Wooly Moss Roots

Introducing our Magical Healing Salve in Handmade Wooden Boxes!

2012-01-27T18:28:00.000-08:00

We are so happy to now be offering our favorite Magical Healing Salve in our Handmade Wooden Boxes!

They pair so nicely together and we're elated to have special containers to offer our herbal salves in!

I just posted four wooden boxes filled with herbal salve, on our Wooly Moss Roots Shop.

A small one in reclaimed western red cedar.

The smallest one in reclaimed sassafras wood.

Medium size one in reclaimed western red cedar.

The largest one in reclaimed western red cedar too.

(Though still not that large, only 2 inches wide by 3 and 1/4 inches tall.)

They make delightful gifts and are all small enough to bring along in a bag or purse, yet perfect for home use too. All the lids fit on nice and snug (most with reclaimed corks.) I use our salve every day and can't wait to have a wooden container to keep it in.

When the salve is all used up, the container will be nicely conditioned from the natural oils and you'll have a wonderful box for holding your keepsakes. (Or you could send them back to us and we'll refill them with salve for a discounted price.)

And speaking of our Magical Healing Salve, if any of you readers love it and feel inspired to write a testimonial, feel free to e-mail it to me at:

tarynkae21{at}yahoo{dot}com

Thank you!

We've been downright giddy about putting our salve in wood boxes!

What creative projects have you been excited about lately?

{this moment}

2012-01-27T10:12:00.000-08:00

Today I'm joining Amanda at SouleMama for {this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

. . . . . . . .

A fun project for leftover yarn

2012-01-25T17:33:00.000-08:00

A few years back, I knitted my mom a scarf in some gorgeous multi-colored wool. I loved the warm hues with flecks of fiery orange, red, magenta, pink, purple, and even some green. (The overcast lighting here didn't capture the beauty of the colors.) Her scarf didn't require the full two skeins, so I had some leftover. Hmm.. what to make with the leftover yarn?

It sat in my yarn stash until a moment of inspiration came recently. I knitted it (almost entirely on a car ride to town- a rare time with two free hands these days) like I was knitting a scarf and kept going until I ran out of yarn. It was much shorter than a scarf and wouldn't have even gone around the neck once. Then I put it in a pillowcase and tied it shut (keeps the wool fuzzies from getting all over your washing machine.) I washed it on hot and out came a felted, shrunken version! How fun! I dried it by the woodstove and then plunged into creativity during one of Bracken's naps. I left enough folded over to make a flap. Then I needle felted the edges together. (Next time I plan on hand-sewing the edges together with wool yarn, which would be much easier and faster.) I attached a wool loop (also by needle felting.) And finally I added one of our handmade wooden buttons in reclaimed western red cedar.

Ta-da!

A handmade woolen pouch!

These wool pouches would be great to hold handmade gifts. We need more re-usable gift bags in the world and less disposable ones, don't you think?

For this particular pouch, I paired it with two of our Magical Healing Salves (one regular size and one mini travel size) and posted it on our shop as a Gift Set. I've been really enjoying making special containers for our herbal salves.

The salves fit snuggly in their wool home.

There are so many gifts you could give in one of these felted pouches. You could even add a strap and make it into a small purse!

It's nice to start putting a dent in that leftover-yarn pile.

How do you use up your leftover yarn?

Another Giveaway!

2012-01-25T10:58:00.000-08:00

Yes! We are having another giveaway!

On Kanelstrand blog (Sonya is truly a dear!), Simple Living for Human Beings, we are giving away three handmade items- a carved tree pendant (shown above), a pair of wooden earrings, and a carved magnet saying "sacred simplicity."

If you would like to enter to win, head on over to the

Mystic Orb Giveaway.

You have one week to enter!

Good Luck!

Mushrooms are Amazing!

2012-01-24T19:56:00.000-08:00

Jeff found this mushroom in December, in the woods outside our door. Luckily, farmer's market was open and he asked Dustin at The Mushroomery if it was edible. It wasn't, but we were so glad to have someone to ask and to live in a place where there are so many people with mushroom know-how.

Mushrooms fascinate me. I ate morels on occasion when I was growing up and loved them, but other than that I never gave mushrooms much thought. Then I met Jeff and heard passion in his voice when he spoke of them, he even grew edible mushrooms before we met. It wasn't long before I shared that passion (probably had something to do with how he prepared them with garlic) and we went out collecting chantrelles in the surrounding forest.

Last summer I made it a goal to start adding more mushrooms (and wild seafoods) to our diet. We started trying different varieties of mushrooms from the farmer's market and really appreciated living in such a wonderful place for mushroom lovers.

And now I've been soaking up information and learning all I can about mushrooms.

Recently we watched this video with Paul Stamets (expert mycologist, author and owner of Fungi Perfecti) on six ways mushrooms can save the world. It gave me a lot of hope.

Then I came across this article by Yaakov Levin, in the local Take Root magazine, that said:

The estimated number of mushrooms species ranges from 30,000 to 1.5 million. We have had a close relationship with mushrooms and have enjoyed the benefits they offer for thousands of years.

The mushroom life cycle includes three distinct phases: mycelium, fruiting body, and spore. They spend most of their life as mycelium, extracting nutrients from the environment and protecting themselves from invaders. Humans have evolved with them, and many different cultures have relied on mushrooms as a wholesome food source and medicine. Through trial and error and more recently through science, we have discovered the many benefits of these prolific fungi. Unlike most pharmaceuticals, mushrooms have extraordinarily low toxicity, even at high doses.

Most mushrooms appear, grow and disappear in a few days. Their sudden appearance is brief as compared to the mycelium web, which makes up the strands of their global network. Picture the net of these filaments stretching the globe, all connected and supporting the planet's health; in this way all mushrooms are medicinal.

In his book "Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World," Paul Stamets describes methods for mycoremediation, or how fungi can decompose toxic substances, such as oil spills, and support habitat recovery and planetary health. "

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Followed by an article by Leda Hermecz, which said:

"Many of the mushrooms we eat out of the forest, including chantrelles, are mycorhizal. This is a kind of fungi that forms symbiotic relationships with tree roots. The tree roots feed the fungi and the fungi help the roots take in nutrients from the soil. Chantrelles are a type of mycohrizal fungi. If you know what kinds of trees mycorhizal trees prefer, it's a lot easier to find them. First you find the trees, then you wait for the right conditions.

Other types of mushrooms are saprophytic, meaning they feed off dead plant material. The morcella genus of mushroom, where morels belong, is a type of saprophytic mushroom. These mushrooms are found here in the Willamette Valley in the spring and summer.

Still other types of mushrooms live parasitically off of living plants, sometimes causing decay. The cauliflower mushroom, named for it's gorgeous white cloud-like appearance, is a prime example. They are a joy to find in the woods because of their impressive size and general elusiveness, owing to the fact that these mushrooms don't grow in the same place every year.

While many people are familiar with one main edible mushroom- Agraricus bisporus, the white table mushroom- those of us in the Pacific Northwest are lucky enough to live near some of the world's most prized wild mushrooms. In Lane County we can find chantrelles, morels, hedgehogs, boletes, mitsutakes, and even the elusive truffle. Each mushroom has its own unique scent, flavor, and texture.

Not only are mushrooms delicious, but some varieties dried have as much protein as meat. And unlike all other types of dried foods, mushrooms lose little to no nutritional value when dried. They are a good source of fiber and B and D vitamins. Our bodies actually have a receptor for antioxidants only found in mushrooms that have been shown to reduce inflammation in the body associated with diseases such as cancer."

(She also mentioned that most mushrooms need to be cooked thoroughly before eating.)

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Dr. Mercola writes:

"Some of the most potent immunosupportive agents come from mushrooms, and science is just beginning to tap into this vast natural medicine warehouse.

There are mushrooms that kill viruses, mushrooms that kill bacteria, and even mushrooms that kill yeast—which may surprise you, given they're both fungi.

Some mushrooms destroy cancer cells, and others facilitate nerve regeneration.

Fungi are incredibly resilient, even surviving radioactivity.

They can actually harness radiation to thrive, as was found by a robot sent to map the inside of the entombed Chernobyl nuclear reactor in 1999.

The robot found a hardy fungus chowing down on 200 tons of melted radioactive fuel.

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I read that of the 140,000 species of mushroom-forming fungi, science is familiar with only 10 percent.
What else will we discover?

We have yet to see, but from what I've learned so far,

truly, mushrooms are amazing!

Do you like eating mushrooms?

Which are your favorites?

What kind grow in your area?

G r a t i t u d e * S u n d a y

2012-01-22T11:36:00.000-08:00

{our front yard, covered in snow, in the beginning of the week}

G r a t i t u d e * S u n d a y

{Sunday's heartfelt tradition. A time to slow down, to reflect, to be grateful. A list of gratitudes.}

*
If you would like to join us, share your gratitudes by leaving your link (or simply sharing your list, whether one or many) in the comments below for all of us to enjoy. Our gratefulness feeds one another.

Throughout the week I've felt grateful for:

-Bracken handing us his toys so we'd make them talk and come to life. He gets so excited when we do that. Seeing his love for little gnomes and elfs is so fun!

-Helping Jeff in the shop. I dried buttons, as he finished sanding them on the wet sander, oohing and aahhing over all the gorgeous new buttons. Bracken hung out in the Ergo against my chest, reaching in a pocket of Jeff's that was hanging on the wall, and delighting in all the treasures he found in there.

-The feeling of getting into fresh clean sheets (still warm from drying by the woodstove) after a bath. I'll never tire of that.

-Bracken playing with his first snowball, that Jeff made for him.

-That my body is honest with me about the foods it does and doesn't like. (Even when the messages are inconvenient because I'd like to be eating something it happens to not like.) I'm glad it communicates so clearly so that I can make healthy choices.

-Moments when Bracken was completely immersed in play. It consumed all of his attention and I looked at his silent wonder and smiled. (Many times quiet makes me go "uh oh. what's he gotten into?" Play quiet is a nice quiet.) :)

-Learning. We had some experiments in the kitchen that taught us a lot (regarding some new products I'm looking forward to showing you soon!)

-Early bedtimes.

-Jeff making breakfast right before the power went out.

-Lots of progress on wooly creations- knitting and needlefelting- during Bracken's nap times throughout the week. Almost finished with some projects.

-Lots of time together as a family.

-Watching the flame on the candle dance, while reading by it's light before bed.

-Reading our MaryJanesFarm magazine. I was so happy to see an article about the health benefits (a great source of calcium for one) of bone broth, which I feel is so important to have in the mainstream. And there was an article about artist Tatjana Raum, whose art touched my spirit so deeply. It was a wonderful issue.

-Having a woodstove. So grateful for the warmth it provides and being able to cook our food on it when we need to.

-Our phone. I was really grateful to be able to connect with the outside world when our electricity was out.

-Opening the windows when the living room got really warm, and hearing the wild winds whirling outside. Nice to be inside, warm and cozy, when it's stormy outside.

-Finding out that our neighbors are safe, after I heard there was a landslide in that area.
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-Having our electricity back on!! I felt like a whole new person after a warm bath! I felt grateful while doing dishes and washing laundry. And I realized how much I appreciate the internet!
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-Scrambled eggs for quick and nourishing meals.

What's on your gratitude list?

Share with us in the comments below!

Unplugged

2012-01-21T10:38:00.000-08:00

{the dutch oven filled with winter squash on the woodstove, with storms outside}

It's been stormy here. Really stormy.

Wednesday morning our power went out. We had a feeling it might. There were 100 mph winds on the coast, not far from us. Jeff reminded me to grab Bracken and hit the floor (preferably next to a piece of furniture) if I heard a loud cracking sound (meaning a tree falling.)

Thursday we were going to drive to Mapleton to get ice for our freezer, but the road was flooded and unpassable, so we returned home. We were not well stocked with batteries, but Jeff managed to jerry-rig (I use that word a lot when it comes to him) some batteries together and get our radio to work, but we could only use it for short periods of time since we didn't know how long they'd last. (We want to get a hand crank radio for the next time the power goes out.) We heard on the radio that highway 36 and highway 126 were both closed. Translation: we couldn't get to Mapleton, Florence, or Eugene. We were pretty well stuck.

It was too stormy to be outside, so we were indoors. We stayed nice and cozy by the woodstove. Jeff cooked us meals on the propane camp stove.

I made soup and winter squash on the woodstove.

When the power goes out, we have no running water. Luckily, we had water stored in the pantry and had filled the bathtub, just in case. Jeff heated up water to do the dishes. We had propane and carosene lamps, but needed to conserve them, so we tried to only have one going at a time. We sat by the dim light and waited.

Friday morning we were able to drive to Florence and get batteries, water, propane, and food. Water was over the road in many places, with road crews assisting traffic through, we were able to pass. I had never seen it flood like that here before. Jeff had seen it flood worse one other time.

After running errands, we were relieved to be back home safe. We talked about how we wanted to better prepare for the next power outage (with more storms on the way!)

Usually the quiet peacefulness that pervades our home when the electricity is out, is something I enjoy. But this time, it was starting to wear on me. I'll admit, my spirits started getting rather soggy. I felt very much like complaining (a good sign that grouchiness had a hold on me) and told Jeff that the Amish would think me quite pathetic for being such a poor sport going for such a short time without electricity.

Last night, Jeff read aloud from a book. The words were just what I needed to hear. Then we drummed. We drummed and drummed until all my frustration seemed drummed right out of me. Bracken drummed with us, shook his rattle, and danced. I felt a little brighter and a little lighter.

I wrote my gratitudes by candlelight and fell asleep to the sound of wild winds.

This morning, day four, we were still without electricity.

When the lights came on mid morning, we hollered celebrations throughout the house.

An observer might have thought we won the lottery.

And The Winners Are......

2012-01-17T16:27:00.000-08:00

Time to announce the winners of our giveaway!
Just pulled the names out of my hat.

Congrats to....

Teresa

Diane/One Higher Love

Mama Forestdweller

Mandi Kemp

BGood

What did you win out of your three choices?
We want it to be a surprise, so you'll see when you open up your package!

Please send me an e-mail, with your mailing address, to:

tarynkae21{at}yahoo{dot}com

We'll get your gifts mailed out!
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Thanks to everyone who entered.
We thoroughly enjoyed reading your heartfelt comments.

Snow!

2012-01-15T09:05:00.000-08:00

G r a t i t u d e * S u n d a y

2012-01-15T09:00:00.000-08:00

G r a t i t u d e * S u n d a y

{Sunday's heartfelt tradition. A time to slow down, to reflect, to be grateful. A list of gratitudes.}

Throughout the week I've felt grateful for:

-The ocean revitalizing our spirits.

-Sunshine!

-All the enthusiasm and appreciation about our giveaway. I love the excitement!

-Feeling so creatively inspired and happy to be creating art. It satisfies my soul.

-Knitting with some gorgeous handspun wool (by Woolgypsy) and feeling the lanolin all over my hands. And the smell! It comforts me...wool smells like home to me.

-One morning when I woke up a little before Jeff and Bracken. I watched them sleeping peacefully next to me, savored the warmth of our bed, and knitted quietly (thanks to wooden knitting needles) by the dim light just starting to come in our bedroom window.

-Finding Deck Family Farm pasture-raised meats at our local co-op!
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-Fun tie-dyes for the whole family, from our friend Kym.

-My mom and grandma purchasing their plane tickets to visit in February! I am so excited they're coming.

-The purple cashmere sweater our friend Abby gave me, matching the scarf my sister gave me a few years ago from her time in New Zealand, like they were made for each other. It was amazing how well they went together. (And yes, cashmere is truly as heavenly as you say- Thanks Abby!)

-Wearing different colors than I usually do, which made me feel so dressed up when I went to town. It seems I'm always in earth tones- greens and browns. Wearing purple and blue felt special because it was different.

-Long car rides = good opportunity for knitting.

-Finding $15 in the zipper pouch of the Ergo carrier, right as we were walking into the thrift store! Couldn't have been better timing. I told Jeff it was a good omen that we were going to find something really good.... and we did!

-A breathtaking view of the sunset over the mountains, as we headed back towards home after a long town day in the valley.

-Smudging the house really well with sage. That felt really good.

-Two sweet dreams. In one a baby deer came over to the three of us as we were sitting on the ground, with Bracken in my lap. It was nuzzling up against us and rubbing it's nose on Bracken affectionately. Bracken and the little deer absolutely adored each other and Jeff and I just watched in awe and amazement. The other dream the word 'prana' was woven into a piece of wool and my heart said it was an important word for me right now.
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-Waking up this morning to see our first snow of the year. The world looked so pretty all covered in white.

What have you felt grateful for this week?

Feel like sharing?

{this moment}

2012-01-13T08:15:00.000-08:00

Today I'm joining Amanda at SouleMama for {this moment}

Fires at night...

2012-01-12T18:29:00.000-08:00

Something about a fire at night stirs the soul.

It makes me want to sit with eyes wide with wonder and listen to a magical story.

How about you?

New Things: Wool, Wood, and Lots of Inspiration

2012-01-10T18:46:00.000-08:00

Isn't it so fulfilling to bring your ideas to life?

You might be wondering what exactly you are looking at here.

This my friends, is a felted wool pouch I just finished today!!

(During Bracken's nap, in fact.)

Remember those beautifully rounded beach stones we gathered on Sunday? I was inspired by this post our friend Lara wrote about using stones as your form for felting.

When we got home from the beach on Sunday, we got busy felting! Jeff and I each chose a stone, wrapped some wool around it, wet it with warm water, and squirted on some Dr. Bronner's lavender soap. (Which infused it with a heavenly lavender scent.) We put them in bags and sat and worked the wool with our hands, felting it against the stone. Then we cut a slit along the top and removed the stone. We sat our wool pouches by the woodstove to dry.

The next day I added one of our handmade wood buttons, in reclaimed western red cedar, to the front. I created a flap with a piece of reclaimed leather and sewed it to the back. And ta-da : a handmade wooly pouch! (Jeff has some fun ideas about incorporating wood with his.)

I specifically created this pouch to hold one of the mini sizes of our Magical Healing Salve. I told Jeff that I wanted to start offering special containers to hold them, for bringing them along. So this is the first and I'm so excited! I just posted it on our Wooly Moss Roots Shop as a gift set. I think a wool pouch and herbal salve combo is really fun.

I love how snugly and perfectly the mini salve fits in this pouch!

And as for creations in wood, we are really excited about the new wooden boxes/containers that Jeff has been making! We used to have wood boxes in our booth and on our Etsy Shop once upon a time, and we are so happy to be offering them again.

I'm particularly fond of the ones in reclaimed western red cedar because it's one of my favorite woods.

I've posted 5 wooden boxes on our Mystic Orb Shop so far and have more waiting for me to post.

We love working with wool and wood.

There is so much that Jeff and I want to be creating and doing these days, we have moments of wondering where to even begin. One step at a time, we are turning our inspirations into something we can hold in our very hands. That is so satisfying.

5 gifts to 5 winners!! Mystic Orb Giveaway!

2012-01-09T19:58:00.000-08:00

I'm excited about this giveaway, this is a fun one!
We are giving away 5 handmade gifts to 5 winners!

....

How to Enter:

1) Pick out 3 favorite items from the Sale Section in our Mystic Orb Etsy Shop.

2) Leave a comment below, with your name, letting us know your choices.

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That's it!

Easy!

Then we will put your names in a hat,

pull 5 names out,

and

each winner will receive one item of their choosing!

See what I mean, a really fun giveaway!

Our sale section is filled with incredible deals right now because if we have had something around for awhile, we want it to go to it's new home where it will be loved and appreciated.
By having you choose what you love, we know that will happen.
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One week to enter.
Giveaway ends Monday late evening. (January 16th.)
Winners announced Tuesday.
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So, if you'd like to enter to win a free,
lovingly handmade gift of your choice,
head on over to the Shop and pick out your favorites now!

A magical beach day

2012-01-09T14:46:00.000-08:00

The expression on Bracken's face here pretty much sums up our day yesterday. We had the most magical beach day!

Lately my soul has been yearning for the ocean. When I mentioned that to Jeff, he felt the same way and on Saturday he had a strong feeling that we should go to the beach the next day. He said "Let's go to the ocean tomorrow, I have a feeling it's going to be incredible there." My eyes lit up and I replied with a hearty "YES!"

So yesterday we packed some food and hopped in the truck. In Florence, we saw a thermometer that said the temperature was in the seventies! I looked at Jeff and said "Can that be true?!" We talked about which beach we wanted to go to and decided to go to the same one we went to on our beach day last January (when we had Bracken bundled up in a wool blanket and he was still small enough to fit into that little blue elf hat I had knitted him.)

When we got there the weather was absolutely divine. We couldn't have asked for a more perfect beach day and we were so glad that we followed Jeff's feeling.

There were people picnicking, people fishing and people walking their dogs.

We were greeted by flowers blooming. I could have squealed with delight! The sight of flowers... in January... felt almost surreal.

We gathered a few materials (stones and drift wood) for an art project (that I will be writing about soon.)

We had fun searching for just the right size stones we were wanting.

We breathed in the fresh air. We stood in awe of the view.

We explored.

Then we found a welcoming place to sit awhile.

We basked in the sun. We soaked up the warmth.

We watched and observed the life happening around us.

Bracken played.

'Dad your leg's in my way!'

We realized we didn't need all those layers we had bundled up in.

We took lots of pictures.

When we headed home, our hearts were content and our spirits were renewed. We hadn't driven all that far from our home (the ocean is only about 20 minutes away from where we live), yet we felt we had just been on a relaxing vacation to a warm, tropical getaway.

Ahhh {deep sigh} that was just what we needed.

What has your Spirit been yearning for lately?

Have you been following it's calling?

G r a t i t u d e * S u n d a y

2012-01-08T09:35:00.000-08:00

G r a t i t u d e * S u n d a y

{Sunday's heartfelt tradition. A time to slow down, to reflect, to be grateful. A list of gratitudes.}

Throughout the week I've felt grateful for:

-Living in a place that is moss-y, lichen-y, and abundantly green and growing.

-Bracken sleeping in = me sleeping in.
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-Jeff moving a piece of furniture to a new spot that helped immensely with organizing. (We're really into organizing lately.)
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-A trade with our friends and neighbors that blessed us with Wild Alaskan Salmon. We felt so grateful for that. Eating it with fresh pressed garlic on top was so good.
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-Bracken seeing a horse up close for the first time, at our neighbor's. She was so fuzzy and sweet. He kept pointing at her with huge eyes, seeming to say "Are you guys seeing this?!"
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-Jeff using the holiday money he was gifted to buy a crock with a spout and a scoby, so we can start brewing our own kombucha again. I'm grateful he used his money for something our whole family can enjoy. (In the past our homebrewed kombucha was never bubbly enough for our liking, but we've got some ideas and are excited to try again.)
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-Seeing a beautiful deer on the way to town with incredible antlers.
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-Finding organic winter squash on sale at the grocery store. That made us really happy. (Since we already ate all we grew and all we stocked up on from local farms.)
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-Jeff working on our porch roof to hopefully give it a few more years.
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-Jeff tearing down the tall, ugly fencing in the front yard (originally there to keep the goats from eating everything.) It opened things up and looked so much better.
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-Having so much fun putting packages together with gifts, for the first four people to purchase handmades from our Wooly Moss Roots Shop (one more to give out still.) And I do believe all four orders were from dear readers! Thank You!!
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-Making progress on the wool creature I'm creating, slowly but surely, during a few of Bracken's naps throughout the week.
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-Comments readers left on here that made me so happy. I love hearing from you.
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-Starting to give Bracken cod liver oil every day. He loves his flavored one and I felt so grateful that it was so easy to get him to take it.
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-The feeling of being home again, after going to town.
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-Writing my daily gratitudes down every night, which really helps put things in perspective. When I can acknowledge the blessings on challenging days, that feels like a gift.
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-The way journaling out overwhelming feelings can bring so much peace and clarity.
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-Being reminded by loved ones to be gentle on myself. (About things like getting ungrounded in social situations. I tend to be hard on myself if I wasn't as centered, grounded and present as I would have liked to be. Learning and growing is so much easier when I'm loving towards myself.)
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-Challenges uncovering old patterns that no longer serve me. (Like falling into "people-pleasing" mode rather than staying true to myself.)
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-Noticing that I had been holding my breath when I was feeling afraid. Then Jeff wrapped his arms around me, giving me a big hug and my breath came back. I'm grateful that his very presence makes me breathe more deeply.
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-The feeling of coming into a warm house on a cold day.
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-An outdoor project that was a nice excuse to be out in the fresh air.
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-All of us cuddled up on the couch, sharing a jar of our home-canned peaches. A special treat.

What have you felt grateful for throughout your week friends?

{this moment}

2012-01-06T09:45:00.000-08:00

Today I'm joining Amanda at SouleMama for {this moment}

Overalls and Sunshine

2012-01-04T17:35:00.000-08:00

Yesterday when the sun came out, I grabbed the camera and started taking pictures for our Etsy Shop (which happens every time the sun shines these days.) Then I wanted to get pictures of Bracken wearing the little hemp overalls we traded for (before he grew out of them.) I told Rae, the seamstress, that I would take some pictures of him wearing them to send to her.

By taking lots of pictures I was able to get some that were not blurry, even with Bracken "moving like the wind" as Jeff says.

The overalls around here get a lot of use, just as it should be.

Then Jeff came over from hauling firewood to help in the picture taking.

Jeff sang and Bracken started dancing. These days if we even start whistling Bracken breaks out in a dance. He moves his head and puts his hands up in the air. He loves music.

I loved looking through all the pictures to see the treasures of moments captured, like this.

Overalls, sunshine, playing with clumps of wet leaves, singing dads and dancing boys.

All good things.

Our New Etsy Shop!

2012-01-03T17:48:00.000-08:00

Back in 2009, I opened two Etsy Shops, other than our Mystic Orb shop. One was called 'Wooly Moss Roots' for my needle-felted wool creatures (a space to nurture my love of wool and all things wooly) and one was called 'Taryn's Play Room' for my drawings, illustrations, and greeting cards (a space to inspire my love for bright vibrant colors and an outlet for my inner child.)

Well, life got busy. I was focusing on our homestead, the garden, animals (including milking goats), market, and the Mystic Orb shop that we already had going. Basically, I knew it wasn't quite the time to get those other shops happening. So they waited quietly in the background.

Not long ago Jeff mentioned wanting to have a separate Etsy Shop, for all of our buttons and herbal salves. At first I thought that sounded a little confusing and having more than one shop sounded like a lot more work. But then the idea started to sink in and it felt right.

So we started posting new items in the Wooly Moss Roots shop that I started years ago. It's feeling much more organized this way and we're really excited! We are filling it up with handmade wood buttons and herbals salves. (Yes, I'm even working on some wool creatures! It feels so good to be making them again.) We have so many ideas of new things we want to add to both shops. With all the inspiration flowing in, we want to create it all right now, but know that

it's all coming together in it's time.

I've been taking lots of pictures and have been posting new items to both shops. There is so much that needs to be posted and when I feel overwhelmed, I remind myself "one step at a time."

We are leaving one set of buttons and one salve on our Mystic Orb shop for awhile, so those going there to look for those items will be directed to their new home.

We are giving a free gift to the first five people to purchase something on our

Wooly Moss Roots Etsy Shop!

(And all readers get 10% off when they use the coupon code: WOOLYMOSSROOTS at checkout.)

It's a new year and we're already feeling so many new beginnings.

G r a t i t u d e * S u n d a y

2012-01-01T12:24:00.000-08:00

G r a t i t u d e * S u n d a y

{Sunday's heartfelt tradition. A time to slow down, to reflect, to be grateful. A list of gratitudes.}

Throughout the week I've felt grateful for:

-Music playing in our home all week long. (Love Pandora Radio!) It helped inspire lots of cleaning and organizing, which was fantastic! It inspired dancing too, which was nice to keep our bodies moving when we were indoors on rainy days.

-Giving myself the gift of early bedtimes and relaxing, quiet reading time prior to soothe me to a peaceful sleep.

-Our house feeling so much better as we got rid of stuff and rearranged. And getting our work spaces clear will make it so much easier to create!

-Creative time for me during Bracken's naps. So often, I take advantage of Bracken's daily nap to accomplish tasks. But honestly, sometimes I need the time to regenerate myself. Throughout the week I had a wonderful balance. One day I got computer work done, the next I had "play time" and worked on a wooly creature, then switched back and forth every other day. The work time got things accomplished, the creating time regenerating me and fed my Spirit.

-Bracken learning how to use a straw for the first time. His eyes lit up with his new discovery. He was so excited and loved sharing mama's raw veggie drink, as a special treat during a town trip.

-Two pairs of pants from the thrift store that were on sale and fit perfectly. Yay! It feels good to be comfortable and have clothes that fit right.

-Finding a new rhythm in our days. Still getting a lot done each day, but not needing to "hurry" now that Holiday Market is over. I love that. Feels like we have more space to breathe.

-Seeing Jeff put extra energy into making a delicious meal, when he went out in the rain to harvest fresh parsley in the garden. It made the chicken so yummy.

-Feeling so much inspiration for things we want to make for our business.

-Knowing that our friends in Connecticut are safe, after a tree fell on their house during a storm.

-Quiet moments at night, with the three of us just being together, where my heart filled up so big. One night our living room was so warm from the woodstove, it felt like a sauna. We opened the windows and a cool, refreshing breeze came rushing in from the storm outside. The sound of the rain pouring outside was so loud. Something about the moment just felt right and special.

-Starting my new planner for 2012! I really love having a planner, I use it every day. And starting a brand new one is such a treat. I actually look forward to it every year, which makes me laugh because it sounds rather silly, but it's so true!

-A braid for easy hair management.

-Wearing pajamas as I please.
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-Being proud of my mom for being so brave and following her heart so strongly.
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-Looking at 'The Unforgettable Kiss' by Shanna Trumbly, on our living room wall all week. It brought us all joy and we felt it was such a blessing in our home.
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-Looking at my sock drawer and realizing I can use all my old socks with holes in them for rags (which was literally every pair I owned except for one), now that I have so many new socks from Holiday gifts.
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-Appreciating the "treats" I gave myself with the Holiday money from my grandma and mom. Some books I've had on my wish list for a long time, a new planner, and some gorgeous local wool yarn just begging to be knitted into something special.
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-A break in the rain to get pictures for Etsy yesterday. Then even better than a break in the rain today- glorious sunshine! I got more pictures taken and the sun was so warm on my face, it didn't feel like winter at all.
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-Looking over at Bracken taking his nap while I write this. I love the expression on his face (with his curious eyes and huge smile) when he looks at me each day as he wakes up from his nap.
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-The start of a new year!

Happy New Year All!

What's on your Gratitude list this week?

Flooding in Mapleton

2011-12-30T15:40:00.000-08:00

We went to the post office and bank this morning, in the nearby town of Mapleton. Riverview Road was flooded and many people's yards were flooded along the river to our house. The river looked wild with mighty rapids, unlike it's usual serene flow. We saw large logs floating down the river and a barrel or two. Jeff said he wanted to go where the river meets the ocean, when the flooding is over, to gather firewood and look for wood to carve. A treasure hunt. But for now, we're glad we are situated a little ways up the mountain, out of reach of that river.

{this moment}

2011-12-30T15:16:00.000-08:00

Today I'm joining Amanda at SouleMama for {this moment}

A Whole New Look

2011-12-29T14:56:00.000-08:00

This is a picture I took of our friend Amy, at Holiday Market, wearing her vintage jacket.

She found it at a thrift store and honestly- wasn't quite sure about it at first. She said it had some rather awful, large plastic buttons. But then, she removed them and added some of our sassafras buttons and suddenly she was very sure about that jacket.

She said that the sassafras buttons completely transformed it and gave it a whole new look. I didn't see it before, but I know I absolutely loved her jacket when she came walking into our booth to show us.

Seeing her jacket, made Jeff and I ready to head to the thrift shops for some thrifting adventures! To make it even better, she wore a pair of our large cedar earrings, with the same warm hue.

We got the cedar wood in our backyard when we were trimming branches. The great thing about the cedar (besides it's incredible beauty) is that it's a very lightweight wood, so we can make large earrings that aren't very heavy. For fun, we brought along some cedar essential oil to our market booth and put some on each pair of cedar earrings we sold (when we remembered), so the wearer could enjoy the scent throughout the day.

Speaking of our earrings and Amy.... you can now find a selection of our wooden earrings in Amy's shop, Nest, located at 1235 Willamette St. in Eugene, Oregon. Open Monday-Saturday from 11 am to 5:30 pm.

New Sale section in the Shop!

2011-12-28T19:07:00.000-08:00

I've been so grateful to have the opportunity to do some catching up on our Etsy Shop yesterday and today. We are having wild storms here, so photo taking (of new items to post on the shop) has been put on hold. (I'm honestly surprised that we still have electricity right now.)

In the meantime, I was wanting to make way for all the new things I will soon be adding. I wanted to keep things moving, to keep our shop fresh.

I had an inspiration and created a SALE section on our Shop!

There are over 40 items on sale! (Necklaces, magnets, earrings, a wooden bookmark, a belt buckle, a bracelet, and more!) We're marking things down like crazy, a few items are even $20 off!

Handmade goodness for incredible deals!

And on top of that we decided to give Free Shipping (within the United States) for the next week, when you use the coupon code: KEEPITFRESH at checkout. The coupon code will be good until late Wednesday evening, January 4.

Check out the incredible deals!

Our stockings

2011-12-27T18:31:00.000-08:00

I took a picture of our stockings to share with you, before packing them away for next year.

I felt inspired to make stockings for our family this year and am so glad I did. I used the same wool blanket that I made Bracken's birthday crown out of. (At one point in time that old wool blanket felted down to an odd size and became the material for many an art project.)
I made them nice and big, with an elf shape to the toe. Then I took some cotton embroidery thread and got busy. I had some grand ideas for all the decorating I wanted to do. I envisioned a different image on each one. Perhaps an embroidered elf on Jeff's stocking? A dove?....

In the midst of Holiday Market, I got a little more realistic about the amount of time I had available to work on them and I decided to simplify. Simple stockings would be perfect, they didn't need to be elaborate works of art.
I embroidered our names on each one, doing them free hand as I went along, then stitched on a star. I worked on them throughout a few of Bracken's naps and after he fell asleep at night. Throughout the creation of the stockings, I had a side that nit-picked. It thought things like 'I should have written out the letters first and embroidered over that, instead of free handing them, so they weren't so willy nilly' and 'How did the star get off center on Bracken's? That's what happens when I work on it when I'm tired I guess'.
Oh yes, I had the perfectionist side that critiqued those stockings along the way. But then I had the other carefree side that loved those dear stockings with all their character. The side that had so much fun and thoroughly enjoyed creating something with my own hands for my family that I love so much. They had meaning to me. And on Christmas morning, Bracken and Jeff loved them, which filled me with delight.
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As I went to pack them away, I realized that they weren't quite finished. I do believe they need a bell on the end of each toe to be complete.

G r a t i t u d e * S u n d a y

2011-12-26T11:59:00.000-08:00

G r a t i t u d e * S u n d a y

{Sunday's heartfelt tradition. A time to slow down, to reflect, to be grateful. A list of gratitudes.}

Throughout the week I've felt grateful for:

-Two favorites playing on the market stage in one day! Opal Creek, followed by Laura Kemp. Love their music.
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-Making the most of the last day of farmer's market by stocking up on cabbage for making kraut and apples for making applesauce. (And now we have time to do it!)
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-Buying two loads of firewood from a guy down the road and appreciating a warm home.

-Acting on a feeling to check the butternut squashes we were storing in Jeff's outdoor shop, that we had grown in the garden. It had gotten colder than we thought out there and they had frozen. We got to them just in time before they went bad. (Then we ate a lot of squash.)
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-Nights when Jeff kept the fire going all night long, so our home was cozy. (Did I write that last week? If so, grateful for that again!)
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-My mom calling and cheering me up early in the week when I was feeling grouchy. She made me laugh, I took a relaxing bath, and my day turned around.
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-Washing my hair with baking soda for the first time and loving it! I had heard of it over the years and was curious, then read this post by our friend Aja and decided to go for it. I stopped using shampoo a long time ago for many reasons (will write more about that soon), but didn't want my hair to be greasy. Using baking soda was amazing!
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-Solstice.
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-One morning when I did sit ups. I was feeling a little intimidated to face the day (slightly overwhelmed with market) and doing some sit ups made me feel so much stronger in myself, which gave me more confidence to be ready for the day.
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-Seeing friends at market!
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-Running into our midwife at market. We hadn't seen her in so long and it felt like such a gift.
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-Trades at market. We felt so blessed.
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-Giving gifts. Receiving gifts.
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-Our friend offering to sell some of our wooden earrings in her shop, right after I had just thought I wished we had a store to sell them in throughout the winter! Loved the synchronicity.
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-Being done with market! It was a blend of wonderful, love-filled, exhausting, overwhelming... and we were so relieved when it was over. We like a balance of time at home in the woods and time out in the world connecting with people. Holiday Market tends to tip the scales for us and be a little too much at times. So we feel grateful to have some regeneration time at home.
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-Jeff getting the entire truck unloaded when we came home from market on Christmas Eve. He wanted to do it before the rain came and the next morning it was pouring, so he looked outside with a smile.
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-Finishing making our family's homemade stockings after Bracken fell asleep on Christmas Eve. I was so happy I finished them just in time.
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-Watching Bracken opening up his stocking and presents on Christmas morning. That was so fun.
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-Having a wonderful Christmas. We played guitars together and sang. We turned on the music and danced around the house. We ate good food. We relaxed. We laughed. We watched a favorite show. We all played together with a few of Bracken's new toys on the floor. (And during Bracken's nap I worked on a needle-felted creature in wool that I started before he was born. I hadn't needle-felted in so long and it was a true gift to my Spirit to have time to play with wool and create.)
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-Being back in this space.

Hope you all had a wonderful Holiday!

What have you felt grateful for throughout your week?

New things

2011-12-21T19:08:00.000-08:00

It's amazing how much we accomplished in a few days and we're feeling really excited to be bringing a bunch of new creations for our final days of market this year.

We finished more earrings (including some gorgeous ones in western red cedar that are my new favorites), a variety of unique carved tree pendants in all different types of wood, and something new...

scrimshaw pendants on tagua nuts!

We found a source for sustainably harvested tagua nuts. They are a renewable resource, which makes us really happy. Jeff loves creating scrimshaws. (For those who have never heard of scrimshaw, it is creating artwork by etching a design in a hard surface- typically bone or ivory- and filling the design in with ink.) Scrimshaw is a lost art, not seen as commonly nowadays. Over the years Jeff has done scrimshaws on antique ivory (including some of his grandmother's piano keys), bone, deer horn, abalone shell, and amber. Then he experimented with doing scrimshaw on wood. And now tagua nuts!

We don't have a problem with doing scrimshaws on antique ivory, but some customers would prefer a material other than ivory. Also, we are not able to ship it out of the country, to our customers overseas. The tagua nuts can be sent overseas and will make it so we can offer our scrimshaws more affordably than ones on ivory. We're excited about them!

We have a few finished for our final three days. The mushroom one above and this one below:

This is a tree scrimshaw on a tagua nut, that Jeff just finished. He just free hands the designs. It doesn't matter how many scrimshaws I watch him do, I'm still amazed every time I see it.

For those of you locals that have not been to Holiday Market yet this year and would like to make it (or for those who would like to come again), there's still three days left!

We'll be in booth 216 on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Then Sunday will be a big exhale and a home day for our family.

I will be writing my Gratitude Sunday post on Monday.

Until then..

Wishing you all a Happy Solstice today

and Happy Holidays!

May your celebrations be filled with warmth and lots of sharing of love.

Three more days of Holiday Market

2011-12-19T12:00:00.000-08:00

We're home for a few days before our final three days of Holiday Market (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.) We're feeling rather exhausted, yet striving for a steady balance of regenerating ourselves for the last three days and finishing up more creations for the last three days. This time of year feels like a whirlwind to us. Are you feeling that too?

I've gotten behind on posting new items on our Etsy Shop, since my focus has been going towards market lately. But I wanted to show you a few new things.

Single carved buttons have been very loved so Jeff finished a few more. The one above is a Love Knot carved in local, reclaimed spalted birdseye maple burl wood.

This tree button is carved in the same beautiful wood as the one above.

There's a peek of a couple new buttons.

Now off to mail some packages, hang laundry to dry, clean the kitchen......

Happy Monday to you all!

G r a t i t u d e * S u n d a y

2011-12-18T08:13:00.000-08:00

G r a t i t u d e * S u n d a y

{Sunday's heartfelt tradition. A time to slow down, to reflect, to be grateful. A list of gratitudes.}

Throughout the week I've felt grateful for:

-Love. It's the best and most important thing in life. Giving love and receiving love... that's what truly matters.

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-Watching Bracken play with his friend Kelson. They are two peas in a pod. (And the adults needed a playdate as much as those boys did.)
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-Friends. I am so grateful for friends.
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-Sharing good food with friends. It feels good to nourish people we love.
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-Setting up our tiny tree and loving it.
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-Watching the full moon's journey as I awoke throughout the night. Rising above the ridge over the river, high in the sky illuminating our whole room, then below the treetops in the woods up "our side" of the mountain.
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-Light from the full moon shining in our bedroom and making Bracken glow like a little angel.
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-An incredible dream- an exciting, fantasy, love story, adventure. It felt like I was watching it like a movie. It stayed with me the entire next day and I wanted to keep "watching" it.
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-Barely any diaper time for Bracken all week (we still use them at night and on market weekends.) That was so wonderful!
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-Feeling in awe, watching how hard Jeff works, and knowing he does it all for our family.
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-Enjoying one of the rare jars of applesauce that we added blueberries to. The color was so deep and rich. And it was delicious.
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-Bracken's sudden interest in books. It touched my heart every time he handed me a book and wanted me to read it to him over and over.
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-Winter squash. Bracken loves it. We all love it. (And I feel so much more energetic when I eat it, thanks to the carbs.)
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-For the "baby" gates in our home. We appreciate them even when we get exhausted from stepping over them all the time. (Jeff and I like to joke that we are practicing hurdles for the Olympics and it's really great exercise.)
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-One morning where I was in such a silly, goofy, lighthearted and happy mood. I must have had a good night sleep. When I'm silly, it's a good indicator that I'm feeling well (and well-rested.)
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-Packages in the mail. Including a wonderful handknit sweater for Bracken in merino wool. I nearly cried in delight. (Thank you Amanda!)
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-Bracken dancing. Jeff and I looked at each other, hardly able to believe how incredibly cute it was.
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-A moment of quiet in our home, with all asleep except me, where all I could hear was the fire crackling in the woodstove.
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-Having such a productive week.
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-Trades. So grateful for trades! We wait until the end of Holiday Market to do most of our trades this time of year, but we've done a few these past few weeks. Woolen hats for Jeff and Bracken, a bounty of vegetables, a handmade shirt for me, a surprise for Jeff's stocking, clay garden markers... We feel so much gratitude for the handmade goods and homegrown foods.
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-Jeff and I finding a way to keep Bracken happy in the car- at least for awhile- by singing silly songs.
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-Leaving earlier than usual for market yesterday. The previous week our set up was very stressful, so we decided to give ourselves more time. It was so much more relaxing and enjoyable. A much better way to start the day.
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-Farmer's Market goodness.
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-Being in bed with my loves after a long day, letting the world go and the relaxation set in.
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-Making the time to write this Gratitude Sunday post, a ritual that's so good for my heart. Now, off to another market day!

What has your heart felt grateful for this week?

Are you counting your blessings?

Greenery

2011-12-16T11:30:00.000-08:00

Our little tree went up this week.

To give you an idea of just how tiny our tree is... Bracken is taller than it (that's including the pot it's planted in.) I was happy to find that we had a star ornament lightweight enough to go on the top.

Most ornaments were too heavy for the small branches, but I found a branch strong enough to hold up one of my very favorite ornaments (one my sister Samantha made for me, with the help of our Grandpa Baker, when we were kids.)

A few other decorations went up, like this holly fairy that comes out every year, but we kept things simple.

Next to the tree go handwritten notes and Holiday cards. We love those.

And I'm loving my mom's Holiday card this year, with her beloved dog Ole. The joy in her face makes me smile.

Some more greenery in our home is such a welcome sight.

Have you been decorating for the Holidays?

{this moment}

2011-12-16T09:52:00.000-08:00

Today I'm joining Amanda at SouleMama for {this moment}

Our attempt at a Holiday picture....

2011-12-14T18:17:00.000-08:00

Blurry. Darn!

Scenario: After playdate. Late afternoon, starting to get darker outside. Jeff just finished hauling and splitting a bunch of firewood, not really in the mood for a photo shoot. Me feeling the need to seize the opportunity while our friend was there to take a picture- thinking 'Wouldn't it be nice to have a picture for a Holiday card?' Bracken watching Kelson run around and wanting to join him, rather than get pictures taken.

"What's Kelson doing over there?"

"What's Dad doing?"

"What's Kelson doing now?"

"I want to do what Kelson's doing!"

"I want to do what Jolene's doing."

"Picture taking is b-o-r-i-n-g!"

Uhh... maybe next time....

More Button Love

2011-12-13T20:17:00.000-08:00

Remember I told you I would show you some of our handmade wooden buttons on some children's clothes our friend Kim makes?
Kim, of Watermelon Kidz, makes adorable clothes for kids (and just happens to be the maker of Bracken's very favorite pair of pants.) I brought some of her clothes outside, at Holiday Market on Sunday, since the natural lighting was much better for picture taking. (Thanks to our booth neighbor Lara for holding the clothes up for me to take pictures of!)

A Jacket she made. Completed with some Myrtlewood Buttons.

Love these! (Excuse a few slightly blurry photos where the lighting was a little funny.)

Completed with some Sassafras Buttons.

A Corduroy Jacket

With more of those beloved Sassafras Buttons!

The back of another Jacket. I love the patchwork she does.

And speaking of button love, our friend Christelle, of Moon Root Soaps, just finished knitting this green sweater for her boyfriend Pat, and completed it with some Sassafras Buttons. Everyone was oohing and aahing over the sweater at market, it was so fun to watch it's progress (she finished it so fast.)
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Love seeing the Button Love!

G r a t i t u d e * S u n d a y

2011-12-11T08:14:00.000-08:00

G r a t i t u d e * S u n d a y

{Sunday's heartfelt tradition. A time to slow down, to reflect, to be grateful. A list of gratitudes.}

Throughout the week I've felt grateful for:

-The way the frosted world looks as morning comes and everything sparkles in the sunlight.

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-Knitting help from friends. Help remembering how to cast off (was I that rusty with my knitting skills? Yes I was) and the gift of a sock pattern, which inspired me to start a pair of socks! Being surrounded by amazingly talented knitting friends at Holiday Market gives so much inspiration!
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-Seeing our friend April's beautiful pregnant belly when she visited us at market. I really enjoyed that.
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-A love affair with garlic all week long. I was wondering whether Jeff and I were turning into complete garlic maniacs...
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-Getting some Holiday cards in the mail that were so fun to receive.
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-Baths with epsom salts. Epsom salts are magical.
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-A week filled with sunshine. Light pouring through the windows made me feel so grateful.
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-Warm fires on cold days.
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-Peaceful moments of quietly rubbing walnut oil on our wooden creations, before market. (It makes the wood come to life... the way a dry rock will look dull until you dip it in water and suddenly the colors are amazing.)
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-The satisfaction that comes from getting a very messy kitchen clean!
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-Our cast iron pan (yep, still lovin' that thrift store score) becoming more "seasoned" and food sticking to it less. Little things.
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-Two movie nights throughout the week. (Technically not "movie" nights since we didn't watch movies, we watched episodes of 'The Office.') We needed those. We laughed and laughed... Laughing is as essential as breathing, don't you think?
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-Doodling. I love doodling. It's so relaxing. I don't do it enough.
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-Crossing things off the To-Do List. {big, deep, satisfied sigh}
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-Crunchy, flavorful, fresh, local apples.
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-Finishing a handmade gift!
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-Our neighbor delivering a load of firewood. Jeff split it and it smelled so good. Pine. Mmmm.
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-Setting up our display for market yesterday with all of our new things and having our booth be so full. That feels good.
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-Getting an adorable tree at the farmer's market. We wanted to put up a tree for the Holidays, but needed something small to put in a spot out-of-reach of little hands. Found the perfect tiny tree (and we can plant it afterwards!)
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-Trading at farmer's market for a big basket of delicious vegetables.
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-Golden raspberries from farmer's market. Yum!
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-Only needing to set the alarm clock on market days and usually waking up before it goes off.
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-Jeff's love, support and humor. Especially when I feel "off" (grouchy, tired, stressed, or a little too sensitive for the world.) His constant love fills me up and lifts my heart. I love when he makes me laugh so hard that all the tension magically melts off.
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-Getting this posted before leaving for another day at market! (and writing most of it after Bracken fell asleep last night.)
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-For you. I'm grateful to each and every one of you who reads this.

What have you felt grateful for this week?

Holiday Market this Weekend

2011-12-09T16:33:00.000-08:00

We're finishing last minute things around here, to be ready for market tomorrow. We've got lots of new things this week, including more carved lightswitch plate covers in reclaimed Oregon Myrtlewood.

If you are a local, come say hello!

Looking forward to seeing many of you!

{We'll be in booth 216, Saturday and Sunday.}

{this moment}

2011-12-09T11:01:00.000-08:00

Today I'm joining Amanda at SouleMama for {this moment}

A good pair

2011-12-08T18:25:00.000-08:00

Our friend Aja (who happens to have a birthday today) sent us a wonderful message titled "buyer happiness" and attached this picture of her wearing her Better Together earrings. Isn't she lovely? We feel each creation is destined for someone out there. It's so fun to create, and then what joy we feel when the person and the piece come together- finding their perfect match. Sometimes it feels like reuniting long lost friends.

Happy Birthday Aja!

Whoops!

2011-12-08T12:15:00.000-08:00

I just posted a new set of our naturally yellow buttons in the shop, and it reminded me to tell you..

Our yellow buttons that we have been calling Dogwood?

Oops!

They are actually Buckthorn.

Raw Fermented Pickles and Beets

2011-12-07T18:26:00.000-08:00

We love the magic of fermenting! And we're not the only ones, fermenting foods like our ancestors did, is becoming more popular all the time. It's so fun chatting with people at market, only to discover that they love fermenting too. Before you know it, we're in a passionate conversation about pickles, with looks of adoration in our eyes.

The fermented food we make the most around here is sauerkraut, which is generally a staple of our diet (though we are waiting for the next batch to finish, so are not eating it right now, which is why I say "generally".) And boy, do we love to partake in the effervescent, fizzy delight of kombucha! But lately, we've been enjoying fermented abundance beyond the usual kraut and kombucha. We've been accompanying our meals with raw fermented pickles and beets!
I wrote about getting 25 lbs of beets and 50 lbs of cucumbers fermenting on the counter in this post. I've been very proud of our patience since then while we let them ferment to perfection!
Jeff harvested some grape leaves in the garden to ferment with the cucumbers (a little trick to make firmer pickles.) To ferment the beets and cucumbers, we used water, salt and the same starter culture from Cultures For Health (Caldwell's is the best!) that we use to make our sauerkraut.
We've been asked why we use a starter culture. We've fermented with salt alone and salt with homemade whey from goat's milk, but the results were varied. With the starter culture, our ferments turn out great every time and the flavor is amazing! When we are fermenting 50 lbs of something, we'd like it to turn out, rather than hoping maybe it will. You know? So that's why we use the starter culture- because we are continually happy with the results and feel it's so worth the money.

After the fermentation process, we add the flavorings before we stick them in the fridge. (And when we run out of fridge space, we keep them in crocks in a cool place until space opens up.) With this last batch, Jeff flavored the pickles with garlic, turmeric and a little cayenne (last year it was peppers from our garden) and flavored the beets with garlic, rosemary, thyme, and basil. The fermentation process will continue in the fridge, but will slow down considerably.
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I've enjoyed reading about the love of fermented foods in Nourishing Traditions and Wild Fermentation. They've inspired experiments with goat's milk kefir, yogurt and cheese; ginger carrots, and beet kvass.

On one of my favorite real-food blogs, Nourished Kitchen, Jenny writes:

Fermented food, enjoyed across the globe, conveys health benefits through lactic acid fermentation. The fermentation process can transform the flavor of food from the plain and mundane to a mouth-puckering sourness enlivened by colonies of beneficial bacteria and enhanced micronutrients. While fermented food like yogurt, sauerkraut and kefir are well-known many other lesser-known foods also benefit from the lactic acid fermentation process. Indeed, virtually every food with a complex or simple sugar content can be successfully fermented.

Born of both necessity and practicality, lactic acid fermentation proved to be not only an efficient method of preserving food for our ancestors, but also a critical one. Indeed, fermented food like sauerkraut, cheese, wine, kvass, soured grain porridge and breads often sustained tribes and villages during harsh winters when fresh food simply wasn’t available let alone plentiful.

In many societies including our own where yogurt has been heralded as a health food since the 19^th century, fermented food has gained a reputation for its beneficial effects on immunity, intestinal health and general well-being. Modern researchers are just beginning to understand what the sages of old were tuned in to: fermented food conveys clear and calculable health benefits to the human diet. Lactic acid fermentation in and of itself enhances the micronutrient profile of several foods.

{You can read the rest of the post here.}
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We love the taste of fermented foods and we love knowing all those probiotics will be nurturing our digestive system. Plus fermentation increases Vitamin C content, which is heat sensitive, so eating raw ferments is a great source of Vitamin C (and an essential way to get Vitamin C during the winter time when eating less raw foods.) Fermented foods bless us with so many wonderful things.. increased Vitamin C.. enzymes..beneficial bacteria..

I believe eating fermented foods is one of the best things you can do for your health!
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What are your favorite fermented foods?
Which ones have you been enjoying lately?
Which ones would you like to try?

The Moon

2011-12-06T18:33:00.000-08:00

Something about cold nights make the moon and stars so clear and bright. The last few nights, I've gazed up at the sky in awe. Though I didn't expect our camera to capture the beauty (or really take a picture that would turn out at all), I snapped one anyway, just to carry the feeling with me a little longer. The crisp air makes me hurry inside, but my eyes look skyward till the very last moment, when there is a roof over my head once more.

Our Booth

2011-12-05T14:57:00.000-08:00

I took more pictures last weekend to share our booth with you. I got a few that were alright. With the lighting in there, taking good photos are tricky. But here is a little peek for you to see.

Our Mystic Orb sign, we got for free online (Awesome!) and then Jeff built a wood frame for it. We've had comments from people missing our old handcarved wooden sign. We do too, but after it was never to be found again, Jeff was going to carve a new one for our booth in time for Holiday Market, but we decided to spend our time filling up the inside of our booth instead, since creating a new sign would have been a very time consuming project. This sign works well for now.

Sometimes people are walking past and don't want to come inside the booth, but want to browse from the outside. So this year, we put a display of $12 magnets (yep, we're using one of those thrift store pizza pans again!) on the front right of our booth and $12 earrings on the front left. (The buttons are also easy to browse through without coming inside the booth.) We're so glad we decided to do that.

I thought the $12 magnets would be selling like crazy, but they haven't yet. Maybe their time is yet to come. I've been wondering about new ways to display them.

We are constantly experimenting with how to display and set everything all up.

And we're also learning how to bring our creations to and fro. The first weekend, Jeff wanted to take everything off of our boards for traveling. I thought it would be easier to leave them on and we did that method. It was raining and even with covering everything as best we could, the earring cards (with those beautiful stamps, remember?) got warped and some got slightly smeared. So this past weekend, we took everything off the boards and it worked much better. Packing things in water-proof containers for traveling is wise (we live in rainy Oregon after all!) and I laughed at how many years it took us to start doing that.

When the crowds slow down, we look around our booth and wonder... what can we change? How can we make it better? We are always wanting to improve our display and we're always full of ideas.

Tucking them in for the winter

2011-12-05T14:20:00.000-08:00

These days are growing colder. Both nights we came home from market this past weekend, the house was quite chilly. The woodstove is roaring to life again and our home is a welcoming, warm place from the cold once more.

Last week the cold was making Jeff think of our blueberry plants in pots out front. (Remember those blueberries still waiting to go in the ground?) We've been watching the vibrant colored leaves falling one by one until only a few remained, still clinging on. Jeff wanted to keep those potted blueberries a little warmer during the cold nights.

But we've been pushing everything aside lately, until after Holiday Market.

Fruit trees need trimming.... after Holiday Market. More cleaning up in the garden... after Holiday Market. Organizing around the house.... after Holiday Market. A farmer offered a deal on seconds apples and the thought of more applesauce danced in my head, until I snapped out of it and realized.... after Holiday Market. Oh, that gorgeous cabbage at the farmer's market just begging to be made into more kraut? You guessed it... after Holiday Market.

Basically, Holiday Market is requiring our time and energy right now. Everything else is being put on hold, waiting it's turn. But with the cold, Jeff didn't feel those blueberries could wait until after Holiday Market. So he took advantage of some sunshine last week and hauled loads of leaves and woodchips.

He surrounded the pots with those leaves and woodchips, tucking them in for the winter.

We can both sleep easier now, knowing the blueberries are safe and happy out there. Blueberries are quite important around here, even during our busy Holiday Market season.

G r a t i t u d e * S u n d a y

2011-12-04T07:57:00.000-08:00

G r a t i t u d e * S u n d a y

{Sunday's heartfelt tradition. A time to slow down, to reflect, to be grateful. A list of gratitudes.}

Throughout the week I've felt grateful for:

-Jeff making a very magical soup that healed a sore throat that was starting to creep in. (the magic of elderberries helped too.)

-Shrinking a mountain of laundry until it became an empty basket. Dare I say caught up? (Is there such thing?)

-Jeff flavoring our homemade pickles with garlic, cayenne and turmeric. Yum! My favorite pickles of all time.

-Sleep. Sleep is a wonderful wonderful thing. (And since Bracken's birth, I've learned to never take it forgranted!)

-For fermented foods with our meals. Since we fell in love with fermented foods, meals don't seem complete without them.

-The gentle cooing sound that Bracken sometimes makes as he is nursing to sleep. That sound melts my heart. It's so precious.

-How much cleaning a messy part of the house improves the mood!

-Our friend finding some answers about her illness. I am so very grateful for that. She was in pain and they didn't know what was going on. Now they can take some action. The strength of her Spirit during challenges has been inspiring.
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-Feeling so proud of how productive we were, all the creating we did for market this weekend! We were working till the last minute, putting walnut oil on all the wood and getting the last buttons on cards. Then we stood back and admired our hard work. That felt good.
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-My nightly ritual of writing 10 things I'm grateful for from that day. It grounds and centers me.
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-Jeff keeping the fire going overnight, for a few nights. It was wonderful to have our home so cozy and to wake up and be greeted by warmth.
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-A very powerful dream about taking a leap of faith. It felt like a breakthrough.
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-Watching Bracken's delight over picking his own huckleberries and eating them in the sunshine.
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-Moments of letting my entire body relax. Bliss.
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-For each and every sale in our market booth and on our Etsy Shop. When people come and say "I love your booth!", we feel pretty darn happy. We love creating!
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-Seeing friends at Holiday Market.
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-Finding fresh raspberries at farmer's market yesterday. The golden ones and the regular ones. What a treat!
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-Trading at farmer's market! I get downright giddy. I'll admit it.
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-A new favorite mushroom: cauliflower. Tried them for the first time and we're hooked.
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-Farmer's market goodness. Kale, Beets, Carrots, Celery, Salad Greens, Onions, Garlic, Cilantro, Cabbage, Winter Squash, Apples, Asian Pears. Love!
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-Seeing all the bounty and colors of the fall farmer's market. Oh, have I mentioned farmer's market? ;)
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-Ginger Carrot Soup (from The T.R.E.E. booth at market.) So delicious!
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-Getting ready to head out the door for another Holiday Market day. Wishing you all a relaxing, fulfilling Sunday!

What has your heart felt grateful for this week?

{this moment}

2011-12-02T09:01:00.000-08:00

Today I'm joining Amanda at SouleMama for {this moment}

The new Mini!

2011-12-01T18:58:00.000-08:00

Our Magical Healing Salve is now available in travel size!
We are calling it the 'Magical Healing Salve MINI'
(Mini fit on the tiny label better than "travel size.")
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Recently I got a strong inspiration to start offering our herbal salves in travel sizes. I mentioned the idea to Jeff and he said a hearty "Yes!" He was enthusiastic about it too. So we ordered some of these adorable 1/2 oz. tins from Mountain Rose Herbs and got busy.

We finished them just in time for our first weekend at Holiday Market. I couldn't help but stare at them and remark (again and again) how cute they were!

It's such a convenient size for on-the-go and this healing salve is always good to have on hand. We've been getting such great feedback about our salve and it makes us so happy. I'm personally addicted to the stuff and just started using it for chapped lips too. The healing properties are amazing, but I would use it just for the scent alone! (Mmm...a delicious blend of lavender, beeswax and tea tree...)
Jeff made a sign for our market booth, next to our salves, that says "Perfect for Stocking Stuffers."
We are selling the Mini size for $5.
It's available on our Etsy Shop and at our Holiday Market booth every weekend until Christmas.
(We're in space 216.)
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We've been busy this week, elving again, to get ready for this weekend. We'll be at Holiday Market on Saturday and Sunday. A two day market will be much easier than three days (like the previous weekend.)

Last Sunday, we found a fallen oak branch next to where we parked our truck at market. We brought it home and started slicing it on the bandsaw. Beautiful! Now we are finishing up some gorgeous oak earrings. They have such an incredible grain and there is moss and lichen covering the bark, making them very earthy looking, just how we like. We also got some reclaimed Western Red Cedar from our friend. It's gorgeous too (with a deep red hue in the center) and we'll have lots of earrings in those. They smell like heaven (if you love the smell of cedar like we do.) Lots more buttons and inlay pendants too! Jeff is hoping to finish some more carved lightswitch plate covers, since they have been so well loved lately, but we'll see how much more we can finish....
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See you tomorrow for {this moment}

Sheila's Hat

2011-11-29T12:27:00.000-08:00

You know how much we love seeing what creative things you make using our handmade buttons!

Recently our friend Sheila told us about the handwoven cedar bark hat she made and sent us pictures. This weekend we got to see it in person when she wore it to market. I snapped these pictures to share with you.

She adorned her handmade hat with a button Jeff made in some local scotchbroom wood (an invasive species around here and wonderful for buttons) with a carved tree on it.

Her hat is so fun!

Oh yes, and the lovely Sheila was wearing her Mystic Orb necklace and earrings too, (with Tiger Eye stones in carved Oregon Myrtlewood.)

Thanks for sharing Sheila!
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Next week I want to take some pictures to share with you, of the amazing children's jackets and clothes that our friend Kim sewed and adorned with some of our handmade sassafras buttons.
There is lots of fun to be had with buttons!

Home from Market

2011-11-28T14:31:00.000-08:00

We had a very full three days at our first weekend at Holiday Market. I took pictures to share our booth with you (as we were so excited about our set up!), but as I looked through them, I saw that they were almost all blurry. I will bring my camera again next week and take more.

This picture of our buttons turned out though. The wooden containers the buttons are in was a thrift store score. They couldn't be more perfect! They make it easy to flip through the cards. On the left is a picture of handmade hemp overalls with our sassafras buttons, from Sara of Farmama blog. (She gave us permission to use her photo for our display and we were so grateful.) On the right is a picture I took of some of our yew wood buttons. We wrote 'Great Gifts for Knitters, Sewers, and Crafters.' I had a feeling it would be good to have that written on a sign and it was! People would read it and say "Hey, my sister is a knitter! This will be the perfect gift for her!" We were thrilled.

There was so much to see at the market. I noticed that I gravitated towards the wood, wool, clay and hemp. I enjoyed seeing wood boxes, toys, instruments, bowls, plates, and baskets! I drooled over handspun wool yarn (that was dyed in gorgeous colors with herbs from their garden), and handwoven baskets of all shapes and sizes (can one ever have too many baskets?)

One could spend days going from booth to booth at the Holiday Market admiring all the handmade goods. The creativity is truly amazing and so inspiring! And as if that wasn't enough, there was farmer's market next door. Just seeing the colorful produce made my heart swell.

If you are a local, I highly recommend visiting.

And now, back to the workshop! It feels good to be home and we have lots more creating to do for next weekend!

G r a t i t u d e * S u n d a y

2011-11-27T08:27:00.000-08:00

G r a t i t u d e * S u n d a y

{Sunday's heartfelt tradition. A time to slow down, to reflect, to be grateful. A list of gratitudes.}

Throughout the week I've felt grateful for:

-Sunshine-filled fall moments.

-The awesome salve display that Jeff made for our booth with a beautiful piece of myrtlewood.

-Hugs from Bracken that make me feel so enveloped in love.

-My sister's 24th birthday.

-Laughing about having my third dream where I found a pair of secondhand knee high, purple wool socks with a pattern on them. In my dream I was so excited about them. (Wondering about the symbolism? At one point in my life where I felt very judged and out of place, I kept dreaming that I was wearing sunglasses, wishing to "hide" from the world.)

-Bracken looking so cute in the hat I knit for him. There is such a good feeling you get from seeing your handknits on your loved ones.

-Starting a new knitting project. I'm so glad to have knitting a regular part of my life again.

-Trying brussel sprouts for the first time and liking them.

-Seeing the new website my sister created for NOLS. She was so excited about it and I think it looks amazing!

-Loving cabbage in soup. We've always used all our cabbage for making sauerkraut, but had some leftover and are really loving it in soup.

-Hearing Jeff singing while he is carving wood. I love that.

-Sitting down to relax on the couch and enjoying a peaceful moment. Cat Stevens was playing on the stereo, Jeff was singing along in the kitchen while he sauteed onions to go in our soup for dinner. Bracken was playing with his toys, at my feet. It was raining outside. The house was warm and cozy from the woodstove. My heart felt content and I felt so blessed to be experiencing that moment.

-Happy about all the vegetables we've been eating lately: collards, kale, cabbage, carrots, brussel sprouts, butternut squash, and raw fermented beets.

-Seeing a sale for 50% off all clothes at a local thrift store while we were running errands. We each got a winter coat!

-Jeff fixing the heater/de-froster in our truck. (Turns out a mouse had built a little nest in there.)

-The sound of windchimes during a wild storm.

-A break in the rain while we loaded our booth up in our truck.

-Finding some things we really needed for our booth in an unexpected place. (At one point I had organized in a new area and then forgot where I had put things.)

-Being really happy to have our living room back!

-Every time Bracken falls asleep easily.

-Jeff fixing the water heater when it stopped working. I really appreciate having hot water!

-Laughter at times when I was getting too serious and really needed to lighten up.

-Reading the post: Coming Home by Ben Hewitt. Gratitude wonderfully expressed in such a beautiful way. I really resonated with what he said.

-That hard days pass and the next morning brings a fresh start.
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-Times when we had so much to do, yet kept a calm and steady pace, rather than letting ourselves get frantic about it all.
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-Thanksgiving. I love a day celebrating gratitude.
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-Sunshine on our market days. We take breaks to step outside and feel that glorious sun on our faces.
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-A nice welcome to our market booth- a little handmade shirt for Bracken, waiting for us. (Thanks Kim!)
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-Watching Bracken interact with people at market. It's fun to see him make sounds to get people's attention and then lighting up when they look at him. He kept saying "hi" and waving to people. So fun.
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-Jeff packing food from home for our market days. With that and adding some traded meals from our friend's food booth, we were able to stay nourished, enjoy delicious meals and save money. Love that.
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-Jeff bringing some of that elderberry fruit leather to market to give us an immune boost throughout the show. So glad he thought to do that.
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-Our friend giving us a chair for our booth. It's a kind we had been wanting for a long time and it's so much more comfortable than our other one was. (Thanks Amanda!)
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-A morning sleeping in! I had planned on getting up early and getting lots done before we left for market, but sleep was really so much more important.
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-The incredible joy of going to farmer's market when I hadn't been there for a long time. Fresh, local fruit and vegetables are simply wonderful.
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-Living in a place where breastfeeding is the norm. It makes nursing a little one so much more comfortable.
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-Feeling a part of a community of artists, musicians and farmers, at Holiday Market. There is so much creativity expressed there. So much love created with working hands. I love being a part of it.
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-Having a great two days of Holiday Market so far. It's been so fun to see friends. And we feel so grateful for all the people not only supporting our family business, but truly appreciating what we do. That feels so good. When people come into our booth and their eyes light up, our hearts smile.

So, friends, what have you been feeling grateful for this week?

{this moment}

2011-11-25T09:36:00.000-08:00

Today I'm joining Amanda at SouleMama for {this moment}

Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T13:22:00.000-08:00

Blue Skies Ahead!

2011-11-24T13:19:00.000-08:00

{photo by Jeff, taken a few weeks ago}

Yesterday was a rough day for us.

We had car problems (again) among other discouragements. No need to go into detail, but I really just felt like crying the whole day. I felt pummeled. Some unconscious remarks at a time when I felt so down, made me extra sensitive to others' misunderstandings of me, even when I knew deep down that it didn't really matter.

It was just one of those days, you know?

We did manage to get our booth set up and make it home safely (thank goodness.)

Coming home to a warm, cozy house helped. As did calling my mom and hearing her encouraging words, along with a nourishing meal. Before long, we were feeling lighter (thanks to Bracken for inspiring some much-needed laughter.)

Then Jeff went on the front porch to get more firewood to throw on the woodstove and as he bent over to pick some up, a tiny bird (that's been living there) landed on the back of his neck and started singing to him. It was a magical moment to lift our Spirits. (That's not the first bird that has fallen in love with him. Once a hummingbird was stuck on that same porch. Jeff held out his hand and it landed on his finger, then he gently brought it outside and it flew away. After that, whenever he was out in the garden, that hummingbird followed him all over the place and constantly popped by to visit.)

My mom told me that the last words my grandpa spoke before he passed away, were:

"Blue Skies Ahead."

Whenever my mom and grandma say that now, it brings them a feeling of peace.

We are all here to learn. Challenges bring a lot of lessons and growth, but some days they just feel so heavy. On the days when I've needed a little extra light to carry me through, I've embraced that hope-filled phrase as my mantra.

Whenever I start feeling discouraged, I say

'Blue skies ahead! Blue skies ahead!'

Thanks for that one grandpa, it really helps.

Storms and Power Outages

2011-11-22T20:58:00.000-08:00

It's stormy here and last night the power went out. This morning, by the time Bracken and I came downstairs, Jeff had already gotten a fire started in the woodstove and had some lamps going (kerosene and propane.) Luckily we had some leftover soup, so we warmed it up on the woodstove, which made for an easy breakfast.

We have been scrambling to get everything ready for our first weekend of Holiday Market. Having no electricity put a damper in our plans, to be sure. We needed to print labels for our herbal salves (requiring a computer), get some more magnets carved (which required a tool) and the list went on and on. I thought 'this is the worst time be without electricity!' But there was nothing we could do about it, so we surrendered to it and enjoyed the pervading quiet and peace that comes when the power goes out.

When it was time for Bracken's nap, Jeff and I took a nap too. The three of us peacefully slumbered while the wild storms blew outside. And boy, did I need that nap! I didn't realize how exhausted I was. We've been working so hard to get ready for market. If the electricity had been on, we would have been working and those naps wouldn't have happened for Jeff and I.

I thought 'maybe this was actually the perfect time to be without electricity. When we were busiest and needed the regenerative break the most.'

In the afternoon the power came back on. It was so nice to have bright lights again on such a dark day! We loaded our booth up in our truck, which means we have our living room back! (That sentence deserves more exclamation points!)

Tomorrow we are setting up our booth at Holiday Market (just the structure.)

Thursday we'll be at home for Thanksgiving (and be getting last minute things done.)

Friday will be our first day selling at Holiday Market this year! And we'll be selling on Saturday and Sunday too.

G r a t i t u d e * S u n d a y

2011-11-20T08:27:00.000-08:00

G r a t i t u d e * S u n d a y

{Sunday's heartfelt tradition. A time to slow down, to reflect, to be grateful. A list of gratitudes.}

Throughout the week I've felt grateful for:

-Warm, cozy sweaters. Each us has a favorite sweater right now. Jeff's is grey wool, mine is brown alpaca, and Bracken's is multi-colored cotton. (All from thrift stores/re-use stores! Yes! Mine is one of my favorite thrift store scores of all time.) These chilly days make our favorite sweaters so inviting!

-That Jeff and I share the same dreams in life. It's a wonderful feeling to create our dreams together, day by day.
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-All the wonderful people who ordered from our shop this week. So many appreciative and lovely people.
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-Thoughtful, kind e-mails and messages, full of love.
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-A surprise in the mail. A blog reader from Illinois sent a letter full of warmth, a handknit hat, and a book on gnomes. There was so much love emanating from that box of gifts and we were deeply touched. (Thank you Christina! A letter is in the works for you!)
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-Watching mist rise from the mountains in the mornings. Breathtaking.
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-That feeling you get when you hear a song you just love.... (you know the feeling...it rises up until it can no longer be contained and causes wild dancing!)
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-Getting my very first tip in the tip jar on my blog!! (Thank you Amanda!) I had an inner struggle with whether to have it there or not, for so long. Giving is much easier and more comfortable for me than receiving. But my Spirit keeps reminding me of the value of giving and receiving. So I am opening up to receiving and feeling grateful.
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-For all the friendships formed from meeting sweet souls through this blog. The gifts of friendship make life colorful and rich.
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-Turning a rough day into a fun day with the amazing power of laughter. A good ol' belly laugh is magic, I tell you!
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-Reading MaryJanesFarm magazine. It was fun read, a treat before bed each night.
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-Enjoying the fermented beets we made. Mmm.
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-Finally going to town and feeling so grateful.
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-Family apple time. (Taking breaks from busy work days, sitting down together as a family, and sharing an apple for a snack. We started saying "Oh man, I need a break! Let's have family apple time!")
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-Jeff making a batch of sauerkraut. Waiting for it to get ready will make it taste so much better!
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-Deciding to put some of our Magical Healing Salve on the scar on my face (from where I had surgery awhile back) and having it work miracles! It's amazing how much it's been helping it heal and vanish. I didn't expect it to fade so much and I'm really grateful.
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-Bracken reminding Jeff and I of the importance of breaks throughout the day. To stop amidst the busy-ness and play. It feels so good to let the world go and simply be present with Bracken. He looks at us so often with an 'invitation-to-play' in his eyes. Bless him for helping us remember the importance of play time!
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-Jeff making the best pork cracklin's I've ever had.
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-A reader named Sophie sending a link to this hobbit house and saying "When I saw this, I immediately thought of you and your sweet family. When I read your blog, this is the kind of house I imagine you all living in, with a little matching woodland workshop for making magical buttons and orbs!..

Thank you for sharing glimpses of your enchanted life. Your smile is infectious!!!" What a sweet message. I told her that's just like the house we want to build someday and if she keeps envisioning us there, it just might help it come true!

-Starting the day off with a clean kitchen. Awesome!
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-Making a bunch of signs for our booth. I dreamed up some ideas, Jeff used his skills on the computer and we came up with some great signs. (Will be sure to share pictures of our booth when we get it all set up next weekend.)
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-One night with the most incredible rumbling thunder. I love storms. There is something so exciting and invigorating about them.
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-Trying a new variety of winter squash for the first time. I have no idea what it's called, but it tasted so good.
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-Having our truck working again!!
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-Lots of progress on knitting during a long car ride.
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-Garlic. I could write poetry about garlic.
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-Finding a good home for our dog Satcha. We officially have no animals right now. After the giant family of animals we had, it is quite a change, but it is a relief for us to have a little less responsibility and I know in my heart it's what's best for us right now.
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-My Grandma moving into her new house and hearing how much fun she and my mom were having unpacking boxes and arranging everything, when I talked to my mom on the phone.
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-My mom cracking me up (as always.) I love the silly messages she leaves and the funny voices she uses. This week's highlight: singing "I'm too texty for my phone" to the tune of "I'm too sexy" since becoming adept at text messaging.
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-Jeff's kindness. For compliments that lift me up, for all he does each and every day- in big ways and little ways. (And I love being married to a man who is not embarrassed to hold hands in public!)

So, dear readers, what are you feeling grateful for from your week?

Feel like sharing?

We're up and running again!

2011-11-19T12:52:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we were so happy because we got our truck back!! Hooray!

(I planned on posting a picture of our truck in this blog post, but this picture I snapped of my boys yesterday was way better than a truck picture. I love Bracken's hair sticking up in the wind!)

On Monday it was Day 10 since we had been to town. If it had been summertime, we would have been happily dining on garden fare. But there's not much in the garden right now and we were really wanting to go to the grocery store (not to mention we were running dangerously low on toilet paper, a nice thing to have around, eh?)

Our neighbor dropped off his truck for us to borrow on Sunday night. The gas station had been closed so he only had enough gas in it for us to make it the three miles to Mapleton.

So Monday morning we headed to town! The empty tank made us nervous and we were hoping we'd make it to the gas station. Despite that, we were so excited to finally get some things we needed. We talked about what we wanted to get in town. (The same meals day after day was beginning to get a little, well... boring.) When we made it to the gas station, we breathed a sigh of relief. We made it!

Then we noticed the closed sign. Yes, the gas station was closed on a Monday. Seriously?!

The bank was next door so we figured we could at least get one errand run.

Then we couldn't find the check we were going to cash. Seriously?!

So we drove back home, praying we'd have enough gas to make it and feeling so disappointed we couldn't drive to Florence to get groceries and essentials.

We felt so discouraged. I told Jeff that we had some really bizarre vehicle karma lately. We were afraid to get in a car again. It was stressful to be in a vehicle on the verge of breaking down or running out of gas any moment. Jeff was ready to get a horse and buggy and say goodbye to vehicles forever (though we knew we didn't have room here for a horse, unfortunately.) We felt glum because we had so badly wanted to go to town (we had gotten ourselves all excited dreaming about the fruit smoothies we were going to treat ourselves to and we were having crazy cravings for some kombucha!) It was funny all the times we'd gone to town saying it was so noisy and overwhelming and we'd much prefer to be at home in the quiet country (which is true), and yet there we were wanting to go to town so badly and realizing that not being able to go to town made us more grateful for the good things it had to offer.

Then we decided to do something to turn our day around and cheer ourselves up.

We had a movie night!

We used to have Friday Night Movie Nights every week and looked forward to them. It became a challenge to have movie nights after Bracken joined us, he wasn't really into it, so we stopped. (I don't even remember when our last one was?) I didn't really miss it much, a good book and some knitting satisfied me perfectly. The relaxation of movie night was what we had enjoyed and when Bracken wasn't enjoying it, it wasn't relaxing at all. Something inspired us to try again. So we brought the laptop (where we watch movies, we don't have a TV) into the living room and looked at the instant movies on Netflix. We saw that Season 7 of 'The Office' was available to watch! You would have thought that we had just won the lottery with the incredible excitement that filled our household! 'The Office' is our very favorite show ever and we had been waiting for the next season.

Jeff had made some lard with pig fat from Deck Family Farm. He fried what was leftover after rendering lard and made "cracklin's" (our family favorite!)

So, we curled up on the couch, by the warmth of the woodstove. We dimmed the lights, ate cracklin's and watched 'The Office.' Bracken happily played with toys at our feet. We laughed so hard our stomachs hurt. It was the best medicine for a discouraging day. We were so happy Bracken enjoyed movie night. It was just what we all needed. Sometimes watching something funny that inspires incredible laughter, is just the ticket, you know?

On Tuesday morning, Jeff found about a cup of gas he had for his chainsaw. He put it in our neighbor's truck and it was just enough to get us the three miles to the gas station. And believe it or not, the gas station was open on a Tuesday. We still didn't find that missing check, after scouring the entire house (but maybe it will show up when we least expect it?) We drove to Florence! We got groceries! We were so happy!

We mailed out orders throughout the week. As I was carrying a basket of packages ready to mail out, I was overcome with so much gratitude for all the support and love so many generous people were giving to our family. We had orders. We had messages and e-mails full of encouragement and kind words. We even got a surprise package of handmade gifts. Our hearts were bursting.

(Thank You! Thank You!)

We returned our neighbor's truck. Yesterday, on Friday, our friend drove us to pick up our truck. It seemed like forever since we had last been in it. Being without a vehicle to get to and fro, made us appreciate our truck more than ever.

It feels so good to be up and running again!

{this moment}

2011-11-18T10:59:00.000-08:00

Today I'm joining Amanda at SouleMama for {this moment}

Lots of Elving happening in this house!

2011-11-17T13:18:00.000-08:00

In the post on SouleMama blog yesterday, Amanda talked about making homemade gifts for each other and referred to it as "elving." She said "I do believe the elving has begun!"

When I saw that I almost laughed out loud (but Bracken was napping and I didn't want to wake him, so I refrained.) We refer to ourselves as elves all the time and especially this time of year. We love making homemade gifts for family and friends, but we also fill up our booth and Etsy Shop with them. That's a whole lot of elving going on! When we meet someone for the first time and they ask what we do, Jeff likes to say "we make gifts for people." And that's how we like to think of it. Each and every hand-crafted creation is going out into the world to bless someone. We truly love what we do and are so grateful to be able to. Of course, some days our "on" switch gets stuck and we work ourselves to exhaustion (the balance of our home business and homestead life can be tricky), but we can't imagine a job we'd love more.

Right now is a very busy time in our home. We are down to the final days of preparing for Holiday Market. Making, making, creating, and creating some more.... basically,

lots of Elving is happening in this house!

How to make your shirts fit again... in a few minutes!

2011-11-14T13:31:00.000-08:00

I had some favorite shirts that didn't fit me anymore. I wanted them to fit, but they were just too tight and uncomfortable. I could squeeze into them, but nursing Bracken would be a hassle. Normally I would have passed them along to someone I thought would enjoy them, but for some reason I held onto them. They happened to be handmade by local friends we had done trades with, and they were special to me. They were made in hemp/cotton blend fabric, hand-dyed, and were so comfy.

I had been so excited about our handmade buttons lately, but thought they were for people with more "skills" than I had. I thought longingly 'maybe someday when I learn to knit sweaters I will use them...' or when I sewed my own clothing..... or...?

Wanting to be creative with buttons...

Wanting to alter my clothes to make them fit again...

The two ideas blended beautifully together...

Inspiration came rushing in and I thought 'Why wait?!'

What I may have lacked in knitting and sewing skills, I made up for with imagination and creativity! I could have fun with buttons now!

So I got started.

The two shirts I happened to love were made with sweatshirt material, so I cut them both down the middle, and the fabric didn't require any sewing (good thing since I didn't have our sewing machine in working order.) I left the edges raw, which is a look I love.

The first was a long-sleeve hooded sweatshirt. After cutting it down the middle, I added two of our deer horn buttons to the top. (The buttonholes were easy too since they didn't require any sewing either, just a little snip in the fabric.)

Now it's easy to throw on whenever I need a warmer layer! Awesome!

The second shirt was a sleeveless hoodie. After I cut it down the middle, I added one of our large wood buttons in reclaimed sassafras wood.

Now I have some warm layers just in time for the colder weather!

It's made me feel like I have a brand new wardrobe by making a few little changes. I thought about how few clothes I had that fit throughout my pregnancy. Cutting shirts down the middle and adding a few buttons to the top would be perfectly spacious for a big pregnant belly! And having these shirts able to open in the front makes breastfeeding so much easier also!

And I love the new look they have.

So, that's how you can make your shirts fit again in a few minutes! With just a pair of scissors and a few beautiful buttons! (Although if the material is not okay to be left with raw edges, it will require some sewing and might be a little more than a few minutes.)

With this re-vamping of my wardrobe, I was reminded of this project I did a few years back. I got this handmade shirt in a sale bin at our friend's market booth. It had a tiny hole in the front, so I got it for an incredible deal. To cover the hole, I wrote the word 'Love' in some vintage fabric, cut it out, and sewed it on, covering up the hole completely.

I found the vintage fabric at the thrift store.

After washing it, the fabric frayed around the edges, which I thought was fun. The shirt felt so much more like "me" when I added my own creative touch. (Excuse the wrinkles.)

These days, I've been reminded of how essential it is, to our Spirits, to be creative. Being creative brings so much satisfaction and joy! These simple projects energized me and filled me with excitement.

What creative thing have you done lately to delight your Spirit?

Announcing Custom Magnets!

2011-11-13T13:31:00.000-08:00

We are so excited to announce customized/personalized magnets in the shop!!

They make such meaningful gifts.

Above is the:

Personalized Wedding/Anniversary Magnet

Great gift for that beloved couple you know or for your darling. Jeff and I like to joke that these magnets are helpful for those needing an -ahem- reminder of that special date!

Customized Birth Announcement/Birthday Magnet

A sweet way to welcome a new baby into the world or as a Birthday gift for all ages!

Personalized Sweetheart's Magnet

This sweetheart's magnet would delight your sweetheart for a "just because" gift, Anniversary gift, Valentine's gift, or any other special occasion. This would also be a great Wedding gift!

Customized Name Magnet

I think these name magnets are so fun!

And soon to be posted in the shop.... sets of family magnets!!

To make the magnets:

Jeff sliced local maple wood. Then he sanded each one, giving them a nice shape (see how beautifully rounded the edges are?) When he had them sanded smooth, he burnt the edges to give them a rustic border. Then I hand-wrote the words and designs. Then he carved each by hand, then carefully painted in the letters to create contrast. Then he glued a few magnets on the back (he chose powerful magnets so they stay up, not like so many of those flimsy magnets that always fall.) He finished them up by oiling them with some natural walnut oil.

I took pictures this morning and just got them posted on our shop.

We are selling them for $25 each (such an incredible deal for hand-carved, hand-written, handmade magnets!) and the Sweetheart's Magnet is only $20!

Oh, did I mention we are really excited?!

G r a t i t u d e * S u n d a y

2011-11-13T07:59:00.000-08:00

G r a t i t u d e * S u n d a y

{Sunday's heartfelt tradition. A time to slow down, to reflect, to be grateful. A list of gratitudes.}

Throughout the week I've felt grateful for:

-Spiderwebs in the sunlight. So beautiful.

-My Grandma selling her house!! (I wrote about it in Remembering. All the birds in her new neighborhood are going to be rejoicing to have her move in, as she feeds them so well!) She'll be celebrating Thanksgiving in her new home and I'm so happy for her.

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-Bracken looking me intently in the eyes and saying "Mama" clear as a bell. It brought tears to my eyes and I immediately placed my hand over my heart. He's said it before, but never that clearly and intentionally. It was a gift.
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-Building new displays in our booth and having so many synchronicities happen while we were, really feeling like we were on the flow. (Like having the exact amount of bolts, just the right size.)
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-Our truck breaking down before Holiday Market (when we drive long distances after dark and rely on a running vehicle to make our living) so we can get it fixed and running well prior to the show.
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-Talking to my sister on the phone. We need to do that more often.
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-Some days where Bracken was in such a good mood and so happy. His laughter was contagious and we were amazed at all the different sounding laughs he has now.
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-Feeling so glad we set up our booth in the living room early so we have weeks to let our display unfold and all come together (instead of the last minute scramble we've done in the past.)
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-Two mornings where we walked down the hill to the mailbox. We rarely do that, since we usually just drive by it on the way to town. It was invigorating and the three of us loved moving our bodies and breathing in the fresh air.
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-Having some really fun ideas for homemade holiday gifts. I love making gifts.
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-A lucid dream where I was giving Jeff a tour of my Grandma's house (the one she just sold) and showing him everything that was important to me, telling him stories. It was a beautiful dream.
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-Hoping that the sun would poke through just a little so I could take pictures of new things for our Etsy Shop. There were many days where a little window of opportunity- sunshine- came and I got some beautiful pictures of new creations. And the timing was great, right when I like to take pictures (before Bracken's nap time.) I felt so grateful for that. (Since taking pictures of our art in the rain is a challenge and the pictures I've taken in the greenhouse don't turn out quite as well.)
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-Making up silly lyrics to songs with Jeff, when we didn't know what the words were. That was so fun and brought lots of laughter.
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-Bracken giving me kisses for the first time!! I melted each time.
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-Getting a MaryJanesFarm magazine in the mail (thanks to Jeff's Aunt Isla for the subscription.) I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but I know when I do it will be a delightful treat. I got so excited when I saw it.
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-Grouchiness being an indicator that I need to nurture my Spirit. I know grouchiness can be a good teacher. Earlier in the week I felt grouchy and wondered why. When I tuned in, I was able to give myself what I needed (some regeneration time) and get back in balance. When I'm loving towards my Spirit, I feel so much more lighthearted!
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-The nights Bracken went to bed easily and early, so I could have a little quiet time. We had some nights that took quite a while to get little man to bed (I reminded myself that patience is a virtue), so I was grateful for the easier nights.
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-Bracken standing up, all on his own, without holding onto anything, for the first time!
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-Being okay with the mistake in my knitting. In a millisecond Bracken got into my knitting, which made for a lot of dropped stitches. My knitting skills are very basic and I thought I might have to pull out the whole thing and start over. But I managed to keep going and cover it up pretty well.
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-Being reminded of how much I love sprouts and getting some started again in the kitchen.
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-Jeff making the most incredible nettle and butternut squash soup. Mmmm!
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-Finding a wonderful, loving home for our dog Sweetie, with Jeff's daughter, Bree, and her husband Abe. We are really grateful for that. (Now we need to find a good home for our dog Satcha.)
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-Remembering to count my blessings and be grateful!

What's on your gratitude list from your week?

Would love to hear!

Stocking Up! and 20% off Sale in the Shop till Wednesday!

2011-11-11T14:48:00.000-08:00

As you may have guessed from the previous post, we've been without a working vehicle since last Friday. What's the latest on the truck? It needs a new transmission. We had been hoping for something less expensive. Oh well! This morning Jeff said to me, "we need to have a we-need-a-new-transmission-sale on our shop." Great idea!

So if you've been eyeing something in the shop or you want a special handmade gift for someone, just enter the coupon code: NEWTRANNY and get 20% off your order! (Good till Wednesday evening.) You'll be contributing to our family getting "back on our wheels."

So, in the meantime, we've been at home and we've been getting so much created. Above is our booth set up in the middle of our living room. It's somewhat in dissaray as many projects are taking place in there right now (but I wanted you to see it so I took a picture anyway.)

What have we been up to?

I've been making lots of earring cards. (I know I've shown this process before.) First Jeff drills two small holes in a stack of our business cards. Then I fold them in half.

I use the hand-carved stamp Jeff made and stamp each one.

I love how the stamp looks different on each one. And it feels good when I get a nice big stack made!

Why making so many? We have a bunch of $12 earrings in reclaimed woods that we've been making for the holidays. All different sizes, shapes, and woods, so we're going to need a lot of those earring cards.

We've also been making new buttons. Jeff brings me slices of wood. I use templates and mark circles and ovals on each piece (the branches he just slices), he cuts them out, he sands them, I dry them, he oils and polishes them, I tie them each on cards, photograph them, and then post them on our Shop. (I just photographed 15 more sets this morning that I need to post in the shop.) We hand things back and forth, creating a beautiful flow of productivity.

Jeff made more Magical Healing Salve this week. I put labels on all of them. We're still getting the printing of our labels figured out. Some print out a nice rich color and others have hardly any contrast (on the same settings.) Some are perfectly in the center and others aren't. We're learning.

Jeff has been carving some gorgeous tree pendants. I've been hand drawing more magnets and Jeff has been designing some on the computer (he's not very fond of his handwriting.)

Basically, we are stocking up.

Stocking up our booth for Holiday Market and stocking up our Etsy Shop.

I've taken so many pictures, time to get back to posting new creations in the shop!

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

What do you do when you haven't been to the grocery store in a week?

2011-11-11T12:50:00.000-08:00

Well, first you head outside...

and snack on some huckleberries to satisfy your hankering for fresh fruit....

Then you delightfully discover fresh nettles shoots popping up in that nettles patch you planted...

Then you stand in the crisp fall air, warmed slightly by the sunshine, and hold a giggling baby in your arms while your husband carefully harvests the sacred, potent greens.

You gather enough kale and chard for a meal and feel grateful for all that butternut squash you grew, since it's become an essential part of daily meals. And all those jars in the pantry look better than ever!

{this moment}

2011-11-11T08:03:00.000-08:00

Today I'm joining Amanda at SouleMama for {this moment}

Noticing

2011-11-09T18:01:00.000-08:00

It's dark outside. Bracken is nursing, asleep in my arm. Jeff is snoozing in the other room (he's been having late nights, filled with inspiration in the shop.) The house is so quiet.

I'm breathing.

I'm relishing.

These quiet moments to myself seem so rare sometimes.

Last night I put buttons on cards after Bracken fell asleep. This morning I hoped for a little sunshine to take pictures of new buttons. Some sunshine poked out for a brief visit and I seized the opportunity. In between shots, my camera got distracted by... fall leaves, raindrops on fuscias, puddles on logs. We've been blessed with rain lately which makes for such illuminated beauty when the sun shines on the rain covered world.

While posting new buttons on our shop, I saw these pictures interspersed throughout.

They made me slow down. They brought me into the moment.

Noticing does that.

This time of year is so busy for us.

Even the little moments of slowing down are appreciated.

Oh!

My boys are both awake...

The noise of family life fills our home...

I like that too.

See what I mean?

2011-11-09T12:40:00.000-08:00

The colors of the blueberry plants are breathtaking this time of year!

Years past, I've seen entire fields of blueberries with leaves aglow in the fall, and nearly gasped at the beauty.

There is so much beauty in nature when we take a moment to look, isn't there?

G r a t i t u d e * S u n d a y

2011-11-06T13:46:00.000-08:00

G r a t i t u d e * S u n d a y

{Sunday's heartfelt tradition. A time to slow down, to reflect, to be grateful. A list of gratitudes.}

We have certainly had our challenges this past week. Last Saturday our truck wouldn't start. Jeff researched online and worked at fixing it himself, but finally needed some help. The beginning of the week we had it towed to the shop in Florence (thankfully our insurance paid for the towing.) The mechanic called and said it started up just fine for him. Uhh.. what?! We knew it was in need of a tune up so we had them do one while it was there. They did a tune up and said it ran great. Our generous friend gave us a ride to town to pick up our truck. Jeff started it up and it sounded horrible. They tinkered with it more. Our friend went to run some errands and said to call if we needed her. They got the truck working. We were so happy! It sounded better than ever. We made one stop to run errands and headed home. We planned on going to Eugene the next day, for the once a year sale at a farm store. We look forward to it all year long and stock up on onions, garlic, beets, cucumbers for pickles, winter squash and so much more, for the most incredible deals.
While we were heading towards home, the truck started "chugging" and barely running. The automotive shop had just closed for the night. We called our friend to meet us there (thankfully she was still in town.) The truck barely made it back there and made for a stressful drive. We parked it out front, for them to work on in the morning, and our friend gave us a ride home (bless her heart again!) It had been a long day and Bracken cried the whole ride home. We were exhausted. The next day we called for updates on the truck, but they couldn't figure out what was wrong with it, they were stumped. We didn't know what was wrong or how much it would cost. We missed the farm sale and were really bummed. The next day our neighbor let us borrow his truck. The mechanic thought maybe it was the computer and found one at a salvage place. They were installing it when we were going to head to town, so we said we'd stop by to check on it. When we got there, it was running great! We thought "Awesome! The computer must have been the problem. It's fixed! Hooray!" We ran our errand, then dropped our neighbor's truck off and came home. We were so happy to have our truck back. (It's not so bad being stranded at home, since it's our favorite place to be, but when we need to go somewhere it's really frustrating.) The next day we had errands to run in Eugene (an hour drive.) We left early and it ran better than it ever had before. We were feeling so grateful. It was a long day (did I mention Bracken recently decided he doesn't like car rides?) and as we headed up a steep hill on our way home, the truck stopped working. There was not much of a shoulder, but Jeff pulled over as much as he could. We looked at each other like "you've got to be kidding me!" We called a tow truck. Our insurance would only cover for it to be towed 11 miles, to the nearest mechanic, and it wouldn't cover multiple passengers in the tow truck. It was getting later and we needed to get home. So we paid a pretty penny to be towed home. Going from the stress of being stranded on the side of the road, to the feeling of being safely towed home, I felt it was worth the cost. Our driveway is not an easy one to maneuver in a tow truck, but the driver managed. It was dark when we got home and we unloaded the truck. We were home safe and sound, we breathed a sigh of relief!
Right now, the truck is sitting immobile in our driveway.
As I think back on our week, it was stressful on our nervous systems. There were moments I felt defeated, discouraged, exhausted, and frustrated. I knew I had a choice. I could whine, complain and feel sorry for myself, which could be so easy to indulge in..... or I could be thankful. When I remembered to count my blessings and be grateful I felt so much better. I became empowered, optimistic, easy going and relaxed. Every moment I had a choice.
I could complain about how tired I was or I could go to bed a little earlier.
I could whine about being so busy or I could s l o w d o w n and take a deep breath.
I could be frustrated we couldn't drive to town or be grateful we had a friend to give us a ride.
A choice.
Every night, no matter how tired I was or how challenging the day was, I wrote down things I felt grateful for from that day, in my gratitude journal. And it was what got me through the week! There is no security that life will be smooth sailing. Remembering to be grateful is what gets me through all of life's challenges. It balances and centers me. It's my steady rock of reassurance.
Some people have read my Gratitude Sunday posts and think we have the perfect life.
Is our life perfect? No way!
Is it blessed? Absolutely.
It's blessed when we are grateful for the simple, little things in everyday life.
These are a few things on my list from the week.

Throughout the week I've felt grateful for:

-The colors of fall.
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-The sun being lower in the sky this time of year, which means much more sunlight shining in our home, which I really really love.

-Knitting and reading. One night after Bracken fell asleep, I had a few rare moments to myself and wondered whether to knit or read. I really wanted to do both. I propped the book up with my knees and happily knit while I read. (Laughing that it took me so long to discover that!)
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-Being in the greenhouse on rainy days. It's a nice way to be "outdoors" and not get soaked.
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-Setting up the market booth in the middle of our living room. Yes, it's a little cramped and chaotic in there, but we've been able to get so much done on our display, in preparation for Holiday Market, which is great!
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-Sunshine to uplift our spirits! And cozy, rainy days to be productive indoors.
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-Bracken picking his own huckleberries.
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-The colors of the blueberry plants this time of year- oranges, reds, yellows. They are so vibrant and breathtaking.
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-A wonderful dream where the three of us were afraid and a giant Angel showed up on a motorcycle. He helped us and guided us, leading us to safety. I was carrying too much and it was heavier than I could handle. He reached over and helped me carry it and I felt immense relief. Love the symbolism.
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-Our friend giving us a ride to town when we needed one. We appreciated it so much.
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-Deciding it was time (with the car breaking down all the time) to buy a pay-as-you-go cellphone. We've happily lived without one for a long time, but I'm glad we trusted our intuitive feeling to get one because it really ended up coming in handy a few days after we bought it!
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-Celery, kale and chard from the garden. Made for some delicious soups.
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-Eating the very last of our homegrown duck. It was enjoyed and appreciated.
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-The way a bath before bedtime can "wash off the day" when it's been a particularly challenging one. It works wonders.
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-Waking up in the night to the most incredible, crystal clear sky full of twinkling stars. I starred in awe. Something about looking at the night sky seems to put life in perspective, suddenly filling us with a sense of what's really important. You know what I mean?
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-Quiet time to write in my gratitude journal before bed, to the sound of the rain.
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-Jeff making us a warm breakfast on the propane stove when the power went out.
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-That the electricity wasn't out for very long, but just long enough to deepen my gratitude for our crock pot, running water, hot water, lights on a dark day, stovetop......
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-Our neighbor letting us borrow his truck for a day, when we were without ours. That meant a lot because it's his baby. (Made us a little nervous, we didn't want it to get scratched! A pebble hit it on the way to town and Jeff said "he'll probably notice that.")
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-Surprises in the mail! How fun.
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-Buying a composition notebook for my next gratitude journal at the store and seeing one for 50 cents more that was 100% recycled! That made me happy!
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-The warmth and comforts of home.
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-Jeff putting a big pot of water on the woodstove with eucalyptus essential oil in it. Mmm!
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-The smell of Jeff making a new batch of herbal salve on the stovetop. I love that smell.
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-Jeff seeing a Manzanita bush, on the side of the road, that had been chopped down and thrown out. We put it in the back of the truck with a feeling that it will make amazing buttons! Now the hard part is waiting for the wood to cure, in our excitement we want to work with it right now. (Then on the way home, we found a beautiful cedar branch on the ground, that we also saved for buttons!)
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-Thrift store scores! New wood displays for our buttons in our booth, two new pairs of (much-needed) pants for me, more cotton pants for Bracken, other booth displays, a wooden baby gate........ all for incredible deals! We had a lot of fun treasure hunting.
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-Having a hunch to check out a used children's clothing shop and finding some inexpensive, warm cotton sweaters for Bracken. He really needed some warmer layers.
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-The inspiration for so many creative projects I want to make.
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-Jeff bringing me to a farm for the first time (he's been there before.) We got the largest cabbages we've ever seen for making sauerkraut. They had reasonable prices and don't spray!
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-Getting Jeff a new pair of comfy pants. (You can get a glimpse of his previous favorite pair of pants (that were practically rags) in the leaf pile post. Basically, with this colder weather, they weren't keeping him warm in the least and he really needed a new pair.)
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-A wonderful productive flow going. We've been getting so much done in preparation for Holiday Market. That feels so good!
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-Completing blog posts. I have so many going on inside of me all the time and each one that I write and complete feels satisfying.
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-Watching Jeff and Bracken play together and filling the space up with giggles and laughter. That's what life is all about!

Have you been choosing to be grateful this week?

What's on your list?

Soaking and Sprouting: Nuts and Seeds

2011-11-05T18:39:00.000-07:00

We love eating nuts and seeds around here. We snack on crispy nuts plain and in homemade trail mixes. We occasionally make homemade almond butter, which makes a divine dessert with some frozen berries on top!

We enjoy almonds, hazelnuts and sunflower seeds the most. (I've had allergic reactions to peanuts, pecans and walnuts, so that limits our nut choices.)

Nuts and seeds are delicious and nutritious, but they can be very difficult to digest. Soaking and sprouting them helps immensely in digesting them. Even with that, we still eat them in small amounts.

Why soak nuts?

"Nuts are an extremely nutritious food if properly prepared. Once again, the habits of traditional peoples should serve as a guide. They understood instinctively that nuts are best soaked or partially sprouted before eaten. This is because nuts contain numerous enzyme inhibitors that can put a real strain on the digestive mechanism if consumed in excess. Nuts are easier to digest, and their nutrients more readily available, if they are first soaked overnight, then dried in a warm oven. This method imitates the Aztec practice of soaking pumpkin or squash seeds in brine and then letting them dry in the sun before eating them whole or grinding them into meal. Salt in soaking water activates enzymes that neutralize enzyme inhibitors."

-Sally Fallon

I've noticed that sprouted nuts have become very popular in grocery stores these days and I gasped when I saw how expensive they were. Sprouting your own is so easy and you'll save lots of money too!

Here's what I do:

**Soaking and Sprouting**

First I take raw nuts (almonds, hazelnuts) or raw seeds (sunflower, winter squash, pumpkin) and cover them in warm water. I add some salt and stir it in to dissolve it. (Ratio about 1 tablespoon salt to 4 cups nuts.) Then I leave them in a warm place overnight. Sometimes I soak the nuts longer. I know they're done when they've sprouted (shown on the inside of an almond in the picture above, see it starting to sprout on the top?) Then I dry them on a low temperature in the dehydrator, so they will remain raw.

Easy!

Homemade trail mixes make such handy snacks on the go. This one had almonds, sunflower seeds, and dried fruit- blueberries, peaches, figs and plums. We've also used dried apples, pears and raisins, which were really good.

These were some treats Jeff made. He took sprouted almonds and ground them up with homemade applesauce, shredded coconut and dried blueberries. (The darker ones in back had other fruit mixed in.) Then he dried them in the dehydrator and we had incredibly delicious, ready-to-go snacks.

Here were winter squash seeds soaking last week. (We were steaming vegetables on the stove so the kitchen window was all covered in condensation.) We didn't even dry them in the dehydrator, Jeff sauteed them in home-rendered lard and ate them right away.

Which nuts and seeds do you enjoy eating?

Do you soak them first?

{this moment}

2011-11-04T08:28:00.000-07:00

Today I'm joining Amanda at SouleMama for {this moment}

We'd love your feedback about buttons!

2011-11-03T21:53:00.000-07:00

We've been really busy in the shop getting ready for Holiday Market. We've been creating carved inspirational magnets, earrings, signs, pendants, but mostly lots and lots of buttons!

We've been loving making buttons lately and loving seeing what you create with them! Last week we were so excited to see our Dogwood buttons shown on the Annabel Sweater on SouleMama Blog. Then we saw some of our Sassafras buttons on a cardigan that Heike, from Germany, knitted for her little girl.

I created a page with links to blog posts showing our buttons on different creative projects. (If you need some inspiration to keep your creative juices flowing, check them out!) They are so fun to see! The creativity and talent amazes and inspires me (and has sparked some craft ideas!)

As Jeff and I have been making more buttons, we've been wondering...

.How many buttons in a set do people prefer?

.Which woods are people's favorites?

.Would large, single buttons be used?

.What size buttons do people want?

Basically, we would really love some feedback!

Do you use buttons in your creative projects? What are you looking for? We want your input.

We've been posting a variety on our shop to see what people like. I've been posting sets of buttons- from 3 in a set, up to 9. They all seem to be popular. I posted a single large button and it sold, which made me excited. We've made tiny, small, medium, large and larg(er) sizes. The ones where we cut the shapes (not branches that we slice with the bark still on), we made ovals and circles. We've used many different types of wood. We want to give lots of choices.

There is a lot of work that goes into our buttons. We sand them on more grits than I can keep track of (Jeff remembers I'm sure.) Jeff shapes each one- some are more rounded with a "high dome" and some are more level. I put them all on cards, which has been such a great way for us to display them in our booth.
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Jeff and I adore working with wood and are so passionate about all the different types. Visit us at our booth, ask about a wood, and you'll see what I mean. We could talk and talk and talk about what we love about each of the different woods and the story behind each one. Some people get kind of bored, and others are wood lovers and their eyes light up too.

Here's a preview of a few of the woods we've been using:

Yew Wood

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This Yew Wood is from our front yard. Awhile back, the goats got out and ate the bush down. I had read it was poisonous to goats so we were really grateful that they didn't get sick from it. They did manage to kill the bush though, so we cut it down. When we did, we discovered a real surprise. The wood was gorgeous! Like drop-your-jaw gorgeous. We let it cure. Jeff started slicing the branches. They had the most amazing, vibrant reddish hue in the center, and a lighter border surrounding that. Then with the natural bark around the outside...they made for some of our very favorite buttons. We have a limited supply of this wood. We savor each piece we work with.

Sassafras Wood

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The wood we use the most for buttons is reclaimed Sassafras wood. It comes from our friend, who is a broom maker in Eugene. (He made some of the brooms in the Harry Potter movies.) He gets lots of odds and ends (basically "scraps") that he gives away for kindling. We stop by here and there to pick some up and make him gifts with it as a thank you. We don't use it for kindling, it's too precious! We turn it into buttons, earrings, pendants, magnets and more! There is a wide variance in the wood, even though it's all Sassafras, each branch can look so different. The buttons we make with Sassafras are less expensive because we have an abundance of the wood to work with. One of the funnest things about Sassafras is the amazing bark it has. For some reason, this wood reminds me of hobbits.

Cedar Wood

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This cedar wood is from the cedar trees we trimmed in the backyard, and saved some of the branches. I love the warmth of this cedar wood. It feels....welcoming, inviting, comforting, cheerful. Perhaps it's just the way that cedar wood stirs my soul. It's one of my very favorite woods (although I find myself saying that more often these days about a few different woods, but really can you ever have too many favorites? I don't think so.) I'm amazed at all the rings of growth in such a small size. The wood is very soft and pretty easy to work with. And the smell... mmm!

Holly Wood

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This Holly Wood also came from doing some trimming in our yard! It's amazing how many buttons we make from trimming branches around the place. The Holly Wood has a nice light hue. It's a very dense wood and takes a nice shine when we polish it. We like to joke with each other and say aren't our "Hollywood" buttons so hip? (hehe. Any opportunity to laugh, even if it's corny!)

Apple Wood

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We saved this apple wood from a pile left to rot. It's a fun wood to work with. Some pieces are a warm honey brown with a reddish tint and others are more beige. Each different button has had a unique grain. It's fall and we're eating lots of apples, so it makes me appreciate working with this pleasant wood even more.

Dog Wood

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Yes, this wood is naturally a bright vibrant yellow! I love how cheery and bright it is. We get this wood from the same place we get the Sassafras- our broom making friend. We have a limited supply of this also.

A few more from the homestead:
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Lilac Wood

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One set of the tiniest buttons Jeff has ever made (so tiny they only have one hole) in lilac wood from our yard.

Huckleberry Wood

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You all know how much we love eating huckleberries in the surrounding woods this time of year. Well, now we've discovered that when we trim the bushes, they make good buttons too!

Flowering Plum Wood

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There is a flowering plum tree by the front pond that is covered in beautiful pink blossoms every spring. As a branch cured, a beautiful spalted swirling design covered the wood. Jeff refers to spalted woods as "painted by mother nature."

Some Exotics:

(All the exotic woods we work with are reclaimed. We mostly work with local woods, many of which are also reclaimed. We have a small amount of exotic wood, so it feels like a rare treat to work with them.)

Cocobolo Wood

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Cocobolo wood has amazing colors- deep brown tones and vibrant, fiery reds and oranges. The wood reminds me of a storm with all the strong swirling colors. It can be a challenge to photograph, the pictures never seem to do it justice. Jeff says it smells like beeswax when he carves it.

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Ebony Wood

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Great for those wanting black buttons. The pieces we've been working with were leftover pieces from a guitar maker, that were going to be thrown out. We make use of every little piece of this wood! With all the sanding we do, it truly shines!

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Lignum Vitae Wood

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Lignum Vitae comes in a wide variety of colors- brown, green (yes green!), and what I refer to as blonde (shown above.) We haven't seen this light hue in it very often, so it felt like a treasure.

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Purpleheart Wood

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This wood is naturally purple! So cool! It is also very difficult to photograph, never seeming to truly capture the amazing purple color.

That's a few of the woods we've been working with lately and creating buttons with.
What's coming up?

Buttons in Birdseye Maple Burl, Naturally Shed Deer Horn, and oh-so-much more!

Which woods do you like?

What size buttons do you like?

How many in a set do you prefer?

What projects do you like to use buttons for?

Do you ever use single buttons?

Do you prefer rounds or ovals?

Bark or no bark?

If you have something to say about buttons, please share!

Right here

2011-11-02T17:45:00.000-07:00

I spend a lot of time at this kitchen sink of ours.

I sure do like it when it's clean and the sun is shining in the windows!

The Fairy Dew Drop

2011-10-31T18:12:00.000-07:00

The Fairy Dew Drop

February 1915

..........................

Down by the spring one morning

Where the shadows still lay deep,

I found in the heart of a flower

A tiny fairy asleep.

Her flower couch was perfumed,

Leaf curtains drawn with care,

And there she sweetly slumbered,

With a jewel in her hair.

But a sunbeam entered softly

And touched her as she lay,

Whispering that 'twas morning

And fairies must away.

All colors of the rainbow

Were in her robe so bright

As she danced away with the sunbeam

And vanished from my sight.

'Twas while I watched them dancing,

The sunshine told me true,

That my sparkling little fairy

Was lovely Drop O'Dew.

-Laura Ingalls Wilder

Garlic is planted!

2011-10-30T19:29:00.000-07:00

The garlic is planted!

We planted them in pots to start with. Tonight they're getting a nice soaking with rainwater. Since we feel we're getting them planted a little late this year, we'll bring them indoors to start, then move them to the greenhouse, then plant them in the ground in the garden.

We eat a lot of garlic in our home and it will be so nice to grow our own.

G r a t i t u d e * S u n d a y

2011-10-30T08:23:00.000-07:00

G r a t i t u d e * S u n d a y

{Sunday's heartfelt tradition. A time to slow down, to reflect, to be grateful. A list of gratitudes.}

Throughout the week I've felt grateful for:

-Seeing richly colored fuchsias still blooming in the front yard, amidst fall leaves.

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-Jeff tying our set of measuring spoons to the Ergo carrier. Genius! He heard me comment that Bracken's game of fetch (throwing things on the floor for me to retrieve while he's in the carrier) was a lot more fun for him than it was for me (as I bent over for the upteenth time in the midst of a kitchen project.) Then I smiled as Bracken happily played with the measuring spoons (and could no longer throw them on the floor for me to get.)
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-Thrift store scores! A cast iron pan (the perfect size for making scrambled eggs, which was just what I was wanting), a wooden potty for Bracken (much better than the plastic one he's been using), a bunch of cotton pants for Bracken, some new display boards for our booth....!!
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-Packaging up Etsy orders. I love packaging up Etsy orders!
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-Discovering that grapes with crunchy seeds make incredibly delicious raisins!
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-Cuddling with Jeff. It makes my soul hum.
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-Seeing the look on Bracken's face when Jeff whistles with blades of grass. It's so funny.
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-Days throughout the week where Bracken didn't have a diaper on all day long. Before we did Natural Infant Hygiene with diapers (I brought him to the potty continually throughout the day and had diapers on in between, just in case.) Now we are just using cotton pants and I still take him to the potty regularly. (I got a bunch of cotton pants at the thrift store just for this purpose.) He has been dry most of the time, we've hardly had any wet pants to change. I love the communication between us and the times when I listen to my intuition (I'm always glad when I listen to it.)
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-Having to pay to dump garbage in our area. When you have to haul it and pay for it, it makes you really conscious of how much waste you create. We are happy to keep lessening it.
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-Fruit smoothies. What a treat!
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-A few days where Jeff stayed up later because he was so inspired to create in the shop. The following days he joined Bracken's morning naps. I adore watching them sleep together.
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-A warm bath. Blueberries cool from the freezer. Good combo.
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-All the delicious meals Jeff makes all the time and for the times he saves me when I'm starving.
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-Crystals hanging in the window and the rainbows they make all over the room when the light shines in.
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-Jeff cleaning out the culvert down below when it got blocked by a fallen log and insulating a few old windows to make the house warmer. Bless him. I can't say that enough.
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-Bracken handing me his radio to tell me he needed to poop. (Usually he makes our cueing sound to tell me.) My grandma gave him a toy that my own mom played with when she was a baby. You wind it up like a music box. I sometimes play it for Bracken when he is taking a poop on the potty to keep him entertained. One day he started fussing out of the blue and fervently handing me his radio... then it struck me -a-ha- he was telling me he had to go. Sure enough.
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-A night where Bracken fell asleep without nursing. (Nursing is usually the only way he'll fall asleep, I can probably count on one hand the number of times he has fallen asleep without nursing since he's been born.) Jeff was playing the guitar and singing downstairs. Bracken was listening to him with a peaceful "in the zone" look on his face and then quietly fell asleep. I was amazed.
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-Cod Liver Oil on sale! We had been out for awhile and could feel that our bodies were really needing it. We were so happy when two were the price we normally buy one bottle for.
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-That when you work from home, you can wear your pajamas if you feel like it!
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-Over 500 sales on our Etsy Shop! That's 500 items we have made with our own hands. A lot of work went into those 500 creations and that's something to be proud of. And it makes us so very grateful for the wonderful people who support our family business.
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-Jeff saying "we really need some cash", then having a surprise check in the mail. I love synchronicities.
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-Feeling so productive lately.
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-Washing the Ergo carrier. Being without it while it dried by the woodstove, (and holding Bracken on my hip, doing things one-handed) made me realize even more how much I appreciate it and rely on it every day to get so much done.
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-Nice comments on my blog. They make me so happy.
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-Eating soup to the sound of the rain.
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-Clean bedding! Ahhhh.... {deep sigh}
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-Nights when Bracken falls asleep early so I can have a little quiet time to myself.
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-The runner guides (the ones that help find missing items) helping us find Jeff's keys and Bracken's missing shoe, when I asked them for help. They help us find missing things all the time and I'm grateful.
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-Working through so much stuff in the dreamtime. It's intense, but it's healing.
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-Remembering to count my blessings, even in the midst of challenges. Challenges can bring so much growth, be so humbling, and show us what we take for granted. Our truck wouldn't start yesterday. We talked about how we take being able to drive for granted. In the country, we can't just hop on a bus. A vehicle that runs is sure something to be grateful for!
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-Eating spoonfuls of our homemade applesauce while I write this post.

What's on your gratitude list from your week?

Leave a comment and bring us a smile!

{this moment}

2011-10-28T12:41:00.000-07:00

Today I'm joining Amanda at SouleMama for {this moment}

A big pile + big smiles

2011-10-27T20:17:00.000-07:00

Pluckin' Grapes

2011-10-26T20:37:00.000-07:00

Yes!!

More grapes in the freezer!

(Have you ever tried frozen grapes? Yum!)

Grapes in the dehydrator!

(We are curious how they'll taste dried with the crunchy seeds inside?)

Sunday Soup: October Garden-style

2011-10-23T18:34:00.000-07:00

Today's Homemade Soup:

...

From the Garden:

Celery

Kale

Chard

Butternut Squash

Parsley

...

Everything Else:

Beef Bone Broth

Grass-fed Ground Beef

Carrots

...

We are loving loving butternut squash in soups lately.

And of course calcium-rich bone broth is a staple around here.

I love colorful meals. Our breakfast this morning had a beautiful rainbow with red beets, orange carrots, yellow crookneck squash, and green parsley. We ate it ravenously before any pictures could be taken, but- by golly- I took a picture of lunch. Meals feel so special when we gather most of the ingredients in the garden.

Have you made yourself a delicious meal lately?

You deserve it!

G r a t i t u d e * S u n d a y

2011-10-23T12:28:00.000-07:00

G r a t i t u d e * S u n d a y

{Sunday's heartfelt tradition. A time to slow down, to reflect, to be grateful. A list of gratitudes.}

Throughout the week I've felt grateful for:

-The garden looking much better after all the cleaning up we did. It felt great to stand back and admire all the progress we made.
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-Eating delicious butternut squash from our garden.
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-Some gorgeous, sunny October days.
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-Jeff attaching a piece of wood across the top of the front door. There was a cold draft that always blew in there. It was a small thing that made a big difference. Especially appreciated with the chillier weather coming.
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-A birthday gift from Bracken's Grandma that changed our life- a gate that blocks off the entire woodstove area. With a few other gates, that made for the entire living room for Bracken to explore (without us needing to keep him away from so many areas.) He loved it and we got to relax a lot more.
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-Two days where we had lamb (from Deck Family Farm) with our meals. Lamb is our very favorite meat and it feels like a rare and special treat every time we eat it.
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-Lots of laundry done. (Yes, I'm still feeling grateful for that washing machine!)
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-Accomplishing big goals that seemed a little intimidating and I had no idea how we would do them, but we did!
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-Adoring Bracken's smile with his two front teeth!
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-Jeff getting electricity hooked up in his outdoor workshop. He made so much progress out there.
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-Rocking and rolling in the workshop! Getting so much done. It felt great! Jeff and I had a lot of motivation and enthusiasm. We get so happy and excited when we are creating. We posted new things on our Etsy Shop and have so many more new creations to post still.
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-More baby-proofing = more relaxing.
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-Trimming Bracken's hair. It can be quite challenging to keep him distracted so I can do it, so I feel proud when I get it done. It tends to end up shorter than I plan, since I have to keep cutting to even it out, but was cute nonetheless. Jeff joked that if we shaved a circle on his head he would look just like St. Francis of Assisi. That made me laugh. (The applesauce post shows him before haircut, today's post and this moment show him after haircut.)
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-Jeff starting the fire every morning. It's amazing how it transforms our home into such a cozy space. There are so many things that Jeff does each and every day, that I like to remember to be grateful for and not take for granted.
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-A powerful dream where I felt like a snake shedding it's old skin.
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-Seeing some of our yew wood buttons on one of my favorite blogs, SouleMama. That delightful surprise made my heart really happy!
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-Watching Bracken practicing his "new moves." He stood while holding onto things. Then he practiced holding on with just one hand. Then no hands while leaning against something. He looks over at us, so proud of himself and we cheer him on. It's so fun.
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-Huckleberries in our yard. A nice treat to snack on every time we go outside.
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-Feeling so much help every time I remember to ask for it.
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-Singing along to music. Listening to music always brightens our day.
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-A marvelous quote: "We are usually so busily longing for things we can't have that we overlook what we have in their place that is even more worthwhile." -Laura Ingalls Wilder
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-For all the friends who joined in Gratitude Sunday last week. Lindsey from Herbangardener, Trish from Soul Soup Sister, Heike from Where The Wild Strawberries Grow, April from Pleasure in the Pathless Woods and Aja from Moon Woman Rising. Thank you all! (Were there any others I missed? Feel free to leave your link in the comments.) Reading lists of gratitude is like medicine for the heart. When I see what others are grateful for, I'm reminded of how much we have in common.
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-For each and every one of you who reads this blog! I'm grateful.

What's on your gratitude list?

Making Applesauce

2011-10-22T14:41:00.000-07:00

A reader, Evi from Greece (Hi Evi!), asked how we make applesauce. We've used many methods over the years, but this year we discovered our favorite method and have been making more applesauce than ever before.

I've peeled and cored apples by hand (time-consuming!) or used a tool we have where you mount the apple and turn the crank- that cores and peels it. The tool works alright (sometimes) if all the apples are a certain size, but I found it to be a hassle overall. After using it, I would put the apples in a gaint pot and cook them down on the stovetop. Last year's experience with burned applesauce made me afraid to burn it again.

With our new method, we don't need to worry about burning it!

How did we discover the new method? Jeff had a tool called a squeezo in the pantry. He either got it at a garage sale or from a neighbor (doesn't remember.) We feel so grateful we have it. I looked it up on Lehman's and they cost about $200 (worth it if you make lots of applesauce year after year.) We thought it was for making tomato sauce. We knew it would be good for making other things, but didn't use it to make applesauce until this year. We were so happy when we discovered that it works incredibly for making applesauce!

The best part?

No peeling! No coring! No worrying about burning!

I took this picture in the summer, when we came home from blueberry picking with something we didn't expect- a box of windfall apples. Our farming neighbor was busy working in his fields and didn't have time to deal with them, he was just going to throw them to his chickens, but when he saw us he asked if we would like them. You bet!

We didn't expect them to be that great, but they were beautiful inside. They made for a light colored applesauce.

These red apples I used last week made for a beautiful rosy pink sauce.

To make applesauce, here's what we do:

First I wash all the apples really well, since we often times get windfalls.

Then I quarter each apple and put them in our stainless steel colander. I place that in a pot of boiling water for 5-8 minutes, until the apples are soft.

Then I dump them out into the squeezo (which we mount to the island in the kitchen.) I mash it down with our wooden pounder while I crank the handle with my other hand. Out one side comes perfect applesauce, a nice thick consistency. Out the other side comes the peels, cores and seeds.

Amazing!

I get a flow going and have apples boiling while I'm mashing one batch, more apples cut up and ready to be boiled....circling from the sink to the cutting board to the stovetop to the squeezo and back again. An applesauce dance around the kitchen.

Since discovering this method, I am so in love with making applesauce! (Well... most of the time.) Early in the week I had a particularly long applesauce making day. Jeff worked on his outdoor workshop and I worked on making applesauce. We were both on our feet all day long and my feet were so sore by the end of the day.

I had three large boxes that needed to be turned into applesauce. Bracken rode on Jeff's back while I tackled the first box of apples. Then he came back to me and nursed to sleep in the carrier while I tackled the second box of apples.

Pots and pans helped keep Bracken entertained during the third box.

Then he wanted back in the pack so he could see all the action.

It was getting closer to bedtime and I still wasn't finished with the applesauce project. I was determined to get it done that day. I was feeling exhausted and my pace was starting to slow. As I went to turn the hand crank I looked over right as Bracken reached his hand out from the carrier against my belly, and dipped it into the giant bowl of applesauce. He quickly brought it to his mouth and started sucking the applesauce off his fingers. Then he looked up at me and offered his applesauce-covered baby hand for me to lick some off too. The expression of incredible delight on his face and the look in his eyes as he so sweetly offered to share.... melted my heart so completely in that moment. The heaviness of exhaustion seemed to lift as the laughter came bubbling out. Everything got covered in applesauce. His face, his hands, his shirt, my shirt, the carrier.... you get the picture. But we sure had a lot of fun.
We finished making applesauce and headed to bed. The next day we canned 21 quarts! We're up to 52 quarts of applesauce canned so far this year. That's a record for us.
And all three of us sure do love eating spoonfuls of our homemade applesauce!

October Harvesting

2011-10-21T18:35:00.000-07:00

There is a bountiful feeling in the harvesting of fall!
Such an abundance as we store away food for the winter.

We got a lot of clean up done in the garden this week, taking advantage of a few sunny days. I love the feeling of starting with a fresh garden in the spring, watching it grow into a wild jungle in the summer and harvesting regularly, and then pulling everything up in the fall. There is something so satisfying about pulling the plants up, leaving the garden beds fluffy earth again. There is fun in creating/building and there is fun in tearing down and starting all over again. You know what I mean?

We harvested the last of the zucchini and pulled up the zucchini plants. We harvested the onions. They were small, since we don't get much sunlight, but they were flavorful.

We harvested the gourds Jeff had planted. This was probably what he was most excited about in the garden this year.

See how tiny they are? He researched how to cure them and has lots of ideas for fun things he wants to make out of them.

Jeff harvested all the squash flowers before we pulled the plants up. He put them in a stir fry and a soup. Yum!

We ate a few apples off our tree. There weren't many this year, but they made for a good garden snack in the sun!

We harvested all of the winter squash and what a nice big pile it made! We mostly had butternut squash. There were a few acorn squashes and Pennsylvania crooknecks. There were also some gourds in the pile. (Jeff might make those into birdhouses, we'll see.) We pulled up all the squash vines and put them in the compost. With all the cleaning up, our compost pile was over Jeff's head.

And we discovered a few cucumbers that had been hidden. (See them on the left?) They had grown pretty massive.
We marveled at our harvest pile. We were excited! It feels so good to grow food!

We brought all the winter squash indoors to dry a little by the woodstove.

Jeff cooks the seeds in home-rendered lard for a snack. He loves them.

We left the chard, which is still going strong. We also have plenty of kale and celery to harvest still.
The collard starts (for our winter garden) have been getting mowed down by slugs. Our other winter starts are still in the greenhouse, where they are more protected.

There's a few sunflowers still blooming. I bask in the last days of their beauty.

Most of the sunflowers are drying by the woodstove, ready to harvest the seeds for eating.

The garden is quieting down for the season.

Jeff and Bracken harvesting some more comfrey for our herbal salves.
~
Dreaming of... pruning all our fruit trees, planting garlic (wondering if it's too late?), propagating elderberries to plant here...

Oh, glorious October!

{this moment}

2011-10-21T11:34:00.000-07:00

Today I'm joining Amanda at SouleMama for {this moment}

Elderberries!

2011-10-20T19:24:00.000-07:00

The Sunday before last, we harvested elderberries at our neighbor's farm. Where we live, elderberries grow everywhere. The trick is finding ones easily harvest-able. Most of them are way up high and even with a ladder, are out of reach. I have a few spots in mind here where I'd like to plant some (and keep them pruned for easy access.)

In years past, Jeff has made elderberry wine. We still have a few bottles left in the pantry. We are not wine drinkers in our home (or any alcohol for that matter), but we do use wine occasionally in cooking and with medicinal wines like elderberry, we take sips in the winter to ward off viruses. We've also put elderberries in applesauce, which is delicious.

This year, Jeff cooked the elderberries down, mixed them with applesauce, and dried them in the dehydrator, making a medicinal fruit leather.

Elderberries are incredible for the immune system. The more I learn about elderberries, the more amazed I am. Besides harvesting elderberries, we also purchase them (in powdered form) from Mountain Rose Herbs to have in tea as an immune boost throughout the winter.

Do elderberries grow where you live?
What do you like to make with them?

Yes, there's still Free Shipping in the shop!

2011-10-18T12:13:00.000-07:00

I've been asked if we are still offering Free Shipping in our shop.

Yes!

Just enter the coupon code: FREESHIPPINGROCKS

at checkout and get Free Shipping (within the United States.)

We are offering this deal until October 25th.

Jeff is outside working hard on his outdoor workshop I mentioned in the previous post. Bracken is asleep next to me, giving me a moment to write this. There have been a lot of changes on Etsy recently (where we have our online shop.) We used to renew items to stay at the top of the searches, so people could find us. Now they are based on "relevancy" instead. Basically, big changes, and we have a lot of learning to do. We're changing our titles to include keywords so people can find us more easily. We prefer the way we did titles before, but need to adapt to help people find our shop more easily.

I'm curious to hear from other Etsy sellers. What are you doing to adapt to these changes?