Snow Days and Antiques

January and we’ve finally had a little bit of snow on our village homestead. There were two lovely snow-covered days, when the world was draped in snowy branches and silence.

Snowbelle the Bunny

Snow days here mean a break from the day job and commute, hot chocolate to drink, and time for sewing stuffed animals. I spent those days and a few Saturdays working on stuffed bunnies and bears, preparing for the online store opening later this year. I’m planning to have a collection of bears, bunnies, denim bags and soaps available for you. Stay tuned!

Sewing notions

I’ve fallen for a second teddy bear pattern and just want to make this little guy in every furry fabric I can find! Our nephews all received teddys for Christmas from this pattern and now I’m working on a set to go in the store. Our nieces received matching bunnies.

These sweet teddy bears are also an opportunity to focus on the tools I use for sewing. Now, Joann may be my best friend when it comes to sewing but the antique store has offered durable treasures that have stood the test of time. My antique treadle and hand-turned sewing machines see more use than the spiffy new electric sewing machine in the corner. And for a recent jointed teddy bear, I managed to use just the antique scissors and sewing machine for his creation. I planned on using my antique thimbles but had to concede that I needed the flat top on my modern thimble to get the needle through the bear’s body to attach the arms and legs.

I have a cabinet of antique sewing tools! With the exceptions of my rotary cutter and mat, it seems that I now have a 100-year-old counterpart for each sewing tool. My bright Gingher sheers are matched by ornate Royal Brand scissors made in the 1890s. My two pairs of thread scissors are a reproduction pair that resembles a graceful stork and a smaller antique Royal Brand that match the fabric sheers.

My 1904 Standard treadle sits beside an 1885 White coffin-top sewing machine. Upstairs is the 1889 handturned portable Singer. Sometimes I wonder what they think of the “kid” sitting nearby, an 160th Singer anniversary electric machine with its plastic gears. For that matter, in 160 years, will anyone be able to use that machine? Because I’m fairly certain my treadles while still be running by then.

Some of my antique sewing tools,

including a vintage pincushion, a winding

measuring tape and needle case, a paper

tape measure and a bodkin  turning points,

made from bone.

Other notions include a thread caddy, pattern transfer wheel from the 1860s, pin cushions (including a vintage tomato that has a “made in occupied Japan” label), needle cases from the 1830s, and a silk measuring tape that winds into a vegetable ivory spool with an attached needle case.

When I hold these tools, and use them as they are meant to be used, I think of the women before me who had them first. Whether it was an aunt, or a grandmother, or a woman unknown to me, I wonder what she was like, how she thought, and what she made with these same tools.

Touching history, creating today

“Sewing tools, with their sentimental resonance, were quite precious to those who inherited them,” says Liddy at the French Garden House. “These tools were often objects of art in their own right, made of the finest materials. There was a tool for each task, and each of those tools came in many variations. Coinciding with the invention of the first sewing machine, the popularity of sewing at home brought along with it the production of sewing tools of every kind, for every budget. ”

A thread caddy

I’m steady collecting those sewing tools of every kind, something my mother’s cousins have helped when they could. Among my collection is a plain thimble with the name of a mayonnaise that was bought by a more familiar brand in the 1930s. One of my mother’s cousins gave it to me, along with other items that had belonged to my grandaunt.

I looked up the name on the thimble, when the company was giving these thimbles away with the hopes of housewives buying their product, and realized who it had belonged to first. I fitted it over my own mom’s finger and said, “You’re wearing a thimble used by your grandmother.” Neither of us had anything personal that once belonged to my great-grandmother until then (I am fortunate to have her kitchen table). In one thimble four generations were connected—my great-grandmother, her daughter and son (my grandfather), my mother, and I. When my niece wears it, she will be the fifth generation and 100 years of a plain, ordinary thimble connecting us all.

“The most exciting part of collecting antique sewing accessories and tools is their very personal nature,” Liddy says. “The sewing boxes, needle holders, pin cushions, tape measures and other implements belonging to a seamstress long ago were touched often by her hands, they are the thread that connects us to her past.  Each one is a fascinating reminder of the beauty she created with skill and much affection, as she sewed for those she loved.”

Winter sewing projects

What is on my sewing table? Teddy bears and bunnies are being cut out, so there is a lot of fake fur
on the table. And it’s startling how much of it looks like cat fur after my kitties would get into a fight!

After these, there will be some new denim bags to be sewn up, along with some contract sewing for a local re-enacting supply store.

I’m spending some time learning more about soapmaking, so you’ll see some blogs on what I’ve learned and what I’m trying. I’ve decided to focus on the scents you will find here at Edgewood in St. Denis—fresh coffee in the morning, rich basil, sweet honeysuckle and lavender, soothing mint, piney rosemary bushes. This gives me plenty to work with as I practice a new craft.

Now that you’ve read my reflections, what are you working on this winter? Share with me in the comments below.

Caramel Candies for Christmastide

Did I get your interest with the recipe for my caramel sauce? I know I promised you a recipe for caramel candies.

I think these delightful candies will make an appearance in this year’s Christmas cookie tins. Wrapped in brown waxed paper, they keep for about three weeks in a mason jar, they are an old-fashioned favorite. They had their debut at our village’s old-home days’ bake sale and were a hit! Every bag was sold and one lady even asked if I could do a batch for her family’s event.

You’ll remember from the last blog how I love caramel. I like the rich flavor and the buttery-sweetness of it. As a Gilded Age reenactor, I’m interested in the history of these American treats that first showed up in cookbooks and shops in the second half of the 1800s. I read through several recipes for homemade caramels and rejected those calling for evaporated or sweetened and condensed milks. I avoid corn syrups, but when it comes to making candies, I do make an exception. So, I dug in and got cooking on these treats.

These are candy

We don’t keep many sweets in our house–some good quality chocolate bars and Girl Scout cookies are usually all you’ll find. (We have four nieces and they’re all Girl Scouts.  They know who to call during cookie season!) In fact, my general rule is we can have any sweet treat we’d like – as long as I make it. This usually keeps our sugary indulgences to a minimum.

If you’re looking for a “healthy” sweet treat, nope, not this time. Today, it is candy. Which is also nice during Christmastide, when we indulge in sweet treats and special foods, sip warm drinks of cocoa and mulled wine or honey chai teas.  Just remember, a sometimes treat is better enjoyed occasionally than as a regular habit.

Let’s get cooking!

You can make these caramels using a candy thermometer or by dropping a tiny amount of the mix into ice water and noticing how hard the ball of caramel becomes. You are going to cook the caramel to the firm ball stage. This cooks your sugar and cream syrup to an 87 percent sugar concentration. When you drizzle a little bit of the caramel into ice water, the thin syrup clumps together as a ball and doesn’t dissolve in the water. When you take it out with your fingers, the ball holds it shape but easily flattens when you squish it. In contrast a soft ball won’t hold its shape and will flatten on its own outside of the water and a hard ball won’t flatten at all.

When you use the candy thermometer, you have more precision. Clip the thermometer to the side of your pot and watch the temperature. We want to heat our mix to at least 245 degrees to caramelize the sugars.

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cups heavy cream
• 1 cup blond sugar
• ½ brown sugar
• 1/3 cup light corn syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 Tblsp butter, plus butter to grease the pan and to cut the candies

You will need:

• Heavy bottomed pot (my favorite) and wooden spoon
• Silicon pastry brush
• Candy thermometer or glass of ice water
• 8x8 inch pan, lined with foil
• Pizza cutter and kitchen scissors
• Brown waxed paper and scissors or paper cutter

Start by lining your 8x8 inch pan with foil and then greasing it generously with butter. Set aside in a cool spot.

Boiling candies

In your heavy pot—I prefer enameled cast iron—combine the cream, blond and brown sugar, and corn syrup. Set the heat to medium and stir gently as the sugars melt and the syrup forms.

Once everything is dissolved, increase to medium-high or high and bring the mix to a boil. Avoid stirring at this point; instead use your pastry brush dipped in water to careful push the syrup down the sides of the pot if it starts creeping upward. Clip on your candy thermometer at this point, or ready your ice water. If you do use ice water, plan to have several glasses ready because you’ll test your mix more than once until it comes to the firm ball stage.

Continue boiling the candy until you reach 245 degrees. I find this takes about 10 minutes but you may need more or less time. Stay with your candy, though! If it looks like it could boil up faster than your pastry brush can handle, give it a quick stir or two to bring it down.

As the syrup thickens and gets darker start checking your temperature. Test your candy stage by taking a small amount on a metal dinner spoon and dripping it into your ice water. Often, the first attempts will simply dissolve in the water. Wait another 2 or 3 minutes, and repeat. When the candy settles on the bottom and holds its shape, take it out with your fingers. If it flattens out of the water, test again after 2 minutes. If it holds its shape but you can squish it, you’re ready for the next step.

Candy cooling in buttered foil.

If you have the thermometer, keep a careful eye and watch your temperature. Your target is 245-250 degrees. Once you see the red line reach the mark, take the thermometer out of the pot and place on a spoon rest – the candy is hot and will burn you if you touch or taste it at this point.

Remove the pot from the heat and stir into your butter and vanilla. If you want “sea salt” caramels, add 1 tsp of sea salt or pink salt at this point. The mix may react and foam just a little, keep stirring if it does until the caramel settles down.

Pour your lovely caramel into your waiting buttered pan. Cover and let cool overnight.

The next day:

Use a pizza cutter and scissors to
cut into bite-sized pieces

Tear several sheets of brown waxed paper (or plain wax paper or any wax paper you think will be pretty, but not plastic wrap) and cut into roughly 2.5x2.5 inch squares. I often cut a stack of these at a time; you will have about 100 candies to wrap. Snagging a partner, like your favorite uncle, to help out is a good idea, too.

Lift your candies from the pan and place on your wooden cutting board. Peel back the edges of foil and tear them away. Roll your pizza cutter in butter and then cut a strip about ½ inch thick from the side of your candy. Lift and carefully peel the foil from the candy. Stab the butter with the blades of your kitchen scissors and snip the strip every 1 inch or so–you can make your candies bigger or smaller.

Place each candy in the middle of your wax paper squares and fold over the sides. Twist the end so you have a sweet little package.

I keep these candies in a mason jar on the countertop. Even with the butter and cream, these caramels keep well for about 3 weeks but after that they start to get grainy and lose their texture.

Wrap in wax paper to keep
candies fresh for up to three weeks.

Sweet Caramel for Late Fall

The air is crisp and the last of this autumn’s leaves have come down in the woods behind our little
village homestead.

Autumn always brings with it nature’s goodies from the harvest—apple cider, bright pumpkins, and traditional treats like cranberries, nuts, and baked pies. As I get cozy for the season, I look forward to caramel as a sauce for dipping my apples or pouring over homemade ice cream and apple pie, and as a candy to share with the nieces and nephews during the holiday season. These candies will likely make an appearance in this Christmas’ cookie tins!

I make both confections using half-and-half or cream, butter and blond sugar. I add a little bit of brown sugar to the caramel sauce, which helps to make a deeper flavor and darker color. I added a little bit of homemade vanilla extract and sometimes a dash of “sea” salt.

A Victorian treat

We’re not quite sure when caramel sauce or candy first appeared on the scene, but it seems to be an American invention. Families were making hard candies over their fires before the American Revolution, combining expensive refined sugar with local water that had been steeped in herbs, such as peppermint or horehound. Sometime between 1800-1850 a talented cook combined this cooked water-sugar mix with butter and cream, setting off a tantalizing chemical reaction. The sugars react with the milk and the fats in the butter and cream keep the sugars soft and stretching, rather than turning into a hard, rock candy.

By the 1880s, candy makers had introduced this treat to the public and a few became household names: Hershey, Goetze, and Brocks all started making caramels and continue through today.

Caramel sauce

This caramel sauce is a tried-and-true one that I have been making for a couple of years. I took it to my brother’s house recently to be drizzled over some fresh apple pie. The nephews loved it! We even caught the oldest niece attempting to secretly spoon some directly from the jar to her mouth.

It’s good with freshly sliced apples or used a dip with crunchy pretzels. It melts nicely in coffee, but you will have a buttery film on the top of your drink. You can also drizzle it hot or cold over ice cream or blend into a milkshake.

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cups of blond sugar
• 1-2 Tblsp brown sugar (to your taste, I’ve done both)
• ¼ cup water
• ½ cup butter, cut into teaspoon-sized pieces
• ¾ cup half-and-half
• ¼ tsp vanilla extract

Get it out of the way first—make sure your butter is cut into little pieces. It will make the blending much easier!

Use a heavy-bottomed pot with lots of room for expansion. I use a 2.5 quart enameled cast-iron pot (like this one). I like how the cast iron helps the sugar to melt and holds its heat as I’m working.

Combine the sugars and the water and put the heat on medium, stirring occasionally until the sugars are melted. Once melted, turn to medium high (but not on high!) and stop stirring. If the sugar starts to climb up the sides of your pot, use a silicon pastry brush dipped in water to gently brush the crystals back down into the liquid. Keep a watchful eye and let it cook for about 10 minutes – a minute or two longer will give you a deeper caramel color and a little ricked or a flavor. But, too much more and you can scorch the sugar.

Boiling sugars.

Add your cut up butter at this point and whisk vigorously. It will bubble and foam, so whisk that down. Once the butter is combined into the sugar, heat for 3 more minutes, whisking as needed.

Turn the heat down to medium or medium low and add the half-and-half all at once. Keep whisking until combined and heat for another 2-3 minutes, whisking as needed. Watch carefully to prevent scorching.

Add your vanilla at this point and remove from the heat. If you want salted caramel, now is the time to add a ½ teaspoon of sea salt or pink salt. While hot, the sauce is thin but will set up and thicken as it cools.

This caramel sauce will keep in your icebox or refrigerator for about two weeks. I did once have a small layer of syrup separate from the sauce on the bottom of the jar after a day or two but found that could easily be stirred back into the sauce.

Like this? There's more: caramel candies!

January is for Cozy Teddy Bears

It’s a cold mid-January on our little village homestead in Maryland this year. Christmastide has come and gone and the skies either refuse to snow or tease us with bright but cold days.   

While we might be daydreaming about this year’s coming garden (I have an herb garden to reestablish!), your favorite uncle and I have been cozy with other projects. He’s busy designing board games while I have been working on my sewing. And this winter, two new stuffed bears joined my sewn collection, Beach Bear and Patches Bear.

Last winter I experimented with a teddy bear pattern from 50 Fabric Animals: Fun sewing projects for you and your home. It’s a sweet little book from Marie Claire Ideas and features a nice variety of stuffed toys, decorations and applique projects to try. Some of the patterns are already full-sized but most are meant to be enlarged on a photocopier before use. (As a side note, I got to know a very nice gentleman who works at the local office supply store who helped me with some enlarging.) While it can be frustrating to have to enlarge a pattern before use, it definitely gives a nice option for making patterns at different sizes for some of the projects.


Winter is a nice time to be cozy and very little sewing is cozier than making teddy bears. I adore the Linen Teddy pattern and found that it’s a good project for a variety of fabrics. If you have the patience, you could size this teddy up or down, either making a nice big bear or a little teddy bear prop for photography. Just keep in mind, since he is thread and button jointed, he might not make a good bear for a child, especially one who might try to swallow the buttons.

Since we’re interested in recycling and upcycling here at St. Denis Sundries, this teddy bear pattern fit nicely with the materials I have on hand. My first teddy, Blue Bear, is made from some gingham a friend gave me and the soft denim from an old pair of my nephew’s jeans. Beach Bear is a true Parrothead, made from one of your favorite uncle’s worn-out Hawaiian shirts. Patches Bear seems to have a little bit of special treatment, since I picked up his fabric a year ago with the idea in mind that it would be fun for a stuffed toy.

The directions in 50 Fabric Animals are a little bit vague, so if you are interested in trying a new teddy bear pattern, I’ll walk you through his construction. He will take about a day to sew up or several evenings during the week, but he’s good company while working!

For your pattern

50 Fabric Animals: Fun sewing projects for you and your home. Here’s where to get a copy on Amazon (this is an affiliate link!) I encourage you to purchase a copy of the book for this pattern. The directions below are based on my experience with the pattern in this book.

Another source for a very similar pattern is The Butterfly Balcony. Wendy has a teddy bear pattern you can also try out; I encourage you to read her blog while you’re there!

• Read Sew It - Make A Traditional Teddy Bear
• Get her Traditional Teddy Bear Pattern

What you need for your teddy:

• ¼ yard of fabric for the body of the bear
• Fat quarter or scraps of fabric in a contrasting color for the bear’s hands, feet and ears. Or get fancy and use more than one color or pattern for his accents
• 2 smooth black buttons for his eyes
• 4 buttons to help attach his arms and legs. These could be matching buttons or contrasting ones, depending on how you want him to look when your finished
• Matching thread for sewing
• Embroidery thread for his nose and mouth
• Heavy quilting or upholstery thread for joining his arms and legs to his body
• Stuffing for toys
• Ribbon or a strip of fabric for his bow. My three bears all have ribbon bows

Tools:

• Sewing machine
• Hand-sewing needles: a between for stitching, an embroidery needle and a darning needle (make sure it fits through the button holes)
• A chopstick or something similar to help you turn the points and to stuff your little guy
• Template plastic for your pattern
• Pencil, pen or chalk for marking your fabric
• Copier
• Scissors for cutting plastic and scissors for cutting fabric. These are not the same pair of scissors!

After enlarging the pattern in the book to full-size (there are directions on how to do this at the front of the book), trace the pattern on your template plastic and cut out your templates. Then trace the pattern from the templates on to your fabric. Don’t cut on your traced lines! Using your fabric scissors cut ¼ inch away from the lines to give yourself a seam allowance. This also allows you to pin and sew directly on the traced lines.

Spread out your fabric for your bear’s body, paws and ears. Iron first if you need to knock out some wrinkles (I usually have to do this). On the fabric for his body, trace and cut 1 forward and 1

Beach Bear's cut out pieces

reversed:

• Front piece
• Back piece
• Arm
• Inside arm
• Leg
• Sides of his head

Additionally, trace and cut:

• 1 center of head piece. Cut the narrow end of this pattern longer than what you have traced, adding about ½ inch. The pattern piece from the book seems to be too short when you’re sewing up the head.
• 2 ear pieces

From your accent fabric, trace and cut 1 forward and 1 reversed:

• Palm
• Sole of his foot

Additionally, trace and cut:

• 2 ear pieces

Remember, we’re tracing and cutting 2 pieces, forward and reverse because our bear has mirroring sides and limbs. (Kind of like you, my friend.)

The directions in the book to assemble this cute guy are pretty simple, which had me puzzling over them for a while. A few more directions would have been helpful! A diagram, even. Here is my take on them, to be used after reading the ones in the book you bought.

Sew your bear

Start with his tummy. Join the center front from the point on his tush to the edge of the curve at his
neck. Then sew his center back, from the point of the tush about 1/3 of the way up. Back stitch (you’ll be glad you!) and clip your thread. Skip about 1/3 of the length and start your stitch again, using a back stitch at the beginning and then sew to the curve of his neck again.

Take the two pieces of your body and pin together. You’ll have a little bag, so be careful when sewing, you will need to move his body out of the way of your needle when you move from one side to the next. You’ll close up the neck at the circles and end of with a little body that has three points, looking like two shoulders and a color. Turn right-side out and set aside.

Beach Bear's right leg

On to arms and legs! First piece the palms to the inside arms. Then match the palms for the inside arm to the outside arm. Again, the pattern pieces don’t exactly line up, so I match them at the tips of the palms and sew on the outside arm’s tracing line. Leave a gap on the underside of the arm, back-stitching again on the stop and start points. Trim away excess fabric and turn right-side out.

Oh my, his big feet! I am not sure if I enlarged things properly or it is an error in the pattern, but that cute sole is just a little too big for his foot! Start with the legs, pinning the tracing lines with the right sides and sewing from his toe towards the back of the leg. Stop just over the curve of the leg, leave a gap, and start sewing just above the heel, again using a back stitch at the stop and start points.

His sole has a slight curve for the instep of the foot. That curve will tell you if the completed foot is for the right or left side; the two insteps should face each other when you bear is seated. Starting at his toe, pin the sole to the foot but only half way. Gently fold a small bit of the heel and then continuing pinning the entire sole to the foot. Your teddy with have a little crease of fabric his heel.

Do you need to do this? Not necessarily. You can careful adjust your cut fabric to fit the foot. I haven’t and my guys don’t seem too badly off for it.

Once his sole is pinned in place, go ahead and sewing together. When done, turn the right sides out.

For a nice break, let’s do up his little ears. Pin the right sides of the body fabric and the accent fabric and stitch around the curve of the ear, leaving the straight edge open. Turn right sides out and either finger press or iron his ears flat at the seams.

The side of Beach Bear's head

We need to talk about his head, Fred. Start pinning the center of his head at the middle of his nose
and the top of one of his side head pieces. Stitch together. Pin the other side of his head to the center and pin the side head pieces on his chin together. Stitch together and turn the right sides out.

If you are using safety eyes and nose, now is the time to attach them. If you are making this for a child, you will likely want to use the safety eyes and nose, along with joints to join the arms and legs to the body. How to do this is a tutorial for another day.

Getting stuffed

Okay, time to stuff all the parts. Use a polyfill designed for toys. I have used stiff quilt batting for one of the bear’s head and find it help with the shape, but it’s not necessary. Stuff the body and limbs so they have a nice shape but are a little bit squishy. Using a hidden stitch or an overstitch, close up the gaps. Stuff the head and gently shape, but don’t close up the bottom of his head.

Patches Bear before assembly

Once your bear’s head is stuffed and shaped, sew on his button eyes. Then, using two strands of embroidery floss that coordinates with your fabric, stitch a nose on your teddy. I like to use a straight stitch starting from the center seam under his nose and stitching out in a ‘V’ shape until I have a nose. Then use a straight stitch down from the center of his nose, about a half an inch or a little more – your preference. Then add two little stitches from the end to on either side to finish his mouth.

Putting him together

Let’s start at the top. Baste the raw edges of his ears inwards and pin to the sides of his head. Using
an applique stitch, sew the ears on and then remove the basting stitches.

Baste the raw edges of the bears head to the inside. Pin the edges to the top of the body, tucking his little shoulders in. Pin as flat as you can and use an applique stitch to attach his head. Once secure, remove the basting stitches.

Patches Bear's button shoulder

I start with his legs when attaching the limbs. Thread a darning needle with quilting or upholstery thread and knot the end. Sink the knot through the side seam of the body and bring the thread out the other side where you want to attach his leg. Sew through the top-center of his leg and through the button. Go back through the button and through his body to the opposite side. Repeat the steps with his other leg. Gently tighten the thread, squishing his legs and body just a little. Sew through the body, legs and buttons at least twice more, making sure you have the tightness you want. Tie off the thread under one of the buttons.

Repeat the process with his arms, just down from the shoulders. Finish up by wrapping a ribbon or a bright strip of fabric as bow around his neck, covering where the head joins the body.

Look, a teddy!

Isn’t your teddy sweet? Maybe he needs a friend…or two? I have to admit I’m on a teddy bear kick. The weathercaster is calling for a storm tomorrow. Perfect time to get cozy while sewing up teddy bears.

The Death of an Herb Garden

This has been a difficult year in our gardens, and it’s only July.

The deer have eaten the beans and the squash. The rabbit has mowed down the parsley. The oregano

Last year's healthy, beautiful herb garden.

was looking burned out and there were suspicious white spots on the sage leaves. Either the rabbit or the groundhog has enjoyed our growing honeydew melons. The deer came back and ate all the apples off the tree. And then several tomato plants seem to be dying for no reason.

But that’s not the worst of it.

Your favorite uncle and I have a small lawn crew that helps with the bigger jobs that are difficult for us. This year, it has been poison ivy. Your uncle brushed against some vines and developed second-degree burns from it. It had to go.

We told our lawn crew that we needed to pull the vines. We’ve told them in the past to avoid toxic sprays, including all variations of Roundup.

They have been working diligently and I am generally pleased with their work. I would recommend them to other local families. But…

There is a sumac growing at the edge of the main herb bed that we needed help to pull. Our new crew leader saw the sumac and that we had been struggling with it and thought he could help us out. And so, he did exactly what we told them not to do.

A good guy, a terrible mistake

The Monday before the 4th of July, we were home for the long holiday weekend. Our lawn guys came over to pull the poison ivy and meet with your favorite uncle. I looked up from my reading on the couch to see one of the young men walk past the parlor window with a container in one hand and a hose and sprayer in the other.

I was leaning out the window and calling him over so fast the cat was dizzy.

“Were you spraying?” I asked. “Did you spray in my herb garden?”

“There’s a sumac tree,” he says, pointing towards the herb garden. “I’m trying to kill it before I pull it out of there.”

“That’s my herb garden,” I say again. “Don’t do anything, I’m coming out to talk with you.”

I come out and at this point, you favorite uncle has noticed something going on and comes to join us.  The young man with the sprayer and his boss, who is working on a wasp problem, and I stand in front of the dripping sumac and the wet garden. I asked again what was just sprayed. The young man holds up the container.

The herb garden an hour after having been sprayed.
Note the wet marks on the shed wall from the sprayer.

“Don’t worry,” he says, “it’s supposed to be safe for gardens.”

Dear readers: It’s not safe for gardens.

“There’s supposed to be nothing sprayed here,” your uncle tells them. “We’re trying to keep this as an organic garden.”

“The label says it’s safe for gardens,” the boss tells us again.

“This is food,” I stress to them both. “This is an herb garden I’ve been growing for the past four years.”

They look at each other rather blankly.

“This,” I say, touching the tall, broad leaf clump of flowering plants, “is mint. You make tea out of it. You put it in mojitos. This is lavender”—I point to the spindly plant with its second round of shoots preparing to bloom—“and this rosemary.”

“How about this plant?” the boss asks, pointing to a pale green leaf.

“That’s lemon balm,” I tell him. “It’s for making tea with the mint.”

“And over here?” he asks.

“Oregano and thyme,” I say.

He looks puzzled by the straggly little bush. “What do you use thyme for?”

I cast for a thought to explain thyme. “You use it in Italian seasoning, with the oregano.”

Your uncle is shaking his head. He’s looking at the spray pattern on side of the shed, he’s looking at the glistening leaves. “How much did you spray?”

They both swear it was just on the sumac. Which leans over the chives, the lavender, the strawberries, and the rosemary. Maybe it won’t be so bad, they say.

I looked at my herb garden. This has been a difficult season; I had to cut back my sage in an effort to save it and the leaves had just grown back in. I had several beautiful, healthy clumps of oregano that I was going to transplant in place of the older sections that had become choked out. The chives were looking really good, after having been sparse last year. The herb garden was on the edge of recovery from an early spring snowstorm.

Chives, strawberries and oregano
growing in the herb garden.

Our first spring on Edgewood in St. Denis, I had spent a month clearing the old ornamental flower bed and getting to know the space. The “landscapers” for the estate when it was for sale had just planted a few things to look pretty. They did nothing to improve the soil -- in fact, they did very little to make it look pretty. The renovating crew, we were later told, didn’t bring a dumpster to the house, but they did just chuck pieces of our 134-year-old house out the window. Including a few windows! I cleared useless mulch from the garden bed only to find a shattered window pane underneath it. Before I could plant, I had to clear glass fragments away, along with rusty nails, pieces of roofing and bits of the lathe from the walls of the house.

Once cleared, I dug out old, tired topsoil from the stone and cement basin of the garden bed and replaced it with garden soil. I mixed in peat and compost. I added organic fertilizers. I watched as three days of 12 inches of rain overwhelmed my work and washed it over the sides of the basin and in a small stream down the walkway to the woods. I started over.

Your favorite uncle and I went to the farming co-op and bought herbs. We went to the farmers market and bought herbs. We went to the local farm and bought herbs. We found the lavender and mint I couldn’t find anywhere else at the old neighborhood garden store that his family shopped at for the past 50 years. I planted. I pruned. I replanted.

For Christmas, your favorite uncle gave me beautiful garden signs that read “herb garden,” “thyme,” “parsley,” “chives.” I couldn’t wait for the snow to melt to put them beside the plants in my garden.

This spring I took a group of friends to see the herb garden and to discuss the new herb garden bed. I told them, with a mixture of affection and pride, that this was the herb garden of my dreams.

And all I could do that after was stare at my lovely herbs as they glistened from a poison.

“I’m really sorry, ma’am,” the young man tells me.

The boss tells your uncle that they will pay to replace any of the herbs is they’re damaged. He explains that they’ll pull out the sumac tree. They continue talking and I shake my head.

“It’s supposed to be safe for gardens,” the young man says once more.

I just look at him and quietly say, “How can it be safe for gardens if it kills trees? Why would you think spraying it there would be a good idea?’

He shakes his head. He doesn’t know. All he knows is what he was told. If he had read up on what he sprayed, if he and his boss knew what types of plants were listed and how they were related to the one growing in the garden, if they had followed the directions to prevent the spray from landing on plants that were wanted, he would never have done this.

Honestly, if they read up on what they were spraying in the first place they would be wearing masks and gloves to handle it. They would stop using it altogether.

Burned up lemon balm.

I let the men go to discuss the wasp problem. Unable to do anything but hope for the best, I went back to work in the parlor. But over the course of the next several days, the damage unfolded. Steadily, the poison did its work. Leaves wilted, then browned and crumbled. Rusty spots appeared and ate away the healthy oregano plants. The thyme lost all its tiny leaves. The lemon balm took on the appearance of charred sticks. The sage first looked like it was spared and then one afternoon wilted and didn’t stand back up. The lavender curled upon itself. The strawberries under the sumac died. And each day, it became worse.

The chives, center, are the only plant still alive.
The oregano, left, and rosemary, bottom center, are dead.
The sage, far right, wilted the day this was taken
and has not recovered.

One week later, the herb garden is dead.

Oregano, killed by glyphosate.

Is it all gone? Today it looks like the mint was spared and the chives will survive. Some of the lavender, close to the mint, might make it. But yes, the main section, and all the plants there, is gone.

Dear readers, I’ll tell you later how I will replant, what work I will do. But today, after a difficult week, all I can do is leave my grief here.

A Second Round for Beef Broth

At the end of May, we have had a devastating event. Our upright freezer kicked out. We ended up losing great deal of the squash I froze for this year. We lost our remaining stash of frozen vegetables (you cannot imagine my sorrow over losing lima beans!). We came close to losing our supply of meats from the local farms we regularly visit. Instead, I had to cook up everything that was still below 40 degrees but starting to thaw. We had to toss a few packs of chicken that had risen above that temperature because we were uncertain it could be safely cooked up.

This is a big loss for us and one that has affected how we were cooking this spring, along with our family’s budget. We freeze most of our vegetables for the winter and the following spring, with the goal that we’ll put up at least half of what we eat for the next six or more months. Thankfully, we were near the end of those six months, but we lost several of our favorites.

We freeze a lot of green beans and lima beans, along with mixed vegetables and corn. We also have chicken and beef broths stored away. I’ll occasionally make soups from leftover and freeze those for quick meals.

I told you all about roasting and freezing pumpkin puree, along with butternut squash and acorn squash for dinner. Those go into our bread, soups and a side dishes.

Bringing the beef broth back to a
boil before canning.

The good news was I hadn’t made a new batch of chicken broth that I could have lost. It has been on my list for the last couple weeks. The beef broth would be a big enough loss. I don't make beef broth as often as I make chicken broth, maybe three or four time a years. It takes me three days, rather than two, and I put up a couple of gallons at a time.

I still had six pints and two cups of beef broth frozen in individual containers when the freezer did its bucket kicking. The broth was still icy cold with frozen centers but a little slushy on the sides. Since I couldn't fit those in our kitchen freezer, I needed another way of storing the broth. Time to pull out the pressure canner!

Once canned, the broth can be stored with the jams and jellies, next to the tomato sauces. This puts it on the shelf and out of the very limited freezer space in the kitchen. I spent the evening bringing the thawing broth back to a boil and pressure canning it. Now it’s ready for use in quick soups and gravies.

How to pressure can beef broth

I’ll walk you through the steps of the process. As always, if you have questions or are new to canning, check out National Center for Home Food Preservation’s information on canning meat broths.

The tools:

• A pressure canner
• Enough canning jars for your broth
• Canning funnel
• Jar lifter
• Lids and bands for your candy jars

The broth:

At some point we'll talk about making chicken broth and beef broth. There is nothing better than good, homemade broth! We use it a lot of our cooking, especially during the winter months. It makes gravies and sauces, flavors rice and is the base for our soups and stews.  For now you might enjoy this recipe, Homemade Beef Stock Recipe, by one of my favorite bloggers.

Reheating frozen beef broth

I pulled out my beef broth slushies and dumped them straight into the stock pot. Still being partially frozen is good, since it meant the broth is safe to use. If you have any doubt about something you’ve frozen and it’s thawed before you planned on it, check the internal temperature. If the center is still frozen–meaning there are actual ice crystals you can see—it is safe to use immediately.  If it is not partially frozen and you have no idea how long it’s been thawing, throw it away. It’s sad, I know. So is food poisoning.

• Bring the broth to a boil. It’s necessary to fill your canning jars with boiling broth, but it has a second purpose: heading off any contamination along the way. Bring it to a boil and let it simmer for three to five minutes.
• Wash and heat up your glass canning jars. You don't want to put hot broth into cold jars because you will risk cracking them. Broken glass equals bad. You can run your canning jars through the dishwasher and take them out hot when you need them or let them sit with hot water in them until you’re ready to fill them with hot broth. Be sure to remove the hot water first, then add the broth.
• Fill your jars, leaving one inch headspace. Canning jars generally have a ring on the outside to indicate your one inch mark. If you are in doubt, use your ruler to measure the distance from the surface of the broth to the top of the jar. It is important to have at least one inch headspace because this will help it seal properly. I know your broth is yummy, but crowding it in less than an inch can cause the jar to break, the seal to fail and other bad things.
• Place your washed lids on the jars and tighten the canning ring to fingertip-tight. That’s it. Don’t tighten very hard. If you do, the air in the jar cannot expand and escape from under the lid under pressure, which is what causes the vacuum seal of the jar. Instead, the escaping air will have no choice but to shatter your jar. When the jars come out of the canner and have cooled, they will be sealed nice and tight from the vacuum. 
• Place your canning jars into your waiting pressure canner. I am assuming you’ve already followed your canner’s directions when you get to this point. My canner requires adding two and a half quarts of hot water and the canning basket before I add the jars. Most pressure canners will allow you to stack jars with a second platform inside the canner. Do that if you've got more than eight jars in the canner. It might take a little longer to come up to pressure but won’t affect the canning time.

To pressure can:

Make sure the broth is hot when
you put it in the jars. Follow your
canner's directions when adding water.

If you have any doubts or questions about what you’re doing at this point, go visit NCHFP’s information on Using Pressure Canners.

Check your pressure canner lid. You should be able you should be able to see light through steam vent. If you cannot, that means that your steam vent is blocked. Make sure to clear it away, following the manufacturer's directions.

Add hot water to your pressure canner. I have a 22 quart pressure canner. This means I am adding at least two and a half quarts to the pressure canner. Your canner may require more or less water; again to check with your manufacturer's directions.

Add your hot jars of broth. You are totally ready for this step.

Secure the canner lid properly. I cannot stress this enough. An improperly secured pressure canner lid can be a hazard to you. Follow your manufacturer's directions when in doubt. If you have not used your canner in more than a year, check the gasket and valves to make sure they are functioning and in good condition. If you’re in doubt, take then to your local Cooperative Extension Office.

Turn on the heat. You will want to bring your pressure canner to boil on high heat. You'll hear the water begin to boil and when you see steam venting through the top spout, begin your timer. You want this steam to vent for about 10 minutes.

Once your canner has vented for 10 minutes, releasing the cool air and bringing the temperature inside the canner up, place your 10-pound weight on the canner on the vent spout. You were going to pressure can your broth for 20 minutes at 10 pounds.

Wait until the weight begins to whistle or rise and spin (the dance it does will depend on the canner model you have). Back your heat down just a touch, until the 10-pound weight is gently rocking or jiggling. When it comes to that gentle rock or jiggle, that is when you begin your 20 minute timer.

Are you jiggling? Start the time. If at any time it stops rocking or jiggling, or the pressure drops, you will need to restart your time. That’s because the pressure might have dropped below the level needed to safely can your broth.

Okay, we are in a 20 minute countdown. If there's anything in your kitchen that needs cleaning up, now is a good time to do that. Other options include watching videos of cats.

Once 20 minutes has gone by turn off the heat on your canner. Do not open do not open the canner. You are going to let it cool down naturally. Do not remove it from the stove, do not move it in any direction. You run the risk of breaking the jars.

Depending on the size of your canner, after 45 minutes to 1 hour (I know it's a long time) the canner should be cool and ready to be opened. Open and remove jars with your jar lifter. Place them on a table or counter with a fluffy kitchen towel underneath to help prevent the jars from temperature shock. They are still that hot!

Canned broth will safely keep in your pantry for at least one year.

We’re done here

That’s it! Let the jars rest 12-24 hours to make sure they are first cooled and then sealed. If all looks good, put labels on the jar that say “Beef broth” and the month and year you canned them. (If you’ve ever held a jar up to the light, turned it over several times and thought, “Huh. I wonder what this is and when I canned it,” you will know the wisdom and joy of properly labeling everything.)

Freezer update:

Still don’t have a new freezer but we’re looking at floor models. Auntie needs a freezer! We’ll start freezing the harvest soon and I really miss being able to check the freezer for extra packets of bacon.

Preparing for the Summer Garden

Springtime is here! After a strange winter of up and down temperatures, the weather is steadily
growing warmer and we have more sunny days than dreary ones now.

Your favorite uncle and I just spent two very long, hot days turning over the garden beds for this year's crops. We've added a new herb bed, which will double the size of our current herb garden. If all goes well, we’ll have a greater variety of herbs to add to our repertoire to share with family and friends.

Raised garden beds

Our little village homestead has very hard ground, with very dense clay soil. Turning over the earth to plant our gardens just won't work for us. (There is a local story that the telegraph pole was invented because the machine used to dig the trenches for the first telegraph cables broke to bits trying to dig through the ground in our village; they say the dense ground tore the teeth off the machine.)

Our new herb garden in a raised bed.

We realized very quickly that we would need raised beds because of the hard soil. Our garden beds are wood-sided and raised about 18 inches. The first layer is peat moss for improved drainage and to keep the garden soil aerated. Above this we have a mixture of topsoil, followed by garden soil for the top layer. We augment the soil each season and rotate the garden crops.

Last year we added a retaining wall at the back of the hill to enlarge our garden space. This doubled the space we had for gardening and made use of a poor section of land on the back hill. So now we have four garden beds, the two main garden beds and two smaller herb gardens.

Compost–the secret to a healthy garden

In addition to adding composted chicken manure and other organic fertilizers, we add our own kitchen compost from the previous year. We have a compost tumbler; in to it goes all of our vegetable and plants scraps, along with dry bread and biscuits. Herbs stems and parts of plants from the garden also get tossed in, along with dried grass from the lawn. I include coffee grounds and spent tea leaves with the compost as additional brown material. If it rains and water seeps in, or we’ve had too many “greens,” or fresh vegetable matter, added at once, I have also included brown paper grocery bags to help bring the mixture back into a balance of “greens” and “browns.”

This composted material helps the garden to grow for another year. It helps us to make use of the wasted parts of the plants that we're not going to eat, or the leftover scraps that aren't going to be put back onto the dinner table. We spend a lot of time growing stems and leaves, so it's nice to be able to reuse that material to enrich the soil for the following year's crop.

We tumble this mix for about six months of the year. The mixture rests over the winter because additional scraps just wouldn't break down in time. This gives us about a bushel of homegrown compost.

(Our local landfill is running out of space and much of the garbage trucked to landfills is kitchen waste– foods, plants and compostable scraps—that simply petrifies. By composting, we get fertilizer and prevent six months of kitchen scraps from taking up space in a landfill for the next 200 years. One more benefit– we are throwing away less trash and reducing our consumer footprint.)

Ready to plant

The pepper garden. 

We will have peppers again this year, along with beautiful cherry tomatoes that make such a lovely ketchup. We're also going to have cucumbers for our famous pickles. I'm hoping to add a few edible rose bushes at the edges of the herb gardens.

We grow some of our plants from seed and others from sets or from young plants that we pick up at our local our local farm. Squash especially does well when we buy plants from the local farm, and we’ll pick up cucumbers for the same reason. This year we're planning to grow green beans and we’re hoping that they are not eaten by the dear. We have had that dilemma last summer!

Update: Five of the six squash plants we put in the ground were munched by a bunny! We’ve already had to replant those squash. 

Your favorite uncle has decided that we should try using garden cloth to cover the soil this year.

A tomato, caged and surrounded
by mulch fabrics.

Weeds are an ongoing problem and we're hoping the garden cloth with prevent weeds from choking out tender vegetables. During the height of the summer heat, it will help retain more moisture and we’ll need to water less frequently.

We will see how the garden cloth works. It is an experiment, like most of we currently grow and make.

So, how does the garden grow? We will let you know in a few months.

My darn socks!

A darn sock, just mended.

So I bet you've been wondering what I have been up to. This past winter was spent in front of the fireplace, sipping tea and hot chocolate. And now we’re just starting to come out to spring. So it was a good time to mend our socks.

What? Mend socks? As in old-fashioned darning a pair of socks?

Yes. I have been darning socks. This winter has just been that rockin’.

We wear through socks pretty quickly on our little village homestead. Our athletic socks tend to develop holes on a pretty regular basis. And your favorite uncle goes through his dress socks for the office more quickly than I do my athletic socks in my winter sneakers.

Darning socks is one of those old-fashioned skills that not many people know how to do anymore. And most people would rather throw out their socks and buy a whole new pack then to spend some time with needle and thread and darning egg to weave a nice tight darn through a hole in the toe.

But what more homesteading skill could a person possibly have then too darn her own socks? So taking up needle and thread I have been working on our socks, closing up all of the little holes in our lives.

Have you ever darned a pair of socks? Well keep reading; I will teach you how to do that.

Notions needed:

• Darning egg or darning balls
• Yarn, crochet thread or embroidery thread
• Darning needles in various sizes 
• Your most holiest of socks

What is a darning egg?

Darning balls

A darning egg or a darning ball is what you use to hold the sock in place and keep the threads steady. These are the darning balls I found and I think that they work pretty well. They come in three sizes to fit your family’s differently sized socks. (You didn’t think your favorite uncle and I have the same sized feet, did you?) Darning eggs have been around for a long time—your grandmother may have had one. Darning balls are slightly newer and are similar to darning eggs; they have a wooden ball attached to a handle.

Step 1: Wash your socks

Yes, wash your socks. Don’t darn them fresh off your slightly damp and possibly aromatic feet, no matter how big your new hole is. When you do your laundry, take the socks from the dryer and look them over for holes or thins spots that are about to wear through. Pull any pairs that have one or both socks with a hole. Put them in your darning box until you have a nice collection to work on during the evenings.

Step 2: Use your darning ball and matched yarn

I use crochet yarn and embroidery threads depending on the thickness of my sock. Athletic socks and
fluffy yarns get crochet thread. For your favorite uncle’s dress socks I use a heavy embroidery thread because the weight, or thickness, is closer to the sock’s knit.

Match your thread to your sock. I keep three colors of yarn on hand: white, black, and tan. These seem to be the closest colors to most of our socks. You can pick up colors that match your socks, but I like to use the basics.

Fit the darning egg or ball in your sock.

You'll begin by measuring out a length of yarn that will best fit the hole you're working with. For me that is two or three lengths of my arm. (Yes, I measure by my arm, with is about two and a half feet. Your arm length may vary.)

Fit the darning ball into your sock. It should look like this. You don't want to stretch the whole too
much but you want to keep the area stable. Don’t pull the sock so tightly that the hole stretches and the egg or ball pops out.

Step 3: Darn it

Don’t knot your yarn. We’re going to sink in our stitches, which will secure the ends. A knot will be felt by your toes. It will hurt, especially by the end of a long day.

Make your vertical stitches through the
thin knit and across the open hole.

Start by threading your yarn just underneath the whole in the horizontal direction like this. Next make
a little loop and start working up and down your sock. You will want to make a series of vertical stitches first through the fabric of the knit of the sock and then across the open hole. It should look like this when you're done. Keep the vertical stitches as close together as you can; even touching if you can. This will help you weave a tighter darn patch.

Once you have your vertical threads going across the hole and on either side of the hole through the thin section of the sock you will want to start coming back and forth horizontally. Alternate an over-
under-over-under stitch through the vertical stitches. Press the stitches down while you're working, so they're closer to together. What you're actually going to do is weave new fabric through the sock and across the open hole. The closer your stitches, the better the woven darn patch.

Weave your horizontal stitches through
the thin knit and across the hole.

Take it slow. Darning is a meditative skill. I find that old TV Western shows and a glass of wine can help this process. But that’s just me; you need to find your own darn Zen.

Step 4: Finishing up

When you have completed your weave, continuing stitching a weave into the knit surrounding the hole and be sure to loop your threads around the original anchor thread. When you’re done, weave the last stitch through the existing stitches and cut close to the fabric. This will sink the thread into the darn. Wearing and washing your socks will actually help to tighten up the threads and keep the darn from unraveling.

Freshly mended, neat and tidy

What could be a more homesteading skill than knowing how to darn your own socks? We get to keep our socks a little longer. When you wear through socks quickly, it helps to go a little more easily on your clothing budget. And we are keeping fabrics and clothes out of the landfill for just a little bit
longer.

Your completed darn
across the darning ball.

A neat darn on a
your favorite uncle's foot.