Twine Wrapped Wreath

Let me start with an apology. Here I am for the past month celebrating each and every possible sign of the coming spring and pouting whenever we take a step back and get snow when I am the one to blame. I have seeds started and herbs growing in the raised beds but apparently I was the reason spring had not truly sprung. It occurred to me the other afternoon when I opened my front door and I was staring at my Christmas wreath.

Ugh, this picture is terrible but is there really a way

to make a Christmas wreath look good in April?

My actions have been begging for warmer weather but my decor had not. I vowed then and there to not only remove the guilty party but replace it with something worthy of sunny days and higher temperatures.

Just the other day I found some great deals while shopping in town. This "Welcome" mat and stamped metal pots were inspiring my front porch. I wanted a wreath to echo the color and texture of my latest purchases. With my hermit personality, I scavenged the garage and fabric closet. Versions of wrapped wreaths can be found everywhere so this is by no means an original and I would have never thought to make it had I not found a broken Styrofoam form in my salvaged pile. However, I do think using baler twine to wrap, as opposed to ribbon or pretty yarns makes it very "me." Let me tell you it is amazing what girl can accomplish with a glue gun.

Baler twine and a broken Styrofoam form

I cut the twine into managable lengths (did you see the size of that roll?). The twine was tied to the form and wrapped, no fancy tricks there. And the wrapping was just that, no right or wrong way, just making sure the form was covered. After the first layer was tight and complete, I did wrap around a couple more times, so it wouldn't look so perfect and finished.

When the wreath was about half wrapped I put it aside to worry about what to accent it with. I remembered these and decided to go with it. I made a bunch of flowers, roses and such, all different fabrics... muslin, t-shirts, lace, wool, felt. I could not decide which I liked, if any. When they were lying on the counter like this, it clicked.

Like me, a little bit of everything... and in my opinion, it worked. So I glued them on, stuck in a few dried flowers here and there and was done.

What do you think? A little bit "farm" but still pretty. I'm allowed to do that right?

I think the door deserves a fresh coat of paint to go with this pretty wrapped wreath. I can't wait to see it gracing the front door of this blue house in the near future.

Just another way "something" can be made of seemingly "nothing."

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A HUGE thanks to Verde Farm and Dandelion House for hosting such a great blog hop. I know I met a bunch of cool people, read tons of neat ideas and got some encouragement last week so be sure to visit today and look at all they have going on!

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Remember our post a couple weeks ago about how you can make thick and creamy Greek style yogurt at home? At the bottom I alluded to yet another yummy thing to craft from homemade yogurt. Well, I have been enjoying this something all week and I'm finally ready to share a gourmet food secret with you from my kitchen. Come back Good Food Friday for a super recipe and a challenge!

Weekend Farming

Monday again. Spring break is over and the kids are back in school. I hate packing lunches. The weekend was a super ending to a lazy break. Can you believe that I hadn't gone further than the end of my driveway for an entire week? We piled into the family vehicle (yes, a minivan) yesterday to get more food to feed all these kids and tarps for a chicken project. It is April and the coop gets its spring cleaning plus a few improvements. I'm thinking a small hay/straw loft, insulation board, and feed storage bins.

The tractor was on the property this weekend cleaning out winter's worth of chicken nasty. The good news about small family farms is that this gross stuff is never too much for our own land to handle. Chicken bedding makes its way from the coop over to fertilize the garden every spring.

Blake's dad has been wanting to teach me to drive tractor but I refuse. Yes, this is where I draw the line. Dig fence post holes and identify edible weeds, check. Milk a goat and scrub out disgusting cow waterer, check. Butcher chickens, double check. Drive tractor? No way.

While Blake was outside handling the big jobs, I was inside starting the second round of seeds. Not too many this time, just some paste tomatoes, herbs, marigolds, extra peppers and some more broccoli. We get the soil from behind the house, in the woods. This stuff is black gold for our little seedlings.

Confession: during planting I was also eating a yummy raspberry amaretto coffee cake still warm from the oven and a cup of coffee... but don't tell... This is probably the real reason I won't drive tractor.

And then a fitting tribute to starting this years garden is consuming last years harvest. I can't tell you how excited I was to sit and enjoy this meal.

Garlic-lemon green beans

Beans and greens (with frozen beet greens)

Butternut squash soup

Brown rice

Lamb roast (Blake's mom's contribution)

and...

a glass of homemade red wine

dessert? the rest of the coffee cake...

Being able to eat a meal where I have seen most of its ingredients from seed to table can be described in only one word: satisfying. I have to find satisfaction in providing for my family's most basic needs as any real homemaker would but it is an exhausting and sometimes hard place to be. The tasks are made easier when I just accept that these are my shoes to fill today so I'm going to do my best. Of course just minutes before writing this I swore to collapse as soon as this post is published and give up for the night, but this minute to myself puts me back on track. Thanks, blog friends, for holding me accountable.

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Oh, and just to keep you in the loop, my mailbox was hit again, this time we suspect it was a metal pipe. To do this kind of damage they would have had to actually gotten out of the vehicle and smashed the box... sigh... silly people.

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Does anyone else think it is funny that weekend activities at both Lauren's blue house and mine included plowing the garden and starting more seeds? See, just another way our lives are strangely parallel.

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And we joined up for the Homestead Barn Hop. If you are new welcome and please come again. For our regulars be sure to check out all the great blogs linked up.

Hosted by:

Homestead Revival
The Prairie Homestead
New Life On A Homestead

A Blossoming Homestead

Breaking Ground

I have been thinking a lot about our "life style". That is what Gary refers to it as. He tells people, "can't our life style is different" when asked about different opportunities for our free time. I guess it really is...

Our first year with the tractor and Gary is really putting it to the test. Before it rains he will have disked, limed, and roped off part of our new plot. Better start more seeds after dinner. 

Two for the Price of One

Jelly jars or drinking glasses?

I was struck by an idea for new drinking glasses. Up until now we have been using wide mouth pint canning jars that we bought for our wedding reception. They are great for coffee, water, milk, whatever and they fit our "farm house" style. But the funniest thing happens to my drinking glasses... they wander off. Out of the two dozen jars taken out of the garage and put on my kitchen shelves I currently count four actually in the kitchen. The rest? Lost to oblivion. I honestly don't know where the other twenty jars have gone. They aren't in the house. They really aren't in the garage and they aren't in the car. They just disappear. 

Well the thought of wasting any more perfectly good canning jars on anything but canning is something I can't stand to think of at the beginning of this gardening season. In fact, all I can think of  now is how to get more canning jars (if you have any ideas let me know). The frustration of having someone over and NOT having a drinking glass to offer is mounting. I am desperate and that makes me creative. OK. That is a bit extreme...

Gary did some grocery shopping for me not to long ago and picked up this new jelly. I am not sure what it was that made him buy this brand. It was on the bottom shelf (basically the floor) of the grocery store we frequent but it tasted pretty good. A bit thin for my taste but sweet and flavorful. Anyway, we finished the first jar and liked it enough to buy more. This week I was at the store and noticed they were selling this jelly brand 2 for $3.00 and our store tends to run similar specials fairly often so it struck me. I would keep buying this brand of jelly and replace my drinking glasses! We always save jars. Something about a glass jar just makes me freak out to even think about throwing it out. They are lovely. Sturdy. Have lids. And I always think... I can use this for something. TaDa! 

Meet (my slow to accumulate) new drinking glasses.

Do you see the bottles in the window?
Those are part of my future revamped pantry.
There is a Before & After not far away...

Ghetto or genius? You tell me.
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We are joining up again with Farm Friend Friday over at Verde Farm. Verde Farm has also joined up with Dandelion House for Farm Girl Friday. It is just one big party!

Welcome new comers. Won't you stay awhile and please come again? Thank you!

Good Food Friday: Pasta Fagioli

After spending Monday and Tuesday having visitors to my blue house, it was nice to have nothing to do on Wednesday. And when I say nothing, I never actually mean nothing. I spent the day in and out of the kitchen catching up on things. Breads needed to be baked, beans needed to be cooked and I could not forget dessert. There was even a bag of yogurt hanging from the cupboard, dripping slowly to become cheese. After a bit of kneeding and stirring, I took a loaf of hot bread over to a neighbors for lunch. When we returned, the kids headed to the basement and I attempted a nap. Anyone who has kids know that naps are only attempted never guaranteed. I awoke startled to a shrill scream.

SNOW.

Yes, snow, when just twenty minutes ago there were patches of brownish green grass struggling for new spring growth. I pulled on anther layer of clothing, turned up the heat a few degrees and headed back to the kitchen, this time with supper on my mind. Soup? Of course. I mean, how much longer am I going to get away with that for dinner and with the white stuff again coating the landscapes, who would argue.

This is probably my favorite soup. The right amount of spicy and plenty of protein. Though traditionally a meatless dish, the turkey sausage helps make this a meal on its own, even for the guys. Although the word pasta is in the title, there is none in my soup so feel free to add some the last few minutes. Rice is also nice!

Pasta Fagioli

(Fa - zool)

Ingredients:

• olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic (less if you don't love it)
• 3 carrots
• 2 ribs celery
• 1 pkg lean Italian turkey sausage - spicy (1.25 lbs) casings removed
• 1 quart tomato sauce
• 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 1/2 quarts water
• 2 bouillon cubes
• 3 cups cooked great northern beans
• 3 handfuls kale or spinach or combination
• pinch each thyme and red pepper flakes

Directions:

• Saute garlic in olive oil. Add finely chopped carrots and celery. Add turkey sausage and cook thoroughly. Add sauce, tomatoes, water, bouillon, beans, greens and seasonings. Simmer for 30 minutes. Serve warm topped with freshly grated parmesan cheese and warm bread.

Here are a few photos of my day in the kitchen.

spelt-rye bread

bread helper

gluten free peanut butter cookies

cookie helper

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It is snowing again this morning. Wish I could say "April fools"....