Seeing Red..

It's that time of year! We hit Kruger's farm stand and picked a flat of strawberries... after pondering for about 30 seconds ended up purchasing two extra flats to bring on home for jam. ho boy do we have a bit of Strawberry Jam! With about half of our berry haul (a flat and a half), we ended up caning 18 half pints and 9 pints of Strawberry Jam! Honestly, I just got tired, and ran out of pectin... in fact our last batch may remain a little bit soft, but still yummy. I basically used the recipe in the Pomona Pectin package, with the full 2c sugar per 4c berries. Our actual favorite way to enjoy strawberries through the year is on strawberry shortcakes! Fresh of course is best, but we also have also frozen several batches (we're in the process right now, so I can't say how many). We've been putting in one quart of berries plus about a quarter cup of sugar, to get them all juicy. I've got to go and make sure that we're saving enough to enjoy fresh... we've been known to get a little too carried away putting up fruit, that sometimes we don't save enough for us now!!!

more owls and inspiration

Yep, I said it, more owls. I made another set for little Lilly. I have one more in the works but am loosing a bit of steam. I still think they're super cute though ... how fun. For baby Lilly we used felt circles for eyes instead of buttons.
Plus added in a few gift bags. I've done these for the past few birthday gifts for the kids. They're fun, and if the kids we've given them to are anything like Owen, he certainly likes to use the bag as much as whatever is inside.


On another note, I've had a wonderful past week... decadent you may even say. Owen and I took a trip to visit our dear friends in Florida. There were screened in porches with rockers and porch swings, sunshine and beaches.
bleached shells and wood.

Green everywhere and myriad wildlife.
Afternoon naps, soaking on the beach and in the bay, and glorious outdoor showers.

lovely.........

to follow up on a lovely weekend, B. took me to see Pink Martini at the Schnitzer, so much fun, it was definitely more of an orchestral crowd v. jazzier one, but still super fun to see. Plus... a night out, a concert, dinner at Kenny and Zukes. sweetness. Today to top off our week of debauchery we took a long lunch to watch Coraline at the Living Room. Pshew. Tomorrow I grab a huge pile of papers to grade to keep me occupied. Our summer gets a little crazy after this weekend, it has been nice doing a bit for myself... feels crazy luxurious.

What a hoot!

Just some owly love for some gifts. T., the great bird lover among our group of friends received this set... the pattern is from moonstitches (http://moonstitches.typepad.com/photos/tutowlrial/index.html) and is quick and easy to do! Such fun!

Chicken stats

Well, it's been one year since we welcomed three chickens into our backyard. We got them as pullets about 8 weeks, built a lovely little portable chicken tractor and got going. Being a scientist, I have a slight counting compulsion, so here are our numbers (I'll spare you the graphs :)...

Barbara: Barred Rock, typically lays the largest and darkest eggs (though the difference between hers and Goldie's these days is slight). She started out the most regular, but has become an every two-three day-er. Her grand total of eggs thus far is 205.
Goldie: Golden Sex-linked, medium to small light brown eggs, has emerged as the friendliest of the bunch has laid 200 eggs for us. Both Goldie and Barbara started laying early July. Egg production took a predictable dip in Jan-early April.Tallulah: Easter-egger, beautiful light blue eggs, small to medium, has become very regular this year, compared to a spotty and late start (mid Sept) last year... about an egg a day recently. She has generously provided us with 164 of my son's favorite eggs.
That makes 621 total, 248 since January 2009. I know the numbers don't quite add-up, but I didn't count individual chickens the first few weeks or so. Including our coop and start-up
materials ($320) and feed we are down to $0.69 per egg! This calculation does NOT include things hard to put a price on: entertainment value, weed control, extra fence and yard material and maintenance (they are hard on the yard... the only
major negative... that and having to watch the dog eat their poop...ew), fertilizer they have provided, the joy of a fresh, poached egg in the morning, or the glee every time our 3-year old finds an egg (or three) in the box and thanks the chickens. All in all, not bad.... Thank you chickens!

Spring...

in this kitchen means awesome farmers market hauls, lots of fresh eggs from our gals out back and our best frittata yet... this morel, asparagus and zucchini frittata was delish! The intention was to make something more like a spanish tortilla, but there was no way I was flipping this bad boy, plus it was stickin' a bit, so into the oven for a few minutes to firm up the top and melt some goat cheese on top and voila... spring.I also made a boxy pouch (http://threebears.wordpress.com/2007/10/15/little-boxy-pouch-tutorial/) upsized a bit from the description, and added a lining and a hangy loop. One fat quarter (cut into quarters...two for the outside, two for the inside) made this little sweet Mother's day gift for Mom! I hope she likes it, she's always on the hunt for a new travel case, maybe this will suit, if not, it's still cute! It was my first zipper ever, turned out okay, felt secure enough and the tutorial was pretty clear.

Listings

I'm going to try to keep a list of things Owen says, may not quite fit into his blog, but sill, stunningly youthful and often funny.

This weekend in the middle of a(n hour long) tantrum after asking for a glass of milk "I want nei nei to throw on the ground!" hmm, at least he was honest

got the sewing machine out

Well, I haven't brought the sewing machine out for a bit, but again, I borrowed inspiration from Etsy and from Angry Chicken. I saw these cute crowns on dreamchildstudio on etsy, and as a last minute inspiration for two princess themed birthday parties this weekend, and one for Owen. I think they are super cute. Alas, they had mostly autumnal colors at the fabric store, I think for 3-year olds, the pastels may have been a bit better, but I really like how these turned out. It's three layers of felt stitched together, Brian thinks more jewels. I forget how big Owen's head can be, and knocked about 4cm off the circumference of his head, and I think it was still a loose fit for Sophia, and imagine tiny Kennedy will also find hers a bit on the roomy side. I also was weirdly inspired, after looking at my shopping cart for a Mary Green underwear order and got a little bit of sticker shock. Angry Chicken's blog has been showing off some cute underwear she has made, with the sage advice of "take your favorite pair and copy it", anyhow, with an old pair of MGs in hand, I fashioned these, and love them! I tried briefly for some fold-over elastic, but really the stretch lace is the way to go. Just so I remember how to prep and assemble: Got the fabric and lace at Mills end, about a quarter of a yard of fabric and two yards of the lace for my medium sized booty (size 6-8ish). (1) cut out the pattern pieces and the cotton, I used a really soft organic cotton from mill ends. (2) sew the lace on the legs first, (3)sew up the main seams (4) sew the crotch together (5) add the gusset (6) sew on the top lace... next time with the seam in the back. Don't ask me how I know, but check and double check when placing the lace on the legs to make sure that you sew it on the OUTSIDE of both leg sides. (7) Finally, carefully trim away excess material close to the seam. This would have been very quick if I didn't make several mistakes along the way, and if I could figure out the tension on my machine so it wouldn't "hiccup" and get top-threads spinning out.