Fields Of Heather: October Newsletter

October Newsletter

A look back at what I've been reading, cooking, organizing, watching, and crafting, over the past month.

My favorite project this month -

we built a lion out of hay bales, putting it at the end of our lane were visitors can stop by and take photos with him. I'm not going to spend $300 for a 12 foot skeleton - but hay bales and corn stalks we have in abundance here this year, so this was my budget friendly nod to Halloween in the country. Bonus - this is located near the pasture gate - so when we are ready to take it down, the hay goes right in to the pasture and is rolled out for the cows to eat.

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Reminder - I'm an affiliate for several sites, and if you click on the links in this post and make a purchase, I could possibly make a few cents in commission. As always, this is no way effects the price you pay, and it also does not change my opinions. I'm not going to tell you I like something if I didn't actually like it. Quite the opposite, I have to be careful about how bluntly critical I am of things I do not like.... Don't even get me started on VIP passes for craft summits, or renting images from Design Space...
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What I Have Been Reading

So far in October, I've learned that ghost stories are just not for me. :-)

I either find them ridiculous, boring, or both. House With Good Bones was actually such a fun read - until the weird haunting part. I'd love a series about these characters - but I could do without the whole "mystical curse" thing. The Haunting Of Maddy Clare had the most "substance", for lack of a better term. It was a predictable mystery, with an abundance of, uhm, "Regency Romance", and it felt like it took place about 40 yeas before it was supposed to be occurring.. and yet I didn't hate this one. Episode 13 was.. just difficult to read. It's an odd format, and none of it worked for me. My husband thought this might be a spoof of a variety of "classic" slasher/horror films.. but I simply don't know enough about that genre to get the references or know if that is true. First frost is a sort of Hallmarky cozy magic story. It's book two in a series, it was our book club selection in September. The Fig Pepper bread recipe from the book is quite good - see that on down under "In My Kitchen" here.

Two books I almost put on my Did Not Finish pile, and ended up really liking and glad I finished: Wrong Place Wrong Time, and The Love Of My Life. The Love Of My Life is somewhat predictable, and a little slow at the beginning. It has a sort of dreamy tone that I know many love, but I often lack the patience for personally. It picks up though, and had a few little twists I didn't see coming. Overall and enjoyable read. [no ghosts nor witches.]

Wrong Place Wrong Time is probably the best thing I read this past month - although admittedly, that bar was simply not all that high. I almost gave up on it because I didn't like the weird jump back in time format... but that ended up being what really worked for this story. It allowed for some great twists, and an overall, interesting mystery.

Mother Daughter Murder Night was another good read. Not great, but good - and as a series, it has potential.

I started out this year planning to read one "local read" - a book written by a local author, or about something of local interest. I have not kept up well with that goal. Reptiland is a zoo very near us. It includes an animatronic dinosaur park, and my grandson and I are members there -we visit nearly every week. He can not only tell you about every animal there, but he knows every time they change an exhibit. :-) This month I read the memoir written by the zoos creator, and although I admittedly do not agree with many of his thoughts and opinions, I still enjoyed the book. A very quick read, not extremely well edited - it is a good "gift shop souvenir book", which I believe is precisely what this is meant to be.

A huge disappointment - The Southern Book Clubs Guide to Slaying Vampires. I started out loving this book. Funny, light... relatable. And then all the housewives turned into ridiculous parodies, and the book actually became stressful for me.. and then it got horrible. I'm about 80% into the book, and I just want it to be over. I feel the need to know how it ends, I don't think I'll be able to stop thinking about it until I know how it ends - and I truly do not ever want to think about this book again. The rats, the cockroaches, all the gross scenes.. I suppose that is what is supposed to make this "horror", but it all feels wrong somehow. It's don't find it scary, just gross, and annoying The characters, who had such potential in the very beginning, are all.. dim witted and extremely unlikeable. The conversations are all wrong - so tedious. There's a rape 80% in. This is not at all what I expected. My idea of reading different things, out of my comfort zone, this year has not gone well. I think I need to return to my normal thrillers and Historical Fiction.

And, if you have Amazon Prime, don't forget to pick your TWO FREE first reads book for this month https://amzn.to/3LD43jz

I made a Halloween "2023 To Read" List - - these are not books I recommend - I haven't read most of them - bu merely a list of books that caught my interest for this October

https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2023/09/halloween-reading-list-2023.html

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From My Craft Desk
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October Links:

A quick and easy shadow box - I wanted something simple, and sort of cute... I love the retro look of this one.https://www.facebook.com/fieldsofheathercrafts/posts/353104393941274

8 of the skeleton bookmarks from Digital Gems. These are quick and easy to make - just 3 layers. I cut 4 from a 12x12 sheet, but I "think" I might have been able to fit 5. Possibly. No longer a free file, but this was a temporary freebie at one time, so check you downloads, you may already own it... https://www.facebook.com/fieldsofheathercrafts/posts/352497024002011

Jointed Skeletons! I made 4 of them [3 shown here] and they were pretty quick and easy to put together. Not a free file - Jointed Skeleton File from Dreaming Tree - https://shrsl.com/48ede

Updated for 2023 - The Halloween Index

An index of where to find various free Halloween svgs by category (card making, treat boxes, shadow boxes, and more) Halloween Project Tutorials, Ideas, and more. Find it all here:
https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2017/09/cricut-free-halloween-projects-svg-files.html

I made an index for the Christmas Ornament Tutorials on my blog - find it here:
https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2023/10/christmas-ornament-tutorials-index.html

Don't forget to check the monthly list of items free this month ONLY

https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2023/10/free-this-month-only.html

And the list of upcoming summits is here:

https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2023/08/where-to-find-free-summits-calendar.html

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In My Kitchen

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I've been continuing my adventures with sourdough, attempting to perfect my basic recipe, and trying a variety of other recipes to narrow down my favorites and eliminate those that do not work for me. For this process, I developed a Sourdough Log Book - see it [and download] all here:

https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2023/10/creating-my-sourdough-journal.html

After using it for a few weeks, I find that this page works best for me:

I paste or write the recipe on the left, and then keep track of all the steps on the right. I'm still not sure this is a finished project, I keep making adjustments, but this basic form has been working quite well for me most recently.

I made a batch of Beeswax Wraps - a type of reusable plastic wrap, without the plastic. I've been using these for about a week, and I'm really happy with them. Quick and easy to make - use pinking shears, no sewing involved. https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2023/10/beeswax-bowl-wraps.html

Last months book club selection included a recipe, so I made it to take along to our meeting. This is not a sourdough, it's a "regular" yeast bread, made with figs and pepper. Unique, and quite good - this is a recipe I'll make again. I definitely plan to make some at Thanksgiving this year.

Olive oil can "restore" dried out wooden knife handles.

[Others have suggested using food grade mineral oil. But I had olive oil here already, and it works well for me. I think pretty much any oil would work for this.]

These are, obviously, 2 different knives - but it's the best I could do for a before and after, since I didn't think to take an actual before photo. 🙂 The handle of the bottom knife was just as light as the top one, before the olive oil.

If your wooden handled knives have been run through the dishwasher & the wood is now all dried out.. coat them in olive oil & let them sit over night, then wipe the excess oil off. I let mine sit blade side down in a glass cup - so the oil soaks into the wood on all sides.

I do this to my 1940s rolling pin too, although that never, ever, goes into the dishwasher.

A couple of my many fails this month... Do lots of things, many are bound to go wrong.

These jars... They ARE perfect for what I wanted them for. But I went to the thrift store to buy them, specifically thinking I'd find something cheaper there than at say, Dollar General. (Oh, how I love that vintage printed one... that one makes the others worthwhile!) I get home to wash them up and remove the labels, and on the bottom is a price sticker - from Dollar General. The original price was LESS than I paid at the thrift store...

This sourdough recipe was destined to fail. I was skeptical from the start - and knew the entire way through making it that it was unlikely to work. That's ok - I wanted to try it. And now I know. The recipe is in measurements, not weights - which is always tricky with sourdough. Then the amount of wheat flour, the molasses, the lack of adequate rise times (I even added some...) It ended up being a brick. And, a tasteless brick, at that - which was surprising. I like the idea of molasses and coffee sourdough, but I'll need to look for a better recipe

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On Our TV

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I call these my "old lady stretches". :-) Free on PBS, this is a great way to start the day.

It's interesting and informative too - she tells you about how your muscles work together, and why certain stretches should be done together, and more. Just 20 minutes.

https://www.essentricstv.com/classical-stretch-by-essentrics

Our local PBS channel is WVIA , and it shows this at 5:30am each morning.

On Acorn, the only channel we pay to subscribe to, there is a new series of The Chelsea Detective, and of Harry Wild. Both are good - cozy mystery type series. Not outstanding, but I do enjoy them. There's a 3rd one, Mrs. Sidhu Investigates, new this year, that is good too.

We're enjoying the Amazing Race again this season

There's a Frasier Reboot on Paramount Plus

(Don't ask me how we get that one free - we do have a variety of free channels through our phone and internet plans )

It's nostalgic, and we're enjoying the humor so far. If you do not get Paramount Plus for free, I'd wait until the entire series airs, then use the 7 day free trial and watch them all at once. :-)

Found is new on NBC

I set it to tape, and we watched the first two or three episodes... Wow, it's weird! There are so many weird things going on, I can't even follow it all.

She has him chained in the basement!!! I mean, I'm not really blaming her - but where is THAT plot line going to go??

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On The Farm

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An October Sunrise at the farm

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Around Our Home

[Organization, Decorating, etc]

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Decorating for Halloween

The cat was made by my daughter in laws mom. The tree is from the Dollar Tree, and the candle wrap was cut with cricut, but I think it would be faster to cut by hand... I've been working on a tutorial for these with cricut for more than a year now. Here's an old tutorial from 2013 - long before I had heard of cricut. https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2013/11/24-days-of-simple-christmas-crafts_8.html

Skeletons and spiders hidden in the flowers...

I can't decide if the orange lights here bother me yet or not, when watching tv.

That's part of my insulator cap - the browns - collection in there. I started collecting them many years ago, and then when my Gram died, I found my grandfather had a collection stored in the garage. He died before I was born, I had no idea he collected them. :-) His are old, and beautifully colored ceramic ones, I'm thrilled to have them.

My Wilson Walkies moved up behind glass, now that the youngest local grandson is able to pull himself up and grab them from where they were sitting. :-)

I don't really do puzzles. They are beyond my attention span. But my daughter and husband love them, and my 3 year old grandson likes to "help". I bought this one at a thrift store, and part of it was still together in the box. My daughter will not be amused.. she will consider this cheating. She will also not approve of any middle pieces being assembled before the border has been completed. She has a lot of puzzle rules. :-)

If I ever complete the Halloween Decorating this year, I'll create a facebook album for the photos. I've been VERY slow at it this year, but to be fair, I've been a little busy.