Shades of late summer greens and yellows...

...and a bit of belated catching up!

A dragonfly resting on a bean leaf

A lazy bee on the native sunflowers

The surprising polka dots of Tansy flowers waving over the drying Yarrow

Many many jars of refrigerator pickles...with my honey herb recipe...yum!

The first of the Fall crop of Mizuna.

Well, between the incredibly busy work-life right now, gearing up for singing at the Harvest Fair, a big birthday bash for Michael and just the everyday busy-ness of home...with (truth be told) a little bit of the waiting-for-baby-blues; I've been sadly remiss in keeping up with the blog. My apologies! Above are a few pictures of what's going on in the garden...and the kitchen.

And as far as at least 3 weeks of the Independence Days Challenge:

Plant Something:
buckwheat, clover, transplanted Calendula and Mint

Harvest Something:
Eggplants, cucumbers, dill, calendula, beans, radishes, radish pods, carrots, tomatoes, onions

Preserve Something:
Calendula oil, apple cordial (Calvados), yogurt, sourdough pizza dough, refrigerator bread & butter pickles, pumpkin and apricot breads for the deep freeze

Waste Not:
Using up all the whey from the yogurt for various lacto-fermented breads and pancakes, used up oddments of veggies in a huge mexican casserole, used all compostable paper goods at our party and topped up the compost piles with them, Sent off 75 used books to Powell's for credit towards our Christmas shopping.

Want Not:
Reading "Gardening When It Counts" by Steve Solomon, Topped up the pantry with this month's "big shop", Organized more jar storage and hung the garlic braids for winter storage, found some Patagonia organic canvas pants on a good sale for Michael's birthday

Build Community:
Preparing to sing at New Entry Sustainable Farming Project , working as a volunteer "farmer" at work on the organic raised bed project, donating food to an emergency center in Quincy, MA.

Eat the Food:
Sourdough pizza dough for our weekly za, yogurt, radish green fritatta, garlic green beans, mexican casserole with all the bits of beans, cabbage, etc.

Meanwhile, Michael and I are working our way through the list of late Summer into Fall projects around the house, and trying to focus a little attention each week on preparing for the baby. Things like, putting up shelves in the kitchen to hold pots and pans and make room for a little energy star dishwasher, improve drainage around house foundation, replace a few rotted shingles, look into getting the woodstove brought up to code so that we can use it, create more storage in the Goobers room for clothes and diapers, move bookshelves, build a cold frame for cold weather veggies, etc.

I'll be back again soon!

Gearing up for the Harvest Festival

Well, I've been neglecting this blog shamelessly due to incredibly busy times. I'll be updating lots of planting, harvesting, music making, birthday celebrating in the next few days. But, for now an it's all about the New Entry Sustainable Farming Projects' 8th Annual Harvest Festival. Michael and I have been asked to do all the music for the day, so we've asked our good friends Gail and Allen Wiegner to join us for an afternoon of old-timey live music.

The festival is all to support a great cause, training and supporting new farmers in their endeavors to bring sustainable farming back to their own countries. Jennifer Hashley, the Director of the NESFP is an awesome and inspiring soul as well as the supplier of our delicious farm fresh eggs, assorted organic produce and most of the meat we eat. She and her husband Pete are the Pete and Jen's Backyard Birds .

So, if you happen to be around the Boston area next Sunday, particularly near Dracut. We hope you'll come on by for some delicious food, games, a farmer's market and some old-time music by yours truly. For all the details, go here.

Adult t-shirt to Baby Gown Remake

In honor of taking the 6 months pledge at Wardrobe refashion, and since the challenge doesn't start until September 1st, I thought I'd post a project I did a little while back.

This used to be a favorite t-shirt of my husband's that went the way of most of his t-shirts...getting too worn at the neck to be acceptable peaking out of his scrubs. This one also has some sentimental value as it is from a friend's (mentor and producer of my CD) tour company. So, I thought I'd take the plunge and try a remake.

I used McCall's 8574 baby layette pattern. I only have a straight and zig-zag stitch on my old Singer workhorse of a machine. So, I used zig-zag stitch for all the the seaming. The neckline is a little wonky, but I figure it'll be covered in spit-up and drool, so there's room for a little imperfection. Now I just need to sew in the casing at the bottom for a piece of cord or elastic and it's all set.

While I was in the re-purposing mode, I took another t-shirt to make some baby wipes. We have some gifted to us, that I used as a rough guide. The purchased ones are terry on one side and flannel on the other. So, I backed these with some ultra-soft flannel scraps I had lying around. I figure it's a great thing to use up my flannel and cotton-knit scraps. And someday they'll do extra duty as dust and clean up rags. A win, win, win!



Now, I wonder what I can do with the rest of these old t-shirts?

A few days behind and weekend updates

Hard to believe that it is already Wednesday evening! Yikes, where has the weekend gone??? It was a busy weekend (and week!) so here are a few pictures...

Sunny, freshly picked calendula blossoms drying on a thrifted railroad plate in the window before becoming the main ingredient in a bottle of calendula oil. Great for dry, irritated skin.



My first attempt at lacto-fermented pickles. I found the recipe in Sally Fallon's book Nourishing Traditions. A very easy process using yogurt whey, salt, herbs and water. This fermentation method is supposed to maintain and promote lots of beneficial probiotics. Good for overall health and easy to make. Read more about it at the Weston Price Foundation. The jury, however, is still out on the taste tests. Tastes a bit like old-fashioned deli style dill pickles but, too early to tell for sure.


Some fresh dill for the jars...



Some of the dried dill seed heads from the garden, harvested when I was out getting the fresh sprigs. I'm thinking with the number of seeds I'm harvesting, I'll have plenty to top my home-made crackers and still be ahead of the game for next year's planting.





I made a big batch of sourdough pizza dough. The humid weather was just right for rising!



And my finger is finally fit enough for a bit of knitting so I thought I'd start on the beautiful sock yarn that Michael gave me for Valentines Day...Malabrigo Sock Yarn called "Chocolate Amargo" or as my bilingual friend translated..."bitter chocolate" mmmm nice. I'm using the free Jaywalker pattern from Ravelry. Should be just the ticket for a nice new pair of socks for Fall.

And a tardy but well-meaning update for the IDC challenge...

Plant Something:
buckwheat and clover

Harvest Something:
Eggplants, cucumbers, dill, calendula, beans, radishes, a couple of carrots and potatoes

Preserve Something:
Calendula oil, dried dill, made sourdough pizza dough and lacto-fermented pickles

Waste Not:
Just the usual

Want Not:
bought a few more homeopathic remedies for the medicine cabinet and picked up two books on foraging for wild food and medicine plants

Build Community:
Met with the organizer for the New Entry Sustainable Farming Project about providing the music for their annual harvest festival. Looking forward to singing in that beautiful field!

Eat the Food:
Sourdough pizza dough for our weekly za, granola, yogurt and radish green and local sausage fritatta

Hope you're having a good week!

The Pledge

I took the pledge. See below and check out the awesome blog itself at Wardrobe Refashion




The Pledge

I Marie, pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 6 months. I pledge that I shall refashion, renovate, recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovated, recycled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftiness brings! Signed me.

Maine, Fudge and catching up on the IDC Challenge

Last week, we had some much needed time away on the ocean, in Kennebunk, ME. It was a quick get-away and we did our best to appreciate the beautiful weather in Maine.







We found our way to a great little farm for some berry picking! Would have loved to have stayed longer, but since time was so short, we picked for about an hour and ended up with a little more than 3 Quarts! Nice!





We also spent some nice time walking, reading and enjoying the beach. A great little breather.




And when we got back home, we found that my pound of fudge had arrived. I contributed some flavor ideas to a contest that Roberts Roost was having to come up with some new goat milk fudge flavors. My Chocolate Espresso idea was a hit and so they sent us a batch by way of thanks! So incredibly good!!! Sorry, no pictures. Some is hidden away in the freezer and the rest went too fast!

Then, this weekend, we were off to New Hampshire to perform at the 6th Annual Peach Festival. The sun was blazing and the weather was fine. Nice after the heart-stopping thunder storms of last year. We had a great set and enjoyed meeting up with Dan the wonderful sound man again. We came home with some delicious peaches, tomatoes, pies and jam.

And managed to accomplish a few things for the IDC as well...


Plant Something:
Nothing this week

Harvest Something:
summer squash, eggplant, beans, cucumbers, calendula flowers

Preserve Something:
Making my first batch of calendula oil

Waste Not:
Processed a whole lot of paper, dryer lint and fabric scraps into the grass clipping compost

Want Not:
Did the big monthly shop. Topped up the cupboards with oatmeal, dried beans, maple syrup, olive oil and other staples. Made a new blouse out of remnant fabric.

Build Community:
Bought this weeks produce from a small farm in New Hampshire after our set on the festival stage.

Eat the Food:
Sourdough herb bread, lots of cucumber salad, grilled eggplant and zucchini

So Happy that the Sun is out!

I guess that's what a month of straight rain will do to you. I'm still recovering! I feel such a boost every morning that the sun graces us these days...and so do the plants.

So, with this new burst of sunshine and energy, we've been getting lots accomplished on the Independence Days Challenge.

Plant Something:
Planted Kale, cabbage, mizuna, carrots and spinach

Harvest Something:
Picked lots of beans, a few straggling raspberries, a few small turnips, garlic, herbs and lots of cucumbers

Preserve Something:
Froze green beans, hung sage, oregano and garlic to dry, made more yogurt.

Waste Not:
Yet another bag of clothes for donation. Layered the grass pile with paper and cardboard to compost.

Want Not:
Not much this week

Build Community Food Systems:
Bought eggs, greens and beef from the local farm. Bought peaches, potatoes and beets from the farmer's market. Gave a friend some whole wheat sour dough starter.

Eat the Food:
Blueberry Cobbler, cucumber salads, sourdough herb bread, fresh oregano and carmelized onion fritatta, crock pot beef shanks and vegetables over rice.

What about you?