New Year's Day

 We will open the book. Its pages are blank.  

We are going to put words on them ourselves.  

The book is called Opportunity 

and its first chapter is New Year's Day.

- Edith Lovejoy Pierce

 

Here's to us. To open books. To blank pages. To the words we'll find, string together like twinkle lights, and light up the world.  Here's to Opportunity.

Happy New Year's Day. -Brin

Coming Soon! Magic: Turning Milk to Mozzarella

If you've been around for awhile, you may remember last year when I fell hard for homemade cheese. Hard. Remember this white farmhouse cheddar? Oh my goodness. To die for!

That's one reason why I'm excited to say that the kind and talented folks over at the New England Cheesemaking Supply Co. have asked me to be a guest blogger on their site as I chronicle my adventures making cheese at home. We're going to be conjuring up some fantastic mozzarella, and I'd love if you'd join me!

Stay tuned as details are soon to follow. Oh what fun, huh? -Brin

The Chickens Get New Digs

Although I'm a few weeks away from settling into the cabin, my chickens have settled into their new space nicely. Even the new chicks. (I ended up with 10- not the seven I originally thought- when a "missing" hen walked up one day with her three chicks in tow. It was thrilling.)

They've been such a joy to watch. There's nothing more relaxing than sitting out here in the evening with some tea and seeing them playing, scratching, and chasing bugs. So far it appears they like the new digs.

A few of them are apart of the family, now, and have been named... mostly the outlandish-looking ones. This beautiful brown, black, gray, and copper-colored fella is Benn Gleck (haha!), seen above on the left and below on the right. It's my favorite, followed by Bethsaida, Beulah, Beatrix, Beauregard and Baby Haskins.

 The fuzzy white one is Baby Haskins, the obvious offspring of Haskins, this rooster below who follows me around like a puppy but flies at all my visitors if they get too close. (Which I secretly love. Pet attack rooster? Oh heck yes!)

After all, you can't have too many bodyguards. Or friends. Even they're 10 inches tall and have feathers. A girl who lives in a cabin in the woods needs all the help she can get, eh?

Happy Monday, from Millicent, Miss Marple, the chickens and me. -Brin

Finally, A Home

She woke each morning with a glow of hope,
not because a new dream had been born,
but knowing the one she carried
inside her heart would last.

-Jodi Hills, An Imperfect Life

 

The cottage-cabin. It arrived early Friday morning, before the fog settled and the sun chased the drizzle away. The days I've hoped on for so long are here. It's time to turn this tiny, shell-of-a-building into a special little home.

I'm showing you the before because we will hardly recognize this little wooden thing when we're through. It will have heavy paned windows, reclaimed trim, a screen door, a porch, some paint, stone steps and walkway, fireplaces, and a garden with a very special front garden gate. Don't forget lots and lots of trailing roses and delicate herbs and sweetly-scented flowers. Just you wait. It's going to be a dream...

No. Wait. 

It already was.

Are you ready to get busy? We have a lot to do here! First off: the inside, and how to fit it all in. I've just downsized from 1,500 square feet to 356 square feet, after all. We're going to have to get creative if we're going to fit all our books, yarn, dishes, clothes, paintings, furniture, and animals in there!

Here's to the dreams we carry, lasting. -Brin