Garden & Herbs

After a whirlwind month of finding new tenants (not planned), being sick (not planned), winter camping and family visiting (planned) and Laurent's birthday (anticipated but not so much planned) I feel, having turned the corner into March, I can finally breathe deep again. And return, if only for a couple weeks till the next set of family arrives for a visit, to my normal at-home schedule.

But my routine isn't just going back to the way it was, it's changing and moving forward.

I don't usually pick words or themes for my months, creatively or otherwise, but I definitely have a word for this month.

Re-evaluate.

Funny thing is, I had a word for last March also that I arrived at after an equally difficult February (what is it with out-of-control Februaries anyway?). The word for March 2009 was re-group.

This year I'm not just pulling things back together though, I'm re-thinking and making adjustments based on new creative directions we're moving as family.

One of our big projects is the integration of ADVENTUREinPROGRESS and FIMBY. This is an exciting undertaking with far reaching potential if we're able to carry it through to what we've dreamed.

You need not worry about content changing here. I love this little space and love the freedom to share whatever I want about my life, the Fun In My Back Yard. What I'm sharing here won't change but hopefully the audience for this blog will grow and with it the potential for my writing to support our family's endeavors.

In light of this creative undertaking and other goals we hope to accomplish I find myself in a season of re-evaluating. Although this is my word for March I'm sure this process will continue through spring and beyond.

Change takes time.

Specifically here a few things I'm re-evaluating in my life:

• On-line "commitments".

I am encouraged by other mommy bloggers who are also thinking about the hours they spend on-line and re-evaluating how to better spend their precious time.

This is a difficult line to walk, especially if you are trying to build a name for yourself as a writer, crafter, photographer - whatever. My own purposes in blogging have moved beyond creative expression, though that remains a large part of it. I have professional goals and using the computer as a tool and connecting with an on-line network of people is an important part of this picture.

• Our stuff.

For years we've been trying simplify our lives and our belongings but now we want to take it a little further. Last month we tackled our dishes but we still have more to do in our kitchen. Q: If you only use an electric coffee maker (I use a small french press for myself) once every 6 months do you really need to own one?





But the big project for this month is to re-evaluate children's stuff. Clearing out the girl's room so my dad could paint in there was a real eye opener. Right now the goal is to get everyone (ahem Brienne) on board. Then we purge and put back together the room with hopefully a lot less clutter under the bed and in the closet.

• The garden.

With all the other creative work going on in my life right now I've had no desire to plan the garden; whereas I usually have spreadsheets and diagrams started by this time. I'm re-evaluating my gardening goals for this summer and deciding that this will be the year of mostly pretty perennials and I'll rely on our farm share and farmer's markets for our summer produce.

As it was, my harvest from last year was so pitiful I have no strong desire to repeat that failed endeavor. I'll still plant some easy crops like spring peas and summer must-haves like tomatoes but I'm going to mostly enjoy the perennials beds I've built in years past and spend time maintaining instead of building. Building gardens takes a lot of creative energy that I don't have to give this time 'round.

So that's where it's at. After a month of just trying to keep home and hearth together I'm ready this month to move forward in changes; mentally, creatively and spatially.

What changes are you making these days?

Photo taken last fall as I was brewing this on my windowsill.

On the mend now thanks to sick soup, lots of love, rest, garlic oil and elderberry tea.

Elderberry tea recipe: To one cup of hot water or basic herbal tea like peppermint add a couple spoons of elderberry juice concentrate, a couple spoons of echinacea tincture and 1/2- 1 tsp of powdered slippery elm bark (if your throat is feeling raw).

You don't want to store herbs in the sun but it makes for a prettier picture.

This particular brew is lacking slippery elm or you'd see "floaties" in the cup.

I'm limiting myself to 3 sentence posts till the end of February but feel free to ask questions or add your own remedies in comments.

It's been a whirl of creative activity around our house these days. Everyone, daddy included, is crafting. Please forgive my frequent posting (right on through the weekend even) but I'm excited to share it all; the photography, the ideas, the creative energy. It's a wonderful season for the Tougas family.

A few of the items I've been making are Christmas decorations from the kitchen. Nothing new, no doubt, but very easy and hopefully a bit of inspiration for your own project(s).

1. Dried pepper garland

I got the idea for this after watching our beautiful orange, red and green peppers from the farm sit unused (the kids don't like spicy food) and dry up on the window ledge. After seeing what lovely light lanterns they became when held up to the sunlight I decided to buy a few habeneros from the produce market (on purpose) to dry in the dehydrator.

I made two garlands. One with the original farm peppers on twisted red, golden and green embroidery floss that is strung on the tree. Below, Celine holds it up to the sunlight that was reflected off our neighbor's window in the early morning. That photo is all natural, no computer tricks or presets (catching the light like that makes me swoon).

For the other garland I used the dried haberneros and golden embroidery floss coated with beeswax to make the garland a bit stiffer. To do so I dribbled a bit of melted wax on and rubbed in with my fingers. This one hangs on my kitchen window (attached to the window behind the valence with none other than... beeswax) catching the morning sun. I love it!

The cool thing about this decoration is that it will last through the winter and isn't exclusively "christmasy".

2. Dried oranges garland

This garland is even easier, if that's actually possible, than the peppers. I dried orange slices in our dehydrator but you could use an oven on low for several hours and get a similar result I'd imagine.

Once dried they sat in jars for a month or so just looking pretty. Then last week Celine and I strung them onto fancy "eyelash" yarn that was in our stash. You could use any yarn or ribbon you'd like. We liked the "tinsel" effect of this yarn.

You can see it pictured below on the tree, the red one blends in a bit more but the yellow strand really pops out.

3. More inspiration from the kitchen

• Of course the perennial from-the-kitchen favorite is popcorn and cranberries. This year I'm taking a break from this stand-by.
• 5 Orange Potatoes recently posted a cinnamon "cookie" decoration. I recall making these in years past, oh they smell so good!
• I loved this easy cranberry-bunt pan advent wreath from Small Notebook.
• My friend Spring (her real name, don't you love it?) made this snow garland which is not exactly from her kitchen but it is hanging in her kitchen, that counts. It requires a couple supplies but looks sweet and easy.

4. Kitchen related notes

I wanted to point you to this post I wrote last December about roasting chestnuts. Also, a couple people asked about the ganache Damien made me. Well, that recipe is top secret (I've been too lazy to ask him for it on your behalf) but you can always make these decadent, yet healthy, chocolate truffles.