swap pics

swap pics, a set on Flickr.

gifts from my yarn swap partner - Sheila

a typical day

Most of my days are spent making beeswax candles - I make a LOT of candles. I've been doing this now for over 20 years. It's been a learning process over time. When we got our first molds (20+ years ago) we didn't have much of a clue what we were doing. Through trial and many errors the job has gotten a little easier. Here's a photo of one of our original molds that I have wicked and ready for hot wax



My job starts adding a little water to a large kettle then adding chunks of unprocessed beeswax and slowly melting the wax until it's all melted. Then I add a little apple cider vinegar to help clean some of the impurities from the wax and let it simmer for almost an hour. Eventually I remove it from the heat and let it all settle for about another hour.




When the wax is cooled enough so that the water and residue have settled to the bottom of the pan; I ladle off the top clean wax into smaller pans so that I can use them to make candles. The very last of the melted wax is left to cool in the big kettle until it's cool enough to handle. Then I scrape off the residue and start all over again.




The cleaned wax is then ready to be poured into molds. Right now I'm just making 8" colonial candles, 10" hexagonal candles and 10" taper candles.




I know...it's a messy job...but someone has to do it!

long cold winter

Although we haven't had any major snow storms this winter season, it seems like one of the longest, coldest winters that I can recall. It's time to start thinking about springtime and gardening - even if there's STILL too much snow on the ground. Next week we hope to get thawing temperatures and even some sunshine.

Because it's been such a long cold winter, it gave me a good excuse to drag out some of the yarn that I've been accumulating and use it up. I wanted to get my spinning wheel in use too, but with a closet full of yarn I decided that it would be better to use some of the yarn up before spinning any more. Seven scarfs, eight pairs of fingerless gloves, and five winter headbands have used up a portion of the yarn. I've started a sweater with some wonderful merino wool that I spun about a year ago, but it doesn't appear that I'll have enough yarn for the whole sweater so I'll unravel it and save the yarn for a different project. My next knitting project will be made out of a pretty gray alpaca yarn that I spun a year or two ago.
It's time for me to find my miniature greenhouse and get some of my seeds out of cold storage. I have little to no talent for starting seeds, but I'm always willing to try. This year I think that I'll take the greenhouse over to the shop and set it up with a grow light over it. Hopefully that will help me get over the winter doldrums. It's time to plan out the garden for the upcoming season too. Last year the older strawberry plants were removed and 100 new plants were planted in a new spot, so that we had room to plant the garlic late last fall. I'm having a senior moment, but I'm fairly certain that I planted about 200 garlic bulbs. I've decided to try fennel again this year, but I'll make sure that I get the heading variety this year.
The garden last year provided us with more food than we know what to do with. The frozen strawberries make wonderful smoothies. They're quick and easy to make.

Strawberry Smoothie
1 banana
1-2 pints frozen unsweetened strawberries (slightly thawed)
1/2-1 c. whole milk vanilla yogurt
1 T. sugar or honey
splash of milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Mix in Blender 'til smooth...enjoy.

We also have oodles of butternut squash leftover from last year's crop. I tried this recipe last week because we had some leftover ham that I needed to use.

Bean and Squash Soup
1 lb. dried northern beans
1 qt. chicken broth
2 c. water
1 meaty ham bone
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 tsp. of each salt and pepper
2 lb. butternut squash

Place beans in a heavy dutch oven: add water and cover beans by 2". Bring to a boil, boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat; cover and let stand 2 1/2-3 hrs. Drain and rinse beans.
Return the beans to the dutch oven. Add the broth, water, ham bone, onion and salt and pepper. Simmer for about 2 hrs. - 'til beans are tender.
Peel and cube squash, boil 'til tender, mash squash.
Remove ham bone, remove meat from bone; cut into chunks. Add meat, and squash to bean soup; heat through. Makes about 12 servings.

In January I entered the honey baked goods category at the PA Farm Show and received a second place award for my honey carrot cake, three third place awards - one for my honey raspberry pie, one for my challah bread and one for my cinnamon rolls.
I've already been practicing with new recipes for next year!