It’s almost June…

Posted on May 31, 2021 by ripe ~ red ~ berries

Which means it’s getting closer to berry season in Maine…which means it’s time to make fruit crisp for those summer get-togethers…

Actually, it’s always ‘crisp’ season if you ask me. (:

This is the best crisp recipe. You can make it with apples, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, or a berry mix.

It’s delicious with traditional flour/ butter and it’s equally (if not more), amazing with GF flour and dairy free butter or coconut oil…

It’s from a cookbook my grandmother gave to me, twenty years ago! Savoring Care Cod.

In her unmistakable handwriting, the inscription simply says, ‘To Jenny, with love Gram’, Christmas 2000.

Each recipe included in the cookbook was contributed by a volunteer, friend, and/or staff of the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary; It’s a cookbook put together by the Massachusetts Audubon Society.

The year of the gift (2000), was also the year my grandmother needed to sell her home in NJ and move to the Cape, to live with my aunt. Her daughter…

My grandmother was (then) diagnosed with alzheimers.

She didn’t want to leave NJ. She was a ‘Jersey girl’ – so the fact that this cookbook is from the Cape, is a reminder of the beginning of that chapter for her…and that chapter for all of us…

It is also a reminder of her and the interests we shared – good food, entertaining, nature, the beach… time spent together, cocktails at 4, and oh so much more…

This same grandmother passed away two weeks ago. She was 98.

I love you gram.

Thank you for everything. I see you in everything…

If you’re in need of an easy and delicious dessert – give this one a go.

Gram says so. (:

Enjoy.

Fruit Crisp Recipe + Printable version below.

Enjoy (:

This recipe can be made with apples, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries or a mixture of berries.

This recipe can be made exactly as is here with either traditional flour + butter.

GF flour + coconut oil/dairy free butter.

Just switch out ingredients – measurements stay the same.

Ingredients

5-8 apples (any good pie apples), peeled and sliced OR 3.5 cups berries (frozen works too) – raspberries, blueberries or mixed berries

1 Cup Gluten Free flour (bob’s red mill 1 to 1 baking flour works well) – or regular flour.

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup coconut oil, (or butter) melted.

coconut oil/butter for greasing pan.

What to do

Grease a 9 X 13 – inch baking pan. Or a pie dish. Spread fruit in pan. You want enough to cover the bottom of the pan as well as have enough ‘height’ of the fruit itself …

*Blend dry ingredients. Add egg and melted butter. Mix until dry ingredients are moistened.

*If you are making it with GF/DF substitutions, blend the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, beat the egg and add the melted butter/oil. Then add the dry ingredients to the ‘wet’ (egg + oil), until moistened.

Pat mixture over fruit. Bake for 35 – 45 minutes or until topping is browned. Enjoy!

Fruit Crisp Recipe – Ripe Red Berries Download

January

Posted on January 29, 2021 by ripe ~ red ~ berries

Hi everyone! How are you holding up? Things around here are chugging along, day by day, moving forward – or at least that’s the goal…(:

January is nearing it’s end, February is just around the corner, the days are getting longer …and thankfully – summer is inevitable…

But in the meantime, a few pics from my little slice of the world…

Just wanted to say hi and wish everyone a lovely weekend. Stay well. Be well.

And may you enjoy a few of your favorite things this weekend…despite COVID. ):

Life is what it is…might as well be kind to one another…

Zinnias

Posted on August 24, 2020 by ripe ~ red ~ berries

I love Zinnias.

They are easy to start from seed. They grow slow and steady, and they make great cut flowers – what’s not to love?

One plant yields quite a few flowers over the course of the summer – cut them and they keep coming back until colder nights settle in…

Start them in mid spring and transplant out once warm enough…around here it’s usually June to mid-June.

They start to flower in early August and are perfect for bringing indoors.

I hope you are able to bring a little of the outdoors, in.

Stay well. Be well.

I hope you plant some next spring.

Enjoy.

2020

Posted on August 10, 2020 by ripe ~ red ~ berries

Wow. 2020.

There is a lot going on right now.

Actually, I think that’s an understatement.

So much to consider, to think about, to question, to worry over…the future feels very uncertain. On. So. Many. Levels…

Granted, life is never certain.

Well, except for death. That is certain. The timing of your death and your whole life preceding it, is of course – uncertain.

Though right now, we are at an unprecedented level of ‘uncertainty.’

Well, at least that’s how I’m feeling.

How about you?

For the past three years I had been focused on working, saving money, raising my son, working on my business, working on myself, paying bills, organizing my family, etc…life stuff.

Things were going along. I had plans.

2020 was going to be ‘the year’.

‘The year’ I turned fifty. The year I did so many of the things I had been wanting to do. Trying to do…

I planned on visiting friends (across the country), having friends come and stay with me, treat myself to a luxurious day at the spa (it’s been over a decade since I’ve had a ‘proper spa day’), buy something pretty for myself and plan a fabulous 50th. birthday party…

I booked tickets to visit a dear friend in Arizona. I was going by myself. I was envisioning being on the plane, by myself, enjoying a cocktail – mid flight – then landing, stepping off the plane and seeing my friend.

Giving her a big squeeze, then off we go. Just two grown women.

Able to talk, uninterrupted. Able to go wherever we want – without question or coercion, able to just ‘be’ without parenting…

The joy this brought me was immeasurable.

This was going to be my first trip – ALONE – since becoming a parent, (I became a parent over ten years ago), needless to say, I was r-e-a-d-y.

I had plans.

I’d been saving money for the past few years – specifically for my (month’s long) ’50th’ celebration!

If you’ve followed me in the past, then you know I love to save money.

(That was and is the whole point of this blog – to share ideas about saving money and living well…anyway – it’s been awhile since I’ve posted (years) but recently I’ve needed to get ‘back here’).

My months long celebration was going to start in April.

As I mentioned earlier – I was going to Arizona.

I had the plane tickets (free from my credit card points), spending money (from my diligent saving), time off work (from my planning), my friend had taken time off, we already had a few restaurants in mind (research) …I was going to a new place. To spend time with a friend.

By m-y-s-e-l-f.

BEYOND excited to say the least…it was happening!!

You see, before I became a parent, I loved traveling.

Traveling by myself. Traveling with my partner…

My partner and I had traveled and lived abroad for years before starting our business and having our son, but I hadn’t traveled on my own, since having our son…

Well, our son is ten years old now.

Needless to say,

I was ready.

I was ready for a lot.

I was ready for change.

I was ready to be kinder to myself.

I was ready to make the next fifty years better than the past fifty…

I was envisioning my trip to Arizona to be a reminder of what it feels like to wake up without immediately having to take care of someone else’s needs, answer questions, make a plan for the day, not think about what’s for dinner…not be responsible for someone else’s needs…except my own.

Two free days.

To remember myself…

Pure bliss.

It felt like a dream. I had the money to make it happen. And I was going to make it happen…I deserved it. I was turning 50 and had worked my ass off saving money to do all these lovely things for myself…

Turns out the dream never happened.

In December (while online scrolling), I noticed an article about a ‘new virus’ surfacing in China.

My stomach did that ’churny thing’ – that thing that makes you wake up and listen your instinct.

A new virus? Oh dear. What if it spreads?

It’s only in China (right now).

Don’t panic.

Just keep an eye out for information regarding it’s spread…

Well, we all know what happened next.

It spread.

It spread before anyone knew it was spreading…

Anyway – I had to cancel my flight. I lost my job. My child has been out of school since March 15 and my business is teetering on extinction…

So, ‘my year’ isn’t quite as I had planned.

Granted – it’s like that for the entire human race right now…

Better for some. Worse for others.

Luckily I’m very resourceful…

I did take my trip, but it wasn’t as I originally envisioned…instead of flying across the country, I drove across my state – for nine hours – along nearly the entire coast…

I saw parts of Maine I had never seen and it was b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l.

I didn’t have to answer one question or be badgered with ‘how much longer??

I could just drive…and drive and drive…

So that’s what I did.

It was divine (despite the covid restrictions)…

Just me, myself and I – in my home state…

Happy Birthday to me.

I kept my promise to myself.

I traveled to a new place. Stayed in a new space, looked at things with new eyes and was grateful for where I was…

I turned 50. How did that happen?

Now onto the next ‘big plan’; learning how to homeschool while updating my resume…

How are you adjusting to this ‘new world?’

Be well.

Stay safe.

Until next time…

ReplyForward

In the garden…

Posted on July 13, 2017 by ripe ~ red ~ berries

It blows my mind. How things change…

It was only five months ago that my garden looked like this.

Yes.

Five months ago – February 2017. Snow to the tops of the fence posts – more than thigh high snow…

And while that was going on outside – I had these beauties going on inside…

and these lovelies waiting to pop up…

(garlic).

Though before any of these seedlings could be put into the ground, the snow needed to melt, the earth needed to warm and the ground needed to prepped…

Here was April.

I turned the soil, added peat moss, seaweed (collected locally), wood ash and love… then covered with a landscape fabric to help prevent weed growth, while also warming the soil…

The mosquitos are INSANE here and harvesting is challenging enough once July comes around, let alone weeding – so to minimize being maddened with buzzing while working in the garden, I try to keep my weeding needs to a minimum.

I cover the majority of the garden with breathable fabric and then fill in with hay. Each allows water and sunshine through, while keeping weeds at bay…

In the pic above you can see black instead of the earth – that’s the fabric covering warming the earth while suppressing weed growth.

I cut openings for each row of veggies/flowers. I simply cut a line for a specified length and then pin down each side with landscape pins and wooden row ‘tags’ on each end. I then cover seeds with hay (to help with heat and moisture retention), and water – then once seedlings/plants begin to grow and become larger, I place hay between each individual plant. Like with the garlic greens seen above, (behind the wheelbarrow full of seedlings waiting to go in)…

Amazing to think that only a few months later the same garden would look like this.

Tomatoes, basil, leeks, red onions, broccoli, cauliflower, summer squash, cucumber, beets, lettuce, green beans, peas, swiss chard, kale, potatoes, brussel sprouts and self seeded cilantro. Phew.

Most started from seed.

Months ago.

In my house.

On window sills during the day…

And at night – moved beside our woodstove…

Or sown directly into the ground as soon as the garden was ready. In the case of garlic (below), it was planted last fall…while others waited until spring or early summer.

Either way, much love, planning and work has gone into each plant with the hopes that each will feed us…

Planning and growing are one thing – though there’s also the watering and the harvesting…

the picking, gathering, cutting, pruning, then it’s the washing, cleaning and storing…

A lot goes into growing food – yet it’s all necessary and SO worth it!

My kitchen sink doubles as the wash station and each veggie goes into it’s own separate bag and stored in the fridge – if necessary. Some veggies, like tomatoes (which aren’t ready for a few more weeks/months) are stored best on the counter. Each vegetable has it’s own needs…

Flowers are not be forgotten in a garden either…not only are they beautiful and useful (think cutting flowers), but helpful for pollinators. (:

So plant, plant, plant, plant. And love it – even when it’s 100 degrees outside, with 100% humidity and mosquitos are swarming you! (: It’s worth it.

Hopefully you can try it someday – even if it’s simply one pot of tomatoes or cucumbers on your fire escape.

Everything tastes better with love…

Be well.

Eat well.

Enjoy.

What’s you favorite vegetable?

in the garden

Posted on August 17, 2015 by ripe ~ red ~ berries

This summer has not been my summer to be in the garden…at least not as much as I’d like…

But today, time and circumstance allowed and I was able to get out there!

Phew.

I pulled weeds, cut back tomato plants, and harvested a few goodies…

I was amazed by what was growing – despite the neglect and lack of water.

Thank you plants.

SO much green!

What have you been growing…?

Enjoy.

yeah for summer!

Posted on June 20, 2014 by ripe ~ red ~ berries

Time. It keeps moving forward…and here in Maine, it’s so obvious. Obvious because of the cycle of the seasons and the flowers (or lack of) each season brings.

After being here, year round these past six years, I’ve begun to notice the pattern of the flowers on this peninsula. First it’s the snow drops, then the tulips, followed by the daffodils, the apple blossoms, the ferns…the buttercups, forget me nots… and it goes on and on until the chill of fall begins putting things back to sleep…

I’ve been wanting to post since before the daffodils

and before the apple trees began to bud.

I then I tried before their blossoms appeared, though now those beautiful flowers are long gone…

I did take full advantage of bringing a few inside while they were here…they are (were) so beautiful!

I tried to write while the lilacs were still buds

and winter jackets were still needed, though while the jackets (thankfully) are finally packed away, the lilac flowers have come and gone too.

I can say the same about when the rosa rugosa started to bud; I wanted to post, but time escaped me, again…It was so exciting when their buds finally began to open and their greenery popped out in early spring,

though now they are even more intoxicating – their sweet scent being carried on the wind, into my (now) open kitchen windows…luxury, to say the least.

The lupines are here (though they are almost gone now too)

and the iris’s are blooming, though quickly passing.

Tiger lilies are beginning to bud and other types have already blossomed.

I look forward to my peonies, nasturtiums and morning glories…though realize they too will come and go. But, I’m not rushing, nor forgetting to appreciate the here and now! While spring may be ending, summer is just beginning!

So while the flowers, whichever they may be, are here, I will enjoy them. I will pick them, eat them (nasturtiums), give them away and decorate with them.

For me, late spring and all of summer is a time of freshly picked flowers in every room, freshly harvested vegetables from the backyard, and the hope that with the heat, comes a more slow pace, if only for a few weeks…

Flowers remind me just how fleeting life can be and how beautiful it is.

And don’t even get me started on all the loveliness in the vegetable garden, time goes quickly there too! If you don’t get your seeds/plants in on time, well, you miss out…

Here’s a sneak peek at what is happening back there!

I’ve never tried starting pansy’s from seed and this year I did! I’m so pleased that they are finally blooming!!

Happy Summer!

so cliche, yet so true

Posted on November 18, 2013 by ripe ~ red ~ berries

Time is something which can pass s-l-o-w-l-y, like when your waiting in line at the DMV (department of motor vehicles) or fast, like when your on holiday and suddenly (or so it seems) it’s time to get back on the plane…and return to ‘reality’…

Though the past few months (or should I say years?), lightening speed, is a more accurate descriptive for how I feel time passing…how can it be November 18th, 2013 – already? What?

It seems the (now) routine of school, work, play, cooking, dishes, running errands, grocery shopping, paying bills, preparing for winter (or whatever season is upon us), returning phone calls and emails, keeping up with the business, planning for holidays, birthdays, writing, making time for fun…creates the feeling that time is always winning – that there is never ‘enough’… time.

They (who are they anyway?) say when you get ‘older’ time ‘speeds up’ and when you have children you see time passing before your eyes. Children are the physical form of time passing. They are newborns, then babies, then toddlers, then pre-schoolers…there is no denying the passage of time once one has a child – the months fly by as do the years and your child is the daily reminder of this.

Granted one does not need to have a child to realize life is short.

The question for me now is how to juggle doing what I want to do (without feeling guilty) with what I need to do…

I enjoy doing so many things, though time doesn’t always allow…

I need to do so many things, though time doesn’t always allow…

I want to do so many things, yet time doesn’t always allow…

I hope to do so many more things, will time allow?

I recently came across this quote from Marty Rubin,

“Time does not pass, it continues”

So, I’ve decided to try and see life as always continuing and growing (despite feeling like I’m always trying to ‘catch-up’) versus never having enough time…trusting there is (and will be) enough time…simply trying to stay in the present (not always easy)…

Enjoying the moments when time seems to ‘stand still…’

How do you make time for the things you love and the things you must do?

When does time stand still for you?

Share your thoughts in the comments please…

Enjoy.

planes, trains and automobiles

Posted on March 26, 2013 by ripe ~ red ~ berries

I had planned posting as usual last week, though after being bumped from our flight (who bumps a family traveling with a three year old? American Airlines does), after waiting in line for three hours to check in, then told (rudely) there are no more flights until the following day (what?) – didn’t plan for that expense (complaint letter being written soon!), then delayed the following day (in Miami) due to a snow storm and then, finally, we arrive in Connecticut, to visit with Michaels’ sister and niece, and there is no internet connection for five days. Life seemed to say, no posting for you…so here I am, now…

We returned last week from our epic trip and stopped off in Connecticut for a few days to visit with family and attend the Architectural Digest Home Show in NYC. This is a big show and an expensive one. We’d been invited to participate for the past few years (it’s a juried show), though wanted to check it out first, in person, to see if it’s a good match for us (get a sense of the overall ‘vibe’), this is NYC and a very HIGH end show after all, so before investing lots of money and time we thought it best to to do our research, first, and I’m so glad we did. We loved it!

They have a ‘MADE’ section which is a perfect fit for Michaels’ work and our business (Designs Adrift). We spoke with a few exhibitors (artists) and not only were they friendly, encouraging and talented, they suggested we take the plunge and exhibit next year. Each person we spoke with said it was worth the investment and their business grew as a result…grew enough to continue coming back year after year.

We were placed on the guest list, so the entrance fee was waived and Michaels sister babysat (family rate = free) Finn all day while we traveled in and out of the city… we ate a delicious lunch for only $8.50 (for the two of us) and walked to the show. No cabs for me. I love walking in NYC, it’s the best way to be ‘in the city’ – especially as we were only there for a few hours… why spend for a cab when walking is not only free, but great for the body too.

The train and parking fees were money well spent. We look forward to the prospect of exhibiting next year and I am beginning to plan accordingly – who knows where it may lead?

But, for now, I’m settling back into being ‘home’ and have already started a few seeds, despite my garden still covered in snow…

Planes, trains and automobiles.

There’s nothing quite like being ‘home’…

enjoy.

365 days ago…

Posted on March 1, 2013 by ripe ~ red ~ berries

I decided to start this blog. I wasn’t sure if people would like what I wrote, or if they would even find me – why would anyone be interested in what I had to say? But enough people suggested I try it, so I did. And I’m so happy I didn’t let fear stand in the way. I chose to take a leap… and get over my fear, and just try – what’s the worse that can happen, right?

Turns out, it has been a wonderful creative outlet for me. So much of my life is my business, Designs Adrift, which I love too – but I’m in the ‘background’. I do all the paperwork, writing and photography (some of the photography), taxes, etc…yet Michael, my partner, is the artist in the end…and his work is beautiful, yet this blog, is mine and mine alone. My time writing, photographing, planning and editing is well spent – it allows time for me, to be me. And the added (and unexpected) bonus is, it’s been a great way to meet other, incredibly talented, like minded individuals! Who knew?

So when my first post was published, I was so excited and shocked to have a like and a comment – on my very first post! How did they find me? Who are they? What? People liked what I wrote? Liked it enough to take the time to write a comment? Wow!! It made me smile…Thank you Norma, From Wok to Garden, for my first comment – you inspired me to keep going! I’m still kind of figuring out what readers are interested in (and what makes folks comment), but for the most part I just share my life. I’m just being me, really. Camera in hand, sharing what I love…what I cook, how I prepare it, what I’m interested in and how I keep my expense down…my life in rural Maine, on an extremely tight budget, in other words, The Art of Thrift.

Knowing what to buy and when and more importantly, when not to…recognizing quality and craftsmanship; not to buy cheap, but well, or not at all – it makes all the difference (in my opinion)…for the planet and your wallet. I like to encourage second hand buying – it makes so much sense! (and if your still a bit worried about second hand – don’t be – if you’ve eaten in a restaurant or slept in a hotel, then you’ve used second hand items!)

I know how to be thrifty, but I also know when (and how) to spend…even the NYTimes agrees… and while I’ve accomplished some of what I had set out to do, there’s still so much more to share…I’ve posted a lot of recipes, but not a lot of suggestions for travel, groceries shopping, children’s needs, insurance – everyday stuff – but all things in time right? As long as I can find the time to write and photograph (and get to the library to publish – my dial-up access is a real detriment not only our business, but my blogging!!) I will.

I, thank you all for reading and sharing this past year – it’s been fun and a challenge. (A challenge because of my dial-up!!).

And now this, little miss thrift, needs to find the time to get to the library (wifi, remember?) a little more often so she may become a little more tech savvy – fonts, layouts, widgets, settings oh my…this is one arena where being thrifty isn’t necessarily helpful…but being patient is. All things in time, right?

What have you been doing lately that is thrifty?

Have a fabulous weekend and thank you for reading! xoxo

Enjoy.