Get Back To The Basics + Learning to Unplug
Hello friends! I had another fantastic week in the staying offline department last week.
I suspect it was because the landscapers were here which is kind of like waking up to a live tv show in your very own driveway each morning.
Today the hydroseed peeps are coming out to do their bit. Rain is in the forecast for later in the week but we are going to keep our fingers crossed that it will all work out.
Maine weather can be pretty unpredictable, that’s for sure.
In The Kitchen
The HH made another batch of his homemade chicken soup. I made cookies for the crew. Maybe when things calm down a bit I’ll try to master the pear tart that I love so much.
Then again, maybe I need to sample another one from the bakery first? Yes. Yes I think that’s a good idea.
Kitchen Goals For This Year
- Master the pear frangipane tart from Standard Baking Company.
- Put my Weck jars to use.
- Use two bins of beans {working on it}
Rug Hooking
This past week I got through about 75% of my “personal use” wool bins, listed some big bundles of wool in my Etsy shop and started another rug. I’m hoping to have another grouping of rugs and pillows to offer around Mid-May so far I have 4 pieces made.
This week I am hoping to finish going through the rest of my bins, finish another small rug and continue to work on the giant whale rug I started a few months ago.
Rug Hooking Goals For This Year
Finish drawing out all my patterns, making kits, dyeing wool by March 31st.- Release 10 new rug hooking patterns/kits. {3 down 7 to go}
- Hook 27 of the patterns from the “someday I’ll hook these” bin. {4 down 23 to go}
Go New Places – See New Things
Other than the grocery store or Home Depot I haven’t been anywhere lately. I’m just so happy to stay home lately and work on house things {inside and out}.
The weather has been really nice the past few days. I even spotted a single {!!} tulip behind the fence yesterday. In this same spot last year there were over 200 tulips!
I won’t make that mistake again. I guess if I want tulips {the fancy ones anyway} I’m going to have to plant them every fall.
Travel Goals For This Year
- Travel someplace {internationally} that I’ve never been before.
- Travel somewhere in Maine {overnight} that I haven’t been before.
Places I’ve Been So Far This Year
- Boston {Birthday getaway}
- NYC
Walk And Stretch More
I walked to the grocery store for milk and noticed they had whoopie pie flavored milk. Would you buy it? I wonder if flavored milk is a big seller in Maine. I remember seeing chocolate milk every once in a while as a kid but that’s about it.
Walking/Stretching Goals For This Year
- Get into some sort of stretching routine
- Fast walk a 5K, 10K, and Half Marathon {signed up for a half marathon}
Garden
The garden boxes are in and filled! Yee-Haw. Now I just need to find my zip baggies of seeds so I can plant a few root crops down the center of the boxes.
Tomatoes and peppers won’t be planted until the end of May, but at least I can plant a few cool weather crops while I wait.
And these ceramic flowers… Aren’t they cool? I spotted them online and thought a small collection of them would look marvelous on a wall.
Garden Goals For This Year
- Rework the driveway and garden areas {in progress}
- Go crazy and plant a ridiculous amount of flowers {working on it}
- Step out of my comfort zone and plant some flowers I’ve never planted before
Paint
Other than painting a few clapboards on the front of the house, I didn’t do much painting last week.
This week though I hope to get started on another round of buoys. The HH was kind enough to cut me a few {okay, 32} more buoys for the fence. I bought some new seaside themed stencils over the winter and I’m looking forward to changing up the summer display out front a bit. 🙂
Well, that’s the latest news from the Butterfield compound… Anything cool going on at YOUR place?
~Mavis
Painting Goals For This Year
- The Van Gogh wall
- The gallery wall down stairs
- The captains wall in the hall
- Trim and walls
Nancy Settel says
Well now I have never seen Whoppie pie milk but we were in Amish Country this week (Lancaster County Pa.) and we went to our favorite big grocery store there which has a huge bulk herb part and then through out the store because I wanted a half gallon of their special milk called Orange Cream Milk! Tastes just like a creamsicle ice cream bar. We only get it once or twice a year but you feel like a kid again. Also got one for a 90 year old neighbor of ours who was talking about the creamsicle popsicle and loving them as a little boy. Just a great day out and a whole bunch of herbs that I will be stocked up on for some time now. Who knew flavored milk was such a thing?
Cheryl says
My son went to college near Lancaster, what store did you visit?
Nancy Settel says
We were at Shady Maple have been going there for a good 40 years or more. It has changed a lot but I always go there for bulk herbs. Also we went to the Old Candle Barn while out and about I like their gift shop.
Karen says
Heading them tomorrow to shop and lunch! I live in Cape May!
Nancy Settel says
Oh wow!!! Have fun. We had lunch not far from there a little diner called White Horse Diner such nice people and really good food.
Cheryl says
I love the candle barn. I wasn’t impressed with shady maple but we go to Yoders for dinner.
Nancy Settel says
It just isn’t the same since the original people are gone. More like a regular grocery store now but still like the bulk herb isle. We have never been to Yoders though.
Rebecca S says
Hi! I’ll be visiting Maine in a few weeks (flying in/out of Portland, driving to Bar Harbor) and would love to stop at a nursery to bring home a lupine or two to plant at home. Any suggestions of where to go? Fingers crossed TSA lets be bring it back on the plane! Thanks!
Mavis Butterfield says
Longfellow’s is along your route. They’ll have what you need. https://www.onehundreddollarsamonth.com/longfellows-greenhouses-manchester-maine/
Rosemary says
How many garden beds did you end up using?
Just picked my first veggie today – zucchini! It is 13.3 oz and was 8 inches long.
Mavis Butterfield says
Four beds in the back and I just ordered a 2.5 x 10′ elevated bed to go along the back of the house. It will have a storage shelf below so I’ll be able to store my watering cans and pots below. Should be here in a week or two. I’m excited!!
Fresh zucchini! I can’t wait. 🙂 Glad you were able to harvest one.
Vy in Seattle says
Your buoys are adorable, Mavis! What a fun gift to the neighborhood. I have two of my three new beds done, I’ve decided the last (2.5′ x 8′) is going to be three sisters: popcorn, butternut squash, and scarlet runner beans. The corn and beans I’ll let dry out on the vine. I planted tulips like a madwoman last fall and am reaping the glorious fields of color. (Okay, pots of color.) I also planted anemone which are very cold hardy, early flowering, produce for months if you keep cutting them, and last forever in a vase. I got a bag of corms from Costco at the end of the summer. Highly recommended. Love this time of year so much!
Mavis Butterfield says
I’m glad to hear your anemone are in bloom! Ours should be up soon. I LOVE them. They are such a pretty cut flower, especially in bouquets.
Anne in VA says
If you have trouble with things eating your tulip bulbs, you can plant them in rat wire cages to keep the critters out. My grandma did that with many bulbs.
Judi Y. says
Your barn is magical! I love it so much!
Mavis Butterfield says
So do I. It’s nice to paint up there. Nice, quiet and warm!
Gigi says
We hung ceramic flowers above our headboard. The clay back piece was too thick for standard nails/screws. So we wrapped fishing line in and around the petals. And hung from the string. It works great. The first few months they would occasionally creak and you wonder if they’re going to fall on your head. They were surprisingly heavy.
Andrea in VA says
Hi Mavis,
I do not normally post, mainly a reader. But just wanted to mention that a few years ago I came across a video of a woman that grew flowers to sell. She said that with tulips, if plant the bulb and then cut the flowers for a vase, give away, etc. The bulbs will NOT rebloom the following year. She replaces all her bulbs every year.
I love your blog and thanks for all you do!
Mavis Butterfield says
We didn’t cut any tulips behind the fence and cut very few up front at the house last year. 🙁 I think it was the “fancy” varieties I selected. What a bummer. We will try again next year though. It just doesn’t feel like spring without a few tulips in bloom.