Book Barn Booty

So I promised I'd share the books I got on our road trip this past weekend. I think I showed great restraint. This is all we bought:



In the foreground is a pile of what we call "beach reads" (appropriate for our January beach day, right?). We're exhausted mamas these days, and reach for easy reading most often. You can see I cracked one of them right away (and can't put it down!)

And then, of course, there's the real treasure--the kids' books. Kids books get read over and over and over again, so I have to love them! I got some great ones. Those Little Golden Books are really exciting to me, because I remember them fondly from childhood. Eloise Wilkins pretty much defines my early childhood book memories, and that kindergarten book looks to me just exactly like what kindergarten should be: singing and playing and fingerpainting and napping (not the pushed-down academics it's become). I have 4 kids heading to kindergarten this fall (no, not mine!) and I'll love sharing this book with them. And Rabbit and His Friends! For years I wondered what was that platypus book I remembered from childhood, and finally, Vintage Kids' Books My Kid Loves gave me the answer. She's also the one who inspired me to get Plenty of Fish. I love how it shows a kid finding answers to his own scientific questions. And I got The Tomten and the Fox for my chicken-loving, fox-loving, predator-and-prey-stories-loving kids. And a Flicka, Ricka, and Dicka book for me because something about their sweet old-fashioned innocence appeals to me so. There's more in there, too, but I guess those are the ones that excited me the most.

Cozy cashmere for the Craft Hope Etsy Shop

So, I decided what to make for the Craft Hope Etsy shop (have you been there yet? Such beautiful things! Going so, so quickly! I'm thrilled to hear they've made over $7,000 so far.)

I'm sorry the pictures are so bad; I finished it in broad daylight, but my model was napping! I wanted to get it to them right away, so I hope shoppers can see past the bad lighting.



Lucy likes it, anyway!



My donation was a "Cashmere Baby Dress and Longies Set"

This wonderfully soft and cozy outfit is made from a recycled, felted lavender cashmere sweater. Included are a pair of "longies" (wool diaper-cover pants), which will come lanolized and ready to wear. (If you don't use cloth diapers, they make lovely leggings, too.) There's also a comfy dress, warm enough for winter, but lightweight enough to carry right over into spring. Eyelet trim on the arms and pocket give it a cute girly look. This outfit is made for play--it moves with your child and doesn't get in the way of crawling or walking.

Want a cute, comfy outfit for your baby? Need some more diaper covers? $30, and all of it goes to Doctors Without Borders. It should be in the shop by tomorrow.

(I said I'd share my books with you, and I will...tomorrow. This seemed more pressing.)

Road trip

Every January, I get an urge to go to the beach. One year, on our way to the nearest beaches, we made a wonderful discovery: the Book Barn (actually several barns and sheds and decrepit buildings, housing thousands of books and countless cats). That became our January beach-day companion destination. The next year, we brought friends, and they asked to go to Mystic Pizza. Today, we headed out for that same road trip, sure to become an annual affair.

The book barn is a dream for book-lovers (if you can handle the cat smell...). Here is just a tiny portion of the craft section:



And here are the Little Golden Books in the kids' room:



(I'll show you my finds tomorrow. Several came from these boxes.)

Once we'd filled our bags with books, we headed off to Mystic for its famous pizza.



Julia Roberts wasn't there today, but we got to watch her in all her big-haired glory on a silently-running t.v. while we ate. And they made Andi and Lucy a dairy-free pizza. Happy baby!



Finally, it was time for the beach. Unfortunately, by now it had started to rain, and the temperature was dropping. But nothing keeps me from the beach. Our first glimpse:



Ahhh...something about that vast expanse of sand and water just melts all my stress away.

We had different ways of exploring. Tim and Eric walked:



Lucy got down on her belly and put her face right down for a good taste of the sand:



We weren't quick enough to catch it on camera, but we were there just in time to watch a seagull try to manage its meal of a giant starfish.

By then we were thoroughly chilled and ready to get back in the car. But I can't wait to go back. Books, pizza, and the ocean...a perfect antidote for January.

Thaw!

It's a brilliant blue day, warm enough to go out in just a sweater. I've been really disappointed in the minimal snowfall so far this winter, but I can't complain about a break in the cold that's as lovely as this!

The ground has turned to mud and that meant the chicken coop was in desperate need of a clean-out. I had to chase the chickens out of the coop and into the sun (they're very timid about the snow).

They fluttered in a flurry of ineffective wings from muddy patch to muddy patch.



Slowly, they began to dare to step onto the snow.



They escaped cold toes by roosting in my neighbor's "rust garden."



But then Rosie dared to mince her way across the expanse of snow to the woods.





Where she goes, the others follow.



Now they're happily scratching and foraging in the sunny leaf mold under the trees. And I'm off to do more chores that will take me outside.

Craft Hope's Etsy Shop for Haiti

It seems all my favorite bloggers are writing about Haiti, far better than I could hope to do. So I'll keep it short and sweet and just say Craft Hope has set up an Etsy shop as a fundraiser for Doctors without Borders. There are gorgeous things there, if you're in the mood to buy (100% of proceeds will be donated). I'm thinking about what to make to offer for sale (any suggestions?).

Allergy-friendly teether recipe

You are not likely to get many recipes from me here. I'm not a great cook, and I'm certainly not creative with my cooking: I generally follow recipes to the letter. However, I cook A LOT. I make six children 2 snacks and 2 meals a day, in addition to helping with evening and weekend meals for our family. And we've made a commitment to eating only local produce and trying to avoid unnecessary packaging, so that means most things are made from scratch. Add to that the fact that Lucy has allergies, and I've been forced to become a bit more creative.

So I do have a recipe to share today, because I was really frustrated when I tried to find one for teething crackers I could make for Lucy. She's allergic to dairy and soy, which means that even if I wanted to buy some, it'd be really hard to do. (But I don't want to buy them, because of all the packaging, and transportation, and unnecessary ingredients, and too much sugar...) We're also supposed to be extra-careful about potential allergens, like honey and eggs, because of her history. So I was surprised and frustrated to find out that most teething-cracker recipes included ingredients I couldn't use: eggs (have to wait until after a year old), honey (ditto), bananas (not local)... Hmm. Time to get creative.

I found a recipe in Vicki Lansky's Feed Me, I'm Yours for "Homemade Graham Crackers," which she said could be rolled thicker to make teething biscuits. I altered the recipe so much, I feel ok about sharing it here.

Lucy's Teething Crackers

1 C. whole wheat flour
1 C. oat flour
1 t. baking powder
1/4 C. coconut oil
1/2 C. maple syrup
1/4 C. coconut milk

Combine flours and baking powder. Cut in coconut oil until consistency of cornmeal. Stir in maple syrup and coconut milk to make a stiff dough.

Roll out to 1/2 inch thick or so. Cut. Prick with a fork. Bake at 400 on ungreased baking sheet for 18 minutes or until golden brown.


(Ok, so the coconut oil and milk are SO not local, but they are our favorite, tasty substitutes for butter and milk, adopted since this allergy came up; it makes baking so much easier. Also, I'd like to experiment with less sweetener, but I'd changed so many ingredients I left it alone for this run. I'm going to substitute some applesauce for part of it next time.)

Sometimes Lucy likes to gnaw on them. Sometimes, she wants us to break off pieces for her to eat. They're loved by the pickiest eater in my group, and so I tried one myself, and found they're really tasty! Let me know if you try them, or if you have any favorite teether recipes to share.

Christmas cards, reincarnated

We finally got all the Christmas things stored away this weekend, and tucked in with them are some new ornaments. After I saw these, I knew I wanted to make some; and in the spirit of do-it-while-it's-fresh-in-your-mind, I did it this weekend, using this year's Christmas cards. (We keep those with letters from family and friends, but if it's just signed? It's getting chopped up and remade into something else. Usually tags for next year's gifts, but we have too many of those right now...)





Ok, so it's not a gift, but it is for Christmas next year, so maybe it's a start in the right direction?

The specifics:

For my first one, I cut the suggested measurements in half, to accommodate the smaller size of the cards. It was hard to curve the pieces without bending them when they were that little.

For the following ones, I just made the strips about an inch different from each other: almost 8 inches, almost 7 inches, 6 inches, 5 inches, for example, using full strips sometimes and cutting some to make them short enough.

I had a hard time getting a good photo, but I think you get the gist. I plan to hang them in windows next year.