In the Garden: Peppers, Galore!

Gardening is always a funny experience...and by that I mean you need a good sense of humor.  You might think you've bought enough tomato plants and basil for a year's worth of canning/freezing....but it turns out that the only crop you really get LOTS of is banana peppers and you didn't even mean to buy banana peppers (I'm still trying to figure out how that happened!).

But, I've learned to can banana pepper rings. Lots and lots of them!  Incidentally, the pepper season is doing so well here in Northern Virginia that a farmer at the market asked me how to can them... at least, I'm not the only one!

A Rainy Day at the Battle of Bladensburg

It was a very rainy day at the Battle of Bladensburg, but the crowds were amazing given the weather!  Jeff and Vince made some cooking trivets, among other items.  A very lovely trivet went to a chef from D.C. -- I think it found the perfect home!  As always, we had our kid--friendly anvil out and it was used by lots of determined children (and some of their parents).   And, we were mentioned by the Washington Post in the article about the event -- we are the "blacksmithing family" they refer to in their piece!
 

 

 

Scenes from the ABANA 2014 Conference

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Making Soap: A Year Later

I was just looking through various photos and noticed the date of a photo from my initial soap-making class.   it was just one year ago that I took a class in cold process soap, and I am hooked!  I really enjoy making soap -- peppermint lavender is our favorite.   I've started selling my products and need to get everything up on our site for others to enjoy.  You never know where these classes will lead....Here are a few photos from a recent batch I made -- the ingredients are amazing (olive oil, palm oil, cocoa butter, and coconut oil),  -- no wonder we love this soap!:

Out and About: A County Fair

It's that time of year....County Fair Season!

\

We head to the ABANA conference tomorrow -- Jeff is really looking forward to it!  We'll keep you posted. 

An Anniversary Heart in Its New Home

It looks beautiful!  Happy Anniversary!!!  We are blessed to be a part of your celebration.