Blueberries!

I am excited to report that we have (unripe) blueberries!  Meet Mr. Brightwell (left) and Ms. Powerderblue (right):

And check out the blueberries:

Wind Map of the U.S. Will Blow You Away

Ever wondered what the wind would look like if you could see it in action from above? You’re about to find out.

A new project posted online Wednesday by a pair of Google computer scientists, called simply Wind Map, has to be clicked on to be believed. Read the rest of the article, Wind Map of the U.S. Will Blow You Away!

The live wind map is amazing!  http://hint.fm/wind/

Knitted mermaid's tail

First you knit the tail:

Then the body:

Then you put them together!

And if you're more ambitious (or crazy like me), you add an elastic band that is not part of the pattern at all.

Fall Tartlets

Max and I had some friends over for dinner in the fall and I made some appetizers using my mini muffin pan and the ingredients I had in my fridge. I had my doubts but they were a resounding success! One friend even had one after dessert. Not sure I can replicate them but here's an approximation of what went into them:

Pie dough

8 oz cream cheese
1 to 1-1/4 cup of pumpkin puree
1/2 cup carrot puree
1/4 cup sweet potato puree
1 egg
1/4 cup condensed milk
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme
1/4 teaspoon paprika
salt and pepper as desired

Roll out the dough, cut circles and fit into the mini muffin pan. Refrigerate for 15 to 30 minutes.

For the filling, whip everything together until the mixture is fairly even. Refrigerate for 5 minutes.

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Fill the tartlet shells all the way to the top. There might be some leftover filling. They will puff up a bit.  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until the crust is browned and the tartlets are cooked through. Cool and serve.

Makes at least 24 mini tarts

Gardening

It's rare that Max and I spend a lot of time gardening but that's just what we did today - spreading out 6 bags of mulch in the front and back yard, redoing the stone edging in the backyard, planted a blueberry shrub and potted some flowers.

Front yard freshly mulched up

Our new blueberry shrub

Lithodoras diffusa 'Grace Ward', Narcissus 'Geranium' and a small Juniper that might still make it.

Check out the stone edging!

Chives from seed! This is their second season.

Irises - my favorite part of the garden.

Max also put out some grass seed and replaced the old garden hose.

International Women's Day is March 8

Social media is key this International Women's Day

From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe women are heavily using Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn to focus global attention on areas where inequalities prevail.

8 March marks the 101st International Women's Day with thousands of events occurring worldwide that celebrate women’s progress or rally against inequality.

World dignitaries including the President of the United States of America Barack Obama and UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon proclaim official statements supporting International Women’s Day and its focus. British Prime Minister David Cameron marks the day with calls to eliminate violence against girls and women using social media initiatives to change and improve lives. Celebrity supporters for the day include singer-songwriter and We are Equals activist Annie Lennox, Avon Foundation advocate Reese Witherspoon and OXFAM supporters Helena Christensen and Kristin Davis.

For decades women have banded together to challenge injustices, overcome barriers and pursue equality. International Women's Day provides an opportunity to commemorate these efforts, celebrate progress and call for commitment to women’s rights, peace and equality. Social media and #womensday tweets provide a whole new way to interact, clearly a contrast to the days of pioneering suffragettes.

Glenda Stone, founder of the internationalwomensday.com website that has served as a global hub for International Women’s Day events, resources and news for over a decade says:

“Activity on International Women’s Day has skyrocketed over the last five years. This is due to the rise of social media, celebrity involvement, and corporations taking on the day sponsoring and running big events. Our twitter.com/womensday community with around 10,000 followers is phenomenal for sharing videos, information and news as it happens. Offline large scale women’s rallies have become even larger through the use of social media. It would be hard to find any country that did not celebrate the day in some way.”

International Women’s Day, which saw its first event run in 1911, continues to provide a powerful opportunity to unite, network and mobilise worldwide for meaningful change. It provides an opportunity to make a stand against inequality, discrimination and marginalisation that only serves to weaken all of our societies.

International Women's Day

50lbs of Local, Grass-Fed Beef from Milcreek Farm

In case you ever wondered what 1/8 of a cow share would look like:

Includes many pounds of ground beef and various cuts of steak

Includes bone marrow and soup bones

Documentation for Facebook

Wondering what we're going to do with it all? Top of my list is Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon, "Not Your Mother-in-Law's Beef Brisket" recipe clipped from a newspaper 10 years ago, smoking the London Broil in our Stove Top Smoker, risotto with the bone marrow and a kick ass beef stock or demi-glace. Of course there will be countless hamburgers, tacos, and steaks in between.

Hungry yet?

:)

Apple Bread

So here's the recipe I started with:

Since I only had 2 eggs, I added 1/2 cup of sour cream. And I didn't have any raisins so I used dried currants and chopped dates. Also, I baked the entire recipe in a 13"x9" pan. Came out perfectly and was so tasty!

Mermaid's tail

While I was in Canada in February, I showed my sister the Pinterest board I started for my niece. One of the things she really liked was the mermaid's tail. Immediately she asked if I could make something like that for Chloe.  Of course!  :)

Not exactly though since that particular one is crocheted, not knit. After some searching on Ravelry, I settled on the Mermaid Cocoon Newborn Photo Prop pattern. The yarn I'm using is All Seasons Cotton by Rowan in Sprout, a discontinued colour.

I created this chart to help me keep track of the repeating rows:

I started knitting on February 27 and already I am 3/4 done. Motivation does wonders!