I took this photo from our hot tub. The blackberries are close enough to pick to add to a glass of champagne. Life is good!
Berries
29 Jun 2017 Leave a comment
Basil
26 Jun 2017 Leave a comment
The only basil we have this year is grown on our back deck in pots. I’ve made pesto twice now with the basil leaves, garlic, toasted pine nuts, parmesean, lemon and olive oil. Toss that with pasta and some sauteed shrimp. Yum!
Cooking From The Garden
21 Jun 2017 1 Comment
Our morning haul from the raised beds usually fills a large colander and inspires the evening’s dinner.
Pickle marathon 2017 should start soon….
Gotta get my sauerkraut crock out of storage.
Roasted beets, carrots and garlic with sauteed beet greens and blue cheese.
Spanikopita pie with our spinach, garlic and goat cheese from the freezer.
Garden Update
20 Jun 2017 1 Comment
Our Jerusalem artichokes are almost as tall as I am.
We’re headed for a bumper crop of heirloom tomatoes this year. We have 3+ beds planted from our own saved seeds.
We’ve been enjoying the heck out of beets and beet greens.
These pepper plants are ghost, red Caribbean habanero or pimentos from saved seeds.
The green beans are starting to come in.
Shearing Day
14 Jun 2017 1 Comment
Because you REALLY want to start this kind of activity when you get a little older… we’ve taken on shearing ourselves this year. Thankfully only Gus and Beatrice need shearing. Since the dog attack last spring, they’re the only two wool sheep we have left on the farm.
More Cherries
12 Jun 2017 1 Comment
The saga continues… and I don’t want to see my cherry pitter again until 2018.
Cherry liqueur. This won’t be ready for a few weeks, and yum.
Black forest preserves. I’m blown away by how good this stuff is! Dark chocolate, cherries and a little amaretto.
Speaking of amaretto…. these are amaretto cherries. They will be amazing as an alternative to maraschinos.
Cherries
11 Jun 2017 1 Comment
I’ve been on a sour cherry hunt for the past month or so. I’ve tried every upscale grocery place in Greensboro and nobody ever carries them. I started looking online to see if I could get some shipped here from a fruit supplier but the only thing I could find were jarred or frozen cherries. In my online search, I located an orchard an hour north of here and sour cherry picking started yesterday. And they were expecting 3000 people on opening day. We were one of the first in line. This place has 34 acres of cherry trees. We met folks from NC and Tennessee picking there. I pitted cherries for 2 hours when we got home. I so far have made maraschinos and the best cherry pie I’ve ever tasted. Today’s adventures include cherry liqueur and maybe some black forest preserves. 
Garlic Harvest
08 Jun 2017 1 Comment
Our garlic harvest filled the back of our Mule. We dry it outside in a shady spot for a week then store it in our pantry. This should last us a year.
Felt Play Mat
31 May 2017 4 Comments
in Crafts, Uncategorized
For Dominic’s fourth birthday, I made him a felt play mat featuring some of his favorite places/things. On the left hand side is our garden and green barn, along with our pond. At the top is a fire station and a construction site for trucks. In the center is a neighborhood. I couldn’t resist making one of the houses a haunted house then decided it could just be Halloween in the neighborhood as that’s his favorite time of year. At the bottom you’ll find some of his favorite places to go. McDonalds or ‘The Restaurant’, Target (one of my favorites, too) and Sea World. His Mom and Dad have annual passes there. Finally, a parking lot. Along with the mat we gave him a bunch of Matchbox cars and tiny farm animals. And some Star Wars vehicles. 🙂
Kiln Opening Day
29 May 2017 4 Comments
in Crafts, Uncategorized
It’s always super exciting to open our kiln to see the results of what we’ve been working on for so long. It takes us a good while to make enough to fill our kiln. Brian does wheel work while I hand build in another room. Once everything has dried out for a few days it gets the first bisque firing which takes a full day plus cool down time. Then we have to glaze everything and that takes a day or two. The final firing is a full two day process, including cool down. For someone like me with limited patience, this can be very trying. 🙂 Here’s a sample of what we made this round.
A sampling of Brian’s bowls. I love his double glaze technique.
I’ve been goofing around with melting glass. The larger pieces are ring dishes. The smaller ones will be used in my miniature work as platters and dishes. You can purchase tiny dishes online but they’re super expensive. The smallest bowl is about the size of a dime.
I’ve been playing around with pottery stamps and my newest glaze. I love the blue highlights.
Missing Willow Farm 