Dreaming in these Hues

One of four roosters we kept for meat this winter. He is by the honeysuckle vines.

The wildflower field and hens

Potting shed and one of my gardens

Bees domain

Our pond and newly given sitting rock.

Our home

Sugar maple

Horse pasture under the sugar maple

 Japanese and Kershaw squash curing on top of our firewood.

Busy September

The foster kitten we named "Nutsack" so we do not fall in love with him. He is now 5 weeks old,litter trained and always eating. He eats more than previous litters of 6! He has been wormed and is growing well. He did the stairs today all the way down to the litter box area but got stuck going up and meowed for help.

Pumpkins, squash, tomatillo, tomato and more.

All kinds of tomatillo. Next year, I will plant the larger kind. These are small and take more to make something with. Lots of peeling for small amount.

Prometheus moth abound at night in the Ozarks. Note: not my photo but better)

Staghorn Sumac makes the bees happy.

I have been canning all spring and summer long. Since it is only 2 of us I find the half pints the best size for us. Quart jars for soups and storing but the pints or half pints for meals. I have been given jars and picked up some at auctions. I did not realize I had so many in our garage. I find the older jars heavier and less prone to breaking. I am rough on my jars. But they always come through and are reusable year after year. Being a city girl all this canning stuff was new to me. Cooking from scratch was tough to learn. But thanks to listening to people who cook well and grow their own I learned a ton. How to plant what I like, grow and cook what I love, and save the good stuff for winter.

Colors of my Ozarks World

These photos were taken by the photographer Oscar Robertson. You can find him on Facebook here:

He captures the wonderful color of the sunsets here in Missouri.

Fall at the Mill

This past Saturday was our annual Fish Fry at our historic Mill in Summersville, Missouri. The day got started early with setting up the food, tables and chairs, pumpkins and fish. Since I was setting up and serving food, I did not get any shots of that, too busy! But I did get shots of Roy our Mill coordinator and his blue donated shuttle taxi. You can also see our new park benches on the Mill porch. The log counter was made with the help of donated materials, skills and time by friends of the Mill; it turned out great! I missed getting a shot of the Bluegrass Fiddlers who played for us while people enjoyed the fish and desserts. It all turned out to be a wonderful event to get ready for Fall.

Winter Wonderland in the Ozarks

We got a break here in the Ozarks and then the snow came again. Snow fell from all directions and plastered the forest in white. Snow is caking over all the plants, trees and grasses. We have a winter wonderland in February.

Snowening

It snowed again in the Ozarks. We expected this on Thursday but it came all day and night on Friday. Our porch was snow filled and the car was snowed in with 5+ inches. We can't see our driveway anymore. My husband and I shoveled our way out the porch and deck. We walked up our snowy hill to our mailbox. The mailman made it through! We then walked down the road to see how far we could get on foot. No way our car is getting through all this snow. A huge tractor came by to pick up hay for the neighbors cows and horses. Tractors have no problems in the snow. We will wait it out like our neighbors are doing. Just take care of the animals and stay warm at home with the fire going.

The Coldman cometh

We got an Arctic front hitting us hard for an early winter in the Ozarks. Woke up to 3 inches of powdery snow everywhere. This was not the good kind of snow for making snowmen, but light and fluffy kind that was easy to shovel.

Oh and the shoveling I did this frosty morning. Three inches of snow becomes 18 inches of snow in a shovel very quickly. I had to clear our deck so if it melted ice would not form. Then I trod out to A's car to get it uncovered. It got so cold his logo came off his Subaru. So sad to see the logo just sitting on the snow. Took almost 20 minutes to get all the snow off the car and a path cleared for him to get to his car.

The dogs ran around like kids chasing the "snow-nadoes" created by the wind.

I got half the deck cleared when it was time to make oatmeal. After getting A off to work I finished the deck. Then I found all that deck snow had blown on to the bottom porch, ugh, more shoveling.

At lunch we got a call from a neighbor who had a whole truck bed full of wood for us. He brought his truck to our garage and we got busy unloading all the split wood. We learned a lot about chainsaws and cutting wood from him. Being city folks, we have not bought a chainsaw, yet. We are very happy with Stihl weed eater. Seems to be the one maker everyone uses around here in the Ozarks for logging and firewood.

I found a chipmunk's nest under the older split wood. It had used my broom bristles to make a fine nest. The chipmunk was no longer in residence. I guess he went south for the winter.

Upon coming home, we discovered A's Subaru had a flat tire. Something else that needs fixing. But he filled it with air to get to work. We shall deal with that tonight. Good thing it is not cold or anything.

Just life as normal in the Ozarks, except just colder.