It Snowed, Beer Bread and Pie!

It Snowed!- We had rain/snow mixed yesterday afternoon, wind and cold. It started snowing and sticking about 11 p.m., but then it cleared and stopped. Photo above.

Here it is this morning, under the cold sun. We hadn't taken down our Halloween goodies yet...

Sun Room- We finished up the "sun room", door's on, pine shavings, and 2 mini bales I got at a yard sale for $2.00! Warm and weather proof. The door on the far right slides open for days like today, sunny, clear and cold. Girls can go into the fenced garden, now put to sleep. Looks sad with the veggies gone, sigh...

Ellie's inside resting in the spare bedroom, finally drank some Gatorade and seems to be perking up!

Beer Bread- I bought some beer last week to keep on hand for beer bread. Hubby drinks it rarely and I just don't like it. Except in bread! I did buy Fat Tire, as I knew he'd have at least one with it sitting there. I love beer bread it in the winter- fast, easy and great loaded with herbs, especially with a hearty soup. That's the menu for tonite- sausage/veggie soup with homemade bread.

I googled "herb beer bread recipe" and found this on a farm girl's blog! Farmgirlfare.com Easy Beer Bread
I'm going to try a variation of her W.W. bread, a cross between the "easy" and W.W. I followed the W.W., but added 2 TB dried chives, 1 tsp. dried celery seed, 2 tsp. dried dill, 1 cup regular tillamook (my fave) cheddar cheese. I did have to add a little more beer, since it was a pretty heavy batter. I sprinkled the top with sea salt. Looks good in the pan! 

For Dessert- I thawed 2 qt. bags of my homegrown, organic nectarines for a pie. My freezer was jammed! We're thinking of looking for a small freezer next summer for the garage, for all the home produce, etc. I'm never very good with lattice, and at the end of the day, my little heart-shaped cookie cutter worked fine. Here's the end result!

Snow Is In The Air

Let It Snow!!! Ah, the first forecast for some snow, and rain! It's that time of year. It was in the lows 60's today, so I did a few things outside quickly when I got home- swept the back patio, checked the chickens, etc. Poor Ellie has been droopy the last 2 days, so I brought her in. Her she is in her (blurry pic) basket, on the kitchen counter-

She doesn't seem to be egg-bound, maybe just constipated. I gave her some cooked oatmeal and she ate some and drank quite a bit of water. A good sign I hope. I put her back in the coop at dark. The heat lamp's on, she should be fine, I hope. I lost 2 of my hens, 6 weeks apart in the spring (hence the 2 new ones). About killed me! That was tough losing 2 babies I hand raised out of 3...

Here's A Harvest Tradition Of Grandma's-  

She always had a big bowl of nuts out with a cracker this time of year. Here's my .50 cent bowl from a flea market, and my old nut cracker-

And some fall berries from my shrub, whose name I can't remember right now. It's the first year we got LOTS of beautiful orangy/red/green berries.



Happy November! Spruce Up Your Phone!

I love it when Halloween is over, the gluttony of some with candy, etc. We only got about 15 kids last night, living on a quiet side street has it perks! With Thanksgiving around the corner, my personal favorite holiday, I looked for some fun, free wallpapers for my phone. I know, I have to decorate my desktop, at home and work, with something seasonal, because it's so boring otherwise!

I extend that into my cell phone too, sad, I know. BUT, since I got a little SD card for my phone a couple of years ago from Santa, I've found some freebies that fit my cell phone screen perfectly! Here's the site I use with a lot, great stuff- Zedge.net, seasonal wallpapers . You can search for your model of phone.

I found these old-fashioned wallpapers today-

And these-

She reminds me of an autumn goddess!

Ah, a quiet country road...