Millerton - Things to Do

In May I wrote about the Copake Auction and how fantastic it is. This past weekend I got a few more bargains:

This beautiful hand carved oak chair with fantastic details including the Fish at the top. $40.
Another amazing rocking chair, in mint condition and again, solid oak! $40.

Lastly, the beautiful Octagon dining table. I do not need another dining table but at $20 I couldn't say no!


I purchased all of these through Live Auctioneers. So much fun and fantastic bargains!!

Millerton - Vegetable Garden

The real difference between rich and regular people is that the rich serve such marvelous vegetables. Little fresh born things, scarcely out of the earth. Little baby corns, little baby peas, little lambs that have been ripped out of their mothers’ wombs. Truman Capote.

Our lovely vegetable garden is coming along nicely!

UPDATE

(Brussels Sprouts)

(Raspberry Patch)

In just a few more weeks we'll be enjoying sweet Raspberries!

(Zinnias in the foreground, then cucumbers then tomatoes.)

I am really loving the pea-gravel around the raised beds. So much easier to maintain and I think it looks fantastic!

(A little bit of everything.)

Millerton - Home Improvement

It was a busy weekend but so many things were accomplished.

One of the first things I did was paint the iron furniture my neighbor had given me. It was black and a little rusted in spots. The entire process took about an hour! Yah, that's all. I used 4 cans of RustOleum white paint. I found some nice & reasonably priced cushions and pillows at Target of all places. It's coming along nicely.... but definitely needs a fire pit!

I also finished putting the gravel around the raised bed for my vegetable garden. No more navigating the lawnmower around the boxes of vegetables and no more edge clipping! I also think it looks fantastic.

I'm very pleased with how my garden is growing. We've had a lot of rain, not a lot of sun, so everything is very green and healthy. But, without the sun, nothing is blooming or ripening.

All we need is SUN! Look at how fantastic these Brussels Sprouts are doing. The turnip and beets, on the other hand, have beautiful greens but no bulbs...

All in all, our home is coming along nicely. I took this photo of the front yard as a "before" picture because we should be getting our picket fence in the next couple of weeks! Very exciting.

Millerton - Things to Do

This past Saturday we went strawberry picking with friends at a farm near Copake.

On Sunday night I made Strawberry Jam. I'm sure there are recipes you can follow, but I'm not much of a follower.

Here's how I make Strawberry Jam.

1. Clean and prepare strawberries (remove stems, etc.).

2. Place strawberries (about 6 to 7 cups) in large pot with about a 1/8 cup of orange juice.

3. Cook strawberries on low heat until they release their juices.

4. Add sugar and stir (add as much sugar as you like - I start off with about a cup and go from there).

5. Continue to cook strawberry/sugar mixture until all of the liquid from the berries is released.

6. Use potato masher to smash cooked strawberries until they are at the consistency you like (I don't like large chunks of strawberries in my jam).

7. Add pectin.

8. Once the mixture comes to a rolling boil, ontinue to cook, on medium heat, for about two minutes, stirring consistently.

9. Ladle mixture into sterilized jars.

10. Clean the rim of the jars and place sterilized lids on them then tighten lids slightly.

11. Once the jars of Jam have cooled a bit - but are still warm then tighten as much as you can.

12. Once the jars of Jam have cooled completely, store in refrigerator (I keep them in the refrigerator because no preservatives are used and to be safe).

This is the basic method I use to make any type of jam. If you want to make jelly just strain the liquid from the pulp and use only the liquid.

Millerton - Vegetable Garden

The real difference between rich and regular people is that the rich serve such marvelous vegetables. Little fresh born things, scarcely out of the earth. Little baby corns, little baby peas, little lambs that have been ripped out of their mothers’ wombs. Truman Capote.

Our lovely garden is coming along nicely.

Pumpkins.

My little pumpkin patch (first time pumpkin grower here) seems to be doing just fine! I can't wait to train their long tentacles to grow all around the garden boxes. And this fall, my daughter and her friends will be so happy picking the orange beauties for Halloween Jack-O-Lanterns. (Oh, and I'm looking forward to making - and eating - pumpkin pies.)

Vegetables

I took advantage of the cool weather this past weekend and placed pea gravel around the raised beds. No more having to navigate the mower around the boxes and I love the earthy look (although I'm feeling the 15 wheel-barrel loads of gravel it in my back today!)

I also planted a few more things. I planted some sweet potatoes, a rhubarb, a sun choke and even tried soy-beans. Soy-beans don't generally grow around these parts (hehe) but I figured, "What the heck. If they grow and I get some beans, my daughter will be very happy with me."

Fruit

Although our plum tree had a bunch of lovely white blossoms in early spring, only one lovely little plum survived our very strange weather including exceptionally high winds (even some suspect "tornadoes") torrential rain and thunder storms. Now, if it can just survive the birds!