmers' markets and not anguish over trying to grow them myself.

and grape harvest is coming soon.  the muscat and gewurtztremeiner (sp?) will be ready really soon and are 2 of my faves.  the daily sun and warm are helping with the ripening.

ETA  - this is a pinot noir grape... not one of the above-mentioned faves.

some of my newer roses are totally breathtaking.

sunflowers!  also a favorite of late summer.  i'll try to collect the seeds for the birds for winter feeding.

at this point, it's going to take an act of harvest goddess to get any kind of tomato harvest.  this is ONE gigantic melded tomato and it's finally showing some promise of ripening.  i'd thought i'd have enough to put some in my new food dehydrator to dry for soups etc this winter.  not so sure now.






hmmm - seems to be a tone of sad here and yep, i'll own it.  time for an attitude adjustment......

fiber again! OFFF

it was a spectacularly beautiful autumn weekend for the fiber fest in Canby!  this year, for the first time, Kate and Chris had their Woolgatherings inside the main building... and it was lookin' good, as were the owners.  and check out Kate's boots!!

Jim and i took the g.kids to the fairground midday to hook them up with their parents.  this was actually J's first time at a fiber festival... shocking, i know,  after all the years i vended at these shows.  and he seemed quite surprised at the number of cars in the 3 parking lots and then the number of people milling about among the many booths and groups of spinners on the lawn, plus the many vendors in the 2 buildings.  i guess i was just too busy to take photos outside... occupied with my mission of finding friends and fondling fiber.

i found Dicentra right away and grabbed myself a nice hunk of BFL/silk from Lisa.  Kate very generously let me have my choice of one of their braids so i got a BFL, silk and glitz!  it was really difficult to get a good clear photo and i think that's because of the shiny silk and glitter.

and from the Whimsical Ewe this adorable and fanciful little felted bag.  i had seen and admired her work at BSG and was happy to find her again at OFFF.  and i know i'll be looking for her again at future shows!

there was some truly amazing work on display in the fiber arts gallery.  some very imaginative and well-done pieces.

 this is a close up of a portion of a felted shawl--->        

a beautiful and tranquil quiet inspiring hanging.

and i couldn't help myself!.... it was marked down 30% because of a tiny dye spot on the front that was considered a defect and which i can fix easypeasy.  really, i couldn't help having it for my own!









so, i had a fine time at OFFF, was very happy that i'm thru with the vending thing, and enjoyed seeing so many friends and appreciating so much beautiful fiber.  next event i'll attend is Fiber Fusion in Monroe WA october 20 and 21.

Alaska - Glacier Bay

Kate's photo which i grabbed from her flickr acct.

 Glacier Bay was spectacular and one of the major highlights of the cruise, for me!  it was one of those quiet and majestic places that reminds me that i'm a tiny speck in the whole spectrum of time and space.  that's one more thing i can cross off my "bucket list".

and it was C-O-L-D.  the ship provided warm and wooly blankets, strategically placed around the deck, which we took advantage of!

Kate with glacier in the background .... or glacier with Kate in the foreground....

at some point, a forest ranger boarded the ship and gave us wonderful descriptions of what we were seeing and the history.

and, by the way, these colors are true.  not photoshopped or edited to look blue.

Alaska - Glacier Bay

Alaska - Glacier Bay, a photo by namztis on Flickr.

Calertne entrelac cuff mitts - on Knitty.com

i'm so excited!  Knittyspin at knitty.com just put up a new pattern from Lynne Vogel, my dear and very talented friend.

it's called Calertne Fingerless Mittens.  entrelac cuffs.  free pattern.  lovely photos!   

story about it and photos will follow here later. 

also, check out Lynne's blog at  handspuncentral.blogspot.com

she has also put up 3 new patterns that you will LOVE!

the story of how this pattern came about in on Lynne's blog, along with photos of my original entrelac cuff mitts.  i love how this all worked out!

loving the harvest

as satisfying as it is to gather in the harvest of what i've planted and lovingly tended during the summer.... well, dealing with it is lots of work and time, and dare i say it... gets damn boring.  Jim brought in this big (and deeper than it looks) basket of green beans today... all of it the first harvest from one row of pole beans.  and, oh dear goddess  this means there's much more to come.  i do love having garden produce in its frozen form to eat during the gray days of winter, but the abundance is killin' me.  suffice it to say that the local food bank receives the overflow.  and that is a good thing!



most of this batch is headed for the food dehydrator that i'm borrowing from my neighbor.  will be good in soups and stews and etc during the winter.

so... first wash, then cut up,  put on dehydrator tray and fire up the noisy beast.  (it's an Excalabrator which cost them around $350 or more and which i will never buy... because of the price, size and NOISE)

and after about 4 to 5 hours the beautiful green beans become way decreased in volume and are hard little nuggets which will live in a jar until needed.  ah, yes, a mere shadow of their former selves.

and the muscat grapes are getting close to being harvestable.  there is some critter out there that seems to be reaching up and pulling off the lower-hanging sweet nuggets... damn their retched hide! so Jim netted them yesterday and maybe we'll have some left for wine.

the u-pick peaches from friday are suddenly ALL ripe and ready for processing.  so, most will probably end up frozen in quantities perfect for the "peach crisp" we both love.  if dessert can't be chocolate, then this will do.  i'm pretty sure the recipe for this is in a post about a year ago.

i know that J would love to have lots of them made into jam, but i'm such a friggin' jam making failure that i'm just not going to go there again.  i already did my "pioneer woman" routine... long ago... and i'm finished with that and canning and long hot nights slaving over the canning kettle.  i'm at the place where it's just too much work, and boring besides!  i could be spinning or knitting or taking a nap.

also harvested basil and made a couple of batches of pesto.  and tomatoes are very SLOWLY
 ripening, but did have some juicy ones for BLT yesterday... yummmm.

and the sunflowers!!  they make my heart sing.  love 'em.  they are just so perfect and impressive and it's fascinating watching the bees forage for pollen and gather so much they can hardly fly away.  i think of them as kind of a reward for all the labor that goes on around them in bringing the harvest of vegetables in.

there are more Alaska photos to come.  i'm still in awe of the beauty of Glacier Bay and have the pics to prove it!