Flower Stand

This is my local Flower Stand.  For the past several years this is where I come each summer and fall to pick Dahlias, Sunflowers, Amaranth, Zinnias, Lunaria, Poppies, Glads and Chickweed!

Gus with Amaranth. 

Amaranth is one of my favorite flowers to use in bouquets.  It's gorgeous and it lasts a long time when it's cut.

The "candy striped" and dark dark red ones are my favorite of the dahlias.

Jasper took this photo of me.

Here is one view of the flower fields with the big barn in the background.  Can you spot Jasper amongst the Dahlias?

Here is a view of the valley, looking out from the flower fields.

Look at the prices!  Its unbelievable and so kind and generous of the folks who live here to offer their community this resource.  There is a cash box and it's all based on the honor system.  I just adore it!  And can you see that small brown bag sitting there?  It said FREE on the front.  When I looked inside it was full of green beans!  Lucky me!  I brought them home, smothered them in olive oil, sprinkled sea salt and Seaweed Gomasio(my favorite condiment) all over them and roasted them on high heat to bring out the sweetness and let me tell ya, they were delicious! 

I also bought that little yellow zucchini/summer squash.  If I don't use them right away I just grate them up and freeze them to make the Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe(p.194)out of Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.  So good!

And to top it all off, the fields are FULL of Chickweed, violets and pansies!  Its wonderful!  Not only can I get all my flowers picked, I can come home with salad makings too!

Besides flowers and some veggies, the folks here often offer dried lunaria and poppies, squash, gourds and pumpkins, jars, buckets and seeds.  I am so happy to have a place like this so close by and on my weekly route.  Makes life sweeter, that's for sure!

I LOVE YOU FLOWER STAND!

Thank you for being there!

Thank you flower farmers in Duvall!  You give and give and give!

Thank you!

xoxox

Jennette



Half-Sours, Straight Up!

More Pickles,Friends!

Grape Leaves, Cukes, Sweet Peppers and Garlic

So I had a few handfuls of cucumbers left over from making my Kick-ass Southwest Monroe Bucket Cukes and they had to be fermented! 

The other pickle I love, besides those, and maybe even more so, are these ones:

Half-Sours, Straight Up. 

It's another recipe from my beloved, Quick Pickles by Schlesinger, Willoughby and George.

Of course, after all these years, I have tweaked the recipe, and really, that is such a lovely thing about pickling and fermenting veggies, you can do it to whatever you want!

I had a bunch of sweet peppers left over that were already "stabbed and slit twice."  So along with a Huge Bunch of Grape Leaves, I made my version of Half-Sours, Straight Up. 

Layering.  More cukes on top.  Then more grape leaves.

The Half-Sours, Straight Up are described as such, "Here it is, your chance to have a real, honest-to God pickle barrel in your own home.  A lot of people think of fermented pickles, particularly cucumbers, first and foremost as dill pickles.  But we made this particular version without the complication of dill.  We did so to allow you to taste the mellow flavor of the brine without much else besides a hint of garlic and perhaps some pepper-and also because, quite frankly, not everyone likes dill.

Upon tasting this pickle, one friend said it was 'like eating the ocean.'  In some cultures, fermented brines like this are drunk for refreshment.  To us, this particular brine, which we call 'deli nectar,' makes the perfect medium for poaching seafood."

The plate to hold it all down under the brine and keep it submerged.

Basic recipe for Half-Sours, Straight Up:

8 cloves garlic, peeled and gently crushed

2 quarts pickling cucumbers, 3 to 5 inches long, blossom ends removed

2 small leafy celery hearts

2 to 4 small hot fresh chiles of your choice, pricked with a fork (optional)

8 tsp kosher or other course salt

6 cups water

In a large nonreactive wide-mouth jar, crock, or pail, arrange the garlic, cucumbers, celery, and chiles.  Combine the salt and water, stir briefly to dissolve the salt, and pour into the jar.  Place a large plate over the cucumbers, and weigh it down with a clean stone or other nonreactive weight; the salt solution should cover the cucumbers by about 2 inches.  Cover the plate with a clean cloth and store at room temperature for 4 or 5 days, taking care to keep the contents submerged at all times and skimming any foam that may form on the surface of the brine each day.  look for fermentation bubbles slowly rising to the surface after 2 or 3 days. 

When the bubble action seems to have stopped and the cucumbers have turned pale green inside and out (4 to 6 days), give them a try; they should have a sharp crunch and rich, deep pickle flavor.  Immediately cover the container and refrigerate.

These pickles should retain their good crunch and flavor for 3 to 5 weeks, covered and refrigerated.

Well washed bottle of cleaning vinegar used as weight.

Here, again, I use a lot of grape leaves to help these stay fresh and crisp and it really works.  I have kept these close to a year in the "bickle" fridge.  The tannin in the grape leaves really does the job.

Here is some more on these pickles from the book: "Incidentally, this is a particularly good pickle to make with kids.  It's easy, and it has that aspect of magic and alchemy that kids find so appealing; they love to open the crock every day to see if the fermentation process is done.  Beside, skimming the foam each day gives them a sense of full participation, a feeling that is hard for younger children to achieve with forms of cooking that require heat."

I gotta admit.  When they said it was like "eating the ocean," I was sold!  Bring it, baby!  I just knew I would love them.

So what are ya waiting for?!  Go make some pickles, people! 

Enjoy the crunch and tang!  Yummm!

Off to veg (and ferment!),

xoxo

Jennette

1961 Fireball

We bought our 1961 Fireball Travel Trailer back from my brother!

 A couple years ago we got some crazy wild hair up our hiney and decided to sell our sweet little travel trailer to my brother.  Why we did, I am still not sure!  But he got some use out of it after hauling it all the way back to Jackson Hole and then back here to Leavenworth where he lives now.  He is getting ready to be a dad for the first time and is selling everything he doesn't absolutely need.  Lucky us because I had been telling him for a while that I wasn't sure why I ever gave the Fireball up in the first place and that I wanted first dibs on buying it back.  Low and behold a few weeks later he found out he was going to be a dad by next spring and we were on our way to buying our "baby" back!  

We bought this sweet little vintage trailer way back in 2001 or so.  It has served us so well as an extra room for guests!  When we bought it we didn't even have a way to haul it to our house.  No truck, no trailer hitch.  My dad moved it to our house for us.  And that's when I went hog wild with paint and fabric!  Now when I look inside, I ask myself, what was I thinking?!  It looks like a carnival exploded in there!  Every surface is a different color.  I think I just went and bought all the miss matched $1 paint colors from the hardware store and went to town!  Also, I used some really great vintage fabric to recover all the cushions and make curtains, back then.  On this front too, I wonder what the heck I was thinking.  More the merrier, maybe?  Every surface is a different pattern, colorway and design.  Way to busy for my taste now! 

Anyhow, this time around will be a little more civilized!  I am repainting and recovering every surface and hanging new curtains.  This time I will take a cue from the sweet vintage table top pattern and the color of the original tiles and oven, to create a nice, calming, blissful, little vintage travel trailer to call our home away from home.  I bet it still mostly gets used as a guest room but it will be nice to have just perfectly cute when we do get to haul it across state lines, to the beach, or near a river.  I will share some photos below of its current condition and then as I begin to work on it, I will post more of its progress.  Onward Ho!

 

Yellow stove top and oven.  One of my favorite features.  Jasper said, "Yes!  Now we can make scones in the middle of the woods when we are camping!"  You said it son!

The pattern on the table top and counters.  Love me some spirals!

I was so happy to see that the turquoise dish drain was still with it!  The couch slides out to make a double bed and the over head bunk slides out to make a single.  Also, the table breaks down into a bed as well.

Original paperwork in the cabinet.

State of California, Division of Housing!  Did they sell these for people to live in?!

So I have a lot to do!  As if all my sewing, crafting, antique mall space, Etsy set-up, and busy life were not enough already!  Now I've added this little project in the mix!  I cant wait to show you a photo with the banner canopy I made for it a few years ago.  I didn't give that piece to my brother and just found it the other day!  I will have more photos soon and until then, enjoy the rest of your summer!

Happy trails and travels,

Jennette

Sun, Sand, Surf

Back from surfing and playing in Westport.

We had a fun time and wish we could have stayed longer.

Its difficult to get good surfing pictures so here are a few from before and after.

Laying by the pool.

Getting a fire ready for s'mores.

Shark attack!

Watching the surfers at The Groins.  Not confident enough to surf here yet.  Some day though.  One day.

If you haven't been to Westport and you like to be near the shore, you should check it out.  It has a marina so there is fishing, crabbing, and lots of boats too.  We surf in the morning and hang out the rest of the day.  Its a great place to bring bikes or take hikes.  You can visit and climb the lighthouse.  We find neat treasure on the beaches and its an excellent place to fly kites.  Westport is kid and dog friendly and a couple places have outdoor pools for summertime swim fun.  If you want a weekend get away, check it out.  It's just three hours from our neck of the woods outside Seattle.

Off to enjoy the heat of Lake Chelan by floating around on my gator,

ttfn sweetie pies,

Jennette