Happy Hallowe'en!

We are not dressing up tonight, as it is a weeknight and I have to get up at 5am, but we did decorate the house in a spooky fashion so we can hand out candy.

Instead, I will out myself as a total nerd with one of my handmade costumes (95% of which involve a corset).  Say hi to Fire-resistant Link.

Questing in the dark of night!

And yes... that is a fairy bottle on the belt.  There was also a slingshot made of manzanita.

~~~

I received a lot of positive feedback from the pumpkin-carving post this week, so I thought I would share my favorite pumpkin carving of all.  It was the first one where I used the "paint by number" method.

This is a photo of a photo, so bear with me (hey, I didn't have a digital camera back then).

May the force be with you tonight.

What does your costume entail?

Pumpkin Carving: Golem! Golem!

Looks like it's time for pumpkin carving!

Golem is watching you.

 My favorite method is to draw a picture on the pumpkin with whiteboard markers, in a "paint by number" method where you have 3 "numbers."  I tend to choose photos or movie stills off the internet that have the character in stark lighting with good contrast, or something in the glow of a fireplace. 

If drawing by hand is too boring a task, just print out your picture, trim out the character and tape it to the pumpkin, then use a needle or push-pin to put dots along the edges of the areas you will cut:

• Highlights:  cut holes straight through the pumpkin into the interior.  Use tiny tools for the delicate detail work!  If you accidentally cut off a piece you need, just shove it back on there with a toothpick and then wrap the pumpkin with plastic wrap to keep it very moist until needed... nobody will really notice.
• Lowlights:  remove the skin of the pumpkin so that the yellow flesh shows.  On the inside of the pumpkin, use a large stiff metal spoon to scrape away layers of flesh until it is thin enough to just barely glow when you shine a flashlight from inside the gourd.
• Shadow/Background:  don't alter the pumpkin in these areas.

Last year I did Golem from The Lord Of The Rings... here is an example of what he looks like, in a pumpkin trimmed with this method:

It looks better in the dark.

Have a spooky holiday!

What are you carving this year? 

Ginger Sprout

I planted a 3-inch segment of ginger into an unused section of the raised beds, just to see how it'd do.  A month later, it looks like it's doing quite well.

Towering above the chard seedlings.

Black Widow

Here's a little something to get you into the creepy holiday spirit...

I found this black widow hanging in between the drainage pipe of the garage and Ryan's bike.  She skittered away from the flash of the camera, but I was prepared with a fly-swatter in hand.

Looks like I will need to be extra careful when I use my free time next year to deep-clean the garage... this is the 3rd giant black widow I've found over there so far.



Was that not close enough for you?

ACK!

Bring an Edible Head to a Party

Once I decided to make a life-sized skull out of rice krispies.

It was nearly impossible, so I ended up making an entire head... flesh is more artistically forgiving than bone.


I made the brain out of chocolate rice krispie treats (just because I much prefer chocolate), and the skin out of regular rice krispie treats... it was one standard-sized batch of each flavor.  If you want to try this, do yourself a favor, and after forming the very basic shape, put an apple in its mouth (to keep it open), and put it in the fridge for a few hours so that it will hold its shape.  Otherwise you end up with a gooey mess.

Once the head is chilled, you can make it look more human.  Squish a nose, eyebrows, and cheekbones up from the flesh.  Add large yellow jellybeans for rotten teeth, then press the mouth closed to hold them in place.  For the eyes, slice a large white jellybean in half, and use food coloring to make irises and pupils.  Give him a bit of a grin... it is more unsettling than a grimace.

If you want to get extra morbid, peel back parts of the skull, shape the surface of the chocolate section into two wrinkly brain hemispheres, and apply red food coloring or cherry pie filling for blood.  Don't worry about getting it perfect, he's supposed to be a bit mangled.

Here's lookin' at you, kid.

Put it in the fridge at least overnight, to let the thing set.  There were only a few of us at the party, but we devoured that thing as though we were starving cannibals.  Delicious.

What is your favorite Halloween treat?

First things first.

Last week when someone asked me what I was going to do next (meaning, first thing after the job ends), this instantly popped into my head, so I had to make my first meme.

Yogurt, kimchi, a sourdough starter, oak leaves*, kombucha, mead, cyser, cider, beers, sauerkraut, cheese, kefir, pickles of ALL types...

Oooh, I just had a shiver of delight.


What would you do?

*to create infusoria for the baby red cherry shrimp I'll be breeding

The Orders

If I wait to make the order until Thursday night, then the package will arrive Monday or Tuesday, which would be ideal since we have some time off and would be home to bring it inside.  And so, I must wait 2 days.

However, I've worked out the amounts, and I promised you an update!

Honeyville Grain: 10% off coupon until Friday!

I should have checked my email yesterday... Honeyville Grain's 10% off sale is this week, until Friday only.  They theoretically have this sale every 6 weeks.  With $5 shipping, this is is a pretty good bargain.

Here's what they said: 

"Honeyville's 5 day 10% Off Sale starts Monday, Oct. 21st, 2013 and ends Friday, Oct. 25th, 2013. To claim your 10% savings, shop online at store.honeyvillegrain.com before the sale ends. Shop as usual, then simply enter the coupon code "HARVEST" during checkout and enjoy. Remember to tell your friends and family about the sale before they miss out!"

Tell my friends and family?  Hey, that's you!

On the Border of Rural

I recently read an article that defined rural vs. urban.

• Rural:  400 - 1000 people per square kilometer
• Semi-rural:  1000 - 30,000
• Semi-urban:  30,000 - 500,000
• Urban:  500,000 and up

In a fit of curiosity, I had to research the density of my town... because we are next to a big nature area, technically we are just 1100 people per square kilometer!

As a country girl at heart, I am pretty excited about this.  We picked the house based partly on its nearness to nature (well, it is as far as we can get from cities without being too far from our jobs), and it is fun to know that we practically made it to rural levels that mimic our childhood years.
 

 I've always been a bit of a nature sprite.

It doesn't always feel like we're rural, being on just a 1/4th acre lot in a quiet little community, but it is good to remember exactly how far from busy city life we live.

Creeping Herbs

Four of our raised beds are made out of stone, and I really wanted to add some cascading herbs to it.  It took about 5 months, but the creeping rosemary is finally starting to flow over the edge.

Decorative, drought-resistant, and edible... what more could I want?

Inspiration

When I restarted this blog back in July, and began to revamp its look and content, I was convinced that there would not be enough time to update it more than 1-3 times a month until 2014 when I left my job.  I ended up getting in at least 3 posts a week every month past July, which really surprised me!

It turns out that this blog has become one of the main focuses that keeps me going.  After an epically long stressful day at work, I can come here and remind myself that there is so much more to life than the soul-eating grind.

Focusing on the future, and journaling about all the amazing things in life (or that will be in it soon), has really helped keep me steady over the last few months, and I know I can lean on it to help get me through the next few months until freedom.  Once I've "retired," finding new topics to share will keep me energized about my new role as an aspiring domestic goddess.

Here is a photo of some other things that make me feel inspired:

Ryan, Stormy, and Nature.

In the first 2.5 months, this blog ended up getting far more traffic than the other two blogs combined (which contained over a year of posts), probably because I combined all the concepts into one.  It certainly seems that all the aspects of life... gardening, real-life stuff and family, saving money, and teaching myself domestic goddessry... well, they are too interconnected to keep in separate blogs.

Despite the lack of people posting on the blog (which you are more than welcome to do!), I am getting a lot of personal contact and discussion about the topics here, and you guys are also a huge source of inspiration.

There is not much to this post, but I just wanted to say thank you for reading.

I Miss The Sun?!

When I left for work today, the sky was pitch black and full of stars... when I came home from work, the sky looked the same.  Granted, it was a 13-hour day, but pretty much all weekdays are.

I look forward to this first dark day every year. 

Found some more seed

I found a batch of seed hidden at the back of my closet.  Some of this is up to 5 years old, so the germination rate might not be so great... but this batch might still be useful.

Let's look over this selection...

Anniversary

Today is our 4th wedding anniversary... how time flies!

I feel thankful every day that we somehow found each other.  It is difficult to imagine any other combination of two people who complement each other's quirks so well... we make a fantastic team!  Sounds so sappy I want to slap myself, but with him I discovered what love really is.

And also, Ryan is sexy as hell.  Mmmm.  Just sayin'.

Strange Tomato of the Day: Zipper

Must be something special inside!

Recipes based on dry goods

I've been asked about the 2014 diet, and whether I think we will get bored.  It is entirely possible if I start slacking off, but my main goal here is to keep it from being boring.  As my Dad likes to say, only boring people get bored.

On one hand, right now we mainly eat only 4 grains (rice, wheat, quinoa, popcorn) and 1 legume (black beans), while the ever-evolving 2014 plan now involves 7 types of grain (rice, wheat, quinoa, popcorn, cornmeal, oats, and millet) and 5 legumes (black beans, red beans, garbanzos, lentils, peas)... there is a whole lot more to work with.  On the other hand, I will have a lot more time and energy to be researching and trying out recipes.  On the other hand (I'm allowed 3 hands, right?), it is not JUST dry goods.  The budget allows for veggies, meat, and a moderate amount of random ingredients.

So what are we going to do with all these dry goods I'm stockpiling for 2014?  I have a few ideas...

It's nearly time to buy those bulk foods.

This week I signed up for the two bulk food websites I've been considering, and will wait to see if I get access to any coupons.  If you're interested in what I've decided, read on...

Moving on to Bigger Things

Someone found out I was leaving work, and asked if I was moving on to bigger things.  Get it?  Bigger things?  Because I work with the Microgarden?  Hehe!  Best reply ever.

I realized that there are so many things I plan to do upon "retirement" that I am giving everyone a slightly different answer.  This is probably because the small question actually needs the bigger explanation of my new life path, but there is not usually time to explain to someone who's just passing through. 

And then they'll want to know the whys, and I'm not really prepared to explain how this job has affected my health and happiness, since I'd rather focus on the positive stuff right now.

  
The variety of answers to the question "What will you do next?":

Feathers are one hell of a drug.

Bird?  What bird?*

Yep, that is a sock in the background.  Stormy has access to the special dimension where lost socks live.  


*Technically that is a goose feather from the stuffing in our couch.  A feather pops out now and then.

Strange Tomato of the Day: Conjoined Twins

I thought these were two separate tomatoes, but when I pulled them apart, they were attached by a centimeter-wide circle of flesh, and the stem split in two.

Lessons From Dad, on Being Boring

Now that I am "out" about quitting my job in a few months, I've been asked what I will do when I leave the workforce... won't I get bored?

I was pretty stunned at the question, and am pretty sure my jaw dropped as the seconds took minutes to pass.  I might have actually drooled from the shock.  Was she stupid?  Was she freaking crazy?  She didn't look like she was joking.

And she wasn't the first person to ask me that question.

Mantis on Chard

I was wondering why the chard on the western side were so aphid-free all of a sudden compared to the ones on the eastern side of the garden...

A fat and happy female mantis.

Oh!  Well, that explains it.

One of the benefits of maintaining an organic garden is that mother nature will sometimes lend a helping hand.  Here's hoping that the mantis finds the aphid bounty to be so delicious that she lays eggs nearby.

The Spark

This time of year is very uplifting to me.

Around the first week or so of October, the Spark is in the air where I live.  I can't tell you exactly what the Spark is, but it is an energizing scent that marks the arrival of autumn.  I can always tell the exact date it occurs, just from the smell, and my soul sings for joy.

• 2008:  Oct 4
• 2009:  Oct 7
• 2010:  Oct 8
• 2011:  Well, I missed recording it that year, it was a heck of an October.
• 2012:  Oct 21 
• 2013:  Oct 3

It is the smell of heat-dried grassy weeds being moistened by dew.  The smell of crinkly Japanese maple leaves rubbed between your fingers and the deep sigh of earth.  The smell of magic waking up and taking flight.  The smell of nature giving you a warm welcoming hug.
 
Ryan and I intentionally picked a wedding date that was soon after the average Spark date so that our anniversary would be associated with our favorite and most spiritual-feeling time of year.  It makes me feel like this:

*squee!*

This time of year, from late September through early December, is also a time of change for me.  I always either lose a fair amount of weight, or something extremely significant and life-changing (good or bad) happens.  Wonder which it will be this time...

(Edit:  Ryan claims the spark on this year was false, since it disappeared the next day.  It hit permanently on Oct 11.  But for me it is the FIRST spark that counts, so I'm keeping my date as Oct. 3rd.)

Do you ever notice the Spark?  Has it hit your area yet?

Below 55 degrees

Tomato season is nearing the end for me.

When night temperatures get below 55 degrees (F), the tomatoes stop producing new fruit (for me, the flowers just fall off).  On the autumn equinox the temperature dropped too low, and the weather forecast is not looking warm at all for the rest of the year.

It also means that it's time to move my Sunsugar cutting inside.  I kind of ignored the poor thing, and it got a big spindly and dehydrated, so I don't know how healthy it is for indoor life.  However, it's an experiment, so I'll be putting it into the solarium and giving it extra care to see if I can coax any tomatoes out of it (so far it's produced just 3).  I'm not too hopeful that it'll produce a significant bounty this fall.


Will I be able to make my original goal of preserving 10 gallons of tomatoes?  

A Pat On The Back

Whoa.

I looked back at September, and realized that I made 34 posts in a 30-day month!  That far exceeds my current intentions to do 3 posts per week. 

Septemberish was a little busy for me...