We moved

A year ago. We moved almost a year ago into a townhouse. We had been renting at the old house for a few years and decided with the baby coming it would be best to buy something more permanent and babe friendly. Our new home is small but cozy. At times I can't help but miss having a big back yard to garden in and a clothes line to hang fresh linens on. Everything with sacrifice, right? We've decided that we'll stay in this place for a few years and then hopefully buy something bigger. Something earthier where I can maybe have chickens. This morning is a rainy one and I couldn't help but marvel at the way the light spills into this house. We are lucky to have large windows so rarely do we turn lights on.

 Emily our sweet kitty has adjusted to the new home.

I love my large window cil. I've never had much success growing plants indoors until we moved here. The window acts as a fabulous greenhouse.

My terrarium makes me happy. It's so sweet and cheery. And easy to maintain.

Happy Monday! 

Live & Eat

Sunday. Delicious Sundays.

Today was filled with good food and good living. 

I woke up early this morning to the sound of pouring rain. Rain, rain, rain. It rained solid and heavy here for at least a day. I spent the quiet of the morning baking a pie - using leftover phyllo pastry that I had needed in a recipe a few days ago. Barry woke to the smell of cinnamon and apples snuggled in warm pastry. We both enjoyed a slice early morning. I used this recipe.

In the afternoon we took to the yard to do some raking and organizing. The garden beds are now ready for the cold and the last of the winter crop seeds have been planted.

We roasted a lovely chicken for dinner with some potatoes and carrots. I currently have stock simmering on the stove (leftover chicken, the carcass, carrots, celery and spices).  I'm already dreaming of the wonderful soups it will yield.

Here is a sweet photograph of the pug. She lasted a few minutes outside before I scooped her up and brought her in. The cold of winter here is too rough for this pug.

We are now snuggled down for the night with a movie on and a warm blanket to keep us cozy.

Have a wonderful start to the week friends!

Loves!



 

P.S. I'm linking up to the Homestead Barn Hop here. 

Happy Fall!

Welcome to my long awaited post - a return to inspiration. I decided it was finally time to make a new fall banner - after all winter is almost upon us!

I love to be inspired by the changing seasons - and with a little bit of snow left from our first snow fall, I set out with camera in hand to capture some of the beauty. While crunching atop the leaves and snow I pulled the last of my fall beets from the frozen earth. They are all cleaned up now and will be roasted with tonight's dinner. If you want to see the sprouting of the lovely beets in a blog post click here. We planted a winter crop in our garden beds of barley and wheat to restore nutrients to our soil a few weeks ago and already the seeds are sprouting.

Join me on my journey this afternoon. Pull on some boots and a scarf (it is -3* after all!).

 

  

 

And of course I have to share the photograph that inspired the new banner. 

A perfectly placed leaf atop our first snow fall.  

Have a wonderful Sunday! 

Loves!

 

 p.s. I'm linking up to the Homestead Barn Hop - here. 

Warm Summer Eve

We are experiencing a very late summer here. I remember this time last year my cucumbers were about the size of zuchini's - this year they are about the size of a snap pea right now. Our season started off slow but has picked up and the days here feel as though they are getting warmer and warmer. Today is the last day of my beloved vacation. Work starts tomorrow and real life begins once more. It feels as though the summer has gone by so quickly.

We went away last week with my parents camping/staying in trailers. It was fun but I was again happy to once more come home. I find when we go away our diets kind of crash and I suffer from it greatly. It's nice to be home to lots of fruits and vegetables and my cooking.

I also came home to my bean plants producing. We had a nice crop this year. I'm going to save some of the seeds from these beans and plant some more next year.

The muffins in the top photograph are delicious Blueberry Banana Muffins. I used this recipe from Tasty Kitchen.  I really liked the recipe and it is somewhat nutritious. I think I ended up over cooking my muffins by about 4-5 minutes. I will be making them again though!

I hope your summer has been/was wonderful. I'm starting to really get excited for fall foods (mmm soup!) and the coming of cooler weather. Before we know it the Christmas season will be upon us and after all, it truly is the most wonderful time of the year <3

Loves!

A Simple Day.

Simple days are often my most favorite.


I spent some time this morning checking on my garden. We had heavy rainfall yesterday and I was a bit worried about some of my more tender plants. Thank goodness everything was alright.



This is my first ever squash plant to survive long enough to get this big. Our climate here in Vancouver seems to disagree with these plants. I'm certain this little guy is a fighter.

I don't have any ripe tomatoes yet, but tons of glorious blooms and about a dozen little tomatoes starting to grow.

A fresh batch of iced tea is accompanying me on this simple day. After I juice the lemons for the iced tea my hands are scented sweetly of lemon for hours later.

I started on a new knitting project. This is my first time using a stockinette stitch.

And lastly, to end this sweet simple day how about a bowl of homemade soup? I made some delicious minestrone yesterday and enjoyed a bowl for lunch.

I tossed all of my ingredients into my crock pot and put on low for the day.

I used,

1 can drained and rinsed kidney beans
3 carrots roughly chopped
1/2 red pepper diced
1 tomato diced
1 can of tomato sauce
several cups of homemade chicken stock
1 cup dry wild rice (I cooked this first until soft then added to the soup)

seasoning
dash or so of seasoning salt
thyme 1-2 tsp
sage 1-2 tsp
handful of fresh basil tossed in the last few minutes of cooking

Top finished soup with yummy cheese of choice. I chose some lovely double cream Gouda.

Have a lovely day!

Rainy Monday

I awoke this morning at about 6:50 am to the sweetest sound. There was a faint pitter patter of rain. We haven't had rain in a few weeks here - and I have to admit I've missed it oh so much. There is something so romantic about a heavy rain downpour. I've spent this morning snuggled with the pug on the couch enjoying the sounds of rain and knitting.

I ran outside to snap a picture of the beautiful water beading on my broccoli plant leaves. I am completely drenched from a mere 60 seconds in the rain. It feels delightfully refreshing.


I think I'm having a bit of an affair on my camera with Instagram. I love the convenience of taking photographs from my iphone and editing them right away.

I hope your day is relaxing and lovely.

Loves!

Happy Monday!

Okay, so most people don't celebrate Monday morning with that much zest. I am still on vacation though and relishing every Monday morning that I am not at work. Life has been quite busy lately, but not incredibly interesting. Whenever I watch a great fulfilling movie and it ends I always imagine every day in those characters lives as being continually interesting and rich. It's a pity to think of great characters doing laundry and cleaning the bathroom.

We have been blessed with lots of sunshine lately which has triggered something within my garden - my once weak plants are exploding and happily soaking up the rays. While weeding the other day I spotted some tomatoes growing. My tomato plants have become so thick that it was almost hard to spot them.

So lovely. I love gently bending back tomato plants, just touching the plant makes my hands smell of tomatoes. Delicious.

My many cucumber plants are all flowering. I had great success growing cucumbers last year, I'm anticipating a nice crop for this year. Pickles perhaps?

I've also been knitting lately, still working on a scarf for my beau. I took a break yesterday to work on a new pattern I had seen - It's called a seed stitch. I think it turned out quite nice. I'm still working on some tension issues, but I'm sure that will come with experience.


The pattern in front is the seed stitch, the one behind is just a plain garter.

I should mention that the happy apple and pear fabric is from Daiso. I have oodles of fabric to use up and shouldn't have purchased it, but it was too adorable. I keep dreaming up projects to use it up.

That's my little update of what has been going on here. I am still working The Quilt. The Quilt has become a title in itself, no longer is it a sweet fun project that was intended to amuse me in the summer months. Instead it has become this massive endeavor that is now covering my kitchen table. I am in the actual quilting stages which is exciting, but hard on my back. I will probably finish quilting today and just need to do the binding on the edges. I have no idea how people make these regularly for fun, the amount of work is immeasurable. I can't wait to be finished, I know it will feel like a big accomplishment.

How is your week so far?

Loves!

A Rainy Morning

A sweet simple rainy morning.

Happy Thursday! Can you believe the weekend is almost upon us?

I spent today with my bestie which produced oodles of laughter and a delicious stop at Starbucks. I love the feeling of being around someone who completely gets you as much as you get them. Friendship is a fabulous thing.

I hope you have a wonderful restful evening. Loves!

This Weekend

We went to Ikea with friends and I bought the fancy white quilt pictured above. I love layering fabrics and different blankets.
I made a big batch of chicken stock from scratch. My house smelled like soup.
We ran errands. There was a lot of driving involved but it felt successful to get it done.
I watched movies. Something like 6 movies. 4 movies alone yesterday. I haven't done that in years.
I made some cute felt food. I was inspired by adorable felt food from Etsy.

Here is my salad,



We also visited my landlords beautiful farm. He pulled potatoes right from the earth and tossed them in a bag for us. He also pulled up some onions and dill for us.


I cant wait to roast these babies up this week.

Otherwise I was in my sweatpants most of the weekend. It was lovely and relaxing. I just started a big pot of Chicken and Rice soup (recipe, Nourishing Traditions). I think a delicious soup for dinner will be the perfect way to start the week.

How was your weekend?

Loves!

Wordless Wednesday

Beets Please!

I am a bit of seed hoarder. I have seeds as far back as three years now. I can never plant every seed in the packet, I always save 1 or 2 for my collection. This spring I had pretty much all the seeds I needed for my garden, I only purchased a few heirloom lettuce seeds and some sweet peas. I was on the lookout for awhile for beet seeds with no luck. Before Christmas I purchased some lovely seeds from the Etsy store Cubits for my Sister in law's gift. Cubits is a Canadian (yay) organic small seed business. I picked out a mixed beet seed packet from them. And because I live life dangerously I went with their mixed beet seeds featuring a mix of their organic beet seeds.

I was so pleased when they recently sprouted. I love that already I can tell there are at least three types of beets growing. I still have a few more seeds waiting to sprout!

A green topped beauty with a deep red bottom.

This lovely sprout has green leaves that turn to red with a deep red/purply base. Do you see the little bug under the leaf? I didn't notice that little guy when taking the photograph!

This gorgeous sprout in front is all purple/red with some green leaves on the bottom.

Lastly, not beet related but my leaf lettuce is looking splendid.

If you are gardening nerd I'm sure you can relate to the splendid feeling of the effort it takes to sow and water and care for little seedlings and have results. Makes my heart pitter patter.

Hope you are having a wonderful start to the week!