December 16, 2011: The year is rapidly ending and I haven't posted since early November. Well my excuse is I have been on the road! Now that the gardening and canning work is done for the season I finally was not tied to the homestead and its demands. I made a long overdue trip to Los Angeles to spend some time with my oldest son, Benjamin. We spent some time in Las Vegas (no, I didn't win) and really enjoyed our side trip to the Hoover Dam and new bridge near it. Boy the water level was low, thanks to endless development in Nevada and their water demands as well as a dry year out there. Las Vegas was fun though and we did visit the Pawn Store made famous on the History Channel's "Pawn Stars" TV show.
After a few days back in Maine I boarder a train for a consumer conference in Washington DC and then traveled on to Richmond VA for a visit with the relatives there, especially the elders, Ruth and Ralph. After those day I returned via Amtrak to New York for some nice time with Roxi, Julian and Cotton. We went to Rockefeller Center and saw the big tree, ice skating pond and some stores and went to the "Top of the Rock" for a breath taking view of New York City at night.
I returned after this ten day trip and did a second craft fair sales effort of my canned goodies and began the process of preparing for the Christmas visit of the whole family for the holidays. In the age of on-line shopping we all are ordering things to be delivered here and there has been a steady stream of trucks in the driveway: USPS; UPS; and FedEx! The tree is up and the baking of cookies and other goodies is about to begin.
It has been a very satisfying year at the "Schlaver Seed Farm." The garden did well with far more crop successes than failures. The canning was a big success with a grand total of 436 jars put up! Many items are in the freezer and a lot of potatoes, squash, garlic, herbs and onions are in storage. The freezer also has many bags of veggies and fruit. I am loving my new kitchen and living area and look forward to enjoying it together with the family. We will no longer be crowded at a table too small, the crowded walkways and kitchen area. Part of the time will be spend shelling beans for there are still two bushels of dried bean pods to empty and then put the beans into jars. I plan to make a big pot of chili this week before the family arrives using some of the garden raised kidney beans. I am sure I will end up with a full winter's supply of the three varieties of beans grown when the shelling is all done. The wood stovc is going strong and the wood piles are ready for whatever the winter weather brings us.
I wish all the blog readers a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
