bird angels in Maine to palm trees in Florida

                                                                                                                                                       bird angels

What a week ... I feel a change in the weather ... from a spring snow that brought the birds flocking to the bird feeder, to beautiful sun-filled 60 degree days and my first views of blooming crocuses and snowdrops.

                                                                                                                             ...so many tracks in the snow

                                                                                                                                           kitchen snowflakes

I've been cooking lots of healthy foods these past weeks, still enjoying and being inspired by Heather's workshop at Whole Food Kitchen.
 It's hard to describe the change I've been experiencing as I eat more delicious, life giving foods. It's a bit like watering a plant that hasn't had a good dose of water in awhile, you see the leaves start to unfurl and come back to life, standing strong again ... that's how I'm feeling!

                                                                                                                                              salad and khichuri

                                                                                                             falafel, salad and tahini/lemon sauce

                                                                                                                                         coconut milk quinoa

                                                                                                                                 roasting nuts and seeds

                                                                                                                                                      lovely peels                 

                                                                                                                                                          fruit salad

                                                                                                  breakfast quinoa with fruit, nuts and seeds

                                                                                                                       gluten-free blueberry seed cake                                                

Well, you see that I've been keeping busy in the kitchen this week!
In other ways I've been busy as well ... enjoying the beautiful art of Angie Lewin , and always with music I love in the background. 
Last, but not least, I'm planning a little break from winter to visit my sister in Florida! This is not something I do regularly, it's kind of a big deal I'd say!
I'll be away for two whole weeks of sunshine, fresh food and good company! Looking forward to posting about my trip when I return. See you at the end of the month! Enjoy!

                                                                                                                                         from Cathy's iphone

Thrifting...

Living in the countryside is a joy, but as anyone who is familiar with country life knows, you have to make your trips to town count when you venture out. These days I try to conserve fuel and time by running as many errands as I can while there. I shop at the food coop and grocery store, drop off the books at the library, fuel up at the gas station and do whatever else is pending that day ... sometimes I  still have a little time left for something fun, like thrifting! 
Let's be honest here, sometimes I even do the thrifting first, depending on my mood and the urgency of things.
 We have a few good thrift shops in our area and they are well maintained and well attended as a result. On the day I was in Camden, I visited a shop called Heavenly Threads. It is located in a large, white, clapboarded house that was  built during the 1800's and that once housed the minister from the church nearby. 
As long as I have been visiting this shop it has been on the first floor of the house. You'd pass a marvelous, old staircase when you entered the front hall, but it was closed off and the upper level was off limits to customers.  I was so excited when I entered the shop the other day and noticed that the second floor was now open to the public! I had always longed to climb those stairs, you see I'm truly in love with older houses and their beautiful and sometimes quirky features. I climbed the stairs and was not disappointed!

A lovely, old room ... though a little hard to see behind the many treasures you see here. I did manage to find something special to take home with me.

I instantly had visions of Chocolate Pots de Creme when I saw these!  This recipe from a lovely food blog made my vision come true, and though I didn't add the coffee or espresso, it was rich and delicious.  Yes, you MUST take advantage of those trips into town!

Some Thoughts On Pantries

I've been having a pleasant time cleaning and restocking our family pantry this week. The online course I've been taking at Whole Food Kitchen has me thinking of ways to improve the way I cook and the importance of having healthy food options on hand ... well-stocked pantries are a step in this direction for sure!

 We were lucky this year to have had a great tomato year in our vegetable garden and I tried to can as many quarts of tomatoes as I could. I just knew how much we would appreciate having our own garden tomatoes through the coming months!

I guess it's kind of a family tradition, canning the summer bounty, and I grew up hearing stories about the wonders of my grandmother's pantry and how she would can enough for a whole year's provision. This industriousness must have come from home-pride as well as necessity during the hard years of the Depression, when she was a young wife. 
When I was growing up I remember seeing my own mother 'putting up' tomatoes, pickles, salted soup herbs and root beer. When autumn came Mom would buy bushels of local apples and have us kids wrap each one in newspaper to be stored in a wooden barrel in our low - ceilinged root-cellar . Each time we wanted an apple, which was often, we'd go down to that little room in the cellar and rifle through the newspapers to find one. They kept well down there!
I think it was always recognized by everyone in our family that fresh vegetables from our own garden, or locally-grown, were the best to be had.


My Mom still likes to get her hand in on canning day at my sister's house. Many hands make light work!

                                                                                                                                             *photo by Cecile
                                                                                                                                         

My youngest sister keeps a large vegetable garden and grows beautiful vegetables and flowers. Her pantry is a work of art in my mind.

                                                                                                                        *photo by Cecile

 After thinking about pantries this week I've come to the conclusion that keeping a pantry is more than just bringing in a supply of food. It becomes a holding place for blending the traditions of the past, present and future, creating memory links from those who have passed to those who are just coming along in life. I will always feel grateful to have known the women who showed me a few things about life and living well. Here's to good eating on the way!

These ladies were four sisters who kept beautiful pantries in their time. They were my great aunts and my Memere, (grandmother) third from the left.

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.