my own recipe

eta: in thinking about this recipe, i decided it's really more of a pilaf, as the brown rice never creamed up like a good risotto rice would. so, for the instructions, i would cook the rice according to directions, seasoning the water with the turmeric. cook the vegetables in a little olive oil until tender, adding kale and beans last few minutes just to wilt the kale and warm the beans.

i can't wait to make this again.

olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
a few handfuls of baby carrots, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
2 cups brown rice
turmeric
water
salt & pepper

sauté onion and carrot until onion is cooked through, browning slightly. add garlic, cooking just a bit. you don't want to burn it. set the veggies aside in a separate dish to add back later. add rice to the pan and just enough water to barely cover the rice. cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. when water cooks down, add a little more. keep adding water until rice is tender. i did this for twenty minutes, then added more water and put a cover on the pan, reduced the heat to low and simmered for another fifteen minutes. i would probably add back the veggies before this last simmer. i cooked mine from the beginning and the carrots were mushy.

i season with salt and pepper at each step - first the cooking vegetables and again when i add the rice. the turmeric was a surprise. i was looking through my spices, smelling as i went and the turmeric spoke to me, adding great flavor and color.

when the rice was tender, i added a scootch more water, made a little well and cracked an egg on top. popped the lid back on and cooked till the whites were done but the yolk was still soft.

for my nanny family, i would add kale and white beans at the end. i think it would be great with any vegetables and the beans add protein. what a great meal! healthy, hearty and good.

i impressed myself. i don't cook like this. i find good recipes. and today? i guess i did just that.

eggcellent

it made me rediculously happy yesterday to find this little beauty waiting in one of the nesting boxes:

 next to a store-bought egg:

my two boys. rocky in the front and clyde in the back.

so you can see the size difference between my two roos:

 

 rocky is an old english bantam. he will always be this small.

as the chickens grew, the coop seemed to shrink! clyde found a new home with three hens, in toledo with my friend susan. i hear they're doing very well. now the coop is perfect for rocky and his girls.

the four remaining hens are doing great. no eggs today, but i'm hoping for more happiness soon.

stitches

i had the deep pleasure of going to stitches, midwest last week with a couple of great knitterly friends. i went on their website to see if my new favorite yarn, madelinetosh was hosting a booth. i sadly discovered they were not. but! webs was there with a huge lot of this gorgeous yarn. don't you just love the name? i came away with this little lovely in composition book grey. but really, i think of it more as storm clouds. it's very similar to my dear mmmalabrigo. now, what does it want to become?

indiana state fair

we had a great time at the fair last week. we arrived early to beat the heat and the crowds. though i didn't get to see everything, i did get to spend close to an hour in the poultry barn, talk cattle with a cute cowboy and got my fill of lemon shake-ups (my favorite).

we spent the first part of our visit checking out the antique tractors and visiting all the activities in pioneer village. there was primitive woodworking for the mister and fiber arts for me. we just kept giving girl-child cotton candy and she was happy. some things never change.

the day was too short but it was about all we could stand in the indiana heat. i forget how blasted hot it gets here in august. i think it's like childbirth that way - too painful to remember.

i'm seriously thinking of entering a project in next year's fair. think this lovely would win any ribbons?

i finished my modern quilt wrap.

if you missed it on facebook or ravelry, here it is for your viewing pleasure. i don't see how i'll ever knit anything so lovely again. even though it's simple garter stitch, the colors are so striking against each other it looks quite impressive. i can't believe it's done! finally! it would be fun to enter something in the fair and i can't think of a better project. stay tuned...

housing chickens

ken figures these "free chickens" have cost us about $500. so at two eggs per hen per day, if they started laying tomorrow, it would take until new years for any sort of ROI (return on investment). my numbers geek husband. i don't care about any of that. i look out my window and this view makes me smile. that's what matters.

on naming chickens

this is cleo. 

she was the first hen to get a name. with her 'eyeliner' i thought it was fitting. this photo was taken a few weeks ago, when we first got the chickens. below is cleo now, pictured with 'flo' (the other red hen). they've really grown!

we also have 'rocky', 'clyde', 'lola', 'carmela', 'bonnie', 'beth' and 'chica-kahn'. (HA!)

sadly, we lost adrianne last week. i don't know what happened except she was teeny tiny and i don't have a CLUE as to what i'm doing with these birds! but i am learning. that was a hard day. but it's all part of raising animals, i guess. and now that i know better i can do better.

i think ken was worried about us getting too attached - naming them. but in my mind, how can i not name them? they are living beings. they will eventually gift me with their eggs. how can i not?

and let me just say, if he didn't care about them too, he wouldn't be talking the time to build a perfect coop.

we're almost done! tonight is the first night they'll actually sleep inside.
today, the coop got painted. tomorrow, i'll start on the trim. you just wouldn't believe the craftsmanship that has gone in to this little coop!  it's all trimmed out in rough-hewn cedar. the window is a totally custom casement window. and both side doors have hinges, latches and screens for ventilation. that window! i think it's my favorite part. ken took four 12 x 12 panes of glass and built a perfect window. it's insulated, and the nesting boxes come out the back with hinged lids. ken says his brother is going to call these 'city chickens'. that is fine by me.

someone is pretty pleased with himself. and nine little somethings are clucking happily tonight.

wednesday webshare

i found the most adorable patterns for dishcloths ever! kris patay, of kris knits has designed some serious cute. i bought one set and went back the next day and bought four more! i mentioned it to a friend and she said she just couldn't pay for dishcloth patterns. the next day i got a text that read, "i just spent eight dollars on dishcloth patterns!" serious cute.

with inexpensive cotton and just a few hours you can easily create a whole set of cloths to keep for yourself, or gift to someone special.

i made all of these in the last week or so, all available in her free pattern section:

picture courtesy of kris knits.

this is the first one i did as a blanket square. it ended up a little small, but with some tweaking, i think many of her patterns would be usable for blanket squares.
this is the one i did in blue for the schuyler blanket project:

 

they knit up in a jiffy. go on and buy yourself some cute.

kentucky unfried chickens

ken went down to kentucky this weekend to do some work for his parents. he stopped by his brother's small farm on the way home. when he told me where he'd been and said, "i have a surprise for you." my first question was, "is is alive?" i know my husband. he's the sort that will come in the house with something cupped in his hands - toads, snakes, bunnies and once, even a baby raccoon! i was pleased to see my surprise was only a box of chickens. i'd been talking all year about wanting some laying hens. well, now i have nine. and one little banty rooster. today, we need to build a home for them.

pics to follow!

Schuyler Blanket Project

i haven't been knitting much lately. i don't know if it's just a summertime thing, or maybe grief, but i just haven't felt inspired. i've gone to my knitting group a few times in the past weeks and that has helped. but otherwise, i've just not felt creative, until yesterday. 

a few weeks ago i joined a particular knitting group on ravelry but it's ties are much closer than just an internet forum. the schuyler blanket project was founded by my friend, tammany. her daughter, the namesake of the project was born last summer. when schuyler died the same day, tammany's knitting friends put together a blanket of squares, hand-knit by them, in the hopes she would feel the comfort of their love as she wrapped the blanket around her. tammany started the schuyler blanket project to share that love with other grieving families. 

i pledged two squares on a blanket for a woman i don't even know. but i do know her pain. and i  know the magic these blankets hold. these squares, hand made with love are no great miracle but in some small way they matter.

if you have some spare time (literally, my first square knit up in just a few hours), and a willing heart, please consider knitting (or crocheting) an 8 x 8 square for this wonderfully worthwhile project. send your squares to me directly and i will see they find a home in a blanket for a mother who has experienced life's greatest loss.

as the garden grows, so does the gardener

mr. melly has been working non-stop for weeks, in the yard and in the garden.
last year was our first gardening experience, and as the garden grew, so did this gardener. i learned the difference between pole beans and bush beans. i learned the best way to eat a tomato is like an apple, right off the vine, warmed by the sun. i grew hibiscus from seed. they made it through the winter. the mandevilla did not.

i learned wisteria do not like to be moved around. i grew a plant from seed last year and was thrilled to see it leaf this spring. i wanted to move it to the garden, but killed it trying to replant. one day i will have a blooming wisteria. but not this year.

but i do have strawberries!

they are sweet and delicious. and i learned six plants can easily turn into about ten!

i also learned some work needs to be done in the fall. it has taken ken no less than five days to get the space ready to plant. he got a rototiller and made quick work - removing the grass, turning the fall leaves and working in my compost. compost, what a miracle! i took all my kitchen scraps last year, sawdust from baby mac's crib and weeds basically, and created a beautiful, nutrient rich product to work into the soil. mother nature is one clever lady.

stay tuned for more pictures and to see how my garden grows.