Galette

It may have finally happened. The pastry dough that I have been looking for.

Easy and no fuss to make, at least by puff pastry standards. Light and chewy on the inside and crisp and flaky on the outside. I filled one with mushrooms and sweet potatoes. Topped with smoked mozzarella cheese. Then packed it and the kids up and had a picnic with Timothy on his lunch break.

Then magic happened. Food magic. I used the leftover dough to make this blueberry, honey and

pecan baklava-esque galette.

Pair it with all the kids in bed, a rainy evening, a latte and all is right in my world.

Sunshine and Elm

Lessons learned the hard way number 6487. Never, I repeat NEVER, try to teach an Essential Oil class in your home with your 3 young children. They will be teething or fighting or telling you how to teach your class. 

As you can imagine... This has never happened to me. I was just thinking up random motherhood tips to share... wink.

                       

After learning my lesson, I realized I needed some.... Let's say... Seperation. The little guy laid down for his nap and I escaped outside for a couple hours. Alone. Just me, the cats, the chickens, the dogs and the wood pile. Your definition of being alone changes when you have a farm. I took the chickens down our hill to the "Pond". And that, my friends, was just about as easy as teaching my class. Have you ever tried to get 10 chickens to willingly go somewhere that they have never been? Through gates and around chopping blocks? With a dog who just keep trying to put them back in their house?

               

Suffice to say I needed a battle I could win. And win I did. One and a half whole hours of that wood pile beating the tar out of me. Elm is prized for it ability to be easily split.... NOT! 

This, is my nemesis. It may have taken about 20 swings on each end and even some on the her side and she still didn't split. Until my husband got home and showed her a thing or two.

                       

Slowly, but surely I filled my cart.... Twice!
                         
                       

And really.... Who needs a gym when you can split wood? I got my workout in for the month and I got to take off my coat in January.

                       

All in all I had a blast. Seriously. There is something about getting outside and working that clears your head. It's grounding and wonderful.

Elm may not be the easiest wood to split, but it was free. And it burns long and hot.... Kinda like my husband... wink.

                       

I should go now. My sleep deprived brain may not be the best judge of what should or should not be said in public.

Christmas at The Little Red House

We kept things simple this year. We had to. With 3 little ones, one of which has not slept for more than 2 hours at a time since he was born almost 7 months ago, I had no choice. Stay sane or do all the holiday decorating/baking/hosting/merry making I wanted to. I chose to stay sane.

This year I remembered that we wanted to adhere to the Something to wear, Something to read, Something you want and Something you need rule for the kids. Which was perfect. It more than helped when I wanted to just lavish them with things that were just things.

Timothy and I never do gifts for each other on Christmas Day. Mostly because we justify other purchases through out the year by say, "We'll just call this your Christmas present!"

The tree went up right after Thanksgiving and will come down tomorrow. I am always sad to see it go, but happy at the same time. Kinda wishing there was a way to do both.

Merry Christmas friends and Happy New Year!

Comforting Color

Blustery day outside.

Means a comforting food inside.

Some for us.

 Some to give away.

 

Colorful pots and pans,

 

And a pumpkin, sausage, creamy, cheesy, from scratch casserole to be enjoyed by many.

Chinking

Are you tired of hearing about these old logs?

Me too!

They are only a giant feature in our living, dining and kitchen area.

It is like a painted accent wall....

Times 100.

Or maybe times 1000.

Or maybe times.... Never mind... This could go on for quite awhile.

Would you like me to explain why I think it is so awesome?

cricket... cricket... cricket...

I will take that as a yes!

They add texture.

They are a great natural element.

They ground the rooms, and can stand up to and balance out all my other white things.

They are old.

And now!!!! They are chinked.

Chinked with a homemade concoction that only my husband knows. I do know that he didn't buy anything for it. Everything was gathered from the Earth.

Which is hippy talk for dirt.... and sand.... and wood ash... and water.

And sweat.... and tears... and love.... and.... You get the point, atleast I hope you do. This project was a lot of work, hard, hard work. But we love the out come. 

What do you think?

Reason to Celebrate

By the screams and shouts you would have thought they were given a huge present. Something really special. Something to celebrate.

But these girls of ours.... Upon opening the door last night, saw snow.

Our first snow.

We quickly jumped in the car to take a quick, nighttime drive. It was pitch black except for the bright white, huge flakes of snow.

We headed up the mountain. Saw a fox and enjoyed being a family.

And this morning, it was still here. Only a skiff of snow, but a beautiful skiff.

That makes even the chicken coop roof look beautiful.

Those girls were right. This snow, this beauty, is definitely a reason to celebrate.

Can't We Just....

Three simple words. Words that can make my husband cringe. He tries to tell me that he really can't do everything (like I think). But he keeps proving himself wrong and proving me right. Because he really can do EVERYTHING!

Laura- Can't we (read you) just move this opening over?

Timothy- You mean that opening? The one that is 100+ years old and totally structural?

Laura- Yep!

Timothy- And log?

Laura- That's the one! Won't it be awesome! It'll solve all our problems! All you have to do....

Timothy- ........

Laura- It'll separate the men from the boys. I mean, who else do you know who has done this?

Timothy- .......... sigh........

And so it began.

See that little tiny doorway... Keep looking, it's pretty hard to see... Over there on the left side of the picture.

That doorway is what separated the dining room and kitchen from our new living room.

We started by measuring and using tape on the wall so we could see what our new opening would look like.

Then brought the chainsaw in. The best part of the chainsaw in the house was that our neighbor happened to be looking out his window and said to his wife, "I just saw Tim start up his chainsaw and walk into the house!". They came over a few days later...

He made a pulley system out of a ratchet strap. And cut. One. Log. At. A. Time.

Then... We brought the logs back into the house and started piecing them back together to fill in the old opening.

Then made some more cuts.

Aaaaannnnndddd the long awaited new opening was done!