{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual inspired by Amanda, aka Soule Mama. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

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In gratitude this week for:

• Some fluffy new arrivals
• Catching up with a friend
• A bit of sun, a but of rain a good mix for out growing garden
• Getting a bit closer to the launch of my big project

Wishing all of you a glorious weekend.

Don't forget my little one's giveaway!  Today is the last day to enter and she'd be thrilled if you'd enter.

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual inspired by Amanda, aka Soule Mama. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
~~~~~

~~~~~

In gratitude this week for:

• Good friends who took both the older girls for nights away!
• The newest arrivals to our little homestead
• A fabulous night with just my little one and me - grilled cheese for supper with broccoli of course
• More fabulous herbal learning ~ Love The Family Herbalist Course 

Wishing all of you a glorious weekend!

Don't forget the Tropical Traditions Gold Label Coconut Oil GIVEAWAY!  There is still time to enter.

Dandelion Lavender Cookies

I love when Spring finally makes her appearance after the long New England winter.  Before the grass is really green the dandelions start sharing their happy yellow flowers.  As a child I loved dandelions.  I would pick bouquet after bouquet, and those that I missed became fuzzies to blow.  I did go through a phase when I thought dandelions were just a weed.  But oh how glad I am that was just a phase.  Now I am actually jealous of my neighbors who seem to have so many more dandelions than I do.  Lucky they share with me, as I just can't seem to get enough of the little yellow flowers and their yummy, nutritious greens.

Our latest adventure in the kitchen with dandelions is a yummy little cookie.  These nutritious bites are just perfect balance of a tad sweet with a hit of floral and just enough oaty goodness that even the man of the house will devour them.

Dandelion & Lavender Cookies
Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup coconut oil (purchase here)
• 1/3 cup raw local honey
• 2 pasture eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup white whole wheat four
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup oats
• 1/3 cup yellow dandelion flowers
• 2 Tbsp lavender flowers

Whisk together coconut oil, honey, eggs and vanilla.  Add flour and baking soda and mix until combined.  Stir in oats.  Finally stir in the dandelion petals and lavender flowers.

Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven on parchment lined cookie sheets for about 9-11 minutes.  Remove to rack to cool.

The addition of the dandelion and lavender pack some extra nutrition into these little cookies.  Dandelions are high in beta carotene, iron, calcium and vitamin A.  They also contain lecithin which is good for the liver as it flushes out toxins.  Lavender contain vitamin A and calcium as well as limonene which has been shown to promote weight loss and help prevent cancer.  And really this are just lovely benefits because the flavor of these cookies is just plain yummy!  No need to tell anyone they are good for you too.

Linking up with Make your own Mondays over at Nourishing Treasures.

I shared this post over at the Homestead Barn Hop, a great place to share and find tidbits to help your little homestead grow.

You'll also find this post over at the Living Green Link-up Tuesdays.

Growing Celery

I finally broke down and got a pinterest account! Why am I telling you this? Well, I have some some amazing ideas, this being one of them. We love celery. It ends up in lots of things we make, and of course it is a quick and easy snack all by itself or paired with hummus, nut butters, cream cheese and the like. So when I discovered you can grow your own from the discarded end, I just knew we would have to try.

First get yourself some nice organic celery. Cut off the end. The original directions said to soak the end in a saucer of lukewarm water over night. But I forgot. And well, we really didn't have the patients for that either. I'm glad to say it didn't matter.

As we still have snow covering our garden and the nights are at freezing we thought it a good idea to plant in a pot. We placed an unbleached coffee filter in the bottom. This stops the dirt from escaping. Then we filled it with some good organic seed starting dirt. Place the cut end of the celery cut side up and cover with some more dirt. About an inch deep.

Water and wait. Waiting is the hard part.

But we didn't have to wait long. This is our celery about a week after we planted it. We saw shoots in about three days. It still has a long way to go before we'll be munching on our own homegrown celery, but I'm sure it will be worth the wait. Now I wonder if we will be able to grow another bunch from this one?

In the kitchen

While we have been busy putting up food for the long New England winter months, we have also been enjoying the bounty of fresh fruits and veggies at meal times as well. A platter of cucumbers, peppers, carrots, celery, pita bread and garlic hummus is the perfect lunch.

The bounty of zucchini has been made into this incredible chocolate zucchini cake as well as this potato & zucchini torte. The chocolate cake was a huge hit with everyone. And that is saying a lot considering we really aren't a cake family. As for the potato torte, I substituted zucchini for the summer yellow squash and thought it worked wonderfully. Most of us loved this, but our picky one didn't. No surprise there. Next time I will make it in my cast iron skillet. I think the bottom will brown nicely if done that way.

Blackberries have found their way into pancakes, yogurt and of course just a handful at a time into the mouth! Sarah has been making these muffins. They are fabulous!. She sprinkles the tops with a little cinnamon sugar before baking. Yummy!

We were blessed to be given about 12 pounds of peaches from a friend. The picked their tree clean before Irene rolled into town. Let me tell you these are the best peaches ever. The juice runs down your chin with every bite. We have been eating them with every meal. I was able to sneak a few to turn into a delicious peach cobbler/crisp desert. Yummy!

What's happening in your kitchen now? I'd love to hear.

Preserving the Harvest

There has been a lot going on in the kitchen. It is just that time of year. The harvest has begun and with it come the preserving and canning. It is wonderful to see the empty pantry shelves being filled with all this summer goodness. Even better is knowing how much we will enjoy this bounty when the New England winter is upon us.


First up was quarts and quarts of Roasted Tomato Soup. This is a family favorite and I'm not sure I could ever have enough in the pantry. The goal is to have at least on jar per week. So far we put up 15 quarts, a little short. Luckily the tomatoes are just coming in. So I'm sure there will be lots more.


Dill Pickles is another family favorite that I can't seem to make enough of. I made our favorite recipe and then also made a batch of the Dill Pickles from the Ball Blue Book of Canning. The little jars of dill pickle chips on the end were a last minute addition with the left over cucs and brine. We'll see how they turn out. I've never had good luck with chips staying crisp. And who likes a soggy pickle?

Three pints of wild blackberry jam! Oh how good these will be on toast of fresh baked bread in front of the wood stove. Almost makes me wish for winter mornings, almost. The blackberries are still coming into it. So I'm sure there will be more in the days to come. Of course we will also freeze some berries for pancakes, muffins and such. We are so blessed to have a couple large wild patches in the forest behind our home.

There has also been lots of zucchini! We made this chocolate zucchini cake recommended by Suzanne over at Blueberry Cottage. WOW! It was amazing! And the best part everyone liked it. And that is saying a lot since I have a hard time finding deserts that we all like. We will be making this one again. Along with zucchini bread and frittata. Good thing my friends garden is over flowing with zucchini. I'm shredding and freezing as fast as she bring is over.

Then there are beans becoming dilly beans and three bean salad as well as quite a few bags just slightly blanched and frozen for dinner veggies. And of course we have been making my favorite summer green bean dish. Just realized I have never shared this recipe. I'll have to keep you in suspense a little while longer. Promise I'll take pictures the next time I make it and share. It is so yummy!

Oh and if you've ever wanted to try your hand at making your own ketchup this is the best! Everyone around here loves this ketchup (scroll down a bit). So much better than anything you can get at the store. So you can bet I'll be making up a bunch of this.

This time is so busy in the garden and kitchen. I feel like the kitchen is never clean for very long. But truly I enjoy the hours on my feet with the steam from the canner billowing. Come January I be heating water just to get the chill out of the kitchen and eating blackberry jam and tomato soup thankful for the time spent during late summer.

Making Soap

About a year ago I went to a friends to make soap. It was fun! It was easy! And I knew I'd be making soap again. Well, the time finally arrived. I was almost out and another friend wanted to learn to make soap. I'll admit I was a little nervous to make soap. If you google soap making some of the warnings about working with lye are a little scary. This was the reason I went to make it with my experienced friend first. Well my friend who joined me this time had those same first time nerves. But trust me. Soap making is fun and easy! Being prepared and knowing what to expect make working with lye doable.

First off is an simple recipe. I like the Homesteader's Soap found in The Complete Soapmaker by Norma Coney. This is a simple, I'd say fool proof, recipe that uses only three ingredients: tallow, lye and water.

Second,you need to gather your ingredients and tools. You really should have some items dedicated to making soap. And you should have a scale as it is important to weigh rather than measure your ingredients.

Now that you've gathered your supplies make sure you have some time when you wont be interrupted or have too many kids or animals passing through your work area.



Soap making isn't hard, but getting the right proportion of ingredients is essential. Weighing the ingredients is the way to go.




Making your lye mixture is the dangerous part, but with a few precautions such a gloves and goggles, it really isn't hard. there are a few fumes so don't put your face over the container. The chemical reaction that occurs is really cool. The mixture quickly heats up to about 200 degrees! Don't touch it and don't spill it! chemical burns are no fun.


Add your lye mixture to your tallow. Once again be careful not to splash.

Mixing with a stick blending makes the process move along quite quickly. Yard sales, freecyle, and Craig's list are great places to pick up stick blenders and containers for soap making.

Once your mixture reaches the trace stage it is time to pour it into your molds. Lucky for me my friend has beautiful soap molds, but you can use just about any container.

Now we have to wait. First the soap sits in the mold wrapped in a towel for 48 hours.

After the 48 hours is up, pop your soap out of the molds. The soap needs to sure and it is best that air can circulate around it. If not you will have to turn it. This takes a few more weeks and then your soap is ready to go.

Making soap is a lot of fun. It really isn't hard. It's frugal! And homemade soap is sooo good and doesn't have any junk that you don't want. There is tons of information on line and many great soap making books. I urge you to give it a try.

Next up for us, we will be taking some of our Homesteader Soap and milling it to add herbs and essential oils. Yep! We're going to try our hands at making some fancy soap. I'll let you know how it turns out.

{this moment} First of the Season

{this moment} - A Friday ritual inspired by Amanda, aka Soule Mama. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

~~~~

~~~~~

In gratitude this week for:

~the first black raspberries

~a day at the river with friends

~drains that actually drain quickly and in the right place

~the gift of a new bed for one of the girls.

Wishing you all a blessed weekend.

Summer Solstice

After the long New England winter and Spring Mud Season the arrival of Summer is a much celebrated time. Yesterday the girls and I had a wonderful day celebrating the sun and thanking God for the beauty of summer in New England.

We had fun making this sun cake for desert. We are lucky to have a field of wild flower right around the corner, so we took a walk to pick the daisy for our cake.

We had fun making sun stars to decorate the living room windows. I love how the sun shines through them in the morning. Here is a link if you would like to make your own.



Then it was dinner cooked in and over the fire pit. Roasted corn on the cob, hobo packet potatoes and hot dogs. Sun tea the girls made earlier in the day. It was yummy!




And we finished with toasted marshmallow and s'mores! A perfect day to celebrate the sunshine! We are so glad summer is finally here! Hope you had a wonderful 1st day of summer!

April Fools

I was so excited to spot the first Robin just the other day, a sure sign of Spring. The days were getting a little warmer, the snow was beginning to recede and the mud, the glorious mud was turning up everywhere. Mud in New England is the surest sign of Spring. And so when the weather man started predicting a BIG snow storm heading our way on April 1st, many of us were hoping it was one of the biggest April Fools jokes ever played. Not so. This is the view from our kitchen window this morning. Lots of snow and not a Robin in sight. And the snow is still coming down. Hopefully the temperatures will rise quickly and the snow wont last long. I am ready for Spring! And I just wanted to share this cute April Fool's story I found over at Bending Birches, a lovely Waldorf inspired blog. I love how she "acted" out the story for her children.

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual inspired by Amanda, aka Soule Mama. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

~~~~~

~~~~~

In gratitude this week for:

• Family coloring
• Snow, lots of beautiful white snow
• An extra day off for hubby
• A finished sewing project
• Little girl giggles

Wishing you all a glorious weekend!

In Color

All the grayness outside has me looking for little spots of color inside. Lemons, Pencils, and Sewing Projects. Photographed and edited by my daughter Sarah.

Photo Journal - Winter's Arrival

Our first winter storm greeted up the other morning. We were all happy to see snow instead of the dead and grey of a snowless winter. Everyone was excited to bundle up. The younger two took to the back yard to build a snow house. Sarah headed into the woods to capture the beauty around us. I am always impressed with ability to capture such simple beauty that many would just pass by. Enjoy your journey through our snowy wonderland.

Along one of our favorite trail through the forest.

A snowball's shadow.


The sun rings.

An abandoned shack.

Through the birch.

Hey la, hey la, my Girls are back!

We've been raising laying hens since the spring of 2009 and have LOVED fresh eggs. Oh the joy of heading to the coop first thing in the morning to collect the eggs, knowing that in only minutes they would become a delicious and nourishing breakfast for my family. So you can imagine the disappointment and frustration when my lovely girls began to molt and their eggs were no where to be found.

It has been months and not a single egg. Then there was an occasional egg. One egg was wonderful but not enough for our family by a long shot. Now imagine my joy when there were six, yes six lovely, fresh, delicious eggs from my girls. That was a few days ago and now there are eight eggs a day. Oh the joy. The poached eggs, the fried eggs, the omelettes, the quiches and frittatas!

Our simple coop my wonderful husband designed and built. Crazy as it sounds I love the anticipation as I walk out in the morning - what will my darling girls have for my this morning?

EGGS! Beautiful, delicious, nutritious eggs.

Can I tell you - My Girls are back! Hey la, hey la, My Girls are back!

It's Here

I was so excited to find the latest issue of the Plain and Joyful Living newsletter in the mailbox the other day. I finally had a chance to sit down with a cup of coffee and enjoy every article (even one written by your truly) and letter included. What a joyful few minutes. This issue is packed full of inspiration, stories and ideas. There is even a squash recipe I put on the menu for this week. Tonya does such a lovely job. There is something so heartwarming about receiving a handwritten newsletter. It feels as if it was written just for you. I wont share too many of the details but I urge you to consider a subscription of your own.

In the Kitchen this Week

The black raspberries are abundant this year. The bushes are overflowing with the beautiful black fruit. The girls and I have been picking, eating and freezing lots of them.

We have also baked a lot of loaves of this wonderful double berry strussel bread. YUMMY!

We made fresh pasta the other night for dinner. The dough was a little sticky and wouldn't go through our pasta cutter, so we cut it by hand. It tasted good, but was a little too thick for the girls liking. We will definitely making pasta again, but will try another recipe.

And finally after what seems like forever, the garden is starting to produce. We have picked 6 pounds of green beans. Most of them have made it to the freezer. Wish I could say the same thing for the peas. They were eaten as fast as I picked them.

We have also had a handful of cherry tomatoes. Boy were they yummy! We have two large tomatoes that should be ready in a day or two and tons of green ones.

And then there is the sourdough starter that a lovely friend gave me. I have been feeding it daily for the last week and finally baked bread last night. It was yummy toasted with butter this morning for breakfast.

What's happening in your kitchen this week?

~ ~ Plain and Joyful Living Newsletter ~ ~ A Snail Mail Blessings

A few weeks back I was contacted by the beautiful Tonya from the blog Plain and Joyful Living. I was honored when she asked me to write an article for her family's newsletter. Little did Tonya know I had been reading her blog faithfully for some time and was saving money to order her quarterly newsletter.

God works in mysterious ways. The night before I received Tonya's request I had said to the girls, wouldn't it be wonderful if I could make a few extra dollars from our blog? I didn't want anything big and commercial. I didn't want advertisements or coupon bar. Just something simple. Something wholesome. Something just like writing an article for a lovely newsletter that embodies what I hold near and dear. So in the morning when I received Tonya's request with the idea of writing an article for a few dollars I was in awe of God's provision. Of course I had to relay this to Tonya who agreed it was God's hand at work. For she had never before asked someone she had not met in person to write for the newsletter!

Ask an it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Matthew 7:7-8

So I wrote my first article and was honored to have it included in the summer edition of the Plain and Joyful Newsletter. The newsletter itself is a blessing. It is handwritten by its contributors with beautiful black and white illustrations. Each article will inspire the reader. There is humor and beauty throughout its pages. It was a pure and simple joy to sit on the front porch with my morning coffee and savor each page. And if you can believe it there are a few more project ideas in this head of mine.

Please visit Tonya's blog, Plain and Joyful Living, and consider subscribing to this lovely newsletter. There is something heart warming about receiving a handwritten newsletter via snail mail. You can find information about the newsletter in the sidebar of the blog.