The Carrot!

Check out this Carrot!!

Charlie, our resident carrot farmer picked this beautiful root in honor of my birthday this week and it tasted wonderful roasted. Yum! (As you can see he takes his carrot farming very seriously).

I'm preparing to head to California tomorrow for Thanksgiving. I'm taking my journal and both camera's. I'm sure the holiday, vacation time and a family wedding will be fodder posts. Maybe one or two while I'm there ;) I'm bringing all of my plugs!

Simple Things

Thanks to Christina at Soul Aperture today is a post dedicated to life's simple blessings. Today is very fitting as it is my birthday, I reflect and begin anew.

These are a few of the simple things that make me whole:

A breath of crisp air

A kindred spirit

Watching my kids in pure unadulterated play

Hula Hooping

Creating

Soft pillowy flannel sheets

Long discussions of dreams and goals with my dearest love

The aroma of fresh baked goods in the oven

Music

Groovin' family dance night

A hot cup of tea

Laughter

Blogging

Sunrise, Sunset

The Road Not Taken

Please play along and share your simple things, just note this post so we can all share with you. As Christina closes her posts;

One Love

(that does say it all doesn't it)?

Thank You!

Through the Rabbit Hole and The Root Cellar Completion

Yes, when you walk down into the basement now and catch a glimpse of the distance, you will feel like you're being welcomed down the rabbit hole through this oh so posh pink door! Alas, insulation for the root cellar door must take place from the outside. I do assure you, the inside is color neutral in white accented by the earthy red floor.

Once you decide to take the plunge down into our newly completed all natural refrigerator/produce crisper/wine cellar you may feel like you have followed Alice to another time and place maybe accompanied by the familiar anthem altered only slightly... All in all, we just took another brick out of the wall

Our mini-start to the wine collection

Brian drilled out through the foundation wall to put in this venting system complete with a fan for air circulation.

The potatoes and squash are once again at home.

Unexpected Treasures

One of the games the kids love to play is treasure hunt. Living on a 120 year old homestead, we're always finding bits and pieces when digging in the garden, or sifting through the barn. These farm treasures have been saved in a special place and will at some point we will use them to chronicle this place we love.

Brian is at the home improvement store picking up the few remaining supplies for the venting system in the root cellar, and called to ask me to check if we had a caulk gun. Drat! though I'm sure there's one somewhere, I cannot readily find it. So it must be added to the list. (as an aside, there are so many tools in so many different places between the house and two barns that tool organization is a major winter project for us).

Even though this search was in vain, it wasn't fruitless.

What I did find was a can full of wonderful old hinges and door lock plates. Just another piece of history to our wonderful old home and proof yet again, that you never know what you'll find hidden away in an old Sanka can.

Tis the Season

The trees have taken on their winter pallor and though we've had a run of beautiful warm weather, there is a cooler and new crispness in the air as our temperatures begin their decent toward the winter season. Our town's holiday parade is this weekend and I'm sure that many will begin outdoor decorating as to avoid having to do it just before our first snow or bout of really arctic air. With this my thoughts are turning to the warmth of the holidays.

I love the rich smells of the season and am known to place a pot of mulling spices on the stove, just to scent the house. This year I am focusing on a handmade holidays and will be trying to make as many gifts and trinkets to those around us from the heart. Though, in some respects it also helps us in being economically responsible this gift giving season, I've found that not all handmade things are less expensive than what you may buy once you've assembled all of the components. True as that is, it means so much more to put the time and love into what we're doing, and teach the kids that it isn't just the gift, it's the process, the time we spend as a family and the little bit of us that we give.

I'll be posting tidbits of things that we're making, and would love to hear any ideas that you have on little things you do with your family to make the season special.

I found the above leaf today. I'd pressed it about 3 weeks ago. I came across a wonderful way to preserve leaves a few years ago:
Gather the leaves.
Place them between two sheets of paper toweling.
Place that between two sheets of newspaper and press in big heavy books for 2-3 weeks.
The come out beautifully having retained their colors and not being too brittle to handle.

You can then tie the stems with fishing line and hang them from a light fixture (they appear as if they're falling), or place them among your centerpiece for Thanksgiving!