Pumpkin Bread

What's the best part about making pumpkin bread?

But really, isn't it the best part about baking anything?

Fall Activities

Autumn this year has been beautiful. Very wet, but beautiful. Cedric and I have managed to make it to the zoo and the botanical garden on days when its not too cold or raining. A trip to the zoo in the fall is wonderful because the cooler air excites the animals. By excite, I mean they are less likely to be sleeping and more likely to be playing, running, even just standing up. Fall also means that places like the zoo and the garden are not crowded because most of the older children are at school!

Here is a fountain on the south side of the zoo, a part we haven't seen in a while because normally we part on the north side. Cedric had to watch these sea lions (they could be seals but I don't remember) for a while before deciding they were not real.


A favorite treat at the zoo is a ride on the carousel!

This picture of a Japanese maple is taken at the garden. I'm pretty happy with the level of bokeh in the background.



Cedric loved the decorative rocks in the Japanese Garden. I like this shot of him looking off into the distance, pensive, clutching a rock. That's my boy.

Apple Butter: Grand Finale

First, because it always makes me laugh in amazed disbelief, a quick recap of our raw materials:

800 lbs of Jonathon apples. check.

60 lbs of sugar. check.

1 lb of cinnamon. check.

Star anise. check.

Total yield: just over 600 jars of Grandma June's Apple Butter!

After showing Kellie and I how to make apple butter in the crock pot, Grandma June thought it would be good to have a practice run making apple butter in her kettle. So on a chilly September morning we made a fire and 8 hours later we canned over 100 jars of apple butter. Cooking in the kettle is not for the feint of heart! But it is fun. A LOT of work, but fun.

Then, October 10 -11 we drove to St. James to demonstrate cooking in the kettle and sell apple butter at Old Iron Works Days. I think we did pretty well. At least we made enough money that the over all experience is now a pretty pleasant memory. The best way to share it, is with pictures.

I'll try to keep narration to a minimum.

Grandma June's kettle holds 3 bushels of apples. No problem.

Here's a good shot of Kellie, the mastermind of this project. Did I mention before that cooking in the kettle is a lot of work? We're talking between 6-8 hours of constant stirring. I was very jealous that Kellie thought of this method for stirring.

Here I am with Grandma June, sporting my favorite rain boots! Stephanie, do you remember driving all over Chicago so I could find them?

Kellie is being goofy here, but its a nice shot of the cute apron she bought in Hermann. Love the cherries!

This is my iconic "Grandma June" picture. Don't worry about the smoke pouring out of the kettle, that's normal. At least Grandma June wasn't concerned.

Our tables looked pleasant and inviting don't you think? We gave out samples, which was a big hit with the grownups. So many children though asked for just a cracker or plain bread or even apples from our display!

We had so much help pulling this off! At least 7 women worked on this at one time or another, husbands were cajoled into watching children ALONE for days or left ALONE for days or DRUG along to HELP. So needless to say there was some sacrificing happening behind the scenes, for which we are eternally grateful. We also had the sweetest, most laid back baby I've ever met with us for the main event. She probably increased sales by 20% with her presence alone. Many smoked turkey legs were consumed. All of them were delicious.