half-gallon jars...

The way to this girl's heart?  White roses, anything grey, anything old and rusticated, and canning jars.  A particular favorite of mine is the half-gallon jar.  So useful, so perfectly pretty AND practical!

The pull out drawers in my pantry are filled with these beauties.  They are filled with staples like basmati rice, tri-color quinoa, lots of beans (anasazi beans are pictured here), and more...

A jar sits outside in the sun, brewing refreshing tea for these warmer days...

And those elegant and voluptuous peonies in my garden?  They are perfectly dressed in a half-gallon canning jar...

Live simply.  Love well.  In all things, give thanks... maybe even tuck little notes of gratitude into a half-gallon jar!

a little urban garden tour...

Yesterday we quietly opened the garden gate at Flannel Jammies Farm and hosted a little urban garden tour. 

my sketch translated to steel by Cooper Custom Creations

First I must tell you that we don't really have a 'farm'.  It's more like 1/5 acre near a very busy Town Center area of our city.  We can see the Westin hotel tower (38 stories high) from our back yard.  We have neighbors all around. 

What we do have is an intensely and intentionally planted collection of gardens, offering us food, color, and joy throughout the year.  We grow organically.  We compost.  We water by utilizing a rain barrel. 

We plant herbs and veggies right beside the most lovely peony and hawthorne... in the front of our house... in plain sight from the street!!! 

We border some beds with found stones, some with empty, upside down wine bottles.  We grow annuals and perennials.  And the occasional bottle tree...

We eat and can and dehydrate our harvest, and supplement from local farmers growing food organically and responsibly. 

The day was cloudy and chilly, but our garden was filled with bright smiling faces and warm fellowship.  We were blessed by friends, new and old, and by precious gifts from some visitors. 

We offered delicious refreshments homemade by our lovely daughter. 

Radish butter & bread, hummus & veggies, lemon cupcakes with strawberry lemon marmalade swirled into the buttercream frosting

And most fun of all, we welcomed small friends with a special scavenger hunt and furry friends were greeted by our own Scarlett!

 

 

Don’t forget to extend your hospitality to all

—even to strangers—

for as you know, 

some have unknowingly shown kindness to heavenly messengers 

in this way. 

Hebrews 13:2

Baking Bread...

The scent of bread baking soothes the soul... calls us home... relaxes everything into a smile.

I recently attended a workshop led by a local woman with a wood-fired oven in her backyard.  She is an artist in every area of her life, but especially with bread.  Bless her, she had gotten up very early and fired the oven to get it to temperature for our baking adventures.  We watched as she cleaned the oven floor in preparation for baking.

We had arrived to rising dough and we kneaded... no, we caressed the dough and left it to rise happily again.  We learned to shape the dough just so, not too loosely and just perfectly taught, into a ball of dough.  These were placed lovingly into rye-flour dusted, linen-lined baskets.

These linen liners can be made so simply:  cut a square of linen cloth larger than your basket, tuck the square evenly into the basket, pinch together 4 pieces of the linen to ease the cloth into the basket evenly creating darts, pin these darts, cut around the circle of the basket rim leaving a couple of extra inches of fabric, sew the darts and trim, serge or zig zag the circular edge.   Perfect!

Once the formed dough had risen again, we carried the loaves out to the wood-fired oven.  We each had the opportunity to add our loaf to the hot oven with a long paddle.  When all were tucked safely inside, the door to the oven was closed.  And we waited.  We peeked in during the baking to see that they were rising and browning nicely.  The fragrance was amazing!

When done, the loaves' interior temperature was checked.  Our baker/instructor tells us that 180 degrees is just about perfect... and ours were!

The loaves were unloaded and left to cool slightly.  The loaf I shaped and formed and loaded into and retrieved from the oven was placed in a brown paper bag and carried home to enjoy with some Spinach and Chive pasta with marinara sauce.  Delightful!

We also baked a loaf in the home's kitchen in a Dutch oven.  Both the kitchen oven baked loaf and the wood-fired loaf were delicious, but there was something 'heady' about the wood-fired oven loaf.  Here's how I summed it up:  kitchen oven = Budweiser (good, highly drinkable, enjoyable); wood-fired oven = Newcastle Brown Ale (deeper, richer, more soul).  What a wonderful day!

Don't have a wood-fired oven in your backyard?  Me, neither.  Good thing we can still bake bread in our kitchen ovens!  Here's a basic artisan bread recipe shared at our workshop (makes 2 large or 3 small loaves):

6 cups (1 lb. 9 oz.) flour
2 cups (10 oz.) whole wheat flour
1 Tblsp. (10 grams) instant yeast (not active dry)
3 tsp. (21 grams) fine sea salt
3 - 3 1/2 cups warm water

Mix all ingredients in the dough bucket.  The dough should be shaggy and sticky.  If the dough is too dry, add water by the Tablespoon until it feels right.  Let rise until double in bulk.  Pour onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently for several minutes to firm up the dough.  Try not to all too much flour... you need just enough to be able to wok the dough without it being sticky.  Put it back into the the bucket and let it rise for about an hour until double.  Repeat the kneading process.  Let it rise for another hour, knead again, and separate into 2 large loaves or 3 small loaves.  Mold each piece of dough in to a round and place each onto a linen cloth or piece of parchment paper; cover and let rise until almost double.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

If baking on a stone, put your stone on the top rack and an empty pan on the bottom rack to heat.

If baking in a Dutch oven, place the covered Dutch oven on the top rack that has been placed in the middle position in the oven.

When the oven is ready, slash your loaf with a serrated knife.  

If baking on a stone, slide the loaves onto your stone.  Carefully add boiling water to the pan on the bottom rack and bake for 10 minutes.  After 10 minutes, turn the heat down to 375 degrees and bak for another 35-45 minutes for large loaves or 25-35 minutes for smaller loaves.  Check loaves after 15 minutes and if tops are browning too quickly, lay a piece of aluminum foil lightly over the top.

After the allotted time check a loaf by tapping the bottom.  It should sound hollow when tapped.  If not, return to oven and bake an additional 5-10 minutes.  You can also check with an instant read thermometer; internal temperature should be 180 degrees.

If baking in a Dutch oven, cut parchment to size, carefully take the pot out of the oven and place the dough in the pot.  Cover and return to the oven.  Bake for 30 minutes, covered.  Uncover and bake an additional 10-15 minutes.  

When done, leave the loaves on a rack to cool before slicing.  Enjoy!

Making soap...

I have the honor of being acquainted with some very talented and artistic women.  We share stories and skills, seeking always to take care of ourselves, our families, and the earth in the most natural and healthy way possible.  We learn through classes on canning, fiber prep, beekeeping, chicken rearing, and so much more.  Each of these women has given me inspiration, delight, and sometimes lovely and silken soap!

Lately, my favorite soap is the gorgeous Oat & Honey from the artisan hands of Roses Ridge Farm.  It's a lovely nut brown color and soothing to the skin (my skin is incredibly sensitive and riots at the least provocation!), and is now available at lots of stores locally, including Whole Foods!  And I buy it all the time.  Take a moment to visit their website and view all the handcrafted, eco-friendly, and healthy skin care products, including soaps, lotions, balms, scrubs, and gentle baby items...  http://www.rosesridgefarm.com/

So wasn't I excited when a cold-process soapmaking class was offered at Roses Ridge Farm??? 

Our gorgeous soapmaker, Kylene, holding a good resource, The Soapmaker's Companion

I was one of a dozen students greeted by the bull, the goat, the sheep, the chickens, and the turkey babies as we arrived at Roses Ridge Farm.  We chatted outside in the cool breeze of April, and unhurriedly made our way into the farmhouse.  The class gathered in the part of the house that was built in the 1700s, windows open, home-love surrounding us.

Adding a protective apron, then gloves, then eye protection when using lye

Adding the lye to the distilled water

Stirring the lye/water mixture; vapor rising

 

Checking the temperature

Lye/water mixture in cup, oils in bowl, scale, blender, distilled water

We learned SO much about lye and oils and molds and temperatures and equipment and safety!  Two hours flew by so quickly!  Each of us left with a small bar of Roses Ridge Oat & Honey Soap in a darling gingham bag, full instructions for beginning our soapmaking journeys from the Soap Queen website, and the joy of spending the afternoon with each other in such a sweet environment.

Mixing the oils with the immersion blender

Adding the lye mixture to the oils

Blending to emulsify and bring to 'trace'

Trace = pudding consistency and 'trails' left behind

*contented sigh and soapmaking anticipation*

Soap mold lined with freezer paper

Soap mixture, trace reached and poured into mold

Unmolded soap after 24 hours