Perfect Pumpkin Bread

We LOVE the Autumn season here at The Weed Patch. The crisp, cooler air (although geez, not yet so much this year - it was 70 yesterday!), the changing colors, and the baking! Every year you know that fall is on its way when Chris starts making pumpkin bread (although he has been known to make it in July ... just because). Everybody seems to agree, this is a yummy treat!

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1 can (16 oz) pumpkin puree
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Grease and flour two 9x5x3-inch loaf pans.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. Mix well.
4. In a seperate bowl, stir together the pumpkin and oil.
5. Beat the eggs in to the liquid, one at a time, beating well after each.
6. Make a “well” in the center of the dry ingredients.
7. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, in the “well”
8. Stir until dry ingredients are just moistened.
9. Pour batter into pans.
10. Bake at 350F for 1 hour, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
11. Makes 2 loaves.

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A Whale of a Tale

Back in late September we were gifted a whale watching trip as an anniversary gift from my parents. The day turned out to be an absolutely beautiful, sunny, and fun day - literally filled with whales!

We left Anacortes midday, and proceeded on a roughly 45 minute boat ride north to look for a pod of Orcas that had been seen earlier in the day. We ended up within site of Victoria, BC (hey, we honeymooned there!) and we found the pod. It was amazing to see these beaufitul creatures in the wild... One of our favorite things to do in the evenings is to put on a Blue Planet, Animal Planet, or some other form of educational tv.Ben's favorite to watch has to do with sharks, but we've seen plenty of whales, and while our views from the boat certainly didn't get as dramatic as the footage captured for the documentaries - seeing them live was simply wonderful.

As we pulled up, there was a young one that was playing and jumping all over the place - unfortunately, he (she?) tired out before we were close enough to really appreciate it. But we did spend well over an hour watching them just going about their lives.

On the way back to port we made a large loop, and saw some harbor porpoises, as well as many animals on the islands.

Shortly before we reached port, we decided to drift a bit in an area where a humpback whale had been reported earlier in the day. We drifted for about 10 minutes waiting for to see the humpback, and our captain spotted him a ways away. We followed and watch (and, of course, took photos). We watched what was to be our last view of the whale (we had to get back to port) and watch it dive. Everybody turned away except one woman, who suddently shrieked - I literally spun around while holding the shutter on the camera, and managed to capture a full breach (where the whale completely leaves the water)!

It was absolutely spectacular, and definitely the highlight of our day on the water. Our tour was with Outer Islands Excursions (http://outerislandx.com/), and we would highly recommend them. We sat up top with the captain the entire trip, and learned so much about the whales, as well as the history of the area. What a great gift. Thanks mom and dad!

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Primitive Halloween Painted Plates

Our primitive painted plates by The Hearthside Collection are among our most popular collections, and we have a great assortment for Halloween!  Here are a few:

 
An Old Witch Plate, by The Hearthside Collection

BOO Burlap Halloween Plate, a Michelle Kildow design for The Hearthside Collection


Hand Over the Candy Plate, by The Hearthside Collection


Hat Collection Rectangle Tray, by The Hearthside Collection


Humble Prayer Hanging Paddle, by The Hearthside Collection


Lil Pumpkin Plate, by The Hearthside Collection

Smiling Jacks Plates, by The Hearthside Collection

See our complete collection of over 600 country primitive style plates, signs, candles and more by The Hearthside Collection here, or check out all our FALL and HALLOWEEN items today!