Red Cedar
More apocalypse, less angst
Post #1985: In which I confess to purchasing canning supplies over clothing……
I had $200 set aside to buy myself some new clothes this paycheque and instead I took that money and spent it all on a bulk order of canning lids – enough to last me through two canning seasons (about 800 lids – they come by weight, so piece number of approximate). I’m not sure whether that says that I am meh about buying new clothes, or fanatical about being right on the cusp of another canning season – but it’s probably a mix of both.
I’m meh about the clothing because 1) I mainly only purchase the boring kind of clothes – underwear, jeans, yoga pants and t-shirts (and try to make the rest) and 2) I am at a heavier weight than I would like to be at the moment and actively working to change that.
I’m stoked about the canning because – omigod I got to fill the basement with food again! Also, we really ate down our canning in a serious way this year and I’m proud of the fact that after years of canning, we are actually eating most of what we can (it’s taken me years to get realistic about what and how much we actually need in the canned goods department).
In any case, it’s not quite BC canning season – so all that excitement is currently confined to reading canning books and pressure canning the odd batches of broth and beans (4 quarts of bone broth, 16 pints of beans this weekend) to satisfy my larder. I’ve found a couple new-ish books recently (both modern and practical) that I’m quite pleased about – I will write reviews in the near future – but since this post isn’t a book review I’m going to leave those alone for now.
Point being that I found a recipe for blood-orange and meyer lemon marmalade in one of those books on the weekend that got me all hot and bothered – not because I love marmalade so much but because the idea of red citrus in the grey of March is oh-so-pleasing to me. And so I added the ingredients to my Saturday shopping list – only to discover that while blood oranges are everywhere right now, I could not get meyer lemons in any of the local shops (I swear I saw some earlier this week at Donalds…..)
So instead I settled on blood oranges alone and turned to the Internet to find a different recipe – one that called for the oranges alone….. and of course I was pretty much instantaneously rewarded with a Small Batch Blood Orange Marmalade recipe over at Food in Jars. Of course I decided to double it – three jars never being enough of anything for me (well except the sage flower jelly, I sure never needed six jars of that, although it does look pretty on the shelf). This recipe is particularly nice because instead of removing all the white pith, the process calls for soaking the oranges and rinds overnight in water which softens things up and evens out the bitter flavours. I did the orange prep on Saturday and yesterday when I returned from the zendo, I set those two pounds of chopped oranges to cook with five cups of sugar. Because I was doing other things and didn’t want to risk burning or boiling over I set these to simmer on low heat over many hours (five or so) before they met the gelling test (frozen plate, temperature @ 220, sheeting off spoon) and I put six half-pints the colour of a sunset into a pot of boiling water for sealing.
The picture at the top of this post is, of course, proof of my patience and I’ve set a task for my husband and step-daughter this week: find the perfect scone recipe to go with this beautiful jam!
Post #1984: A Reckoning.
It’s come time for some reckoning I think – since I have been only sporadically posting on this blog for the past year or two – and in the last year I think I’ve been averaging about two posts per month. In the land of daily diarizing, this isn’t even worth a mention – though I recognize that I have some regular readers who do prop or like my posts whenever I do get around to dropping by, and that is always noticed!
When I started blogging twelve years ago, I wanted a place where I could write every day, where I could connect with other folks, and where I could keep a record of my life as it went by – and that is how I used it for the first several years – to practice my writing, to keep track of things and share them with others….. but lately? It just seems that I come here to post nifty things I am making or random photographs, but I don’t get much into the rest of life at all.
And so I’ve been thinking – what do I want from this space? If all I want is a place to show off my stuff, there are now (unlike twelve years ago) a hundred different craft social media sites I could do that on. If all I want is a place for random photos and quips – Facebook is just fine for that purpose. But still, I am loathe to give up on the blog – because it represents something I still want to do… which is to write, and to share more in-depth about the contours of my life, especially as I enter middle age.
I started here at thirty, and as my posts attest, it has been a twisty-turning decade and a bit – I am definitely a happier and more grounded person than when I started out here, and yet I still constantly seek validation and support. Some of my struggles are the same (weight, fitness), while some of them have changed significantly (housing, partnership). I do still love to cook and make things, take photos of those things, and share what I’ve learned. And now, at the end of four years of graduate school I’m going to start reading on my own again – which I am sure will bring me back to the book reviews I used to post here fairly often. So it seems there is much to keep talking about, if only I give myself the time to do it. That means less random Internet surfing and more thinking about what I am going to write next.
So this is my intention – to post here daily for the next month and see whether the blogging takes again or not. I expect it will, since mostly these things are just habit, but I may get to the end of April and decide it’s just too much work after all. I know that I appreciate the blogs that I read, and I like to be a part of that sharing circle, so I’m going get myself inspired by all of you while reinvigorating my own writing practice.
Spring Equinox seems like and appropriate time for renewal, does it not?
Post #1983: Potential new spring frocks
I ordered these patterns as a birthday gift to myself and they arrived last night. Apparently the fabric I ordered to go along with them is on its way today (UPS). Guess I better get my current sewing project on the go so I can get these into my wardrobe. Feeling a serious need for some new spring frocks given the turn of weather here over the last few weeks (I know, I shouldn’t fall for the false spring but it’s impossible not to – I so much want to believe that the rains are over.
My plan for the weekend is gardening because the weather looks to be fine for it – mostly I need to clean up the garden I left in disarray last fall – but I also might try and sneak some arugula, corn salad, radish and spinach seeds in there – or at least the first two, leaving the last off until next weekend when we are actually into March. Really, the emphasis is on the clean-up because things are a mess. Anyhow, it may not be spring yet, but I’m getting myself all ready for it just the same.
Post #1982: Cabin building season is coming again!
I have to admit that the coming of spring weather has renewed my cabin obsession; after months of not being able to go up there (since October, because it’s not winterized yet) I find myself thinking about our place outside of Princeton non-stop. Brian and I plan to go in two weeks time for an overnight to take some things up and assess where we are at for clean-up of the site, and then spend the Easter long weekend there doing work, whatever work we can do pre-insulation and pre-framing-inspection. There are still a lot of steps between here and finished and it’s hard for me to discern the order at times. In any case, I’ve spent at least part of the day googling cabin interiors with an emphasis on planks and reclaimed wood. We are not going to get to interior finishing this summer, though I am hopeful that all exterior siding, rails and interior insulating will be done. (We just heard back from our woodstove guy also and he says if the snow melt up there continues he will be able to get our woodstove in by the time we visit in two weeks. I hope that’s so or otherwise it’s going to be a bit cold.)
This spring I am also planning on putting a wash station together for the outhouse, install a rain barrel installed on that structure, plant some shrubbery around the base, and build a small meditation shelter at the top of our property. Now that I write all that out, I’m getting mitre saw angst – mine is such a beastly, ancient thing (vintage 1970s, my dad gave it to me and it’s a workhorse but so damned heavy – yes I know everything was made so much better without plastic but it’s also impossible to move my mitre saw around without developing a hernia – I seem to remember that the same was true for the Husqavarna sewing machine that was passed down by my mother).
Anyhow, I’ve started a cabin design and decorating Pinterest board which I hope will at least channel my little obsession until I get up there and start doing some work again.
Post # 1981: Birthday week
Two weekends ago I turned forty-two and recorded the better part of an album in two days on the Sunshine Coast. I then took all of last week off work. Since then I have finished sewing a blouse, finished crocheting a sweater, cleaned my house, went to Vancouver island for two nights, lead a meditation class, had a long visit with my mom, attended a dharma talk and ritual commemorating the Buddha’s life, and attended a concert at the Chan Centre. After all that, I have to admit that I had a really hard time caring at work today.
Red Cedar 