DIY & Homesteading

How to do Spoon Making, sort of

My dad is a “do-things” guy. At 90, he roasts and grinds his coffee, makes bialys, bagels, bread and pies, fixes everybody’s computers, tends his stunning 1+ acre native plant garden in Richmond, Va. ….. And he has a shop (that he built) where he crafts furniture, cutting boards and […]

How to do Things with Blacksmithing

Welcome to more of How To Do Things Thursdays!  Today’s guest post is by our coal-dusted, blacksmithing daughter, Annie.  There’s nothing that makes me feel more at home than being immersed in the handmade. Knowing that one of my cooking students made that wooden spoon I’m stirring supper with, that a neighbor wove […]

How to do Things with Apple Cider Syrup

Welcome to How to do Things Thursdays! If you were to walk into my kitchen in early November, what you would see is apples. The gnarly red ones that fall from the overgrown antique trees in our lives as well as about 80 pounds of magnificent GoldRush apples that I […]

How to do Things Thursdays

I don’t know about you, but it’s been on my mind to learn how to do more things for about …. oh…. maybe decades. At least since I lived here in this tumbledown farm in 1976. Well, actually, I did learn plenty of  things back then, but as you can […]

Goofy St. Nik holiday breads

It’s beatnik Santa bread time. What started out two years ago as a wholesome gathering of friends just celebrating the German tradition of making St. Nicholas Day breads, has turned into an annual holiday doughboy mutiny. While we appreciate the European custom of making Santa-shaped sweet breads that are gifted to children to pay […]