Twoy-wees

Twoy-wees is how her Royal Higness asks for curlies in her hair! I honored her request this last Sunday, since I had turned her down several times the week previous. Here is what we ended up with! A sweet little girl who is all about being a girly-girl!

The dress is one I made for her birthday last year and I'm so happy that it still fits her! I made several attemps at smocking and never hand pleated the fabric tight enough to make it work. I finally went and found a small checked gingham to help with a tight pleat and it made a world of difference. I enjoy smocking and I hope to have the chance to do some more smocking, but I hope I'm not limited to gingham fabrics for the rest of her royal toddler-hood!

Pruning 2010

The Race is on!

I started pruning yesterday with our new pole saw (small gas chainsaw on an extending stick) and managed 14 trees in 2 hours! Look at the big mess I made!
The apple farmer got a hold of my new tool after he finished work. He did 35 trees before dinner was ready. I'm going to have to be very sneaky to catch the lead again....

"Road Trip!"

Once again I've given into cravings, which has taken me running outside in 30 F degree temps! I'm a big baby in cold weather, so you know the craving had to be pretty desperate! And sillier yet, After suiting up for the affair (I did research to make sure I could really dress to manage running in freezing temperatures), I even grabbed my camera!So now you get to see for yourself, the challenges that await me right outside my front door! Hills! Lots of them! Now, granted, the treadmill can be quite dull, however it tended not to be quite so torturous as these many hills. One mental note I made as I started trotting down the highway was that I the treadmill seems to be a bit more 'springy' than the blacktop! The Picture above is the view of the first bunch of hills. The picture below is taken just as I crested the hill on the horizon line above. You can barely see the last hill on the horizon in this photo below. That hill is the last 'bad boy' that I conquered before turning around and heading back home!And now I get to go run back up and down all those crazy hills in order to make it back home!It seems I am disturbing the peace enjoyed on our hilly highway. Or it may be that I am quite a site to see run!
And finally me! I'm running past the section of orchard, north of the wind break. In other words, almost home! 3.5 miles round trip! How long it took me to run is a mystery - Someone in my house got a hold of my watch and pulled out the little knob. So I started at 5 minutes after and finished 5 minutes after the same exact hour that I started at!!

I'm In Love With an Apple Farmer!

Celebrating Fourteen amazing years of togetherness!

The Happy Little Girl!

Here is the picture of a happy little girl!She is a happy little girl because her mommy made a giraffe Jumper for her to wear!
She is extra happy since it is made out of polar fleece and adds a little extra warmth during this season of extreme cold!

She thinks her mommy is pretty clever to use the thrifted, sweet little vintage giraffe applique pattern and give it a modern adaptation!

Newest Farm Life!

This is the newest of living things around the farm! Meet my sourdough starter! I've started sourdough starts several times and their simple but useful lives were quite short lived. Last apple season, my hired house help and dear friend Emma and I tried a couple of starts together. I printed off a copy of instructions for both Emma and me from Sourdough Home, a wonderful site in general on the science of breads and yeasts. Once again we both met failure. After apple season, however, Emma tried the instructions again and had success, and just yesterday she gave me some of her lovely starter and a piece of sourdough bread to go with it! Wonderful bread made solely with a sourdough start (no added yeast)!

So now I'm gonna love it, and feed it and keep it nice and warm! And pretty soon, I'm gonna make some bread with it!!

I Caved and Bought Myself Some Dirt!

Can anyone blame me? We are just a few days shy of March and we woke up again to sub zero temperatures! Minus 11 to be exact! So while I was out driving my neighbors around I stopped at my favorite family run greenhouse! After my over-indulgence on homemade chocolate chip cookies that our home teachers from church brought by, I figured why not indulge some more? I've been craving dirt and sunshine for months now and since today was already turning out to be of caving to cravings I was justified and I caved big time! 40 pounds big time! 40 pounds of rich, thick and oh so lovely potting soil!

So after getting it home (and letting it defrost for a little while) and diverting everyone else's attention so I could enjoy without interruption, I set up shop on my stove top. I'm sorry if that if that is offensive to any of my readers, but as far as I'm concerned, its the only thing a ceramic cooktop is good for! One of these days I will have a lovely gas range, but in the meantime, if it takes up space in this little old house, its gonna have to serve a valuable purpose! Here is my soil, all ready to plant in. I'm starting artichoke seeds. I don't know how they will do, but I've spent the last couple of years researching how these things grow so I might try to have a successful crop here. The plants typically don't produce chokes in their first year of production, but this particular variety might bear this year if you can give the plants enough of a chill while they are still young. Its called vernalization. This will be a fun challenge. It will be even more fun if I can actually harvest something off of them!
In case you were trying to figure out what the red box under the clear lid to my seed flat was, its the antique Hopalong Cassidy lunch box my friend gave me. I store my seed packets in here. Isn't it a fun antique? Don't I have a nice friend?