Monday, December 7, 2015

Things I do when I’m not riding (aka “hobbies”)

Someone started a blog hop about non-riding hobbies a while ago, but as usual, I'm late to the game. Plus it seems like all of our hobbies are horse-related – foxhunting, jousting, trail riding… so what’s left?

Laundry
You’d think we wouldn’t have much since there’s only two of us we wouldn’t have much laundry, but the reality is that we go through 2-3 outfits per day. Plus there’s horse laundry and dog laundry (omg how do horses and dogs make SO MUCH LAUNDRY???). I do at least one load per day, and often more. So I’m pretty sure this counts as a hobby.

This was load #4 on Saturday. Note useless dog snoozing in the background.

Manure management
One of the challenges of owning horses on small acreage is what to do with all the manure. I spend a great deal of time mucking, then turning the pile, then spreading the “cooked” manure back on the pastures. At least I stay fit?

When they say steaming, they aren't joking. This pile gets HOT.

Cooking and baking
In the summer we tend to eat a lot of raw foods, just because it’s so hot out and turning on the oven sounds like a horrible idea. But in the winter, I basically want to bake everything and make roasts and soups and stews. I make most of our bread (I cheat with a bread machine), plus pizza crusts, focaccia, kolaches… ALL THE CARBS. I tend to keep ingredients simple and will go out of my way to find a recipe that doesn’t use processed ingredients (do you know how hard it is to find a recipe for caramels that does NOT use corn syrup? Or one for pumpkin pie that does not use condensed milk???). I’m pretty good at substituting when baking too. Not enough eggs? Add more milk. Don’t want to use that much butter, or hate putting oil in?  Use applesauce instead. It's kind of like a chemistry experiment.

This giant pile of basil (from our garden) got turned into five jars of pesto. 

Gardening
We have two gardening seasons here – spring and fall/winter. Our spring season starts around Feb 15 and I usually pull everything up around June 15 – after that it’s just too hot for everything except peppers, cucumbers, and squash. Oh and okra, which I hate. The fall/winter season is great though – Sept 15 through early February. We watch the weather pretty carefully so we know when to cover the plants, but usually the lows are above freezing so we don't have to worry too much. Right now we have broccoli, lettuce, kale, spinach, and a bunch of herbs. We generally get veggies for 3-4 nights per week out of our garden when it’s growing well.

Broccoli! Did you know the leaves are edible too? You saute them like kale or spinach, with a little oil, garlic, and salt and pepper. Delicious!

I also can our tomatoes (whatever we can't eat fresh), and make jam out of the plums and peaches we get from our fruit trees.

Sewing
I used to sew a lot for our medieval reenactment and jousting, but now that we’ve got a decent wardrobe, I tend to sew in binges (like when husband needs a third gambeson because we’re going to a week-long joust with no chance to do laundry, or the week before a new nephew is born and I seriously have to get that baby blanket done). I’m pretty good at reverse-engineering something, and typically make my own patterns. Interestingly, I’ve never made anything “mundane” to use or wear – only clothing for medieval reenactment. I’ve never made a quilt (I get that question a lot), and I can’t knit or crochet, only sew.

Scarves for my nephews - I found some pictures of a fox scarf online, and then designed these guys.

Some of my favorite pieces are this saddle pad...

I made this back in 2013 and it still looks new. It's also everyone's favorite pad, so it sees a lot of use.

... and hubby's heraldic trappings, which are based on the trappings of Ulrich von Lichtenstein from the 13th century Manessa Codex. The trappings took over 200 hours to make and were a birthday present one year. I’ve told hubby to take care of them because he’s never ever EVER getting another set like them. EVER.

The solid squares have Gothic letters appliqued on them (it spells out Hold Fast Macleod, and the rein covers also say Hold Fast). The parti-colored squares are pieced together and each one has a wyvern appliqued on it. 

I think there are something like 41 wyverns on that sucker, each of which I traced on black fabric, cut out, ironed on, then appliqued over. NEVER AGAIN.

Reading
I’ve always got a book going, although these days the only time I have to read is right before bed, so I’m lucky if I get more than 5 pages in before passing out. I love historical fiction, but occasionally dabble in sci-fi and fantasy because hubby reads those and sometimes I'm desperate for a book. I try not to read anything too exciting because it will keep me up at night. I just finished Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson, which fits into none of those genres but was excellent nonetheless. Currently I’m re-reading Shogun by James Clavell, because it’s Shogun.

Working on the house
We bought this place 6 years ago and I'm embarrassed to say it's still a construction zone. Currently we're working on the trim in the hallway (ok, we've been working on it for like a year, whatever).  At least I have something to do when it's too hot to ride in the summer or too dark to ride in the winter!

That day we decided to replace the vent hood in the kitchen (note the chai in the overhead cabinet).

Complain about the weather
This is a time-honored tradition around here. In the summer, it's too hot. Below 50? Too cold. If it hasn't rained, we're in a drought, and if HAS rained, there's flash flooding. Basically, we can't win, so we just whine instead.
That one time when most of the back pasture was quite literally under water.

Sooo... what do you do when you're not riding? 

35 comments:

  1. I started this blog hop. I love your heraldic trappings! My sewing skills are abysmal in comparison. I'd really like to make a saddle pad, but I think it'd look pretty crappy. Along the subject of heat and manure, have you read Seabiscuit? There's a section that discusses the giant manure pile at Tijuana. The jockeys actually used it as a sauna. Here's an excerpt: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1026&context=manurematters

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    1. Wow, that's sort of... terrifying? Yikes! Ours isn't very big at all, and we are constantly turning it over and taking out the "cooked" stuff to use.

      And thanks for doing this blog hop!

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  2. I am seriously in awe of your sewing skills.

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    1. Thanks! It's really not hard if you have patience and know a few tricks. Like anything, it takes time to learn how to do it well, but it's a handy skill to have!

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  3. You are awesome at sewing and Laundry is not a hobby it is a job! lol

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    1. I think of laundry more like the Neverending Story. There's ALWAYS more.

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    2. It's called Mt Never-rest in our house, and seriously, I loled sooo hard at that, because YES.

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  4. I just learned what broccoli looks like on the plant! That saddle pad is AMAZING and I totally want to dress TC up like a jousting horse one day.

    After watching my parents with their small ranch, it's INSANE how much work goes into it. I dunno if I'm up for that...

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    1. Brussel sprout plants are even weirder! And yeah, I should have added "fencing and mowing and other random maintenance stuff" as a hobby because I do a lot of that too. At least driving the lawnmower is fun!

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  5. That saddle pad is awesome. If you're ever in the mood to make another one, Kacey looks great in Navy Blue & Black. ;-)

    As for my own hobbies - well, right now, I don't even get to ride. My "free" time is taken up with staying on top of school work and making sure I sleep so that I can go to work during the day and attend classes at night.

    Once I'm out of school (159 days!) I have a list of sewing projects to start & complete. I absolutely LOVE to cook (you can also substitute eggs with bananas). I hope to create some garden planters in my backyard. And I cannot WAIT to take advantage of my 2nd story balcony, complete with chaise lounge chair, side table, and a low-ball with rum. ;-)

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    1. School is a full-time "hobby" when you work full-time. Ugh. But, counting the days with you!!!

      Haha on substituting bananas for eggs, because usually when I'm substituting stuff I'm making banana nut bread - so there's already bananas in there! But you're right, bananas are great subs for lots of things!

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    2. It really is...

      OK - that's hilarious (the banana substitute) - but really, you can't have too many bananas! I love bananas. *nom*

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  6. reading this made me hungry for bread lol - also i love those scarves!!! your sewing skills are super impressie

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    1. Mmmmm bread. Toasted with melty butter and some homemade jam... mmmm....

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  7. Love that saddle pad!!

    Hmm... hobbies. Does school count? My profs seem to think it should.
    Actual hobbies are ballet, piano, flute, baking, and collecting animals. The current collection includes a horse, a dog, three rabbits, a beta fish, and a gecko who thinks he's a cat.

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    1. School absolutely counts as a hobby. And, what an impressive critter collection your have! What kind of gecko?

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    2. He's a fat-tailed gecko. My one roommate and I went to buy a fish, and ended up looking at reptiles while we were in the store... just out of curiosity. The reptile guy started chatting with us, and eventually showed us this adult male gecko that had been surrendered to them. He was the sweetest thing. I never thought a reptile could be cuddly, but if you scratch him he arches into your hand and closes his eyes! He also had a calcium deficiency that gave him the most adorable underbite. We went back the next day and got him. How could we not?

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    3. Awww, those are so cute! We had Tokay geckos where I grew up - great bug-catchers, but SO LOUD! Here we just have tiny little Mediterranean geckos.

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  8. Ulrich von Lichtenstein makes me think of the movie "A Knight's Tale" (love that film!)..i didn't know he was a real knight. Love the this you have been able to make, you are so handson you're inspiring!!!

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    1. Yes, Ulrich was a real German knight! He wrote a book "Service of Ladies," of which we have a copy on our bookshelf. "Knight's Tale" is actually quite an accurate portrayal of jousting in the 13th century, if you skip the costumes and music. A number of the sets were even designed directly from illuminations from the time period!

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  9. Those trappings. Oh. My. God. You're a sewing wizard.

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    1. I'll come clean, I had help with those. The woman who is mostly responsible for teaching me how to sew has several pieces on display IN MUSEUMS. I look like a complete noob next to what she can do!

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  10. In awe of your sewing skills. Plus everything else you do. How?? Haha!

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    1. Honestly, the reason I'm able to juggle everything is because unlike most folks, I only have a 15 minute commute. It's one of the best perks of my job!

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  11. I'm exhausted just reading this list.

    The Hunger Games is one of the best series I've read in about 30 years. I would recommend. And Shogun is one of those books I go back to every three years or so.

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    1. I'm exhausted too. I should have put napping on my list of hobbies, because there's nothing better than an afternoon nap on the weekend!

      Oh yes, I've read the Hunger Games. I agree, it's a good series!

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  12. I'm the same way about cooking in the winter. Homemade bread and soup all day every day!

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    1. YESSSS! You should come over for lunch or something...

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  13. Hahahahahaha this is the best one i've read!! Manure Management bahaha!

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    1. Seriously, it should be a job title. I'm an expert.

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    2. Jen, these are random questions but what kind/size of manure spreader do you have? Do you like it? Did you buy new or used? A friend is looking into them so I'm gathering info. Thanks! P.S. You sewing skills are amazing and I never would have had the patience for all that applique!

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    3. We actually spread the manure by hand after it's composted for a month or so. One wheelbarrow at a time. It's a big pain. I've looked at spreaders but they are quite pricey and for our acreage, it doesn't make sense. If I were to buy one, I'd get a Newer spreader.

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