Roof goes up , canning beets and a new-old sewing machine

Today started great... I got the milk jar ready for straining the morning milk and the jars ready for canning beets. 

The day's water of mint, cucumbers and limes was ready.

Dude worked hard and hoped it didn't rain putting on the copper metal. 

He is amazing!

Tomorrow I will be making a candy with our borage.

The day was sidetracked when my son and his wife came over with a wonderful gift they rescued from the trash... yes, trash.  SCORE!

 I will stop anything to see my kids ~ smile.

I need to refinish it and show it a bit of TLC but I think it is gorgeous. 

My son took time out to say hello to all the cats.  His nickname is Catmandu and all the kitties love him. One in particular, Callie will come running home from the mouse fields when she sees him drive up. 

Dude stopped only for lunch. 

After they left, I collapsed and took a big fat nap with my dog. She is dying of cancer and I want to spend any time I can with her.  We went to the store and then took our nap.  I had to pick her up and carry her each time. 

Then I finally got to canning pickled beets but the time was slipping away. I knew I was going to mass tonight so I made a small batch and saved the rest for tomorrow.  Peeling beets proved to be some work. 

I used some onions from our garden. 

Heated the beets for 20 minutes to peel them easier. 

In each jar I put onions, 4 cloves, 2 whole allspice, 1/2 stick of cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon of pickling salt.  The smell is wonderful with those spices. 

Then put in the beets. 

Heat 2 cups sugar and 2 cups of white cooking vinegar. 

Pour over the beets to the first line on the jar. 

Put in the water bath for 35minutes (I am high altitude).

I put the other four jars aside to work on tomorrow. 

We have a potluck after mass so I made Mad Beans and Sausage in the crock pot earlier in the day .

Dude got over half of the back of the roof completed. 

Beet jars are popping in the background. 

Time to go to mass.

peace

Catching up Friday with cheese and card making

Most of the week was sprinkled with fun birthday festivities so today it was time to put my nose to the grindstone . I did get my first pattern traced and ready to look for fabric to go with it now. 

Today we woke up to thick fog. Eerie but nice. 

The animals all liked the cool weather today. 

I was busy making queso blanco today.  Dude brought in the raw milk. I strained it and jarred it. Then took out the older jars and got the fabric over a colander ready for the cheese. I use a loose weave muslin.

A gallon of raw goat milk in stock pot.  Slowly get it up to 175* and hold there for 10-15min. 

Dude likes jalapeno in his cheese. I prepared those while the milk heated. 

Slowly add five tablespoons of  cider vinegar

Once the vinegar is added the curds pull from the whey. 

Move the curds to the fabric lined colander. 

Add the pickled peppers. 

Tie up the four corners and find some place to let the whey drain from it for about 3 hours. I let it drain all day while I am work. 

Dude picked carrots for our juice and found a love connection among the vegetables. 

I had a bunch of Thank You notes to write. I had none so quickly made some. I got out my mini embosser. 

Of course, I had help. (The mess is me organizing my recipes and patterns.)

Ran white cardstock cards through the embosser. 

They came out pretty well. 

Then simply stamped Thank You in the center . 

Within 20 minutes I had 8 cards ready to go. 

I got home from work and unwrapped the cheese... perfect. 

I am so glad tomorrow is Saturday.  Can't wait to see what we get done. 

peace