Our First- {this moment}

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

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Ritual courtesy of soulemama.

Monday Rundown

In an effort to make this blog more about our family while promoting the website as well, I will now be doing a Monday Rundown post entailing the happenings at our home and on the website. So, here it is, the first Monday Rundown!

At The Cottage

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! We spent the weekend hanging lights, decorating the tree, baking cookies and drinking hot chocolate. The decorations look great, now I just have to put up the boxes that they were stored in.

Handwork Season is in full swing. I've been working on a set of dolls for Will and will post them on Wednesday's WIP post. I've also been trying to put together batik napkins for Christmas gifts, but time in the studio seems to be at a premium these days. In addition, while it's more of preserving season activity than a handwork season activity, I made some lotion bars this weekend as well.

The garden is looking tired with only a few plants hanging on here and there. The chicks from this summer have grown into 5 roosters and 2 hens and have become difficult, if not impossible, to contain. Thus, they have decimated all of my fall vegetables, except for the parsnips, which they can't get to. I'm hoping to get the roosters butchered soon, but there is never enough time in the day.

On The Website

I've been plugging away at the website, albeit slowly. I just put up a page for Family Rhythm. At the bottom of the page you will see a sign up for our Family Rhythm newsletter. This newsletter will be sent out at the beginning of the season as listed on Seasonal Rhythm page. It will include ideas for celebrating all 4 types of rhythm and focus on seasonal activities that you can do at home.

We will also be sending out a monthly urban farming newsletter as well. You can sign up for it on any of the website pages using the sign up form in the right hand column. 

I think that pretty much sums it up! Hope you all have a wonderful week!

An Update

There have been so many things I have wanted to share on this blog, but I wasn't sure how to come back to it, but I guess now is as good a time as any.

First, let me address some things that have been left unfinished. Last time I was here I was working on a series of posts on rhythm. I had to take a break from them for a while, so they are still not completely finished. However, once they are finished I will not be posting them on this site, but don't fret! I have something even better planned for them! They are going to be offered as a free e-course!

Which brings me to my next topic. Although, I have been absent from this blog, I have actually been working on other projects in the meantime. I am currently putting together a website on urban agriculture. I have taken a lot of tutorials and other information on this blog and put it into website format so that it will be easier to access. I am also putting some of it into e-course format including the rhythm course mentioned above and I'm also finishing up an urban agriculture quick start guide.  The website is still very much a work in progress, but if you'd like to check it out, it is here:

Urban Agriculture Info

Now, looking forward, I will be using this blog as a more personal family chronicle of what we are doing around here, while any type of informative posts will be put on the website. I hope you will stick around as the website comes together. I have great things planned for it and for this blog as well! 

Seed Saving

As you're thinking about what kinds of goodies to preserve for the winter, don't forget that you can save your seeds as well so you can cut down on your seed purchasing costs next planting season. There are a few different ways that plants produce seeds so saving seeds can be different for each plant, but there is nothing difficult about saving seeds once you know what you're looking for.

Squash, Melons & Peas

Some plants make it super easy to know how to save their seed. Cantaloupe, watermelon, zucchini, peas and most squashes are pretty straight forward when it comes to seed saving. All you have to do is open them up scoop out the seeds, wash them off and dry them out on a paper plate. The picture above shows the peas separated from their pods.

Tomatoes

Others are a bit trickier. Tomatoes come to mind. In order to save tomato seeds you will need to use the following method. Scoop your seeds out and place them in a mason jar with enough water to cover them up well. Place a coffee filter over the top of the jar and secure it with a rubber band. You will need to leave this set to ferment over a few days. This process allows the mucousy covering around the seed to rot away so there is nothing to impede the growth of the seed the following year.

After the jar has set out for a few days you will need to dump the contents into a fine mesh strainer and rinse your seeds to remove all of the pulpy material. Once the seeds are well cleaned place them on a coffee filter on a paper plate to let them dry out before you store them for the winter.

Lettuce & Cole Crops

The last group of seeds that I want to talk to you about was the most daunting for me in the beginning. They include lettuces and cole crops. Don't make the mistake I did of letting these intimidate you! They are super easy to collect, although, you have to be willing to allow for the space and time to let them go to seed.

Most lettuces, if allowed to bolt will produce flowers which when allowed to dry will create small seed heads that can be collected and the seeds freed by lightly rolling them between your fingers over a piece of paper. The seeds will drop onto the paper and you can separate them from the rest of the flower to store over the winter. This year I got a bit lazy and instead of pulling things out of the raised beds when the spring season was over I left them in the beds, let them go to seed and put the seeds right back in the ground for the fall season. 

Cole crops are even easier! When they are left to go to seed they will produce seed pods that can be simply plucked from the plant, cracked open and the seeds inside can be collected and saved. The picture below are the seeds pods from our Chinese Cabbage plant. All cole crops will have similar looking pods.

Here are a few tips to remember when starting your personal seed banks.

• Make sure the seeds you save are heirloom seeds so that you can be sure you will be getting the same plants next year.
• Label everything! Including the plates, coffee filters and jars you are using to dry your seeds out. Include the type of vegetable, name, year and if you know where it came from originally include that too.
• There are many templates out there for seed packets so print some off or create your own. Use your imagination to decorate them and include the kids!
• Talk to your neighbors and friends and let them know what kind of seeds you have and see what seeds they have that they might be willing to trade so that you can add some variety to your garden next year.
• If possible space different varieties of the same type of vegetable as far apart as possible in order to avoid cross pollination which can create plants that might not be identical to their parent plants.
• Always gather the best looking seeds from the best vegetables from your crops in order to ensure that you are propagating strong healthy new plants.

I Need Your Help!

If you've followed this blog you have heard me talk about putting together K-8 curriculum packs for knitting and handwork lessons. I am finally trying to get this project off the ground, but I need your help! I am looking for families who would be willing to test them out for me before I send them to the e-publisher.

I am currently working on getting my knitting lesson plans off the ground and am looking for one or two families to test each of the levels K-8. The knitting classes consists of 8 one hour classes to complete at a rate of one per week. I will email you with all the course documents and each week I would need you to send me an update of a few lines (maybe even pictures?) about what is working and what is not. At the end of the course, with your permission it would be great if you could send me a testimonial that would be suitable for publication on the sale website.

If you are interested please let me know! You can contact me using the Contact Me button on the right side of the screen. 

Making Pesto

As mentioned in my previous post, we are now in the preserving season so I thought I would share one of my favorite preserving projects with you. Making pesto!

I only have 4 basil plants this year, but they are doing remarkably well and I think that I should be able to get at least a couple more batches of pesto out of them before the winter.

Pesto is incredibly simple to make. All you need is some basil, parmesan cheese, garlic, olive oil and pine nuts. Although, in my opinion, the pine nuts are optional and I often omit them when I'm making pesto. I'm sure others would disagree, but they are expensive and are not something I keep around the house so it's easier for me to just leave them out.

Anyhow, here are a few pictures from my pesto making journey.

The first and most laborious part of the whole process is removing the basil leaves from the stems.

I then cut up several cloves of garlic and put them in the bottom of my blender, add the basil on top, sprinkle the parm on top of the basil and start the blender. Once the leaves are mostly chopped up I begin to add the olive oil until I achieve the desired consistency. I don't follow a recipe, but instead add ingredients as I go to suit my own tastes.

Once I've reached a good taste and consistency I spoon heaps of pesto into these awesome cube trays that I purchased when Will was a baby so I could make and freeze homemade baby food.

Once the cubes are completely frozen I take the cubes out of the tray and put them in a freezer bag marked with the date and contents.

I can usually make enough to last me until the next summer. And preparation is super easy, just take a cube out of the fridge and mix into hot noodles or spaghetti squash and you're set for dinner. Try it out! I promise you'll like it!

Seasonal Rhythm

As promised, here is the first installment of my Finding Our Rhythm series. I have to admit I went for the easiest part of the pyramid first and decided to tackle the rhythm of the seasons. After reviewing the basic comings and goings of our family I've divided our seasons up into five distinctive periods. You will notice that they are based loosely around the old Celtic holidays. Our family generally observes these holidays with some kind of celebration so I figure these celebrations can be an excellent segue into the next season. Each season we will observe a home theme of either Preserving, Handwork, Resting, Planting, Growing.    

Fall - Lammas to Halloween
There are traditionally three fall harvest  Lammas, August 1st to Halloween. The fall season in our house will be dedicated preserving the bounty that we grew over the summer and include things such as canning, freezing, seed saving, medicine making and so on. 

Winter -All Saints Day to Candlemas
Halloween is traditionally considered to be the last of the harvest festivals, so after the Halloween holiday we will turn our focus inward to what we can do while we are inside our home for the winter. Instead of trying to tackle knitting, felting, toy making and holiday gifts throughout the year, and spreading ourselves thin in the process, we will use this time to focus solely on creating a period of contraction and inward focus.

Break -Candlemas to End of February
At this point the holidays are past, but it's not quite time for planting and growing. We will use this time as a period of rest and renewal. We will not focus on growing, planting, handwork or preserving. Instead we will focus on relaxing. Perhaps this will be a good time to take a vacation to a warmer climate or even just a trip to a state park inn or perhaps just a day spa. Whatever we do it will be with the intent of saving up our energy for the coming period of work and expansion. 

Spring - March 1st to Midsummer
From now until midsummer we will focus on planting our gardens for the spring and summer. With planting season we will begin a period of outward expansion that will last until the harvest season.We will focus on preparing our garden beds and planting our seeds. Plotting out new beds and adding to our old beds.

Summer - Midsummer to August
This is the peak of the year and the growing season when our plants and our bodies are at their maximum strength. Life is easy and food is abundant. We will devote this part of the year to nurturing our plants, pulling up the weeds and enjoying the fruits of our planting season labor with delicious seasonal recipes.

This will affect this blog in that I will be creating biweekly tutorials on topics specific to the current season. I will be creating buttons on the side bar that will link to an archive for each season so that you and I can look back and get some ideas on ways to mark the passing of the seasons and how to keep a seasonal rhythm within your own home.

The next topic I will be covering is the rhythm of life from birth to death. I will be reserving the other two points on the pyramid, weekly and daily rhythm, for a much later date as we are currently looking at making some life altering changes that will significantly affect our daily and weekly rhythm. These changes, although they will be difficult in the short term, will hopefully pay off greatly for our family's future. I'm excited and scared and sad and happy about these changes and I will hopefully share them with you joyfully when the time comes. In the meantime, turn your focus inward and enjoy this harvest season and take the time to spend with your loved ones while bedding down for winter.