Bringing In The Harvest

So since we moved into our little home, I've been obsessed with gardening. Not just my own little Eden, but growing things in general. I guess it's the next step in embracing the pioneer lifestyle. When D wanted to move out west, we packed up our little Hondas and, with our fathers along for the ride, we were a modern day wagon train of sorts. We even had the cats with us - like modern day oxen! Except, they don't haul anything or make themselves useful in any way.



Cute though.

I got very into making things for our new homestead. I always loved making things, but now, after nursing school and wedding plans were a thing of the past, I could craft in full force. I refinished furniture, made plant hangers, embroidered linens, knit like a fiend. And I planned how I would start my little garden, own chickens and alpacas, spin yarn and collect eggs in a hand woven basket.

Little by little, I achieve these goals. My garden is wonderful. However, I get a little sad when I read about other people's gardens and how they are pickling and canning and freezing and dehydrating. Have you seen this woman?



Check out her vids at www.maryjanesfarm.org

So I picked up her mag at my grocery store after a recommend. I like her. In a lot of ways I agree with her. She ties on that apron and insulates her house and if the world ended tomorrow, she'd have enough dehydrated lentil soup to feed her town for several months. That's just great. But what about MY dehydrated lentil soup? What about Denver? How will I feed Denver?

**At this point I take a few deep breaths and say out loud "baby steps, now. Remember - baby steps make a garden, baby steps will make a harvest... things go
slow..."**

And if you are like me and read Mary Jane's Farm, you know that for the farm girls who harvest only 1 cucumber (and it was a nice cucumber) MJ's sells her food or you can shell out more clams to go to her farm in Idaho and pick apples or whatever.

In MJ's mag, it seems like a consolation prize. Like saying "Well, tough tushies. Try again next year." And I would if it wasn't for this publication I stumbled upon:



I love this mag. I LOVE IT!!!!!!! Sorry for all you guys that live at sea level! This mag tells it like it is for up high altitude folk. And how it is includes:

1) It's hard to grow anything here

2) Don't try growing fruit up here

and most importantly...

3) Real pioneers always utilized whatever resources were available

Hooray!

What does that mean?

Well, for pioneers of old, that meant waiting around for different peddlers to come knocking with peaches or apples or whatever they had. You'd buy loads and then can or, later with the invention of refrigeration, freeze different preparations for later use. Among us mountain folk it's the way of the world. Process someone else's harvest because it's impossible to harvest your own due to natural phenomena you cannot control!

So, as tomatoes drop from $1.99 lb to 66 cents lb and I glance out my window at the tomato plants I own struggling with their tiny green fruits, I sigh with a smirk and toss another store bought 'mater into the food processor. The pureed goodness grown by someone I'll never meet, will soon be part of a large slow cooked marinara that would make my nona proud and will feed this homestead for many months to come.

Sorry this post had no vintage finds! You had to listen to me rant about gardening 2 weeks in a row! Bummer! It won't happen again. And, as a consolation, let me give you my nona's recipe for a nice red sauce.

Now this is exactly as my nona told me so all of you who like things like "measurements" or "exact amounts", beware!

To start, you toss something like 20 or 25 tomatoes into the food processor. Or whatever you got. Make sure to cut off those ugly tops because no one wants to see those. Okay, now you've got a food processor full of tomatoes (*in nona speak, this means full to the brim or at least 4 cups of pure tomato puree) all smooshed up. Good.

NOW - take a couple cloves of garlic. A COUPLE MEANS TWO!! Two cloves. Make sure they're fat. Or you can use 3 but that's it. Cut 'em up real fine. Put 'em in a pot with a little olive oil (*in nona speak, this means 3-4 tbsp) and put it on low heat. You can put a little onion in if you want (* nona translation - Use about 1 c sweet yellow onion chopped fine) and wait for everything to turn clear. Now you add your tomatoes, maybe some spices (*nona speak again. Translation: 1 tsp dried oregano, 2 tsp dried basil, 1 tsp dried parsley, 1/2 tsp dried rosemary, 2 tsp black pepper and 2 tsp salt). Keep everything going on low heat. Stir every once in awhile. (For extra authenticity, keep wooden spoon on a ceramic spoon rest with "Miami" or something scrolled on it next to stove and use to stir sauce). Do your laundry or whatever you do. In about 12 hours, you gotta nice sauce. Freeze it.

See ya next week!

Plate Picnic in the Garden!

I feel like it's been ages since my last post! I've been busy, busy, busy lately but my days off this week were full of housekeeping and crafting. It was so relaxing! I don't think I've used my little craft room more than twice since we moved here but this week I actually embroidered for hours in there watching TV. It was wonderful.

This "I Love Pink and Aqua" swap I'm doing requires participants to make an item for their partner so I spent a few hours going through my treasures. When we moved in, I organized as best I could and actually labeled all my tins and boxes as to what was inside. Wow, what a help. I used to think "What do I need labels for? I can remember where I put my buttons and where the rick-rack is." I realize now I was lying to myself. In the jungle that is the craft room, there is no rhyme or reason one can follow. And there is certainly no remembering the contents of one tiny sewing basket to the next. I am now a labeler. And I encourage you to be one, too.

Enough digression, on with the post!



This above photo is of my garden. I always wanted/never had a garden of my own. When we were looking for a house, I pretty much let David pick it. As long as I could have a garden, I was happy. Our second day here, I planted. Since we don't own this house, I felt I shouldn't remove the landscaping rocks and whatnot. I'm sure my landlord would've said I could. They are very nice and gardeners themselves, but I felt like just experimenting this year and using a lot of containers.



These containers I found at the Dollar Tree. They're cute and look like metal but are really made of thin,cheap plastic. I poked a few holes at the bottom and planted lettuce and spinach, which have shallow roots. I also have pots of Rainbow Swiss Chard, Rainbow Carrots and kale.

I did most planting about a week ago, but it's an ongoing process. Basically, whenever a yard sale or thrift shop has a pot for pretty cheap I buy it and then immediately plant something in it. I just got about 10 pots for $3.00 from a neighbors moving sale. D helped me bring them home and said something like "Well that'll do it, right? I mean, if you find a vintage, cool looking pot that's okay. But we're pretty much done planting stuff, right?" Hmmmmmm...maybe.....

But then I see this:



And I feel like there's so much more I can plant!!

I recently had my first harvest:



The apron in this pic I'm wearing is gorgeous, by the way. A birthday gift from my siblings-in-law who are both awesome. When I first opened the box I thought "What a gorgeous apron! What in the world am I going to do with it? It's too nice to wear while I'm working!" I've had these thoughts before about aprons I own but I've never had such a nice one as this. First of all, it covers your whole front. Second, it has deep pockets. Third, it's well made. So after having it draped decoratively over a chair for a week or so, I said "What the heck, aprons were meant for work so I'm going to use it!" I slipped it over my head, tied it in the back and cleaned my house. Then I weeded the garden and picked my cuke.

My conclusion? Aprons are great. They keep you clothes clean and give your extra pockets for supplies and what nots.They SHOULD be used and used thoroughly. When ratty and in need of a new one, make or buy a new one. I don't see the point in buying vintage aprons or any cute aprons and just looking at them. Especially when it is an item that really helps one complete domestic chores efficiently. After using my birthday apron religiously this week, I must say I am pro-apron. Thanks, sibs!

On with the show. Having such a great time in the garden, I decided to bring out my stash of newly acquired plates and have a plate picnic. This idea was seconded by my cat:



Who never seems to want to go inside anymore. I hope she's not turning feral. Well, she's already a wee bit feral if you ask me.



Let's start with this one that D found:



And the back, of course:



D found this for $1.00 at an estate sale. It looks like it has never been used. The flowers are so fresh and glossy. I tried looking up the pattern, which is called "Linda" with no results. At the same sale, I found this:






And D for some reason LOVED it. I only got it after looking at the back and seeing that the pattern was called "Arctic Night." I like that name. It makes those plain blue daisies intriguing. Like they're covered in ice and very far away and used eskimo weddings and only bloom at night so they're hard to spot...

I digress. Next plate!





Not much to say about that plate. I got it for cheap at the Goodwill. It's okay. If it breaks, it won't be the end of the world. If someone emails me that they think it's the most beautiful plate in the world and gives them heart palpitations just looking at it, I'll gladly send it to them. We can swap. You send me a cool vintage plant pot (with drainage holes) and you get the plate. Deal?

These last 2 I got by myself exploring a Salvation Army off the highway I had never been to but always wanted to visit. They were 45 cents each!










When I got home, D was on the couch doing his teacher-homework. I told him I went to a new thrift and he wanted to see the goods. I gave him the two plates. "Cool" he said and immediately turned them over to examine the backs. "Very cool. Did you look up these patterns yet?"

And this is why I love my husband. If you're going to get married, marry your true love. If you can't find your true love, keep looking. I'm telling you, it's worth it. Turning over plates to inspect the backs, always being up for a trip to the ice cream shop, driving miles to surprise me with a festival or carnival or whatever...these are just a few reasons I love my husband. Maybe it's the newlywed in me talking (it's only been 2 years), but hot dog do I love that man!

I'll end this post with a chair update. I finished sanding and ended up with this:




Next time, I'll post what it looks like after a coat of dark walnut stain.

Until then, keep rummaging for those treasures!

Some People Have All The Luck

And I am not "some people" this week. I usually hit the estate sales on Friday but was out of town. I went to a few this morning. I got a free cowboy sculpture which is pretty rad and now on my front porch. I also scored a Pyrex bowl to replace the one "the cat" broke. But I don't think either of these really merit a photo op. Especially after seeing these on Nifty Thrift (http://www.flickr.com/groups/niftythrift/)





Love these glasses. I'm a sucker for any tumblers with gold printed images. It's actually a bad thing because I can't do dishes by hand. I hate it. I'm not good at it. Everything in the dishwasher. Even my glasses. That means pretty gold details crossing my thresh hold are soon obliterated. Good thing I wasn't the one to find these lovelies. Not so for this plate though:





When I got married 2 years ago, I refused to register for dishes. I had my dishes, as far as I was concerned. Meticulously collected from thrift stores, rummage sales, etc. A vintage goldmine where no one dines off the same pattern. My table is a rainbow of colors, patterns and eras when I host a dinner party (I also have a penchant for 1950s-1960s appetizers, but I'll save that for another day). This plate is just too cute. I wish I could see the back. I love plates with maker's marks. The tramp stamp of crockery attracting all kinds of vintage junkies.

Well, that's all for now. Thanks for stopping by!