This school year, I have found a new way to connect my two areas of expertise: education and farming. Because of my connection to the Montessori department at Xavier, I was asked if we might serve as the farm for the middle schoolers at the lab school to visit each month. Maria Montessori thought that … Continue reading Tree Tapping & Fermentation Fun
Traditional Jam Sandwich Cookies
I was tasked with bringing dessert for Christmas dinner. I wanted to do something using my homemade jams and jellies. When I happened upon a recipe for traditional Linzer cookies that included almonds in the dough, I knew I'd found my dessert. This recipe is fairly involved, taking several hours to prepare, but the result … Continue reading Traditional Jam Sandwich Cookies
Ham Bone & Veggie Soup
Every year, the Joseph family gifts a full holiday meal to each Cincinnati police officer as a show of gratitude for their service to the city. This year we chose a ham as our meat and I prepared it for our Christmas Eve dinner. There is inevitably lots of ham leftover, and a lovely bone. … Continue reading Ham Bone & Veggie Soup
Cookie Decorating with a Holiday Cocktail
We enjoyed a fun evening with our neighbor Rita decorating the gingerbread men I made. Decorating was, of course, intermixed with eating... We managed to make it home with about half the cookies we started with 🙂 And for the adults, I made a festive cocktail with the cider I made from the last of … Continue reading Cookie Decorating with a Holiday Cocktail
Gingerbread Cookies
Making and decorating cookies is a Christmas tradition that I hold dear. As long as I can remember we have made gingerbread men together and decorated them elaborately. Some years, we mixed it up and added in some sugar cookies too, but gingerbread was our standard. My mom and I were the core duo of … Continue reading Gingerbread Cookies
Medicinal Elderberry Syrup
I shared my story previously about the elderberry bushes that planted themselves here in our yard, volunteers brought over most likely by birds from our neighbor Rita's garden. They have grown and spread so that now I have a nice little elderberry patch. This is one plant I will be happy to watch take over … Continue reading Medicinal Elderberry Syrup
Will Winter Ever Settle in?
Has this not been the strangest, wettest year in ages? I'm beginning to wonder if winter will ever settle in to stay. We had several weeks of temps down in the 20's and had to switch over to our winter mode for the chickens and ducks. When it's that cold, we have to drain the … Continue reading Will Winter Ever Settle in?
Christmas Traditions
For me, Christmas has always been a time of togetherness with many traditions that involve food and spending time with family at home. I have fond memories of decorating the tree with my mom every year into adulthood, often with a glass of port and Christmas cookies to sweeten our conversation. We always made gingerbread … Continue reading Christmas Traditions
Another year, another tree
We continued our family tradition of cutting down our own Christmas tree at our local Corsi Tree Farm. Josh began this tradition back when Mcgregor, now 13, and Oliver, 10, were just wee little ones and Baxter wasn't yet born. He recalled this year that first trip when he had to pull two boys in … Continue reading Another year, another tree
Blackberry Pear Pie
As I type I'm enjoying leftovers of my pie from Thanksgiving dinner so, as promised, I'm sharing the recipe. I found this recipe in the Thanksgiving edition of Good Housekeeping magazine and saved it because I still have a basin full of pears from our tree out in the fridge. Any interesting pear recipe I … Continue reading Blackberry Pear Pie
