Nancy on the Home Front

March is Craft Month

I never realized that each month was devoted to something. Last month was Bird Feeding Month. March is craft month. I enjoy crafts and wish I had more time to devote to the crafts I enjoy such as knitting, sewing, cooking and gardening. I find there is just not enough time in the day to get everything done that I want to accomplish!

My mother was an avid knitter and it was natural that I would take up the craft. I’m nowhere near as an accomplished knitter as my mom was but I do love to knit. I have knit sweaters, Christmas stockings and scarves. In fact I tend to get a bit carried away when I go to a yarn shop and I always have several projects on hand!

Another craft I enjoy is sewing. I don’t do nearly the amount of sewing I did when the children were little but I do like to make quilts and dolls for the grandchildren. I have also made christening gowns in the past.

I love to learn about new crafts and try them out. When I was newly married we spent a summer living with my husband’s grandmother on Nantucket. That summer Alma, my husband’s grandmother, got me into a private class that she took on making Nantucket baskets. Each week Alma and I would take part in this class learning to make a Nantucket basket while we sat in the yard of this elderly man who taught the class for free. I have made numerous Nantucket baskets over the years. These baskets are unique as they are woven on a wooden mold. I had a good friend of mine make me several molds so that I could make the various size baskets.

Of all the crafts I enjoy I think making the Nantucket baskets is my favorite. Probably because of the fond memories I have of weaving the baskets with Alma. I hope to be able to pass this skill down to my children and grandchildren.

What is your favorite craft? Is there something that you make that has been passed down to you?

How To Live While Your Home is on the Market

Our house was recently listed with a realtor. It’s not the prime time to put our home on the market, but the realtor was hoping to catch the folks coming up for the ski season. They just didn’t anticipate that we would have very little snow and the ski season was nearing the end. However, the house is listed and although there is no one looking at Vermont real estate right now we still have to live as if we might have a showing any day! Maybe this spring?

How do you live while your home is on the market? The first step was getting rid of all the family photos everywhere so they are not a distraction. I also cleaned everything off the tops of the cupboards and the windowsills. For some reason I love having little collections displayed on the windowsills! We had one windowsill that had several decoys on it, they have all been packed away.

Once those items were packed away we then began looking at what furniture we will not be moving and have either listed these items for sale or given them away. The unwanted pieces of furniture have been moved to the garage. The boxes have been moved into closets. We want folks to be able to see the house and not be distracted by our stuff!

Our extra bedrooms now look clean and clutter free.

We also have a series of storage closets in our basement that are full of various items. One is a game closet. Another stores extra outdoor clothes such as scarves and hats and the third has the camping equipment. My next project is to decide what we want to keep and what we no longer need.

The house is constantly kept picked up. When we eventually get a phone call saying we have a showing it will be easy to get ready. I have to say this is the hardest challenge for me. I have piles on my desk of works in progress and keeping it clutter free is hard. However, I have it down to a manageable level where when we do get a showing I can easily pick up what’s on my desk and store it away for a showing. I have to admit, the less clutter there is the easy it is to keep the house clean!

Keeping a house in show condition can be stressful. Our realtor told us it could take us three years to sell the house. Hopefully it will be sooner than that. As I pack things away knowing it could be along while before I see them again I do wonder just what I need to save!

I’m thankful as the last time we sold a house and moved we had four children ranging in age from 3 – 9 and I was homeschooling! That was a crazy time as we lived in Florida and had showings every day, luckily it was only a matter of a few months before the house sold!

Have you sold a house before? Do you have any tips to share here?

Mandarin Orange Avocado Salad

This Mandarin Orange Avocado Tossed Salad is easy to make and the blend of colors, shapes and textures makes this salad appealing to everyone.

In the winter when fresh fruit is harder to find I love using mandarin oranges in a salad. Nothing freshens up the taste of a salad than citrus! Using fresh oranges or canned mandarin oranges works equally as well.

Sautéing the sunflower seeds and the almonds makes a perfect topping to the salad. It ads a little texture to the salt as well.

Mandarin Orange Avocado Tossed Salad

Ingredients:

½ cup sunflower seeds
½ cup slivered almonds
2 TBSP butter
½ cup olive oil
3 TBSP cider vinegar
1 TBSP lemon juice
2 tsp maple syrup
½ tsp salt
½ tsp ground mustard
1 garlic clove, minced
4 cups torn lettuce
1 can (11 oz) mandarin oranges, drained
1 ripe avocado, peeled and cubed
1-2 scallions, chopped

Directions:

In a small skillet, sauté the sunflower seeds and almonds in the butter. Cool and set aside.

In a jar combine the oil, vinegar, lemon juice, maple syrup, salt, mustard and garlic. Shake well.

In a large salad bowl toss the lettuce, mandarin oranges, avocado, scallions and sunflower almond mixture. Drizzle with the dressing and serve immediately.

This mandarin orange avocado salad serves 6-8 people.

Growing the Gete okosomin

I have had so many people asking me about these ancient seeds that I acquired in October! People from all around the world have asked for a seed or two. I will be glad to share my seeds but first I have to plant them, and hopefully have an abundant harvest! My goal is to have enough seeds to have my own supply and then enough to pass along to others. Hopefully everyone whom I share seeds with will do the same. As you may remember these are very special seeds not available commercially yet.

You may want to know how to grow the Gete okosomin? Like any other winter squash these seeds should be fairly easy to grow and yield an abundant harvest. They do require plenty of room as the vines can get quite long. If you don’t have room choose another type of winter squash that is a bush variety.

Depending on where you live you can either start the seeds indoors or plant directly into the soil. Since I live in an area that has a short growing season I will be starting my seeds indoors 3-4 weeks before I plan to move them outside. The seeds will not germinate in cold soil; they prefer the temperature of the soil to be 60 degrees F or warmer. The young plants will not be planted outside until all danger of frost is past. Squash like warm soil and are very sensitive to frost, so they will be put in the ground two weeks after the last frost date.

late to germinate, but now going strong — (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Since I have a limited number of seeds I plan to take the best care of the seeds I do have to insure that I get a harvest. Once the plants are in the ground they will be mulched. Mulching the plants helps to retain moisture and suppress weeds. Mounding soil around the base of the plants can also discourage squash borers from laying eggs.

Other pests to watch for are squash bugs which will need to be hand picked off the plants, squash vine borers, which are also removed by hand, and striped cucumber beetles. I may resort to using row covers over the young plants. The row covers will then be removed before the plants flower.

Acalymma vittatum Fabricius Common Name: strip... — (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Winter squash prefer full sun and well-drained fertile soil. The plants will be well watered from the time they are put in the ground until the fruits begin to fill out. The squash will be ready for harvest when you cannot easily pierce the rind with your fingernail. Never rush to harvest the winter squash because immature fruits won’t store well. Allow the fruits to ripen until the vines begin to die back. I should be able to harvest 3-5 squash per plant.

If you harvest your winter squash after the fruits have fully matured, saving seeds is simply a matter of rinsing, drying and storing the biggest, plumpest seeds that come across your cutting board.

Hopefully I will have an abundant harvest of the Gete okosomin so that I will have enough seeds to share with everyone that has asked for them!

The Most Dangerous Cake Recipe

You may ask why this is The Most Dangerous Cake Recipe, it’s because you are not only five minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night!

I try to live a healthy lifestyle by eating right and exercising daily. However sometimes you just want to enjoy a little chocolate cake. It was easy when we had our four children at home, I could bake a cake and it would be gone in just a few days!

However now that it is only my husband if I make a cake we’ll be eating it all week, this may sound wonderful but it is not good for my waistline! Now when I have a craving for a little chocolate cake I can mix up this mug size cake in just minutes!

The Most Dangerous Cake Recipe

or 5 Minute Mug Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

4 Tbsp flour
4 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp cocoa
1 egg
3 Tbsp milk
3 Tbsp oil
3 Tbsp mini chocolate chips
½ tsp vanilla
1 large coffee mug

Directions:

Add all the dry ingredients to your coffee mug and mix well. Add the egg to the mug and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix. Add the vanilla and the chocolate chips and mix again.

Place your mug in the microwave and cook for three minutes on high. Don’t be alarmed if the cake rises above the coffee mug. Allow it to cool a little and eat from the mug or tip onto to a plate and add a little ice cream! Enjoy.

This recipe does serve two although I’m sure you could eat it up by yourself!

Next time you have a craving for chocolate cake and you are the only one home now that you are only five minutes away from enjoying a decadent dessert!

Time To De-Clutter!

Whether you’re putting your home on the market or just wanting to get rid of some of the “stuff” that accumulates over the years there are some small steps you can take to make the process a little easier! Two of my favorite blogs: Organized31 and One Hundred Dollars a Month have been discussing de-cluttering this year. Both blogs have some great ideas.

Organized31 wrote a wonderful series of posts on 31 Days of 10-Minute Purging Tasks. The timing on her posts couldn’t have been better. Each day she would tackle an area and in just ten minutes you could have that area organized and de-cluttered. As you went through the various areas in your home you would take action by either relocating an item to another area of the home, placing the item in storage, giving the item away or returning it to the original owner, donating the item, recycling the item or throwing the item away. What I loved about Susan’s method was that it took only ten minutes a day.

Here is just one example of Susan’s 31-Day Purging Tips. Day three was plastic containers and lids. Who doesn’t have a drawer full of containers and lids? Somehow it always seems like you end up with more lids than containers! Her first step was to remove everything out and match up the containers with their lids. Then place similar items together. Then evaluate each group you’ve created. Do you need to keep all those containers without lids? Are there containers that are stained or warped? Now purge! Then put everything you’ve decided to keep back away in an organized fashion.

I tried to keep up with each area every day. I wasn’t always successful but it was a good start on de-cluttering our home.

Mavis of One Hundred Dollars a Month also has some good ideas when it comes to de-cluttering. As you might guess from the name of her blog, Mavis has numerous ideas on how to save money! She also keeps track of her goals and one of her goals for 2016 is to Get Rid of 1,000 Things! One of her goals for the year is to simplify and sell or donate at least 1,000 ordinary items that are crowding her closets and drawers by the end of July. Her ultimate goal is to find a home for every item by repurposing, selling, donating or finding a way to recycle her unwanted stuff without incurring any costs.

What a wonderful goal. I am just starting the de-cluttering process and I have a long way to go! I can easily get overwhelmed but instead I take one day at a time and tackle just one area each day. Lately I’ve been going through the many, many photo albums I have! Not only do I have our own family photo albums, but I have also inherited all my parents’ albums. I love the old family albums but I don’t need the albums of the various trips my mother took with my stepfather later in life. Those I will pass along to my sister.

De-cluttering is not an easy process, but if you just take it one step at a time it can be done!

Mac and Cheese with Butternut Squash

I’m always looking for ways to cut fat and eat healthier meals. This mac and cheese with butternut squash is a great way to enjoy comfort food with some added healthy ingredients!

Mac & Cheese with Butternut Squash

Ingredients:

1 pound of macaroni (whole wheat if possible)
1 tsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 medium red peppers, chopped
3 cups cubed butternut squash
1 ¾ cups chicken broth, homemade if possible
1 cup milk (1%)
2 Tbsp plain Greek Yogurt (1%)
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375. Cook the macaroni according to the package directions, drain and set aside.
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and peppers and cook for 4-6 minutes. When the onion is translucent set aside.
Combine the squash, broth, and milk in a saucepan. Gently boil for 20-25 or until the squash is tender.
Using an emersion blender or a real blender, blend the squash mixture until smooth. I added the onion mixture as well so the ingredients were all pureed.
Combine the squash mixture, macaroni, yogurt and cheeses. Mix well.
Place in a 13 x 9 pan that has been coated with nonstick cooking spray. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbling. Can also be made ahead.

A Tribute to Cathleen Kneen

Every once in a while a person comes into your life and the experience of knowing them has a lasting impact on you. My Aunt Cathleen was such a person. I remember as a child traveling to Canada for her wedding. She was so beautiful and I just loved being in her presence. Both she and my Uncle Brewster were passionate about life and their beliefs and have always fought to make the world a better place.

Sunday my Aunt Cathleen lost her battle with pancreatic cancer. She died at home surrounded by those she loved.

I remember spending a summer with my aunt and uncle on their large farm in Nova Scotia as a young teenager. I loved my time on the farm, it was hard work as everyday there was something to be done whether it was weeding the garden or harvesting hay. The food we ate was produced on the land and the dishes we ate off of were creations of Cathleen’s. She was so gifted at pottery, creating beautiful pieces of work that were so delicate. I was intrigued by the full pantry off of their kitchen and was determined that I would grow up and have such a pantry. I loved the fact that nothing was wasted, food scraps going either to the chickens, the pigs or the compost. I believe it was that summer spent on the farm that led me to live the life I am living today, growing and preserving our food as much as I can. Years later when it was just my aunt and uncle living in the city of Ottawa she was still canning and preserving food from their small garden.Cathleen was a strong woman and was not one to sit by the sidelines. Even when she and my uncle came to visit my mom we would all end up in the kitchen creating a delicious meal to be enjoyed by all.

I am so thankful to have had Cathleen in my life and the wonderful memories I have of her will live on forever. As my sister said so eloquently, “She was lovely in every way and she leaves a big hole. (A Cathleen-shaped hole, someone said. How perfect.)”Cathleen (née Rosenberg) Kneen passed away peacefully at home in Ottawa on February 21st, 2016, aged 72 after a struggle with pancreatic cancer. She is survived by her beloved life and work partner of 53 years, Brewster Kneen, children Jamie Kneen (Soha) and Rebecca Kneen (Brian McIsaac), grandson Theodore, sister Jeannie Rosenberg and many colleagues and friends across the country and around the world.

Cathleen attended university at Edinburgh, Memorial, and Carleton, meeting Brewster through her activism in the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and soon marrying him, in 1964. Cathleen’s activism wove together common themes of healthy communities and people. Her early years in the peace movement in Toronto shifted to women’s liberation, as a founding member of the Pictou County Women’s Centre in Nova Scotia – and after moving back to Toronto, as Executive Director of the Toronto Assaulted Women’s Help Line. During her fifteen years in Nova Scotia, she also developed her admirable skills as a potter, ran a successful sheep farm with her family, organized the Sheep Producers of Nova Scotia’s annual sheep fair, and for many years, contributed a weekly Farm Diary to the local noon program on CBC Radio.

When the Kneens moved to BC in 1995, Cathleen began to integrate her commitment to social justice with her farm background. She was instrumental in founding the Mission City Farmers’ Market, the Sorrento Village Farmers’ Market, and the BC Food Systems Network and served on the board of the Certified Organic Associations of BC. Upon her return to Ontario in 2006, Cathleen was elected Chair of the newly formed Food Secure Canada, served on the management team of the People’s Food Policy Project and was chair of Just Food Ottawa and the Ottawa Food Policy Council.

For 25 years, Cathleen worked alongside Brewster as editor, co-writer, illustrator and designer of The Ram’s Horn newsletter, which had a worldwide following, as well as editing his books. Whatever she involved herself in, Cathleen committed herself fully, applying her considerable energy to building a participatory, feminist path for people to connect and make positive change together to bring about the vision of a just and peaceful world she held so clearly. The work of her hands will be held by many on a daily basis, in the pottery she made.

There will be a visitation on Friday, February 26, from 2-4pm, at the Ottawa Funeral Co-operative, 419 St. Laurent Blvd., bus route #7. There will be other celebrations all over the country throughout the spring as well. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Inter Pares, the BC Food Systems Network, the National Farmers Union, and/or MiningWatch Canada/the Canary Research Institute on Mining, Environment, and Health.

As her friend Hannah Renglich said, “Cathleen was a fierce protector of seeds, lands, waters, animals, vegetables, minerals; spirited convener of people near and far for protection of human rights and promotion of the public good; incredible activist, community organizer, and raging granny; peaceful warrior of the Canadian food movement from coast to coast to coast; wonderful, encouraging, and inspiring friend. We are so lucky to have known her, and carry on her powerful legacy in her honor, name, and spirit. We will be and be better, for her existence.”I couldn’t agree more.

Brussel Sprout Apple Hash

Often it is difficult to come up with an interesting and quick side dish that is also delicious. When you are trying to make healthy choices it can even be more of a challenge. This side dish is a winner, it has an interesting combination ingredients that you probably already have on hand. This Brussel sprout apple hash is a combination of apples, cranberries and Brussels sprouts. It is a wonderful sweet and savory hash which comes together in just minutes.

Brussel Sprout Apple Hash

Ingredients:

Brussel sprouts – about 12
Granny Smith Apple – (1)
Lemon – one small lemon
¼ – ½ cup cranberries depending on preference

Directions:

Trim and halve the Brussels sprouts and then halve lengthwise. Then thinly slice the pieces into shreds.
Peel, core and dice the apple.
Zest and halve the lemon.

Drizzle a little olive oil into your skillet. Add the shredded Brussels sprouts and the apple and cook, tossing, for 5-6 minutes, until the Brussels sprouts are slightly golden brown. Stir in the cranberries, a pinch of lemon zest and a squeeze of lemon juice to taste. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

That’s it, a quick and delicious side dish that is so easy. This hash is a perfect side dish for roasted pork.

Note: I originally found this recipe in a delivery from HelloFresh that I received.

Putting Your House On The Market

You’ve made the decision to put your house on the market. How do you get ready and what needs to be done first?

English: for sale sign — (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The first step is to meet with several real estate brokers. If you meet with three different brokers they will each give you an idea of what they think your house is worth. You can then decide which person you think will do the best job at selling your house for a price that will make everyone happy. When listing your house the price needs to be realistic. The brokers will do a comparison to other similar houses nearby. By looking at what’s available they should be able to advise you on a realistic price to list your house for.

The next step is to figure out the best time of year to place your home on the market. For example very few people will put their house on the market in the weeks before Christmas. No one is out looking for real estate during the holiday season. Most people want to move during the summer when children are out of school and the school year has finished. That way they can get settled in their new home before the next school year begins.

Front of a yellow school bus. — (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Some areas of the country have very hot markets right now. In Portland, Oregon a home will usually sell within a week of listing and for the asking price or higher! Here in Vermont the real estate market is much, much slower. It may take several years to sell a house and during that time you may only have six people actually come look at your home.

It’s hard not to let your emotions get in the way. You love your home, you have many happy memories of living there, you’ve improved the home and you want to make money on selling your home. You also want to walk away with enough money to purchase your next home. However, you have to be realistic and list your home for a price that will show that you’re interested in selling, and have it be in the ballpark of what people are looking for.