Iceberg Lettuce… sort of

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I went outside this morning to harvest the rest of our lettuces, carrots and beets. I brushed about 3 inches of snow off the cold-frame lid before opening it. They’ve been doing well in their covered boxes, but the next couple of nights are supposed to drop to the single digits. I doubt they’ll survive that! So we’ll be having a roasted beet, orange and mixed green salad with our Thanksgiving dinner.

I also cut-up and roasted one of the last Cinderella pumpkins this morning. It smelled so sweet when I cut it open and a ton of flesh (thick walls!). I smeared it all over with butter and put it in a 400 degree oven for 30 mins. Then reduced to 350 for another 30 mins. Then turned off the oven but let the pumpkin sit in there. I’m hoping to use the fresh puree for Turkey-Day pie, but I’m aware that the consistency may be a bit watery. My plan is to drain it or squeeze it in cheesecloth. We’ll see how it all turns out. Good news is it’s just family and close friends for dinner – so if it flops – it flops.

I’m going to sign-off and go set the re-circ pump to help the pipes not freeze over night. It’s rare that it gets into the single digits or below around here… especially this early in the season! Cheers!

Turkey Puppet

This little kids’ craft project is fairly simple. The “ol’ paper bag puppet” is all this really is. But it was still fun to make and my son had fun doing it… so isn’t that the point?!

How to make it: The obvious is the paper bag. I happen to have smaller sized craft bags and basket coffee filters leftover from other projects. If you used lunch-sized bags, you could use a paper plate for the main tail feathers.

I had my son color one coffee filter all brown with marker, then another with any colors he wanted. I used the brown one flat and cut the colored one in quarters (pie shaped). I cut a scrap of construction paper for a backing so the glue wouldn’t bleed through, and put it behind the filters. My son glued the heck out of the middle and stuck his colored filter quarters on the brown flat filter. Then I took apart an orange fabric flower and cut it into quarters and had him glue sections on as additional feathers.

There was so much glue in the middle of the “feathers” at this point, that the bag was just able to stick on. I cut out a beak and waddle and had him glue them on along with googly eyes. I bent pipe cleaners for feet and legs and adhered them and put a weight on it all until it was dry. That was it! My son decided to draw more feathers on the front of the turkey, and drew on his eyes before glueing the googly ones on. Obviously anything works… it’s a kids’ project! Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving!