Naked Root Beer Break

We are officially back into the good old fashioned farm fun business!

We are able to catch our breath this beautiful Saturday afternoon thanks to all of the folks who helped us move and start some home improvement projects during the past two weeks.

Thanks, people!

We've torn out carpet, sanded floors, removed wallpaper, taken down paneling and even a wall. There are new chicks peeping in the barn. We've been harvesting rhubarb, nettles, and asparagus. There is a garden plot with new raspberry bushes, chard, kale, basil, herbs, and tomatoes. There's another garden plot with squash, pumpkins, cucumbers, zucchini, and melons. We have plans to invest in a tractor on Monday. My studio is again up and running, and Peter is studying away for the bar exam. Phew.

We are hungry and tired and ready for the next thing.

I can see why you're supposed to keep your stress levels down during pregnancy. I have been worn out nearly every day during the past month so I'm hoping things soon get, well, boring. Decisions like which lawn mower to buy are enough to send me over the edge. It's frustrating to "take it easy" when there is so much to do. But wow, even an hour of planting or weeding and I am shot. Freddy and I have been taking lots of breaks, though I haven't had a naked root beer break yet.

Chicks!

Runnings, our local farm store, won't have chicks for that much longer so we decided to just jump right in and buy 12 last weekend. Inside our milk house there are four each of Barred Rock, Aracauna, and Production Red chickens running around in Fredrik's kiddy pool. The plan is to get a coop built (by sectioning off part of the milk house with a little chicken door to the outdoors) this weeked (or next it is seeming).

Freddy wasn't 100% about the chicks. Their feet were too "pokey."

Tom's Thumbs

A million months ago I drew some drawings for Mike Van Auken from Forest City, IA. They are now printed in a children's book called , "Tom's Thumbs."

It was a fun and challenging project. The biggest challenge for me was finding the time to get into the creative zone. I'm racing around here with a mile-long to-do list every day, sometimes I have 7 0r 8 subcategories of ideas and tasks scrawled into my journal. It's absurd, but things do eventually get finished.

The Tom's Thumbs drawings were eventually in the "done" category and then it was just finding the best file formats for blurb.com. Mike used Blurb to publish the book which are for sale at blurb, or contact me and I can hook you up with a 7"x7" paperback copy for $15.

You can page through the digital version of the book here. (Click on preview the book).

HOUSE NEWS!

We are officially still buying a farm on a lake. We have been jumping through hoops since we are using the USDA Rural Development program for our financing. What a surprise that getting a federal loan for real estate would be so hard! Things are set for May 20th. We're going to work on a few projects for a week then move on the 27th. That seems like a long time to me, which is ridiculous, I know. I should be packing but I still have some work to do in my studio. But really, after that I need to start packing boxes. REALLY.

We're also killing some "extra" time by starting some seeds for our big vegetable garden at the farm.

Here's my helper with some of our seeds. We reused some produce clamshells from the co-op since we're doing smallish amounts of things. They look nice. Real nice. T'would be nice to get them outside when the snow stops. Groan.

Lastly, a photo by Fredrik. He also took a picture of his sister, which was a very flashy picture of my shirt that looked like white light, so it didn't make it to the world wide web.

Commissions

I've had a few commissions lately that resulted in some very interesting books. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, commissions are really fun. I love working with other people's visions. It's challenging and I always learn a thing or two.

"P" Book: 10x12 coptic bound with collaged P.

Wish Book for the Clay Coyote Gallery: I used a screw posts for this one, so the pages will be refillable. It's a new binding style. It worked well and I well use it again. The pages are lettered in the upper corner. I used "carbon" paper with the Papyrus font (there logo uses that font) and prismacolor pencils.

5x7 Wedding Album: A sweet little guest book for a wedding. I used watercolor pencils for the names on the first page.

10x12 Swirl and Star Album: This one was sent off this morning. It was a fun project. I love the heft of the 10x12 books, I use two boards for each cover. Thanks, customers!

March is Lame and Food is Good

March is the worst month of the year.

It's so long.

It plays with your emotions.

The warmish thaws, the jubilation of going on a long leisure walk outside without a winter coat, all that squashed, the next day, with a big dump of snow.

Depression and hibernation, welcome back.

Usually Peter starts to beg about moving somewhere warmer in January, I can hold out until March and then I'm the one checking the forecast in, say, Mexico. But really, I would be happy if I could just spend Jan-March there.

That's all.

Then we can move back to good ol' Lake Wobegon.

This was just on Saturday!!!

I refused to leave the house today, so Fredrik and I cooked and baked and painted and colored and puzzled and read and on and on, so many things. It may seem obvious and cliche, but I've recently discovered the creative satisfaction I get from cooking. As days go by and I don't have time or energy to work in my studio I start to feel a little dreary. I then find myself spending more time in the kitchen, and even feel a little upbeat. Even with this weather a pleasant mood came about.

Today we made a yellow cake. Now, I know it's going to sound really pathetic having just talked about how creative I am in the kitchen, but I've had this gluten free Betty Crocker cake mix in my cupboard for over a year and I wasn't about to head out to the grocery store to get any ingredients - and I'm already thinking about depleting our food reserves since we'll be moving in less than 2 months- so that's what we made. Plus, I AM baking with a 3 year old.

The cake turned out fine. A little sawdusty, but still reminiscent of "real" box cake mixes (if I can remember correctly back to the last funeral I attended when I was still eating gluten). I think it was all the vanilla. But, despite the lack of great flavor, it had a good texture, and that's a feat with GF.

I knew the boxed yellow cake would have to be saved by frosting, and we only have this supposedly healthy sugar in the house (turbinado I think) which seemed not very likely to work. Doesn't one usually use powdered sugar for frosting? I thought about pulverizing the sugar in the cusinart, but didn't want to go to such a length for frosting. Also, we were almost out of butter thanks to the full stick in the cake.

So, I heated a double boiler, added about 3/4 cup chocolate chips, a few scoops of peanut butter, and a little whole milk. It was good, actually. And quick. Fredrik helped spread (eat) it and it tasted like melted peanut butter cups. We ate the cake later with banana slices which was really really tasty.

For lunch we had another "creative" adventure. Chicken and Rice. Seriously, I'm so darned creative. My little sister was telling me how she makes chicken and rice regularly and I thought, hmmm, I've never made that. I don't know how you are supposed to make it, but I just did it, and it was good and FGH ate it like it was the finest meal ever served in this house (besides raw cake batter).

I did it all on the stove top in my beautiful Cazuela pot from the Clay Coyote, which, may I say was a huge splurge that I do not regret at all. It's pottery for the stove top, hello! It just makes food taste better. Especially things like chicken and rice. I mean, really, cooking in metal or glass? Try artisnal flameware pottery.

I'm guessing most chicken and rice recipes ask for some sort of canned soup. I used vegetable boullion instead. And brown rice. I'm not a stickler for brown rice, but it was good here. I threw in some chopped onions and celery and dried herbs, than 4 chicken breasts and later, with about 15 minutes to go, I topped it all with broccoli. Last time I made it I covered it with carrot sticks. I think we will get four meals out of this and it was one pot, pretty much no mess at all.

Farm to City to Farm (and Lake)

It's official!

We are moving back to the country.

In two months we'll be packing up for farm living outside of Hanska, MN, just 14 miles south of New Ulm. The past two weeks have been a blur of driving, researching, planning, strategizing, budgeting, and stressing. This is Peter and my third real estate purchase in our 9 years together, and I think we fretted the most about this one. Getting older makes you wiser and more of a worrier, I guess.

So, yeah.

This summer we'll be:

1. Moving to a new community

2. Starting a new job (Peter)

3. Planning a new farm business

4. Having a Baby

5. Living without any income for 3 months

This new place is just gorgeous, 10 acres on a lake! The house is 115 years old, but it's been updated (to a point). There is plenty of room for home improvement projects, but nothing major. I'm thinking a few coats of paint, a few less layers of wallpaper, and removal of (cat) hairy carpet will make everything just dandy.

As for the outdoors, I'm going to get organic certification started (there is a 3 year transition period), some perennials in the ground, and some chickens in the barn. But that's it. Well, a big garden for ourselves. But really, we'll have too much going on to do more. But it would be nice to put up a hoop house. Oh, lord.

New Listings and French Country Kitchens

At last I have put a few more things into my shop! Aye!

Nothing too exciting, some brag books -which I had said I would make no more of, yes, but they are so highly sought after that I had to churn some out. Though I probably won't become a millionaire (please read that word like Regis used to say it) they are quite enjoyable to make. The sewing aspect actually gets my sewing machine out, which I love, and it continues to sit out since I have a creative urge to work on other projects big and small (ADD?).

I also have a couple more leather book keychains in my shop which would make a good little valentine gift.

In may spare time I have been house hunting with Peter. We have looked at quite a few farmhouses between New Ulm and St. Peter. All of them are very different making this project super frustrating and exhausting. It seems farmsteads can go many ways.

1. They can remain somewhat close to how they began, a humble home with a big kitchen and really thin windows.

2. They can get torn down by a tornado and a new efficient (and expensive) home will be set in it's place.

3. They can be remodeled so many times that you don't know what the heck is going on anymore. Some homes are houses added to other houses.

They're all different distances from nearby towns which makes them even harder to compare.

So, I have been focusing mostly on the land since I hope to once again make some money growing things from the ground. One place has the most darling chicken coop which immediately makes me want to move in. Fredrik needs to be chasing chickens.

Some of the homes, the ones in the categories not involving a tornado, are a bit of blank slate as far as decorating which jars my brain out of living-in-a-rental mode and into obsessively looking at "French Country" websites.

I was very happy to today figure out that "French Country" is my home decor style of choice (I have a category!). It took many looks at Ikea, Home Depot, and other such sites before I figured out French Country. I just don't love modern and modern just looks strange in an old farmhouse, I think. Plus, the few pieces of furniture we now have (thanks, mom!) will fit right into this genre.

I'm really jumping the gun by researching flooring and heating systems, but, I figured the time will soon be upon us when these decisions will be necessary and I will try not to be overwhelmed. Plus, it's fun.

Flooring! I looked through all these options on the home depot site, just to realize that anything I like is about $7/sq. foot. Yikes. Then I was brought back to our home in Superior where we stripped the floor down, layer by layer, staple by freaking staple, and it was a lovely wood floor. Better yet, I LOVE the painted floor look so this is what I will opt for if the opportunity arrises. Though French Country floors are usually stone or tile, I can't afford that, and painted wood is also very popular with furniture, so why not floors?

Example from this Design Sponge before and after:

I would live here, yes. I love the ceiling, and chandelier, and fireplace, and the table, though I would probably opt for an island since it's a good height for...cooking.

And here for sure. Pots must hang. Plants, wood, wine...

and here (in Provence) with the herbs and dried things, thick butcher block, bottles upon bottles of oils and vinegars, and that wood under the island - is that liming? I always like that.

French Country decorating philosophy requires the kitchen to be as big as possible, since life revolves around cooking and eating, and you are either cooking, eating, or sitting in the kitchen trying to be close to the action of someone else's cooking. Cooking pots, pottery, ingredients, etc. are also in plain view most of the time, for ease of use. And, to show off your fancy stuff. Agreeable!

Good Gravy

Every time I open up my computer I stare at my blog, and if I have to look at that photo of Santa for another week I think I might go crazy. Is that a good enough reason to type a paragraph or two? No. But here goes. Out with 2010 already.

January is the new year and my birthday month, so even when I try to belittle the marker of the changing calendar year and be somewhat against the notion of making resolutions I still seem to always have a bit of a reflective and planning-ahead-for-the-future type of month.

I had an exciting and prosperous year with Swirling Tree. I created a lot of work and I don't have much left in my inventory. I had some good shows in the summer, fall, and winter, including an impromptu little event in the Mpls skyway in December which was a lot of fun.

Etsy was busy and I'm thankful for all of my customers.

Good stuff.

I'm taking a little breather now, mostly since I don't really have the time and energy to work. I am playing around with some new (non-book form) work and I'm trying out some other techniques but my stress level has gone down to about a zero so I would have to say I'm not super motivated. I'm spending more time cleaning the house and trying to reorganize all of our stuff. Where did all come from? This house is so small!

Above that we're house hunting and I'm toying with some farm-type endeavors for after we move back to rural America. I'm planning on attending the MOSES conference in February, a great place for farmer types to learn new things and congregate. More on the farm ideas later. They aren't even quite half-baked yet, more like an eighth baked.

House hunting is miserable. I'm guessing many more listings will be coming about as we near spring, but if anyone has a 10 acre or so parcel of land with a decent home on it let me know!