The Super Food for a Super Supper

Omgoodness. What is it with so many of us coming down with cancer these days? Not cool. Not cool at all. Something must be done.

Enter Lacinto kale, otherwise known as one of the top "super foods", cancer fighters, and The Green Thing That Makes An Appearance Once A Day Now On Our Table. This stuff is delicious, quick to cook, and practically grows itself. Really. 

Wednesday evening, in lieu of... anything else, I harvested, blanched, and froze a bumper crop of kale. Took us a few hours, but with his superb chopping skills and my so-so washing-and-dunking-in-boiling-water-and-freezing skills, we were done. It was so worth it. Yesterday after a long day of work, I browned Italian turkey sausage, onions, celery, garlic and red pepper flakes in a big soup pot, and then added a few crushed tomatoes and chicken stock and herbs. I simmered that for 20 minutes and dumped in a few handfuls of our kale and some white beans... and woohoo! Supper!

While we're scanning real estate sites and hoping to buy a small country place soon, for now we're living in the city, about three blocks from the local college. Our little fenced yard already had deep existing flower beds, but we've added two more and are planting them full of food. And a few flowers and herbs. But mostly food. And honestly, they're quite pretty.

If you have the means, hop on over to Seed Savers and snag some seeds so you can be ready to plant in a few months. Or look for it in the store or farmer's market or CSA or wherever you find produce. I promise you'll be glad you did.

It's time we show this cancer nonsense who's boss, eh?

Happy weekend!  -Brin

Update: Oh! If you're looking for a good tutorial on how to deal with all your super kale, go here. This is how I learned to do it and the clearest I've seen it explained. Enjoy! 

How A Rose Became Evidence

When you see a building, you're seeing the mind of the architect built to form.
When you see a painting, you're glimpsing the artist's emotions rendered and displayed.
When you skim a page, you're reading the writer's thoughts printed out.
And when you pick a rose, you're beholding the Creator's beauty brought to life.

The Bible says creation is evidence of a Creator. Evidence. Proof. In fact, it says that God's divine attributes are on display from what's been made. And it makes sense. I mean, we eat something yummy at work and ask, Who made this?. We hear a good song and wonder, Who sings this?. We come in to a huge mess and we yell, WHO DID THIS?!. (Right?) So why can't we look at a rose and ask the same question we ask about everything else: Who is responsible for this?.

I've asked, and I'm confident in where I've landed. You are, Creator God. I'm pretty sure You are. And You did a breathtaking job.

Nice work on the roses. They seem especially beautiful this year. I love them. If I could, I would tuck one into your lapel and You could wear it all day and know I'm thinking of You.  -Brin

Millie, The Heart Catcher

What is it about dogs that completely catch our hearts and hold us captive? 
 

For the many who have asked, I want you to know that the Much Beloved Millie is doing well. She's still rounding up and catching hearts, giving a new meaning to the term dog catcher. The old girl is six now. Six in March. Ever the fan of riding in the back and trotting after tennis balls and trying to sneak things off kitchen counters.

She has me trained to give her string cheese on command. A week or two ago, I bought one of those jumbo packages of string cheese and shoved it towards the back of the fridge. Ha. They found it in no time. 

Me: [Looking intently in fridge]  Hey! Where in the world is all that string cheese we just bought?

Him: ... Well... it wasn't that much. But... uh... ask Millie. [Points toward the corner of the kitchen where she's sitting.]

[Millie wags her tail.]

She seems to be adjusting to all the changes fairly well. I say "all the changes" because back in February, we adopted Maggie, a tiny Yorkshire Terrier mix that was rescued off the street. She came to us severely malnourished, dehydrated and dangling a broken leg. We loved her instantly, even if Millie took a week or two to adjust.

So Millie and Maggie. Quite the pair. I'll round up the now-rambunctious Mags soon and introduce you. You'll adore her.

But first, Millie. I appreciate y'all asking about her. She sends her love but says she will keep your heart, thank you very much.

Life Begins Again

lowers grow out of dark moments.

Corita Kent

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/flowers_3.html#71C2OUqFtWiJGDlo.99Flowers grow out of dark moments.

I am going to try to pay attention to the spring. I am going to look around at all the flowers, and look up at the hectic trees. I am going to close my eyes and listen.

Anne Lamott

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/flowers_2.html#O2lKvaYgJ6dfwBTq.99

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/flowers_2.html#O2lKvaYgJ6dfwBTq.99

Flowers grow out of dark moments.

-Corita Kent   

 Every spring as I plant my seeds, I hesitate. Is it too cold? Too wet? Will there be enough sun and enough warmth to coax these dead-looking pieces to life? And somehow, always, the hard seeds respond, and life begins again.

Life begins again.

I spent my 35th birthday at a painting class, swirling watercolors around thick paper and trying to make it look like a sunflower. But not just any sunflower. I wanted the sunflower to look like me- a little bent, a little weepy- but still glowing and open and alive. A broken hallelujah kind of a flower. After the class was over, I drove home in the pouring rain and thought about my own broken hallelujah kind of life. What's done is done. I cannot change a single decision or dime or day. Parts of my heart bolted and went to seed- Freeman House, the bakery, traveling, some relationships, some dreams- but as they died they left me with seeds. Seeds to plant. Seeds to prove that life begins again.

And so it has. I went to the store and bought my own small set of watercolor paints and brushes. Why? Because we live in a world created by the Second Chance God, where death begets life and endings are just beginnings and broken hallelujahs are sometimes more beautiful than the perfect ones.

Life begins again. Let this be my painting to the world.  

Hello again. -Brin

The Ruddy Autumn Wedding

 In the season of white wild roses
We two went hand in hand:
But now in the ruddy autumn
Together already we stand.
-Francis Turner Palgrave

Keep some room in your heart

for the unimaginable.

 -Mary Oliver

A woman seldom asks advice

before she has bought her wedding clothes.

-Joseph Addison

I've bought my wedding dress. Just like that. I woke up this morning, was piddling on my iPhone, and came across an article that linked up several sites to score beautiful, budget-friendly wedding gowns. And then, there she was: my dress.

There was one left.

It was my size. (Or... the size I should order based on the reviews.)

It was 30% off.

I've bought my wedding dress!

Post Pilgrimage: Slow, Gathered, and Grown

As I make my slow pilgrimage through the world, 

a certain sense of beautiful mystery

seems to gather and grow. 

- A.C. Benson

I went out to the garden, picked basil, and came in and made pesto last night. 

It was a hot, tiring week in Houston. I was sent there Sunday for a 4-day conference in a giant glass building with fast elevators. The pace was all wrong- too fast and frantic, then boring and blah. The hotel (didn't I used to enjoy them?) was impersonal and loud. The presentations were slick but slow. The traffic set me on edge. I felt out of place all week, and when I got in the rental car to make the drive home, I nearly cried out with relief.

I got home, went out to the garden, picked basil, and made pesto. Then I smeared it over chicken, potatoes, peppers... whatever, didn't matter... and set the table. Then I lit candles and opened a bottle of wine for friends and we filled our plates and everything was okay again.

Pilgrimages around the world are great, but I like them slow with gathered and grown dinners and flickering candles at the end. 

 Beautiful mystery optional. 

Chapter One of the Great Story

Now at last they were 

beginning Chapter One

of the Great Story

no one on earth

has ever read,

which goes on forever:

in which every chapter

is better than the one before.

-C.S. Lewis

 

 Source

If you follow my ever-growing Pinterest boards, you've probably guessed my secret: I am getting married.  

I am getting married!

Our story is, as you'd expect, thrilling. Moving. And deeply, deeply beautiful. At least, we think so. Do you know what it is to have found the one God has for you? It is transforming. It is freeing. It leaves you with the profound sense of being utterly loved- not just by the one who's holding your hand, but by the One who's been holding your heart... moving, waiting, loving...

I am getting married!

We are excited to tell our story and share our experience(s). For now, we are planning a fall wedding stuffed with all the lovely people, music, candles and flowers we can pull off. Since I will have six months to plan this wedding, it's going to require every bit of creativity and DIY projects I can manage. Yipes!

For those who've asked, the cabin project is on hold for a year or two- until we can tackle it together- and we've decided to relocate it to a former national wilderness property where we own five acres. He wants to get a goat or two. I want more chickens. We both want to start a family. But for now, we're dreaming of a wedding day, making a home for two, and starting our Great Story.

I am getting married! -Brin

 The ache for home lives in all of us,

 the safe place where we can go as we are 

and not be questioned.
-Maya Angelou

 

I love that: the idea of home as a safe place where I am not questioned. Today I'm longing for such a place! (There's a huge back story that I'll skip here. You're glad for that, trust me.)

So. News! The bathroom in my little place is framed and ready for electrical, plumbing, walls and floors. And fixtures. Lighting. Tile, perhaps. Then mirrors, rugs, and decorations. In other words, I've barely begun. But it's so much fun working on this little place!

I am more excited about the cabin than ever. Seeing walls going up is thrilling! Everyone who's come over has looked at me with crazy eyes and asked, slowly and with feeling, whether I intended to put the bathroom in the middle of the cabin? I mean, did I realize that it's facing folks as they walk in the front door? That it slices the cabin into two separate living areas? That no one makes design decisions like this?

Yes. Why, yes, I did. Come on in.

This weekend the electrical goes to the cabin and in the cabin. I'll be moving in right away. (Having lived in Freeman House for three months without power or water, this will be a cake walk!) It will be a relief to be near everything: my chickens, the garden, the before-now-unattended cabin, and the peace and tranquility that come with being near the woods in the center of exactly nowhere.

Grateful today for my walls, however placed, and all the unquestioning quiet they afford....

Cottage Cabin Project #1: Lose That Loft!

There are elements of intrinsic beauty 

in the simplification of a house...
-Gustav Stickley

Work on the cabin is underway! Project Number One? Remove one of two lofts- the one over what will be the living room area- to take advantage of those 12-foot ceilings.

And what a difference that made!

With that extra loft cleared away, plans are to build the walls for the bathroom this week. It's taken me awhile to settle on an arrangement for the cabin. Non-negotiable? A full bathroom, a full kitchen (with my I-will-never-part-with-this-awesome-thing! oven), and room for my books. 

Some girls are all about the closets. Me? I'm all about the bookshelves. *wink*

I'm still trying to decide exactly where I want my windows- and what style/size. And where in the world am I going to stash a water heater? I'm working with 360 square feet, so options are limited. So many decisions! I wish I could throw open the doors and walk you through and collect the many suggestions and ideas. Part of me is concerned that once I cut holes in the outer wall, decide on room placement, etc.,, some shockingly brilliant and perfect idea will come along and then what will I do?

Wonderful, happy worries!

Your New Year is off to a pleasant start, right? Hope so.  -Brin

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

Delivery Date

I spoke with Mr. Cabin Guy today. The little wooden home is scheduled to be delivered December 17th! I drove away and smiled as I swatted at tears. Good, happy news. What a Christmas!

Time to get back to simplifying and packing. You wouldn't believe the scaling down that's happening over this way in the last few/next few days as I make room for new memories in a new home.

Are y'all ready for another house adventure? We'll have a lot of work to do!  -Brin

Seeds of Promise

One of my goals for this year was to buy a plant forever. By that I mean, buy or grow a plant once, and begin saving seeds in earnest. No more buying the same plants, year after year.

I got my dried, seeded herbs in their seed packets yesterday, all ready for spring planting. It was satisfying, somehow; a reminder that life will go on, despite what we're facing as a nation... and as a people who love God.

I am thankful, this year, that we have the promise of a hope and a future. A firm footing. A rock, an anchor, and a sure place. Those are seeds of promise I can save in my heart, at Thanksgiving and always.

Happy, happy, happy Thanksgiving. I hope yours is full of rest and contentment. -Brin

THANKFUL Sale

Just a note to say that all my hand-knitted House Helper cloths are on sale for 20% OFF through Friday. Enter the coupon code THANKFUL at checkout for your savings. Thank you!

Perfect Spot for a Cottage-Cabin

 

Think I've decided on just the spot for the cabin:

What do you think? 

-   -   -   -   -

Can you believe it's almost Thanksgiving?!  -Brin

Closed Doors and Beautiful Windows

                                                                      Source: nezaposlena.tumblr.com via Brin on Pinterest

I think about my little cabin/shed all the time. Although this is a tough time across the nations, and not an easy time to birth a dream, I remain hopeful. Perhaps closed doors will bring beautiful, open windows. 

Today I online shopped heirloom roses and plump love seats, dreaming of having both nearby. I can hardly wait for a place of my own again. I've felt so anchor-less since Freeman House, you know? Just thinking of owning a place again, however small and humble, brings such excitement and contentment to my heart.

(Stuff aside, we will see Your goodness in the land of the living, God.  Cabins, couches and roses are sweet, but Your love sustains and lasts. Thanks for understanding our need for a forever home... our need for constant beauty. Until You bring both, our hearts yearn....)

I guess where some find their home and their strength in people - loved ones, I suppose- mine has always come from a sense of place. I told God just now that I'm sorry, and need help driving the tent pegs of my heart at the feet of the unchangeable Man instead of changeable circumstances. I'm working on it. It's a process.

Over this past and coming week, I'm packing up the small house and awaiting the time I can call for the cabin. I'm still a few dollars short from paying the delivery fee, but am scheming and selling with the best of desperate girls everywhere. Where there's a will, there is always a way.

Here's to those closed doors, and our hope for beautiful windows instead. Love- Brin

Thanksgiving In the Air!

Thanksgiving is almost here. I can feel it in the air! Is there any better time of year? 

My apologies for being away so long. Life showed up, claimed my time, and is only now easing up. But listen to this news: I'm happy to say that I am about 3 weeks away from beginning renovations on a cabin! The dream of my heart for so long is about to happen. You'll come with me, won't you? You'll help and advise from there as we take a shell of a cottage and turn it into a cozy, little home, right?

I hope so. It's about time we tackle another home together, isn't it? 

You should know: I'm going all bargains and estate finds and creative on this venture. While a shopping spree at Restoration Hardware would be incredible, it's simply not in the budget. Matter of fact, this weekend I scored a heavy kitchen sink off Craigslist for $10. TEN DOLLARS! I'm using it, too. I'm a girl on a budget, so we're going to be putting in this cabin and starting the gardens off our sheer ingenuity, creativity, and elbow grease. Oh, I'm just so excited! 

In the meantime, I have a few recipes to send your way shortly. And a how-to on my new paperless paper towels. And I'm looking to dip some candles. Does anyone know a great way to get started in that?

And oh yes. My shop, Balm and Honey, is updated with goodies from my latest knitting kick. Hurry to claim yours before the shop is picked clean! (I think my favorite is the Lemon Tea. Those I want to keep...) And thanks, as ever, for your support. Could not do this next phase of my life without your encouragement and help. :)

There are some interesting days ahead. Glad we have each other, aren't you?  

Happy November. -Brin

The Seven Chicks

I ended up with seven chicks: 2 brown, 2 white, one gray, one with brown/black stripes, and one black. And oh! So fluffy and adorable! Especially that lone little black one there. I'll take better pictures soon, but for now I'm trying to leave them under that warm, red bulb and close to their adoptive Mama. They come out from under her wings only to peck at food, crowd around the water, and play. Then it's back under Mama.

It was a wonderful weekend, taking cocoa to the hen house and watching the chicks. It was calming... oddly soothing, somehow... and I became engrossed in watching the new life, watching them waddle and peck and flap their tiny wings for the first time. I wish everyone- children, especially- could have that moment, too.

Today I'm working at finishing this quilt... finally!... and putting together another round of knitted goodies for my online shop. That, and baking bread and putting together a chicken spaghetti. I think some hot comfort food is in order to keep this cozy magic about the place.

Hope your day is cozy. -Brin
 

Shabby Apple Giveaway Winner!

Good morning, you!

Just popping in to say that we have a winner for last week's Shabby Apple $50 Gift Card Giveaway: it's Timber! 

Big thanks to all who entered. We'll have to do another Giveaway soon! In the meantime, Shabby Apple is offering an additional 10% off all sale items... just use the code FALLSALE at checkout.

Thanks again! Hoping something happy finds you today. -Brin

Unto Us A Chick Is Born...

It was early. Chilly. The coldest morning we've had in months, in fact. I hadn't had coffee.

I was in my pajama pants, trying to move quietly toward the hen house but still making a ruckus- crunchy leaves have blown into my little barn, pine shavings have littered out, a tin bucket had fallen from a nail and gotten in my path. So I couldn't hear that little cheep cheep cheep coming from under Hephzibah's feathers.

Wow, was it chilly. I filled the chicken feeder, checked on everyone, tossed them handfuls of grass, and went back in.

But today is the day. It takes chicken eggs 21 days to hatch, give or take how ambitious the chick is. And today is Day 21. Eight eggs... three weeks... and today's the day.
 

 

Millie and I went back out to check a little while later. And to my amazement, in the back of the nesting box, a miracle: a tiny, already fluffed-out chick!

I screeched, jumped up and down, and went into a flurry of action: Mama, unhatched eggs, and chick went from the nesting box into my make-shift brooder. Although I've heard not to handle chicks as the Mama won't want them with your smell all over them- I took a chance. I dipped the little one's beak in the electrolyte water and pecked at the chick mash so it would take note.

Four hours later, the little one is already eating chick mash and playing on Hephzibah. And the countdown for the remaining little ones is on. 

From our cozy little place to yours, have a great weekend! -Brin

Egg Empress

I had rather be on my farm

than be emperor of the world. 

-George Washington

It's egg delivery day, today is. Every shop in town is out of cartons, so I loaded eggs into grass nests in sacks. Necessity, and all. 

A friend down the road is raising meat rabbits, and we were discussing a fair trade of our goods. A deal was struck, so I guess I'm going to be learning to make rabbit stew this fall. Isn't it strange how tough times are forcing life to come full-circle? As badly as I want to return to Dallas some days, I can't imagine it, really. 

I'd rather be in my little wooden house with my garden patch and chickens than be empress of the world...


(Oh! Don't forget: you still have time to enter the Shabby Apple Gift Card Giveaway! Would hate for you to miss out! -Brin) 

Shabby Apple Giveaway!

 Photo Credit: Shabby Apple

I've been watching one of my favorite movies- Charlotte Gray- and dreaming of a new fall dress this week. What is it about the change of seasons that has us ladies wanting something pretty and different to wear?

And boy do I ever have good news on that front!

Shabby Apple is offering you, my dear reader, a chance to win a $50 Gift Card good for anything on their beautiful site. Hmmm... what will you get? A vintage dress, maybe? Or a casual dress? How about a lacy dress or a retro dress?

Or maybe not a dress at all. Maybe you've been wanting a special occasion blouse. Or bag. Or jewelry. Whatever you've been wishing for and denying yourself, here's your chance to bring it home and step out in something new this fall!

Photo Credit: Shabby Apple

So how does this work? Simple as pumpkin pie:

-  Visit www.shabbyapple.com and pick your favorite item.

-  Come back here and tell me about it in the comments. That's it!

-  For additional chances to win, you can also:

         -  Like Shabby Apple on Facebook

         -  Tweet about the giveaway with the hashtag:
            #shabbyapplegiveaway

         -  Post about this giveaway on your blog 

If you do Facebook, tweet, or post this giveaway, be sure to come back and tell us in the comments so you'll have your name in the hat a few extra times! Everyone can have a total of 4 possible entries. And you must have a USA shipping address to be eligible to win. 

So what are you waiting for? Go on over to Shabby Apple now, pick your pleasure, and come back and tell me about it! Thank you for entering! This Giveaway is now closed.

Good luck!  ;)  -Brin

A Win at Winter Gardening

I went to the Feed Store today. It's my retail therapy. Some women go to the mall, or the shoe store, or Sephora. I go to the old barn by the railroad tracks where they've sold feed- and roasted peanuts- for 100 years. My Dad started taking me there when I was nine. It's my happy place.

That, and the yarn shop. But that's another post entirely.

While doing a bit of online seed shopping recently, I came across a "new" type of broccoli and ordered the seeds. I'd hoped to start them today, but they aren't in yet, so I got impatient and went into town for some coffee and look-see at the Feed Store. Is it too early for broccoli sets? Wasn't sure.

I grow broccoli every spring. Trouble is, the springs here in Texas have been getting so warm so quickly that the broccoli, lettuce, kale, peas, onions... all those cool weather crops... burn to a crisp before we get them out of the ground. So we're all getting smart and adapting to our environment, I suppose you could say: this year, our winter gardens are enormous.

Which is a joke in itself. Winter? Texas?? Cue the belly laughs.

I lay awake last night thinking, if we're all going to garden in the winter now, why doesn't someone put out onion sets like they do in the spring? We have to think differently if we expect different results, after all. So after losing sleep last night over onion sets, I nearly shouted when I turned a corner and saw these tucked between an old shelf and the Feed Store's moaning side gate. Onion sets! For winter! We'll have onions, after all!

For just a moment, I was Laura Ingalls Wilder and onion sets were butter.

 

It's a good thing, too. The onion seeds I started are looking a little... floppy. And this winter, I desperately wanted a win...