It’s been quite a while since I have written a new blog post. The holidays sort of eat my life every year, and since those are pretty much overwith, here I am with a little bit of news and some photos for you all. Please forgive the ginormous photos.

Where to start?

How about with my new bunny?

Alice is a junior red-eyed white Jersey Wooly doe.

This is Alice, the new love of my life. She came to me as a birthday gift from my husband when we went to a rabbit show out in Chino, CA, on December 10th. I wasn’t planning on getting a rabbit that day, though I had been planning on purchasing a fiber bunny so I could spin my own yarn–like this:

Here's a little angora yarn that I spun last weekend on a top-whorl drop spindle. This fiber isn't from Alice--I bought the fiber from an angora breeder.

Shortly after, I got this.

The awesome hutch Todd built for the new buns. It's so roomy and wonderful.

——————————————————————————————–

Abi and I just finished our latest cake decorating class at Joann’s, Gum Paste and Fondant. Here are some photos of our final projects.

This one is mine. White cake covered with white fondant with orange fondant/gum paste ribbon and green fondant/gum paste eyelet lace border. The carnations are gum paste, and the board is covered with orange fondant.

This one is Abi's. White cake covered with white fondant, with grayscale gum paste calla lilies and grey fondant lace border. The board is covered with marbled black fondant and the cake is accented with candy pearls.

——————————————————————————————–

The winter garden is coming along nicely despite the fact that I’ve paid almost no attention to it.

In both gardens, lettuces, spinach, onions and garlic.

——————————————————————————————–

Todd always buys me the best gifts, and this Christmas he was just as successful as always. He bought me this smoker, which I’m sure will provide years of great meals for our family using nothing but primitive fuel, which is what I love.

After he wrapped it, Todd tried to tell me that he got me R2D2 for Christmas. I figured it out when I accidentally kicked it. :S

——————————————————————————————–

And here’s a pic of X-Box, just because.

Isn't she a cutie?

——————————————————————————————–

Hope your week is wonderful!

~Kristi

Last planting of garden #1, I was able to get quite a bit of lettuce in, along with spinach, swiss chard, carrots, radish and green onion. You can see how much of what I planted is coming up quite nicely.

Romaine, Tom Thumb Lettuce and Spinach

Carrots (left) and radish (middle). The onion was planted all the way to the right, but they are not coming up as nicely as everything else.

You can probably see on the first photo where the dirt has been disturbed between the lettuce/spinach rows. I planted red and white onion sets there, which should work out just great since onions and lettuce are “garden friends” (according to the Vegetable Gardener’s Bible, p.50), and the fact that there is so much time between the harvest times of the onion and lettuces.
_________________________________________________________________

What have you planted in your winter garden?

unnerving amount of anxiety today. Prayers are welcome.

For those of you who suffer anxiety along with me, let’s together seek to keep these scriptures in mind:

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
(1 Peter 5:7)

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
(Philippians 4:6-7)

Do not fret – it leads only to evil. (Psalm 37:8)
________________________________________________________

Here’s to a happy, fret-free Saturday!

An old pic of me, back for all to see.

Do you ever write up a big long blog post and then decide it’s not worth posting? Yeah. Me. Today.
__________________________________________________

I browsed Home Depot with Todd yesterday and found the onion sets I had been wanting for half price! Too bad I already bought my garlic sets for 14 times that price. They had those too. Ugh. At least the garlic will be organic.

Anyway, if you are interested in planting onions, you’ll want to get to Home Depot for your sets and do it quickly (zone 9).
__________________________________________________

Hey, I joined Pinterest. It’s really fun, and a perfect way for me to store my bookmarks being that I’m a visual person. Wanna follow me? Click on the red “Follow me on Pinterest” button on the left!
__________________________________________________

Not everyone is supposed to be the same, make the same choices, live life the same as the next guy. And that’s all I have to say about that.
__________________________________________________

I’ve got three more slippers to crochet today before I can break into my new yarn. *dies*
__________________________________________________

What have you got going today?

Canned pumpkin is so expensive lately, I tell ya. I have decided that I’ll be foregoing any further purchases of this canned treat in favor of learning the art of processing it myself. Since it is not widely believed to be safe to can, I decided to freeze mine. Here’s what I did.

Cut around the top of the pumpkin, removing the stem. Cut pumpkin in half.

Scoop all seeds and stringy stuff out of the pumpkin. Cut pumpkin halves in pieces. Scrape pieces until clean (if necessary).

Put pumpkin pieces on cookie sheets (tall sides work best). Fill the bottom of cookie sheets with about a half-inch of water. Bake at 350 until fork-tender (mine took FOR.E.VER. I think I need to find a new method for next time). I should tell you now to set aside your pumpkin seed gunk if you would like to roast your seeds later.

Once pumpkin is cooked, cut off the rind and dice in 1-inch (or so) cubes. Fill your blender about halfway and add water so that it is even with the top of the pumpkin pile. Blend and freeze in 2-cup portions.

I usually use my pumpkin for a soup base, but this year I'd like to try my hand at using it for pumpkin pie. When I do, I will probably strain all the liquid from it, then measure out however many ounces are called for in the recipe.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

How do you process your pumpkin? What do you use it for?

I’ve finally added directions for use to my previous “Making Your Own Mixes” post. Thanks for being patient with me!

Saturday Blessings,
Kristi

I am sick with a cold that’s been hanging on for a few days. Outside I’ve got a new greenhouse, lots and lots of lettuce sprouting, as well as swiss chard, radish, spinach and herbs. There are some Uchiki Kuri squash growing on the vine, and some pizza pepper plants fighting for their lives, but I’m thinking they’ll lose if we have too many frost days in a row. The golden nugget squash isn’t doing great, but that’s ok. A few squash will be fine for the year. Next year, I’ll let them grow on the ground, rather than on a trellis. There’s so much to learn about growing vegetables when you want to be able to depend on them for daily meals.

dehydrating onions

The other day I bought a few pumpkins and processed them for the freezer. I have a picture blog post in the works for you with instructions on how I did it. It’s so worth it, as canned pumpkin is so expensive these days. Once I get to feeling better, I’ll post it.

Todd added some flowers to the yard. Oddly, this is a first for us, save the unkempt rose bushes in the front yard. Since this photo was taken, he has added a passionfruit vine.

I’m thinking of joining the Pinterest craze, simply because (1) I’m really visual and (2) I forget what I bookmark for months, and pictures would really help me to remember projects and recipes I’d love to do. I’m not sure I’ll share it here on my blog or anything, but it might be helpful for my own personal use. Anyone use it?

———————————————————————————

What is happening on this Saturday with you?

I built this in about 15 minutes. Click on the photo to see it larger.

I’ve never had a greenhouse before, so I thought I’d try my hand at using one this season. I invested in a very inexpensive model and got a really great deal, in my opinion. I’ve seen this particular model (or one very similar) at Lowe’s for around $39.99, which I thought was a decent enough deal for a smaller greenhouse. Recently, Todd mentioned Harbor Freight Tools as a possible place from whom to purchase it, so I took a look. Not only was it $10 cheaper at $29.99, but there was a code for free shipping AND a free 6″ steel adjustable wrench! Score!

—————————————————————————

Do you use a greenhouse? What is your biggest word of advice for a new greenhouse user?

As you might know, I absolutely love when you all comment on my blog. It makes my heart so happy to find your comments, full of kind words, advice and camaraderie gracing my inbox each morning.

Almond tree leaves on our new tree.

However, there is another type of comment that I have received, and more of a critical, unkind nature. These are not just constructively critical comments meant to “right” me for my own personal advantage and help, but instead they are intended to criticize me for what I post on my blog, inferring that I have stolen ideas from elsewhere. Since these comments aren’t helpful to myself or my blog readers, I won’t bother to approve them for the comments section, but instead, I will refer to them here, sharing a few thoughts of my own.

My cousin Sierra's pumpkin bread, so yummy!

When blog authors post ideas, recipes, how-to’s, etc., most often the ideas they post did not originate with them, but rather are most likely a tweaked version of someone else’s idea, recipe, how-to, etc. As Solomon said, “There is nothing new under the sun”, and many of us have our own interesting and informative methods of doing what could often be described as the most mundane of tasks. Our little tweaks are what makes the humdrum of cooking, washing our hair, need-driven handicrafts, and food preservation interesting to us, and so we share those things on our blogs each week, in hopes of blessing others in the blog world with a new (and perhaps more enjoyable, simpler, more appealing) way of completing ordinary tasks. To put it simply, those that read blogs like mine (and share in this way on their own blogs) are looking for ways of making their normal routines a bit more extraordinary. We are all trying to learn to love the work that fills our lives.

A mini-rooster we saw at the local fair.

I realize I’m not the first person to freeze green beans, make face makeup out of cocoa, cook outside or crochet arm warmers….and by the same token most of the authors of my favorite blogs are not the first to build a chicken tractor, make kombucha, ferment vegetables or homeschool their children. That fact should not prevent a blogger from sharing their own methods and ideas–if it did, what a boring “surf” each internet encounter would prove to be. So please, critical friend, feel free to continue to read here and glean what you like from my blog, and I will thank you in advance to allow me the latitude to have my own versions of oft-used ideas and share them in my own way, here in my little corner of the internet. All God’s blessings to you.

~Kristi

Are you as intrigued by grid-free appliances as I am? I love the idea of generating my own cup of coffee just using an open fire and a french press….the idea of using the sun to dehydrate my fruits and veggies…the idea of using my own muscle to grind my coffee and wheat, or even to blend up a smoothie.

I don’t do any of these things…yet.

My good friend Andria turned me on to french press coffee over the summer. A few months later, my mother-in-law bought me one and I haven't looked back.

I do have a french press, but I heat my water with an electric teakettle. It’s a start.

I use oil lamps when I can. We don’t have many lamps to read or crochet by, and while they don’t burn as brightly as an electric lamp, the ambience they create more than makes up for the lack of light.

There are a couple of other grid free appliances I’ve got my eye on, such as the Vortex Hand Crank Blender, and the Sun Oven. I would also like to figure out how to build a solar dehydrator, as there are tons of ideas online to do this available on the internet.

——————————————————————————-

Do you use any grid free appliances? If so, what do you use?