"Back" to the Land

Read this incredibly beautiful article, "I Went Back to the Land to Feed my Family" by Susan Gregory Thomas, over at the New York Times. It's a beautiful piece about the true reasons why some of us choose to return back to the land and a reminder, for myself especially, to keep up my homemaking ways.

In 2012 I'm going to re-challenge myself not to pay to eat out anymore. We were doing so good there for a while and then things got busy and I just like eating out !! I have a bunch of things I want to pay for, things I want to pay off, and money I want to save, (and gazillions of recipes I want to try), so my re-forray into the world of not-paying-to eat out is coming at a much needed time. We're often living beyond our means, but also beyond the way I'd like to live. Pare things back to have more time. Stay in more. Be with myself more. Bake more. Grow more. etc.

Susan writes,

Even if things turn around financially, I don’t think I could stomach going to Whole Foods (except maybe for olive oil) because my biggest revelation in terms of self-sufficiency is this: It is no big deal. You can tell yourself anything is too difficult, or you can just do it. And you do not need to reconstruct your worldview or take issue with others.

What are your plans for 2012? How will you get closer to being "Back to the Land"? Happy New Year!

Molasses Oatmeal Bread recipe

I could have sworn that I posted this recipe for you, but after trying to find the post for a co-worker, I've sadly concluded that you've been living without this lovely bread for far too long. With deepest regrets, I want to finally share this recipe here with you. Still being away from home on holidays, I wasn't able to take my own photos so I poached these images from a blog with a similar Molasses Oatmeal Recipe. 

Molasses Oatmeal Bread

Lovely and easy bread recipe passed down from my aunt. Nearly mistake proof, the sweetness of the finished product makes less than perfect bread taste good anyways. This bread freezes well, is great toasted, and for sandwiches (curry chicken salad sandwich is my favorite). I've added my simple tips for easy bread making [in square brackets]. Please check out the notes at the bottom of the recipe for using different flours and my favourite way to rise bread.

You will need: 
2cups boiling water
1 cup large flake oats 

[boil a little extra water in the morning when you are making coffee or tea, pour over oats and leave it till later].

1 tbsp traditional yeast (active dry yeast works too)
1 tsp sugar or honey or replacer
½ cup warm water

½ cup molasses
¼ cup sugar or honey or replacer
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp butter or coconut oil

6 cups flour (white, whole wheat, spelt or a mixture*)

Measure oats into large bread bowl, pour boiling water over and stir. Let sit until cool.


Prepare yeast: mix warm water and sugar/honey in a small bowl, sprinkle yeast over the top and stir gently to dissolve.

Add molasses, sugar/honey, salt, and butter/coconut oil to the cooled oatmeal 

(it isn't a big of a deal if it is still a little warm)

Stir in the yeast (into oatmeal mixture). Add enough flour to make a soft dough.
Turn out onto a floured counter [wipe the counter then sprinkle flour on the damp surface]
Knead for 10 minutes adding extra flour as needed. Place in a oiled bowl, turn to lube top. Cover with a warm damp towel. and let rise** 1 hour until doubled in size.
Oil two bread/loaf pans, set aside. Heat oven to 350F.

Punch down dough and knead on floured counter for 2 minutes adding extra flour as needed. Shape into two loaves, placing each into an oiled bread/loaf pan. Let rise** 1 hour or until doubled.
Bake loaves for 45-55 minutes or until hollow sounding when tapped on the middle of the crust.
Smother in butter or coconut oil and cover with a damp cloth until cool enough to handle. Remove loaves from pans and let sit still covered until cool.  Devour your lovely loaves.

*flours and mixtures that work well:
*all-purpose (white): bread tastes like candy, a little too good maybe
*all spelt: a softer dough but denser bread, mealy, and good.
*½ all purpose, ½ whole wheat (add 3 cups ww first, then white one at a time)

**i like to rise my bread in the oven with the light on.
just heat the oven at 200F for 2 minutes then shut it off. when removing your bread after the 2nd rising time, heat the oven to baking temperature while you are kneading and forming loaves.
-laura

Hiding a TV

We are a very lucky family and my husband was gifted with a massive flat screen TV for Christmas (43" !!). The issue is that I hate the look of a TV in any room, especially the living room, and I hate the way the furniture just orients itself around this massive black screen. Guck. Right now I'm seeking inspiration for hiding our TV. Suggestions?

This is a great article with ideas on how to decorate around a TV.

I really like how the TV is in a big shelf. Source.

I like how the TV isn't the focal point in this one. Source.

I like this cheap option of hiding it with large pictures.

And, we're lucky enough to also get a (low budget) trip to ikea at the end of this week. Might pick one of these up:

Tobo !! LINK.

Besta Adal. LINK.

Craft Supplies

This is a gratuitous love post. I LOVE School Locker! I have shopped from their etsy store on and off for the past four-five years. Everything came fast and the supplies were wonderful and well used. A friend was saying she loved those library catalogue cards and I remembered them at school locker and ta da! They have 'em. So good to see this store is still around. While I'm trying not to hoard supplies, it's a little hard having paypal right to my bank account!

Library Cards. LINK.

Mini coloured envelopes! LINK.

Hot Pink Leather Laces! LINK.

Ye Ol Caligraphy Letter Stamps (and pirate ships!). LINK.

Watson't Scarf: Movie Review and a Pattern

On a recent date, Mark and I went to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie. Not having seen the first of Guy Ritchie's adaptations but being an avid fan of the original and new BBC series' (definitely watch the newest Holmes show), I found the film to be exactly what I expected of Mr. Ritchie. I enjoyed the way he played with the cinematography in the action sequences. I did think that the whole things moved a little too quickly for me, I usually enjoy the suspense built by other Holmes' quiet and skillful contemplation amidst certain criminal chaos.

The one thing that really stuck out during the whole film was that throughout the film, Mark kept mentioning Watson's scarf and how much he liked it. Here it is in all it's glory.

Watson's Scarf

Use a heathered Aran to chunky weight yarn (my choice is Cascade Yarns ECO +) 1 skein each in dark brown, light grey, and light blue

 Work a K1P1 rib across enough stitches to make a 6" wide scarf.

Colour Pattern:

Work 8 rows in dark brown

Work 2 rows in grey

Work 6 rows in blue

Work 2 rows in grey

 Repeat the colour pattern until the scarf is long enough to wrap loosely around the neck once. Bind off all stitches in pattern.

Wanna Play Roller Derby?

My league is hosting a try-it night! We had a great event and are hoping for new skaters, refs, NSOs, and diehard fans!

WIPs

Oh and so I threw myself a birthday party by inviting friends and family over last night. I also let everyone know that they should invite other people that I like. The potluck was yummy, there was a great spread of food. And then we played games, we played Sapergias v. Everyone Else in a game of pictionary. My living room was full, lots of fun was had by all (I hope).

Community: We'll be celebrating the Winter Solstice at a festival downtown tonight, see you there!  

The Living Life Fully project is wrapping up. Just finishing the reporting. The best part? translating youth work into funder-speak. It's fun. 

Kitchen: Leftovers from my birthday party last night. Would someone please come over and save me from all this chocolate? or I can take it to the lunch room at work, I guess. it won't last long in there!   

 What I would like to make for taking to Christmas at Mark's folks' places. I've made it before, you're supposed to soak the fruit for 24hrs-2 wks so I could start today and make it tomorrow. Sounds nuts?
A co-worker of mine dropped off a couple boxes of random books in the lunch room. I'm really enjoying this one, another that i've liked is 'Monster Island' a zombie movie that scared the crap out of me on my night shifts at the hospital last week. It's spooky there at night.

Craft: I'm working on my Home Tour (still). I'm finding it really hard to get all my laundry done. Here is a sneak preview of the new living room, where you'll find vintage animal figurines mingling with science-y things, everything is covered in doilies! 

I'm almost done christmas gifts making for this year. I need three buttons to finish my Infinite Arms Cowl (by Diandra) gift and need to attach gift tags to mitts. Then comes the wrapping of the gifts for the kid and packing for our trip! 

I love my fridge right now. Oh, and the best gift is probably some photo prints of me and mark and mel and robyn and teeghan and dave and diandra and seth that Robyn gave me. The best! Instant fridge update. It's great. My fave photo is the one of Tee in her vintage 'Where the heck is Spuzzum' (Spuzzum is beyond Hope) t-shirt and big glasses. Pretty awesome, what a hipster.

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAURA!

Today is Laura's Birthday! Take this opportunity to tell her how special she is! We love your crafty feministy self missy! XO

Re-Knit: Stemwinder

My first Stemwinder. Too small for an adult, but love it.

Laura's original Stemwinder!

I meant to knit the green version of this hat for my Derby Wife, Chia Grrr'vara, but turned out I didn't read the pattern properly (ha!) and I knit it too small. It fits the kid perfectly, though, and I loved knitting it, nice and easy and looks good in malabrigo. Have any last minute holiday knitting to do? This took me probably four hours in total to knock off, and the adult size'll probably take you one more hour on top of that. Good knit, beautiful to do and look at, and Chia loved it, even though it wasn't on her head. Happy Holidays!

Ravelry Link to Pattern. Home Sweet Home Link to Pattern.

Support My Sister's Band!

My sister's band, WEST MY FRIEND, is currently raising money through IndieGoGo to record their first full length album. They've been doing a series of these cute videos with their friends (and community heavy weights) telling their story. They're beautiful and fun. I don't have my sister in the Christmas Swap this year, but regardless I gave her some sweet coin for this project! If you can support them financially, share this with your friends! Let's help make West My Friend bigger than Nickleback! XO

WIP Wednesday

The main things that I'm working on right now are: surviving my upcoming night shifts at the hospital, holiday planning, and staying motivated with roller derby and life in general. In an effort to do more and f*ck the dog less, I quit Netflix and made Mark change his password so I couldn't hack into his account anymore. This is my last week of full time work at the hospital so I will go on the casual list (at the bottom!) as of Saturday and we'll have to wait and see how that goes. I've been able to get some things done lately which always feels good; the living room still looks great, I'm working on my laundry pile, my car has been fixed, and it's payday this Friday! Wahoo!

Kitchen: I'm working my way through a batch of chili made with local ground beef from last fall, taking it for dinner at work this week. We've still got so much ground beef left in the freezer and it is still excellent! Anyone want to trade for canned goods?
We'll be taking a local ham from this year's pig (it's name was 'Delicious', and it sure is!) down to the island for Christmas dinner.

Other than that, I haven't been doing very much cooking because of working so much. I'll have lots of time next week and will try out a new bread recipe that a friend gave me. If it works, I'll share it. Apparently, it's the recipe he uses to sell bread at an annual music festival in his hometown, selling out every year.

Craft: I am working on my last gift (for Carol...any suggestions?) using my stash yarn so I don't have to buy anything! There's lots of good stuff in there, it's kind of neat to go through it all, but what should I make her? I've made her fingerless gloves, toeless socks (for wearing with flip flops), socks, a shrug...maybe she would like a triangular scarf? I've also taken on making a few gifts for Mark's employees and a mirasol qina scarf for his mom. He's commissioned me to make curtains for the basement so I'll do that next week while I wait for the phone to ring. I finished my cabled vest and have started the Talia vest from Knitty using the last of my black Mission Falls 1824. It's so great even if it is superwash.
I need to add to my list a new pair of slippers for me, I blew a hole in my current ones! It's so sad when that happens. It will be fun though, I want to make them up before we head south so I can bring them with me, I can't possible show up at Mark's dad's with holey slippers. How embarrassing!
I always like to make the felted clogs with Briggs and Little yarn for myself (I scored a bunch while thrifting last summer $1/hank...yip!) and this time will use mismatching colours for bottoms, insoles, and the rest of the parts. Felting is so magical. I 'm looking forward to it!

I'm taking on a ton of knitting classes for January and February; Baby Socks (Socks 101), Boneyard Shawl, Travelling Woman Shawl, Stemwinder Hat, my Vintage Cable Hat, Felted Slippers, Eggplant Baby Hat (Intro to Knitting Toys), and Beginner Knitting. I've got to make up a few project examples for the store so I guess I'm making two pairs of slippers!

Community: At the end of this month, I'll be in Port Alberni coaching the girls there, I hope they are ready to sweat! I'm putting together a few practices for them to keep and run on their own. I'm so excited to meet them and see how their bout went.

We have a Rated PG Rollergirl Board meeting tonight and unfortunately, I will be working. I'll be sending a report from my portfolio (Fundraising and Sponsorship) and also sending in notes from our Committee's meeting last month.

As for the league, we've just released our upcoming bout schedule which means I need to get to work.
This week I received the goodie bag from Rollergirl.ca so I get to decide how to use the sponsorship swag best!
I've booked the pub for the afterparty for the January 21st bout (yeehaw!) so we are guaranteed to a) make some money to pay for extra practices, and b) have a good time. So get ready to have a great time PG, your local Rollergirls are back for another season! We decided to have the 50/50 ticket seller have a friend so they can be selling tickets to the afterparty to folks in the crowd. Which I think it a great idea!

WIP Wednesday

Wowzas, I'm back. After weeks of getting ready for SLAY BELLES 2011 which was an incredible success, the whole fuss ended with me getting a really bad cold, and my baby getting the cold (too much cuddling!), so I've been on and off this whole week at work so far. It sucks.


Kitchen: This is a terrible picture of our new dining room (we moved!). The window at the left has these really long, white, metal/plastic vertical blinds that I HATE! I'm going to make semi-sheer/stamped curtains for the window on the left, but might still need a strategy for behind them to block out light/for privacy. Any suggestions? The one on the right, my plan is to get a nice big lace and glue it to the window that is without the screen/doesn't open. So that it's permanently got this lace panel on it. And the wood chairs are getting painted black.

This week my aim is to make two meals with garbanzos, curried garbanzo soup from the Rebar cookbook and then the Chickpea Cutlets from Veganomicon. Tomorrow one of the groups that I sit on (Alberni Valley Social Planning Council) is having a meeting/potluck and I'm not sure what to bring. And I can't buy anything because I have a reputation to uphold. I was thinking of making a cheeseball. But, then I can't eat it. Maybe I could make a vegan cheeseball?  Have Laura and I told you about the cheeseball party we had before I moved away from Prince George? It was wonderful!

Community: Tomorrow night, I am going to a Transition Towns meeting. I participate in the Transition Towns email list often but find going to their meetings difficult. With Roller Derby going to three nights a week (!!) I definitely wont be able to go in the future. I recently went to a Food Security conference hosted by the Island's health authority, VIHA, and have been interested in Food Security for a while, but getting more and more into it (it's my post-women's work lens right now). Anyway, they're setting their priorities for the next year and I'm excited to be part of that process and to find out how the last Agricultural Development Committee meeting went. I know this probably sounds boring, but I'm basically reflecting that I'm *busy* and I have my finger in a lot of pies. I want to switch from Roller Derby (local) governance to Food Security (local) governance. I'll have to be careful not to spread myself too thin until I can make an effective switch in the summer.

In other news that I may or may not have shared, but I've been assigned a Director position (Secretary) with the Roller Derby Association of Canada (!!) and it's been busy keeping up with the online chatter about what the future of Derby in Canada is going to look like. We're talking about boot camps, tourneys, membership rules, partnership with WFTDA, logos, statistics, etc. It's super exciting and I'm honoured to be part of this process. It's like with the World Cup that happened a few weeks back: those who were there were part of something special - the FIRST world cup EVER! I get to be part of something from the ground up too, and on a National scale. Woo!

Craft: Christmas is super close and while we don't do big gifts or anything, I still have to knit a handful of things including finishing a pair of socks (i'm halfway done the last sock) and knitting my derby wife something (i'm totally going to knit her laura's stemwinder hat).

Home Sweet Home (update and a recipe)

After about a month off work and a last minute birthday trip to vegas (yes, I went again-love it!) I've started working at the hospital as ...(wait for it)... something I went to school for?! Yeah, I know, it actually happens sometimes. I have one more week of training and then I'll be on the casual list for MLAs at the hospital. I'm excited! It's easy yet challenging work, the patients are mostly awesome, and it's fun to try to cheer them up a little. So I basically take blood specimens from patients and bring it down to the lab so my co-workers can do the tests that the doctors have requested. All I have to say about the tests is that science is weird. There are so many people at the hospital doing so much different work that all adds up to trying to make people well or at least comfortable. I'm feeling healthier than I have in a long time though I'm totally exhausted when I get home after work. A co-worker brought a step counter a while back and figured out that at the hospital, she was walking between 10 and 20km each day. I try to take the stairs as much as possible (so I can have a chocolate bar for a snack) and my forearms are getting huge from carrying my basket around all over the place. It's tiring and stressful because as an MLA and working full time right now, I see a lot of the same patients day after day, some move from unit to unit, some get better, some get worse, and some die so it can be pretty sad. This work makes me think about my own life and makes me want to promote health and happiness with my family and community. 

The Rated PG Rollergirls have announced another two games! We will be playing the Grande Prairie Rollergirls here at the PG Dome on January 21st! Woop!! That means that planning is starting now, and the Fundraising and Sponsorship Committee and I have got a lot of work to do to confirm sponsorships and plan the After Party! 

Speaking of derby...

Diandra and her Port Alberni Roller Girls just played their first ever game to a sold out crowd. I'll be keeping an eye on the updates on Fb for video etc. as it all gets uploaded today while people nurse their hangovers on this lovely Sunday morning. I can't wait to hear about how it went and am looking forward to seeing them in a couple weeks; I'll be coaching a practice for them on Dec. 29th. Can't wait! 

This morning we went to a 'Breakfast with Santa' at Books and Company. It was great. We had french toast and bacon (yes!) and after a little help being brave, Tee jumped up on Santa's lap and asked for a Barbie with a dress. Awesome. Not sure how I feel about it though some other kid asked Santa for a computer so I think getting a Barbie isn't so bad. At least she didn't ask for an ipod or a phone. yeesh! 

Holiday Cheese Spread

This is a super easy last minute food-like substance to bring to a potluck or gathering this holiday season. Cheese makes everyone happier! I usually leave a little stash back at home because there is never enough of this delicious stuff to go around and I'm usually jonesing for some when I get home from said party. YUM! We've been making it for years and no Sapergia family Christmas day is complete without this dish. Carol calls it 'Cheesy Goodness' but I just call it delicious. 

You will need:

1 package of cream cheese (room temperature)

1 package of imperial cheese (orange to the max cheese-at room temperature)

2 cloves garlic

pepper

paprika

worcestershire sauce (optional)

assorted crackers (go with the orange theme and get 'ritz' style ones, I like 'triscuits' and kashi TLC.

1. Toss the garlic into the food processor or mince and toss in a bowl.

2. Mix in the cheeses. 

3. Add pepper and worcestershire sauce.

4. Garnish with paprika and serve. OR Chill, form into a ball, and roll in toasted walnuts or just leave it at room temperature for instant cheese pleasure.  

Friday Favourites

December is here! The Holidays are UPON US! hurrah! In a week or so I'm going to spend some time at the Tseshaht First Nation making cedar wreaths with community members. Here is a round up of my favourite holiday wreathes! Now, which one to make for myself!?

Starburst Twig Wreath from the Painted Hive. Instructions here.

Martha's Forest Floor Wreath! Instructions here.

Snowball Yarn Wreath from Two Junk Chix. Instructions here.

I love this paper feather wreath, from Sweet Paul Magazine.

Good ol' traditional wreath made from felt! Instructions here.

Gem of the North

Friends of Shames: A Skier's Journey EP1 [Season 2] from Jordan Manley Photography on Vimeo.

I'm homesick. Friends of Shames is a project that inspired the creation of the My Mountain Co-op, a group of community members in Terrace who have joined together to buy back the ski hill from the private company that owns it. My Mountain Co-op is selling individual, youth, and business memberships (shares) to Shames in hopes of raising the 1.5 million dollars to purchase the land. And then there's the whole thing about running it.  I have only two experiences at Shames when I was a kid, and they were both negative because I sucked at outdoor winter sports, didn't understand my body, had bad balance, etc. It always seemed way harder than it needed to be.

This video is so beautifully shot and shows the true feeling I get of my hometown. I miss it there a lot. My best friend from Terrace was just here for the weekend and it was so nice to hear of all the good things going on there, the switch from a forestry resource-based economy into a mining and gas-type resource community and the diversification of the community itself (his room mate is the city's sustainability coordinator!) and the inclusion of urban farming and the movement away from the redneck part of the northern landscape. It's good to know that people are passionate and that they are working together to keep their most important social and recreational resource alive in their community. And buying back this outdated model for recreation management and making it their own. Exciting times!