All In A Days Work

Zinnias. They just have to be my favorite summer flower. My garden is filled with them in several spots. It never ceases to amaze me how each flower is shaped, colored, sized so differently from the ones that surround it. I have been harvesting these seeds from the original ones I planted nearly 10 years ago. Not unlike Johnny Appleseed, they have spread far and wide. In the fall, it is hard for me to leave any dried seeds on the stalk, and I collect gallon bag after gallon bag of them. I scatter them about or give them away, or simply hoard them.

When we lived in South Dakota, our in-town house was situated just above a 3/4 acre ravine. It was a beautiful section of wild life hidden from the street, but so right-there for us. Among other things, it was loaded with wild gooseberry bushes. I used to pick those tiny berries each summer, pluck the stem and blossom end off of each and every one, and make jam. Believe me, it was a lot of work, but it was delicious. So I decided a couple of years ago to plant two domestic gooseberry bushes. The berries on these bushes are easily four times as large as the ones on the wild bushes, but plucking the stem and blossom end on each one remains as tedious. I harvested the berries above the other day, and wanted very much to use them in something that would please my palate in new ways. I have been reading a book, A Homemade Life, by Molly Wizenberg, which is a memoir filled with recipes. There were several recipes for cakes, and though normally I'm not a cake person, I developed a cake-craving! So, I wondered about using these berries in a cake????? I scoured my cook books, and believe me that's a lot of scouring, and was unable to find uses in cake...though I found one for a 'Gooseberry Frump'...which is a poor choice of words if you ask me, as there's nothing frumpy about these berries. Anyway, I decided to make the French Lemon Yogurt cake from the above book, which I had never made before, and add the gooseberries to it. I told myself this was pretty audacious, to experiment with a recipe I'd never tried before, but I proceeded anyway. The cake used only 1/2 of the berries, and not wanting to waste any, I decided to use my trusty, favorite muffin recipe...Date/Nut... but substitute gooseberries. First of all I was out of whole wheat pastry flour (darn) so I used unbleached and made the muffins below. Much to my surprise, the gooseberries, which impart a subtle, sweet, wild flavor when consumed off the bush, turned tart and very red when cooked. Delicious and beautiful as they came from the oven about 10 minutes before the cake.

These freeze well, and I can 'pick' one from the freezer whenever I get the urge.

The cake was lovely to look at, a wonder to smell, and I must say the combination was delicate, moist, and truly delicious.

Then I moved on to canning the abundance of beans I had picked the night before. (There is no shortage of garden work in the summer!) I don't particularly like canned green beans, but I love Dilly Beans, with the addition of a cayenne pepper and garlic clove in each jar. These are always a hit at group functions, and I could give away every jar I can.

If the bean crop is prolific, I will slip a ribbon on these and give them away...perhaps along with some zinnia seeds!

A LONG JOURNEY AHEAD

This lovely Iris appeared as the June sheet in a Twelve Moons calendar. I fell in love with all of the images, but this especially struck me. It just so happened that I had all of the colors on hand in wool yarn! Now that seemed auspicious. And, after all, I now have and Iris in my heart and life. I decided that it would make a great tapestry...and I think it will, but I sure embarked upon a long and intricate journey. I started this once, a couple of years ago, drawing the 'cartoon' to place behind the tapestry loom. However, after putting in several hours, I realized it would work better if I wove it in the horizontal direction. This meant I needed a loom that was 30" by 20" instead of 20" by 30". I now have that loom, made by an Amish friend. So I turned the cartoon around, and have embarked upon the journey anew.

Here the cartoon is behind the warp, with the picture, to provide color guide, lying atop. I have a long, long way to go, having just begun the very bottom. The yarn hanks at the bottom are called 'butterflies' and unravel as you use them.

This is the loom with the cartoon pinned behind it. The warp is heavy linen and the yarn is wool.

A close-up of the work, which is entirely done by finger-pick. I also use a common kitchen fork as a beater. One has to take care in picking the fork, it needs to be 'well-weighted' and lay easy in the hand. I use the fork, but often simply use my fingers to beat the yarn down.

THRIFT SHOP FINDS

A trip to 'town' is never complete without a stop at Goodwill, Salvation Army and any thrift stores that may be around. These beautiful silk ties were finds at Goodwill. Taken apart and laundered, they hang on the line to dry...lovely colors on a summer day.

As I walked into the Good Shepherd Thrift Store this beautiful child's hand-crocheted deep pink 'dress' hung by itself for everyone to see. I could hardly believe that no one had snatched it up. It is heartbreaking to me to find something handmade (and as lovely as this) gathered together with the 'we-don't-need-this-stuff-anymore' from overfilled closets, put into bags and disposed of. To me, this is a treasure, an heirloom, something to be saved and loved. So, thank you to whatever 'grandmother' made this with love for her granddaughter. It is Iris' and Elsa's treasure now.

A Day In An Old Log House

A sunny window sill in an old log house, a wonderful setting for this vase of flowers.

The entrance to the old two story log house that was the setting for my fiber show. This house had two rooms downstairs and two upstairs, probably a luxury home for its day. It felt fitting for me to be there as this structure housed a large old, non-working barn loom and an old treadle sewing machine.

As you enter you are greeted with the stairs that go to the upper floor. Here is where I set up my rug rack, and displayed some of my tapestries. The stairs offered more rug room.

No electricity...but thankfully the windows opened, and there was a nice breeze most of the day. The house never seemed to get hot.

My series of 5 Grandmother braided woven rag rugs felt right at home on this old barn loom.

Looking into the main room at the barn loom.

Looking out of the main room, into the smaller entry room.

An old treadle sewing machine graced my caps and was a great background for my bags.

The weather was glorious last Sunday, the day of the Art Show. There were 32 artists set up, some in the main building, many of us in individual old log buildings, and many outside. The show was from 10-5:00, and during that time 196 adults came through my building and spent much time not only looking at and feeling my items, but reading the various history posted about, and looking at the old pictures that surrounded us.

I was touched that many of my friends and past acquaintances came to the show because they saw my name on the artist list. I can't say that I made a lot of $ that day, but I feel truly blessed by all the people who came through who seemed to love my work.

The venue for this show simply couldn't have been more perfect.

PEAS AND LETTUCE

I seem to have gone overboard in planting lettuce this year. It is abundant, and this Romaine is truly lush and delicate. Even in the beastly heat of last week, it was crisp and dewy each early morning I picked. It provides a large, full, wooden maple bowl of Sicilian salad every evening.

This morning I took my bucket to the garden to pick our first peas. The vines are laden with sweet, sweet peas, and for a first picking, I feel like I got a lot of peas, though after shucking they don't seem like quite so many.

This is the bountiful bowl-full from the first picking. Later this afternoon, I will sit quietly on the lawn with my grandmother's china bowl, and shuck these peas. I know many people greatly dislike shucking peas, but I truly love this quiet, contemplative, repetitive time. It brings back memories of my grandmother's garden and how she sat in her housedress, with her apron tied on, and shucked peas in the late afternoon.

This is my grandmother's bowl, though I don't really know if she put her peas in it. I just know that shucking ours peas into it, is a true pleasure for me.

Our first meal of peas is always, Peas and Lettuce. This is not something I had as a child, and honestly, when I first saw the recipe I kind of 'yucked' at it...cooking lettuce?? But it is our very favorite way to eat peas, and is truly delicious. Try it.


*A large bunch of cleaned Romaine lettuce leaves
*1 large onion, sliced
*2 tbls. butter(or more if you amount of peas is more then 8 oz.
*fresh garden PEAS
*nutmeg
*salt and freshly ground black pepper

Roughly shred the cleaned Romaine lettuce leaves. In a saucepan, lightly fry the lettuce and onion in the butter for about 3 minutes. Add the peas, nutmeg to taste and seasoning. Stir, cover and simmer for about 5 minutes. You can serve it drained, or as we like it, slightly wet.

Carpet Bags....well...Rug Bags

Anyone would think, at 12-15 minutes per braid, I'd have had enough after completing a series of five rugs, but no, I wanted to finish the warp on my loom, and as there wasn't enough to make another rug, I decided to try something smaller. I thought making a couple of 'bags' would be fun, and decided to add decorative rya knots as well as incorporate some woven loops. Above is bag # 1 on the loom.

Here is Bag # 1 off the loom.

Bag # 2

This is the second bag, though after constructing the first once I'd taken it off the loom was so difficult due to the density of braided rags, I'm surprised I prevailed with this one.

Both bags, and actually I'd like to make more. They are clearly durable, and should last a lifetime. They aren't really Carpet Bags as Carpetbags..."were made by saddle makers in many town and cities and were many sizes and shape. They were called Carpetbags because the makers would buy old carpets and construct the bags from the pieces of carpet that were not completely worn out"...These bags are Rugbags, but somehow that just doesn't sound as romantic! How about Ragrugbags (that doesn't even look like English) or Rag Rug Bags??? Rag Bags?? Anyway, this project was different, fun and until I run out of rag balls, which at this rate will not be that far off, it is a nice break from wool, to weave with cotton in the summer. And I must say, the grandmothers still deeply entice me as these sewn rag strips braid and weave through my fingers.

A Typical Day on the Farm: Surrounded By Beauty

Most days, especially the sunny ones, the beauty of my surroundings is stunning. These Iris' bloom just outside my cabin, along with Rogusa Roses, Service Berries, and sundry other things. A wren lives in a tiny birdhouse on the deck of my cabin incessently chattering at me while I work, causing an almost constant grin on my face.

This fig tree sits on our front lawn during the summer, and lives in the darkest corner of the basement in the winter. A slip from its original 'parent' was carried over from Sicily on the boat to Rochester, N.Y., by my Aunt Rose's father-in-law many, many years ago. They planted it in their back yard, and it yielded figs each and every fall of its mature years. I remember picking the first of these soft, warm, rather funny looking 'sacks' each fall, and biting into it. It always felt like a secret had been released in my mouth. Pa, as Aunt Rose's father-in-law was called, pulled the branches down each fall, laid them on the ground and covered them with burlap and straw until the coming spring. I tried planting this fig outdoors, but it is simply too harsh a winter in Wisconsin, so it spends its winter inside. My tree has yielded a few figs, though it is a tough battle with the birds to reach them first.

This sweet little spring house sits alongside our driveway. The water in our house is entirely spring fed, and is pumped from this house. On the right-hand side is a pipe that pours out cold spring water at a rate of a 7 1/2 gallons per minute, and a dipper is always handy. The constant pouring from the pipe has created a little pool just beneath it in which Freddie always keeps a few cool ones.

They always seem just the right temperature on a hot summer afternoon.

This is my cabin (workshop) that sits not far from the house. It is a wonderful refuge, work space, and we sometimes take cheese and bread and wine and sit on the deck of an evening.

This Prairie Smoke grows in each corner in front of the cabin. I had never seen Prairie Smoke before, and find it fasinating.

Here is a shot of my cabin from the vineyard, which is itself a lovely place to be.

And this is a shot of the vineyard from the cabin.

Some of my days are made happier with this little one's presence. Here she plays with the 'sandbox' I have set up on the deck. Aren't I truly blessed!

And finally, I just could not resist taking a picture of this beautiful serpentine garlic scape which was just pulled from the garlic in my garden.