January doldrums.

Atlanta, as most have heard by now, is at a standstill due to poor planning and resources and weather events that we are simply not used to.

Fortunately we are home, safe and comfortable. None of the animals quite know what to make of this cold, white stuff on the ground. The wild birds have even had quite a rough time trying to figure out where they can safely land and you can almost see the surprise on their little faces when they hit the snow. The doves are the most comical of all, coming in to land then thinking twice, then three times, then veering off to the one bare edge of the garage roof.

Today's been a mash up of activity now that I am finally recovering from a cold that has been hanging on for over a week. It is incredible how far behind you can get in daily chores when ill. I can't imagine how hard it would be if we had children instead of (or in addition to) animals.

So, the chickens have had fresh water brought out to them, the birdfeeders have been refilled, almond meal has been made from the remains of my almond milk-making, and homework is getting trudged through. Counters are getting wiped down and laundry is getting done.

Now lets go eat some lunch.

Summer is coming to an end.

Ah, DragonCon is over for this year, and with the help of two of my dearest friends, we had a great time.

And now, I'm afraid, it is back to reality. Fortunately, my reality is pretty darn good.

I think today we'll go with a garden update as of today:

You can see the cucumbers off to the left are completely gone, but they sure gave it their all this year. We were absolutely swimming in cukes, and though I wish we were still getting some, I certainly couldn't complain when they ran out of steam. The eggplant in front of the bean teepee are still going strong, though a little wilted from the sudden heat. The speckled butter beans will hopefully start flowering soon, since there's nowhere else for them to go!

What is interesting here, though, is the teepee to the front right. That's my Mexican Sour Gherkins, and they are my new trap crop for Mexican Bean Beetles. I had no idea this would happen, and at first I was pretty bummed. But then I realized what was happening, and that the death of those gherkins was the saving grace of my other plants.

I still have the damn beetles and their larvae on some other plants, but it isn't nearly the infestation it would otherwise be.

I thought I was too late when I planted these sunflowers, but they are happy and beautiful as can be. I need to plant many, many more next year. They make me incredibly happy. The one in back is probably ten feet tall!

Four seeds = lots of birdhouse gourds, even given less than ideal conditions. I can't get over how many gourds are on my arbor! Hopefully I can stave the mildew and bean beetles off long enough for them to ripen!

Salon music.

The latest project I have been seriously working on is learning to play some early 20th century salon music.

See, I have this crazy idea of starting up a neighborhood Salon Society, where folks would come together over tea and crumpets, dressed in their Sunday best, to discuss art and music and to demonstrate and/or discuss whatever interests them.

For example, maybe someone wants to recite some poetry, even if they didn't write it. Maybe someone wants to bring a painting they are working on to display and talk about. Maybe someone wants to do a five minute lecture on the history of the safety pin. Maybe someone wants to play some music. Maybe folks will even sing to it. 

So with that in mind, I've started working on a piano piece called Rippling Waves from 1905 which is a very sweet little salon piece, as well as a sing-along piece called There's Someone More Lonesome than You (1916) which I find to be a kick in the pants. Both pieces are so...period. It is so easy to imagine the people who wrote and enjoyed this music at the time. Eventually, I'd love to have an entire repertoire of this type of music! Now, keep in mind that I am no pianist. I have a degree in music, yes, but I stopped playing piano when I was something like nine years old. And now, at the ripe age of 40, I've started taking lessons again.

Anyway, what do you think? Would you join me for a Sunday Afternoon Salon Society (SASS) meeting?

Fundraiser in memory of Cpl. Parker, East Point Police Department

One of the things I love about living here is the incredible sense of community. I've lived all over this country, from coast to coast, and have never experienced anything like this before. If you get sick, there will be ten people on your doorstep with lasagnas (or whatever). If you need a ride to the airport, or if you need to borrow a tool, a saw, or just an extra pair of hands all you've got to do is jump on Facebook and ask.

We also have an incredible police department. These men and women are some of the most professional, kind, and hard working people I've ever met, and considering that I work in public safety myself I feel well qualified to say that.

A couple days ago, one of our best officers was found dead in her home, the victim of a crime. The department is suffering greatly for this loss, and we are grieving with them.

I've created a fundraiser in memory of Cpl. Parker, and am working to raise money to accomplish three things: a floral wreath at her funeral from the citizens of East Point, a donation to a charity of the family's choice in her name, and a catered meal for the men and women on duty on the day of her funeral. They are going to have a long, difficult day and I think that will be a way to show our support that will touch them individually.

The fundraiser is through Pitchinbox.com, a website I've used before for successful fundraising, and I trust them. Their interface is VERY basic, but they also don't charge any fees. If you have any desire to donate, I would appreciate it. I must make the disclaimer that I am not a non-profit or any type of business, and I will do my best to allocate the donated funds in a fair and appropriate manner. All funds raised will go toward this effort, minus the fee that Paypal charges me to use them. None of this money will be for my personal use.

Here is the widget. It will take you to a gateway page which will then take you to Paypal. Remember, although the gateway page appears extremely basic, it *IS* trustworthy. 

Additional note: you will get a notification that the payment went to Chelsea Smith. This is not an error. That is the name the account is under.

If you cannot see the widget, go to 

http://pitchinbox.com/redirect/7928371421

August 13, 2013: FOLLOW UP

I apologize for not updating the blog with how the fundraiser worked out, but it has been a very busy month with another tragedy that has taken my time and energy.

The result of our fundraising effort was a mindblowing $2655 which allowed us to meet all three of our goals far beyond the basics I was anticipating. Here's a breakdown of how the money has been allocated:

$75             
A gorgeous funeral wreath from Peachtree Petals which they gave to us at cost.

$1827.50    
A fully catered funeral repast for the East Point Police Department officers and Cpl. Parker's family. If it hadn't been for this fundraiser, there would have been no reception of any kind. I can tell you that the officers and family were incredibly touched, and several were crying. I got more hugs and thanks than I can count, and I would like to pass that love on to everyone who donated.

$650             
A donation to a charity of the family's choosing. Note that the family has not yet decided on a charity, and I am holding the money until they inform me of their choice. Hopefully it will not be much longer.

$52.50    
Incidental expenses including reimbursement for fuel to pick up donated drinks from Pepsi/Gatorade, plates and serving utensils, tablecloths, etc.

$50
A recalled donation from someone who says the donation was not authorized.

None of this accounts for all of the hard work from others involved, including several folks from the EPPD, the Blue Knights, the East Point First Mallaliu United Methodist Church who hosted an absolutely beautiful and touching funeral, Pepsi and Gatorade for their donations, several neighbors and Council member Sharonda Hubbard who helped set up and serve at the repast, and I'm sure others who I am neglecting to mention. And I most certainly want to thank everyone for your support during this difficult time. You all helped turn a tragedy into something beautiful, a true celebration of Cpl. Crystal Parker's life. You have renewed my faith in humanity and community.

Lemon-limeade Concentrate

IMG_0883, a photo by ghouliegrrrl on Flickr.

Ah, it's been a while, but I have been creative!

Look at these beautiful jars of yummy goodness. It was quick, easy, and come summer it will be absolutely delicious.

I squeezed lemons and limes first, and measured how much juice it gave me.

Using a 1:1:1 ratio, I brought an equal amount of sugar and water with the juice to a boil.

Then I simply processed in a water bath canner for 10 minutes. Easy!

Juicing, Painting, and cooking chicken.

I don't think it is so much the "juice" itself that makes one feel so good, but the concentration of fruits and vegetables that one would otherwise not eat. Goodness knows that without today's smoothie, I would never have consumed an apple, spinach, carrots, beets and pineapple!

No matter, I feel wonderful. I feel nourished inside and out, grateful, and peaceful. Is it the juice/smoothie? Who knows, but I like it. Tomorrow I am sure I'll have another and we'll see from there. Thank you, Rawesome!

And to top it off, she saved yesterday's juicing pulp for my chickens/compost. Rock. On.

-

The dresser project is SO CLOSE to being finished. There are still a couple of question marks, mostly how I am going to attach the piano hinges to the drawer fronts. We'll see how that goes. I still need to varnish the body of it, but that's easy using wipe-on poly.

And yes, that is a canning jar with a Cuppow! lid that turns it into, essentially, a sippy cup. Love that thing - now I just need to make a jacket for the jar.

-

And for dinner? Crock-pot Chicken with Rosemary and Lemon:

* truffle salt
* pepper
* several cloves of garlic
* 2 lemons
* fresh rosemary (mine is sundried, but still on the stem)
* whole chicken, skinned

Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper to taste. Stuff garlic into cavity. Quarter one lemon and stuff into cavity. Place chicken in crock-pot. Drape rosemary sprigs across top. Cook on high for four hours, or cook on high one hour then low for six.

-

Oh, and I did manage to buy lumber for framing the chicken coop. But as of right now, it is still in the truck and the floor is still not nailed to the joists. Tomorrow's job is waiting for me.

-

Peace, love and lizard kisses,
Petunia

18th Century WHAT?!

So yes, somehow I convinced myself that I could create a fun 18th century costume in a month to do a costume mob.

And yeah, I probably could have done it...
...except I waited until last week to start working on it!

So really, nothing is done except the stays, but I'll freely admit that I'm quite pleased with them. I apologize for the bad pics - hubby had the camera so the phone had to suffice:

Here's the front, as modeled by my lovely pillows. The fashion fabric is from a curtain swag I fell in love with at the thrift store. The binding is medium weight brown linen. There is non-woven interfacing inside, and the lining is a heavy-ish twill. The bones are the only thing that wasn't in my stash, and I used heavy duty duct ties from the hardware store. 

Here's the back. Notice the spiral lacing which is rather interesting to get into. Can't do it alone, that's for sure. And of course the black shoelace isn't ideal, but I don't own any brown boots to steal laces from.













The pattern is from J.P. Ryan (found here:http://www.jpryan.com/details/stays.html) and I strongly recommend it. This was a cinch to put together (no pun intended), but it was certainly time consuming. This one was made from the unaltered pattern and it left no gap in the back. Next time I'll order a size smaller or do some manipulation to give a little  more cone-cinch and some gap.

Next up: the J.P. Ryan Pet-en-l'air (found here: http://www.jpryan.com/details/petenlair.htm) made from some lovely blue and white curtains - thrifted, of course!

It feels SO GOOD to be sewing for myself, for fun...

Main Ingredient: BEANS!

I'm starting to collect bean (including lentils and soup peas) recipes. Sounds exciting, no?

From my friend Virginia A.:
Split Peas with Smokeys
"Well, I don't measure stuff! I use a package of dried split peas, chop a good-sized onion (saute that and as much minced or smashed garlic that you like in a little oil), thinly slice carrots, finely mince as much spinach as you want, and put all that and the Little Smokeys (I use the beef ones) into a pot then cover above the mixture with water (or chicken broth if you want). I bring it to a boil and then put it on simmer until it's pretty mushy (except for the sausages, of course!) and add water as needed during the simmering."

From my mom, Deborah T.:
Soup Beans
"There's nothing simpler than Soup Beans and they're great made with any kind of bean you have around. Just soak the beans overnight, rinse, cover with water, add a stick of good butter, a little oil and an chopped onion. Simmer a couple of hours until tender. Don't add the salt until fully cooked or they get tough. Serve with gluten free corn bread and chopped raw onions and/or chow chow." 

From a neighbor, Kevin H.: 
Refrigerator Chili (or bean salad)

It's a quick and easy thing to have handy for snacking, lunch or a side. I thoroughly rinse all items in a strainer except the tomatoes, and use low/no salt versions when available, or cook and chill your own fresh or dried beans.

3 different cans of firm beans like Black, Garbanzo, Kidney
1 can niblet corn (optional)
2 small cans mushrooms
1 or 2 cans diced tomatoes (to taste)
1 small onion, finely diced
1 bell pepper, finely diced
Mix all the above together and season to taste. You can think chili (cumin, garlic, pepper and chili powder, liquid smoke), Italian (various herbs and garlic), or Indian with your favorite regional spices. just toss with a little oil, maybe some lemon, balsamic, Worcestershire, or whatever floats your boat at the time.

Any of these that I make, I'll post a picture and review.  
This will be a fun project! 
 

Earth Day. Time for an update.

Earth day. Sounds like the perfect time to update my long neglected blog.

I’m not going to go into much detail, mostly letting the pictures speak for themselves.

The beautiful Max, taking a break from egg-laying to cruise the backyard for bugs…

Seedlings, most of which have lost their labels. I know there is ruby chard, some cucumbers and a couple types of summer squash. Oh well…I’ll just throw them in the ground somewhere and see what happens…

Cedar fence boards make EXCELLENT raised beds. Right now they only have decomposing straw in them that the chickens have enjoyed scratching and turning…

The Freedom Rangers, which we are raising for meat, are now about eight weeks old. About two more weeks and they’ll be ready for processing. I love raising these guys…

White potatoes growing in a cardboard box. Time for more mulch!

Edible flowers (violas and pansies) lining the front walk. Garlic is in the bed to the left, and gladiolus and nasturtiums are coming up next to the steps.

The front beds are coming along, though I am desperate for mulch. Between a lack of time and a lack of a truck, getting it has been a challenge. Peas are up (though possibly too late), blueberries, pomegranate and crabapple are doing great, dwarf corn and squashes went in today.

Row of red potatoes growing in leaf mold, covered with chicken wire to keep the chickens from scratching them up. I roll the wire up every evening every evening when the chickens are put to bed.

That probably covers the garden for now. Things are looking a little ratty, but that’s because my time has been taken by many, many other projects that I need to document soon.

I hope everyone is having an amazing and productive spring – I would love to hear about your projects, too!

Life and choices.

I came back up to SW Virginia so that I could get my ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Support) recertification, and sure enough as always happens when I spent time around my fellow medics, I started getting that burning feeling in my gut that I want to, I need to, go to medical school.

So I am sitting here once again researching what it would take to go back to school this late in life.

But then I think about all of the things that I do, all of my hobbies, ideas, travelling, all of that. If I went back to school I would have to give all of that up. For about TEN YEARS.

Nope, sorry. Not going to happen.

I  managed to get myself totally overwhelmed this month and not only neglected  my blog, but my entire household started suffering for it. Several projects are getting put away for a while – like my mom always says, “You CAN do everything, just not all at once!”

So here’s what’s been going on since my last post…

Mushrooms.

 

The oysters have hatched! We got a  nice flush of oyster mushrooms that I unfortunately didn’t weigh. There have been some further harvests since then which is nice, especially since I had absolutely no idea what I was doing when I started that project and have pretty much neglected them the whole time.

I have a much better idea now of how to do this, and will make some major changes to the  next attempt at the project. Right now, though, its going on the back burner. The buckets of mycelium as well as my cardboard propagation project is all going to get mixed into the garden beds, and with luck we’ll get some oysters growing among the garden plants.

Easy fix for scratched floors.

I made a new discovery! Well, not really. I’d read it on some blog, somewhere, didn’t believe it, then tried it out of desperation and it worked!

While  moving furniture around in my “studio,” I scratched the heck out of our beautiful, old hardwood floors. Instead of crying, I grabbed some walnuts, crushed them in my hand, rubbed the crushed walnuts over the scratches and voila! The scratches appeared to, well, disappear!

Aside from the dogs wanting to spend the rest of the evening licking the floor (I guess they also think walnut oil is yummy), it felt like a miracle cure. Whoohoo!

Chicken update.

Several of my hens are currently laying beautiful eggs. Max was the first, and here she is sitting on her “nest box” that I made out of a Rubbermaid type of container (it was originally their brooder box).

There is nothing like picking an egg out of the nest box that is still warm from the chicken’s butt. Yes, that sounds very strange, but it is truly a magical experience.

Kraut experiment.

Ooooh…I think this is going to be good.

I mixed cabbage, thinly sliced onion, sliced carrot, and beets with a basic brine and have it sitting on my counter, fermenting. One week later it is smelling amazing!

Oh, and in the background you can see a cotton bag I whipped up to make some sprouts. It was an experiment, but you can bet I will never grow sprouts any other way ever again. It was incredibly easy. 

Shopping bag class.

I am super excited to be offering an intro to sewing class called “Don’t Fear the Machine!” in which we’ll be enjoying tea and cookies (gluten free, of course!) and making this wonderful shopping bag.

We won’t be covering any technicalities in the class, just experiencing the act of creating with fabric on a variety of machines, from my modern computerized Husqvarna to a 100 year old Singer hand-crank. Date and time will be announced soon I hope!

So that’s about it for now. There have been tons of other activites, but I will save them for another time.

Welcome Spring!

Oyster mushrooms. New chickens. A mess.

Oyster mushrooms.

Its started!

One of my several containers of oyster mushroom spawn mixed with used coffee grounds has finally started pinning! This container is actually only one week old – very impressive.

At some point I will post details of this experiment.

But first, I have to figure out what’s going on with two of  my buckets:

Do you see those crazy cauliflower looking growths? I was thinking that those were the beginnings of oyster mushrooms, but seeing what’s going on in the picture prior I feel pretty confident that these are *not* oyster mushrooms starting. However, I have absolutely no idea what it is!

So I’m going to let them continue, and I’m also going to post to one of the mycological forums to see if someone can identify it for me. Its certainly pretty – I just hate to think that these two buckets will be failures. We’ll see though…

Chickens.

Our new additions are adapting beautifully! Pete, the rooster, has developed quite a…uh…fondness for one of my barred rocks, much to her dismay. The little hens are finally starting to wander around and hang out with the other hens. Certainly not a big happy family yet, but I have hopes that they’ll get there.

A friend of mine is starting to get eggs from her hens, so I’m hopeful that we’ll start seeing some soon, too.

A mess.

Definitely feeling a bit overwhelmed today. We have *way* too much stuff. But it is all good, usable stuff…lots of reference materials, lots of fabrics and projects-in-process. Nothing I really want to get rid of…

Storage is our biggest issue. I have no doubt that if we had proper bookshelves and a hide-a-bed or murphy bed that we would find ourselves in a great position. But as it stands right now we are covered in boxes and just general crap everywhere.

I am seriously considering converting our screen room into a real room – maybe an office for Jason. He is fairly against the idea – after all, we both enjoy sitting out there in the spring and summer. But we are definitely short one room, and that might be the way to take care of it.

Plans.

Snowed in. Tomato pickles. Farmcar. Oyster mushrooms. Sewing.

We're home, in the middle of Snowpocalypse 2011. The city is pretty much shut down, and the city’s 10 salt/snow trucks aren't able to keep up. The roads are treacherous and I am so glad to be in our warm, comfortable home with our animals. We are some of the lucky ones.

So while we've been snowed in, I've had the opportunity to catch up on some of the projects that have been "needin' done".

Tomato pickles.

The first week of December I had set up a batch of green, unripe cherry tomatoes to ferment. It was purely an experiment after successfully fermenting sauerkraut (YUM!).

Here’s the before, with green tomatoes, several whole cloves of garlic, lots of dill seed, five whole cayenne peppers, and a brine of 4 cups water with 3 tablespoons kosher salt. I covered it with a brine-filled ziplock bag to hold the vegetables under the brine and let it sit.

After two weeks, it looked like this:

The tomatoes started turning to a duller green, but the peppers were still beautiful. It smelled strongly of garlic and dill. I tasted one tomato and thought a pepper had exploded in my mouth. It was HOT!

I was a little afraid at this point – they smelled great but were much too hot.

This past weekend, I checked them again and they were absolutely amazing. The heat had mellowed, and they now have a slightly garlic-dill tang with a bit of heat. The are luscious.

Processing fermented foods kills the wonderful microbes that are so healthy for you, as well as mushifies everything. It will keep for many months refrigerated, unprocessed, so I packed them into glass jars that’s where they went. 

Farmcar.

Farmcar finally died. I can’t complain – she had almost 220k miles on her and had treated me exceptionally well.

It was still sad when the tow truck hauled her away for donation.

We are now a one-car household…with a little two-door Honda Civic. Another great car, but will definitely be putting a crimp on my projects. I can’t fit two full size bookcases in her like I could in Farmcar. We’ll find a way to make-do.

Goodbye, Farmcar.

Oyster mushrooms.

On December 18th, I mixed some oyster mushroom sawdust spawn (from Fungi Perfecti) into used coffee grounds. I have four buckets of the stuff down in the basement as well as two small containers in the kitchen. Aside from a slight bloom of mycelium on the surface, they weren’ t appearing do much…

…until yesterday.

See all that white-ish stuff? That’s oyster mushroom mycelium. That is Good Stuff.

This has been yet another of my experiments, and so far it looks like its going to work. I’m hoping to see some actual fruiting take place soon – no idea how soon, anywhere from days to another two weeks. Keep your fingers crossed!

Shower curtain.

It doesn’t take much to make a big improvement, especially in a small room.

I’d found a duvet cover at a Goodwill that I frequent and absolutely fell in love with the print. From it, I made a shower curtain for both the master and hall bathrooms. The hall bath is in sore need of repair – its going to be a massive project. But in the meantime, a pretty shower curtain made a huge difference.

Before:

 

After:

There have been some other things going on, a new crocheted hat and scarf for example, but I’ll save you from those.

Are you working on any projects? How are you spending your winter?

Love to you all!

The start of a beautiful new year…

I made a change to my thought process regarding the oncoming new year. I decided that instead of focusing on all of the things I hope to accomplish in the new year, I will focus on all of the things I DID accomplish in the old one.  Its funny how changing ones viewpoint on something so seemingly small causes massive positive repercussions throughout my world.
No, I did not lose all my weight and get in shape.
But I did:

*	become a Paramedic
*	become a homeowner
*	go to Italy with my mom – a dream we’ve had for 10 years.
*	move to Atlanta
*	get a puppy
*	get egg-layer chickens
*	raise, and process, meat chickens. From day old chick to the roasting pan. Delicious, and a joy.
*	become a much happier, healthier, positive person
*	enjoy a blossoming of my relationship with my husband. We are closer now than ever before in our 15 year history.
*	meet some incredible people that I am proud to call friends, and reconnect with some friends that I hadn’t seen in well over a decade.

It would be ridiculous to look back at 2010 and not be proud of all the accomplishments. And this doesn’t even take my husband’s massive accomplishment into account; he went back to Berkeley to present his thesis, and is now a full fledged PhD. I am so incredibly proud of him.
And I didn’t completely miss my goal…my weigh in on Friday put me down almost eleven pounds, and my fitness level is much better than it was. I am doing it, and that’s what matters.
So this year I’ve decided to make one huge goal for myself, one that is shared by my husband and that will have a ripple effect thoughout our lives.
My plan is to pay off our debts…everything except the mortgage.
And I even have a plan B. If it takes two years, I will be fine with that, but we are going to do everything in our power to get it done in one.
Its going to be a wonderful year.

The amazing Tuscan Peasant Soup with Rosemary and Pancetta

http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/tuscan-peasant-soup-rosemary-pancetta.aspx?nterms=52492

At the urging of my darling husband, I am posting a link to this most amazing creation.

Here's a little hint that I learned about during my recent trip to Italy:
If your beans are tough, throw it all in a blender! It turns into the wonderful thick, creamy soup...it would be perfect with a crusty rustic bread.

Trust me, this one is good enough for even your most important company!

Home.Farm’s true beginnings!

So, today was a big day for us here on the HomeFarm. I can’t quite explain what was so special about today…maybe loading the FarmCar up with HomeFarm’s first bales of straw…maybe the finishing of a never-ending table-building project…I just don’t know.

Doesn’t matter, really – all that’s important is that it *felt* like a big day for us!

Here she is, the famous FarmCar, loaded with five bales of straw fresh from the Standard Feed & Seed Store in Atlanta. As you can probably imagine, after unloading her FarmCar is completely head to toe in straw remnants. I haven’t had time to vacuum her out yet – that’s a job for another day.

Two bales are now in the bed seen on the right of this photo. They will stay baled, but I will be piling the tops with composted manure and watering them for two weeks. After two weeks, the straw will have heated up and cooled down (hopefully) and something, probably greens, will be planted on top.

The beautiful thing about this method is that the bales will continue to degrade and compost, and next year I will have some beautiful stuff to spread in this box.

As for the rest of the bales, they will be going toward making some new beds. More on that tomorrow!

Peanut Butter Doggie Treats

So, I am definitely back on the project-doing bandwagon, only I keep forgetting to take pictures!  I apologize for not keeping updated, and will certainly try harder from now on.

Dexter, our miniature pincher, was about out of his favorite Trader Joe's peanut butter dog treats. Seeing as we are on a very tight budget right now and I absolutely refuse to go shopping, I did a little bit of research. Peanut butter dog treats, it turns out, are incredibly easy to make.  Plus, we happened to have all of the ingredients! 

Here’s the recipe I used.  It is a combination of several recipes on the web, just adjusted a bit for what I had on hand:

1 1/2 cups	organic whole wheat flour
1/4 cup	organic old fashioned oats
1 teaspoon	baking powder
3/4 cup	1% organic milk
3/4 cup	organic all natural peanut butter
1 tablespoon	molasses

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine everything in a mixer and stir until smooth. Dough will be stiff and not sticky, but should still be pliable.

Roll dough to approximately 1/4” thickness and cut with an appropriately sized cookie cutter, or into whatever shape you desire.

Bake for 22-25 minutes.

Store in an airtight container or freeze for longer storage.

Dexter absolutely loves these – hopefully your pooch will too!

And so the Project List begins again!

My move to Atlanta is official, and though I still spend quite a bit of time in southwest Virginia, this is my home now.

Each time I come down, I bring more of our stuff with me. This time I was a car-full of plants and a couple of my old chairs that I adore. 

I love this house, and now it it starting to feel like home. Our living room is now a mix of all kinds of mismatched furniture, and I love the bohemian feel it's getting.

There is still much work to be done, but I feel comfortable here now.

Tomorrow it's back to work on my table for over the washer and dryer. Unfortuantely, I haven't tracked it's progress, but I will try to start now. 

Love to you all!
Petunia

New home, new projects!

Okay, no more excuses!

I am officially finished with school and am a Nationally Registered EMT-Paramedic. I have some finalization to do with state paperwork, but there really are no more excuses to be found. Time to get some stuff DONE!

Now that I am pretty much moved into our new home, I've got to add some major projects to the list. Most of these will be furniture building/refinishing since we're pretty short on some major pieces as well as cash. I will be using many ideas and patterns from the Knock-off Wood website and hope that you will follow along with me. There will also be various refinishing projects from my thrift store excursions, and I'm sure lots of cooking, sewing and whatnot.

Here's a list of my priority projects:

Major:

• Table and hutch over the washer/dryer
• Kitchen island
• Entryway bench and shoe rack
• Bookshelves
• Platform bed
• Sofa console
• Falconry mew and perches
• Kitchen ceiling fan
• Porch ceiling fan

Minor:

• Oil painting magnet board (repurposing)
• Floating shelves (refinishing)
• Rocking chair (refinishing)
• Side tables (refinishing)
• Corner table (refinishing)
• Triple pleat curtains, living and dining rooms
• Roman blinds, living room and kitchen

So, lots to do, lots to do!  This is going to be a very exciting and busy time - I hope you'll join me!

I'm almost back!

One retest to take tonight, and then school is O-VAH!  There are a couple more tests to take this month before I am truly done and can call myself a paramedic, but the major stresses are over and I can get back to adding some creativity to my life.

So get ready, because here we go!

Love to you all,
Petunia

Putting it on hold for a while...

Okay, so there are a few things happening right now that are interfering with my posting.

1) School is coming to a close - we have six weeks until our finals and then national testing.  I'm simply having to buckle down and focus. 

2) I can't find my camera, and my camera phone is just not cutting it.  So, incidental posts aren't happening either.

3) We just went through a huge closing ordeal on our new house which has completely thrown everything else off.

Essentially, things are good - real good, in fact - just very busy.  So I apologize for not posting, and once I'm all tested out, I promise to start posting projects again soon! 

Love to you all,
Petunia