Wild Highbush Cranberries

The cranberries are done.  It's a good year for them.  I usually make cranberry jelly because it's my mom's favorite.  This time I'm going to make something called "vispipuuro"-Finnish Air Pudding.  My neighbor told me how she used to make it in the winter and use the snow to cool it.  I think I'll make it inside and just  use icecubes.

Finnish Air Pudding-Vispipuuro
2 cups fresh cranberries
3 cups water
1 cup sugar-more or less to taste
1/3 cup Malt-O-Meal

Put cranberries and water in a saucepan and boil until juice is very red in color.  Strain juice off of berries.  Add 1 cup sugar, 1/3 cup Malt-O-Meal and cook over low heat until the mixture has thickened.  Cool to room temp and place pan in a larger pan of cold water and ice.  Beat with mixer until pink and fluffy.  Serve with whipped cream or milk.

I'm juicing the berries right now in my Mehu-Liisa (Finnish Juicer).

I'm learning a lot from my Finnish neighbor.
Here's one more picture.  This one is just thrown in because I thought it was so doggone cute...

This is my daughter's new puppy, a little English Cocker.

Have a pleasant, blessed evening.

What Will $31 Buy?

Well...I'm not sure if this is a good deal, yet, but I found this on an on-line auction site---

It's in need of handles and I'm not sure what else.  I haven't seen it yet, but I'm going to get it picked up next week, Lord willing. 
I couldn't help myself.  I've wanted one for a long time and the temptation was too great.  The bid was only at $2.00 when I started.  Have you ever gone on those auction sites?  So many treasures.  There's a rabbit cage on the same site that is only at $5.00......Keep me off of there.  My honey is an instigator.  He encourages me in this.  :)

Totally different subject--how to cook a duck.  I have one in the oven right now.  I put it in my roasting pan on a rack with a bit of water, some salt, pepper and garlic powder and bacon wrapped over the breast.  I've never cooked or eaten duck.    So, what do ya think? 

Happy Harvest

Okay...so this is the third time I've started this post.  My computer is being an idiot, perhaps I'm contributing, I don't know. 
I just wanted to write about harvesting and the Lord's goodness.  So here's hoping I can get it through it without losing it a fourth time.
Fall is the season of preparation.  Firewood, canning, cleaning, winterizing, finishing up those outdoor building projects that were supposed to be done by July.  It can be a bit overwhelming.  Not to mention getting the garden to bed.  But today is a beautiful fall-like day.  Today Pastor said to not be anxious about anything.  So I'm going to take that advice.
I've been taking pictures of things around here--

 This is a scary picture.  Really.  When I get up in the morning and look out my kitchen door , this is what I see.  Turkeys aren't really pretty birds.  It's slightly disconcerting.

My friend and neighbor asked me over to pick wild plums and crabapples.  How blessed am I?  I ended up with 1/2 bushel of plums and a full bushel of crabapples.  I canned plum jam, plum syrup, apple juice and applesauce.  Life is good.

 A few days later, I thought I'd better harvest some of my cabbages because the deer have found them.  I decided to make sauerkraut and needed about 20 pounds of cabbage.  This one weighed in at 11 1/2 lbs.   Only takes two to make a batch.  Wonderful cabbages this year.

 This is Sunday dinner, a pot of harvest stew.  Recipe-just go out to the garden, grab whatever is handy and throw it in a pot with some kind of meat.  I grabbed onions, garlic, rutabaga, potatoes, carrots, beans, kale and zucchini.  Haven't tried it yet.

Kale is a crop that grows very well for me.  Unfortunately, I don't like the taste of it.  I've made some kale chips and those are okay.  I also use it in stir fries, and I'll see if I like it in this soup mentioned above.  I decided to preserve it by drying it and making a kale powder in the blender.  This can be used in soups and in smoothies and...any more ideas??

So, I guess this post is mostly about harvest time.  This is my favorite time of year, despite the amount that needs to be done.

"Do not be anxious in anything, but in everything, with prayer and supplication let your requests be made known unto God."  My version, but I think it's close.

Happy Harvest.

Cooling Off With Chicken Broth

I thought the title might catch someone's attention.  We have a heat advisory here in northern Minnesota.  In the 90s for the next three days-okay only 88 on Tuesday.  Not our typical weather.

My poor Angora bunnies are hot.  I sheared three of them, but the rest still have some pretty heavy duty coats.  I should have put some containers of water in the freezer last night to place in their cages.  I checked the freezer to see what I did have that might cool them off and I found some jars of chicken broth.  So they did get to cool off with chicken broth.

Houston

It's not the city I'm writing about, it's the puppy.  Houston is a 10 week old puppy of dubious origin.  He has a warm and cuddly personality, and seems to understand what's expected of him, though he's not always up to doing the right thing.  I hope to teach him to get along with our chickens, ducks and turkeys, but so far he can't seem to resist the urge to make them fly.  Anyone have any pointers?

Puppies are so sweet, aren't they?