Sea + Prairie

busy, busy, busy

in the last 8 days we have...

finished 2 teacher quilts,

picked zinnias 9 from the garden,

visited the Contemporary Art Center's Boardwalk Art Show and Inflatable Art Exhibit with 2 good friends,

eaten 3 cantaloupes from the market, and eaten our weight in popsicles,

picked 7 tomatoes...there's always one that can't follow the rules of how to become a pretty tomato, eh?

visited with our 2 cousins (1 tia, 1 tio and an abuelita) at the beach,

played 6 games of kickball, 

run in from the rain 3 times,

said good bye to 4 great teachers,

and umpteen jillion friends (but just for the summer),

...and today is only the first day official day of summer.

 

Looks like its going to be a busy one!

::weekending::

Remember we had a very long list of things that we wanted to do this past weekend.  In reality there was not way to get to it all.

But the most important things were covered.

--strawberries were picked with two extra friends in tow...that's five little boys in all.  And only one (one of mine) had to go sit in the car for jumping over the rows.

--the farm was visited, first csa of the season was picked up!  Turnip chips were a complete success.  We used the same idea as the terra chip recipe and they were devoured in a matter of a few minutes.

--warbirds were seen over head without even visiting the airport.

--soccer games were won...and lost.  

--breakfast with a friend was oh, so worth it!  Note to self, plan breakfast out with a friend more often.  The boys were able to have their slow Saturday morning and I got out before anyone missed me.

--birthday party for a little friend...check!

This morning I'm trying to get a bunch of these pretty berries prepared and frozen.  We did this last year and had enough berries to use in smoothies all winter.  Yum!

We'll also try to make a batch of fruit leather as well.  It continues to be a favorite of all the kiddos in the neighborhood.

How about you?  How was your weekend?

Green With Chicken Envy

How is that for a wake up call?

Over the Memorial Day holiday we spent a large part of one of the days at a local farm...5 hours...most of the time in the chicken coop.

 

There were very few visitors, so we felt like we had the whole place to ourselves.  The farm education director was able to spend a good deal of time with us - telling us each of the type of chicken -white leghorn, orpington, barred plymouth rock, derbyshire redcap- and even their nicknames.

The Japanese Bantams were our favorite.

 

The boys made a game of trying to catch every chicken in the coop at least once.  Every few seconds someone was coming to me, arms full of chicken, "Mom I caught another one."  I would take the chicken from him, and let the poor soul go back to scratching around.

Hannah and Diane and Molly and Chrystal and Molly and Amy all have had chickens for quite a while now.

This morning while I was wandering around the garden, I couldn't help but think about how nice it would be to be letting chickens out to peck around as part of my morning ritual. Our neighborhood is not zoned for agriculture, but there is debate within the city as to whether you could keep them as "pets" or not.

I hate to go ahead and get chicks, only to have someone show up on my doorstep telling me we can't keep them.  We are friends with all of our neighbors, but I haven't actually asked them if they would object.

Scout, despite her hunting nature, has learned to leave the ducks alone, so we would probably be able to teach her to leave the chickens be.

I'm going to keep checking with the city and researching.

Until then, I guess we'll just visit Polly and Cotton and Mr. James at the farm when we can.

Strawberry Fruit Leather Recipe

This past weekend was the Strawberry Festival in a nearby community.  We don't usually go for the funnel cakes and carnival rides, but on Friday afternoon we found ourselves out of school, in Pungo watching the 4-H animal judging portion of the festival.

The boys had a great time and are now begging for a sheep to raise and show.  (Great idea Eren!)

But even though the strawberry season has not been what is usually is because of spiratic temperatures and less than average rain fall, we ended up bringing home our share of strawberries.

We're freezing most of them for smoothies and ice cream, but we're making fruit leather with the rest.

Fruit Leather Recipe

Ingredients:  

• Strawberries
• Water
• Lemon juice 
• Sugar (if needed)

**4 cups of fruit yield about one sheet of fruit leather

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to the lowest setting or 120 degrees...the lowest my oven would go was 170 degrees.
2. Rinse the berries and cut of the green tops.  Cut the berries into quarters if they are large berries.
3. If the berries are sweet you will not need to add much sugar, but if they are tart you will need to add a bit more.
4. Place the berries in a covered saucepan on medium heat.  Pour in 1/2 c. water for every 4 cups of fruit.  Bring the berries to a simmer and let them cook down for 10-15 minutes until the fruit is soft.
5. Use a potato masher to mash the fruit that is left in the pan until fairly smooth.  (Or wait for the mixture to cool a bit and put it in your food processor or blender.)  If you kiddos are sensetive to the seeds, you could strain the mixture through cheesecloth to remove the strawberry seeds.
6. Add sugar 1 tsp. at a time until desired sweetness and lemon juice to taste  I added 1/2 c. sugar and the juice from 1/2 of a lemon to give it some real zing.
7. Simmer fruit until sugar is completely disolved and the mixture has thickened (about 5 or 10 minutes more).

8.   Spray a baking sheet lightly with cooking spray and line a baking sheet with plastic wrap. Pour the strawberry mixture onto the lined baking sheet until it is about 1/8 of an inch thick or so.

9.  Bake in the low temperature oven for as long as it takes for the puree to dry out (between 8 and 12 hours) and not be sticky to the touch...ours took 6.5 hours since it was at a higher temp.

10.  Let the fruit leather cool.  Then as you take the leather up, tightly roll it, plastic wrap and all as you would do cinnamon rolls.

11.  Then cut the leather into desired widths.

12.  Store the homemade "fruit roll ups" in airtight containers or plastic baggies.

Our recipe was adapted from this one that gives directions for making fruit leather out of many different kinds of fruit.  The boys absolutely love it, and so did the new neighbor kids next door.  Which is music to a mamas ears. I think we'll be try making some blackberry leather next.  Our blackberries have ever so slightly started looking much more pink than green.

I have an old 1905 cookbook from my great, great Aunt Grace that directs you to spread the softened fruit out on a plate and set it in the sun for 24 hours.  We might try that method as well and see which one comes out better.

Strawberry Season and a Winner

This weekend I saw the first roadside signs for pick your own strawberries.  And for the past several days all I can think about are getting my hands on some pretty red berries.

This morning I dropped by my favorite fruit and veggie stand to pick up a few of these little gems to tide me over until I can get to our annual picking.

I'm thinking the few I picked up this morning just might not make it to after desert after dinner.  Because I'm dreaming of freezer jam and fruit leather.

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I loved, loved, love reading about everyone's thrift, family hand me down, flea market furniture finds.  I read each and every entry and loved hearing the stories behind why you love the pieces you do.

And now for the winner of the Flea Market Style book giveaway.

The winner is #22 is  Sarah Jackson of Green Clogs who said...

Oh gosh - that bedroom is adorable. I don't think Annika would go for it either, but I can dream. I'd love for my house to look like that, but I'm afraid for me it would just look messy and cluttered, instead of carefully crafted. Maybe the book would help?

I don't have any flea market furniture, but my favorite thrift store furniture is an end table that I bought about 14 years ago for $25. It's mahogany with a little cupboard on top that has beveled glass in its doors and a leather top. It has traveled with me everywhere. The cupboard is the perfect place to stash my mess when people are coming over and I don't have time to clean. :)

Happy weekend, friend. xoxo

Congratulations Sarah!!!

Send me your address and I'll pop this little book in the mail to you pronto!

Off to nibble on some more berries.

Happy Monday!

Charles (Charley) Harper at the Virginia Living Museum Spring break is over and all three boys are back at school this morning. Which is nice. And sad at the same time. We had such a wonderful week. It really was.Camping.A hockey game.Neighborhood outdoor movie night. (more on that on Wednesday)Fishing. (yes he is tethered to the tree, just in case he hooks a big one tries to pull him in)and The Virginia Living Museum in Newport NewsWe have been wanting to visit the VLM for over a year now and just couldn't seem to make it work. But on Friday last week, my friend and I and our six kiddos between us, finally made it. They have bald eagles, wolves, bobcats and foxes, the green-house (my personal favorite) and so much other nature-y goodness that we didn't know what to do. But to top it all off, they had an art exhibit of Charley Harper's work. You can read more about him here. And a flickr fan club too.So good!I knew I recognized his work right off the bat. But it wasn't until I got home and read more about his illustrations in Childcraft books that it clicked. When I was a kid I poured over Childcraft books like they were the Bible itself. No wonder I could have spent the entire time looking at his work.Yet, another reason to expose our kiddos to good art while they are little. You might never know when you'll run into it again years down the road and something will click. Posted at 12:03 PM in everyday moments, local goodness, mothering | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) | Reblog (0)

Spring break is over and all three boys are back at school this morning.  Which is nice.  And sad at the same time.  We had such a wonderful week.  It really was.

Camping.

A hockey game.

Neighborhood outdoor movie night.  (more on that on Wednesday)

Fishing. (yes he is tethered to the tree, just in case he hooks a big one tries to pull him in)

and The Virginia Living Museum in Newport News

We have been wanting to visit the VLM for over a year now and just couldn't seem to make it work.  But on Friday last week, my friend and I and our six kiddos between us, finally made it.

They have bald eagles, wolves, bobcats and foxes, the green-house (my personal favorite) and so much other nature-y goodness that we didn't know what to do.  But to top it all off, they had an art exhibit of Charley Harper's work.  You can read more about him here.  And a flickr fan club too.

So good!

I  knew I recognized his work right off the bat.  But it wasn't until I got home and read more about his illustrations in Childcraft books that it clicked.  When I was a kid I poured over Childcraft books like they were the Bible itself. No wonder I could have spent the entire time looking at his work.

Yet, another reason to expose our kiddos to good art while they are little.  You might never know when you'll run into it again years down the road and something will click.

A Photo Essay { Spring Break Camping }

A good time was had by all.

We are now home and the laundry is clean and put away...almost.

We now have a camping bin for all of our gear, so it will be easier to pick up and go again next time.

Yes, next time.

Three more days of Spring Break.

We're soaking them in.

How about you?

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Photos were taken at First Landing State Park in Virginia.

Still At The Beach

Been busy soaking up the summer the past few days here.  With some public schools starting this week, we are feeling very lucky to still be spending time at the beach.

Posts still might be a bit spiradic as my keyboard has been soaked in lemonade...ugh!  The a and s keys are not working, but thanks to the on screen keyboard, I can still peck out a post...any tips for cleaning up a keyboard would be appreciated.

Happy Tuesday!

To The OBX

I turned the calendar to August this morning and had a quick "summer is almost over and I haven't done everything I had wanted to" panic attack.  It happened to you too, eh?

Luckily we are off to the cottage in the OBX.  No, we don't have a cottage.  I wish we did.  But I love just saying those words and dreaming about having a cottage (said in the most English of accents).  I spent at least an hour last night looking up cottages on real estate websites.  Oh, it would be so nice to say things like "why don't you just meet us at the cottage this weekend" or "you look like you need a vacation, just use our cottage".  So nice.

But luckily I have a good friend who does have a cottage.  And she has been so kind as to invite us down for the day.

The travel pillow above was put together rather quickly the night before I left for Nicaragua after seeing this tutorial over on the mayamade blog.  I didnt end up following the tutorial.  I did my own quick and easy version with a longer handle for throwing over my shoulder.  It ended up working perfectly for the plane.  Zane has snagged the travel pillow since then and it is already packed in the back seat of the car for today's travels.  And I have orders for two more made from robot fabric and a camouflage print.

But that little project will have to wait until we get back.  We'll see you tomorrow.  Hopefully with sandy toes, sea treasures spilling out of our pockets and pink shoulders.

Strawberry Season

Dear friends,

If we are not back here in a few days, please send the authorities to the strawberry fields in Pungo.  Because i is quite possible that we have drowned in red, sweet goodness.

Either that or we might be found in the kitchen making smoothies and strawberry shortcake.

Thank you,

Us