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Friday Favorite: Wood Heat

December 30th, 2016

‘Tis the season for heating the house, around here that means firewood. Every couple days we carry in wood, stacking a little by the stove in the kitchen and a little in the entryway.
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Wood heat a warm heat, probably because it’s a radiant type heat. There’s nothing better than sitting by the woodstove on a cold winter evening circling seeds to order in my catalogs.

Have you ever experienced wood heat?

Verta Kloster

December 29th, 2016

As you can imagine, I’m still going through photos from our trip to Sweden. We didn’t plan a ton of activities while we were there, we enjoy winging it while we are on vacation. Stopping when we see something interesting, as was the case when we read about Vreta Kloster. Part of the foundations here are around a thousand years old – WOW! Vreta Abbey was a house of Benedictine nuns until 1162. It burnt down and was rebuilt hundreds of years ago, but as it aged some of it fell into disrepair. Some of the ruins have been repaired and preserved as is. Some of them have been turned into pergolas with walkways. It’s quite stunning!
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It was quite a gem of a place to discover on our drive from Stocklholm to Jönköping. The perfect stop to get out and stretch our legs while enjoying a piece of history. It’s always amazing to see things that are so much older than we can find here in this country.

Do you like to plan out your entire vacation or wing it and find things along the way?

The Orchid

December 28th, 2016

My grandpa’s second wife gave my mom and orchid a year or two ago. She’d had it for a long time, but no longer wanted to take care of it. My mom tried splitting it and thought she had killed it. Then she noticed that all three starts were producing new growth.
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When I came home from visiting her at Thanksgiving, she sent one of them home with me. After a little research, I put it under a grow light upstairs. Amazingly, within a week it started to produce buds. One fell off, but the other one is just starting to open up.
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I’ve never grown orchids before, so this is completely new for me. I read that they like little water and lots of light. So far I guess I’m doing OK since it’s blooming.

Do you have any new houseplants this winter?

Friday Favorite: The Old Apple Tree

December 23rd, 2016

I strung lights in the old apple tree the first year we moved in, they stay up all year long. In the summer they brighten up the front of the house, in the winter they create a warm glow outside the window on the long, dark winter nights.
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While these lights look great all year long, they are especially lovely after a fresh dusting of snow. They perfectly highlight this very old apple tree, it was planted by with the original homestead back in the 1890’s. So it’s most likely around 125 years old.
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These are C7 lights, incandescent of course. There are 2-3 strands of old lights, I’m thinking of eventually replacing them with one long strand, since you can order these in strands of varying lengths. I also need to purchase a box of replacement bulbs, I’ve used up all of mine replacing all the burnt out lights this fall. Considering these strands of lights have been gracing my porch and this tree for going on 12 years I think the bulbs lasted pretty well.

Do you have any garden lighting?

Christmas Crafting

December 22nd, 2016

In the winter, I make things, I sew, I embroider, I create. This year I’m making myself an embroidered advent pillow for the living room. It won’t be finished until after the holidays, but it’s a great project to work on during the season. I’ve been carrying this project with me as I travel back and forth to Ohio. It’s the perfect thing to work on while chatting with friends, or while enjoying a lazy Saturday morning.
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It’s been fun choosing which details to embellish. After taking this photos I got some metallic thread to add just a touch of sparkle here and there.

Are you making any holiday crafts for your home?

About

This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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