Hold the presses!

After a long hiatus, I am finally blogging about biking again.

Here's hoping it inspires me for more frequent blogging about crafting, sustainability, etc. too, here at handcrafted life!

Enjoying the season (and seeking seasonal gardening advice)

I miss blogging! You'd think with both kids at college, I'd have more time, but somehow the grad. school/working full-time/attempting to take care of other life tasks with intentionality seem to still cut into the blogging time. Fortunately DD came home and requested apple-picking, giving me not only a photo op but a nice excuse to slow down and appreciate the season.

The apple orchard was beautiful. (Rochester folks, we went to the Apple Farm in Victor and it was really nice. I believe they have a sale this week. And, they will be offering u-pick until we get a stretch of weather below 25 F.)

There were tons of apples on the ground. We grabbed a bunch for the chickens, who LOVE apples. We didn't know this, but you're supposed to ask first! They gave us a reduced price, but if you go, please ask first! (Do as I say, not as I do.)


T., Zoe, and I have also been enjoy walks in our local gem, the Mt. Hope Cemetery, perfect for spooky October nights (and the rest of the year).

And now, on to some less exciting pictures, but (for me) very exciting gardening. This is the first year I have tried to garden so late. You can see that I'm not the neatest gardener in the world, as evidenced by the leaves I haven't bothered to rake out and the dried stalks of dill still left. Here are some turnips and collard greens. I think I planted something in the middle there but it didn't come up.

Here is my arugula bed, which has pretty much been going strong all gardening season.

And here we have some younger collard greens and Chinese greens. They're supposed to be cold hardy, although I'm still covering everything on cold nights, since we've only had a couple of nights of frost so far, and it's supposed to be fairly warm still for quite a while.

Here's some kale, just coming up recently. Again, I'm hoping it will last through the winter, but I'm not really sure how these things work.

Swiss chard (and a little head of lettuce), which in my experience can survive for quite a while in the cold.

And more turnip greens, along with broccoli, which have little florets on them that thrill me to no end. Can't wait till they're big enough to eat.

Fall/winter gardeners, any advice? Will this stuff last? Do I have to cover it every night once it gets below freezing?

Soup therapy

(This is just a gratuitous, updated picture of the girls, because really, can you ever get enough of chicken pictures? That short green fence is supposed to keep them out of the garden, but I can't say it's totally effective.)

Aaaanyway...if your life revolves in any way around the academic calendar, September and early October are hectic! My life revolves around the academic calendar in 3 ways: work, graduate school, and getting my kids off to college.

All of which leaves not nearly enough time for my creative pursuits. Last night one of my classes ended earlier than expected, and I had time to make some granola and also my standard, never-the-same-twice red lentil soup. If you're in the market for an inexpensive, easy-to-make soup that can be made with whatever you happen to have around, this is for you. I have to give credit to my (non-blogging) friend Hilary for the basic idea of this soup.

Here's what I do, with rough approximations of ingredients and amounts.

Julie's Red Lentil Soup

1--Saute in olive oil or ghee, some combination of these vegetables--peppers, onions, garlic, shallots, hot peppers. (Last night I used shallots and two jalapeno peppers.) You could add some freshly grated ginger if you like. You can also add dried herbs of your choosing here--ginger, oregano, thyme, basil could all be nice.

2--Add whatever other veggies you have on hand, particularly root vegetables or cruciferous vegetables, such as potatoes, carrots, beets, cauliflower. (Last night I used turnips from my garden.) Saute for a few more minutes.

3--Add 4-8 cups of water or vegetable stock and heat to boiling.

4--Add 1-2 cups of red lentils. (Amounts of water and lentils are variable because you can base it on how many veggies you have, how much soup you want to make, and how thin you like your soup.)

5--Simmer until everything is tender and the lentils have started to break down. This could be 20-40 minutes, depending on the type of veggies and how mushy you like your soup.

6--This step is optional, but highly recommended. After it's been simmering about 15-20 minutes, add whatever fresh greens you have around, such as spinach, Swiss chard, kale, collard greens, etc. (Last night I used the turnip greens and collards from my garden.)

7--Simmer until it's done the way you like it! Just a few minutes before you take it off the stove, add whatever fresh herbs you have around. (Last night I used the last of the chives and basil from the garden.) Add about 1-2 tablespoons of lemon juice at the very end.

This is good on its own, but even better with cheese, if you ask me. I add fresh goat cheese.

As I said to a friend after making this soup, cooking is my medicine and my religion. All the craziness of early Fall melted away, and that's even before I tasted the soup.

p.s. Coincidentally, 101 Cookbooks has a similar red lentil soup recipe today that includes rice.