Countertops, What Countertops?

I’m sitting here in the dining/living room. Our barnhouse is very open, so the rooms don’t feel like rooms, except the bedrooms. Those are definite spaces with doors.

I’ve been watching a female oriole build her nest about a foot above last year’s nest, in the hackberry tree just beyond our patio. I’ve decided to focus on that, instead of the incredible disaster that is my kitchen and dining room table right now.

I can honestly say, it is never “company ready” on a day to day basis. It’s not a pigsty, but things pile up on the countertops and table, sometimes in the corners, as I've blogged about before. I decided awhile ago, that I had to choose between, having a super organized kitchen, that is always put away, with countertops that are always cleaned off, OR, having time to create art, sew and make quilts. I choose the latter, but in truth, it will drive me nuts if I let it. And, then my family suffers, because I go after the chaos with banging cabinet doors, swift movements, and no humor.

As happens often here on my blog, I really don’t have a solution, yet, to share that will solve this problem in my life. I don’t have a 3 step action plan for you. I’ve tried multiple organizing tips from other family, friends and even Pinterest; labels, task buckets, and minimizing.

What I have to do for myself, in this situation, is to focus on the relationships in my household, first. And then, with kindness, set forth my plan, in words….instead of rushing about, flying off the handle about this bad habit or that. I have trouble with the kindness part, with my family. I can do it with complete strangers. We often become that way with the relationships that are closest to us.

Just 2 days ago, I noticed my honeybees were especially active outside the hive, and I was afraid they were getting ready to swarm and I didn’t have my swarm trap built or up. I had a plan, I went after it. I snapped at my hubs of 35 years, because his shop has always been chaos, and he couldn’t find the tools or wire that I needed, in the speed I felt I needed it. It really didn’t matter, the swarm trap. What matters is my relationship, and I often forget that, when I’m hurrying around, trying to accomplish things.

So, what to do. Minimize, simplify, organize, declutter? I don’t know. Balance? That mythical, guilting idea, that we actually should strive for and achieve?

All I can do is continue to be mindful of relationships first, and establish some of the above tactics to make it easier to live in our house, continue fixing it up, and not have it fall into piles and piles of stuff that I have to clean up.

Feel free to leave some comments. Maybe you have a mindset or method that I can try. P.S. I like to have a tidy, but not sterile home, love to bake sourdough and make messes in the kitchen, and would prefer to sew over cleaning, every day. And, I live with my husband and son, who can look past piles of stuff, even better than I can. If you can help, apply below! Ha!

Your friend,
Anne Dovel - The Fit Quilter

Memorial Day Monday

We moved out to an acreage 5 years ago. I was charmed by the land, trees, birds and wildflowers, and the peace of the location. The house was, interesting.

We decided to buy the house with an enthusiastic realtor prompting us, very skilled in pointing out the plus sides so we wouldn’t pay attention to all the negatives and overwhelm of the house project ahead of us. And there was a lot of that.

My best friend, who grew up in the country, told me to go outside, anytime I got frustrated with the house. Which, I have done.

We have 1 neighbor down the hill, which we thought about contacting AFTER we bought the house. Luckily, we were blessed with the most amazing couple who have helped us over and over.

It’s Memorial Day weekend, and today is Monday. I’m trying to get to the point. Across the road from us, is an old cemetery. There are headstones dating back to civil war times. Every Memorial Day, the groundskeepers spruce up the cemetery, and get ready for a gun salute. Cars line up along the road, outside out house. And they have a short ceremony, and a gun salute to end it. We always watch from our deck and take a moment to remember, honor the dead. And its such a meaningful moment and something I look forward to each year.

Not this year. The cemetery manager decided not to have the event, due to Covid19. And, I’m a little sad. I love to see people show up, often with younger generations, to teach them what Memorial Day means, besides barbecues and days playing on the lake.

As a child, I remember Memorial Day as a day we spent seeing Grandparents. At my dad’s parent’s farm, Grandma would get out rusty coffee cans, that she saved from year to year, and fill them with iris and peony stems that grew in long rows close to the windmill. I can see it so clearly. We would load those cans full of flowers and take them to the cemetery. I don’t remember much after that, because I’m sure we were playing with cousins. Then, we’d go to my other grandma’s house, my mom’s mom, and stop at grandpa’s grave.

We didn’t have many military people in our family, so I just remember Memorial Day being a time to decorate graves of family members. I don’t think that’s wrong. Some will say otherwise. It’s a time to slow down for a bit, be grateful and remember. You might do that other times of the week or year, but I do hope you do it.

And, I really don’t think it’s wrong if this is a time you get with family and friends, and have a barbecue. We live in such a fast paced society, that these National holidays, often provide the only time to take a break, and excuse to gather and enjoy community.

Today, I will miss the gun salute. I hope they do it another time, after the fear of Covid19 dissipates. I hope people gather and catch up and share some food. I hope people teach their children to decorate graves and honor the memory of those who passed.

Your friend,
Anne Dovel - The Fit Quilter

Mom`s rhubarb upside-down cake

It’s rhubarb season and we had a wedding to attend, kind of. I could have flipped through recipe books and blogs looking for this recipe that my mom has made for many years, or, call my dad and ask him to take a picture of the recipe card and send it to me. That’s what I did.

This cake never disappoints. I don't buy shortening, so I substituted softened butter. The texture is a little more dense that way, but the flavor makes up for it. You might notice some missing instructions, common in my mom’s recipes, and even in the ones I’ve written down myself. I posted this on Instagram and many friends commented on the magic of hand-written recipe cards…often times, missing crucial information, that is stored in the writer’s memory.

If you google, you’ll find similar recipes, complete with all the instructions. But, if you want to use this recipe, my oven temp was set to 350 degrees, and it took 47 minutes until the cake tested done, which I did by lighting touching the top of the cake. The batter is very thick and you have to carefully spread it out over the marshmallows and rhubarb. It doesn’t have to look perfect, just cover the marshmallows. Shortening and all-purpose flour will yield a lighter cake. I used butter, superfine wheat flour, and guinea eggs. I used 4 guinea eggs instead of 2 chicken eggs, so that may have also had something to do with how thick my batter was. I’m never very prissy about my cakes.

Enjoy. If you have a favorite rhubarb cake recipe, feel free to comment below!

Your rhubarb loving friend,
Anne Dovel - The Fit Quilter

Cleaning those catch all totes

The bane of my existence—-catch-all tubs, boxes, bags, totes and junk drawers.

Do you have a junk drawer? For years and years, I always ended up with a junk drawer in the kitchen. It would catch everything. Basically anything I didn’t want to set on the countertop, or actually throw or put away; screws, spare change, twisties, coupons, business cards. When we moved out to the barnhouse, I suggested….well, actually I told my husband, we aren’t going to have a junk drawer IN the kitchen, because there aren’t enough drawers for the stuff I actually use. That was all fine and good, and agreed upon.

But, do you know what? That same junk started to collect on top of the countertop in the corner. The odd bolt, malfunctioning garage door opener, dried up pen…collecting again, but now out in the open.

So, I made another move. We bought a nice, used black entertainment center. It’s more like a dresser, but the top 2 cubbies are open for a vcr or DVD player. Remember those days? They weren’t that long ago. I got 2 drawer type baskets to slide into those spaces and asked the hubs to use those for the junk drawer. All is fine and good, but it still fills up and leaves me with the task of sorting all the detritus.

Friends. It drives me crazy. Can I say that? It will finally push me to the edge, and I will devote whatever time is necessary to empty, sort, put away. Last week was one of those times. I started with the the assortment of Amazon boxes that had been repurposed into catch-all, “I will put this away later” containers. Because those weren’t enough, there were also a few shopping bags; not full, just keeping a few things together.

I put on some music, and started sorting, in the worst of all places, on top of the dining room table. I called my best friend, to share my woe and at the point where everything was sorted into categories, I lost interest in finishing. I told my friend, I wanted to wad up the contents in the tablecloth and just toss it all. But, I didn’t. And, the last bits are still on the table, taunting me.

I could have finished that task completely, but instead, I went out into the studio. There wasn’t just a drawer of stuff, there were piles and totes and tubs. The studio is where I have my longarm quilting machine, and where I will move my sewing room and coaching office, and have everything in one place. It is a big room. One of the things I’m most excited about is that it has painted plywood walls. It’s rustic. But, that means I don't have to use special picture hangers. I can nail stuff to the wall as I please.

I was worn out by bedtime last night. I need to figure out how to not have catch-all spots. It should be simple. Just put it where it belongs the first time. I sorted, tossed, arranged, and labeled. I even sorted through 3 small tubs of writing utensils. And the sad thing is, I have more tubs of pens, markers, and pencils upstairs. We'll cover that topic another time!

If you made it this far, or skipped ahead, do you have suggestions? How do you keep from having multiple spots where junk lands and stays?

Thanks!
Your frustrated, but “it’s a new day!” Friend,
Anne Dovel

Black Willow and other pollen thoughts

Looking back to when we moved out to the barnhouse 5 years ago, one of the things I started doing, was trying to tame the acreage around me. It was the first time I had lived in the country, instead of in town, and I missed town. Don’t get me wrong, I also loved the peace and beauty of the country, but I had left a house and yard that was 1/4 of an acre in town, for 52 acres in the country.

Every place we’ve lived, I’ve added and cultivated gardens and plants; not in a professional way, like a landscaper would do, but in a more haphazard, trial by fire way. Sometimes, just the right conditions will prevail, and I’ll end up with a lovely corner where the plants thrive and compliment each other. And it will surprise me, kind of like some of the quilts that I finish…”oh, those fabrics really look nice together…lucky day!”

On that quarter acre lot in Milford, Nebraska, in the 14 years at that house, I added lots of plants. In the first 10 years, most were divisions from mom and other gardeners. There were 2 plants on that lot, besides the big old trees, when we moved in. When we left, the entire foundation around the house, was “landscaped.” There was a small, but rich garden in the back, no chemicals ever used. There were heirloom apple trees, cherry, plum and apricot, and my giant rhubarb.

It was an emotional move and I hurt my back, falling down the steps, just before we moved, so all of the plants I brought out to the acreage, perished. And, I didn’t get to dig as many as I wanted to. By the way, the people that bought the house cut down most of my fruit trees, even my beloved gravenstein apple, and took out most of the plants. I don’t even drive by anymore. Don’t get too attached to your houses…

So, how do I get back to what I started writing about this morning? Oh, yeah….black willow.

Over the last year or so, I’ve realized I have been trying to make the ground out here produce the plants that remind me of home, or, our last home. And, it’s just different out in the country. We have less protection from the wind and storms. Our house sits on top of a hill. We are surrounded by farm land. Everything is a little more wild. And maybe I should thank my honeybees, for helping me feel a little more rooted to this place.

I’ve been mystified when I check my bees, by where they get their pollen and nectar. I know when I first started keeping bees, I looked to flower gardens. And, I was disappointed when my precious flower gardens wouldn’t grow…for the bees. Then, in the late summer, I’d see a volunteer squash vine taking over and honeybees…all over it. Practically worthless as a vegetable, because you never know what will come from a mixed up squash plant, but the bees loved it, so I left it. This spring, I’ve been a bee stalker, and have been watching what’s in bloom, and if the bees are on it. The bees are arriving at the hive with “pollen pants” so they are finding it, without my flower gardens. Amazing, huh?

I was surprised that my aronia bushes, now in full bloom, had no bees. I was disappointed to learn that aronia bushes are self pollinating, and don’t really need honeybees. I was imagining all those healthful properties in my honey.

Am I ever going to get to the black willow? Here we go. I noticed a shrubby tree, in full bloom, honeybees all over it. We had chopped down this row of these trees and pulled out the stumps. Many had died, but they had grown up along the old septic leach line, because willow roots love and search out water. I had left this one bushy tree, because we moved the leach line and because it the bushy tree wanted to live, out here, no help from me.

That’s kind of my test now for plants out here. Wait, it’s alive…it’s thriving. Leave it.

So, I opened my ipad and searched until I identified the tree. And as it turns out, bees love the pollen on it. It’s also very early to bloom in the spring, when pollen is harder to find. So, I went down to the pond, to the sandy beach we tried to make that has been mostly a lesson in erosion…more on that later…and sure enough, more black willows along the edge. Dave asked me if I wanted him to cut them all back and we are leaving them…for the honeybees, and to hold that bank in. In fact, I’ll probably plant more, which, by the way, is incredibly easy, in moist soil. You cut a branch and stick it in the damp soil.

I won’t plant them close to any underground pipes or near the foundation, the roots will search out the water and clog the pipes.

Another important early source of food for pollinators, not just honeybees, is purple henbit, which is in full bloom right now. I was showing my hubs where to use the weed eater and stopped him at the henbit….”leave that. The honeybees are on it.” Dandelions are another important early bloomer. Yes, I’m that annoying neighbor that lets the dandelions bloom for the pollinators.

So, what am I getting at? Working with my environment, instead of trying to tame it. I think that’s my goal. And I think I will enjoy my yard, gardens and acreage more, if I embrace what wants to grow, (with the exception of the noxious thistles) and encourage more of those plants.

I have to be in this frame of mind to look for Nebraska native plants and flowers, when I go to a plant sale or nursery, because otherwise, it’s like going into a grocery store hungry and without a list.

Have a beautiful day. Go out and observe what is going on in the plants and flowers around you today!

Your friend,
Anne Dovel - The Fit Quilter

Black Willow

While stalking my honeybees to see if they were foraging close by, I discovered them all over this black willow.

Rhubarb Drinking Vinegar/Shrub

A drinking vinegar or shrub, originated in colonial times, is easily made at home with fruit you have available.

Rhubarb shrub. Since posting about it on Instagram, a few people have asked me how I made it.

Ingredients:

1 pound rhubarb, chopped
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup real honey (lots of the stuff in the store has added syrups)
1 cup raw apple cider vinegar

In a non-reactive pan, I use my Instant Pot stainless steel liner, stir together rhubarb, honey and sugar. Mush it around a bit, and let it sit until you see some liquid. They call it macerating…but if you cook like I do, mush it a bit and let it sit, works too.

Add the apple cider vinegar, bring to a boil, turn the burner to low and simmer for 20 minutes, covered, unless the rhubarb is soft and falling apart. You can help it along, if you want with a potato masher, but it’ll do it’s thing just by simmering it.

Turn off the heat, let it cool. Strain, pour into a bottle and enjoy. I use a cotton muslin tea towel to strain with, squeezing out as much liquid as I can.

Note: If you have raw honey, and want the benefits from that in your shrub, stir it in after you’ve strained the cool fruit.

Why honey and sugar. For this shrub, I like the flavor of the rhubarb to shine through, and my honey tends to be darker. So, I mix it half and half. You could do all sugar, try different vinegars, etc. But, this is what I like. I haven’t calculated the calories, because as a rule, I don’t pay attention to calories. So you would have to do that math. But, for a refreshing drink, I add about 1-2 T. shrub to a glass of water, which with the calculating I did, is about 8 calories per T of rhubarb shrub.

Can you make it sugar free? I don’t know. I personally don’t use any artificial sweeteners, because they are nasty, don’t help with stable weight, and have potential harmful side effects. But, this post is not about that! If you make it with just rhubarb (technically not a fruit, so it has no natural sugars) and vinegar, let me know how it goes. I wouldn’t add artificial anything in the making of the shrub.

I hope you try this, if you have rhubarb in your garden or yard!

Your friend,
Anne Dovel - The Fit Quilter

Rhubarb Shrub

For a lovely, afternoon refresher, try 2 T. Rhubarb shrub, water, and ice in your cutest canning jar.

Rhubarb growing tips

I’ve grown rhubarb in my gardens for 35 years, and pulled plenty of it from mom’s gardens when I lived at home.

Rhubarb prefers rich soil, because it’s a heavy feeder, it takes a lot from the soil. Here’s how I grow it in my gardens.

Remember, if you plant rhubarb in the vegetable garden, you’ll want it where you don’t dig or till year after year. My mom plants rhubarb in her large perennial flower beds. I plant mine on the edge of my vegetable garden or around my raised beds, or wherever I want something big, leafy and green in the summertime.

• Dig a bigger hole than you need, and toss in some compost or composted manure. Rhubarb roots get very big.

• Plant so the crown is just below the surface of the soil.

• I always mulch with straw, dried leaves, weeds or garden plants that I pull near it. I also cut the leaves off right at the plant, after I pull the rhubarb, and mulch with the rhubarb leaves. My grandma and mom always did that. I do too.

• Don’t harvest from a new plant. Let it go the first year. Depending how well it grows, you might be able to harvest a few stalks the second year. After that, it should provide you with plenty of stalks.

• I have lots of plants, so I never over-harvest my rhubarb. The leaves provide nutrients to the roots, so you don’t want to pull all of your plant, all the time. The most I harvest at one time is 2/3s and that’s early in the season, IF I’m making rhubarb pie for everyone in the county, or more likely, freezing or preserving it.

• Late in the summer, if I get a hankering for something rhubarb-y, I’ll harvest a few stalks here and there. Often, I mix it with apple or cherry or strawberry. You want the plant to go into fall and winter with plenty of energy reserves, otherwise over time, your plant will get weaker, instead of more robust!

• Maintenance: I weed around my rhubarb plants, mulch, and water if we have a long, hot, dry spell.

• Rhubarb does need a winter freeze to grow well.

• If I decide to move a rhubarb plant, I usually divide it at that time, and often end up with multiple plants.

Rhubarb is pretty hard to kill, once you get it established. My dad once tilled a garden plot for my brother, before the rhubarb was up that season, and ended up spreading rhubarb roots throughout the garden. They had little rhubarb plants coming up all over the place!

Enjoy. Ask questions if you have them. Rhubarb is one of my favorite perennial plants in the garden.

Your rhubarb loving friend,
Anne Dovel - The Fit Quilter