the homemade home-front continues. earlier this week i found myself at a local farm stand asking the farm-stand helper, "how many pounds of apples are in a box?" he didn't really know, so he popped the whole box on the scale. "About 25, " he replied. "well, then. I want the whole box, " I told him. "Someone must like apples," he said.

why did i want a whole box of organic gala apples from the western slopes of colorado?

"I'm making applesauce."
"Someone must really like applesauce."
"Well there's three of us making applesauce," i quipped back, a little bothered that he comment on my whole box of apples. i don't believe for a moment that i am the first or last person to buy the entire box of apples.

We made fantastic, organic, local, applesauce. (i'm calling it local because most Colorado apples come from the western slope. and while we did try to make an appointment to pick our apples from a much more local {i.e. the next town to the north} farm, the farm did not return my requests in time. ) Nearly 17 pints full of tasty, fresh and smooth applesauce. and there's nothing else in it except good memories, friendship and homemade local taste.



(i might have a crush on my applesauce.)

it's scrumptious-- i i love that autumn is here!

i've just returned home from my friend's house in which we made our 1st and 2nd batches of fresh mozzarella cheese! our first batch, was not successful. we almost had ourselves some cheese; the curds separated from the whey, but it looked a lot more like ricotta cheese then mozzarella. so we went out to the health food store, baby and all, and bought some really, really good milk -- it's not local but came so highly recommended by the staff, who knew about cheese making, we thought it was worth the try. it's all in the milk people! it can't be ultra pasteurized. we came home with milk that hadn't been homogenized and was VAT pasteurized allowing to cook better and had cream on the top.

with the second batch looking much better, we congratulated ourselves on being Cheese Makers. this is exciting to me for 2 reasons: one, we made freakin' cheese! and number two, because the whey pulls the lactose out of the milk, my ain't-gonna-take-no-lactose body, don't mind this yummy homemade treat!

cheese, people, i made freakin' cheese!

so with my new job i've had lots more time for knitting and thus reflection.

here's what i've been thinking about: it's green

• i've finished reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver.
• do i really want to be a Costco member any more? they carry a variety of organic foods and some eco cleaning products... but i just don't know.
  
• The Boulder Farmer's Market is hosting this good event: Save the date Septeber 15 (Saturday) EAT LOCAL! CELEBRATION. Come join us in a community celebration of our local foodshed! Speakers, demonstrations, tasting, music and more! Sponsored by Boulder County Farmers' Markets, BOULDER COUNTY GOING LOCAL!, Boulder Valley Relocalization, and Boulder County Independent Business Alliance. Inaugural publication release of Boulder County's EAT LOCAL! Resource Guide, a complete guide to the local foodshed! One Boulder Plaza (13th & Canyon), 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
• i've been watching It's Not Easy Being Green. you really should watch all the video clips. i watch it at 10pm and then feel compelled to turn my entire balcony into a vegetable patch and hitch up a wind turbine.
  
• i've been lurking here, here, and here.
  
• and there is this going on too.
  
• i *heart* organic yarn.

and there you have it. i've wanted to share this for awhile, but couldn't organize it. this is simple.

so, how'd you like that whole week of completed projects... and daily posts? i thought it was heaps of fun, and bit of a show-off. Fun nonetheless.

Now on the needles: A Sweater for Tom.
and not just any sweater, ya'll, but The First sweater i have knit for him. It's going to be an Elizabeth Zimmermann seamless hybrid-- i'm hybriding right long, now that the sleeves have been added on the looooong circular needle.
i'm using Reynolds Candide: it's a natural color, with more vegetable matter in it than just about any other yarn i've used. it's 100% virgin wool, but i've been calling it 100% Itch.
Not really.
I think we've all become so used to highly processed wools.
The bits of vegetable matter make it real. and i have lovely thoughts of Sheepy in the pasture.

The sweater, in this photo, doesn't look like it's going to fit him.
But trust me.
he's been faithfully trying on all the pieces to confirm my measurments.
again and again.