E.r.r.a.n.t

Knitting update

2012-01-28T21:19:00.012-05:00

In December I found myself on a sheep farm! My friend Chloe's aunt and uncle are living on Dancing Lamb Farm in NY state and we got to tour the farm, meet the sheep, and take home some raw wool. I'm hoping to process the wool like I did the last time I got my hand on some raw wool, but I don't have the resources I did back then (tools to borrow and a spinning class to take at the Craft Center at UC Davis). So we'll see how long the wool stays nice and stinky in its bag, it may be a while.

I'm currently working on another Baby Surprise Jacket, for my new baby cousin, Ezra. I made him this little blanket from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting Workshop when he was born in August, but I'm excited to be making another BSJ, and this time creating stripes as I go. I'll post when that's done, hopefully in the next month or so.

Finally, M and I were visiting Jaja in NYC last weekend and I dragged M into The Yarn Company on the Upper West Side. It's a great little store that felt nice and welcoming, and I picked up this cute book. West Knits, Book Two by Stephen West. It has lots of cute patterns that are unique and actually wearable, I can't wait to start the Splitbark mittens or Loxley hat/scarf!

Morning :: breakfast reading

2012-01-27T09:39:00.001-05:00

Morning :: lunch cart

2012-01-25T08:48:00.002-05:00

15th St. Philly

Morning :: Love Park fountain, Philadelphia

2012-01-24T08:14:00.002-05:00

Morning :: Benjamin Franklin Parkway

2012-01-23T08:34:00.002-05:00

Looking northwest from the tenth floor of my office building.

Morning :: plastic bags

2012-01-20T08:26:00.001-05:00

Morning :: Organ

2012-01-18T07:45:00.001-05:00

A Walk in the Wissahickon

2012-01-16T07:07:00.003-05:00

M and I did a little hometown exploring this weekend. We joined a hike in Wissahickon Valley Park led by a volunteer Trail Ambassador from the Friends of the Wissahickon, a non profit that works to improve the park. We learned about the history of usage in the park - the mills that used to line the creek, the geology and quarrying, and the amazing structures that were built by the WPA during the Depression.

The Wissahickon is one of five watershed parks in Philly, and we've spent some time exploring it in the past. This time we drove to the far northwestern edge to walk along Forbidden Drive, so named because at the turn of the century they decided not to allow cars on it.

The Wissahickon is home to some incredible features, including this covered bridge, the only one left in a major American city.

There are also two statues set into the hillsides along the creek - this is the "Indian" statue, sculpted out of marble in 1902 and meant to depict a member of the Native American tribe the Lenape, looking westward at the departing members of his tribe as they are pushed out of the area by the colonists. He has a feather "war bonnet" on, which is historically inaccurate for the Lenape.

After being locked up in my office in front of the computer for the winter, it's nice to actually be out in the park exploring and learning about it!

Morning :: Love Park

2012-01-13T08:11:00.001-05:00

Morning :: 47th Street

2012-01-12T07:52:00.001-05:00

Morning :: City Hall

2012-01-11T08:12:00.001-05:00

Morning :: South Street bridge

2012-01-10T08:25:00.004-05:00

From my bike commute today.

Morning :: lamp

2012-01-09T07:51:00.001-05:00

Morning :: bedroom window

2012-01-06T08:17:00.002-05:00

Resolutions

2012-01-05T07:45:00.004-05:00

I'm making some common ones - exercise and time management. I was out at a work holiday party last month and I started talking to the wife of one of my coworkers. We were chatting about our morning routines and I laughingly admitted that I set my alarm for 6 am every morning and hit the snooze for an hour and a half. Her joking response was "so you start out every morning disappointing yourself."

Wow. It was a joke, but it hit me hard. I set my alarm every morning with a good intention that I never follow through on. It's a small thing, but it sets the tone of my day and it's a simple thing to change. So with that floating in my head this holiday season, here are the concrete things I plan to do differently in 2012:

Get out of bed when the alarm goes off at 6am. Duh. I've been doing it for two days now and I actually arrived at work this morning at 7:50 AM (see the evidence in the picture above, taken in the front room as I was leaving the house). This means that I can leave at 4pm and get an extra hour to an hour and a half of stuff done in the evening. It's a new year's miracle.

Do something good for my body every day. Even if it's just a brisk mile and a half walk on my lunch hour or twenty minutes of sit-ups in the evening.

And that's it. Just two little, manageable resolutions. With just two, I think I can manage not to disappoint myself.

P.S. I was greeted upon leaving the house this morning with a little dusting of snow, which promises to melt by mid-day. Mother Nature, let's have much more of this please.

Merry Christmas and Happy Hannukah!

2011-12-26T11:11:00.002-05:00

It's been an incredible year. Best wishes to everyone this holiday season!

Check out the fabulous cupcakes I made with ingredients from my lovely friend Casey in California, and the way my window snowflakes throw a shadow on a sleeping Moo!

Happy Winter Solstice!

2011-12-22T16:40:00.003-05:00

Here's what my beautiful city looked like last night. M and I had a fancy meal to celebrate the Solstice and walked home along the South Street bridge in the unseasonably warm weather.

Beginning Again

2011-12-17T20:32:00.002-05:00

I got three seed catalogs in the mail already! Just in time for our end of the year potluck for The Woodlands Community Garden . . .

Sweeping up the leaves

2011-11-23T16:52:00.007-05:00

It's Thanksgiving already! October and November have flown by, but here's a little snapshot for you:

** Black Swallowtail caterpillars on the fennel at The Woodlands Community Garden **

** Tree delivery at dawn, followed by many many volunteer tree planting events for work **

** A trip to the Philadelphia Zoo (the oldest zoo in the country) with some new friends **

** Lots of baking! **

I'm continuing my quest to perfect my apple pie recipe this fall, along with tweaking my presentation (see how I made it look like an apple when you cut it in half? clever clever me).

** Sukkah! **

We built a temporary structure called a sukkah on our porch this year in honor of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. The holiday is a celebration of the harvest (and other religious and historical events) - the sukkah is open to the stars on top and filled with plant materials. Ours was decorated with paper chains, gourds, fruit, chestnuts, mums, fabric and drying bunches of herbs.

After we built and decorated it, we invited all of our friends to eat with us under the sukkah. Even though it rained during most of the week long holiday, we shared two fabulous dinners with friends and family. And it only took us two extra weeks to take it down!

That's all for now, I hope to post more frequently once I get a new laptop. This little setup that I have right now is driving me crazy, and I think it's time for a new computer, don't you?

Baby's First Surprise!

2011-10-11T21:37:00.003-04:00

Two of M's cousins had babies this summer and I had a field day deciding what to knit for them. I've been ogling the amazing baby surprise jackets that everyone seems to be knitting (especially the ones that Amanda Soule makes over at Soulemama), and decided to have a go myself. I picked up 4 skeins of Koigu for $20 (total!), so I figured if I messed up I wouldn't be doing it with expensive yarn. I picked up "Knitting Workshop" by Elizabeth Zimmerman, where the original pattern is, and struggled through the pattern. It took me about 5 months to complete (I got married in the middle so I don't feel so bad about it) and I relied heavily on the "Knitting Nuggets" tutorials from Lorilee Beltman at City Knitting in Grand Rapids, MI. And here it is!

Raveled.

I really enjoyed making it and I feel like there are many more in my future (oh those stripey possibilities!). At the last minute I decided to embroider my new cousin's nickname into her jacket, and use buttons from M's grandmother's sewing kit.

The other cousin got another item from "Knitting Workshop" but I haven't photographed it yet so you will have to wait, dear readers. Hopefully I will take a photo soon so I can send the gift to them before the baby outgrows it . . .

It's Fall!

2011-09-18T22:07:00.006-04:00

That crisp is in the air again, it's my favorite time of the year! But before we can address any fall-type things, let's do a quick recap. The last time I posted I was working with UC Green to raise funds for their fall planting. Many thanks to everyone who helped us reach our goal, we raised more than our $4K target and UC Green will have plenty of funds for their fall planting. I was also starting my brand new job at Philadelphia Parks & Recreation where I've now been working for almost 6 months! It's a wonderful learning experience and I love the work and my coworkers. What more could a girl ask for?

In the intervening months a lot of other things happened . . .

. . . M and I got married!!!! . . .

(wedding pictures are by Tiffany Atlas, Atlas Wedding Photography)

. . . We went on a wonderful honeymoon to Maine . . .

. . . I spent the 4th of July at my friend Alex's family place on a lake near Ithaca, NY . . .

. . . Alex, Katie and I joined my mom and Emmy for another Berryfest weekend . . .

. . . plus two new cousins were born (baby knitting project posts to come), M and I joined his family for a lake vacation in Maryland, and we went to my annual family reunion at the Delaware River.

A very full summer indeed. I'm finding it difficult to balance my full time job and my outside-of-work life, so the blog and my reading of other blogs has completely fallen by the wayside. But I hope to pick it up again, especially since this cool weather makes it easier to spend time sitting at my desk at the computer (which was unbearable during the summer months in our un-air-conditioned home). My posts will certainly be less frequent than in the past, but I promise to check back periodically and I hope to start reading all of your blogs again soon!

I'm glad to be back!

News and NEWS!!

2011-04-04T19:39:00.003-04:00

As promised, I have yet another worthy cause for you wonderful people to support. But this time it's my project I'm sharing with you! For the past few years I've been working really closely with a non-profit organization in my neighborhood called UC Green. It's a community greening organization and they do two big tree planting events in West and Southwest Philly every year (among other great programs). The executive director, Sue, who is also my neighbor and friend, asked me to help create a Kickstarter website to raise money for the Fall 2011 tree planting event. So here are the fruits of my labor (pun! . . . you'll see when you watch the video). Please share it with everyone you know and help us reach our goal of $4,000!

The other news I have to share is that as of tomorrow, I will be working for Philadelphia Parks and Recreation as their new Tree Campaign Manager! I will be organizing their city-wide tree planting efforts and I'm head over heels excited about it! My first day is tomorrow, so wish me luck!

Little Details

2011-03-27T08:48:00.005-04:00

I now have a small collection of decorations for the wedding that I commissioned from artists on Etsy. I had a great time working with the artists so I thought I'd share so you can check out their shops too!

I got these adorable little butterflies from The Gilded Bee: I've been eye-ing her stuff for a while now and finally messaged her to make a huge custom order of butterflies in approximately the colors of the wedding (the color choices were a bit brighter than I'm going for, but they are perfect in every other way).

When I ordered them I had a specific purpose in mind, but things have changed a bit since then so now I just have them for extra decoration. I'm not sure how I will use them, but it will be guaranteed to be cute. Seriously cute.

I also ordered these incredible stamps from SugarSkull7's Handcrafted Stamps & Fine Art. She has a fabulous collection of adorable stamps that I chose from, in addition to commissioning this one:

I also got these Ball jar and hive stamps:

The hive reminds me of the illustrations in Winnie the Pooh books! I got three colors of ink so I plan to mix and match all over the place. These are going on the back of the table assignments, which will just be hanging from a line by the guest book. Kind of like this.

Just over two months to go!

Hamantaschen!

2011-03-22T23:58:00.004-04:00

I made these lovelies on Friday with a recipe from my future mother-in-law. They're filled with strawberry rhubarb jam and blueberry preserves, yum! I doubled the recipe and stored half of the dough in the fridge so I hope to make a second batch this week (and make them smaller!).

Hamantashen
by Helen Mann

1/2 c. butter
1 c. sugar
1 egg
2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 T. orange juice
1 tsp. vanilla

Cream butter and sugar together and add the egg. Mix flour and baking powder. Add half of the flour mixture, juice and vanilla to creamed mixture. Mix well. Add remaining flour mixture. Work in well and form into 2 balls of dough. Chill several hours or over-night. (Keeps well in fridge for a week).

Flour surface very well. Roll dough to desired thickness. Cut into rounds. Fill with desired filling (prunes or poppy seeds are traditional) and form into triangles by pinching up 3 corners of the circle. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until delicately brown.

Yield: 3 dozen hamantashen

That incredible orange color is due to fresh eggs from Aunt E's chickens!

Success! (and more help!)

2011-03-11T09:26:00.005-05:00

Thanks to everyone who helped Duffy fund his beekeeping project, he raised 141% of his goal!

This means that we will have TWELVE more beehives at The Woodlands, plus one at The Walnut Hill Farm AND a group of high school students learning how to keep bees and sell honey with us at the farmer's market! It's all very exciting.

Also exciting is Nic's novel that he finished and is getting ready to self publish! It's about the urban homesteading movement, and there's a character in there based on little old me. Read more about it here. Here's his Kickstarter page where he's raising the money to publish the novel. In return for donating you can get a signed copy of the novel, a ticket to the book release party where cool local Philly musicians will be playing, and even a secondary character named after you!

Thanks to everyone who has already donated to these causes and helped move us all forward towards a more sustainable, creative, and well compensated future!

(I'm also working on a Kickstarter page to help fundraise for UC Green, the wonderful organization that is Philly Rooted's fiscal sponsor and all-around chearleader. Look out for that in April.)

Shoots

2011-03-06T11:48:00.002-05:00

The beginning! These chives are in a container on my porch, and there are also some coming up in my plot at The Woodlands Community Garden.

Buzzing along

2011-03-02T13:43:00.003-05:00

We sent the invites and are now receiving RSVPs in mass quantities (fourteen of them came back in the mail today!). My wonderful friend Nicole from Blue Bicicletta designed the invites for us and I couldn't be more happy with them.

Just look at those adorable bees!

Did you know . . .

2011-02-19T03:02:00.004-05:00

. . . that someone trademarked the phrase "Urban Homestead" and they are making people change the names of their previously published blogs and books that contain that phrase? They even sent out a couple would-be "cease and desist" letters. That's absurd. Read more here, here, and here. People are pissed, as well they should be. That's like saying that you've trademarked the words "Community Garden" or "Urban Farm." Ridiculous. Follow the links to other people's well thought out blog posts on the topic.

Smells Like Spring!

2011-02-17T13:35:00.004-05:00

The past few days have been the most soft, sunny, breezy, wonderful days ever! Yesterday I walked all the way home from my babysitting job in Center City (over 35 long blocks), just to get my fill of the weather. And today I've already spent some nice quality time on the porch with my beloved, just soaking in the sun.

I also took a few minutes on the porch to read an issue of Alimentum: The Literature of Food that my friend Nicole sent me (she was asked to contribute illustrations to this issue and they are adorable), along with one of the collagraphs that she's been working on! I'm so excited, this literary journal focuses on mixing fiction, non-fiction and poetry with food. Sounds perfect for a gardener who's antsy to get outside already. And the collagraph Nicole sent was absolutely perfect for today. It's called "Beam." :)

I also found out that the journal Poetry that I subscribe to (that Jaja subscribed me to as a gift) is giving away a limited number of free copies of their April 2011 issue to reading groups that request them. It's their way of helping everyone celebrate National Poetry Month (April)! So contact them by February 20th in order to get your copies: poetryfoundation.org/npm.

Tiger's Eye

2011-02-14T16:27:00.001-05:00

That's the name of this gorgeous hand dyed sport weight sock yarn I bought at the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture conference last weekend! It's from Steam Valley Fiber, in Trout Run, PA, and I can't wait to knit it into socks!

The conference was great fun and a wonderful place for networking. But the best choice I made was to go to the workshop "Dual Purpose Sheep: Meat and Wool" where I learned all about how to raise sheep for wool. Not that I'm going to, but it was really interesting to learn about yarn from that perspective.

The teachers of the workshop, Marie and Stephen Minnich of Marushka Farms, were wonderful and they brought lots of wool in various stages of processing from their own CVM/Romeldale and Icelandic sheep.

Up until this workshop I had been very good about not spending money at the yarn vendors that had come to the conference, but afterward I totally succumbed and got my Tiger's Eye from this gorgeous vendor.

Sigh . . the power of fiber.

Support Your Local Beekeeper!

2011-02-07T17:09:00.005-05:00

Leslie, a gardener at The Woodlands Community Garden

My friend Duffy, who keeps bees at The Woodlands Community Garden, has come up with a great new youth beekeeping and CSA (Community Supported Apiary) program and he needs our help! He made a Kickstarter to raise money for the program, here. Basically, he wants to teach high school youth in our neighborhood about beekeeping and start at least ten new apiaries in The Woodlands. In return for support, you can get 1.5 lbs of honey from the hives, an selection of herbs from The Walnut Hill Community Farm, and more!

You might remember Duffy from when he came to speak about bees at The Woodlands back in the fall of 2009 when he was trying get the board of The Woodlands to approve the hives. He's also the friend who is making us the honeycomb hearts to top our wedding cake!

The two existing hives at The Woodlands Community Garden

I posted here about a community garden that was trying to raise money on Kickstarter to save their land from development a while back and they made 104% of their goal, so I have my fingers crossed for Duffy!

There's also a movement to get the EPA to ban the pesticide that's been linked to Colony Collapse Disorder. Check that out here.

Bedside table

2011-02-02T11:15:00.003-05:00

I've been amassing quite a stack of reading material over the last month (gift cards from Christmas, woot!) and I wanted to share it with you:

McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales - Edited by Michael Chabon
- It turns out I've already read this one but forgot! I might skip it and get straight to the other books I'm looking forward to.

Urban Green: Innovative Parks for Resurgent Cities - Peter Harnick
- I saw a panel discussion this week at the Academy of Natural Sciences that featured Mr. Harnick. It was wonderful and got me dreaming about all of the possibilities for greening in Philadelphia.

Prodigal Summer - Barbara Kingsolver
- Squeeeee! One of my favorite authors, I haven't read this yet and just borrowed it from a friend who insisted that I will love it.

Poetry journal, February 2011
- Jaja got me a subscription as a surprise last year and I renewed this year. I'm finding that I almost enjoy the commentary more than the poetry sometimes, it's incredibly informative and an amazing peek into the inner world of contemporary poetry.

The Little Book of Main Street Money: 21 Simple Truths that Help Real People Make Real Money - Jonathan Clements
- From my dad, of course. I actually tore through it, I think it's helped me with some basic understanding of investing.

Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas - Tom Robbins
- Another of my absolute favorite authors. I try to meter out his work so I don't go through it all at once, the same with Barbara Kingsolver. But I treat myself to a new one once a year or so, can't wait for this one!

Fully Empowered - Pablo Neruda
- The ultimate romantic poet (sorry e.e.)
The Jewish Book of Why - Alfred J. Kolatch
- Part of my ongoing and endless education of all things Jewish

Webster's New World Pocket Dictionary, Third Edition
-Duh. Words are hard.

And finally!

Seed Savers Exchange: 2011 Catalog of Heirloom Seeds, Books and Gifts
Fedco Seeds 2011
Southern Exposure Seed Exchange: Catalog & Garden Guide 2011

Cake update

2011-01-29T08:00:00.001-05:00

I didn't realize that picking out and designing the cake would be so much fun! We're going with a honeybee theme for the wedding; golden yellow, cream and black with highlights of magenta and moss green. Check out the "inspiration boards" I made on Style Me Pretty. So with that in mind, here are a few sketches from the bakers we visited this week.

The cake will be four or five (!!) tiers, with ivory icing, golden yellow bands on the bottom of each tier, and a matching yellow honey-comb design alternating sides on each tier.

And the topper! My friend Duffy, our beekeeper at The Woodlands, offered to have the bees build us two little heart-shaped pieces of comb! He's done it before, apparently you just put a mold into the hive in your desired shape and the bees will build in it. I think it's probably the most adorable idea ever.

SNOW DAY!!!

2011-01-27T12:10:00.002-05:00

I get excited about snow days even when I don't have a class or office to go to! We got about a foot and a half last night and I awoke this morning to the shimmering brightness of a winter snow day. Now I'm off to shovel the steps and walk down the middle of the street!

Tons of tiny icing flowers

2011-01-25T08:00:00.000-05:00

We're going cake tasting today! I was told to bring photos for inspiration and color palette. Maybe something like this?

With lemony cake, sugary icing, and tons of itsy bitsy flowers?

I made this on Style Me Pretty. There are lots more, if you're interested.

Patience

2011-01-21T08:00:00.001-05:00

"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize
how close they were to success
when they gave up."

- Thomas Edison, 1877

A little inspiration and encouragement that is sorely needed right now.

More Corners

2011-01-19T08:00:00.000-05:00

We had another turnover in our house, with one room mate out and another in. And as is custom with me, I'm trying to deal with the mess by focusing on the corners of my home that I do have control over. So here are a few of my favorites right now.

This is a corner that keeps changing. The stack of books is revolving of course, but I'm also adding and subtracting the art around it (mostly adding). This is my bedside table and it still has the wonderful, inspirational "Yes" from Nicole and the "E" I found on the ground on the campus of UC Davis way back when. But I've also added an adorable cross stitch that my friend Emily sent as an engagement gift ("Home's not merely/four square walls. Home is where/affection calls."), plus a very happy Phalaenopsis orchid from my parents, two blue birds I picked up at a garage sale for 50 cents each, some mounted butterflies that M gave me as a gift way back in the beginning of our relationship, a Nikki McClure print that makes me smile, and a ceramic butterfly that I got at an incredible store in St. Louis when I went to visit Jaja. I also have a wonderful supply of soft, old, flower print pillow cases that I collected during college from thrift stores that makes my bed a little more colorful.

This is my craft supply corner. It needs some work.

And this is my favorite house plant. It's a Dracaena that I saved in college - someone had dumped it on their porch and it had survived a snow already before I grabbed it and brought it inside my house. And it has rewarded me with years of crazy Dr. Seuss spirit.

I hope your space is also bringing you joy in these dark winter days!

And so it begins again . . .

2011-01-17T08:00:00.000-05:00

I got my first seed catalogue already!! I'm not quite ready to look at it yet, but pretty soon I will be scheming about potatoes and peas . . .

A Wooly First

2011-01-15T08:00:00.000-05:00

So here it is, the first article of clothing I ever knit for myself (Raveled). I started this sucker a year ago (!) and every time I hit a snag I would put it down for oh, several months. But honestly, it's probably the easiest article of clothing I could choose to make for my first try, and the largest yarn - Rowan Big Wool (Super Bulky). I love the fit and the color, and it's very warm. But the problem is, when exactly does one wear a wool vest? It's too hot to wear with anything heavy underneath, but it doesn't have sleeves so you can't wear it by itself.

Regardless, this project was incredibly fulfilling because I was sure it was destined for the WIP pile for the rest of eternity. But I persevered, and after my huge Christmas-gift-knitting-frenzy I managed to pick it back up. Strangely, knitting my first two pairs of socks this year gave me the confidence and a few extra skills to push this project through and finish it. Funny how that works sometimes.

Christmas recap: candied orange peels

2011-01-12T08:00:00.001-05:00

Alright, here's the last of the Christmas projects: candied orange peels! My future mother-in-law Ruth made these at Thanksgiving and I had to try it. (She got the recipe from Parade Magazine, Dec. 13, 2009). I wanted to make them to give at Christmas in jars like I did with the honey roasted nuts, but I was too afraid of them rotting while people stored them so I ended up just giving them all to my mom who used them at the holidays (or just ate them between her and my dad, I'm not sure!).

I also tried to dry them out a bit in the dehydrator to see if I could get them to a point where I was comfortable they wouldn't rot but that didn't work at all. They just got too hard and never quite dried out. So here's the recipe, make and enjoy in quick succession!

Candied Orange Peels
makes about 50

5 navel oranges
4 c. water
3 c. sugar
1/4 c. lemon juice
extra sugar for sprinkling on top

Slice the peel (including pith and a thin layer of fruit) and cut into 1 inch wide strips. Boil in water for 2 minutes, drain and rinse, Repeat twice more.
Rinse the pot, pour in the water, sugar, and lemon juice and bring to a boil. Add the strips, lower heat, and partially cover. Simmer gently for 1 hour, until soft.
Pack in a heat proof jar, covered with cooking liquid, cool, then refridgerate. For dried peels, drain and leave on a rack for 1 to 2 days. Toss with granulated sugar.

Christmas recap: honey roasted nuts

2011-01-10T08:00:00.000-05:00

I made these delicious nuts using Marisa McClellan's recipe in Grid (the perfect combo of two of my favorite Philly publications, Marisa's blog Food in Jars, and the free Philly magazine Grid).

And they were a huge hit! I adapted it a tiny bit by adding sesame seeds, and I've included it below with some tips I learned along the way. I also made candied orange peels, which I'll post about next.

Honey Roasted Nuts
makes approx. three pint jars

5 c. raw nuts (peanuts, almonds, cashews, etc.)
4 T butter
6 T honey
1.5 tsp. vanilla
1.5 tsp cinnamon
pinch cayenne
flaky salt to taste (kosher or Maldon sea salt)
sesame seeds to taste

Place the nuts in a large skillet or Dutch oven and toast over medium heat, stirring frequently to prevent burning.
In a small saucepan, melt the butter and honey together. Once melted, add vanilla, cinnamon and cayenne (just for nuance, it's not enough to be spicy).
When the nuts are toasted (most have dark spots), pour the butter mixture over them and toss to coat. Use just enough to coat, there might be some still left in the saucepan at the end.
Spread the glazed nuts out on a silicon liner or parchment-lined cookie sheet and roast in a 350 degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes. Watch them carefully, as they burn quickly.
When you take the nuts out of the oven, sprinkle immediately with salt and sesame seeds.
After they've cooked, pour into pint jars (or half pint jars to spread the goodness further).

Christmas recap: Chain Gang

2011-01-07T11:05:00.005-05:00

I've been dying to make these necklaces ever since Jaja sent along a link to this etsy shop a loooooong time ago: Yokoo Scarves and Accessories. The necklaces/scarves on that site are ridiculously expensive, so I found a great pattern on ravelry and just made them myself! The pattern is free from Knitty: Marley's ghost. I changed it up a bit by using much larger yarn and forgoing the felting at the end. I don't think it adds anything to be honest, because it's a much funnier statement when you can see all of the stitches and it's clear that your bling is knitted.

As predicted, they were a huge hit with the three friends who received them (Jaja being one, of course). I might even make one for myself!

Christmas recap: Quillows

2010-12-28T20:27:00.005-05:00

I liked this project so much the last time I made it that I decided to have another go and I made not one, but TWO quillows this Christmas, one for my mom and one for Aunt E.

Unlike the one I made for myself, I didn't want to overload these with pattern, so I chose one large pattern and one solid for each, with matching but complimentary striped fabric for the pillow.

I think they came out really well, though if you look at the close ups of the fabric you can see that I have some issues with the fabric pulling as I sew it. Along the way there are all of these unexpected darts created that I don't know how to deal with. Any ideas?

Overall I'm incredibly pleased with how they came out, and after a bit of struggling it's good to know that my old sewing machine is still an incredible asset. I might have to try some more patterns soon!

Christmas recap: Mom's fancy socks

2010-12-27T12:07:00.006-05:00

Now that most of my gifts have been received I can tell you what they were! Here's my second pair of socks, made for my mom using the same pattern as the first, but with a different variation. Raveled here. I used one skein of gorgeous Mountain Colors Bearfoot yarn in Harmony Plum and I still have a large ball left over. I might try to make one more pair with it, with much shorter cuffs.

I made this pair with the "mini-faux cable" ribbing and a textured heel. I love the way the patterns came out; the only problem is that the entire sock is reinforced except for the bottom of the foot, which is the most important part. I told my mom she's not allowed to walk around the house in them because I think they will wear thin too quickly.

I'm so proud!

White Christmas

2010-12-25T08:00:00.000-05:00

Well, at least I can pretend.

Merry Christmas!!!

Fall CSA pilot

2010-12-23T08:00:00.001-05:00

In the months of October and November, Nic and I ran a pilot CSA program from the Walnut Hill Community Farm. We offered six families a box of veggies every two weeks (a total of four boxes), and in return they came to a focus group to give us feedback for next year. It was pretty successful, and the best part is that we made some great friends in the neighborhood! And since I love taking pics of my own CSA box, you can imagine how many pics I took of the ones we were making up. Here are a bunch of them, and here's the post Nic wrote about it on the Philly Rooted website.

Week 1: Swiss chard, green onions, purple heirloom potatoes, beans, thyme, oregano, dill, cherry tomatoes and small bell peppers.

Week 2: Swiss chard, mustard greens, beans, rosemary, hot and sweet peppers.

Week 3: Swiss chard, mustard greens, kale, mesclun mix, dill, thyme and parsley.

Week 4: Swiss chard, beets, kale, mustard greens, thyme, parsley, dill and dried basil.

O Tannenbaum

2010-12-21T08:00:00.001-05:00

We had our annual Wigillia dinner this weekend, complete with home-made pierogies made by me and my parents. This year we used the recipes we learned in Poland last Christmas and they were much easier to make. The key is that the filling has to have a cookie dough-like consistency so you can roll it up in a ball and it won't ooze out while you're boiling them. Here's the original recipe post, just adjust it to incorporate this new tip.

I also went with my parents to pick out their Christmas tree, at an actual Christmas tree farm that my dad found a few towns away from theirs in suburban New Jersey. We were all kind of shocked to find it and to see the acres and acres of trees that we never knew were there!

I'm also busy busy busy with other preparations, mostly secretive at this point. But some gifts have already been wrapped, which strangely is one of my favorite parts of Christmas. I just love to plop down in front of the TV with my newspaper or paper shopping bags, scissors, tape, and ribbon and just go to town.

Four days to go!!

Mooshes Takes a Bath

2010-12-16T08:00:00.000-05:00

Take one warm and sunny November day, add a tub of warm water and a surprisingly patient dog, and you get cuteness. Every time.

'Tis the Season

2010-12-14T08:00:00.000-05:00

Back in November I organized a make-your-own wreaths class at Urban Jungle and it was great fun! I had a great time gathering supplies (with help from my parents): we collected fir and pine boughs from their home in NJ, and then I collected cedar and many other interesting greens and natural materials for people to use, including pine and fir cones, bittersweet berry vine, rosemary, cinnamon sticks, dried mushrooms, star anise, holly, sweet gum fruits, moss, and lots more.

We used wire bases or grapevine bases - the grapevine worked better because it takes a long time to make a wreath and people liked doing half of it and having the grapevine show through for the rest. Plus, they're cheaper.

I saved a lot of materials with the intention of making my own wreath, but by the time I got to them they had mostly dried up. So I used fir cones, a pine twig, and dried mushrooms to make this little beauty:

I'm pretty happy with it, and since M and I are still in discussions about Christmas decorating in our interfaith house, I think it's appropriate. I got the mushrooms from a local Vietnamese grocery store and I LOVE them.

Happy Holidays!

Sock-tastic

2010-12-09T08:00:00.000-05:00

While I was on my computer hiatus I started in on my holiday gift-making. Some of them can't be posted here because of prying eyes, but some have already been given and/or will go to people who don't read my blog.

The first project was my very first pair of socks! I used the pattern "Sock Basics" by Chris de Longpre, from www.KnittingatKNoon.com (Raveled). I bought the pattern and the yarn, Filatura Di Crosa Zara Chine, at a lovely knitting store in South Philly called Loop. It's a gorgeous place with friendly people who helped me find a good "first sock" pattern. They even suggested I use a larger yarn to make the knitting easier. What they didn't mention is that larger yarn = larger sock. So these will be for my Dad. But it was incredibly easy and I'm already almost half way through my second pair of socks (I'll have to post about that after the gifting is over).

I also finished up my Califon Cowl (Raveled) and gifted it to my future mother-in-law for Channukah. It was a sinch and I think I'm going to make another one for someone else for Christmas (secrets are so hard when it comes to crafting for the holidays!).

There's more holiday crafting to come!

I'm back!

2010-12-07T08:00:00.000-05:00

After several weeks of searching for the right set-up at the right cost (as low as possible), I now have a laptop with a broken screen, hooked up to an old apple desktop display, connected by the rarest and most expensive computer adapter cord in the history of mankind. I managed to source all of these things on craigslist, so the whole thing cost me about $100.

We also moved M's music studio equipment out of our bedroom and into his new studio (aka the basement) so now I have a workspace that is all MINE, MINE I TELL YOU, MWAHAHAHAHAH! Ahem. It may not look like much, but I get a little excited about it.

So now, back your the regularly scheduled posts.

Technical Difficulties

2010-11-19T09:43:00.002-05:00

Sorry guys, I'm going to be MIA for a bit. I had this horrible virus last week that knocked me out with a 103 fever for five days straight (I'm better now) but now my laptop screen has gone almost entirely kaput. I can only see the things that are in the top 1/3 of the screen. Not very helpful. So I'll be back to report on my knitting and other activities as soon as I can get this bugger figured out. Wish me luck!

Rekindling the Fiber Love

2010-11-11T08:00:00.000-05:00

I've been fiber-inspired recently because I found this hilarious podcast, The Knit Wits. It's a husband and wife team who podcast out of Tennessee and have a wonderful repore with one another. They usually end up talking about lots of things other than knitting, like "what's in your wine glass?" and these pirate stories that the husband, Rick, tells (he's in radio/voice-overs and you can tell by his incredible voice).

So dug into my stash and pulled out a beautiful Malabrigo yarn in fall-type colors and started a cowl. I had to unwind the boring one I started a few months ago to start this new one, the Califon Cowl by Lelah Olender.

I also dropped by Rosie's Yarn Cellar and Loop, two great stores here in Philadelphia to bulk up my staff. I got a great deal on some Koigu yarn in a beautiful seashore color (four skeins for $20!).

I also picked up a simple sock pattern and some yarn to knit my very first socks! Wish me luck, I'll need it.

Oh, and of course I'm on Ravelry where you can see the shameful WIP that I started almost a year ago, the Balthazar Vest.

I Heart Apple Pie

2010-11-09T08:00:00.000-05:00

Truly.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes!

2010-11-05T08:00:00.001-04:00

Exciting news everyone!

My garden/farming partner Nic and I have decided to take our partnership one step further and start to brand ourselves and write our own grants with the goal of (sometime in the future) being able to support ourselves on our urban agriculture projects alone!

It's an exciting step, and it's actually a process we started back in August. The first thing we did was talk to our non-profit partners and tell them what our goals and intentions are. UC Green offered to be our fiscal sponsor, which we are incredibly glad and grateful for because we can use their non-profit status to write grants. And we've written two grants since then and been awarded both of them! They are both small community grants (and most of that money goes towards materials for specific projects), but still!

And of course we needed a name and a website to feel legitimate. The name took some brainstorming, and we thought long and hard about it. We came up with "Philly Rooted," and we had our friend make us a logo:

Rad, right?

The website development took a little bit longer, but we finally got it all together: www.phillyrooted.org. Check it out and let me know what you think.

This also means that I will start posting more of my farm and garden posts there, in addition to posting at Farm to Philly. I will try to keep this blog up-to-date with my knitting, making, baking, and thrifting activities. The fall weather (and upcoming "holiday season") has me back into my knitting, which I will post about next week (I just got some beautiful yarn and might even try a pair of socks soon!). I also just found this adorable podcast The Knit Wits, which has got me all fiber inspired again.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Veggies Powering Veggies

2010-11-03T08:00:00.000-04:00

Nic and I delivered the second CSA box to our families in Walnut Hill: Swiss chard, mustard greens, beans, cayenne and habanero hot peppers, green bell peppers and rosemary.

We pulled the warm season crops and sowed cover crop; rye grass in the middle rows and clover in the long side rows, under the fall crops. The farm is looking good!

We also have some exciting news: Nic purchased a veggie truck! It's a small VW truck that is powered by diesel fuel and used veggie oil from nearby businesses. We delivered our boxes in the truck and were really excited to show it off. Veggie oil powering veggie delivery!

Extending the Season

2010-11-01T08:00:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago my friend Sally and I held a cold frame workshop at The Woodlands Community Garden. Sally is a community gardening guru, the person who runs the Garden Tenders program at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society that I love so much.

A cold frame is like a mini greenhouse that you can use to cover a small part of your garden or place in the grass to start seedlings in. It warms the air and soil underneath it so you can grow crops even in the snow! Of course, you are limited by the height of the cold frame.

I'm using mine to cover the carrot seedlings I have in my plot with the hopes that I can warm the soil enough to get them to a decent harvest-able size before too long. We used aluminum and glass windows that we picked up for free in the trash, and some recycled plastic wood for the sides. The window simply sits on the top of the frame in our design, but you can attach it with a hinge for a fancier version.

Happy gardening!

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T12:42:00.005-04:00

We had our annual pumpkin carving party at The Woodlands Community Garden last weekend. Unfortunately, due to a timing mistake on my part, we were carving pumpkins by flash- and candle light! Whoops. But everyone had a great time anyway.

Especially the squirrels. Not even 24 hours after I put this beauty on my porch it looked like someone had taken a shot gun to it. The squirrels must be incredibly hungry in Philadelphia this year.

My friend Alex and I went to a party last night dressed as the Baseball Furies gang from The Warriors movie. Scary! Happy Halloween everyone!

Fall Sprouts

2010-10-27T08:00:00.001-04:00

The summer crops are out of the community garden plots (and the green tomatoes have been dealt with). I sowed some lettuce mix, carrots, arugula and spinach and the sprouts are sprouting. Onto the next season!

Perfecting the Pie

2010-10-25T08:00:00.001-04:00

I've been working on my pie crust recently, and I think I'm close. I recently combined a few recipes, including my future mother-in-law's crust and the spices from the green tomato pie recipe, and I was really happy with the results. AND it's the first time I rolled out enough dough to cover the whole top of the pie without having to resort to a lattice, score!

Crust:

2 c flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 c shortening
1/2 c cold water

I often use Crisco and mash it into the flour with a fork until "pea-sized", which works fine. You can also use unsalted butter and cut it into pea-size pieces, then mix into flour. Add water a little bit at a time until dough holds together in a ball. Refrigerate (for several hours, if possible).

Filling:

6-7 tart apples
1/2 c sugar
1 T flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp allspice
2 T butter

Sift dry ingredients. Peel and thinly slice apples and combine with dry ingredients. Roll out 1/2 of the dough (a good trick is to sprinkle some water on the counter and lay down some parchment paper, then roll the dough out on that - when ready, just flip the parchment paper over onto the pie dish). Fill pie and dot with butter. Cover and went the top crust. Bake at 425 for 10 mins, then lower to 350 for 50 mins.

The Other Side of the Coin

2010-10-22T08:00:00.002-04:00

The growers from the Walnut Hill Community Farm are all off to bigger and better things. But those darn plants keep growing! So what to do? Start a mini fall-season CSA!

We decided to do a very short pilot of a CSA this year to see how it would go and how much work it would be for the whole growing season. We have six families that are getting a delivery once every two weeks from the beginning of October to Thanksgiving. We had our first delivery and it was a lot of work, as we expected, but also a lot of fun!

The families are getting the boxes of produce for free, and the only thing they have to do is fill out a survey at the end. Though one of our families promised to pay us in sweet potatoe pie in November. We didn't say no.

The first box consisted of: one half pint cherry tomatoes and small bell peppers, one pint blue potatoes, one bunch green onions, two pints green beans, one bunch swiss chard, and one bunch each dill, thyme, and oregano.

Eat Your (Candy-Coated) Heart Out

2010-10-20T08:00:00.000-04:00

I'm babysitting again, the same wonderful family I was sitting for last year. It's only once a week, but we've been getting some quality crafting in. For example, this cake. Inspired by a five-minute viewing of the show Cake Boss, we went to the CVS, grabbed a box of yellow cake and some vanilla icing, then went to TOWN with the food coloring, sprinkles, jimmies, and what-have-yous. I think it's a classy cake. And oh so delicious :)

First Whiff

2010-10-18T13:45:00.004-04:00

Last week I had my first whiff of fall! You know that decaying leaf smell? Fall is my favorite season - season of squash and apples and trees on fire with color and scarves and knitting and baking. Speaking of baking, check out this bizarre green tomato pie I made.

I know I can always go to my friend Nicole of blue bicicletta for some great seasonal drawings and poems. Here's one I really like:

Enjoy the new season everyone!

A Sweet First

2010-10-10T08:00:00.000-04:00

Last week while I was digging up the last of my potatoes in The Woodlands Community Garden, I accidentally dug up some of my sweet potatoes! This is my first time growing sweet potatoes and I didn't realize that they could actually root along the vine, creating more tubers as they go. Like this:

(from http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/life/botany/sweet-potato-info.htm).

Sweet!

Parlor Profile: Molly Moon's Homemade Ice Cream

2010-10-05T08:00:00.000-04:00

When Zoey and I were in Seattle, we stayed with a friend of mine from college who I haven't seen or even talked to in four years! It's hard to believe, but we had an amazing time and she and her roomates were wonderful and gracious enough to let us crash at their place while we searched for an apartment for Zoey. We rewarded them by making dinner and filling their freezer with amazing ice cream from their favorite ice cream place in Seattle, Molly Moon's.

Name: Molly Moon's Homemade Ice Cream

Location: Pine Street, Capitol Hill, Seattle WA

The Scoop: Molly Moon's was started in 2008 by a woman who is actually named Molly Moon Neitzel. There are currently two stores in Seattle and a "mobile scoop shop" that got up and running just this summer. They try to use only ingredients from the Pacific Northwest, including milk from West Washington cows (though they sometimes dip down into Northern California for some ingredients). The two shops are made from sustainable and reclaimed materials, and all of the cups are compost-able (points!). They also make their own waffle cones in-store, yum!

The Flavors: I had ginger and strawberry. Other popular flavors include balsamic strawberry, salted caramel, honey lavender and sweet basil.

The Price: One two-scoop cone ran us $6.60. Ouch!

The Verdict: The ginger ice cream was perfect; creamy and spicy with small pieces of ginger in it. The strawberry was underwhelming, and actually tasted a bit like freezer burn. The cone was a bit thin, but nice and sweet, and the smell of waffle cones baking in the store was incredible. I tried a lot of the other flavors too, and some were incredible (theo chocolate) and some were ho-hum (balsamic strawberry). I like the aesthetic of the store, very clean and classy with nice wood details, a bar with stools and white walls that make the small space seem bigger. Their dedication to sustainability and local ingredients is also admirable (they don't ship their ice cream either but hope to open more stores in the Seattle area). Freezer-burn aside, I give Molly Moon's two thumbs up!

Back on track

2010-10-02T12:14:00.006-04:00

Yikes! It took me a while to get back into the groove of this blogging thing after my trip to Seattle. But I'm back and I have photos to share. Here are some highlights:

*** Camping in Ohio, Wisconsin, and South Dakota***

***The Corn Palace, in Mitchell, SD. And yes, that is a person on a Segue, made out of dried corn cobs***

***The Badlands, SD***

***The Mount!***

**A common sight***

***In Seattle, my friend Rachel's P-Patch***

***We spent a lot of time in Seattle doing this. Drinking coffee, trolling craigslist for apartments for Zoey, and reading the latest Barbara Kingsolver novel. Lovely ***

Summer's End

2010-09-07T13:24:00.004-04:00

It's officially over, phew! It's been a long and hot summer folks, and I'm personally glad it's over. Here are a few summer's end photos.

Early September harvest at the Walnut Hill Community Farm.

The Woodlands Community Garden in full swing.

A butternut squash ripening in my plot.

Getting ready for the fall season by planting broccoli under the basil.

Our annual Labor Day family reunion on the Delaware River.

And now, for a change of pace. I'm going off on a little road trip tomorrow, from Philly to Seattle to deliver my best friend to her new job out there. Pics and stories when I return. Wish me luck!

CSA bounty

2010-09-01T08:00:00.000-04:00

Here are some of the CSA boxes we've been getting since I stopped posting them in June. Enjoy!

August Harvest

2010-08-28T15:10:00.007-04:00

What a doozy!

I harvested the following from both the St. Bernard Community Garden and the Woodlands Community Garden this morning:

'Katahdin' and 'Yukon Gold' potatoes
one tiny (and slightly tasteless) watermelon
habanero peppers
'Sungold' and 'Tomaccio' cherry tomatoes
'Long Slim' cayenne peppers
a 'Cherokee Purple' and two other tomatoes
red onions
an eggplant
leeks
deformed, end-of-season cucumbers

Then I made home fries for lunch.

I am loving this weekend. The weather is gorgeous (back in the mid-eighties) and my lovely friend and former CA room-mate Crystal is coming for a visit! Enjoy your own weekends and this fleeting end-of-summer feeling.

Wind and Chill

2010-08-25T08:00:00.000-04:00

Yes, that's right. It's been windy and rainy and chilly here in Philadelphia the last few days and I am loving it. Fall is my favorite season and I love sleeping with the window open and being able to keep the comforter on the bed the whole night (instead of kicking it off in a sweaty tantrum in the middle of the night as I've been doing so far this summer).

I picked up my monthly allotment of plants from the Camden City Garden Club yesterday morning and it turns out that they just got a delivery of cool weather crops and I got first dibs! So now I've got my fill of cilantro, broccoli, two kinds of lettuce, mustard greens, swiss chard, peas, and bush beans. The beans are actually a summer crop, but I'm still going to try because beans seem to do well on my porch and I need something to replace the spent tomatoes, marigolds, and snap dragons.

Beans and red leaf lettuce:

Swiss chard:

Cilantro:

Now bring on the chilly weather!

Antique Score!

2010-08-22T08:00:00.000-04:00

The town where E and T live is really small; a post office, a hunt and tackle shop, a grocery store, a gas station, an amazing antique store (that we discovered last year), and now, a thrift shop! (The thrift shop might have been there for a while, but it's new to us.) Pretty good for a small town. Last year I came home from Bramblefest with a good haul of "antiques" and this year was no different. Check out my amazing finds.

A Tadashi dress from the thrift store. According to the internets, this brand usually runs over $100. Mine was $13. Booya!

Reversible apron.

Four small Fiestaware plates that my mom bought me, one of which matches the bowls she bought me last year. I plan to collect this stuff randomly as I come across it until I've replaced all of my current dinnerware with Fiestaware. Nerd alert!

And here's my favorite find, a cardigan clip. My excitement is possibly due to my borderline obsession with Mad Men (the only reason I would consider getting cable).

So cute!

Sweet and Savory

2010-08-20T08:00:00.001-04:00

We've been getting lots and lots of tomatoes in our CSA box lately, which I am more than happy about because the tomato plants in my garden are falling short. My absolute favorite way to eat them is to slice them thickly and sprinkle a generous pinchful of salt and sugar on each one. Sometimes I add a basil leaf to each slice, but usually I eat them just like that, held over the plate dripping and juicy.

My Precious

2010-08-16T18:05:00.006-04:00

Bramblefest 2010 was a success! We made six different kinds of jam: Bramble, black and blueberry, blueberry lime, plum peach, peach cinnamon, and low sugar peach.

As predicted, the brambles were not very fruitful this year, though we insisted on venturing into the thorns anyway. We managed to collect about 2 lbs of berries, which we mashed and juiced to add to the bramble jam.

My parents also came prepared with these adorable picking buckets that we tied around our waists.

And this year we had a new family member to help us pick: Maybelle! She's a tiny rough and tumble love bug farm kitty.

Here are some pics from the process:

And here's the haul!

We made 51 jars of jam, mostly in 1/2 pints. Next year we vow to make more 4 oz. jars because then we'll have enough to give as gifts. As it is, I don't want to part with my precious share.

P.S. We managed to hit up the antique store in town as well (two of them, actually!) and I'll share my incredible findings from that in another post.

Juicy Preparations

2010-08-13T08:00:00.000-04:00

There's been a flurry of activity in my inbox recently, mostly centering around the topics of fruit, jars, kittens, and antiques. That all adds up to one thing: Bramblefest 2010!

The time has come to head up to E and T's house in northeast PA to harvest wild berries, eat amazing home-cooked food, gather wildflowers, laugh at chickens, play with the new kitten, shop for antiques, watch movies and of course, make jam. Lots of it.

We're a little worried about the brambles this year because E and T did some work on the property and the brambles took a hit. But they will bounce back. And while we wait we will supplement. Yesterday Chloe and I went to Mood's Farm Market in NJ for some pick-your-own goodness. It was raining but we stuck through, having a blast, stuffing ourselves with fruit, and harvesting over 5 lbs of blackberries ($1.40/lb) and over 20 lbs of peaches ($0.75/lb!).

My mom is bringing blueberries, so it Aunt E, and Katie is bringing plums. Good lord, I think a lot of it will go into our bellies before it goes into the cans and I can't wait. I'm particularly excited to try some recipes from Marisa McClellan's local Philly Food in Jars blog and to experiment with the spices. Mood's is her favorite pick-your-own and I've been wanting to go for a while.

So happy weekend everyone, and check back next week for the results of Bramblefest 2010!

Press

2010-08-12T08:00:00.001-04:00

Philly Homegrown visited the Walnut Hill Community Farm recently and look at the beautiful pictures they took!

ACGA in Hotlanta

2010-08-09T21:07:00.000-04:00

I'm back from the American Community Gardening Association conference in Atlanta and I had an incredible time! I met some amazing people, I was educated and inspired, I saw many beautiful gardens, and I ate incredible food! Here are some highlights.

*A canning class with Miss Classie Parker of Just Food in NYC, where I learned how to pickle okra and boogie.*

*A great harvest table and weighing station in the Back to Eden Garden*

Scenes from the Taste of the South dinner:

*Genius bike racks at Pearl Academy Agriculture and Environmental Center*

*Goats at Pearl Academy*

And, last but not least, the Atlanta Botanical Garden:

I'm already excited for next year!

2010 ACGA Conference!

2010-08-04T13:00:00.005-04:00

Despite my current lack of funds, I managed to register and get transportation to the 2010 American Community Gardening Association's Annual conference this weekend! With lots of help from the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and Green Thumb (the NYC Dept of Parks and Rec's community gardening program) I will be traveling to Atlanta, GA tonight on a bus from NYC. I get conference registration (which I already secured a scholarship for), round-trip bus fare, and a shared hotel room for the low low price of $0.00. Amazing. I mostly have Sally to thank, my wonderful friend at PHS who does the community gardening program there. I had an incredible time last year, and I can't wait to be inspired and energized again this year. The bus ride is over 16 hours though, so thank goodness for my new quillow.

Here are some current pics from the community gardens to get you excited. Also, I just found out that The Woodlands Community Garden is in final judging for the PHS City Gardens contest, so keep your fingers crossed again for us to win!

**Walnut Hill Community Farm, with painted shed and 1,000 gallon water tank!**

**Incredible shed organization at The Woodlands, thanks to Joe (who also re-roofed the shed and made the picnic table**

**Red pontiac potatoes, katahdin potatoes, some mystery blue potatoes, and a cayenne pepper from The Woodlands**

**St. B garden overflowing with zinnias**

**St. B garden harvest**

**Joy**

Sew Sneaky

2010-08-02T10:57:00.002-04:00

I went to another class at Spool this weekend, my local hip fabric shop. They have the most gorgeous fabrics, and they cycle through inventory really quickly, so even though the shop is small, the selection is always changing.

And check out what I made! It's a pillow . . .

But what's that sticking out of the bottom?

It's a quilt!

Now what would YOU call something that's both a pillow and a quilt? Why, a Quillow, of course!

I can't give you the pattern because it's not publicly available on their website, but I found one here that's approximately the same.

I'm really happy with my quillow, I can't wait to take it with my on the looooooong bus ride I'll be going on soon (more about that in the next post!).

Garden mascot

2010-07-29T08:00:00.000-04:00

The Woodlands Community Garden is flourishing! We've built four more beds this month, which allows eight more people into the garden.

And we have a new mascot! Meet Bootsy Collins. This is the least blurry picture I could get of her. She's a West Philly mutt that Nic adopted and she's incredibly well behaved for a stray.

I've been harvesting cayenne peppers, potatoes, chives, and basil from my plot so far, and tomatoes, sweet potatoes, watermelon, and winter squash are on their way (among others)!

Rubik's Cube

2010-07-27T08:00:00.000-04:00

We had a work night yesterday at the Walnut Hill Community Farm and we painted the shed! You'll recall, it used to look like this:

And now (at least one side of) it looks like this:

!!!!

And another side looks like this:

It's a work in progress, but it was a lot of fun. Although at one point I wondered if more paint ended up on the girls' clothes than on the shed . . .

(Please excuse the crappy cell-phone pictures of the painting process, I failed to bring my camera to the work night. But it's July, these things can be excused.)

Pretty Things

2010-07-24T08:00:00.001-04:00

I've been having fun making "inspiration boards" for my wedding over at Style Me Pretty. It's a great way to focus my ideas about what I want the colors and style to be. Plus, I get to look at pretty pictures of pretty things. Isn't that what planning a wedding is all about? (Besides the whole marrying your best friend part).

Lately I've been thinking a lot about fabric pennants, strings of large clear bulbs, mason jars, old fashioned lace . . .

. . . delicate frosting flowers, tiers of rich cake, various shades of yellow and cream . . .

. . . bright goldenrod and magenta hues, bird-cage veils, butterflies and bees, honey . . .

. . . and saturated light.

Sharing the Wealth

2010-07-17T08:00:00.000-04:00

Last week I spent a few hours with Kelly and Meg from Future House Farm, talking about community gardens! They're about the embark on a fabulous project and they're doing a bit of research beforehand. We had a great time, eating at a nearby cafe and then taking a little tour of some community gardens (we only made it to three before the heat beat us). It's always interesting to meet people that I've only known in blog-land, this is only the second time I've done it. Check out Kelly's report of our afternoon on their blog.

The First Pickles of The Season

2010-07-15T08:00:00.000-04:00

On Saturday my friend JJ and I bought some pickling cucumbers at the farmer's market and set to work making the first pickles of the season. They're fermented, so they're garlic pickles instead of vinegar pickles like most of the ones we made last year. I followed the tried and true recipe from "Wild Fermentation," and it was the fastest ferment ever! They were done in four days, I guess because of the heat and humidity. They're supposed to take a minimum of 1 week to properly ferment, so it's a good thing I checked on them . . .

Green and Growing

2010-07-13T08:49:00.007-04:00

Ask and you shall receive. It started raining Friday night and the entire Philadelphia metro area breathed a collective sigh of relief. The weather has cooled down and our rain barrels at the Walnut Hill Community Farm are completely full. I got a helpful e-mail from Carol, a reader from the Pittsburgh area, reminding me to secure them to the shed because they are incredibly heavy and could cause injury, so that's our next priority over at the farm.

As for The Woodlands Community Garden, we had a work day this weekend and built four more beds! This means that we can invite eight more people to join the garden. The waiting list is down to only a handful of people now, which is a beautiful thing.

The bed that M and I tend is looking kind of bedraggled because of the haphazard way that I tied up the potatoes. But it gets them out of the way of everything else that I've planted in the rows: hot peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, melons, watermelons, winter squash, basil, leeks, chives, and sweet potatoes.

We also decided to celebrate the fact that the garden is one year old by having a little potluck party after the work day. It was delicious, as usual, and a nice break from the hard work.

And today the judges from the PHS City Gardens Contest come to judge The Woodlands Community Garden. It was really fun to talk to them about the garden, we've done a lot in only one year and they were sufficiently impressed. Fingers crossed!

*** Check out the wildflower meadow at The Woodlands where we relocated our bees. They're very happy.***

At the St. Bernard Community Garden things are also growing nicely. I've harvested a few cucumbers already and nibbled on some cherry tomatoes. There's still kale, swiss chard, beans, onions, peppers, tomatoes, herbs, and lots and lots of zinnias growing.

I planted four different seed packets of zinnias along the border, so I plan on seeing more views like this all summer:

Happy gardening everyone!

Rain, rain

2010-07-09T08:00:00.000-04:00

We have a shed! And a rain-catchment system! Things are really moving along with the Walnut Hill Community Farm. In June we built a shed, constructed a gutter system on the shed to funnel water into our rain barrels, had the first meeting of the community gardeners, started selling produce to the Restaurant School at Walnut Hill and at the Thursday Clark Park Farmer's Market, AND the Enterprise Center got a huge grant from PECO to start construction on the hardscape of the farm and pocket park. Wowee!

With the PECO money we've purchased a 1,000 gallon water tank that we will use to catch water from the roof of the SEPTA station that's next to the farm, and we plan to get a solar-powered pump to get the water up the slope to water the farm.

Now, if it would only rain . . .

Navigating the Urban Jungle

2010-07-07T08:00:00.000-04:00

For the past few months I've been sending out feelers to see what kind of opportunities there are available to me to try to make a little extra cash. In May, I stumbled across this brand new garden store in South Philly called Urban Jungle, and with M's help I pitched a workshop series to the owner and he was enthusiastic about it! So now I am the Horticulturalist and Educator at Urban Jungle, where we have workshops every Thursday on a variety of topics. Below is a picture of my little set-up in the store last week, before I started teaching my class on Gardening for Butterflies and Hummingbirds. You'll notice a batch of freshly baked cookies in the tupperware with the green lid.

It's not a full time job by any means, but it's an exciting opportunity. Attendance has been patchy, but I'm learning a lot about promotion (some of it from my in-house DJ who has lots of experience). So check us out on Facebook, and if you're in the area come on out to a class! (The next class is for families; it's called Salsa-in-a-Pot and you can register here.)

Goodbye Camden

2010-06-29T08:00:00.002-04:00

At the end of this week I will be leaving my job as Community Garden Organizer at the Camden Children's Garden. Here are some parting photos I took this month of some of the gardens I've been working on this summer: The Cramer Hill CDC garden, a new community garden with HUGE raised beds - probably 20 by 20 ft, and one of my favorites, the St. Anthony's Community Garden.

Cramer Hill CDC Community Garden

Check out the size of those beds!

An incredible melon trellis at the St. Anthony's Community Garden

When the melons start to grow, they will hang down from the trellis and this gardener will support them by making a sling with pantyhose and tying it to the bamboo!

********

My work in West Philadelphia on community gardens and urban farms continues, so stay tuned to see what exciting things are coming up next!

Garden Update - St. Bernard Community Garden

2010-06-27T18:25:00.003-04:00

The cool weather crops are taking their last stand and the warm weather crops are coming on strong. At the St. Bernard Community Garden we've got red and yellow onions, broccoli, kale, swiss chard and cabbage, along with tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers. And a zinnia border is popping up at the south end of the plot - I can't wait for vases full of zinnias on my table!

But these pictures were taken about a week ago, before the crazy storm we had on Thursday. It only lasted for about half an hour, but it did a lot of damage to the vegetation in the city. 75 mile per hour winds and marble-sized hail will do that. The leaves of my veggies are all tattered and broken, but hopefully they will perk up again soon and start producing. And I've already harvested a cucumber from one of my vines, so I have hope!

At The Woodlands Community Garden the potatoes are doing their thing, and there are more tomatoes and peppers growing. There are also sunflowers and eggplants, and I planted some winter squash and melon seeds which have already sprouted.

Happy Gardening everyone!

Balmer

2010-06-17T08:00:00.000-04:00

Earlier this month M and I spent a lovely weekend in Baltimore, doing strictly tourist stuff. We saw an Orioles game (at Camden Yards, my 9th baseball stadium), ate loads of crab, and checked out the Inner Harbor and the National Aquarium. Fun fun fun!

Rounds

2010-06-15T19:17:00.003-04:00

Third week of the CSA: shell peas, green snap beans, escarole, salad turnips, lettuce mix, and eggs. From now on I will be posting these to Farm to Philly because it's too much work to post to both! And they will continue to be posted to my Flickr set.

Goodies

2010-06-09T08:00:00.001-04:00

Second CSA box, June 8th. Snap peas, summer squash, green garlic, Easter Egg radish, Salad turnip, and arugula. Plus some hydrangea flowers I got from Katrina's house (payment for watering her plants) and a growler of incredible iced tea made by Amy at Earth Cup in West Philly (45th and Pine).

It's That Time Again

2010-06-09T08:00:00.000-04:00

Time for purple-stained fingers and hours spent under a fruit tree. Or crouching in a strawberry patch. Over the last few weeks I have collected many yogurt containers full of mulberries, serviceberries, sour cherries, currants, and strawberries, and all of them have been foraged from street trees or the yard of my friend Katrina (sad news: Katrina and her husband decided to move out of their house on the corner and I will miss her so. Also, now I will have to beg and plead with the new owners to get access to the fruit trees and the strawberry patch!).

Most of the berries went straight into my belly and the belly of friends (I brought four pounds of fruit on the plane with me to St. Louis last weekend to share with Jaja). The rest I cut up, mixed with granulated sugar, and froze. It works quite well; the sugar keeps the berries from sticking together too much in the freezer and you can scoop them out to eat on top of yogurt or ice cream whenever you want!

I also made this incredibly simply biscuit recipe with the serviceberries. It was scrumptious, I suggest you try it out.

Serviceberry biscuits

2 c flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3-4 Tbs Crisco
1 c sugar
3/4 c milk
2 c berries

Mix together dry ingredients. Cut shortening into it with a fork, until course crumbs. Add milk, mix. Gently add berries, mix. Plop onto lightly greased baking sheet and bake at 450 degrees for 12 minutes.

Yum.

Meet Me

2010-06-07T08:00:00.000-04:00

It Is Enough To Enter

the templar
halls of museums, for

example, or
the chambers of churches,

and admire
no more than the beauty

there, or
remember the graveness

or stone, or
whatever. You don't

have to do any
better. You don't have to

understand
the liturgy or know history

to feel holy
in a gallery or presbytery.

It is enough
to have come just so far.

You need
not be opened any more

than does
a door, standing ajar.

- Todd Boss

Greens and Whites

2010-06-05T08:00:00.000-04:00

It's the first CSA box of the season! We're going to be swimming in produce this summer, what with both community garden plots, working in community gardens for my job, and the CSA. Wowza.

We got green lettuce, spinach, pac choi, Japanese turnips, green onions, sugar snap peas, and eggs.

Ume update

2010-06-01T08:00:00.000-04:00

Remember that Japanese plum wine I made last year? Umeshu, it's called. Well it's been almost a year and I finally cracked open the jar. Verdict? Delicious. Incredibly sweet, and slightly medicinal, but delicious. Here's the original post, and here's the youtube video with the recipe I used.

The time has also come to pick more plums and start another batch. I will do so, this time adding more alcohol and less sugar. Yikes!

Phila Street Art :: St. Bernard Street

2010-05-29T08:00:00.000-04:00

M noticed this incredible little guy nailed to a telephone post along our walk to the garden one day. There seem to be a number of wonderful things along that walk. I don't know who the artist is, but it resembles Maurice Sendak a bit.

One of these mornings

2010-05-26T08:00:00.000-04:00

One of these mornings
You're going to rise up singing
Then you'll spread your wings
And you'll take to the sky

"Summertime," George Gershwin

Rain Garden

2010-05-24T08:00:00.001-04:00

At The Woodlands, things are moving right along. We've sorted our donated lumber in order to make a picnic table (which is in progress right now), and we planted a rain garden!

Gardeners Mandy Katz and Todd Greenberg from Bartram’s Garden generously donated the plants to us (and Mandy suggested the idea in the first place, she's one of our brand new gardeners!).

A rain garden is planted in a depression where runoff from surrounding impervious surfaces (like asphalt and rooftops) can be directed. The plants help the water soak into the ground instead of running off and causing erosion and pollution of surface water. Our rain garden is in a depression where water naturally collects from the surrounding asphalt, and water from the roof of the neighboring building is diverted to the spot (the black tube in the photos). We’ve planted wetland-tolerant plants, some of them native. Inkberry holly, Ilex glabra ‘Densa’; white turtlehead, Chelone glabra; swamp hibiscus, Hibiscus moscheutos; and Joe-Pye weed, Eupatorium fistulosum.

This kind of action will become increasingly necessary for storm water mitigation in The Woodlands and surrounding areas because residents of the city of Philadelphia will soon be charged for the amount of storm water their property produces. Here’s the Philly Inquirer article about it.

The plot that M and I tend is also doing incredibly well. We harvested lettuce and kale (to freeze, I'm almost kaled out for the season), and the potatoes are coming up (4 varieties). I'm afraid that we planted more than the space can handle, but that seems to be the case every year, so time can only tell!

The other gardeners are also doing fun things with their own space. The plot behind ours has a huge bean trellis, and another one has a large, elaborate cage around it (this was originally to keep out the deer that lived in the cemetery). When we designed the garden we decided to build 8x8 beds and split them between people, so as to maximize wood and the number of gardeners participating. It's worked out wonderfully, and it's been fun to see people making new friends, figuring out how to share their space, and being creative!

Beautiful Progress

2010-05-22T08:00:00.001-04:00

We've been holding twice-monthly work days at the Walnut Hill Community Farm and they are going incredibly well. At the last one, we planted, staked, and trellised our summer crops: over 20 varieties of tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and basil. We also thinned our radishes and beets. The broccoli is coming along nicely (despite a little bit of mealy bug), the cabbage is starting to head up, and the kale is going gangbusters.

We also cleared out the weeds from the pathways between rows and laid down a bunch of salt hay to mulch. I think it looks terrific!

At every workday we attract kids from the surrounding houses and the general neighborhood; at one of the workdays in April there was a party happening down the street and everyone under 15 came over to help out at the farm! This is probably my favorite part about the farm.

Look for more updates as things progress!

Saving my Spinach

2010-05-20T18:37:00.003-04:00

Check out my latest entry on Farm to Philly, all about how to freeze your garden greens!