Building a Terraced Garden
The start of the process of putting in terraces on a steep hill. I cut out a base in the hill, put in the first log, then drive in metal supports. After that, logs are lowered to create the terrace, and backfilled with dirt for planting.
Terraces are set up and planted, and the staircase is in place.
Railing is placed beside the staircase for hand support. (I don’t do the planting, just the hardscape!)
Hand Carved Gingerbread Molds
This mold is a copy of an original from the early 19th century. The original mold had nail markings that indicates tin wrapped around the mold, so that one could impress the cookie and cut it out at the same time. None of the other molds I have seen had this feature. It is possible the tin cutter was put on later, or it might be a rare addition to gingerbread molds.
The original of this rocking horse mold dates to at least the early 19th century. This makes a really big cookie, 7 1/4 inches by 4 1/4 inches. Gingerbread molds go from large like this one, to as small as 1 1/2 inches square. The small ones were often put on boards with as many as 24 or 36 carved designs.
Making Mushroom Soup
The finished mushroom soup after adding the additional vegetable broth. This soup is full of mushrooms, and we use it for lots of things. Chicken or beef slow cooked in the soup makes a delicious mushroom sauce, using it for any casseroles that call for mushroom soup, or just eating a bowl with some cream added. This is about 2 gallons of soup, enough to freeze for the year in pint bags. Easy and fast to use. You can read the blog post here.
Pysanky and other dyed Easter Eggs
Image 1 has a combination of chicken egg pysanky above, and goose egg pysanky below. Image 2 has a pysanky, top center a madder root dyed egg with straight pin applied beeswax, bottom right is a red cabbage + cochineal dye with straight pin applied beeswax design, and bottom left is a red cabbage dye egg with a straight pin scratched pattern design. Image 3 is a mixture of chicken egg pysanky.
