Last week I finally hired an expert wool spinner to help me figure out how to use my inherited spinning wheel.
I was determined to learn how to use it; (I have SO much wool from our sheep!) Two quilts have been made with the wool batting and hundreds of wool dryer balls, but I still have several pounds of fleece leftover. I imagined this winter; I would be sitting by a cozy fire, spinning away miles and miles of yarn on my spinning wheel. But all the You Tube watching in the world won’t give you the feedback that a real live person will, so I packed up my wheel and headed over to Asheville to spend a couple of hours with a pro who has been spinning wool for 30 years.
I’m happy to say that after a couple of hours of gentle guidance from Milissa of Mountain Mama’s, I finally know what was wrong with my wheel, fixed it and have managed to spin several skeins of yarn. Yay!
While I was in Asheville, I bought a bushel of Ginger Gold apples at Moss Farm in Hendersonville. Have you ever been apple picking in our beautiful North Carolina mountains? It’s a wonderful way to spend an autumn afternoon.
When I got the apples home, I made up a big batch of apple butter and an apple pie for the family.
The apple butter recipe that I use is so easy. It takes two days to make but in the end; you are rewarded with a delicate, sweet dish that is great served with biscuits, cornbread, over pancakes or given as gifts.
Ingredients:
- 6 pounds apples (I used Ginger Gold), chopped with skins left on
- 3 cups packed brown sugar
- 2 TBS apple pie spice
- Two teaspoons vanilla
Instructions:
- Place apples, cider, brown sugar, apple pie spice & vanilla into the slow cooker. Toss around a couple of time to mix up ingredients.
2. Place cover on and cook for 6 hours on high.
3. Using an immersion blender or hand blender blend apples until smooth. Be careful because the apples are hot. If you don’t have a hand blender, you can use a regular blender but again be careful.
4. With the lid off cook on high an additional 6 hours, or until you get desired consistency. This is the cooking phase you need to pay a little more attention to. You want to keep an eye on the consistency. Mine cooked for 8 hours. Pour into jars and cool and seal according to water bath directions.
That’s the news from the homestead, see you next week!
