Buzzmills

Curious eyes...

Just one week until my first street fair/market!  My fingers, sewing machine and scissors have been very busy squeezing in work at all different times of the day, from morning coffee to late at night and whenever I can in between.  Of course, often times, there are little curious eyes watching.  

Happy Weekend!

Don't play with your food...

 Well, there might be a few exceptions...if it hasn't been cooked yet and if it happens to have legs :)

We had the opportunity to pick up another CSA share that needed a "home" today and there are some things that I don't know what they are or what to do with them!  Here is the list:

1 Bunch Komatsuna
1 Bunch Dill
1 Bag Red Tomatoes
1 Bunch Baby Orange Carrots
1 Bag Edamame
1 Bunch Green Mustard Greens
1 Bag Mixed Peppers
1 Head Green Leaf Lettuce
1 Bunch Collards
1 Bag Sweet Potatoes
1 Package Cremini Mushrooms

So, I guess that is part of the fun of the CSA right?  Now I just have to use my identification skills and figure out which is which and then read the note that came along with the veggies: "What do I do with these vegetables?"  We started off easy tonight with roasted carrots, but I am particularly stumped about the Komatsuna...

 

A leaf project...

We aren’t even a week into fall and I am already enamored with it.  This does not surprise me, it happens every year.  I love the fall.  Don’t get me wrong, I am a four seasons girl, I enjoy all of the other seasons almost as much, the cold and the snow of winter, the beauty and newness of spring and the fun of summer (I could do without the hot), but the fall has something a little extra.  I love the smell, the color, the cool, the crisp, the fresh, and the coziness of it all...

After our trip to the library last week we came home with a couple of autumn books.  One of the books was a children’s leaf identification book.  We have been enjoying looking at the pictures in the book and seeing which leaves we recognize from the ones that we have been seeing on the ground on our walks.  Today we decided to bring some of those leaves home with us and do a “leaf project”.  I put leaf project in quotes because I remember being assigned to do a “leaf project” when I was in fifth grade.  We were to collect leaves and then identify them.  I remember being one of the only kids in my class who actually enjoyed this project.  I have always liked finding things in nature and then looking them up to figure out what they are, I guess that’s the Biology girl in me!

When we got home from our collection walk we pressed the leaves together between wax paper with an iron and then looked in our book to identify them. 

I think we may need to find a more inclusive book because we did find some leaves that were not in our book.  I have a feeling this will be an ongoing autumnal project, especially as the leaves begin to get prettier and prettier! 

Also on our walk I found more acorn caps!  I think I might have a bit of an obsession with acorn caps now.  It is very hard for me to walk around outside and not pick up a half a dozen caps or more.  Last year I remember Violet and I searching for acorns that still had their caps on so that we could bring them home and draw cute little faces on them and then hang them around the house.  This project proved to be a bit more difficult then I had anticipated because the squirrels had been there before us and were already hiding them all!  The ones that we were able to find made me feel a bit guilty since we took them from the squirrels.  This year it seems that the squirrels are rewarding me for not taking their acorns and are now delivering their unused acorn caps to my backdoor!  So, between the squirrel deliveries and my full pockets, I now have quite the acorn cap collection…

Hmmm, what to do with them...?

Happy Fall!!!

Happy Fall, have a wonderful weekend!

Small milestones...

Today is my 100th post!  As of today I have been writing this blog for 6 months!  Yes, yes, I know it is not a year or 1000 posts...but it is a milestone (a small one) for me.  I am celebrating a bit, well, maybe with a beer when Brad returns from his business trip tonight...but really just celebrating with a little smile. 

Seven months or more ago I started the blog but didn't do anything and then an email that I sent to a friend prompted (for some reason) me to just do it.  I was nervous clicking the publish button for the first time, for the first ten times, well a little bit each time actually.  I was nervous for people to read it.  I was nervous for people not to read it.  I was afraid I wouldn't be able to keep up with it, keep up with projects and ideas.  And now, after six months I can say that people do read it (Thank you!  And if you don't, you should, ha ha!).  I can say that I have been challenged, exhausted, frustrated, excited, stressed, and encouraged writing this blog.  I can say that I enjoy sharing pictures, ideas, projects, "two cents".  I can say that I have tried new things just because of this blog.  And I can say that people actually like my stuff (*phew*) enough to buy it! 

So, thank you again to those of you stopping by, I really do hope that you enjoy your visits.  I hope you are inspired in some way.  I hope you try one of the tutorials.  I hope you know that I am doing this because I like it, because it gives me a creative outlet.  I hope you also know that my house is not always clean, I am not making elaborate gourmet dinners and I do do a lot of my projects at night time ;) 

And to announce one more milestone...last week I finally got the nerve to send in my application to the Fenton Street Market!  And, just yesterday I found out that I will be a vendor at the market on October 8!  GASP!  I am excited and terrified!  I hope that I have enough stuff made in time for the market and I hope I sell enough!  I know that this too is a small milestone...but fairly unimaginable to me.  I have shopped many many street markets before.  I have spoken with many many creative people as they sit under their tent selling their handmade things and I can not believe that one of those people will be me.  Very cool. 

So, after getting the news yesterday and being inspired by the nearing of the autumnal equinox I busied myself by making some felted wool acorns.  (*next time I might try my hand at making the balls myself...)

Violet, Henry and I have been keeping up with the squirrels and busily collecting acorns and acorn caps over the past several weeks (really since Irene knocked many of them prematurely out of their trees) and with the arrival of the felt balls last week I could finally begin this project. 

So, now I know I will have something to sell. HA!  There won't be just acorns...stuffed animals, market bags, and hopefully much more...If you are in the area on October 8th stop by and say hi!