Archive for December, 2008

Delicious winter, Part 2. Also, how we fell in love.

December 18, 2008 · Filed under I'm Momma; this is my family., We are busy in the kitchen.

In addition to homemade applesauce this winter, we will also be enjoying Vitamin C-packed homemade sauerkraut. Thanks to the tremendous physical effort of our local Kraut Master, we’ve got a stoneware crock of the bubbling goodness fermenting away in our basement at this very moment.

It began with the highly sought-after Cabbage Award, which was awarded to Isadora and myself at our food coop. Among the other groceries on our list, we managed to pile over 50 lbs of delicious, locally-grown, organic cabbage into our shopping cart. If grocery shopping is synonymous with drudgery on your To-Do list, I suggest filling your cart with about 20 heads of cabbage. I guarantee it will change your outlook – there’s just something inherently funny about pushing a cart full of cabbage through the store. Isadora and I giggled the whole way and waited with anticipation to ask the check-out clerk if we had won the award. Turns out we were, in fact, the shoppers with the biggest purchase of cabbage that day, and we basked in our glory as the chartreuse vegetables rolled their way down the conveyor belt. Of course, there was the press conference to follow, as well as sizing for our sashes, Miss America style, not to mention the tiaras. We could barely contain our excitement long enough to load said cabbage into the car and call Daddio with the good news. Daddio, in this story, also bears the title of Kraut Master.

I suppose it could be said that kraut, of the homemade variety, was an instrumental force in cementing the budding relationship of our younger selves. We had only recently begun going out, and were deeply entrenched in the requisite get-to-know-you period, which revealed favorable attributes to each other. At the same time, we were exploring the meet-the-immediate-family stage, which also proved to be highly successful, at least from this vantage point. (they didn’t protest, far as I can tell) Then, that first summer, I was invited to a family gathering to meet the extended family – grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins. And there was kraut. Homemade sauerkraut, best I’ve ever tasted, and every molecule of my German heritage buzzed with approval at the match. This man was likely a good catch; more time would certainly tell. His family, on the other hand, was undoubtedly one worth marrying into. And from that point, the celestial motion was set. We were bound together, traveling down this this inevitable path toward the very auspicious day when that which was foretold long ago would come to fruition. Kraut day.

I believe that “normal” people who make kraut (i.e. ones not bound by a rich family heritage of illustrious kraut-making) use a food processor to shred the cabbage. Not the case for this Kraut Master. Upon announcing the decision to carry forth the family tradition, he was bequeathed the equipment necessary to complete the task. A stoneware crock, a wooden tamper for pounding the shredded cabbage and releasing the juice, and the archaic-looking box grater for shredding were carefully handed over. Then the shredding began. And continued. And continued. Shred, pound, add salt. Shred, pound, add salt. Over and over, with his muscles on the verge of failure, these 50 pounds of cabbage were transformed into the makings of kraut by the able hands of the Kraut Master. It was a proud day in our home, fulfilling this destiny, and we look with much anticipation to the day when we can enjoy the fruits of his labor.

Comments (8) »

This winter promises to be delicious. Part 1.

December 15, 2008 · Filed under We are busy in the kitchen.

Quite a while ago, while I was deep in the trenches of the First-Trimester Blahs, I started the process of making applesauce. The first tiny batch was made from the bounty of our own neglected apple tree and proved so delicious I decided to commit to canning a whole box of apples, this time from the nearby orchard.

I quickly perfected the process, which couldn’t be more simple. Cut the apples, cook, strain, process with food mill… this was as far as the Blahs would let me get. From that point, the Ready-to-Season-and-Can applesauce was transferred to large containers in The To-Be-Canned Staging Area, more commonly known as our chest freezer. I just pulled them out on Friday and finished what I had started months ago.

Digression:

And now seems like the most appropriate time to interject the first in a series of B. Family Vocabulary lessons, to better allow me to describe this applesauce process in more detail. Listen carefully, and impress your friends with your expanded vocabulary.

It seems we operate with our very own lexicon here at Five Green Acres, and we’re working diligently to pass this, our greatest legacy, on to our child(ren). (Isadora already peppers her speech with perfectly inserted exclamations of “Cripes!”, making our hearts swell with parental pride. Really.) Many of the words of our private dialect are ones we’ve conjured ourselves; Andrew mostly, with my enthusiastic approval. Others are colorful phrases passed down carefully through generations of the B. family. This first Lesson happens to be one of those, I think – something akin to a regional slang expression, but used almost exclusively within the B. family.

The phrase is “Cat’s Ass.” It’s a metaphor, used like the more-familiar “Bee’s Knees” or “Cat’s Meow” in exclamations like, “These cookies (the best I’ve had in a while) are the Cat’s Meow!” Simply insert “Cat’s Ass” here, and you’ve got the jist of this more-colorful exclamation. Surely you can imagine how a handy phrase like this has plenty of practical applications. In this context of making applesauce, I found I just couldn’t express my full sentiment without first clarifying the terms.

Making the applesauce:

In this method, there’s no need to peel or core the apples. Yahoo! Simply cut off the imperfections and embedded worms and throw the quartered apples into the pot to cook until soft. Then, when they’re nice and soft like applesauce should be, transfer the lot to the food mill. (shown in top picture)

Crank the handle and watch the mill separate the rose-colored goodness of the sauce from the chaff of the peel and core. It’s pure magic. If you don’t yet have a food mill and plan on doing any kind of canning yourself, run out RIGHT NOW and get one. It’s the Cat’s Ass. I’ve used it a few times this canning season already and found it to be worth its weight in gold. Think tomato sauce!

I found the inspiration and know-how here, at one of my favorite cyber spots. I chose to add some maple syrup to sweeten it just a bit and dusted with a fresh grating of nutmeg. Have you ever used the whole nutmeg and grated your own? If not, DO TRY. There’s a world of difference between fresh-grated and pre-ground nutmeg. I’d go so far as to say that whole nutmeg is the Cat’s Ass.

Jeweled beauties, all lined up on our pantry shelves…

Oh, and…class dismissed!

Comments (2) »

How to: Puffy Applique Tutorial

December 12, 2008 · Filed under I'll show you how! · Tagged ,

Here’s a completed Christmas gift I thought I’d share, which means I get to cross something (albeit small) off my to-do list. I made the appliqué from a kid-sized sweater and a salvaged tshirt, and in a moment of inspiration, thought I’d try a slight departure from my normal appliques and make it a bit more 3D. Following is a tutorial for it, though it’s certainly not rocket science. Sometimes I find that all I need to just do a project is someone spelling it out for me, so that I don’t have to think about it. Maybe you can also benefit from this…

Puffy Applique Tutorial

Materials:

Applique source. Look for great designs on thrift store tshirts, sweaters, etc. Or cut out your own. Felted wool from sweaters would work really nicely.

Backing fabric. I like to contrast my fabric textures and chose a tshirt knit to contrast the sweater, but anything will do. See what kind of great color combos you can make!

Fusible webbing. Also known by brand names Wunder Under and Heat & Bond, among others. Regular weight is appropriate, as you’ll be sewing through it. Or, if sewing freaks you out, get the heavy-duty craft version and just iron the bejeezes out of it. Ask your friendly fabric shop staff for direction here.

Stuffing. Poly-fill works well. As does the miscellaneous stuffing from a pillow you no longer want, or one that’s real cheap at the thrift store. Or shedded dog fur. Hee hee.

Chopstick or other poking device. Really crucial for getting the stuffing into those hard-to-reach places.

Something to apply applique to. I’ve appliqued this tote bag. A tshirt would be nice, a pillow, tea cozy, you name it. Incidentally, if you find yourself wanting a nicely-colored, inexpensive tote bag, I’ve got some here.

Directions:

1. Cut out applique and backing fabric (mine is the kelly green tshirt in this example), leaving a generous border around each. Apply fusible webbing to the back side of the backing fabric. It also helps to stabilize a crazy, all-over-the-place fabric like tshirt knit.

2. Place applique on backing fabric, and sew it on, making sure to LEAVE AN OPENING for the stuffing. I find that a free motion foot is infinitely useful for all appliqué applications. I sew around the perimeter of the appliqué design, trim off the excess border, and then sew down that edge for extra reinforcement. If you’d rather not sew it, I suppose you could apply a thin perimeter of fusible webbing around the edge and iron it on, leaving a stuffing opening. Really, though, you’d be doing yourself a HUGE favor if you run out, right now, and find someone who knows how to sew to teach you. There’s more and more of us every day. Sewing is power; embrace it. (I digress.)

3. Insert your stuffing to your heart’s content, making it as flat or as fluffy as you wish. Here’s where the chopstick comes in real handy.

4. Sew up the opening left for stuffing.

5. Iron appliqué on to your desired base. (tote bag, etc) Sew the perimeter to reinforce it.

6. Take a picture of it and show us what you’ve made!

Like I said, there’s nothing profound or difficult in the process here, and the whole tutorial could have been easily written by Captain Obvious. Perhaps it’s just the inspiration you needed, though, to finish off your own crafty Holiday list.

Leave a comment »

Notes from the sidebar.

December 10, 2008 · Filed under I make things.

Edited to add:  ALL inventory is now, finally, updated on Etsy.

About half of my organic cotton baby clothing inventory is now posted on Etsy. You can find a handy link on the top of the side bar, for your shopping convenience. I’ll be diligently uploading the rest to my etsy shop momentarily. (like these Top and Bottom sets shown above, which are waiting in the wings)

Part of this inventory also includes a smattering of organic cotton infant hats, which I’ve promised to SouleMama for her Caps to Cap-Haitien project. Check it out – there’s still a tiny bit of time to participate if you’d like!

AND, with the holidays fast-approaching, I thought I’d point out a link that’s been on my sidebar for a while now.

For my purposes, this means that I’ll be making or buying handmade gifts for everyone on my list this year. I did, however, take the liberty to add my own caveat: in addition to (or as an alternative to) the handmade, I’m also allowed to buy second-hand. I think it’s in the same spirit of the pledge – infusing a little more heart into the gift-giving rigmarole and removing a bit of the mass-commercialism. It’s certainly in the spirit of how I try to do things anyways, so this is likely no revelation to anyone who knows me, or has even met me briefly. The official-ness of the pledge has just solidified my resolve a bit more, and I’ve got all my shopping pretty much done. Unfortunately, this means I still have lots and lots of Making ahead of me, which I’m looking forward to, but hoping to do in an enjoyable, relaxed, not-in-a-furious-hurry-the-morning-we-leave-for-our-Christmas-celebrations manner. Again, if you know me at all, you may realize the loftiness of that goal. And, as most of the (LUCKY!) recipients of these gifts are right now at the edge of their seats reading this blog, I can’t do much by way of giving the rest of you sneak peeks or updates on my progress.

Still, I think there will be plenty else to report here in the weeks (WHAT??! ONLY TWO WEEKS??!!) to come. Damn. Better get busy.

Fa la la la la!

Comments (1) »

Snowy, snowy.

December 9, 2008 · Filed under We play outside.

Sunday was the day we set out to select our Christmas tree. We headed straight for the tree farm we discovered last year and again found a huge selection of beautiful trees paired with the wonderfully friendly service of the family-owned business. Most importantly, there was hot chocolate, served with an abundance of mini marshmallows.

We grownups quickly set about finding the tree, while Isadora surveyed the snow scene. Daylight was waning, but we all proved successful in our respective seeking- Isadora quickly spotted this “giant snowball” and we were quick to find the tree that would grace our living room for the season.

The timing was perfect. The sky was the color of platinum, releasing the snowflakes gently into the stillness. It was the kind of snow you could hear falling, if you listened carefully enough. The stillness was punctuated with the giggles and chatter of others seeking out their trees, as well as the shrieks from our own 3-yr-old, experiencing the snow for what you would imagine to be the first time ever. It certainly wasn’t her first time in the snow; we’ve already had a few inches this season. But isn’t that the magic of childhood? To be able to approach familiar experiences as if for the first time, every time, is truly a gift incumbent in childhood. And a gift for us parents, as well, as we plug into that magic secondhand.

Comments (1) »

A brief history. Also, Buy local, buy handmade.

December 5, 2008 · Filed under I make things.

Once upon a time, there was a Girl with a magic yellow bag. It glowed like the sun itself and radiated its enveloping warmth for miles around. Inside this bag of velvet, the girl kept her prized collection of vials. Made of the purest crystal and sealed with a bright red wax, they kept safe the glittering, glowing essences with which this Girl was to fashion a future. The vials were of different sizes, and their contents each sparkled with a spectacular hue, unlike anything found within this world’s color spectrum. If one were to examine the contents of the largest vial in a scientific manner, they would easily identify the prominent components as Love and Lifelong Partnership, interspersed with yet-unidentified elements. The delicately written script on the vial’s label merely says Family.

Inspection of another vial would yield the findings of Aesthetics, Mastery of Color, Skill, and Composition. It was simply titled Art Degree.

There was also the Endowments vial, composed of Resourcefulness, Craftsmanship, Wit, and Work Ethic. It was a vial being filled from the very time she was born, mostly through the tireless efforts of her family.

And not to be missed was the vial labeled Pie-Eyed Optimism. No doubt it contained Courage, Naivety, Hope, and Faith.

Soon, the time came for her and her Partner to lay the groundwork for this Future, so into the bag she went. (Her Partner, the Boy, had his own magic bag) With the slightest bit of alchemy, she concocted the best mix she could muster, closed her eyes, and hoped for the best as she released the glittering dust into the breeze. Up and up and up it went, to join its respective place amongst the stars in the orchestral choreography that is Life.

Re+New Storefront

In the blink of an eye, they found themselves back where they had recently moved from. Indeed, it was henceforth to be known as Home. But even before the work could commence to transform Place into Home, she found herself engaged in another endeavor. Born of the vials’ glittery mix, a Storefront had sprouted and a Business was being formed. It was a business based on that which she made with her hands, born of meager means and weighted heavily with Pie-Eyed Optimism, too much, it seems now, through the ever-clear filter of time. A more experienced alchemist would have surely added more Planning and Prudence and Patience to the mix, ignoring their lackluster appearance in the vials and recognizing their necessary purposes.

But even before this could become apparent, a new ingredient surfaced. An entirely new ingredient, born from the mysterious components of Family, and at the whim of the Universe. The Girl and her Partner now found themselves joined by Baby.

baby steve

Soon after the arrival of the Baby, it became clear that a new recipe was in order. Back to the magic bag went the Girl, creating again the best mix her accumulated but limited wisdom could muster. The Storefront softly melted into the past, and the Business was transformed. Still born from the Girl’s hands, it was now based entirely around the Baby – the girl’s and everyone else’s. Beautiful clothing was made for the Babies, made feverishly by the Girl and loved by the Moms and Dads of the Babies. The Business bloomed and the Girl worked continuously, trying to balance the roles as Momma and Partner and Entrepreneur.

harvest-moon-isadora2

Then the wind changed direction and the Girl and the Boy were again summoned to their magic bags. Mixing and hoping and searching for just the right components, they sent their concoction off into the wind to materialize into something new, something big. Time stood still, dragged on, molding possibilities for their review. The concoction of glittery dust was remixed, revised, and tweaked ever so slightly. Slowly, slowly, it seemed to the Girl, a sea change was at hand, but slow yet graceful in its arrival. Woefully short of Patience in her magic bag, the Girl waited and waited. But magic takes time, we all know, and soon enough the Girl, the Boy, and the Baby found themselves whisked away in the suddenly swift tide of their sea change. As the water subsided and the tide was drawn back out to sea, the Family was deposited on a new shore, in a new universe, it seemed, but with the boundaries of Home expanded to include this new world.

Yet at the same time, the definition of Home began to shrink from
Geographic Area to House Where We Forge Our Lives. A dusty, but beautifully detailed sign hung outside the door and read “Five Green Acres”. The Girl and the Boy and the Baby were ushered into this new world by a flock of friendly, chattering Hens and they knew they were, indeed, embarking on a new path.

img_2563

The Business was reassessed by the Girl, who was left with little resources to give to it, emotionally or otherwise, and it too, began to slowly fade into the past. The many Remnants of that work were tucked away into nooks and crannies, to hibernate until they could be pulled out again and released. The Girl continued Making With Her Hands, just as she continued to breathe and eat and sleep, but That Which Was Made was for the Home, rather than for the Moms and Dads.

And now those Remnants beckoned from their nooks and crannies. An opportunity to release them into the world materialized, and the Girl accepted the challenge, and began preparing them for their glorious exit from her world into the worlds of other Moms and Dads. With all that was new on the horizon, it seemed necessary to take these final steps with the Business and and her Remnants before new opportunities could be embraced. Out with the old, in with the new, if you will.

And all of this has been a rather convoluted way of saying, “Join me, if you’re in town (Madison), at the Holiday Craftacular on Saturday. ” (Click on the poster image at the top of the post for more details)

That’s tomorrow. I’ll be there, offering the deliciously-colored organic cotton baby onesies that I’ve prepared just for you. And if you find yourself not geographically inclined to visit, I’ll be putting the remaining items up for sale online early next week.  Pop in, mention that you read about it here, on the blog, and you’re in for a Super-Surprise-Prize!

Hope to see you there.

Comments (4) »