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books nature simple living social construct

We went outside today.

Well, it was the first consistently nice day all week, so Justin and I decided to take a day trip out to the Book Barn in Niantic, CT, and meet up with Eggie, Darian & Aivar at the beach. We love the Book Barn all the time, but especially in Covid Times because much of…

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art garden knitting simple living

#baghag for lyfe

Baghaggin like a real hag these days. When I moved my stuff out of the classroom this spring, I found a big box of balled up plastic bag yarn that I guess I must have balled up over the last couple of years. It’s all separated by color and texture. I remember doing it, but…

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masks sewing simple living social construct

moJAVe Masks v2.0

moJAVe masks are cloth masks made in honor of our brother-in-law, whose initials were JAV. He and my brother (his husband) had recently bought a house in Palm Springs (near the Mojave). I chose the symbolism of the desert because is a place of invisible, but undeniable, community. Joe died from Covid-19 on March 30,…

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art sewing simple living

Another Gertie Swirl

I was planning to help a friend make a Gertie swirl dress yesterday, but I think her day must have gotten away from her, so I started without her. Friday night, I cut and prepped all the pieces. I meant to photograph it, but it was hot, and my place is small; I just didn’t…

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food garden peasant foods plants simple living Uncategorized

Short harvest

It’s been hot and dry the past couple weeks here, so I’ve been trying to get to the garden every other day or so to water. Yesterday, I noticed some of the garlic was 2/3 brown, and ready to pull. This year, I tried an experiment and planted the peppers in between the garlic to…

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food foraging garden peasant foods plants raw simple living Uncategorized veganing

Purslane and baby beet greens

I thinned our baby beets and cleared much of the purslane, but grabbed some choice clusters to pack into our tacos later.

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sewing simple living

Sweater Fixin’

I found this potentially awesome sweater at Savers a little while back. The thing was that it had these really weird knit long sleeves which didn’t really match anything. It is black (good), with cool embroidery along the upper chest (very good), but wow: who authorized these strange sleeves? I wish I had a photo…

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food peasant foods raw simple living veganing Vegetarian Whole30

Nime Chow Salad

So this salad would not be Whole30 compliant if I were not adapting it for vegetarian. Legumes are off the list for Whole30 if you’re a meat-eater, but I use legumes a little bit, and since peanuts are a legume, they are technically off the menu. That said, I have peanut powder which is super…

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plants simple living

#Plantlife

It’s windy, warm, and projected to rain. All the reasons I bring our houseplants out for the day. This beautiful Bay Laurel is about four years old. I bought it from Seven Arrows Farm in Attleboro, and it has served me well. All year long, I’m able to pluck from it, and though it has…

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life simple living

My favorite.

I woke up this morning in my own bed, half slanted to the right and thinking about how we need to fix that bed leg that we broke before we left for California. I lifted myself out of bed to find myself in front of the bathroom mirror; my hair reflects relative humidity and pillow-drying,…

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food peasant foods plants simple living veganing

Vegetable Sandwich & Blubharb Tarts

I’m falling way behind, folks, but I’m in for the month!  I’m not going to blog the repeats that we eat because we tend to eat the same things over and over; however, this sandwich – while it is a relative staple on our lunch menu – was extraordinary and worth blogging about.  Justin picks up these great rolls…

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food peasant foods plants simple living Uncategorized veganing

Leftovers all day.

We don’t have anything terribly new to report: we had leftovers all day. For breakfast we had our stand-by tofu, beans & potato burrito; for lunch we had the last of the tacos; for dinner I had the last of the spaghetti sauce (I went to a pasta-dinner fundraiser for a friend’s niece, and was…

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food simple living veganing

French Leek Friday

We started out the day with our faithful oatmeal (ermagherd, I love Justin’s oatmeal) and black coffee.  I headed out to teach the PE class I’m covering until June (hooping and yoga, whaaaaat?), came home to take care of some work, then we set out for falafel times.  Delicious falafel times. The coolest thing about…

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books buddhism christianity simple living

Mere Christianity

A Christian friend of mine loaned me her copy of this book, Mere Christianity, by CS Lewis, so this post will be the surrogate to marginalia, since the book a) is not mine and b) has tiny margins. I thought at first that I would just handwrite on sticky notes, but I think it just…

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art sewing simple living

Sewing Day Part Two

So this morning I finished slashing & spreading the pattern to approximately fit my body. Now for the “muslin” which I’m hoping will fit well enough to wear.  I chose a nice green & cream gingham from my pattern stash, but decided to cut the bodice (at least) on the bias. Of course, I don’t have…