The weekend is a good time for grazing. This is a summary of some of the delightful Blog articles I have been reading during the week. I invite you to graze through these, and also through the archives of the creative writers who wrote them.

Food canning equipment, tool carts, compost bins, growing kits, cider and fruit presses, the Squeezo Strainer, food dehydrators, juicers, smokers, cold frames, greenhouses and so many more innovations contribute to making our lives organized and healthier and to turning our homes and properties into an oasis where the living is good.

All of these things exist because we are creative and because we have a unique ability to adapt to our environment. In truth, foodies, homesteaders and gardeners who write about their experiences are telling the ongoing story of our inventive spirit. On their pages, every tool and appliance is like a paint brush; ready to express a new vision.

You can access the entire Weekend Highlights series to date by clicking on that category in the sidebar at left.

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It was a better week technology-wise at this end, but if you live near or on the east coast, you know first hand that it was not a week without worries where mother nature is concerned. We were prepared. After all, we had good training with Irene, a bit over a year ago. But being prepared and being without concerns can be two slightly, or very different things.

For those of us with pets or barnyard animals in our care, looming storms add much to our plates, to the point of thinking about their well-being over ours. I only have a cat and dog, and it is while preparing the few things I knew I wanted at hand on the eve of a potentially devastating storm that I suddenly realized both pets were perfectly calm. In fact, they had been calm all day. This behavior was in total contrast with the atmospheric conditions the radio insisted were upon us. The weather is not an easy thing to predict. Topography plays a significant role, among other things, and it would appear that our mountains shielded us. The cat and dog were right. Nothing happened.

I wonder how many of you noticed your animals’ behavior and knew, instantly, that the weatherman was either quite mistaken or quite right. We are more or less able or willing to pay attention to this. It depends, in part, on past experience. Nevertheless, even in these modern times we continue to constantly adapt to nature’s hiccups.

It’s time to relax into some reading. After a serious weather uproar, it is only fitting to begin with tea. Enjoy.

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“Tea is said to help your mood, to stimulate, and to calm. It is supposed to enhance the mood you’re in or help you turn that mood 180 degrees around… But that’s not what a ‘tea mood’ is… your mood can be determined by the weather, especially at a time when the planet is changing from one season to another…” ~ What’s Your Tea Mood – The Tea Blog

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“The men came… and hauled the crop away. Good riddance, I said. But now everything is gray… if you don’t stop with the really bad poetry [said the cat]… and while I am on the subject. You can’t sing…” ~ The Men Came -  The Kitchen’s Garden

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Ready, set, write… Many who read this and other blog are writers themselves. Others have a story to tell, but it is sitting down to begin that is the hardest. We need a nudge. This may very well be that long-awaited nudge.

“November is National Novel Writing Month 2012. I haven’t missed it! Did I want to do it? Really? Go over and take a look at the NaNoWriMo website. It is encouragement to write a novel in a month…  ‘thirty days and nights of literary abandon…” ~ National Novel Writing Month Coming in November – Curtiss Ann Matlock

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Across the ocean and to Great Britain we go for Roasted Sweet Potato and Parsnip Soup at the Frugal Feeding kitchen, a perfect choice to overcome the shock of the changing season.

“Traditionally, parsnip is a vegetable the male members of my family struggle to get along with… However, when incorporated into soup, my opinion of the humble parsnip changes entirely… they become something far sweeter with a considerable depth of flavour…” Go to the article

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Let’s conclude with an informative and ever so slightly opinionated look at olive oil. “Thou shalt know thy ingredients,” could be a good way to summarize this next article. But a summary will not suffice; one must get the full tone of it.

“… Some large companies in the U.S. use ‘first pressing’ and ‘cold first pressing’ on their labels. One company has even involved the USDA in the inspection process. I’m not sure how many olive oil experts work in the depleted agriculture department, but my guess is none… If you’re paying $4-5 for a pint of ‘first pressed’ Extra Virgin Olive Oil, chances are you are being hoodwinked. But, if you like the oil, use it…” ~ Food Snob Chronicles — Olive Oil 101 – The Unorthodox Epicure

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Thank you for stopping by to read this Weekend’s Review. Please take a moment to leave a few words on the Blogs you enjoy, if you feel so inclined that is.