Have you ever made homegrown dried beans? It’s a lengthy and annoying process, in my opinion. I do it every year because I just can’t stand to waste. Here’s how it goes: I try to pick fresh green beans I grow every few days. We like the little sweet ones. Beans are prolific. The bright green leave camouflage the slender green sickles. I miss many that then grow too big for us to enjoy fresh. [...]

At Murphin Ridge Inn in southern Ohio, guests enjoy spacious rooms, expansive views and perfect understated service. There is only one distraction from the calm, and it’s a good one: the food. A visit to the bed and breakfast starts with finding a handmade cookie in your room. Make a cup of hot coffee or tea in the gathering room to compliment the treat. (Click pictures to view them full size.) Explore the grounds by [...]

I rarely use a drinking straw. In the entirety of my nearly 11 year marriage to Alex, we have only purchased one box of 100 plastic straws, many of which were used for crafting, not drinking, purposes. Along came Lil and our family’s straw consumption sky rocketed. Straws are fun for kids and easier to use than a drinking glass. Lil is more likely to finish a drink, especially a smoothie, if she uses a [...]

This, my friends, is how Lil occupies much of her time these days: cracking nuts in shells. The only downside is the pile of sharp fragments, some of which inevitably fly across the room and end up on the floor waiting for a bare foot to poke. Sweeping up is a small price to pay for the hours of entertainment, fine motor development, and nutritious snacking.

I recently mentioned on twitter that having the first meat of the season hanging in the basement made me feel like our house was a home again. Someone (who are you? I can’t find the tweet now!) replied “It’s modern mistletoe!” That got me to thinking about how meat curing is a tasty metaphor for my nearly-eleven-year-long marriage to Alex. Curing meat takes time and attention from both parties in our house. We help each [...]

It is list making season, no? No matter your place on the HanuSolMas spectrum, there is some holiday that calls for presents. In my family, gifts are made of love and time. Much of what we give and receive is handmade. We flip the consumerism coin and come up with heads and hearts – my family makes some awesome gifts. And yet, we give and receive indulgences that cannot be made by hand. Our wish [...]

Ingredients and Inspiration This is the week of at least three feasts for our family. Our fridge is full of chicken stock, brussels sprouts, and charcuterie for our contribution to Thursday’s meal. I have five or six pie pumpkins to process into puree this week. I’ll give some to pie-makers and freeze the rest. To make the stock this weekend, we cooked several small chickens and picked off the meat. We froze some and need [...]