Photo Dump 9/16

My sister, Miss SmartyPants, sent along some snaps of her garden and this charming gentleman.  I need to find out where he came from and, of course, I want one!!

This is the raised bed part of her garden.  Check out those crazy bean towers.

This is the back part of her garden and you can see that the big mass of sunflowers towards the back is just about to break out into bloom.  She said she would send up a picture when they do. 

Did I mention that she also has a garden at her Eugene home??  That girl got all the family energy.

I went out this morning and rescued the windfall dahlias that really took a beating during that wild storm that we had last night.  Why would a person not grow dahlias??  I'm going to add several more to the mix next year.

My neighbor, Brandon, let me pick his apples, so I made applesauce and gave him some to thank him.  He was thrilled!!  My easy peasy applesauce recipe is here if you have scored some apples.

For once I got a decent basil crop this year and actually got it harvested before it froze to death and turned black.  I tried seeds this year instead of starts and it worked out better than usual.  Of course, the hot summer didn't hurt either.

This is the second batch getting ready for a whiz in the food processor.  I ran out of pine nuts so I threw in some almonds.  You can add any kind of nut that you have around.  Here is my easy peasy recipe for pesto:

Basil
Several garlic cloves, peeled
Pine nuts, almonds, walnuts, etc
Shredded Parmesan
Olive oil

Pack the food processor almost full with basil leaves.  Throw in a handful of Parmesan and a handful of nuts.  Use as much garlic as you want.  I would have added more but that was all I had.  It looks like this batch has eight cloves.  Turn on the food processor and add olive oil through the top.  Scrape down the sides and decide if it needs more olive oil.  I poured mine into half pint containers and stored them in the freezer.

Shane, the world's cutest handyman, came over yesterday and cleaned the roof and gutters for me.  He also brought along these beautiful cucumbers.  Even though they are large, they were not bitter and the seeds weren't huge.  I'm gonna ask him what these are called and where he got the seeds.  I sent him home with a bag of vine ripened tomatoes.

Dueling crockpots.  The one on the left is full of apples and cinnamon and the other one is sporting a whole chicken.  I picked up two chickens that were on sale at QFC for $ .99 a pound and cooked one.  I froze the other one for later use.

Check it out!!  Two socks on one 40 inch needle!!  I have no idea about what to do when I get to the heel so I'm hoping that the ladies can help me out at our knitting group.  This method gets rid of "second sock syndrome" if you knit the same pair.  I, however, have another pair just like the ones on the needle.  The sock on the left is from Socks that Rock and it is called Blarney Stone.  The one on the right is a lovely cashmere/merino wool blend that is dreamy to work with.  I can't wait to wear them.