Media Monday - Halloween Playlist

Happy Halloween everyone! I put together a special playlist of old school, classic, and spooky movie themed music. Set it in the background while you hand out candy and even play "guess what movie or tv series this one came from".

the Sunday Special - organic salad

I've been eating some pretty yummy salads lately. I made this one today.

It has all my favorite salad fixin's.

SPINACH cabbage BEETS bell pepper GARDEN TOMATOES 

hard-boiled egg AVOCADO scallions ALMONDS

All of the ingredients came from the organic nursery except the avocado and almonds. I was going to add some pickled artichokes, but I didn't want to over do it. =) There was so much flavor that I scarffed down half of it before I finally drizzled a bit of dressing on it. The dressing is a mixture of balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, and olive oil. And I like to season it with black pepper. Yum!

Farmer to Mechanic

Yesterday, I went from farmer in the morning to mechanic in the afternoon.

I rolled my window down and when I tried to roll it back up it just stopped halfway. I figured it just came off the track. Now, I'm as much as a mechanic as I am a farmer...actually even less. Well, I've seen a friend of mine take my door panel off to fix this before so I felt comfortable attempting it myself.

I'm really proud of myself for tackling this project. Although, I might be a little more hesitant to roll my window down in the future. =/

bike ride

I have been making frequent trips to the post office lately (which is a wonderful thing because that means the shop is doing well). This past weekend, I needed to make another run and although it's not terribly far, I didn't want to waste the gas. SO I decided to take a bike ride to the post office which is a 15 mile round trip.

I rode away from the foothills, into the valley.

Along the way, I saw lots of horses and cows. And on the way back, I saw a huge snake in my path (thankfully a car or something had already gotten him), and a few smaller snakes (again thankful...because I was at least on my bike and off the ground) and a poor jack rabbit too.

It was a beautiful day for a bike ride. Still trying to hold on to the sunshine. =)

Well, I'm off to the post office again this morning and then to Hungry Mother for some gardening and yummy produce.

peace!

Produce and Pine Cones

It's been a busy last couple of days. I worked at the nursery on Wednesday and picked (well, I should say 'dug up') my very first potatoes and beets! So maybe it doesn't sound all that exciting but I thought is was super cool. And not only did we dig up 3 different kinds of potatoes, one of them was PURPLE! Everything's cooler with fun colors. ;)

They are extra purple when they are wet. (top 2: dry. bottom 2: wet)

I made sure to bring my camera this week so you can see the corn stalk bouquets I was referring to last week. 

And a few other farm-y things.

Look, we have egg plants on the way.

And I have also been hard at work transforming my painted pine cones into ornaments. Yesterday, I hung some at the Art Center (where I have my paintings) and also brought some to Made in Lake Tahoe (where I have other handmade goodies on consignment). I also worked at MILT yesterday and painted a few while I was sitting there.... and sold my first one. =)

I made all the curly Qs different.

Let's see... oh, and today I dusted off my sewing machine. (No really, I did. Somehow even with a cover it got dusty.) And I put it to work for the first time in months.

 I made these cute legwarmers and plan to make more aprons. 3 out of the original 4 have sold.
Alright. back to it.

Wild Hair Wednesday

After taking out some of the more colorful pieces of string, leaving just a few more fall-ish colors, I then added pieces of patterned fabric.

I found this feather patterned sheet that just screams fall to me. So I decided to rip it into strips and tie a few into my hair.

 I left the ends longs on one side. And since I ripped the sheet, it left it frayed...adding to the feathered look.

Just a few here and there.

I also tried out a wider piece for a belt.

Welp, that's it for this week's edition of....WILD HAIR WEDNESDAY! hehe

What is Organic?

With all this gardening lately, I've started wondering. I hear people talk about ORGANIC and how it's better for me, but what does it mean to be organic? Food wise, that is.

There is lots of information out there (which I myself have not delved into yet). I did however, find this article that does a good job summarizing it, but also gives links to expanded information if you feel inclined to read on.

Sustainable Baby Steps has some answers.

My Booth

This past weekend, I participated in an outdoor craft fair. We literally set up in the parking lot...see the car parked in the stall next to me?

I picked the spot that led right into the store, Heartstrings. I thought it created a pretty good flow.

A few took the space on the sidewalk/'courtyard' area in front of the store.

Here's my cute table of painted pine cones.

I had a Christmas Side.

And a Fall side. 

I had most of them in sets of 6, although I have since started making more individual ones and have turned them into ornaments.

 I sold this spunky one to a cool chick from Oregon.

Here are some of the dried flowers I mentioned in my last post. I got the two big ones from the nursery and the rest is actually sage brush from our back yard. And isn't my orange pitcher the coolest! My mama gave that to me for my birthday last month.

 And here's the rest of it. The owner was super helpful. Not only did she let me borrow her table and grid panels, but she also helped me set it up.

And here are my best sellers. Since I list these on etsy, I have pictures of most of them. So I printed up my favorite picture of each and made little tags for them. I used diaper pins to fasten them to the legwarmers and keep the pair together. I was so excited to sell my first one of the day, that I forgot to ask for the pin back. =( That was sad and so was that fact that they took home my very favorite pair. Anyone remember which pair is my very favorite? Well, even if you don't remember, you can probably guess. The rainbow striped ones of course! They sold first, then I sold the black sparkly ones, and then the grey/black/red and white pair.

The weather was totally cooperative. There was sunshine and no wind. At exactly the time we started packing up, the slightest little wind started to pick up. Perfect timing. So it turned out to be a pretty decent day.

Project Thursday

I really got in the Fall spirit today. At the nursery, we bundled corn stalks and dried flowers and then used them to decorate the store front. This girl from Kansas felt a little closer to 'home'. Sorry, I didn't snap a photo. However, I did take a few of the corn tassels and flowers home and will for sure be taking some pictures of them this weekend.

I am doing my first outdoor show this Saturday. It will be outside a little gift shop called Heartstrings located at 1572 Hwy 395 in Minden, Nevada. I am bringing my painted pine cones, upcycled clothing, retro racks, and a few paintings I snagged back from the Art Center yesterday.

I had just brought 2 of the paintings to the center last week, managing to squeeze them in by angling a couple of the big ones. Although a tiny bit of room was made because.... I sold my first painting to a stranger last month! You might recall that that was one of the goals on my 31 before 32 list. I only missed it by 10 days, but it's all the same to me. =)

Tomorrow I'm gathering all my goodies and setting up a mock table so I'll be all ready for the show on Saturday. I'll be there from 9am til 3pm. If you're in the area, come say hi! I'm using the corn stalk tassels and flowers to decorate my booth so you might just get into the Fall spirit too.

the Sunday Special - Carrot Cake

I'm still juicing away. Mostly carrots. And of course, that means more pulp. The carrot "patties" haven't been perfected yet, but I thought I'd try a carrot cake this time. I had a couple events last weekend that were potluck style and figured that was a good excuse for cake. As always, I used a recipe mostly as a guideline and then just had fun with it.

Here's a link to the recipe I found --> carrot cake.
And below is what I did.

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
• plain yogurt - about 1 cup (I had added a pear & a nectarine to it so the fruit went into the recipe too)
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 1/2 cups of carrot (and a little celery, spinach, and who know what) pulp

• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• yogurt - maybe a couple tablespoons (same kind as above)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease two 9 inch cake pans.
2. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, yogurt, white sugar, and 2 teaspoons vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Gradually mix the 2 bowls together. Stir in carrots. (Using a mixer to add in the carrot pulp was crucial because it was so dense.) Pour half into each prepared pan.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
4. While the cake is baking, make the frosting. In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, yogurt, confectioners' sugar, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. I set it in the frig to set up a bit. I didn't have time to let the cake cool so I stuck one of the pans in the freezer for about 5-10 minutes. I didn't remove it from the pan. I frosted the top of the cake and out the door it went. It was still slightly warm when it arrived at the party. 

 I took the second cake to another party the next day. That time I cut the cake up into bite size pieces so it was easy to just grab one and go, plus I didn't need to bring any utensils with me.

Check out the plate! It is so fitting. A bunny in a watering can with a bunch of carrots on the ground beside him.

This was actually the very first time that I can remember ever making carrot cake and it turned out delicious! Seriously. There are quite a few people who could vouch for me. =)

Will & Natalie's Wedding

 My friends Will and Natalie got married last weekend on a beautiful Tahoe day. The weather was perfect for an outdoor ceremony. 

the handsome groom

 

the happy bride

friends Izzy and Jeremy

friends John and Natalie

husband and wife =)

The bride with her sister and mom. Don't let her fool you, she is taller than her sister. Reminds me of my trio. My older shorter blond sister and mom.

And there was lots of this going on. As there should be.