Elderberry Magic

I’ve been thinking about the magic of growing a garden. You build your soil and the plants do the rest. Not that building soil is easy, but layering compost, yard waste, seaweed, and straw seems straightforward and do-able compared to, say, creating a tomato or […]

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Our Oven

We built a pizza oven! It has long been a dream to have an outdoor oven of our own, but we spent a lot more time dreaming than actually planning and researching. This imbalance was, mostly, righted by a willingness to work hard to make […]

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A couple of years ago, when Amos was learning about the names of colors and shapes, I found myself thinking how arbitrary it all was. To me, the names of the colors seem almost inseparable from the color itself but when it is all new, […]

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Brunch

      I can’t explain quite why I enjoy baking so much. Most of my making (food, crafts, art) is an attempt to understand and connect with the world. The inner workings of a croissant may not reveal the true nature of the universe, […]

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Canning for This Year

Most years I have posted a list of the things I have canned for the year. I have never posted it this late before, but I finished my canning right before Thanksgiving. I wasn’t very ambitious this year, but I can’t do without my salsa […]

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Couldn’t Let it Go

                    I was standing at the kitchen counter, chopping red bell peppers, when I started to think about how these vegetables under my knife would provide flavor and sustenance months from now. That is always how […]

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You Can’t Go Wrong

It is finally hitting me that most of August has gone by. When its time to turn the calendar to the next page, there will be hints of leaves changing color, speculation about frost, and the smell of cinnamon and spices from some corners. I […]

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Canning 2012

I finally canned some applesauce last week, bringing my canning for this season to a close. The past couple years I’ve posted a list of what I canned. It’s definitely helpful to check back and see what I did last year so I can plan […]

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The Feeling of Fall

The arrival of autumn, even a hint, brings on an inevitable wave of nostalgia. Darker mornings and evenings, cool air, falling leaves, just writing the date: September. It is still summer, of course. Though it has been years since I’ve gone back to school in […]

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