You know spring is really here when the thunder storms arrive. Right before sunset yesterday we were lucky enough to notice this giant rainbow over our field. It was so exciting for our rainbow girl! She was already wearing her rainbow T-shirt too.







These maple scones are from awhile back when work group made lots of maple baked goods to sell during Maple in the County. We made cookies and cakes and all kinds of other delicious things. We're saving up for something great - we just haven't decided what yet.







The beautiful pear pie was made by our six year old son Rowan and the recipe is from 'The Book' the kids version - Simply in Season Children's Cookbook. Rowan has been trying all kinds of recipes from it and we've all enjoyed the results. It's actually called a pear pancake but it's kind of like a giant popover. It's a new favorite for us and has been tried with apples and berries. It puffs up in a very exciting way.

I've been working on a new recipe for a liquid shampoo lately that's been taking up a lot of my time. I'm trying to make a shampoo that doesn't contain any mysterious ingredients of unknown origin. It's turning out to be quite challenging. I want to include some honey and herbs but first I'm working on a basic recipe. This photo is what the shampoo looks like while it's cooking. I'll post more photos once I have something more interesting to show.

Happy New Year 2011

Well December passed me by in a whirl of Christmas sales. I didn't have a spare moment to blog about it but here are a few of the highlights.
One of a Kind Christmas Show, Toronto - We did the whole 11 days for the first time. Ten hours a day talking to people about bees, honey, herbs and whatnot... My honey man is so handsome in his suits and is such a great talker - he really wows the ladies. We did really well, sold out of some things and had a great time. I made lots of amazing trades too which is always fun. Check out Sartoria's cashmere and merino goods and Fierce Bunny's angora bunnies. I got my favorite hat ever from Wildhagen.
Busy Hands Holiday Sale in Picton - This is our annual sale in our own town. It was packed with people and had a really relaxed friendly feeling. It is so exciting to see how it's grown since Vicki and I started it 8 years ago in our kitchen when we lived together. We had 43 vendors this year all with handmade goods from Prince Edward County.
As further proof of my obsession with pumpkin pie I made a pumpkin pie soap for a competition at the One of a Kind Show. The theme was love. I had a little sign on it that said 'make pie not war'. The crust is oatmeal chamomile honey soap and the filling is pumpkin pie soap. I didn't get a picture of it at the show but here it is all cut up for my family when they visited at Christmas. I can't wait to take a bath with my slice.
Since Hazel's birthday is Christmas day we have a tradition of making her a gingerbread house as her birthday cake. She had a great time decorating it this year for her fourth birthday.

Pumpkin Pie!

I love fall and one of my favorite things about it is pumpkin pie. My children claim that pumpkin pie is the only pie worth eating and after having baked six of them so far I would have to say I almost agree. Although I do love apple pie and Bridget's concord grape pie (recipe from "the book" - Simply in Season - available at Ten Thousand Villages)
We make a pumpkin pie soap which contains real pumpkin as well at the essential oils of the spices that go in pumpkin pie - cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg as well as some lemon grass for that yummy lemoney note. For more pumpkin fun visit us in the Wellington park this Sat. Oct. 16th for Pumpkin Fest! There is a parade of giant pumpkins on trucks and tractors down main street. One of my favorite parts is the giant pumpkin that's hollowed out so that the kids can get inside and you can take their picture.
This pink dalia is the first one I ever grew and it was such a delight for me to catch this honey bee enjoying it so much. I even made a long video of it burrowing into several petals. I won't post it here because it's so long.
The bees made this incredible edible art on the inside of a hive lid. They had run out of space inside the hive and came through the inner cover and started building honey comb inside the lid. It's so beautiful! Reminds me of the art of Aganetha Dyck.
I've added a new link in my 'favorite things' - Style Rookie totally reminds me of myself as a teenager except that was in the olden days before the internet and I have no photos of my fabulous outfits. sigh.

Good Food

I recently made this tomato pie from a cookbook which is so well loved in my family we call it 'the book' in hushed tones. It's 'Simply in Season' recipes that celebrate fresh, local foods in the spirit of More-with-Less. I grew up on the wholesome food from More-with-Less and was delighted when I received 'Simply in Season' as a gift from my mom. My mother-in-law is the one who started calling it 'the book' and we all enjoy our different favorite recipes. It's available at all Ten Thousand Villages stores and the Ottawa Mennonite Church has an annual Ten Thousand Villages sale for the month of November. I also love all the Edna Staebler classics - 'Food That Really Schmecks' etc. - especially for the chatty writing style and the liberal use of butter. Anyway, here's the recipe for Plum Tomato Goat Cheese Pie:

11/2 cups/375 ml whole wheat pastry flour
7 Tbs butter
cut together until crumbly

1/3 cup/75 ml extra sharp cheddar cheese (shredded)
3-4 Tbs water
1/2 tsp salt
Add and mix until dough just comes together, adding more water if necessary. Turn onto floured surface and quickly bring together into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 min. Roll out pastry on a lightly floured surface into a circle about 15 inches/38cm in diameter. Wrap pastry around rolling pin and carefully lift onto a greased baking sheet.

1 egg yolk (lightly beaten)
3 Tbs dried bread crumbs ( I grind stale bread in the coffee grinder)
2 pounds/ 1 kg fresh plum tomatoes (sliced thick)
Brush most of yolk lightly over pastry. Sprinkle bread crumbs on top, then arrange tomato slices so they overlap in a circle, leaving a wide border.

4oz/125 g goat cheese or feta cheese (crumbled)
Scatter over top of tomatoes. Turn edge of pastry in over tomato filling and brush with remaining egg yolk (mix with a little milk if there's not enough egg left). Bake in preheated oven at 350F/180C until pastry is golden, 30 min.

2-4 Tbs olive oil
handful of fresh basil leaves (chopped)
Remove pie from oven and drizzle with olive oil. Season well with salt and pepper. Scatter basil leaves on top of pie and serve.

This was a big hit with the adults around here but the kids still insist they only like pumpkin pie. I'll post that recipe once I make one. I made my colourful cole slaw to go with the pie. It's just grated carrot and purple cabbage with apple cider vinegar, lemon juice and olive oil and some toasted pumpkin seeds. I also season with salt and pepper although my kids don't like pepper and can tell if there's any in there so we add our own pepper.
The Open Farms tour was yesterday. I included this colour version of the logo since I designed it and I like the way it turned out. We had about 15 car loads drop by and tour our house and garden. That was less than we expected but was a relief since we were so exhausted from Milford Fair the day before - not to mention all the house cleaning all week. It's really nice to have a tidy house now though. I think we will do it again next year.
This photo of a praying mantis eating a yellow jacket is for all you people who are being bugged by yellow jackets this time of year.

beeswax egg candles again

At workgroup last week I had to take photos of Alice's egg cups with our egg candles in them. They look so springy and wonderful! The chicken tea cozy was at Gillian's. She had gotten some egg candles from us to surprise her granddaughter when she comes to visit. It reminded me so much of my childhood - chickens are such a great subject.






















This is the highlight of work group - lunch! We had venison pie that Alice made, beautiful baba ghanoush by Buffy, coleslaw by me and for dessert a berry cake made by Renata.