Tag: around the house (Page 23 of 27)

Check Out ‘Mystic Orb’ for Holiday Gifts!

November 13, 2010 / Lindsey / 6 Comments

A few months ago I discovered Mystic Orb, an Etsy store run by two wonderful people, Jeff and Taryn out in Oregon. Jeff is an incredible woodcarver; if you’re looking for a gift, definitely check them out. They do custom stuff, too.

I bought two gifts for myself and absolutely love them!

The necklace I got is a woodcarving of a tree silhouetted against a rising moon. Normally I like to wear small jewelery, so I was hoping this wouldn’t look “too big” on me, but it doesn’t. I totally love it! And it’s very lightweight; I don’t even notice it’s on.

The other thing I got was a set of 7 buttons made from deer antlers they found in the forest. I was so excited to see those buttons, because I had just the perfect thing to put them on! I have this beautiful vintage wool coat that I found for $15 at an estate sale. It was the last day of the sale and people had been oohing and ahhing over that coat, but nobody could fit into it. It had been custom-made for whoever had lived at the house — made probably in the 1940s. I loved it and tried it on, and it fit perfectly! Everyone insisted that the coat should be mine, except I didn’t have money with me, and they were closing down soon. A nice gentleman overheard the situation and wanted so much for me to have the coat that he handed me a $20 bill along with a business card with his mailing address, saying “just repay me when you can.” Since two of the coat’s original buttons were missing, I replaced them all with the closest match I could find — plastic imitations from the fabric store. The plastic ones weren’t too bad, but I’d been hoping to upgrade them…and I’m so happy to now have these antler buttons! I think they add a really cool look to the coat.

Here are the plastic buttons before I replaced them:

Old plastic buttons...

And here are the new antler buttons! Much better!

New antler buttons!

Apple Harvest Time!

October 6, 2010 / Lindsey / 0 Comments

Happy Harvest!

Boy, it sure is that time of the year. Packed & stacked refrigerator and freezer, bags of beautiful, just-picked organic fruit on the counters, busy-busy-busyness getting it all put up for the winter. It’s a rush against nature’s unforgiving timeline…trying to eat, freeze — and occasionally can — the bounty before it begins its process of ‘going back into the earth’ right there on the refrigerator shelf. Busy, yes, but I love this time of the year!

The weather here has been glorious, and on Friday I had a lovely time picking apples from my parents’ Red Delicious tree in their backyard. Between the squirrels and the coddling moths, there weren’t many apples left for us, but I found a clutch of nearly perfect ones hanging over the porch roof. With each impossibly juicy, crunchy bite, I remember how grateful I am that I can grow my own food. It’s a good, satisfying feeling. I think that’s the way we’re meant to feel about the food we eat — filled with pride and appreciation that can only come from watching your food progress from seed to blossom to bearing.

And did you know that apple seeds taste like little bitter almonds? I’ve never eaten the seeds before, but they’re really quite a taste sensation. But this would make sense, since they’re in the same family (Rose) as almonds. Try them sometime!

And here’s something else to try sometime. I dreamt up this snack over the weekend to use up some of our beautiful apples, and WOW! Yum.

Autumn Apple Salad

Apples, diced

Chevre (goat cheese), crumbled

Dried cranberries

Toasted pecans (or walnuts)

What have you been harvesting lately?

Our “Hoosier” Is Reborn!

September 9, 2010 / Lindsey / 3 Comments

Over the past Labor Day weekend, I felt like a little girl on Christmas morning, having just received a new play kitchen!

No, we haven’t moved…but we did rearrange some furniture in our apartment, and now I have a new toy! A “Hoosier kitchen.”

My hubby’s mom received this Hoosier many years ago, and she painstakingly refurbished it, stripping off multiple layers of paint and restoring it to its original glory. And it’s still in the family; F. has carted it with him wherever he’s moved — which I find amazing given its somewhat rickety and delicate build, circa 1912! It’s served mainly as a computer desk & miscellaneous junk storage hutch, but now it’s back in its original role in the kitchen as my new Baking Center and I can hardly get over my excitement! Especially since we’ve always had only this much counter space to work with, the addition of the Hoosier really upgrades the overall cooking experience in our kitchen! Take a look…

Baking supplies and spices in the top cabinet, fold-out flour dispenser (big pink thing) and jars of beans and grains in the left cabinet.

Making gazpacho at the Hoosier

We love the new setup!

And since we have so much garden produce at the moment, I’ve been working hard in the kitchen to use it up and bake things to put in the freezer for the coming winter. Here are some of my baking projects this past weekend: Italian Lamb Meatloaf (I added about a cup of shredded zucchini to the recipe, excess water squeezed out), Wild Grape freezer jam from grapes in our alley, gazpacho (we ate that up right away!), mixed herb pesto, and zucchini spice muffins; I had written up what I hoped would be a zucchini spice cookie recipe, but the batter was too wet, and so it turned into yummy muffins. They’re similar (no surprise!) to these Whole Wheat Zucchini Muffins.

Weekend cooking projects

August Photo Update

August 29, 2010 / Lindsey / 0 Comments

How have you been these past two weeks? Hopefully you’re out enjoying summer while it’s still around! The mornings are already getting cooler around here, and the autumn birds are beginning to sing. The garden is really at its peak, and we’ve been blessed with heaps of organic cucumbers, zucchini, kale, parsley, basil, cabbage, onions, potatoes, mini pumpkins, and tomatoes. I love the bounty! It’s the freshest, most organic, delicious, wholesome, high-vibration, grown-with-love food, and ingesting it just feels good! We are certainly eating like kings right now! I am so grateful for our garden.

August has been busy around here in a good way; my sister was in town for a week (so fun!), and Hubby and I went camping last weekend at my parents’ land which was completely wonderful. In the rush of work-a-day living, I forget how peaceful and healing it is to just hang out in nature. Sitting in the sun, looking out at the view, I kept thinking “This is life.” The weather couldn’t have been more perfect, and we just hung out and read, cooked at the coleman stove, drank tea, ate, laughed, watched chipmunks, ate wild currants, hiked around a little, and enjoyed the fresh mountain mornings, the twilight hour, a few shooting stars at night, and the nearly-full moon shining into our tent.

And since we had a rental car, I took all of our giveaway stuff to the thrift store drop-off after we got back; that stuff had been lingering in our entryway for far too long, and it felt great to clear it out. Doing that inspired me to clean up the rest of our house, too. It has been in shambles because we’re both too busy and too tired to devote energy to it. I find that in terms of the house, my outer realm both reflects and affects my inner realm. So when the house is out of control, it’s an accurate snapshot of my life at that moment in time. But if I take the time to really get it back under control (9 1/2 hours on Friday!), then I feel as if I have my whole life back under control. Whether your house is clean or dirty really affects your psyche more than I’ve ever realized.

Anyway, here are some photos from the past month:

The Garden in August

Cute sign

HAD to take a picture of these lovelies!

Camping

Each wild currant bush has its own taste.

Aspen on the Land, (c) The Herbangardener

Aspen grove on the Land

Look at that -- our campsite is as messy as our house!

Update + Garden Pictures

July 24, 2010 / Lindsey / 3 Comments

Scene from my mini vacation

Well, long time no post!

This past week was the death anniversary of my best friend Sonja – my soul sister – and it upset my emotional balance a little more than I would have liked. When that happens, in addition to surrendering to the sadness (rather than stuffing it), I know I need to devote extra time to good medicine, as well as make a point to get out of the house and do fun things. So on one of my days off, I rode my bike over to Hubby’s office and met him for lunch, which is something we both just totally love. On the way back I stopped at Whole Foods and wandered around, picking out some fun things while completely ignoring the exorbitant prices. On my other day off, my mom and I took a mini vacation day and drove to a botanic gardens area. We enjoyed the water gardens and natural woodlands amidst sprinkling rain, snarfed potato chips at the cafe, and relished how we had the place to ourselves. After that we went to Penzeys Spices (we get so inspired at that store!) and I bought some special peppercorns, expensive Ceylon cinnamon, smoked Spanish paprika, and Cajun seasoning (an all-time favorite). To top it off, we had drinks and a cookie at a little sidewalk cafe. Back at their house, I made a batch of homemade cat food, worked in the garden, and visited with mom and dad over wine and cheese. Lovely! Family, gardens, nature, mini vacations…those are all things that help lift the funk and get me re-energized for daily life.

In other news, it’s been pretty hot here. Though the sweltering 95-degree days are punctuated with not-as-hot days in the mid-80s. It’s been really nice actually.

And the garden is progressing well! The bell peppers and a few of the tomatoes are still puny, but the zucchini, cucumbers, cabbage, potatoes, onions, and the tomatoes I started early in the Walls-O-Water are doing very well. I harvested the first ripe tomato today, and I think in a week’s time there should be many more, as well as the first of the cucumbers; I did harvest a nice zucchini today which I cannot wait to sautee in the Penzeys Cajun seasoning — such amazing flavor!! The garden seems a bit delayed compared to some other years; we had a long, wet, cold spring, plus I did plant a little late this year due to surgery interfering with my normal seed-starting schedule. But that’s okay! I just love watching the veggie garden grow and produce. Here are a couple pictures of it: