This Moment

Inspired by Amanda at SouleMama, this is a moment I want to remember: my little guy concentrating so hard on these crayons he met for the first time that day.

Happy weekending, M

Scratch Beans

I have in my possession one of the coolest old cookbooks around. I say it's in my possession because it used to be my mom's highschool home economics cookbook. But my mom thinks popcorn is supper so she doesn't really use it much.


I was checking out the publisher's page and noticed that it was first printed in 1923. Seriously cool.

And it has some fabulous old recipes in it. Like the one for sourdough bread that requires the pot to be hung from the rafters above the woodstove. Tee hee.

It does have a lot of very useful recipes in it, too. Like this one for baked beans that we tried recently.

Notice the line that says to cook for 6 hours. Yup, that's what is called slooooow food.

They were mighty fine beans, though. We will definitely be making them again.


I love trying out new recipes, or even very old ones. Because we're working at eliminating all the chemical preservatives from our diet, I'm always looking for yummy things to make from scratch.

Do you have any favourite recipes you'd like to share?

Happy cooking, M

Let The Harvest Begin

Our garden is growing like gangbusters out there. We even have our first zucchini ready for feasting upon.


The tomatoes are not far behind, either. Which is miraculous to me because as a container garderner for the last few years, I haven't had toms show up before mid-August. This is way early. Yay!


We've been picking herbs and chomping lettuce and swiss chard for weeks now and we've still got weeks left on them, too.



And very exciting to my little green thumb heart are the pumpkins we've got coming. With an October baby in the house, pumpkins are shaping up to be a big thing around here.


All in all, I'm very pleased with how everything is going.


I'm already planning what I'm going to plant next year, how I can improve things, etc, etc. I am hooked!

Happy gardening to you, M

Drummer Boy

Callum and his daddy were having fun in the kitchen.

Even Emmett, the dog, looks a bit worried about this.

Happy Monday, M

I Want To Be A Cat

If we get to come back, in the next life I want to be a cat that lives in my house.




Sounds complicated but if I can make it work, I'll be there! Or here, I guess. :)

Happy weekend, M

The New Laundry System

I think this must be David Appreciation Week around here. That would be because he deserves to be appreciated, but also because he's an amazing man to have around the house.

Today I'm showing the wonderful new drying rack he made for our backyard.


It's up against the fence in this picture because the wind that day was brutal and kept blowing stuff all over the place, including the laundry and rack. Normally, it's more free-standing.

He based the design on one that I had had previously but was falling apart. Only he made it higher, faster, stronger. Okay, well higher and stronger, anyway.

I love it! The minute I saw my new drying rack, I just knew I had to make a clothes pin bag to go with it.

This little piece of garden fabric was a thrift store find from my mom. I whipped it up into a pin bag in a figure-it-out-as-you-go kind of way. No pattern, just an idea in my head, now on a hanger!

Now if it would just stop thundering and raining outside, we might get some laundry hung out to dry.

Happy Tuesday, M

Reason #1537

Why I love my husband!

Our little man was giggling his head off for three turns around the main floor. And then he saw Mama take the camera out! He's so camera aware - you'd think we take a zillion pix or something! lol

Hope you're enjoying your Sunday! M

Rhubarb Soda

This summer, an old favourite from the garden patch learned a delicious new trick.


As you've seen from recent posts, my garden is brand new - not just pots anymore. And one of the first things I planted (okay, transplanted) was rhubarb. It seems no Saskatchewan garden is complete without it. As such, rhubarb recipes abound, but this one was brand new to me.

You start by chopping the rhubarb, almost as if preparing for jam - not pretty or anything, just chop, chop, chop.


Add sugar and water, bring it to a boil and then simmer it until you get a bright pink syrup - about 15 minutes in total. Cooking too long will yield something less appealing for your needs so don't go over 15 minutes.


Mix spring water with the pretty pink syrup and you get light and refreshing rhubarb soda. Add that to ice cream, and you get a rhubarb soda float.


Hand one of these to your loved ones on a hot summer night, and you get happy family.


It's a new favourite summer treat for us.

Next we're going to try it with strawberries. Or maybe raspberries. How about blueberries? Blackberries? Oooo, the possibilities are amazing. Tee hee.

Here's the recipe I used, if you'd like to give it a try. I first read about it over at Soule Mama, a lovely and inspiring place to visit.

Happy ice cream floats! M

Care To Join Me For A Snack?

A little fresh bread and strawberry-banana freezer jam?


I taught myself how to make freezer jam last week. It was so wonderfully easy and amazingly tasty.

It was nice to have such a sweet success on a day when my bread was not rising, thanks to the crazy humidity we've been experiencing. The bread was still very tasty, just a bit heavy, especially with lovely sweet jam.

Happy jamming, M