Taking a Minute

Sorry about the lack of post yesterday, we have been busy enjoying our time with visiting family and playing with the baby.  And cooking and eating a lot!  I have been taking lots of pictures though, so I'll be back next week with full posts of all of our adventures.  But for now, these pics below will give you a sense of what today is all about.  I hope you are all having a lovely weekend!!

 I bet you all think we use some fancy authentic from-scratch pancake recipe, right?  Wrong!  Bisquick original only for us, trans fats and and whole milk all the way!  Mmmm, mmmm, good.

DIY: Make Your Own Inspiration Board

Good morning all, here is the little DIY project I promised you yesterday!  There are loads of ways to customize this project and make it your own with different fabrics and sizes.  I made mine very plain, because I knew I'd be hanging a lot of jewelry on it, but if you plan to use it as a bulletin board or organizational center it would be really fun to use a more splashy fabric!  The base I used for the board is called Homasote, and you can get it at your local home center.  It is a soundproofing material made from recycled paper and soft enough to put pushpins in.  Oh, and please excuse how close up all the photos are, I had to take them myself, so it was hard to back up far enough and still hold the stapler!  I hope it is clear enough to follow.  Feel free to hit me up with questions if you get stuck somewhere, and if any of you try this project out I'd love to see pics of the finished product!  Happy crafting!

Enjoying a Little Jane Austen Moment

I spent the afternoon arranging flowers and making the house pretty for a long awaited visit from TH's parents; what a luxurious afternoon of girly domesticity!  

New Inspiration Board!

Here are some pictures of my new inspiration board, filling up with new work and more plans for my booth at NYIGF next month.  This was a great and inexpensive project that anyone could tackle at home, so stay tuned for tomorrows DIY post with all the info you'll need to build one yourself!

Counting

one. . .

two. . .

five. . .

six. . .

nine!

and that's about where we're at.

When Good Root Cellars Go Bad

Yikes! The purple potatoes are trying to take over the world!  And I'm not even going to show you the squash, leeks, or onions.  We have definitely learned our lesson about throwing things out at the first sign of mold.  Truly no need to wait for complete putrefaction!  (Putrefaction: not a word I ever expected to use on Campestral!)

Etsy Foraging Friday: Old School Back to School

Here is a little collection of back to school inspired items from the wonderful handmade marketplace that is Etsy!  Click on the image above to link through to additional images and information about each wonderful item!

Peas. (and a little squash and lettuce, and a baby and a dog)

True story.  The other night Emmett came into the kitchen and said "want some peas."  So I asked him "cold peas (read frozen peas) or garden peas?" and he said "garden peas" and went and brought me his shoes to help him put on so we could go out to the garden to pick and eat peas.  Kids really just love picking and eating directly from the garden.  I remember loving it too as a kid and eating tomatoes right off the vine like they were apples.  Olivia likes garden peas too, FYI.  That's her in the background begging for pea pods. 

Play

Minimalist play table with reversible chalkboard top and hidden storage from Land Of Nod, which I think it is a pretty good deal at $89.99 including two benches.

Photo Shoot!

After a very rocky start, with torrential rain and the threat of a potential bout of stomach flu, I am very excited with the shots that came from yesterday's photo shoot for this season's look book!  A more polished catalog will follow eventually, but here are a few outtakes and shots of the setup.  After much discussion with some very talented friends I think the styling turned out to be just right, and perfectly reflective of my line.  I'm calling it "Jane Austen meets Anthropology."  Thanks SO much to the lovely and ever patient May for being my model, and also thanks so much to all of you that helped me flesh this out.  It truly takes a village, I'd be lost without you all!  I am so lucky to have such smart and talented friends!

Treehog Farm, Part 2

As promised, here are some photos of the rest of the lovely goings on at Treehog Farm, including: turkeys that will be ready around Thanksgiving, chickens, both for meat and eggs, garlic, a lovely garden, and 2 adorable piglets named Hummus and Tabouli, and two farm cats to keep them all in line.  I hope you enjoy your tour!  I know I did!

 Their house used the be the old Rockingham Post Office and Janessa and Burleigh use some of the old mail room as a mudroom/potting shed.  I love the old mail cubbies!

All of their birds are free range and live in either large roving coops or in fencing that gets moved regularly to lush fresh grass.  The piggies are in a little fenced in area that is mostly woods, and they seem very happy rooting around in the forest floor.   And again, if you'd like to keep in touch with the comings and goings of Treehog Farm click here to go to their facebook page.

Ok, gotta run pull together a photo shoot that is falling apart at the seams!  Hopefully I'll have outtakes for you tomorrow.  Fingers crossed!