The Guide to Living on Less

A great resource, some fun news, and a shameless plug for my own writing:

Mother Earth News has a new publication out, the 3rd edition of the Guide to Living on Less. This is a great guide to simplifying and self sufficiency, from my favorite magazine. Also, in a fun twist, the photo on the front cover is of my parents' house (my childhood home) taken by my longtime friend Laurel of I'd Rather Be Reading...  This was the same picture used on the cover of the M.E.N. issue that contained my article on growing up on a homestead. The new Guide to Living on Less is available here and at a variety of bookstores and newsstands.

Two Skirts

I have sewn my first two items of clothing! Until this point, all of my sewing projects have been either square or rectangular, or just mending, so this is quite a landmark for me! My longtime friend Laurel came down from Seattle this past weekend for our housewarming party on Saturday night, and brought along her sewing machine and lots of inspiration for me. On Sunday morning we made an excursion to Fabric Depot, and then spent the afternoon at our sewing machines up in the garret. Inspired by the dozen or so skirts that Laurel has made in a similar vein, I used a simple pattern from McCall's for these skirts, which consist of two identical pieces of fabric, with seams down the sides, a simple rolled casing for the elastic waistband, and a hem along the bottom. I love their shape, they fit me great, and the second one only took me about twenty minutes to make! It was my first time sewing from a pattern, and Laurel was a great teacher. These were the two cotton fabrics that I had picked out:

 I had intended from the beginning to make a purple skirt with some gray in it, and I fell in love with this fabric, which has a silver sheen from afar.

This one makes me think 1930s!

And the final result:

I'm in love.

On My Mind...

On my mind today is our upstairs. This awesome green garret is, theoretically, our guest space, study space, sewing space, and music room. Until about three days ago, it was still just a couple pieces of furniture and a pile of unopened boxes that we hid upstairs while we unpacked the rest of the house. Before Matt and I got sick, we scheduled our housewarming party for this Saturday. It's been hard just to keep up with the basic housework, so we didn't even touch the upstairs until this week. One of my goals for the next couple of days is to get the garret squared away and tidy for the party. Currently, it looks like this:

Wish me luck!

Things I Love About Summer #124

A jaunt into the garden yields this:

 

Which, with a little help from the farmer's market, transforms into this:

Which in turn is eaten in the backyard on a warm evening with my sweetie.

I'm back!

Well, it's been an interesting couple of weeks here in our household. Just as I began to recover from the bout of pneumonia that put me in bed and home from work for a week and a half, Matt caught it and is going through the exact same thing. I'm back at work now, but he had the week off when I was most sick, and set the bar pretty high for caretaking of a sick partner. With my appetite having gone out the window, he spent most of his time concocting various delectable meals in an attempt to encourage the return of my appetite. There was the most delicious chili I've ever had, and then some amazing from-scratch pizzas.

Homemade white wine passata sauce with smoked mozzarella and fresh basil from the garden.

In the midst of all our illness and other chaos, we welcomed our new housemate, John, who is renting the front bedroom and is a great addition to the household. He's supportive of our lifestyle and pretty awesome to have around. I think Matt must be feeling better today (ah, the magic of antibiotics) because I got home from work and found the boys in the backyard, with this:

(Click on Photos to Enlarge)

The beginnings of our chicken coop!

Ah, the chickens. Well, chicks, I suppose, but at this point that word is not particularly apt, our flock having reached the hilariously gawky dinosaur-resembling teenage chicken stage. I guess they're officially pullets now. They are five weeks old, keep us constantly entertained, and are rapidly outgrowing their box, which is now in the living room where their funny half cluck/half peep noises provide a nice constant background music! I'm also just realizing that I haven't even written about them for about four weeks now- oh dear. 

Anyhow, we've gone from these tiny little fluffnuggets:

To these lovely ladies, all coming into their own personalities, and having earned themselves names:

 The big Salmon Faverolle, no longer the bully but still known as Cluck Norris.

 If I have a favorite, it's Esther, the Rhode Island Red. She is the most friendly and docile of the bunch, curious and not fussy when picked up.

 Goldie the Gold-Laced Wyandotte, who appears to now be in the position of Flock Boss.

 The slender little Australorp, Lady Macbeth.

Penny (short for Penguin Face), the pretty little Barred Plymouth Rock. 

They'll move into the coop as soon as it's finished, even though they won't be at the official coop-ready age of eight weeks. The weather has been incredibly and consistently mild for the last month, with highs between 75 and 80F, and nights staying warm, so we're not too worried. We just started turning off their lamp at night to get them on a daylight cycle rather than 24 hour light, and we'll harden them off for awhile before they live in the coop full time. 

There's loads more going on around here, with the garden bursting at the seams and all kinds of projects to be done, but it feels good to be back here, even if we're still moving slowly and resting far more than we're used to!

Out Sick

Hi Everyone, due to forces of the universe conspiring against me, I'm taking a little more time off from the blog as I do battle with what has turned out to be pneumonia (I know, right?) and as our (free, random) internet signal is on the fritz. I'm hastily typing this from the library in a rare burst of energy in the middle of a week and a half of basically lying flat on my back. I promise I'll be back here someday soon, healthy and raring to write. In the meantime, stay well and enjoy whatever season you happen to be in right now!

On My Mind...

I'm finally joining in with the Friday feature, On My Mind, over at Down to Earth. Technically I should have had this up yesterday, to tie in with Rhonda's Friday post (she's in Australia, hence the time difference), but I didn't manage it. Anyway, here it is today. 

On my mind today are my Scarlet Runner Beans.

Last year the Scarlet Runner Beans that I planted never came up (I think they got drowned in all the rain, plus mowed down by slugs), but this year this is what they look like two weeks after planting! The seeds are from my mom, who always plants them along the walkway in front of the house, where they climb up along the beams and create shade, plus they are just beautiful plants. I need to get out and make a string trellis for mine, from the top of the fence so they have something to easily climb. Scarlet Runner Beans can grow six or seven feet high, and they have gorgeous bright red blossoms and huge pods. The dry beans are beautiful, big and black, mottled in purple.