All in good time

Oh, seems like a while since I've visited my little space here ...but I suppose it really hasn't been so long. A few days is a lot though when you're addicted to blogs, as my sister Ariana commented some time ago (hey...I wish she'd return to her blog. I loved her witty words.) Lately, I've been pondering the irony of my blog name and beginning to feel like I should call it, Mama not so crafty. I mean really, not nearly enough "crafting" goes on here as would warrant the current name. I end up thinking about things, but just not getting down to business. Funny thing is, it's all the sitting in front of this here computer that eats away at my precious spare time...time I could be sewing or painting or something! It's just too easy to follow one link after another and get lost in this enticing land of blog.

Naming things is not my strong suit, as any one who knows me well can attest, so for now I'm sticking with this title here and hoping to fit in more time for projects of all kinds:

1. Making the second slipcover for a pair of chairs I got on Freecycle. Last week I made a loose slipcover for the one on the right, now the other needs a cover. The fabric is from some pale gray/lavender velvet curtains I got free. Ultimately, I hope to reupholster both, but I am not committed to that at the moment. These solid, once pretty chairs do indeed deserve a face lift.
2. Sewing up some couch pillows to go with my newly covered chairs. I'm so ready for a spring change from the pillow covers I made last fall.

3. Using a funky vintage green and white canvas to make a few new grocery tote bags...my old bags have become embarrassingly dingy.

4. Turning a favorite old dress (since before Ava was born!) into a skirt for me. I'm hoping this will be a quick and rewarding project. Being a nursing mom makes dress wearing a bit impractical.

5. Painting my bedroom walls and bureau...probably should wait a bit till I can open some windows up and have a day free.

6. Crocheting a dress for Lilla...and maybe sew her an outfit (I'm eying a sweet old pattern I scooped up last fall.)

These are are just a few off the top of my head...I know there's more ideas in that ever growing list. And I also know that if I am just patient enough and stop wasting time on the computer I'll get a chance to do it bit by little bit.

Simple joy

Good stuff for the Mama today. A long walk with a content baby. Blue skies. A barefoot traipse through the yard. A big brother and his paper airplane causing a little sister to crack up with laughter...over and over again. Pretty little snowdrop flowers.

It all boils down to....

A mildly insane process to make one's own maple syrup. But being a little crazy, we decided to go for it anyhow. First there was the tree tapping as explained here, the daily sap collecting (mostly Ava's domain) and then the big question of where the heck to store all that sap (40+ gallons collected in just a week and a half.) Three of my big Rubbermaid storage bins came to the rescue after I dumped their contents(fabric, fabric and more fabric) and washed them.

So it turns out the collecting part was the easy side of all this, the hard part was boiling down that sap. One thing is certain: do not attempt to boil indoors. Since forty gallons of sap make just one gallon of syrup, imagine where all that moisture would go if you tried the evaporation process in the house. Yes, that's right: 39 gallons of that sap turns to steam which leaves the entire house covered in a tacky residue, the wallpaper/paint curls off the walls, etc. Fortunately, we did not make that mistake. Instead an outdoor fire pit was made with stacked cinder blocks and oven racks laid on top. Actually, I did a whole lot of sitting on the sidelines holding my babe while my friend Kristen heaved around those cinder blocks.

So the humble fire pit was built, a roaring fire made underneath the racks, and canning pots half full of sap placed on top. And then the alternating pattern of adding sap to the pots and wood to the fire continued on and on for ten hours. Ten intense hours. But, after a winter of hibernating, it felt great to be outside under the bright blue sky with a crisp wind at my back. And the occasional wafts of maple in the air: Delightful!

In the end, the process was a bit tedious and tiring, but the treat of pancakes on Saturday topped by that most delicious syrup was well worth it. As the sap is still running, I think we might be at it again this weekend.

And they're off!

Easter morning started early with the kids searching for their treat baskets hidden inside the house. Before grownups were even fully awake, the kids came bouncing in to show off their found treasure. Next came a careful examination of the basket contents- big chocolate bunnies, Cadbury eggs and other delights. After shoving a few pieces of candy into our mouths, we got ready and headed over to the church.

Later on, we went outside to hunt for the eggs in the yard.
After madly dashing about and finding (hopefully) all of the eggs, the kids set to work extracting the loot...a bit of candy or money inside each egg:
And Lilla was happy to play with the empty eggs: We lounged around in a sugar induced coma for a while then Ava and I made a big dinner: veggie sushi, spring rolls, tofu, pizza, and carrot cake. Kind of a random collection of things, but the spring rolls and carrot cake seemed like appropriate choices to me....and the pizza? Well, that's what the kids wanted. Plus, aside from a little help making the dough and sauce, Ava made the pizza all by herself. She's become quite a good helper in the kitchen and good company as well.

With joy we sat down together at our spring (and food!) laden table to feast and welcome renewal.

Updates

The tulip blossom has unfurled. It's a bit leggy and lopsided, but we're enjoying this little bit of spring at our table.
And the sap is out back simmering away. We've been feeding the fire for the past five or so hours. We have many more hours to go until we have syrup. Simply astonishing how much work is involved to make this delicious treat. Oh, I do hope we have some ready to eat with pancakes this weekend!
The kids came out to check on the sugaring process. Apparently they have gone colonial. Colonial times that is. Aren't they sweet? I just love their get ups.

Spring is here and there

New flower fabric covering my old lampshade.
A forced tulip bulb coming into bloom today.
Simple cut out paper bird mobile.
A little spring on my feet and in my step.
Happy Spring! It really is here...even if you have to conjure it up with fabric and paper and string.

Scenes from the highchair

Pardon me, but I just couldn't get enough of my sweet little Miss and her many facial expressions as we sat in the afternoon light having a little snack...

Working on her wave...



She's eating all kinds of foods these days and feeds herself to the tune of delightful lip smacking. Soft chunks of banana and baked sweet potatoes rank high on her list of favorites. She also loves to slurp on noodles of all sorts- rice noodles, soba noodles, and plain old spaghetti (oh, I know- they should be whole wheat). And puffed rice is the ultimate instant snack we always have on hand.

March is...

...Maple syrup time! This year we finally got around to tapping the maple trees in our yard. The sugaring season is short, damp and muddy, but these mature maples have just been begging to be tapped. Actually, I have to credit my friend Kristen for her work. First, she made spiles from the elderberry branches out back. Elderberry is an old timey material traditionally used for making the taps and fortunately we have lots of it in the yard. The process was a little fiddly: the branches are cut into 4 inch pieces, stripped of bark and then the soft pith center is hollowed out to make little wooden tubes. Next, holes were drilled into each tree and the tubes were gently pounded in. We have a rustic set up with old berry pails for collecting and tar paper "roofs" to keep out rain and debris. With nine taps going, so far we have collected about 20 gallons of sap. Now, just double that amount of sap, boil it down for a very long time and you get one gallon of syrup. Hmmm...this is going to be an interesting process. I'll keep you updated as we go about it.

Snowdrops

The other night was the fifth grade talent show. The students performed a variety of acts: comedy skits, singing, dancing and playing instruments. So sweet to watch these kids that I've known since their kindergarten days. They have grown so much in these last few years. And they have far more courage than me...

Ava played a cello duet with her friend Clara and then a solo piece. She looked so poised on the stage with her hair pulled back in a neat bun, dangle earrings, and the fancy heeled boots that were a gift from Auntie Boo.

The kids sit on the cusp of adolescence, but they haven't yet entered the self conscious, slightly awkward stage. As I watched the show, I couldn't help but to remember being that age and feeling so big and capable...filled with the hopeful expectancy of growing up. These kids are bounding ahead... ready to blossom into the Spring of their lives.



And though flurries of white still dust the ground, spring really is coming. These snowdrop flowers told me so.

Summer in a jar

Early this week I pulled some sour cherries out of the freezer. As is our yearly tradition, the cherries were picked last summer. I clearly remember that beautiful summer day. The orchard was brimming with trees bent over from the weight of the glistening fruits. Our buckets were filled in no time. In fact, we brought home so much fruit that the thought of processing all of it was simply too daunting (and this was already our second time cherry picking that summer). I made jam and pie, and we gobbled up many fresh cherries. The rest of the fruit was washed, pitted and put in the freezer for a later date.

Well that later date arrived as we just finished the very last jar of jam. All the many jars of blueberry, strawberry and sour cherry jam that I made and tucked away last summer are gone. So out came that remaining container of frozen cherries and I set to work bottling up last summer:


I love this jam. And I love the jam served atop the previous night's leftover cornbread. Here is my current favorite recipe for that:

Homesteader Cornbread (from all recipes.com)

* 1 1/2 cups cornmeal
* 2 1/2 cups milk
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 tablespoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 2/3 cup white sugar
* 2 eggs
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). In a small bowl, combine cornmeal and milk; let stand for 5 minutes. Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Mix in the cornmeal mixture, eggs and oil until smooth. Pour batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the cornbread comes out clean.

This is almost as perfect as cornbread I used to get from Bread and Circus when I lived near there. It is cake-like and a bit sweet. For dinner the other night we served the bread aside some roasted sweet potatoes and black beans simmered with onion, crushed tomato, carrot and spices. Be sure to reserve some bread to eat the next day with jam and tea.

Lilla montage

Happy Birthday, Karsten!

Happy Birthday to my adorable nephew! I can't believe he turns one today. Of course from Rowan's perspective (who is thrilled to have some boy cousins in the mix) Karsten can't possibly grow up fast enough. Early this morning when I mentioned it was Karsten's birthday, Rowan said "I'm going to make him something. Something with rope!" Rowan has plans: sword wielding, rope toting, adventurous kind of plans. And Karsten, he can't wait for you to join him.

Podaegi baby

When Laura was here visiting, she was poking fun at the word on my chalkboard: podaegi. Making one of these soft back pack style carriers has been on my to do list for months now and there it sat as the lone word on the chalkboard. Well I finally got around to finishing this sewing project over the weekend. It's made from a sturdy linen- like cotton. I guess it's not technically a "podaegi", but more of a mei tai. Semantics aside, I'm happy with how it came out and most of all Lilla seems to enjoy it. Actually, she just fell asleep in it as I type. I found the pattern at this site. Now I'm off to figure out how to get her out without waking her up. With the super long straps this thing is complicated! And yes, my chalkboard is now filled up with about ten others things that I hope to complete some day.

Icy again

More freezing rain came our way over the weekend. We were left without electricity for 10 hours: no lights, no cook stove, no furnace (thank goodness we have a wood stove). We awoke Sunday morning to a glittering world:




Since I couldn't cook, we ended up driving into town for a pizza dinner on Saturday night. This wasn't so bad as the roads were fairly clear, I got to eat my favorite: eggplant pizza, and there were no dinner dishes to clean. We read bedtime stories by lantern light and went to sleep pretty early. Actually, a break from computers, movies and phones was a nice change, but I am certainly glad to have the conveniences of modern life back.

Dinner and a movie

Julie Jordan's Corn Chowder Recipe:
3 potatoes
3 tbsp butter (could easily use less)
1 onion, finely chopped (I use 2)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely diced (I use 3)
3 stalks celery, finely diced
3 cups fresh or frozen corn
1/2 tsp. marjoram (I use basil since I never have marjoram)
1 heaping tsp thyme
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 black pepper
1 tsp salt
2-3 cups milk
optional parsley or chives for garnish

1. Scrub potatoes, but don't peel or cut yet. Cook in water until potatoes are cooked but still firm- about 30 minutes after the water boils.

2. In a soup pot, melt butter. Cook onion for a few minutes, then add garlic, carrot, celery and saute until veggies are cooked but not too soft. Add the corn and cook for 5-10 minutes more. Add herbs, spices, salt and cook for 3-4 minutes more.

3.Dice 1 1/2 cups of the cooked potato and place in the pot with the veggies.

4.Blend the remaining potato with the cooking water (maybe not all of it) and the 2-3 cups milk. Add this mixture to the soup pot and gently heat. I like to boost the flavor with added bouillon cube or two ( you can add this to the blender).

5. Serve topped with chopped parsley or chives if you like.

The soup goes great with a green salad and some garlic bread.

Also, wanted to share a sweet little movie we recently got from Netflix. It's called Once. I think the simplicity of this lower budget movie is brilliant. Don't let the fact that it's a "musical" scare you away. It's not at all in Broadway style. Just my two cents.

Have a good weekend...I'll be back Monday.

Whiling away the afternoon

resting fingers...
sleeping toes...
dreaming baby...
this is how nap time goes...

Knitting on ice

I finally finished the cowl I had started a few weeks ago- just in time for March! The inspiration came from Purl Bee- oh I just love that site. Of course the Purl's cowl is far more delicate- made with some amazing cashmere. For mine, I just used some blue mohair yarn that's been kicking around and waiting to be put to use. I love the simplicity of this pattern...it's just a knit tube. That's the kind of knitting I can do these days, no counting rows or keeping track of stitches. I can just pick it it up and put it down without a thought. And the blue color just might add a bit of cheer to these still gray days.

With Spring around the corner, one could suppose that cowls and scarves would be obsolete. But alas we live in this Northern sphere, where the lion and lamb alternate their days. Earlier in the week was sunny and in the 50s and later on the skies offered us freezing rain: