Karla's Cottage

Updates to repurpose a canvas

Years ago, I had painted a canvas with a French market scene to use as a backdrop/divider for a booth at a show.  It was a quickie, and not meant to be too detailed.

Here is the original.  I have had it hanging in my garage, but have never really liked it.  When Guncle Randy needed a French themed mural, I offered to give it to him.

But of course, that meant that I wouldn’t like it any better when I saw it at his house.

So, I spent an afternoon brightening it and adding details.

Including his Bichon, Bella, peeking out of the window.

And his address in French, on the wall.

(the sign isn’t really crooked, the canvas has a few billows, here and there that throw off the perspective in photos)

I like it better now.  I think he will use it in his patio tent for a French themed dinner party  or maybe to hang on the garden fence?  

It is canvas and acrylic, so would be fine outdoors.  But over time, could cause moisture to be trapped behind it and the fence would rot, so that couldn’t be permanent.

Harvesting the honey

This spring, my husband started a new hobby.  He is now a beekeeper. It made me a bit nervous due to the investment to set it up and our total lack of knowledge and skills. I might have been less than enthusiastic, as a matter of fact... But soon, he'd read up on it, asked other beekeepers for hints and seemed to know everything he needed to know.  

I should not have doubted him, because he sure came through with a ton of honey (which we didn't expect for the first year, but these busy bees  worked overtime, and with this wetter than average summer we have had a lot of beautiful blooms to feed the bees and create a bounty of sweetness!).  And he loved every minute of it. He keeps a chair out by the hive so he can sit and watch them come and go, and visits them throughout the day.  It has become a very entertaining thing for him.

The lure of watching the bugs fly around eludes me, but there is something mesmerizing about it for him, so I am happy that he is happy.   And very glad that he loves it so much, that he does all of the work.  I can safely say, "Not my hobby" and step away while he happily scrapes stuff off, or blows smoke at the insects to make them drowsy, or any of the other beyond my understanding tasks that have to be done.

Also, I was lucky that the family came together to help with the harvest, and everyone had jobs that they did enthusiastically, even with zeal.  It is a huge and sticky undertaking, if my husband and I had to do it alone, it could have been rough. Instead, it was a blast with this group helping.

The grandfairies offered to make labels for all of the jars, as well as stirring the pots as needed and helping drain honey from the wax.  Later on, we will make beauty products with the wax. (any tips are appreciated!)

Looking at the growing level of honey in the bottom of the pot was endlessly fascinating.

All of us had our moments of honey gazing at some point or another.

While there were a lot of steps involved, the whole process was surprisingly easy to do. I was dreading getting started, but once we were rolling, all went well.  My kitchen might never be back to its nonsticky self again, but some tacky spots here and there were well worth it.  We ended up with the equivalent of about 4 dozen bear bottles. Plus, there is still a giant chunk of wax sitting in a cheesecloth draining, I think we will get at least a couple more bottles out of that.

Along the way, I figured out some tips to make things easier next summer when we (hopefully) have a larger batch from this hive and some honey also from a second hive we will be starting. One thing I didn't expect, was that the wax was almost impossible to get off of the pans I'd used for setting down knives in, holding piles of wax, draining the wax, and stacking the frames in.  

Oh my!

I tried washing it off, then worried about the sink drain, or if it made it past that, the septic tank.

 So, the big girls took them outside to spray off with a power washer.  

That helped, but there were still bits of wax that needed scraped off before the pans and bowls could go into the dishwasher.  Next time? I'll use disposable aluminum foil pans.  Hopefully I can wipe them down and reuse them for future honey harvests and not worry about a little wax here and there.  

As everyone was busy as a bee draining, spinning, and bottling the golden goodness, I baked fresh bread to eat it on. Next time, I'll think of that ahead of time, so I'm not trying to bake while the extraction is going on.  Because we decided that having a fresh loaf of bread hot out of the oven is a very important part of gathering honey!  Next time, I'll be letting the dough rise while my husband is brushing the bees off the frames and bringing them in to scrape and extract.

 He learned that heavy, leather gloves are important, because this is as angry as his bees have ever been, and he was stung through his regular gloves.  

The table should probably be covered in a disposable table cloth too.  I have washed and washed it, with soap and vinegar, but am still finding sticky spots.

 The doorknobs aren't any better....even though I was smart enough to have a sink full of soapy water in the kitchen for hand washing throughout the day so people wouldn't  have to touch the faucet or go into the bathroom and touch that doorknob.  

Another thing we will do next time is have a wet towel on the floor for foot wiping.  That might help with the sticky footprints.    I'd laid out cardboard to catch drips, which helped, but still got walked through and spread throughout the house.  

But hey, like I said, a little sticky ickiness is worth it! Look at this waterfall of honey!!!!

 

 

 

Golden summer skies and goldendoodles

Sugarwings keeps a ladder under the mulberry trees for the whole berry season, for easy access when she needs a snack.  

What on earth is better for a kid than running in the clover fields with puppies and climbing trees to eat berries on a sunny, summer day?

The grand fairies and the babies raced across the field, collapsing onto the ground for wriggling hugs when they got worn out.

It really doesn't get any better than this.

Perfection!

PS- Happy birthday, Guncle Randy!

What is on the menu? Grow, greens, grow!!!!

This photo was taken a couple of days ago. The greens were still a little puny, but they are growing as fast as they can.  I'm hoping to have fresh salad for our big family dinner tomorrow.

The nights are getting colder, and this window box that my son built (4 old wooden windows from the Habit ReStore screwed together with a hinged one top) is getting wobbly from being outdoors for a few years.   The glass on the top is loose, so I've had to go out and cover it all with plastic every night, then remove that so the sun can shine it during the day.

So far, so good.  But with 22 people to feed, this might end up being a skimpy salad...

It hasn't been that long since it was planted, but maybe I should have started a week earlier. This was a simple project I saw on Pinterest, and it worked well.

All you do is buy a bag of topsoil, slit it open and sprinkle in seeds. The bag sits directly on the ground, and there are a few holes poked in the bottom of the bag before making slits in the top and adding the mixed greens seeds.

I've never watered it.  If my window box wasn't old and wonky, it would be even easier, I wouldn't have had to cover it on cold nights.

I might buy another window (they are usually $5 each at the Habitat store) and replace the top one that is falling apart and see if Kansas will allow a lettuce crop for our Christmas dinner too.  That might be pushing it. 

But worth trying!

Our 2015 pumpkin harvest wasn't all that bountiful.  

Mostly because I didn't plant any- a vines sprang up from  last year's gourds! Trouble was, they were in a bad spot, sprouting from a flower bed in front of the chicken coop, where the vines wanted to stretch out across the yard. So a lot got ran over with the mower.

But a few little punkins survived. I'll be roasting one today to see if it is big enough to bake a pie.  Things that are home grown are even more special for a holiday meal, don't you think?

I hope you have a tasty day surrounded by loved ones too.  

Happy Thanksgiving!

A quiet 4th of July

We had quite a nice holiday weekend. Not at all typical for us, no parties, no people, no fireworks, no trips.

The weekend started on Friday with a performance at Theatre Lawrence, from the workshop Sugarwings had attended there.

It was very impressive to see how the teachers could corral all of these little ones and get them to understand the workings of being in a play, learning lines, songs, and choreography in just one week. And it is great for the kids to have a chance to be on the fancy stage.

Sugarwings is very serious up on stage, but does sneak looks up to where family is sitting, to make sure we are watching her. And at one point, she broke out in an impromptu, improvised tap routine that had nothing to do with the show. 

Maybe tap lessons should be the next class she takes...

Her favorite part seemed to be the way her sparkling cape could swirl with some twirling in the lobby.

The rest of the weekend was pretty laid back.  My husband and I did some hiking at the lake each morning, then spent the rest of the days doing yard work around the cottage.

Now, my husband isn't exactly a yard work kind of guy.  At least as far as flower beds go. He is more of a chainsaw  type, but when I mentioned that my rose bushes had become so overgrown that they weren't blooming the way they should and were more like thorn bushes than flowers, he was right there with a chain to wrap around them and pull them out with the John Deere Gator.

The roses were planted in bad places, that seemed fine when the plants were little. One was by the patio of the studio, and three were along the side walk to the front door.  As they grew, they needed major trimming to stop their thorns from snagging unsuspecting people walking by.

I've not got a lot of experience with roses, but it seems to me, that the more you trim them, the woodier they become, and the less they bloom.  These were turning into giant thorn trees with woody trunks, not green bushes with flowers.  So, out they went, and the one by the studio was replaced with a hydrangea instead.

 

For the sidewalk area, I purchased 2 azaleas and a topiary. But the topiary wouldn't work, because there is a bedrock of gravel under the bed, and we couldn't dig through it.  The base of the topiary was just too large, but the smaller pots of azaleas were just fine. So, the tree is in a temporary basket for now, and I'll set it in a pot when I find one later (it's time for some good 75% off sales at the greenhouses!)

We also dug out mulch and added a row of gravel along the foundation, due to some termite issues we are having. My husband got to fill his Gator with gravel and use the dump truck function to fill the trench he'd dug.  

We also worked in the veggie garden, and had to pull some vines down from the walls. A vine covered cottage is a beautiful thing, if you don't care about termites and damage to your siding.  If I could let them go, I sure would. Especially since they just start climbing on their own, it looks so charming and natural.  But, nope, they had to be ripped away.

Lots of hard work got accomplished, and we had a good time doing it. I really can't remember the last time the two of us were on our own, and hung out together all weekend.  We tend to have a lot of separate interests and many other people that take our attention from each other.  This was nice.

I hope your weekend was a memorable one too.  I thought I'd work in the studio and add some things to the Boutique, but didn't get around to it til Monday.  

And I didn't mind at all.

Here are a few things that I listed.

 

A home for the fairies in the garden

We've done a little yard work recently, and the yard is looking happy and bright. Roses are blooming, iris are straight, tall, and majestic, and the peonies put on a great show this spring.  It's wonderful to have established gardens and perennials to depend on for color, even if maintenance is still a lot of work, in keeping things slightly tidy... very slightly....  At least there are hard working favorites popping up out of the ground all on their own with no effort from me.

I clean up the beds a bit, and fill the pots with annuals (this year a lot reseeded itself!), and we are set for springtime.  This season, Sugarwings has wanted to help, so I gave her a tiny garden of her own to tend.

I had a low, wide, cement pot that was just the right size to turn into a fairy garden for my own little fairy to work in.  I placed 4 mini plants in it, made a garden arch from wrapped wire and let her figure out the rest.  We had this iron fairy, and she debated using it, because this garden was for REAL fairies not pretend ones.  She ended up putting it on display there as a "statue" for the young fairies to look up to.

After it was planted, she watered it with a little teacup.

After getting to this point, she decided it needed a bit more.  Like some signs, and a swing.  So, she dutifully ate up a popsicle, to get a stick she could paint to turn into a swing.  Her thoughts were that the youngest fairies would like a swing hung from the arbor more than just a plain old arch to look at.

So a pink, popsicle stick swing now hangs from the arch with blue ribbons. And the iron fairy statue has been removed to make space for a tea party area. I have a feeling that these are the first of many changes.  This garden will probably be the focus of quite a few redesigns.

For the tea table, Sugarwings painted a large spool pink, and we glued a playdough can lid to it.  The painted spool stools and table all have straws glued inside, so they can be poked into the ground to solve the problem of them toppling over and spilling the tea.

 Dewdrop offered to blow bubbles for the fairies.  

Garden Love

 I'm ready to fill the house with pumpkins from the local patch, the grand fairies and I love to hang out there and spend our time picking the world's best pumpkin out. I like the white or gray ones, Sugarwings likes the small orange ones, and Dewdrop always goes for the very first one she sees.

This little orange one is a drawing I did with the finger painting app on my iPad.  I hope to do a few more paintings with the app on vacation soon with my sisses.  Sitting on a balcony and watching the waves is a perfect time for sketching.

Our garden produced some winners recently. This heirloom tomato was a perfect heart. Which we thought was about as special as can be.  Sugarwings isn't a big tomato fan, but she couldn't get enough heart shaped slices.

Then, what do you know, here comes an orange heart shaped tomato the next day!

Then, we find this.  Our garden loves us as much as we love it.

Sugarwings helped me harvest the potatoes.  But only one was heart shaped.  After all of the special ones we'd found, we were spoiled and slightly disapointed with normal taters.

How can you go back to eating plain old garden produce after you've been treated to this?

So, Sugarwings asked me to cut out french fries with cookie cutter shapes. I was slightly busy that day and almost said no, then remembered that I'd been so busy that morning that I had accidentally sent a thermos of hot water in her school lunch instead of the roasted chicken I was warming up for her. 

I always fill the thermos with hot water, swish it around and heat up the container while I wait for the food to get hot and then I am SUPPOSED to switch hot water for hot food. But this day, it slipped my mind.

So, I made time to fix her a special dinner with all of her favorite things to make up for it. (and her daddy delivered a replacement meal for her that morning, she didn't go hungry)

And really, those french fries didn't take much more time than cutting up regular fries, and were as she said, "The cutest french fries in the whole world."