What we have been up to

From the country...

The new kitchen

Seed organizing and ordering

cookies of the play dough variety...

fresh batches of soap (lavender and oatmeal/tea tree)

I have been trying hard to be productive this month. I do have a slight case of the January blahs though, so needless to say I have been a bit slugish. I have spent some time planning and organizing the new growing season, taking trips to the second hand stores to purge the house, making countless batches of play dough for the boys (in baking colours), and I had a chance to invite some friends over for a soap making session. I hope to have all our soap made for the year (and for some gifts) in the next few weeks. 

We have been playing around with the new kid's kitchen that I bought for Millie at Christmas. I know she may be a tad young, but I found it here, it was fifty bucks AND it was hand made to boot! It is a really great little prize and I hope  Millie plays with it for many years to come.  

The seed order is done and the decisions have been made for this up coming season. We plan to go big on growing onions, which is exciting for me because they are one of my favourite vegetables to grow. Also on the new list is more culinary herbs, and some more early lettuces to accompany the fiddle head harvest in spring.

We have also been dancing around the kitchen to our advanced copy of My Father and The Hunter by the Strumbellas (one of the perks with being related to a band member).

So with spring in mind, I am trudging along.

Tool Drool

From the country...

Ergonomic Stainless Steel Tools from Lee Valley

I have been perusing A LOT of seed catalogues. Seeds, seeds and more seeds. Organizing seeds...ordering seeds...and a substantial amount of time thinking about seeds... how to sow..where to sow...direct seed...starting seeds indoors....how many days to maturity. Important stuff to know when your growing season is only around 6 months.

Along with figuring out my seed order is fawning over the latest/greatest new tool. Let me tell you a shiny new (and more importantly- well made) tool can make a farm girl drool. I wish I could buy them all and hang them up in the barn all Martha Stewart- like. A row of tools shining against some old weathered barn board.

The good news is we put some tools in our budget this year! Most of the budget will be eaten up by some new tractor implements but I have a feeling that one of those shiny digging forks and a bulb planter may just have found a new home...

check out here for the tools above and here for some really great stuff.

Do anyone else out there get a case of tool gimme gimmies around this time of year??

Weekending

From the City....

Theo discovered mashed potatoes.  Yes, those are potatoes directly up the nostrils.  

I wore my new favourite shirt all weekend. (purchased in mexico for $10.  Not bad)

I finished my wire earring hanger.  So simple.  Can be done with an old frame, wood stapler and wire.

I'm not gonna lie, it works pretty well.  

I got Simon this button.  It's true too.  I wear my rubber boots all over Toronto.

This guy finally started crawling.  

Nothing is safe now; dog food, dog water, dog toys, the dog...you get the picture.  

My lovely friend Lindsay came for a visit.  What's so great about my visits with Lindsay is that we can go months without seeing each other and fall right back into where we left off.  We drink tea, we talk babies, we wander around looking at pretty things like egg salt and pepper shakers, Le Creuset anythings, dishes and clothes and then finish the day off with nachos and wings.  

Thanks for the great visit Lindsers!xox

Linking up with Amanda at: The Habit of Being 

Hope everyone else had a great weekend.

-ab 

Friends of HKS: Guest Blogger Series

Hey there! My name is Savanna and my blog is Crafty Savvy. In my rare free time I love to craft, read, play the piano and violin and sew. I have been sewing for about 6 years and have loved every minute of it. I love making quilts to purses and everything in between. I am fairly new to blogging and am ecstatic to be guest posting for Harvest Kitchen Sisters! 

This is my first guest post ever and I am so excited! 


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Today I will be showing you a felt wallet that I recently created that is perfect for everyday shoppers! 

The Little Lace Wallet Tutorial:

 

                                                 To begin, you need to gather a few materials.

-1 piece of medium sized felt( the color is your choice)

-1 piece of medium sized felt that is a color that coordinates with the other piece of felt

-1 piece of lace, or one small and one thick

-Thread, sewing machine, and #1 sewing machine foot

-Rotary Cutter, cutting mat and cutting ruler

 Sewing tips:

When I sew down the lace on the wallet, I like to use the straight stitch and #1 foot on the sewing machine.

When I am sewing felt, I like to use the zigzag stitch and #1 foot. It is really fun to make this wallet because you don't have to finish the edges of the wallet, because felt doesn't fray.

    To begin making your wallet, cut a piece of felt 5 inches by 8 inches. This will be the exterior of your wallet. Now, cut a piece of lace that is about 6 1/2 inches long. (The lace should be long enough to have extra to sew down on the back) Sew the piece of lace 1 1/2 inches from the edge.

 Using the other coordinating piece of felt, cut 3 inches by 5 inches. This piece will be the pocket inside the wallet. If you want to spice up the pocket, you can sew a little piece of lace to the top of the pocket. Place the piece of felt on the right side of the wallet so it matches up with the other two sides of the exterior felt. Sew down 3 of the sides of the pocket but leave one of the sides un-sewn.

Using the same felt you used for the pocket, cut another pocket for the left side of the wallet that is 3 1/2 inches by 4 inches.  Now take the felt you used for the exterior of your wallet and cut a pocket 2 1/2 inches by 3 inches.(Again if you want to add another piece of lace to the top of the pocket, it looks really cute.) Now you are going to place the smaller pocket you just cut out on top of the bigger pocket and sew it down on the two sides and bottom of the pocket.

Sew this pocket onto the left hand side of the wallet so it matches up with the left side of the wallet. Sew down the two sides and bottom of the pocket.

Now you have a cute wallet that will be perfect for your everyday shopping!

I hope you have fun making this wallet! 

It is great to hold a few cards and cash.

Thank you so much for letting me guest post!

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To see more DIY projects from Savanna, head on over to her blog, Crafty Savvy.

My Wordless Wednesday

From the City...

-ab

Making Goat Cheese

From the City...

We have an abundance of goat's milk around here these days.  We've been making a slow transition to a bit of g.milk for Theo everyday in anticipation for my return to work (shesh) in a month and a bit but as with everything with our son, its a s-----l-----o----w transition and one entirely up to him.  

To think, he didn't want to nurse at all in the beginning and now he's doesn't want to do anything but.  

The simple ingredients plus some salt and pepper, dried herbs and minced garlic.

Colander lined with cheese cloth

Goat's milk that has been brought up to 180 degrees.  Add 1/4 cup lemon juice (which I might tweak a bit next time and use less, little too lemony tasting for me).  Allow to curdle for 20 seconds.

Allow the whey to drip out.  You can use this in a soup or stew if you so fancy.

Drip drip drip.

Now this is a very serious contraption I've designed.  Yarn, wooden spoon, ball of cheese cloth containing my goaty goodness.  I let it drip drop for another 1 to 2 hours.  

Now, I bet you'd like to see the end result.  Sadly, the cheese didn't last long.  Or even through our dinner that night but let me tell you, it was creamy and wonderful and perfectly delicious.  

To my cheese ball I added:

1 garlic clove minced

salt and pepper to taste

dried rosemary  

Here's the link to the online tutorial that I used. Give it a whirl!

-ab 

Recipe Round Up

From the City...

Here are some recipes that look amazing that I'm planning to make in the next couple of weeks. 

I feel like if I blog them, they will come.  If I actually commit to trying something new, I just might do it. Simply click on the pic for the recipe, if you fancy to give them a try yourself.

Quinoa Beet Salad 

(...cause lord knows, there's a lot of beets around this time of year)

Quick and Easy Chicken Pot Pie 

(if chicken pot pie doesn't scream January, I don't know what does.  I also like it, because we usually have some sort of leftover chicken, cheese, milk and veg. kicking around so it's an easy one to throw together.)

White Chili Topped with Cornbread 

(I just need more cornbread in my life)

Cheeseburger Macaroni

(This might just be a nostalgic one but it doesn't hurt that it looks amazing, it reminds me of when we use to have Hamburger Helper as kids.)

Balsamic Chicken

( I don't love chicken, but Simon does and this looks pretty yummy so we'll see)

Turkey Tortilla Soup 

(looks heavenly and colourful)

Mexican Rice

(we ate the most amazing rice dishes every day in Bucerias that I feel like I need to learn to make some of my own just to fill the void that's been left.) 

Wish me luck in the kitchen!

-ab

Love Letters

From the country...

a picture of me in pink tending to the crops.

A love letter from Nate- his world is a little more exciting now that he has learned to read and write.

Friends of HKS: Guest Blogger Series

Lindsay is a nurse / urban farmer / knitting queen and crafter who blogs from Peterborough, Ontario where she lives with her husband, little boy and boston terrier..

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A Quick Gift

This week I received some exciting news. A friend of mine is pregnant. That in itself is pretty exciting but it gets better. She’s expecting TWINS!!! I know right?! Amazing. So, I thought I’d show her how excited I am for her by making a little gift.

I cannot remember where I saw this idea – which is too bad because I like to give credit where credit is due and by no means want people to think this is my original idea. 

Wherever I saw it, the idea stuck in my head and has finally seen the light of day.

The idea? Making burp cloths out of old T-shirts. My dear husband has been putting old clothes in the basement throughout the year and lucky for me, we’ve both been lazy enough not to bring it to the drop-off centre – so T-shirts I did have.

Disclaimer: I’m by no means a sewing expert. I know the basics and that’s about it, so….if I can do this, so can you!

Step 1: Choose the fabrics you would like to use.

Step 2: Cut off the arms of the T-shirts

Step 3: Cut up the sides of the T-shirt

Step 4: Figure out the shape of your burp cloth. For the blue/bikes cloth, I used a placemat that was conveniently on my kitchen table (ahem…I mean, my crafting table). The shape of the yellow/spaceship cloth was decided by the fact that I only had that much spaceship fabric left and that’s the shape it was in.

Step 5: Cut the T-shirt and your other fabric to the shape you have chosen

Step 6: Put right sides facing together and pin around perimeter. REMEMBER!!!!! – you are going to need to leave a few inches open to turn your piece right side out.

Step 7: Sew around the burp cloth leaving however much you want as a margin. I used the edge of my sewing foot.

Step 8: Trim your corners. If you don’t, when you turn the piece right-side out, the corners will be bulky.

Step 9: Turn your piece right-side out and push your corners out.

Step 10: Pin the opening shut that you left so you could turn your piece.

Step 11: Sew around the entire piece, again leaving whatever margin you’d like. I used the same as before – the edge of the sewing foot.

Step 12: Admire your new burp cloth!!!

Apparently the old T-shirts are great at absorbing spit-up. 

And with twins…I’m sure there will be quite a bit of that.

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You can read more from Lindsay over on her blog; The Naive Homesteader.

Tried, Tested and True

From the City...

So I've finally done it.  It has taken years of hardwork and determination, sleepless nights and my partners growing waistline, but I have perfected my banana bread recipe.  

So go ahead, give it a try.  You can thank me later.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease up your pan.

Whisk together:

1 1/4 cups white flour

1/4 cup wheat germ

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Beat in a seperete bowl: 

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup coconut oil + 1 tbsp butter

Beat in: 

1 large egg

3 good and ripe bananas

Add the dry ingredients to the wet in 3 parts.  

If desired, fold in:

1/2 cup chopped nuts ( I shudder at the thought)

1/4 cup dried apricots (see previous comment)

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Bake for 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.  

Enjoy!

-ab

Our Winter Project

From the City...

This is what we spent the past week doing.  

What began as a small pink octopus turned into a giant underwater mural complete with a shark, turtle and, of course, a fat crab.  It might be fair to say we were a touch inspired on our recent vacation.   

Our work in Progress....

The completed project...(As you can tell, Ruby loves it too)

It will be a sad day when we break out the white paint and the roller and paint it away but for now we are just loving this giant underwater mural.  

Theo doesn't seem to mind it either.

-ab

Saving Seed

From the country...

Green Zebra tomato seeds

Black Turtle beans

Smilyan Beans- originally from Bulgaria (smuggled in mind you..heh heh)

Purple Orach seeds (a really pretty purple salad green- that comes up in the greenhouse every year).

Sugar pie pumpkin seeds

Last season was our first foray into seed saving. There are always volunteer seeds that pop up in cold frames and greenhouses but this is the first year that we prepared dried out and packaged some seeds for spring planting. It is a pretty basic procedure really, one that I should have started long ago but by the time the season is through there are always some tasks that are left behind. Sometimes though, a saved seed from your own farm can be superior to one that is brought in from somewhere else.

Take the tomato seed for instance, I purchased the plant from a local seedling sale a couple of years ago and planted it directly into our hoop house. Unharvested tomatoes dropped onto the soil, some of those seeds survived the winter and came up the following year as seedlings. It is my belief that the more a seed grows in your soil, under your particular growing conditions, the better adapted they are. I can't grow a tomato to save myself but these Green Zebra tomatoes grow beautifully.

So next time you have a bumper crop of something try saving the seed. Oh! and to save a seed true- you have to start with an open pollinated non hybridized seed to begin with. There is lots of information out there for seed saving and some really great publications on how to do so. I urge you to do a little research on the seed you intend to keep.

Click here for a link to Seeds of Diversity Canada (our national seed exchange and the magazine is an altogether great read) and below is their write up. There may also be some Seedy Saturdays/Sundays coming up in the next while in your area- which is a great way to find seed that is locally grown, so keep on the look- out. These events are a great way to support small seed companies as well.

About Seeds of Diversity

Seeds of Diversity is a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to the conservation, documentation and use of public-domain, non-hybrid plants of Canadian significance. Our 1400 members from coast to coast are gardeners, farmers, teachers, scientists, agricultural historians, researchers and seed vendors. Together we grow, propagate and distribute over 2900 varieties of vegetables, fruit, grains, flowers and herbs. We are a living gene bank.
Formerly known as the Heritage Seed Program, a project of the Canadian Organic Growers since 1984, Seeds of Diversity Canada is now an independent charitable corporation operated by a volunteer board of directors. Our work is funded mainly by membership fees and private donations.
Members receive our 40-page magazine Seeds of Diversity twice a year, plus our annual Member Seed Directory which allows members to obtain samples of over 2900 varieties of seeds and plants offered by other members in exchange for return postage.

Happy planning!