of cucumbers and cast iron

July is a great month for me because it means camping and eating from the garden.  This year it also means cucumbers because we put in a few pickling cuke plants and now I dread our greenhouse a little bit because I know I will have to deal with the quantity.  If you have a garden, then you know what i mean. So, I've been making dill pickles in a large crock- they just stopped fermenting yesterday and they are soooo good, and canning dills and bread and butters, and the crazy quantity of tongue of fire beans from the field.

It is so hot here in July and it has mostly made me feel like running in the opposite direction of the canning pot for years, but we have worked it out this year.  Check it out.  A big burner with our enormous cast iron cauldron will hold about 12 quarts of pickles.  Is that awesome or what?

All of this food in need of canning was waiting for us when we got back from our annual camping trip on Cape Cod, which was practically perfect- sun, swimming, rope swings, fishing, ocean, clean pond swimming, fried fish and ice cream, and our dearest pals. And, cooking things in cast iron.  We brought some of our bacon ends and they had such a huge layer of white fat around them that they left a nice deep pool of lard in the pan.  Uh, waste not, want not- make pizza dough doughnuts and fill them with raspberry jam, then go to food heaven.  This is nothing like the story my husband tells of being on a two week canoe trip in Canada without enough food.  He would have hour long daydreams about things he would cook up when he got home that would be so good, like frying the stuck remains in the oatmeal pot.  He said it just wasn't as good as he imagined it in the end.  Well, I didn't have the highest hopes for the pizza dough we never ended up wrapping around hot dogs but as I brought it a little fermenty from the warming cooler and droppped strips in the fat, I was encouraged by how much it puffed up.

                                               Can't you just smell that?

                                              Dough goes in.

                                               Well...

                         Our friend Ben came up with a whole business plan for selling these- Ben's Biegnet

                                           A perfect food for Harry- anything to deliver jam to his mouth.

I really do think these would be just as yummy in the kitchen and were not elevated to such a high status due to the fresh air and smokey fire- though that was pretty great.

Things in the shop...finally!

Happy summer, everyone.  It might not feel particularly lazy, but summer is different and great regardless.  I love having the kids kicking around.  They are definitely getting a dose of the lazy and I am happy for it.  We did get to go to heaven on earth, aka Block Island, where we rode our bikes a ton, went clamming and fishing, paddle boarded, kayaked, fished, threw rocks at rocks in the ocean, ATE seafood, drank wine, sailed, swam, browned up, and even more than that.  All in a week.  It was a true vacation and came only days after the shoot for the book wrapped up, so it was perfectly timed.  The shoot was really good and I am waiting with bated breath to see some of the pages.

In the meantime, I am loading up the etsy shop, so go have a look.  I have been wanting to for over a year, so I'm glad to have some movement in that direction.  This is what is in there, or will be soon as I get a chance to list them.

The model was wee, but these things fit all sorts of body types- swear.  I'd love to hear your feedback, if you've got a minute.

ready to shoot

If I posted pictures today, it would be of a sink full of dirty dishes, a tractor covered in white clay dust, and a studio filled with 101 sewing projects in white tissue paper strewn in a semi-organized way across the floor.  I am in the throes of preparing for this book to be photographed.  I was also hired to style the book, thank goodness, so I am organizing outfits, surfaces, shoes, and props for the 10 days we have scheduled to shoot it.  It has been great fun throughout, despite the overwhelming qualities that are and always have been leaking out all over the place. And this part- the photo shoot- is, for me, the culminating event of the creative work.  I guess the real culminating event will be when I unwrap that first book, but that isn't until next spring, so I'd rather not think about it.  

Debra, my rockin' writin' co-author and I are thrilled with the design/art team- they are the women of our wish list for this stage.  Carolyn Ekhert, the art director behind the beauty of the magazine Wondertime (now defunct...sad) was hired a few weeks ago at Storey (yay!...not sad) and will be designing the book, and she was just as into our first choice of photographers- and managed to get her- Alexandra Grablewski.  It is going to be such a nice book! Pinch me! And then feed me and clean my house!

running in barefeet

About a year ago I, well, lost a little weight and then started running.  I know, usually the running comes first, but running hurt too much before the pounds came off so for me, it came second.  I remember swearing to my running pal after an early attempt, that I simply hated it and she could count on me never running with her again.  I honestly don't know what changed in me, but I LOVE IT now.  I mean really love it. So, after a year of running in some very old runners with a hole worn by the heel, I decided it was time to get new shoes which is a huge step for me because I hate spending money and have really gotten away from buying new things.  Shoes need to be new.  Well, running shoes do.

I bought these!  They are barefoot running shoes but without those individuated toes and they are amazing.  My legs are killing me as I build back up to my regular distance because totally different muscles are used when your foot strikes in the barefoot running position.  I am hoping that I continue to love them- I hope the ache starts to go away soon.  They are flippin' cute though, are they not?

I like to run in a little skirt and plan on making one that isn't black spandex really soon.  Maybe I'll teach y'all how to make one, if you're interested.  Stay tuned. xo

mushrooms for mother's day

It is that time of year again- morels. More-Ls. Mrrrrrrrelles.  And what a crop!  You won't have to look back too far to see the last time I posted about this gift of plenty.  We are lucky enough to have MANY dead or dying apples trees in the old part of our orchard and that is where these little fun guys (ha) like to grow.  And some did GROW.

 That was in Jonny's big hand!

 This is where the fairies live, apparently.

 Harry's prize find.

 Ava found about 2 pounds!

 Earthy.

 Perfectly timed with the first asparagus...

And some newly fermented cider...

 Perennial mushroom and friend.

        The man knows how to cook.                        
                                          
And if you could know what that tasted like! Oh my word! We had it with pasta, of course.

Now, that is how to spend Mother's Day, right? Thank you, lucky stars. xo.

real quick

I will be at the Twist Spring Fair tonight and all day tomorrow.  Please come and see me.  If you tell me that you read about it on this blog, then I'll give you prize if you buy something too! Wouldn't that be a hoot.

Here are a few things that you might find waiting for you:

And while I'm inviting you places, you can also come to hear my band play at the Common School Auction tomorrow night.  Here is a link for that.  If you want to come, I have a couple tickets to give away, so contact me.  Free food and wine and a little rock and roll.The Common School Auction

The Spring Aaaah...

Oh, what a bit of spring can do.  That is what my girl sang in her role as Mrs. Beaver, in her school play of Narnia a couple weeks ago. She was able to have so much fun as the comic relief of the story and she really did rock it, if I can be so bold and braggy.  She was also the stern Mrs. Macready who ran the children's uncle's museum home, and she wore the gray wig and no-nonsense attitude believably.  Not being a big ham in public, generally speaking, I was bursting with amazement and pride as she owned her roles and beamed with confidence.

She should have teeth to go with the beaver tail you can't see, but this was a dress rehearsal and it didn't happen. Doesn't she looked chuffed?  You should have heard the cockney accent. Alright, I'm done kvelling.

I was talking about spring. Every year I am taken by how the promise of warmth and leaves and growth changes the way I look at the world.  Really, it is like an instant attitude changer and it is one of the many reasons I do love living in New England, where there is no mistake which season we are in.  This year we started the garden nice and early in our greenhouse (That feels great.  We usually are way behind schedule due to laziness or something) and we hope to have a nice Berkshire Boar coming to visit our pigs next week. You know what that means? PIGLETS!! Now, that it something I can't wait to see.