Chocolate Box Cottage Diary, Volume 3
Week 9: March 4, 2023

Winter Garden Snapshots at Chocolate Box Cottage It is a breathtakingly beautiful morning. Pale aqua skies and another 2 feet (61 cm) of snow at Chocolate Box Cottage. A good day to stay at home with a good book, a cup of hot cocoa, and a snow shovel!

Looking out at the frosty white scenery, it’s hard to imagine it being any different.

The pasture will green up; the oak trees near the old barn will leaf out.

The snow will disappear and we will plant the fruit trees and pots of Crimson Red rhubarb that are leaning against the potting bench.

The grape vines will explode into new growth and bear bunches of sweet champagne grapes.

In the meantime, this sweet purple African violet, an offspring from my Grandma’s violet plant in the 1990’s, keeps me company, reminding me that good things come to those who wait.

Chores snapshots

The other side of the beautiful snowstorms at Chocolate Box Cottage is…work.

Shoveling, shoveling, shoveling.

Hauling firewood in the new wheelbarrow. (It takes longer to shovel than it does to bring the wood.)

Thawing the bunnies water bottles and refilling them with water from the house

Cats who don’t want to do their business in the snow require a litter box

Keep feeding the fire, hoping the wood supply will hold out

Drying coats and gloves and boots, again and again

Winter cooking

It is work, but I don’t mind working hard. Even repetitive outdoor tasks – because they’re real. The work keeps us warm and well fed. It keeps our bodies moving and our minds alert. This is what I love about homesteading. It’s real.

Pots: Emile Henry 4.2 quart Dutch oven (red pot on the left) and DeSilva Italian clay soup pot (cream and terracotta pot).

New video

So I put another pot of soup on the wood stove to simmer and culture a jar of buttermilk next to the stove for good measure. Because tomorrow might be a baking day. Printable recipe for Navy Beans and Ham.

10 Tips for Cooking on a Modern Wood Stove.

Winter baking

Having temporarily, I hope, eliminated wheat from my diet again, I am baking with rye flour, freshly ground in my KoMo Fidibus 21 grain mill. I have baked the Fluffy Buttermilk Rye Drop Biscuits pictured above, Rye Chocolate Chip Banana Bread, Chocolate Brownie Rye Cookies with happy results!

I converted by Dakota Pioneer Everlasting Yeast from all-purpose flour to freshly ground rye and am playing with sourdough, too.

Bookshelf

BASIC FERMENTATION BOOK

If you are new to the craft of fermentation and like to have a book in hand as you learn, I recommend Real Food Fermentation by Alex Lewin.

The author covers all the basics –

How fermentation works

Tools

Ingredients

Recipes are given in step-by-step detail with lots of photos so you know what to expect.

Make sauerkraut, pico de gallo (fermented salsa), Carolina Slaw, old fashioned sour pickles, spicy kimchi, kombucha, ginger ale, yogurt, and more from scratch in your own kitchen! All with the benefits of probiotics and amped up flavor.

Fermentation is a fun craft that will reward you with foods that are both delicious and nutritious. Why not give it a try???

If you like to save money by buying used books, check out my favorite online bookseller. This is my sharing link. If you make a qualifying purchase we can both earn point towards free books.

Note: This post contains links to products and vendors I use and appreciate for their quality and usefulness. Some are affiliate, some are not. I may earn a commission from qualifying purchases when you use the links I provide; this does not change your price. Thank you!

Blessings to you,
Michele and Samuel

Chocolate Box Cottage Diary, Volume 3
Week 1: January 7, 2023

Can we all agree soup and salad are a match made in heaven?

Hot and soothing soup + crunchy and piquant salad = first rate YUM. I grew up watching my Mom concoct all manner of delicious soups from whatever she had on hand, but if you didn’t have that example to follow you might appreciate a soup recipe framework to get you started. The recipe is printable and infinitely adaptable, so have fun with it and enjoy all the delicious soups you’re about to create!

Window garden

I rarely buy lettuce in winter because it is so easy and cheap to grow an abundance of salad shoots in cereal bowls.

The bowl I am holding is a “crop” of buckwheat lettuce ready to harvest. This week’s crops include pea shoots, sunflower shoots, radish sprouts, broccoli sprouts, amaranth sprouts, and kohlrabi sprouts.

I get two to three cuttings from the pea shoots, the others are one cutting. The soil and root wad goes to the chickens or bunnies for a special snack.

Another harvest we are thankful for – eggs. Raising a new batch of laying hens fro day-old chicks last spring and summer was real work. Daily feedings, cleaning the waterer, checking on them multiple times a day. Moving the cage from place to place. Not to mention Sam had to build a new cage for the juvenile birds. We are so glad we went to the effort. Our egg supply is

Best basic kitchen tools

If I were marooned on a desert island with only 4 kitchen tools, here’s what I’d want.

To my mind these are the true workhorses in the kitchen. When I taught hands-on cooking classes through my community’s food bank, these are the tools I recommended people start with.

Dutch oven ~ Choose an enameled cast iron, stainless steel, or cast iron Dutch oven with a heavy bottom in a size that makes sense for your family. Perfect for soups, stews, whole chicken, roasts, etc. (Mine came from Macy’s.)

Cast iron skillet ~ Choose a cast iron skillet in any size, but 10 and 12-inch are ideal for most families. Make stir fries, skillet-meals, and bake in them, too. Lodge is a good brand that is readily available. (I found a set of 2 at a yard sale)

Extra large cutting board ~ An extra large cutting board like this Epicurean 17×13-inch board gives you elbow room when chopping veggies, which encourages you to make stir fry and soups more often. (from Bed Bath & Beyond)

Chef’s knife (or santoku) ~ A quality 7-8-inch chef’s knife is your best friend. Look for full tang construction as with this Henckel’s knife – blade extends through the handle. Pick it up and see how it feels in your hand. Hone it often to maintain its edge. Other recommended brands: Wüsthof, Cutco, and Global. (Found mine at a thrift shop)

Thrift shop finds

If you’re a thrifter like me, you will appreciate this. I found a “new” (to me, anyway!) ravioli cutter and wooden spoon last week at a thrift shop, reasonably priced.

I use a ravioli cutter to cut dough for homemade crackers and pasta. My old ravioli cutter was aluminum. It got scrunched in a drawer and bent out of shape, so I was looking for a “new” one. Imagine how happy I was to find this beauty with a nice wood handle and brass cutting wheel from Italy!

Not on my list was a “new” wooden spoon, but I couldn’t leave this behind! A heart-shaped spoon! The wood was very, very dry and felt rough to the touch. (Perhaps someone put it through the dishwasher.)

I took both home and set to work restoring them for future service.

The heart-shaped spoon and the wooden handle on the ravioli cutter were both carefully sanded with fine grit sandpaper until they felt as smooth as velvet.

After cleaning the dust away, I rubbed in a generous coat of Spoon Butter. The wood soaked it right up and the grain glows! I tell you, I appreciate these two used utensils more than I would new ones. You know why? Because I, in effect, earned them. I had to do a little work to make them useful.

The Poppy Trail platter made by Metlox was a secondhand find on Facebook Marketplace in 2018.

Samuel’s projects

Sam has many ongoing projects. One of them is teaching me to shoot comfortably and with accuracy. My Dad felt it was important for his daughters to learn to handle firearms safely, so Sam is picking up where my Dad left off years ago. I have memories of many Saturday mornings as a girl spent aiming at pop cans, laundry detergent jugs, and other likely targets. What I’m shooting: a 9mm Wildcat. It has quite a bit of kick, so I have to brace myself!

Oh. My. Goodness. Have you ever seen a smoke tube?

This perforated stainless steel tube is a bit of wizardry. Fill it with wood chips or wood pellets and light them to create smoke in your BBQ grill. Sam keeps a cache of fruit wood prunings from our apple, pear, plum, and peach trees.

Tea at Mom’s

On the tea table: Sourdough Gingerbread waffles with Chai-Spiced Pear Butter, thick slices of bacon, and chamomile tea.

Bookshelf

Another wonderful book by Jane Watson Hopping, The Pioneer Lady’s Hearty Winter Cookbook.

One of the best antidotes to winter doldrums is cooking and this book is a treasury of timeless country recipes of the kind that sustained families in the early and mid 1900’s. Many of the recipes are family antiques. Don’t worry, they work in today’s kitchen!

A sampling of recipes:

Mother’s Homemade Tomato Soup

Great Aunt Mae’s New England Clam Chowder

Ida Louise’s Late Harvest Jeweled Slaw

Easy-to-Make Dinner Rolls

Deluxe Whole Wheat Bread

Old-Fashioned Butterscotch Refrigerator Cookies

But even if you never cook a single recipe from the book, you’ll enjoy reading the author’s stories and bits of comfort shared. Enjoy!

The Pioneer Lady’s Hearty Winter Cookbook is out of print, but you can find it at my favorite online used bookseller. If it happens to be out of stock, simply create a wish list and the company will email you when it comes back in.

Happy New Year to you

I am stepping into this new set of 365 days thoughtfully. I have not set goals nor made any big changes or decisions. 

Instead, I am avoiding distractions and tuning my ear to listen to the still, small voice in my heart. 

You know what? It doesn’t give me an annual plan. Nor a to-do list. No. Rather it beckons me to live in the moment. This moment. And find contentment here. 

I pray that you, dear friend, are able to quiet the noise and hear the voice in your heart. I pray your cup overflows with contentment and joy this year.

Blessings, Michele and Samuel

Note: This post contains links to products and vendors I use and appreciate for their quality and usefulness. Some are affiliate, some are not. I may earn a commission from qualifying purchases when you use the links I provide; this does not change your price.

Chocolate Box Cottage Diary, Volume 2
Week 51: December 24, 2022

What with the Christmas baking, chimney cleaning, and restarting the indoor salad garden we are as busy as Santa’s elves! What a busy and blessed week at Chocolate Box Cottage!

Indoor Salad Gardening

Let’s start with salad gardening. Growing salad shoots in cereal bowls keeps us in salad greens all winter, right up until the outdoor garden is producing.

Traditional “sprout” seeds like broccoli and peas join microgreen seeds, buckwheat and tendril peas. In about a week, they are ready to harvest with scissors.

By planting a batch of bowls every few days, the indoor salad garden keeps producing. Enjoy beautiful gourmet salads with just a little work.

Christmas baking

Looking for an easy, festive drop cookie?

Mix up a batch of Confetti Cookies; they’re simple, colorful, and fun! A delicious vanilla cookie batter is shaped in balls, rolled in sprinkles, pressed with a glass, and baked. The satisfying cake-like flavor of these cookies will grab you!

Granola is always a welcome gift. This batch of Pecan Promise Granola will be divided: 1 tray gifted and 1 tray kept.

There’s nothing quite like homemade pies for Christmas and it’s (almost) as easy to make two as one. One for Christmas Eve and another for breakfast on Christmas morning with coffee, tea, and cottage bacon (ham). See my recipe for Butter Pie Crust.

Miriam and I enjoyed an old-fashioned Christmas baking day which included these delicious apple pies and a batch of Confetti Cookies.

And since I was not planning to bake bread, I decided to use up the accumulated starter in my jars by making a batch of German Bread-Spice Crackers this week. What is bread spice? A mix of spices used in German breads; brotgewürz in German. It varies, but mine includes caraway, anise seeds, fennel seeds, celery seeds, and coriander seeds, ground to a powder.

I added most of the sourdough from the jars to the Ankarsrum mixer bowl, leaving enough behind to feed and maintain my starter. Whole grains were milled into flour in my KoMo grain mill, including whole wheat, spelt, rye, einkorn, and millet.

Cracker dough was rolled very thin – the thinner the better – then cut in squares with a fluted pastry wheel or crinkle cutter. Docking the crackers with a fork releases air bubbles. And don’t forget to sprinkle with salt! I don’t have an exact recipe for these, I go by feel.

Sam’s projects

Samuel has been mysteriously busy in the barn. I’m not sure what he’s up to, but I am sure it will be good. We agreed to give each other practical gifts this year, and I asked for a pantry makeover, while Sam hinted at a backpack leaf blower. The “economy” leaf blower he has been using for years is giving out – it’s requires tinkering each time he wants to use it.

We both could use new wheelbarrows. A stout metal one for Sam, capable of hauling firewood, hot coals, rocks, dirt, and manure; a plastic one for me, to tote compost, potted plants, and garden harvests to the kitchen for preserving.

Samuel climbs the ladder to the roof for several tasks: blowing leaves off, cleaning out gutters, and cleaning the chimney.

In addition to cleaning the chimney, Samuel disassembled the stove pipe, carried it outside and cleaned it out; vacuumed out the elbow in the brick chimney; emptied the wood stove of ashes; cleaned the glass window.

Christmas Tea

Weekly tea at Mom’s took on a Christmasy theme this week. Granddaughters Miriam and Savannah + Emberly joined us for non-alcoholic Holiday Wassail, homemade clam chowder, fruit salad, carrot sticks, and Confetti Cookies. So thankful to have Mom and Rolly to celebrate with.

Gift baskets

I whipped up a triple batch of Maple Vanilla Syrup and added jars to a couple of Christmas gift baskets. This basket for my son Clayton includes Hot Cocoa Mix + a bottle of mint extract, dried Paragon pear slices, Pecan Promise Granola, gourmet coffee, Vanilla Lace Pear Jam, Vanilla Maple Syrup, Roasted Tomatillo Salsa Verde, and a half gallon jar of Goldenkraut (not pictured).

This Christmas gift basket for my sister’s family includes a full dehydrator batch (9 trays) of blackberry applesauce fruit leather along with a variety of pear preserves: dried, jam, and butter + Crock Pot Apple Butter + Maple Vanilla Syrup nestled in paper shreds in a thrift shop picnic basket.

Fermentation

I finally got around to straining my made-from-scratch Persian basil vinegar. It tastes and smells delightful and the color is captivating! After straining the herbs out, the resulting young vinegar was transferred to a boiled jar with a lid to complete fermentation.

In about a month to 6 weeks it will be ready. I can already envision Persian basil vinegar used in salad dressings and marinades for meats and vegetables.

Christmas Eve dinner included Old World Roast Beef and Vegetables, like my Grandma used to make. The roast is first soaked in clabber or cultured buttermilk for 1-3 days, then drained and baked with root vegetables.

I love this spattered yellow and white enamel roaster! I use it for roasting meat and veggies and for baking bread.

Family pictures

Bookshelf

In honor of Christmas, I encourage you, dear reader, to read the story of Jesus’ birth in the Bible. You’ll find it in Luke chapter 2. Like many families, we cherish the tradition of reading this story every Christmas Eve.

Merry Christmas, dear reader! I wish and pray for God’s best for you this Christmas and in the coming year.

Blessings,
Michele and Samuel

Note: This post contains links to products and vendors I use and appreciate for their quality and usefulness. Some are affiliate, some are not. I may earn a commission from qualifying purchases when you use the links I provide; this does not change your price.

Chocolate Box Cottage Diary, Volume 2
Week 46: November 19, 2022

Golden days are upon us with the burst of glory that is autumn. The snow scrubbed the air and landscape clean and left. Leaves in every golden hue drift from branches against a backdrop of cerulean blue. The contrast is startlingly beautiful, especially for one who professes only mild affection for the season.

It was on one of these glowing days that I planted my Allium giganteum bulbs. I found the bulbs offered for sale at Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company. They were not cheap, but my memories of them are priceless and I splurged and bought a half dozen in memory of my dad and to celebrate reaching 5,000 subscribers on my YouTube Channel: Chocolate Box Cottage. They were Dad’s favorite flower and I planted with high hopes! 

In the greenhouse

A vintage A-frame greenhouse sits like a jewel in the center of the gardens at Chocolate Box Cottage after extensive repairs. Our first frost visited November 9. Tender annual vegetables, flowers, and herbs have succumbed to winter, yet the comfrey to the right of the planting bench hangs on.

Open the re-built door with antique hardware and step inside. Breathe in sun-warmed air scented with green plants, mostly citrus, geraniums, eucalyptus, and tender herbs. Outside, the planting bench stands as a sentinel, cleared and at rest.

Beauty spot

Maple branches, relieved of their snow burden, bow over cozy pond-side seats. The chairs were picked up road-side for free and we enjoy them 3 seasons out of the year.

Samuel’s projects

Meanwhile, the new batch of laying hens have begun laying – at last!

Country living is definitely not all strawberries and sunshine with cute chickens and “free” eggs. Not when everything under the sun likes to eat chicken. We lost 4 young laying hens last week, one at a time, during the day.

Samuel is fairly sure it is a raccoon who is treating our hen yard like a salad bar; it chooses a fresh “entree” daily.

He set up a live trap apprehend the perpetrator. So far we have caught a kitten, one of our own hens, and a skunk. Let me tell you, it is not fun to release a skunk from a live trap!

Funny, but not fun! (I watched from a safe distance and still picked up skunk odor in my hair and clothes.) Is there anything that smells worse than skunk? I can’t think of it!

The area you see was covered in blackberry bushes and willows until last weekend, when Sam painstakingly cleared it with a chainsaw and weedeater. Saturday morning he rose very early, drank his coffee, and was outside before the chickens were up to reconfigure the fencing for the henyard. In an effort to prevent or at least reduce losses to raccoons and other critters, we decided to reduce the size of the henyard.

As a heavy equipment operator (Sam runs a road grader for the road department), Sam has an eye for slope, grade, and terrain. The fence is now square and solid. The chickens will now be excluded from the family orchard.

My weekly trip to town includes a stunning drive over the river and through the woods – just like the song. A visit to my friend Whitney Hunter’s salon was just what I needed. She is not only a treasured friend, business owner, and hair stylist, Whitney is also a talented cheesemaker.

Whitney and I talk all things gardening / preserving / sourdough baking / fermentation / cheesemaking whenever we visit. Today she brought samples of two new mozzarella cheeses she experimented with: one flavored with home-grown chipotlé peppers, the other with garlic and basil. Both were out-of-this-world!

In the kitchen

Time for an annual batch of Goldenkraut. Golden hued veggies, along with the requisite cabbage of course, ferment together to create a brightly flavored side dish that we enjoy as a condiment year-round.

I know the photos don’t show it, but it was a tiring week. Among the items not captured on film are the flu, a trip to ER, a badly injured kitty and late-night trip to the emergency vet, getting chilled to the bone, aching backs, getting sprayed by a skunk (twice), and not a lot of sleep. I kept meals simple. Two variations of goulash this week, scrambled eggs and toast, roasted vegetables, and comforting soups.

Thankful that Jasper pulled through a serious injury, he has been nicknamed “St. Jasper Goodfellow” and now has a seat at the table.

A well-stocked four corners pantry as my friend Mary at Mary’s Nest talks about kept us fed and softened the harsh edges of injury, illness, disappointment, and inconvenience. It is a huge boon to be able to put healthy meals on the table easily.

This beautiful linen-covered binder by Russell+Hazel houses my quilt journal. Locally crafted Beeswax candle rests on an Alfred Medway china saucer.

I create forms to organize my creativity, my home, my days. I’ve even created my own day planner page. This 2-sided page is a worksheet I developed to plan and execute quilt-making. It includes size, type of batting, source of pattern, and many more details along with space for fabric swatches and a photo of the finished quilt.

Homekeeping

The last two Peace roses bloom in water on my nightstand next to art by dear friend Rachel Parks. I carefully used a flour sack towel to dust the Christmas cactus, which is showing tiny buds in time for Christmas.

Bookshelf

NEW CHRISTMAS DEVO: It’s a Wrap, A Christmas Devotional for Moms by Andrea Lende

“The Holiday season is a mad dash that starts well before Thanksgiving and ends sometime after the New Year. While Christmas is a favorite season for so many, we often miss the special moments that should be cherished and then tucked away to remember for years to come.” (Taken from the back cover.)

This short devotional for moms is perfect for the month of December and would make a lovely early Christmas gift! Each day’s reading holds a Bible verse, a thought, a prayer, and a special special page to note “My moments to treasure and cherish.”

The author, who happens to be my friend, also included some wonderful “extras” at a the back: a list of ideas for creating special memories, several favorite recipes, movie suggestions, and more.

I am looking forward to reading It’s a Wrap and experiencing a renewed sense of reverence and wonder this Christmas. Won’t you join me?

Muscovy hen Sadie and her growing ducklings and I wish you farewell!

Happy Thanksgiving week!
Michele

PS. Some links are affiliate links and I earn a small commission when you make a qualifying purchase. This does not change your price. Thank you for supporting my business!

Chocolate Box Cottage Diary, Volume 2

Week 30: July 30, 2022

As Sam’s weather station registered 100 degrees and above day after day, the cats held a meeting. An unlikely ringleader presided. “Dog days of summer” was deemed pointless, as the dogs are indoors, so the hottest days of summer were renamed: Cat Days of Summer. (Caps necessary)

Committee members

1. Jasper, the unlikely ringleader, used my own planner against me
2. Pearl appears soft and sweet, but she means business
3. Toby likes to throw his weight around

Cats are very persuasive, so of course they had their way. They are naturally making all kinds of unreasonable and excessive demands:

1. Supplemental rations of tuna, as “cat days of summer” are too hot for hunting

2. Revolving door policy. Fancy way of saying I must open the door to let them in/out at their whim

3. Fresh running water, continually available

4. No petting or brushing of fur, whatsoever

Etc, etc, ad nauseam

Goodbye July

We say goodbye to July; the surrounding landscape turns tan and crisp.

Bunnies were relocated to the kitchen…in cat carriers. The frozen milk jugs just couldn’t keep them cool enough.

Hands down the most amazing fruit salad I have ever had, street food style. This man started with perfectly ripe fruit: pineapple, cantaloup, watermelon, cucumber, and mango. He peeled everything and cut it in bite-size chunks, layered it all in clear deli cups and added a generous amount of chili sauce and fresh squeezed lime. Oh. My. Goodness.

Hot summer supper of mostly watermelon with a little cold chicken and bread and jam. Homemade Bread and homemade Vanilla-Laced Pear Jam!

Hello zucchini!

We say hello to zucchini; the squash plants turn up the volume!

A honeybee visits a squash blossom; tiny spaghetti squash are forming.

Fortunately I have an endless supply of delicious but non-cat-approved recipes that use zucchini: sautéed, zoodled, julienned, fried, stuffed, frittered, and more – all perfectly scrumptious! Above is the simplest treatment of zucchini: Tender Crisp Sautéed Zucchini with onion and garlic. Mmmm!

Julienned yellow crookneck squash and zucchini join sliced radishes in the salad bowl with a mustardy vinaigrette that is down-right crave-worthy.

Grilled squash are always welcome with steak or any kind of grilled meat! These 4H/FFA steaks were the best we have had in a very long time.

Zucchini Fritters with a bowl of garden fresh salsa make a welcome evening meal in the heat of summer.

Garden view

On my belly in the garden, seeing things up close. That is Persian basil on the right. The vintage A-frame greenhouse is behind me.

New video

A recipe for you Ankarsrum Assistent mixer owners, perfect for summer! Mix up a big batch of freezer bread dough with your super-mixer and divide it into 1-loaf portions to freeze. Later you can thaw, shape, and bake one loaf each week and have a fresh loaf each week for a month!

Mean roosters

Two mean roosters had to be culled. They were too mature for good eating, but will make excellent soup or broth. We raise chickens for eggs and generally purchase broiler chickens from local producers, so we do not have chicken processing equipment. The simplest way Sam has found to process a bird or two is to skin it. This way we can avoid plucking.

Bookshelf

The Vegetable Butcher by Cara Mangini.  If you want to learn knife skills for vegetable cookery, this is your book. All the cuts are illustrated clearly and lots of great recipes using veggies!

Check my favorite online seller of used books using my sharebooklove link. Click the highlighted link in the previous sentence and then type the title of the book into the search bar when you get there. If they don’t have it in stock, create a wish list and add this book to it. Using my link earns us both points towards free books! Thank you for supporting my business, I appreciate it.

*Please note this post contains links to products and businesses that I use, trust, and appreciate. Some are affiliate, some are not.

I hope you enjoyed this lighthearted view of a hot summer week at Chocolate Box Cottage. If so, you might enjoy following Chocolate Box Cottage on Facebook.

Thank you for reading and God bless you!

Michele

Chocolate Box Cottage Diary, Volume 2

Week 24: June 18, 2022

Half of me is grateful for ample rain, the other half is worrying summer will be too short to ripen heat-loving garden crops like tomatoes, peppers, squash, beans, and melons. Silly, isn’t it? Because half grateful is really not.

The waterfall we drive over every week on our way to and from church reminded me that God is not stingy. It – the waterfall – does not work to be worthy of filling, it merely accepts the rain God sends.

Determined to see, really see, with fresh eyes I saw much to be grateful for.

Many of our fruit trees were burned by late frosts and will not bear fruit this year, but we have a freezer full of wild blackberries and huckleberries we did not plant or tend, which can be turned into homemade fruit leather, and an abundance of green herbs for food, tea, recipes, and remedies – free for the taking! (I just have to stay ahead of Sam and the weedeater.)

Want to learn to make really great fruit leather? See my method here: Best Fruit Leather Recipe with 20 Tips for Success.

Having problems making good fruit leather? See my guide here: Fruit Leather Troubleshooting Guide.

Gardening brings a good kind of tired. Here I am working hard to harvest herbs ahead of Sam.

I took a moment, actually several, to watch a snail. Have you noticed a snail is never in a hurry?

Heaping basket of plantain, raspberry leaf, mint, self heal, red cover, and wild chamomile proved tempting to the chickens. I think they viewed it as a buffet. I did manage to get the herbs arranged on dehydrator trays and set them to dry at 100 F ( 38 c) in my Excalibur dehydrator.

Last summer’s extreme heat (110-117F for what seemed like forever) hastened the death of half a dozen big pine trees on our property. The power company came this week and felled 3 that were completely dead and even as we mourned their loss we couldn’t help but be thankful for the warmth they will provide our home when fed to the wood stove.

One of my two favorite apple trees, a Gravenstein, plus a grouping of great mullein, Verbascum thapsus.

Wild irises and barbed wire separate our pasture from the neighbors’. Pretty little clover blossoms open fuchsia pink and fade to blush.

After seeing the price of eggs in the grocery store, we decided we needed a few more laying hens to offset what we lost to predators this winter.

This week’s video is especially for you if you own an Ankarsrum Assistent mixer and want to bake large batches of whole wheat bread. I walk you through my treasured family recipe that I have baked for over 20 years and show you all the “little” things that help you produce your best bread ever. Bread that is soft and fluffy and makes great toast and sandwiches. Bread your family will love!

Own a Bosch Universal or a KitchenAid? I made videos with printable recipes for you, too! Visit my channel by clicking the video above and locate your video.

Chicken Burrito Bowl, assembled recently during a freezer meal prep session and cooked in the Mealthy multipot. (Like an Instant Pot)

Blending a special tea for a special friend who is sick with an awful cold. I can’t express what a nice feeling it is to open my little apothecary and find all the ingredients are there waiting. I learned the skill of tea blending by taking an absolutely wonderful course!

Though Darkness Descend is the riveting true story of the Huguenots in France in the 1600’s by Janet Joanou Weiner. First book in a trilogy and I am eagerly awaiting the second! (Free on Kindle as of Sept 14, 2022)

Jasper leans on the windowsill, thinking deeply about life.

Each of us has experienced a staggering amount of change and loss in the past 2 years, much of it uninvited and unwelcome.

And yet if we push ourselves to look deeper we will certainly find that there has been good in the middle of it all.

Please tell me: what good have you found in the midst of the last 2 years’ change and loss? Let me know in the comments, I respond to every one.

Blessings,

Michele

Chocolate Box Cottage Diary, Volume 2

Week 18: May 6, 2022

Normally, I would have planted my tomato seedlings in the garden this weekend, tucked squash, cucumber, and melon seeds into garden beds, and arranged my potted and hanging basket geraniums on the front porch. A forecast for May snow and a mid-twenties morning seemed impossibly freakish after a mostly warm and sunny week, but I decided to wait. I’m glad I did.

Sam and I decided to take a light-hearted view of the snow and reminded ourselves that in a few weeks we would probably be wishing for the coolness of snow!

The heavy wind and rain that ushered in the snow quieted the frogs, crickets, and birds, and brought up millions of red wigglers (worms) trying to escape drowning. They made a banquet for greedy and appreciative ducks, who slurped them up like noodles.

Weather also brought up a couple of monsters! Not scary horned creatures with bad teeth and bad breath, but unusually large creatures. Pictures dispersed throughout post…

Monster #1 Ring tail cat? No, ring-tailed keebler, better known as Jasper.

It’s not every day I get to have homemade biscotti and fresh raspberries for tea on a workday! So when it happens, it is special. (In the background are a Bosch Universal mixer and an Ankarsrum Assistent mixer.)

If you happen to be looking for a heavy duty stand mixer for bread and other kitchen tasks, be click on the video above, which compares KitchenAid, Bosch Universal, and Ankarsrum Assistent mixers! I’ve included a printable shopping comparison to help you pick the best one for your kitchen!

Variety of grains in the cupboard in half-gallon jars. These jars are refilled from 5-gallon bucket in the storeroom as needed.

Fresh raw A2/A2 milk and yogurt from a local dairy. The flavor is amazing: clean, slightly sweet, and delicious! I especially enjoy the raw cream added to English Breakfast tea.

Monster #2: Pacific Giant Salamander measuring 13 inches (33 cm)

Monster #3: Hyalophora cecropia, the Cecropia moth, barely escaped being squashed in the screen door when it fluttered in in the wind! Wind span of this beauty is 5 inches (13 cm).

With a beautiful, original story line, Enchanted April will whisk you away to a flower-festooned castle in Italy. Just what you might be needing about now.

Note: Some links may be affiliate links to products and shops I use and genuinely like. I may receive a small commission if you use my link; this does not change your price. Thank you for supporting my small business and writing career.

Have a blessed week and thank you for visiting! Feel free to leave a note in the comments, I read every one.

Blessings,

  Michele

Chocolate Box Cottage Diary, Volume 2

Week 8: February 26, 2022

One way to deal with uncertainty and keep anxious thoughts at bay is to keep our hands busy.

Another way to deal with uncertainty and anxious thoughts is to pray, and I hope many of us are doing a lot of that, too.

On the hands busy side, I spent a couple of enjoyable hours pressing tinctures this week using a simple press made by a craftsman who sells on Etsy. The apothecary cupboard is restocked with echinacea and St. John’s wort tinctures for personal use, for sharing with family, and for trade and barter.

Sam and I put in 2 full days on repairs to our vintage A-frame greenhouse, with Sam as contractor and me as assistant. I am thrilled with the results! There is just one small problem, as you will see in the photos.

We welcomed new babies to the farm – and we ate well. Follow along with our week in pictures and feel free to ask questions.

An unusual cold spell for southern Oregon brought morning temps in the teens: 13-17F (-11c to -8c). No swimming today!

“I would like to lodge a complaint,” said Jasper, the handsome polydactyl cat.

Poopy eggs means it’s time to add fresh straw to the nest boxes.

A new tea blend creation: Enchanted Forest Chai.

Pressing Tinctures

This whole plant echinacea tincture uses leaf, bud, flower, and root in season to make better use of the plant, without waste and without killing the plant. You can find the tincture press here.

Greenhouse Repairs

Sam tears off the old, 1980’s era greenhouse roof.

Reinforcing the framework of the greenhouse on a budget.

Tinted roof panels being installed in two overlapping layers.

Finished. for now. Somehow we ended up with one mismatched panel – it is clear, the others are tinted.

Side view of our vintage A-frame greenhouse. Or is it front view? Note custom-built door that Sam made with salvaged wood and the old hardware. Small space, endless possibilities.

Most of my Norwegian and scented geraniums died in the cold snap, even inside the greenhouse. The hanging baskets escaped and thankfully I have rooted cuttings of the ones that died. The lemon trees are unfazed.

Good Food

Shrimp Pho (soup) with veggies a coconut broth and oodles of spiralized daikon noodles. Daikon is a long, white radish that spiralizes easily and is a neutral-tasting substitute for traditional rice noodles in this recipe. My favorite spiralizer, the Inspiralizer, has been discontinued. It is worth watching for on ebay.

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup with roasted garlic and homemade knoephla (puffy German eggs noodles) is the ultimate comfort food.

Cauliflower rice is a pain to make, I will be the first to admit it. But oh, how delicious is this dish with cauli-rice, egg, scallions, and garlic, topped with toasted almond flour and fresh parsley.

Tea station, restocked with my favorite teas, tea cups, and utensils. Watch this video for ideas for creating a tea station or coffee bar in your home?

Toby, being magnificent.

Painted Desert Lambs

Babies! Triplet lambs for this third time mama, a Painted Desert ewe.

Day old Painted Desert lambs with coats reminiscent of marbles.

Mama with her parade of Painted Desert lambs.

This girl took over the nest when the mama who built it died unexpectedly. She is a Silver Muscovy.

Movie Night

Looking for a new series? The Mysterious Benedict Society follows four orphans on an unusual mission. Full of vivid color, plot twists, and a sense of urgency, this one is aimed at both kids and adults and is eminently bingeable.

Once again, we’ve reached the end of another week at Chocolate Box Cottage. Thank you for visiting and if you have a few minutes, feel free to keep reading or investigate the links provided in the text. Blessings to you on your day today.

Chocolate Box Cottage Diary Vol. 2
Week 1: January 7, 2022

Happy New Year, everyone! We enjoyed an We enjoyed an incredibly beautiful white Christmas and New Year’s, in spite of Sam working 12 days straight, 10-14 hours a day. We took our Christmas in small bites, and it was good.

I hope your holidays were beautiful and blessed and that you are ready for new things this year.

New challenges

New blessings

New perspectives

New growth

Just wanted to share some pretty snow scenes before it all disappears. We have had several rainy days and warmer temps and the snow is rapidly melting!

It felt like a losing battle, but we kept shoveling to keep the driveway clear. There are no snow days for the snow plow operator!

I told Miriam this morning, “it’s not supposed to snow today!”

She looked out the window and rolled her eyes, “Mom, it’s snowing right now.”

My reply, “I know, but it’s not supposed to. Take comfort in that.”

Could anything be more beautiful?

I am surprised the hens, both the chicken and duck variety, are laying during these short winter days. We are thankful for the eggs.

Snow gradually but surely smoothed out the landscape, erased the lily beds, rock-bordered ornamental plantings, steps, greywater stream, paths, and more. Meanwhile, icicles sprouted from the eaves and sparkled on sunshiny days. It’s a “marshmallow world” in the winter.

Jasper, none too sure of the snow, chooses his steps carefully.

Blessings to you on your 2022!

If you’d like, read about our White Christmas and very special Lefse Day with Cousins at Chocolate Box Cottage!