Christmastime Is Here…

 

Things have been busy around the Manor, from hanging lights outside and dressing the tree to starting the annual cookie and jam making for gifts, things have been hopping! 

Christmas is for children and long before the new economic realities of austere holiday celebrations and living within ones means, my loathe of the mall left me to explain to friends I would prefer time spent together and/or a gift of food for craft to a store-bought trinket.   I gift cookies and jam to adults and pick up only a few things for my nephews. 

No peeking on cookies until the boxes are packed and ready for giving, but I decided to try out a Tangerine and Orange Marmalade this year.  My lime marmalade was such a big hit and I think citrus is always perfect during the winter months.  There is little better on a cold morning than smearing some bright and sunny marmalade across a warm slice of toast from a hearty freshly baked load of bread!

What are you making this year to gift to friends and family?  What new or old traditions are you starting?  Make it happen and let us know!

Vintage is All the Rage…

I have always loved junk shops.  Or antique stores.  Or the new hipster term – Curated Vintage Stores.   No matter what you call them, I loved them then and I love them still…

When I was young and first able to walk to the corner store, there was a furniture refinishing company a few doors down from the market.   I would gaze into the windows and through all the dust to see the shining pieces of glass strewn about.  I was not an antique shop in the common sense, but it had a wide range of random furniture, glassware, pottery and artwork.  One of the first purchases I ever made with my own money was a pink depression glass tray.   It was a gift for my mother.  I still have it and use it in my bathroom.

I would estimate a good 50% of things I own and love are vintage, thrift, antique or hand-me-down.  Aside from loving to surround myself with things that tell something about me, I love what they tell about themselves and the myriad of possibilities of how they came to be loved in the first place.  I have a piece of Roseville pottery from an auction with a piece of tape on the bottom, indicating it was a wedding gift in 1923.  I have bowls with chips and cracks that I imagine came from someone’s grandmother 80 years ago making biscuits in every morning for her family.  I not only love the actual, but the implied and likely history of common household goods.

To me, living well is not about spending the most money.   It is about surrounding yourself with people and things that make you happy and complete.  It’s not about being able to feel better because you have more or better;  it’s about knowing you are happy in your skin and others seeing it shine through.

With the economy where it is, thrift stores and consignment shops have become trendy.  Resale is chic and bargains are suddenly no longer a dirty word.   It might be my New England upbringing, but a good thrift store find is always exciting.  Anyone can walk into a department store and shop the latest offering from Martha Stewart or Jonathan Adler.  Both have lovely items, but you run the risk of having the same thing everyone else does.

The last few months have been busy, but I’ve managed to hit a few of my favorite thrift stores and had a few great finds!  Not all of it came home with me, as the Manor only needs so much, But there are great finds to be had, if you patient, open-minded and willing to look in unlikely places…

This may be half of the best purchase I have made in ages.  1957 Kent Coffey “Goldenaire” chest and dresser with mirror.   I saw these in a Salvation Army warehouse store and pretty much grabbed the tickets the moment I saw them.  There was a hipster couple furniture shopping at the same time as we and had already snagged a really amazing rocker.   These were meant to be mine!  We had been in need of case furniture for our  bedroom to replace the functional, but over-scaled dark cherry Traditional armoire that was a place holder from the old house.   I wanted something masculine and vintage with good storage.   These were perfection!   And at the risk of being gauche, or of being a braggart,  we got them both for under $100.

Settled in at home, they look great, although I need to get a better camera, I think!

We also picked up these two chairs at the same place for $10.  They don’t really fit in the living room, but they might find a home in the guest room, once It is repainted.  I love the 70’s vibe, the Chartreuse colored velvet and they are super comfortable to boot!

A few weeks earlier, I came across this dresser at a shop that usually has a lot of French Country and Shabby Chic items, but occasionally has had some interesting items at reasonable prices —  I’ve found some of my best treasures in unlikely places — Mid-Century amongst the Shabby Chic, 1920’s Art Pottery amongst tools, Victorian Ironstone Transferware mixed amongst vintage clothing.

I loved the masculinity of this chest and the softness of the color and it came home with me.  It is overflow storage for the time being, until we manage to stay out of the thrift shops and strip the guest room wallpaper!

Such a handsome piece!

Sometimes, you find the perfect item that needs a bit of love; read, paint.    They are autumn projects, but I just love these, from a design perspective.  Both were less than $10. and already add a lot of character, even without the new finish or paint.

I’m note sure if I want this white and put on the porch or bring it inside in white or another pop of color somewhere.  Any suggestions?

I also picked this  up –  it’s a great vintage bedside table.  Sadly, there was only one, but I couldn’t resist the design.  It also is up-in-the-air as to color, use and placement, so any commentary is appreciated!I’m not 100% certain of the maker, but it seems that this design was popular in the 1960’s and several major manufacturers made a version of it.   I have seen the bureau pieces sell in the many hundred’s of dollars so I was pretty jazzed to get this for $7.

I also managed to pic up a really great sides Ironstone square tray for $1.49 and a set of four turquoise blue rocks glasses for $2.

So, I admitted my love of vintage —  How about you?  What is your best recent find?  What is your best find ever??  Maybe one of these days, I admit my best-ever find…

It’s that time of the year…

The middle of July finds one half-pint of raspberry jam, one half-pint of blueberry jam, 5 pints of apple sauce and 1 pint of spiced pears are all that is left in the jam cupboard.  Sad.

So, what’s a boy trying to live the good life supposed to do???  I have long found it ironic that the hottest time of the year is also the best time of the year to preserve all those great tastes of summer.  Standing over a boiling pot of fruit and sugar when it is 94 degrees in oppressive New England humidity is less than Ideal, but in the middle of winter  when I crack open a fresh bottle of jam, I will be most thankful and pleased for the efforts this week!

At a recent craft fair, I met a fellow jam maker, blogger and all-around craft/DIY’er extraordinaire, AJ, selling his wares.   I am not sure what I most enjoyed;  his homemade marshmallows rolled in toasted coconut,  the 1950’s  Sweet Corn Relish or Strawberry-Rosemary drinks syrup.  All were wonderfully tasty, attractively packaged and completely enjoyed.  Check out his blog at Handjobs (For the Home) for some fun tips and terrific recipes.

I have only restarted putting up preserves/jams for the last year.   I learned how to make jam and marmalade from my grandmother when I was younger, but for a long period, I stopped.   I tried to be modern and tell myself that the hassle was just too much, when there was perfectly good jam in the market.  Well, I guess I am modern in the old-fashioned sense —  I want to know what is in my food and where it came from.  Jarring is an easy way to store the freshest of summer produce with a minimum of chemicals and additives.

Last summer, I made 10 half-pints of blueberry jam when a family afternoon of pick-your-own berry picking afternoon turned to excess, followed by a similar event of excess during apple season, leading to 12 pints of chunky applesauce.   An attempt at apple jelly was met with far less fantastic results and most of that went into the ashcan.  But hope does spring eternal.  Besides, I like jam over jelly.

My first effort this year was to try a lime marmalade.  I adore lime in most forms and a recent trip to the local green grocer found limes to be abundant and inexpensive!

The process to make the marmalade took close to three hours, necessitated by first zesting and candying 30 limes, followed by supreming and juicing the remains of those 30 limes, then cooked and bottled into 6 half pint jars and 2 quarter-pints.   I was pleased with the flavor, but might try to julienne the peels before candying next batch, rather than zesting.   I am not sure of the flavor effect of larger pieces, but I am a fan of chunkier/heartier jams, so I suspect it would be both aesthetically and gastronomically to my liking.

My second find at the market were the lovely local strawberries and the remainder of the spring rhubarb crop.  Inspired by memories of a recently created and spectacular strawberry-rhubarb crisp as well as a recipe for strawberry rhubarb jam from Handjobs (For the Home).

A few bowls of strawberries, rhubarb, sugar and lemons turned into a wonderfully sweet and sour jam that I suspect will quickly become a favorite of mine.

The jam cupboard is already looking better, don’t you agree?

What will YOU be putting in your jam cupboard next?

Beekman Busy…

May was just insanely busy.  I already commented on that, so I won’t go into it again, but I might just expand on it some.   Memorial Day weekend was spent in Sharon Springs –  a small, semi-typical rural town in Upstate New York.  I call it semi-typical, as it has regained a bit of notoriety due to the success of “The Fabulous Beekman Boys”, escaping the complete abandonment of many other small towns, once the highway passed them by.

“The Fabulous Beekman Boys” is a reality show centered around two gay Manhattanites who buy a farm as a weekend getaway and end up needing to make it into a profitable venture after the Great Recession of 2008 leave them jobless and near bankruptcy.  Beekman1802.com tells their story far better than I can and offers their products for sale.  If you haven’t had a chance to visit, do  check it out.   There is not only information on their products, but also their thoughts on city and farm life, gardening tips and recipes.

Their story is inspiring.    They strive to live an honest, balanced, seasonal life, paying attention to family, friends, neighbors and the good things in life, but the successful end chapter has yet to be written.  Following along makes us all feel like we can, even if we are never sure of the eventual success.

Sharon Springs hosted a village garden party over Memorial Day weekend.  There were a variety of vendors there, selling farm products and garden tools, speakers on garden design and authors discussing their books on stone walls and gardening.   One featured event was a tour of the Beekman Mansion grounds, including the vegetable and flower gardens as well as the barn full of goats.  I was lucky enough to get a ticket.  Some of what I saw:

The Manor is far less grand than the Beekman Farm, but it is my little piece of living well until I get to move to the country with goats and chickens of my own.  It is just a nice reminded that everyone can life well, in their own way, be it simple or grand.

How is it already June??

May seemed to go by in a blink!guess it really does pay off to keep oneself busy.  Between work, school and the garden, this was a crazy month.  I am still making bread (which I need to update and post on) and the garden is in full swing ( also more needed posts!), but I managed to get a few days free in early May to go to the Brimfield Flea Market.  It is the New England version of the flea market to beat all flea markets.  It happens for one week in May, July and September and if you ever get a chance to go, it is just a great time.  It is a testament to all that humanity has created, both fantastic and terrifying.  If you can’t find it at Brimfield, it may not exist!  Check it out for yourself –  http://www.brimfieldshow.com/– if you can handle the awful colors on the site, its actually fairly useful.

This year I went both as a vendor and a gawker, as my stepmother wanted to divest herself of some treasures and couldn’t do it alone.  It was a great experience to meet people and , well, gawk at both people and the loot.   I looked at lots and bought very little, based upon actual need and finances – a small 50’s-vintage wire plant stand for the porch and a couple of McCoy planters for some herbs.

The stuff that got away was far better though –  The great thing about Brimfield is that most of the dealers are proud of their product and happy to let you photograph it.  Those that don’t, well, I’ll be sure to avoid buying from them, too!

 

Some of my favorites included the pair of 70’s Bergere chairs for $80, the cherry media cabinet for $150 and the metal amusement park ride letters for $50. each.   The beaded fruit almost  came home with me for the mere fact of a $22. price tag!  By the time I convinced myself it was ok to buy them, they were gone, which is the penultimate lesson of Brimfield, and most any market-  If you want it, someone else usually does as well!

When we last left the garden box…

it sorta looked like this-

It looked good, but now it looks better!

It took a couple of hours (read that as days) to get the 6 cubic yards of soil into the raised bed.    With some better thought and/or planning, we may not have closed and tightened the ends of the bed before we got the soil piled in.  We instead relied upon traditional the traditional shovel, wheelbarrow and a scrap boards-fashioned-into-ramps to fill it.  It was tiring, but will be worth it this summer with delicious, fresh tomatoes just outside the door!  The soil was mixed with a generous mix of compost (50/50 mix on the top foot), plus a few bales of peat moss mixed in

Despite last weekend’s rainy weather, the local community farm was having its annual seedling sale fundraiser and we decided to do out part to support local farming.    They had a nice selection of cold-hearty plants for sale, including broccoli, cauliflower, kale, spinach, scallions and lettuces.  We picked up both an early and late variety of broccoli, one cauliflower variety, some scallions and a flat each of both mixed lettuce and bib lettuce to get the garden started, since those should have been sown before we got the soil filled.  We did also manage to plant seeds- two types of carrots (one variety from the Beekman collection), as well as the Beekman Heirloom radishes and turnips.  I might have over-sown the turnips a bit much, but we will see how they turn out.

All in all, I am quite pleased with my progress.  I am worried about my tomato seedlings, but worse come to worst, the community farm will be having organic seedling sales of more tender vegetables in a couple of weekends.   I am thinking of this year as a trial year as I have not had a vegetable garden anyplace in many years and never before here are the Manor.

There was some additional soil delivered (intentionally) to level out some of the front garden and side yard, as well.  The side yard was sloped towards the foundation, which is never a good thing, so we regraded the side yard and planted a few new shrubs, including a boxwood, forsythia and an azalea.   The ground level closest to the house was raised about a foot and now slopes away from the house to be level to the old grade.  The previous grade sloped about 8-9 inches towards the house, resulting in some damp spots in the cellar after a heavy rain.   I even attempted to build a slight retaining wall towards the rear and plopped in a couple of transplanted wild daylilies.

The budget doesn’t allow for mulch until next month, but all in all, the side yard is vastly improved over it’s prior state!  Sadly, I don’t seem to have ever taken a photo of it before tearing out the overgrown Wisteria, Forsythia, Thorny Bayberry and the tangle of bittersweet, but trust me, it looks better now!

Once I get a bit of ground cover and the mulch put down, I think the side garden is pretty good.   Then on to the the other three in need of attention.  This Old Manor is always in need of some love, but love it is and love it shall have!

The World’s Largest Community Garden…

I’m a huge fan of The Fabulous Beekman Boys on Planet Green.  It is the less-than-seemingly-simple Green Acres-esque story of two gay Manhattanites which stumble across a farm in upstate New York, buy it as a weekend getaway, loose their corporate jobs and attempt to  start a company based upon good, seasonal living.  What’s not to love??

(As an aside, I have been to their farm and met them both in person and they not only do I love their idea of seasonal and sustainable living, but they have an amazing farm, terrific products and are also gosh-darn nice fellas, too!)

This year, the Beekman Boys are attempting to create the world’s largest community garden, partnering with Williams-Sonoma to sell a collection of heirloom vegetable seeds.   It was my goal to plant a vegetable garden at the Manor and this seemed like a great way to start.  The Beekman collection is a sampling of the varieties they grown in their own 7,500 square foot garden and it includes tomatoes, peppers, squash, carrots, beans, spinach, radishes and pumpkins.

My babies!   A seedling tray of 4 varieties of heirloom tomatoes and two varieties of peppers.  These are about a month old, now.

The Manor sits on a slight knoll that drops off to the rear.  The back yard is a semi-natural New England woodland.  The woodland is home to more birds than I can count as well as coyote, turkey, rabbit, deer and fox.   While I love the woods, they create a problem with where to put a vegetable garden.  The Manor faces south and the woods pretty much shade the entire back yard.  The sunniest place for the garden seems to be smack in the front yard.   Not wanting to risk the wrath of suburban neighbors that don’t quite understand the idea of Urban Homesteading, I decided to build a raised bed in which to plant my garden and create a more finished look.

Owing to a desire to over-plant an existing stump as well as optimize sunlight, I decided on a 4’x24′ raised bed running north to south along the drive.   I bought 10 2″x12’x12′ and 8 2″x4″ using housewarming gifts and random gift-cards.    It might be a bit taller than ideal, especially once the beans trellis up, but all in all I am very pleased.  Hopefully, its height will deter the ever-present bunnies.  Sizewise, if I manage it carefully, there should be sizable production for the two of us to eat fresh, as well as to preserve.

Future garden spot-  tree stump in the distance and lack of grass in the fore.

Tidy package of lumber destined to be my garden!  Tools and screws not shown.

The first corner being leveled and staked into the ground.  Lunch break!  Also, break to get replacement drill bits for the countersink.

End of the day and a mostly finished bed.  We ran out of screws and had evening plans, so it was left to be finished in the morning, after a trip to the store.

The mostly finished product.  It needs a preservative coating ( food-safe, of course!)  We braced it both inside and out, to ensure stability and since I am my father’s son, I may have used a few too many screws, but it is secure and ready for the kids to be planted.

The project took about 6 hours total- owing mostly to uneven ground and my desire to be sure it is level and plumb.  There were also two trips to the hardware store, for the mentioned drill bit replacement and an additional box of screws.   It will require another hour or two to clip off the ends of the screws that popped through the lumber and to finish the exterior.   Tools included a circular saw, screw gun, square and a tape measure.

I am hoping and expecting the investment of time and money to pay off in many summers of fresh produce just outside the door.  That’s good living…

A New Challenge to Living Well…

In an effort to drum out the winter doldrums and re energize myself, my eating habits and my blog, I decided I was going to make myself a new challenge, a la Julie & Julia. At our first-of-hopefully-many-New Year’s Day Open House, a friend brought a home baked loaf of bread as a housewarming gift.  It inspired me to recall the homemade bread my grandmother made for years.

My goal is to make a new, different loaf of bread each week for a year.  I am not 100% sure they will all be incredibly unique, but at the very least, I am gonna give it a try!

My friend agreed to give me a basic tutorial in his bread making skills and I took right to it.   Since that first lesson, I have been making a loaf per week ( or sometimes two!  I know, shameless!) and have really enjoyed it from the first scent of the activating yeast to the last slice toasted with whats left of the homemade blueberry jam.

My first loaf was simple.  King Arthur White Bread 101.  This bread is all that they advertise it to be.  It is tender and more flavorful than any white bread I have had.  Having grown up with mostly Italian bread and the occasional Wonder Bread slices, I never thought myself to be a fan of white bread.  It always was so, well, white bread!

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/white-sandwich-bread-recipe

One caveat- I did swap out the mashed potato flakes 1:1 with flour.   I just did not feel the need to add dehydrated potato flakes to the mix.  The bread came out wonderful without them.  I also added a pinch of lemon zest, which my friend advised helps retain freshness.

I was told that once one starts to make their own bread, commercial bread is never the same.  I am pretty sure that a more true statement has never been made.   It takes a bit longer than buying a loaf in a store, but it is passive time.  I can start the bread and do other things whilst rising, then a few moments to get it ready for the second rising, before doing nothing while the yeast does its thing.

Living well, to me, is all about fresh, wholesome, tasty and economical!

Taking Care of the the Basics…

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The Manor had been left fallow for a while.  I knew the prior owner had been in nursing care for 2-3 years before I bought the house and all accounts from neighbors indicate the needed assistance for much longer.   The evidences of one beautiful gardens were everywhere – English Garden trellises and arbors, birth baths, sprouting bulbs and specimen and flowering trees.   Everything was so overgrown and so out of control, much of it was beyond saving.  The junipers in the front were as tall as the ridge line and the garden arbors were either collapsed or only held up by the bittersweet vines that entangled them.   The Spruce tree in the front yard was close to 100 feet at this point and was listing a bit more that comfort would allow.

One damp Sunday morning in March and with  my brother’s borrowed chainsaw, all the overgrown shrubs in the front of the Manor were taken out.  The next weekend, also rainy, saw the arrival of a professional crew with cranes and ropes and  made short work of the trees – they took out the spruce in sections and carted it away.  The dilapidated fencing and arbors all were removed with little more than a push to allow the trucks access into the back to take out three dead ash trees, prune out 3 other sugar maples and take out a sugar maple that was being crowded between two better and stronger trees.

Between the shrub and the tree removal, I had the water line replaced.  I knew from prior experience that houses in the area built between 1935-1945 were mostly serviced with cast iron lined with concrete water pipes.  A new invention for the time that proved to not be the best solution as they tend to rot out rather easily in our climate.

At least when they dug the trench for the new waterline, they managed to take out two of the juniper stumps for me, even if the last vestige of grass on the lawn was obliterated.

At least with the trees gone and the water line secured, I could earnestly start on the inside renovations.  I had been planning  them since I first saw the house and I was eager to get my sledge out and get started.   On to the good stuff…

A New Year and a New Focus

The snow is about to start falling at The Manor and after a bit of refocus, it is time to keep telling the story.  More tomorrow, once the soup is warmed and the snow has kept me focused and at home all day.