bee creative

February's poem

I will make you brooches and toys for your delight

Of bird-song at morning and star-shine at night.

I will make a palace fit for you and me

Of green days in forests and blue days at sea.

 

I will make my kitchen, and you shall keep your room,

Where white flows the river and bright blows the broom,

And you shall wash your linen and keep your body white

In rainfall at morning and dewfall at night.

 

And this shall be for music when no one else is near,

The fine song for singing, the rare song to hear!

That only I remember, that only you admire,

Of the broad road that stretches and the roadside fire.

Robert Louis Stevenson

latest bus project

I'm experimenting a bit...thought I'd try ribbing on the bottom of the foot of the sock.  Why not? 

a few sweet things

Working on the collar of this shirt:

I've had everything but the binding on the collar and the hem done since the end of December.  Seems like a good idea to finish the shirt while it's still cool enough to enjoy a flannel shirt.  I may dye this with onion skin or indigo at some point. 

Cooked the last of the large winter squash.  It's such a wonderful rich yellow, healthy and joyful.

And a treat with the first egg, an individual chocolate cake. 

It's based on the "sticky chocolate cake in your coffee mug in 3 minutes" from Yvette van Boven's book Homemade Winter.  Except I used oat flour, honey, and made a honey and cocoa powder glaze.  I also don't have a microwave so it was cooked in the oven for 20 minutes (she gives a recommendation for that). 

I believe I've shared a picture of this before, but wanted to do so again.  For a couple reasons:

• Thinking about how I find some foods easy to sweeten with honey while others still taste best to me if sweetened with sugar.  There is a difference in texture.  Although I haven't given up sugar completely, it is no longer my primary sweetner. 
• Thinking also about the variety of flours I use now, about how much I enjoy using a mixture of different types.  How that changes tastes and textures. 
• And thinking about what we choose to celebrate and how. 

 

 

beginnings

spinning and knitting:

starting to add the sheep wool to the alpaca for this shawl.

first egg of the year

 

 

three cookies

I'm cleaning out the fridge...seems as good a rational as any:

I used a jam bar recipe and did three versions. 

From the lower right hand corner going clockwise:  currant jam, quince jam, and rhubarb sauce.  Currants from Mom and Dad, quince from one of my grandmothers and the rhubarb from my garden. 

The currant has the most eye appeal and is very good.  The rhubarb is also yummy.   Both of these jams/sauces are tart enough to balance out the cookie sweetness.  The quince is interesting...a bit too sweet but with a very clear quince tang.

Hmm... I wonder about cranberry sauce with some orange peel?  I have some berries in the freezer...   And I'm planting another currant in the garden. 

 

signs of spring...

and

tonight's dinner:  oranges with sunflower sprouts and tortilla with beans and cheese.

I've never tried sunflower sprouts before this weekend.  They taste healthy. 

 

when I grow up I will be...

The stitched side of my current sewing project, the one that I am calling "When I grow up." 

I think for my most of my childhood if someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up I would have answered "Maybe a teacher."  I know by the time I was in high school I was set on that course.

I don't think I would have said, "When I grow up my life style will be focused on sustainability."  That probably started in 9th grade.  I took a class called "Energy Education," a science class focused on energy sources.  My dad helped me make a solar hot water heater for a class project...well, my dad made it while I watched and I presented it to the class.   (As an aside, some of my favorite gifts from my parents have been tools.) 

*****

Sometime we talk about countries being older or younger.  What does it mean for a nation to grow up?  What would it mean for humanity to grow up? 

 

Maybe I am thinking too much again...

*****

Today was the second "Winter Market."  There are three scheduled for the community I live in: one was in January, today's and then one in March.  In April the market will return to being weekly.  Today a friend of the family who has a booth at the market observed that I am faithful to the market.  And I am.  I go to almost every scheduled one. 

Today I bought:  pears, swiss chard, potatoes, bread, cheese, a turnip, dried beans, a cabbage and sunflower sprouts. 

 

 

 

By the time I made it home from the market the clouds were breaking up and the sun was coming out.  It felt warm enough that I turned off the heat and opened the windows up... it was good to air out the house.  To dream of spring. 

******

"When  I grow up I will eat organic local food.  I will grow fruits and vegetables and herbs.  I will sell my car.  I will make most of my clothes.  I will be a caregiver and teacher.  I will be a story teller." 

continuing...

I'm back to working on the scarf made with alpaca...

spinning and knitting

It's a bit tricky, this fiber.  I'm starting to mix in some sheep's wool with the alpaca.  A little easier to spin. 

Thanks for the well wishes...I'm feeling much better and the vapor rub works great (but not on the feet). 

concoctions

Trying:

Thieves oil

and

vapor rub.

I've read recently that it can be effective to put vapor rub on your feet.  Going to try that tonight.  Because you know...sniffle, sniffle, cough, cough.  I've also made myself some cough syrup with raspberries, honey, sage and mint tincture.  Most of that from my garden. 

And...

millet patties, sort of based on this recipe. 

I used:  cooked millet, egg (I'm almost out of eggs, everyday I tell the chickens that it's time to start laying again.), a pinch of dried carrot/onion/celery leaf/parsley, dried peppers, dry jack cheese.

On the side a plum sauce made by blending some plum chutney and adding a bit of soy sauce. 

Results?  Worth doing again. 

All of it.  Except the cold. 

captured sunshine: corn pancakes

A friend mentioned that one of our local restaurants made corn pancakes.  Sounded intriguing so I thought I'd try a version last Sunday morning.

I used a basic pancake recipe and replaced the flour with corn flour (very fine grind), 100%.

Next time I might try 75% corn 25% wheat flour.

They were good with blackberries and maple syrup, but even better with some honey.