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Gratitude

 

Sourdough on blue cornmeal. Breakfast.
Sourdough on blue cornmeal. Breakfast.

Joining Taryn of WoolyMossRoots for her Gratitude Sunday:

-Very glad to have a little free time to return to blogging, and catch up on some of my favorite blogs.

-And grateful to return to some much-beloved routines and habits (like baking bread nearly every day, knitting, reading aloud to the kids in the afternoon, making pickles).   IMG_8471-Grateful for the intense and much-needed rain this week, followed by a bolt of growth all over the gardens.

-Feeling very blessed to have such kind and thoughtful neighbors, who lavish such unconditional love on my kids.

George, almost two. On his push bike.
George, almost two. On his push bike.

-Bittersweet to see my youngest, who is suddenly full of independence and strong opinions, outgrowing some of his baby-ness as he edges up to his second birthday.  However, it is exciting to see him take on new things and discover words and concepts every single day.

-And of course, on this Father’s Day weekend, grateful for Casey, who is a dedicated and loving father.  He reads the kids adventure stories every night, whittles bows and arrows for the girls, builds Lego monsters with Hal, and gives his kids a childhood full of rich, imaginative play.

Hope you have a peaceful and restorative Sunday and a good start to your new week.

Friday

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Joining Amanda for “This Moment - A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week.”

Rejoining the Yarn Along

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A little early morning, bleary-eyed knitting with my early-riser.

He was up long before his siblings, so we snuggled in bed as he sifted through a jar of buttons (one of his favorite past-times), and I chugged coffee and finished a few inches on this little project:

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Joining Ginny for her Yarn Along this morning, and Nicole for her KCCO.  I am in-between books at the moment, but have been a tad-bit obsessed with watching Wrapunzel’s tutorials while I knit.

Looking forward to visiting the other knitters in the Yarn Along after the kids are in bed tonight.

 

Garlic Scape Pesto

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Garlic scapes!  Ever so many!  If you aren’t familiar with scapes – they are the twisty stalk and flower bud of alliums.  Removing them from the garlic (or shallots, etc) before they flower helps form a larger head of garlic.  But you needn’t compost them – they are edible and nutritious – a good source of manganese, selenium and vitamin B6.

Scapes will add a zippy garlicky bite to all sorts of dishes.  Folks on my FB page have suggested sauteing them with cracked black pepper and olive oil, or pickling them (definitely going to try that.  I bet they will make nice crisp lactofermented pickles).  My favorite way to utilize this early summer crop is in pesto.  So, here’s my recipe:

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Garlic Scape Pesto

15-20 garlic scapes, washed

1 cup pine nuts (you can also use cashews, pistachios or hazelnuts if you prefer)

1 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano, or other hard Italian cheese

large pinch of ground black pepper

2/3-1 cup extra virgin olive oil

salt to taste

Directions: Place first four ingredients in food processor, and pulse until well combined (scapes can be a little stringy, like asparagus, so you may wish to keep pulsing to finely process them into a smoother pesto).

With the processor running, drizzle in olive oil until desired consistency is reached.  Salt to taste.

Toss with pasta or sauteed veggies (pea shoots or wilted kale are a good choice.)

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Enjoy!

 

A post!

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Once again, I have failed to be a consistent blogger.  What can I say?  Life is busy.   I have barely picked up my knitting needles in weeks and weeks.  My camera is forgotten on a regular basis.  My spinning wheel is dusty and the laundry table is covered in at least three loads of unfolded clothes.  House and writing projects have been set aside.  Our whole family has had a non-stop run of illness and maintenance of chronic health issues.  But the kids have my attention, and we have been connecting and learning and growing in many areas.  And life is good.

And now, it’s summer!  So, we’ll give blogging another go.

Some images from the last few weeks:

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A portion of one morning’s harvest for Birch Community Services

 

 

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Goumi berries. Ruth eats them all!
Almost two weeks going shampoo-free (Bea calls it no-sham instead of no-poo, and I much prefer her term!). Still in the "transition" phase, so I've been wearing a tichel most days.
Almost two weeks going shampoo-free (Bea calls it no-sham instead of no-poo, and I much prefer her term!). Still in the “transition” phase, so I’ve been wearing a tichel most days.
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Trying to nourish ourselves and heal from lots of illness. Been fermenting lots of good things lately (kraut, beer, a host of pickles, kombucha, sourdough), and getting back to making my own buttermilk and bread each week.

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The backyard. Potatoes and poppies abound.
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Picking strawberries and currants with George

Hope to be back later in the week.  (Unless the evenings continue to be too beautiful to deny ourselves a long after-dinner walk.  Summer in Portland never disappoints.)

Blessings on the start of a new week.

Yellow Dresser

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Casey had his eye on this at the local thrift store for quite a long while.  (I’ll admit, I thought it had charm, too!) It was originally priced far too high at $75.  So, we let it go.

Apparently no one else saw we we saw, because week after week after week it went unsold.  And then the price started dropping.

Now, we needed a new dresser upstairs – storage for the girls’ various craft supplies.  The dresser we had been using was too small, missing a handle, had a broken drawer, and we had gotten far more from it than the $8 we paid at a Goodwill nearly 12 years ago.

On a recent trip to the thrift store, they had marked it down to $17.  Yes!  (That’s below our self-imposed maximum of $20 on thrift store furniture.) I snatched it up right away and took it home.  Casey had a big smile on his face when I told him what we’d brought home.

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Here in the front sun room (Ruth calls it her Yoga Studio), I gave it a good scrub, and candle-waxed all the drawers so they would slide more smoothly.  Then I took off the original knobs (ugly orange wooden ones) and put on some ceramic ones from World Market (they had a sale, buy two and the third was free).

George seems to think it is his dresser, and he keeps opening the middle drawer to stash toys in it.  Now, to shift it upstairs and get the craft supplies organized!

Play Kits to go

Joining Nicole’s KCCO this week with a project I finished before the holidays, but am just now getting around to photographing.

The toy baskets were getting out of control.  One of the children would be rummaging through, looking for all the pieces of a playset, and end up dumping over the whole basket in frustration just to find a missing piece.

Christmas was coming, and I knew something had to change before the chaos in the living room got worse.

My solution:  just before Thanksgiving, I retrieved a  little coat rack from basement storage.  A dear family friend had made me when I was a very small child, and it used to hold my dress-ups.  I screwed in the rack at child-height next to the play kitchen.

Then, during George’s nap one afternoon, I made some drawstring bags of different thrifted prints and of varying sizes.  Into each bag went a playset (wooden tools, Playmobils, finger puppets, flower fairies, cars…you get the picture.)  The most frequently-used sets went up on the rack, and some others were tucked into my purse and into the car for “emergency” situations (church, doctor’s office, waiting in line at the post office…).

So far, the system is working well.  The kids can find the toys they want to play with, and when they are finished, it is easy to scoop the pieces back into the bags.

Back tomorrow for the Yarn Along.

Hearts of Hope

The events of last week are a stark reminder that this world is a broken place.  Like so many gripped by this sudden grief, there are no words…

After the tragedy in Newtown, and being weighed down by recurrent health troubles, I needed to retreat from the internet and media, and into my family.  The families who are mourning have been, and will continue to be, in my thoughts and prayers.

While our children have been shielded from the details and sadness of what has happened, I wanted to do something, even if just small gesture, but didn’t know what do do from all the way out here in Oregon.  Then, I saw Nicole of Frontier Dreams making Hearts of Hope to send to the community of Newtown, Connecticut, and knew it would be a small good thing we could do.

If you are interested in making and sending some hearts with messages of comfort and kindness for those grieving the loss of so many, please visit Hearts of Hope.

 

The Tomten and the Fox

Needle felting is one of those crafts we feel drawn toward more in the winter months.  Both of the girls really enjoy making Christmas ornaments and decorations.  Harold is learning to use the needle tool safely, and often prefers playing with the tufts of roving and his older sisters’ finished projects.

Astrid Lindgren’s Tomten books are among my favorite winter stories from childhood.  Harold requests we read them (along with Jan Brett’s Hedgie’s Surprise) at least once every day since I added them to the book basket.

So, in honor of the the children’s fascination with the little red-hatted caretakers of the farm, we made a little needle-felted Tomten for them to play with while I read the stories aloud.

Without any assistance, Ruth also made the fox from the story.  She posed him all snuggled up, his belly fully of porridge (not hens!).

Linking up with Nicole for KCCO today.  I’ll be back tomorrow for the Yarn Along, and some thoughts on winter agriculture later in the week.

Tutorial: How to Waterproof Wool Diaper Covers with Lanolin

Over the weekend, I made a new batch of wool and wool/cashmere soakers from thrifted sweaters.  Some are for George, and some are for gifts, but all needed to be water-proofed, along with some knitted covers.

There are many methods of lanolizing wool soakers, and this is the one a friend taught me way back when Bea was a baby.  It works really well, and doesn’t leave spots on the covers, unlike some short-cut methods I’ve tried.

Why do you need to lanolize a wool cover?  On its own, wool diaper covers will be somewhat waterproof since wool naturally wicks moisture, and there is some lanolin left in the fiber, but over time, with lots of washing, you may notice that covers are less waterproof.

If water doesn’t bead on the top of the cover when you first put it into the sink to wash, it’s time to add that waterproofing lanolin back to into the wool (typically every 4 or 5 washes).

You only need two ingredients to do this:  A gentle wool wash – NOT Woolite (I prefer Eucalan, in the honey jar on the left) – and Lanolin (you can purchase this in quantity on the internet, or also pick it up at any store that carries breastfeeding supplies.  I got this tube at Target).

Your covers need to presoak in order to absorb the lanolin.  Add a 1/2 tsp of wool wash to the sink under running warm water.

If you need to need to wash a dirty soaker first, do that before you begin the waterproofing process.   I like to let them soak for 15 minutes, gently swishing now and then.  Then, I flip the cover inside out, and gently swish some more.  Another 15 minute soak, and then gently rinse out.  If any scrubbing is required, it is done carefully so as not to warp the cover or full/shrink an area too much.

Now add any clean covers to the water, an let them become thoroughly saturated with the lukewarm water.   Do not agitate or wring the fabric or you risk shrinking or deforming the covers.  (The fabric isn’t super delicate, just be careful.)

Now, find a smallish jar (I keep an old dijon jar with the laundry supplies for this express purpose).  You will use this to prepare the lanolin to be added to the wash.

If you were to simply squirt it from the tube into the water, it would sit there as a blob (obviously, since oil and water do not mix.)  So, how to you take a waterproofing (hydrophobic) substance and mix it in water so that it distributes evenly over the covers?  The jar is the key.

For each diaper cover or two, add a pea-sized amount of lanolin to the jar.

Also add several drops of wool wash, which will help break the oily lanolin up into tiny beads.  This is really important in evenly distributing the lanolin and preventing globby oil spots on your covers.

To further break up the lanolin, fill the jar about 1/3 full with very hot water, put the lid on, and shake vigorously.

Continue shaking the jar until it is very sudsy, and the water is milky looking.  Then shake it a bit more.

Hold the jar up to the light.  There shouldn’t be any obvious globs of lanolin in the water.  If there are, continue shaking (if your water has cooled too much like mine did in our chilly bathroom, add some more hot water first).

Set your clean, soaked diapers aside.  As you refill the sink, add the jar’s contents, under running warm water, to the sink.  Be sure to rinse all the little beads of lanolin into the water.

Now place your covers in and gently submerge them.  Let them sit 30 minutes...or overnight if you tend to forget they’re there, like I do.

Now, let the water drain completely.  Do not wring out any soakers!  The goal is to expel as much water from the soaker without deforming its shape or fulling it.    Here’s the best way:

Lay the soaker flat, and arrange into its proper shape.

Fold soaker in half.

Fold in half again.

Now press the water out with the palm of your hand.  Flip over and repeat.

Here are the four soakers from this batch folded in fourths and pressed as dry as I can get them.  The will look a little fuzzy, but shouldn’t be fulled or twisted.

Now gently arrange the soakers on a dry towel.

Roll the towel up into a tube, and then step on it repeatedly to draw out any of the water let in the covers.  Again, do not wring or twist!

Now, hang your covers up to dry.  Ideally, you need to lay them flat.  You can place them on a towel, or if you’re busy and in a hurry like me, just spread them over a number of rungs on the drying rack.

Your lanolin-coating will last 3 or 4 washes, and then it is time to repeat the process.

If you have any questions or need any clarifications, please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments and I will answer them as soon as I can.  Thank you!

Happy

So much to be thankful for this year.

Happy Turkey Day from our family to yours!

Autumn Weekend

Ruth busy at her sculpture and painting for the nature table,

Bea on a Core of Discovery themed camp-out with her Girl Scout Troop,

George, at his favorite play-spot, saying, “Cook, cook, cook.”

Casey taking Hal to the library to escape the grey and the rain for a bit.

And for me – sewing projects, potting up paperwhites, and some Christmas crafting.

Tonight, the kids are tucking into bed early, and I will be washing and waxing more furniture from my grandparents.  Tomorrow Thanksgiving preparations begin in earnest.

Hope you had a simultaneously productive and restful weekend, as well.  Blessings on the start of your week.

Stockmar afternoon

Late afternoon -that time in the hour before dinner, the hour before Daddy gets home – is so often a strain on family harmony.  We’re all hungry, low on energy, short on tempers.  I struggle to find ways to keep the children occupied, finish dinner, and keep squabbling to a minimum. (I remember Grace relating a similar frustration at that time of day, and feeling relieved that I wasn’t the only mom on the verge of pulling her hair out and yelling at the the top of her lungs come 4:30 or 5.)

When the children aren’t out playing with the neighbor boys until dinner, I try to rotate through special handwork activities they all can enjoy.  Modeling beeswax is a favorite reserved for the most trying afternoons.  After a whole day of sibling disharmony, we all have to reconnect, so while the split-pea stew simmers and bread bakes, I sat down to join them.

This was the first time George had used modeling beeswax.  It took a while to convince him that this yummy-smelling stuff was not, in fact, a snack, but he eventually figured it out.

(The green out the window is the swath of cover crops now fully established.  The only food going up front right now is volunteer chard and Tuscan kale.)

As the last rays of sun came through our front window, we had an opportunity to chat about the day, anticipate delectable Thanksgiving dishes, and sculpt together.  Finally, sisters are laughing together instead of grouching at each other, and little brothers are encouraged instead of teased.  This time was just what we needed to get back to our proper selves and work (play!) as a family.

Modeling beeswax one of the kids’ favorite media (especially for Ruth, who made the autumn fairy, above), however it is quite spendy.  We were given our original set years ago by a dear friend who had gone to Waldorf school as a child, and knew how magical modeling wax could be for kids.  Over the years, I have replaced individual sheets one at a time as needed, but we try conserve and re-use every precious piece.

I recently learned that you can make your own modeling beeswax for far less cost than those lovely Stockmar sheets.  Maybe sometime (if I can find an affordable source of local beeswax), we’ll give the recipe a try.

As the sun sets, and we settle in to the weekend.  I’m looking forward to a quiet day tomorrow, to catch up on housework and sewing projects, and read-aloud with the children as a late-autumn storm is forecast to roll through.

Blessings on your weekend.

Gratitude

 I have so many, many things to be grateful for this week.  Despite battling our first bad cold this autumn, we’ve made the most of the mild and relatively-dry weather during the first part of the week.  Most of the weekend and all of Monday was spent in the balmy outdoors getting filthy dirty and loving it.  Very glad to have had dry weather to tackle mucking out the coops, spreading countless wheelbarrows of mulch, dividing the dahlias, installing a cast-iron clawfoot bathtub duck pond (which came all the way from my grandparents’ garden in Indiana).

We are finally making a place in the garden for Sunchokes (yay!).  Always wanted a patch of these perennial veggies, but once you’ve planted this North American native, you will forever have them (not unlike horseradish), so we waited to plant some until I was sure we had a permanent location for them.  They will overwinter nicely and come up and multiply for a harvest next year and many years following.

Ruth says they look like funny little root men, but is interested in trying some – I hope she enjoys their artichokey flavor when we start using them more in the kitchen.

Along with the bathtub, several pieces of furniture I inherited from my mother’s parents finally made their way from rural Indiana to Oregon.   I cannot express the profound gratitude I feel at being able to enjoy my grandmother’s and great-grandmother’s furniture, quilts, crockery, and china in our home, and use my grandfather’s tools in the garden.

 Each piece is being cleaned and restored before it is put to use.  It is a time-consuming process, mostly accomplished while George naps, or after all the kids are bed.  I am thoroughly enjoying it, though.  During the many hours scrubbing and waxing furniture, the aroma of beeswax and orange oil fills the house while I reflect on my loving grandparents, Harold and Imojean Conklin – on their lives and all of the lives they touched.

Having some of my grandparents’ possessions in our home connects us to them and stirs up memories and stories to share with my children.  It is a real honor to have these links with two dear people who meant so much to me.

Autumn has been gentle and beautiful thus far.  The fall leaves have had a chance to turn their vibrant colors before the rains knocked them down.  Dry, cool days have meant many afternoons  playing outside in this year’s particularly handsome autumnal landscape.

I am grateful for the opportunity to spend so much time outdoors in the mild weather.  We have collected a treasure trove of items for the nature table on our walks and in the garden: quince leaves (above) with bright yellow veining, chestnuts from the neighborhood schoolyard, maple leaves of brilliant orange from the neighbor across the street.

Some trying and relentless – albeit relatively small -struggles (rough mornings at lessons a few times, falling behind on housework, sibling disharmony) initially threatened to overshadow my week. It is good to sit down and reflect on all that I am blessed with, rest in the Source of those blessings, letting all the things that try to tear at me fall away, and be filled with gratitude.

Joining with Taryn of WoolyMossRoots, for her upcoming Sunday post, and with The Magic Onions‘ Nature Table.

Applesauce

Joining with Amanda for her weekly This Moment post.

Here’s my recipe, which makes 4-5 quarts finished sauce:

Brown-sugar Applesauce

Enough apples, washed, cored and cut into eighths, to fill an 8-quart pot heaping full.  (I used about 24 med-large apples).

1 cup apple cider

1 Tbsp ground cassia cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cardamom

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground mace

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

Juice of one lemon

Directions:  In a heavy-bottomed pot or dutch oven, combine all ingredients except lemon juice.  Cover, and cook on med-low until apples break down and become soft (about 1 to 1 1/2 hrs).  Put apples through a food mill, return sauce to pot, heat to a simmer, add lemon juice.  Process quarts for 25 min in a hot water bath canner.

On the Oregon Coast

We are home from a weekend yurt getaway to celebrate my husband and our second daughter’s birthdays.  There was a driving rain most of the time, so we skipped the frigid beach in favor of a hike through the woods.

Definitely wool skirt, wool socks, heavy shoes kind of hiking weather.

As we started out, we came across an open space full of toadstools, most toppled over by the wind (or grouchy gnomes perhaps?).

Tucked in under the thick patches of ancient evergreen huckleberries and salal, and sometimes even wandering across the path, were many Rough-skinned newts, with their vibrant orange bellies.  The kids made up names and biographies for each and every one they found.  “Shalbert”, “Mona”, “Jean Grey”, “Jimmy” and the others all were given lengthy and elaborate backstories before returning them to their homes.

After our hike, it was back to the yurt as the rains and wind really began to pound.  In fact, we couldn’t even get a fire going, and resorted to driving in to town for take-out Chinese.  Then we huddled up in our sleeping bags and quilts, listening to Casey read aloud until we drifted off (Daddy does the best voices, after all).

Back tomorrow with our Sunday cider-pressing with dear friends on the coast and some travel knitting.

On the road

Just back from our little road trip to yurt-camp on the coast.  Six hours of blissful spinning this first-shearing raw alpaca fiber while we listened to one of our favorite Arthurian-inspired stories on book CD and watched the driving rain all around us.

Back later today to share about our trip, but for now the mountains of muddy, sandy laundry need my attention…as do Halloween costumes…and our geography lessons…More soon.

FREE Baby/Toddler Vest Pattern

There is something about babies in snuggly wooly vests…

Last week’s project is finally finished, along with a smaller version (top photo).  I had originally worked up a 12-18 month sized pattern to fit tricky kiddo #4 (above), but thought a 3-6 month size would be great for baby shower gifts and such, too.

I’d love to share the pattern with you.  It’s free, a quick knit, fits great, and I hope to post larger sizes in the coming weeks.  If you use my pattern, please give me credit and link back to this page.   This pattern is intended for personal, charity and gift use only, not pieces sold for profit. Thank you!

The vest is worked from the bottom up on straights, then the front two panels and the back are worked individually.  The shoulders are worked on double-points at the very end.

The pattern is really conducive to using up leftover bits of worsted-weight yarn from other projects.  The 3-6 month size uses one color of Cascade 220 for the body and shoulders, and another for the ribbed chest.

In the toddler size, I simply added stripes in the body up to, but not including, the ribbed chest.  Then the blue yarn is repeated in the shoulders.

The pattern only uses two buttons for several reasons, which may sound alternately silly or practical:

1)I am chasing four kids, my life is crazy hectic, and I don’t want to corral a very squirmy toddler and attempt to get 6 or 8 buttons done.

2)Thrift-stores are great places to find just a few lovely old buttons, but rarely a large matched set.

3) If a pattern only requires two buttons, one might be more inclined to spring for a pair of beautiful handmade ones from some talented crafty mamas.

4) A swing sweater adds greater flexibility of movement for an active little one.

Hope you enjoy, and please please please, if you give my pattern a try, and have questions, comments, or want to share your project,  drop me a comment (with your URL).  Thank you, and many blessings on the little one warmed by your hand-knitted vest.

Georgie Vest

Copyright 2012, Angela Baker

Size: 3-6 months (12-18months)

Yarn: Cascade 220, or Lamb’s Pride Worsted, or other worsted weight wool:

less than one skein each color

Needles: Size 6 US straight, size 8 US straight, size 6 US dpns

Directions:

With Size 6 US needles, CO 90 (106) sts.  This will be 24 (28) for right front, 42 (50) for back, and 24(28) for left front.  You may place stitch markers at these points if desired, but it isn’t necessary.

Bottom edge: Rows 1-8: work (K2, P2) rib (last two stitches will be K2/ half a repeat)

Body (swing section): Change to size 8 US needles.  For remainder of garment, the first four and last four stitches will be worked in garter (K every row) stitch.  Maintaining this garter edge, work rest of piece in stockinette, until entire length (including bottom ribbed edge) equals 5 1/2 (7 1/2) inches in length.

(Note: if you choose to work in even rows of stripes in this section, use MC for first four garter sts, knit across with CC, and use a piece of scrap MC to knit the last four garter stitches.  Be sure to wrap the colors of yarn where they meet to avoid gaps.  This will give you a nice clean garter edge in the MC.  See white and blue sweater above for example).

Ribbed chest:  change back to US 6 needles.  If you wish to work ribbed chest in  CC, cut MC, and begin CC here.

Work 8 rows in (K2, P2) rib, maintaining the garter border on first and last four sts. You will now continue in this rib with garter border unless otherwise noted.

Work 20 (24) sts in pattern, BO 8 (8) sts, work 36 (42) in rib, BO 8 (8) sts, work 20 (24) sts in pattern (don’t forget to end with 4 sts of garter).

You will now work the front panel and back separately, still using size 6s. You can either work one section at a time, leaving the other two on the back end of one needle, or if you find this cumbersome, you can transfer two unworked sections to stitch holders.

Front left of cardigan: work 10 (12) rows in pattern (beginning with the garter border).  BO the 12 (14) sts on the inside of the garment (starting with the four garter stitches).  You will now have 8 (10) sts to work for the shoulder.  Knit remaining stitches in (K2, P2) rib for 8 rows (10).  BO.

Right cardigan panel: Attaching a new length of yarn, work as for left panel, but in reverse, binding off  at the garter edge again, and working the shoulder, but this time add two button holes as you go on rows 2 and 8 (10)  In the garter edge, K1, K2tog, YO, K1 to form the button hole.

Back: Reattach yarn, and work in (K2, P2) rib (no garter border!) until piece is same length as front panels (including shoulder.  BO.

Seam shoulder sts to back.

Shoulder bands:  Using size 6US dpns, evenly PU and K 40 (48) sts around arm hole.  Be sure to twist picked up stitches as you knit them to avoid gaps/holes around the edge.  Work 4 (6) additional rounds in (K2, P2) rib.  BO loosely. Repeat with other arm hole.

Block sweater and sew on buttons.  You’re finished!

(Oh, yes, joining with Small Things and Frontier Dreams and Tami’s Amis for this post.)

The nights grow

Now constantly there is the sound,
quieter than rain,
of the leaves falling.

Under their loosening bright gold,
the sycamore limbs
bleach whiter.

Now the only flowers
are beeweed and aster, spray
of their white and lavender
over the brown leaves.

The calling of a crow sounds
loud—a landmark—now
that the life of summer falls
silent, and the nights grow.

— Wendell Berry

 

Apple Tasting

Yesterday we attended the Home Orchard Society’s annual fruit exhibition and tasting.   There were hundreds of varieties of heirloom apples and pears to taste, as well as dozens of grapes, hardy kiwis and more.

 The children had a great time trying every apple variety imaginable.  We tasted slice after slice of heirloom apple  and pear varieties with regal names like “Zambergau Reinette” and “Ashmead’s Kernel”, as well as ones that made the kids giggle (“Peasgood Nonsuch” and “Vicar of Winkfield”).

We already own several apple trees, including a “Karmijn de Sonnaville”, two “Cox’s Orange Pippin”s (my favorite apple), a classic “Honeycrisp”, an “Ashmead’s Kernel”  and a “Liberty”.  I had been trying to source the particularly tasty “Hudson’s Golden Gem” for over a year, and was lucky enough to find one on M26 rootstock yesterday.

We also picked up a Seckel pear tree.  Despite its fanastic flavor and culinary use, this little tree is hard to find.  The volunteer and I had a good laugh at the orchardist’s guidebook which declared the Seckel to  “produce fruit superior in flavor and texture, but on an altogether unattractive looking tree.”  …guess it will be going in a corner in the backyard.

 The children had the opportunity to press some cider, as well.  They’re old hats at cider pressing, and were glad to share their skills and a sweet drink with their grandparents.

If you are a home orchardist, I encourage you to join the HOS, too.  Their publication is educational, the members knowledgeable and welcoming, and the fruit-grafting fair in the spring a must-attend event.  If you don’t yet have fruit trees on your property, these folks will help you to find a place and the right varieties, and you’ll enjoy a lifetime of unique flavors so much more rich and vibrant than anything you can buy in a store.

Joining up with Taryn of Wooly Moss Roots for her weekly post on Gratitude, because yesterday’s outing was such a positive experience.  Truly grateful for the rare treat of an outing with four children (8 strong-willed people in total!) that goes off without a hitch, where everyone has fun, and we got everything we hoped for out of the experience.  Just an all-around wonderful day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Test Knitting

The house is full of company at present, and the rains have returned to Oregon, bringing with them the constant grey that so typifies autumn in the Pacific Northwest.  You’ve never seen such miserable looking chickens as ours, huddled under the picnic table in the driving rain.  Definitely a good time to hide out inside, catch up on school projects, watch a documentary, make a hot lunch.

First, can I show off some recent thrift store finds?  The weaving (on the sofa seat) fits perfectly over our beat-up sofa upholstery.  The old, old quilt on the back  was $5,with a perfect palette for fall.  The weaving is cotton and I put it through the washer and dryer with no problem, but the quilt had to be hand-washed in the bathtub to preserve the delicate fabrics (some are silk).

The children finished their school work quickly this morning, so while George plays on the floor and the big kids are watching a NOVA on Viking swords, I’ve been test knitting a vest pattern I worked up last week.  Vests are so quick to knit, and so versatile for small children. Also, young kids so quickly stain and snag sweater sleeves, I find precious handknit vests hold up better than full long-sleeved sweaters.

I’m just about finished with the 12-18 mo size and have the 6 month half-way done.  Only one little error so far, and I have corrected it.  The pattern will be up on Ravelry by the middle of next week, if all goes well.  The pattern will include sizes 3-6 mo, 6-12 mo, 12-18 mo, 2T and 3T.

Lots going on with my folks visiting, garlic needing to be planted, science projects to conduct, so I may not be back to this spot until Ginny’s Yarn Along on Wednesday.  See you then!

In the Bulb There is a Flower

Last week, we were at the plant nursery, looking for fruit trees on clearance (there’s always room for one more, right?), when the children begged me to buy some bulbs.

We picked out some more crocuses to go around the bases of the plum trees, jonquils and daffodils to ring our new honeyberry bushes, and tulips to peek out from around the winter savory on the edge of the herb beds (above).

I cannot tell you how much I wanted to pick up several more hyacinths, even more crocus bulbs, alliums, and loads of Fritillaria, but the budget didn’t permit.  What we did get was already quite an extravagance.  Next year, perhaps…

Harold was so excited about the tulips.  He chose a range of hues from palest pink to deep magenta.  While I prefer tulips in salmons and corals, I let him choose the colors he wished to see growing here.   After all, it’s the children’s garden, too!

George was fascinated with peeling bits of papery husk of the Narcissus bulbs.  The paperwhites will be forced indoors to give as Christmas gifts, and we will keep a few to enjoy ourselves at the holidays.   The smell of paperwhites always harkens of a fresh, clean start in the New Year.

I love planting bulbs in October, when we spent our effort digging in the dirt to bury little dormant things that will not bloom until April or later.  It is the delayed gratification that I love about it.   They are the promise of something beautiful yet to come, something good we must anticipate and I’m reminded of the hymn:

In the bulb there is a flower; in the seed, an apple tree;
In cocoons, a hidden promise: butterflies will soon be free!
In the cold and snow of winter there’s a spring that waits to be,
Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.

Joining Wooly Moss Roots for her link-up on gratitude, because there are so many things here to be grateful for: sharing my love of gardening with the children, having a home and a yard -a place in which to plant bulbs, sharing time outdoors digging in the dirt with my sons, anticipation of beautiful blooms in the spring…