Journey Seeds

flea market & cheese

vintage chair from the flea market

ladies hankies

field guide to garden flowers

We went to Beltane Farm  to their cheese tasting sundays....

Flowers in our gardens...

Iris

Oriental Poppies

Beauty Way

The past four days have been filled with sites of beauty.  We spent the day in Brockton, MA at The Fuller Museum.   It was an exhibit on Craft in America.  I had wanted to go to this exhibit when it opened but, had forgotten about it.  It popped into my head and we got to see it on its last day!  A lovely museum with views of a pond outside the framed windows.  A thunderstorm came  up dramatically as we sat in the rock garden outdoors by the water.

Sunday we went to the beach again but, this time we were lucky enough to be joined by my daughter and her boyfriend.  We walked along the shoreline, collected shells and read to each other on the beach.  On the way home we stopped at The Bookbarn and got lost in all of the stories.

In bloom in the Garden...

Iris

Comfrey

Mayapple

Chives

Peony bud

Wedding Bush

Ladys Mantle

Poppy buds...waiting....

Poppy blooming...

Cold Antler Farm is having a Fiddlers Summer!  I am going to try to take up the challenge and pick up my fiddle once again.  I'm going to treat this as if I am a complete beginner.  I am hoping that I can find some enjoyment once again through an instrument that meant so much to me in the past.  I think this time around what I most want to play is old time mountain music.  I love Jenna's writing and her blog is a delight each day to peek in on. It's so cool that she's orgainzing this.  If you or someone you know wants to take up the fiddle, come on over and join us!  Wish me luck...

Mothers Day

Gifts of seedlings...

Gift from E...

Seed dreams...

Old lilac tree...

Getting starts in...still need to mulch...

A Day in Niantic

Wakeup! Handmade Pleasures

I am reading a great new little book called  Made from Scratch by Jenna Woginrich.  It's about discovering the pleasures of a handmade life.  It's an introduction book written by a 26-year-old web designer and her adventures in living a simpler life.  I am enjoying it thoroughly!  While there isn't alot of new things in the book for me...what it has done for me is reawaken those feelings I had for the things in my life that began as a young girl back in the 70's.  I love her enthusiasm and her matter of fact way of writing about those new things she is discovering along her journey.  I have been doing many of those things that Jenna writes about for a long time now but, somehow the pleasures in it all have waned lately for me.  I feel unfocused and out of touch with what is important to me.  It has reminded me that I am indeed living those dreams that I started out with at an early age but, have turned them into more of a grind and chore and a race to get something accomplished.  It also has made me keenly aware of what you feel at age 26 changes over a lifetime.  It is important to stay in touch with those dreams...even if some of them have shifted over time.  

My favorite chapter in the book is the one on Mountain Music.  When I was about 10 I took up the fiddle and played for 12 years everyday.  I loved Celtic music and mountain music the most.  I travelled to Scotland and studied at The Sterling Institute with great Scottish Masters in fiddle music.  I even lived in the Shetland Isles and learned to play music with Tom Andersson the great Scottish fiddler.  It was a heady time for me.  We travelled around, went to music festivals, taught kids in schools and went to the pubs at night and played in many a celidh.  I stopped playing music when I went to Nursing School. I don't know why...it just happened.  At one point I took up Recorder playing for awhile and even took lessons.  Then, about 7 years ago my husband gave me a beautiful mountain dulcimer.  I took lessons from Carrie Crompton...a local dulcimer player for awhile.  I never got very far.  I think my hands started to hurt me when I played.  I tried playing for too long and wanted to practice too quickly for my own good.  I miss playing music.  It was such a huge part of my life when I was younger.  Jenna's book has made me want to pull out my dulcimer again.  Even if I can only scratch a few tunes out of that box it would make my heart sing to be able to play again.  I need to learn to not be too hard on myself though...I need to just learn to play a few songs again and see where that leads me.  I wish I had stayed with playing the fiddle all those years ago and I know it's not too late to pull it out again.  There are few genres of music that speak to me like mountain music...the roots and stories that it holds...the deep sadness that it can touch...and the lively foot stompin', body shakin' joy that it can generate...nothing quite like it!  Thanks Jenna for stirring up some old feelings....Read about her adventures over on her blog at Cold Antler Farm.

Interestingly enough the Nikki McClure calendar came in the mail today.  It's entitled "Wakeup!".  I ordered it late.  She is one of my favorite artists and the prints are beautiful to frame.  Wakeup seems to be a good sentiment for the season in many ways...

Simple Sunday Collage

Earth Day

Flickr Photos

Pocket Curtain

I started working on a Pocket Curtain out of the book Simple Sewing.  I wanted it to have some color in it, so I choose to use a few colors for the pockets against a white curtain background.  I used 100% linen as it was on sale at 40% off.  

Nettles

Wildfood for Every Table compiled by Tina Sams is a great little book.  The book came out of all the great contributions to The Essential Herbalist...a small herbalist magazine. Here is a recipe from that booklet. (Please consult a field guide or an experienced herbalist when working with herbs).

Nettle Soup

Mary Ellen Wilcox

herbaladie@aol.com

3oz. young Nettle leaves

1 t. fresh Marjoram (or 1/2 tsp. dried)

1 T. butter or oil

1 t. fresh Basil (or 1/2tsp. dried)

1 small onion

1/2 t. fresh Sage or (1/4 tsp. dried)

3/4 lb. potatoes, peeled and diced

1 t. fresh Lovage (or 1/2 tsp. dried)

3 C. Veg. Broth

2 t. butter

2 t. cream

*Wearing rubber gloves, pick only young Nettle leaves.

*Free netttles from stalks, wash and allow to drip.

*Cook in pan without additional liquid, over very low heat, till tender

*Allow to cool, then chop

*Add potatoes and saute again

*Add boiling broth

*When potatoes are cooked, add Nettles and herbs.

*Allow to simmer for 15 mins.

*Let stand in warm place for 5 minutes.

*Before serving, add the 2 tsp. of butter and 2 tsp. of cream.

Nettle Cheese Quiche

Winter

 This showed up in my inbox today from Rising Tide North America.  It's about False Solutions to Climate Change.  Learn about things that are being hidden from you.

Saying Goodbye To Winter.  Mary Azarian is one of my favorite artists.  This was a gift this past Christmas from my Mom and Dad.  

A new book for Emma and I.

Toads hang about all year here. Gnomes and fairies have been known to hide here as well.

I am thinking about planting a garden devoted to Dye Plants this year.  Here is a comprehensive list of Dye Plants.  We have alot of projects going around here so not sure if it will happen but, it's something I've wanted to do for a long time.

Green is peeking up everywhere!

Knitted Farmyard Animals

Farmyard animals are starting to show up at my house.  Springtime brings all life anew.  I'm making a few animals after not having made any for a really long time.  They are a satisfying and quick and easy knit.  I used Wool & Bamboo yarn for the piglet.  Misty Alpaca was used for the lamb which is a perfectly soft yarn to the touch.  For a very long time I've wanted to make The Knitted Farmyard  but, despite having had the pattern for nearly 18 years I just never got around to it.  Maybe this will give me the inspiration to make one.The Winter 2008 issue of Living Crafts had examples of the knitted farmyard that a group of women knitted together.

A Pig

A Lamb