A Grand Day In

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Last week we celebrated my birthday and I cannot remember a better birthday. Much of it was spent gardening with my mum. We then went to see my pieces in the student show, and had a lovely lunch before she headed home.

After a little bit of knitting, my dearest husband arrived with flowers from some dear friends and a feast! He shucked raw clams and oysters, made bacon wrapped scallops with garlic broccolini on the side and even brought a piece of my favorite cheese-free veggie-loaded pizza for me to eat right away.

Thank you everyone for all the wonderful birthday wishes and love from near and far. Thank you for helping to make it such a lovely day. I'm still enjoying the beautiful flowers, made-for-me cards, inspiring book, big-girl trike, and even the sheets to use when I'm Away!

I feel so loved!

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Raised Beds: making my own

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When we started our gardens here a couple of years ago, I was fortunate enough to trade some work for some beautiful cedar raised beds. Our dear friends over at The Farmstead, in Leverett, Massachusetts make gorgeous raised bed kits based upon a 17th century design and also make other garden gems like trellises and benches for local sale.

I have enjoyed my raised beds so much that I couldn't help but want to expand our garden space. This has been my dream for the remaining sun patch left vacant by the bushes we removed a year and a half ago.

The only thing better than supporting the businesses of friends is making things ourselves. We found a local lumber yard that carries untreated cedar (naturally rot resistant and free of any chemicals such as those used to treat plywood and other lumber) and got myself some boards.



Using the existing beds as inspiration, I cut out the pieces for mortise and tenon style joints. One of the great benefits of this classic joint is that it requires no hardware - nothing to rust or corrode. Even after years of use these corners will hold fast.

I am so happy to have the extra gardening space and so excited to get plants in the ground!



















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Geeking out with my new capsule machine!

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I've been eying a capsule machine ever since reading a post by Progressive Pioneer, last fall. Yesterday, while waiting for my car to have its emissions tested, I wandered over to our little local health food store. Lo and behold they had them in stock!

I picked up a few more ingredients to supplement what I already had at home and impatiently waited for my car to be ready.









Once home, I mixed up a wellness blend to ward off colds, a health blend for myself, as well as encapsulating some of the psyllium husk powder we have in the cupboard.

It is such a delight to mix my own remedies and have this extra way of caring for our family.

(sorry for the blurry pictures was having camera troubles)

Some day soon I will even get to use my own dried herbs in our own remedies and blend my love for herb gardening and natural home remedies.

My work is in the show! Again! (part deux)

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As many of you know, I've been taking  ceramics courses at a local community college.

I am pleased to announce (again) that several of my pieces will be in the student art show.

The opening is this Friday at 6pm and the show will run until June 24th.

Not sure when I'll be going, but let me know if you're interested in meeting up at any point in the duration of the exhibit.


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HappyBunny Pincushion

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Over the past few weeks I've starting doing a bit more sewing again and found myself frustrated with my pincushion. I'd been coveting a wonderful little number I found on etsy but couldn't justify the expense to replace something I already have. Then it dawned on me. I could sew my own! (Gasp!)





Among the plethora of different patterns I quickly found online was a lovely tutorial for the exact same kind of pincushion I had been eying!  A few quick minutes later and I was all set!







I used fabric from my stash, stuffed it with wool from my stepfather's flock, and held together with two vintage buttons that were a present from my brother and his lovely lady.







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Kitchen Curtains - something worth a blog post

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A month and a half? Really? Time sure does slip by when you've got no time to breathe or think or do much of anything fun.

 This past weekend I not only got a bit of a breather, I had wonderful incentive to jump-start a few projects - we had a bunch of family over for an eastery/spring celebration.

Amidst the rearranging and cleaning, I managed to reorganize our kitchen shelves and remove some rather large unused things - the purging continues! To hide some of the less beautiful kitchen necessities, I turned a fat quarter of earthy polka-dot fabric and some leftover muslin into these curtains. 


With each new touch our home and life feel more and more happily-ever-after and I feel more and more at home.

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Homemade Crock-pot Yogurt

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I got several responses from my last post from people interested in my experiences with crock-pot yogurt. Super easy, definitely cheaper than store-bought yogurt, and so delicious!

 Supplies:
1.) A crock pot!
2.) A half gallon of milk (preferably NOT ultra-pasturized)
3.) At least 1/2cup of live culture yogurt - after you've made your first batch you can just save some to use for the next batch.
4.) optional: foodsafe thermometer. This isn't strictly necessary but definitely helpful.



Directions:
1.) Pour milk into crock-pot and cover with lid. Heat on low setting until milk reaches 180F which will take approximately two and a half hours. My crock pot runs a little warm and so takes only two and quarter hours.

2.) Unplug crock pot and wait until milk cools to about 120 degrees which, depending on the temperature of the room, will take between two and a half and three hours.

3.) Warm the 1/2cup of yogurt slowly by adding a cup or two of the heated milk to the yogurt and stirring well. Slowly add the yogurt milk mix to the crock pot and whisk or stir well to incorporate. Re-cover crock-pot with lid.

4.) Immediately wrap the entire crock-pot, lid, base and all, with a thick towel or blanket to retain as much heat as possible.

5.) Wait at least six or even overnight.

6.) Tada!

You will have yogurt! Warm in the crock pot the yogurt is a little stringier than store-bought yogurt and will be a little runnier.

For best consistency, refrigerate for about 8 hours.



My strategy is to start the yogurt around lunch, turn it off and add the yogurt before dinner and pop it in the fridge before bed, then there is fresh yogurt ready for breakfast. An alternative would be to start it after work, turn it off and add the yogurt before bed and pop it in the fridge the next day before work. When you get back home there will be fresh yogurt waiting and ready!

We use 1/2 pint jars that are easy for a certain someone to grab on his way to work. Excellent with a little honey on top.

Don't forget to save some for the next batch!

To make a delicious active-culture cream cheese simply strain the yogurt through cheese cloth or a fine-weave dish towel for several hours. The yellow liquid that drains out is whey and is extremely useful for all sorts of live culture foods!


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Few week wrap up

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It's been quite a busy few weeks! Mid-terms are coming up with all the little projects I've had going, I thought I'd do a wrap up. If there's anything you would like me to expand upon just let me know!

Some recipes I follow call for whey to soak grains and make them more easily digestible, the nutrients more readily available, and cut down the various inhibitory components. I tried making crock-pot yogurt. SO easy! Straining yogurt provides us with whey for cooking and fermenting, greek-style (strained) yogurt, and the best cream cheese!




I've been eying preserved lemons for some time. I finally bought a few organic lemons and started a batch. You cover them in salt and lemon juice and let them sit for about a month. After that you can wash off the salt, discard the flesh and use the rind to add a wonderful lemon flavor - think tangine-style stews and so many other things! After preserving they will last six months or more in the fridge.

I also started another batch of lacto-fermented/probiotic ginger-ade. Like a lemonade only ginger. Slurp! Even better diluted with bit of seltzer for fizz.


I received a new addition to our fern family. Thanks mom!

I have deep love of ferns inherited from my grandmother in New Hampshire. In her window she still has a fern I pressed as a child and preserved for her between to pieces of glass edged with copper tape. We now have four different kinds of ferns gracing our radiators.

I finally made a fabric tissue-"box" to hold some boxless tissues leftover from one of my mother's work projects.

I must admit that although we rarely buy tissues and are making the move to cloth handkerchiefs,  I do buy tissues based upon the look of the box. Now I shall never have to make the sacrifice of an ugly tissue box again.

Last, but certainly not least, I started some seeds! Comstock and Ferre in Wethersfield opened up their retail store again (wahoo!) and I headed down. I picked out heirloom tomato, herb, melon, and flower seeds for my gardens this year.

With the help of a grow-light I am starting seeds inside and will be able to put the plants into the ground after the danger of frost is past, sometime in late April.

This picture is from March 1st and already most of the seedlings are a couple of inches tall! It is always so magical to see the growth from day to day. Dreams of blooms and juiciness brighten even the gloomiest of days.

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