Posted in Uncategorized on Aug 13th, 2010
A few things picked one morning this week in the BCS Teaching Garden! Lots of Blue Lake pole beans, summer squash, kale, French Tarragon, chives, Italian flatleaf parsley, spearmint, nasturtium flowers, and a little bit of rhubarb.
We currently have volunteers coming three days a week to help with the harvest, and they [...]
Posted in Crafting, Moderation and Economy, Sewing, Uncategorized on Aug 4th, 2010
A few more twirly skirts for the girls (yes, I’m addicted to sewing these!)
This one, which is a bit shorter (hits just below the knee on Little Hen) is a mix of thrift store fabric and 1/2 yd of clearance fabric, and thrifted ribbon (at the bottom). Total cost = $2.10!
This is my favorite – [...]
Posted in From my kitchen, Learning, Locally grown, Uncategorized on Jul 20th, 2010
Little Hen’s new favorite jam: Black Currant!
I’ve always loved a little Cassis in my hot tea in the winter, but this is the first year we’ve tried jam made from these relatives of the gooseberry, which have a distinctive, smoky/ musky flavor.
Black currants are full of pectin, so they are perfect for jam – all [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jun 22nd, 2010
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 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 Homemaking, Mothering tool kit, Our home, Uncategorized on Feb 4th, 2010
The past month has been an opportunity to re-evaluate what we value as a family – to really examine what we strive to be and to accomplish. Although unintentional, the blogging break these past several weeks has been very therapeutic for our whole family. (Actually, it was a break from all computer-related activities).
I realized how [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jan 19th, 2010
This week, I was able to join Angela in Florida for our first visit in two years. We spent Little Hens birthday at Angelas Parents and her and the kids stayed overnight in My Husbands and Mine beach house. The weather has been brisk down her, but we had a blast.
Angela has asked me to [...]
Posted in O Come, O Come Emmanuel, Uncategorized on Dec 6th, 2009
Yesterday evening, we strung popcorn and cranberries and decorated our little Christmas tree. We have quite a collection of bird ornaments, and as we hung them by candlelight (dark at 5pm!) I was reminded of Oliver Herford’s little poem, I Heard a Bird Sing –
I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December
A magical [...]
Posted in Changing Seasons, O Come, O Come Emmanuel, Uncategorized on Dec 3rd, 2009
My apologies on being absent for a bit – we’re once again struggling with sick kids, especially Firecracker, who has had multiple trips to the doctor and the ER in the past few weeks because the colds are wreaking havoc on her asthma.
That, plus my first time hosting Thanksgiving for extended family, and now scrambling [...]