July 27 - August 7

Registration is now closed, thanks to everyone who joined us!

Harvest is a self-paced, two week online workshop - a place for home gardeners, CSA members, and farmers market enthusiasts. Join us for two weeks this summer, learning how to enjoy, preserve, and make the most of summer’s bounty.

As the local food movement has exploded in recent years, so too has interest in reclaiming the skills necessary for people to nurture their families and communities at the most fundamental level, through the quality of food they eat. People everywhere want to be part of the field to table process, to feel more connected to one of the most critical aspects of human and environmental health and vitality.

Harvest is a gathering place for anyone who would like to make the most of summer’s abundance. Whether you’re cultivating extensive gardens and keeping a flock of backyard chickens, spending your Saturday mornings perusing the tables of your local farmer’s market, or even combing the supermarket aisles for seasonal deals, there’s no better way to experience this connection than by rolling up your sleeves and bringing in the harvest.

In this workshop, we will teach you how to process and store the season’s bounty. Harvest a very full two week program, where you will learn how to get it all from the field to the freezer, dehydrator, cold storage, fermenting crock, and on occasion, the canner. We will discuss various growing and storage techniques, all with an emphasis on healthy soils, bodies, hearts, and minds. Expect to explore the art of foraging fields and forest, and if you’re looking for some new favorite recipes, Harvest is the workshop for you. Finally, we will be available every weekday to answer specific questions. 

Whether you’re in need of full instruction or simply renewed inspiration, Harvest will be a great resource for you.

So, what can you expect? Let’s take a look inside the workshop.

Harvest

• New material Monday - Friday.
• Rustic and delicious garden to tables recipes.
• Daily, thought provoking essays from Ben on a wide range of topics related to homesteading, gardening, family, and food preservation.
• Tips and tutorials from Ben and Heather - learn how to process, store, and make the most of 20 different fruits, vegetables, herbs, and wild edibles.
• Instructional cooking videos each weekday from Heather’s kitchen, featuring garden recipes as well as preservation tutorials.
• Daily content will be presented in beautifully designed, easy to download ebooks.
• An interactive community where you can ask Ben and Heather questions, and share experiences/methods of your own. (This will happen right on our private website, no social media is required.)
• Website will remain open and available to you for 60 days after the workshop ends.
• And so much more!

This is the first collaboration for us, and while we have created a comprehensive program for you, we also hope to maintain a degree of spontaneity, with a sitting around the kitchen table sort of feel. Bring your questions, share your experiences, and don’t be surprised if our conversation inspires Ben to write an additional essay, or Heather to whip up a new recipe for you, right on the spot.

Care to join us? We’d love to bring in the harvest with you.

July 27 - August 7

Registration is now closed, thanks to everyone who joined us!

Yarn stash replenishment.

For the past couple of summers I’ve dedicated the month of July to making holiday gifts. I’m never actually finished by the end of the month, but I seem to get quite a bit checked off the list. Not that anything on the list is mandatory, or even expected, it’s just fun to make what I can and surprise a few people with something cute and useful as a result. July is a good month to slow down and work on some handmade goods.

With the heat and humidity of July around the corner, I like to have the garden in really good shape by the last day of June so that only minimal maintenance and of course harvesting is needed for July. It doesn’t wind up playing out as conveniently as it all sounds, but I do find myself hanging back in the shade as much as possible for the month. My garden seems to understand. I'm still around, just a little less so.

What we're making in Summer Soul Camp today. Such a fun project.

To gear up for my month in the shade, I replenished my yarn stash this weekend. Not that it needed any kind of replenishing, but you know how these things go. What is it about yarn that makes one so weak in the knees? I’m a goner in a good yarn store, and this weekend, we went to THREE! (A sampling of a bigger Yarn Shop Hop in my area.) They were all really cool small local shops so we felt doubly compelled to hand over our dollars. And now I’m fully committed to “knitting from the stash” for at least eight weeks. Kidding! I think I’m good for a year. (Knitters, don’t laugh at the absurdity of my “I’m good” statement.)

I have a simple Sugar Maple Hat on the needles right now. I’ve knit so many of these I lost count ages ago. I’m mostly drawn to knitting patterns based on their name.  For instance, next I’ll cast on for Campside. It happens to be a beautiful shawl, but the truth is, it could be a not so beautiful shawl and I’d probably still knit it, because, Campside. At the library, I choose books the same way... based on their title. I prefer light (but smart!) fiction, so once I determine a cute title, the description needs to tell me it’s not all doom and gloom. Lately I’ve been into Sarah Addison’s books. With titles such as Peach Keeper and Garden Spells, you really can’t go wrong.

I haven’t asked this in a long time, but what are you reading lately? I’m heading to the library at the end of the week and would love some new ideas. Bonus points if it’s a feel good, sitting on the front porch sipping lemonade kind of story... my nervous system appreciates kind and gentle. Thank you!

Wishing you a great start to the week... I've got an empty basket and three rows of peas calling my name, so I best get to it.

It’s about 80 degrees out there today with a constant, gentle breeze. That’s perfect line-drying weather and I’m kicking myself for not washing any laundry this morning. Probably could have dried three loads in as many hours, but it’s too late to get that going now.

We’ve been without hot water for almost two weeks. The repair folks are scheduled to come July 2nd, it was going to be July 8th, but they bumped it up which is nice. The hot water system is actually shot it turns out, so a full replacement is coming up. It hasn’t been that great taking cold showers, but it hasn’t been that bad either. I mean, there is water that comes out when you turn the faucet on, so things could be a lot worse.

When Hurricane Irene plowed through the area and left us without power for nine days, we lived in the city and let me tell you the living was comparatively easy. Growing up in the country, I only knew that if you lost power, your house shut down. But a power outage in the city? It’s downright swanky! You can still flush toilets and the water still runs from all faucets. We were also fortunate enough to have a gas stove so daily cooking continued. I even did some canning during the outage to save all the produce from rotting in the fridge. The calendar was also in our favor as it was late August so heat was not needed, and it stayed light out until you were done cleaning up from dinner. And then? Well, then you went to bed because that’s what we’re supposed to do when it’s dark.

I remember as a kid we had a week long power outage due to another hurricane. That was before everyone had their own personal generator. I was too young to notice, but that must have been stressful for my parents, I imagine we lost the food in our freezers. Not an expense we could spare. Around day four or five my sister and I (or my it was my neighbor friend) couldn’t stand it anymore and we went out back to bathe in the brook. Talk about ice cold! Late August city water that runs just on the hot, paved streets is positively warm compared to a fast running autumn brook in the country.

Anyway, we’re sticking it out with cold showers, it’s not the end of the world. And honestly, it makes you feel alive.

For the last few months I’ve been working on a collaboration with Ben, and we’re just about ready to tell you all about it. We’ve combined our skills and experience into a dynamic workshop that we think is going to be pretty swell. We’d love for you to join us! Registration and full details will be available on Tuesday if you’d like to check it out. (As always, you’ll be able to buddy up with a friend and share the cost for the first few days of registration.) Until then, here’s a tiny peek...

Okay, I've got to run. There is a basketful of sage and oregano waiting to be bundled up and hung to dry. Wishing you a fantastic weekend, I have a feeling mine will be filled with cold showers (brrr) followed by hot tea and sunbathing (ahhh). Cheers!

I stood at the sink washing dishes at 5 o’clock this morning. Simultaneously feeling disappointed that I didn’t wake up to a clean kitchen, and feeling grateful for the slow start, warm water, and lavender scented dish soap. I broke a dish. I chose not to worry about it.

At some point I looked up, noticed the day’s first light, and listened to the riot of birdsong. Just then, a beautiful, slick looking fox ran through the back yard with a huge deer chasing it at full speed, not ten feet behind the fox. It was crazy! And of course, it had me soon after reading up on the combination of deer and fox seen together, as animal totems. (My research came up a little dubious, feel free to share any wisdom.)

You never know how things are going to work out. We had a busy morning scheduled here; debate camp for Emily, the start of a trial for Adam, and the launch of a workshop for me. It would have been really nice to wash all those dishes last night and come downstairs to a tidy kitchen. But last night was hot and sticky, we were all just kind of hanging around trying to squeeze every moment out of a laid back Father’s Day. Eventually we were so tired from watching Captain America save the world, we just went to bed, dishes unwashed.

You know what the moral of this story is, right?

If you go to bed with clean dishes, then you may not be standing at the sink in the morning when the fox and deer run by.

Not even 5:15 in the morning and the day had given me two lessons.

1. Don’t worry about leaving dishes in the sink at night. They’ll be there in the morning, and it’s possible a fox and deer will be there, too.
2. Get up early, or the day will start without you and you might miss the best part.

This is our fourth year gardening here, and I think we can say we’ve found our groove. Not that it’s all perfect crops and total absence of pests, it’s not. But we do have a rhythm, and we do have enough systems in place to make it all feel like a tad less work on our part, with more time to wander the rows and marvel at this incredibly productive grocery store.

There are several old apple trees on our property. Only one that is in a spot where we could open up around it a little, to let some light in. We do not own this land, so taking a chainsaw to any corner we choose is not an option (but we would totally sacrifice a bunch of choke cherries to resurrect the old apple trees if we could). Anyway, the one apple tree that Adam has been coaxing along since our arrival here is finally starting to come alive. It looks amazing. Our first year here, no apples (and no apples for the many decades prior to our arrival). That was the year we let in some light. Cut down just a few trees around it. Second year, he carefully pruned the tree. Third year, two or three flowers, which resulted in two or three apples that the deer promptly ate. This year, our fourth year here, half of the tree was bursting with flowers this spring and now, heading into summer, it is bursting with fruit. Some of which I believe is too high for the deer to make much of a meal with. So those just might be for us. A small miracle.

And of course, I forgot to take a picture of the apple tree. Next time. Let's go ahead though and take a walk through the garden. All of these pictures were taken this morning, so this is a good snapshot of how things are right now.

We’ve had pretty great weather this June. Plenty of sun, just enough rain, not too hot of temperatures. The brassicas are all covered now, the potato beetles seem under control, and the peas which had a really slow start are finally bursting. I only grew shelling peas this years which was a mistake. Not sure why I opted to leave out snow and sugar snap peas, but I did. Hopefully I won’t make that mistake again.

The garlic has just a few more weeks before harvest. Scapes are being harvested now, pesto making and simple freezing of chopped scapes is underway. Once the garlic and peas are done, I’ll plant our big plantings of carrots, beets, rutabaga, and maybe some turnips. But nobody really likes turnips so I’m not sure why I keep planting them. I’ve already panted some carrots and beets, but just enough for early eating, the storage crops are planted in July.

Raspberries are looking really good this year. We might even get one of those bumper crops people talk about. Wish I could say the same for our strawberries, but they are not having a great year. Well, they were until the deer ate 2/3 of our bed. We usually can't even see the straw! Sigh. Blueberries are slow growing, but reliable. Thankfully.

The manager of our local food co-op has an incredible greenhouse at her home. Alice grows plant starts over the winter and has a plant sale for a few weekends each May. All organic, non-gmo, etc., which is hard to find around here. Even though we start our own tomatoes and peppers from seed, I can help but stock up on some at Alice’s plant sale. Her plants are so big that I always see fruit on them 3-4 weeks before my own start produce. The tomato plants I bought from her are three feet tall already and all of the pepper plants have fruit on them. We’ll be eating peppers in July now, whereas my own plants probably won’t give us any until at least mid-August.

Speaking of peppers, one of the varieties I buy from Alice is called Carmen. If you’ve never grown Carmen peppers do give them a try. The are so deliciously crisp, sweet, juicy, and ripen red. A true Italian frying pepper, about 6-8 inches long. And they freeze great! I just chop and freeze. Some I’ll dice small and those are used in chili and various soups/stews that I put peppers in. Then I’ll chop some much larger, those are saved for dishes like roasted sausage and peppers with potatoes. I freeze all kinds of peppers, but Carmen are just so good I wanted to mention it.

Herbs are coming in and are mostly ready for their first harvest. Feverfew has already been cut and dried, next up this week is lemon balm, sage, lavender, and oregano.

Okay... that’s a general overview of what is happening out there. Sorry if it feels kind of random and fragmented, I write these garden posts mostly as a garden journal to myself, so they don’t always flow very well. I keep track of garden related posts over here, it’s been incredibly useful to look back on them year after year.

Thanks for stopping by!

I wish you could hear the rain. It started sometime after midnight, and continues still, at 11:30 in the morning. Heavy and steady. With the garden’s first planting of the season well underway, it’s not the kind of rain that leaves you fearful of your seeds washing away, or seedlings being pummeled as it pours down. Everything is well established now and the one to three inches we’ll receive is exactly what the gardener ordered. Now I don’t have to do a rain dance for at least another week, maybe even two.

After several hours spent weeding and mulching this weekend, I took a few moments to sit back and look out over the garden. Do you have a chair in your garden? Having a spot to sit and observe the comings and goings is a great teacher. When I’m busy moving around, creating a ruckus, fewer birds and insects come close. But as soon as I get still, the whole place comes alive. It was here that I watched a robin feast on our strawberries. Unapologetic, totally pleased with himself. I didn’t have the heart to shoo him away, the dude earned those berries fair and square. And so I watched him enjoy the feast for about five minutes. It was a weekend highlight, for sure.

Today I’m catching up on some work, enjoying some time indoors thanks to the rain, and generally trying to get the week started. And if I’m being totally honest, I’m also dealing with the emotional toll of another wave of troll comments. I wonder if people realize I can tell when they leave multiple negative comments under different names/email addresses (computers are fancy). Well, now they know. Going through such trouble to project negativity seems like a lot of effort to me, but I’m not as ambitious as most.

I think I’ll go make some tea and simmer down a bit. A really nice person gave me permission to harvest their field of red clover last week, so I’m thinking a brew of lemon balm, lavender, calendula, and a good mineral-rich heap of red clover will do the trick.

Feeling thankful for rainy days and Mondays, they never let me down. xo

Flexibility is key for us right now. (No, your driveway cannot go in that oh-so-perfect place without a culvert and this and that and the other thing... all of which could run you up to $10,000.) Okey dokey, then. Plan B it is.

Stay flexible.

Things are rolling along. We picked up this camper as a starting point for shelter up north. Originally we thought we’d create a fairly decked out tenting area for the season with an outdoor kitchen, tent platform, overhead roof, that sort of thing. Then we realized two things - we’ll often be arriving on our land late on a Friday night; pitching tents at 11pm after a four hour drive might be a drag. Hardly a big deal, but it was just something we thought of. The second, and most important reason for the tent-to-camper switch, is for Scout. He pretty much rules the roost over here in all of his Border Collie neurotic brilliance. And the truth is, he is not into driving around in the car. He endures the Connecticut to Vermont drive at this point, but it is not a tail wagging, head hanging out the window in glee, sort of experience. The thought of him hopping in the car each time we headed out for supply runs and that sort of thing was concerning. Poor guy would be miserable. And seeing as we can’t exactly zip the dude into a tent when we need to run out, we thought a camper was a good solution. A little slice of home for Scout.

Avocado green, three burner gas range with an oven! With a fairly decent stretch of counter for a 12 ft camper.

So, we have this camper now. It's a 1971 Shasta 1400, and we are only the third family to own her (love that). I named her Birdy. She’s the perfect size for us to tow with our small truck. After a bit of a makeover, we’ll take her north and set up a truly permanent camp. Hopefully it will only take another 2-3 weeks for the overhaul. Once she is all set up there, coming and going will be so much easier. Adam will build a carport structure for her to sit beneath. Nothing fancy, just some cedar posts and metal roofing. A little added protection from snow weight and heavy rains. The camper does not leak now, but you never know what the future holds with these things.

There was a chemical toilet behind that door, it's gone now. The closet will be reconfigured and the kitchen expanded into this space. The fridge will be moved down low, or removed altogether. 

The truth is, it’s pretty small for a family of (basically) three adults to sleep in. When we first started thinking of going the camper route, we thought we’d go bigger. Get one with a bedroom up front, a bunk room in the back, and living space in the middle. I like the idea of having a shower that can run off as grey water. This one does not have that, which is a bummer. I do love a shower. But, there were a few problems with going big.

1. They’re big. We have a Toyota Tacoma which is not suitable for towing a 25-30 foot camper. This meant we'd have to hire someone to haul it up for us, which is one more expense/thing to coordinate. We looked into purchasing one up there so the hauling distance would be shorter, but seeing as I wanted to Heather-fy every one I looked at (which is easier to do down here), geography was still a factor.
2. They're big. The carport type structure we want to build for added security against the elements is simpler to build for a 12 foot camper, than it is for a 30 foot camper.
3. They’re big. Our land is dense, rough, and extremely brambly (send goats!). We do have a woods road through some of it, but most of the land is hard to navigate at this time. Hauling a big ol’ camper up there would feel tight and impossible to maneuver and set into place.
4. Also, they’re big.

It's hard to tell from the pic, but the paneling on the rear and right hand wall is detaching from the frame...

The goal is not to live all cozy comfy in a big camper, the goal is to have something that is a passable, perhaps even charming, place to hang our hat (and house our pup) while we fulfill the real purpose up there, working the land and building a modest cabin. I imagine given its small size though, either the teen or the parents will wind up pitching a tent beyond the camper walls. But it will be good to have a solid base to keep basic supplies, do some cooking, and generally have a dry, mosquito-free place to hang out. 

Oh! Because someone put super thick insulation in a 1" frame. We'll fix that.

A bonus discovery made during this decision to get a camper is that having it will likely allow us to build our cabin even smaller, at least the first phase of it. Emily will be perfectly happy claiming Birdy as her own for three seasons out of the year, still enjoying day-to-day living and shared meals with us in the main cabin, but not needing any of her own personal space within.

There's no going back now! There will be new walls, new flooring (cork? bamboo?), a dinette on the right and a couch that turns into a double bed on the left. A shelf for baskets to store clothes and such above the back window. The cool thing about redoing an old camper is that you can't really mess it up, and if you stay with the small ones, materials cost is pretty minimal. We are only this far into the process and can totally see why people get into restoring old campers as a hobby.

Anyway, if you haven’t already seen her in the land of Instagram or Facebook, meet Birdy. She’s quite a catch.

(Although if you ask Emily, her name is Joan.)

{Joining Amanda today.}

It’s been several weeks since I checked in with the garden, so let’s take a walk out there today. Well, actually, all of these photos (except for the one very sunny pic above) were taken on Sunday, so let’s step back in time a few days and take a rainy walk, shall we?

Since Sunday we’ve received about four inches of rain, coming off a six week period of no rain. In this climate, with our soil, plants, and trees, six weeks of no rain puts us into a drought. The garden was feeling stagnant, saved only by my relentless watering which is something I never recall doing so much of in the spring before. I’m mindful about watering seeds in the ground, but once they pop and definitely by the time they reach four leaf stage, I’m letting nature take its course and let the hand watering go. Our gardens really only need about one inch of rain per week to thrive, and generally we receive that in rainfall around here.

Anyway, with all that rain we’re officially watered! And now we have sunny days ahead so lots of growth is happening.

Colorado potato beetle has arrived and I’ve been picking them off by the dozens. We’ve only experienced those once before, and it was just one or two on a single plant. This year is a different story though so I need to stay on top of that.

I went into this gardening season feeling all kinds of practical. I wasn’t going for variety this year, I was going for a strong focus on our storage crops. The plan was to keep it simple down here in Connecticut, so we could freely enjoy the work we have planned up north.  Tons of potatoes, paste tomatoes, peppers, carrots, beets, onions, garlic, greens, peas, and green beans... there would be no corn, melons, summer or winter squash (high potential for pest issues with squash and I didn’t think I’d be here enough to monitor), just a few cucumbers, etc. But then gardening season came on full force and all reasoning went out the window. Those gorgeous garden centers and farm stands are a wicked temptress, indeed.

And so my garden is overflowing with more variety than originally planned (fennel! leeks! broccoli! etc!), but I did stick to my no squash plan. Considering the space they take up and the potential for pests, I’m happy to give the garden real estate to more reliable crops such as carrots, beets, and potatoes. It’s also helpful that other organic farms around here have greater expertise when it comes to controlling squash bugs, so I will pick up those things from them. I’ll plan to take $50 from our September grocery budget, head to a favorite farm stand, and purchase enough squash to last the winter.

We’re off to a good start. June is my favorite time in the garden, everything is looking lush and hopeful (except for the potato beetles that I’m booting out), and the days are not too humid yet so working in the garden is a pleasure. I think this is about it for my update this week, I’ll try to check in weekly this year. We’ll see! My big garden tasks this week are mulching and berry netting, so I best get to it. I’ll sign off with a picture of our first garden salad... because the first garden salad must be documented!

Feel free to check out more from our garden here. Thank you for visiting!

A couple of months ago I posted a few pics of some tasty treats on Instagram which led to requests for recipes. It was Easter weekend, and as much as we love our kale around here, special occasions are suited for special foods. And as we do not have any true food allergies (some food intolerance, yes), I am happy to take liberties in the baking department as our family celebrates. Remember the excitement Laura Ingalls would feel over the gift of a peppermint stick on Christmas? A time and place for everything.

So, in the spirit of good cheer and enjoying life, I thought I'd go ahead and share those recipes with you today. As always, quality of ingredients makes it that much better. Cream and butter from pasture raised cows, fresh eggs, sugar from an organic field, good quality flour. You know the drill. Ready to get cookin'?

Download:

Cinnamon Spice Coffeecake

Chocolate Banana Cream Pie

Life is short friends, have some pie!

*   *   *   *   *

(Thank you so much for your registrations! I am grateful beyond words. xo)

Begins June 22, 2015

~ 10 Days ~

 Registration is closed, thank you to everyone who signed up!

Think of Summer Soul Camp as the place where old fashioned living meets our modern day desire to slow down, be in the moment, and enjoy life's simple gifts. If you enjoyed Hibernate, you'll find this workshop to be the perfect summertime compliment. Summer is fleeting, always gone too soon - gathering for ten blissful days feels like the perfect length of time. 

Summer Soul Camp is a self-paced, ten day, online retreat - a place to celebrate the light and warmth that summertime brings. A place to savor the sunshine, linger into the evening, welcome creativity, and allow time for stillness and spontaneity.

Every summer has a story, perhaps this retreat is a chapter in your summer story.

Each weekday of our retreat, there will be content delivered through our private class website in the form of beautiful mini e-books and videos. In addition, there will be an interactive community to share ideas and experience, if you choose. This workshop finds community both in the comment section of our website, and in a private Facebook group. Each are optional.

You will pick and choose the projects, prompts, recipes and inspiration that speak to you, there is no need to do every little thing offered. Simply being with us in a way that fulfills you, is perfect.

A peek inside Summer Soul Camp...

If you attended last year, please know this session is 80% new content.

• embroidered scrap bag tutorial
• setting up "camp"
• create a summer inspired vision wall
• sweet summer elixirs
• hand painted summer mantra sign tutorial
• homemade ice cream shoppe ~ vegan and traditional
• create a soulful decorative banner, featuring hand-sewn embroidered felt flowers
• seasonal essays, photography and writing prompts
• and more!

If you've taken workshops with me before, you know I love inviting friends to contribute their gifts. This year, Corina Sahlin and Amanda Riley will be offering us beautiful seasonal, summertime essays. And my local friend, Jordan, has created a tutorial teaching us how to make our own hand-painted sunburst sign for our porch or garden with the most beautiful hand painted quote. I'm grateful that all of these women will be sharing their talent and insight with you.

Summer Soul Camp is filled with ideas to help you connect deeply to the beauty of the season. A place where it feels perfectly normal, encouraged even, to linger under a shade tree, sipping lemonade and shelling peas all afternoon. While I love to fill my workshops with plenty of projects and ideas so you receive a wonderful value, I also hope you understand that all of the things offered can certainly last a summer or longer. In our ten day camp, we may feel inspired to try only one or two of the activities and that is perfectly fine. After all, we need to leave plenty of time for staring at the sky in search of the perfect cloud unicorn.

If you feel ready to live this chapter of your summer story, than please join us.

I'd love to attend camp with you!

Begins June 22, 2015

~ 10 days ~

 Registration is closed, thank you to everyone who signed up!