Hen Party!

Ok, the "Hen Party" painting is finished and framed! Go here to view. Don't forget to leave a comment. I am interested in what ya'll think!

Soy Bean Harvest

They arrived yesterday afternoon to begin the harvest on our farm



By the second round I had found my camera and was ready.


This was very exciting to me to be able to watch the hugh machinery up close. and it was the first crops grown here since we became the owners. (Previously we had raised Hereford cattle here)

When the combine shells the beans it sure makes alot of dust. The beans go into the combine and it "spits out" everything else back onto the ground.

Turning around .....

Here they go again!

Look at how the dust billows!

A massive width on that combine head!

Massive equipment all together!! It will make short work of our 87 plantable acres!

But in actuality it did take all afternoon, all evening,

.... and went on til after dark. I was so impressed I had to get out my paint last night. You can see that painting here.

Still canning ....

The other evening we went to the Mennonite farm and came home with a bushel of wonderful green beans. They were able to raise them this late in the year because of their drip irrigation system.

I was sure glad to get them as we hadn't been able to can when green beans would have normally been available.

We canned 14 quarts and 16 pints. That added quite a bit to our winter pantry stock.

Besides that, it inspired a new little painting, posted on Sunny's Studio.

Rabbit meat processed

Ok, here it is .... this is what we did over Labor day week-end. Not exciting I know, but given the fact that hubby had to work Sat urday, Sunday afternoon and Monday; and we needed meat in the pantry, it was a good time as we had 10 rabbits we needed to "process".

14 pints tender, boneless rabbit meat, 12 quarts of broth for soup stock, and fried rabbit last night (Tues) for hubby's birthday supper (no way are we going to pay someone else for a lesser meal)

Oh yes, birthday supper included, besides the fried rabbit, baked potatoes, long green beans, and carrot-raisin salad with added pineapple chunks and mini-marshmellows, and one of his favorites, Banana cream pie! Sorry no photos of that, as Dd and Grand arrived and we had such a good time I forgot to take pictures (my bad).

The canned meat can be used for sandwiches, pot-pies, soups, cassaroles, and meat gravy over biscuits; any way chicken can be used. It is very nutritious and very low-fat.

Do any of you "can" meat of any kind?

Well, I did it! I finally made the switch ....

My original blog "Sunny's Place" is now "Sunny's Studio", new design and all, dedicated strictly to my painting.

"Hen Party" unfinished

Everything else, such as happenings, homesteading, frugal living, and just good old down-home friendly chit-chat blogging will be here on this blog.

(A girl's gotta let her hair down sometime, don't cha think??)

Most of you visit both blogs anyway, and you are all listed here on this one, so I can quickly get from this blog to yours to keep up with all your happenings. Check it out and let me know what you think. ..... and don't forget to check out my paintings from time to time.

Christmas is coming, and even though I don't take part in alot of the commercialism that goes on any more, I do offer paintings for sale, and do do custom orders. So if any of you are interested just contact me privately through email listed on my profile. I will not be making a habit of sales pitches on this blog. Just letting you all know....

Thanks for staying with me through this switch-a-roo and ya'll come back now, ya hear??

I recently joined the "Slow Poke Quilters" group that I found on the "Momma Made This" blog. I am a slow-poke quilter because;

1.I spend most of my time being a home-maker and pursuing the frugal-living life-style.

2. We raise raising rabbits ( LOTS of them!) commercially, and I am in charge of breeding, feeding and management.

3. I also do custom original oil painting, and have recently been able to pursue this passion of mine once again, as I am no longer working at a "paid" full time job.

For relaxation I like to hand piece and quilt and also recently took up knitting again (alas, I probably have too many interests for my own good ...... )

So ~ I thought I'd post the BOM squares I had been doing with Joann, of "Pieceful Afternoon" . She has been so good to send me the links to the blocks and let me join in with her and others who are also taking part.

I still have 4 to go and am probably going to make a wall hanging out of these. I have a couple other quilt projects I am working on and will post on them in the near future.

Are you a Slow-Poke quilter? Go to "Momma Made This" (link above) and join in!

Do I NEED another "project"??

While my oldest Dd was here in July, she got me started knitting again.... just to "help me recover" after my knee-scopes (as if I didn't already have enough projects going ;) I already had some yarn and all I needed was needles. She had me try these new-fangled ones that have 2 tips on either end of a plastic wire. I thought I'd never remember which way I was going ....



So here is my project, well underway I might add. I remembered how to knit and how to purl and that was about it (30+ yrs since my last attempt), so after deciding to make a shawl, I had her figure for me how many stitches I needed to cast on, and decided on a wide rib-knit pattern. As I got further along I was glad I had chosen that pattern, as it is real stretchy. I decided it could be dual-purpose; wear as a scarf, with my winter coat to church, and when I take my coat off ..... it is stretchy enough to wear aross my shoulders and pull down across my back to keep me warm, as I am never warm enough at church in the winter. Now, the youngest Dd thinks it would make just an awesome sweater! (is this a hint??? I have been told I am pretty thick-headed)

Also Ihave been following Rhonda's "down-to-earth" blog, and had been interested in all the ways she saves $$'s. Don't we all like to do that?? I saw where she had posted about making these neat dish-cloths with cotton yarn. Great because they last so long and would make nice Christmas gifts! So I checked out the price of the yarn, added it into my budget for this month, and here is my hand-knit dish-cloth .....



Oh, but you see, I had to get the BIG bolt of yarn (cheaper that-a-way, .... just sayin').... plus a couple colors, of course :) .....and different size needles than my shawl needles.
But isn't this neat???

And it looks so pretty all folded up.....

You can find the pattern here, at "home-spun living", another really neat blog.

I have posted before about the socks Dd made me and the tea-pot cozy. So do some of you knit? What do you like to make?