Adventures of a Wandering Homebody
Tuesday Crafternoon: Halloween Tree
My daughter, my ‘Bean’, is a project/artwork factory. Give the girl some paper/scissors/glue/crayons and she will wildly produce mass amounts of finished product. We cherish every piece, of course, but there comes a time when we just can’t do anything with it. Our house is just a whirlwind of paper pieces and glitter and markers without tops (she is very intense in her creating).
My Crafternoon project this week is an attempt to focus the creative process …and perhaps save a family member from going missing under piles of art.
After scavenging for appropriate fallen tree branches in our yard, we painted a couple of them black (we used acrylic paint) and sprinkled silver glitter on them before they dried. I popped them in a vase and Voila!: instant Halloween Tree. Bean has already created a paper witch ornament and a sparkly ghost (glue and glitter on wax paper) ornament to hang. Now when she is looking for a project, I direct her to making another ornament: a jack o’lantern or spider or bat, perhaps. She has a goal, I don’t have to find a place for the random artwork (at least until after Halloween) and we have fabulous keepsakes from this year. I’d call that a win-win-win.
Health and Happiness,
Meatless Monday Menu Milestone
In our household, for about the past 2 years, we have been doing our best to practice Meatless Mondays in our meal planning. We’ve been focusing on dinners (breakfast is usually meatless anyway and lunch is sometimes) and with 2 young children, many of those dinners have revolved around pasta. I have made various attempts at non-pasta and more vegetable based meatless meals, most of which have been officially labeled “yucky” by my 2 year old. Others that have been mildly successful have been met with “…would be a lot better with meat in it” from my hubby. In fact, my hubby often conveniently ‘works late’ on Mondays, which I can only believe is his way to avoid a vegetarian dinner.
Tuesday Crafternoon: Channeling my Grandma
Falling leaves have given inspiration to people for hundreds of years and every year when my lawn is becoming covered I am reminded of my Grandma Kit. I have fond memories of collecting colorful fallen leaves and bringing the huge (as it is remembered by my tiny self) tin of crayons up to the kitchen counter. I vividly recall the tiny pieces of shaved crayons as I sprinkled them over the leaves and then watching the “magic” of them melting under the warm iron.
So it was last Tuesday when I got the children home and we went for a leaf walk. Their curiosity as I shaved their old crayons (Mama what are you DOING?) was uplifting. They expressed themselves through their design of the window hanging and watched, as I did years ago, at the “magic” of the warm iron melting the colors together.
Health and Happiness,
Cerissa
Got Thyme?
The green leafy herb: I’ve got plenty drying in the kitchen. The seconds, minutes and hours of the day: I come up short. Working full time (with an hour commute), being a Mommy and a Wife doesn’t leave me feeling with a lot of time to do those things that I would like to do. Sure, a lot of people would say its just a matter of prioritizing, of making the time for myself more important than some other things. I often talk to my children in terms of ‘things we want to do/things we have to do’ and maybe I should take some of my own advice. But honestly, after I’m done with the ‘have to dos’ about all I have the energy and desire to do is plop on the couch.
I started this blog with the hopes of documenting the adventures of my family through stories and photos all centered around our new way of approaching living. What I’ve figured out is that it is hard to find the time to sit down and write on a consistent basis. Even when I’ve tried just writing in a journal before bed I never quite stick to the routine! I enjoy it so much when I do find the time to write that I decided that I needed to find a way to make THIS routine work. Putting off other important (and less desirable) tasks for later simply won’t do. I need to find a way to turn this into a routine, using tasks that are already on my to do list as inspiration.
Every Tuesday is when I pick up the children early from school/daycare and we do a project. Combining my preschool teacher background and my daughter’s never ending imagination, we usually come up with something pretty good. And from here on out, I will be sharing them with you. Every Tuesday I will document our “Crafternoons”. It will bring me piece of mind and calmness of spirit, maybe it will bring you some new ideas.
Health and Happiness,
Cerissa
Hang Much?
I love to hang my laundry out on the clothesline. There is something about the sun and wind working their magic so that when you put your clothes on or go to bed at night you can smell nature in your shirt or on your sheets. That I know I am making an environmentally responsible choice by not using electricity to dry my clothes, therefore also not using valuable resources while lessening the life span of my clothing, makes me feel good. But for me, the best part of hanging laundry on the line is s l o w i n g down. It takes time to hang (and take down) 2-3 loads of laundry a day. Time that is spent outside and so for me feels like heaven. Time to think about what else I would like to do for the day, time to just watch the children play and talk with one another.
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| Shirt inside out and sewn. |
My calm ‘hang time’ was broken one day this summer when I could no longer simultaneously hold the container of clothespins and pin up laundry and kept on dropping items on the ground. I had seen clothespin hanging bags before but I had no scrap fabric. A quick search on Etsy led me to some cute clothespin aprons. But me being me, I needed to find a way to make something without spending money. After some thought, I dug through my son’s old clothes and found a button down shirt. After turning it inside out and seeing the bottom closed, I turned it inside right and found a small hanger to put it on. Once I unbuttoned the top two buttons and filled it with clothespins I was ready to calmly hang again, knowing my clothespins would only be a slide down the clothesline away.
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| Finished clothespin bag.
Do you hang laundry? How do you manage clothespins? |
Got Hope?
I do. Not that I did a few weeks ago. I’m talking about the garden, of course. After the deer devastated the vegetables we put up some fencing that we had. It wasn’t enough to keep out the chipmunks that just kept eating the tops off the green beans, lettuce and carrots every other day. It was depressing. Then I went crazy and put up fence all around the garden. At 9:00 at night. Nothing was getting in to the garden at this point, not even me. So I took a garden hiatus. I emotionally disconnected from it and just let it go. I checked it every few days and had to pull most of the zucchini and squash because of vine borers. But I’m okay with it. I’ve gone crazy the last few years fighting off vine borers and I’ve decided that maybe I just won’t grow squash anymore, maybe it’s not my thing.
My whole gardening perspective changed. For the first time in at least a week I spent some real time in the garden today. There are about 10 butternut squash growing. The peppers and eggplant that were destroyed earlier in the season are making a comeback and have set fruit. The basil is huge and the tomatoes are slowly coming. There is hope! The garden may not be everything I was hoping for at the start of the season but maybe it never will be. Finding perspective and solace in the garden is something I can always count on if I just give it time.
Adventures in Canning
I love pickles. My kids love pickles. Cucumbers are in season. These facts all lead me to my first adventure in canning. How hard can it be? Our grandparents did it. I already had a number of canning materials like mason jars and kitchen tools. When I saw on Facebook that my favorite farm down the street was selling pickling cucumbers for $1 a pound for 10 or more pounds, I knew the time had come.
I had recently taken a large stock pot out of my family’s storage room, thinking it would be great for lobster and corn on the cob. When I opened it for corn last week, there was a rack inside that I thought was for lifting a chicken or something out of the pot. Well, as I got that pot ready for canning I realized that the rack was actually intended for lifting JARS out of the pot. I had luckily stumbled upon a large canning pot, woohoo!
After reading up on how to process my cucumbers, I set to work in a very hurried manner. Washing and cutting 10 and a half pounds of cucumbers is time consuming! Jars were washed and warmed in the dishwasher (a luxury my grandmother certainly didn’t have) and the waterbath was starting to boil. I created my brine with water and vinegar and Kosher Dill Mix. Cucumbers stuffed into the jars, covered with hot brine, rims wiped, lids added and into the waterbath they go. After boiling for the prescribed time, the pickles are ready to go! They should sit for 4-6 weeks to reach premium flavor. I can’t wait to eat them, although they look so pretty I’d like to look at them for a bit longer.
Pea Risotto
Last week the cupboards were bare. I hadn’t had a chance to meal plan for the week and we were running on empty. Sometimes I find that my best meals happen during times like these. We had the ends of a rotisserie chicken, and some peas from the garden and farmer’s market. Throw in some arborio rice and a spring risotto with chicken (hopefully the children will eat the rice and peas, they are not big meat eaters) is born. Add a glass of white wine for me and everybody is happy and we’ve survived another day before we need to go to the grocery store.
Pea Risotto
2 tbs. olive oil
1 tsp butter
1 cup arborio rice
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/2 cup snap peas, trimmed and cut on bias
1/3 cup garden peas, shelled
3 cups broth (chicken or vegetable)
salt, pepper
1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 small garlic scape, chopped
1/2 cup (or more) chopped chicken
* In large skillet, heat olive oil and butter over medium. Heat broth in a separate pot. Add onion and cook until soft (2 minutes). Add rice and stir until lightly toasted. Ladle about 1 cup broth into the rice and stir constantly until absorbed. Add peas, garlic scape and 1 more cup broth and stir until absorbed. Continue to add broth and stir until absorbed. Add chicken, turn down to low, add Parmesan cheese and stir until combined. Season with salt and pepper and serve while hot.
It was delicious with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc! Next time I’ll have to remember to take a picture.
Enjoy!
The Garden 2: Devastation
So…remember those lush photos of the garden from the last post? I’m struggling to find the words that describe my reaction to the devastation that occurred when we went away for the weekend. As we left on Friday and I knew it would be hot and dry I was debating watering the garden again, tending to last minute plant support and weeding. Hubby pulled me into the car and away to a cooler and much deserved weekend at the beach. I felt like I was leaving a newborn baby. I crossed my fingers that nothing would die,
be eaten, fall over, etc. We came home early(er) on Sunday and as I walked to the garden to inspect I let out a screech of horror.
The squash leaves all eaten, many cucumber leaves eaten, green bean plants and leaves eaten, tops of carrots eaten. “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” could be replaced by “hell hath no furn like a woman whose garden has been eaten”. I immediately cursed the cute deer who come to visit in the winter. Then I looked by the woods next to the garden and saw this:
Something was busy over the weekend cleaning out his hole. Anger washed over me and I irrationally began to tend to the plants that survived (and didn’t really need tending). Some research will need to be done and new plant defense strategies will have to be put in place. Stay tuned, this drama has just begun.
How do you deal with pests in the garden? How do you cope with the emotions?
The Garden
When we moved in to our house there was already a small fenced off vegetable garden. Since we moved in at the end of May I hastily planted heirloom tomato seedlings, a cucumber and squash as well as planted green beans from seed. I learned quickly how important soil quality and protection from animals is to crop production. The soil was dry and I was only able to get a few beans from the plants before something was able to sneak through the double layer of fencing and eat every single plant.
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| April 2012 |
This year my fabulous hubby built us a raised garden bed and what a difference it has made! The soil is light and nutritious and getting even better as we add our compost. We’ve planted onions, tomatoes, lettuce, Swiss chard, carrots, green beans, peas, squash, cucumbers, peppers, eggplants and flowers. The plants are the healthiest I have ever had and we are hoping for a good harvest. The kids are actually looking forward to vegetables!
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| July 2012 |
As productive as the garden has been, there is so much to learn (biggest lesson yet: gardening is WAY more involved than just sticking seeds in the dirt and watering!). What I thought was a good garden plan in the spring isn’t quite what I thought it would be now that the plants have exploded in the summer sun. There is shade where I didn’t know there would be and plant support challenges, as well as preparing to defend against mother nature’s creatures (picture me, tangled with bamboo poles and bird netting while picking aphids off tomato stalks). Already I have new plans in mind for next year as well as new vegetables I would like to plant, now I need to find a way to put it all together and plan for crop rotation as well (but more on that later). How about you? How do you plan your garden? What are your favorite crops?
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