Happy Halloween!

Halloween celebrations around here these days are not much to write home about.  Being out of town and a quarter mile back in the woods, little ghosts and goblins don't usually find our house.  We used to get the little girls closest to us on the west side coming for trick or treats but now two (no longer little) of them are in college and one is married and living far away.

However, as I was preparing lunch in my kitchen today, out of the corner of my eye I saw some movement by the window box outside the window over the sink.

Slowly a pair of brown fuzzy paws and two ears came up, up, up into view.  I grabbed my camera because this bear turns up at our house every Halloween and I wanted to get a picture this year.

Unfortunately, you can't see how cute the bear was because my picture taken through the window screen leaves a lot to be desired.  (Someday we've gotta find out who that bear really is!  Hee-hee.)

* * * * * * * *

Perhaps it was because we have no Halloween candy in our house and I'm a little big (and old) to go out trick or treating, but I had a wild craving for cherry turnovers today.  I finally got around to making them right before dinner tonight.

First off, I cut the pastry rounds way too small.  The turnovers measure only about 3-1/2" lengthwise and I was envisioning something more like 6" long.   (About 100 years ago, when we were first married, Pepperridge Farm made frozen fruit turnovers that were to die for.  It was when commercially prepared items contained real ingredients.  Like real butter and very few preservatives.  And they actually  tasted good!  The pastry was unbelievably flaky and the fruit tasted fresh and not overly gloppy sweet.  Anybody but me remember them?)  Anyway, for these of mine, I'd better find an improved way of crimping the edges as much of the filling tried making an escape.  (Oiy, you should see the cookie sheet they were baked on.)  I pictured eating the turnovers out of hand, but the ooey-gooey-ness of them requires a plate and fork.  Oh well, I'm betting they'll get eaten anyway.

 * * * * * * * *

One more picture in honor of Halloween.

This is what happens when you walk into the end of a 2" x 12" sticking out of the back of a truck.

Dear daughter, Chicken Mama, loaded her truck with some things to bring in to her new little cabin abode from Swamp River Ridge last Sunday.  Then after dark, she went out to do night time close up chores.  She was rushing through the crisp, cold air shining her flashlight in front of her so she could see where she was going.  Unfortunately, she didn't remember the large wooden structure sticking out of the back of her truck right at her head height.

She was very, very lucky contact wasn't made with her nose or directly into her eyeball which could have caused a much more serious injury.  She hit it hard enough that she saw stars (actually one big flash of white light, as she describes it) and the whole side of her face was swollen for a couple of days.  I'm surprised she doesn't have more of a shiner than she does.  Moral of story:  Ya gotta watch out for large pieces of lumber on a dark night.

* * * * * * * *

Boo to you all, and Happy Halloween! 

Where's My Blogging Mojo?

Ever find yourself in a period where you have lots to say but have too much rattling around in your head to sit at the computer and say it?

Yeah, that's where I've been lately.  That and getting slightly panicky about winter approaching on oiled roller skates.  And wanting to be done with "must do" projects so I can begin hibernation surrounded with fabric and yarn and lots of books.  And wanting to stay up as late as my little heart desires at night.  And sleep as late as I want/can in the morning.  Without bad (read:  guilty) feelings on either end.

Time spent at the computer recently hasn't felt good.  Not that I don't dearly love keeping up with all your blogs and continuing to yammer on my own.  It's more a sense of feeling pressure get other things done.  You know, simple things like putting a new bag in the vacuum cleaner and eradicating the dust hippos and all the other (what the heck IS all that?) stuff reproducing on my floors.  When I'm not working on move-ahead projects.  Or (still) wrapping things up outside before 1) the ground is frozen solid, or 2) covered with snow.

* * * * * * * *

Well, here's a little color to throw on the page.  Just about a year ago, I made this small wall hanging, but I never got around to posting pictures of it.

It's a pieced background with appliqued "pumpkin seeds."  The small size made it easy and fun to make.

Above you can see the background I pieced of an assortment of neutral colored 1-1/4" squares.

Then the more colorful pieces of applique went on top with some basic outline quilting added.

Last year when I finished it, it hung in this spot for only a couple of weeks before snow fell and I replaced it with a small tin sign I have (just the right size) that says, "Let It Snow."  That stayed on the wall until spring when I put this piece back up.

* * * * * * * *

I'm thinking of all of you who are experiencing difficult circumstances because of Hurricane Sandy.  Hoping you are safe and I'm eagerly waiting to hear that all is okay in your neck of the woods.    

My Brain Hurts

We spent the whole day today until a little after 3 p.m. planning, designing, measuring and figuring lumber needed for storage units in the garage.  Ugh.  Isn't it surprising how a project like that will often leave you feeling as if you've done a day of hard, physical labor?

Both Papa Pea and I felt beat up when we finally decided we had it figured out to our satisfaction, and he headed for the lumber yard to pick up supplies.

Tomorrow we'll lay the boards out on sawhorses in the garage, fire up the wood stove out there and I'll apply a finish to all of the boards before they're made into the storage units.  It will actually be easier and quicker that way.

Yup, it would have been wiser to do this job in the summer when I could have set up outside (instead of crowded inside the garage) but seems we were busy doing other things then.  You'd think being "retired" and home all day we'd have plenty of time for any and all projects, but we don't seem to be able to fit everything in.

Every now and then we kid each other about selling out, buying a condo and "living the good life."  The truth is though it wouldn't be "the good life" for us.  We're doing just what we want to do right here.  (But it definitely would be a relief if someone would stop us from coming up with new ideas and undertakings!)

Lotsa wall space for good storage.  We just have to make sure we utilize it wisely! 

Sunday, Good Day

I slept in a bit this morning so didn't get as bright and early a start to the day as I had planned.  But that's okay since the day itself wasn't as bright as I had expected it to be.  Not much sunshine to speak of, but since I had Papa Pea's promise to help cleaning up the garden, out we went.

We got rained on three times, I think, before we gave it up saying we had accomplished enough for the day. 

I couldn't have done as much without his help, that's for sure.

We dug out cornstalks and laid them to rest in a compost bin.  The 10' tall sunflowers (yep, the very same ones with the huge seed heads that didn't even come close to maturing) were whacked down with a machete.  It was either that or the chainsaw.  Most of the stalks were a minimum of 3-1/2" to 4" in diameter.  I'll never plant that variety again.  Anyone in a kinder, gentler climate with a longer growing season want over half a 1 oz. packet of Mammoth Sunflower seeds?  Speak up and I'll gladly send them along to you.

We took cold frames apart and stored them until spring when we'll haul them out again to get a jump start on early planting.

Cattle panels that were used as trellises for shell peas and pole beans and sugar pod peas were untied from their supports and taken to their winter resting places.

Pumpkin and squash vines were pulled and dragged across garden and yard to be unceremoniously tossed into the compost bin.  Ever been slapped in the face with wet, half-rotted pumpkin vines while trying to manhandle them into a three foot high bin?  It's an experience to be treasured, trust me.

When we came in, I started a huge skillet full of a ground beef/noodle dish we like a lot.  I usually make it when we have company and we still have oodles for leftovers.  But with just the two of us attacking it tonight, we'll be eating it for several days!

Once I got dinner simmering, I picked up stitches for the first sleeve of this simple sweater I started quite a while ago.  I didn't have the correct sized double pointed needles and just finally got them on Friday.  I plan on wearing this sweater over a turtleneck for a little extra warmth on an every day basis this winter so with luck I may have it finished just in time.

We both really exerted in the garden today so a good dinner and laid back evening ahead of us sounds very appealing.

You would think cleaning up the garden at the end of the season would be an easy-peasy, slap-dash project, not nearly as muscle-stretching or intensive as planting in the spring, but it's not.  Anyone who pictures me working in the garden with pristine, flower-printed gardening gloves, a flowing skirt and straw hat bedecked with ribbons needs to think again.  Even though our temperature when working outside today was only in the upper 40s, we both were shedding layers of clothing, rain or no rain.  Our morning's application of deodorant disappeared somewhere between the sunflowers and cattle panels and the mud on our boots made us look like Big Foot on a rampage.  

But ya know what?  The tired we feel tonight is that good tired that will precede a sound night's sleep.  So that we can get up tomorrow morning, and rain or shine, have another good day on the homestead.  

Still At It

In some ways, the busy summer season just doesn't seem to want to end this year.  I'm still dealing with putting up peppers, trying to avoid the dirty looks I'm getting from the apples not yet turned into applesauce, and sorting the already-ripe from the not-yet-ripe tomatoes on the counter.

We've been in a wet, gray period weather-wise which is very good in that it has brought us some much needed rain, but it has also kept me from doing outside chores in the garden before feeling I have it ready to be tucked into bed for the winter.

Our temperatures that were hovering in the low 40s during the day and freezin g at night have flipped up into the 50s and strangely, aren't fall much at night.  Great for our wood supply, but creating a vague uneasiness.

Deer come out of the woods to graze in our small hay field each night at dusk.  Could there be new growth sprouting out there in this mold spring-like weather?  Most likely they're just chowing down on what they can find before killing temperatures turn it all brown and crunchy.

The chickens, joined by a small flock of wild Mallards who have moved in for a visit, are busily out and about every day even in the rain stoking up on whatever gourmet chicken vittles are still available.

Our Golden Laced Cochin Mama Bantam and her four little ones are right out there with everyone else all day long.  I get such a kick out of her babies; they are still about the size of newly hatched standard sized chickens but they're completely feathered out.  Tiny miniatures of big birds.

Will they ever grow bigger?  Obviously, they'll make it to full-grown bantam size like their mom and pop, but in the meantime it sure is comical to watch these little wind-up toy chickens.

Our adult hens are moulting which means a drastic drop in egg production.  I incorporate so many eggs into our diet that it makes me nervous not to have several dozen as back-up.  Our eggs are also for giving to friends and neighbors and bartering so being low on them isn't a comfortable situation.  But it's the normal cycle for chickens and, as usual, we'll survive this ugly chicken/meager egg supply period with no real problems.

The forecast today is for sunshine although it doesn't look to be that way so far this morning.  I'm hoping it clears and I can get out into the garden for some clean-up duty.  Then maybe I can start to think about heading into a slower, hibernating period like a big, old bear.  I'm ready for that, how 'bout you?   

Bad Blogger, Busy Gal

Yup, I've been a bad blogger, very negligent about getting posts up regularly and even slower in reading favorite blogs and leaving comments.  My excuse is that there's been too much going on around here lately.  Take today for instance . . . 

We had to take some trees down to make way for some outside progress.  We're still working hard on the infra-structure of our little homestead and at times it feels like there is no end to what needs to be done.

On the bright side, we got some good, solid wood that will be earmarked for keeping us warm a year or so down the road.

I kinda panicked yesterday when I realized I was plumb out of chicken stock so pulled three chickens out of the freezer last night and stewed them today.

Biggest pot on the left has the chickens in it and the other one holds one honkin' big squash.

We didn't get a lot of red kuri squash this year but the ones we did get are huge.  The coloration on the outside is gorgeous . . . 

. . . but when I cooked the first one today I was a little disappointed in that the flesh wasn't as "mature" in color as I would like to see.  I'm serving it tonight with Chicken Pot Pie so I'm hoping the flavor is okay.

Here's the line-up of containers of chicken broth I got from the stewing of the chickens.  That should last for a while.

Papa Pea has help this afternoon with a project outside so I'm feeding two extra hearty-appetited men at dinner tonight.  I baked this apple pie (which is cooling on the porch as we speak) to make sure they don't go home hungry.

Last but not least, here's a picture of our daughter's lovely couch we moved from her place first of this week.   We're "storing" it for her until she has room for it again.  Since our living room remodel, we've not had a couch (just a few mismatched chairs) and I haven't had any luck at all in finding the kind of couch I have in mind.  Having CM's to use and see how the size fits into our very small living room will be helpful.  It's super-comfortable and we've decided we won't even charge her a storage fee while it's here.  (Wait.  Maybe she was going to charge us rent for using it?!)  I don't know why the color of the couch looks off in this picture.  (Some day I really should learn how to use my camera.)  It's not gray at all but rather a very attractive forest green color.

I've got a sink over-flowing with dirty dishes (again) that I need to get out of the way before dinner so I'd better end this rambling.  I'm looking forward to the end of the week calming down a bit.  I might even get caught up on reading all your blogs!     

We'll Be Done Soon, Right?

Like so many of you, my kitchen counters are still decorated with garden produce waiting to be processed.  Considering the wonky start most of our gardens got this year and the difficult growing conditions, we should be glad we've got produce to harvest and put by.  It seems strange to still be preserving because in most years, my harvesting and preserving would be done long ago.

It was just this past week that we had two killing frosts.  'Twas very late into the fall season for us up here in northern Minnesota.  But now even with the cold frames protecting peppers and tomatoes, we haven't been getting enough sunlight to warm up the crops sufficiently to keep the plants alive and maturing.  That's okay by me.  We've got more good food squirreled away than the two of us will need for the coming year.  It's a good feeling and, believe you me, for that I'm very grateful, thankful and appreciative!

These are just cherry tomatoes (not full-sized ones).  We're not too fond of anything made with green tomatoes so I'll see if I can coax these guys into ripening on the counter.

Those are all sweet peppers in the back colander and the last of my first attempt at growing hot (mild for us, thank you) peppers in the foreground.  They'll most likely all get either dehydrated or frozen for later use.

What's still in the garden?  Beets, potatoes, Jerusalem artichokes and Brussels sprouts.  More on them later.

Have a great Sunday, Everyone!  We're off to Chicken Mama's to give a little assistance with the moving.  

I'm Predicting An Early Winter

So far today we've had glorious sunshine, stiff wind, hail and snow.  At the moment we're back to sunshine, but if I blather on here long enough, it will probably change again.

The temperature is hovering around 40 degrees so none of the snow or hail lasted long after hitting the ground.

How strong has the wind been?

Right before lunch I glanced out into the garden and saw the top of one of our cold frames lying open behind the frame at a funny angle.  The frame tops are secured with hinges on one side and a bungie fastener on the other side which is hooked into two eye hooks.  The wind not only snapped the bungie but pulled one of the eye hooks out of the wood frame.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Boy, did I get a kink thrown in my energetic list about which I blogged yesterday.  Other than cleaning the bathroom, not a blasted thing got crossed off.  How is it that you can keep moving all day long, but at the end of the day you've accomplished so little of what you planned on getting done?  Yep, the business of "life" does get in the way often times.

And time keeps flying by way too fast.  I just noticed that the cottage cheese I'm making is ready for the next state of processing.  That means I started it two hours ago.  Where did those two hours go?  Or the tidbit that our daughter shared this morning:  She recently bumped into the father of a high school girlfriend and he commented that this is his daughter's twentieth year of teaching.  It seems that this gal and our daughter graduated from college just about five years ago.  Where did those twenty years go?

Anybody else see time zipping by?  Are you, too, getting frustrated waiting until you "have time" to do things you want to do that repeatedly get pushed to the bottom of your list?

Well, if we do indeed have an early winter this year, I'm all for it.  Will I make this the winter I spend whole days snuggled under a quilt on the couch reading?  Or have as much time as I've dreamed of in my quilt room?  Or waking to a day I can spend in any way I wish without thought to the passing hours?

Here's a quote by Lao Tzu that brought me up short and caused me to mutter, "Whoa!"

"Time is a created thing.  To say 'I don't have time'

is to say 'I don't want to.'"

Do you believe that?  Do you think that statement is true?

The End

The definite end of summer, that is.  We had our first killing frost last night so we are now officially done with the summer season of 2012.  (We didn't give it up easily this year.)

No, that's not snow on the potato hills.  Just heavy frost.  And no, we haven't dug our main crop of potatoes yet.  What are we waiting for?  Temps to cool off enough that we have a good place to store them.  We figured they've been better off where they are.  Now we might wanna think about getting the digging fork out and popping out those lovely spuds.  (At least I hope there are lovely spuds to be popped out.)

Don't these sunflowers look as if they could be singing in a Greek chorus this morning?  "Oh, woe is us!  Oh, woe, woe, woe, we are on the way O-U-T."

Nary one head matured enough to give us any seeds for winter bird feeding.  Rats.

* * * * * *

 Since we're talking, what the heck happened to the last few days?  They seem to have zoomed by me so fast I hardly noticed them.  (Hang in there, Mama Pea, the long, slow winter is coming.  [Insert hysterical laughter at such a foolish thought.] )

 Today:

:: Go to Library, P.O., food co-op and Credit Union  (I was gonna be there an hour ago.)

:: Clear my desk of "must dos" that have been piling up since last week.  (Maybe by now I've missed deadlines and I can ignore them?  Ha!  If only it worked that way.)

:: Clean dirty house.  (And don't forget the dreaded bathroom)

:: Put up Halloween decorations.  (Boo!)

:: Defrost at least one of the freezers.  (This summer was conducive to lots of frost.)

:: Wash inside of some windows.  (It's getting hard to see through them.)

:: Put summer clothes away, get winter clothes out.  (Where are my turtlenecks when I need them?)

* * * * * *

Okay, I'm off.  (But no more than usual.)

Apples And Corn . . . And Frost Possibility

Still no killing frost here.  Temp was forecast to go down to 22 degrees last night, but it was only 31.9 when we went to bed so we knew it wasn't going to dip as low as predicted.  When we got up this morning . . . ha!  We had 36 degrees.  An early morning tritz out to the garden did reveal patches of frost here and there on the grass, but it wasn't enough to zap my zinnias which are usually susceptible to a frost.  Gosh, here it is October 7th and we still haven't had a killing frost.  This is strange for us up here near the tundra!

We sorted through all the apples we harvested a couple of days ago.  This year's crop is not much to write home about.  I'll have enough to make a couple of batches of applesauce, and we have two varieties that are good eating apples.  I'll earmark some of the more tart ones for apple pies and that will about take care of them.  I think last year we harvested twice as many as we did this year.  But we had an exceptionally good year last year so I think perhaps the trees just needed a rest this season.

While eating breakfast this morning, we noticed the &$#!!^ Blue Jays had discovered our corn still in the garden, so we decided we'd better get out there and harvest it while there was still some left!

My little patch of corn this year was an experiment.  Like tomatoes, we have trouble growing corn up here.  But hubby had heard of a variety, Painted Mountain, that was developed in the mountains of Montana for its hardiness and earliness (85 days).  The multi-color ears can be used for roasting, animal feed or decorating.  It is also tauted as being easily ground into a high-nutrition flour.

 It's non-GMO, heirloom and open-pollinated so you can propagate it from year to year.  The high protein content (13% or higher) is a definite plus.  The corn is described as a corn that grows where no other corn can grow so we decided to give it a try.

I planted our little block of Painted Mountain corn on June 10th so theoretically it should have been ready for harvest on or about September 4th, but on that date our stalks had not dried out at all, they were still green and the corn hadn't matured so we let it go.

The stalks are now definitely dried and with the Blue Jays helping themselves to it, we were more or less forced to harvest it this morning.

I purchased my seeds from Johnny's Selected Seeds and the packet said the ears grow to 6-7" long.  Ours all measure somewhere between 8-12" in length.  Not exceptionally thick, but long!  Above is a random sampling of our harvest.  The colors are amazing.

Husking each ear was like opening a present.  You never knew what a kaleidoscope of colors you were going to come upon!

The only disappointment was that in the hustle-bustle of this summer's busy-ness, we missed the prime time to harvest a few ears for roasting.  I'm going to put in a much bigger patch of this corn next year so we'll be sure to pick some ears to taste test then.

Well, I just checked a couple of different sites as to how cold we can expect it to get tonight.  The forecasts vary from 32 degrees to 42 degrees.  Quite a difference if you're a vulnerable plant outside that could survive 42 degrees but would be struck deader than a door knob at 32.  It's that time of year when we tend to keep a close eye on the thermometer, but we never know what will really happen . . . until it happens!

Onions, Onions, Onions

Seems as though my onions had dried as much as they were going to so this morning I worked on cleaning them up a bit and getting them bagged for storage.

A couple of days ago, hubby had gathered them up for me from the unheated building where they had been laid out to dry.  He brought them into the garage because we keep being told to expect a hard frost one of these nights although it hasn't happened yet.  None the less, it was best to get the onions taken care of now.  I set up my work station out on the table on the front deck.

Here are the reds.  I really prefer these for salads and anywhere I can add a little color to a dish.

 

And the old standby yellows.

 

Here's the haul all cleaned, bagged and ready for storage.  Yep, we do use a lot of onions over winter.  (I even put them in our morning scrambled eggs.  Will you still come for breakfast?)  I didn't take time to weigh these, but I estimated they came in at about fifty pounds.  We loaded them into a large tote box and when hubby tried to heft it, he said it was definitely more than fifty pounds.  He guessed more like seventy.  He kindly let me take one end of the tote to help carry them inside to storage.

In on the kitchen counter I also have this good sized bowl of "iffy" ones that I'll have to use up soon.  I probably should chop them for the freezer or dehydrate them.  I've got the dehydrator set up in the garage so if I decide to dry them, maybe the whole house won't smell like an onion for a week!

What A Difference A Day (Or Two) Makes

This past Wednesday was a gorgeous day with temps hitting the 70s.  Right after lunch we threw some gear in our Samuri and took off for some exploring and the possibility of finding a grouse for dinner.

We drove down an old logging road that looks as though it's now well used most likely by local hunters.

At a right angle to the logging road we saw a path leading off into the woods so we parked our vehicle and decided to explore it on foot.  In the above picture, we had just started down the path.  I stopped to turn back and take a shot of the Samuri parked on the logging road.

The fresh air felt wonderful and the scenery couldn't have been more beautiful.  What a great time of year to be out in the woods!  Off the side of the trail I spotted this red maple leaf that seemed to be suspended in mid-air in a shaft of sunlight.

We hiked until we came to land that was posted "No Trespassing" where we turned around.  Before we had reached that point, we did see one grouse but it scurried off through the thick underbrush so we had no chance for a good shot at it.

On the way home I suggested we take one more little side trip in to a favorite lake of ours.  Although it's a good fishing lake, we didn't see a boat on the lake.  It was so quiet back in there I think we both could have stretched out and taken a snooze in the sun.

A birch tree in full fall color on the shoreline had recently toppled into the water.

Back home then, but no grouse for dinner.  Instead we filled up on a bowlful of the chili I had made earlier in the day.

For as warm and beautiful a day it was on Wednesday, yesterday and today have been wildly windy with leaves falling like huge colored snowflakes.  The temp hasn't reached much more than the low 40s for the past two days and when we picked our apples this morning, even though we had gloves on, we both had to come in once to thaw out frozen fingers.  A rain and snow mix has been forecasted for the past two days, but so far we've not had any.  Just wind that cuts to the bone and is stripping the trees of all their fall splendor.   Oh well.  It is the first part of October.  Up here it's time for that to happen.

I must admit I am getting a little eager to see the first snowfall!

Do You Have A Flannel Board?

In the last couple of days, I've been sneaking into my quilt room for short periods here and there.  As I've been using my flannel board, it crossed my mind to wonder if all you other quilters use one, too.  

I can't remember where or when I first learned of this handy little tool (if "tool" is the proper word for it), but I use mine a lot.

 A flannel board is nothing more than a square piece of cardboard (I made mine 16" x 16") covered with white flannel.

When cutting the pieces of fabric for a block, it's easy to place them on the flannel board in their approximate spot.  The material adheres to the board with no problem and won't slip around or fall off.

 When you have the whole block assembled (but not yet sewn together), you can even prop the board up vertically and move away from it to take a good look to make sure you like the placement of colors.

Then just take the board with the individual fabric pieces on it over to the sewing machine.

 And piece the block right from the board.

I use my flannel board whenever I'm piecing any size block, large or small.  If the blocks are small, I'll have four of them laid out and all set to go when I take the board to the sewing machine.  Transportation of the blocks from cutting table to sewing machine is a snap.  Plus, having the pieces on the flannel board is so much easier than working with the pieces on a slippery table top.

Yup, my flannel board is a very handy and inexpensive aid to have.

I'm Craving Something Salty

We got our honey harvest bottled up today.  It went from the extractor into one large pail with a spout which we let sit overnight close by the wood stove so the honey would be more liquid-y and go through the strainers more easily.

 Flowing into the strainers which we placed on top of another pail with a spout.  Talk about golden nectar!

As the unfiltered honey filled the straining equipment, it bubbled and swirled and created all kinds of constantly changing designs which was fascinating to watch.  (We don't get out much.  Can you tell?)

Here's the final product stored in half-gallon jars.  A total of 48-1/2 pounds of golden honey from our own little busy bees.  It's been a long while since I've had to buy honey so I don't know how much per pound it's selling for in the store, but I'll bet this harvest represents a tidy little amount.

I've washed the kitchen floor three times now and we're still sticking as we walk across it.  The main counter where we worked has been wiped off a gazillion times but still seems tacky.  This is with two fairly neat adults (no kiddies "helping" by spreading honey-coated fingers hither and yon) involved in the process.

Right now, for some odd reason, I don't have a taste for anything sweet.  So just give me some potato chips and nobody will get hurt.