Sprouts

Sprouts are easy to make and most delicious when they are fresh. I use organic seed made specifically for sprout making that have been tested for pathogens. Look for them at your local health food store or online. If you are making your own sprouts at home, explore the web to be aware of the various choices available for growing sprouts safely.

 Today my focus will be the mung sprouts in the green bowl. I cover a cup of carefully washed beans with about an inch of water and soak them overnight. It's important to cover them with something to keep them in darkness while sprouting. This way the sprouts will remain white and tender.

Next morning I have drained off the water...they are already beginning to sprout!

Here is what I use to grow my sprouts in but they can be grown in any well drained container. I use a clean cotton cloth to line the stainless strainer and spread the soaked mungs into it. Be sure that the cloth does not have any laundry soap residue on it, a good rinse will fix that.

I fold the dampened cloth to enclose the soaked beans.

This is a container of rice I use to weight the beans as they grow. I read here that adding weight to the beans as they grow makes them grow thicker and longer. It seems to be working well for me.

Now they are ready to be placed in a dark place to grow! Remember that the beans must be rinsed well, without disturbing the placement of the beans, at least once or twice a day. Replace them back into their darkened spot after rinsing.

All tucked in to the top drawer of this chest.They grow quickly and within three to four days you will have sprouts that look like this.

The little green seed skins can be rinsed away with a bit of careful work.

Drain off excess water and store your sprouts in the refrigerator in a covered bowl.

Have them for dinner in a stir fry or on a salad.

Yum!

February Week 1

Winter seems different this year, it's already February and though I miss spending time in the garden with growing things and other summer delights, I'm not yet stir-crazy with cabin fever. In fact, I've actually been enjoying this quiet, contemplative time to plan future projects, read, draw and organize my house. Yes, the last item on the list is long overdue! It felt so good to organize a storage closet yesterday and start a box destined for the thrift shop!

I always think it's important to indulge your interests, but especially in winter! Starting tomorrow I'm looking forward to the first installment of Heather's online workshop, Whole Food Kitchen. It is a three month guided workshop about healthy food and lifestyle...so looking forward to it!


We all have our ways of adapting to the cold winter months. Jasper, our cat, spends a lot of his time sitting in this bowl, I've finally given up on trying to dissuade him. Besides, he looks splendid in it, don't you think?

Other things I've been doing this week are listening to this song, and almost any other music by these two talented musicians . 
If you love dogs, or even if you just want to smile a bit, you must watch this video ! Finally, it's time to make another batch of mung sprouts. I'll be back during the week to give you the update on their progress. Have a good week!

Nest

Robin's nest, drawn in graphite and charcoal, finished in photoshop. I'm still thinking about how best to offer this image in my shop.

When I first imagined creating this blog almost a year ago now I had the idea that I would use this space as a kind of art diary, a place to share weekly drawings, preview art that I hoped to sell in my shop and maybe meet new friends along the way. It's been an incredibly good year of learning for me in many ways but how differently my little blog has turned out!  

 

What happened to the art? Well, life happened, the details of a busy life with its many daily facets.  I have learned so much in these last months about things I had never given any thought to before ... like, how to blog, how to set up an  online shop, the importance of a good photograph when selling something online, what branding is, some of the ways to promote your work, and , most importantly of all, how vital it is to set aside time each day to actually DO your art !
                                  

Well, just so you know, I'm working on it. :)

  

Remembering the Green

It hasn't been long since the forest floor looked like this, with an obvious absence of the white stuff called snow that now covers everything.

Seeing all the beautiful green moss on that day suddenly reminded me of a terrarium I'd made years ago when I was living in a college dormitory my freshman year. My little terrarium was a low budget  operation, made with found items and plants gathered from the surrounding woods, but it was beautiful in its way. The plants lived and flourished all through that cold winter and even longer if my memory serves me.

So, skipping ahead a few years (ahem) to the fall day in the picture here, I decided then and there to make another terrarium and gathered some moss, lichens, wintergreen and partridge berry. Here is what came to be!

 

 

 There are many types of terrariums and they can be made quite easily if you would like to make one. There are lots of sources online for instructions and I'd be happy to answer any questions if you have any.  Try this out, you might be surprised at what good medicine lifting that lid can be for someone who is already beginning to long for springtime. 

        

Winter Happy

Remember the amaryllis bulb I started back in December? Well...

 

The day of the first bloom has arrived. Is it possible to be in love with a flower? I am definitely smitten, big time.

dining out...walking...home again

It's been a nice first week of January, no complaints. We have managed to make it this far into the depths of winter without any snow to speak of, which I like, and even better, temperatures have been mild in comparison to other years. 
I've been sticking pretty close to home these past two weeks so it was quite exciting when our daughter, Alex, called to invite us to lunch at Long Grain, a favorite local restaurant. Six for lunch and everything was superb, only wish that I had remembered to get a picture of my ramen bowl before it disappeared! Such a nice afternoon it was!

This time of year always finds me making to-do lists and visiting the library more than usual for inspiring reading material. I've been getting some new ideas about how to make exercising a bit more fun and varied in this book and like one of the suggestions for winter walking. The idea involves an occasional visit to the local shopping mall for indoor walking on the coldest of days. The only problem, in my case, is that the closest mall is over an hour and a half away, ah well.

I bundled up this afternoon and headed out to our neighborhood for a walk. Instead of mall shoppers I ran into quite a different sort of throng, you can begin to see them on the crest of the hill in the above picture.

Wild Turkeys!

 I don't think that they were as happy to see me as I was to see them!

In moments they had all disappeared into the woods and I was left alone in a silent field.

I love these little adventures but it's always good to return home afterwards.

Home again!

Happy New Year!

New Year's Day 2012 dawned beautifully sunny. These are the narcissus and amaryllis bulbs I started on December 16th. The first blossom is almost ready to open.

Always worth the effort, I love watching them grow as much as I do the flowers that eventually bloom bright and beautiful.

Christmas has passed but we will enjoy the tree and other decorations for another week or two. I don't want things to get back to normal quite yet.

May you all have a peaceful and happy new year!