Time well spent

Here I was a couple weeks ago wondering if I had time to write, well I certainly do now with being in the hospital awaiting an angiogram! Everything will be OK,  just a little scare that will get looked after next week.

I came very well prepared too with 2 knitting projects, my weaving project book and a dye book about using natural plant materials for dyeing yarns (a new book obtained a few months ago but have not had time to devote to perusing it) to pass the time in a less than comfortable hospital bed hooked up to … Read more...

Playing with Colour…

One of the benefits of having to spend hours on my rear….I get to write more! Along with some really, really, REALLY light-on-the-cardio-system activities.

Like planting flower and pepper seeds and dyeing yarns! Both of these activities are considered playing with colour, one starts out as a teeny seed and bursts into colour, while the other starts out as a bare skein of yarn and it too…bursts into colour!

The main reason to play with colour this time of year is to break up the visual assault of the stark white landscape outside the window. Yes, I moved to a … Read more...

Still here, and trying to find time to write

It is February already, boy time just screams on by the older I become. I think my problem is too many irons in the fire, too many things I want to do and not enough time in general to fit everything in.

Weaving is a devout passion, dyeing yarns pretty colours is a fun and distracting activity on cold, snowy winter days, oh and gardening…it may be mid February,  but the grow table was just set up and today will be pepper seed starting day. 

There are other pursuits,  knitting and spinning that are present in either mind or action, … Read more...

Weaving Inspiration

Go look out the window, yup, right out the back door you will find my little herb garden patch, and in it, Spring bulbs poking their sunny, bright faces out of the soil after a long winters sleep.

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Spring is my favourite time of year as all the new growth “springs forth” and finally dissolves the bland whites, greys and browns from winter. I grabbed my camera and took loads of photos of the little clumps of green, purple and yellow flowers, and afterwards, while looking at them on my laptop screen, an idea formed on how to best utilize … Read more...

It’s A Green January

In a corner of the livingroom here at the Homestead sits a folding blue patio table adorned with 3 pots and a small overhead LED light strip.

What are the lights focused on?

Cilantro!

20210106_0937012 pots that are overflowing with bright green leaves and stems that are standing up amazingly well from my daily assault with the scissors since they sprouted over a month ago. I simply cannot go the entire winter without fresh cilantro. Yes, I could buy a sad looking bunch in the grocery store, but they would last a week at most before becoming limp and mushy … Read more...

Walking Carefully Into 2021

Well, 2020 was a complete $hitshow.  My only bright spot was my 2 week vacation in Cuba back in January 2020 before the pandemic and lockdown hit.

Hubby and I bailed southern Ontario on March 25th to spend the rest of the year at the Northern Homestead. Best decision ever. In our remote area, there is not a whole lot of people and the case numbers low compared to Toronto and expanding area.

I spent the summer enthralled in my gardening, helped hubby side the new garage and 3 season room addition, among many other construction tasks.  Managed to get … Read more...

Caramelized Onion, Mushroom and Spinach Frittata

This morning I woke up to the sound of gunshots, don’t worry though, it wasn’t directed at any humans, just the annual Fall duck hunters blasting my duckie buddies out of the water.  It makes me sad, but I know people hunt to put food on the table and I am ok with that aspect, after all, I am a meat eater myself.

So to keep my mind off the hunters, I headed to the kitchen to make a fabulous Sunday brunch frittata.  Yesterday I had cleared out the raised garden beds except for the carrots and came away with … Read more...

Roasted Corn and Poblano Chowder

It has been a very hectic Spring and Summer here at the Homestead, not just the usual busy gardening season (which is now winding down), but we have had a lot of excitement with the construction of a new garage as well as a 3 Season Room addition to the Homestead. Exciting, but also anxiety filled when dealing with a contractor, glad that part is now behind us!  Now that the structures are up and usable it is time to get back to doing what I love, crafting and cooking!

We had a lovely hot, dry summer and the pepper … Read more...

Chunky Roasted Butternut Squash and Root Veggie Soup

Sometimes I like to have an adult version of butternut squash soup.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the pureed version, but there are times when a chunky version fits the “chilly Fall day” without feeling like you are eating baby food.

This recipe came about like most of the ones I do…..I look in the fridge and see all the leftovers and “not-enough-ofs” and go from there. Today, October 9th, in Northern Ontario, Mother Nature decided to jack up the temperature,  just for fun I guess after a solid week of cold, blustery, rainy weather.  It ended up being … Read more...

Growing like….weeds

Yup.  Growing season has commenced!  Things are right on schedule in the seedling world.  So much so that I had to give the pepper plants a haircut to promote bushier growth as opposed to wanting to be giant bean stalk height.  They have been under a grow light since they sprouted and have just gone crazy.

The tomatoes are now well on their way. I started them a full month after the peppers because last year I experimented with starting peppers early to be immensely rewarded with fruit ready much sooner and more mature plants by the time I got … Read more...