Time flies

I cannot believe it has been so long since I posted to this site. I do however regularly post to the KitchenSnitch. This blog was to keep me motivated to weave. And I did weave a wee bit last year before Woman Song, but… then Christmas happened. Now winter has set in and we are preparing for spring programming at FARRMS. College classes are in full swing and I am expecting my first grandchild in about a month. Wow. While it’s not an excuse for not weaving, it’s the only one I have. Oh wait. There’s the knitting machine. It works super slick, I just am practicing designing on it. I hate to use my good yarn for practice but that’s the only way to learn, and … now I have some stuff to cut up… I’ll get there one day. Weaving fabric was easy because I could sew and design flat patterns. Knitting, well that’s a whole different set of rules. So, off to the salt mines. It snowed and the temperatures have dropped. That adds to the length of the day in warming up cars and moving snow.

Happy New Year – time for cleaning and soup

Who would have thought that there would come a day when people were so disconnected from the land they did not realize where their food comes from?

In our family, it’s all about the food.

One day my daughter said to me, “why is it, all we think about is food?”

I told her, it’s because in our family “food equals love.”

Somehow, what my grandmother taught my mother; my mother taught me; my daughter also gleaned from her surrounding enough of the harvest to begin planting her own seeds of good food, home cooking, recycling and art.

All of the above, of course come with seasoned with creativity and imagination.

 Strangely enough, the skills required to keep a family of 10 or 12 children fed and clothed on a farm have somehow diluted and lost to the point of illusion. In a time when everyone seems to think that food and clothes come from Walmart, I’m thinking to myself, perhaps documenting some of the things we have taken for granted our whole lives might not be such a bad idea.

Mixed in a few old family recipes, some crochet, knit or sewn projects and you see before you the strange mix of my life where, when growing up, “food equaled love.”

Somehow a New Year brings the desire to start off fresh, organized and purged – at least in my studio. I actually have begun the process of cleaning out and attempting to simplify my life. However, when a “normal” person walks into a room lined with wire baskets of yarn, tools and other stuff collected from thrift stores and the river bank, well… the look on their faces says it all.

So after a holiday season of overeating or at least indulging in foods we don’t normally eat on a daily basis, it’s time to think about putting good things in your body and your mind as well.

My freezer had empty ziplock bags. I hate washing them so I just reuse them by keeping them in the freezer. Oh, they are dedicated to holding scraps only. You know the leftover broccoli stems, celery middles and veggies that no longer can be used for eating. There’s also several bags of carcasses from chickens, or turkeys and trimmings from steaks and roasts. When the bags are full, it’s time to make soup stock. And, what better time of the year to make homemade soup than in the dead of winter? Down comes the large silver pot. The pot is filled about halfway with cold water and then the fun begins. Bay leaf and allspice balls join the bones and trimmings for a daylong simmering. Don’t forget to add onion and garlic to the mix. Do not add salt, it’s not time yet… It makes the house smell wonderful. After enough time has passed, it matters not whether you simmer for a day or two, you strain the liquid from the “stuff” and throw the bones away. Then, you allow the broth to cool completely. We put it outdoors on our sun porch. Sometime this morning, I’ll bring it in and scrap all the fat that rises to the top. This makes for a wonderful low fat and flavorful broth. In the next post, we’ll begin to create the soup.

My Aunt Gertrude

How time flies by until the day we leave this earth and find our friends who passed before in some place unknown to those left behind.
Not every family has a tangled family tree like ours, but it was convenient. Instead of scheduling multiple visits to grandparents homes and the like, we all came from nearly the same county and in the case of my cousins, Marion, Janice and Ruby, the same two families. I was nearly in high school before I realized not everyone had the same set of grandparents. We were just special. My mother’s sister and my father’s brother were married – so we had our families in common. It was the stuff that dinner conversations were made of.
My Uncle Art passed away a long time ago, at least 13 if not 14 years ago after a battle with cancer. Some time after that, my Aunt Gertie moved to Bismarck and then slipped into a world of silence, until today. She’s gone to be with Uncle Art and her parents and all those for whom this promise  “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?” was made.
Being a person who saves stuff, I have in my collection of letters, photos and children’s artwork, three things from Aunt Gertie I just couldn’t throw away.  A cutout Christmas card and two letters. I also grabbed a photo of Uncle Art and Aunt Gertie in their Wishek Centennial clothes, complete with a rather bushy beard – Uncle Arts, not Gerties.
True to our nature of recycling – in my mom’s day it was a necessity – the card was cut from a greeting card sent by someone else. The letters were in her own handwriting, and that’s so special. I had planned on making a piece of artwork out of these pieces of paper, but just didn’t want to glue them down or cut them. Now, with technology, I can share a bit of my aunt with everyone and still maintain the integrity of the letters.
One of the letters was written before Art died, but he must have been sick because she talked of the nurse visiting that day. At the very end of the letter she wrote this very meaningful rhyme…
The sun really leaves us early,
the evenings are very long when troubles come and things go wrong,
and days are cheerless and nights we find it so easy to give in to despair
by magnifying the burdens we bear.
It’s been a long time since anyone has really been able to communicate with Aunt Gertie by writing letters or any way like they would like to. If any of you know our family, you know that we love to visit. So it was a difficult situation to not be able to visit with Aunt Gertie. When my mom and her sisters get together they can still visit up a storm.

They missed her all these years, and will miss her still – but now there’s hope that someday we will meet again in heaven and be made whole again. And then there’ll be a lot of catching up to do. In the meantime… we have our memories and faded letters to keep us company.

The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow

What an incredible morning. Yesterday’s snowfall coated the ground with fresh white. Last night’s full moon popped out from behind the hazy sky sometime after 1:30 a.m. And, no… I did not see the eclipse. The moon was full over head and I would have had to step outdoors to see if I could even see it. So I fell asleep and woke again around 4 a.m. It was brilliant outdoors. And, again at 6 a.m. you could see the dips and shelves of snow from yesterday’s snow. If the wind had blown at all, there would be no escaping the house.
But with a few packages to mail and some groceries for our Christmas dinner, I may have to venture out today. It would be a great deal more fun to snow shoe and take pictures, but there’s work to be done first.
Everyone is doing last minute wrapping and mailing and preparing for the weekend. I haven’t had a new outfit for Christmas for some time now and this year is no exception. That was really fun. When the children were little and in the church program, we had to find them something pretty to wear. Oh, wait, I guess boys just wear new, not pretty, clothes. New clothes. How wonderful is that. Dresses with velvet and lace… shiny shoes… ribbons in the hair.
Now, well, we don’t really dress up for church like we used to. But, I am looking forward to services on Friday – candlelight service.
It used to be real candles were lit one from another. There were paper rings to keep the wax from dripping on your hand. The pastor would always warn to not tip the lit candle, but rather the one that didn’t have light.
In our family church until the time I joined a church in Bismarck, we sang the same song after the church when dark and the candles were casting shadows about the faces of young and old alike. Silent Night, in German. No doubt they still sing it in my home county. While I can set the scene in my head, I cannot hear the voices clearly. And, I tried, but can’t really read the words in German the same way. I sure hope those old traditions don’t totally go by the wayside. Many of them have turned to memories. Time to go back to watching the moon for a bit before work. I hope today you have many memories, good memories of Christmas’ past. And, check out that moon.

Countdown to Christmas

Christmas has been going on for some time in the malls and television. Now, it begins for families. We had three gatherings this weekend, and all involved food. So, one has to learn how to pace their consumption. We will be having three celebrations next weekend as well.
It’s starting to quiet down, at the same time, it’s beginning to be Christmas the feeling instead of Christmas the commercial. At least for our family.
We are catching up on Christmas movies. We are investigating recipes that haven’t been prepared for a year and we are feeling closer to our families. It’s great and it’s starting to “feel” more like a season of hope. We are relying on hope, you know. Hebrews 11:1 — Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
Do you have confidence in this season and the promise it brings. Now more than ever, I find my prayers are deeper and more frequent. I have the luxury of  working in quiet and gazing out my window to see a deer walking along the driveway, nosing around for either food or friends. This morning, the sky before the sun was magnificent, painted by the hand of God for all to enjoy. My favorite, the moon has been gaining shape in anticipation of the lunar eclipse on Tuesday. I am hoping to get up and watch it. I can sleep some other time. We must of course, hold on to our cold weather so the sky will remain clear. If it warms up, it may want to snow and then, well, as usual we will miss this great event because of the clouds. Winter gives us such wonderful skies, the stars are so very bright. We have not been privy to the northern lights for some time now. Either they are late in coming each night and we are sleeping or they are disappearing with the change in climate. Our life giving sun is closer to the edge of our horizon at this moment. It will be spectacular – purple, pink, yellow and that grayish blue. It looks like once it clears the cloud on the horizon it will be out all day.
We reminisced a bit about how Christmas used to be. My aunt asked how Grandma could prepare food for everyone without anyone RSVPing. Well, we deduced it was because only those who could, on a rare occasion, NOT be there called her. Otherwise, it was an absolute part of Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve with our own families and then Christmas Day at both of our grandparents homes. We ate, we saw cousins, we opened a few modest gifts. It was a good thing. My grandmother Meidinger always crocheted something for her children. When a grandchild reached a certain age, the Cracker Jacks with a dollar bill taped to the box were reserved for the youngest and we graduated to receiving something crocheted for our future homes. I haven’t thought about that for years.
Now families are spread out over the miles, there’s some extended families through marriage and divorce. It’s complicated. Rather than distress over it all, we just pick a day, any day, and make that Christmas, because as Eric Sevareid says, it’s Christmas, if Christmas is in your heart. This is the week to keep it close to your heart.

The way Christmas used to be – not so long ago

There’s a chunk of driftwood on the top of a set of drawers in the corner of my bedroom. The drawers start out large on the bottom and then narrow towards the top. The drawers are not deep enough for clothes. But there are a few scarves in the larger ones. There’s a basket of junk in one of the middle sized drawers. It’s a nice basket filled with the extra buttons, threads and beads that come with clothing made by fine manufacturers.
It’s a unique piece of furniture. The dark brown wood silhouette resembles the “Dr. Seuss” lamp next to it, on the left. The clay lamp starts out large and chunky, purple and full of holes like Swiss cheese poking out from the inside. The top becomes narrow. It wear a square lampshade like a hat. The lamp, the drawers and a piece of driftwood make up my own little corner.
Last night, the driftwood grew a string of dust. That’ why I noticed it. Forced air heat throws a lot of dust compared to the old clunking radiators I’m used to. So I blew it off. I don’t want to be to rough with the arrangement within the driftwood knot because it’s rather delicate after all these years. It was a Christmas gift – born of the heart and the lack of money given to me a long, long time ago.
I cherished then, I cherish it now.
There was a Christmas, though, about midway between here and now that I almost threw it in the fireplace. But something stopped me. I think it was the wood itself. A large darkened chunk of old wood, wash smooth by the river. There’s a handle of wood coming out from one side like the handle of a small saucepan. The person who gave it to me must have loved that piece of wood and carried home. Since giving someone a chunk of driftwood for Christmas doesn’t seem quite right, he took it to a florist. For a small sum, someone added some dried pods, tiny little cattails, some curly grass and a green stem with tiny green leaves. They are still green after all these years even if the moss at the bottom has faded some.
That winter was very cold. Christmas Eve was no exception. Of course, I went to early services that night. My children were at their dad’s house. One of my friends invited me over. I said that’s okay. Whenever I was home alone on a special occasion I treated myself to whatever expensive goodies I couldn’t afford to buy for the whole family. Besides, why would I want to celebrate my first Christmas alone with a family that seemed so put together. It only reminded me of my loss.
Sometime later that evening I got a call from a friend of mine who said to me, “If you don’t believe, you don’t receive.”
Then he said he’s not going to the late church service because it was too darn cold out. I stayed home that night, but I wasn’t alone. Santa showed up at the door with that piece of driftwood in hand. I’m remembering that was the only gift that Christmas.
It was a tender evening. We didn’t say much, both of us had lost our families that year to divorce. There wasn’t much celebrating, but maybe a bit more healing about the evening.
As I dusted, which later made me sneeze, there was a longing for that kind of Christmas in my life. Uncomplicated, accepting, quiet and filled with hope. A Christmas Eve, dark and simple, decorated with stars. That gift was simply what Christmas is all about.

It’s Christmas

You would think that this is the most wonderful time of the year, but over the years I have learned that that’s simply not true. Christmas stirs up feelings of ghosts of Christmas past; throws financial woes right in your face; and turns a feeling of loneliness into a full-bore private black hole. I wish it wasn’t so.
The shepherds that traveled to Bethlehem were lonely but they had hope in their hearts for something out there beyond what’s happening here on earth.
There are signs of that everywhere. The snow, although it comes with cold and more work, is beautiful. We had two days this week that were breathtaking with hoarfrost and enough sunshine sparkle to delight.
There’s posts all over Facebook and emails being exchanged about this year’s winter solstice. A total lunar eclipse will occur and we will be able to see it. Of course, there’s always the possibility that it will be cloudy, but won’t that be grand. The shortest day of the year and an eclipse together. Who could have planned that?
If you are up before the sun, which isn’t that difficult these days, Venus is brilliant in the southeast sky. Absolutely a jewel. Cold somehow makes those stars shine brighter.
My Christmas cards are going to be late this year because we just couldn’t decide on a cover photo. Of course, the day after we place the order, hoarfrost galore. And, one day last week I went to the kitchen for a cup of coffee and there out the porch window was a buck. We rarely see them in the open. He wandered across the yard and me with my long lens and camera set on timer so I missed him. Bummer.
I walk to the mailbox every morning and coming around the corner scared up at least thirty pheasants, both male and female. The sounds of fluttering and rapid rising to the sky to light in tree tops out of my reach was amazing to say the least.
I know there’s not exactly peace on earth. Every family has its woes, mine included. In fact, mine has been particularly full of hardship this month; but life is beyond what we see or do here. We have to have hope and faith because without that … there is no point to life is there.
One final thought. I have been getting the yays and nays when it comes to my Kindle. An early Christmas present. HOWEVER, the first book I downloaded was the Bible. So now I have a copy with me at all times. Searchable and highlightable and postable, I’m thinking that’s very cool. That book holds the promise of an earth that once was Eden and to Eden it will return. I’ll get to see my grandparents again. I think of them around this time of year as I do my entire family.
So, step outdoors and take a look at the sky. There’s hope in winter.

Good Winter Food

Yummy.

Who says you can’t eat local in December? Not I said the ant who worked very hard during the summer months storing up food for the long cold winter.

It became winter officially this weekend with out first real snowfall. It’s beautiful with all the spruce trees holding up the snowflakes, at least until the wind blows. Fortunately for us, it has not.

We received a gift of fresh baked bread this weekend. Since I worked on Friday evening and Saturday, I ate out – something that I do not like to do for long periods of time. So even though I was a bit tired on Sunday, I had to have some real food. So I made a wonderful beef stew – with the exception of the spices and a can of Campbells, it was all local ingredients… served with locally made bread.

I browned some chunks of round steak – from a beef raised near Oakes on the Wagner farm. Then, I added some onion and garlic, oh and celery. I did not raise the celery, so I guess that makes two ingredients in addition to the spices. But, it was leftover from Thanksgiving’s relish tray, so it was prudent to use it.

Next came a jar of home-canned tomatoes and a can of Cream of Mushroom Soup; some salt and pepper, a dash or two of Worcheshire Sauce and half a pint of mean-green tomato relish – simmer a bit and move that to a large casserole dish. Then I added carrots and potatoes to the mix and placed it in the oven for two hours at 350 degrees. It was delightful and the perfect supper paired with bread and butter and a fire in the fireplace.

All my mittens and hats are gone, donated and given away, I’m on a quest to clean out my stash and get more things done for a potential show or two next summer. I’m working on an idea for a funky spring scarf idea and hat for my husband who claims I do not make him anything. Truth be told, he never wears the socks, mittens or hats I have made him over the years… so I quit doing that… but I’m trying again. I may get it right this time.

I emptied my shelves and restocked them, just to see what is hidden there. I have a treasure trove of wonderful fiber and not enough time to create. With that being said, it’s off to what appears to be an incredible busy week. So I best be at it…Enjoy the wonderful winter weather. And, I have to mix up some cookie dough this afternoon, so I’m planning a “hands” video, keep an eye out for it.

Sometime in the ‘80s when businesses were converting to computers for email, documents and other functions _ yes, before the advent of the Internet, my friend Ken bought his first personal computer. Now what would you want a computer for? I asked. “I’m going to put my recipes on the it,” he said. Sure, that would make sense, they would be easier to find and they would stay clean. You could print one out any time and share it. I just wasn’t convinced. I was really offended when Ken predicted that someday newspapers would be read on the computer. You see, we both worked for a newspaper. Lo and behold, we are both still reading and both reading online _ This Christmas I received an early gift. A Kindle. It’s beautiful. It’s exciting. I have yet to download a book, but it isn’t Christmas yet and I like to savor things like this. Adopt them slowly. There are people out there who know how much I love books. I can rattle off titles of my favorites, recommend authors and when I find a fellow book lover that recommends books, I write them down in my little black notebook. But you love books. I do love books. The smell, the feel, the weight, papers, colors, book jackets_ I am patiently waiting for my new library/living room. It’s in the works, but not quite there yet. In the meantime I have 12 or so boxes of books stashed in the closet. The day I get to put those on shelf will be like Christmas times ten. I’m not going to quit buying books. I am imagining instead being able to read twice as many books every month because I will also have one with me. I mourn the day that paper goes away. When I was a child I lived for paper. My earliest memory is of a wedding in the Fredonia church – I collected all the wrappings and ribbons and boxes and made a train of paper to entertain myself. I was always on the lookout for graph paper. That was in limited supply. We also didn’t have many crayons or pencils. And now, are there any children out there that want for paper and color in their lives. Probably not. It is abundant, and has become a nuisance dealing with all the paper that arrives in the mail every day. I guess my only redeeming grace is that I know how to make paper, crude at best, but paper nonetheless and I have an abundant supply of cattail reeds and other grasses, so in the future I may have to make my own to pen a letter to my friend. Of course that would be assuming that the mail carriers still transport my love and thoughts across the miles by way of blue-uniformed men and women. It must be time to write my Christmas letter.
On a side note…

My daughter and I were in Hobby Lobby the other day and saw this magazine on the stands near the checkout counters… Lo and behold, I said, “That’s my scarf.” I’m still so very excited about the fact that my pattern was used as the cover shot on this magazine. So, if you are in Hobby Lobby take note of my 15 minutes of fame. It still gives me the thrill that will get ‘ya when you get ‘ya picture on the cover of the Rolling Stone. I won’t get into that at the moment… I’ll save that for next time… over the weekend after Thanksgiving I knitted or crocheted about four mitten and hat sets… sold most of my fingerless gloves and therefore I have the means to make more… enjoy this beautiful day.

The weekend after Thanksgiving

According to the comments made at Thanksgiving dinner, I’m behind in getting my Christmas tree up this year. Hmmm. Traditionally, the Sunday after Thanksgiving, I went to the attic and dug out boxes and boxes of old German glass ornaments, glass beads, hand blown icicles and popcorn garlands. That’s correct. I could never get my family too into stringing popcorn and therefore I save the strands from year to year. In fact, I would guess the popcorn in my now crawlspace/basement is at least 15, if not 20 years, old.
Then we would have a party. After decorating the tree, there would be shrimp, crackers, smokies, cheese and fruit. We would also try eggnog. Personally, I LOVE EGGNOG. But, my children weren’t quite sure about it.
That was a what seems a long time ago. Now, they are grown and putting up their own trees. My antique ornaments are carefully stored in the crawlspace. Instead, I spent the afternoon putting up my Grinch tree. Not that we are Grinches, but it is the color of the Grinch himself, who sits below the tree and heralds “They couldn’t stop Christmas at all, it came, somehow it came just the same,” when you pinch his hand.
It’s not quite the same, but I need a place to put my Christmas presents, not that I have purchased any yet. It’s getting difficult to buy things for people who have everything.
That includes me.
I’m interested in yarn and needles, books and paper, beads and string. I also enjoy handmade soap and books, coffee and tea.
My Grinch tree is adorned with little colorful shiny balls, not antique by any means, and Christmas spiders. We made spiders on Thanksgiving and I acquired three more for my tree, a somewhat ulterior motive for the spider-making session with our Thanksgiving guests. So, here it is so close to December you can hear it on today’s wind – a photo of the magical Grinch tree, sans gifts, and a close up of a Christmas spider. So much fun. We had so much fun on Thanksgiving and we polished off most of the leftovers giving me time to knit and crochet up a storm — two baby hats, two baby gloves, and two adult mitten and hat sets in some funky fluffy yarn. I’ll post those photos when I have more time. Today it’s back to work….

Beaded spider ornament