Farmer's Market Tomatoes

The most fantastic heirloom tomatoes around! Its hard to keep from eating them all in one sitting.

Green Beans

Getting ready to make some pickled green beans, I hope this works!

Cosmos

Tomatoes

We started all our heirloom tomatoes from seed and when we transplanted them to the garden, neglected to label which was which. So I'm guessing these are either the Black Krim or the 1 pound Yellow Brandywine. I can't wait until they are ready to eat.

A New Start

Ok So I know I've dropped this project off and done a very bad job of keeping up, but I want to try again. I know I've said this before but I actually have some time now to get reinvested in my photos so here's to finishing what I started.

Our garden is growing so much with all the heat and rain! Our rattlesnake beans are exploding, this is a cluster of the bean flowers. The beans look like a regular green bean except they have purple tiger stripes! They are also quite tasty.

Day 44

We hatched a moth that Schmayla and Schmandrew gave to us. It finally came out today!!
IM BAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!

Day 43

Went to the Outdoor Discovery Center yesterday and the elk were my favorite part!

Day 42

It is not easy to see but we have Swiss chard sprouting! We started a good amount of seeds indoors a week and a half ago and we have a ton of sprouts. The red stems of the Swiss chard are by far the most beautiful though. I cannot wait to plant everything outside!

Day 41

My most wonderful rosemary plant! Its so nice to have some greenery in the house through the winter and it is even better when you can eat it! The rosemary was definitely a lifesaver through the winter and it will get us through these few more weeks of winter/spring until we can get back to the farmers market for some other fresh herbs!

Days 35-40

Here's to make up for all the days I missed...

Sorry!

I should have given an update a few days ago but I'm having computer trouble and I can't get any of my photos to upload! Hopefully we'll be back in business soon.

Day 34

Our day always ends with a glass of honey and warm water. It helps you sleep better and it is a delightful treat.

Day 33

Dinner tonight! Millet and black bean bowl with veggies! So tasty.

Day 32

Fresh local lettuce share from Mud Lake Farms! We have a tendency to forget about the pickup since it is after 5:00, luckily Mom and Dad are members of the same CSA and Dad brought the lettuce over for us! Thanks :)

Day 31

Andge and I had to run errands this afternoon, just the usual bank and grocery shopping. I waited in the car when Andge went into the bank and I was facing this lovely little scene. I love the bright red barn against the crisp white snow. All the while I was taking pictures I was listening to a cool guy on NPR ranting about the highlight feature on his Kindle. It was one of those moments in life to be appreciated.

Day 30

I have been searching for a good pair of hiking boots for ages. All of the new ones I wanted were too expensive and I was not finding any good used boots online. Finally Andge and I went thrift store shopping, I was actually looking for some rubber rain boots that day. I just happened upon this lovely pair of Vasque hiking boots that fit perfectly with a lot of life still left in them. I cannot wait for the weather to get warm so I can give these boots a run for their money.

Day 29

Woke up this morning feeling the need to sew something quick so I threw together this owl pillow. He is made from an upcycled wool skirt from the thrift store and scraps I had saved from various other sewing projects. The edges around the eyes are a bit rough but with practice I'll get better.

Day 28

This could possibly be the BEST dinner I have ever made in my entire life! Though I cannot take the credit for inventing it. This is my version of an appetizer dish that Schmayla and Shmandrew recreated at Christmas time that they had at a Thai restaurant. Crispy fried wontons, a little shredded romaine lettuce, some red onion and seared tuna all topped with lime-cilantro dressing. I am in heaven!

Day 27

I received some more fabric in the mail! Basil colored organic cotton jersey knit. I am going to sew another skirt! After this I'd like to try my hand at sewing dresses but I have yet to find a dress pattern that catches my eye.

Day 26

A collection of ribbons that I have held onto, they are so beautiful and interesting especially when they are all together. Most of them came on various fabrics I had ordered on Etsy.com for my sewing projects.

Day 25

Andge made me breakfast this morning! We got up fairly early and have been cleaning the house so it was so nice to walk in the kitchen and see him preparing a wonderful spinach, roasted red pepper and feta omelette.

Day 24

Went to a basketball game to support our foreign exchange buddy. She got to start and played for a good chunk of the game! It was their last home game and it was a really fun evening!

Day 23

Here is another old needle felting project I came across in the drawer. A little forest gnome with a mushroom on a log. I plan to eventually make a whole set of different gnomes for each season and that coincide with different plants. I just need to get more wool roving and free time first.

Day 22

Tonight I baked some fantastic oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookies. MMM they were so tasty.

Day 21

There have been so many beautiful woodpeckers at our feeder this winter. I love the blazing red feathers on the back of their head. It is such a wonderful burst of color in a very monochromatic season. I actually took a series of way better pictures after this one when he came back only to discover that I had not put the memory card back in the camera... One of these days I may make friends with technology, but I do not think it will be any time soon. I'd rather be friends with the birds anyway. I cannot wait until I can sit outside with the sun on my face and just listen to the birds sing.

Day 20

Andge and I have been going through honey like crazy. We had been buying it in smaller jars but we finally decided to save ourselves a bunch of money and buy the giant honey jar! MMM

Day 19

This is the reason for all my missed posts. Again sorry, but this is consuming my life!

Day 18

Missed another day! I am bad at this. Sorry guys. I had an extremely busy few days and had 2 major assignments/tests due today that have taken up basically all of my free time. Andge came to the rescue last night and made dinner while I was doing homework. This is his specialty, stuffed portobella mushrooms. They were fantastic and needless to say it made my life a whole lot easier last night.

Day 17

Another successful day at the sewing machine! I ordered this organic fabric a long time ago but never got around to making myself the apron because I was so busy sewing my Christmas presents. One of my classes is going to be online for 2 weeks so that freed up a little time for me to work at my machine today. I wore my new apron to cook dinner tonight and it works fabulously!

Day 16

A productive day yesterday and today! Being stuck at home with pink eye has inspired me to go back to the sewing machine. I started and finished this skirt for myself. The waistband is organic cotton jersey, the blue/grey is organic cotton/bamboo jersey, and the rust is organic linen dyed with rust. Its so comfy and I am glad to have gotten some projects started so I have the motivation to keep sewing despite my busy schedule.

Day 15

So here is the reason that I missed posting yesterday. Andge and I have pinkeye. We both had symptoms come on suddenly last night around 8:30. This is the first time I have had pinkeye. A couple of the kindergarteners in my placement had pink eye last week. Hopefully it clears up quickly and luckily for me I am on break for 2 more days.

Day 14

Missed a day again! Sorry. I'm going to post today's photo in a separate post which will explain why I missed yesterday. Here is yesterday's photo! Andge bought my favorite flowers for me for Valentine's day. He has class tonight so we celebrated with steaks from Crane Dance Farms, sweet potato and black bean hash and a tasty salad. It was fantastic!

Day 13

Went out to Lake Michigan today with Andge and my friend K-dog, we brought Rossi and Bailey along for their long promised walk. The lake is frozen for what looks like miles. We ventured out onto the ice mountains and discovered a bunch of fun little caves to play in. This is the view from inside one of the caves, the best one actually. The ice that formed the ceiling of this cave was really clear so it created sort of a natural sun roof and we could see light coming in through it. It was really an amazing time. Go check it out before they melt.

Days 11 & 12

Sorry sorry sorry! I accidentally missed my post yesterday. I took a picture and intended to upload it but I had to submit a paper by midnight and when I finished it I went straight to bed. So I'll post yesterday's and today's pictures.

I finished my drawing. The figure is ebony pencil and the background is jet black gouash, which is opaque watercolor. It was amazing to work with and I am extremely pleased with how it came out.

Todays post is the fabric stack piling up on the window seat. This is where I file all of the sewing projects I am planning on hopefully starting soon!

Day 10

The beautiful wallpaper at mom's house. Came over for dinner tonight which was a great break and a relief since I kind of forgot about preparing something for dinner tonight. Short post due to lots of homework.

Day 9

I got my first Valentine of the year yesterday from one of the students in my Kindergarten placement. Little boy came up to me and held out a piece of white paper folded in half and he had a big smile on his face. We were standing by the homework turn-in box so I asked if it was his homework. He just shook his head and handed me the paper. More big smiles when I opened it and he beamed when I said thanks. So cute!

Day 8

Some needle felted acorns. I have really enjoyed the few needle felting projects I have done so far but if you stick your finger with the needle it hurts like no other. The needles are extremely sharp and they are barbed. It is completely worth it, though, because it is a totally free-form art that really allows for creativity and flexibility. The acorns are super easy too since they are just a little ball.

Day 7

Rossi was very patiently waiting for Andge to give her some water. She was a thirsty girl. We've been promising the dogs an afternoon walk in the dunes but we just cannot seem to find the time. I hope this week we can find an evening that we are both free and have time for a nice climb through the woods and maybe a quick stop at the beach.

Day 6

In the process of knitting a sweater. This is just the sleeve Schmayla finished hers already so I am way behind! She is a very fast knitter and I have been so busy with homework. I will finish it though and hopefully before the winter is over! I'm using 100% Peruvian highlander wool that is extremely soft and I cannot wait to have my sweater finished.

Link to he pattern http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/owls-2

Day 5

Here is my most recent art project. I'm drawing from a plaster sculpture of Venus. Just started it yesterday and worked for about an hour and a half. This is the 4th project we have started in my drawing class. It is a 2 day project so I hope to have it done or very close to done by next Tuesday. I am having trouble deciding what to do with the background. I really want the whites to be very stark so my current plan is to do the background completely black either with charcoal, permanent marker or acrylic paint. I'll post another picture when it is finished!

Day 4

MMM organic gala apples are my favorite. Unfortunately at this time of year they are pretty bruised and mushy so they are not too good for just eating. I have a solution for mushy apples though... I'm making apple crisp for dessert tonight! Its already assembled and waiting in the refrigerator for me. There is something good to be said for getting up at 6 am. I got a load of homework done this morning and assembled an apple crisp!

In other more exciting news, I was boiling an egg for breakfast and I think it had an air pocket inside because it just popped! I like to imagine that maybe the spirit of Spring was trapped inside that little brown egg and it just needed to burst out and shove winter aside. Probably it was just a weird egg, but here's to dreaming.

Day 3

Its the Snowpocalypse! Well the weathermen have been predicting an end of the world blizzard for days now and it seems like their predictions (for once) were actually spot on. We got a ton of snow. I went out in the backyard with the dogs today and the snow is past my knees. For the first time in many years I officially have a snow day today! Unfortunately Andge is not so lucky :( So I get to cozy up with the dogs and try to get ahead on my school and house work today. We left our watering can out on the porch since this summer and it looks like the know is trying to eat it. Thoughts and prayers to all who are snowed in today. Stay warm!

Day 2

This was Andge's birthday present from me this year. We've recently gotten into growing our own food and we had been researching growing mushrooms. We had been unsuccessful in finding a good way to do this in our home and the week before his birthday I was blessed with a tiny tiny advertisement in the back of Mother Earth News magazine. I ordered the kit and was miserable keeping it secret from him until his birthday. He was so excited! Now we are growing shiitake mushrooms on top of the refrigerator. We'll get 2-3 pounds of mushrooms over a 16 week period. After it stops producing, the growing medium can be spread on a log outdoors to produce mushrooms for years to come.

If anyone is interested in growing edible mushrooms indoors here is the link http://www.wheatgrasskits.com/mushroomkits.htm

A year in the life of Bean- Day 1

I just learned about this project idea to take one picture every day for a year and I was immediately hooked. I love to take photographs but often they never get shared. So I am beginning a journey to look into my own life and see what a year in life of Bean looks like. So here is my commitment, starting today January 31, 2011 I will post one picture taken every day for one year.

Day 1

My husband Andge and I were feeling some pretty hard winter blues during this long, cold January in Michigan. We decided that we needed some flowers to cheer us up! Went down to the local flower shop and hand picked all the flowers for our bouquet. Needless to say we both feel much better now.