Busy Hands Homestead

Dinner is in the oven.  (By oven I mean the toaster oven I have had set up on the porch all summer to avoid heating up the kitchen when baking smaller items.)   We are having a zucchini dip that tastes similar to spinach artichoke dip and was a raving success with the whole family a few days ago.  So I am making it again.  The kids are at the park with Adam.  I am supposed to be working on this:  I am trying to finish this small quilt for Ivory's first day of school tomorrow. Between our morning WIC appointment and our dentist appointments this afternoon, I have been stitching the details onto the little girl walking a path of hearts to her home. My baby is going to school and I want her to know that my heart will be with her, wherever she may be. The little girl on the quilt is almost done. All she needs are eyes. Then the batting needs to be cut, the layers pinned and quilted and binding stitched all around the edges. Crazy, I ...

"There is a big seed in this one." Sylvan is beaming at me, shoving the fourth plum into his mouth in under five minutes. "Slow down. You are going to get a belly ache." We went on a walk through the neighborhood and passed a tree tucked into an alley that had dropped the most perfectly ripe, pink and purple plums.  We picked them up and brought them home. They are our latest edible find. A few days ago we picked spearmint up the Rattlesnake in the Bugbee Nature Area.    It is dried down and ready to be tea on cold winter nights.    These beautiful and delicious shaggy parasols popped up in our neighbors yard (currently empty and we did ask the landlord's permission) and I used them in our frittata yesterday.  The remainder of the mushrooms are opening up and we will pick and grill them soon. (These mushrooms are what a portabello mushroom you can buy at the grocery store attains to be.  They are meaty and dense and juicy.) Fo...

At this moment Adam is driving across town with a door strapped to the top of our tiny car. We bought this door at Home ReSource a while ago, but as my house plan has been developing, it turns out that the door handle is on the wrong side and opens out rather than in...  oh. the details. This is the wrong door..  the new door has identical carving except that the holes for the door handle and lock are on the opposite edge.   This door is intended to be our entry door someday.   But while were were digging through the stacks of doors, I found an identical door.  Well, it is almost identical - except for one important feature: It has an opposite swing and is therefore more ideal in the grand scheme of what our house will become. The new door as a few more dings and scratches so we are exchanging it for the door as well as handles and a dead bolt.  Great trade, right? Our stockpile is up to: 9 windows 4 doors (with some hardware pieced together...

Ten years ago, two days after my twentieth birthday, I met a blond pony tailed boy. He was riding his bike. I was wearing a blue dress and a white hat. I was on my way to see another man. This man: That's right - Dennis Kucinich. I was on my way to see Dennis Kucinich participate in a forum on the Oklahoma State University campus. He and eight of the other candidate competing for the democratic nomination to be the party's nominee for president (confusing) were to be present. I was rounding up people to sit in the bleachers and listen - participate in our great electoral system. (Am I writing that with sarcasm?  I don't even know.) My best friend was there..  a few good friends from high school..  and my mom, of course. We were meeting at a friend's place close to campus and walking to avoid the parking mess. I had a handful of tickets. This blond pony tailed boy rode up on a bike. Doing my civic duty, I invited him to join us. He rode on to pick up a ...

3 Mamas 6 Kids 3 Dogs We all piled into three cars and drove an hour to pick huckleberries. Small, red and purple berries dot the understory. Each one falling, plunk, into the bottom of my container until finally the bottom is covered. Our fingers red and sticky.  Two mamas, six kids, three dogs, a hour drive there and back:  Totally worth the effort.  Huckles, as Ivory calls them, in the freezer.  Huckles in the scones.  Huckles in this morning's pancakes.   The sweet and tart juicy fruit reminding us that summer is almost over - it is Huckleberry time!

Cherry season is short and sweet. The majority of the seventy pounds of  cherries we picked are now stored in jars as brandied cherries, two kinds of cherry jam, frozen pie filling or simply pitted, bagged and frozen.  There are still plenty of cherries for Sylvan and Ivory to open the fridge door and pull out dark red cherries by the handful.   "Next week will be the last for cherries," the woman tells me at the farmers market info booth. Short and Sweet. I thank her and peruse the market booths. I am here for cucumbers - dark green and crisp cucumbers. Cucumbers that will be paired with cherries.  Savory and Sweet.   Sweet and Savory.   Straight from the garden mint, thyme, onions, peppers, lettuce...   and cherries.   Cherry and Cucumber Crostini  1 cup pitted and halved cherries 1/2 large cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced 1 small onion, finely chopped 1 handful of mint leaves, fine...