A plethora of updates!

I thought I had two things to update in this virtual scrapbook until I downloaded pictures! Let's just say I forgot a few things. So here's a whirlwind tour of the last 10 days or so (the practical and logistical aspects of life and not so much on the emotional aspects of those same 10 days). 

The main fall cover crops are in (with Jason getting most of the credit for that feat!). Next up will be planting garlic as soon as the corn and squash patch is cleared. In the meantime, Jason has been doing a lot of fall harvests without much assistance, so it's probably not fair to show me in the gardens here as I haven't been of much help in that realm in recent days. But I do love chopping up plants and it was time to clear the pepper patch for fall spinach!

The last of the red sweet peppers went into a delicious chicken/black bean/corn soup that Kali made last evening and all the green peppers have been fermented with onions to enjoy over the coming months. 

Kali does get credit for one major harvesting task which was to pick a canner full of autumn olive berries to cook down and make into juice. Between her sleep schedule (she rises late) and the tedious nature of harvesting these little berries, the cooking/canning started late evening. I was in WV by this time (more on that later) so it was Kali's first solo canning project and it's a good thing she is naturally a night owl. It sounds like she didn't land in bed until after 4 a.m. We'll be very grateful for the addition of autumn olive berry juice on our shelves this winter and are eager to try blending it with the white grape juice. It seems the tart flavorful berries are likely to pair well with the very mild and sweet grape juice. Jason noticed in the morning that only one jar hadn't sealed and it was much clearer and lighter in color. He didn't taste it at the time and later learned that Kali had canned a jar of the water from the canner as she wasn't sure if it was ok to have a blank spot in the canner. 

In recent days, all the trombone squash, PA Dutch squash, red flour corn and amaranth have been harvested (by Jason solo). It's not as big a squash year, which is just fine since we are still using up last year's. The amaranth is drying in the garage and will hopefully be threshed out early next week. Jason is happy to see that his white seeded red amaranth is now breeding true, which means the relevant characteristics are uniformly present in the crop.

A week or so ago I had fun making three pies with Alida - our first ever persimmon pie, a sweet potato pie and a delicata pie. They were beautiful and tasty. They just got cleaned up this morning for breakfast!

We also turned off the heat in and emptied out the sweet potato curing room. It seemed to have worked well and the sweet potatoes are now piled high in the root cellar.

Other than the beauty of fall harvests, there've been some amazing skies to enjoy, as well as the color of fall flowers. Here's just a few of my recent favorites! This rose is blooming beautifully in Nora's garden here during her birth month. 

Ok, without further ado, the big Tangly Woods' news: WE HAVE NEW PIGLETS! And you can see for yourself, but we are all smitten. They are so cute and doing so well. Please meet Pink Nose, Black Nose and Auburn:

No, this is not the time we normally get new pigs. No, we didn't need a new project. Yes, we are suckers for good opportunities. Yes, we have too much slop for the 3 adult pigs. So when our neighbor told us he was headed to auction to bid on some American Guinea Hog piglets (our usual breed), we decided it was not something we wanted to pass up and he brought 3 home for us. That meant we had to get the adult pigs' winter paddock ready so we could move them there and then use their pen for the little guys. It needed to happen soon anyway, so it just got an immediate bump to the top of the list. They are happily settled in their new quarters, but I think are less pleased about us walking more often in the opposite direction with feed buckets than towards them!

I promise that I used a lot of discretion deciding what piglet pictures to include in the scrapbook. There are many to choose from!! The girls are doing a fabulous job getting them accustomed to people and associating us with treats. They are quite comfortable around us now. 

And then some other big news of a very different sort: we have gone from 4 legal drivers in our Tangly Woods' household to 5! While Mom and I were in WV this week, Jason took Kali to the DMV for her learner's permit. We noted that, here at 18 years of age, it was the first test she was taking in her life that had any consequences if she didn't pass it. She did! No test driving has happened yet, but it's on the horizon! As I type this Jason is giving Kali a verbal explanation of how an engine works while they eat their lunch. It's a good thing that being tested on how engine works was not part of my driver's test! I still would not have a driver's license... I'm also laughing as Kali was also just asking Jason about various parts of the whole driving apparatus and she is now clear about the difference between the clutch and the parking break. Good clarification before we hit the road!

And speaking of hitting the road, Mom and I did just that early Tuesday afternoon. We agreed that it was probably the first time the two of us went away by ourselves since my adolescent weekends alone with Mom in my teen years. We did cover some of the same subjects in our conversations this time as we did 30 years ago! This particular trip had a clear focus: sorting and packing in preparation for their final and complete move to T.W. in December. As soon as we arrived, I said, "so what room's first" to which mom replied, "you are a girl after my own heart." We do make a pretty good team on things like this. 

We plowed through a lot of stuff in our 2 days there but also fit in a lot more. Some walks in the fall mountain air, sitting and talking down in the middle of the labyrinth, playing some games, eating delicious meals together, and then taking many moments in our sorting/packing to pause and relive a moment or rekindle a memory. Those were precious moments!

I did offer to take some pictures with sentimental items that Mom was parting with - a trick that has helped our girls part with things over the years. Moving is hard work, as is parting with items that have been with us for much of our lives! Mom did a lot of hard work in those two days! 

It's quite possible our husbands could have packed the car more efficiently and fit a few more things in, but I'd say we did a pretty good job! Half of it went to Gift and Thrift and the other half returned home with us. 

It was good to be reunited with the rest of the family! And that evening the girls put on the new skirts that we had brought with them. Mom's three handwoven skirts (one by her, one by her mom and one by her sister) are now gonna be treasured by these three. These are the kinds of gifts that money can't buy.

And now I must bring this to a close. Terah's birthday celebrations continued after her birthday with a fun biking outing with Emily, Jonas and Ivy last Sunday. And now in just a few minutes, we'll be having an outdoor fall birthdays get together with Aunt Karen and Aunt Sue. 

p.s. I'll close with a fun story: Yesterday at work I was at my standing desk but I felt my left shoe collapse, with no warning whatsoever. It felt very odd but I just kept working. Then when I walked to the bathroom, I realized something was very wrong with the sole of the shoe. These were second hand shoes and I think the previous owner might have known something was amiss (this was the first day I was wearing them). On my way back to my office I noticed a trail of black powdery stuff. The shoe was literally falling apart. I still had a day at the office and then two visits and then multiple errand stops. Sigh! There's basically no one working on my side of the office and so going around in my stocking feet was no big deal. My first stop after work was to see Ezzah and her family (I got to hold her for over an hour and fill my heart full!!!!). I visited barefoot and at the end of the visit, Shama gave me a present. There in the bag were a pair of shoes that fit me! Amazingly while in the heat of labor, she had taken note of the size of my feet and nailed it. What a timely gift!