A Slow Start to Summer

The garden work has taken place between showers.  It's been an unusually wet year so far.  We are about 6 inches above average rainfall.  The garden was off to a slow start, but intermittent warm days have helped it along.  Joseph and I put bean supports up this evening, and I put cages around the eggplant.  There are at least a dozen green tomatoes.  Every day, I look for blooms on the cucumbers and squash... patience.  I made potato salad with this year's first potatoes tonight.  Garlic was harvested last week.

Our first ever gardenia bloom. I noticed today that two more had joined it.

I've been freezing lamb's quarters, and canning mixed berry jam (raspberries, blackberries and mulberries).  It's beginning to feel a bit like summer.

Things I'm enjoying:

this blended coffee drink. I'm of the age where sleep can sometimes be hard to come by.  I enjoy an afternoon cup of coffee, but rarely  make any for the sake of sleep. This iced drink uses only 5 cubes of  coffee, an amount that doesn't seem to affect my sleep.  Yay!

this summer treat, in Sicilian Pistachio.  My Mom's parents were Sicilian immigrants.  Joseph surprised me with some a few days ago, and I'm savoring it little by little.

sweet images here

this book

Fine Feathered (& Furry) Friends

A pair of bluebirds was determined to get into one of the windows in the house, and flew from window to window.  I've heard of male birds attacking their reflection in windows, but this behavior was new to me.

The pair were literally hurling themselves at the windows, and nothing would deter them from their mission.

They chirped discontentedly, and also tried the large, half-round window at the shop.  They finally gave up after a few days, finding, I would assume,  more appropriate housing.

Then this big guy showed up last week, which I believe is a Barred Owl.  I've often heard its "Who cooks for you?" call, but this is my first sighting.  It may have heard the recent sound of chicks.  Speaking of chicks, they are now in the coop with the older birds.  They are in a large dog crate, so they can see and get used to each other.  In the evenings, when the older birds free-range, the chicks get the run of the coop and small yard.  We'll let them grow a bit larger before fully integrating them into the flock.  

The pups?  Well, they're always up for a good walk. Have a lovely weekend, friends!

My Newest Favorite Space

Today I'm sharing a recent project on the homestead.  We've been in desperate need of a new chicken coop.  The original coop was built quickly with salvaged materials a year or two after moving to the homestead, around 1998.  It's done remarkably well, but the roof leaks and some upper walls are chicken wire, which gets covered in the winter with old sheets or plastic sheeting.  The chickies really need some new digs.  Enter the outdoor pantry, a small shed which holds all the food that can't fit in our home pantry, all our canning jars and supplies, paper goods toiletries... you get the picture. Joseph came up with the brilliant idea to enclose my potting area for a pantry, which was already under roof and butted up to one wall of his personal shop.  Then, we'll be able to transform the old pantry into a chicken coop.

Here is the pantry already framed, with a brick floor put in.  We had several steel drums, which Joseph cut open and flattened.  It will help make it critter-proof, plus we weren't sure how long the sawyer was going to take to cut our siding boards, and needed some sort of siding to keep the insulation dry.  The insulation is some a friend had leftover from a job and donated.  The bricks were free... some years back, a truck hauling bricks overturned nearby.  My ex was a volunteer on the fire department and helped clean up the mess.

Inner walls were mostly made from boards I salvaged from the old store a mile up the road, and had stored.  They were very chippy, which I liked, but I gave them a good scrubbing to clean them and get any loose paint off.  We still had a few bare spots.  A folding door we ended up not using in the house was a perfect fit for one wall.

 This wall was created from a crate Joseph had received shop materials in.

The roof above this spot is a piece of corrugated polymer roofing, which we have in a couple of areas to allow for daylighting. I had a glass block stored, so asked if we could use it in this area of the ceiling, which will often allow me to see without the need for electricity.  An indoor and outdoor light were installed as well.

 

Shelving went in next.

Then we began moving the contents of one pantry to another.  I find a multitude of uses for this little cart, which Joseph made using wheelchair tires he rescued from the dumpster when he worked in healthcare.

Full shelves

We had almost everything on hand.  The siding was $30, 3 pieces of luan plywood for the ceiling $45, 6 -2 x 4's $18, 2 outlets and a box of nails were less than $20, so not much over $100 was spent.  Sometimes it just takes a bit of creativity.  I haven't taken a photo specifically of the finished outside, but have been enjoying it for photo shoots, seen here behind a Whynot Pottery soap dish.

Someday we'll build a room onto the house, which will include a workspace for me and a pantry to store everything that is here.  But for now, this is much closer to the house, which makes me a happy camper.  It's a tight, cool space.  I can see all sorts of possibilities when it's no longer a pantry. 

The Co-op of Seagrove Potters

Seagrove, NC has a long history of pottery which goes back several generations.  Today I'd like to share the Co-op of Seagrove Potters, which sells the work of eleven wonderfully different, local potteries.

The building in which the co-op is located was the original bank in Seagrove.  In March of 1920, capital stock was raised to open the bank, officers and directors were elected, and the cashier was elected at a salary of $85 per month.

The bank was opened in a small back room of a furniture store, which also housed the Seagrove P.O.  After a year, this brick building was erected on an adjacent lot.

A story is told that the bank was robbed once... almost.  In the summer of 1932, a man walked in and asked for change for a $20 bill.  After getting the change, the cashier looked up and into the barrel of a 38.  Told to raise his hands and back up, he obeyed, backing to and out an open window, and began yelling "get the robber". The startled robber fled in a getaway car, throwing tacks in the road to stop the sheriff who was in hot pursuit. The original bank vault is now a storage room for the co-op.

In Dec. of 1933, during the Great Depression, the directors met and decided it was in the best interest of all to liquidate the bank.  

All depositors were paid 100% in early 1934.  Thus ended the Bank of Seagrove.

This wonderfully historic space lives on as a beautiful pottery gallery.  It's a fantastic place to work and visit.

Lest you got the impression from the previous post that the kindness between Meredith and I only goes one way, let me assure you that is not the case.  She and her husband Mark are members of the co-op.  I fill in  there thanks to her, and work in various capacities at their pottery.  My soap made a large leap, from un-named and unwrapped to what it is now, due to her very helpful suggestions.  For a time, she arranged a monthly massage day out of her home.  All I had to do was show up for the appointments she had scheduled.  Her encouragement of my many endeavors has been huge, and the work she has sent my way since I retired from nursing has literally made the difference in paying my bills on more than one occasion.  She is a dear soul, a good friend and a very talented potter.  If you're in central NC, drop on by the Co-op to see her work, along with the many other talented folks who have their work here.

A Story of Quilt Squares

There have been two projects finished in the past week.  I'd like to share the first with you today.  A couple of years ago, my friend Meredith gave me some quilt squares that her sister Lee had begun, along with a long, cotton dress Lee had worn in her younger days.  When she said she thought I could do something with the squares, my only thought was to finish the quilt that Lee had begun.  By this point, cancer had taken Lee from this world.  Meredith and Lee were close, and if it were me, I'd want to wrap myself up in some of my sister's love again.  Never mind that I'd only been sewing a couple of years and had never made a quilt.  What I had on my side was a kind and generous quilter who agreed to help me make it happen, my Dad's wife, Lois.  I never would have attempted it without her support and guidance.  She encouraged me every step of the way, endured and fed me quite a few days and allowed me to use her sewing machine (a super duper machine made for quilting, compared to my secondhand  Singer), and was always patient when I called with questions on my "homework".

Do you see that band of green and white fabric?  That was Lee's dress.  With Lois' quilters eye, she picked up on the green in the band of fabric next to the plain gray (you'll need to click on the photo to enlarge it to see the green, I believe).  I'd never noticed the green, but wanted to see if I could lighten up the colors.  Lois sent me a computer-generated model of her suggestions, and there was a green fabric that was just about a spitting image of the dress fabric, though she knew nothing about the dress at this time.  Lee was tall, and it was a long dress, so there was a good amount of fabric.  When I brought it for Lois to see on my next road trip to Eden (yes, they actually live in Eden), she said it should work, so I went about deconstructing the dress.

It's not perfect, but I finished the quilt, and was happy to be able to give Meredith a little bit of her sister back last week.  Meredith wrote about it here.  Wishing you the loveliest of weeks!

Small B and B and Cafe

Today I want to tell you about a wonderful local spot, Small B&B and Cafe.  Dave and Lisa moved to Pittsboro from Minneapolis, where they had a seasonal, local, organic eatery for several years.  They also found time to be regulars at the farmer's market there.

Their energy and enthusiasm hasn't waned any since their move to NC.  They opened their cafe in late 2011, and the B&B followed in 2012.

The B&B has two small units, with incredible woodwork by a local artist.  The first unit includes a tree which climbs up the wall.

The second includes a sun and moon on the door to the bathroom.

The third unit is a large, separate suite which includes a kitchenette and living area.

These folks are passionate about supporting local businesses.  When you enjoy a meal at the cafe, you're eating a meal that at a minimum is 60% locally sourced.  Local art abounds on the grounds.  New Earth Fabricators played a part in their rainwater collection system.  In their guest rooms, they use Abela Soaps created just for them.  They're only a couple of blocks from downtown Pittsboro, with antique and thrift stores, a tap room and more.  They're pet-friendly, and are within an hours drive of Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Pinehurst and the NC Zoo.  If you're planning a visit to central NC, Small B&B and Cafe is a great spot to relax, eat well and have fun. 

Mother's Day 2013

               Wishing Moms of all sorts a very happy Mother's Day!