I’m heading out in the morning (early!) to take a servsafe class. I’m trying to work up some enthusiasm but it isn’t easy. I just returned from a very cool slide show given by a local artist who has just gotten home form a trip to Poland. The show was followed by a Polish pot luck feast and I’m so stuffed I can hardly breath. I’m intrigued by polish peasant food as it comes from a region that so closely resembles my own in terms of climate. We too raise cabbage and potatoes, beets and carrots. Onions and pork, dill and sour cream feature heavily in our dishes. The good thing about these foods is that they are also the things that are the easiest to preserve. Most require nothing more than a basket and a root cellar. I would think that all of us could find preserving food easier if we went back to the roots of our cultures.
We managed to have enough sun today to make it possible to get the garlic and the multiplier onions in the ground. I had saved the best of the garlic for seed and, if I do say so myself, it was the best garlic ever. The heads were huge with thick, meaty cloves. This is my third year with this particular stock and it’s finally adapting. I did add some greensand to the soil but it looks so healthy, teaming with earthworms and such, that I don’t see it needing much else.
The sewing center has a new home. I’ve had some questions about it so I want to give some background. It began as an attempt to make our little store single use bag free. We got donated fabric and sewing machines, put them in some space that our church had available and the sewing center was born. The bag share took off as an independent project that spread far and wide and donations continued to pour in. We held some clothing repair clinics and some general sewing lessons but what we really needed was space where we could spread out and display our awesome collection of fabric and notions. The machines have multiplied too. We have two serge machines, two commercial models that will sew vinyl, canvas and leather, a treadle machine and loads of others. This weekend out community house held a huge clean out and let us have the now empty space in the basement. It’s perfect. I can’t wait to get it set up and ready to sew. It even has space for the GIANT quilting frame I inherited from Bruce’s aunt. My good friends, Leni and Barbara, have been the heart of the sewing center. It was really born from their committment to keep as much stuff out of landfills as possible. We honestly never buy anything. It’s all stuff we are reusing.
October 23, 2011 at 9:11 pm
Kathy,
I admire you tremendously, but please, use spell check!
Carol M.
October 23, 2011 at 9:43 pm
I did. What did it miss?
October 23, 2011 at 10:05 pm
Did you think Servsafe was spelled wrong? That’s actually the way the class is spelled. it is odd, isn’t it?
October 23, 2011 at 11:42 pm
The sewing center sounds interesting! Glad it has found a home. Marketing names for classes are always interesting to say the least. [smile] You are a busy busy lady. Hope the field trip went well.
October 24, 2011 at 6:16 am
Fantastic! We used to use old jeans in quilt projects in 4-H and the kids (and Moms) would go to community tag sales and take the left over clothing for those projects. We also used left over clothing for the local Children’s Theater. A good community is a strong thing.
Enjoy your class, it’s a worthy one.
October 24, 2011 at 7:04 am
It is SO cool that your community has built these ties! I think it’s fantastic. Good luck in the class today; I hope it’s quicker, more interesting, and more valuable than you expect. Still looking forward to the time when our schedules gel š
October 24, 2011 at 9:12 am
Photos of the sewing center? Best wishes!
October 24, 2011 at 9:20 am
I’ve been intrigued by Polish (and Russian) food as well, for the same reasons.
Separately, I’ve noticed I can buy used baskets of various sorts for a dollar each locally, and have wondered if they might be a good idea for “root cellar” storage. I put that in quotes because I have no root cellar but I do have a closet that stays around 58F-59F in the winter, which is a little warm for good root cellar storage but still not bad. I have apples in there right now but the whole “one bad apple spoils the bunch” maxim is certainly true. I try to check on them every couple of days and pull out the rotting ones. But it got me thinking that having more, smaller baskets might be better than my half bushel storage setup.
I’m an English major and fully believe in the merits of good spelling and grammar but I think we can recognize that a blog is a relaxed medium, much like a journal. I’d rather just hear Kathy’s thoughts than have her spend time worrying about “breath” vs. “breathe” (etc.) and interrupt or stifle her flow. It’s a blog! (I do, however, get cranky about unprofessional mistakes that I see these days on so-called news articles and such).