Farmers Market Sunday

My bag held up at the market today!

It seems as if the market gets more and more vendors every week.  It’s really great that it’s doing so well, especially in the middle of winter!

Today’s loot:

• 1 loaf Rustic Italian bread, 1 cheese danish, 1 apricot rugalach, 1 chocolate raspberry rugalach from Our Daily Bread.
• 1/2 gallon of apple cider and 6 apples (3 Empire, 3 Jonagold) from Migliorelli Farm.
• 1 quart of cream, 1 quart of reduced-fat milk, 1 pint of chocolate milk from Battenkill Creamery
• 1/4 lb fresh spinach from Madura Farm
• 1lb ground beef and 1lb stew beef from Sweet Tree Farm
• 1 cup plain yogurt from R & G cheese

It’s the beginning of February and we’re out of veggies. Sure we’ve been supplementing our stash of mostly carrots for awhile now, but now we’ve got nothing.  And it’ll be another 6 months before we get more.

So we’re back to shopping for veggies at the supermarket.  It really, really bums me out.  But it’s a lesson learned for the coming year, how much more we need to preserve – either by pressure canning or freezing (more likely freezing if we get to buy a freezer chest).

We’ve got about half a braid of onions (out of the two we started with) left hanging in the storage closet – they are still really fresh and have lasted a long time! I was so thrilled about planting 44 onions last spring, thinking that was a ton, and they’re almost all gone.  We really need to plant twice as many (close to 100) to get through an entire year, but now we know they’ll last!

As for jam, I don’t think we’ll need to make any this year We still have tons! I still want to pick some fruit, so I’ll have to find other things to do with it.

We are at the beginnings of self-sufficiency, but we learned so much last year and will just use it going forward.  I really just wish sometimes I had all day to spend at home. Do you know how much I would do?  Even if I just had a few more hours a day…

Current Sewing Projects

I’ve been on a roll with my sewing “projects” this week.  It’s been a lot of fun, and I think I’m hooked!

I started off the week making a grocery bag – you know, those kinds of reusable canvassy-type bags you bring with you when you go shopping?  We have a bunch of them around the house, but never enough, and the kinds we have can’t be washed.  Oh sure, I tried to wash them (even though the tag says not to) and they came through ok, but all stiff and wrinkled and they’re not looking so hot.  So I decided I should make my own, so that I could wash it when it was needed.

Voila!  This was my half-assed shopping bag try, and it came out wonderfully.  It’s only a plain cotton fabric, so not as tough as canvas, but I’m pretty sure it’ll hold up just fine.  I didn’t even really measure the fabric (I did buy a full yard though, not knowing I wouldn’t need that much); I just cut out a piece that I thought would make a good sized bag.  Instead of doing anything fancy, I folded what I decided would be the top edges of the bag over 1/4″ toward the “wrong” side and pressed.  Folded the pressed part another 1/4″ and pressed again, then pinned it and topstitched 1/8″ from the edge of the fold.

After my edges were done I merely folded the fabric in half (nothing fancy, I used the bottom fold as the bottom of the bag) with the edges together (nice side INWARDS) and pinned along the side edges.  I then stitched a 1/2″ seam along the edges.When that was done I pressed the seams open, but didn’t bother hiding them.  It’s not a fancy bag and it won’t get caught on anything, so I didn’t bother.

Then it was time to make the straps.  I took cut 2 pieces of 4×20 fabric (the very same fabric, though any matching fabric would do) and folded them lengthwise in half with the two “wrong” sides on the outside. I pressed.  Then I opened it up again, and pressed on raw edge toward the crease I had just created, and pressed.  I did the same with the other edge.  Then I pressed in 1/2″ the short edges of the strap, then folded along the original crease again, and pinned and top stitched around the edges of the strap.

I sewed the straps to the bag and it was done!

I was so excited over my first creation that I decided to make a lunch bag to work.  Again, I use a canvas bag right now, but it’s a lot bigger than what I really need, so I decided to make something a little smaller and with shorter straps so it would be held in my hands (not over my shoulder). Here’s the finished product:

I love this one.  I even added double-bias tape along the edges of the top (instead of folding over the top edges) to match the straps. I’m doubly excited because the straps are made of plain broadcloth but exactly match the double-bias tape (They are not made from the same thing!).  It’s the perfect size for my lunch, and again, when it gets dirty, I will be able to throw it in the washer and dryer and easily iron if needed.  I made this one the same way (just a smaller sized bag and straps) with the exception of the bias tape which was hard to pin on, but I got it in the end.  What do you think?

So there’s my projects for this week. I’m not sure what to make next!  Any suggestions? I think I’m getting good at my sewing machine!

I’m a Sewing Machine!

I have finally conquered my fear of the sewing machine!

All right, I’m no expert, but I can do basic stitches on the hand-me-down my MIL gave me in December of last year.

One of my first project ideas was to fix the spice bags that have been falling apart.  They’re made of natural muslin, and I picked a few up at the co-op some months ago to use for preserving various things like pickles and pears.

But they’ve started to fall apart.  They were really cheap, but there’s no point in throwing away things that can be fixed.  I didn’t want to sew it with just any thread though. Conventional thread (along with fabric and batting) are made with heavy doses of toxins.  The spice bags go into my food, and there’s no way I wanted those toxins to go with it.

Solution?  Organic thread.

I bought this from Near Sea Naturals. Though they are in no way local to me, I really liked their commitment to socially-responsible sourcing.  They’re also located in an off-the-grid, solar powered facility! In addition, I loved the fact that even after I ordered, I sent them some questions via email and they answered them promptly and personally.

I wound a bobbin full of this thread, and then got to work mending my spice bags.  The thread is a little thicker than I am used to, and a little more…fuzzy, but I love that it was organic.

My spice bags are ready to go! Now I just need summer to come so I can preserve again.

Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge (Part 2)

Black Point Wildlife Drive is a seven mile, one way drive through salt and freshwater marshes where wading birds, shorebirds, raptors, waterfowl, alligators, otters and other wildlife species can be observed.

This refuge is part of a key migratory route for thousands of birds who use the area as a rest stop on their way further south for their winter stay.  Other birds actually winter here before returning north in the spring to breed.  The refuge serves as the perfect place to stock up on food and rest.

We think this bird is a snowy egret.  Hard to tell between that and a great egret.

Mudhens.  Also known as American Coots.  They can be found from Southern Quebec all the way to South America!

A blue heron. He kind of fades into the marshes here.

From far away, these look like flamingos, but they’re not! They’re Roseate Spoonbills.

Another sort of egret, sunning himself.

And then, we found more alligators!! They were sleepy little guys, sunning themselves not too far away, thinking they were hidden!

Towards the end of the drive, we saw the shuttle on its launch pad.  It’s set to take off on February 7th, and it takes about a month for the shuttle to go on the crawler from the hangar to the launch pad.  This is blurry because I zoomed in, but look how close we were able to get!

I’m kind of over birds for the next year now, btw.

Too Much Food

We made a few mistakes at the Farmer’s market today that ended up with us getting too much food.  I guess we’ll be having small meals continuously all day because of it.

Just ignore my sewing mess in the background…

• 1lb ground beef from Sweet Tree Farm
• 1 half-gallon of reduced fat milk, 1 pint of chocolate milk from Battenkill Creamery
• 2 “egg rolls” (Challah), 1 french baguette and 2 prune pastries from Our Daily Bread
• 2 Carnival acorn squash from Cornell Farm
• 3 hydroponic tomatoes from Shushan Valley Hydro Farm
• 2 apples from Migliorelli Farm
• 8oz. fresh mozzarella and 1 small container of strawberry yogurt from R & G Cheese

The only thing we needed to purchase for a meal this week is the ground beef. We also bought untreated button mushrooms from Bulich’s at the co-op.  Otherwise, we already have everything in the house. Works and is cheap!

Dinners this week:

Sunday: Indian Mushroom Curry

Monday: Pasta Fagiole

Tuesday: Burgers

Wednesday: Puerto Rican Rice and Beans

Thursday: Leftover Split Pea soup

Friday: Eat out

We are eating SO MANY beans this week.  Watch out! That’s all right, it’s winter time and there’s not many veggies for us to partake in right now. Barber only had cabbage this week, and though Cornell had turnips and rutabagas, we passed.  We also got to the market too late because Madura Farms was completely out of spinach, boo.  But except for the burgers and rice and beans, we’ve got veggies built into our meals already.  We still have some carrots left over from our garden (they store really well in the fridge) and that combined with the squash will get us through the week.

Buddhapesto

Buddhapesto: just basil, pure olive oil, parsley, romano cheese, garlic, pine nuts, tri-colored and sea salt.  No preservatives.

Back to the food we bought this week.  We got a couple of egg rolls (I’ve called them that since I was younger, even though they’re challah rolls really) to eat for breakfast, and then wanted one of those prune pastries.  The vendor made a mistake and gave us 2 instead, we found out when we got home.  They were more expensive than we thought, no wonder why since we got double! Then we got some pesto, which I LOVE but it’s pretty expensive so I’ve never bought it (my mom bought it once when visiting us and I got to taste it.  Of course, with the pesto, we needed bread, so we went back and bought a baguette.  We bought the mozzarella and tomatoes because K was in the mood for tomato caprese (our 3 year old basil plant is still producing), so it looks like we might not even need to make dinner tonight with all the little snacks we bought!

Egg rolls with cream cheese and blackberry preserves

Broke out a jar of blackberry preserves and brought a little summer to the house!

Still working on some sewing projects, which hopefully I’ll be able to share soon.  Still not quite sure how to sew in a straight line. I’m a bit crooked. Maybe it’ll just take some practice.

Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

I’m still going back and catching up on some FL posts I wanted to write while down there.

If anyone remembers that far back, the week before we left it was freezing down there.  Literally. We actually wanted to help with the sea turtle rescues, which we heard about down there, but weren’t able to find good info since we’re not really from around there.

Walking along the beach was a little sad. There were dead fish everywhere, the ones who didn’t make it from the freeze.  In one way, it’s mother nature’s way of weeding out the weak, but still, not altogether pleasant.  There were even starfish.

This is actually a millipede starfish – slightly different from the traditional starfish which has only 5 legs.

Instead of looking at dead fish the rest of the week, we took the opportunity to see lots of animal LIFE and headed to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.  The Refuge is 140,000 acres and was created as a “barrier zone” between NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center  and the surrounding towns and city.  To be perfectly honest, I’m a little skeptical at how much of a refuge it can be when a shuttle takes off, disturbing millions of animals with the loud sounds, fumes, etc., but I guess since it doesn’t happen all that often, they’re ok the rest of the time?

We started at the Visitor’s Center and took a quick walk around the boardwalk there. So much to see in only about 1/4 mile!

The boardwalk

Did you know citrus trees are not native to Florida?

Even though people closely identify citrus with Florida, it’s not a native plant.  It’s thought to have been brought in by Ponce de Leon and his peoples during the 1500s. Still, it’s delicious!

Spanish moss hanging down

So this is what spanish moss looks like! Do you know how often I have seen it mentioned in books?  A little lesson on spanish moss below:

A member of the bromeliad or pineapple family, Spanish moss is an epiphyte, or air plant.  It uses trees only for support, but gets its nourishment from air, sun and rain.  The gray stems are covered with scaly, gray-green leaves, and the small greenish flowers are rarely seen.  It is often found hanging in moss-like clumps from tree limbs, and even wires or poles.

Palmettos

Commonly found in pine flatwoods, saw palmettos grow in dense thickets, usually creeping low against the ground.  The fan-shaped leaves are 1-3 feet wide, and 3-6 feet tall, and have saw-like spines along the edges. White flowers are followed by black fruits that are eaten by many kinds of wildlife.

We heard something rustling in the brush and what do we see?  An armadillo! Never saw one in real life before. I tried to capture it with my camera, but shooting quickly I didn’t do too well and focused on the foreground brush instead of that blurry brown blog you can just make out to the right of center.  Oh well.  This is what one looks like:

Armadillo via Creative Commons license from http://animalphotos.info/a/2007/12/16/striking-armadillo-with-nice-tail-and-face/

Cute!

Some mulberries

I wonder what I could make with enough mulberries…more jam? 

Elderberry bush...flowers haven't quite opened yet

Ooh, it would be fabulous if I could make some elderberry liquor like I drank in Woodstock, VT!

Our sojourn at the boardwalk ended with a nice view of an American alligator sunning himself in the cattails.  You can just barely make him out in the center of the picture.  We HAVE to purchase a close-up lens for our DSLR soon – things looked closer to the naked eye than they do in our photos!

After the boardwalk, we headed over to the Black Point Wildlife Drive, where we saw even more wildlife.  All those birds that leave our northern hometown in late fall? Yup, there’s all HERE!  I’ll save that for a part 2 though.

Disney World!

A week ago today (already, really?) the hubby and I went to “The Happiest Place on Earth.”  It was the first time we ever went together, and the first time I’ve been in more than 10 years.  My favorite ride, Splash Mountain, was closed, woe! Basically all the water was shut off (the “moat” around Cinderalla’s castle was empty, and the water at Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was gone. I guess it’s all because this is the “low” season.  Still we had a great time, and this felt like the real beginning of our vacation.  By the end of the day we were exhausted, but feeling relaxed and romantic.  How is it that a place for little kids can do that?

Going in!

Minnie posed just for me when she saw my camera! Then she blew me a kiss! I felt so special, lol!  Then she did it for someone else and I just felt cheap.

The Riverboat.

It’s 3pm at…

It’s a Small World!

Um…just what are Goofy and Donald doing?

I think Donald wants to break my camera after catching them.

Main Street lit up at night.

Me and the hubby in the front on our way out. It was cold at that point! Not sure how he was ok in shorts and a t-shirt at night.

At the end of the day there was the magic of the fireworks show!! So many nice pictures I had to share.  Looking at them again puts me back in the moment!

Sad Story

Catching back up on the local news here, I came across this story about a dairy farmer in the area that recently committed suicide.  It appears he shot approximately 50 out of the 100 cattle herd he had, all the “milkers” that needed to be milked twice a day or would suffer horrific agony.

A lot of the farmers commenting on this blog post seemed to think this was a wonderful thing for the man to have done, to save his herd from the pain of mastitis.  I ‘m not a farmer, nor do I have any family members who are farmers, so I don’t know enough to comment on whether it is or not,  but I will take their word for it.  He didn’t touch the animals that didn’t need to be milked or have significant care.  I think that means something.

Another comment on that blog wrote about the money problems of farmers, especially dairy farmers, and how the ”little guys” are getting squeezed out by the large dairy conglomerates.  Yet another commented:

I am heartbroken for this man and his family. It is absolutely true that you get up every single morning worrying about being able to get by, how you will pay for ever more expensive necessities with an ever shrinking milk check. It is tax time right now and I am sure plenty of farmers have a tax bill sitting on their desk like something radioactive, glowing in the back of their minds like a nightmare…waiting for them to figure out how to deal with a bill that will probably take more then two milk checks, which are already needed for grain bills and power bills and last year’s crop inputs. etc…

I had never heard of his farm, and it’s quite a bit south of us, as we are in the NW part of this region, but I immediately thought of the farm I get my milk from and gave a little prayer for the deceased farmer, his family, but also for the ones I get my food (and milk) from.  I’m hoping the money they get from me is enough (with others, of course) to keep them going for the long haul.

I’m grateful for those who do the dirty work of growing my food, who don’t get much money in return, but slog away because they love it.  I wish the man had been able to reach out to someone, anyone, to stop him from giving the pain he felt to the rest of his family for all their lives.  I do think suicide is a selfish act, but that doesn’t stop me from having compassion for what this man must have felt to have chosen this outcome.

Someone else (who did not know the farmer) wrote:

The saddest part is that he may have thought that no one cared anymore. I did.

It’s true. I didn’t know him either, but I cared about the work he did.

Back to the Grind

We’re home from Florida!  Man, that exclamation mark should NOT be there. It’s wonderful to go away from the cold and dreary upstate this time of year, but it’s so hard to come back to it.

This is what we left…

At least it’s not snowing here.  At least, not until Tuesday.

We got to the farmers market this morning, to stock up on a few things for the new week.

• 2 half-gallons of reduced-fat milk and 1 pint chocolate milk from Battenkill Creamery
• 1 half-gallon of apple cider from Migliorelli Farm
• 1 dozen eggs from Coopers Ark Farm
• 1/2lb of spinach from Madura Farms
• 1 Copenhagen pastry from The Placid Baker
• 6 apples (3 Empire, 2 Jonagold, 1 Fuji)
• 1lb stew beef from Sweet Tree Farm
• 1 loaf of apple bread from Naga Bakehouse

The Copenhagen was a new pastry to me. I think it’s another form of a danish – and ours had almond, custard, and currants, I believe. It was REALLY good, washed down with some chocolate milk.

The apple bread from Naga Bakehouse probably has a formal name, but I didn’t get to ask the vendor.  This was our second time trying them after the blueberry/ricotta bread we got in November that K didn’t really like.  But he wanted to try them again.  He liked the apple bread much better. You can really taste the smokiness of the wood-fired oven in it.

So…back to the grind.  But maybe my sunburned arms will hold on until the sun peeks out sometime in May/June here!

I have a number of Florida-related posts to get to, and they will come out sometime this week!  Gotta show what we did during vacation!

Welcome to Florida

I can see why snowbirds exist.  Leaving our 25F degree home for some 77 degree temps here in Cape Canaveral seems like the best idea ever!!

The hubby and I are taking a well-deserved vacation at the IL’s condo in Cocoa Beach.  It’s already soooo relaxing.

This morning, we slept in, and then went for a lovely walk along the beach.  The waves were pretty choppy, but the sun was out for the most part and the breeze was warm.

Today is January 17th??  And I’m here???  Awesome.