I was recently looking through boxes of things we haven’t even opened since we packed them up in Brooklyn before moving to the farm . Surprisingly, there are an awful lot of boxes filled with “important” belongings that we’ve hardly missed in the last year and a half. Such things as my teapot (which after … Continue reading
Category Archives: Inspired Projects
New year, new hobby
This past holiday season was lovely. And exhausting. Kicking it off with oodles of family at the farm for Thanksgiving, we then left town for nearly all of December, traveling to San Diego and NYC and upstate New York. We saw all of our siblings, parents, nieces, and lots of cousins, aunts & uncles, and … Continue reading
Scavenging and Canning
Around the farm, we must have at least 15 mulberry trees — all of which delight the local wildlife. If ever we manage to get up in the early morning light (read: only once did we manage this), we can spy on the wild turkeys, bunnies and squirrels scavenging for fallen berries on the grass. … Continue reading
Dandelion Wine: Part II
After letting our Dandelion Wine (read the first post here) age and ferment for a few weeks, a few days ago it was time to bottle it! Disclaimer: I kind of shot from the hip on this one – we only had a couple of clamp top bottles and no corking equipment, so this may either turn … Continue reading
Making lumber
Lately, the first priority around here has been lumber: milling, stacking, cataloging, re-stacking and relocating lots of lumber. Since making friends with a local tree surgeon, M has been receiving calls multiple times times each week to salvage gigantic logs which are the remnants of stately generations-old trees gracing estates around the Eastern Shore. Typically … Continue reading
Winter Wheat – part II
So, that winter wheat (see first post here) is growing like a weed, and keeping pretty much all the weeds at bay, too. We’re pretty pumped because we hardly did anything to them all winter, and yet they’ve sprouted those lovely tassels all by themselves : ). In just a couple of months more we … Continue reading
The Whisper Chipper
Lately, M and I have been razing a swath of trees, vines and poison ivy back in the forest to make way for a fruit tree orchard. Although the vision of some day in the future being able to head out back and pick a fresh plum is very motivating, it’s not as easy as digging … Continue reading
Dandelion Wine
Did you know this is a real thing? Not just a Ray Bradbury novel? Well…thanks to my trusty Backyard Homestead book, I knew what to do with the zillions of yellow blossoms that showed up on the front lawn last week. Continue reading
Golden State Marmalade
We’ve been away from the farm for a couple of weeks, making the full bi-coastal family tour. It seems a bit crazy to go from Virginia to upstate New York en route to San Diego, but it turned out to be a great way to kill a handful of birds with one stone. We left … Continue reading
Pottery
It’s incredible the types of things one can purchase at an auction. Watching industrial auctions online has become a new pastime in this household, ostensibly in the search for the big-ticket tools to outfit the woodshop, but often enough we come across curiosities that cannot be passed up. That is how we ended up with two hospital-green … Continue reading