Clean-up crew












I am happy to report that I was very pleased with the resulting taste. Even my vegetable-skeptical family ate this concoction and enjoyed it. By cooking the radishes while reducing the glaze - actually an accidental effect of adding too much water, their peppery harshness was tamed to a pleasant, light accent. The cooked radishes had the texture of less-crunchy water chestnuts, which contrasted nicely with the crispness of the toasted pecans. All-in-all, this pairing made a delicious topping for the steamed salmon we had, though I can imagine it would also be great over grilled chicken breasts. I reduced it a little more than I would have liked, so there wasn't very much liquid glaze to coat the fish. Next time I will stop the cooking process before most of the water has dissipated to leave more glaze for the meat.
Served over steamed salmon and with oven-roasted broccoli
I am here to admit that I am a foodaholic. Yes, I confess to thinking about food way more than I should during the day, especially now that summer is here (almost), and the fruits and vegetables are coming in at local farms and in our garden. On Thursday we had our second CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) pickup from Rabbit's Dance Farm in Cumberland, RI. I am splitting a summer share with a friend; a whole share would be too much for me to eat because we have a large home garden. Even though we grow a lot of different fruits and vegetables at home, I still like to receive part of a CSA share to compensate for crop failures we might experience, and also to support local, organic agriculture. The weather is so variable from year to year that we can't depend on all our own plants producing an edible yield. It is nice to have back up.



Comfrey flowers in variegated shades of purple create a haven for bees. Besides being an amazing herb for healing skin wounds and mending broken bones, comfrey also has beneficial qualities as a garden fertilizer when used either as a green manure (mulch), or stewed into a liquid amendment. For more about how to use comfrey to nourish your garden, see this article. 

Who are you calling a TURKEY?


Labels: gardening, nature, photography
melange of pink and yellow. After much groaning and struggle, I had finally dispatched the sticky and persnickety blue wool that looked so pretty but spun with such difficulty. Oh it was not all the beauty it pretended to be! The fibers were long but stuck together with some sort of super bond that tested my patience. However, after heavily drafting it, I did spin it down to the end. The result was one bobbin of embarrassingly overspun and kinked yarn that I wound into a center-pull ball for plying.
In contrast, this latest roving is a dream to spin and the color is a yummy fuchsia-lemon blend that is a nice change from the blues and browns I have been spinning. It's almost a pencil roving and it needs very little pre-drafting before spinning. (Hooray!) I purchased this 50-50 wool and mohair blend from Friend's Folly Farm of Monmouth, ME, while I was at a fiber fair weekend months ago. The mohair lends a fuzzier effect to the finished yarn, so it will be interesting to see how this looks once plied and washed. I am already envisioning it woven into something soft and comforting to wear. I just need to find a coordinating warp yarn, probably in yellow.
It's coming along nicely, don't you think?
osted on the Farmer's Almanac site.) The scarf has a warp of deep blue 5/2 perle cotton, a free yarn from the Weaver's Guild stash, and a weft of a white and blue synthetic chenille of unknown fiber content, which was received through Freecycle. I am tempted to throw in a narrow stripe here and there of a multi-colored ribbon yarn, just for a bit of color, but I have not made that executive decision just yet. I can see how scarves to weavers can become like socks to knitters; they are both addictive little projects which can be completed relatively quickly and with small amounts of materials.

Labels: blogging, crafting, fiber, gardening, jewelry, spinning, weaving
I took a little walk around the front yard yesterday with my camera to see what was popping up in the garden beds nearest the house. Watching nature always reminds me that life is filled with change and that things are often not as I expect (or want) them to be. I may plant that flower over there to the right, under the holly bush, but it comes up next year on the left, by the front steps. That herb that I planted two years ago that looked quite dead the second year, suddenly appears, full of life, in the third season. Yet, something that was robust last year at this time hasn't even poked a single leaf out of the ground this spring. Unwanted weeds will grow much better than any cultivated plant. Does this mean if I choose to grow weeds that they won't flourish? (Hmm, perhaps a good theory to test!)





Labels: gardening, inspiration, musing, nature



. But in March of this year, a switch in my inner workings finally flipped on and I found myself calling the Guild for help in learning to weave. A teacher came to my home and spent six hours showing me how to plan a project, measure out the yarns, get them onto the loom, thread the heddles which are attached to the harnesses, "sley" or thread the reed which also is used to beat the weave in place, and finally, to tie the yarns onto the loom where weaving takes place. Oh yes, and then there is the weaving process itself to learn. Making textiles is a complicated process!
eBay earlier this year. There are so many types of looms and I would love to try them all at some point. The rigid heddle loom is different than the floor and table looms that I have been using in that it does not have multiple harnesses that move the heddles up and down to create a complex pattern. The rigid heddle has one reed which keeps the yarns separate, acts as a beater, and is moved up and down to create an opening called a "shed" through which a shuttle is passed, drawing the weft yarns to cross the warp yarns, thus creating a plain over-under weave. On a harnessed loom, the harnesses are moved up and down to create the shed while the reed is used more as a beater. (For more about weaving and looms, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loom, http://mktag.org/projects/cassandraChoosingLoom/content.html, and http://www.fibrecrafts.com/resource/fact_file/looms/types_loom.asp)
What I am weaving:
This combination of yarns is making an interesting texture. I wonder how it will look and feel when washed? 
Labels: crafting, fiber, gardening, handmade, jewelry, weaving