Now Open!

It has finally happened. I have come up with, made, photographed and posted a product to sell on Etsy.

It’s been a (much much too) long time coming.

Presenting, FranklintonKnits!

things I’ve been researching.

I’ve been doing a lot of internet research lately:

Figuring out which formulation of penetrating oil mix we should use to refinish the original wood floors at the farmhouse.

Looking for inspiration for a knitting art project for my first ever fiber arts show entry.

Finding activities that are free, fun and appropriate for 2.5 year-old boys to get energy out.

Mapping the best biking routes to get to and fro, so that I can rely less on the car.

Now I need to start doing these things. It’s time to finish up the research and get back into action. If only it would stop snowing outside…

doing for ourselves vs. doing with others

I’ve been ruminating on this subject lately.

Making something with my own hands is so satisfying.

I’ve been knitting – a lot – and each time something comes off of the needles (that means I’m finished knitting it, for those unfamiliar with the jargon), there is an immense feeling of accomplishment. I just MADE that fabric. From a never-ending strand of yarn. With nothing but wooden sticks. Really. I just did that.

I’ve been preparing healthy foods for my family from scratch. As recent as one year ago I was still relying on the box of Jiffy when I wanted to make pancakes. Now I mix flour with baking powder, milk, oil, egg, honey and whatever extras I want. And there is a certain satisfaction that comes from knowing that my family has fuel to get through the next few hours of whatever we have planned because of what I just did.

The feelings of accomplishment and satisfaction fill me. But I am wanting more lately. That desire has a name. Community.

I cherish the time that Darren spends cooking with me in the kitchen and the time that I spend knitting while Dennis plays guitar beside me. And I’m ready to be IN our community. We see them once a week, and sometimes twice, but my heart is ready to be there NOW.

There is much pride to be found in doing things for yourself, relying less on products that are made for your consumption and putting the energy into figuring them out for yourself. But there is so much more to be found in taking on those same tasks alongside others. Someone standing next to you, kneading dough to the same tempo. Someone digging the earth with the same hope for a fruitful harvest. Someone sharing in the awe of creation.

Do you agree?

no more promises.

.
Remember my last post?

I made this promise: “…I will be back, December 27th, with photos of every gift we created this season.“

I failed. I have learned. I will not be making anymore promises. I am moving on.

And speaking of moving on, you can find my family somewhere along the moving on (or moving forward) continuum in a few different areas of life.

The biggest, and the most tenuous and stressful, area of change is happening with our living arrangements. We’re moving. We’re selling. We’re downsizing. We’re clearing our space of clutter. We’re focusing on what we need rather than what we want. We’re scrutinizing our life to figure out both the best use of our resources and how much of those resources we really need. We’re focusing on our relationships with others, the earth and ourselves.

This process is both exhausting and exhilarating, and it is the reason I’ve not posted an update since December 24th. I needed to be in a freer headspace, and I needed to have time to carve out of my day in order to keep up with the amount of posting, and the depth of content of those posts, that I want to require of myself.

Some people who read this post might be interested to know what exactly we’ll be doing when our house sells. If that’s you, you’ll be happy to know that this is not a teaser post.

We’ll become the host family in the intern-housing home just purchased by Franklinton Gardens. The occupants, other than us, will be mostly college students. They’ll participate in the new internship program and receive housing in exchange for working for the Gardens for a period from 3 to 12 months. This allows the interns to be immersed in the community they’ll be serving by growing and selling fresh, organic produce to their neighbors.

Franklinton is one of the most impoverished neighborhoods in Columbus, Ohio, and health-related deaths are high among the marginalized in society. Franklinton does not have a grocery store. The nearest one is not easily accessible by bus, which means that the residents rely heavily on the available items at the local drug store, convenience stores, fast food establishments and corner stores in the neighborhood. The items available there are not life-sustaining. They are pre-packaged, processed junk. That means our soon-to-be neighbors don’t have necessary vitamins, minerals, whole grains, lean proteins, and on and on, to sustain them.

Franklinton Gardens is working to provide access to these missing elements of life for the neighborhood. You can read more on their website

This change is missional for us. We’ll be living a simpler life which reduces our impact on the earth – which we’re called to steward. We’ll be living in community with people who love us – a need that is woven into the fabric of what it means to be human. We’ll be connected with the outside environment while volunteering in the gardens – an experience that feeds the soul and should be part of every child’s upbringing. We’ll be able to grow and preserve more whole foods than we can in our current small-ish yard – a move towards more healthy bodies for us, too.

I’m jubilant about this one “moving on” piece of our lives. My excited anticipation builds as each new thing is accomplished in the renovation of the Farmhouse. I’m cautiously optimistic each time our house is shown to a potential buyer, and I’m let down each time we receive feedback indicating that an offer won’t be made from a showing. And there are other projects being brought forward, in conjunction with our upcoming move and separate from our upcoming move, that are keeping me busier than I’ve ever found myself.

It’s a rollercoaster. Because of that, I make no promises.

recovery.

We’re all recovering from a few different waves of illness including, but not limited to: stomach bug, cold, sinus infection, flu, asthma flare up…

Thankfully, two of us seem to be on the mend just in time for Christmas. The asthma seems to be returning for the third.

Through it all, we’ve been crafting like crazy to get all of our Christmas projects finished. That has included: coloring, wood burning, knitting, sawing, laminating, sanding, cutting, taping, tying, drilling, pounding, braiding, knotting and sewing. Plus cleaning, cleaning and cleaning.

All of that has kept us quite busy, and I know I’ve broken my three posts a week promise. But here’s a promise I will not break – I will be back, December 27th, with photos of every gift we created this season.

And shortly thereafter, I will have a tutorial for the project that used these supplies.

Lastly, I have had these on the brain lately.
(And here’s a picture of them, to make your mouth water.)

Come on, you know you want to click that link and find out how to make them yourself…

sandwich bread recipe.

Here it is! My most delicious sandwich bread recipe, first in writing, then in pictures.

Wheat Sandwich Bread
makes 2 loaves

Ingredients:
5 t active dry yeast (that’s 2 packs + 1/2t, if you don’t use bulk)
1/2 c hot water (120-130 degrees Fahrenheit)
1 t sugar

5 c King Arthur White Whole Wheat flour
2 c King Arthur Sir Lancelot flour (can substitute white bread flour, but Sir Lancelot is better)
1 c powdered milk (I use soy due to dairy intolerance)
3 t salt
4 T oil (I’ve been experimenting with decreasing by 1 T to no detriment so far)
3 T honey or molasses
2.5 c warm/hot water
Additional flour to adjust
Oil/shortening/butter/etc. for greasing bowl and bread pans

Equipment:
Large mixing bowl
2 bread pans
Clean surface for kneading

1) Proof yeast: Add yeast to 1/2 c hot water and dissolve. Add 1 t sugar to feed your yeast. Allow to double in volume.

2) Make dough: While yeast is proofing, in a large bowl combine dry ingredients well (flours, powdered milk, salt). Add oil, honey/molasses, yeast mixture and water. Stir until you feel it’s ready to be kneaded.

3) Knead: Flour a clean work surface. Turn your dough out of the bowl. Knead for 6 to 8 minutes until you get a uniform, elastic ball of dough. Form into a ball (Flour as needed if the dough is sticking to your hands or the work surface.)

4) First rise: Wash your large bowl, grease it lightly, and roll the ball of dough around in the bowl to cover all surfaces with a thin layer of oil/shortening/butter/whatever you use. Cover bowl loosely with a towel and place in a warm location and let dough rise to roughly double in size (60-90 minutes). (I choose the bathroom next to the heat vent. It’s the warmest room in the house!)

5) Second rise: Grease TWO bread pans. Turn dough out onto a clean, lightly floured surface and divide in two equal pieces. Knead each piece somewhat lightly for 10 strokes. Shape each piece into a loaf-like shape and let relax for a few minutes. Shape again into loaf shapes. (At this point, I turn the top of the loaf under two or three times as shown in the 4-photo series below.) Place each loaf into a bread pan, return loaves to a warm location, cover loosely with a towel, and let rise to about one inch above the bread pan (30-60 minutes). As the end of the rising period is approaching, turn your oven on to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

6) Bake: Place both loaves on the same rack in the middle of your oven. Bake until they reach an internal temperature of 190 degrees Fahrenheit. This usually takes 35-45 minutes, depending on oven. After a few times making this recipe, you’ll know how long they need to bake. Turn loaves out to cool on a cooling rack, and try not to burn yourself when you cut into one too early causing steam to rush out of the bread. Really, it can burn you! Hold the loaf with a towel while you cut it, and keep your knife hand far from the release of steam. (Alternatively, you can wait until the bread cools to cut in…but who can wait?!).

Voila! Let me know how much you love it!

another secret project.

I know that in my last post I bragged that the next post (that would be this one) would be my recipe for the most outstanding bread ever. I failed to take into account that the next day we would need to make bread wouldn’t coincide with my next post. So that special post will have to wait a short while.

In the meantime, I’ve collected the necessary components for what I hope will be an extremely unique and awesome holiday surprise project. I won’t reveal the exact elements, and I can’t tell you who the project is for. But I think I’ll be able to post the final fruits sometime next week. And if it turns out as terrific as I hope, I will add a tutorial!

Here is a glimpse at what I’ve assembled. I got a few strange looks standing in the plumbing aisle at the hardware store.

Adios, amigos. Back to knitting again.

potatoes and bread.

(Alternate title: awesome homegrown heirloom potatoes and the best bread ever.)

We try to cultivate and make as much of our own food as we can manage. Time constraints, a small yard, legal restrictions (come on, Grandview…they’re just chickens!) and limited budget don’t allow for as much as I can daydream about, but I think we do fairly well.

This Sunday we attended a monthly potluck with 17 adults and children. We brought to share with our friends the last of this year’s potato harvest, roasted with olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic chives. They were delicious!

Here are our three heirloom varieties, just after being chopped.

I’ve been including Darren in more kitchen tasks, and he particularly loves breadmaking. I’m sure it’s partly because he loves to stick his fingers in the honey while mixing so he can have a taste, “yummy!”, and eat the raw dough as I’m trying to knead.

This time, I wised up and gave him his own small ball of dough to knead. Strangely enough, none remained after my 8 minutes of kneading time had elapsed. Hmmm….

I must take a moment to brag a bit about my sandwich bread recipe. It’s so wonderful every time. It’s wonderful when it over rises because some toddler won’t fall asleep, leaving me pinned in the bedroom when I should be putting bread in the oven. And it’s wonderful when it under rises due to my (lack of) time management skills.

It’s so wonderful that my next post will be a recipe. And I will place bets that anyone who makes it, with the correct flours, will love it as much as we do in our house.

You hear me? Bets. This is seriously good bread, people.

quick Darren recap.

For those who browse this blog hoping to see cute pictures of my child, this is your lucky day!

As I spend more and more time working on secret Christmas presents, my etsy shop that I’m not ready to reveal and the Holiday Traditions Exchange, I have less that I’m able to write about for fear of secrets escaping. There is one project that I hope to share with you soon. Dennis and I will be working together on a special Christmas gift for Darren. We’re both quite excited.

For now, here’s Darren!

Hiking in John Bryan State Park.

Yes, it’s not Darren, but I couldn’t resist showing off baby Liam, first son of my very best friend.

With buddy Ramón at COSI.

Going to Sabra and Tom’s wedding.

Bouncing on the trampoline with Dada.

Looking dapper on the cruise ship before formal night (and with his first haircut!).

Taking a trip to the apple orchard.

Standing on the back of a fire engine at Ramón’s birthday party, wearing his mama-made sweater.

That’s all I can muster for now. The knitting in the corner is taunting me.

someone turned two.

I’ll give you a hint: it wasn’t me.

For his birthday, we surprised Darren with a big sign on the nursery room door.

And he got a train table from Nana and Papa.

And we took an afternoon Darren & Mom trip to Luck Bros. for his favorite, a chocolate chip cookie.

And we hit up his favorite place, the park.

I imagine every parent ends up reflecting on the “growing up” of their child each birthday. The common complaint is that they grow up too fast. Sometimes. Sometimes it’s slow. Sometimes you want to go back in time to the baby days. Sometimes you don’t.

But you can’t control that. You have now. And now is pretty great.