Wildish

I decided to make some dairy free soft caramel with honey, and after a little playing around in the kitchen I came up with this recipe. It is made with strong honey and high quality coconut milk instead of cream. It’s also very easy to make as long as you have a little time to keep an eye on it as it simmers.

Recipe
1 cup of brown sugar,
1/4 cup of honey,
1/8th cup golden corn syrup,
1/2 cup quality coconut milk,
1/4 tsp cream of tartar,

Method: Combine all the ingredients in a pot with a heavy bottom. Stir the ingredients together,  stirring occasionally over medium heat until it starts to boil. Once it starts boiling, turn it down to low and leave it alone until it thickens. Keep an eye on it and remove it from the heat once it covers the back of a spoon. It will get quite a bit thicker as it cools.

It is really delicious on apples — a classic pairing. I think I will make it again next fall when the local apples are at their best. I’m sure one batch of this and a few pounds of apples would make an easy, casual dessert for quite a few guests, since a little goes a long way. It thickens as it cools, so I would recommend you warm it just a little before serving. A slightly warm honey caramel is much more fragrant and easy to dip or drizzle, just be careful not to overheat it.

If it is cooked for longer, I would imagine it will hold it’s shape enough to make a nice caramel candy with a soft sticky texture…  sort of like those chewy squares caramels that many of us (here in Canada anyway) got in our treat bags at Halloween. I’d love some feedback, so let me know if you come up with any new ways to use it in recipes.I am going to try making it with Maple syrup instead of honey sometime too, I am curious to see how that will turn out. I’ll let you know what happens. =)

 

Bath Products From Scratch:

Making homemade bath products is not just a luxury, it’s just one step on the way to eliminate plastics and synthetics from our daily routine. (After all who wants to bathe in plastic, let alone absorb it through their skin!) Making bath products yourself is rewarding in so many ways, not only is it responsible it is also inexpensive, safe and fun! You can also customize your products, so get creative and try experimenting with your own favourite flavours. Other items that might be nice in a scrub are citrus zest, herbs, peppermint, the chopped leftover outer pod from vanilla beans, candied ginger, lavender flowers and gentle essential oils.

This Spice Cookie sugar scrub will exfoliate and moisturize your skin, leaving it smooth and soft with a hint of sweet cookie scent. If you work in a scent free environment this is one bath product you can definitely get away with regardless. No one complains about the scent of cookies. If you are concerned about nut allergies you can substitute another oil in the place of walnut and sweet almond. This scrub stores nicely in a mason jar, just make a fresh batch and refill when you run out. It also makes a sweet gift.

Spice Cookie Sugar Scrub:

1/2 cup mason jar with lid,
1/4 cup of brown sugar,
1 tbsp coconut oil,
1 tbsp sweet almond oil,
1 tbsp walnut oil,
2 tbsp raw sugar,
1 tsp honey,
1/8 tsp ground ginger,
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg,
1/4 tsp cinnamon,
1/8 tsp ground cardamom,
5 cardamom pods worth of seeds

Make: Melt the oils together by warming them for a few seconds in the microwave. Pour over the sugars. Add spices and seeds from the cardamom pods which have been removed and separated. Add honey, mix together well. Store in a cool, dry place and it will keep for months and months. (Don’t worry if the coconut oil turns white, this is normal since the oil solidifies on cool days.)

Use: Apply a liberal amount and thoroughly massage into your skin while it’s still dry for the best scrub, rinse and pat dry. If your skin is mostly in need of moisture you should massage it onto damp skin in the shower. It will take a few minutes for your skin to absorb the nourishing oils so take time and relax. Gently rinse with cool water and pat dry. Don’t forget about your feet, it works wonders after a day of hard work or running around.

ps: I’ll be posting more bath product tutorials soon. =)

 

I found Taina’s inspiring blog “Plastic Manners; my year without plastics” when The David Suzuki Foundation shared it on facebook. I have been wondering for some time what trying to eliminate plastics entirely from my life would entail. The more I thought about it the more daunting it seemed, but my determination to avoid plastics has only grown over time.

News stories like the great plastic garbage patch floating around the pacific are mind boggling and mutually embarrassing since we are all somewhat responsible for it’s existence.  In this day and age we are all keenly aware that our garbage ends up in a landfill or the ocean, but plastics have wormed there way into every area of our lives and become part of our daily necessities.

It’s time to avoid consumption that produces plastic waste (especially single use plastics!) and start focusing on the first and second R’s ; reduce and reuse. I am interested in Tania’s exploration of her relationship with plastics and I am curious about how she will root out the seemingly unavoidable plastics in her life.  Check out her blog “Plastic Manners” to find new ways to reduce your consumption of plastics. Her plastics information page is a real eye opener with facts about plastic everyone should be aware of.

This pod feeder branched off from an earlier felted project which involved making biodegradable winter shelters for birds. I had read about roosting boxes, but I didn’t have the tools or supplies to make them. I decided to work with processes and materials that I was familiar with to create a textile alternative to the wooden roosting box.

I wanted each shelter to be a cosy spot where small mammals or birds could safely wait out a harsh storm. So the first problem I had to deal with was keeping in warmth. I immediately thought of  wool, because  in cold weather nothing keeps you warm and dry as reliably as wool. So I started by creating a densely felted wool vessel or “pod” in a natural, light shade of fleece. It was spongy, warm, and still let in sunlight and air. The fibre also allow birds to cling to the inside comfortably and easily.

Next I had to find a way to protect the fibre from absorbing freezing rain and turning into a chunk of ice.  I solved this issue by gathering strips of birch bark to make a waterproof covering (prototype image above). I soaked the strips with hot water to make them pliable and then stitched the layers of bark together around the outside. I made sure the bark strips overlaped the piece below it and created a bit of an over hang so the rain would drip off the edges. The entrance was near the bottom of the pod so water could not enter it easily. In the end it looked a bit like a pine cone or wasps nest. Finally I gave the exterior a coating of wax and they were ready to go.

I hope they helped some little creature. I did notice a very fat squirrel pulling bits of felt out of one last spring. I think it may have used it to line it’s nest. I consider this an ongoing project/ experiment and plan on producing more of them next fall as well.

This pod feeder is very similar, it is just the inner lining of one of the nesting pods dipped in wax.  I just need to work on the best way to attach it to trees and it will be ready to reproduce, perhaps even sell in our etsy shop.  It is meant for small birds such as black cap chickadees. They visit the prototype all the time now, even when I am standing right next to it. It’s been a real hit!

 

Nova Scotia is beautiful, I must admit. I live near the Bedford highway which has a lovely view of the basin and distant hills. It would be even more lovely if there wasn’t this grimy highway, but I guess it could be considered beautiful in some contexts too. As a line, a human made mark connected to many others. Part of a network, a system.

When you are walking near the highway you are acutely aware of the danger of cars, the exhaust and the dust. The only place to walk near the waterfalls and cut rock is a side walk about a meter wide. This particular stretch of my route is a narrow path sandwiched between rushing cars and a guard rail crackling with rust. On the other side of the railing is the ditch and the surface of the rock.

Never the less it is still a place I like to visit, to see the trickling water paint the rock on its way back to the sea. There are also little plants and flowers growing in every nook and cranny, and even the occasional whimsical tossed object or piece of ephemera.

It does irritate me to see how much litter with ugly brand names build up in these between spaces, but even the slow decay of objects in a space can be fascinating: An old bike or shopping cart beneath a waterfall; A chair in the brambles facing the sunset.

With the spring rains, the water begins to flow, and life returns. Each spring shower causes the trickles to swell into gushing falls of rainwater, which blast and froth their way down into the ditch.

By the summer it is lush and verdant. The little bit of water helps nourish moss and wild flowers which grow over the litter in the ditch. The elephant ear crawls over the railing and crowds the walk way with its reaching leaves. (I’ll post photos as the summer comes to us.)

In the winter the trickle builds up to form grand waterfalls and stalagmite size icicles. A dusting of snow meets it’s opposite in the frozen black rock and it makes me feel like shouting “oh Beauty!” Here it is. I see it! As if to praise a fleeting moment in the presence of a goddess. A truth in interconnecting chaos and I and life bear witness with a burning heart.

I encourage you to go out and witness some beauty too, if you look you will find it in abundance.

“Still will I harvest beauty where it grows”

 

(Feel free to click through the photos- prints are also available if requested.)

Another crafter I love is Elinor Crosby the creative mind behind Uberwench. I bought this super soft merino from her at the Halifax Crafters “Spring Fling”. She dyes them in small batches with lots of love and intention. Her colours are just amazing! She also names each one; the green, violet and turquoise fleece in this image is called “Natucket Ave” and the bright yellow and brickish red is called “Tournesol”.

I highly recommend picking some up from her for your next special project. It felts beautifully. You can find her products through her Etsy shop and at the Loop in downtown Halifax.

She is also a fantastic dancer, she perform and teaches classes here in halifax. There is more information about her belly dance and tribal dance lessons here at her website.

 

First Fig

My Candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends–
It gives a lovely light!

-Edna St.Vincent Millay

I am a big fan of Edna St.Vincent Millay’s poetry and I just stumbled upon part of the story of her kitchen! Fascinating. I have bread baking in mine right now. This article made my imagination run wild with daydreams about Millay; her everyday life, her love of food and good times.

 

Now available at our Etsy Shop:

Thunderstorm Earrings

These earrings are made with striking zebra jasper beads which dangle from double linked brass chain. The stones are reminiscent of brush marks or lightning strikes. They are very chaotic and dramatic. The ear wires are also oxidized brass.

Free shipping within Canada and the US (regular mail through Canada Post).

 

This is craft fair treasure number two; a lovely fused glass plate made by Philip Doucette.

I asked him how he made this and he told me it was made with several different pieces of glass that were cut and fused together with high heat. It is heated the first time to fuse the glass, then it is heated again over a mould which the piece slumps into to create it’s form. The glass has to be treated gently and cooled slowly because at high temperatures the molecules tangle.

He also told me that this particular plate was inspired by the colours of the valley here in Nova Scotia. In case you are’nt familiar with the valley it is a lovely, fertile part of Nova Scotia with apple orchards, green farms, earth and mild weather. I can’t help but think of cascades of apple blossoms when I think of the valley. This plate looks like it’s captured a ray of valley sun shine.

(click through the thumbnails below for a better view.)