daily photo | happy halloween

october 31, 2009 | happy halloween!!

halloween tidings... Merry halloween wishes to each of you. I am still a little amazed that the end of October has arrived, but I have two little Power Rangers that are extremely excited to go trick-or-treating tonight in the village. May you each have a delightful day of autumn joy.

daily photo | autumn leaves

october 27, 2009 | the only con to living in the woods... raking

garden | planting garlic

growing garlic... I finally got my chance to plant my garlic this Sunday. I had planned on getting my garlic at the Common Ground Fair back in September like I do each year, but we actually ended up missing the Fair for the first time in ten years. I couldn't find any planting garlic anywhere around here, so I turned to the web and found a great variety at thegarlicstore.com.

I planted hardneck this past summer and loved the shelf life of the bulbs. I'm still partaking in garlic harvest back in August. I grew Music last year, but in a quest for larger cloves, I'm testing out Siberian hardneck. I'm also planting a patch of softneck, Early Red Italian. This is an artichoke-style of garlic with layers of cloves.

Don't forget to be on the lookout next summer for the garlic scapes. They are absolutely delightful. They taste like a garlicky green bean. You'll need to be trimming these off anyway from the plant in order for the bulb to fully develop so why done dine in delight.

daily photo | phlox pod

october 26, 2009 | phlox pod

recycle | sock puppets

sock puppets... Come one now, who can resist that face? There is something about sock puppets. They are so very simple, yet full of personality. My four- and six-year-olds have been asking for a puppet. This weekend I sat down and in less than 30 minutes produced two custom designed sock puppets for my boys.

The best thing about this project is that you do not need to have any real sewing skill, just a sock and some thread. Have your children pitch in on the puppet design. Have them donate a sock to the cause. Next, pick through fabric scraps and buttons and add ears, noses, mouths, whatever your heart's content. On the deck for next weekend is turning an old sheet or cardboard box into a puppet stage.

daily photo | black-eyed susan

october 25, 2009 | someone forgot to tell this Black-Eyed Susan that winter is coming

recipe | pumpkin soup

pumpkin soup... I should warn you that I am a stream-of-consciousness kind of cook. I have a couple of beliefs in cooking. First and foremost, always eat in season. Hence the flurry of pumpkin recipes. Secondly, make do with what you have in your pantry. And finally, if you use good, quality ingredients, how can it come out bad? So with that said, let it be known that the pumpkin soup recipe that I am about to share is something I totally winged. Truth be told, it came out delicious. Healthy, yes. But delicious.

I used the other half of the pie pumpkin that I roasted last week. Note that the Lumina pumpkin shown above is not only an attractive carving pumpkin, but it is provides super sweet eating.

Since I still have dozens of carrots still in the garden, I grab three to grate and toss into the mix. I've read some recipes where they used pears. I figured freshly-picked carrots are just as sweet. And you'll need a quick grate of nutmeg to finish this dish off.

I am also a believer in slow cooking. I think so much flavor is developed in the food we eat when we allow it to slowly meld together in the pot. For this recipe, I caramelized one medium size onion. The key to making good caramelized onions is patience. Cook on a low heat for a long time, stirring often.

a tasteful garden's pumpkin soup

serves 4 appetizer side dishes of soup

1/2 of a roasted 5lb. pie pumpkin

3 small carrots, grated

2 medium sized potatoes, diced

1 medium sized onion, diced

2T unsalted butter

4c chicken stock

1/4c white wine (I used a Pinot Grigio)

1/2c half and half

grated nutmeg to taste

kosher salt

cracked black pepper

Melt the butter in a heavy bottom saucepan. Caramelize the onions for 30 minutes over low heat until golden brown. Add wine and increase heat to medium. Boil off the wine until only the onions remain. Add the potatoes and stock and simmer for 20 minutes. Add carrots and pumpkin purée. Simmer for an additional 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat. Use an emulsion blender to smooth out the soup. Add the half and half and spices. Return to low simmer for five minutes. Serve garnished with roasted pumpkin seeds.

daily photo | the bee hive

october 24, 2009 | it's raining outside, so here's a shot from the other day...The Bee Hive, an old building not too far from my work. Truthfully, it's the 1953 sign I'm in love with.

wishlist | in the kitchen with anthropologie

in the kitchen with anthropologie... Maybe it is because it's been rainy out all morning and I've been whittling away the morning hours sitting by the fireplace paging through cookbooks, or maybe because I was due for my monthly Anthropologie fix, either way, there is something about Anthropologie's kitchen and tablewares that always makes me want to throw a dinner party. They are just plain fun.

As a habitual collector of dishtowels, I need to show some restraint when I gaze upon great prints like the Birder dishtowel (above left, $24) and Tree-Dwelling (above right, $24).

shown clockwise from left: Stockholm Floral Apron ($28), Diminutive Spice Cellars ($28),

Olivewood Grain Scoop ($24), Acorn Shakers ($24)

I've got Thanksgiving on my mind right now and I am coveting the apron and tableware shown here. I'll be hosting this year's celebrations and with it being my favorite holiday and all, I dream of the perfect table setting. I especially love the footed urn... that would make a great centerpiece. Of course, I am driven back down to reality by budget, but I take my inspiration from these items and try to paw through old treasures I already have to recreate the same type of feeling.

shown clockwise from top left: Dew Drop Coffee Spoons ($78), Teatime Spoons ($28),

Beast's Feast Bowl ($78), and Butterfly Study Dinnerware ($10-$32)

life cycle | lily of the valley

life cycle | lily of the valley... Five years ago, my friend and I went to the annual Wolfe's Neck plant sale in Freeport. It was there that I first picked up a couple of rhizomes of Lily of the Valley to plant at my new house. I was so thrilled. I love Lily of the Valley. The bring back childhood memories of visiting my grandmother's home in the Berkshires. All around the base of this huge tree in her yard grew these fragrant, delicate delights.

With each new Spring comes additional shoots of these flowers (shown above mixed with some hostas). My hopes are than in a few more years, they will have spread along the boulders of granite that line the slope of our woods.

My biggest surprise was discovering the red berry that forms on some plants long after the flowers have dropped. Never before had I noticed this. This little berry actually contain seeds. Since Lily of the Valley generally propagate via rhizomes, it is neat to learn that these previously thought sterile plants can actually set seed. Though I have heard the harvesting and saving these seeds can be especially tricky, it is something I'd definitely like to check out more.

Frost frozen flat to the bare ground, this joyous plant dies back down to wait out the long, cold winter.

daily photo | dried spider mums

october 20, 2009 | dried spider mums

recipe | pumpkin chocolate chip cookies

for the love of pumpkin... Pumpkins just rock. I really think they come close to being a perfect food. Not only do they provide immense autumnal visual pleasure, they also are an excellent storage fruit, as well as a nutritional-packed superfood.

My boys gobble the treats shown in this post with wild abandon. My goal this fall is to have them react the same when presented with a bowl full of yummy pumpkin soup. So far the family has not been too receptive to the concept. I'll be sharing a recipe next week that I bet with make them change their mind... after all, this is the recipe made me a pumpkin soup convert.

pumpkin seeds, pumpkin seeds, pumpkin seeds! Without question, my favorite part of the pumpkin are the seeds. I love roasted pumpkin seeds. I highly recommend sprinkling them on, well, just about anything. The key to really tasty roasted pumpkin seeds is to not wash the seeds before roasting. For years, I harvested the seeds and then rinsed them off in a colander. Totally wrong! Just separate the seeds from the pumpkin matter, toss on a cookie sheet with sea salt and cracked pepper. Roast at 350º for 20 minutes or until golden brown, stirring several times. Instant happiness.

pumpkin chocolate chip cookies... These cookies are more like light, fluffy, moist cakes. In all honesty, slather some cream cheese frosting and make a sandwich of two cookies and you'll have a homemade whoopie pie in minutes.

You can use canned pumpkin, or you can roast a whole pumpkin and use that puree. I picked up a pie pumpkin at the farmer's market this weekend, so I just cut the pumpkin in half, cleaned out the seeds, little drizzled the cut edges of the pumpkin with olive oil, and then placed faced down on an aluminum foil lined cookie sheet. Bake at 350º for one hour. Let cool to touch, and then peel off the outer shell. All that remains is the recipe ready pumpkin. I used 16oz (one half of a roasted pumpkin) for this recipe, but you can adjust the amount of pumpkin to taste.

The recipe below is from Jennifer at allrecipes.com. I made two slight adjustments: one is adding more pumpkin, and the other is using both brown and white sugar.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 c canned pumpkin (*I used 16oz. roasted pumpkin)

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon milk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, and egg. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt. Dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir in. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix well. Add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts. Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350ºF (175 ºC) for approximately 10 minutes or until lightly brown and firm.

daily photo | prickly pods

october 19, 2009 | prickly pods

daily photo | mum

october 18, 2009 | yesterday's mums were so pretty, i had to shoot them again

photographic study | gourds, pumpkins and squash

photographic study | gourds, pumpkins and squash... Last Sunday evening I had to hastily run out to my garden and harvest all the gourds, pumpkins and squash off their vines due to the evening's predicted killing frost. Good thing I did because the next morning I awoke to a field of frozen vines.

Though we had an unusually early start to the planting season this summer, the heavy rains of June and July dampened the the abilities of these fall crops to truly flourish. My Sweet Meat squash failed to produce anything more than tendrils and leaves. The Baby Blue Hubbards and Burgess Buttercups faired slightly better, but are all on the very small side. A couple of Lumina pumpkins made it, but the Baby Pams did not. Thankfully, the gourds persisted and added color and glee to the garden.