In the Kitchen & on the Road

 I haven't been in my sewing room in over a week. Empty freezers and all the apples we picked last week have taken priority.

The dehydrator has been going non-stop for a week and it's not done yet

Wednesday was applesauce making day. I know there are ways to make applesauce without peeling the apples, but those methods I've seen require you run everything through a mill or seive and I have neither. But those methods also produce smooth applesauce and my family likes a more rustic applesauce so I peel apples...lots and lots of apples. Until one day, when I am unable to and then I will break down and buy a food mill and they will have to get used to smooth applesauce. 😉

But it'll all be worth it and the house smells heavenly

Then we've been spending long days scouting the surrounding area for game. Hunting season hasn't begun yet, but you have to learn the country and have some idea of where the animals are living. DH drew tags for antelope, deer, and elk. We're hoping he'll have a successful season because we need to fill our freezers.

Soon after we left home on Sunday at 5:30, the full moon was just slipping  behind the mountains

One day

13 hours

260 miles

Miles and miles of brilliant blue skies

Lots of glassing

And Some pretty country...being spoiled by wind turbines. Don't get me started.

And one really cool volcanic rock that DH brought back to show me when he walked back from glassing over that railroad track

We are rockhounds and bringing me a neat rock pretty much makes my day. A few years back he brought me this metate he found on the ranch and it's one of my favorite things

We've been spending a lot of time exploring and then coming home hungry and not wanting to cook. At least we now have applesauce. LOL.

 

Painterly Petals

 I used to get the Missouri Star daily deal emails, but I unsubscribed a few years ago because I wanted to whittle down the number of emails that seemes to flood our inbox. A few months ago, I was searching for something and signed up for emails again. A few days later, they had a crazy deal for the Painterly Petals collection with 72 fat quarters for $99. Did I need them? Absolutely not. I had accrued some credit from things I had ordered a long time ago and used that so I only paid $88.00 for 72 pretty fat quarters.

These are just beautiful and I have no idea what to do with them. 😂 

Labor Day Exploration

I was going to begin processing apples last Monday, but DH whisked me away to explore another mountain road so after easing into the day over breakfast and a second cup of tea on the deck,

And watching Skeet become re-acquainted with his friend, Pockets, who recently showed up again

 we loaded into the buggy and headed west to explore Copeland Canyon. 

It took an hour and a half to bounce 5 miles, gaining 2000' in elevation, over a very questionable path that was once a road, but at the end, we were treated to a magical spot

Where a cool mountain spring danced along the rocks and pebbles. You never tasted water so crisp and sweet.

 The sunlight filtered through dense trees

DH likes to read the ground - look at tracks and identify the plants. 

Our trusty buggy allows us to explore places we aren't able to traverse with a truck and then we're able to climb around on foot from there

A neighbor is building a cabin about 2 1/2 miles up this road and we stopped to visit with him for a bit. I do not know how he's even hauling building material and supplies up the road because it's so rough. But he was born and raised here and he knows the history of these mountains and we are both interested in knowing about the area and the people who once called it home.

Next stop. The Historical Society in town because he said there were good references and material in their archives.

There's a little bit of history here as well because there is an original house on our property that has been added onto and was last updated in 1995, but they always built around the original one room cabin which was built in 1905. There are only 2 walls left standing and I wish those walls could talk.

It was another pretty day to be out and about