Mountain Musings

Turning a Failure Into a Success!

This week Hannah and Granny have been counting baskets for next week's craft show, making tags, adding pricing, and in general making sure everything is ready for Dayton Days on October 5th.

Granny made three additional baskets last week for a total of 75 baskets to take to the show.

This week she wanted to make a tissue basket since none of that type were in the basket shed available for sale.

First, she needed to measure a tissue box to make sure her dimensions were accurate before cutting her strips. And then she started the weaving process:Once she finished, she realized that she forgot to add an inch or two to the measurements so the box could fit comfortably inside the basket; it didn't fit!

Uh-oh...Basket Fail!So...what to do? The original tissue basket is now called a bread basket for muffins or dinner rolls. Granny wants Sarah to make muffins to go inside so customers can visualize it as a bread basket.That works!

But...making that tissue basket was still on her mind...so she set about right away making another similar basket, and this time she made sure the tissue box would fit inside. Success!

After completing both baskets, she dipped them in walnut-stained water to give them a more finished look--not too dark but just right: Then she makes sure they're wiped clean of any walnut debris and hangs them to dry on a fence post in the sun: Here are the two baskets now...looks like they're both successes after all! Just as bread will be a "prop" for the bread basket and tissues will be placed in the tissue basket, Granny is arranging these fall flowers (below) as a prop for her mustard basket. Getting all the props together for all her different baskets is a job in itself!

These fall bouquets highlight the orange-colored strip she added to the top of this basket:

Come on out to Dayton Days on Saturday, October 5, and join us. We're anticipating a beautiful fall day!

Hope to see you there!

~Deb

What's for Lunch? Black-eyed Peas, of Course!

The garden is gradually winding down, but we sure have enjoyed the fresh veggies all summer. Hannah's in the pea patch picking a mess of peas! Could there be any better lunch??

This year she planted Pink-Eyed Purple Hull Peas and California Black-Eyed Peas: Straight from the garden to our resident pea-sheller...Granny! We love sitting and shelling peas together because we know the end result will be peas and buttered tomato biscuits for lunch. Does that sound southern or what, y'all?? Granny gave Hannah her old pressure cooker and taught her how to use it long ago...ooh, the veggies that have been cooked in this very pot through the years: While Granny and Hannah were cooking the peas, I baked the biscuits and sliced the tomatoes--a lunch fit for a queen!

As you can see below, Granny eats her peas with chopped, sweetened tomatoes mixed in. This is the way my dad always loved his peas, too. Hannah and I top our peas with her garden zucchini relish. Yum!So...what was for lunch at your house today? I don't think you can name anything better than peas! :)

~Deb

Sunday Scripture

"Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." ~ Luke 12:32

~ Deb

Apple Fritter Bread

Fall is in the air here in Virginia! The leaves haven't really started turning yet, but the temperatures are so nice - it just has that little autumnal nip and smell outside. It makes you want to eat everything pumpkin, apple, and cinnamon flavored! :)

Our newest fall recipe experiment this week was this Apple Fritter Bread. It was a bit time-consuming, but it was quite yummy to make up for it. It's definitely best while still warm, and Mom thought it needed more apples. It is a bread, just with some swirls of apple through it, so if you want to make it more desserty/apple cake-ish, maybe cook some extra apples and pour them over top your slices of bread. Yum!

This week for market I'll be making more apple pies, of course, then I'll also be bringing out all my pumpkin recipes. Pumpkin Caramel Swirl Cheesecake, mini pumpkin pies, pumpkin chocolate chip muffins...and next week pumpkin pie fudge! :)

What's your favorite fall recipe?

~Sarah

The Simple Woman's Daybook ~ September

Here's my Daybook entry for the month of September:
Outside my window...a beautiful sunny 73-degree day in the Valley for this Friday, the 13th...fall is in the air. The low of 45 degrees tonight will really be chilly for the girls at farmers' market early tomorrow morning!

I am thankful...for good health for Granny and that her back is doing so much better than it was this spring! Thank you to all who have asked about her.

In the kitchen...Hannah has been in charge of all the canning recently - tomato sauce, pizza sauce, salsa, and ketchup. Pickles: dill, bread and butter, and cinnamon. Cucumber relish; peach and strawberry jams. Here's a photo of just a small portion: I am wearing...navy skirt, white tank, floral blouse, and silver sandals.

I am going...to be washing windows and curtains next week if all goes according to plan. A/C off and windows open--a perfect time for fall cleaning!

I am reading...Home Sweet Quilt by Jill Finley--link in the left sidebar under Books We're Reading.

We are enjoying...some give-away treats that I won recently over at Crunchy Beach Mama. The Schwans' ice cream and cookies were just delicious! The package arrived Fed-Ex in a dry ice cooler! Amazing!In case you can't read the description on the box, here's what everyone enjoyed: Cinnamon Roll Ice Cream ~ cheescake flavored w/swirls of cinnamon and sticky cinnamon bun pieces. S'Mores Ice Cream ~ toasted marshmallow flavored ice cream with graham cracker swirl and milk chocolate pieces.

And the Monster Mania frozen cookie dough was Peanut Butter cookie dough loaded with candy coated chocolate, chocolate chips and oats. We baked them for four different occasions! So delicious!

I am looking forward to...the Worship of God conference next month because we'll get to connect with new friends from Canada...and lots of old friends, too! Will you be there?

I am learning...well, not yet, but will be learning in another week how to operate the electronic pollbook for November's election. Sarah and I are political volunteers each year, but this is the first year our county will use computers to mark off voters when they come in to vote.

Around the house...Fridays are baking days for Sarah. Here are some of her pies just before they went into the oven early this morning: And here's a portion of her days' work: pies, mini-pies, linzer tarts, cupcakes, turtle cheesecake, 6" decorated chocolate raspberry cake (not shown), butterscotch bars, cookies, marshmallows, and I'm sure I'm forgetting something! Lots of deliciousness:I am pondering...all the things on my outside "honey-do" list that need to get finished while the weather is good these fall weekends--I may have to chip in to help paint the property-line fence.

A favorite quote for today...Winnie the Pooh watches Kanga bound away and thinks, "I wish I could jump like that. Some can and some can’t. That’s how it is."

One of my favorite things...photo books and memories! Hannah has worked so hard getting the Shutterfly digital photo book finished (new to us, but we saw a friend's books and fell in love with them!). We had a deadline of midnight Pacific time last night for a FREE book...and then our power went out at 9-ish for an hour. Ackkk, no computer! But all is well. Hannah finished at 2:30 a.m. with 30 minutes to spare! Zzzzz...what we do for FREE!

A few plans for the weekend: Saturday's monthly quilt class at Patchwork Plus. My homework is done! I posted a photo of my block here last month when I finished it early. :)

A peek into my Friday...lunch outing with Hannah at Newtown Baking to thank her for all her hard work on the photo book! Then we scouted out a couple of neat shops downtown--one that carries her soaps.

A picture thought I'm sharing... Sarah's latest cake creation: That wraps up another Simple Woman's Daybook, and I hope that catches you up a bit on what's going on around our homestead.

Enjoy your weekend!

~Deb

Back in Business!

We hope everyone is having a very nice Labor Day Weekend as we have had so far--some great family times together!

Granny arrived back in town, and baskets were her first order of business. Here she's making a smaller-sized basket and is ready to add a strip of color before completing the top:Granny said she missed making baskets so much while she was in SC, so she lost no time getting her little workshop set up in her bathroom first thing this morning! Her basket shed was a little too hot for comfort today.

The Dayton Days craft show is just around the corner--October 5th. I'm sure Granny will be making lots of baskets this month to get ready for the show. Mark that date on your calendar and come see us in person!

You can also check out Granny's Baskets on Etsy for more varieties.

Welcome Home, Granny!

~Deb