Category Archives: Gardens

rhubarb and a grain-free crust

mixing

We found a giant and I mean giant rhubarb plant in an out-of-the-way, seldom visited corner of the yard last week. There were some babies as well, but the mother plant was a sight to see.

We have a whole new yard and chunk of land to explore and discover through the seasons yet again this year. As my children happen to be very fond of nibbling at things around the yard, they have found their discoveries here to be quite satisfactory. The violets have already come and gone, the best wood sorrel spots have been scouted out, the many patches of wild strawberries are picked over daily, with occasional tastes of the thyme growing wild throughout the lawn, while the raspberries, blueberries, blackberries and autumn olives continue to be monitored, with hopes of a good harvest in the future.

tart

What to do with the bountiful rhubarb? We made tarts. We’ve been eating mostly grain-free lately, in an effort to curtail the very painful abdominal migraines of one of the children, as well as other things. It’s challenging but it’s helping. It’s helping a lot. So we carry on. I took my basic gluten-free pie crust (found here) and changed it around a bit. Instead of the flour ratio listed, I used 1 cup each of almond flour, coconut flour and arrowroot flour. I left the xanthan gum out altogether. I’ve never been big on adding gums to my baked goods and since reading this I haven’t used them at all. Otherwise I just made one batch, in exactly the same way. Ok, well, I didn’t chill the dough. It was still baseball season after all and who has that kind of time?!? The chilling just makes it better for rolling out. I skipped all of that an just pressed it into pans. And it was not just good, it was *wonderful*. Yum, yum, yum. I think I might go check the yard for some more rhubarb today.

p.s. I added a little list of links to the sidebar. Just some random little things that strike my fancy; some books, some recipes, some crafts, some music, some pretty little things. I plan to change it from time to time, so take a peek every once in a while.

By Melody

June 13, 2011

Food, Gardens, Herbs, Kids, Our Little Home, recipes

3 Replies

hints of spring

crocus

lasy's mantle

phlox

Little bits of green appearing in sheltered, sunny spots. Of course these were before the most recent snow storm. But still, I know it’s out there, under the white (which is rapidly melting again!). It’s coming!

By Melody

April 2, 2011

Gardens

1 Reply

feeling yellow

flowers

ivory yellow
golden

sweet yellow

mum

I’ve been rather yellow obsessed lately. Inspired may be a better word, since a certain little person recently declared yellow to be his most favorite color ever.

By Melody

September 28, 2010

Gardens, Kids, Life, Our Little Home

4 Replies

still here

I’m still here. I don’t think I want to give up the blog entirely, I’m just reassessing, trying to figure out what role maintaining this space plays in my life right now. For one thing, I think in the future I’ll be posting less, maybe one or two posts a week instead of five or six. But like I said, I don’t know quite where I’m going just yet.

side steps

Sleep has actually been one of many things that’s been keeping me away. As a life-long night owl, I’ve been working hard to switch my rhythms. Early to bed and early to rise. It really suits our life so much better and I’m finding it suits me as well. I really can’t quite describe how pleasant it is to wake up, and be ok with being awake, rather then forcing myself out of bed because the children are getting up and feeling achy and miserable and somewhat resentful.

Tonight I’m sitting up with a sick baby hitched to my back, to keep her upright and breathing freely. Soon I’ll try to lay us both down, but she hasn’t really slept well in so long, I want her to get some rest first. I thought I would check in while I have the chance.

pie pan

~My favorite pie pan developed a crack and I refused to let it go. A couple of weeks ago I transplanted some sedum into it. It’s filling in so nicely! Sedum is accommodating like that.~

We’re still settling in. Still trying to get plants in the ground. Still trying to get rooms painted. Still searching through boxes for various things. Today was our first day of “school” and it went fabulously (the extra effort of juggling that and the sad, clingy, baby aside. poor tiny girl!).

basket

~goldenrod for our tables on top of oak leaves for our dye pot~

I feel like a bit of a sell-out for loving our new house that’s meant to look like an old house better then our old house that was actually old. I can’t help it really. It may have less character, but it’s just so easy. I mean, for one thing there are the closets! Do you have any idea how long it’s been since I’ve really had closets?!? Don’t get me started on the closets…. I think everyone in real like would like me to just shut up about them please. It’s more then just closets, as exciting as they are, everything is just so much less work (if I ever get my hands on the inventor of the laundry chute, I tell you, he/she is in for one big sloppy kiss) and it’s all just so comfortable and pleasant and I’m very, very happy to be here.

By Melody

September 13, 2010

Gardens, Homeschooling, Housewifery, Life, Our Little Home

12 Replies

Is it really Friday already?!?

I woke up this morning and got to work doing various morning things and was genuinely shocked when I discovered it was Friday. I was certain it was Thursday, at the very latest. Where has this week gone??

The last two mornings had me seeking out a sweater and wondering where everyone’s slippers had gotten to. A little tang of autumn seems to be creeping in at the early morning and evening hours.

these finches

Galen spotted these sweethearts over breakfast (both ours and theirs). Seeing bird couples always makes me smile. Love birds. It seems like such a sweet thing. I feel as though I’ve been rewarded for letting that thistle grow. I’m partial to thistle. I know, how strange is that? And I left this small patch in an area where no little feet tread, though I diligently dug it up in other, more trafficked areas.

The big news from here is that we are moving again, for the second time in 9 months. It’s another rental home, another temporary place, but on the whole a situation that I think will be a lot better for us. And that has been a big part of what has been keeping me busy lately. We were lucky this time that it didn’t take us all that long to find what we needed. I do wish that we could be settled somewhere for good, but if the worst of it is that we have to spend a year or two in a perfectly gorgeous house in a beautiful area, well then I can’t complain really! I’ve mentally likened it to an extended stay at a bed and breakfast, only I’ll have to change the sheets and make the breakfast. Not too shabby, seeing as I do that already and all. And I’ll have a whirlpool tub in which to drown my sorrows. There is a chance that all of my photos from then on out might be taken from that vantage point. You may get tired of it, but I doubt I will.

Moving day is about three weeks out at this point, and there is much to be done. I think it will be a happy moving day this time around, hectic and stressful in it’s own way, but not the heartrending experience of last time. The little rootlets that have crept tentatively out over the last 8 months, aren’t really deep enough to cause much pain when they are yanked back up. There will still be a good bit of upheaval for the little ones, there always is with a move, and I’ll be very happy to settle in and have life get back to normal. In the meantime there is a whole house to pack, a new house to clean and paint, plants to dig up and plant again, a new school district to contact about homeschooling approval for next year and many other things both little and big. Wish us luck!

By Melody

August 13, 2010

Gardens, Life, Our Little Home, photography

6 Replies

A nice place to sit…

this one

This spring, my outdoor rhythm has been somehow, off… Usually well before now we have a nice pattern going of things we do outdoors and things we do indoors and times of day for each….with the vast majority of the time falling in the ‘outdoor’ category. But this year something didn’t seem right, we didn’t just fall into our regular groove. Then one day it occurred to me that it wasn’t comfortable. There were things to do and stuff to keep us busy, plenty to look at and explore… and sun on sun on sun. So much sun! Eight years in the woods and I’m not used to it. Don’t get me wrong, I like it and the plants love it. But every time we were out doing our things I would start to feel a bit parched. And baked. And oppressed. And after a time it would drive me back inside. And make me hesitant to go back out again. But I never really thought about why.

When I finally thought about it, I realized that the solution was so very simple…make a place to sit in the shade. DUH. I found two chairs that a former tenant had left behind, drug them under a big old tree and it was as easy as that.

rose

I potted up some shade tolerant flowers to make it more pleasant. Just like that our outdoor life started to work again. My favorite part is when we all take our handwork out to this very spot in the afternoon.

By Melody

June 8, 2010

Gardens, Housewifery, Life, Our Little Home

3 Replies

weekend in review

purple

columbine

peony

DSCN0175

We saw a snapping turtle, a humming bird, a vireo. We went for a little hike. Some of us went fishing and some of us had a little rest. I did some sewing and started a new knitting project. There was baseball practice and a baseball game (they won!). And fresh bouquets brought in (I find the week is always more pleasant when there are fresh flowers in the house, don’t you?). There was some work in the garden and a trip to town, topped off with a garden tour there. I made the best broccoli salad and a rhubarb-apple tart. There is another jar of chive flower vinegar steeping on my window sill, along side 2 dandelion and garlic. I finished a novel and started a new tv series (we don’t have a tv, but I sometimes watch shows through nextflix or on-line after the kids go to bed. I’m currently a couple of episodes into the first season of this which let’s face it, I’m only watching because I have a crush on Patrick Dempsey. Shhh! Just don’t tell Steve. Good thing he usually just looks at the pictures here, huh? Only, I think sometimes he scans for his name…kind of screwed myself there, didn’t I? Hey honey, why don’t you just look at the interesting picture of a turtle…..)

turtle