What Did She Do Today?

She helped wrap trees and ate goose January 16, 2010

This morning began with the Underground breakfast.  I've mentioned this before, but for those who don't know, there is a local guy who makes a breakfast of local food, for anyone who wants to stop by and pay his cover charge.  It's all inclusive, and the meals are great!  I had the Ravioli Benedict, which was delicious.  I tried head cheese for the first time.  It's a bit salty, but quite yummy.  My husband shared some of his french toast, which had Bailey's Irish Cream in the egg mixture, and, I believe, amaretto in the butter, served on top!

Then to work...Our friends have a large number of fruit trees.  While talking with other friends, they mentioned that they should have wrapped them to protect them from mice, before the snow fell, and didn't.  It was decided the group of us would meet over there today, and get the job done.  Two dug the snow away and 4 of us, in teams of 2, wrapped aluminum foil around the bottom 2 feet, or so, of each tree.  This will, hopefully, keep mice, burrowing in the snow, from finding the trees and eating away the bark, killing the trees. 

It took us very little time to get the job done, with the 6 of us working together.  It's always amazing how fast things get done, and how much more enjoyable the task, when done with a group of friends.

After the wrapping portion we headed inside for some mulled wine, roasted goose, sauerkraut, and potatoes.  What a wonderful meal!  Earlier in the morning, some of us had been talking about how we had never had goose, and then we showed up to help, and were told that was what we were having for lunch!  I love when stuff like that happens.

Oh, so goose...it does not taste like chicken.  Actually it's pretty close to beef.  It is similar in texture, and flavor.  It was delicious!

Between today, and the amazing pot luck spread that was organized for my friends' birthday party, it was an amazing weekend for food.  On Friday night, the group of us were all enjoying what everyone had brought and marveled at what folks, with no culinary training, could do with real, wholesome, locally grown foods.  I can honestly say I've never eaten better at any time in my life, then I have overthe past year.  Local food is just yummier!

Oh, and Jessica and Abe loved their hand knit gifts!  Yay!

 

She Filled her Home with Scents! December 19, 2010

The lovely lemons that fabulous Jennifer sent to me have been waiting patiently for me, while I ignored them, quite rudely.  We'll, I guess not ignored them, I did keep checking to be sure they were still looking plump and lovely.  Finally today, with Christopher and the girls off visiting family, I thought I'd make some Lemon Curd.  Wouldn't you know the day I need 6 eggs, those lazy girls popped out 1...all day.  I guess today all their cycles met.  I decided to juice and zest all the lemons, for safer storing.  I can store in the fridge for a couple days while I collect eggs, and when I'm ready, it will be there.  I'm so excited.

My Curd plans being foiled, and while making room in the fridge for the new jars, I noticed we are almost out of cough syrup.  That stuff worked amazingly well for Istra when she had the bout with the croup.  All the comments I read online had me very worried, barking cough bringing on gasping for air, up all night, scary and helpless mom's.  Eeek.  Not here.  We gave her 1/2 tsp every 2 hours and she only barked when she cried,  and her breathing was raspy and noisy, but she didn't struggle, and she slept through the night.  I was amazed.  Certainly that stuff hits some kids hard than others, but I really was impressed with the cough syrup. 

Cough syrup led to me remembering the slippery elm bark lozenges I wanted to make.  Great for soar throats, or upset tummies.  Rounding things out were two salve/creams one for easy breathing and soothing sleep for when congestion strikes, and one is for scrapes, or chapped skin. 

I'm feeling prepared for whatever the cold season has to bring.  Cough Syrup, throat/tummy lozenges, chest rub, chapped skin salve, and the elderberry syrup I canned over the summer.  Now that is a DIY cold fighting kit to be proud of!

Hot water bottle cover number one is done, and the second is on the needles.  The sweaters are blocking.  Things are looking good so far, I hope you are finding the same!

 

She Wrote a Dear John Letter October 31, 2010

Dear October,

We have been close for many years.  You have always promised, and delivered, cool nights, crisp and bright days, the sweet smell of earth going to rest.  A slower pace, a calm before the storm of the holidays to come.  The joy of wearing sweaters and enjoying a cozy afghan.  But this year, this year, you turned on me. 

All the fruit came ready at once, there were too many long days of canning.  Too many work commitments, and a house that was too messy for too many days in a row.  I'm sad to say, but I'm thrilled to see you leave.  I am jumping right into something new, with great hope. 

I have found November, who has promised what you did not deliver.  To wear sweaters, enjoy calmer days.  To move slower than you, and give me the needed time to catch up on the projects that you did not give me time to complete.  We look forward, together, to a month ending with a pantry full of good food, and a renewed spirit to feed and cloth my family from the great things in my home.  Yes, for November I have high hopes. There is a vacancy for the role of my favorite month, October, and you will be missed.  May we meet on better terms next year.

Sincerely,

Amy

The tired homesteader who needs a gentle month that is generous and kind.

She Gave in, Exhausted, but Left You with Inspiration September 3, 2010

I'm very tired today.  Not sure why, but I woke up quite early, and couldn't go back to sleep, despite the tired feeling that I was experiencing.  I bit the bullet and started my day.  I never shook the tired feeling, and by the time I got the girls to bed, I was ready for some quite time before retiring myself.  I decided to muster enough energy to make a batch of those amazing sourdough skillet cakes that I am in love with, then I topped them with some fresh peaches, that I picked today, and went to Progressive Pioneer to see what ideas she had for the "Make and Do" Friday.  I was disappointed to find, she had none.  Fair enough, she does have a lot going on with a new baby and a little guy, and all, so here are my ideas for the weekend...

Make a Harvest basket.  This looked like a fun idea, that would be handy, and simple.

Shop at the local Farmer's Market for some delicious heirloom tomatoes to make some of the Tomato Butter that I can't stop talking about.

Grill Some Peaches

Make a deck of cards, and spend some family time playing with them.

Make a Pretty Windsock to welcome the cool breeze of fall!

 

 

 

She's Not Even Sure She Believes What She Did Today September 2, 2010

First of all, hear me out on this one.  I made paper towels today.  That's right, paper towels.  So, before you click away thinking "This chick has gone too far", please let me explain.

Okay, about 6-8 months ago, not sure now how long, Husband forgot paper towels at the store, when he went grocery shopping.  He didn't get back for a couple weeks, so we made due without them.  We decided to see if that was just a less than messy couple of weeks, or if we really could go without that extremely handy little item.  Sure enough, 2 weeks later, on his next trip for Peanut Butter (almost the only thing we were buying at the Grocery Store, at that time) we skipped the towels.  They are pricey, afterall, so cutting out the cost was the driving factor.  Why spend money on paper towels, when there are fun kitchen items to scoop up at the antique store, or fun ingredients to purchase for this foofy canning, that I'm all into...or an electric bill to be paid, oh, yeah.

After about 3-4 months of this, we did find there were times that using a hand/kitchen towel, seemed like over-kill, so I thought about making up a light weight, simplyecloth that would be "disposable", should it be used for something particularly gross, or messy, and that stains wouldn't matter.  I'm not super concerned about the appearance of my dish cloths, but if I could have a "paper towel" that could keep my good kitchen linens lasting longer, and looking prettier, why not.

I made a couple to try, and they have worked well.  Today, I spied the fabric for them, so I grabbed it, and my serger, and set out to make as many as I could, while I tended to the water baths for the newest round of Tomato Butter, that I canned tonight.

These are not square, they are not perfect, they aren't even all the exact same size.  This project was 'Fast and Dirty".  I just eyeballed the lines, and used my serger to cut the fabric, instead of cutting out squares and then serging the edges.  The serger worked great, the cloths will not fray, which is why I didn't just rip them in squares.  I didn't want frayed edges, that can drop little strings while being used, or in the washing machine.

In the time it took to water bath 20 little jars of the butter, I made up 20 "paper towels".

The fabric I used is, what I consider to be, the perfect weight.  It's 100% cotton, made in the USA, thin, white, with a little texture.  I bought it at Joann's in Newington, where they labled it "diaper cloth".  I think it was about $1.00 a yard, or something like that, maybe on sale, or with a coupon...either way, it's not very expensive.  It has held up to many washings, has been used and abused over the past few months. 

When I hear about people making more permanent options for the temporary things in our lives, I often hear folks bringing up the concern for the "extra water and electricity used to wash them".  I heard that about cloth diapers, a lot.  These are so lightweight, that you will never need to start a load for just them.  They could be thrown in with any load you are already running, without maxing it out.  If you don't care if the stay white, it also doesn't matter what load you throw them in with, either.

Oh, two other little comments, I'm not espousing that anyone "should" do this.  I did this because it worked for us. I will not scoff at you, who purchase paper towels.  Also, I do not see myself making my own toilet paper...I don't.

Tomato Butter.  I like this batch, it was yummy, but it does not hold a candle to my first batch, made with the brandywine tomatoes from Stout Oak Farm.  I'm going to be tracking her down, because I want to make at least one more batch of this stuff, and I really want those lovely heirloom tomatoes of hers.  I also think that using 3 different varieties of tomatoes helped the layers of flavor that the first one posessed.  The flavor of this batch wasn't as mature...oh, doesn't that sound fancy, and all foodie-like.

 

She Admired Art July 8, 2010

I love "kid art".  I always have, and honestly it's one of the things I looked forward to the most about having kids...well, at least one of the things I most looked forward to in a silly, frivolous way, about having kids, but it certainly wasn't in the deciding factor category, but anyway, enough about all that, I think you get my point.  I love kid art, and I love that my kid is into art. 

Mini loves to draw, and I LOVE to see her drawings.  It is really amazing how she'll draw in the exact same style for a period of time, then one day, she draws completely different, and goes with that for a while.  Like she used to make a round circle with a face, and sometimes arms and legs, but no body.  Then one day, she started drawing stick figures, with details like hair, or a balloon in their hands, or a basket.  It was so funny that one day her brain just clicked onto something new.

She has started drawing bodies and clothing, and coloring backgrounds now and I'm very into this.  I want to wallpaper my house with her work.  The use of color, spacing and details are so fun.  Not to mention how sweet she was kneeling on the floor in front of her easel in the "zone", where nothing existed but her, a crayon and some paper.  She didn't even hear Husband ask her what she wanted for breakfast.

Three little girls going to pick flowers, and one is giving another a piggy back ride.

She Celebrated the 4th of July July 4, 2010

Happy 4th of July.  We always spend the holiday with my Dad's Family, having a cookout and catching up.  It was a great time, complete with Maine Lobsters and Steamers, along with salads, home made ice cream and Lemon Meringue pie! 

Gram let me know about her amazing Black Raspberry patch!  Lining the edge of her lawn, are the most plentiful bushes of Black Raspberries.  Dad and I grabbed buckets and headed out, after lunch, followed closely by 3 of my cousins.  We all got a good haul, and Gram told me she was done picking so I could help myself to the rest, that are still to ripen!  I'm going to head back over on Tuesday to see if the berries that weren't ripe today will be ready.  While picking I noticed that Gram also has a fair number of grape vines that are covered in green grapes!  She told me I am welcome to them, when they are ripe.  So fun!

Black Raspberries just might be my favorite berry.

The ducks have been a source of frustration and great enjoyment lately.  The 5 Cayuga Ducklings, are down to only 2.  The other 3 died on the nest.  Not sure why, but it was pretty sad.  The remaining 2 are adorable and scurry all around the yard peeping up a storm. 

Two of the Muscovy Hens have "gone down" on their nests of 14 or so eggs each.  One gal selected a nice, safe, and cozy nest in the duck house.  The other went for a box that I had in the yard, needing to be cleaned out.  She has tolerated my removing her eggs, to clean the box, and replace with fresh bedding.  She also tolerated the move of her box from the ground to the shelf of the steel table.  Muscovy hens are not very tolerable of changes, so I'm pleased she has let me make these, but I'm quite sure that moving the box to the coop will not work.  To keep her safe, each night we close her into her nest with a couple pieces of plywood and a 2x4.  I hope this keeps her from becoming a predators late night meal.

One night I put a full 5 gallon bucket of water in front of the plywood, as a weight, before deciding to instead, use a 2x4.  In the morning she was happy to find that room service had provided a morning beverage...

She Wanted to Give a Reminder June 28, 2010

The Barrington Community Market will be having their first event on July 7th,  5pm-7pm.

There are many farmers, artists, crafts people, authors, and more, living right here in our little town of Barrington NH.  The first Wednesday of each month (July, August, September), we will give all those folks an opportunity to set up in the beautiful back yard of The Christmas Dove, for a Community Market.

If you live in the area, we would love to have you join us.  We scheduled the market to be during dinner time, to allow for folks to enjoy the market with the entire family with a picnic by the pond, while listening to live Music sponsored by The Christmas Dove.  There will be prepared food available for enjoying on the grounds, or to be taken home for the weekend barbecue! It will be a great time for gift shopping with the local artisans, or to treat yourself!  Then pick up your weekly meat, veggies, fruit, eggs, and more, from the local farmers!

If you want to join us as a vendor, please let me know.  We have the forms now!  Please mark your calender and enjoy an evening with your neighbors!

She Celebrated... June 27, 2010

We went to a couple stops on Farm Tour day, followed by a family birthday party, for....me.  It was a nice, relaxing day, with fun, food, family and farms!

The Baby had lots of fun in the dirt at Nippo Brook Farm!

She Gave You a Link Because She Didn't Want to Share What She Did Today June 5, 2010

Okay, I did something, cool and fun, but I'm not ready to share.  The thing is, I've got a couple cool projects, but neither is done, and it's not so amazing that it's something you want to see in progress, and when it's done, so I'm waiting until they are done.

In the mean time, check this out...I love this Blog for a few reasons, but I look forward to Friday's because she does a "Make and Do" post, and has such cool ideas.  I always want to do at least one of the things on each list.  The link just brings you to all the Make and Do posts, but you can click to see what else she's up to.  It's worth checking out.

This Friday...paint something...turn that Cream in me fridge into Ice Cream...and I've been thinking it's time for Mini to have some new play dough...the last batch I made her, is now, all one color, and half of it is dry...yes, I'm inspired by the Make and Do Friday post, again this week, and it's going to be a fun weekend!