The country side in Wales

Just a few pics from my trip to the UK.

New Year

Its been to cold to get much done in the garden right now, so begins the indoor activities. I worked on a pile of clothes to be mended, finished a dress for my daughter, and have been making clothes for my sons stuffed animals.

January is full of birthdays, I had no idea I knew so many capricorns. So homemade gifts have been in the works as well.

This sweet little embroidery was for my friend Courtneys' birthday.

I was reading a bunch of forums and blogs yesterday looking for a homemade shampoo recipe and ended up getting really excited about "no poo" shampooing. Wash with 1 cup water mixed with 1 tablespoon bakingsoda then rinse with 1/2 apple cider vinegar 1/2 water. Its great so far, my hair is clean and shiney. We will see how it goes. A lot of people who have tried this have been doing it for months and years and rave about the managability and health of their hair. The baking soda mixture was like a conditioner, it got the knots out easily.

Winter garden

Sweet little green house

protecting my mustard greens

Jerusalem Artichokes

winter harvest

I have been slowly creating a garden that produces year round. We have an exteremely small yard and I have expectations for a high yeild of food from it. This little green house structure is really doing the job. I have some mustard greens going strong and a few volunteer cilantro plants. There is one more green house row with a few more greens and some lettuce that probably won't make it through the low temperatures this week.

The jerusalem artichokes were plentiful! I planted a couple of rows against our back fence and plan on pickling the rest. Is nice to continue the garden work year round, it keeps you on your toes with excitement about the spring.

The cold weather gets to me pretty quick and I need a pick me up, so I have been looking at seed catalogs Burpee and Bakers Creek Heirloom Seeds.

These are both great places to find good standards and unique plants, I always want to try new veggies but have a hard time giving up space to my tried and trusted stand-bys.

Little Bird Basket orders

Frosty cabbage

Little bird baskets will not be taking orders December 23rd thru December 28th.

Have a great holiday and thank you for all the appreciation. Here's to the New Year and day dreams of a spring garden.

Gifting

The good thing about Little Bird Baskets Is that when a basket is ordered for my friends I feel like its from me too. I love knowing what kind of image to put on the tea towel and what color to embroider it so it will look the best in their kitchen. To know more than a name. This basket was ordered for my friend Kyran Pittman, from her sweet mama. It was great to gift it for her mom, I love being the one that hands the basket over. Its just immediate happiness. Kyran Is an inventive and very funny writer check her out Notes to Self. She also took these pictures of her basket, they are lovely.

Mason Jars

So!!! It should not be a hard thing to can, preserve or put things up and it should not be expensive. I searched Little Rock over and could not find affordable 8 oz. canning jars. That seems really silly to me. Our local food mart carries a variety of over-priced canning items and after today's venture on-line they seemed reasonably priced.

So I called my mom Judy, she is the lady of know, and told me to call Ace Hardware. They carry canning supplies year round at a reasonable price. Wow, I was starting to get worried.

For Christmas I am making Red and Green Hot Pepper Jelly, no food coloring added, and a variety of chutneys in the next week. I will also be making a mint jelly that should be great with lamb or pork. If you are reading this and will cook with mint jelly let me know and I'll try to get some to you. Maybe share a recipe.

Winter Little Bird Baskets

The baskets are taking off, I couldn't be happier. Each one gets better and better and the vision becomes more solid. I am starting to get some new ideas for holiday baskets with specialty breads and jams. I am going to do potted paper whites and crocuses instead of cut flowers for the winter months.

I have been preparing my garden for next spring getting it beefed up with good organic fertilizer and lots of wildflowers for cut arrangements. I can't wait to see what starts popping up next spring, and its to soon to be thinking about that yet I have all winter to daydream about my garden. There is a sweet little moss garden that has started on its own on the north side of my house I am going to add to it and hopefully start some terrariums and little potted gardens. Dakorah Designs has so inspired me and this should prove to be a good winter hobby for the cooped up gardener.