From the Home Front....

I'm so sorry to have been silent as of late.  We had a tragedy and I haven't been up to putting pen to paper.  With a renewed spirit, I will update you on our latest happenings.

Our garden is growing well.  We have had a problem with Magpie's snapping the tender beans, peppers and onions before they are able to really spread their leaves, so there are a few sad looking plants.  Our heirloom bush beans are far outperforming the garden variety garden center beans that we planted just to use them up before the seeds were too old.  The tomatoes are growing famously and so are a majority of the peppers.  I can't wait to can my favorite tomato, pepper, onion mixture this fall!

Peas happily climbing the trellis

Tomatoes!

Our potato towers are actually  working!  They haven't become as green with leaves as I would like to see, however, on close inspection is would appear that all of the potatoes are sprouting, just at different rates.  We planted 8.8 pounds of potatoes, so we will weigh the harvest and give an end of year report.

Potatoes reaching out from their tower

One raspberry bed is heavy with fruit, while the other is bushy and healthy but won't put on berries this year.  We do have a few strawberry plants but not enough for preservation.  They are, however, just right for a handful of warm berries eaten out-of-hand.

A portion of one of our raspberry beds

The Buckfast bees are busy, busy, busy.  We have been caught off-guard by their super-quick build-up.  I put off ordering extra hive bodies, due to our experience with the Italians, and was horrified upon my most recent inspection of the hives to discover that they had completely filled all of their frames and were getting ready to swarm due to lack of space!  With no hive bodies to add to their home, Maid Elizabeth and I improvised.  I dug up two 10 frame hive bodies, stapled cardboard on either side of the bottom (about 1 1/2 " on each side - just enough to keep the bottom of the hive body from being open to the air) and set the 10 frame bodies on top of the 8 frame bodies.  I hoped that would give us enough wiggle room to get the new hive bodies here and assembled.  At this point, I think our foil worked.  The bees are contentedly filling the new frames with comb, which we will transfer to the 8 frame bodies when they arrive.

10 frame hive bodies perched atop 8 frame bodies - not something you see every day!

Notice the ratchet straps holding the hives into place.  The night we put our improvised hive bodies into place, a sudden and somewhat violet storm descended upon us.  I awoke to the crack of thunder and pouring rain.  Immediately I thought of the unprotected hives, teetering in a highly unusual configuration and woke Miss Serenity to brave the weather and help me secure the hives.  At 1:30 a.m., armed with a flashlight and rubber boots, we made our way to the hives and fiddled with ratchet straps until we had them securely in place.  Thankfully, the bees slept through our endeavor and we escaped unscathed.

Sir Knight replaced the broken window in my kitchen door!

And from the outside

My beautiful daughters - friends in the way only sisters could be.

The sun room dressed for summer

The sought-after outside bedroom

The children's cottage

Just a small note on our tragedy.  Our beloved dog Reaper died in a horrible accident.  Reaper was like no other dog.  He managed to capture each one of our hearts in a way that no pet ever has.  I must admit, we mourned our treasured pet - and really, we continue to mourn him.  He was a dog, but he was also our guardian and protector.  We are so very thankful to have known our dear Reaper.

I NEVER allow animals on the furniture...

But he stole my heart.

Enjoy these beautiful days of summer.  Savor every moment. 

Until next time.

Enola

On the Home-front....

We have been silly-busy this fall.  I keep thinking things are going to slow down, only to be proven wrong time after time.

Sir Knight has been off work.  He has been battling a knee injury for the better part of a year and finally stopped long enough to have surgery.  Wow - what a difference the surgery has already made!  Although he won't be back to a hundred percent for a month or more, the improvement over the last few days is amazing.  He can hardly wait to be running through the woods with a pack on his back, building up his lost muscle base.

Maid Elizabeth has been in training for a new job.  She has been putting in long hours, with no rest in sight.  Hopefully, she has only another week of intensive training before settling into her new schedule and getting back to a modicum of normalcy.

While keeping up with her rigorous training period, she has been preparing herself and her siblings for participation in a renaissance faire.  They have attending meetings all summer in anticipation of the big event, which happens to be this weekend.  Maid Elizabeth is the town midwife/healer (I know, typecasting!), Master Hand Grenade is a Knight (he is helping with parking and is an extra due to the fact that he spent his summer away - working and was unable to attend the meetings), Miss Serenity is the "Evil Squire" and has many parts to play and Princess Dragon Snack is part of the "Fairy Guild".  They will spend their weekend living the life of medieval characters - complete with swords, chain mail and magic potions.

Our Fairy Princess

Fierce Knight

Comic-relief squire

The whole crew

The end of the gardening season brings zucchini squash in abundance.  We aren't big zucchini fans, however, we do love zucchini cupcakes with caramel frosting.  We like these little treats so much that I can zucchini just so that we can make them year-round.  Yesterday, I made by first batch of the season.  Feeling the need for a little romance in my life, I made our cupcakes into "Butterfly" or "Fairy" cakes instead of plain old cupcakes. They are really simple, and can be made with any cupcake.  Rather than frosting the top of the cake, you just slice the top off the muffin, slice the part you cut off in two equal pieces, frost the top of the cupcake and set the cut parts into the frosting to form wings.  The children love them and they look lovely on the tea table.  From plain and simple to delectable in minutes!

Zucchini Cupcakes with Caramel Frosting

Zucchini Cupcakes
3 eggs
1 1/3 C sugar
1/2 C vegetable oil
1/2 C milk (or orange juice)
1 tsp. almond extract
2 1/2 C flour
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1 1/2 C shredded zucchini (or carrots)

Preheat oven to 350°

In mixing bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, oil, milk and almond extract.  Combine dry ingredients; add to the egg mixture and mix well.  add zucchini and mix well.  Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full.  Bake for 20 - 25 minuets or until pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes before removing to wire rack.

Caramel Frosting
1 C packed brown sugar
1/2 C butter
1/4 C milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 to 2 C confectioner's sugar

Combine brown sugar, butter and milk in a saucepan; bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook and stir for 2 minutes.  Remove from the heat; stir in vanilla.  Cool to lukewarm.  Gradually beat in confectioner's sugar until frosting reaches spreading consistency.

Cupcakes ready to put into the oven - next to that really handy cookbook!

Cooling and awaiting frosting

Butterfly Cakes

_____________________________________

That is all that has been happening on our home-front.  I hope everything is well on your's.