progress:

buckeye mock-ups and templates

a fast way to lose some weight:

-chop it off-

RIP

Caesar passed away last night.

we will miss you, sweet companion and friend. you were the happiest of dogs!!

i will miss having you by my side: on walks, in the shop during a thunder storm, and seeing your happy smiling face and wagging tail upon returning home.

you were greatly loved!

may your independent, free little spirit keep roaming the roads and fields of turner drive.

project: buckeye: preliminary sketching

i dare you....

were robert's words when he handed me the empty olive glass:
"drink that - and i will give you 5 bucks"
"no way! not for 5 bucks!!"
 he up-ed his anti, and when his final bid came to 20 bucks.......

..........i drank it up.

its salty, i tell you. 

whether it was worth it? - so far so good. 

the stomach is a little bubbly, yet other than that - 

it was the easiest/fastest $20 i have made in a long time.

pressure canning venison

i know - i did a post on this last week.... i really don't want to bore you. but this one is different - in some ways, because i did it all by myself - and it only freaked me out a little bit... ok a lot.
so a few days ago i packed all my jars with seasonings and venisons and had them all ready to go in the canner, when i realized i did not have the pressure regulator for the canner..... big UH-OH! not good at all!! after going through the trash and boxes several times, it turned out - i left it in Lynchburg. very frustrating. but anita is awesome and put it in the mail right away. i had it yesterday afternoon.

 

 

 

this morning i loaded up the canner - only 9 of the 10 jars fit, which is a little frustrating, but not the end of the world. cleaned the stove top off, and set the big beast on the giant burner.
after quite a while the water finally started boiling, and little bursts of steam and water started squirting and spewing out of the thingy that is supposed to "pop" up. this started freaking me out, and i totally chickened out and called my dear friend anita.
while she was telling me how this is totally normal - the thingy did "pop" and i felt relieved. so relieved.
the canner will not explode in my kitchen, as i have been dreading.

instead, the pressure started rising - i adjusted it to 11psi, at which the venison needs to cook for the 75 minutes...... it smells delicious!
after about another hour or so, the pressure dispersed and the time to check it out was finally here:
its still hot an bubbly - like a disco in a jar. big fat YUMMY!

one man's trash...

...... is another man's treasure.

my friend chris and his brother in law found this amazing tractor seat in the woods while they were on a little photography outing......

it is probably THE COOLEST tractor seat i have ever seen and am so very excited, because chris want me to make him a functional little piece of furniture out of it. 

i cannot wait to start on it and see what it will become! 

this weeks failures

over the past week i attempted to:

- pressure can venison
- make home-made whole milk yoghurt
- make home-made kefir

so far:
- i packed 10 pint jars with venison, spices, and yumminess and was about to start the canning process when i realized that the pressure regulator for my pressure canner was missing. doh! not good!
i left it at my friends house when she gave me a lesson on pressure canning. so into the fridge everything went. she mailed me the regulator which arrived in the mails yesterday afternoon - thank you again - i will attempt doing it one more time this morning before heading into work at the Inn on this Valentine's Day.

- for some odd reason it is impossible to get whole milk yoghurt at the store in town, and the other stuff is just plain nasty. so i decided to give it a try and make it myself. 3 or 4 attempts at making yoghurt have failed in so so many ways: from still having liquid to having a spongy solid cheese like consistency. it left me running to the store a few times for more whole milk and now i have stuff in the fridge i can still put on my cereal, or bake with - but which in no way resembles yoghurt - only in its smell. i will try it again, one of these days.

- i added whole milk to the kefir grains i received got from my pal anita and let it sit on our counter. unfortunately, i forgot to stir and mix it all up, so after sitting for a few days, it smelled incredible, yet it was not thickening up. so i shook it all up and put it in a cupboard. a day later it was perfect. i strained it out and added some agave syrup and blackberry puree made from blackberries i harvested this past summer. it is yeasty, tart and delicious and i cannot wait for my next batch to get ready.

book-ends for aunt doris

with all the failures i had this week - which i will talk about in a different post - i wanted to post some success.

i made some book-ends for robert's aunt doris.

even though they are "just" book-ends - to me it was more than that. i often get the impression that robert's relatives don't understand what i am doing in my shop or why i would want to be doing it.
- that i am wasting away my time and that i am not bringing much to the table for not having a "real" job.

having her ask me to make these for her was HUGE!

so here are the simple, but fun little book ends i made for her from salvaged oak fence boards and roofing metal - she got 3 all in all:

flashes of war

while in lynchburg, i also got to see my beloved friend katey schultz who is currently a visiting writer in residence at randolph college. she gave a very moving reading from her first book: flashes of war.
i did not get a picture of us together at the reading, but - boy - she was all over campus!

that girl is going places, i tell you!

you can find more about her book and the novel she is currently writing on her website.

GO, KATEY!!

pressure canning and old friends

yesterday i drove down to lynchburg, va to see some friends.
i realized i have known anita for 17 years now. w o w.
we have been in each others lives for more than half of it. it is wonderful and she has been a great blessing.
i was her maid of honor in her wedding and we have visited and managed to see each other almost every year, even though we were living all around the globe.
we have taken very different roads in life, but can still talk about anything - or be quiet.
we get along just fine and dandy and support each other - friends like that a rare, and i treasure it dearly.

we both love canning and get a great satisfaction from it -
knowing that there is food that came off our land right in our pantry all year long is pure awesomeness.

anita taught me how to pressure can venison yesterday in my new canner:

-pack the raw venison and your choice of seasonings into sterilized jars-

-at 11psi - cook venison for 70 min - *read instructions before operating*-

-let the pressure come down - voila - yummy venison-

today we were going to make fresh mozzarella, but - alas - her and her oldest son got a stomach bug that her daughters had last week and the two of them were not feeling well at all.
i got to hang out with the girls and baby boy this morning, read books, play games, make lunch, and have fun.

thanks my bud - i had a great time and hope you feel better so very soon!!!

it's a raffle for drew fling!!!

our dear friends eric and deanna fling's 2.5 year old son drew was diagnosed with leukemia over christmas break. needless to say, their break was not much of one. 

endless worrisome days in the hospital, weeks of being on house arrest due to him being neutropenic and susceptible to anything due to his immune system being shot, and weekly long trips to the hospital in arlington va for drew's chemotherapy, spinal tap, and bone marrow biopsies have left this sweet little family exhausted.

since of last week drew is free of cancer. this has been the most wonderful news this year!
yet in order for him to stay cancer free he has 3 more years of weekly treatments ahead of him.

drew is an amazing trooper, he yet has his ups and downs like anyone. 
he is finally off steroids and dee says he is getting to be more and more like his old self:


there is only so much we can do for them - but we would like to do more. 
i will be raffling off this handmade butcher block - the proceeds will go to eric, dee, and their family:




- it is a one of a kind butcher block:
- made from local ash, cherry, walnut, and maple
- it is 10.5" x 12" in size 
- and it usually retails for $140

- it is a great size for chopping veggies or using as a cheese board for parties

- raffle tickets are $10 a piece
- these can be purchased on my website via paypal. 
- you may purchase as many tickets as you like for a greater chance of winning.
- tickets are available for purchase from feb 7th through march 8th, 2013
- on march 9th all the entries will be put in a hat and robert will draw the winner
- the winner will be announced on the website and this blog that evening, and the board shipped to them shortly thereafter.

please help by showing your support for the fling family and this precious little man!

stools stools stools

my little family of stool has been growing.

you all know the baby stool from the first post.

meet the others here:

-not completely finished yet - but they are getting there-

-barstool version of stool-

-detail of cross supports through triangle in barstool-

its been a good but also a tough start to the year.
it seems like everything has been breaking.
among other things, unexpected doctor and lab bills both for myself and my car have left me broke and it leads me wonder whether i made the right choices.
after getting laid off last january i decided not to find another job and dedicated my time and energy not only on renovating an awesome old house with robert - which we are now renting out to an adorable little family -
yet also on working in my studio/wood shop pretty much full time.
finding business has been tough - trying to make a living as an artist is hard.
especially for being someone who isn't outgoing and good at "selling myself."
i participated in a few street/food/wine festivals and holiday bazaars/markets.
i did pretty well for my first year.
fortunately, i have no rent to pay - neither for my living situation, nor for my studio. this has been amazing.
i know a lot of other artist aren't that lucky.
i have been able to pay for my student loans, credit card bills (equipment), chiropractor, gas, website,
 and the little everyday expenses just fine.
yet when it comes to unexpected things - like $345 worth of extra lab fees from the doctor and new wires, plugs, battery and belts for my car at $360 all in the same month - that stuff can just throw me through a loop.
which makes me start to worry.
i know that the term "starving artist" was not coined from fiction.
i know i am not alone in this.
i know other people have been there and have figured it out.
i know i can trust God that i will be provided for.
i know i am not cut out for an office or desk job.
i know that i have never been happier doing what i am doing now.

robert does not worry. i admire that so much about him.
he says that worrying does not solve things. and he is so right.

i need to stop worrying and focus on the task at hand.
making things isn't so much the issue for me.
getting myself out there is.

how do i get over myself and go talk to people?
how do i approach people and ask them if they want to carry/sell/buy my work
how do you do it?
what makes it easier?

seeing these cows made me feel a little better today.
why-  i do not know.
their droll faces, munching away on cold cold grass staring at me had a calming effect.

i know i can do this.