It's that time again

Spring time always ruins my knitting mojo. The call of nature totally overwhelms all my senses until I obey it's whims. Instead of knitting, most of my time is spent walking in concentric circles in my yarn prodding the grass to cover the blank areas, squatting in the middle of our gravel driveway at early hours of the morning to pull weeds and sometimes I water my tomato plants (with chives!) and daydream about what I will do with them and my new pressure canner. (That last bit sounds a little sadistic doesn't it?) It's also the time when OLS gets back into full swing.

Last year I learned that any attempt to include locally grown food in my family's diet is a good attempt. Simply put whether it side dish or main course, I'm not in a contest with anyone. If I had not come to realize this guiding belief, I would be much more disheartened and possibly even unwilling to participate. I remind myself that I want to enjoy this experience with my own little credo.


Pumpkin Cheesecake. The pumpkin was grown locally by one of the our coworkers last year and frozen until I decided what I needed to be: my first OLS dessert.

I was going to post the recipe I used until I realized that it was woefully wrong (even lacking cooking instructions) and I apparently didn't follow any of it other than the 1 lb of additional pumpkin, 1/4 t cinnamon and 1/4 t nutmeg. The hubby likes to sprinkle a bit of ground clove and a lot more cinnamon across the top of his servings.

I love cheesecake, but I can't say that loved this one. A little undercooked it tasted and felt more like pumpkin pie of which I am not a big fan. (BTW, the Hubby does like pumpkin pie.) However, all the ladies at work liked it or were exceptionally nice to me about it Friday when I took it in. I saved a piece for the pumpkin's originator and made her promise to send lots more pumpkins my way this year, because I have a pressure canner and I intend to use it.