Posted in From my kitchen, Moderation and Economy on Mar 31st, 2010
We all love the nutty, complex flavor of spelt. Spelt is very low in gluten, and can form a hockey-puck loaf if you’re not careful. This recipe produces a light and tasty loaf, although it doesn’t rise as high as a white-bread loaf. (But who cares? The flavor is amazing!)
Also, the recipe makes two [...]
Posted in Birding, Homemaking, Learning, Locally grown, Moderation and Economy, Working the earth/harvesting its bounty on Mar 28th, 2010
We got chickens!!
After months of scouring Craigslist, pricing materials at the ReBuilding Center and researching plans (not to mention years of wishing, dreaming)… we finally found a used coop that met our super tight budget. (A coat of pretty paint, and the sturdy coop will look quite nice in the back corner of our [...]
Posted in Building Community, Homemaking, Learning, Locally grown, Moderation and Economy, Uncategorized, Working the earth/harvesting its bounty on Mar 18th, 2010
Yesterday afternoon, with my son on my back, the girls and I potted up the first of our tomato seedlings – all 51 of them. (The one above is a “Black Krim”, a favorite of ours for salads.) Another 26 little tomato-lets (started a week later) will be potted up this weekend, time allowing.
(Above: Our [...]
Posted in From my kitchen, Learning, Locally grown, Moderation and Economy on Mar 17th, 2010
Today we finished Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food. The girls and I listened to it on unabridged book CD over the course of several afternoons of making dinner. I had really enjoyed The Omnivore’s Dilemma and The Botany of Desire, but somehow missed this one until now.
Much of what he writes really melds with [...]
Posted in From my kitchen, Homemaking, Locally grown on Mar 16th, 2010
The girls and I made a special beef stew for my birthday yesterday. They especially enjoyed blending the spices at the beginning…and later standing by the stove, inhaling the amazing aroma of spice-dredged beef browning in butter (oh, and eating three big bowls of hot stew at dinner, too!).
We don’t eat much meat, but this [...]
My dad, who has made me all sorts of great spindles and fiber tools, made me a new spinning wheel flyer to replace the broken one on my Louet-S10! (It arrived just in time for my birthday.) YAY!!!!
It’s rainy and yucky out today (although, I’m grateful, because the seeds we’ve planted need the water), so [...]
Posted in Locally grown, Moderation and Economy, Uncategorized, Working the earth/harvesting its bounty on Mar 10th, 2010
Seems like we’ve been living in our wellies this week as we spent most of our time planting in the garden. This week we’ve started:
Peas, round two, this time in the front yard – Little Marvel, Tall Telephone, and Oregon Sugar Pod II.
Potatoes, in three beds in the backyard, near the larger coldframe – German [...]
Posted in From my kitchen, Homemaking, Learning on Mar 8th, 2010
Monday is baking day.
We’re enjoying the Monday tradition of baking homemade bread. Our favorite “fancy” recipe is Challah – the dough is so kid-friendly, the results wow everybody, and nothing goes better with homemade jam.
It looks like the sun is starting to come out, so I think we’ll go plant some potatoes (along with the [...]
Posted in Learning, Our home, Playing/ Free Exploration, Working the earth/harvesting its bounty on Mar 1st, 2010
We scrapped all other plans for today,
and simply played in in the dirt.
As Firecracker said, “There’s nothin’ more natural than gettin’ dirty.”
Somehow, in the midst of playing “dirt fairies”, “cruel dirt queen who makes her workers dig all day”, “climb dirt mountain”, “search for worms and buried treasure”, and “fill and empty buckets of [...]