{this moment}

inspired by soulemama

Evelyn Update

I am working on a second sweater, this one for sale, and I have decided to keep Evelyn (pictured above) open to the public for free. However, if you have knitted this sweater and would like to be entered into a contest to receive my next little baby girl sweater project using two yarn weights and three size choices, for free send me a photo of your finished Evelyn to my email [deliasknittedthings (at) gmail (dot) com] before May 1, 2012.

Happy Knitting!

You can find the Evelyn post here.

Ravelry page here.

Confused

I think these iris' are a bit confused.

Pineapple Preserve

The canning stuff has been out in the kitchen, due to Maple Syrup (don't forget to enter the contest!), and so when I saw the two pineapples languishing on the counter I couldn't just let them go to waste! Spring time isn't when I usually can, but why not? I would much rather spend a little extra time and effort to can than throw out food.

I didn't have a recipe or my canning book at our new residence, but thankfully the internet is always close  by. I googled canning pineapple preserves and found this recipe. I think the original recipe used already canned pineapple, like you would buy in the store, so I put mine in a food processor. I processed it a little too much and there aren't enough chunks for a thick preserve. I added 2 tsp of  ginger to give it a bit of flavor, but next time I'll do more to give it a stronger ginger flavor. I will use the preserves as a marinade or maybe in some muffins (or on top). It is really sweet, almost too sweet.

Pineapple-Ginger Preserves

yield: 3 pints 

5 Cups Crushed Pineapple with juices- approx 2 whole pineapples 

4 Cups white sugar

2 - 4 tsp ground ginger 

1. Bring pineapple, sugar, and ginger to a boil in a saucepan. Keep at a temperature of at least 200 and cook for 20mins. Stir often to keep from sticking. 

2. Pour hot preserves into hot jars and put in a hot water bath for 5 mins (check here for canning advice). Cover with towel while it cools to prevent drafts.

Uses:

marinade-pour 1.5 Cups over pork or chicken and allow to sit in fridge for several hours. Grill, crock-pot, or bake meat until done and serve with the remaining 1/2 Cup marinade on the side.

muffins-add 1/2 Cup to your favorite muffin recipe (here is one of mine)

appetizer-serve next to crackers for a little something different at your next party

::The Last Few Weeks::

:: Got new haircuts..finally.

::Played in puddles

::Got muddy at Mimi's

::Had a visit from Auntie

::Said good-bye to the last bits of snow with a romp in a snow puddle

::Played outside with Papa quite a bit

::Preserved some pineapple (more on this later)

::Crashed a birthday party and so furiously knit up a little gift

{this moment}

{this moment} 

- A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. 

~via soulemama

Maple Contest

The winner from the Advent Contest, rather belatedly, is Jen! She said: "..I would cut off the bottom with the pockets, maybe crochet and edge on the tops of the pocket to spruce up the ends. you could also try to remove the green tree and sow it and the pocket piece back on a new back..."  Thank you to both Jen and CrazyMom9 for your consideration and encouragement.

I am excited to announce a new contest to introduce our families new adventure!

My parents "bought the remains of the Webb Farm which included 15 acres of woods, swamp, mud pond, two pear trees, various maple trees, some medium bush blueberries and more lawn than they wished to mow. They were unsure how to proceed next so adopted a rabbit, a horse, two ducks (now since deceased), several cats, a few pet rodents, and the family dog. Even with the horse eating up the lawn they felt there still was too much to mow. They started a garden and wound up with more pumpkins then they could manage. Now though they could see how having a family farm could be good for the wallet. If they could grow enough to cut their food bill in half, it would be more than worth it." (taken from their farm blog) and so a new farm sprung up where there once was not. 

We are all very excited to be starting this adventure. I am keeping all my farm/chicken/garden posts that do not pertain to me directly off my own blog. Since I manage the other blog as well I'll try and keep my farm excitment over there.


I never was a barn animal person. Once as a girl scout we spent the night at a farm that was run like it was run at the end of the 1800's. To call it rustic would be to call the sun a little warm. I hated it. I don't like the smell of barns, the largeness of cows and horses (even my sisters "dog" Rusty), and feeding/mucking/maintaining barn creatures. Then in the last year I got to reading this blog, and this one, and this one, and recently this one, and I thought to myself, "Delia, you can do this." I am excited for chickens, I even scoured the books at the store to find a good one on chickens that could teach me something. I am even willing to check a chickens icky "vent" from time to time.

It is interesting how time alters our perceptions of things. There are many things I said as a young adult that I would never, in a million years, do. I guess I meant a million fly years, because all of them I am now doing: cloth diapers, marry someone younger, have a garden, live with my parents, live where I grew up, and keep farm animals. I wonder what I say I "won't do" now that my older self will laugh at later?


All right, enough jabbering. Here is the contest.

One person will receive one 1/2 pint of pure Maine maple syrup. From the blog: "It is the finest, smoothest, thickest, sweetest, we have ever produced."


To enter the contest check out this post on the farms blog.

Good Luck!

Maple Give-Away

In celebration of canning our first few batches of maple syrup we are giving away one 1/2 pint of 100% Pure Maine Maple Syrup! 

To enter simply leave a comment on this post anytime between now and April 7th. Make sure to leave your name in your comment so that you can be notified. Only one entry per person please!

1 random winner will be chosen on April 7th via the random number generator at 9pm EST. The winner will be notified through a post the following Monday (April 9th) and will have one week to respond before a new winner will be chosen.

Good Luck!

Stomper & Great Grammie

Photos Courtesy of Haven Photography

This past Tuesday we planned to go over to Jason's Grandparents for supper. Around nine in the morning his grandmother called and asked if they could pick Stomper up early and spend some time with him. They wanted him all to themselves, no sharing.

It is so special the bond they have with him. Every Sunday morning he sits with Great Grandpa in church and then Great Grammie takes him down to the nursery right before the sermon starts. At first I was stunned as to how much Great Grandpa held Stomper. Even when he was really tiny and fussy at church Great Grandpa would take him and bounce him on his knee. I worried, as new mothers often do, that Stomper was too fussy and they'd grow tired of him, so at first I'd sit with them and "hover". I'm not sure what I was worried about. Babies don't change, not really. A fussy baby two generations ago was treated the same as a fussy baby this generation. Now people at church just assume to look for Stomper with his "greats" and I can relax and tend to my other church duties knowing that he is being well cared for.

These photos of Stomper and his Great Grammie were taken at his adoption hearing. It is so evident how in love she is with him and he with her. I am so thankful for such a great extended family!

Four Generations

{This Moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. 

~via Amanda

Yarn Along

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs.  I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Take a photo and share it either on your blog or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! ~ 

Almost missed it!

I am making headway on the cow. Two feet, a tail, and some whip stitching and shim's (neither male nor female cow) done . Every time Stomper gets ahold of her head he moo's, too cute.

Bought a new book over the week-end called Chickens published by Hobby Farms. Lots of good information in it that we will be putting to use. 

Rolling

There is nothing quite like a stretch and a roll on a nice warm rock.

Together

It all started with the pipes. Well, honestly it started before then. It started at the beginning of winter when we realized that no matter how we budgeted our money we would never have enough check left at the end of the month. We prayed. I took on a very part time job working with my mother, Jason took a part time job at a store (in addition to his full time job at the jail), and still we didn't have enough. We considered having me find full time employment and considered what that would do to our family. We prayed. We asked ourselves: How much do we want to work to keep the house? Do we want to work and be away from home and our son in order to keep our house? Which was worth more to us: Owning a house, or a strong family bond? We prayed for guidance and direction. We apologized to the mortgage company for making a promise that we couldn't keep, and through negotiation agreed to sell the house. In the meantime they told us we could remain in the house, at least through the winter. We continued to pray. 

Once the decision was made to sell the house it opened up some opportunities. Jason had been keeping his eyes and ears open for a new line of work. He wasn't enjoying his job as a Corrections Officer. He took a job working at a factory making and packing plastic silverware only two miles from where my parents lived (and I was working part time) and forty-five minutes closer to home. We hoped with this change that he'd be able to volunteer at a camp near-by, be more involved at church, and possibly go to college. We kept our eyes and ears open for a new place to live. Both of our parents offered for us to live with them, we thanked them for their offers and told them we'd think on it.

Then disaster: the furnace broke, some pipes were busted, and we were forced to move in with my parents (who had the most space) temporarily while we sorted out all the issues. Three weeks later it was remarked: "We like you living here, you like you living here, we have room for you living here, so why don't you just live here?"

That was over a month ago. 

We have moved in. There is now four adults, one teen, one toddler, one small dog, one rabbit, one horse, five cats, and more animals on the way.

We are so excited to be living together. Stomper is showered in love, I get to bake and cook and never clean up (Mom likes to clean), Jason has places to do "things", my Mom gets the help she needs in the daycare, and my Dad gets the encouragement he needs to follow through with his projects.

Now that we are all living together we have started a new adventure....

Farming! You can read all about our new adventure here.

{This Moment}

{This Moment} A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor, and remember.

~via SouleMama

Day 3: Old FO

Day 3: Old FO

I made these mittens for myself (being modeled by my sister) about two years ago watching Emergency! on Netflix. It was my fist time doing stranded like this and altering a pattern to fit my needs. It gave me the confidence I have now to modify or rewrite patterns as I need them.

They are so super warm, which on this day is not necessary.

If you are looking for Day 2 skip on over to my Facebook Album.

If you are wondering why I am counting days check out this post.

Making Friends

Stomper made a new friend today. It was so nice having him play with a munchkin his own size that could keep up and put up with him. Many of the kids his size think he's too rough and they run away from him, which only gets him even more excited!

The older kids don't like playing with him because he touches everything and destroys whatever it is that they are making. I do my best to protect their projects and keep him busy with something else, but I can't watch everyone every second of the day.

Today a friend was in need so she brought her two girls over to play at the daycare. Of course the two littlest ones (Stomper and my friends daughter) decided that nap time wasn't for them (but everyone else was out cold), so I took them upstairs to have a little "play date" of their own.

They had a blast!

They chased each other, read books, dragged their blankies around, climbed on stuff, fought over toys, played with toys, chased the dog, it was an awesome time!

 
 Maybe this year we will make good on the promise to get together for more play dates!