Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Goodies and Greenery

E and I have been enjoying watching A Victorian Farm and A Victorian Farm Christmas together.  It's fun to know that the way we decorate our home is not unlike the way a Victorian farm family decorated their home for the holidays. 
(we drove by these guys on our way to find a tree, by the time we got the camera all we could get was a bum shot)


We've been collecting greenery on our walks for some time and last weekend we set out to the woods to get our tree.  We came home with red cheeks, a sweet little tree (which, I admit, took some getting used to after two years of massive trees) and assorted other greenery (we are fortunate enough to have yew, ivy and lots of other greenery right on this property including these gorgeous red berries, no holly but oregon grape leaves do in a pinch).
I've had some fun making two simple green decorations outside - one in an old milk can and one in an old cream separator.
The rest of the greenery has been placed throughout our home - I couldn't resist tucking a string of white lights under some old glass insulators on our mantel.
Simple, lovely and all able to be tossed back outside afterwards to compost - my favourite kind of decoration. ;-)

We've been doing a bit of baking, some of our favourites - toffeebrown sugar buttons, seedy crackers - with shortbread, gingerbread men, thimble cookies and nanaimo bars still to go.
Yesterday we made a treat for our favourite canine companion and, since I've been working on planning a new business, E and I talked about a business idea for him - homemade dog biscuits sold at the farm stand.  This batch - carrot, apple, molasses - seemed to go down a treat so it will be a keeper recipe.  Happily we have our own very willing taste tester dog (and actually E tested them out too as they are made with ingredients that non-furry creatures can also enjoy). ;-)
And, I don't usually like to post photos of myself (camera shy and all that) but I thought I would share this one because I wanted to show this great hat.  I wear it all the time because it is so warm (felted wool). I've had so many compliments on it and I love being able to say, "Thank you, I got it at the dump.".  Fun to see the looks that gets.  This summer we were camping on a little island and they have a re-store at their dump, it is a place where people can drop their stuff off and then others can buy it for a small donation.  There is a similar place up near my folks' house (although things are free at that one).  I LOVE the idea of this and wish there were such places at all landfills.  Such a wonderful idea and interesting to me that it is often in island communities where you will see these.  I'd like to be able to say that I usually look much tidier than this but, no...that's me, hair knotted in a bun, stuffed in a hat and off I go. ;-)
Now...to get back to that knitting.

8 comments:

erin said...

Hello! SO nice to "see" you Heather :)

I think you look splendid, and that is alot like my attire these days: pigtails, my touque, a cowl, a turtleneck and wooly sweater, and my pants and boots.

We LOVE the Victorian (and edwardain) Farm series, and this just reminded me to ask if Matthew had watched the Christmas episodes and he said delightedly, "no, not yet!" I think I know what we might be watching this week ;-)

Your greenery displays are so beautiful, i too love to do this. But milk jugs! They go for more than I can spend these days at our up-scale antique stores. Must grab some in summer when I see them cheaper.

We have been baking too, gingersnaps, granola, and lots to go still. I like them to be fresh for the holidays.

~Erin xo

AMOffenwanger said...

To me, the connection with the past is what Christmas traditions are all about. I was just saying that to my daughter as we made cookies with my grandmother's antique wooden molds: I love knowing that our ancestors did this for who-knows-how-many centuries before us, just like this.

daisy g said...

Sounds like the holiday spirit has really landed there.
Your hat looks great on you!
Enjoy the season!

Elizabeth said...

Nice to see you!
Looks like your holiday prep is shaping up.
At our old dump we were not technically allowed to take anything, although you could see there were a few good pieces of furniture put to on side. I That one is closed and we get garbage pick-up now, a big deal in the country. In the next county though, they have a reuse station that is free and full of goodies.

Honey and Me said...

Loving the hat! So many 'dumps' are getting on the re-store bandwagon now! It's great to see! The tree planters I work with in the summer love the ones in Smithers and Houston, BC..lots of free old clothes! Tree planting is hard on the body..and the clothes!
Your greenery looks amazing, and my pooch is drooling over the cookies! Guess I'll have to add them to our Christmas baking list!

sheila said...

Oooh, nice hat!

I was noticing how you don't use corn syrup (fudge recipe?) and thought I'd mention golden syrup. The one I buy is beet sugar syrup, or cane sugar syrup. Not corn. And it acts the same way as corn syrup does. It's also a fraction of the cost of honey.

We just made biscotti and shortbread and mince tarts (using green tomato mincemeat). LOVE the smells of this time of year.

dedgess: (jargon) Amalgamation of the words "did" "you" when combined with "see" as in "Dedgessee the chassis on that baby?" Used by a select group of the population.

Jacqueline said...

"it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...."! wow - fun to see all the greenery and wintery scenes. it is NOT feeling the least little bit like winter or solstice here! kind of missing it, but mostly not! no tree this year... our solstice will be very different.

LOVE seeing the photo of you. love the hat. you always look beautiful, even if your hair is twisted up in a bun under a hat:-)

xoxo

Katherine said...

Somehow missed commenting on this post.

Love your hat and had to laugh about how it came into your hands. Brings to mind a story about finding shoes along the highway....;o)