Hotel Treasures

My husband came across this amazing business in Lincoln Park called Mid American Salvage Company.  He talked me into checking it out when we were looking for a love seat/sleeper for our youngest daughter's dorm room.  This place is amazing!  They purchase contracts from upscale hotels that are ready to remodel and replace their decor and furnishings.  This company removes all the "old" furnishings, drapes, lamps, tables, TV's, refrigerators, etc and then moves in the new decor for the hotel.

They sometimes are allowed to hold a sale on site.  Then they truck everything left back to Lincoln Park.  Most of the time they must bring everything back without a pre-sale.  They sell everything at greatly reduced prices.  The furniture is quality; toting names like Broyhill among others.

We found the cutest love seat/sleeper and a matching oversize chair that pulls out into a single bed.  I put the chair into my art room.  I found the cutest Art-Deco style lamps and promptly replaced my living room lighting.  Another visit found us adding the cutest set of lamps and a mirror for the bedroom; not to mention a solid cherry bedside table!

As I said, these contracts are with high end hotels like Residence Inn, Hyatt, Dearborn Inn, and others.  I have never found or even suspected any issues regarding insects or vermin.  Everything is quality and clean.

The designs are top of the line, yet classic.  I doubt that quality ever goes out of style.  In fact, I told my husband that I would definitely consider replacing my living room furniture from one of their future contracts.  That is how impressed I was.  Here are a few pics showing some of the items we picked up for pennies on the dollar...

Extending Summer

My husband is brilliant at putting my ideas into action!  Actually in this case the idea came from Lauren and her co-op friends in the Michigan House at U of M, Ann Arbor.  She had posted on Face book how on one of their work days, some of the students who live at Michigan House built a couple of mini hoop houses for their raised bed gardens.

I had learned about giant hoop houses through my work at the Conservation District and the USDA.  I was not interested in these giant structures, although I was intrigued by the prospect of extending the season all the way to December...and starting the season much earlier than May.

Well, when I read about the inexpensive project, and the fact that my daughter was on her way to becoming a true green thumb, my excitement mounted.  Thankfully, I have a very agreeable and hard working husband!  He put these together starting Friday afternoon and finished before dark.  Now we will extend the eggplant, basil, parsley, and swiss chard.  I also plan to start some lettuce and spinach seeds this week.  We'll see just how far we can push back the winter!

Waterfalls and Weddings

This summer has been crazy with the last child graduating, leaving for college, the gardens, the garden parties, the canning and preserving, and my new job.  Hence my absence from my blog and my life-giving artwork.
Today I thought I'd take a few minutes to get back into the habit of posting by sharing a remarkable weekend my husband and I spent in and around Ithaca, New York for our niece's wedding.  If you've never been to upstate New York, and the Ithaca area in general, you are missing some fine scenery and waterfalls everywhere!

Mike and I stayed in a wonderful Bed and Breakfast called the Rogues Harbor Inn in Lansing, New York.  A beautiful old brick mansion that has turned the lower level into a fine dining experience, which includes at least one locally grown food in every dish.  We tried the Squash blossoms stuffed with local duck sausage and feta cheese...marvelous! I was really impressed with the local fare supporting local farms and how "Green" this B&B was.  They believe in reducing, reusing, and recycling.  They definitely walked the talk!  Impressive.

This photo and the previous one show how the third floor ballroom has been turned into a charming breakfast room.  Can "charming" be used in a space so large?

Ursula, one of our breakfast attendants.

The history was exciting as well.  This very Inn was part of the Underground railroad that helped slaves escape the south and get to Canada.


Since we had half of Saturday to ourselves before the wedding, we headed off for some waterfall sightseeing....and the Farmer's Market.

This is where we bought our lunch.  I'm not sure Mike had ever eaten vegetarian before, but we bought the Sampler's Platter, which included a bit of each item on display.  We took it back to the B&B and had a delicious, locally grown meal with flavors and textures that were so unique!

Then it was time for some hiking to the Taghannock Falls.  The day offered perfect temperatures and weather for our excursion.  When we hiked to the lookout, we ran into some amazing views that weren't even the right falls! Still they were breathtaking.

These are the Taghannock Falls.  They are actually taller than the Niagara Falls.  We hiked a couple of miles to the overlook.  We were planning to hike down into the gorge, but we had to get back and get ready for the wedding.  The girls and I will have to put this on our "Must do" Road Trip list! :)

Pesto Presto

Lately my garden has had a wonderful abundance of spicy globe basil, and what better to use it for than some nice green jars of pesto? I just love how versatile pesto is, we use it on pasta, potatoes, even pizza! (Chicken Pesto Pizza that is; a recipe that I can provide upon request :) Below I include my much used, and much loved recipe for canned, freezing Pesto.

You will need:  

1 cup pine nuts

4 cups fresh basil leaves, fimly packed

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Make sure your fresh basil is washed, then spread the pine nuts on a baking sheet and toast in oven at 450°F until lightly browned.

Puree toasted pine nuts, basil, and garlic in a food processor or blender until smooth.

Add Parmesan cheese, processing just to blend. In a slow steady stream, add 1 cup olive oil through feed tube of food processor or lid of blender while machine is running.

Pour pesto into can-or-freeze jars, leaving 1/2-inch head space. Drizzle 1^1/_{2  teaspoons olive oil over pesto.}

Seal, label, freeze.

Enjoy!

Homemade Applesauce

We tried a new variety of apples last week that went over like a lead Frisbee.  What to do with a bowl of beautiful, crispy but bland apples?  Add lemon juice and make applesauce!  I figure if the lemon doesn't add enough tang to liven up the taste, I can at least use it in my baking as a substitute for oil!

The applesauce turned out quite tasty.  It's so easy to make, I regret not getting a bushel or two of apples last fall. It seems by October and November I am burnt out from all the previous canning.

To make the applesauce, I just peeled and cored the apples I had on hand and put them in a thick bottomed stock pot to simmer with about a half cup of water (just to prevent scorching).  I also added the juice from one lemon.  Then I just let it simmer for a couple of hours.  Since our family loves chunky applesauce, I only mashed about half of the soft apples down to sauce consistency.  You can stop there, but sometimes I add apple pie spice or cinnamon candy red hots.  This time I added a few packets of Stevia as I prefer not to add sugar and called it good.  And it is!

Home Grown

Unbelievable!  It is October 29 and I still have a bushel and a half of pears to finish preserving!  The very end of the end of the tomatoes were turned into 3 quarts and 1 pint of spaghetti sauce this week.  I have to admit, I love making spaghetti sauce.  I love letting the newly strained tomatoes cook down over 24 hours until I have sauce thicker than than the Prego brand!  Even in the dead of winter, when you crack open a jar, the scents and flavors of summer are right back in the kitchen.

But I am truly amazed at how well the pears produced this year.  I have already put up dozens of sliced pears and pear-cherry chutney.  Tomorrow I think I will make spiced pears and more chutney, as Mike eats the chutney by the jar if I don't hide them first   And of course, we give quite a lot for gifts.  My apples nevey really provide anything more for us than a few treats for the horse...I'm certain this is because we don't spray enough.  Honestly, I wouldn't spray at all if I could get any fruit otherwise.  I am determined to expand my no-spray policy from the garden to the fruit trees, if I could only get my husband on board.

 After reading "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver I am convinced the more we spray, the more pests we end up with.  Don't buy that theory?  Read the book!  She can explain it far better than I, a novice can.  We've made some very good changes at home using sustainable methods of composting, recycling, raised bed gardening, rain water collection, etcetera, but I really need to research and actively try to control my fruit pests in a more natural and balanced way.  I think my biggest fear is that it is going to entail a lot more hands-on work for me.  I already am overwhelmed in the spring, summer, and fall with planting, hand picking pests, weeding, harvesting, preserving all the produce as well as the animals we keep.  Stay tuned we'll see what happens in the spring.

Oh, and hopefully after tomorrow I'll be posting about some artwork I'm working on! :)