what's in my cup and a wee bit of urban farming...

strawberry smoothie from our frozen strawberries, ground flax seed, honey, vanilla yogurt and skim milk

Have a good one, friends!!

xoxo

Love,

~dee

busy weeks of summer...

Little snippets: friends, children home for the summer, accepted for the ICP in Greenville (YIPEeeee!), painting, ceramics, mowing lawns, DMV for a certain teen's learner's permit, urban farming, church, playing, dinners, baking, shopping, a birthday of the one I love coming up tomorrow, a ton of little moments that are full and good.

"Godliness with contentment is great gain."

Love,

~dee

xoxo

working towards this...

Crossing my fingers and hoping that this year we end up here....

Indie Craft Parade from Indie Craft Parade on Vimeo.

Happy weekend, friends!

Enjoy!

xoxo

Love,

~dee

what's in my cup....

 

I really am amazed at gunpowder green tea.  Each leaf is individually hand rolled.  I can hardly wait try using our tea leaves to create this tea.  I was also rather intrigued by the Sri Lanka chai mix and decided to try a slow cook gunpowder green chai today.  I mixed our gunpowder green leaves with cinnamon, cardamom, cummin seeds, coriander, curry leaves, lemongrass, fenugreek seeds and a small amount of ginger.  When the 2 hour steep was completed, I strained the tea, added soy and raw sugar.

It seriously awoke my mind and soul today!! 

If you know me you know I needed some energy and awakening as of late.

Enjoy the rest of your day!! 

What's in your cup?

xoxo

Love,

~dee

my sweet love + good food = a great birthday...

 Its hard to believe that I just turned 42.  How have those years gone by so quickly?

Its a good thing I have an amazing husband who knows how to make getting older feel fun!

I think I put on 4 pounds over the weekend but it was worth the extra running and biking I will be doing this week.  

It was a wonderful weekend!

How was yours' ?

xoxo

Love,

~dee

 

reality...

 

 

 

(The chicken a little bit above was one of the ones that ended up being a rooster.)

This last week has just flown by.  Chaos would best describe this morning.  

What the photos above don't show is that two of the pullets (female chickens) were not really females at all but rather very loud crowing roosters of which we had to take to a "country" farm this morning because the noise beginning at a little before 6am was unbearable for us and I am pretty sure for our community.  Both young roosters decided today was the day for them to begin seriously crowing non-stop.  

Our dog, Mazzy vomited all over our carpets.  I am not sure what is wrong with her.

Bella used up ALL of our toilet paper while she was in the bathroom and plugged our toilets.

My love was rather harried and late as he headed off to work feeling a little overwhelmed.  Water has been leaking into our garage in a manner that needs to be dealt with immediately.  Lawns are feeling overgrown.  The gate in which we hoped would contain the female hens is not tall enough to keep them contained in their area and they have all begun to roost high up in our willow tree.  Our 2 boys are headed off to Washington, DC tonight and today our new dryer decided to die, leaving me hanging clothes up to dry in hopes that they will have enough clothing for their trip.  I should be doing breakfast dishes right now but instead I thought I would post about the craziness we call our lives just to be raw, genuine and very real.  Urban farming is great but there are definitely days we aren't sure anything is going the way we would like it to.  Like the way our peach trees were attacked by stink bugs leaving us with moldy peaches everywhere, all of the plums fell off of our plum trees except one moldy one due to a late frost and our spinach was eaten by a cute little brown bunny.  In the middle of chaos though, is a sweet spot, a calming reassurance that one day when things calm down we will look back at this morning and giggle about its craziness, or like the little video post from a friend that breathed in peaceful music and the deliciousness of a salad my grandfather used to make that I finally took on the courage to try with his mandolin cutter left to me.  All of which helped me stay sane and hopeful today.

At least in the end we will say we lived rich and full lives!

Hope your weekend has a peaceful spot!

xoxo

Love,

~dee

 (recipe from my grandfather who had a beautiful urban farm of his own....he was ahead of his time...he passed away 2 and a half years ago)

what's in my cup....

Whenever I am a little down, chocolate seems to help lift my spirits. 

What's a girl who is on her way to living a healthier lifestyle to do to make this a viable diet option?

We have a serious little patch of chocolate mint in our backyard this year.

In past years it never seemed to do much.  This year it is thriving!

I also have this incredible black cherry loose leaf tea that has been awaiting use.

This morning I mixed the chocolate mint in with the black cherry loose leaf tea Not only was it amazing but it paired up perfectly with my slim high fiber bagel topped with a tablespoon of  Nutella!!

Perhaps joy spills out of a little silver tea pot!

xoxo

Love,

~dee

a little etsy luvin'....

 

Please let me introduce you to Janis of Pinecone Camp, a wonderful photographer and fellow Vancouverite.  Her work both in her shop and  blog make my heart HAPPY!

I can actually feel the happy optimism and excitement of Vancouver just taking a quick peek at her photos from home.

She has the sweetest giveaway this week too!  Make sure you enter quickly  because I think the drawing is on the 8th!

"The place you have left forever is always there for you to see whenever you shut your eyes." 

~Hamilton Henning

(...or take a peek at photos like these ;)

luv,

~dee

xoxo

oh deer...

 

a sneak peek at some crafty little antler pieces in mid progress...

I kind of like deer so I thought some branches would be better suited for this project.

I will be finishing up these guys over the weekend.

Happy weekend, friends!

xoxo

Luv,

~dee

what's in my cup....

 

If you want a fresh fruit tea, you can easily make one by adding berries or fruit to your loose tea in a french press.  Heat water, pour over, wait about 4-5 minutes, press and you will have a homemade fresh fruit tea.

  Raspberries are a little on the tart side, so I added some honey to my cup.

Happy Thursday to all of you!

xoxo

Love,

~dee

fresh...

 

We have been living off of our backyard for the past few weeks and I can't complain.  The food is fresh tasting and healthy.  I am not sure why we didn't do this sooner.  Keeping herbs in icy cold water helps with freshness.  Tonight I am going to be making Thai beef salad with homemade rice noodles.

I usually vary recipes to make it my own,so this one I am adding Thai fish sauce, cilantro, basil, mint and garlic from our gardens.

Hoping to mix up some icy mint with lime tea to go with it.

Too bad we couldn't enjoy it in the fresh looking space I found here.

Have a refreshing day!
Love,
~dee
xoxo