Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Jan 31, 2012, 10:25 am
Fffffwwwwushhh. I'm not sure, is that an accurate representation of the noise a whale makes when it comes up for air? Oh man, the deadlines! They conspire. They burgeon. They... are very much something I'd like to sweep away before we hop on that plane for Florida. Ri...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Jan 23, 2012, 4:23 pm
Rain drops are hanging from the gutter outside the window. Our yard has gone from snow-covered to naked and muddy over the course of the afternoon, while I paced and thought and watched from the upstairs window, and wrote in fits and spurs. I'm beginning to desp...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Jan 19, 2012, 10:34 am
This project is turning into the perfect winter companion. It's good to have a companion project to see you through the winter. In the past, it's been a quilt, or a reupholstery project. It helps make the time pass, and it's important for me to have something growing ...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Jan 18, 2012, 12:16 pm
I love delicata squash. Is anyone with me here? They taste butternut-like, with none of the graininess of acorn squash or the fibrous nature of spaghetti squash. And the skin is edible. Wonder squash. This recipe gets made at least once each wi...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Jan 16, 2012, 1:20 pm
We had a beautiful weekend full of friends time. We had brunch with local friends and dinner with local friends and dinner with some not-so-local friends. I made curried coconut green beans and oatmeal pumpkin bars and facilitated sticker play...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Jan 12, 2012, 4:36 pm
The mat cutter I ordered is taking its sweet time arriving, so in the mean time I've been fiddling. I picked up two 8 x 8 square canvasses at Michael's last week, because I really love the look of a spare canvas in the middle of a frame wall, and because I'm forever co...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Jan 10, 2012, 1:47 pm
Patrick and I spent part of our Saturday rummaging through an old barn full of antiques nearby. It was the jumbled, messy, chaotic sort of antiques place-- dust on everything, piles covered with sheets, water spots where the rain had come in through the corrugated steel roof. In t...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Jan 9, 2012, 4:49 pm
Patrick hasn't had a gig since December. The restaurant where I waitress is closed until February. Can I just take a minute to tell you wonderful it has been? This weekend was one long, sweet, ...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Jan 5, 2012, 11:31 am
This is my first week as a full-time writer. I've divided my days into blocks for working on different assignments, but somehow there always seems to be room in between for a little "project time." Somehow sitting down to two hours of reviewing interview notes seems way more pala...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Jan 4, 2012, 1:56 pm
I'm developing a habit of doing Christmas crafts after Christmas. (Remember this table runner?) What can I say-- I spend the whole month of December watching other peoples' projects go up around the blog and Pinterest world, and by the time the holiday comes I'm so am...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Jan 3, 2012, 4:10 pm
Patrick spent all day in here yesterday. I'd asked him to "move in" to the armoire I'd painted for him for Christmas, in the process emptying a big purple tub I was going to need to put Christmas decorations away. (Our decorations, you see, have multiplied quite a bit in the past ...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Jan 2, 2012, 4:15 pm
It's finally snowing. Patrick has the day off, so we've both been puttering today: a little writing or picking, a little crafting or cooking or tidying, watching the flakes fall. All our decorations are still up, which is as it should be, I think. January ...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Dec 30, 2011, 11:40 am
Today, I get to look back at the incredible driven-ness of the past year, and remember every challenge we met and pulled through, and puff my chest for the last time. And then, I get to tear the page off and look forward again. Refreshed. Balanced. &#...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Oct 31, 2011, 11:03 am
This week, we celebrate a full year as owners of this awesome piece of land. The electric excitement (and impatience) we were going through last year is so clear. I can put myself back there in an instant-- I go back and read this post, and remember that hike we took and how sharp...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Oct 24, 2011, 11:22 am
  I spent Saturday learning how to turn a live, strutting-around turkey into a Thanksgiving, ready-for-the-oven turkey. It was messy and graphic-- what I expected-- but also overwhelmingly positive and supportive, as the small grou...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Oct 17, 2011, 10:04 am
I've been anxious about fall. Those elusive moments of clarity, which I was writing about last week, have been so hard to come by from within the blizzard of planning and doing. Lately I've been especially insufferable, as that change in the air brings a rising near-panic: winte...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Oct 11, 2011, 10:17 am
  Sometimes, when you need it most, the powers that be present you with a perfect, glorious, 70-plus-degree October weekend. September was cold and soggy and mean spirited-- best forgotten, really. I spent a good part of the weeken...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Oct 3, 2011, 3:18 pm
The change in the weather has got me a little tied up in knots. All of a sudden, it seems, it's autumn-- season of scurrying and preparing and feathering the nest and girding for winter. Our first winter living here full-time. Over the weekend, we accomplished much in preparation ...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Sep 30, 2011, 9:16 am
I started out calling this my craft room, but now it seems that Office might be a better title. My new laptop is on its way. I'm going to spend some time this week setting up an Ikea bookshelf that my Philadelphian sister-in-law was kind enough to deliver. So as to spare me from a...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Sep 29, 2011, 8:51 am
Moving on to the great room. This tour is fun. It's making me all nostalgic. This is the room I like to sit in and say... "Purple wallpaper. Berry pink carpeting. Purple wallpaper..." It makes me proud. First, down came the wallpaper, and up wen...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Sep 28, 2011, 9:42 am
Continuing on our little tour of home improvement... most of which has been on the "decorating and arranging" spectrum since the springtime... I present to you, the stairwell. The early days. We (Patrick) nailed the wainsco...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Sep 27, 2011, 9:32 am
The weather is cooling, the garden is winding down, the canning and freezing is mostly done. Music festival season is over, therefore Patrick will be around on Saturdays (at least occasionally!) and we are looking forward to getting back into home improvement. This week, I'm posting updates of progr...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Sep 26, 2011, 10:45 am
I'd been looking forward to it for quite awhile. On Saturday, I took an evening off from waitressing so we could open our house to a whole crowd of our Binghamton friends. I missed them so terribly. I knew I did, and was excited, and then someho...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Sep 19, 2011, 9:06 am
I'm trying to get over feeling guilty about not canning this year. Can you help? I planted an orchard. I hung paintings. I overhauled a flower garden. I did not can. (Okay, I did make three quarts of three bean salad and...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Sep 15, 2011, 10:30 am
Thanks to all who commented on Monday's post. Life is going on. We have moments of teariness together. We talk about what we're going to plant under those birch trees in spring, to remember her with. "Something that's fluffy, like her tail," was Patrick's suggestion. Life is going...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Sep 12, 2011, 10:09 am
I wasn't going to say anything. Nine eleven was yesterday. A catastrophic flood-- the aftermath from Hurricane Lee-- has wrecked homes and lives all through upstate New York. There are big problems, big things to worry about. 
...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Sep 7, 2011, 9:48 am
Lent my camera to a friend over the weekend, and just it got it back, loaded with excellent pictures. I love it when that happens. The ones above are ones I took-- we went to the State Fair last week. I ate a funnel cake. We watched dog obedi...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Aug 29, 2011, 10:19 am
  After dinner if there's time, the creek is just a few blocks from home. We skip rocks. I botanize. Constellations of queen anne's lace nod among the goldenrod. Everything goes pink for a few minutes as the sun sets....
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Aug 22, 2011, 9:08 am
  Notes from my week: Garden-wise, I continue to spend lots of time slicing tomatoes. After eating gazpacho and grilled cherry tomato skewers and corn on the cob last night, I sat and thought, for the first delicious time, about next year'...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Aug 15, 2011, 9:55 am
This one's for Becky.  I'm swimming in a vast and endless ocean of cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, and green beans. I love this part of summer. The vegetables are keeping me from thinking too far ahead, from being over-eager in my planning, because there's never more than half an hour's pause b...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Aug 8, 2011, 9:34 am
Things seem to be falling into place for my little work-from-home dream. Pinch me. Here's what's happening: I've been working two nights a week at the bar/restaurant in town, The Empire House, since May. I've been meeting the town, earning a little bit of money,...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Aug 3, 2011, 8:52 am
I'm going to be updating the blog only on Mondays for the next several weeks. I have a lot on my plate right now-- gardening, canning, writing, cleaning, writing, working, more working, more writing-- and I need to spend some time investigating something auspicious. Not to be vagu...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Aug 1, 2011, 9:38 am
Apologies for the unannounced absence! The good news is, we spent a week in the Adirondacks and had a great time. There is no bad news. Regular blogging resumes now. We spent a week in the Adirondacks two summer ago, and though it was excessivel...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Jul 22, 2011, 10:20 am
It was hot. Too hot. We sat on the front porch, flicking mosquitoes and melting into our beers. "What can we do?" I said. "We can... I dunno," said Patrick. Coming up with things to do is my de...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Jul 21, 2011, 10:28 am
I'm a greens person. I have to confess. There's nothing I love more than a pile a rich, silky greens cooked into submission, with lots of oil and garlic and preferably eggs, too. And if not eggs, cheese. Fortunately, this little garden of mine is cranking out the green goodness like tha...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Jul 19, 2011, 9:20 am
Remember that I mentioned, a couple weeks ago, that I'd received some Anna Maria Horner fabric in the mail? Well. It was an experience coupled with an ordeal capped off by a whole lotta elation. Now that it's all played out, let me tell you the story. ...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Jul 18, 2011, 8:50 am
Our weekend consisted of...  :: Our Favorite Summer Breakfast. Yogurt, homemade granola, and berries. :: Watching a neighborhood cat (middle) trying to make friends with Pete and Ophelia. Skeptical, confused looks all 'round. ...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Jul 14, 2011, 10:33 am
We're getting pretty close now to the most wonderful time of the year: the time when we cross over from "a little of this and that" to abundance. Walking in the garden, I'm all smiles. Green beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, and zucchini are loaded with flowers and immatur...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Jul 11, 2011, 9:19 am
Our bedroom as it was, the week after move-in. It happens every summer. The thrill and delight for stepping on shovels, for digging and hauling, for having dirty fingernails slowly ebbs, with the evening light, so there's just a little less each day. And as it goes, slowly, slowly ...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Jul 8, 2011, 10:10 am
Raspberry progress! Some of 'em even have flowers. Well, it's been two weeks since the last one, so I guess it's time for another veggie garden update! The scene two weeks ago: Pretty amazing, isn't it? Like, two weeks ago you could see dirt--lots of dirt-- and...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Jul 7, 2011, 10:18 am
I was just telling Patrick last night that we need another summer. A double summer. After a few moments (and a few more sips of wine), I revised that declaration. What we need, I decided, was double the summer weekends. Is anyone with me, here? We've been spending our weekends outside, by and larg...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Jul 5, 2011, 11:05 am
Received Anna Maria Horner fabric in the mail (= bliss.) Spent a whole Saturday driving to Binghamton and loading and unloading the truck again. An iced latte, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, lunch in the "old neighborhood," and time with my sweetie made it the nicest of days. Was thankful for tables full ...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Jun 29, 2011, 10:03 am
I love that even when I feel like I don't have anything to write about, when I feel like I haven't made any "progress" on the house or the sewing projects or the flower garden, I can walk outside with my camera and see the progress of the season. This week: loaded blueberry bushes. The birds (waxwin...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Jun 27, 2011, 9:52 am
Let me tell you about Mrs. Frewert. I never met her, but I know a lot about her. She owned this house before we did, and you can absorb a lot about your home's previous owners just by looking around. In a town like Gilbertsville, you learn via osmosis, too: from older neighbors, from friends, from f...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Jun 24, 2011, 10:16 am
Maybe it's because I've been meeting lots of new neighbors, but lately I've found myself explaining my husband's vegetarianism a lot. It's a practical conversation: what does he eat, they want to know. Don't I, a willing carnivore, get tired of dulling down my cooking to suit his taste? It's made...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Jun 23, 2011, 9:38 am
Two weeks is a long time, in June. Two weeks ago, I posted a picture of the garden, and exclaimed, it's come a long way in two weeks! Now, predictably, I look back on that photo and roll my eyes: that was impressive? Oh b-b-baby, that was nothing. Everything is looking so good. So freaking good. C...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Jun 21, 2011, 9:24 am
Returning is a wonderful thing, isn't it? I've been walking around all month, it seems, shaking my head and saying, goodness, it's so good to be back! I left my parents' farm when I was eighteen, lived in cities for eight years, and now I'm back to re-embrace everything I loved growing up. The sou...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Jun 20, 2011, 8:51 am
Summer so far has been a bell curve of busy weekends, and I'm pleased to say that we are on the down-slope now. Sunday Patrick and I had our first day off together since mid-May. And for the first time since November, we spent it doing something other than working on the house! We made pancakes. We ...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Jun 17, 2011, 12:23 pm
Chalk it up to my proud pedigree: I'm a cabinet maker's daughter, and I loves me some power tools. There are women, lots of women, who get to their happy place in other, more domestic ways. And well, I get to my happy place in some pretty domestic ways too. You might even say socially acceptable wa...
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Kristina S. posted an article on Sweetfern Handmade - Jun 16, 2011, 11:03 am
I am the beaming recipient of three unexpected days off. I am spending as much time as possible outside-- shoveling, dividing plants, hanging laundry, wielding power tools, canoodling with Pete. Getting things done. These pictures are from yesterday. The highlights: relocating two walnu...
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