My Lil Sewin' Machine

i think i already mentioned that tripp's parents got me a sewing machine for christmas this year. it's so adorable. it weighs less than 5 pounds and it's really simple to use. i have a little satchel that it fits in... way too cute.
my friend (and quite possibly the only person following my blog ;P) suggested that i put up some of my creations. here's a little elephant i finished sewing up today. all the fabrics were finds at gift n thrift except for the ears- they're an old bandanna i chopped up. a few friends and family members are having babies so i made this for a friend whose baby shower is coming up.
i also made a baby beach ball for tripp's cousins who just had a baby girl. both projects were simple and fun and can be finished in an afternoon... as long as there weren't many interruptions. which is kind of unusual around here:)

What Have We Missed?

woah! how did so much time go by since my last update? craziness! here are a few highlights of farm activities since we last chatted...

our great pyrenees chloe had pups (father was a traveling man:)) and we were able to find great homes for all three of them.

the Mast family came and lived in the old house at the bottom of the drive. they were a part of most of our household activities. it was really fun to have them around! they cut down a bunch of boxwood in front of the old house they were staying in. we made wreaths as a fundraiser and sold them from the OCP. they really turned out great. here the kids are trying them out as head ornaments:)

tripp got a beautiful stand up bass with some of his christmas moolah. he's been playing crazy jams ever since. i think bass is one of the most beautiful instruments. the swirl at the top... it's just so grand!
tripp's parent's got me a sewing machine for christmas! i don't have any pictures of the things i've made yet. so far i've made a purse, an apron and a rice heat bag. but digby chewed up my favorite little rice bag... barbarian!

my current creative pursuit is knitting up a pair of wrist warmers for one of my super crafty students. she made me an awesome duct tape bag and i'm making purple and white wrist warmers for her as a trade.

i'll try to get pictures up soon!

farm peeps

i'm thinking that this is our 5th weekend living on the farm! one of my favorite things about this new life is sharing everyday life with our new friends who live with us. this is my new pal emily. i don't really understand how she does everything she does and stays sane:)

the running joke is that i'm her new wife (seeing as i help her cook and clean and take care of the kids;P).


this is her husband ken who manages and leads things here at the farm.here are two of their three kids showing of their dance moves.this is my buddy joe. we make lunches together most days. he keeps me laughing with his with wit and "balanced" with his talk radio :)

this is skip- who i can't imagine ever leaving the farm. i'm not sure what we would do without him. i'm sure it would take us a couple months to even discover everything he does around here.

this is robert. robert is very sarcastic and sometimes it's hard to tell if he's serious or joking. i'm starting to figure him out but he keeps me on my toes:)

this is chris. we discovered last night that he's a pretty amazing speller. always learning something new around here:)


this is teig who i feel a special affection for because he reminds me of a real life version of quentin blake's (the illustrator for most roald dahl books) illustrations. not to mention that he's super interesting and funny. he's been traveling most of his life and has a bit of an eclectic past.


rick and phillip have been the most recent guys to move in. i don't have any pictures of them yet but i'm sure i will in the coming weeks.

we've moved!

a lot has changed for us since the last time i wrote. tripp and i moved out of our little house into the Our Community Farm. we're now living with 12 other people, 5 dogs and 1 cat. not counting all the animals on the farm. i was a little nervous that it might be a shock to go from being a bit of a recluse in my own home to living with so many people, but surprisingly enough it's been a really smooth transition.
i've been spending a lot of time this week learning how to cook for such a large group! it's a bit of a challenge, but it's fun to test my creativity. this week my favorite meal we made was a really tasty vegetable soup/stew. i'm not really sure what differentiates a soup from a stew...:) here's the recipe... it's probably a one of a kind, never to be made again kind of soup because we made it from the things we happened to have in the house, but nevertheless.

vegetable soup/stew

2 cans of french onion soup
2 cans of cream of mushroom soup
3 quarts of water with right amount of vegetarian beef flavoring (like bouillion)
chopped carrots
mushrooms
onion
potatoes

1. throw all liquids in a pot to warm up
2. saute mushrooms, onions and carrots
3. cut up potatoes and add to soup to cook down
4. after everything is soft combine and serve

ALSO this weekend we carved pumpkins! my mother in law and i went to the pumpkin patch together in the morning and in the afternoon the kids came home and we did a little carving with M. all the pumpkins are out on the front porch all lit up now. i chose a really hard pattern this time but it turned out pretty nice. i'm going to get picture up as soon as i locate my camera battery charger.

well, i'm off to help decorate butterfly wings for the cutest little butterfly ever. hopefully pictures to come:)

Dear September, You Snuck Up On Me.

Highlight of my week: my dear friend from middle/high school visited the area and we had a chance to catch up in between her time with her family. she invited me to story time with her and her little girl (who is the happiest, smiliest little girl in the world). it was so special! the lovely lady who did story time when i was a little girl is there making story time special. she's so kind and gentle. what made it even more cute is that janelle actually worked at the library with this sweet woman and did story time with her. so it was like story time coming full circle. i loved it:) it was also really fun to catch up. i've been so blessed to have made such wonderful friends in my youth, whenever we see each other it's like we just pick up wherever we left off. what a treasure.
Other exciting new for the week: our neighbor just got a new puppy for his birthday! isn't she just the cutest thing ever!?! digby doesn't really share the same affections for her... she's not really a dog lover...:P i think she'll warm up though:)
Final tidbit: speaking of digby, we had her spayed 2 weeks ago tomorrow. the whole situation turned out to be a little more complicated than we had anticipated, but she's doing really well now and is acting more like our digby:) we just started letting her sleep without the lampshade on. as you might imagine she was not a big fan of the elisabethian collar. but she dealt with it. and now it's a distant memory.

i can't believe it's september already! i'm so excited about the thought of fall getting closer! apple cider, carved pumkins and colorful leaves here we come!

The Dark Side

i made a switch from apple to Dell. mostly for financial reasons but i've been pretty ok with it so far:) windows 7 made the transition smooth...also, it's pretty and that helps:)

Salsa Makin', Enchilada Eatin'

the other week i had an overabundance of tomatoes. not from my own garden so much but from the gardens of friends and family who were generous enough to share. i decided to try making some fresh homemade salsa. while none of my salsa really turned out that great, i used a recipe for roasted tomato salsa, accidentally pureed it, so i decided to use it as an enchilada sauce after tripp suggested it. it's was really delicious!

http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/roasted-tomato-salsa-i/Detail.aspx