I'm Momma; this is my family. « Five Green Acres

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Snow Day!

December 10, 2009 · Filed under I sew., I'm Momma; this is my family.

A blizzard brings with it many things.

To us, it brought over a foot of heavy, sticky snow.

It brought a buzz of excitement as, the night before, we trimmed the tree and hunkered down for the snow storm that would define all snow storms to come.

It brought a day off of work and school.

It brought some sewing time in the studio to work on the handmade portion of Sew Liberated’s Holiday Traditions Exchange.

It brought snow-caked hats and mittens and overalls drip-dropping by the woodstove.

And it brought a rugged man in long johns and a princess in pearls together over a bowl of frosty blue sugar crystals for the shared purpose of molasses cookies.

It may not have been Bring-Snowmen-to-Life-caliber snow, but it was no less magical.

Halloween Recap – 2009

November 2, 2009 · Filed under I'm Momma; this is my family.

Halloween morning presented the perfect opportunity to finally carve our pumpkins. The chill of the pumpkins’ cavernous innards was nicely tempered with the persistent warmth of the kitchen wood stove. The floor was awash in pumpkin detritus.

A modified Dorothy costume made its way into our Halloween festivities after all. This was for the best, I realized; it would have been waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too cold to wear any configuration of it Trick-or-Treating and still have it recognizable as Dorothy.

The Boy also enjoyed the festivities. Pumpkin is a widely accepted “first food,” right?

This Unicorn, though lame, lame by our usually-high “Halloween-is-Handmade” standards, was nonetheless very warm and pink and exuberant. In hindsight, it was a tremendous luxury to spend the time preceding Trick-or-Treating not scrambling with the final stages of costume production. It was uncharacteristically low-key this year, which was just what we needed, considering it was also the first weekend spent at home in a long, long, long time.

The Boy Who Was to Be a Chili Pepper was in fact too big to be a chili pepper and instead went as Brown Bear. Never mind that this is his normal Going Outside warm outfit, at least for the next 10 minutes, until he completely grows out of it.

After Trick-or-Treating, we hopped aboard a Haunted Hayride, where we spied a spooky Headless Horseman, then warmed ourselves with s’mores, popcorn, and hot chocolate by the bonfire. I could tell you that it was a great Halloween, just what we needed this year, but I think Errol says it all. We were worn out, but happy.

Mr. Dapper Man

September 22, 2009 · Filed under I sew., I'm Momma; this is my family.

A family wedding provided the perfect opportunity, er, excuse, to sew Errol a nice party suit. It was a prototype of sorts, crafted while he slept, with only some measurements and other clothes of his to use as a fitting guide. It’s about 90% perfect; a bit tight around the hay-belly, as you can see, and a smidge too tight around the big fat cloth diaper butt. I had no idea it would be so fun to make little clothes for a boy! Given the appalling lack of ready-to-wear options, it would seem that very little designing time was spent on the little guys. No matter – I can do it myself, thank you.

The fabric is some faux-herringbone velvet-like fabric I pulled from my stash. (this is why it’s nice to have a big stash) I lined the pants with white flannel for a comfy softness befitting wee, chubby legs. The bow tie, crowning the ensemble like a juicy red cherry, was actually a man-sized bow tie that I had to cut down to size and sew shut by hand. The embroidered running stitch along the edges of the vest was great fun too, and made for an entertaining ride in the car as we traveled to the wedding. Because of course I finished it hours before the wedding. Of course I did.

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Camping’s Last Hurrah

September 8, 2009 · Filed under I'm Momma; this is my family.

In an activity befitting the long Labor Day weekend, we set out with some dear friends for some end-of-the-season camping.

Oh, it was a wonderful weekend. The weather, perhaps trying to make amends for being so stingy with warmth this summer, put forth her very best effort.

There were babies and mushrooms; there was a nice mix of beach, perusing the local shops, exploring. And a waterfall, too.

And there was also A HAT.

I have a lot to tell you about this hat, but it will have to wait till tomorrow. Preschool has started today, and I have to make hay while the child count is down to one…

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Painting the Guinea Way

August 28, 2009 · Filed under I'm Momma; this is my family., We have chickens.

Every single time we go to the library, Isadora heads to a particular shelf in the Childrens’ Non Fiction area, one that contains books on each of the 50 states. I have no idea what draws her there. We’ve checked out a couple, but each time confirmed my suspicion that they were too advanced for her attention span. Or were they? In one attempt to read the book on Philadelphia, I broke into an explanation of the feather quill that was pictured, about how people a long time ago used to write with them. A seed was planted in that little brain, and recently she asked if she could try painting with one of the feathers discarded by our flock. Vinny the Guinea was first in line to donate for the cause.

The verdict? Tedious. Not quite fluid enough for this expressive artist – the quill end was rather useless to her, though painting with the feathered end seemed slightly more fulfilling. It was a short-lived project; more likely a lesson in Modern Tool Appreciation than in Art Development. But it was fun nonetheless and worth the effort. I’d like to be the fly on the wall when, at some point, she shares her historical knowledge of the quill pen. It’s all part of our special Prepare for Kindergarten Shock and Awe curriculum, where we fill her spongy brain with obscure knowledge and interesting tidbits for her to pull out later and impress her friends and teachers. My mom seems to think this method of teaching will get us lots of phone calls from the teacher like, “Was she really quoting The Princess Bride?” or “What is mullein?” I only hope the teachers can keep up.

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We are something like royalty

August 21, 2009 · Filed under I'm Momma; this is my family., We are busy in the kitchen.

Eating like kings…

+unintended, but perfectly appropriate sea-serpent-shaped 5 Minute Artisan Bread to accompany us to our nautical themed dinner party+

The King…

The Queen…

In the Counting House, counting all her money…

And the people of the kingdom rejoiced.

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Random Summer Snapshots

July 29, 2009 · Filed under I'm Momma; this is my family., We are busy in the kitchen., We grow things.

Let’s go on a visual tour of the last month’s highlights, shall we?

Broccoli harvest! It almost got away on us, with one head exuberantly bursting into flower while we weren’t looking. And we’re trying not to look very often, as each stolen, guilty glance reveals the plethora of weeds fornicating with abandon, growing their population exponentially with each day of our continued neglect. Shameful, all around, with no regard for population control.

Has anyone else noticed how the last few loaves of the Artisan 5 Minute Bread are much runnier than those of a fresh batch? The dough inevitable sticks to my bread peel as I’m tring to heave it onto the hot baking stone in the oven, yet no amount of corn meal on the peel works to prevent this struggle. No matter – it’s still delicious and far more conversational than the loaves that look like they manifested from the pages of the cookbook. I’ve yet to see anyone post a photo of their homemade loaf that was not cookbook-photo-shoot-worthy, so here goes. I call this one “Whale,” from my “Sea Life” series. It was debuted at Dinner last night and was received with much fanfare and spreadable goat cheese. The adjacent exhibit, “Vegetable Beef Soup,” helped the Artist portray the cogency of “Whale” that she sought.

After an extended dry period, the rain returned, irrigating the green outdoors in more ways than one. The scene above quickly escalated to include one Lucy pug being covered in the wet, soupy mixture.

We discovered that a bucket full of rain-saturated sidewalk chalk makes the most beautiful “painty” pictures.

I almost forgot – swimming lessons! Started and completed in July, she gained so much more than simple water skills. Standing in line, waiting her turn, and not sqirting her neighbor with the floaty toy, namely. Things I hadn’t thought to teach her at home.

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Plein air eating

July 25, 2009 · Filed under I'm Momma; this is my family., We are busy in the kitchen., We like music.

Plein air, for you non-french speaking, non-artists…

There’s not been much creativity in the kitchen of late. The bread baking continues, aided by our unusually cool summer. (As an aside, how has your own bread baking gone? Many of you mentioned running out to buy the book. Well? Love it? Not so much? Leave a comment and let me know!)

In an unusual burst of culinary prowess, I donned my apron and whipped up a special picnic supper to enjoy at a nearby concert in the park.

Ciabatta-style fresh bread is a cinch to make with the artisan bread dough and makes the most perfect picnic sandwich, I think. To complement the sandwiches, I found that I just happened to have (for real) some parboiled new potatoes and four hard boiled eggs. Potato salad! As I flipped through my cookbooks, looking for a recipe most like Grandma’s, two things occurred to me. 1. I should have just called her for hers. But I quickly surmised that her response would have been a bit of surprise mixed with “well, I just throw everything together” and I was looking for a wee more precision. 2. Homemade potato salad is one of those dishes that everyone (at least in these parts) grew up learning by rote as each picnic or family get-together presented an opportunity to hone the skills. Because no meal is complete without some form of the potato (!), a potato salad was summer’s solution. How differently we’ve learned to cook in this generation, I reflected while reading through the recipe, peeling the eggs, chopping the celery. Instead of turning to the recipes that we grew up making, or calling Mom for a refresher, Andrew and I instead turn to our cookbooks, magazines, web searches, and cooking shows for inspiration. While we’re no longer limited to the traditional family fare, we’ve lost most of the essential know-how for these simple staples that used to make up the everyday. Grandma marvels, wide-eyed when I whip up a complicated meal with a unspellable french name, or when I can answer her question of how to prepare swiss chard, or when I automatically mince garlic, and lots of it, for every dish I make. But there’s that same wide-eyed reaction to my question of “how do I roast this chicken, again” as I do it so infrequently that I have had to ask her several times, periodically. For Grandma, who has prepared a chicken dinner every Sunday for the last eleventeen years, me not knowing how to do it was akin to not being able to tie my shoes. Who doesn’t know how to roast a chicken these days? Turns out most of us under a certain age haven’t the slightest clue. It’s a big part of what Martha’s empire was founded on, this disconnect of homemaking know-how that used to be so entrenched in the daily grind that it was taken for granted. I digress.

So rather than calling Grandma for the recipe, I found my own, and decided to go ahead and make my own mayonnaise (another unspellable french word?) while I was at it. Have you ever tried this? Oh, it’s so easy, especially with a food processor, blender, or ginormous forearms for whisking. And the flavor? Nothing like anything you could buy. So delicious.

Lest you think we’re absolute food purists, here’s proof to the contrary. This summer, roasted marshmallows (and raw ones, snitched from the bag while grown-up eyes are turned) make up a significant portion of our plein air diet.

We seem to be faring quite well on this diet.

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This is July.

July 15, 2009 · Filed under I'm Momma; this is my family., We play outside.

I’ve mentioned the importance of the water to our Summer selves. But we’re finding lots of ways to drink in the season.

A nest of newly-hatched robins, found up north at Grandma and Grandpa’s cottage. Momma and Daddy Robin decided to build this nest on a utility meter along the side of the cottage, making it sooooooooo hard for this 3 1/2 year old to heed our “DO NOT TOUCH” directives.

St. John’s Wort, found here on the Acres! I’ve been trying to buy some to plant for months and reached a dead-end after being told it grows wild, like a weed. (We use St. John’s Wort oil in homemade salves to help heal our wounds with a quickness.) Having only seen pictures of the flower in books, I had no idea what the whole plant looked like and doubted I’d run across it, or recognize it if I did. And Then! On a little nature walk one day, I found it RIGHT THERE! Together, Isadora and I cut the blooming tops off, enough to stuff a pint jar, then added olive oil, filling to the top, and placed the sealed jar on our picnic table to soak in the sun and release its goodness into the oil. I explained to Isadora that the oil should turn red after sucking the medicine (hypericin) from the flowers, and not a day has passed in which she’s not checked to see if it’s turned red. Still a budding little herbalist, that girl.

This may or may not be the jawbone of the raccoon that ravaged our chicken coop. It was brought to my attention by Lucy, the would-be hound dog.

The box reads, “Please remove this box to reveal the truly attractive inner box for in-store display.” Such language! We’re reminded that the most simple things are the best for play. Especially when you have something to put in it.

We like to think of these little “experiences” Lucy has as payback for the regular shenanigans she pulls, namely jumping onto the kitchen table and eating off our plates when we’ve our backs turned for a millisecond. As long as she’s not being hurt, we step aside and let the Karma Police sentence her to Isadora’s whims. We may even find some satisfaction in the justice being served. (insert evil cackle here)

And Dress-Up. No snapshot of this point in time would be accurate without some representation of her most favorite play. This year, the ruby red slippers Grandma picked up, in all her wisdom, were fully embraced and worn everywhere. Add a sparkly new purse to house your collection of dice, pebbles, and stray coins, and you’re ready to go.