Prairie School Farms

29 gifts:day twelve

2012-01-18T06:00:00.000-06:00

Today's gift was two items from the kitchen. I made cookies for my husband to take to work and granola for a friend who was asking about our recipe. These are two of my all-time favorites - one an old classic and the other a new find. Enjoy!

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Makes a 9x13-inch pan of bars

2 1/8 cups (10 1/2 ounces) all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda12 tablespoons butter (1 1/2 sticks), melted and cooled slightly
1 cup (7 ounces) light brown sugar
1/2 (3 1/2 ounces) cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups chocolate chips (use your preference)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Adjust the oven rack to lower-middle position. Line a 9X13-inch baking pan with foil, letting the excess hang over the edges of the pan by about 1 inch so you can grab those edges and pull the brownies from the pan after they have baked. Spray the foil-lined pan with nonstick cooking spray.

Mix the flour, salt, and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.

Whisk the melted butter and sugars in a large bowl until combined. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and mix well. Using a rubber spatula, fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture until just combined; do not overmix. Fold in the chocolate chips and turn the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with the spatula.

Bake until the top of the bars is light golden brown, slightly firm to the touch, and edges start pulling away from sides of pan, 24-28 minutes. Cool on a wire rack to room temperature. Remove the bars from the pan by lifting the foil overhang and transfer them to a cutting board. Cut into 2-inch squares and serve.

Recipe Source: adapted slightly from Cook’s Illustrated

Low Fat Granola Recipe

Makes 15 servings
3 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup wheat bran
1 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup almonds (or pecans or walnuts)
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup orange juice
2 tbsp melted butter
1 tsp cinnamon

Directions
Mix oats, wheat bran, wheat germ, nuts, and seeds in large bowl. In small bowl mix honey, brown sugar, orange juice, butter, and cinnamon. Pour honey mixture onto oats mixture and stir well. Bake in a 275º oven for 1 hour, stirring every fifteen minutes.

When pigs fly...

2012-01-17T20:02:00.000-06:00

On my drive home tonight, I had a chance (albeit distant) encounter with one of my favorite Kansas artists - Eric Abraham.

I was cruising down Highway 24 and I see this blue minivan ahead of me. I think, "that van has clouds painted on it." Then, I see the personalized license tag and realize it is Eric!

Eric's work first caught my eye at the Columbian Theatre, Museum and Art Center in Wamego. I was in college and too poor to buy anything, yet totally fell in love with his ceramic art.

Years later, I was taking a weekend excursion while my husband was coaching at a track meet and found Eric's studio in Lucas, Kansas. (If you have never been to Lucas, you have to go! Stop by The Grassroots Art Center and be wowed by their hospitality. ) Eric was so gracious. He gave me a tour of his studio and home in the old car dealership in town. He was kind and generous and a real delight. His van was parked out front and I had to take a picture...I mean how many minivans have flying pigs and clouds? A true custom paint job.

When I see Eric's art, it is dream-like, fantastic, like a fairy tale. I adore it. He also does these great little ceramic flying pigs with outrageous accessories - I have one at my office near my computer.

I have always been partial to the phrase, "when pigs fly." I love nay-sayers. They kind of motivate me. So, the flying pig is my adopted symbol for persistence and for believing in yourself. You will find flying pigs in different forms and fashions around my office.

Seeing Eric behind the wheel of his van tonight was a perfect way to end my work day.

29 gifts: day eleven

2012-01-15T08:20:00.001-06:00

Today's gift (ok, several days ago...I'm a little behind) is alpaca roving to a friend who is adding spinning to her fiber art skills.

What is roving? Roving is fiber that has been cleaned and carded. When our roving returns from the mill, it is fiber that has been taken through all the stages up to the point where it spun into yarn. It is beautiful and soft and our batches combine fiber from different animals to have a blend of colors.

We usually consign it at a local shop, The Wicked Stitch, or sell it to our fiber friends. We had some on hand and I learned our friend was into spinning. We thought it was a perfect way to thank her for her friendship and support her fiber habit. Happy spinning, Tanya!

29 gifts: day ten

2012-01-11T21:24:00.004-06:00

Today's gift is a donation to Kid Flicks. This donation is really a win-win!

I sent several DVDs to this organization to be distributed to hospitals as an effort to have movies available for children and their families who are being treated at the hospital. The flip-side of this donation was that I was able to give away movies we had at the house that we never watch...even as much as we loved the movie, we just never watched it! I think this qualifies as clutter.

Started by a group of sisters in California, the organization collects kid-friendly movies and when they have 100 movies, they find a new hospital to receive the donation. Their website read that as of January 4, 2012, Kid Flicks has donated 61,000 movies to 610 different hospitals in the United State and South Africa. You can read their story and learn about ways to donate at their website.

29 gifts: day nine

2012-01-10T06:08:00.000-06:00

Today's gift is a donation to Nothing But Nets, an organization that provides nets to help prevent malaria. For as little as $10, a person in Africa can receive a bed net and education to protect against malaria.

Here are some facts from the Nothing But Nets website:

Malaria is the leading cause of death among children in Africa.
Every 45 seconds, a child in Africa dies from a malaria infection.
More then 200 million people each year are infected, and nearly 1 million of those die.
Nothing But Nets uses 100 percent of every $10 contribution to cover the cost of purchasing a long-lasting, insecticide-treated bed net, distributing it, and educating communities on its use.

29 gifts: day eight

2012-01-09T20:46:00.001-06:00

Today's gift was giving a ride from campus to home for two international students. Tonight when I left work it was beginning to get dark and two students were standing near our campus chapels with some papers and a phone. They looked lost. I recognized this look because I often look exactly the same way when we are traveling and just land in a new city. It is also right before our spring semester begins, so we welcome a lot of new students during this time.

I pulled my car over and jumped out to help with the thought that they just needed to find a building on campus. They said they were looking for Brookville which is the name of a small town around an hour west of where we were standing. Uh-oh.

After a few more questions and the male student pulling up a text on his phone, we figured out that they were looking for a street in our same town named Brookville. Ok - that is do-able.

Without knowing where the street was located, I was at a loss. I suggested we jump in my car and use my GPS to find the street. They agreed. I must have looked friendly and non-threatening.

The GPS did not recognize the street. We decided to use my phone to find the address and it worked! They agreed to let me drive them to their house and along the way, I got more of their story.

The students were mother and son - she a Ph.D. student and he was just getting started as a college freshman. She had two other children at her house. They had just arrived in Kansas City and a shuttle dropped them off on campus. I am still a little fuzzy on how they planned to get from campus to their house, but I think they planned to walk the three or four miles.

While I don't recommend offering rides to complete strangers, I do recommend helping wherever you can. Tonight, I hope, two new members of our community had things made just a little easier by a crazy lady who pulled over her car and jumped out to introduce herself.

P.S. After I dropped them off, I was so HAPPY! I called my husband to tell him my story and he was so kind...and modest. When I got home, he told me that he helped a former student find his father that he hasn't seen in years. He let me have my moment. I am so lucky. And, so proud that he's a man who cares about other people. And, apparently a closet detective.

29 gifts: an update

2012-01-08T15:31:00.000-06:00

I began the year on a mission to give more and in new ways. Discouraged by feeling flat after the Christmas giving season and inspired by an entire issue of Ode magazine dedicated to the subject of giving, I thought that a personal giving challenge may be just what I needed to get back in the spirit.

Writer Cami Walker, who developed and chronicled 29 gifts in 29 days, IS inspiring. I love her story. I love that she talks about how giving to others helped them, but also helped her improve her health and live a better life. I love that she reinforces the ideas that if you give a little each day, you can make a big impact. I love that she talks about ways to give that cost zero dollars. I totally subscribe to her model and think it is a great fit for what I need.

My own pursuit of 29 gifts began in good fashion. I felt good about my progress. Then, my schedule returned to my non-break/non-vacation routine and I fell off track. I still approached each day looking for ways to give. I felt more generous, but guilty for not having given something that seemed worthy each day. I recognized that even little things mattered - kind words, simple gestures (like returning shopping carts to the store for someone), smiling. Finding a daily gift that "counted" (whatever that means) just didn't seem to work out some days.

Here is an example. I ran to the grocery store and had every intention of finding a "gift" moment. The check outs were full, so I was ushered to the floral area for check out and was out the door quickly. In the parking lot, I had an inadvertent stand off with a lady who was trying to turn into the same row of cars in the parking lot. There were some near misses and start/stop moves to get out of the parking lot. It was all part of the post-five o'clock rush. After escaping, I did not feel generous or in a giving frame of mind, just lucky to not have a fender bender. Disappointed.

And, another example is Saturday. I woke up early and made cookies for a person we planned to see that morning. We had some scheduling challenges and ended up not seeing him. Not easily discouraged, we put the cookies in the car with us as we took off for our Saturday plans thinking we would find an opportunity to gift the cookies. We did not give away the cookies...they returned home with us. Disappointed.

Yet, if I were keeping score, the number of moments in the giving column would be more than I am giving myself "credit" for. Things are good. I might not have a perfect "worthy" (still working on that definition) gift each day, but there are plenty of moments when kindness and generosity have been present. Progress is being made; others are being helped.

Back to Cami Walker. What I love the most is that she gives permission for people to be imperfect in their giving and in the 29 gifts and 29 days effort.

The mission continues!

Baby card

2012-01-08T06:00:00.000-06:00

A colleague at work had her baby and sending a card has been on my list all week. I pass several stores that carry cards on my daily commute and could even run to the Union on campus to find cards. But, I had this nagging thought that making a card would be easy, thoughtful, cost-effective, and helpful in using the supplies I have on hand. (Yes, I am still on my cleaning and organizing the house kick.)

Great intentions. I subscribe to the theory that handmade is better and using what you have instead of buying something makes sense. I just sometimes get lazy or too worried about getting something off the list to slow down and make a card or gift.

But this time, I actually did it!

Applause and atta-girls are welcome.

Gypsy Gewelz

2012-01-07T10:36:00.000-06:00

My friend Lori is really amazing. She is a jewelry designer, crafter, ag advocate, and graduate student (just to name some of her responsibilities).

We met for lunch this week to celebrate the new year and her final semester in graduate school, which requires her to relocate to her campus in Oklahoma. We also made a trade.

As part of my cleaning and organizing at the house, I got real about one of my aspirational hobbies. My husband got a ton of scrapbooking, crafting and jewelry making supplies from a Craigslist buy. I loved all of it! I was especially excited to be able to try my hand at jewelry making. After nearly TWO years of storing it and not one piece of jewelry made, I decided to see if Lori could use any of it. Since it was a huge bag full of stuff and I thought she might resist if I just gave it to her, I proposed a trade. You know, a win-win.

I think I definitely got the better deal! She gave me the choice of two necklaces from her great collection. I am so excited to wear and enjoy them.

Please check out her offerings at her blog or Etsy store. She also consigns and exhibits at craft fairs in the Manhattan area, so watch for Gypsy Gewelz.

29 gifts: day seven

2012-01-04T20:00:00.003-06:00

Today's gift is a handwritten note to a mentor and friend to say thank you for all she invested in me.

29 gifts: day six

2012-01-03T18:51:00.002-06:00

Today's gift was a house warming gift shipped to my friend. I am pleased as punch because it was mailed before she had lived in the house for months ( errr....years) as has been the case in some instances. She is getting a great new start in a beautiful new year and I am happy to celebrate with her. Cheers!

29 gifts: day five

2012-01-02T19:53:00.001-06:00

Today's gift - mailing a book to a friend in Kansas City...a long overdue gesture. I read Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer and knew immediately my friend would love it. We get together a couple of times a year (far too few) and I have been holding onto this book waiting for a time when schedules match. She shouldn't have to wait any longer.

Black-eyed peas for good luck

2012-01-01T19:11:00.001-06:00

My mom has subscribed to the idea that eating black-eyed peas on New Year's Day brings good luck. I am a rather superstitious person, and have always thought that if you don't have any evidence that something doesn't work, proceed.

In theory, I want to eat black-eyed peas for good luck, but have not really found a way to make black-eyed peas tasty. This means that most years, I have just left my luck to chance...until this year!

Thanks to a new app and wonderful food bloggers everywhere, we found a great recipe. The great thing is that I think this would be good all year, just substitute in black beans.

Thank you, The Recipe Girl! Bring on the luck!

Tex mex black eyed pea casserole
Yield: 6 servings
Prep Time: 30 min Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups dried black eyed peas, rinsed
5 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled (or more!)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup chopped onion (about 1/2 medium)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups rice (your preference)
3 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
One 10-ounce can Ro-tel (tomatoes + green chilies)
3 cups fresh spinach, cut into strips
2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese, divided
chopped cilantro, sour cream and sliced avocado (for serving)

Directions:
1. Bring a medium pot of water to boil. Add the dried peas and boil for 30 minutes, or until tender (as tender as a canned black bean would be). You don't want them to have much of a bite to them, but you don't want them mushy either. Drain the beans when you've got them where you want them.

2. In a deep medium skillet, heat the olive oil at medium heat. Add onions and cook until softened, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in garlic, then rice, broth, cumin, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, cover and cook for about 20 minutes (just until the rice has *almost* absorbed all of the liquid). Time will vary depending on the type of rice you choose to use (20 minutes for white rice, but longer for brown, etc).

3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Scrape the rice into a large bowl. Add peas, tomatoes, spinach, 1 cup of the cheese and bacon. Stir it all together and then scoop it into a 9x12-inch (or similarly sized) casserole dish. Bake, uncovered, for 20 minutes. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top and bake for an additional 10 minutes, just until cheese is melted.

4. Serve in bowls topped with sour cream, fresh cilantro and sliced avocado.

Tips:
*Quick and Easy tips: You can certainly try substituting canned black eyed peas for the boiled dried beans in this recipe, and you can purchase the already cooked bacon too.

Source: RecipeGirl.com (adapted loosely from Tex Mex Chicken & Rice Casserole and Food Network

29 gifts: day four

2012-01-01T17:15:00.003-06:00

The first gift for today was to call a relative who lives out of state. It was great to hear about her new year's resolutions and just catch up.

The second gift was to make a donation to our local food bank, The Flinthills Breadbasket. I was inspired by a story in the Ode issue on giving. The 93 Dollar Club was born when a woman discovered she was without her wallet in the grocery story checkout. The lady in line behind her paid for her groceries, all $207 worth. When the woman paid back the debt, she included 93 extra dollars and encouraged the woman who helped her to get a massage. Instead, the good Samaritan posted a message on Facebook that asked her friends to make suggestions on how she should spend the money. Her friends suggested she donate the money.

And, she did with a matching gift of another $93. This act started a rush of $93 donations to food banks, generating more than $82,000 to fight hunger.

I love this story of one act of kindness creating a chain reaction of kindness; a relatively small gesture growing to a larger impact. A lovely thought for a new year.

If you feel compelled to give, and the financial gift is not possible for you right now, most food banks appreciate donations of time as a volunteer or food donations. Call your local food bank or check out their website to see what food items are most needed or how you might contribute your time, talents, and treasures to help feed our neighbors.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T00:01:00.000-06:00

Image courtesy of The Vintage Workshop.

29 gifts: day three

2011-12-31T19:45:00.001-06:00

Today's gift was $20 to a homeless couple. It's hard to believe that we have individuals without a home in our area. We often see the man we gifted walking with his dog on the east side of town. I have always though, "I should do something to help." I even went through a drive thru one night to get him (and his dog) a hamburger, but when I returned to where he was standing with his sign, he was gone. Today was the day.

I know there is a lot of controversy about giving money directly to the homeless. I get it. Today, it felt like the right thing to do.

(We also delivered the bread we baked yesterday...got to say hello to our favorite neighbors and catch up on his recovery...our second neighbor wasn't home, so we left his bread with a Happy New Year note.)

Tempe visit

2011-12-31T06:03:00.000-06:00

We took a couple of days off work for a short vacation to Tempe, Arizona earlier in December. We had won a trip at a charity auction last spring and had carefully worked out schedules and decided that December would be a great time to go to a warmer climate. The joke was on us...it was unseasonably warm in Kansas that weekend. We were still happy to get away and see this part of the country together.

We stayed at the Fiesta Resort Conference Center. The hotel was nice, but the people who worked there were even nicer. The shuttle was available for pick up and drop up within a few mile radius of the property. We were able to get rides to Arizona State University, local shopping, the light rail and to the Botanical Gardens.

The people in Tempe and Phoenix were so friendly. There was not a single time that we entered the hotel lobby that we were not greeted. The staff in the shops were friendly and kind. Even the convenience store clerk where we picked up a Sunday paper was friendly and generous. It was awesome!

We didn't have a lot on our agenda, but we did find the Las Noches de las Luminarias at the Botanical Gardens. Several evenings in December were designated for this ticketed event and we were visiting during a time when the event was scheduled. We were advised to get tickets in advance because they often sell out. We secured our tickets and opted for the dinner they host on site for that night.

The Garden paths were lined with luminaries and the paths wind around to different "rooms" where entertainment was hosted.

We enjoyed blues, classic violin, old-fashioned carolers, Native American storytelling, and more. Our favorite was our first stop of the night - The Sugar Thieves.

We had an awesome time walking around the gardens and would highly recommend this activity for anyone in the Tempe area in December - a casual and romantic way to spend the evening.

We took the light rail from Tempe to downtown Phoenix to check out the Public Market. We learned that the Public Market is an urban grocery and wine bar that hosts an open air market in the parking lot on specific days. We were lucky to be able to take in the open air market while we were visiting. Vendors told us that there were more booths than usual because of the holiday shopping season. Think about all the stuff you love about open air markets - farmers and artists displaying their products, food trucks, live music, and more! We had this really, really good coconut iced tea and found some cool small pieces of art.

The burlap shopping bags with the Public Market logo were only $2! I loved these.

(The terra cotta plate we purchased busted on the way home. Bummer.)

We found this historic church downtown on the way to lunch.

After our return to the Tempe light rail station, we hiked to the Hole in the Rock for some great views of the area. It was a fairly easy hike and we loved being able to do something outside.

Things we didn't get to do: drive to the Grand Canyon and shop in Scottsdale and other towns nearby. The Grand Canyon was around three hours away and they had received a fair amount of snow. Everyone was saying that travel would be difficult and things might be closed. We didn't have a rental car, so Scottsdale was out. Next time!

29 gifts: day two

2011-12-30T21:35:00.001-06:00

Today marks my second day of the 29 day giving challenge. We have had two neighbors on our minds lately.

One neighbor just had unexpected and very serious surgery. The other neighbor lives a little ways away from us, but my husband met him by chance when his old pick up died near our house. He lives on his own and we keep talking about dropping by to say hello.

The gift for today is homemade honey wheat bread. I started baking it this afternoon and it just now left the oven - a bit too late for visiting. We will deliver the bread tomorrow.

Simple Honey Wheat Bread

Ingredients:

3 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45

degrees C)

2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast

1/3 cup honey

5 cups bread flour

3 tablespoons butter, melted

1/3 cup honey

1 tablespoon salt

3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions:

1.	In a large bowl, mix warm water, yeast, and 1/3 cup honey. Add 5 cups white bread flour, and stir to combine. Let set for 30 minutes, or until big and bubbly.
2.	Mix in 3 tablespoons melted butter, 1/3 cup honey, and salt. Stir in 2 cups whole wheat flour. Flour a flat surface and knead with whole wheat flour until not real sticky - just pulling away from the counter, but still sticky to touch. This may take an additional 2 to 4 cups of whole wheat flour. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to coat the surface of the dough. Cover with a dishtowel. Let rise in a warm place until doubled.
3.	Punch down, and divide into 3 loaves. Place in greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pans, and allow to rise until dough has topped the pans by one inch.
4.	Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 25 to 30 minutes; do not overbake. Lightly brush the tops of loaves with 2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine when done to prevent crust from getting hard. Cool completely.

Cool find: MandiMoo Designs iPad cover

2011-12-30T05:55:00.000-06:00

Love, love, love this beautiful iPad cover. It was a gift from some friends at work and I feel really honored that they thought of me. The gorgeous bag is just the right size and the fabric and cute accent flower are just perfect!

Additional reasons I love this gift:

1. It's practical. I am reading a lot about gift giving and practical things or things that can be used up are getting some high marks in gifts that bring out good feelings in the recipient. This concept seems to address the "no more stuff" movement.

2. This iPad cover is designed and made by MandiMoo Designs and the talented woman behind MandiMoo is someone I know and admire. She makes all sorts of great things. Please check out her blog.

3. The people who gave me this gift purchased from a local artist in a local venue. I love to support creative people and local businesses.

4. The liner for the bag is a recycled Target bag. I love recycling!

29 gifts: day one

2011-12-29T22:24:00.001-06:00

This holiday season started with a very uncharacteristic lack of Christmas spirit. We usually love the decorating, gift buying, wrapping and gift giving. We thought that if we just tried the usual Christmas spirit things we would come around. So, I listened intently to Christmas music, began shopping, and even have a few early gifts. It just didn't click.

It took some time to pinpoint some of our disenchantment. I am still not entirely sure that we have it figured out, but we have some ideas. We have just had a lot of changes in our gift giving traditions and a few of our usual joyful giving relationships have become more about the stuff and reciprocity than about the celebrating. We are also aware of all of the stuff that we have in our house and our friends and family seems to be working hard to manage the stuff in their own houses. Is it right to add to the accumulation of stuff? Is it good for our friends and family? Is it good for the environment?

Our idea was that we would give donations to two of our favorite causes and for those that were not already in progress for gift purchases, they would get a card and note telling them we had made a donation to honor our friends and family. We thought about this be a good way to celebrate the people we care about and to help others at the same time.

Our causes this year were Heifer International and K-State's Proud to be a Wildcat scholarship.

We have still had this feeling that it's not quite what we want from the Christmas season. The giving seems off...The donations were great and for exceptional causes, but the impact is very distant. And, selfishly, I think my usual giving traditions have given me back something that gift cards and donations aren't really matching.

Then, today, I read this great article in Ode magazine. Actually, the whole issue is devoted to the subject of giving and what it means for us as individuals and for the larger community. I am only about a third of the way through the magazine, but am really feeling challenged and intrigued by the information and perspectives. One element in particular has moved me to action and has created some feelings of hope in this season typically associated with enthusiastic giving.

I have adopted the 29-day giving challenge. The premise is simple - give something for 29 days. What you give can be anything - a smile, kind words, a small gift, an action, etc. You can read all about it and watch a short video from founder Cami Walker at the 29 Gifts Movement site.

Today's gift was two small acts of kindness. At a department store in Topeka, I watched an older couple pay for a crock pot and discuss how they were going to get it from the store to their car. They had a cart and could get the item to their car, but there wasn't a cart return close to their car. We were parked in the same row and we offered to return the cart to the store. Simple. They seemed really relieved and my husband ran the cart back to the store in two minutes.

Our next gift was paying for the coffee for the person behind us in the Starbuck's drive thru. We didn't know her and it was a little things that hopefully made her day!

Day one down and now 28 more opportunities to give. I can't wait to get creative and share the results.

An accidental collector finishes a project

2011-12-29T10:31:00.003-06:00

It seems headline worthy - an accidental collector finishes a project! You might know this about me - I accidentally collect things. I didn't know this was a defining characteristic until my mother-in-law was visiting and she admired some mixing bowls I had displayed in my kitchen. She asked if I was collecting them and after I said that I wasn't collecting them, I looked about my display again. It sure looked like I was collecting them! Three sets of mixing bowls on the chrome shelf and two sets in the built in cabinets made a collection, even if the collector was aware.

I have this repeated over and over around my house. I find something I like - usually at a garage sale or auction - and mysteriously I am drawn to more of the same. Multiples make me happy. My grandparents had the same affection for multiples and antiques and junk. This may be the reason their estate auction was a three weekend affair.

My grandpa's farm related collections included rusty nuts and bolts.

Hub caps for all kinds of cars and trucks.

Drills. Lots of hand-held drills. I mean can you ever have enough hand-held drills?

Oil cans of all shapes and sizes. I love these and I love that I have one of the tiny oil cans from his collection that my dad bought for me at the auction. There was more - a lot more!

So, you can see that it is in my DNA. I collect. I also live in a small house and have to ruthlessly edit - constantly. If not, we seriously could have a feature on Hoarders.

One of my overall goals for self-improvement is to finish projects. I am really, really good at getting inspired, even buying the supplies for a project and then carefully storing it away. No more!

Several years ago, my dad brought me these awesome sacks - some were used for seed or feed, some were used by banks to transport money and one was even used for ballots. I loved them right away! I promptly washed them and stored them in a decorative tin in a guest room. Then, I found some modern cloth sacks that were used to contain rice and bread mixes. These were added to the tin, and a collection was born!

I decided that my mom might help me with two problems. The first was that we have two new, beautiful chairs for the living room. We needed pillows for them and they needed to look more rustic/old-fashioned to help marry the more modern style of the chairs with our other rather vintage-inspired pieces. I shopped for pillows online and at a few favorite boutiques and the things I found were the wrong size or the wrong shape or the wrong fabric. Ugghhh!

The second problem I have is that I have a lot of unfinished projects/collections/crap in my house that either needs to be finished/used/displayed/donated/figured out in the coming year.

My mom is an excellent sewer and really patient when I have an idea and we have to figure it out as we go. We set up our sewing station in the living room and annoyed my husband with sewing machine noise and talking out our patterns and plans as we went.

Here is the result of our vintage cloth sacks turned pillows.

We first made pillows out of muslin left from a quilting project and fiber fill left from who-knows-what project. We carefully measured and cut the cloth sacks, keeping as many seams and details as we could. It took some basic math and a lot of guts to make the first cut on the vintage material. We all survived and only broke mom's sewing machine on the last stitch on the last pillow. Overall, a success.

Kamoi paper tape

2011-12-04T14:49:00.001-06:00

Fellow gift wrapping and crafting enthusiasts, you are going to love Kamoi paper adhesive tape. I might be late to the game on this product, but I just discovered this in a catalog and thought it would be fun to have another option for holiday wrapping.

When it arrived, it was just as promised on the package. "Washi" peels off easily, can be written on, cuts easily, is transparent, and has infinite applications. This masking tape makes really cool accents on gifts and has been fun to experiment with during my wrapping this year.

The company began in Japan in the early 1920's manufacturing flypaper. Check out this page for a factory tour and to learn more about the mt series.

The colors in this package were pretty basic. When I searched online, I found a ton of other patterns and colors available.

I think some purple might be in my future!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T06:00:00.000-06:00

Enjoy this great vintage artwork from The Vintage Workshop. Amy shares images daily and has a lot of cute project ideas. Check out her vintage notions book for sewers and crafters.

Wishing you a blessed Thanksgiving!

I married a basketball coach

2011-11-22T06:30:00.000-06:00

There are many great things about being married to a basketball coach. I love talking basketball and it is especially fun to talk basketball with someone who knows what he is talking about.

My husband's team is junior high girls. Even though this isn't the most high profile sport at his school, he spends a lot of time and energy thinking about how to improve their skill and win some games.

His game plans and practice plans are legendary. I love to hear him break down film.

Tuesday night was an especially big game. It was a rematch with a team that had beaten them by 20 points earlier in the season. The end result of the second match was a victory for my husband's team by two points! He watch the game film on Wednesday night while I started prep work for the Thanksgiving feast. It was so much fun listening to him from the other room. I don't think anyone cares more.

I especially adore finding these "game plan" cards around the house. Usually, these cards go from dress shirt pocket to a basket or counter top in the house. I like to read them. It makes me remember my own basketball playing days and the coaches that carried similar cards. My own coaches were (are) good men who loved the game and cared about their players. I learned a lot from them about the game and life...just like I know my husband's athletes learn from him.

May we all have a "finder of cool things"

2011-11-21T05:30:00.000-06:00

My wish for you is to have at least one friend who is the "finder of cool things." I have a friend who easily has the best taste and finds all of the fun stuff way before anyone else. She wowed me again!

I came back to the office last week after a really LONG morning. It was one of those experiences where you question everything - if you are in the right line of work, if you are cut out for "this," if you should rethink everything you have always known to be true, .... you get the idea!

On my desk is this beautifully wrapped gift with a note from my friend. It was by birthday gift! (We are both very busy professionals, so our gift giving is usually a bit off schedule. I kind of like it - a surprise gift really makes twice the impact.)

Inside was a collection of my friend's favorite things. This adorable plush pumpkin might be my favorite. I have seen these pumpkins on blogs all fall long and I really, really wanted one. I have never seen one so miniature and in purple and just sweet as all get out. Love it!

And, this elegant Vera Bradley slim case with two awesome pens. Perfect for finding pens in my bag and great motivation for personal note writing.

Lovely soap. Natural. Great scent. In the hexagon shape and I really, really love bees and the hexagon. The packaging is biodegradable and promotes putting this bright yellow bag in a compost pile.

Feeling especially thankful for great friends, cool gifts and surprises.

Invisible strength

2011-11-20T10:19:00.001-06:00

We love our new art from Connie Norman. Her work is phenomenal and you will not find a more kind and down-to-earth person.

We commissioned three bowls from her and had two arrive earlier in the year. Acquiring the third bowl was a comedy of errors - a misspelling on the rim, a bowl that arrived broken and finally, this beauty was delivered this week!

Connie was so gracious and patient to stick with us. We love, love, love the colors, pattern and little detail like the image on the side. By far, this is our favorite of the three, but all are treasures.

A matched set

2011-11-09T06:00:00.000-06:00

During Sunday morning chores, I took along my camera to try to catch a few small things around the farm. We get so busy, we forget to enjoy the everyday things.

When we first made the leap into chicken ownership, we were not sure what breeds to order. I was set on getting bantam chickens (miniature or small variety) because they were so darn cute and their eggs are so darn cute, too! We settled on some bantams and some regular sized Rhode Island Reds.

We ordered a straight run of bantams through a national hatchery which meant we were going to get a mix of male and female chickens completely left to chance. They were less expensive and gave us the variety in breed typed we wanted. We ended up with several roosters that we farmed out to my dad who then gave them to someone near where he lived. I am sure they were destined for the soup pot; a noble end to a good, comfortable life.

We did keep two roosters. I really think those we kept are fantastic - great dramatic feathers and, for the most part, not too aggressive. This little white and black pair always make me smile - a matched set, hen and rooster, with similar markings. There is a buff pair - hen and rooster - that are pretty fantastic, too.

Lemon Ricotta Blackberry Muffins

2011-11-08T06:00:00.000-06:00

Jeremy is starting to call me the Muffin Maker. I have tried out some new muffin recipes recently and it has typically been on a Sunday with the idea we can enjoy muffins for breakfast through the next week.

This recipe for Lemon Ricotta Blackberry Muffins sounded delicious and super easy. It also helped me use a small bag of blackberries in the freezer.

I did not have any lemons in the house. I was just feeling happy that I had ricotta cheese and all the other ingredients! I substituted limes for the lemons and the end result was still super delicious!

The recipe was originally on the blog Two Peas & their Pod that I discovered in an issue of Where Women Cook.

Lemon Ricotta Blackberry Muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
Zest of 2 lemons
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup ricotta cheese (whole or low-fat is fine)
1 large egg
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup fresh blackberries
Turbinado sugar-for sprinkling on muffin tops

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners. Set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a small bowl, add the sugar and lemon zest. Rub the lemon zest and sugar together with your fingers. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar and lemon zest mixture together until light and fluffy, about two minutes. Add the ricotta cheese and beat until smooth. Beat in the egg, lemon juice, and vanilla extract.

3. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just blended. Using an ice cream scoop or large spoon, fill each muffin cup half way with batter. Add three blackberries to each muffin cup. Top the muffins with remaining batter so blackberries are covered. Generously sprinkle turbinado sugar over each muffin top.

4. Bake muffins for about 20 minutes, or until the tops are slightly golden brown. Let muffins cool for five minutes and serve.

Makes 12 muffins

Meet our neighbors

2011-11-07T06:00:00.000-06:00

We are so lucky to live in the country with great neighbors. We like to pretend that the gorgeous orchard and cute holiday displays to the south are our own. The truth is we have really gifted neighbors who are outstanding gardeners, mechanics, home keepers, bakers, and more.

We also like to pretend that the cows in the pasture to the north and east are our own. Their arrival each fall marks the end of fall harvest and the start of winter. We get to watch them graze and clean up the corn stubble.

Jeremy told me earlier this week that there was an Oreo cow in the herd this year. When Jeremy and I were first dating, we were in college and both aspiring teachers. My area of study was agricultural education which meant that my lessons were about plants, animals, ag mechanics, and other topics. He was making flash cards and learning to play the recorder for Music for Elementary School Teachers.

One of my lessons was on breeds of cattle and we happened to be driving back to Jeremy's hometown the weekend when I was working the lesson. The entire drive we quizzed each other on the breeds of cattle we passed in the pastures across north central and northwest Kansas. We really got a kick out of the Oreo cow. I always say Oreo cow and can never remember the proper name of Belted Galloway. (I had to look it up!)

We hardly ever see them, but know that a farm on our drive to Wichita has our favorite Oreo cows. It's a treat to have one in our backyard.

This girl has these great double spots on one side, too. I can't help but think of a bowling ball when I see her from this angle.

Alpaca fiber news

2011-11-06T13:37:00.001-06:00

Our alpaca fiber from last year's shearing is here in all sorts of forms - roving, yarn and rugs!

Ok, to tell you the truth, the roving and yarn has been here for awhile. It was neatly packaged in bags and corralled in a box. We had some moments this weekend to take everything out and take stock.

The roving is a blend of dark brown, fawn and ivory. It is just as lovely as the previous year's, but overall darker tones. We look forward to getting the new roving listed on eBay and in the hands of our friends for spinning and felting projects.

We also have a whole pile of yarn! The four skeins shown below have our usual ivory, dark brown and fawn. The new color is a blend of dark brown and ivory for this very pretty mocha color.

These four options are all sport weight and really lovely together.

The black and ivory options shown here are worsted weight.

Our rugs are a wide variety of patterns and color schemes. We have a couple in the larger 3' x 5' size and several in the 2' x 3'.

If you are a fiber artist and need some alpaca yarn or if you want to gift some for the holidays, let us know. We'll be restocking at The Wicked Stitch in Wamego soon.

The rugs are available. Check with us early for the best selection of patterns.

Perspectives from the plains

2011-10-24T06:00:00.000-05:00

I was thrilled to see an article in the latest Smithsonian magazine about a young author's time in Lincoln, Nebraska. She talks about how the plains gave her perspective and peace.

A transplant from New York, she reflects on the beauty and starkness of the prairie and farm ground. It was an excellent read.

Check it out!

2011-10-23T20:00:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite items in the kitchen is the giant chalkboard we picked up at an auction shortly after we moved to this house. It was a whole $3 and a real find since I had been scouting similar items in the big home decor catalogs for months.

My memories with my nieces from family dinners usually have two elements - one of them asking to be the one to write the menu on the board and the other being enamored with some place card holders shaped like little purses.

My hostessing philosophy has several basic elements, one of which is that people will not eat what they cannot identify. Makes sense, right? Having a posted menu helps people know what to expect when they get to the table and they are usually warmed up to something they might not know right away.

This menu is from the farm visit we hosted a few weeks ago. Any menu I associate with a good party stays up for awhile to remind me of the good time.

Sometimes we will post a quote for us to consider. This chalkboard is the first thing you see when you enter the kitchen from the back of the house. It's always a good way to start the morning to either think about time with family and friends or to be inspired by wise words.

For another purpose

2011-10-22T14:35:00.000-05:00

From this angle, it's hard to tell, but you are looking at an acrylic plate stand from The Container Store. A magazine recommended it as an excellent iPad stand, so I thought I would give it a try.

It's really just the right size and just the right angle to help when you are reading, cooking from a recipe or watching a video.

If you have an iPad and have ever wondered how you could do a little better than the cover that folds into a low stand, here is a great option!

Blueberry Oat Muffins

2011-10-16T17:07:00.001-05:00

1/2 cup quick cooking oats

1/2 cup orange juice

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup white sugar

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 egg, beaten

1 cup fresh blueberries

2 teaspoons white sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease a 12 cup muffin pan. In a small bowl, mix the oats and orange juice together. Set aside.
2.	In a medium bowl, mix flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Thoroughly blend in the oil and egg. Stir in the oat mixture, and fold in blueberries. Spoon batter into the prepared muffin cups.
3.	Mix 2 teaspoons sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl, and sprinkle evenly over the tops of the muffins.
4.	Bake 18 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a knife inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. This recipe has been on my wishlist for several months. I had a few minutes to bake these muffins today and the exceeded my expectations - super easy to make and really delicious.

Garlic

2011-10-15T10:11:00.001-05:00

Garlic is an incredibly easy thing to grow. I was always intimidated by garlic - it seemed like a mystery and it wasn't something that we grew in our family garden when I was a kid...at least that I remember. Our top billing crops were the basics - tomatoes, potatoes, onions, cucumbers, beans, peas, and more. We would occasionally grow something as an experiment - like okra, but I don't remember garlic.

A few years ago, I thought learning about garlic was a necessity. We were using it in cooking and I was curious if it was that much different from growing an onion. I found Mary Jane's Farm an awesome magazine about farm life. She also carries products that support an organic farm life, including delicious, hardy, easy to grow garlic.

Her advice gave me confidence to order a few garlic bulbs and to try it as a new crop in our garden.

Fall is garlic planting time. For us, we try to plant in October to give it time to establish before winter.

The first step is to take bulbs and break them down into individual cloves, keeping the paper-like peeling on the clove.

I try to separate the cloves at least 24 hours before planting, though I have seen recommendations for one week between separating and planting. We store the cloves in a box or an enamel pan on a paper towel until we are ready to plant.

We dig a trench along the edge of our raised beds. This location has been great to keep the garlic undisturbed and to leave the center of the bed open for spring crops. Each clove is planted pointed end up/root end down, around six inches apart and about one to two inches deep.

Some people will recommend mulching the beds before you have the first freeze - some years we have, some years we haven't mulched. If we do mulch, we make sure to take off any material that hasn't broken down when the ground starts to warm up to give the garlic shoots some sun.

Harvest is usually in early July or the end of June. We pull up the bulbs when the bottom couple of leaves begin to turn yellow. We dry the bulbs on old window screens extended over yard furniture. It's not very sophisticated, but it works!

Mini-me

2011-10-15T09:31:00.001-05:00

I met a mini-me at a conference last weekend.

I had the privilege of leading some workshops at the National Leadership Conference on Student Government for college student leaders and advisors. The attendees were awesome - people who really care. The energy and enthusiasm for making a difference made the three days very special.

At the end of a session, I caught sight of a student sporting this beautiful example of organizing her learning. Check it out!

Color-coded flags to mark ideas and programs she wants to implement or pass on to others. Beautiful!

I was thinking about her possible strengths - maybe learner, achiever, maximizer....?

Brilliant for sure!

Donut truths

2011-10-04T06:22:00.002-05:00

A few truths about donuts...

We have new local donut shop and they are causing a lot of buzz.

I thought I would treat the office to donuts to celebrate a great (and long) week of work.

Everyone who has had donuts from this little shop only has good things to say. Things like, "delicious" and "wonderful" and lots of other good adjectives.

The choices are out of this world - donuts with your favorite childhood cereal nestled in the icing. How can you go wrong?

Plus, donuts just soothe the soul.

Donuts might cure much of what ails you on any given day.

Nothing causes a stir in the office like a giant box of donuts. It was a good way to begin a Friday.

Check out Varsity Donuts, Aggieville.

2011-10-04T06:00:00.000-05:00

The garden might have been a bust this year, but we added some new garden decor.

These cute letters were on discount and we really liked them. The photo doesn't do them justice. Each letter is covered with remnants from tin can manufacturing. So, a couple have Spam cans and others are from international food cans. The result is great color and interesting details when you get up close.

We thought we might hang the letters directly on the fence, but decided to recycle part of an old wood table we had in our scrap pile. Jeremy put it on a couple of rocks and we now have a spot for it until we put away all of the outdoor furniture and fixtures.

Decorating for fall

2011-10-03T18:00:00.000-05:00

I am conditioned that when we have company, we really clean house. We really clean house - as in move the furniture, deep cleaning kind of clean the house. We also begin to knock out things on the list we have put off...like decorating for a holiday.

Since we had farm visits scheduled for last Saturday, I decided we were putting out fall decorations. And, it happened!

The past couple of years we have bought pumpkins for the porch and that has been all we could muster for the fall. This year, we got out the storage tub and put out our small stash of fall decor. I love the fall and am so glad we made it happen.

I am convinced that hosting company may be a new strategy to be more productive at the house. If only I can connect cleaning and painting the spare room (also known as the war room in this house) to having company over...

Farm visit: Tiger Cubs

2011-10-02T23:00:00.000-05:00

On Saturday afternoon, we hosted the second farm visit of the day. We had been promising several friends we would host groups and when considering calendars, it seemed like a good idea to host both groups in the same day.

Our second group was around 10 awesome Tiger Cubs from the area. They had parents and siblings along, so it was one of our largest groups we have ever hosted.

We had a great time talking to them about alpacas and sharing information about the animals and the fiber they produce. The kids had great questions and were really, really good with the animals. I loved hearing my husband talk to them. He's a natural teacher and he made everything make sense for them. He also has a gift for setting expectations in a way that is so respectful and clear.

They each got to lead an animal and feed them by hand. We had so much fun hearing their reactions.

Thanks to my mom for being the photographer, handling the passing out of treats and helping with leading the animals. She deserves a medal.

I think we all slept like rocks on Saturday night. What a great day!

Farm Visit: Flint Hill Chapter of American Agri-women

2011-10-02T19:44:00.001-05:00

We began our Saturday by hosting a really great group of women with a mission close to our hearts - education about and advocacy for agriculture.

The Flint Hills Chapter of American Agri-women were a small, but mighty group of visitors who brought great curiosity and a generous spirit. We had an awesome time with them!

We started with a farm tour where we talked about our adventure with alpacas. The group had great questions!

We had wonderful weather. I had been having some stressed out moments thinking about a possible plan for wet or cold weather. We were so thankful for a cool morning with beautiful sunshine.

Jeremy did so much to get the yard and animals ready. I spent more time preparing the brunch, but he had the hard job of mowing, trimming, putting on halters and all of the other items on the chore list. Kobe was one of the animals we wanted to highlight for the groups. He was a little antsy.

We were so pleased to receive this adorable hand painted gourd with chocolate alpacas. A super cute gift (and tasty!).

I love that this was handmade and from the heart - my favorite kind of gift.

Our thank you was also a repurposed feedsack bag. These are such an innovative way to reuse and recycle and it's a very durable (and waterproof) material. I love the detail on the inside with the sweet cotton print fabric and the pockets. This will get a lot of use!

Fall sunrise

2011-09-29T06:30:00.000-05:00

I love the fall.

The weather is cooler.

The sunrises are simply gorgeous.

We have been waiting a long time for this time of year.

The Fair

2011-09-27T20:50:00.000-05:00

We had the chance to go to the Kansas State Fair this fall. The State Fair is one of my favorite early fall activities.

We worked for my job for eight hours on a Saturday and then made a mad rush to grab food and see some of my favorite things.

Luckily, several of my favorites are in the same building - The Pride of Kansas.

The butter sculpture is always very fun. This year's featured monkeys riding sheep - kind of bizarre and yet likable. It's amazing to think about the time put into this art and how the artist can incorporate so much detail! Imagine 700 pounds of butter!

I love to see the produce. The pumpkins and squash had great fall colors!

Who doesn't love the largest pumpkin!?!

So, onions. Not too exciting, but check out that gorgeous purple ribbon. My past 4-H member heart is beating faster. Love this stuff!

And, honey! One of our favorite Kansas products. I aspire to be a bee keeper - it's on my lifetime goal list.

And, the food. If you go the the Kansas State Fair, go to the food stand and enjoy a bierock and an apple dumpling. Delicious!

Old signs

2011-09-27T17:30:00.000-05:00

On my trip to Bartlesville, I saw this great old motel sign along side the road.

I loved it!

On my return trip, I pulled in to take a picture and then noticed that the motel had people living there. It all looked pretty sketch. Not my smartest move to stop on my own, but I stayed in my vehicle with the doors locked.

Anything for a picture of an old, rusty sign.

I'm hopeless.

Kansas Adventures: The Granada

2011-09-18T08:18:00.000-05:00

My great driving adventures last week took me first from home to Bartlesville, OK and back again. Then, from home to Olpe, KS and back to Manhattan.

On the return trip, I took part of my lunch hour to stop at The Sweet Granada in downtown Emporia. Two cute little shops bookend the restored Historic Granada Theatre.

The Sweet Granada is a very cute and very small chocolate cafe that sells handmade gourmet chocolates. The cases are filled with lovely items of all kinds of goodies dipped in chocolate.

As a treat for the office staff, I bought some twice dipped cherries and some chocolate covered graham crackers. The later happens to be a favorite of my husband, so he got a few, too.

They also had homemade fudge available by the pound. They were glad to mix and match so I could take advantage of the buy a pound and get a half pound for free. We enjoyed sampling several of the different kinds.

It was fun to see a hometown shop with offerings so delicious and beautiful. If you are in Emporia, stop by - 805 Commercial.

Need incentive to buy? They have a Chocoholic rewards punch card. Earn one punch for every $5 spent. Fill the card and get $5 off your next purchase.

On the road again...

2011-09-17T22:23:00.001-05:00

This has been my life...behind the wheel, taking in beautiful Kansas scenery and having a lot of thinking time.

A few thoughts from my recent travels...

Anyone who wants to argue that Kansas is flat and boring has not really looked at our beautiful state. This time of year is especially striking. The leaves are just starting to turn. Fall harvest is beginning in some parts of the state. The rolling hills are showing signs of fall color.
Satellite radio makes a trip so much better! This week's trips allowed me to take my own vehicle instead of a company car which means I had satellite radio. I also figured out how to connect my iPad to my car radio and that meant I could listen to my new George Strait, Mumford and Sons and Ray Lamontagne. Loving my new music and really like no to few commercials.
For the most part, people in our state are really friendly. My short stops at gas stations and restaurants allowed me to interact with some nice people.
My car also has Bluetooth capability. so I can connect my phone to my car. I am getting used to this convenience. I am getting it and really like being able to call hands free. When I am out on the highway and can make calls, it saves me time and helps keep me connected. It's still strange to drive along and talk about loud on the phone..kind of yelling toward my sun visor.
When you travel, you have time to think. I also practice my presentations - out loud. And, I sing. Which I never sing in public because I am really bad at singing. If you pass me, I am the crazy person singing, talking to myself or talking on the Bluetooth on my phone.

More travels next week!

Five reasons

2011-09-11T22:29:00.000-05:00

There are five reasons I wanted to post this picture.

5. It feels like fall. We finally have a little relief from the heat and the cooler evenings and nights are most welcomed. This little guy was sunning himself on our back door on one of the cooler mornings.

4. I am fascinated my little things. Anything in miniature is just so darn cute.

3. We have these tiny frogs everywhere around our yard. They like to climb our windows at night. It's a curiosity and cheap entertainment.

2. I have a new camera and this is one of the first (and few) pictures I have taken. My camera is a used Nikon purchased from a friend in Texas. It's arrival was sandwiched between vacation and the fall schedule launching into full swing. I have no idea what I am doing - save a very generous lesson from my friend, Laura. Conventional wisdom tells me that the only way to learn is to practice. This photo is practice.

1. This photo reminds me of my niece, McKenzy who is celebrating her birthday today. She's frog crazy. If she had seen this little guy, she would have adopted him. Happy birthday, kid!

Cool find: Soho Interiors

2011-08-30T06:40:00.000-05:00

If you are in Topeka in the near future, stop by Soho Interiors. Located off the beaten path, it is worth it to have a great shopping experience and to find some unique items for your home and for gifts.

I didn't find it by driving around. A friend didn't recommend it.

This is where I say with some embarrassment,

"I had a Groupon."

Insert husband chuckling at me.

I bought a wide variety of things. Some I can't show off because they are designated as gifts and of the approximately six people who read my blog, these are the people who might be the recipients of said gifts. So, here are a couple I plan to keep.

Art Cards for Baby by Wee Gallery. Think of high contrast flash cards made out of board book material. For this set, one side has the animal in white on black with the animal name. The other side has the animal in black on white with the sound. There are a variety of these sets - sea, garden, jungle, pets, and more. I brought home the farm theme.

I have an idea for a project with the cards. And, I really want the garden set. These make me really happy - love the design and the subject.

And, these little beauties. These white glass balls with black letters have so much potential and I don't have a really good idea for them yet. They found a place in a vintage ice bucket and made their way to our coffee table. Still not sure this is the final way I want to display them.

They had to come home with me since I loved them at first sight. I walked around the store about one hundred times and kept coming back to them.

More on shopping and projects later.

Shop Soho Interiors, 3129 SW Huntoon in Topeka.

Alpaca fiber: cutest bear ever!

2011-08-29T21:35:00.000-05:00

Our friend Ashley created this adorable bear out of alpaca fiber from our boys.

We shared some fiber with her and she knitted a scarf for us and the left over was used for this cuddly bear. It is so soft!

We love it when people share pictures of their fiber art, especially if it is alpaca fiber and even more so when it is from our alpacas.

Thanks, Ashley!

Bacon revisted

2011-08-28T16:56:00.000-05:00

We love bacon in our house. This is really no secret. We even own a cookbook entirely devoted to bacon.

Yet, as much as we love bacon, preparing it on the stove top is a messy process. The end product is never consistently crisp and the slices are usually curled on top of themselves. After years of less than crispy bacon with grease splatters all over the stove, I just tried to skip making bacon - until I practiced baking bacon. I'm sold!

A family member showed me how to prepare bacon in the oven and I was kind of convinced. Becky Higgins is a blogger who I follow and she posted about this method. Her post gave me some confidence to try it myself.

Here is my take on baking bacon.

1. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place the bacon on the foil in a single layer.

2. Place the baking sheet in the cold oven. Set the oven to 425 degrees and allow the bacon to cook while it heats. When our oven reaches 425 degrees, I check the bacon and continue to check it every few minutes until it is the desired crispiness.

Lesson learned: do not check the bacon when the oven reaches 425 degrees and then tell yourself that you are just going to scrapbook for a minute or two more. I did this. I forgot the bacon. I created a lot of smoke and some extra crispy bacon.

This story will explain why the photo above have more pieces of bacon and they are closer together. I had to do another batch to get the after picture.

3. Use a spatula to remove the bacon from the baking sheet. Place the bacon on a plate with paper towels and blot off any excess grease. The bacon will crisp up just a bit more as it cools.

4. Clean up is a snap. Just remove the foil and dispose of the grease. Wash your baking sheet and you are set.

This method is great for making crispy bacon you can crumble for other recipes. We enjoyed bacon and tomato sandwiches for lunch today with bacon from the oven - a perfect summer lunch.

Summer fun: Canning tomatoes

2011-08-20T08:29:00.000-05:00

It seemed like the tomatoes would never ripen this summer. Our cool temperatures early and then extremely hot temperatures late in the growing season made it hard on the plants.

We finally had enough to make canning worth the time and effort. Maybe it was the fact that our temperatures were finally below 100 degrees or that we got a little rain, but whatever the reason, we had ripe tomatoes!

Last weekend, my mom and I whipped up our favorite pizza sauce from last year. It was so good we also used it as a marinara sauce.

It is a really easy recipe and very delicious!

Pizza Sauce

Yield: 5 pints

Ingredients

5 pints tomato sauce or about 20 pounds of tomatoes
1 1/2 cups chopped onions
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup chopped sweet peppers or bell peppers
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons salt
5 teaspoons oregano
2 teaspoons black pepper
2 teaspoons basil
2 tablespoons arrowroot or cornstarch
a small amount of tomato juice

Instructions

1. Wash, skin and core all of the tomatoes and then place them in a large pot to cook. We have a hand emulsion blender which makes the process of blending ingredients to the right consistency so much easier. Some people will use a food mill and will cook the washed and cored tomatoes with the skins. They will run the cooked tomatoes through the food mill to remove the skins and seeds, then return to the pot.
2. Cook onions, garlic, and peppers in a pan on the stove with a little tomato juice from the large pot until tender before adding to sauce.
3. Mix the white sugar, salt, oregano, black pepper, basil, and arrowroot or cornstarch with a little tomato juice from the large pot. This will help keep the arrowroot or cornstarch from clumping.
4. When all of the ingredients are added, stir the sauce to mix thoroughly and bring to a boil so it thickens. You may need to add more of the arrowroot or cornstarch depending on your tomatoes and your own preference. We use the hand blender to do the fine chopping and to make sure things are well mixed. Be very careful with the hot sauce and make sure that you follow the directions for the blender.
6. For canning, put into jars and process for 25 minutes (for pints; 35 minutes for quarts). Follow all of the usual techniques for sterilizing jars and equipment used in the process. Again, be very careful with the hot water, hot materials and sauce that all come together at this point.

Summer travel: Chicago

2011-08-06T15:30:00.000-05:00

We just returned from a short visit to Chicago. I had a conference for work and Jeremy was able to travel along. We made schedules work and stayed on an extra day to see the city.

We really love Chicago. And, we always try to stay just long enough to get our fill of city life before retreating back to the country.

For the past couple of visits, my assignment has been to find agriculture in the city. It's been a fun challenge to think about how city dwellers connect with nature and source their food. We often talk about how we imagine the lives of people who live in the city - not mowing a yard seems really unusual to us.

We enjoy the gardens and sculpture areas near Millennium and Grant Parks. We took a break in the natural area near the Cloud Gate (or The Bean). The paving along the path looked to be natural stone and about the thickness of a counter top. These pieces of stone were set together on edge to form this beautiful walkway between beds of plans. We really liked this idea.

This Kansas girl always seems to find sunflowers. We found a farmers market the first afternoon near the Museum of Contemporary Art. It happened to be the free day for that museum and we enjoyed walking around the farmers market and taking in the art exhibits. Later that night, they had free jazz on the terrace.

It was a great trip! The food we enjoyed is worth a whole post of its own.

Cool find - Where Women Create

2011-08-06T05:00:00.001-05:00

If you have not picked up an issue of Where Women Create or Where Women Cook, and you actually love creating and/or cooking, you have to check out these magazines. These are my newest guilty pleasures. While a little pricey, they are so full of inspiration.

I subscribe to Where Women Create and my mom subscribes to Where Women Cook. We share these and then pass them along to friends with similar passions. When a new issues comes, I save it until I have time to sit down and savor the articles and photos. This practice sometimes means that it sits for weeks, but it is well worth it to be able to go cover to cover and give it the time it deserves.

One thing I notice about the artists profiled is that many of them are collectors (like me). Many of their collections are centered on scraps (paper, ribbon, embellishments), trinkets, fabric, and other raw material. I get the sense that these women all have a list of ideas a mile long (like me). I am really inspired by all of the different organizational systems. Many of the women have vintage elements in their work space and I love to see things artfully arranged to support their creative work.
And, these women make beautiful stuff - really cool things across media. The magazine is also a great way to find new blogs to follow and project ideas.

Photo to canvas

2011-08-05T05:15:00.001-05:00

Inspired by a couple of blog posts, I was really curious about ordering a photo printed to canvas. A short time later, the daily Groupon was for Canvas on Demand. The deal seemed really good for a 16x20 wrapped print.

I chose the sunflower photo from Chicago last summer. This was taken at the Farmers Market after the morning rain shower.

I was uncertain about the choice of having the black edge or having the photo stretch all the way around. I am ok with the decision. If you have experience with ordering canvas and have advice before I try this again, please post!

As an aside, my husband gives me a bad time about Groupons. It's kind of embarrassing to suggest we eat at a restaurant or go to a store because, "I have a Groupon." I like saving money, so I get over it. But, I am feeling the same kind of embarrassment posting that I bought this with a Groupon. I got a great deal and am happy with the finished product. I think that means I'll get over it.

Now, if I can just make the decision about where to hang it...

Cool find: Garden and Gun magazine

2011-08-04T20:30:00.002-05:00

I know...Garden and Gun as a magazine title makes you wonder.

I was swapping some airline miles for magazine subscriptions and was curious about this title. After a little research, I thought it seemed like a good risk. After all, it wasn't money and I really try to have a broad sampling of magazines in the house.

Oh, what a pleasant surprise!

I love this magazine for the beautiful photography and the well-written articles. The profiles of towns, artists, restaurants, and gardens are really top-notch.

The most recent issue profiles women and the piece on Dolly Parton is a treasure. If you are reading the second part of that sentence and laughing, you really need to read the article. I am sold. Dolly may have an outer shell that draws ridicule; the inside is a savvy business woman, a generous philanthropist, and a beautiful soul.

Back to the magazine...I really, really love the photography. The articles on the landscape in the south have a conservation element that really appeals to me. The profiles of towns always make me want to pack my bags. And, they talk about southern food - bar-b-que in the issue before last. You can't go wrong with bar-b-que.

The gun aspect was my biggest concern, yet it strangely feels like home. Growing up in a family of responsible hunters, I appreciate a magazine that shows off bird dogs and talks about the outdoors with what seems to be deep appreciation.

I kind of miss that aspect of my life. Several cold fall mornings began with an early wake up, wrapping up in a sleeping bag, packing a book and sitting in a pick up to spot birds with my brother. I did more reading than spotting, but I can tell a prairie chicken in flight to this day.

Meet the new alpacas

2011-08-02T05:00:00.001-05:00

We have two new residents at the farm. Just after we lost Wes, we had a call from some alpaca friends who had a male alpaca that needed a home. We were really happy to have a new boy for the farm and were really, really happy when they asked if we would take a second boy.

Everyone is getting along really well, even with the crazy hot temperatures. We have had to be extra vigilant about spraying down legs and bellies several times a day. The two new boys have especially dense fiber and they seem to feel the heat a bit more than the rest of the herd.

Kobe could be Scout's cousin. They have the same dark brown fiber. I think Kobe is a little more social and he likes to be first in line at the garden hose.

Chaccoyo is a proud boy. He is really camera shy, so I spend a lot of time walking around the pen trying to get a good picture. He keeps walking away and turning his back. Hmmmm. Guess I will have to set up camp in the pen when it is cooler. He has the best ears with long wispy hairs. Loads of personality!

Everyone is a muddy mess with all of the cool down sessions. When they need to scare off flies, they roll in the dirt. These dust baths create a really nice dirt coat and then when it is time for a cool off, it all turns to mud. We used to feel bad about our alpacas looking like a muddy mess until other alpacas friends commented on their animals being in a similar state.

Our eight mud balls seem to be doing ok - all of us are hoping for cooler temperatures.

Fevere

2011-08-01T21:15:00.003-05:00

Good friends and good food are a fabulous combination. We were really blessed to be able to make schedules work with our dear friend in Kansas City this weekend. We enjoyed good food and her excellent company.

Our friendship is unique. Years separate us to make me feel like a big sister. We share so much and at the same time have such a different background. She is a farm girl at heart and a city girl by upbringing. She has been turning into a great gardener and we love to share books, magazines, and great food!

Her gift to us (in addition to the great company) was this fabulous bread from Fevere. I was in love with the packaging from the start.

Fevere is, according to the bakery information, the Latin root word for "passion" and "fermentation." The baking method is described as using one heating and baking chamber with the baking happening after the heating, not at the same time.
The Olive Rosemary bread ingredients are organic wheat flour, organic levain, calamata olives, fresh rosemary, and sea salt. That is all - an ingredient list that short makes you feel like you know what you are eating.

The loaf is absolutely beautiful both on the outside and when sliced. I love artisan bread and this is wonderful dipped in a little olive oil with salt and pepper. Yum.

I am excited to check out the bakery in person. I understand it to have limited hours and high demand - when the bread is gone, it is gone.

We are planning to check out Fevere soon!

Plant geek: summer blooms

2011-07-13T05:30:00.001-05:00

We have really tried to add some diverse flowers to our yard so that we have something blooming from spring to fall. You know from earlier posts that I am a huge spring flower fan, yet many spring flowers bloom for such a short amount of time. That leaves a lot of months without color.

We added a flower bed to the south of our driveway. We wanted summer blooms and a high tolerance for drought and full sun. We have a mixture of several different types of plants and have some great color happening now.

The purple coneflowers are especially pretty.

They are pretty and plentiful!

We have some black-eyed susans and more white coneflowers, some daisy looking flowers and more.

The birds really love the coneflowers in the fall. They spend a lot of time pulling out the seeds. The butterflies and bees are also attracted to these flowers. All of the activity around this bed makes it a great part of the yard.

Last night's light was really pretty and I couldn't resist showing off these plants. Can't help the plant geekiness.

Ahhh....rain!

2011-07-12T22:05:00.002-05:00

We finally got a break from the summer heat with a wonderful rain shower this evening. After the rain ended, the light was so beautiful! The backyard and the hill beyond had this glow. Jeremy looked outside and told me to go get my camera. He was right - it was perfect for picture taking.

Our neighbors have this silo that can look really far away or when the light is just right, it appears to be in our backyard. I love the view of the silo over the corn tassels.

This old tree behind our garden had the benefit of the evening light. Loved the blue sky.

And, a rainbow!

The black-eyed susans are just about to bloom in full force by the driveway. The old truck looked pretty nice to us tonight, too. We love summer rain showers!

It's hot outside!

2011-07-11T19:40:00.006-05:00

With temperatures soaring above 100 degrees, it's been hot! Add on the Kansas humidity and being outside is not fun for anyone.

Our alpacas are especially susceptible to heat stress and that requires us to keep a close eye on them during this time of year. We refill water often and spray down their bellies and legs to keep them cool.

When we first bought Scout and Blue, we would put a sprinkler in the pen. Scout was a huge fan.

He would dance and stomp over the sprinkler.

His next move was to lay as close to the sprinkler as possible.

He was very content to enjoy the cool down.

Not much has changed. Scout is the first in line for the spray down. He is content to be soaked. Now that the grass is gone from their pen, he will roll in the dirt for a nice mud coating. He's left looking pretty silly, but at least cooler.

Thank goodness for small things that give relief in the heat. And, thank goodness that our fiber mill washes the fiber really well. Our boys can be a muddy mess.

What a day!

2011-07-07T20:30:00.002-05:00

My dear friend who is a Ph.D. student at Virginia Tech (and a proud K-State alum) was back visiting. She contacted me about getting together and we were able to make schedules work for this afternoon. It was the perfect way to end the day with great conversation with a good friend.

She recently returned from the Ukraine where she spent time with a group volunteering at an orphanage. I loved hearing her stories about her travels and seeing pictures of the children.

She brought me this beautiful hand painted egg and a chocolate bar with a wrapper that is so pretty. Both are just so lovely that I wanted to share.
You have to see both sides of this great egg! This same friend gave me a tiny hand painted flower pot for a gift at my wedding shower. I treasure it, too. This egg from this friend just makes complete sense.
After dinner my husband and I went out the garden and I picked peas. Picking and shelling peas is one of my favorite garden activities.

Loved this day!

Fence posts

2011-07-07T05:00:00.003-05:00

Between my drive to and from work and our walks on the country roads, I have started to look at fence posts. The hedge posts are my favorite. I can admire a well-made five wire fence with steel posts at the appropriate distances. These are the fences I want around land I own to keep livestock where they are meant to be. For general gawking, I like the old withered hedge posts with character.

I noticed these wildflowers next to this corner post and couldn't help but stop on the road and take a photo. Two things I love - two symbols of the prairie.

On our walk turned hike, we saw this cute bird and I loved the composition of the tiny bird on the massive post. It reminded me of the squirrel we caught last spring perched on the top of the fence post in our backyard.

This little squirrel entertained us one night. I also love seeing the corn field in the background just as the seeds had emerged. To see it now, it's hard to believe that was just a couple of months ago.

Beautiful Kansas sunrise

2011-07-06T20:39:00.002-05:00

My favorite time of the day is the morning. This morning was especially nice to see that we had a break from the heat with a nice slow rain.

The colors in the morning sky were the second gift.

My favorite way to start the day is in our new addition watching the sunrise just behind the hill.

This is why we live in the country.

Beautiful.

Black bean and tomato quinoa

2011-07-05T21:36:00.003-05:00

We tried a new recipe tonight and it was a hit! I admit that it was a bit of a risk since it was a vegetarian dish and my husband was a little skeptical of the strange sounding main ingredient.

We tried quinoa before, but I will chalk our indifference to chef's error. It just wasn't spectacular. I take full responsibility, but am not easily discouraged in the kitchen. While cleaning the cupboards last week, I found the half used box and in my efforts to use that we buy decided to give it a try again. The recipe search began last week and I thought I had a winner.

This recipe had a very clean and fresh taste with the lime flavorings. It was fairly quick to make, even with all of the chopping. I did take some short cuts - like using pre-washed quinoa.

For the side, Jeremy made pita chips by crisping pita bread in the oven and we had our favorite hummus.

So, what is quinoa (KEEN-wah)? This is where my plant geek side comes out. It is like a grain, but all of my research says that it is actually the seed of a plant related to spinach. It is a really good source of protein and is reported to be a better protein because of the amino acids. There are a lot of other really good things in quinoa and it's one of those food you feel like earned you a gold star for eating well.

Tonight - two gold stars - one for being good for you and one for being a good tasting meal!

Black bean and tomato quinoa

2 teaspoons grated lime zest

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 teaspoon sugar

1 cup quinoa

1 (14- to 15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained

2 medium tomatoes, diced

4 scallions, chopped

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Whisk together lime zest and juice, butter, oil, sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4teaspoon pepper in a large bowl. Wash quinoa in 3 changes of cold water in a bowl, draining in a sieve each time. Cook quinoa in a medium pot of boiling salted water (1 tablespoon salt for 2 quarts water), uncovered, until almost tender, about 10 minutes. Drain in sieve, then set sieve in same pot with 1 inch of simmering water (water should not touch bottom of sieve). Cover quinoa with a folded kitchen towel, then cover sieve with a lid (don't worry if lid doesn't fit tightly) and steam over medium heat until tender, fluffy, and dry, about 10 minutes. Remove pot from heat and remove lid. Let stand, still covered with towel, 5 minutes.

Add quinoa to dressing and toss until dressing is absorbed, then stir in remaining ingredients and salt and pepper to taste.

Source: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Black-Bean-and-Tomato-Quinoa-238939

First tomato by July 4

2011-07-04T20:15:00.002-05:00

There are certain gardening guidelines that have been handed down from generation to generation in my family. You should plant your potatoes on St. Patrick's Day (which also happens to be my dad's birthday). If you want to avoid worrying about heavy frost, plant your tender plants after Mother's Day. Every gardener is shooting for the first ripe tomato by July 4.

We are not going to make it this year. We have some good looking green tomatoes, but are weeks away from having the first ripe tomato that marks the beginning of tomato season.

Tomato season means wonderful eating, breaking out all of our favorite ways to eat fresh tomatoes, and putting into play our plans for canning. We have been talking about the wonderful pizza sauce and the ups and downs of various salsa recipes. We have tray after tray of ripe tomatoes on every available surface and a corner of my kitchen loaded up with jars, rings, flats, and all of the tools to preserve our garden's bounty.

We can't wait!

Until then...we watch...

Favorite gift

2011-07-02T14:44:00.006-05:00

Earlier I posted about wrapping gifts for some staff members who were leaving my office. Not wanting to spoil the surprise, I didn't talk about what was under the wrapping - as if they read my blog, but just in case.

The book is Where will you be five years from today? by Dan Zadra. It was recommended by my friend Mary, who is the queen of cool finds.

The book is boldly designed and full of great quotes and important questions. It is my favorite book for people in transition - graduating, changing jobs, questioning next moves, and more.

This is a sample of the fun and bold design with great topics to really get you thinking.

Portions of the book are in workbook format. Though it is not my style to write in books, this book and a journal would be a great combination.

Even if you are not in transition, but maybe feeling a little stuck, this book is a great choice. And, couldn't we all benefit from asking ourselves where we will be in five years? And, then the real question - so, what are you doing about it?

Simple wrapping

2011-06-28T19:55:00.004-05:00

Thursday marks a big transition in our office as six employees end their official appointment and move on to fabulous other adventures. They will be missed.

Five of them have a similar job and are at a similar place in their young professional careers. I am giving them the same book that is a favorite and recommended by a dear friend. More on that tomorrow - don't want to spoil the surprise before they get to open the gift.

Today, let's focus on the packaging.

The paper is this cool (RED) campaign print. Words that decorate the paper are: Treasu(red), Sha(red), Empowe(red), Kind(red), Chee(red), Ado(red), Inc(red)ible, you get the idea. Proceeds from the purchase of this paper and other (RED) products go to fight AIDS in Africa. A great cause and the perfect sentiment for my co-workers as they are incredible, treasured, empowered...you get the idea, right?

The black and white ribbon was the just right contrast for the paper. It has been in my ribbon collection for some time - glad it was held over for this paper.

These gifts were fun to wrap and I thought about how much better I was at wrapping gifts. A few years ago I learned some important lessons that changed my skill level.

1. Use double-sided tape. A little awkward at first, double-sided tape makes for uninterrupted lines and a smoother finish. Love the stuff.

2. Don't use too much paper. This was revolutionary because my corners always looked sloppy and not sharp and polished. Less paper keeps things flat and just looks better.

3. Make your creases and corners like you mean it. Smooth corners start with sharp folds.

4. Buy neutral, all-season, or multi-season wrapping paper and ribbon. Try to find end of season sales on paper and accessories that can be used for a lot of different occasions and stock up when it is cheap.

This is usually not a problem until you forget where you put things. I had a dozen shirt boxes and spent a good four hours looking for them in the house. What made it worse was when I put them away I told my husband to remind me where I put them...must have had a feeling they would be hard to remember.

5. Use ribbon and other embellishments to dress up the package. Yet, you don't have to tie a dynamite bow. Sometimes a simple knot does the trick.

Looking forward to sharing the content of the packages with you soon.

Obsessive learning

2011-06-27T22:05:00.003-05:00

Most of my friends know that I am an obsessive learner. My resume includes yoga, knitting, raising alpacas, trying new recipes, installing new plants in the garden, learning about The Depression, and much more. Some of my learning experiments work out well and others just turn out to be great experiences.

I figured out this learning thing was something that defined me when I told my boss what I was making for a big family Thanksgiving dinner and he asked if the recipes were all of my tried and true favorites. In fact, many were new, never tested recipes gathered in my hours and hours of reading magazines devoted to Thanksgiving holiday meals and recipe books. He looked at me like I was insane. I was in heaven - a challenge to feed a whole crowd and the chance to learn some new recipes in the process. My final exam was actually pulling it off with everyone fed and happy.

Some of these learning obsessions come to me slowly - building one thing on top of another. A magazine article mentions a person that leads to a book. I read about Dorthea Lange, a famous Depression-era photographer and have been reading about her and devouring her work ever since. Her biography inspired me to read The Grapes of Wrath. I have another book on the Depression in my pile to read.

A recent favorite subject has been the prairie. We visited the Tall Grass Prairie Preserve and I bought Flint Hills Cowboys: Tales from the Tallgrass Prairie by Jim Hoy. It was a delightful read full of great storytelling and rich Kansas prairie tradition. Some of the cowboys were real characters and the stories were laugh out loud funny. Other stories told about the heartbreaking, dangerous work of making your life from the land told by a scholar and native of the Tall Grass Prairie. Lots of learning and pleasant reading.

My second read was recommended by a professor at K-State. Buffalo for the Broken Heart: Restoring Life to a Black Hills Ranch was very well written. The author's experience in transitioning from a cattle ranch to raising buffalo was full of learning, joy, heartbreak, and history. I loved reading about the prairie from someone who obviously loves the land and has a passion for preservation. It played out the real-life struggle to make a living in production agriculture and impressed the need to think about conservation and to relearn what our lands can support.

If your current learning adventures have you anywhere near the prairie or agriculture or the Great Plains, I highly recommend these two books. Happy reading!

When a walk becomes a hike

2011-06-26T15:10:00.004-05:00

We began this beautiful Sunday with a walk. We had taken a nice stroll on Saturday and thought if we wanted to get a walk or run in today, we should go early before the heat of the day settled in. Plus, the wildflowers in Kansas are looking so pretty right now and I wanted to take my camera along to get some of the color dotting the roadsides and pastures.

We saw a lot of these Black-Eyed Susan like things that I think are actually Brown-Eyed Susans? I am really a novice at identifying wildflowers. A book on Kansas wildflowers is next on my list, but until then, there is this great resource on Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses. This website helps you identify prairie plants. The flowers are categorized by color family and photos help with connecting names to plants.

Our walk began usual enough - straight west of our house up the gradual hill to the cemetery where we decide to go straight, left or right. Yesterday, I complained that straight was my least favorite because the gradual hill continues and the walk is harder. My husband suggested left which is a nice gravel road that turns to dirt. We kept walking south and I was taking pictures and loving the cloud cover.

We moved along on Loux Road when my husband suggested that we walk all the way to the end where Loux intersects with Myers Valley Road. At that intersection, he gave me a choice - turn around and cover the same ground or continue west and meet up with Pleasant Run. He swayed me with the promise of great pictures, and in fairness, he did tell me that his cross country kids run it and it is not pleasant (meaning pleasant views, but a lot of hills).

I agreed to the challenge, but should have asked exactly how far this trip would be in total. And, I should have looked at the weather forecast to see that rain was possible. The rumble of thunder near the half-way point made me a little anxious. I also should have brought along water, but who knew we were leaving for a hike.

The trip was beautiful - only sprinkles and cloud cover almost the whole way. We saw some great flowers and beautiful Kansas vistas. Yes, even in Kansas, you can stand on top of a hill and see valleys and rises that will take your breathe away.

This stretch of flowers reminded me of the scene at the beginning of Little House on the Prairie when the girls run down the hill. The cut wheat field in the back ground is quintessential Kansas.

We happened on this friendly herd of cows. They came running when they saw us, but we only disappointed them when we didn't have any range cubes. (We call them cookies in our family.) They walked with us almost the whole length of their pasture - running ahead and then stopping, turning, facing and watching.

I think this one is a moth mollein? It, along with more than 50 other pictures, made our 7.5 mile hike worth it.

Customer service award

2011-06-16T20:27:00.007-05:00

I love good customer service! This affinity for having people care about their work, look you in the eye, say "thank you" and mean it, and to try to make things right when things go wrong is most likely because that is part of my own job. I am kind of obsessed. When I encounter good or bad examples of taking care of people who consume something under your leadership, I think about it and talk about it a lot.

Last night after work I stopped at Starbucks for my favorite ice tea. Venti shaken black ice tea, unsweetened. Saying that phrase is like music to my ears. I consider getting one of these drinks a treat and it seemed like a great day for a treat.

The barista seemed kind of new and after I paid, I realized he didn't give me my small discount for my reusable cup. No worries. But, his co-worker handed me one of these little gems.

The outside says, "A cup should never be half empty."

The inside says, "We apologize if your Starbucks experience was anything but wonderful. We want to know how we can make things better and always invite you to share your thoughts with us. The next time we see you, please enjoy a beverage, on us. We hope your next visit is better."

I love this for many reasons. They didn't have to do anything! I wasn't even unhappy; I even told them it was ok. The concept is brilliant! They ask for your feedback and tell you it is because they want you to have a great experience. They invite you back! And, they give you something free! Who doesn't love a free beverage at Starbucks.

The Starbucks customer service experience is legendary and my own personal experience today confirms all that I have read. They try to make things right when things go wrong. I also know that the big corporate reputation of Starbucks makes them controversial. No matter how you feel about them, they do get some things right!

Farewell to Wes

2011-06-16T19:55:00.004-05:00

It has been a sad week on our little farm. We lost Wesminster or Wes last week.

He began showing signs he was not feeling well while Jeremy was gone and I was doing chores solo. We had just had one of those huge rainstorms that caused some flash flooding in our area. I worried that his lethargy and altered appetite was because of the drastic change in temperatures from cooler and rainy to hot and humid. An animal with a black coat has extra risk for heat-related stress.

Jeremy came home early to keep an eye on Wes and we monitored and doctored for a week. He seemed to be on an upswing when he suddenly took a turn for the worse. We are fortunate to have a teaching hospital nearby and we made a call for a farm visit from a vet from K-State and several vet students. They began some treatment at our farm and decided it best to transport him to the hospital. He made the trip, but died of cardiac arrest on the table.

We were all torn up about it and went over and over how we could have cared for him differently. Was is colic or pneumonia or an infection...we just didn't know. Jeremy asked for an autopsy. If we were doing something wrong, we wanted to know. The results came back to say that it was cancer that had spread to all his vital organs. Cancer is always bad news, yet we were relieved to know that any course of treatment would have resulted in the same outcome.

The good out of a bad situation - he was a good boy for us. Out of his pair, our two free alpacas from a local couple, he was the first to warm up to the herd and us. He ate with great gusto and always gave us a good laugh as we watched him eat hay like a champion. His condition helped the vet students learn about alpacas and that will help other producers with their animals.

We will miss our boy, Wes.

Plant geek: container hits and misses

2011-06-01T19:38:00.002-05:00

Earlier this spring I posted about my impulse buying of plants. I have finally recovered from the sunburn from the marathon planting session and have been enjoying watching the new combinations of plants fill out nicely. Here are some of my hits and misses for this year.

This vintage washtub is one of a pair we found at an auction near Alma. They flank the garage bay where my husband parks and are some of my favorite containers in our yard. I always struggle to get the right mix and have become bored with the usual spike plant, geranium, and vinca vine combination - sub in some asparagus fern sometimes. A great classic combination, but this year I wanted something a little different. This location gets a lot of sun.

The focal point is an ornamental pepper plant with alyssum and another bedding plant that I can not remember. I faithfully kept all the plant tags for the first hour of so of planting and then it all went out the window when it got down to crunch time.
This is one of many concrete planters we have accumulated. Concrete planters can be added to the list of things we collect by accident.

This combination of the ornamental pepper plant and the dusty miller - one of my new favorites! It has to be the colors side-by-side that just energizes me. Add in the small purple flowers on the pepper plant and I am over the moon!
Our porch has more concrete planters, including the big urns. I tried something different this year for these, too. I put in the usual red spike to play off of the door (bright red - sorry the photographer didn't show that flashy door) and then added the vinca vine for some drape. My big decision was what to put in as the filler - the base of the arrangement. I settled on the yellow flowers with this really cool foliage - again lost the tag!

The smaller planters have a mix of a lot of different plants - each selection trying to have at least a little bit of red.

Ummm....you might have noticed the broken tile that had been used as a coaster for the planters. Yeah, those got busted this Sunday when my husband (my hero) disposed of a huge black snake on our front step. That is a story for another time...

I can not in good faith show you all of my "hits" in the container world and not show you some misses. This grouping is another of my favorite concrete planters - love them! The plants are some coleus and a lot of weeds! Embarrassing. And, these sit closest to the well-traveled road by our house.

This is the same grouping of pots when I finally got so embarrassed that I pulled the weeds to see what is actually still living. Weekend project: replant, replant, replant.

Oh, and there are more - some that got too much water. Some that got too little. It's time for some container intervention.

Farm visit

2011-05-31T21:21:00.003-05:00

We love to have people visit us - especially kiddo's. Our niece was here with Jeremy's family a couple of weekends ago for family pictures and to celebrate his parent's wedding anniversary. We always include time with the animals for the niece.

Even when it is cold, she bundles up to help with chores. Even when it is early and everyone needs to get on the road, she bundles up and rolls out of bed early to help with chores. We need her around more often.

She got to feed the chickens and gather eggs.

She fed and walked Blue - our ambassador alpaca. He is so calm and very happy for a chance to roam around the yard.

Then, chore time shifted to games in the yard. A serious game of modified tennis took up most of the evening. (If I haven't told you before, I love that hill behind our house. This picture is an example of our beautiful and serene our backyard view.)

And, the keep-away game with the cowboy hat rounded out the games. I think my husband thought it matched his shorts - and the silver, sparkle fringe was pretty cool.

Family photos

2011-05-22T16:38:00.003-05:00

Sunday was a beautiful day! My husband's parents are celebrating 40 years of marriage this June and wanted the family to get together. My sister-in-law thought family photos would be a great idea. Calendars aligned for this weekend and we had a great day together.

My good friend, Lindsay, agreed to be our photographer. You can see some of her work and read her blog. She has a great eye and worked really hard to make us look good. Our niece was having a shy moment this morning and we had a hard time getting her to smile, though Lindsay tried!

We had lunch at our house and I was so happy to be able to cook for a crowd. I keep thinking that we need to have lots of kids, open a restaurant, or I should become a house cook for a fraternity...I love to cook for people! It brings together things I love - planning, food, and people.

Our menu: beef brisket from my dad's cows, funeral potatoes, creamy corn, bacon beans, mini cornbread muffins and the most heavenly cheese cakes from Deb's Cheesecakes.

The weather was perfect for the photos in the morning and for just sitting outside in the shade in the afternoon. We had a very good time and lots of good leftovers for the week.

Plant geek: irises

2011-05-22T16:13:00.002-05:00

This week my husband told me that the bog irises were blooming. This news warmed by heart for a couple of reasons. First, a relative non-farm, non-plant guy came into my life and he has evolved into this machine that is fanatical about our yard. He can name almost all of the plants in our yard and was even mowing the yard at 6 a.m. the other day. (Let's be clear, our nearest neighbors are a distance away and are also fanatical about their yards...they would totally get that he was worried about the weather forecast and his schedule matching.)

The second reason that I love this news is that bog irises - really, irises period - are some of my favorite spring flowers. I have also heard them called Louisiana irises. They are smaller than a typical iris and they do really well in the space where our air condition condensation is kicked out of the house. A perfect solution for this part of the flower bed.

These are so dainty! I love how the foliage and the flowers are tall and elegant.

Up close, they are just as beautiful. Of course, I am a sucker for purple flowers.

These lovelies are the classic old-fashioned iris. I love the color - so subtle and feminine.
We also have some of these purple edged variety. So pretty! I am sure all of the fancy varieties were divisions from our neighbor.
This row of irises is a high point south of the garage until the hollyhocks behind them stretch up higher and bloom. I love seeing yellow and the different shades of purple together.

This time of year is wonderful - we can have fresh flowers in the house everyday! Each spring, I could also write a love letter to the tulip, hyacinth, crocus, peony and lilac. I love spring flowers!

The gift in a conversation

2011-05-11T22:44:00.001-05:00

Have you ever had one of those conversations? The conversation that stays with you. Typically, these include some phrase or comment by a friend or family member that just locks into my brain. The words are just so RIGHT and I want to hold onto a phrase and lock it away forever.

This happened last week. A co-worked came in my office at the end of the day and out of the blue she shared with me that her daughter had just finished reading her father's journal (my co-worker's father). The journal outlined his time as a POW during World War II - a time during which he was marched across Africa, shipped by train, and marched more across Europe. My co-worker confessed that both she and her mother could not read the journal because it was so upsetting. Yet, her daughter read her father's legacy and reported back.

My co-worked told me that she hadn't known what her father had endured. And then, she said it. That phrase that I can't get out of my head.

"If I had known, I would have been a different daughter."

She went on to explain why she felt this way. She recalled talking to him about her problems that she now found to be so trivial compared to what he had experienced. She said he never talked about his war experience, rather he decided to record it in a journal. She wished she would have known.

I told her that her father was a brave and wise man. He knew that she needed to talk about her problems and that was part of her growing up. He dealt with his Trauma (with a capital T) in his own way and helped her to deal with her trauma.

I keep thinking about being a different daughter (or insert your role - teacher, friend, wife, co-worker), if you only knew something about the people around you. My mind is stuck on how to be more authentic, more compassionate, and more resilient. How to not have the feeling of regret that you didn't know something about someone, lest you would have treated them differently. How to share what you need to share with the people around you to connect with them. How to know when that sharing is a burden or a benefit in a relationship. How to remember that everyone you meet has a story, a trauma, a talent or gift and you have to know that you may never know the whole story, but everyone deserves the best you have to offer.

I am convinced that conversation was a gift. I will continue to be challenged by that phrase,

"If I had known, I would have been a different daughter."

A goal for this year...buy more art

2011-05-10T19:37:00.005-05:00

I set a goal to buy more art. We are not going crazy or anything, but we have a commitment to finding affordable, cool pieces that speak to us.

You read in previous posts about Connie Norman and her fabulous ceramics and Ursula Dunnewind, the talented paper artist. Now, meet Jamie Lavin, a Kansas painter who created this beauty.

It has amazing dimension with a painted canvas and a silver layer under the oil painting of the prairie.

Jeremy and I both fell in love with it, so it had to come home with us. I think we get bonus points for having it already installed on our wall.

My mom

2011-05-07T17:13:00.005-05:00

This Mother's Day, I wanted to pay tribute to my mom. The person who has taught me so much.

My mom is a dreamer and a storyteller. I have learned so much from her example and treasure our time together. The photo is from a tasting event at a local 4-H camp where you get to watch chefs cook and then enjoy a lunch and sampling reception in the afternoon. I am so glad that we had our picture taken that fall day.

Things I learned from my mom...

...always drive yourself to places because if you get uncomfortable, you can always leave. If you go with someone else, you are at their mercy for a ride home.

...friendships only last as long as they need to, if someone drifts away, other friends will follow.

...when you break up with a guy, you only remember the good times. Use that information for some perspective when you feel lonely and want to call him.

...make up should be subtle and highlight your features.

...figure out a way to pull the calf, bake the pie and still be dressed up for the event. It can be done.

...hard work and sacrifice are the surest way to get what you want out of life.

...how to can fruits and vegetables and be seriously clean while you do it and keep your fruit from getting brown in the process.

...always sweep the kitchen floor when you are finished canning or cooking a big meal.

...before you buy a piece of clothing, think about the price per wear when you are not sure if it is worth the price.

...downsizing is an all the time thing...edit, edit, edit your stuff.

...if you want to buy something, ask if you have the money and if you love it, get it.

...hard work keeps you focused and honest.

...to love reading.

...the value of education.

...to lust for change and new scenery and to never be satisfied that things are good enough.

...work hard because someone is always working harder.

...if you think you have it bad, someone always has it worse.

...compassion for those in poverty.

...and many, many more things.

No one works harder than my mom. She is an amazing person and I am so proud to have her in my life.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

Prairie town vacation

2011-05-07T16:35:00.008-05:00

Saturday's post talked about the Tallgrass Prairie hike, this one talks about the rest of that trip.

Several weeks ago I asked Jer to hold a weekend on his calendar. I wanted to surprise him with a mini-vacation and we were both desperately in need of a break from the usual schedule.

My idea was to be away for only one night and to take in some local places we had never explored. We started in Council Grove with a great lunch at the historic Hayes House. The strawberry pie was homemade and really delicious!

We continued on to the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve National Park and hiked one of the trails. It was a gorgeous spring day. We loved having nothing scheduled except a 7 p.m. dinner reservation.

Our final destination was Cottonwood Falls for dinner and an overnight at the restored Grand Central Hotel. We arrived early enough to do a little shopping in the few stores that were open. The beautiful county courthouse is the focal point of the downtown.

We found a great cooperative art gallery that had some beautiful antiques and art pieces of all kinds of media. We bought a terra cotta piece and a wooden business cards holder with the gorgeous silver details. And, I had to get a cd of the Tallgrass Express. I heard the cd at the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, but did not buy it. I kept thinking about the beautiful music and had to have it. Once I returned home, it was the background music for grading papers.

Our room at the hotel was spacious and comfortable. The dinner was very good - prime rib and great sides. We enjoyed the chance to relax and feel far from home, yet to be just a little over one hour away.

We highly recommend this line up of stops. Local friends can make a short weekend trip and some who live a little further away can just make this a destination or a stop on the way to or from Manhattan. You will love the quaintness and slow pace.

Prairie home

2011-05-07T15:34:00.006-05:00

The famous get-to-know-you question - are you a beach or mountain person? I have always been a little ambivalent about that choice. Both seem kind of exotic since Kansas has neither ocean nor mountains, but I also think my real preference was a third, unnamed option. My choice - the prairie.

Kansas is a beautiful place! We get a bad reputation for a flat and boring landscape, yet I am confident the people who hold this belief have never experienced the Flint Hills. The rolling hills that house the tallgrass prairie are simply breath taking. We have vistas that allow you to see for miles and down into valleys. The colors of the grasses change over the season to all shades of green and brown. We are at this really interesting time of the year when the portions that are recovering from spring controlled burns are turning a vibrant green. The sunrises and sunsets are simply gorgeous over these hills.

Most people only have the chance to drive through the Flint Hills because there are few places where people can get out and experience the prairie. Driving through is nothing compared to hearing the wind rustle the grass, to see wildlife and wildflowers up close, and to examine the detail in a weathered limestone rock.

There is a place where people can experience the prairie. Nestled in the Flint Hills is the National Park Service Tall Grass Prairie Preserve just north of Strong City and south of Council Grove. The Spring Hill Ranch, later known as the Z Bar Ranch, and now the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, has a 1883 ranch house and gigantic barn with other outdoor buildings, all in native limestone. The grounds are open 24 hours a day for hiking and they have some really manageable short trails or frontcountry trails. They also have backcountry hiking trails.

Last Saturday, we ventured out for a short one night vacation. We started our day with lunch at Council Grove at the Hayes House the oldest continuously operating restaurant west of the Mississippi. We had a great lunch with homemade pie.

We then ventured further south to the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve for hiking and touring and a little shopping. We hiked the Southwind Nature Trail that leads you to the Lower Fox Creek Schoolhouse for a nearly two mile hike. The hike was not tough at all and just long enough to feel like you had an adventure without tiring you out.

The gift shop had a lot of books about the prairie ecosystem, ranch life, and cowboy culture. We bought two great pieces of art, some notecards, and a great book on Flinthills cowboys. We then continued on to Cottonwood Falls to shop and stay overnight. More on that in a later post.

It really was the perfect weekend. We really enjoyed the whole trip, but the highlight was the time outside to enjoy one of the treasures of Kansas. There is something so peaceful about being on the prairie. The vastness of the grass and the sense of being small yet connected.

The Dinner Party Download

2011-04-27T06:01:00.002-05:00

If you like podcasts, you will love The Dinner Party Download. Ok, even if you don't like podcasts or have little experience with them, you will like the arrangement of entertainment, trends, history, food, and more.

The hosts, Rico Gagliano and Brendan Francis Newnam, mix up all the ingredients for a great dinner party in a 15 minute podcast. These are FREE in iTunes. The general format includes a joke, a major news story or headline from the week, a small history lesson, a cocktail recipe, an interview with an artist, a food trend, and a new song. The content is fresh and funny. The hosts have great chemistry.

The interviews always include two questions that relate to what the artist hates to be asked/is asked too frequently and the artist is asked to tell us something we don't know about him or her. These two questions always leave a feeling that you really got to know the person being interviewed and it seems more casual and intimate.

I love these podcasts so much that I have downloaded all of them and have been working through the backlog. Follow them on Twitter.

Would love to hear what you think about one of my new favorites!

Signs of spring

2011-04-10T20:11:00.004-05:00

Spring is marked by a few important traditions in our home and in our area. One of the first things that happens in our house is the planning phase. In the dead of winter, seed catalogs begin to arrive and we start scheming.

March marks the beginning of the open houses at our favorite nursery and garden shops. This year, we had a bit of a false start with late cold weather and snow. But, this weekend meant it was time to plant!

On Saturday, we picked up rocks in the areas of our yard still bare from construction. We have been tilling and picking up rocks for weeks! Finally, we were in a good place to plant grass. In the afternoon, we decided to select the plants for flower beds and general landscaping around the house. Next weekend, we are set on getting vegetables in the garden.

This was our haul. Nearly four hours after pulling into the drive way, we finished with the planting. I will remember to stick to the list and not impulse shop for flowers - every plant geeks weakness. Impulse shopping equals a lot of extra work for a gardener.
This is the view outside my office window. I spend a lot of time at the office and this is one of our most intense times of the year. It is so relaxing to look out and see this beauty.
And, our neighbors are burning pasture. For the uninitiated, spring burning is a vital part of range management and strikingly beautiful at night. The hill behind our house has been on fire for the past few nights as different sections are covered in the controlled burn.

Spring is here!!!

Ceramics after my heart

2011-04-04T22:11:00.004-05:00

If you have not heard of Connie Norman, you are missing out on the work of a lovely and gifted artist. I first learned of Connie in an issue of Peaks and Plains on a flight to Denver. When I find something I love in a magazine, it usually results in some scribbled notes in a notebook and then when I have a chance, I do my favorite thing - learn all about it.

Nearly a year later - a year of wanting some of her work very badly - and following her on Facebook, I decided to e-mail and asked about some pieces. Here are two we commissioned and dearly love.

Notice the "I'M SO LUCKY" inscription around the rim. Sigh. I love the colors and the sentiment.
My favorite saying ever - "BELIEVE."

If you love her work, please go to her website and learn about this professor, artist and amazing woman. You will want some of her beautiful pieces and have you seen the salt and pepper shakers?!

Getting organized

2011-04-04T21:42:00.004-05:00

I have posted before about one of my favorite scrapbooking materials - paper ribbon. This stuff is amazing! It can be a quick border for a page, an accent on a handmade card, or the perfect accent wrap for a gift. I cannot get enough of this stuff.

My most recent purchase from Creative Memories spring offerings - the Fabulous and Rugged collection.
The stuff is so beautiful, how could it just be in a basket with all of my other supplies? I ordered two jewelry organizers - one for necklaces and one for earrings. After looking at them for several days on my kitchen table, I decided the earring version would be a great way to display the paper ribbon.
Fun, functional, and beautiful. I am very happy with this idea.
And, did I tell you the ribbon is reversible? How could it get any better?

Hello, Spring!

2011-04-04T21:33:00.003-05:00

The Kansas winter really seemed to take a toll on everyone. Once the days began to get longer and warmer, everyone seemed to have a renewed sense of energy. My first signs of spring are the emerging crocuses.

These beauties just showed up near the garden under the old school bell. They loved the unseasonable hot day we had on Sunday.

The purple crocuses are some of my favorites! They are my favorite color and so much fun to see around all the brown plant material. What a pop in the landscape!
These daffodils just shout spring! They were a purchase during my most recent trip to the grocery store. I always feel a little guilty purchasing flowers that I could grow myself. Daffodils have never done well for me here - I think I plant them in a spot that is too shady.

Two bouquets - a really generous handful of flowers - were only $5. It was the best money I have spent for a whole lot of spring feel good.

Working together

2011-03-25T20:34:00.003-05:00

My dad made a surprise visit this weekend and we asked him to take a look at the old truck. Jeremy discovered a few weeks ago that the brakes were not working. He had been planning to take a look, but between schedules and weather, we just didn't get it done. Since this was the first repair of this kind, we didn't really know here the brake fluid was – on the engine, behind the seat, or some other place…it sounds strange, but on this old truck, not everything is under the hood.

Dad helped us narrow in on the problem and add some brake fluid. Now, we seem to be set.

I loved watching my husband and dad work together on the truck. Seeing the two of them problem-solve side by side was really sweet.

Another cool find

2011-03-25T20:09:00.013-05:00

American Pickers is one of our favorite shows. We love to follow Mike and Frank as they go around the country digging in attics, sheds, barns, overgrown yards and any other place that has rusty junk. We feel like we are kindred spirits and often wonder what it would be like if we turned them loose on my dad’s farm.

On a recent episode, Mike and Frank were sent to find some unique decorations for William Shatner’s home. They sought many things, but the most intriguing was an antique mill stone. We loved learning about the history and value of mill stones.

A short time later, Jeremy sent me a message saying that someone had listed a millstone and he wanted to take a look. I responded and told him to get it!

We are now the proud owners of one intact millstone and several pieces of another. Made of granite, these stones were used to grind grain at a mill in Enterprise or were manufactured at the J.B. Ehrsam and Sons Manufacturing Company located in Enterprise. The building that housed these operations was razed around the holidays this year.

The stones came to live with us and we will soon place them in an area where we are reinstalling a flower garden. We are proud to have a piece of Kansas history!

Spiritual moments

2011-03-17T22:23:00.004-05:00

Spiritual moments happen in big and grand celebrations and quiet moments. This week marked two special happenings that left me feeling connected to the universe. One was the chance to observe Tibetan Lamas layout and construct a mandala sand painting in our student union.

The platform is a simple wooden square that is elevated. The process of laying out the design is completed from memory and uses chalk lines on the black surface. The colored sand is applied with a metal funnel and another tool that is used to create a vibration on the funnel that moves the sand onto the platform.

The process is amazing to observe. It is even more incredible to realize that when the mandala is complete, it is destroyed to represent the impermanence of life. A portion of the mandala is given to those who attend the closing ceremony while the rest is released into a moving body of water.

The second experience was at the funeral of a friend's mother. Her funeral mass was held at St. Mary's Catholic Church in St. Benedict, Kansas near Seneca. The church is constructed of limestone and looks like many rural Kansas churches. However, the interior will amaze you! The murals on the ceiling, painted patterns on the columns and walls, gorgeous stained glass, and statuary are intricate, colorful, and awe inspiring.

The church was constructed in 1894 and the interior dates to 1901. An extensive restoration was conducted from 1980-1983.

Recognized as one of the Eight Wonders of Kansas Art, this spiritual place is something to see. The service was beautiful and the sense of spirit and peace was so strong in the beautiful surroundings. It sounds silly, but the hymns seemed to mean more and the graceful beauty of the art helped create calm.

If you are driving in northeast Kansas and have the chance to find tiny St. Benedict, you cannot miss the church and you will not regret stopping to have a quiet moment in this beautiful space.

Paper artist - Ursula Dunnewind

2011-02-26T19:38:00.010-06:00

Ursula Dunnewind's work was on display on our campus during the fall semester. Like so many things on my list, buying her work before the end of the exhibit was not accomplished. I asked my friend how to contact the artist and was successful in reaching her at her home.

She graciously invited my husband and I to stop by and view her work. We were rewarded with great conversation and the chance to learn about her craft. Ursula is a delightful person and we enjoyed sharing ideas about education and learning about her life.

We purchased some her pieces to give as gifts and one series of four delicate plant silhouettes. Can you believe that she uses only small scissors and a needle to do this intricate work?

Friday, we got a beautiful card from Ursula. The photo was so appealing because of the spring flowers and her words were so sweet. What a wonderful, talented woman artist.

I have an obsession.

2011-02-01T20:31:00.006-06:00

Confession: I love stationery. Give me cards of all sizes and shapes. I buy them. I make them. I try to send them, but should send more cards to more people since there are few pick me ups better than getting a handwritten card from someone you love. Every once in awhile I take out all of my cards and reorganize them and in the process remember what I have and admire the colors and designs.

Here are some of my favorites from today's reorganization.

I made these and you can tell I was experimenting with the scalloped circle punch. I tried to use only scrap paper to decorate the plain cardstock cards. I even used the sleeve for a coffee cup because of the great texture and lovely brown color.

These cards are a take off on the old Polaroid photos. The card itself looks like a Polaroid and the envelopes are a great light grey/putty color and have the Polaroid silhouette. Fun and funky subjects make these cards unique. I found them at Acme Gift in Aggieville (Manhattan, KS).

This set is packaged so lovely. The theme is typesetting and the letter and number fonts are beautiful to view. The envelopes are just as awesome at the postcard style cards. Also a find from Acme Gift in Aggieville (Manhattan, KS).

These adorable business card sized cards are all about luck with a lucky symbol embossed in gold on the top of each. The four leaf clover is my favorite, ok - maybe it is the wishbone.

Too cute!

2011-02-01T20:26:00.003-06:00

My dear friend Susan gave me this lovely clutch for Christmas. I love, love, love everything about it! The rosette, the fabric, and the size are all perfect. I think she found this in Texas. Can you tell I think she has be best taste? Thank you, Susan!

Beautiful. Good for you. Good for the planet.

2011-01-31T20:26:00.006-06:00

I love soap - add in the fact these soaps are organic, packaged beautifully, and smell heavenly and it is a slam dunk.

These beautiful soaps from LEAP Organics are so wonderful that you will not even want to gift wrap them. The illustrations are works of art and the packaging is recyclable, recycled and made from renewable materials. It's really a win-win.

They were featured on Daily Grommet - one of my new favorite websites. If you love unique gifts and fun finds, Daily Grommet serves them up in your e-mail daily. They offer a video to demo the product or to talk about the features. I love hearing the story behind the stuff.

Citrus - my favorite!

2011-01-10T20:19:00.005-06:00

My dear friend brought me tons and tons of lemons before Christmas. Her uncle grew these in his backyard - not in Kansas, of course! I have said this before, but we are so very lucky to have such generous friends.

Nothing takes the edge off winter like freshly-made lemonade. We used the recipe below with a very simple simple syrup, lemon juice and water. We had so many lemons that we froze some lemon juice for future baking and lemonade making. We also gave some away to the FACS teacher for her lemon poppyseed bread.

Perfect Lemonade Recipe
from: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/perfect_lemonade/

Ingredients
1 cup sugar (can reduce to 3/4 cup)
1 cup water (for the simple syrup)
1 cup lemon juice
3 to 4 cups cold water (to dilute)

Method
1 Make simple syrup by heating the sugar and water in a small saucepan until the sugar is dissolved completely.
2 While the sugar is dissolving, use a juicer to extract the juice from 4 to 6 lemons, enough for one cup of juice.
3 Add the juice and the sugar water to a pitcher. Add 3 to 4 cups of cold water, more or less to the desired strength. Refrigerate 30 to 40 minutes. If the lemonade is a little sweet for your taste, add a little more straight lemon juice to it.

Serve with ice, sliced lemons.

Serves 6.

Remembering Chicago

2011-01-01T08:00:00.001-06:00

My yearly winter break ritual includes organizing my backlog of photos and scrapbooking projects. Some of my favorite pictures of the year came from our Chicago trip. We found some farmer's markets and ate amazing food. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the trip.

Quartino features Italian pizza and small plates, affordable wine and really great atmosphere. I love eating at sidewalk cafes in the city.

This mural of bread was along the sidewalk when we were walking between Farmer's Markets on Saturday. Loved the vibrant image!

These small urban gardens were fun to see along our walk. I had just read a great book about gardening in small spaces and loved to see this example.

Look at these lovely heirloom tomatoes! Seeing them in December makes me long for fresh tomatoes.

Love the colors and shapes on this table.

I wanted the Cambell's Soup box, and the squash looked good, too.

This Kansas girl loves sunflowers. The markets were full of these beauties last July.

Love the cart that held the sunflowers and the bucket of glads in the front.

This is my favorite photo of the day. It had rained that morning and the flowers still had some raindrops. It was worth it to brave the mud at the largest market to see some great displays.

We love Chicago and cannot wait to go back! You can bet we will hit the Farmer's Markets again.

A giving heart

2011-01-01T06:00:00.001-06:00

My parents are really amazing people. There are two examples of their kindness and generosity have helped people this winter that I hold dear.

My mom likes to buy gloves on discount. She usually finds them for around $1 in a giant bin at the grocery store. She carries them in her car and looks for kids who need gloves and passes them out. I think about how cold it can be in Kansas during the winter and what a small comfort it is to have some protection from the elements.

My dad is the luckiest guy I know. He wins virtually every raffle he enters. Right before Christmas this year, he won a turkey as part of a raffle the high school marching band was holding. He of course won. When they tried to give him the turkey, he gave it back to the school administration and said that he was sure there was a family that could use it this holiday. He told me this story with a mischievous smile, like he was letting me in on a secret plan.

I get a little teary thinking about these little things my parents do to help others. Small and unassuming, but big those they help.

If you are looking for a great read on altruism, try In a Heartbeat: Sharing the power of cheerful giving by Leigh Anne Tuohy. I love this quote from the book.

Do small things with great love.

- Leigh Anne Tuohy

Decorum

2010-12-31T13:07:00.004-06:00

We found this lovely book at an estate sale this fall. Decorum: A practical treatise on etiquette and dress is digitized and available through Harvard. The book includes 1877 and 1879 dates of publication.

It is full of gems - advice on social interactions of all kinds, dress, letter writing, courtship and marriage, and attire in the late 1800's.

On Wall Flowers at Balls:
The master of the house should see that all the ladies dance; he should take notice, particularly of those who seem to serve as drapery to the walls of the ball-room, (or wall-flowers, as the familiar expression is) and should see that they are invited to dance. But he must do it wholly unperceived, in order not to wound the self-esteem of the unfortunate ladies.

On Love at First Sight:
No doubt these is such a thing as love at first sight, but love alone is a very uncertain foundation upon which to base marriage. There should be through acquaintanceship and a certain knowledge of harmony of tastes and temperaments before matrimony is ventured upon.

On Trifling with a Man's Feelings:
Some young ladies pride themselves upon the conquests which they make and would not scruple to sacrifice the happiness of an estimable person to their reprehensible vanity. Let this be far from you. If you see clearly that you have become an object of especial regard to a gentleman, and do not wish to encourage his addresses, treat him honorably and humanely, as you hope to be used with generosity by the person who may engage your own heart.

On Breaking an Engagement:
...Still breaking an engagement is always a serious and distressing thing, and ought not to be contemplated without absolute and just reasons...It is generally best to break an engagement by letter. By this means one can express himself or herself more clearly, and give the true reasons for his or her course much better than in a personal interview. The letter breaking the engagement should be accompanied by everything in the way of portraits, letters or gifts which have been received during the engagement.

What is the ruling on a text message break up?

This is such a fun look at the view of etiquette and dress for "the best American society" in the 1800's.

Summer finds & fun

2010-08-28T15:37:00.004-05:00

In an earlier post, I mentioned the fantastic vintage photos we found in Atlanta. Here are a couple of my favorites. You have to wonder what mischief these boys were up to - classic brothers fighting and playing. Love the photographer's eye for everyday moments.

Our other fantastic find was this amazing store called Mingei World Arts. The store had so many beautiful and fine things, including a large basket of chapati rolling pins. We selected three - all lovely with a beautiful patina. You and tell that these were used frequently and the wear makes them that much more precious. They are displayed in my kitchen were I also have a bowl of domestic rolling pins shared by family members or scavenged at vintage stores.

My mom and I have been enjoying some time together canning. We are alternating between tomatoes - pizza sauce, pasta sauce and salsa - and peaches. The latest version of peaches uses honey in place of some of the sugar in the syrup. I love the time with mom and love learning about how to preserve great food.

The latest finds

2010-08-15T07:27:00.004-05:00

We have been fortunate enough to travel a bit this summer. In Atlanta we spent some time in consignment and antique stores. Aside from my $23 JCrew suit, a basket of black and white pictures in an antique store was my favorite find. I picked out a couple of dollars worth, but should have purchased the whole lot. Shopper's regret - the worst!

The photographer had mostly candid shots - two had her caption written on the back. Any that made me smile moved to the keep pile. Here are a couple of samples.

And, the big decision is what is the project? How will I use them? Maybe cards or an art collage - they are just too great to be in a dusty antique store and not shared.

Summer bounty

2010-08-15T07:06:00.003-05:00

Our garden has been producing beautiful tomatoes. Despite a serious heat spell and a lack of rain, we have had an almost constant supply of tomatoes and peppers. Mom and I have been bonding over some canning adventures. You will find us on a Saturday or Sunday in my kitchen canning salsa, pizza sauce and a tomato pasta sauce. The pizza sauce is by far the winner!

http://www.tammysrecipes.com/pizza_sauce

Our first canning project was salsa. We decided that we wanted to save ourselves the messy foodmill and clean up, so we would just blend the hot salsa. This sounds easy. You ladle the hot soup into the blender, zip it through, and then put it back in the pot. We violated every safety rule and had salsa in my hair and splattered on the kitchen cupboards before we were through! We decided that we needed a better plan and that led to the purchase of the hand blender. Best money I have ever spent!

My favorite part is just learning along side mom. A long-time canner, she has all of the details in her head. She is a stickler for cleanliness, has all of the gadgets, and just standing at the sink with her peeling tomatoes after a long week has been so calming. I bring the recipe and she helps me get it through to finished. We also love to hear the pop of the jars sealing when they are out of the hot water bath.

Next on the canning agenda - peaches!

Meet our new hobby

2010-07-04T08:16:00.006-05:00

Our long search for a vintage pickup came to an end when Jer found a posting on Craigslist for a 1950 Chevy in Osage City. The gentleman selling this beauty knew some of my family from the area and was just the type of guy we had hoped would be selling our dream truck. He had been taking great care of her - driving it every day to and from work at the parts counter for the local Chevy dealer.

We asked dad along to help with the test drive. We were really glad since neither of us knew how to start the thing. It has a starter on the floor next to the gas pedal, a key, and a choke. It might have taken us a little while and we both seemed anxious about proving we would be good caretakers of the truck.

She runs beautifully with an original engine. And, by beautifully, I mean a top speed of 40 miles per hour. It is an interesting contrast to the rest of our lives where we are driven by the clock and have to be places fast.

Once we made the purchase, we drove her home from Osage at the top speed of 40 miles per hour. I followed in the car and we only backed up traffic a few times on Hwy 99. We took a break in Alma for pizza and as soon as she was parked, we got our first compliment!

While she is not perfect, over time, we will begin to restore her. Jer has already installed a new wood bed. We have her at the shop now having the windshield reset with a new seal - still original glass, just a little leaky.

By chance, one of my new friends has a 1950's camper she and her boyfriend are restoring. We joked that we need to get our two projects together!

As for the truck, watch for us in parades in a couple of years or maybe at a Farmer's Market stall...or still doing what we are doing now...driving 40 miles an hour to deliver our recyclables to the station in Westmoreland and cruising country roads on our way back home.

3	cups old fashioned oats
1	cup wheat bran
1	cup wheat germ
1/2	cup almonds (or pecans or walnuts)
1/2	cup pumpkin seeds
1/2	cup sunflower seeds
1/4	cup honey
1/4	cup brown sugar
1/3	cup orange juice
2	tbsp melted butter
1	tsp cinnamon