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Chance's 1st batch of Chicken sausages.

        

 I came home yesterday from a very busy day at work to the yummy smell of sausages cooking.Chance had spent his day at home cooking ,baking and making up a whole storm of food. Chance made us this lovely pile of chicken,sun dried tomato and basil sausages,it was his first try at sausages and all I can say is,he had better make some more because they were a huge hit.

Besides making the sausages he made a batch of oatmeal raisin cookies for lunch boxes and a pot of squash soup.The cookies of course were half gone by this morning when I packed the lunches and the soup was slurped up at dinner.

  Although our summer garden did not produce as much as last years our fall/winter garden is looking hopeful.All 10 of our Broccoli plants now have blooms on them,the Kale and Pac Choi are both coming along as well.The fall beets are slowly growing but I think we have lost the carrots.The Swiss Chard from the spring planting is still putting out and will last at least until a hard frost comes.
  The hens are slowing down on their laying, way to early if you ask me. The slowing of the egg laying is making me think it is time to thin out our flock a bit.We have 3 older birds who I know are no longer laying which means they have become extra mouths to feed with no benefit to feeding them.There are 2 other hens who I am not sure about as well and since they are only 1 1/2 years old I may wait a bit to decide what we will do with them.
  The 100 pounds of Apples we ordered will be here in the next couple of weeks.After looking back through my homestead journal* I think this year I will can more apple sauce and less apple butter only because the boys inhale the sauce so fast and I'd like to have it around longer this winter/spring.
   * Do any of you keep a journal of gardening and canning? I started ours last year to help me keep track of what I planted,where I purchased or how much I purchased and how much it yielded. I also have a section for the chickens,their "birth-dates" ,breed,temperament and their laying habits. And I have a list in my journal of the u-pick places I went to with, what and when I bought from them and the price per pound.Some households have their coupon files I have my homestead journal.(speaking of coupons,have you ever noticed how useless most of them are when you cook from scratch?)
  I feel as if I have not had any great things to share here in a long time.With the growing year so slim and me returning to work it's all so different this year.We have settled into my work routine but are still figuring out how to fit in the homesteading projects.Months ago one of the readers here asked me how I do it all.My answer was I am home full time.I am now seeing why she was asking her question.How I will mange it all is yet to be seen.I am lucky that Chance and the boys are great help with work around home.But it has always taken the whole family to keep a homestead running smoothly so I suppose we are just returning to the roots of homesteading in yet another way.
  Long ago my Grandfather said to me "When you see something beautiful or something that makes you stop and smile,that is God reminding you He see's you and is watching over you.Never feel alone in the world." I have been thinking of that lately, often and with pleasure.The weather here has been story book perfect,cool and crisp in the mornings followed by crispy sunshine by afternoon.The leaves are starting to turn a rainbow of colors and I can smell the wood smoke drifting in the neighborhood.Apple weather. I am not a church kind of person but have a deeply seated belief in a higher power that has many names.These days I find myself feeling greatly loved and blessed by the world around me,even if the garden was slim and there are no eggs.

Rois