A Little Bit Of A Mystery!

So I know ya'll are all wondering about the other penny, right?  Well, the saga drug on for a while.  Jack and I both were sick of eating cupcakes so we talked Allen into coming down and eating more.  It was strange that it just kept getting down to fewer and fewer cupcakes and still no penny.  Finally, we got down to the last two.  Erin and Sal; which wold it be?  I mustered up the stomach for one more while Allen took the other one.  We chewed slowly, wondering which one would hold the prize.  Then....we realized neither one did.  What??  Those were the last two??  What happened to the other penny?  Allen and Jack laughed at me!  Are you absolutely sure you put TWO pennies in the batter??  Yes!!  I know I did!  Ya'll saw me!  I could not figure out what went wrong.  Had one of us accidentally eaten one of the coins?  You'd think we would have noticed that.  We thought and thought and scratched our heads but we never did figure it out or determine where that other penny got off to.  So..................

 I put everybody's name (sans Pablo) back into a bowl to do this the old fashioned way.  I counted to make sure everybody was there!

I stirred them up good and got Grendal to draw!  She sniffed around for some time but finally picked one.  Actually, I closed my eyes and drew one.  And..............

I know that's actually Peg on Vancouver Island but I was short on space.  Anyway, congratulations!  Email me your address Peg and chose your mug from that original picture.  Remember Pablo got the most red one.

I'll be back to posting soon.  Jack has still been under the weather and I've been rather sick the past 2 days myself.  Plus, the weather is awful dreary and rainy and has just sucked the enthusiasm right out of me.  I hope to have some more interesting stuff soon.  I've got some recipes and other things in mind and am even going to do a separate food page on here.  I don't know why I didn't think of that sooner.

All Things New

 In keeping with the new year I've been experimenting with some new designs and new glazes.  I'm not sure what it is but lately I've felt a very renewed sense of creativity and action.  Whatever it is, let's hope it continues!  I think part of it is that we have been making some progress on the homestead.  Things are starting to come together in that realm and I really feel that this is the life I am meant to have.  No, things are not all roses and daisies (I'll explain later) but I feel good about our food production, my art production and just things in general.  We are even working towards adding active solar elements to the house.  More about this later too.

This is a "new" glaze that I really like (the inside color, not the dark rim).  Actually, it is partially a mistake.  See, I have a standard oatmeal colored glaze that I use quite a bit and so I ran out recently.  Well, there are literally hundreds of glazes out there with the name Oatmeal.  I had 2 written down in my books and, you guessed it, I mixed the wrong one.  The recipes look very similar but produce a noticeably different glaze.  And the bad thing is that the one I made this time is not suitable for dinnerware.  Well, I had 5 gallons of it now and had to do something.  I got to thinking and knew that I also had about 3 gallons of a slate blue that I had decided to retire.  It wasn't very popular anymore and I had tired of it.  So...what if I mixed them?  I did (reserving a little of each glaze separately) and it came out wonderful!  Plus, the elements of the slate glaze brought the finish of the new glaze up to where it would be suitable for food use.  I am going to try to compare the two recipes and see if I can combine the formulas to make this glaze now, instead of always making 2 glazes and mixing them.  I really hope I am successful.  So, that was a good save and nothing was wasted.  But now, I need a name for it!  It sorta, kinda, vaguely resembles an ash glaze so I had just thought about Blue Ash.  That's kinda boring.  The stores where I sell my work likes for me to name the glazes fancy stuff, like Paprika and Oatstraw.  You know how they are nowadays about colors.  But hey, as much as this lady sells, I don't care if she names them Chickenshit.  So, any ideas?

Speaking of pottery and stuff, it was brought to my attention that the email address I have had on my pottery page has been dead for some time and I had forgotten!  So, if you tried to email me at that old Hotmail address, I didn't get it!  I closed that account several, several weeks ago and just forgot to change it there.  Please forgive me if you've been trying to get a hold of me there.  I did send out an email change notice to those of you I correspond with and hope everybody got that.  But if not, my email is now ann.beaird@gmail.com.  It is also listed under the About Me header.  I hope no one has been emailing me and think I've been ignoring you.

I will also continue updating the cupcake situation in the posts here.  As of today, Rurality is out!  I may have some company later on and I will stuff a few cupcakes down them to try to speed things up!

*Update!!!  Allen came by and scarfed down some more cupcakes!  This is really getting interesting!  OK, those eliminated this time are...


Peg on Vancouver Island, Lisa in Bammer, Beatrice, Tammy (Grendal fan) and Dan.  Sorry guys.  But this is kinda fun!  OK, (smack, smack) and FloridaCracker.

Let The Nomming Begin!!! (Updating!)

 Alright! Here we go!!  Now, I swear I did this as fair and anonymously as I could.  Since ya'll were so good to comment so much, and are such sweeties anyway, I decided to give 2 mugs away!  To 2 separate people now, not 2 mugs to one person! ha!  So, dropped in 2 pennies and stirred well.  I was surprised that I absolutely could not tell where those pennies went after I stirred them in.  I guess they're still in there?

I made up little teeny flags with everybody's name on one.  There were 20 people entered by the way.  I turned the flags around backwards so I couldn't see the names and placed one in each cupcake.  Not that I had any idea which 2 cupcakes have the penny, but anyway.

So, here we go!  I guess I should have just had a bunch of cupcakes already made and then been able to start eating last night but then, you don't know how many people are going to enter...or I guess I should have had ya'll enter your names a week ago or something so all of this would have been ready last night.  Well, anyway...this is the way we're doing it this year!  Now, as we eat the cupcakes some of you will be eliminated because your cupcake will be empty, so do ya'll want me to post who gets eliminated as it happens??  Or just announce the winners at the end?
And good luck to everybody!!









*Okayy, the first winner is......................Pablo!!  Since Pablo is probably one of, if not my #1 long-time reader, he deserves to finally get something out of this blog!  I started to say oldest reader but that didn't sound right! ha!  So, Pablo, email me your address and you get first pick of the mugs!

I will also take the opportunity to report that Woody, Hermit Jim and Ed have been eliminated.  Sorry!  Burp!

* Update!  As of now, Sissy and my Backwood Neighbor have been eliminated.  Sorry ya'll!  I'm not sure we can eat anymore tonight but I think I'll enlist Allen to put down a few for the cause.  He probably won't mind!

*More updates!!  We're slowing down a little on the cakes but we managed to get 3 more down today!  Unfortunately, Adrianna, Chicory and Island Rider have been eliminated.  Better luck next time ladies!

Happy 12th Day and Night!! (Mug Giveaway!!)

Alright!!  So, today is the 12th Day of Christmas and as promised we are going to be having a party here tonight and I'll be taking comments and names all day if you want to get your name in for the mug drawing!  I would like for ya'll, when you leave your comment, to tell what new plans you may have made for the new year.  Not necessarily resolutions but just something you'd like to accomplish or do this year.  But if don't want to that's okay too; just leave your name for the drawing.  I know I've got a BIG list of stuff I want to do!  

When the party starts, after about 6:00 pm ( and ends at midnight as does your chance to get your name in!)  central time, let's say, I'll be doing sort of a timeline thing.  Updating my post as the night goes along.  Not sure how long I'll last and I'll probably be baking and such as we go.  Ya'll are encouraged to comment all along too.

 

So, these are the mugs you get to choose from.  (Click on the photo to enlarge and get a better look) I thought I had more of a variety of color but the reds are very popular!  Well, anyway, it's a free mug!  These are my standard size which hold about 12 oz.  They are microwave and dishwasher safe but be aware they get very hot if put in a microwave.  So, let the festivities begin!!  Are any of ya'll having 12th Night parties of your own??  If you are, what does that entail?

*Wow, this many comments and it's only 8:30 a.m. my time!  I may need more cupcakes!  I thought I'd wait until this afternoon before I start baking to maybe get a better idea of how many I need, since the coin has to be put in the batter. Heck, if I get a lot more comments than what I'm thinking now I'll just bake another batch and give away 2 mugs!  On, and you people from Canada put your name in!  I don't think shipping would be too bad.  I've shipped there before and it's not bad for a light mug!

*Hey People! Keep those comments coming!  I'm still trying to decide on a cupcake recipe!  Jack requested something a little on the healthy side; maybe carrot cake or a wheat/ fruit combo.  I know, it's still a cupcake but at least it's not white flour! lol!  I'll be glazing and firing more pottery today but still checking in!  Just talk amongst yourself!

*Hey, here I am again!!  We are about to eat supper and then I have to work on glazing pottery but I'm still here!  I'm really enjoying the comments and appreciate ya'll participating so well.  Hopefully, I'll finish with the pottery in short order and get that firing going so I can check in more often.

*Okay!  I'm back for good!  Finished the pottery and have the kiln loaded and ready to fire.  Well, I'm going to go take a shower and then I'll be back!  Won't take long.  Hey, now, I know I have many readers who have probably read for quite some time but never, ever commented so don't ya'll be shy if you want to get your name in for the drawing.  This isn't just for my regular commenters!

*Hey!!  I got some spiked eggnog and Jack and I are watchin' 'Aliens and Cowboys'!!  It's not near as stupid as I thought it would be!  Besides, it's got Daniel Craig in it!  Wooweee!  That man could eat crackers in my bed anytime! lol!  Oh, I'm kinda leanin' towards chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese icing now.  There's a real yummy looking recipe for that in this new Cooking Light book I got.

*OK,OK I go t one!!!  My plans for this coming year might be........to get married!!!  Yep! you read that right!!  Maybe, we'll see!! ha!!!! Jack's about talked me into it!  Just kidding, he hasn't had to talk me into anything.  I'm just kinda gun-shy!!!

* Now, ya'll realize it's gonna take a few days for me and Jack to eat through these cupcakes and find the coin.  Well, unless by chance we hit it on the first one!  Anyway, ya'll bear with me!

*OK, I'm up, well, I've been up for some time actually, but anyway, I'll be posting the cupcakes soon with everybody's name on them.  I may have to get Allen to help eat these things!  I got about 19-20 names I think.  This may take a day or so or three!  Jack is sick so I'm having to take care of all the animals and I'm firing and have several other things to do today. LOL!  But I'll be back soon!

A Cold But Sunny Day

This is the creek that marks the border of my property on one side.  It runs alongside the driveway for a bit as you first come in.  Then the drive turns sharply to the left and runs alongside a smaller creek or stream really.  I need to do some cleaning and clearing so you can see the water better as you drive in.  It's very lovely.  Every morning, after I do the second check and feeding of the chickens, Chigger and I go for a walk down the drive, all the way to the road.  It's not quite a quarter mile round trip.  On nice days I like to sit by the creek for a bit and let it talk to me.  There's an old saying around here that, 'there's a lot of wisdom in a fire'.  Meaning I think, the peace and insight conjured up by the mesmerizing quality of flame would lead one to at least a few decent thoughts.  By that same measure, I think there's a lot of wisdom in a creek also.

And every day Chigger finds a stray limb down by the gate and carries it all the way back to the house.  I figure if I take her on enough walks she may get that whole end of the drive cleaned up.  Most of them are good for kindling so I break them up to put by the stove. 

Today was what we would call 'brisk'.  A stout wind blowing and very clear, cold air.  I hope the wind dies down tomorrow.
Most all of the holiday festivities are over so it was back to the grindstone today.  It's a pleasant grindstone though.  You can't much beat working by a nice warm woodstove making art that people are actually buying! 
And speaking of art and festivities....Ya'll know I adhere to the 12 Days of Christmas right?  Well, most of the celebrations are over but the one last biggy is coming up; 12th Night!  or Epiphany.  Traditionally it is a night for partying and eating and such but I live out in the boonies and it falls on a Thursday this year, so....I am going to have a 12th Night Party here, on the blog.  Now, usually you would bake a King's Cake or similar and inside the cake is a coin or bean.  Whoever gets the coin or token in their slice is crowned "king" and is supposed to have good luck that year.  There are many variations to this depending on your denomination or heritage.  Anyway, you all come by here Thursday and leave a comment.  I will bake something that can be divided up.  I thought about cupcakes but Jack and I have eaten so many sweets and such I may use something else.  Now, whatever it is, it will have a coin inside and I will put a little flag on each section for every person that leaves a comment.  Maybe I'm explaining this right.  Anyway, as we eat whatever this is, we will come across the coin and if your name is on the corresponding flag, you win one of my mugs! and the coin!  Some of you may be more excited about the coin I know, but anyway, I thought it would be fun!  And who knows, there might be some other goody thrown in.

I will accept names from 6 a.m. to midnight Thursday and then start the flagging and eating Friday.  And yes, I will show ya'll the baked product with all the little named flags before the chowing begins.  Fun, Fun!!!  I will probably have 2 or 3 mugs that you can even choose from.
Oh, the picture above is of the spring overspill and the watercress that grows there.  I guess the recent bout of warm weather has brought it forth.  I picked some today and was amazed to taste it was already hot!  Normally it stays mild until the weather gets really warm.
So, don't forget Thursday!!!!

Startin' A New Year!

 Well, the weather around here for the past couple of days has just been drop dead gorgeous, so I couldn't waste any of it by staying inside.  Piss on the pottery, I had to do some gardening!  But it wasn't just for the sake of good weather.  There is a big cold front coming and I really needed to get some stuff ready for that.  They are predicting lows around 18 degrees several nights.  Now, for us that's cold!  Sweetie Jack raked a bunch of pine straw for me and made piles in the garden so all I had to do was mulch around whatever plants I wanted.  So, I pruned and mulched the blueberries (on the left).  I have 4 blueberry bushes now and a few herbs planted between them.

I pruned and mulched the raspberries too.  Yes, I know you can't really see much but some types of raspberries you are supposed to cut all the way to the ground.  I'm still learning on these things.  I also applied another layer of enriched topsoil around them before I mulched.  They did pretty good this past year but I want more!!!  To the right you can see a couple of cabbage plants and some leeks.  They are doing well and in that seemingly empty space above them is 2 new kinds of garlic.  I really hope they do good.  Over to the left is my strawberry bed but I think I'm going to order a new type this spring that is better suited for this climate. 

This is a handy thing I wanted to show ya'll!  Jack put this up for me after I described to him what I wanted.  And yes, I do sometimes let him build things on his own!  I found this old discarded mailbox and had seen in a book how you can turn them into a kinda toolbox for your garden.  It was his idea to add the hose bracket, which also works good.

I just cram all kinds of things in here and it all stays perfectly dry.  Pruners, clippers, gloves, string and so on.  It's very handy to have it right in the garden and not have to keep running back to the shed or whatever to get stuff.

So, I had intended on doing one of those end of the year synopsis kinda things but haven't got around to it yet.  I might still.  I also had a new year's goals post in mind so we'll see!  I wish you all the best for the new year.  May you find everything you are hoping for.

Enjoying The Last Of The Year

 The weather has been quite mild around here lately and everybody has been enjoying the warm sun!  Nights are cold enough to keep a fire going though.  I told Jack yesterday that I certainly appreciate these days in the 50 degree range but I would like to see a little snow this year too.  Anyway, we have been taking advantage of the sunny days by having a little fun.  It being the last week of the year, and in keeping with some traditions of the 12 Days of Christmas, we have taken time to visit with friends and just enjoy some time to ourselves instead of working so much.  We went to the city yesterday to see some of the decorations before they take them down and just see what there was to see.  We've enjoyed a couple of dinners out and taken advantage of the good sales to get a few things.  For instance, I bought a stoneware bread pan (for baking) that I have had my eye on for some time.  It is environmentally friendly and made in the US and, I got it for $10!

 Soon enough it will be time to get back to business as usual though!  We need to harvest about half of the meat chickens soon.  Real soon.  They are eating us out of house and home!  We have learned quite a bit having these though so I know if we have them again I will definitely do some stuff differently.  We underestimated how long it would take them to mature for one thing.  It's been about 14-16 weeks instead of the 6-8 that you read about.  They have also grow at vastly different rates.  Some are well past time to harvest and some are still a couple of weeks out.  I don't know.  We have fed them well and they get a vitamin supplement in their water.  In addition to the natural feed they did have grass to eat, which they devoured in no time.  After they mowed all that down I have taken to going each day and digging up clumps of grass for them and putting it in their run.  This gives them the greens they like and something to do so they don't get so bored.  They love digging and scratching through the clumps.  I also harvest spare leaves off the broccoli and chard (and whatever else I can think of) for them.  Jack even grows sprouts for them!  I believe next time I will grow a whole crop of greens, like collards or such, just for them in the garden and then throw them so much a day to supplement the grain.  If we only get them in cooler weather I would have plenty of room in the garden for this.

They LOVE chard, broccoli, cabbage, anything like that.  By selling some eggs at $2.50 a dozen and letting the hens out to forage all day, we are pretty much covering our feed costs for the hens.  I have even had some people insist on giving me $5 a dozen for the eggs so that helps to cover some of the cost of these meat chickens.  Not much but some.  Once all of the hens are laying consistently (selling 5-6 dozen eggs a week) I believe I could completely make up the cost of feeding the meat birds, with the addition of growing a crop of greens just for them. 
So, it's all a learning experience and each year you learn more and more to refine your operations.  I have been very pleased with the amount of poop these guys are producing too, which goes right into the garden, which helps greatly to produce more crops!  We are finally beginning to see success in this cycle of things and it's great!  A permaculture system is really what we are going for. 
I am waiting to hear if I will go back to the construction job after the first of the year, as the plan was.  In a way I hope they don't call!  But, I could use the money. 
Now that Christmas is over I suspect the pottery orders will slow down some but I think I have made headway into that cycle also.  As your work becomes more well known you can develop better sales all year 'round, rather than just at holidays when people are buying anything!  As soon as I finish, one way or another, that welding job I can focus on getting more places to carry my work and therefore more revenue from that coming in.  2012 looks to be a very promising year!