Just a few things I am loving this week.

Loving the late afternoon light this time of year. 

Loving the winter salad from this cookbook. Grated beet, carrot and turnip. Swiss chard. Radish sprouts. Sesame seeds. Topped with tahini dressing.

And this breakfast. Corn tortillas. Fried eggs. Cheddar. Cilantro. Hot sauce. Yes.

And loving this sewing book I checked out from the library.
And this song.
And this show.
Ah, so much to love this week.

Have a great weekend. Hope it's full of gorgeous light, yummy food and beautiful music.

Our Backyard. It Makes Me Happy.

Garden update! Remember what it looked like back in May? Matt's dad (upon seeing that post) thought we might be trying to grow food on a concrete slab.  Well, it's amazing what a shovel and some compost can do for your soil. Dig deep as they say.

Note: These photos are a few weeks old so some of the plants are a bit farther along and some have well, um, crapped out. Our pattypan squash has succumbed to powdery mildew and looks real sad. But, at least we got one squash from it! If anyone has any advice on that disease, fee free to let me know.

Oh! And if you're a garden/book nerd like me I highly recommend reading this book! I checked it out from the library a while back and loved it. It's part gardening how-to, part spiritual memoir, part poetry. Really great stuff. Yeah, I might have teared up multiple times while reading, but I'm a giant sap. But, regardless, it's a good book to curl up with and daydream about vegetables. Cup of tea optional.

Okay, without further adieu, here's some shots of our humble garden. I'm proud.

scarlet runner beans flowering

sad. the fruits never got bigger than this.

tomato flowers

bright lights chard

basil. how i love thee.

little baby cuke

hoop house transformed!

Back To Work

We've been home about a week and a half from our trip and we're back in the thick of it. Work. School. Business stuff. Home stuff. Garden stuff. Lifey stuff.

Busy, but good.

Matt's been making serious progress on his canoe. It's incredible. He's incredible. Really.

I've been busy with Sweet Pine and obsessing over our garden. Love the garden.

This here Pac Choi was our first harvest! So tasty.

I'm pretty darn impressed with all the stuff we've done in the short amount of time we've been home. I'm crossing item after item off my epic to-do lists. That feels good.

Here is one thing I crossed off recently.
Make Yogurt.


I have wanted make my own yogurt for a long time and finally did it! It was easy as pie. And the yogurt tasted delicious.

I followed this recipe from this inspiring blog. If you're curious, I used the 'cooler method' she describes in her recipe to insulate and a tablespoon of Brown Cow yogurt as my starter culture.

homemade yogurt + maple syrup from WI = heaven

We also had time to can a few jars of corn relish. We had some friends over the other night for dinner and everyone brought sweet corn, so we had lots of leftovers.

We used the basic recipe from the book Put Em' Up. I just bought this book and am really excited about it. Tons of great recipes for drying, canning, freezing and preserving food. We changed the original recipe liberally because we didn't have most of the ingredients. No surprises there.

So, here is our recipe. Enjoy.

Sweet Pine Corn Relish
Makes about 3 pints

Ingredients:
6 ears corn, shucked
1 1/2 c. cider vinegar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 T. whole yellow mustard seeds
1/2 T. salt
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
6 small dried hot chilies

Boil corn for 5 minutes or so. Drain. Cut off kernels. Combine vinegar, sugar, mustard seeds, salt and chilies. Bring to a boil. Add the onion, garlic, bell pepper, and corn. Simmer for 5 minutes. Ladle into clean canning jars. Cover solids with 1/4 inch of liquid and use the boiling water method for sealing. Let jars sit for 2 weeks before eating.

How-to: Furoshiki

Happy Earth Day! Every year, Earth Day gives me a kick in the pants to re-evaluate how I live and how I can improve my impact on this planet I call home. Maybe it does the same for you? Anyway, we could all be doing more to waste less.

 

In regards to this, I wanted to share a simple, totally badass and environmentally friendly wrapping technique called Furoshiki (pronounced something like f-ROHSH-kee). Furoshiki is a traditional Japanese wrapping cloth used to carry gifts or goods, which eliminates the need for bags or paper. It has a pretty fascinating history which dates back to the 8th century which you can read more about in this post on Etsy.

I first found out about Furoshiki in a soapmaking book. I tried it out once with some old bandanas I had lying around and I really liked the look of it. It felt good wrapping a gift for someone in a reusable item that wasn't immediately ending up in the trash.

I went to my friend’s baby shower a few weeks ago and had to wrap up some soap for her gift. I had just scored some cute fabric from a friend for free because I (fortunately) intercepted her Goodwill trip. A couple of things before we get started 1) I didn’t measure anything... just eyeballed it and cut off a big square of fabric (classic Jess) and 2) I didn’t sew the sides of the fabric to finish it. Doing both these things might make it look a little more polished, but I didn’t have time to do that.  But, in my opinion, it still looks great! Let’s get started…

Place item in center of fabric square

Fold bottom corner over item

 

Fold top corner over item.

Take the two remaining corners and tie a knot

Take the end pieces of the knot you just tied to tie another knot. Voila!

     And, since this is an Earth Day post, I think it goes without saying that it's best to use recycled fabrics for this. Thrift stores and your own closet have a plethora of old sheets, pillowcases, napkins, curtains, t-shirts, etc.that would be great for this and any other things you need fabric for.

   And you can find more Furoshiki techniques in this book. It's at the Flagstaff library too!

Spring Fever, baby!

What a beautiful spring week in Flagstaff! Okay, it’s pretty much always beautiful here, but I start to feel giddy this time of year. The temperatures are warming, the flip flops come out of the closet and the puffy down coat goes into the closet. Daffodils have bloomed in the front yard and our seeds have sprouted inside. Trails have been great for running and it feels SO good to be out in the sunshine. And to celebrate the springiness, Matt and I are having a 'first of the season grill out' at our house tonight with a bunch of friends. Woo-hoo!

I wanted to share what a great Saturday I had last week when I (kinda sorta) taught my first ever ‘class’ on soap making. And I use the term ‘class’ loosely here, but it was educational! Three lovely women (who shall be called L, M & Z) came over to my house and watched me make a 4lb. batch from start to finish. L arrived with coffee cake still warm from the oven and M gave me a half dozen eggs from her chickens. How wonderful is that?

m's eggs in all their glory

I made an unscented, color free batch this time because I wanted some soap on hand for gifts for my friends with babies and/or babies on the way (there seem to be many!) All in all, we had a great afternoon together and I sent them home with a bunch of current soap samples. And L sent me the sweetest note the next day….

“I wanted to let you know how much fun both Z and I had learning to

make soap. It was very generous of you to show us. I guess you

could've kept it a secret if you wanted to! That day was probably one

of the best days I have ever had, as the day continued to be full of

sweet surprises. I am trying your soaps and of course love

them. I'm using the lemongrass eucalyptus and my husband is

using the beer soap. I love walking into my bathroom and can smell the

soaps. Ahhhhh...”

unscented soap cut into bars

soap samples from left: triple lemon, lemongrass eucalyptus, mint spruce and rosemary beer

These are some of the books I recommended to the ladies:

1) This book isn’t about soap per se, but it got me started making my own products back in the day. It has a ton of recipes for creams, salves, lotions, lip balms, etc. It’s helpful when you are first starting to blend essential oils.

2) I also recommended this book and this book on soap making. I use them for reference frequently, especially when I want to learn more about different properties of vegetable oils and/or natural colorants.