I made soap. Out of bacon! Really! A friend helped me collect the necessary 20 or so ounces of bacon fat – and Josh’s coworkers were all very happy to be served 2 pounds of crispy bacon on a random workday morning – and then with a little water, lye, food coloring and elbow grease, […]
I haven’t posted much in the last few days, for good reason. First, it’s totally winter now (regardless of what the calendar says) so there ain’t much going on in the garden. Second, most of the crafts and projects I’ve been doing involve Christmas gifts, so I’ve been waffling about posting them and ruining the […]
As I write this, the first real snow is drifting down in dense, tiny little flakes. It’s already stuck to the walkways and roads and the hammock we somehow never took down like it means business. In the last couple weeks the temperatures have dropped; the high today is 28* and the lows at night […]
Sometimes the land will surprise you. This year it’s given me little but trouble: plagues of pests, endemic blackberry brambles, swampy bogs, poor growing conditions, ivy and black locust. And pests. And did I mention pests? But it’s also given me plenty of wild onions, a few unexpected wild blueberry and elderberry bushes, and this: […]
Turnips Fava beans Carrots and Pak Choi Brussels sprouts Garlic chives, from the garlic beds I was too disappointed to harvest earlier this year. Maybe they’ll make lots of little baby garlics for me to plant in the spring, who knows?
We knew this house was going to need some elbow grease when we moved in. That was fine – I was willing to do the work and Josh was willing to suffer manfully through my construction-induced funks. And if the price was right and the only real issues were some pink and mint-green in the […]
Since my bee colony is so very small, I worry that they won’t be able to keep themselves warm through the winter… So I gave them a little help. The other side of the styrofoam insulation was shiny foil; I assumed that side was meant to go inwards to reflect heat (like one of those […]
I’ve never grown lettuce before, and now I am wondering why. They are absolutely delicious – so flavorful and tender! – right out of the ground. And they’re beautiful.
I love the winter holidays! I made the wreath and it turned out smaller than I’d thought, so I might replace it later with a bigger one. I love the way the candles look in those lanterns, nested in cranberries – the lanterns usually hang out on the sunporch but I saw a photo in […]