Guerilla Berry Hunt

Today I took the dog on a long walk through the neighborhood and into a little nature reserve to pick blackberries. They are everywhere out here (invasive) and no one picks them. We made out with 5 cups. I am going out for a second trip later today to make off with 3 more cups. Then I can make some blackberry jam. Hopefully I'll be able to can tomorrow. If not, Saturday expect some pictures of the good stuff!

The first time I went out I was really embarrassed and I thought everyone was looking at me. I was so ashamed I came back with only ten or so berries. My principal told me she had canned 17 jars of the stuff and that it is a hobby of her family's to drive around and pull over whenever they see them to pick and freeze. This made me bold today and I channeled my great-grandma that my mom said would walk around picking dandelion leaves (arugula) to eat with dinner. Suburban foraging is a lot of fun. I might bring a jar of the stuff to the hermit cat lady at the end of the street. I picked a lot of her berries.

Table

Here is the new table! The chairs are next to be upgraded! Our dining room/nook area is really small so we don't have any of the leaves in. The solid color makes the space look better, it's cute.

Dining Room Table Up-Do

We decided to finally sand and finish a table we bought four years ago. The intent originally was to stain it, but we wanted some more color in the dining room. I wanted an antique red, but the color we chose was a little lighter. It turned out really nice.

We put the last coat of paint on yesterday, so it'll be reassembled and back in the house today- yeah!! I read a NY Times article about a couple with a small space, but the best part was what they did with their dining room chairs. Instead of spending a ton of money on chairs (they're like $100 and up apiece) they bought all mismatched chairs and painted them the same color. So that's what we're going to do, it'll be cheap and add a fun look.

Oh yeah, we used a Behr high-gloss paint. Hopefully it won't be sticky, but whatever. If it backfires we can just sand and change the color on a monthly basis!!

The Coming Fall

So I know it's way too late for planting a lot of things in my garden at this point. I think it just feels autumnal right now and I'm trying to get the last hoorah in. The pumpkins failed, so I'll go another year without pumpkins. I think I transplant them too soon, my friend Jacquie says they need a lot of warmth to get going.

However, today I planted some lettuce, radishes and kohlrabi which I know will do well. I also took a chance and planted some buttercup winter squash and a few hubbards as well as a few onion seed. They won't take and I just used some cheap seeds from the co-op and Home Depot so it won't be a huge loss. I just dread the idea of winter coming and not having my own squash for soups. Last year I bought a bunch at the grocery store at the end of October and they kept into January, so I'm sure I'll have to do that again.

I also cleaned off the kitchen window sill to place a container for more lettuce and radishes. I'm going to try an onion- just to see what'll happen. I completely overlooked onions when getting my seed together this year.

Wow, stream of consciousness eh?! I'll post pictures later today or tomorrow. I need to get some potting soil.

Zucchini Cookies and Summer Prospects

My kitchen table was a mess yesterday with all of the produce I bought. I also see that one of my puny garlics made it in the shot!

This week is blueberry picking and preserving time. I really enjoy canning and have only done the cherry sauce and spiced honey. I still want to make apple butter this fall. I think that will be good.
Yesterday, however I got taken off guard by a Yakima fruit stand near my house. He has 26lbs of tomatoes for $18.oo. This isn't bad for our prices and I could make 12 pints of tomato sauce for the winter. I also bought 5lbs of peaches and tomatoes for $4.50 each. I've never canned tomatoes and I'll have to invest in a food mill, but it seems like a lot of fun. I know it would be cheaper to just buy cans of tomato sauce from the grocery store at these prices, but it's nowhere close to as satisfying and tasty! It's difficult for me now to focus on the just producing some blueberry jam and apple butter for the year. I am starting to think some ketchup, pizza sauce and spaghetti sauce would be fun. We'll see how my budgeting this week goes before I take the plunge.
Last night I made zucchini chocolate chip cookies from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. It's a great recipe using no white sugar. I doubled the batch and added more flour as the dough was kind of thin. Next time I'll add less flour, I think it was thin because I was using whole wheat pastry flour. I also used my flat stoneware dish to bake them. They turned out great and the stone was awesome.

Krazy-Eyez Killah, aka Ulysses

Look at this guy. He seems so innocent, so nice, like the kind of guy you'd want to play fetch with. Yet he holds a dark secret- he EATS SQUIRRELS! Well, he tries to eat squirrels. Today was a close call- he actually got his mouth on one. I was screaming and threw everything in my hands down and ran around like a mad woman. I saw the squirrel jump and make a beep sound at which point I ran in the house and woke up Justin. When we went back out there was no blood, no dead squirrel and a really worn out dog. Still it was close.

Be warned...

Urban Craft Uprising

So here is my cute picture with my new cute yarn! The Urban Craft Uprising event in Seattle this weekend was alright. I was a little disappointed that it was on the small side and that all of the vendors are already well established. They all already have items for sale in stores downtown. I think I envisioned more of an arts and crafts style swap meet. It was pricey and run like a home and garden show- no haggling! However, at the Seattle Center there was also an Arab festival that was great. So we ate falafel and Zalebia (the best ever) and enjoyed good live music.

Oh yeah, the dog and I were rough housing the night before so I got a radical scratch on my face. It was a nice juxtaposition with the pastels and all the bird crafts!!