Around the House - Autour de la maison

Right now we are appreciating...

En ce moment nous apprécions...

new kitchen shelves

de nouvelles étagères dans notre cuisine

a new clothes line


une nouvelle corde à linge

cups of greens

des tasses de verdure

flowers from our garden

les fleurs de notre jardin

buckets of (more) flowers to be planted and dirty garden boots by the door

(encore) des fleurs à planter et nos bottes de jardinage qui attendent près de la porte 

rhubarb almost ready to pick

de la rhubarbe bientôt prête à récolter

wonderful new recipes from the 30 Day Vegan Workshop, summery meals and homemade lemonade

des nouvelles recettes délicieuses de l'atelier 30 Day Vegan, des repas d'été et de la limonade fraîchement pressée

some new/old thrifted books

de nouveaux/vieux livres chinés

falling asleep reading

de s'endormir en lisant

beautiful new yarn arriving in the mail 

de la nouvelle laine (superbement douce et belle) qui arrive par la poste 

Snails, Bees and Butterflies - Escargots, abeilles et papillons

Over the past few weeks, Pippa and I have been reading more animal stories from Jakob Streit.

Ces dernières semaines Pippa et moi avons lu d'autres histoires d'animaux de Jakob Streit.

From these stories, we went on to look at more books on small creatures that appear in spring and summer. 

Ceci nous a amenées à regarder d'autres livres pour en apprendre davantage sur les petites créatures qui font leur apparition au printemps et à l'été. 

Swirl by Swirl has helped us to be on the lookout for spirals in nature while out on our nature walks.  

Swirl by Swirl nous a donné envie de chercher des formes de spirales lors de nos randonnées en nature.


Nous aimons aussi beaucoup la collection mes premières découvertes chez Gallimard.

We found many spiral shaped sea shells on the beach (sea snails).

Nous avons trouvé beaucoup de coquillages en forme de spirale sur la plage (escargots de mer: buccins et bigorneaux).

Pippa needle felted a snail with a sea shell.

Pippa a réalisé cet escargot en laine feutrée à l'aiguille avec un coquillage sur le dos.

Pippa also needle felted this bee mobile. She drew the hive with her beeswax crayons.  

Pippa a aussi réalisé ce mobile en laine feutrée à l'aiguille. Elle a dessiné la ruche avec ses crayons de cire d'abeille.

Some interesting printables can be found here and here.

On peut trouver des pages intéressantes à imprimer ici et ici.

I also recently watched a fascinating documentary on monarchs. It can be viewed here.

Récemment, j'ai visionné un documentaire fascinant sur les papillons monarques. Il peut être visionné ici.  

My Pantry

This month I am following the 30 Day Vegan Workshop offered by Heather from Beauty that Moves. It has barely started and already I'm loving it! Heather has some really inspiring kitchen ideas and her recipes are amazing! Simple and delicious, the kind I know that I will want to make over and over again. This week she has invited us to share some pictures of our pantry so that others can see how we organize our kitchen space and food.

I love my pantry shelves, natural wood rubbed with beeswax.

My baking supplies: oats, flours, natural sweeteners, extracts, raisins, dried coconut, etc.

Dried beans, lentils, grains, seeds, and nuts.

I empty any packaged foods (cereal, dried pasta) into jars. It helps to keep the pantry looking tidy and keeps food fresher.

Oils and vinegars.

Herbs, teas and spices.

My Indian spice box, a gift from a friend.

I cook everything I can from scratch, I don't like to spend lots of time in stores and since we live in a remote area (there are not that many stores on our island), I like to keep a well stocked pantry. I shop once a week and order lots of our food in bulk. Buying in bulk is also more economical and a good way to reduce packaging. I keep the jars of food in our pantry filled and store the rest (bags of dried goods) in bins hidden under my pantry counter. I keep big bags of nuts in the freezer. I have never had a problem with moths.

I also have a cupboard where I keep all of our canned goods. As you can see, this time of the year it is rather empty, waiting to be filled with summer goodness.

Keep Calm Craft On: Baby Wool Pants and Daffodils

Joining Nicole at Frontier Dreams for Keep Calm Craft On.

Just off the needles is this pair of wool baby pants in wonderfully soft Cascade Eco Cloud. I intend to knit a few more pairs using the same yarn and pattern.

Also just off the needles is a spring daffodil using one of Linda's sweet patterns.

It makes us so happy to see the daffodils blooming in our garden!

We have been enjoying the most beautiful warm weather lately. I have been soaking in the sun and feeling inspired to start a new summer quilt. More on that soon I hope...

Happy crafting on!

Dandelion Jam - Confiture de pissenlits

A few years ago a friend shared this recipe with me and it has become a tradition our family to make it every spring. As soon as the children see the dandelions popping up they pick as many flowers as they can to make dandelion jam (and bouquets to decorate the house of course!). It is quite sweet, but really does taste like a spring field and there is just something about having a pot of dandelion flowers simmering on my stovetop that I (and the children) absolutely love. It's a special batch of jam, since it's our first of the season. It is actually more like a golden syrup than jam, so do not fear if you try this recipe and find it rather runny. In fact, some call it dandelion honey.

Dandelion Jam (or Honey)

250 grams of dandelion flowers (stems and leaves removed)
1.5 litres of water
2 oranges (preferably organic)
750 grams natural cane sugar (I use organic)
Juice of 1 lemon

Wash the dandelion flowers and spread them out on a towel to slightly dry. Wash the oranges and cut them into slices (do not remove the skins). In a large pot, simmer the dandelion flowers and orange slices in the water for one hour. After it has finished simmering, pour the liquid through a sieve lined with cheesecloth (or other cloth) to filter the liquid. Measure the amount of liquid (should be around 1 litre). Discard the flowers and oranges and return the liquid to the pot. Add 750 grams of sugar for every litre of liquid. Add the lemon juice and simmer for another hour. Pour into warm (sterilized) jam jars. Enjoy!

Cette recette m'a été transmise par une amie (merci Nicole!) il y a quelques années. À chaque printemps, dès que les enfants voient apparaître les pissenlits, ils s'empressent d'aller cueillir le plus de fleurs possible pour faire de la confiture (et des bouquets pour décorer la maison bien sûr!). Il s'agit plus d'un sirop que d'une confiture, d'ailleurs certains l'appellent "miel de pissenlits". Ne vous inquiétez donc pas si vous essayez cette recette et que vous la trouvez un peu liquide. Cette confiture est un peu sucrée, mais elle contient un parfum de printemps et quoi de plus merveilleux que d'avoir un chaudron plein de fleurs qui mijote sur le feu.


Confiture (ou miel) de pissenlits


250 grammes de fleurs de pissenlits (sans tiges, ni feuilles)
1,5 litres d'eau
2 oranges (bio de préférence)
750 grammes de sucre de canne (j'utilise du sucre de canne bio)
jus d'un citron


Lavez les fleurs de pissenlits et les faire sécher dans un linge. Lavez et coupez les oranges en tranches (sans peler). Mettre à cuire les fleurs et les oranges dans l'eau pendant une heure. Passez puis remettez le liquide sur le feu avec 750 grammes de sucre par litre de liquide. Ajoutez le jus de citron et cuire pendant encore une heure. Versez dans des pots à confiture stérilisés. Bonne dégustation! 

Weekending and Happy Mother's Day

Enjoying stillness...

Fairies in the garden...

Digging (new raised beds)...

Building...

Growing...

Baking...

Sewing (Oliver Lazy Days Skirts)...

Knitting...

Mother's Day paintings...

Feeling truly blessed this Mother's Day weekend for so much life around me and in me right now and for all of the goodness that fills my days. Wishing you all a very Happy Mother's Day!

Bonne fête des mères!