Chocolate Box Cottage Diary, Volume 2
Week 43: October 29, 2022

This week brought a huge blessing in the shape of a quilt, made especially for me by my Mom’s best friend, Joy. I already refer to it as the hymn quilt because the floral-framed blocks contain lines from old hymns ad songs we sang in church when I was growing up. I can hear my Dad’s voice in my mind singing Amazing Grace and I cannot describe what a comfort this is. He has been gone nearly 20 years and I will miss him so!

The hymn quilt is large enough for both Sam and me to cuddle under on the couch and already feels like it “belongs.”

I am a quilt maker and I appreciate all the love and effort that goes into the making of a quilt. The fact that Joy would make one for ME is amazing. And in the picture below, you can see she made TWO hymn quilts! One for me and one for her, which makes it even more special.

“This is my story. This is my song. Praising my Savior, all the day long!” This lovely quilt provides so many reminders that I know will bring me comfort in the years ahead.

Joy brought lunch to “my” weekly tea at Mom’s. I say “my” because I am the one who brings lunch! It was nice to have a a break from preparing the food and just enjoy the company. The fact that she gave me a quilt was the icing on the cake. This week Mom was especially delighted when four granddaughters joined us: Alyssa, Savannah, Miriam, and Amelia.

Sam’s projects

Garden gems

My hard-working man wheel-barrowing firewood from wood shed to house.

The garden is quietly winding down for the season. Winter squash have been harvested along with the last of the tomatoes, tomatillos, peppers, zucchini, and cucumbers. Cheerful little Red Gem marigolds are still blooming, plus a few others.

The teepee was a surprise star in the garden this year. Mayo bule gourds, cover the bulk of the willow pole frame and if you look closely you might be able to see a few large gourds peeping between the leaves, including one resting on a chair. There are also Heavenly Blue and Candy Pink morning glories and cinnamon vine growing vertically, with nasturtiums and herbs clustering around the “skirt.”

Mayo Bule gourds in all their green glory. Ranging from 8.5-11 inches (22-28 cm) high with belly measurements (circumference) of 23-28 inches (59-71 cm) these beauties are smaller than those I harvested from the garden of our previous home, but are still quite respectable. Gourds will cure to tan or gold.

A closer look, so you can appreciate their peanut-like warts and the way the light glistens on their skin.

I have made quite a fuss over Sadie and her ducklings; here is a picture of dad Sylvester with the little dumplings. They are sprouting tail feathers now!

You’ve met Lavender, my garden hen before. Her leg was broken in a stampede of small chickens and I separated her to give her a chance to heal. I wasn’t sure she would ever be able to walk, but within a 4 weeks she was attempting to put a little weight on that leg and by 10 weeks she was walking fairly well. After a few rain showers, I decided it was time for Lavender to rejoin the flock for the winter. It would be selfish of me to keep her separate.

I set Lavender in the henhouse early one morning while it was still dark to give her the best chance of integrating without being picked on. She stayed in all day, sitting by the food and water. Good – this gave her a chance to imprint with the henhouse and recognize it as “home.”

The next morning she filed out of the henhouse along with the rest of the chickens and I was glad for her. Success was unfortunately short-lived. Soon a commotion was heard in the henyard and when I went to check, Lavender was gone. I tramped all over the hen yard and pasture, even the swampy areas, in my muck boots, to no avail. I could see no sign of her.

And then, I saw this: a clump of lavender-gray feathers. My heart sank, because I knew what it meant.

Preserving

Still working on the second box of Paragon pears. I used a vintage apple slicer to core and slice a mountain pears. What I especially like about this handheld slicer is that the coring circle is very narrow, wasting little fruit. It also cuts fruit in 12 slices rather than 8, which is a better fit for the space between trays of my Excalibur dehydrator.

Cores from several batches of Vanilla Laced Pear Jam were used to start a new jar of fruit vinegar. The last of the elderberries went into another jar for elderberry vinegar. I stir both jars daily twice and am looking forward to tasting these gourmet fruit vinegars.

Bookshelf

Olwes Miaken’s Creatures is my new favorite sourdough book. Diana Brüggemann, who happens to be a friend of mine in Germany, corralled her menagerie of “creatures” (sourdough starters) into a book! Covering 20 distinct sourdough creatures, some of which aren’t even sour, you will enjoy getting to know each one of them and seeing what they can do. 

The book is nicely organized and well formatted, making it easy to read. It is full of great recipes for bread and other baked goodies. Diana even shows you how to swap one type of starter for another and offers tasty ideas for ways to use “discard,” a useless term since she doesn’t advocate throwing anything away. No, no – you’ll start your own Monster Mash jar as soon as you get this book, trust me!

Note this post contains links to products and shops I use and appreciate. Some are affiliates, some are not. Thank you for supporting my writing and these businesses!

Blessings,
Michele

Chocolate Box Cottage Diary, Volume 2

Week 19: May 14, 2022

We are establishing an herb garden this year, which will provide plants for tea, medicine, crafts, and enjoyment. When I feel fancy I call it my Apothecary Garden.

I struggled a bit, no, a lot, in planning the herb garden. Enclosed by a board fence and measuring 37×31 feet, is a generous space. I still don’t have a firm plan. I’ve have decided to be okay with that, to allow inspiration and curiosity to shape the garden. It will probably be messy the first few years, but in time I trust it will become what it wants to be and I will enjoy stewarding it.

I discovered a few herbal treasures to add to the herb garden today at the first ever Growers and Crafters Market in our community including a variegated willow with cream and pink leaf tips and an upright form of Oregon grape. Thank you, Maura! Meanwhile, Jenna raised 2 1/2 flats of herb seedlings for me, to order. Lucky me! I brought home a jar of crystal clear dandelion jelly Cynthia Gibson made and Sam and I enjoyed some scrumptious baked treats too.

Small but especially fragrant Original Poet’s daffodils bloom later than other daffodils, for a nice change. Garden tools are at the ready on the back wall of the greenhouse. The Peace roses went in the herb garden first. I am so anticipating their peachy scent for bouquets and potpourri!

The greenhouse is brimming with plants! Zloty Lan, favorite chamomile variety for tea, grown from seeds outdoors using the winter sowing method.

The next tree destined for firewood: a dead, standing Douglas fir tree. I have my eye on the second tree, also a Douglas fir. It is “decorated” with a bonanza of resin. Next time I will bring a suitable container for collection. Close-up of fir resin, useful for drawing salves, beeswax wraps, and more.

We brought home another load of firewood and the snow is gone. There will be mushrooms soon, and trilliums are just starting to show delicate flower faces.

Can you see it? View from Sam’s grader. One of four coyotes Sam’s crew spotted on Little Applegate road one day while grading the road.

This week I pulled out the Bosch Universal mixer and made a big batch of Whole Wheat Buttermilk Bread. I shared my family’s favorite recipe in this video, which included all my treasured tips and breadbaking wisdom. If you own a Bosch or are considering one, give this recipe a try. It might become your family’s favorite, too.

One of the tips I shared in the video is to weigh the dough for even sized loaves of bread. Scale is a KD-8000.

Plump loaves of Old Fashioned Buttermilk Bread, otherwise known as Whole Wheat Buttermilk Bread, made with freshly ground whole wheat flour and homemade buttermilk.

Beef Goulash, a pantry meal made with home-canned tomatoes, dehydrated diced zucchini (instead of pasta), herbs, frozen corn, and local ground beef. Topped with cheese, Beef Goulash is fast food at our house.

Homemade buttermilk ad sour cream from local raw milk.

Happy moments with Mom and my sister Marti on Mother’s Day!

My Mother’s Day gift from Sam was a Clementine orange tree, several small herbs, and 3 rolls of chicken wire. The wire will be used to reinforce the garden fence so I can keep our little elderly (and deaf) dog in the garden with me. I could ask for nothing better – except to have all my kids with me! Miriam went to church with us this morning, knowing there could be no better gift.

Spring interrupted is appreciated even more and we are grateful for the much-needed rain and snow we received in the past month. Trees, grass, plants are all sporting the flashiest shade of green!

How are things in your corner of creation?

Blessings,

Michele

Chocolate Box Cottage Diary, Volume 2

Week 16: April 23, 2022

We are fortunate to live on the sunny side of the mountain, so the snow has vanished from our yard, and we had a week of rain.

Everything is green and growing. The lilacs and tulips are finally deciding to bloom, which mean (I hope!) spring is here to stay, after 2 false starts.

Follow along with us this sweet sixteenth week of April as we celebrate Easter, get firewood the old fashioned way, and come across interesting finds in the forest.

We celebrated Easter at a brand new church in our little town, Refuge Church. Our pastor Dennis Mortimore decided the best way to welcome the new church was to join forces and celebrate together, which made the day extra joy-filled. We love our church family and are looking forward to our two community churches being twin beacons of hope based on the work of Jesus!

Apricot Cream Sponge Cake for Easter, made with duck eggs and home-canned local apricots.

Miriam invited a friend for lunch, but somehow I didn’t get a picture of anything but dessert, which was Apricot Cream Sponge Cake. We “desserted” well this week, photographic evidence attests.

Dessert again? Not the same day, I promise! Whole Wheat crepes stuffed with fresh strawberries and whipped cream.

Salmon Chowder made with leftover Easter salmon. Chowder is a grand sleight of hand that turns bits of leftovers into a fresh new meal fit for a king.

I had the pleasure of a brief visit with my nephew, Garrison Hill, who does complex film animation work.

And it being spring, means Sam is thinking of next winter, so off to the woods we went on Saturday for firewood. Load #2 is split and heaped outside the woodshed, waiting for spare moments to stack.

Sam falls a dead, standing Douglas fir tree within the USFS prescribed distance from the road. Once limbs have been removed with a chainsaw, Sam cuts the fir log in rounds that are a good length to fit in our wood stove. He does all of this by eye, having been taught by his stepdad, Jay, who is a retired timber faller.

While Sam cuts the log into rounds, I forage for usnea, pale green lichens that grow like spiderwebs on tree branches, and cling to tree trunks.

Usnea is slow-growing and precious, though abundant here in the Northwestern US. Instead of pulling it from trees, I look for fallen usnea on the snow; it is nice and clean that way.

I will tincture some for its antibiotic properties and since it is plentiful enough, I mulch outdoor potted plants with it as well.

Time to start rolling log rounds. See my gloved hand there on a log round? Michele rolls the cut rounds down the snowbank to the road for Sam to split at the back of the truck. They are heavy, easily 200 pounds.

Sam splits fir rounds the old fashioned way, with a splitting maul and wedge. He visually evaluates each round to locate its weak point, where it will split with the fewest strikes, and places a solid stainless steel wedge there. A few, or sometimes only one, swings, and the round gives way with a popping sound like a ripe watermelon when it cracks open.

Then, depending on size, the resulting halves are further split into stove wood, pieces that will fit in the wood stove. Splitting wood efficiently is definitely an art, and one the Sam is skilled in.

Once split, we throw the pieces up in the truck bed – not too hard. The bed is protected by a liner, thankfully.

Michele stacks the wood tightly, also an art. It must be stacked in such a way that the pieces of wood lock each other in, so the load does not shift when we drive home. No longer a wood stacking rookie, Sam says I have progressed to journeyman wood stacker. In fact, Sam says I can pack more wood in the truck than he does, which I take as a high compliment!

Hmmm….

More meandering bear tracks in the snow.

Elk scat! We are in large animal country; bears, elk, deer, mountain lions live here.

Back home with a full load of wood, we deal with a few sheep who seem to have figured out how to let themselves into the yard for superior snacking.

So glad you could join us this sweet sixteenth week of April!

Blessings,

  Michele

PS. Want to read about another, very different week at Chocolate Box Cottage? Take a peek here.