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Category: Mending

by raheli July 17, 2019

July 17, 2019

by raheli May 29, 2019

One Patch at a Time

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adventures bird builtenvironment busyhands creativefamily creativeprocess current dirt drawing eatlocal family farmtotable featured fruit garden grid growingfood handstitching harvest hunkerdown ideas inspiration iwonder knitting lost lunch map mapping meals music naturalforces nature preserving recipe seasonalkitchen slowstitching snacks stars storm storycloth summer travel trees veggies watercolors

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Meanwhile, on Instagram…

raheliharper

Our day was oddly on theme: we went to the dentist

Our day was oddly on theme: we went to the dentist, made chocolate bars, and watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005 version, which I had never seen before)

Pictured: pistachio/strawberry/salt and Rice Krispies/peppermint

Watching on repeat 😍😍😍 Thanks @nonchalan

Watching on repeat 😍😍😍

Thanks @nonchalant_cheese for letting us admire all your babies. Definitely regretting that we didn’t breed the sheep this fall.

The door got it’s glass and handles (made from c

The door got it’s glass and handles (made from cedar branches), and the large bench is done!

The bench was made from 50 year old cedar boards that were originally part of a worn out wood-fired hot tub. While the boards looked really rough, we were able to mill them down into gorgeous, solid staves for the bench. It was an unexpected success for us because we didn’t think the wood inside would offer much to salvage.

I learned how to make a wonky star with @jessica_a

I learned how to make a wonky star with @jessica_alex / @travelingquiltingbee yesterday and I love that once I am done cutting a bunch of small squares, I don’t have to measure any more. And even still, all my corners lined up! It is truly a miracle. Time to raid the scrap bin - I mean, the floor 😂😂

Finished a hat of leftovers. I am trying to practi

Finished a hat of leftovers. I am trying to practice my stranded colorwork and this is my most successful colorwork project yet! All scraps and leftovers.

#scrapknitting #stash_less #useitup #fairisleknitting #kidsinhandknits #nopattern #stashbusting #scrappyknitting

One of the last parts our beef processing is packi

One of the last parts our beef processing is packing up the tallow. I rendered the fat into some gorgeous yellow tallow, which I am going to try using in biscuits or pie, plus a bunch of tallow that is a little darker, more flavorful, that we are already using to fry potatoes.

Jim had the idea to let them cool in pyrex pans and then cut them into bars, and then I wrapped them in parchment before freezing them in freezer bags. I made big stacks of my gold bars, feeling mighty rich.

In 2021, I filled 3 journals. I went through The A

In 2021, I filled 3 journals. I went through The Artists Way with an amazing group of women, which pushed me to write more regularly — my old system was writing when I needed to blow off steam or work out a problem, or just make some more space in my head. It’s been really fascinating and sometimes still a struggle (especially when I get wrapped up in whether or not this is a productive use of my time). But it IS very satisfying to see the volume of my thoughts.

#journaling #theartistsway #morningpages #creativepractice #writinghabits

I got my first recipe card in the mail! They are r

I got my first recipe card in the mail! They are recipe cards that are also postcards (the reverse has the address/stamp, and also the ingredients.) I designed these for the @wanderingsnailpost Dispatch No.4 and I have sent out a few, and now I get the fun of receiving. And baking. Thanks @beetleandfred for your grandma’s cookie recipe!

Sigh… 😍😍😍

One of my favorites from this week. The warm weath

One of my favorites from this week. The warm weather meant a lot of mud, and overcast days gave us no sunsets (until the last day - yesterday - which felt like such a gift!) - so every day at 4 pm we would race around in our last 30 minutes of light, and try to get the last task done for the day, the last board nailed in place.
Photo by @jimharper23

#dovetailworkwear #getdirtywithdovetail #backyardsauna #backyardbuilds #womenwhobuild #homesteadlife #hudsonvalleyartist #hudsonvalleyhomes

Goodnight, goodnight, construction site. #backya

Goodnight, goodnight, construction site.

#backyardsauna

Tomorrow this very unusual vacation ends and we go

Tomorrow this very unusual vacation ends and we go back to our “normal” days (whatever that really means right now). There will still be more finishing details - benches? Flooring? Those are still unclear but we have saved our few bits of cedar to see if we have enough to do something interior with cedar…

I am tired, but i am also fired up and feeling strong - maybe it’s running out the door to go solve a solvable puzzle (when there are so many unsolvable puzzles that we will return to tomorrow.) We can point to something definite and solid that we have created. And tomorrow we will cook more meals, attend more meetings, and fret about problems that are only partially in our control. Maybe it’s a dose of certainty in a nebulous time. It’s been an unusual vacation but it has been restorative in ways I didn’t expect.

Still out there working. Today the sauna got a ced

Still out there working. Today the sauna got a cedar roof (shingles that we already owned!), a porch roof (designed and built by me! I am super proud that I figured that out - it will get supports once the siding is on), and a door! The door isn’t done yet, but we have the basic idea there. Next to get some glass for it…

Unfortunately, we don’t have enough shingles for the porch roof, so we’ll figure something out for that, but we will likely mount our two solar panels up there, so… we’ll figure something out.

Still waiting for the wood stove to ship (hoping it will ship next week??) but the rest is moving along quickly.

Ringing in the new year like… 🪚🔨 #getdirt

Ringing in the new year like… 🪚🔨

#getdirtywithdovetail (loving my overalls - I have been wearing them for 3 weeks straight - none of the constant hiking up my pants at the waist, or pulling up at the knees when I squat. I just put them on and move my body as I please. And the pockets! Hurray for clothing that is truly designed for women’s bodies!)

Morning and evening. Working on our wood-fired s

Morning and evening.

Working on our wood-fired sauna.

In which @jimharper23 and I spend our winter break

In which @jimharper23 and I spend our winter break diving into big projects and forgetting about all the normal stuff. It feels so good to flex my muscles in ways that I don’t get to do in my average week. My muscles are tired, but my heart and head feel fantastic. All those things I do on repeat everyday… I am mostly glad that they fill my days (uh, not you dishes and constant tidying…) but it’s nice to change it up for a week. Talking to my sister and cousin, who are in the thick of toddler days (in a pandemic, too) I remember how impossible this was just 3 years ago. Feeling so grateful that my kids can enjoy some lax oversight for a few days… though maybe it’s strategic on their part, especially after we made them haul old fence boards out of the woods for a few hours on Sunday…

Also, sending lots of love to @sarahdiviart and @thematerialsdesignco because toddlers+pandemic is just so shitty. ❤️❤️❤️

Side of beef in a day! Well, there is a lot of gri

Side of beef in a day! Well, there is a lot of grinding and still some trimming to do tomorrow before it warms up. My right arm, neck, and low back are very mad at me right now, because this is very physical work and they need a rest. I am so grateful to have the freezer stocked with local grass-fed beef, friends to make this all happen, and my sweetie who was a vegetarian when I met him 15 years ago. It’s been an odd road to bring us here, and I love that we have (enough) skills to take responsibility for some of the meat that we eat, and it makes me so grateful to all the farmers and butchers and meat packers who have produced the meats that we buy. Did I mention that it’s a lot of work? And I am very tired right now? Good night 💤😴

Portrait of the artist after a day of skiing throu

Portrait of the artist after a day of skiing through ice (snow making). Yes, that is a layer of ice covering the helmet. 🥶 🧊❄️

I love this photo so much. I just found it in a bo

I love this photo so much. I just found it in a box after losing it for a while. It’s a photo of Julia Childs filming with a whole crew of people - including men in suits - hiding behind the kitchen island, passing a plate up to her.

It reminds me that what I often see isn’t the full picture, and people who seem independently successful are actually the face of a whole crew of hard working people. It makes me happy to see this - a reminder that I often need when I feel like I should be accomplishing more.

I went to a party! With adults! And fabric 😍 (n

I went to a party! With adults! And fabric 😍 (not throwing caution to the wind - there were about 12 of us and we were vaxxed and masked.) We gathered at @beetleandfred to celebrate @rachelhauer gorgeous new fabric collection Forest Floor. And I got to meet @rachelharrietteb in person. Menders out in the wild (and wow! Her quilt coat. I may have patted her coat before I even realized that I knew her… definitely need to practice my social skills some more 😆😬).

Also, @saswolff made a jacket in a day and I got an #rachelhauertattoo 😉 And I want a quilted coat with a fox on it (begins pattern search…)

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