Solsberry Cemetery

This is the sign on the road that leads to the Philpot Cemetery just down the way from us.   I laugh every time I see it, and I've been saving this pic for today.  

Happy Halloween! 

To celebrate this day of the dead, we went to another local cemetery, Solsberry Cemetery, just off Highway 43, north of Solsberry, Indiana.     It's a wonderful old cemetery, still in use, with graves dating from the mid 1800s.   

Pretty, isn't it!

The vast majority of the old gravestones here have been carved out of limestone.  Many of them are signed by the carver, T H Sudbury, Bloomington.     This is the grave of Lizzie E. Thompson, wife of William E. Thompson.  She was 21 years, 5 months and 22 days old when she died on January 19, 1880.    It must have been cold when they dug her grave and buried her.   I wonder what she died of.

Click the pic and check the bottom right of the stone for Mr. Sudbury's signature. 

We found more interesting carving on the gravestone of John Cox.   He was born January 3, 1821 and he died April 17, 1891.   What changes he must have seen all around him during his life.   He lived through the Civil War.  


I love his epitaph, way down at the bottom:  Farewell my wife and children all, from you a father Christ doth call.

I also love this gravestone because of the carving in the center.   It's faint, but still visible.  

Here was another gravestone that I loved.   This is on the grave of 3 year old Nellie Torrence.  She was  born July 3, 1884 and she died August 2, 1887.   Her epitaph is:   Buried on earth to bloom in heaven.  

So sweet.    She is buried next to her sister Ruth, who died at 2 yrs old. 

The most interesting stones we found were a couple of stones shaped and carved by hand out of the local creek rock.   It's a miracle they've lasted all these years.   

Here is the stone for L M Newton.  No other information.    What did L M die of?   Who carved the stone?    Were they too poor for a limestone marker?     These graves are mixed in with the others, and not separated in another section as if they were in the pauper's part of the cemetery.

This is the gravestone of Hannah May.   Her name is misspelled on the stone:  Hannh May.    She was born Jan 25, 1817.  She died Sept 6, 1855.   

We love our local cemeteries.  They are so peaceful and they tell such interesting stories.   Check out my post from last year to see Philpot Cemetery. 

Fiber Art Show and Sale

Bloomington Spinners and Weavers Guild 

Fiber Art Show and Sale

Friday, November 9,  5pm - 9pm

Saturday, November 10, 10am - 5pm

Mark your calendars!    This is a great place to come and see all sorts of fiber art and to find great gifts for everyone on your holiday list.    You will find:

• Handwoven throws, scarves, shawls, towels and wearables of all kinds.
• Hand-dyed yarns and rovings
• Hand-knit sweaters, hats, socks, mittens, scarves and other wearables
• Handwoven sculptures and wall art
• Handspun yarn
• Handmade paper, cards and books
• Felted wearables and home decor accessories
• Quilted/pieced jackets, etc.
• Handmade baskets
• Handmade dolls
• Hand-knit beaded bags
• Spinning and weaving demonstrations

Glazed Sweet Potatoes

Over the next few months, I'll be showing you a bunch of things you can do with a jar of jam.   Or glaze.   Or chutney.   Or whatever.

This is an easy recipe for sweet potatoes using the Apple Thyme Sage glaze that I showed you how to make a couple of weeks ago, that even my picky eater liked. 

All you do is peel your sweet potatoes and slice them into rounds.  Spray an oven safe dish and put the sweet potatoes in it.   Pour the glaze on them and stir them up.  Bake and serve.

I cooked these covered at 350 for an hour.   Divine!   

Eric cooks them at 425 covered for a half hour, then uncovers them until they're crispy on the edges.   Divine, divine, divine!

If you use the thicker glaze, like what I showed you in the recipe for Apple Rosemary Mint glaze, then just mix a big spoonful of the jam with a roughly equal amount of water.   It will have clumps.  Ignore them.   Pour over the potatoes and bake.  

Walking Stick

Once in a great while one of these shows up here.

It's a walking stick.   [Of the family Phasmatodea].

I saw this one on our steps where it was easy to see and I kept my eye on it until someone could bring the camera.  Otherwise, I'd never have been able to see it in the grass.  

This one was about six inches long.  

Burrs

This is the time of year where you begin to bring the woods in the house with you - in the form of burrs.

The two most common types of burrs around here are agrimony [probably Agrimonia striata] and tick trefoil [Desmodium gangeticum].  The flowers are lovely, blooming in the late summer and fall.



Tick trefoil.   The pink flowers are tiny.

Tiny!














They grow on stalks like tiny pea flowers.   You can just see the new seed forming at the bottom of this pic.

Those burrs stick to everything.

Here are the burrs.   They're cute, until they get on you and you can't get them off!

















Agrimony looks a lot like a low blooming goldenrod.

Blow up this pic for an up-close view of the flower.    It's pretty!   But those burrs are awful. 

Here are the burrs.   They get everywhere.   If you miss some and they go through the wash, they'll end up in your towels.

This is where the idea for velcro came from. 

Some of the Prettiest Color in the Woods

...comes from the wild vines.  

I think this is an air potato vine.  [If you can identify it more accurately, let me know in the comments]

Poison Ivy.    It's gorgeous in October.

More poison ivy.  Do not be tempted to pick this stuff.   It's nasty all year long. 

Virginia creeper.    It's glorious this time of year. 

Halloween Season

Keep a wary eye out for spooks.

Zucchino Rampicante

One of the most fun and delicious squash we grow is the zucchino rampicante.   The two on the right are fully mature.  The one on the left is still a bit green.  They are big - almost the size of your arms if you hold them out and pretend you're holding a ball in front of you.

Rampicante is an Italian curly squash.  Aside from their way cool shapes, these guys are amazing in that you can eat them at any stage of growth from blossom to little green baby squash, to beige and fully ripe.    They are a combination summer/winter squash.

Pick them green and cook them like summer squash.

Pick them ripe and cook them like winter squash.    They have a delicious orange flesh that is wonderful sliced and baked.  

The seeds are in the bulb at the bottom.

To prepare them when they're fully ripe, peel it all with a vegetable peeler and slice the skinny part into rounds.   Cut the bulb off, open it, take out the seeds and slice it up.  Bake it until soft.

It's really delicious baked with some of the glazes I talked about last week. 

Snakeskin

We have a lot of snakes around here.   Most of the time we don't see them, but sometimes we do.   I see racers, rough green snakes, ring necked snakes, garter snakes, brown snakes, prairie king snakes, black snakes and water snakes each maybe a couple of times during the season.    I like snakes and I don't mind that they're around.    We see them in the water and on the road and paths and once or twice a summer, the cats will bring one around.

What's really fun, though is finding a snakeskin.     I found this one, whole!, on the path when I was mowing in September.

It's large - 56 inches long and still a little crinkly, so the snake it came off of was likely bigger.    I'm guessing a prairie king snake or a racer.

That's the head on the right.

Fact:  Great Crested Flycatchers and Tufted Titmice regularly use snakeskin in their nests.   Cool!

Simple Pancakes Made with Natural Yeast

Since we really got our natural yeast start going, I've been the one to remember to feed it.

A miracle, I know. 


I have a very different relationship with natural yeast than I do with the synthetic yeast granules from the store.   I don't know why but there you have it.    I like natural yeast better.

Once or twice a week, when I feed the yeast, I make pancakes with the start.

Simple Pancakes with Natural Yeast
from www.rurification.com

1 1/2 cups natural yeast start
2 eggs
2 T sugar
2 T oil
1 cup white flour
1 1/2 cups milk
sprinkle of nutmeg or cinnamon

Combine all ingredients and set aside for an hour or so to let it rise a bit.   Cook like regular pancakes. 

Sweet Potato Harvest

It took us a while to find sweet potato starts this year, but we finally found some at Bloomingfood's, thanks to a tip from another gardening friend.  [Thank you!!]    While I was calling around, I discovered that May's Greenhouse will put you on an order list, so if you're in the Bloomington, Indiana area and want sweet potatoes, call May's in March and get on their list.  They'll save sweet potato starts for you when they come in. 

We had good luck with our starts this year and ended up with a really nice harvest.     You want to harvest sweet potatoes before the frost.   They like cool nights - and I hear tell that they get sweeter with cooler weather, but any frost will nip the vines and once the vines are frozen, they'll start to rot and then the potatoes rot quickly, too.  

So, cover them for light frosts, and harvest before a hard frost.   If you happen to get caught by a surprise freeze, then take any frozen vines off right away.  That will prevent rot from getting to the roots for a while. 

We planted our starts well after the last frost date in May, in a 4' x 8' raised bed full of sand and chicken dirt.   The potatoes loved it and we had gorgeous vines all summer.

When it's time to harvest, cut off all the vines so you can see what you're doing and then brush the soil away from the roots so you can see what's what.

What you can see is just the beginning of what's under there.   There are potatoes in the center of that cluster that go down quite a bit deeper.

Lift them out carefully - the potatoes crack easily if you twist them.   

Look how big some of these clumps got!  That's Eric's hand lifting this clump out.

Just brush the soil off and let them dry.

In the end we got a half a big wheelbarrow full of sweet potatoes of all sizes.

We brushed them off again, then loaded them in boxes and put them in the back room to sit until we eat them.  

Delicious! 

Color Inspiration - Fall Flowers

Sometimes people ask me where I get my color inspiration from.   I get it from all over.   Sometimes, I'll see a few yarns together and think 'Yes!'  and sometimes I see things in the real world that make me want to drop everything and go wind a warp.

Things like these late summer flowers.  I love to weave towels in these bright colors.

Here are some of the towels inspired by these flowers in my garden.  They make my heart go pitter pat.   I love these towels.

From left to right:  zinnia plaid, party red plaid, party gold plaid, leaf plaid.

Want to see more of my towels?   Check out the towels in my etsy store! 

The Men of the Feast of the Hunter's Moon

Last month we went to the Feast of the Hunter's Moon at Fort Ouiatenon in Lafayette, Indiana.    It's a wonderful gathering of fur traders, voyageurs, tradesmen, natives and soldiers that commemorates a similar gathering in 1749.

We go first thing in the morning.   I love it best with the cold mist and smoke from the fires and most everyone dressed up in time appropriate garb [my kids, too] or cameras [me].   

One of the things that has always struck me is the number of men who participate.   I'm talking full grown men [and a few young men] who are there because they want to be.  And they fully participate - with terrific costumes, amazing knowledge of the time period and the ability to demonstrate all kinds of skills.  

Sometimes they came with their families.    I love that.










[And how cute are these kids!] 

 These men really make the event for me.  

There were the soldiers....

And the fur traders.....

 These guys had amazing costumes and were real characters. 















The craftsmen are some of my favorites.    These guys are talkers and they love to explain what they're doing and why and how.  

The blacksmith.

The Indian making arrow heads.

The Indian who makes gourd baskets and vessels.  


















The guy who uses the foot powered lathe to turn chair legs.   He gave a great explanation of how Windsor chairs go together and why they work.  











The oar maker told us all about the different types of oars used by different peoples.  

The shop owners had great costumes: 
















The man on the left owned this men's clothing shop.   He was very well turned out. 

Love this guy's hat and earrings. 

This is one of the Dutch traders.   [Or maybe English - he's not wearing wooden shoes and most of the Dutch traders did...]

Buckskin breeches and great bag and quivers.    

These guys looked right at home.   

I found these men visiting with the Indian fur trader.    Notice  the powder horn.  

Love that blue!   And the beret!

Don't think it was just old guys, there were a few young men, too.

These boys were from the voyageur camp....














And this one is an early settler.











By far one of my all time favorite Feast moments came this year while we were walking around the voyageur camp.   

This area of the Feast is pretty quiet.   They have their tents and canoes and cooking fires set up along the river edge of the site.   It's peaceful.   They don't get a lot of visitors back there.

These seven men were all gathered in front of the canoe, way back in the quiet and decided to sing a French rowing song...with multiple harmonies.   We just happened to be passing by at exactly the right moment.   Glorious!