Around The House And Gardens

The carrots are coming in...very sweet and beautiful, there are red, purple, yellow and orange varieties.

I decided to put my seedling stand in my bedroom.  I'm running out of room!  Time to de-clutter.  Hopefully I can find homes for items that need to go.  I have given myself a new challenge this year....more about that later.

All of the tomato seedlings are up and a few eggplant.  No sign of the peppers yet.

The chickies are finally laying again.  Boy I've missed those eggs.  I bought eggs around Christmas time.  Other than that we've just done without.  It does bring new appreciation to these eggs....

My friend Beppi gave me some fabric she found at a thrift store.  She thought I could make some aprons from it....oh yes, you bet I can Beppi!!!  I love these fabrics.  They're so 60ish maybe?  The rose print reminds me of some pictures of little girl dresses from that era...reminds me of my sisters Terri and Melba.

Little short dresses...hair in piggies with fluffy yarn bows...knee boots...and freezing booties!!!  Personal memories from my Sister Terri.  She said my Mom dressed them in shorter dresses because they looked so cute...Terri just remembers her booty freezing!  Maybe that's why my sister Melba stood so close to the gas heater when she was little and melted and shrunk the backside of her synthetic dress!!!...hee hee hee 

Close up....Lovely....

I'm trying to be patient....Spring come soon!

Sessie's Minnies

Sessie (my middle daughter) loves nature.  Often I find little odd nature items tucked away here and there.  I've chased more than one acorn that fell out of her pocket around the round tub of my washing machine.

Recently she's used these items and lots of hot glue :-) to create these adorable birds.  Seleste purposely goes on walks and picks up interesting items then tries to make them into something.  She has such a talent for seeing what an item can be.  We are truly made in Gods image, and the creator part of it is manifested in Sessie's adorable little critters. 

I also threw in a pic of a precious clay rabbit and veggies Sess made in Art.

Humming Bird

Goose?

Penguin? (I love the body.  It's made from a Polyphemus Moth cocoon.)

Rabbit

Owl

1920's Apron

My Sister bought me the book "Vintage Notions" by Amy Barickman.  It's a tribute to Mary Brooks Picken and "The Women's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences" which she helped found.

It's a wonderful collection of articles, recipes, advice and patterns dating from around 1918 to the 1930's.  The books is such a fun read.  Lot's of this and that making it really easy to hop here to there in the book.

When I found this 1920's apron pattern I couldn't wait to try it.  So I bought some inexpensive bright feminine fabric and a happy contrasting bias tape....and hopped right in.  It's made from a yard of fabric folded on the bias and cut out paper doll fashion.  All edges are bound with the bias tape.  Then ties are sewn and attached...then voila!!!...cute little slip over apron!

Seleste agreed to model for me....umm...it's a little...no a lot large...but you get the idea!

...a little overlapping bow....

...scalloped bottom edge....

...I want to do this again!!!

Lately...

There have been so many thoughts going on in my head lately....maybe...just maybe...I'll write them here soon...but here are a few pictures of things from my life lately....and a recipe....

Byron knocked on the door and I answered to find him standing there holding a very agitated rooster.  I looked at him inquiringly.....He just wanted to show me how pretty the rooster was getting....Byron loves animals and that makes me happy...

....a close up of Mr. Rooster...

Byron bought me an easel for Christmas....I think he's not so subtly urging me to start painting again!!!  I do believe I will....and soon....I propped up a sketch I quickly did recently on it....Talia informed me, "I Luuuoove it!", and "Please!!! Can I have it!!!!"  That makes me smile. 

Yes, I am going to start painting and drawing again.  Really, I can't help but draw...I can no more resist a piece of paper and pencil or pen placed in front of me than....well....I don't know...No more than something anyway!

Seleste noticed some of the potatoes sprouting, so I told her how when we were kids we used to prop them up above water using toothpicks and let them grow in a window....I returned to find....Not one, but this.....

It's planting time here.  I just finished planting eight varieties of tomatoes, eight varieties of peppers, and four varieties of eggplant.  Byron and I planted the Irish potatoes outside as well.

These are the varieties we planted.  Really, It's planting time here!

This morning Byron made these yummy bagel sandwiches for breakfast.  See those beautiful navel oranges in the background?  I must say these are the juiciest sweetest oranges I've ever had, and they're right off our tree!

...Anyway....I want to give you the recipe for this breakfast sausage.  It's yummier and less greasy than other sausages and you can make it a lot cheaper.  I used pork rump roast.  I think it's also called Boston butt...anyway you use ground pork.  I ground the pork myself.  The meat cost $1.89 a pound and that's not on sale.  When our local store puts it on sale it's around $1.29 a pound.  Jimmy Dean at our local stores cost anywhere from $2.98 a pound to almost $4.00 a pound. 

Making this yourself and freezing it in 1 pound packages can save you quite a bit.  It you buy the meat on sale you can save anywhere from $1.69 to $2.69 or so a pound....hmmm....pretty significant.  I got the recipe off of the Internet somewhere and just jotted it down instead of printing, so I'm not really sure where I found it.  Here it is anyway....

Yummy Breakfast Sausage

2 lbs ground pork (you can use 1/2 venison or wild pig as well)

2 tsp Dried Sage

2 tsp. Salt

1 tsp. Ground Black Pepper

1/4 tsp Marjoram

1 tblsp Brown Sugar

1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (I more than double this because we like spicy!)

1 pinch Ground Cloves

Mix it all up real good.  Use what you want and freeze the rest.

We like to use it in breakfast sandwiches, breakfast burritos, white gravy, and dressings.  You can use it anyway you use a Jimmy Dean type sausage.  Try it.  I know you'll be surprised.

The Winter Garden and This Year....

This  year I hope you decide to grow something for yourself....maybe some herbs outside the kitchen door or a five gallon bucket with some cherry tomatoes or a tray of salad greens or maybe you will decide to plant a fruit tree in the landscape....Each time I walk in the garden there is a new surprise...a new lesson....a new disappointment...yes disappointment...everything doesn't work...often I try something several times before I am successful with it....all those disappointments make the delight of success many times greater!!! 

Cabbages are one of those things.  I've got growing these babies down pat now!  I think.....or I hope!

This is the ornamental ones from the front garden.  Their bright dots of cheer stand out among all of the dead foliage.  We've had a freeze (very odd) already and the tropicals are dreary shades of grey and brown.  They'll have to stay there and protect the roots until spring when I prune away all the ugliness and the new bright foliage emerges.  Grey and wet, that's the best way to describe our winter.  Thank God for the garden.

Lots of citrus still on the trees.  We pick as we need it.  The fruit keeps much better on the trees.

All of my garlic is up and growing....

The kumquats didn't fare very well in the recent freeze...so much for the predicted mild winter :-)

Broccoli!

....this is an example of delight after many disappointments.  I have never successfully grown Brussels sprouts.  Here is my first semblance of success.  I cannot tell you how delighted I was to see this.

My first try at red cabbages got off to a disappointing start.  They were attacked viciously by something...well attacked hungrily by something is more accurate.  I believe the vicious or hungry attackers were my chickens!

...and here is Delta modeling my very finished first afghan.  It's more of a lap blanket size.  Very time consuming...and heavy...and warm.....

....REALLY!  You ought to grow something this year!