Learning to spin is most certainly not an easy thing. Like so many handicrafts, it seems just about impossible if you haven’t grown up doing it. I took a year break between my first two spinning classes! For me now, spinning truly is the relaxing occupation you imagine it will be when you see someone quietly treadling an old-fashioned wheel. But first I put in months of wrestling with the wheel and getting tangled up in spindles. Hooray to the Lizzes, Carolyn, Bean, Cindy, Hilary and Stacey for sticking it out and making lots of great progress today in our Absolute Beginning Spinning Class. They make it look like loads of fun, and it is when you can allow yourself some time to make messes! More pics – continued »

Today we’ll run the first class of our Spring Spinning Series. From 1 to 4:30 today 8 of us will work with spindles and wheels, singly and in teams to get a broad experience of spinning on a variety of different tools with a number of different fibers. continued »

I made that name up and it’s probably way off. This afternoon while preparing dinner, I found myself with a left-over roasted goat leg and a large half-full bottle of merlot. I’d been cooking the bone and meat down to a rich stock all day and the smell just somehow reminded me of the Beef Bourguignon episode of The French Chef. Oh, Julia, I’m not sure you would have used goat, but I think you’d be impressed with the result. I pulled out Mastering The Art Of French Cooking, got out the wine and loosely invoked her recipe to make a pretty fabulous meal. Yum! Here’s what I did: continued »

I placed the first seed order of 2011 today. It was a bit premature, since I haven’t done my inventory of what is left over from last year yet (yikes!), but I was simply sucked in by the allure of the pictures and descriptions in one of the catalogs I’ve kept hidden from myself since they started arriving in November. I find glossy paper more over-the top-scintillating than the on-line version, but I dare you to check out Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds on the web and see if you can resist. continued »