What a Find!
I grew up in the woods, my dad’s family has a cabin on 60 acres in rural Ohio. When we were in the United States, we spend every weekend down there running through the woods, playing in the creek, and dragging home all sorts of bones and skeletons I found in the woods. As an adult, I have spent many hours hiking in the woods in all seasons (and have still been known to pick up skulls I find, most recently a porcupine skull). Winter is one of my favorite times to be in the woods, I snowshoe all winter long. Yesterday, while out on my lunchtime snowshoe, I found an antler shed.
It’s quite an amazing find. I’ve always heard about sheds and have heard of people finding them, but have never found one myself. Amazingly, it was quite close to the house. I’m not quite sure what I’ll do with it, most likely save it and put on the bookshelf.
Were you intrigued with nature as a child? Did you find bones/skeletons interesting?
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Homemade Gifts
I’m always making gifts, sometimes they come out of my sewing room, sometimes I crochet them, sometimes they come from my kitchen, other times they’re just creative things I come up with. Most recently, I made a set of spice jars for a good friend. The jars originally came filled with delicious local mustard, I’ve been saving them for a year just for this project. For those of you that love mustard, give Raye’s Mustard a try, I’ve tried most of their flavors and they’re FANTASTIC. Old World Gourmet is the most used variety in my kitchen, but I always have a few others around as well.
The labels were designed on Avery’s website, I printed them here at home, then added a few details with a gold pen. Overall, they turned out beautifully and she LOVED them.
I’ll keep saving jars and keep printing labels. She’s been wanting to organize and beautify her spice cabinet, so I gave her a good start and will continue to add to her collection.
Have you come up with any creative gifts recently?
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Delicious Cranberries
I’ve been ordering cranberries from Cranberry Hill farm for years now (I’m guessing 10 years or more). I order both fresh and dried cranberries each year. We enjoy the dried cranberries for snacking and on top of salad. The fresh cranberries are kept in the freezer for making sauces, chutneys, or in baking. Cranberries are one of those things that it seems people love or hate, I LOVE them!!!
I’m never without either variety in my pantry or in my freezer. One top of being delicious and the best you can buy, it’s nice to know you’re supporting small farm and small businesses.
I will tell you that their dried sweetened cranberries are the best, absolutely the BEST ones you can buy. If you’re looking for delicious dried or fresh cranberries, get some today. You can order from their website (but you have to send in a check, no on-line ordering) or head over to LocalHarvest.org and get some there.
Are you a fan of cranberries?
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Friday Favorite: Garden Photos
This time of year, I love looking at photos from my garden. Not only do I enjoy seeing photos from this past summer, but from previous ones as well. I like to sit down and look at how the garden is evolving, what’s changing, how plants are growing and filling in.
I like to look through photos of each garden area and clarify my goals for that space. Looking at edges, deciding if plants need moved, if pathways need adjusting, if retaining walls need built. Now that I’ve lived here for 5 years now, I’m planning windbreaks and other things that will not only look great in the summer, but help with drifting during the winter. Photos of the garden are a valuable tool in not only planning, but it seeing how much we have accomplished. Often I find myself looking at the garden in the summer and feeling like I haven’t achieved nearly as much as I want. But when looking at photos I can see exactly how far it’s come.
Are you in the habit of photographing your garden? Do you look at the photos more in winter than summer?
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Bracing….
Once winter gets into full swing here in Maine, we’re pretty much used to snow, ice, and cold weather. It’s been pretty cold here lately, down to almost -20 at night and daytimes only in the single digits. Now, there’s a blizzard coming.
The snow totals keep going up (14″-18″ now), but we are ready. Pretty much everything is cancelled, work, school, etc. We will spend our last hour of calm before the storm bringing in some firewood, checking on all the outdoor animals and then hunkering down. Perhaps we’ll finally be able to watch that movie we’ve been wanting to since Christmas, that is unless the power goes out.
What’s happening in your garden today?
