raindrops

its raining FINALLY!!!!!

its been so dry that we are very happy to hear that it will be raining for the next 4 days

...time to get some inside projects done!

my apologies for my lack of blogging this summer...with the antiques shop, new designs in the works, multiple articles (yeah!) and my gardens, I have not been at the computer very much.  but that will change soon.  I have much to share with you - coming soon...

A peek at the inside of our revamped motorcoach

Our cross-country trip adventures

New designs & endeavors

The October Food Project

stay tuned...

Peonies!!!

What a wonderful time of year in the garden... the miniature lilac is beautiful, the bachelors button and hardy geraniums are cheery

and the peonies...aaaaah, the peonies are simply stunning

in the garden...

sorry I have been silent lately...it is such a busy time of year at our farm

every year I try to grow more food, learn a new homestead skill or two and of course we are always junkin for both our shoppe and our studio!!

OH!  and yes I have some exciting news

I have been creating and writing like crazy and I have several articles coming out in Sew Somerset, Somerset Studio, Greencraft and Holidays & Celebrations, so stay tuned!!!

on a totally different front - we bought a camper that I am psyched to fix up & make adorable

so I have been collecting ideas & inspiration

I am drooling over this

credit  thebeehivecottage.blogspot.com

and this

credit  vintagelady2010

but first I have to get the cabbage planted :)

be back soon, but in the meantime...

here are some fabulously fun planting ideas I am going to try this year

credit Fern Richardson of Life on the Balcony 

 credit twokitties.typepad.com

new projects

wooooo-eeeeeee!  its been busy around this farmhouse!

kinda out of breath...

we are opening our antiques shoppe for its 5th summer season

and hubby and I have been junking, thrifting, cleaning, dusting, fixing, pricing, setting up displays

we. are. tired.

but we love it - its always a big push for opening day and then we settle into the groove and have a blast

I will be happy when we open because I have a list of house projects a mile long once I can move onto them...besides the typical spring gardening push, we need to refresh our porches

source

few minor fixes, new paint, new look

sooo, I have been bopping about online looking for inspiring photos

source

love this one - the overhead light and the accessories - yum!

source

the ceiling color is pretty

source

simple and beautiful

source

would LOVE to renovate our porches to be larger and more useful like this one

source

light, bright & pretty

so what do you like best about a farmhouse porch?

sunday morning

what a wonderfully relaxing sunday morning...

bacon sizzling and
waffle batter in my newly thrifted bowl

spring seedlings coming up nicely

recently acquired vintage dollies & doggies

a yummy pot roast in the crockpot for later

puppy lounging in a vintage blankie & hubby giggling at a movie

easy-squeezy whimsical planters

today I wanted to share a super simple planting project that is very inexpensive but super-cute

find a bunch of used shoes - I especially like to use baby shoes

my mom has used old boots on either side of her steps and they look great

you can even plant up high heels

one of my baby shoes freshly planted with baby succulents

fill your shoes with a good quality potting soil

and then have fun filling them with annuals and succulents!

You kind find used shoes at yard sales, Goodwill, Salvation Army, thrift shops, or sometimes even at the dump (if you have a "sharing" shed like we do).  The key is to find shoes that have a nice shape, pleasing color, etc - don't worry if they are worn & grubby

Photo: Courtesy Gary Bachman on msucares.com

you can plant up a single shoe or a pair of shoes - you can even hang your shoe planter!

I saw someone plant up a 2 rows of shoes and boots and then lined them up on a plant stand - it was adorable

Photo: Courtesy Josh Mccullough on PortlandMonthlyMag.com

happy halloween

very strange...very strange indeed...this Halloween is an almost exact repeat of last year...

our first snowfall...but Jack doesn't seem to mind...

FROM OUR NECK O' WOODS TO YOURS

WE WISH YOU A HAPPY HALLOWEEN

aaaaaaahhhhhhhh, apples!

hubby and I went to the local orchard

and got a ton of freshly dropped drops

after the recent wind storm we knew that drops would be perfect

mostly Macs and Cortlands

so much cheaper per lb (only 29 cents - wow!)

we pet and fed the goats, picked some unique squash

and headed home

so I better get busy processing!

this year I am making Caramel Apple Jam, Apple Leather (natural fruit rollups), Dried Apple Rings, Apple Chutney, Frozen Apple Filling and a bunch of fresh eating & baking as well.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH APPLES THIS YEAR?

delicious autumn

Delicious autumn!  My very soul is wedded to it,
and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth
seeking the successive autumns. 
~George Eliot

picklin' time!

the garden has bursted forth w/ harvestable veggies
every evening I poke around my cukes, tomatoes, beans and peppers
I am amazed at how many mature just from the day before - the cukes are especially impressive

photo credit FoodMuseum.com

pickling has officially begun in our farmhouse kitchen - dilly beans, bread & butters, sweet green tomato pickles, etc - the canner has been bubbling and I adore seeing all of the jars lined up neatly in the cupboard filled w/ yummy veggies

just for fun...

The following pickle history comes from Mt. Olive Pickle Company. 

• In 2,030 B.C., cucumbers native to India were brought to the Tigris Valley. There, they were first preserved and eaten as pickles.
  
• Cucumbers are mentioned at least twice in the Bible (Numbers 11:5 and Isaiah 1:8) and history records their usage over 3,000 years ago in Western Asia, ancient Egypt and Greece.
  
• In 850 B.C., Aristotle praised the healing effects of cured cucumbers.
  
• Cleopatra attributed a portion of her beauty to pickles.
  
• The Roman Emperor Tiberius consumed pickles on a daily basis.
  
• Julius Caesar thought pickles had an invigorating effect, so, naturally, he shared them with his legions.
  
• The enjoyment of pickles spread far and wide through Europe. In the thirteenth century, pickles were served as a main dish at the famous Feast of King John.
  
• Pickles were brought to the New World by Christopher Columbus, who is known to have grown them on the island of Haiti.
  
• In the sixteenth century, Dutch fine food fanciers cultivated pickles as one of their prized delicacies.
  
• Cartier found cucumbers growing in Canada in 1535, and they were known to the colonists of Virginia as early as 1609.
  
• Queen Elizabeth liked pickles. And Napoleon valued pickles as a health asset for his armies.
  
• Samuel Pepy's diary mentions a glass of Girkins as something to be highly appreciated.
  
• In 1659, Dutch farmers in New York grew cucumbers in what is now Brooklyn. These cukes were sold to dealers who cured them in barrels and sold them from market stalls on Washington, Canal and Fulton Streets. As it turns out, these pickle purveyors started the nation's commercial pickle industry.
  
• A fondness for pickles has always been a national characteristic of the American people. It's a good thing, since our country's namesake, Amerigo Vespucci, was actually a pickle peddler in Seville, Spain. He supplied ships with pickled vegetables to prevent sailors from getting scurvy on long voyages. While Columbus is credited with discovering America, Vespucci was apparently a better PR man. We're named for him. We became the United States of America -- instead of the United States of Vespucci. And that's probably a good thing, too.
  
• George Washington was a pickle enthusiast. So were John Adams and Dolly Madison.
  
• Pickles inspired Thomas Jefferson to write the following:
  "On a hot day in Virginia, I know nothing more comforting than a fine spiced pickle, brought up trout-like from the sparkling depths of the aromatic jar below the stairs of Aunt Sally's cellar."
  We're still trying to track down Aunt Sally's recipe.
  
• In colonial America, the pickle patch was an important adjunct to good living. Pickles were highly regarded by all of America's pioneering generations because, under frontier conditions, pickles were the only zesty, juicy, green, succulent food available for many months of the year.
  
• In colonial times, and, much later, on farms and in villages, homemakers expected to "put down" some pickles in stone crocks, and to "put up" some pickles and pickle relishes in glass jars.
  
• In 1820, Frenchman Nicholas Appert was the first person to commercially pack pickles in jars.

perfection

"The summer night is like a perfection of thought."
- Wallace Stevens

sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy

The sun lay like a friendly arm across her shoulder. 

~Margorie Kinnan Rawlings, South Moon Under

encouragement

i believe the universe shows little signs of encouragement when you are on a good path...like breadcrumbs sprinkled here & there

maybe its just in my mind, maybe its luck or coincidence - but i do know that whatever it is, it sure does help to keep me encouraged to keep plugging away

for years i have been striving toward a goal of living homemade - grow, mend, make do, upcycle/recycle
you can read about it in my previous post

but this year i have really tried to prepare for some big transitions - we will be building a goat barn and chicken coop this Fall, almost completely from upcycled materials (i will be sure to share some pics as we progress).

goats have been on mind for years & years...in fact my very first blogpost ever was about how dearly i wanted goats.  it is finally going to come to fruition in the next year or so
so i have been researching & reading anything i can about keeping goats - i would LOVE to go to goat school which is a fabulous course founded in Maine.

photo credit:  Homestead Revival

i have also been studying milking goats and how to create wonderful homemade cheeses, butter, sour cream, buttermilk, yogurt, etc.  since i do not have my precious goats yet, i have been practicing with cow's milk - some recipes are ultra-easy, while others take a bit more steps.  keeping and sustaining cultures is fascinating and not hard at all if you stay organized.  i have found great resources on the web and in magazines
i recommend Mother Earth News and Hobby Farm Home magazines
also online check out Homestead Revival - wonderful posts on making a lifestyle change, dairy goats, keeping cultures, etc

so, yes, yes...back to my point...the breadcrumbs...
i have been dreaming of buying several items to help me as i push towards this lifestyle - a grainmill, a yogurt-maker and a dehydrator.  none are cheap.

photo credit: Cooking.com

so rewind to late winter when some friends & family held our annual swap party - everyone comes w/ 10 or so items that they no longer use and we have a fun & frenzied swap, then anything leftover is donated.  so as i placed my items here & there on the tables, i saw an almost brand-new yogurt-maker!!  i was so excited and nervous - i wanted that thing!!!  to keep a very long story short - i got it :)

photo credit: Raw Guru

now fast-forward a couple months - i am at a yard sale w/ my hubby.  it is a good one and we are loading up w/ stuff.  after my initial sweep, i practically bump into a brand-new, in the box dehydrator that i hadn't noticed right away.  it had never been used, all parts were there including the optional upgraded accessories.  i was able to get it for $5

so i know my examples sound very materialistic, but these were items that improved and encouraged my path towards homesteading.  every day i receive all sorts of forms of encouragement...something as small as the swallows happily nesting in our carefully placed birdhouses makes me smile with contentment that this is the right way for us...we are not lost and the next breadcrumb is right up ahead.

the year of the Cucurbits

i am ultra excited about the new addition to my gardens this year - a good old fashioned melon/squash/gourd/pumpkin patch.  In case you were wondering...Cucurbitaceae is a plant family, also known as gourd family, which includes crops like cucumbers, squashes (including pumpkins), luffas, and melons (including watermelons). 

We will begin digging this weekend - luckily my hubby sweet-talked our farmer neighbors and we have use of a small bobcat and rototiller - wooo hooo!  Definitely will be a huge back-saver as this garden will be large so the plants have plenty of room to spread out.

We will be trying all sorts of varieties including...

TONS of interesting winter squash & specialty pumpkins

photo-Johnny's Seeds

Rouge Vif D'Etampes

photo-Johnny's Seeds

Marina Di Chioggia

photo-Johnny's Seeds

Moonshine

photo-Johnny's Seeds

Jarrahdale

photo-Johnny's Seeds

Musque de Provence

photo-Johnny's Seeds

Long Island Cheese

photo-Johnny's Seeds

Speckled Hound

photo-Johnny's Seeds

Blue Hubbard

photo-Country Living

Lumina

photo-Johnny's Seeds

Waltham Butternut

photo-Johnny's Seeds

Vermicelli Squash

photo-Johnny's Seeds

Buttercup Squash

plus a big crop of summer squash as well

photo-Johnny's Seeds

Cashflow

photo-Park Seed

Horn of Plenty