You say your commute to work is rough?

Living in the country and working in the city requires a rather lengthy commute.  We did, however, think we'd leave the headaches of the drive we used to endure behind.  But we have found it's the same type of problems no matter where you are driving. 

There, of course, is the traffic jam...

And the bull that comes with it...



There is always someone racing around because you weren't going fast enough...

Don't forget to look out for that eye in the sky...

The impatient drivers are a real headache...

Despite such problems, I wouldn't trade living at Prairie Cairn Cottage.  Thanks for visiting with us today.  I hope your commute home is pleasant.

Audrey

Bringing the garden indoors

I found some lovely looking herbs at a Sprouts store in Denver this past week.  They were 3 for $10.00 which I didn't think was a bad price for such nice looking plants.  I bought a Sweet Marjoram, a Lemon Thyme and a Dill.  Since my garden was a bust this year about the only things that did well were the herbs I had planted the year before.  I thought I'd try my hand at indoor herbs.

Lovely Lavender in the garden.  Did I mention before the weeds have over run the garden?  Well, don't look too closely at the edges!

Serious Sage.  If you haven't grown herbs, I recommend trying a sage.  They are very easy to grow and give great satisfaction to a new gardener (and tastes great on that Thanksgiving turkey).

I've always been fascinated by herb gardens.  They are my favorite areas to visit at public gardens.  Right now I only have culinary herbs, the sage & lavender from above and a regular thyme, an oregano, a winter savory and lemon balm.  I hope to expand the plants in my herb garden and to also start a medicinal herb garden and a tea garden as well.

New Toy

I alluded to this in a previous post so here at long last is the revealing of my new toy.  A dear woman from church actually gave me this and is giving me lessons on how to use it.  It is a knitting machine!  I am a tediously slow hand knitter and would love to be faster.  I volunteered to help out with the Covering Prayers Ministry (prayer shawls, baby blankets, etc...) at church and she was so delighted that she gave me this machine.  I'm only in my baby steps learning this new craft.  It is not at all like hand knitting!  The results are, but the process is far removed from each other.  I've only this past weekend been able to set this up and play around with it.  I knitted several rows well and then several rows had holes and dropped stitches.  But isn't everything we do a learning event?  One of these days I hope to post an actual completed project made by me! 

This next pictures are a wash cloth and one baby sock that my friend made while showing me the machine.  She did these in just moments!  When I hand knit a wash cloth it takes me about a month!

I still think I will be hand knitting for the shear satisfaction of the hand work but for making shawls or blankets, this machine may be the way to go.

Goodness!  Where does the time get too?  All is well here at Prairie Cairn Cottage but rather bland; busy yet nothing exciting.  Life in general I suppose and I'm grateful for a chance to just experience the gentle routine of everyday.

What remains of the garden (if you recall we got hailed out this year) still requires attention.  My herbs seem to thrive in the benign neglect they've received and the weeds have all but taken over.  I'm valiantly trying to reclaim the garden from the tumbleweeds but one can only do so much bending and pulling massive weeds before muscles spasms force them out of the game for the day.  Still, a little everyday makes a difference; I'm just hoping to be able to finish the task before the first snows. 

Little Black Brindle has taken over our hearts and home and I can't imagine life without him.  He and Tabby are getting along like best friends.  Tabby has made herself (his self?  We still don't know) at home and acts like there was never a time when it didn't live at Prairie Cairn Cottage.

The chicks have grown into dear sweet hens and are blessing us with at least one egg per day if not two.  I still think one is not laying yet but she should be any day now.  Little Pearl was always the smallest of the group so I expect she is still enjoying her last days of chickhood.

Crafting has taking a backseat to other chores at the moment but I do have an exciting new toy that I'll post on later.  You say you want me to give you a hint?  Well, it's something that will allow me to make my favorite knitted dish cloths in about 20 minutes as opposed to a month. 

So the last precious days of summer are being enjoyed and savored at Prairie Cairn Cottage.  I always get a bit melancholy at this time of year, knowing the days grow short and the nights grow longer.  Regretting lost chances of vine ripened tomatoes or getting fruit trees and bushes established before the winter cold sets in, not being able to decorate with the pumpkins I grew with my own hard work.  But there will other opportunities ahead, chili on a cold blustery day, hot apple cider sipped while watching the sun set.  One thing I have been saving for fall, a new recipe for Pumpkin Ice Cream that I have been dying to try.  I keep telling myself, patience dear one, pumpkin always tastes best in October and November.

I hope you are enjoying these last bits of summer.  And thank you for visiting with me at Prairie Cairn Cottage; I hope you'll come back.     

Weekend at the Cottage

I spotted this little beauty on Friday night just outside the cottage door.  I had seen her web weeks before but I had never seen who inhabited it.  Apparently she comes out after dark because I had to use a flashlight to illuminate her.  I believe she is a common Garden Orb Spider and she is about an inch long.  Pretty big spider!  I think that is a moth that has been spun into a cocoon, Friday night dinner?

Saturday morning I woke with a craving for muffins.  Lucky for me I had some fresh blueberries.  They made a tasty breakfast treat.

Later in the day I went to check on the chicks and look what they gave me as a thank you for taking care of them

Such cleaver girls!  This is the first and therefore is a special, blessed egg.  There have been duplicate offerings each day since.  I believe one of the Light Brahmas is the thoughtful hen.  Her sisters should be following her lead soon.

Here is the special egg in a carton of store bought I just purchased the day before.  Isn't it cute?  From what I understand they should get progressively larger as both types of chicks are large egg layers.

 The last week in August, can you believe it?  Where has the summer gotten too?  I hope your weekend was filled with special finds.

Spinning Out of Control

I may be taking up yet another new hobby...spinning wool!  I took a quick class at the county fair this month and they gave us a handmade drop spindle and some luscious wool.  The wound up blob at the bottom of the picture was my first attempt.  I'm having a tough time with the drafting of the wool before it's twisted so I think I'll be practicing that this weekend.  I bought a super soft alpaca "top" which I hope I'll be able to spin into usable yarn. 

This weekend is also the local yarn crawl so I'll be hitting lots of yarn shops!  Shh....don't tell my Ever So Handy Husband I may be buying yet more yarn.

What will you be doing this weekend?

Wild things

When it's flowering it's hard to call the thistle a weed.  The flower is so striking.  I always find it amusing that the thistle is the flower of Scotland.  It's supposed to represent the beauty but thorny nature of Scotland under the British rule. 

The little bunnies are white tailed jack rabbits.  I caught them out in the front of Prairie Cairn Cottage last night.  I thought we had jack rabbits and cotton tails but after a quick internet search I discovered these are actually white tailed jacks.  No matter, at this age they remain cute.  Once they get full grown, well, that's a different story, I'm afraid they might abscond with Little Black Brindle.  But for now they are welcome.

After reading a magazine article on making your own extracts I thought I would try my hand at it.  This morning I made up some lemon extract and vanilla extract.  Earlier in the month I made up some raspberry extract and some mint extract.  It's pretty darn easy if I do say so, we'll just have to post back how they work in baked goods.

The basic recipe is 1/4 cup berries or mint leaves, 3 to 4 vanilla beans halved then split length wise or the zest from two lemons (you could also use oranges or grapefruits if that suits your fancy) which ever you want to make.  To each of these you cover with 1 cup of alcohol.  I used vodka in the raspberries, lemons and mint and some whiskey in the vanilla.  The recipe I got for the vanilla called for vodka, bourbon or brandy.  Shake the mixtures daily for 3 to 4 weeks.  If it is strong enough for your tastes then you drain the berries and mint but you can just leave the vanilla and lemon zest in the jars.  If you'd like a stronger extract for the raspberry and mint, you'd strain it and then add some fresh berries or mint and repeat the procedure.  If you run low on the vanilla or lemon extract you can just add additional alcohol and let it sit for several weeks.  It's supposed to take a long time for them to lose their flavoring.   

The Mexican vanilla you can buy uses bourbon so I went to the store to buy some.  The clerk at the liquor store told me that bourbon is actually bourbon whiskey.  It can only be called bourbon if it was distilled in Kentucky.  I had some pretty good  Canadian whiskey at home so thought I'd go ahead and use that.  If it doesn't make good extract we will just use it as vanilla infused whiskey.  Who knows, maybe we could come up with a new cocktail!

Wouldn't a gift basket of these in a smaller 2 oz size make a great hostess gift for the upcoming holidays?  Or perhaps you have a baker in your gift exchange.  Either way, try your hand at home crafted extracts.