The Serendipitous Pioneer

Goodness so much has happened over summer and as fall has begun.  I had intended to be able to blog more but well you know......... We have two extra little people living with us now days and that just adds to my happy chaos.  Oh and makes me bone tired.  I am still working out whenever I can and I joined a running group here in town.  I have another five k on Saturday. I have been canning and making stuff like mad so I will attempt to catch up over the next few days with the tutorials and ideas. A couple of weeks ago we were in the cities which of course means I went to Trader Joes and Dragonstar Market.  I love the deals I can get down there.  One of my deals was a heap of Thai basil for pesto.  I try to by a heap each time we go so I can make it all up and then freeze the pesto for later.  I love easy suppers. My pesto recipe is another one of those things in my head.  If you have made pesto before you will know what to look, smell and ...

So for the second round of berry canning delight I went with Strawberry Lemonade concentrate.  I found the recipe on pinterest.  The recipe for this concoction is found here.... http://www.myrecipemagic.com/recipe/recipedetail/restaurant-style-strawberry-lemonade-concentrate It is very yummy and I will be saving most of mine for New Years Eve when I will serve it mixed with chilled sparkling water.  Here is the catch, don't be like me.  I went to Target and bought a little hand operated one.  YOu know the kind, where it has a cone like thing and catcher.  For this you really need either an electric type one, one like they have at those lemon ade  places at the mall where you pull the handle and it smushes the lemon half or about a dozen minions.  I had one minion and he declared it to be an awful lot of work.  He was right.  It takes a lot of lemons to get to five cups.  But honestly the flavor of fresh lemons is worth i...

It is that time of year.  You know, the one when all the delicious things come in to season and that means it is time to start canning.  Well thanks to that lovely prolonged winter we endure here in the northland this year we are just now hitting that season.  This week it is strawberries.  I finally broke down and went to pick our own.  We went to Finke's Berry Farm. Definitely recommend them the berries are fabulous and chemical free.  I am amazed that Stir and the girls didn't have belly aches by the time we got home they were snitching so many.  We brought home 25 quarts of strawberries.  Ok we left the farm with that many.  But now I have to do something with all these berries.  There is a lot of canning in my future.  And in my posts to follow. I am starting with my favorite strawberry jam which is strawberry-rhubarb.  Hey I am doing the canning my stuff first.  I like it because I think the rhubarb lends some sharp...

I know, you are probably wondering why you are looking at the  calluses on my hand when the post is title progress.  But those ugly things do represent my progress.  I have been doing crossfit for over 6 months now and I am slowly but surely progressing. It sure isn't easy.  In fact, on the way home I nearly cried trying to drive because my hands felt so whiney after trying to get my knees to my elbows while dangling from the pull up bar.  For a break between reps of 12 I got to dead lift 8o lbs six times.  All of that for  four rounds for time.  I ended up under six minutes but boy I still feel it this afternoon.  My big woo for the day was I PR'd my max effort dead lift.  I managed 140#.  I can now dead lift body weight.  Oh yeah, oh yeah.  (Be glad you couldn't see the dance with that!) My dead lifts are my best.  I can only shoulder press 45.  But I will get there s-l-o-w-l-y. But as I was saying this is a...

The color of my morning has been red.  I went out and finally weeded the flower beds along the stairs.  I hate weeding those but they do look so much better.  Then I planted the ten red geraniums I had gotten at the farmer's market.  I love having those.  They remind me of Grandma and the fake ones she use to keep on the front step in a hanging basket.  They had to be fake because that was a total sunblock spot.  Anyway my happy red flowers are out and I feel happy.  Then I replaced one of the two blueberry bushes that didn't make it last winter.  Although now I may need a third one as someone seems to have run over one with the lawn mower.  Gotta figure out how to make them more noticeable. After doing all of that in what I thought was perhaps an hour but was actually two I decided to check on Ravelry mystery knit along to see if the first clue was there and it is there.  Woohoo! I cannot wait to start that as I have a very yu...

I just got this from Becky the awesome @ Beckysgaragegym.blogspot.com  and I know you couldn't wait to see it either. The super smart fitness guru who thought to snap pictures of our official times.  Yes, I know my time is pathetic but I am still bragging big time.  Because I did it!  What were you doing at midnight????  For the one in July I am really hoping to drop under forty mins but that is a lot and it is during the day when it could be way way too hot.  I still haven't figured out how to sweat on more than my scalp.  Oh well.

Cue the "My Fair Lady" soundtrack.  Go to the song they sing right after the ball.  I want to hear " You did, you did it. You said that you could do it and indeed you did!"  Yes, I am a wee bit gleeful after the 5k that started at midnight. I may be slower than a turtle in molasses but I finished.  And although I wouldn't admit to goal time before we started I was really hoping that I would finish in an hour and just wouldn't be the dead last one that everyone was waiting for wishing they could turn out the lights.  But I did it in 42:24  and I didn't keep anyone too late!  I learned I can do it and now I will even train for the next one.  Oh yeah there will be more.  I hated it in the moment.  But now I can't wait to try it again only this time with some training.  The cross fit helped me get to that point.  Today I actually hurt more from yesterday's  work out (75 power cleans @30# for time) than I am from the run. ...

Poor Viola!  To be honest she has been working hard about once a week as I find new things for her to try and can.  As I try them and do them again I will post the sort of recipes and pics.  "Sort of recipes?" you ask.  Well yes, sort of.  I will sort of tell you what I did and I may even sort of measure for you. Lol. Today Viola and I canned some pork roast I had gotten at the butcher shop on sale and some black beans as I had given my last few jars away over the weekend. I processed everything at once because I only had three quarts of roast and ten pints of beans to do.  I am lazy, sue me. First let's go through the pork roast.  It is beyond simple and I did kind of like my pot roast that you will see in later posts, I am sure. I like my pork with apples. I think the sweetness adds something so used applesauce, chipotle powder, chopped dried onions, garlic powder and salt. Why the yes, that applesauce is my own creation.  Now as I said b...

In my head a dalek was saying the title as I typed, so now you know how my mind works.  There is a reason for the warning.  If you are eating, drinking or have a small child sleeping near you you probably ought to just hold off on this post.  No really I am not kidding and you probably should go to the bathroom first because you in danger of laughing yourself right in to a puddle in the next few moments. As you know once again my new me resolutions included becoming more fit.  I started doing cross fit about four months ago.  I do not even want to know how long anyone was betting I would last but I am sure I had less time on me than any of you.  Which makes all of this even more ridiculous. You might be wondering what on earth you might be looking at people but I am here to tell you those are actually my clothes.  The shoes are now broken in for me by me.  This is what those crazy enough to be up to see the runners at this year's midnight sun ...

Remember a while back when I said I was knitting bags and would open an etsy shop at some point????? Well some point is nearly here.  :D  I just need  springy weather to take real pictures of them.  The weather is starting to cooperate so it is getting closer. Here are some of the market bags that will be going up on the site.  I haven't quite finished the felted bags as they all still need their linings made but I imagine in the next couple of weeks...... Those are a few of my babies.  Hey, it was a long winter and I wasn't sure what else I wanted to knit.  Besides so long as I was knitting, canning, baking or something productive nobody asked me how the dress was coming along.  Clever, aren't I?  I plan on selling on etsy and then maybe here in the community at a craft fair or two.  I would really like to get about ten more felted bags ( I will post pics later) done.  If I could do that, then I could see about renting a space ...

Well really I meant to but........... life kind of hit me.  There is the wedding dress and wedding that need to be done.  And there was this .............. Basically all April long. And by long I mean neverending long.  Like the fear of spring never coming again, long. First snows are awesome.  So is a white Christmas.  Even in to February I am willing to play along with the snow fall.  But ding dang it when April comes I do not wish to be preparing for what turns out to be 17 inches of snow overnight.  That is just wrong. And now just as terrible as it was two weeks later here we are at spring as in now I can see green grass.  Woo hoo! Then, of course what is the never ending winter without the never ending house problems??? Burst pipes, anyone?  Don't feel sorry for me.  I spent plenty of time doing just that for myself.  But now I am a girl on a mission. Drum roll, please ********** I get to fix up this house to move out t...

Came a shameless brag. This my new bootie people.  Three weeks of cross fit and for the first time in my life I can see a behind in my jeans, while I am the one in them.  WOO HOO!  I know everyone is sharing my joy right now. And you were dying to see my butt.  So yes, even though the last few weeks have been rough I have kept up with the getting fit resolution and the no store bought bread goal.  Next week since that is going so very well I will begin...................Menu planning goal. I am a huge proponent of the meal planning.  It really does help me stay on budget and it also frees up my time.  Not to mention the food just tastes better when I am not winging it every single night. On my sweet needles at the moment are still my second sock and bags.  Bags and bags of bags.  I am trying to build up an inventory so I can open an etsy shop.  I figure this will feed my need for creativity and hopefully in a small way pay for i...

Yep that has pretty much been as productive as I have been since the last post.  Sad isn't it.  You really can't see the colors but the thicker wool is a wonderful skunky strip with black, whites, and greys.  The sock yarn is red.  We are focussing on this lovely sock because.......well most of the week was a disaster. Let me explain.  First there were electrical issues.  By that I mean it was like half the house was in brown out conditions.  And of course that half wasn't divide in half or even floors so it knocked out my fridge on one side and floor of the house and the boiler on the other side in the basement. So the heat had to be turned off, in winter in Minnesota.  Good thing it was before the clipper.  That was resolved after a very cold night.  So it seemed well and good but then the next morning I am happy to have power and go down to wash clothes.  I realize my socks are suddenly wet and look down over the clothes. the...

Go on admit it, you didn't think I would finish by them did ya?  That's ok.  I was on that boat, too!  Especially after that little virus made me more susceptible to my allergens.  I do a great impression of a white rabbit who has been punched.  So very unattractive and annoying.  But in spite of it all the second sock got done in record time.  Twenty four hours.  Yeah, I am bragging which is also unattractive but I am so chuffed. On a sad note, I killed the sourdough starter.  While I was sick it was too neglected.  I will start it again today.  Depending on how much yeast I have I may also make another batch of bread.  Today feels like a make something day.  I should probably channel that into something like say a wedding dress.  No really.  It is daunting at best but I need to get a mock up made so that the girlie can see if the pattern modifications meet her expectations.  I think making your daugh...

Yet another round of the plague seems to have hit the house.  Or maybe I just can't seem to shake it but the elephants are sitting on my chest again.  And I am achey.  And my eyes are running.  And my nose is red.  Feeling sorry for me yet??  Yeah don't bother I am going to be this way til summer.  It is the joy of living in the Northland.  The plague comes and stays every winter.  LOL!  You had wondered where it wintered didn't you? Yesterday was my birthday!  It was great and I got more yarn.  Yep, I know you are so shocked but really I was down to dishcloth fibre for my knitting needs.  Needs, people! I need to knit to stay sane.  So Stir is getting some socks.  He wants wool Wisconsin socks.  See........... I even got some for me.  Well the worsted weight part I still need the second strand for it so I will show that off later.  Stir's require for me to get cracking as I want him to have ...

So I am still thinking about my resolutions for the year.  I am giving myself a bit to get passed the excitement of the new year so that don't go all willy nilly and make resolutions that are too pie in the sky.  Let's face it they will all fall into the categories of fitness, organization, school or kids school really but I want concrete goals with plans this year. I am a list girl.  I will make a list for everything just so that I can cross something off my list.  I am a complete nutter for lists. This said I have the first resolution/ goal kind of fleshed out now.  drum roll please ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The first goal is to be no store bought bread.  For the year. No really quit laughing.  I have learned to make a decent loaf now I just have to do it.  To start with today I made three lovely loaves and these yummy looking rolls.  There were more rolls but the others were used in an experiment.  What experiment?? Oh it is called taste tes...

This lovely lady is Viola with a long I if you please.  She is my most favorite kitchen appliance du jour, an All American pressure canner.  This girl can hold 19 regular mouth pints and 14 regular quarts at a time.  Unbelievable.  I just got her for Christmas and tried her out yesterday.  As she is no small thing it does take a wee bit of finagling on my dinky part but a two step ladder in front of the stove saves me from getting burnt.  For her first time out we canned the all important black beans.  We eat so many I can't believe I was limited to only seven jars at a time before now.  What a charmer.  Then I got lucky and ran into a ground beef sale.  That is when the true fun began. I cooked up the ground beef getting rid of as much fat as possible and the loaded up my sweet Viola.  So far so good but if you know me something has to go awry at some point in what seems like a most productive day.  Well... the seventy fiv...