Gingerbread Fun

The air was filled with the smell of candy and ginger bread this holiday evening. Laughter and some cajoling was diffused throughout the room. At times it was hard to concentrate on your piece as others were enjoying themselves. Perhaps it was just Lynne and I because of our inalienably to multitask as efficiently as we once could. It gave me joy to spend time with those that could make it. We missed Chad and Angela and hope to have their presence adorn our gingerbread festival. There are many others that missed this year's gingerbread build-a-thon and hope this season will find you peaceful and full of thanksgiving.

Participants begin to assemble their houses. Grandma H. looks on and provides wisdom and advise. Years of gingerbread made her the resident Yoda of Gingerbread.

Once they got started the houses went up fast. The time consuming decor took much longer. Jim can be seen giving Rachel guidance and encouragement. They made a great team. They are three time participants and champions in their own right. Rachel made their own gingerbread, the only builders to make the real deal. Textually the house had a wonderfully authentic appearance.

She did not need both chimneys so a little frosting and a treat is born. I was pleasantly surprised by the snappy fresh taste of the artificial chimney.

Lynne takes candy and ornates the sides of our work of art. Yes I look at these beautiful sculptures beautiful pieces of art.

Justin and Stephanie...two time artists and this years champions. Yes, Lynne and I give this young couple the best of show award. Their piece was very imaginative and well thought out. They built a scene from Who-ville including Mount Crumpet and the sleigh. Both played a very important part throughout the construction.

Back away everyone, Heather has a weapon in her hand. What to most people is a simple tool Heather can turn into much, much more. She is using the 'Jessica vegetable can' technique to put up her walls.

Having mastery "Gingerbread Yoda" gave Heather a false sense of security. Heather and Grandma make a great team.

Richie was Heather's official partner and provided a unique and natural look to the piece. He created the forever famous "Bridge to Terabithia" I guess that is because he longs to get lost with Rachel S. and roam the forest creating a magical world of wonder.
Rachel S. was Richie's partner last year during an epic battle where they created a piece with beautiful stained glass sugar windows. Next year I hope to see another creation from Rachel S. and Sir Richie III. If you doubt their creative powers, take a look at their carved pumpkin...if you haven't seen it, you must check it out...creativity abounds with these two as a team!

Jacob creates a little house all by himself. The use of chocolate for mortar was generous. Going to use that next year Jacob.

Derek did not create a ginger bread house, but I am sure he would destroy it and ate it if one was put in front of him. He was entertained in his high chair by all the hustle and bustle that was going on all over the kitchen. What bundle of joy. Truly a happy soul.

Momma G. Just starting to apply her icicles. Take a look at the base and you can see one of our many new features this year. Yes you are correct.... lights. The batteries are inside the house and wires are essentially covered with Icing. Good job Lynne!

Piping expert, Jessica Astin can really lay down the frosting on a gingerbread house. We got her some decorating tools last year, and you can tell that she loves to create beautiful, and colorful decorations! Her use of cookies shingles has not been witnessed among our friendly gingerbread group. Thanks for exposing us to once cream filled cookie shingles.

A work of art...and as Jessica put it, a relaxing night just to have fun, decorate, and play with candy! I will be surprised if Santa and the rest of the house can survive Richie and Jimmy.

Good job Jacob.... you da Man! First official entry and what yummy entry. I love the little cookie guy with green eyes. Keep on building little guy.

Easy.....Easy does it...... Nice balance Jacob! A true champion! I look forward to many years of building with this young man.

Heather spent many hours working on the creation of candy stone. You can see the stone was applied to one of the walls on the house. There is another red piece that can be seen as a window. She also the first to incorporate "jello" or horse hoof within her gingerbread landscape. It took some early preparation but I really appreciated the contentious use of creative materials.

We can see a good shot of the bridge and water (jello) in this image.

Help me..... I am trapped in Heather's world. Please someone..... just eat me and get it over with.

Below are finished products and Awards for 2010

Rachel: Best use of Authentic Gingerbread

Jessica: Best Use of Cookie Products

Heather "Best Loopy Icicles and Stain Glass Stone"


Richie "Best Bridge Replica "

Justin and Stephanie: Best In Show.... congratulations

Grandma and Poppa G: "Best Use of Technology" (lights)

A big thanks for those who attended and helped spread a little gingerbread cheer. Until next year dream of candies and a new game plan. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Rich and Lynne

Potpourri

Life has been very hectic and very unusual the last few months. We hope for more relaxed days in the near future. We have been greatly blessed this past fall with strength, employment, and love. Below is our Potpourri post.... a little bit of everything I wanted to post about earlier this fall.

We were so proud of our apple trees this year. We only sprayed one organic oil application throughout the entire summer. Very little insect damage was seen among large tasty fruits. You can see three varieties in the image. The three apple blend was used in this year's apple sauce. Anyone care to guess what varieties are in the image?

Here is my "look out it is very hot" pepper blend. After drying, we ground the peppers into a powder. Only a sprinkle is needed to give just the right amount of heat. If you would like to try some let me know.

Jessica and little Derek are taking a walk around the Sink's Pool. Derek has a wonderful little personality. I like to tickle his feet.

Fishing at Payson Lake is a family pastime. It took about 15 minutes just to get everyone organized to take this image. They could not figure out how to get the fish all lined up on the stringer. Yes this is a legal limit.

Heather and Dan celebrated their birthday together. Dan had brownies and Heather enjoyed a layered "horse hoof" jelly cake.

Jacob found its easier to dive in with the mouth instead of using a spoon. Why waste valuable time with a utensil when you can slam it more efficiently.

Jessica and Heather share a special moment. Jessica made all the little boxes for Heather. Each box was filled with a little treat. I even enjoyed a few gummy candies.

I have been waiting for years to take an image of Grandpa smiling. I spent some time taking a few images of Grandpa before he left to Las Vegas.

No,we are not in Sequoia National Park (central Calif.) We planted this wonderful giant sequoia about six years ago. It is the fastest growing conifer on the planet.

Just chillin on the front porch with our pumpkins.

A great time was spent in the Sink pool. Watch how the old guys whoop the young bucks. Check out the video.

Grandpa and the Beet Harvest

This year's beet crop was fantastic. We grow our beets along the front edge of our garden wall. There is very little soil in this location. We have about 4-6 inches of soil before the plants hit the art stone block shown in the image. Radiant heat from the block dries out the soil very fast and without Grandpa, the plants would surly die a drought stricken death. Grandpa gave all his beets plenty of water and conversation.

Here grandpa is picking one of our large Detroit Red beets. We bought our seeds from Cooks nursery of Geneva road.

The genetic makeup of the seeds we purchased were very different. We had very red, pink and white beets. Not only the color but skin and flesh texture was very diverse.

Grandpa holds one of our fine beets. The greens are superb .

Some eat beets raw but as for me I prefer them cooked. Grandpa is tempted to take a big bite from this beet root but at the last minute he pulled back and decided to pickle them for dinner.

I want to grow the largest Detroit beet in the World. Yes you heard it first on our humble little blog. We kept a few of the larger red, pink and white beets and will let them seed this summer. By selectively breeding with our diverse gene pool we should destroy the competition.

Thanks again Grandpa for a wonderful season. I look forward to growing the big one with you next year. For all you beet fans... I challenge you, I scoff at your attempt to beat my father. Grandpa and Grandma have been growing beets for years and their collective experiences with this beloved root crop cannot be matched. Bring it on..... We have two different beet competitions next year.

1. Grow the biggest Detroit Red Beet
2. Grow the biggest Beet. You may not grow Sugar Beets, this would be illegal and against the BBCR (Big Beet Competition Rules).

Pumkin Carving!!

This is our Pumpkin Carving of 2010!

The men (including Jacob) went and collected all of the pumpkins. In the picture above Jacob poses in the classic wagon and pumpkin picture.

Jacob was so exited to carve his pumpkin, Jessica had previously talked to him about how it would not hurt the pumpkin... good job Jess! (Jacob is a very sensitive child)

Grandpa was very careful with his knife making sure to watch his hands like he taught us as kids!

Jacob was fine with letting Grandpa clean out the pumpkin but Dad finally got him to stick his hand inside!! Grandpa can get Jacob to do anything!

Pumpkin caving without eating the insides just does not happen in this house.... At least with Dad.... When we were kids Grandpa and Dad would do this all the time to us, it is only fair to do it to Jacob too!!

Jim has to continue the tradition!!! Making Daddy Proud!!

Jimmy and Rachel made an amazing Carving... it only took 4 hours....

Richie and Rachel S. decided to create Optimus Prime!!! Very creative and it actually turned out to look like the picture!

Now i decided to go "out of the box" and create something that has not been done before... So I decided to carve my sister Rachel's face on it!!! Go me! It looked exactly like her and used much talent in the process of carving!

Grandpa spent a lot of time hanging out with Derek during this project!

Jessica here is making sure to wear her plastic gloves to protect her from the pumpkin goo!

Grandma and Grandpa are very impressive when it comes to pumpkins, they grew and carved very well!!

Jim and Rachel had a very interesting method while carving...to take up as much space as possible.. I also think it is very smart how one person is getting the goo out of the pumpkin while the other is getting started on the carving! Good time management!

For some reason Jacob thought he had to go cross eyed while holding this piece of his pumpkin... SUPER CUTE!

Grandpa helped Jacob carve his pumpkin. It took a total of 20 min!! Speedy and effective!

The ground was covered with garbage bags so we could try to keep the floor clean... It almost worked...

Jim is very picky when it comes to this... he took FOREVER! But it looked great in the end!!

Rachel tried to pick up the pumpkin... not a good idea.....

Cute picture! I think they were sad to see this pumpkin get old and moldy, they were very attached and once the fungus came they had no choice but to throw it in the garbage. That was a very sad day for them.

This here is the #1 pumpkin for sure!!

Jessica worked hard and turned out an amazing and artistic creation!!

Richie and Rachel S. were very diligent and made a very scary pumpkin... it almost looks like a spider which is pretty terrifying if you ask me...

Rachel and Jim turned out an amazing pumpkin!! It looks awesome!

They were very connected with their pumpkin.

Could not end with any other picture! It was great fun and only a little crazy, good job everyone!