Country Entertainments

 Hello dear friends!  Hope today finds you all hail and hearty!  Well, spring is here, albeit, Michigan spring is very finicky.  One day it can be in the mid-50s and the next day we have snow.  I can't wait until we have true warmer weather because sitting around all winter is making me fluffy. Ha! I really need to be able to get out and work in the garden and firm up my muscles.  Doesn't help that I spent the last month just lying about trying not to hurt.  But as neighbor Connie says, "It is what it is.".

The first weekend of March was maple syrup weekend and we enjoyed visiting the local maple sugaring shack.

The steam from the boiling sap was heavenly.  We had a nice conversation with the people that owned it. And we bought a pint of syrup from them, also.  It's important to us to support local businesses.  Our maple syruping is coming along splendidly.  The irratic temperatures have been a real boon for collecting sap. Here's the first of our syrup all canned and ready for the shelves:

We have more coming!  It's a long way from meeting all of our sugar needs, but every bit counts! What a pleasure it is to forage for food.  Why, it's almost like manna from heaven!

The second weekend of March we went to an estate sale in a nearby village we had never explored before.  Most of their items were what I call rusty greasy junk, but they had some beautiful pieces of Victorian furniture in excellent condition for very good prices, some pretty wicker porch furniture and an intriguing Victorian bronze mantle clock with the most extraordinary mermaids on the sides. None of which I bought.  But I did buy a Wedgewood teapot with eight matching teacups and saucers for the grand sum of $20!  Not that I needed it. As you can see Ihave plenty of china:

The teapot I bought is the white one on the far right corner. By the way, I took all my china down and gave it a good wash the other day.  The first job in Spring cleaning.  Oh my!  The cobwebs in this house! Anyways, the teapot isn't really my style, I prefer things a lot older, but it was such a good buy, I'll use it for a season or two, then donate the set to a local thrift store that employs disabled people.  They have a little "antique" shop area in their store.

Since the Mennonite store was near the estate sale, we stopped by and bought ourselves a coffee.  They brew the best coffee and it's only a dollar with free refills.  And we bought a large head of cabbage for ninety-nine cents, which we used to make this inexpensive meal to offset my "antique" expenditure:

Cabbage Frittata 

This is our take on a Korean street sandwich.  We make ours into a frittata since Ran can't eat bread.

Finely diced cabbage

Shredded carrots

Finely diced onions (or anything in the onion family)

a teaspoon of sugar (the street vendors use a lot more but a teaspoon is enough)

half a dozen eggs

 a tablespoon of mayo and a tablespoon of ketchup combined

and of course, a wee bit of fat or oil, whatever is your preference to fry it in

The proportions of vegetables is whatever you like, enough to fit in (heaping)  the frying pan you are using.

Heat the oil/fat until hot and saute the vegetables until the are translucent and starting too crisp.  Stir in the beaten eggs and continue to stir until the eggs are cooked through.  We like to finish it off by putting the frying pan into a hot oven.  Take from the heat and sprinkle with sugar. Serve with the ketchup/mayo sauce.  Of course you can cut into squares and serve between two pieces of toast if you desire. BTW, our independently-owned grocery store sells eggs for $2.99 a dozen, making them affordable again.  Bless free enterprise!  A local egg farmer undercut  the prices of the large commercial ones.  I suspect  there's a bit of price-gouging in the high costs of eggs these days.   There's enough cabbage left over to make a nice bowl of coleslaw for the guys (I can't eat raw cabbage because of my thyroid) so we'll have another cheap-to-us meal of walleye and coleslaw.

This coming weekend we will attend a benefit for our Amish neighbors. They are having a luncheon, auction, and bake sale to raise money for their school.  And just down the road the Mennonite store is holding their customer appreciation day (free coffee and donuts) and some very good prices  on meat and butter.  So we will stock up.  So that is how we country bumpkins keep ourselves entertained.  Exciting isn't it? Ha!

Soon we won't have any need for outside entertainments, as gardening season will be upon us.  Ran started some of our seeds; tomatoes, peppers, onions, and herbs, this week.  And there's spring cleaning.  In between times, I fill what minutes I can snatch with knitting, sewing and cross stitching.  I'm making progress on that sampler now that I don't have to make a color change every two stitches.  I'm also making a Holly Hobbie inspired charm quilt (small) for the back of the loveseat.  The top came together quickly, but the quilting (ugh!) is really gobbling up my free time. I'm also knitting a pair of socks in a pretty (for me) colourway called Dried Herbs.  I love earthy colors and there's certainly nothing earthier than dried herbs. The socks could knit up pretty quickly if I just dedicated my time to them, but I've spread myself pretty thinly with these projects.  Next month I'll choose quick-to-finish projects.  And please remind me NO MORE QULTS!

So you see, life here at Sweet briar cottage is pretty sweet, figuratively and literally.  I found this quote the other day and it pretty much sums up our philosophy on life:

To live content with small means ~ to seek elegance  rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion, to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich~ to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly, to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with open heart ~ to bear all cheerfully ~do all bravely, await occassions ~ never hurry: in a word, to let the spiritual,  unbidden  and unconscious, grow up through the common. This is to be my symphony.

~William Ellery Channing~

Well, That's it for this week.  Please drop me a comment and tell me what you are doing for entertainment this month.  Or just to  say "hello!". I hope this week will be a lovely and joyful one for you all!

Hugs

Jane