So A Girl Walks Into A Bar...

Introducing one of my new vintage purchases. A super cool mid-mod metal cabinet with sliding doors complete with a black leather-esque writing pad on top. I picture this coming out of Don Draper's office on Mad Men...at least in my mind.

{Drum roll}...I'm making a liquor cabinet out of it! Uh, yeah, brilliant - I'm just saying. It's perfect for it - shelf inside, right size, right height. I really can't decide whether to have it repainted a hi-gloss white while leaving the top and legs as they are...but the more I look at it, the more I love the old-school gunmetal gray. I've already consulted a fine furniture painter, Maaco Auto Body Repair & Painting {joke, but not really}. Super good resource to get metal furniture painted with a car quality finish at a reasonable price.

Now the last question to answer is shaken or stirred?

image courtesy of me

Death Machine {a.k.a. Pressure Canner}

Am I the only one that uses a death machine any more? Otherwise known as a pressure canner...

Who am I kidding, there are very few of us canning aficionados left. I {heart} canning, it's one of my favorite things to do. Something about seeing the pantry shelf lined with fresh garden produce to be enjoyed all year long...you really don't know what you're missing.

Just finished a fresh batch of green beans...now in a few months when it's cold and dreary outside, I can put a little piece of fatback (you probably don't know what that is if you are north of the Mason- Dixon line - too bad for you), render the fat, then put the canned green beans in with some frozen {fresh} corn cut from the cob, finish with salt and pepper. Green has never tasted so good.

Go ahead, take a chance on canning. Look at it this way, if the apocalypse comes and you are forced to hide out in your bomb shelter, you'll be glad you have all your canned beauties to choose from...with or without the fatback.

image courtesy of me

What's Up Doc?

It's been awhile since I've done a gardening post. The garden went really well this year, everything I planted produced a harvest. Booyah! After the summer garden came the fall garden, which has turnip greens, beets, carrots, cabbage, and broccoli. I'm harvesting turnips and carrots daily now - I'm actually shocked at how good the carrots did. I'm shocked because I'm really just winging this whole garden thing...but maybe all the organic matter {aka chicken sh*t} I've put on the garden is helping too!

I've also been mixing in the beet greens with the turnip greens when cooking those and it makes a huge difference in the flavor - granted I like them either way. Just planted about 30 cloves of garlic too but I've been having a slight squirrel problem with digging in the bed. You may want to say a prayer for that squirrel...he's gonna need it.

image courtesy of me

Good Morning.

So, I have to get up really early to take Chloe to school, like out of the stinkin' house, going down the road by 7am at the latest...all the while praying I don't break down because obviously I'm still in my pajamas looking haggard for sure. Anyway, this little ditty of a rainbow certainly brightened up our otherwise miserable, typical, early morning. It was going right over the farm where Chloe takes horseback...very poetic since the farm is such a magical place anyway. Chloe's school happens to be right across from the farm {so convenient}. Lovely, lovely...however I wonder if there was a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow or a steaming pile of manure? It's a toss up.

image courtesy of coco

Boo Time

We successfully carved this year's pumpkin without cutting off a limb in the process. We did add a little red craft paint and a stuck a knife in his head. However, a good severed arm hanging out of the pumpkin's mouth could be a nice addition...I'm just sayin...

Happy tricks and treats er'body.

image courtesy of me

Horse'n Around

Yesterday, Chloe and I, went to the barn to ride horses for awhile - just some good ol' pasture riding.  It was such a gorgeous day and we love being out there.  You drive through the gates and it's like driving into another world - completely laid back, no rushing to do anything, fresh air {sometimes REALLY fresh}, all the sounds of the farm animals, chasing the chickens {but once you catch them they are really sweet to hold and pet}, and I especially love the farm community family.  Truly a slice {or should I say acreage} of paradise.

images courtesy of me

Hot Fun In The Summertime!

I am a coastal girl for sure...mountains are beautiful and all but make no mistake, I am a total sand and wave girl through and through.  Coco and I joined some of our friends at the beach this week and had so much fun.  We went to one of our local hometown beaches, Surf City, NC.  I love it there because it still has an old school surf town vibe.  Delicious food and beverages were consumed, the kids got airbrushed tattoos, and of course no trip would be complete without a few trips to the best place on Earth, Bert's Surf Shop.  I've loved surf shops since I was a kid {Bert's being my all-time favorite} and I still love 'em - those are my people.  Soul surfing all day with bleached out salt water hair and your idea of dressing up is a clean wife-beater tank and cutoff jeans on top of your drenched bikini...shoes not accepted.  On our trip, we were also lucky enough to bring back just-caught shrimp and flounder from a local fish market to enjoy at home for the next few months {yes, we bought a lot}!

As you may have seen me mention before, my retirement plan {probably at the age of 145} is to retire on the beaches of Costa Rica.  However, I'm afraid the wife-beater and cutoff jeans will simply not look the same, but I'm game...

images courtesy of me and Bert's

Cowgirl Up!

Coco has been taking horseback riding lessons for almost 4 years now. Time flies when you are having fun! I snapped this pic at her lesson this past weekend riding one of her favorite buddies Bam-Bam {and I must add he is looking very svelte after working some weight off}. Bam, you lookin' good baby...stay away from those mares.

Every time I go out to the barn I swear my blood pressure goes down about 20 points. I guess it's something about being around the horses, open fields, farm animals, and manure. I'm just sayin...

image courtesy of me

Can You Dig It?

So its been awhile since I've had a garden post. The garden is churning out many delicious beauties like these potatoes and garlic. It was my first time growing both of these and they were so easy. The trick with potatoes is definitely to keep them mounded as they grow and you can harvest new potatoes early or nice big spuds when the plants die back. I'm going with a third option of both! New potatoes have been delicious {roasted in the oven with olive oil and fresh rosemary, dag!} and the large potatoes have been great for fat-free scalloped potatoes {with milk, butter, cheese, breadcrumbs}...did I say fat-free? I lied.

The garlic is quite amazing. The trick is to keep weeds out {weeds bad, very bad} - you can grow garlic and you can grow weeds but you can't grow both, so it's your choice. I've been nursing the garlic since late last fall and it was harvested in June. All of the June rain helped some of the garlic bulbs split right before harvest, thanks alot rain! You really don't want alot of rain before harvest as the bulbs will split and also the skins aren't as dry as you want. However, most survived and I hung them in bundles in the drafty garage to cure for at least 4 weeks. I was so surprised at how crunchy fresh garlic is, not like that faux Chinese garlic you get at the grocery store. This home grown garlic is full of flavor but really mild - I'm definitely down with planting a larger crop this fall.

Of course I've been harvesting the usual suspects as well...corn, tomatoes, squash, zucchini, cucumbers, basil, peppers. Cantaloupe is taking its own sweet time but I have my fingers crossed that it will turn out well.

I can't believe it's already time to plan the fall garden. It will include the following cast of characters: beets, turnips {tons of turnips actually}, carrots, another crop of cucumbers, broccoli, brussels sprouts, who knows what else.

Anyway, if you haven't tried gardening {and you like vegetables}, you should give it a whirl. For the cost of a pack of seeds, roughly less than 2-bucks, you too can have your fridge overflowing with the good stuff...much less than the supermarket prices and oh so much better. I'll step down from my produce box now. Happy digging!

images courtesy of me

You Lookin' At Me?

Chloe, my 11-year old daughter, and I were riding in the car and she snapped this self-portrait. I think she is so dope with the big neon pink floppy hat and oversized glasses {of course just one eye showing}. She wants to be a large animal vet and go to vet school at NC State later in life so I guess the Tarheel t-shirt will bite the dust.

Confession...every time I do a self-portrait I get a weird crop, like the top of my forehead with some odd piece of hair sticking up on the top of my head. Not a good look, certainly nothing to publish. As a matter of fact, I don't even want to talk about it anymore. Anyway, good job Coco!

image courtesy of Coco