How have you bean?

Thanks to everyone for all the condolences (X3). Honestly, there has been little time for mourning around here -- it's the harvest!

Granted, we're hardly a real farm, but that doesn't mean we haven't been up to our eyeballs in corn, apples, some tomatoes, carrots and even beans.

On a whim this summer I decided I wanted to plant some beans for drying. I was hoping for mostly navy beans with a few kidney beans and something new: soldier beans. Unfortunately, the navy beans didn't take in the soggy part of the garden, and most of the soldier beans succumbed as well. But these unassuming looking pods, which I dried on the vine,

Yielded these beautiful beans:

Now, I do like a lot of soups and stews in the winter,

so even if I could have bought the same beans for less than a dollar,

this was a lot more fun, and more satisfying.

Before the beans, there was corn. We didn't plant any this year, but a friend of mine helped me pick six brown grocery bags full (approx. 150 ears!) of beautiful sweet corn from her own crop.

I spent two very long evenings shucking, blanching, cutting, bagging and freezing some 44 bags of corn. The freezer is full, and I'm exhausted, but the freezer is full.

I've only picked a few carrots; I'm leaving the rest in the ground to freeze a bit and sweeten up. They're not beautiful, but they're tasty.

Then there are the apples. The goats, having run out of anything good to eat in their pasture, have been jumping the fence daily to work on the apple trees. Can you see Trooper on her hind legs grabbing an apple on the right-hand tree? (Picture taken through grimy kitchen window)

So far, we've picked about 10 bushels of apples. A bushels weighs around 65 pounds, so that's pretty good, in my opinion. We've made apple butter, applesauce, apple leather, apple pies, frozen apples for later pies, and a lot of cider. Twenty gallons or, technically, 40 half-gallons, so far.

We have barely scratched the surface of our apple crop... and we had to take a chicken out of the freezer just to fit the last few half-gallons of cider in!

I just got my car back. I had to put it into the body shop for two weeks to fix a certain disaster. (Did I ever mention in the blog how one day this spring I left my E-brake off and left my car in neutral and went into a store and came out and found my car had rolled backwards from an upper lot to a lower lot down a huge embankment and crashed into three cars at the bottom? No? It was nothing, really.) I did a lot of walking and a lot of planning to make sure my stuff and I were in the right places at the right time. It was tricky but I did start to get the hang of it. By the way, home to work: 1.4 miles. Twice a day, five days a week, you do the math. (And that doesn't count errands during the work day.) I actually enjoyed it quite a bit.

When not trying to schedule errands around my husband's truck availability, keep the goats contained, and blanch every vegetable in sight, I was working, cooking, tearing my hair out about bills, and pretty much not having time to sleep (and being sleepless anyway; see "bills," above). I spent this past weekend mostly relaxing and knitting. I've really missed having free time.

In knitting, I finished the sleeves for my handspun sweater. Sleeve photos = deadly dull, so I'll spare you.

I also made a quick hat for my SIL at her request, to go with the sweater I made her last year. I worked it up in Lopi but decided to line the brim with something softer. I also knitted a swear word into the hem just to make her giggle. But I won't show you that.

Here's my unconscious husband "modeling" it.

Even better, I finished a project I'd started a few months ago: Gloves!

Since finishing them earlier today, I've come up with several reasons why you should knit some, too:

• Like socks and mittens, they are portable
• They look so much harder than they are
• Each finger takes only a short time to knit, so you feel like you're making progress really quickly
• You can customize each finger to fit your own fingers, something those of us with odd-shaped fingers really like
• Did I mention they look harder than they are?

This pattern is Good Basic Gloves by Rita Buchanan, from Homespun, Handknit (Ravelry link here), and all I did was note how many rows I knit for each finger so both hands would be the same. A nice treat was that although you do have to join a new strand of yarn each time you start a new finger, if you leave a long tail you can use it to sew up any gaps between the fingers.

I came off this project all jazzed to start some new mittens for my daughter tonight. I'm going to make her the thrummed mitts from the Fox and Geese mitten book, which I love. When I was spinning at the Shelburne Farms harvest festival (where I did, surprisingly, sell a lot of yarn), I met a vendor who sells angora rabbit fiber. Check out Apple View Angoras, in Fairfax, Vermont. I bought a small bag of angora/wool blend roving and I want to use it for the thrums. Sadly, I don't have the right yarn for the project so that will have to wait.

(Typepad users: I'm getting in my last post before getting switched to the new Typepad. I'm currently peeved with the new reply-to-comment feature, which is not at all user-friendly. And to all my readers: If you didn't receive a reply to the last comment you left, check the comments on the previous post; Typepad automatically makes me respond to the comment list rather than in a private email unless I remember to take two additional steps. And I'm forgetful.)

Autumn is coming to Vermont. This is the best time of the year, in my opinion, even if it does give way to winter. But, after the crazy month that was September, even winter isn't sounding that bad.

Comments

[Manise]

Shelling beans is fun.I have a handful of bush beans plants that were hard to reach in my raised beds and they've gotten huge- I'll leave them to dry on the vine or use as shelly beans.

Wow you've been putting up a lot of veggies for the winter! I love your fat carrots. I got some from farmer's market the other day- best tasting carrots I've had in a long time.

[Renee]

You've been busy! But oh so nice to have all that food put up to enjoy all winter.

Love your gloves, are they really easier than they look? I always cop out and do fingerless mitts. lol

[Philip]

Just came across your blog, love your style of writing and the photographs are stunning. I'll definitely be dropping by now and again.
Thanks
Philip

[jessie]

Yup, I thought they were quite easy. I used magic loop, though. I don't
think I'd enjoy having dpns with only 18 stitches or so on 3 needles. (On
the other hand, it's a lot of pulling on a long needle to get set up every 9
stitches.)

The first time I tried them was for some fingerless gloves, so each finger
was only an inch long. That was reallllly fast.

Jessie

On Wed, Sep 30, 2009 at 10:11 PM, wrote:

[jessie]

Why, thank you. I just left a comment on your blog.

Shoreham is a town 10 minutes from here in Vermont. (Not the original
Shoreham, to be sure.)

Jessie

On Thu, Oct 1, 2009 at 4:06 AM, wrote:

[Mary]

Wow, there is so much here I'm excited about! but I'll leave it at:
a/ GORGEOUS gloves
and
b/ Use tons of thrum in those mitts... I was stingy when I did my Fleece Artist ones and even when I added more later, they still aren't warm enough to wear in winter in Toronto if there's any breeze at all (though to be sure, there wasn't any angora in the mix)
and
c/ I love the Fox and Geese book too and have been too intimidated to try any of the patterns. Go you!

[Becky in VT]

I have a question? Why blanch and then cut the corn? I usually cut and then blanch. It's a bit trickier getting all the kernals in and out of the steamer, and it takes longer then boiling (I just use the time to continue cutting more off the cobs) But I figure the kernals take up less space and I'm heating less total mass.

I love knitting gloves - and yes fingers are much easier then they look!

[jessie]

Good question. I think either works. I feel like if I cut first and blanched
after, I'd lose some juices in the blanching water. You can't do as much per
batch, but I reuse the blanching water so once it's up to temp it's not a
lot of reheating.

Some people freeze the blanched corn right on the cob but we don't have
anywhere enough room to do that!

On Thu, Oct 1, 2009 at 9:12 AM, wrote:

[donna lee]

I haven't made the leap to gloves. I have heard the fingers are not so hard but they look like a pita. My husband really wants some thrummed gloves (can you imagine?) since he saw my thrummed mittens.

[CindyCindy]

It's good to hear from you. Putting by your own harvest will save you a bundle this year. Knowing there is food on the table helps a bunch. I'm envious of your beans. I have always wanted to grow my own kidney beans, but have such limited space. And, it's good to hear good news from you. Take care!!

[gayle]

We grew 3 kinds of dried beans this year. Easy gardening - plant, weed them a time or two early on, then just ignore them until fall. And bean soup will taste sooooo good this winter!
I knit glove fingers on dpns. I keep meaning to try Magic Loop, but haven't sprung for a long enough needle yet.

[Davide]

needed here

[Teyani]

love all your beans and the corn and apple harvest. I guarantee you that those will all taste better than the dried ones in the store that are probably ten years old.
good job!!!
Love the hat and gloves.
sorry about the car.
good about the walking exercise.
living on a farm = constant challenge to make ends meet (unless of course you win the lottery, for which I will continue to hope for you!)

[Lisa]

i don't understand why you think you are not living on a real farm. I think you do. It may not be huge, but at least you are working in the right direction. I love to read about everything that happens there. I live vicariously through your experiences. I wish my husband and I could have done this years ago. You combine two of my favorite things, anything yarn and nearly self sustainable living. My husband's grandfather just had his backyard garden all his life and hunted for the meats that they ate. He only paid for staples for the family. You do more than that with all your animals. I give you kudos for what you are able to do. You are an inspiration to me. Thanks for writing about your life. Lisa

[Robin]

Great post! I love the hat and the sleeping husband ain't bad, either! The veggies, apples, etc. look wonderful! You have been busy but I agree, a full freezer is a wonderful thing. I'm having trouble with Typepad, too. I'm not getting any email notification when people leave comments. Aggravating. Glad you got your car back. Your little incident sounds quite scary.

[trek]

Sory about the animals but your produce sounds yummy!

[Pom Pom]

What a wonderful post! I thoroughly enjoyed my visit with you this morning. It is snowing in Denver. I'm having my tea by candlelight, resting and pondering a bit before I start cleaning for our house guests. Your knitting is inspirational and your car story is hilarious (but I'm so glad you're okay!) Stay warm! I love fall, too. It's a continual delight to the senses. WHAT a blessing!

[Caroline]

Thanks for sharing your gloves. They look beautiful. I know I own Handspun, Handknit, but finding it may be another story! I think my husband needs some gloves just like the ones you knit.