Thinking . . .

Yeah, I know, duck. No, there is nothing burning.

I am thinking of a name change for the farm, the website, etc. The house we live in used to house a gal named Catherine Buxbaum, and she wrote a book called Iowa Outpost. Its out of print, and hard to acquire, but I'm thinking of changing the name to Outpost Nubians. Amon Eruanna is proving to be too strange, too irksome to have to keep explaining, etc.

Here are some pictures of our last smoking adventure. The best batch yet. Very tasty venison summer sausage.


Night before last we had the killing frost. So a new season begins for me, as I can leave the canner put away, at least until after Thanksgiving when there will be venison to can again. We've been making the sausage from last season's venison from the freezer.

The apples are done. I've made over 50 quarts of applesauce, some apple jelly and apple butter, and baked goods here and there . . . Then, this past weekend the hubby and the children took the rest of our apples to a cider press, and we have over 27 gallons of cider in the freezer. Pretty nice!

All my balloons . . .

The above photo was taken on the first day of school. This little green guy, or maybe his brothers and sisters also, has been spotted all over the yard this summer. And now for a tangent jump . . .

Whee! So, I have this little punk imp that lives in the back of my head, and every once in a while she needs appeasment, so that's why my taste in music never seems to mature. Yes, you are shaking your head, and most the time I would agree with you.

So I have stumbled across a band, fairly new I believe, and now this song is stuck in my head, held there by the aforementioned imp.

So google Children 18:3 and listen to that song, or better yet, watch the video. Pretty fun!

first pangs of fall '08

My beloved geek gave me a whole new hard drive just for my photos, so I feel like I'm back in business. There have been a couple of tragedies in my extended family, a couple of funerals, so I'm definitely ready to get back to life here at Amon Eruanna.

Uncounted numbers of folk have waxed poetical about flowers, but have you noticed how they are always there, always able to incorporate some form of delicate beauty into the worst situations, or to celebrate any occasion? Birth, death, sickness, congratulations . . . more than likely you will find a flower of some kind there. Even an ordinary day is set apart when you take a few moments to observe a flower. From just a practical standpoint, they are there to ensure the next season's flowers. From a more abstract one, they remind us of God's diversity, His ability to contain power and emotion in the most delicate petal. Or maybe He just knew that something inside us craves beauty. Our Creator sure knew we needed them, and made them just right.


Ok, and just so you know I haven't been slacking, here is some of our lovely harvest.