Cabin Dreams

It’s a dreary dark and rainy January afternoon. No snow to play in, no sun shining, and maybe totally depressing if it weren’t for a nice warm fire, my beloved french press, and a little day dreaming. I’ve been imagining a tiny self sufficient cabin from salvaged materials up in the woods for a long time now, and what fortunate timing to have stumbled upon this little gem freecabinporn.com to give me a lil sumpin’ sumpin’ to feast my eyes upon. Porn, indeed…. It was hard for me to stop looking last night all cozied up next to the wood stove. I started taking notes. And getting really excited! With all the excellent links, I spiraled deep down the rabbit hole of back country, ski access, and otherwise only hike-able retreats. Holy moly! I have plans to document my dad’s sap house once I retrieve my camera from Brooklyn and submit the images to this new found favorite “Cabin Porn”. Until then doodles will have to suffice. The above sketch is a day dream from a while ago, when I was in Idaho actually, of what I might do to the little house I am currently living in, if I ever had money to make improvements. Notice the greenhouse on the right? It’s almost time to start planting seeds for spring!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Is it winter yet??

This weather has been wacky. We haven’t had a good dumping of snow on the east coast since that freak storm in OCTOBER, and temperatures have been high enough to go outside without a jacket. Although the forecast looks like it’s finally going to cool out, I figured I’d urge on winter with a little CHILI… Following the waste not, want not vein of things, I have carefully developed this recipe to simultaneously help you clean out your refrigerator and create a delicious winter meal. My camera is locked up down in Brooklyn for the time being, so – sorry no pictures.

HEATHER’S GARBAGE DAY CHILI

(1)  28 oz can of stewed tomatoes (or two 14s!… whatever you have!)
(4) 15.5 oz. cans of any kind of beans, last time i used kidney,
black, roman, and small red. If you have beans stocked at your house,
just use whichever cans are going to expire sooner. It’s like the
lottery! Which four will win!?
(1) small head of garlic (or 8 – 10 cloves)
(2) medium sized onions
(2) cups morning star veggie grounds meal starter or other protein sub
(the fake sausage is really good)
a potato or two or three and any other veggies you may have in your
fridge that need using.
lots of olive oil, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, chilli pepper or red
pepper flakes on hand for seasoning.

Throw a spattering of olive oil in a large fry pan on medium. Chop the
potato into nice dime sized bits and cover in said fry pan with oil,
you want to cook until the potatoes are still a little firm, just
almost to done. Meanwhile, cut up an onion however you like it, big
giant triangle pieces? small tiny diced pieces? It’s your call. Stir
those potatoes, rough ‘em up, turn ‘em over, toss ‘em around a bit,
one side might be getting brown already. yum. Chop up the garlic, in
large healthy chunks, I think garlic presses are for pussies. By the
time you’re done with all that knife work the potatoes might be where
they need to be and you can uncover and add the garlic and onion. Stir
in a tablespoon of cayenne pepper and a few vigorous dashes of both
salt and pepper. Keep an eye on this mixture, poke at it every now and
then, as you start opening cans…
First the tomatoes, don’t drain them! Quarter those suckers so they’ll
be a good size on a spoon, and hence in mouth. Put them in a big pot
(the biggest you have?) on a medium low heat with all the juices, or
if you have a crock pot, put all of it in there on high. Go back to
the fry pan and add your chosen protein “meal starter” to the onion
garlic potato that’s been sizzling next to you. Also if you have any
other veggies to get rid of like peppers, mushrooms, spinach etc. add
them in here now too (chopped to size, duh!) Then back to the big pot
to continue on with the beans, drain their water into the tomato can,
or other vessel, on the side for later. Dump the drained beans in with
the tomato and stir everything up. If you have anything that you
already made that you want to add (for example I had a cup of rice in
my fridge that needed to be used, and some random stir fry veggies
that were already all cooked, you could even use up soup, or pretty
much anything else with vegetables) throw it all into the pot with the
beans and tomatoes! Once the potatoes are tender, top this off with
your hot frying onion/potato/garlic/fake meat/other miscellaneous
vegetable mix cooking away on that burner right there. Is your pot big
enough!? Stir it up, baby. Add a bit of the bean liquid you had put to
the side, just so there is liquid up to the height of all the
ingredients, not deeper. If you don’t have enough bean juice that’s ok
though, don’t worry about it… just go with it!
If you have been doing all this in a crock pot, good for you! It may
take a little longer for the chilli to chill-ify. If you are going the
stove top route you will need to watch your delicious concoction a bit
more carefully. Once everything’s all mixed and heated up a little bit
(5 minutes) give it a taste and gauge what kind of spicy you want. I
traditionally go for 16 dashes of red pepper flakes. If I know it’s a
spicy crowd I’m going to be serving, I’ll just go ahead and add a
fresh jalapeno pepper! wowza! Season to taste.
In an hour or so you will have chili! If you’re a lucky bastard and
have a crock pot, of course you can slow cook this and leave it all
day long to stew on low heat. Stove top people, here is a trick: stir
the stuff with a spatula, scraping the bottom with each stir to make
sure nothing is settling down there on the bottom to burn. If it gets
a little gunky, that’s ok! Just turn it down a notch or two, make sure
the bottom is scraped clear, and stir it all in, it may add a nice
smokiness! This recipe is all about using what you got a rolling with
the punches, so it will come out as a different variation of itself
every time. Variety keeps things fun! And you’ve cleaned out your
fridge!

Last Chance for Bulbs

Word up North East USA – Plant ‘em if you got ‘em, and do it quick before the ground freezes. There aint much time left.

I’m so excited to see what comes up in Spring!

Woodland Terrariums

FALLS VILLAGE, Connecticut: I have been foraging the forests around my house for fun, hunting moss, ferns and baby trees. I tucked the treasures away in interesting containers and vessels, also found (at local junk stores and antique shops…) and will be selling the creations among other clever crafts next weekend at the Hometown Holidays Artisan Sale in Lakeville. There will be a special opening reception this year, Friday evening, so if you are in the area please come join the festivities and get yourself some local goodies!

Dumps Like A Truck

FALLS VILLAGE, Connecticut: I woke a few weeks ago to the first snow fall of the 11/12 winter season. Little did I know this was just the beginning. A freak storm dumped 2 – 3′ on us up here in the NW corner! Power was out for over 300,000 people in CT alone, some for longer than 10 days. I escaped to the city for heat and water, but received this epic photo from the roommate…
When I returned home, I attempted to ride the white stuff – but it was just too darn heavy. Not sure I will be able to get used to this east coast sludge after a glorious winter of champagne powder out west. Up to me knees felt good either way though. I love snow.

Purple Fall

FALLS VILLAGE, Connecticut: In New England we are used to the reds oranges and yellows of the fall, but an unexpected hue caught my eye this year. Here is a catalog of some late blooming purples around my neck of the woods…

Lavender

Basil? Sage? (I can’t remember now…)

Verbena

Monks Hood

Pansy

Aster (growing wild roadside!)

Aster (domesticated, in my garden!)

Definitely Ornamental Basil

Fuscia (actually a house plant round these parts, or zone 10.)

Late Bloomers

NORTHWEST CORNER, Connecticut: As the blooming season is winding down for the year in New England, here’s a salute to some classic fall flowers before they fade away till next year. These images are from several of the gardens I tend these days… keep these plants in mind if you want to plan something pretty for next autumn.

Rudbeckia, comes in many varietals, including the well known Black Eyed Susan.

Hydrangea flowers will dry out and keep for winter arrangements, depending on water conditions.

Remember Hydra?? (my first post ever.) Well, she is doing grand with a crazy mix of pinks and blues, as you can see. These “Forever” hydrangeas are great because they bloom in both the spring and fall. Five years strong!

Echinacea, dependin’ on location, location, location (soil, sun, water, drainage, etc…) you may or may not have any flowers left this time of year.

Anenomes, one of my favorite as a cut flower to arrange in bouquets.

SUNFLOWERS! Planted late, and on their last legs.


Marigolds, come in all shapes in sizes. Although they might aesthetically have a bad reputation to some, they are helpful in deterring pests and can be great fall color in reds, oranges, yellows, and even white (my fave this year.)

More to come soon!

Let The Good Times Roll

FALLS VILLAGE, Connecticut: An old friend and a new friend came to visit me in the country and brought a bounty of delicious vegetables and fruits from a lil farm an hour north of me in Worthington, Mass. We cooked up a storm!

Breakfast first with coffee, potatoes, tomatoes, tomatillos, greens (including kale cutting silliness,) toast and fresh eggs from Wheatogue Farm with chunks of goat cheese.

Next came dinner, lemongrass marinated wild salmon, a side of brown rice, candied carrot, beet and radish, and garlicy greens with onion, broccoli and pepper. YUM!

What feasts! Cooking is fun.

Sticks & Stones

GREENPOINT, Brooklyn:  Design.Plot is taking shape! This post is a big thank you to Sprout Home, Sweethaven Farm and an  individual named Daniel for donating materials and plants to the cause last weekend. It’s great to be able to give all these contributions a “second life” and see some progress taking place on the lot. If you have any unwanted plants or building materials to get rid of please let us know! We’d be overjoyed to take any discards off your hands! You can email me at igrewthis@gmail.com to coordinate!

WE DID IT!

Thanks to everyone who believed in us, we met our goal on kickstarter and have begun the transformation! Stay tuned on the progress of {design.plot} HERE: http://designplot.tumblr.com/

Here are some images from our amazing day at Smorgasburg…

the lot! 08/13/11!

setting up camp for the day, riverside.

the finished booth!

close ups on our seed give away set up…

We are SO ready to BUILD SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL TOGETHER!