Enjoying the Weather
We are snuggling in for a cozy weekend of blankets, movies, yummy food and snuggles. I hope you have a great one too!
Under the Weather
We’ve been a bit under the weather here, first I was down for a couple of days and then one of the girls was down with a bug. Everyone seems to be fine today, but I need to catch up on some basics like laundry and dishes. I hope to be back tomorrow, see you then.
From Orchard to Table
Back in October we all went to an apple orchard about an hour away for a day of apple picking. It was a gorgeous autumn day and the orchard was beautiful. We had such fun picking apples, the only problem was that it went way too fast. Picking apples is a lot less time consuming than picking blueberries.
We enjoyed a tractor ride out to a couple of different locations in the orchard, which the kids loved. We were invited to sample the apples, the best you’ll ever taste he said, and he was right. After filling baskets and bags of apples we brought our haul home.
After eating more apples than we could count, and making half a dozen crumbles over a few weeks I was also able to freeze nine quarts of apple pie filling and also can four quarts of applesauce and use a few apples to help make a batch of jelly as well. This was the first year I have really canned anything, I have done a few things before but I never really felt like I got the hang of it.
I used several different varieties to make the applesauce and they were plenty sweet without using any sugar. We just opened the first jar last week and boy was it scrumptious, just like autumn in a jar. We picked forty-seven pounds, but next year I want to do more now that I feel a little more confidant. I would love to be able to do quite a bit more applesauce and even some apple butter. I have to admit it is quite exciting to see jars of food in the pantry that we picked and made. It’s so much more than a jar of applesauce, it’s the memories that went with the day and the knowledge that something we did with our own hands has provided food for our table.
Children of the Forest
Children of the Forest is one of the babe’s favourite books. It’s about a family of tiny forest people who happen to have four children, two boys, two girls, just like us. Daisy, the littlest has platinum blond hair just like the babe. They live in the forest, our house backs up into forest, and my littlest just loves blending into things just like the forest children have to do sometimes. They gather nuts, berries, and mushrooms for the winter and their mama knits them hats and sweaters too. They have toadstool caps so that if they need to blend in and not be seen, they can just squat down and disappear into their surroundings.
I knew that the babe would absolutely adore to have her own toadstool cap, so the search was on. I couldn’t find a pattern that was quite right until I found this pattern. I tweaked it slightly by eliminating the little tail at the top of the hat and it turned out perfectly. Then I needle felted some creamy roving into little toadstool spots all around the outside. She adores the hat, and I am so thrilled that I was able to pull it off. This was my first time needle felting and despite the fact that I broke a few needles, it was a lot of fun.
The babe always wants to take pictures with mommy’s camera, so I knew this adorable wooden camera would be absolutely perfect. It is used on a daily basis as she goes around snapping her own pictures. It’s really well made and the detail is fantastic, I know it’s going to get lots and lots of use over the years.
Clementine Curd
Before Christmas we received a gift of clementines from family traveling in California. They were indeed the best clementines I have ever tasted and after eating clementine after clementine I knew I needed to do something with that last couple of dozen before they started turning.
I have to say, I’ve never been a massive fan of lemon curd, I like the idea, I think it just had too much of a tangy taste for my personal preference, so when I found this recipe for clementine curd I was very excited as I thought the extra sweetness would be perfect.
I made up a double batch, leaving out the zest (just another odd preference of mine) and was so thrilled with the result that I made up another double batch the next day with the last of the clementines. The next day we had clementine curd over waffles topped with whipped cream for a treat. It was declared the best waffle ever by the children, me too.
I chilled the remaining jars of curd overnight in the fridge and they are now in the freezer waiting for a dreary February day to come out and cheer our tastebuds. So if you have a handful of clementines waiting around, I would highly recommend that you try this out, it is oh so worth it.
We had a nice big snow yesterday and the kids were able to play out for a couple of hours. I can’t tell you how nice it is to live in a place where it is still bearable to be out in the winter. In Wyoming in the winter it was regularly -20 freezing and just way too windy to play out. Here the kids can get bundled up and play for hours in the snow, for which I am very thankful, and they are too.
Sprout
One of the things I made for Christmas for the girls was this sweet dress. It’s Sprout, and it’s adorable. A dress fully lined in flannel which was surprisingly easy to make. Granted as I was making two dresses, which was in effect four dresses it took a bit of time, but it was not complicated at all.
The girls love the dress, it’s oh so comfy, it’s only a shame I wouldn’t look so good in a flannel lined dress. I love that there are pockets, a sweet hood, and it’s warm enough to pair with tights even on the coldest days.
I made the girls sizes but added length in the arms and hem in order to make them wearable longer, though the babe is already at the end of the size four arms even though she’s only three, she’s a tall one. I did need to buy two patterns as the size gap between my girls hits right between the patterns, but that’s ok as the regular Sprout is size 0-5 and the Big Sprout is size 6-10 so I will get plenty of mileage out of them, this would be completely adorable on a wee one.
Looks like we’re in for a snowstorm tonight, the kids are thrilled, so I better run and get some laundry done in case we lose power, which oddly enough seems to happen a lot here and not usually when it’s bad weather. Take care and have a great day!
New Year, New Name
Happy New Year everyone! It’s a new year, to be filled with lots of new adventures and I’m excited to be back. Now that we’re by the sea here in Maine, I’ve switched the blog from the prairie girl to the girl by the sea. All of the old posts are here now and anyone going to theprairiegirl will be automatically forwarded here. I do recommend subscribing to the new RSS as I’m not sure if the old one will work for the new site. Let me know if there are any problems and I’ll try to sort them out.
Every January the kids get new calendars, and this year we got a set of Sarah Jane Studios calendar cards for the girls. We will swap out the cards each month, and enjoy the new beautiful illustrations.
I’m glad to be back and look forward to a whole new year with you all.
Pesto
This summer has been a bit lacking in routine as we are still familiarizing ourselves with our new home. It has been so much fun, and I am trying to squeeze in a few preparations for the coming winter. I can feel just a tiny hint of autumn in the mornings and evenings when there is a slight nip in the air. Several weeks ago we went blueberry picking, I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to have so many farms etc. close that we can go and harvest our own food, even if it isn’t from our own back yard. The day turned out hotter than we thought it would be, but we did manage to pick 23 pounds of blueberries. We all had a wonderful time, even the babe is now an expert blueberry picker. I got all of them in the freezer, freezing them on cooking sheets, before storing them in bags so that they wouldn’t freeze into one giant lump. Now we have plenty of blueberries to use in muffins, and pancakes, and any other way we can think of. This last week I took advantage of a good deal on basil to spend some time with our 8 year old who loves to cook. We made 5 batches of pesto, minus the cheese, and froze them for some scrumptious still feels like summer meals in the middle of the cold Maine winter. We moved here in time to pick our own strawberries, but I wasn’t set up enough in the house to make jam with them, and I hadn’t ever had success making jam, the high altitude in Wyoming caused me many problems, so I just gave up after a while. We have however been stashing small handfuls of blackberries from the brambles out back in the freezer so that when we have enough we will have a go at making some jam. We’re almost there, the kids can’t wait, and neither can I. Next up apples, yay, though I can’t say I’m looking forward to all that peeling, my least favourite kitchen job.
The Sea
I still have to keep pinching myself when it dawns on me that this is our new home. I never imagined that we would be able to live by the sea, it is such a dream come true. 
The amazing scenery, the fresh air, the tremendous amount of vegetation, it’s all just so wonderful. The kids love going to the beach and I love visiting all of them that are fairly close, and some farther afield as well. 
Splashing in the water, searching through the rocks for sea treasures, even the sandy mess in the car is something I wouldn’t trade at all, not to mention all of the fantastic fish and shellfish straight out of the water. 
We have been doing more than just sightseeing, but mostly we have been trying to get a lay of the land so to speak and check everything out while it’s summertime. I’ll fill you in on some of our other adventures soon, but for now, just more scenery.
Berries, Berries, and more Berries
The area behind our house is wooded and has been left to take over itself. I was absolutely delighted to find these all right in our own back yard, and so were the kids. I must say that they are teeny tiny, a feast for a fairy, but the children have had fun picking those that are ripe and I love the fact that we now live in a place where things grow on their own. There aren’t enough ripe at one time to do anything with other than snack, but that’ll work just fine.
