My own "Old Kentucky Home"

(morning fog - view from our back door)

I am in love with my own old Kentucky home right now.  We have been having the most perfect autumn weather - warm (but not too warm) sunny days and cool nights (referred to as good sleeping weather around here).  We've had just enough rain to provide plenty of green grass and all the animals are still contentedly grazing in the pastures.  To my way of thinking, it just can't get much better than this.  It's no secret that fall is my most favorite time of year.  (Doesn't everyone love their birth month better than the rest of the year?)  After several summers of blazing heat and occasional drought conditions, this summer proved to be much more tolerable.  Because the weather is completely beyond my control, it feels very much like a precious gift when it's this good.

So, what's happening besides glorious weather?  We had a big event on Saturday when my oldest son's architectural firm had their fall outing here at the farm.  Mike and I have concluded that we need to schedule some big party event (just maybe not always a wedding) every fall to motivate us to get our act together.  While the farm can never be manicured and groomed in the way a city yard might be or like one of the fancy horse farms that are around our part of Kentucky, with the right stick being held over our heads, we can spiff ourselves up a little!  Luna and Marilla had a starring role when I penned them beneath the old catalpa tree for all the little people to get close to and the alpaca boys did their part by coming up to the fence to gawk at all the cars and people.

I've not been doing much cooking or baking lately, except for an occasional loaf of no-knead bread (using the recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day).  It is seriously easy and so, so good!  I nearly always have a container of the dough in the refrigerator these days.  I bake mine in one of my Le Creuset pots and it comes out perfect every time.  If you haven't tried it, you should.  What I'm really in the mood for is hearty soup, so last night I made this recipe (scroll down to the bean, kale, rice and sausage soup) from Heather Bruggeman.  Her blog is Beauty That Moves and she has terrific, healthy recipes.  This soup has become a favorite because it's delicious and good for you, plus I nearly always have all the ingredients on hand. 

On the knitting front - it's all about my Olive sweater right now.  I'm hoping to get some serious knitting time in the next few days in order to wear Olive as my Rhinebeck sweater during the weekend.  I'm so excited to be going to Rhinebeck again, after missing the last few years.  It is my favorite fiber show of the year in one of my favorite parts of the country.  The pattern is Antler by Alexa Ludeman.  It's in the book Pacific Knits and is available through Ravelry as a single pattern.  It's very well-written and I'm loving knitting all those cables on the yoke.  Of course, I'm having to make adjustments because my gauge is off, but what else is new?  :-)

So, what's going on at your house?  Any knitting or cooking to share?  Happy Autumn Days everyone!

Marilla

These were taken a few weeks ago.  Marilla is my bottle baby and a bit of a clown.  She loves attention (can you tell?) and will go to great lengths to make sure I notice her.  She gets along just fine with the rest of the ewe lambs, but if I'm around the barn or where she can see me, she puts on this face and "talks" to me, until I come over to give her some scratches and a little sweet talk.  She's not the prettiest baby I've ever raised, but what she lacks in looks, she makes up for in personality and her fleece is gorgeous.

It's been so hot and dry, the ewe lambs spend a major portion of each afternoon lying under the shed on the side of the barn, which means they are so, so dirty.   They've got such bright white, lustrous fleeces,  it makes me cringe when I see them look like she does here.  In fact, a few nights ago, I haltered the white ones and brought them into the barn aisle for a little spray shower to get the worst of the dust off.   I know it won't last long, but for a few days they will look like the sheep you read about in nursery rhymes ..... "white as snow".

If we ever have cool weather again, I'll put the girls coats on to protect those pretty fleeces through the winter.  I'm already looking forward to shearing next year, so I can play with what they're growing now.  (I know ......  it's a sickness with me, but there are plenty worse things to be obsessed with than sheep fleeces.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.)