| autumn sweet rolls. |

 

I confess that I haven't been baking much lately. The weather has been absolutely beautiful lately, a far cry from the rain and wind we had earlier this week. Actually, speaking of the weather, we have officially had our first snow of the winter of '12/13. Last week was freezing, and leaves and snow were falling at the same time. Very interesting to watch. Unfortunately I didn't get the camera out in time to get any pictures. But it was neat. For those who don't know me or my family personally, we live at an elevation of fifteen hundred feet two hours south of Canada, so we usually have our first good snow (a foot, the last couple years) before Thanksgiving. Actually one year we had it the last week of October. Dad isn't a big fan of that, but the rest of us are fine with it.

Anyway, this afternoon I found a can of pumpkin that needed to be used up, so I made these rolls with it.:) The glaze on them looks a little messy ~ I had some help from a twelve-year-old brother who usually "hangs around" when I am in the kitchen, either to chaperone the production of his next meal or to snitch when my back is turned, if it is something sweet.

Well, here is the recipe:

 

Pumpkin Sweet Rolls

1 tablespoon yeast

1 1/4 cups warm milk

1 cup pumpkin

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup butter, divided

1 teaspoon salt

7 1/4 cups flour

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1 1/2 teaspoon cinnomon

1cup powdered sugar

1 to 2 teaspoons milk

1/2 teaspoon vinilla

 

In a large bowl dissolve yeast in milk warmed to 110 to 115 degrees. Add pumpkin, sugar, 1/2 cup melted butter, salt, and 4-3/4 cups flour, beat until smooth. Continue adding  flour until the batter reaches a kneadable consistency. On a floured surface, knead dough until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, cover and let rise until double in size, about 1 hour. Punch dough down. Roll into a 24 by 10 inch square. Combine 1 cup flour, brown sugar, cinnomon, and remaining 1/4 cup melted butter, set aside one cup. Sprinkle remaining mixture over dough, press down slightly, and roll up jelly roll style. Cut into 24 slices. Place cut side down in 2 greased 13 x 9 pans. Sprinkle with remaining crumbs. Cover and let rise until double, about 30 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees for twenty to twenty-five minutes, or until golden. Combine powdered sugar, milk, and vinilla, drizzle over rolls.

Makes 2 dozen rolls. Or of course if your family is like ours, 2 dozen until the boys find them, then it would most likely be 0.

This recipe comes from the Gooseberry Patch cookbook Homemade Harvest , which has a lot of great recipes in it.

 

                   Who needs those things they sell in Walmart? I have my own heating pad. :)

 

| a harvest of memories. |

 

Lately the delightful (and fleeting) fall weather we've been having lately has encouraged us to get out and make memories. I should have named my blog something to do with farming and memories~ because, living on a small scale farm, most of my photography is centered around some kind of farmy backround, and because this blog is centered around my memories that I make every day.:) But I do like my blog title. Because I do use it very much like a journal, as I guess people can see.:)

Lately I've been finding out the delights of vintage graphics, which can make ordinary digital scrapbooking come alive.:) Does anyone else have an interest in that? If you have any tips on that, I'd be delighted to know your secrets.:)

Right now we all have colds.:( Not very pleasant. But the kids still get out very day and enjoy the weather. Oh, and bow season opened on Saturday! Yes, the men in our family were chomping at the bit the night before, sitting around the kitchen table priming up their arrows and discussing which stand was the best situated. They're hunting both deer and bear this year, and Mama has declared that if a bear is shot she wants a bear skin rug. They haven't brought home any trophies yet, but they did see one bear on Saturday. One of the things about living in rugged farm country with lots of forests and ridges mixed in is that you can literally hunt in your back yard.

 

We've been bringing in the harvest too.:)

 

 

I only wish our squash garden did this well.  .  . we got these from a farm that always seems to offer the best produce and they were delicious!

 

And enjoying the gorgeous fall colors, too.:)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think they were playing a game on the barn roof or something.

 

And no, we weren't the ones who painted the fence the patriotical colors...

 

 

The boys were noticing that there is snow on the ski hights already!

And it's only the second week of October...

 

 

 

The creature sitting on the corrall fence is the little's scarecrow. Don't you just love kids' creations? And how mommies love their kids' scarecrow made out of a tarp, old hay, and a much battered cowboy hat a hundred times better than a fine specimin that might be featured in Country magazine, simply because their little girl or boy made it?

 

*Smiles.*

 

 

 

 

Matthew had made a big leaf pile next to the corrall fence, which I think he was hoping to keep, but then the puppy ran down to the barn and dove headfirst into it, Joy Joy jumped in to get her, and then everyone sorta followed suit.:)

 

 

 

That's all for this minute, but hoping you all are having a wonderful fall, and having some wonderful memory making!

 

"I will lift up mine eyes to the hills, from whence cometh my help...My help cometh from the Lord, who hath made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved, behold, He that keepeth thee shall not slumber."

Psalm 121:1~3

 

| life lately. |

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A delicious start to a rainy fall morning~ Dad is the sweet roll maker in our house.:)

 

Thank you so much everybody for the sweet comments on the last post.:) It was very encouraging, up until the end when I guess some people were getting tired of my prolonged silence. Sorry about that~ with school, and other things going on, I haven't had much time to sit down and actually update my blog lately. I sorta had a feeling that would happen when we hit Spetember.:) This post has been in drafts for a while, but it took me a while to sit down and finish it.   

But my camera has not been idle, as I guess is obvious by the pictures above.:) My brothers are especially enjoying the crisp fall air, although Zach who is a serious sunny-weather buff has been rather irritated by the consistent rain (yup, that's this state for you) and has been talking rather fondly of the sunny South. Funny how people have different opinions about that. Mama loves the rainy weather, and cool, foggy rainy days, in fact, when one of those days rolls around, Dad usually looks at her and says, "It's a Mommy day!" I think Matthew likes the sunshine best, Matt if I'm speaking wrong you can correct me via comment.:) and everyone else is about the same way.

So fall has rolled in full swing.:) We've tried to get out and take some hikes together in the mountians behind our house, sometimes the whole family, sometimes just me and the boys. Halfway up a ridge behind our house is a Ford tractor that looks like it was made in the 70's or something, that somebody left up there years and years ago. It's quite the bucket of rust and has blackberry bushes climbing up all over it and everything. But as you can imagine it's a gold mine for the boys, particularily Grr. I meant to get a picture of him with it, too, but it's bear season right now and I couldn't convince him to come up there. Actually, we've found a lot of stuff up there, including a much-dilapidated RV hidden at the top of the ridge that looks like it easily could have been there for thirty years. The trees have all grown up all around it.

So sorry this is so disconnected, but we've been exploring up there a lot lately, and so I guess that's what we've been doing this past weekend.

Another very sweet memory we made recently was a campfire with our sweet friends the S. and B. families.

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry everything is so blurry~ I still haven't really mastered taking perfect shots at night.

 

Some very sweet sisters.:)

 

 

And now some more rambles from here and there.

 

 

This picture has a story behind it...

Last week Matt "just happened" to open the closed burner of the grill, and found an indignant little creature hiding in the house she had created for herself almost right on top of the burner. It was actually quite a well constructed nest, and everyone was quite interested of course. She didn't really seem to enjoy the intimidating enthusiastic inspection of her house, though, and retreated to quieter hunting grounds.

Of course the finding of a mouse and her nest in the grill warranted some conversation, during which the mouse received a name. The first one was derrived from the excellent movie Ben Hur, (one of the few movies I can watch without getting bored). The boys liked the Roman governer's name, Philarious Gratus, and christened the mouse a variation, Philarious Rattus.

When I suggested that the mouse might be a gal building her babies a nest, the name was changed to Chunka Munca. (variation on Hunca Munca)

 Okay, enough of that, and some more pictures from recent life.

 

 

 

 

I saw this quote the other day, and couldn't resist editing this photo with it.

 

 

The other day on one of our hikes Matt and I saw this lovely thing.

My reaction: "Oh, look at that cute little deer!"

Matt's reaction: "Oh, man! Where's my bow?!"

 

 

Muffin is growing!

 

I got to see this darling little baby!!

On Sunday we visited some friends' church. It was such a wonderful time of sweet fellowship.

 

Mercy is so adorable!

 

My friends and I were trying out our piano skills for each other.:)

 

I am so thankful for my sweet friends...it was such a blessing to get to see you Salinn and Annette.:)

 

Okay, I think this post has extended itself long enough, I am getting tired of sitting still, and am quite computered out. I guess I shouldn't put off posting so long again.

But anyway, hope you all have a wonderful evening! I wanted to share two last things, one of them of an absolutely beautiful pictures I found off on a wonderful Christian website, and a link to one of my favorite songs that I usually listen to when I'm down or something.

 

 

http://grooveshark.com/s/Jesus+Laughing/2k37JC?src=5

Hoping you all have a great evening! Thanks again for visiting!!
     ~Hannah~

"And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life."
 ~1 John 5:20