honeyflake

leek report

so, yeah, all those leeks...

sunday: leek omlettes. breakfast for dinner. made with some eggs and goat cheese we picked up from a local farm.

monday: leek and mustard pie. using a recipe from a deborah madison cookbook. lots of leeks, lots of heavy cream and cheese cooked up into a pie crust (crust recipe from the same book as pie).

tuesday: leek and potato soup. at nonnies house for lunch. she whipped up a batch of this soup with her chicken broth and two of the leeks we brought over to share with her.

wednesday: still up in the air. we've got two left in the crisper. perhaps a soup? with tofu? risotto? or this soup?

farming

seedlings to the left. sprouts to the right. sheep, picnic blankets and happy faces in between. yesterday our csa farm kicked the season off with its annual spring farm gathering. we woke up early (for us), packed the car (the picnic blanket, waterbottles, some knitting, sketchbooks, etc...) and were on our way faster than you can say organic heirloom tomato.

like last year, we explored the awakening grounds, fed the sheep, took lots of photos, asked our farmers minute detail after minute detail about this years crops, toured the polytunnel with the wee little tomato seedlings, not to mention their gang of fresh new friends (such as the greener than green basil that looked quite ready for a nice pesto already!)... lots of edible goodness beginning everywhere. but the harvesting and weekly produce don't actually start for a few more weeks. fortunatley for us though, there were the leeks...

way out, in the back acres of the farm, there were a few rows of leeks. we were welcomed, if we felt up for it, to have a go at it, to dig around in the fields and pull up a leek or two. well, absolutley yes!

yes, we got to know our farm just a little more intimately than we anticipated yesterday. and we loved every root tugging, bug finding, dirt-covered hands minute of it. really. margaret had a blast, and was quite proud of the little leeks that she managed to harvest like a farmer all by herself. chuck mastered his technique and was able to collect a few of the larger ones. and me... i gave up on the larger ones, passed up the smaller ones and went for the ones that were just right for me. (truthfully, thinking each one was just right for a torte, omlette, tart, etc...)

then finally, after our "work in the fields" we got to hang out, watch the strawberries grow and do a bit if picnicking. feeling a little more connected to our earth (possibly because it was now covering us from head to toe).

and as always after the farm's opening day, we are more excited, if that could be possible, and anticiating all that the season will bring.

two saturdays ago

my first bloggy meetup. well, unless you count meeting up with my cousin at nonnie's house, then of course meeting grace would technically be my second time meeting up with a friend from blogland. either way, it was just very cool. it was a sunny spring weekend morning filled with fun, smiles and crafty adventures in the city... a coffeeshop, a bookstore, perusing ribbons, tassles & ric rac, and wool — yes the wool... grace brought along an amazing skein of green yarn! for me! (thank you grace.) its the type of textured yarn that looks so beautiful just as is, wrapped up in a bundle... and once i find just the right project for these fibers i'm sure i could bring myself to unravel it, to create something knitty and new. (a hat? scarf?)

it was so nice to go on this adventure with grace. just think this whole sweet outing came to be, all because of a little thing called a blog.

put the kettle on

get out the mugs. those oh so tiny chamomile seeds — the ones i sprinkled about the garden, back in november — are sprouting. showing their oh so tiny leaves up above ground. (true spring excitement!). i'll be watching these guys closely, hoping that they continue to grow and thrive (mother nature still has a bit more to do before we can see if any flowers appear) but all the while i'll be dreaming, with mug in hand, of our very own homegrown, homebrewed pot of tea. (true spring patience!)

hey may

sunny

little visitors in the thicket

to add a little more excitement to the already exciting saturday morning (with papa being home — and — being the day that margaret's seeds were expected to emerge out in her new garden bed) a strange little bird was spotted out the kitchen window. up went the blinds, out came the bird books and binoculars, feet were suddenly perched up on chairs... who was this feathered creature?

he was just there, skinny bill and all, stomping around under the cedar trees, sharing our worms. hanging out.
while we flipped through page after page of illustrations trying to figure it out.

our answer turned out to be on the page filled with many other long beaked birds... he was an american woodcock... and a nice welcomed treat to enjoy along with breakfast together.

(after breakfast, when the bird buzz and window woodcock patrol eased up, we made our way to the attic — where we pretty much spent the entire weekend, tackling some big spring cleaning and organizing up there — and found this wee visitor set in amongst the tomato plants. he must have stumbled out of a box of vintage brick-a-brack.)

hope your weekend was full of happiness and unexpected surprises as well.

drawing and painting it

spring. real spring. warm sun, birds, blooms, buds and bugs. today was the real deal. we headed out to the backyard with a blanket and supplies, to see it. feel it. draw it. paint it. and enjoy it...

artist: margaret. medium: watercolor

artist: margaret. medium: ink and crayon

artist: mama. medium: watercolor

creating space

how great is it to have a little space? be it some space in time, some space in place, some space to just be... i am really grateful to have had a little space in time yesterday between an active day and evening, and space on my living room floor, of all places, in which to put my many books and papers out on. i started out sitting in the rocking chair with just my yoga notebook and a pen... with margaret right there, busy cutting some paper at her little table... my intention was to just review some yoga postures and notes in preparation for tuesday night's class and then create a cohesive twenty-minute pose-sequence to lead the class through... well margaret's activity naturally evolved and grew into something which had her deep in that place of imagination and led her into another room (where i believe there was "fishing at a pond" and "firing of her own clay pottery") — while my simple activity evolved into amassing a bigger stack of reference materials, outgrowing my nice spot in the chair, taking me to the floor. suddenly finding myself in the living room with a bit of quiet, and space for concentration. space for focus. space to create... nice, right?

...so now i'm here post-class (the sequence went well, although, not exactly as i outlined in my notebook — never getting around to parsvottanasana like i intended) and thinking back on my pre-class activity. flipping through the books, refreshing my brain of sanskrit names, making notes — all this too was aimed at creating space as well. assembling a series of poses that flow and work together well — to ultimately help all of us in class open up, expand and create space (and i'm hoping it did)...

big stretch and yawn

waking verb to become roused from a tranquil or inactive state; awaken; waken: to wake from one's daydreams.

hello blog. seems like we've let ourselves slip into a little snooze for a bit. now that we're feeling a bit rested, time to get up and get things flowing and moving here as they once were... pass the coffee please.

morning meeting

saturday morning. this is the scene, as it has been for the past few weeks here in the living room. a morning meeting between margaret and our seedlings. (several tomatoes, peppers, tomatillos, broccolli and stock.) each year we start our seedlings for the backyard garden indoors — we have a sunshine simulating light system setup for them up in the attic, which works well, however at the beginning of the season the attic nights are still too cold we think... so there is the ritual of bringing them down each night, tray by tray into the living room and then the next morning bringing them back up to be under their lights... but before they go up, they get a little love, a little attention and a little spritz of water. margaret especially takes on this task. she checks in, as if regional manager of a workforce bursting with potential. who's doing well? who needs to be thinned? who needs their tray rotated? anyone feeling leggy today? reminding all of summer's approach and her productivity expectations — "i can't wait to eat a tomato! i hope we have lots this year!" etc...

today, margaret's care and dedication is being recognized, and she is going to be put in charge of a newly dug garden plot all her own. (an upgrade from last year's quite shady allocated digging/planting/watering space under the trees.) her work staff will increase almost double. the new employees have already been interviewed and selected. and anyone who knows margaret will not be surprised to hear that when given free-range on her seed selection has chosen four packs of edibles - no flowers - just stuff we can eat! chard, spinach, lettuce and beans. her little kidney-shaped piece of earth, lined with some extra stones and bricks was set up today. her seeds will go in sometime soon. as for the seedlings, they'll remain indoors for a bit longer, under close supervision... being prompt attendants at the morning hydrating meetings, waiting to get notice of their impending warm-weather relocation...

baking is nice

a snack for tea today
cheddar, apple & dill scones
no chopsticks required.

and on sunday there were...

eggs. margaret, chuck and i dyed some eggs together on saturday, using the same natural method as we've done in the past, but this year trying out a few new colors like cranberry juice and red onion skins. this is always a good time. margaret excitedly woke up to find these earthy-hued creations magically hidden about (yes, including her shoe) easter morning.

a bunny. perhaps there was more than one - some out of chocolate, some out of wood, some embroidered on a dress - but this one, i made out of a pair of gloves for margaret. the pattern is straight out of the sock and glove book which i got from my martha trip back in february. just something simple and homemade - who brought a few happy smiles and easter dances on sunday. i think if i had had more sets of gloves and wool stuffing on hand there would have been as many soft bunnies made here as eggs.

a breakfast. a little something to go with our morning coffee, milk and chocolate. a special day deserves an egg-stra special beginning. so i whipped-up the easy-like-sunday-morning casserole. and hello to you little chick, glad you could join us.

a recycled dress. when i wrote about easter traditions last year, the old and new, i had no idea that the exact dress i made would make its appearance again this year for traditions sake. my plan was to work on creating another one for margaret, something fresh and new... until she started talking about how on easter she would be wearing her bunny dress. just like how she did last year. of course. and so it was... luckily the recycled green outfit still fit (along with the exact same tights, same shirt and same shoes)...

good times. hope you had a great weekend too. now on with spring!

hey sweet spring, we knew you were coming, so we baked some cookies

shelf life

so for the most part, our bathroom's eco-renovation was pretty much wrapped up months ago but truthfully, there are still many small decorating "to-dos" to do and little ideas still in the works... its now about the details even though its been a while since the main projects were all squared away and completed, like the sink, the tub, the tile, the exhaust fan, the reclaimed-wood shelf project... ah, the wood shelves... now that is a good story. one i really want to get to tell here on the blog, but i will wait. yes, i'm going to wait on that because today's post is not about those shelves, but just about a new little bit of green that now resides there. a small philodendron. up on the top shelf. a little house plant we thought would make a nice addition to the green room... but his generic plastic planter? that needed to be addressed... and then fortunately, i came across a knitted pattern for pot covers in this knitting book. a plant cozy — perfect! and a decorating decision? even better!! so, i gave it a try with a pair of size 6 needles and a small skein of simple organic cotton yarn... by the end of the day our little leafy friend was sporting his new eco-threads... up on the wood shelves... which i'll get back to someday...