C is for Cookie…

“I think cookies are sort of the unsung sweet, you know?

They’re incredibly popular. But everybody thinks of cakes and pies and fancier desserts before they think of cookies. A plate of cookies is a great way to end dinner and really nice to share at the holidays.”

~Bobby Flay

Most of us have childhood memories taken from the primary holiday book—cook book that is. Whether a neighborhood cookie exchange, tins of homemade treats for friends, office recipe swap or annual gingerbread house making. Each home has their own story to tell.

Years of Tupperware laden tables with dozens & dozens of cookies is mixed into my own holiday memories. It began as our family Christmas Eve celebration held at my grandparents farmhouse (a mere .5 mile from Belle Flower Farm). As the family member numbers rose, it evolved to my childhood home. The inevitable spread again and a move to the church social hall was incorporated.

Step 1: Gather your ingredients

Sisters that loved to bake. Two of the four took the pastry chef lead on this. They began early as ingredients went on sale, cracking walnuts in the fall & picking up the latest container at that year’s Tupperware Party.

Step 2: Get to mixing

A blend of old and new recipes—grandma’s favorite sugar cookie, nutmeg heavy, sat along side the “modern” Rice Krispy Treat. Peanut butter balls & Snicker-doodles. Chocolate crinkle cookies & Snowballs. Wagon Wheels, Fudge & Divinity. Vanilla jumbles, cutout cookies & more. Both sister baked at least 10 double batches each!

Step 3: Don’t Forget the Leavening

As all the sisters chatted on the phone, updates to the party plans, dinner menu & cookie numbers. Laughter was never far away. The objective, after all, was for the family to sprinkle fun with folding in memory making.

Step 4: Time to Bake

The timer went off & everything came together each Christmas Eve. Over 59 years of celebrating together. Soup buffet, Christmas carols & reading the Christmas story,  box in the box game, BINGO, Family trivia, talent show, Graham cracker houses, Christmas stockings from grandma, and later the “grandmas”—and cookies!

Step 5: Resting

After all of the cookies had been sampled, family members were encouraged to fill their empty containers with cookies to take home. Several dozen remained, set aside to become dessert for our own Christmas Day. A few favorite ones for Santa’s treat later that night.

All shared & enjoyed—until next year.

“Christmas cookies can’t help but be retro—

they are memory first, sugar-flour-egg-redhot-gumdrop-sparkle reality second.”

~Dana Goodyear

My own joy of baking lost its spring for a short time. Gluten free baking took some time finding the right flour to incorporate. As I bake our favorite holiday cookie recipes it now delightfully goes unnoticed. From Chocolate Pinwheel to Macarons, Snow balls to grandmother’s Nutmeg Sugar cookies—I am filling our cookie jar with a new twist.

“..and that’s good enough for me.”

~Joe Raposo

Dedicated to my late Aunt Margaret

Fall Cleaning

“As you embark on this journey, I invite you to remember these words: slow, quiet, gentle. You are already worthy of love and belonging. This is not a journey of worthiness, but a journey of care. Because you must know, dear heart, that you are worthy of care, whether your house is immaculate or a mess.”

—K.C. Davis

My mother has always been an intentional housekeeper. In the days when women were referred to as “Housewives” she fit the traditional definition. Supply tote in tow—Spic and Span powder cleaner, scrub brush, an old pairing knife to clean corners & rubber gloves to protect her nails. From the time I was a little girl, I always enjoyed “playing house”. Setting a table for pretend dinner parties, moving my bedroom furniture around & organizing drawers.

Mark & I bought our charming, tiny bungalow our first year of marriage. Setting up our home included decorating, remodeling & planting a garden. I adopted some of my mother’s cleaning processes & developed my own throughout the years—& 2 subsequent homes. Fall cleaning is a fond term I look forward to. Righting a household that has seen a busy summer of activities. Giving our farmhouse a little TLC and completing those tasks that slipped through the cracks.

Room by room allows for not becoming overwhelmed. I begin at the top of the house with our Main bedroom. And currently as empty nesters, I move to our now abundant guest rooms. The baseboards that need washing, dust under the beds, fresh sheets & fir doors polished. Repairs such as a blind restrung here and a drier vent cleaned out there.

Then to the first floor. Den, dinning, family room & art room next. Removing books, frames & collections off shelves. Washing everything with warm water, gentle cleaner & sponge. It is also a time to assess if items still have form & function. If it is time to let go, it is added to the donation bag. Drapes, blinds, windows & pillow covers all get a refresh. Wall & baseboard mars get a touch-up with leftover paint. The fireplace serviced for winter evenings. Fall throws are added to chairs and sofas for this new cozy season.

Finally, the kitchen & mudroom. The hardest used rooms of most houses. Contents of drawers, shelves & pantry all take there moment of reorganization. My style is to start fresh in each storage location. Everything is stacked onto the counter & kitchen table. Shelves washed, expiration dates checked. Something that seems to get away from me is baseboards & kick plates. I designed our island & farmhouse sink base with a double beaded baseboard. It is notorious for collecting drips & crumbs. A polish of the farm tables with Briwax sets a glow. Finally, a thorough mopping with Murphy’s oil and warm water.

With my completed deep cleaning, we delightfully welcome the “Cozy Season”. All that is left is to place a vintage pitcher overflowing with seasonal blooms on the mantle!

“You do not exist to serve your space; your space exists to serve you.”

—K.C. Davis

Fall Cleaning 101

Organize cleaning supplies where they are needed weekly—multiples if you have more than 1 bathroom

Make a list of needed refills of supplies & To Dos as you go along

Open the windows & turn on your favorite music or Podcast

Tackle your home room by room

Look high and low, step ladder & kneeling pad are helpful

Make a list of needed repairs by a professional, schedule repairs

Favorite Cleaning Products

Old English Lemon Oil Furniture Polish, Briwax, Murphy’s Oil & Almond Stick

Cedar + Lemongrass Natural Laundry Soap by handmade. la conner (available in our shop)

Citrus All Purpose Cleaner by handmade. la conner (available in our shop)

A sturdy white mop bucket (so you can tell when water needs to be changed)

Rags & natural sponges (worn-out bath/kitchen towels or tee-shirts)

Vacuum with handheld attachments

Rowenta Ultimate Steam Pro + Lavender Linen Spray by handmade. la conner

Inch by Inch

“Inch by inch, row by row

Gonna make this garden grow

Gonna mulch it deep and low

Gonna make it fertile ground”

Our first spring at Belle Flower Farm found us putting our foot on a shovel for our ground breaking garden. We had some experience with vegetable gardening. On our suburban lot where we were still living, Mark & I had created a sweet little parterre garden. Located just outside the kitchen door where our sons had the early experience picking sun warmed berries & tomatoes.

We hadn’t built our farmhouse yet, but with a big dream to dig in to— we hired an area farmer to till a generous garden. That first vegetable garden & following 2 years was a joyful family experience. Our kids were young and enjoyed our summer evenings spent on our property watering, weeding and watching our pumpkins grow.

In spring of 2001 we had moved into our new farmhouse and set about preparing the veggie garden in its current location. Following the tilling, Mark & I set out with a rental auger to dig holes for our fence posts. Without experience, we learned pretty quickly, you needed to be ready to lift the heavy corkscrew from the soil when it reached the desired depth. We planted raspberries, corn, pumpkins, carrots, asparagus & sunflowers along the long furrows. We assessed each morning what was left as the deer found in our smorgasbord the previous night.

We eventually replaced the low 4’ fence with its current 8’ enclosure. Topped by a collection of grapes that include Concord, champagne, and several table grape varieties. The magical tendrils soften this structure. Along with the higher fence, the next step was to create garden boxes & plan for irrigation. That summer was unforgettably hot as Mark and I trenched for pipes and set those original spray heads for each box. I designed our 55’ x  80’ garden in quadrants. Two sections of 9 boxes each and 2 sections of 4 long boxes each. A decorative diamond is the center that still is home to a trellis of Morning Glories. Cedar chairs are a welcome place to rest while tending to the garden on warm summer days.

Along the way we added orchard trees collected from One Green World. We eventually moved them to their forever orchard behind the cottage and surrounded by arbors and pasture fencing. Fruitful trees of apples, cherry, plum, fig, pear and a favorite peach tree are a sweet reward for the eye & palate. We also grow filberts, Marionberries, thornless blackberries, boysenberries, currants, strawberries & blueberries. Along with a foray into lavender farming, increasingly I have extended our cutting garden to include cottage roses, favorite perennials & annuals for floral designs.

Cherished memories of our sons picking berries for ice cream, ingredients for grilling & onion rings. Our youngest son selling pumpkins at the end of our lane each fall, riding his bike out to check the pail for sales. The time I made lemonade with currants for my son & his best friend—the tart look on their faces still makes me smile, planting our pumpkin starts as a Mother’s Day gift of labor and our dog Jack pulling carrots out of the ground and corn off the stalk for his dinner.

Harvest season is a much anticipated delight. With growing a fruitful garden I have also grown my enjoyment of preservation. Apple cider made with our custom Belle Flower Farm apple press is a celebratory annual event. And late summer hues decorate our kitchen counters as berries, tomatoes, onions, figs, grapes, peppers are prepared for favorite recipes. From tomato sauce to chutney, cobblers to “Pam Jam” all are enjoyed in the middle of winter as we share a meal with friends & family. A wonderful reminder of  this summer & summers past—making this garden grow.

“Pulling; weeds and pickin’ stones

We are made of dreams and bones

need a place to call my own

‘Cause the time is close at hand

Grain for grain, sun and rain

Find my way in nature’s chain

Till my body and my brain

Tell the music of the land

Plant your rows straight and long

Season with prayer and song

Mother Earth will make you strong

If you give her loving care.”

~Arlo Guthrie & Pete Seeger

“I De Endoe”

“I de endoe..”

~Richard & Paula, Best Friends

“I used to think a wedding was a simple affair. Boy and girl meet, they fall in love, he buys a ring, she buys a dress, they say I do. I was wrong. That’s getting married. A wedding is an entirely different proposition.”

~George Banks, Father of the Bride

Once Upon a Time… a girl met a boy at a high school football game. Sitting on the concrete bleachers of Kiggins

Bowl, chatting with friends more than watching the game—a mutual friend introduced them. He was full of

enthusiasm about his Student Exchange time, having just returned from Japan. At 15 she had a quiet personality and

was a good listener. It was complicated 6 months between that simple introduction and their first date. The

devastating loss of Pam’s father that winter wrote a new chapter for her family.

The following summer Pam agreed to Mark’s invitation to a date—a movie. The subplot had its twists & turns as Mark

went off to university and Pam to art school. This young couple coordinated calls to the fraternity and letters through

the mail. Following graduations they both took their first professional jobs. Six years to the day of their first date they

married. A story befitting a screenplay—high school sweethearts turned into married couple.

“This is true love. You think this happens every day?”

~Westley, the Princess Bride

“June Brides” was always a traditional nod to kicking off wedding season.
Although weddings have now stretched earlier into the spring on one end of the calendar, and lingering into fall with its crisp autumnal afternoons.

“When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”

~Harry Burns, When Harry Met Sally

It’s been many years since Mark & I celebrated on our wedding day. A drizzly day like today as I write this. But a

shinning reflection of our commitment to sharing our lives together. Like most brides I had a vision of what our day

would look like. Storied & Classic Romance. I had discovered a local seamstress who created wedding gowns from

traditional vintage patterns, fabric & trims. Victorian was what I envisioned and the moment I put it on it was perfect.

Vintage cotton lawn, eyelet lace & the tiniest pin tucks. Similar to the antique photo I had of a two times great aunt’s

wedding day. A laughable moment happened the day I picked up my dress after alterations, I tossed my keys into the

car after carefully placing my dress and promptly locked my keys in the car.

Timeless decisions like Victorian posed photos, a string quartet playing Pachelbel’s Canon in D, my own designs of

dried flowers in baskets & wild sweet peas tangled around wreaths (I snipped on our wedding morning), and ribbon

rounds I made to hang from the ceiling at the Academy Ballroom. All were the back drop visually to what was a

personal wedding. Mark’s lifelong friends from his fraternity were his groomsmen. I fondly remember my friend Alison,

a bridesmaid, who has since passed. Our Flower Girl & Ring bearer who years later both married at Belle Flower

Farm. My brother walked me down the aisle, and I stopped at my mother’s side. I handed her a petite posey I made

of Forget-Me-Nots in memory of my father. And Pastor Brassard not quite sure how to announce us married, “Mark

Curtis & Pam Richey Curtis—(pause)—married.”

“People call these things imperfections, but they are not, aw, that’s the good stuff. And then we get to choose who we let into our little weird worlds.”

~Dr. Sean Maguire, Good Will Hunting

Cheers to all the couples telling their story this Wedding Season!

To Travel or Not to Travel— That is the Question.

“Many a trip continues long after movement in time and space have ceased.”

~John Steinbeck

Spring Break this year consisted of not venturing much farther than our BFF gardens. I blocked off several days on our calendar and began the process of grounding myself in our gardens. Digging out from To Do Lists & distractions, my intensions this year was to weed, prune, weed, plant, weed, spread compost and connect with all of my friends in the garden.

I am reminded of Spring Breaks from the past with a school age family. I would pack up kids, dogs, food & toys and head to the coast. Connecting with friends during the week & joined by Mark on the weekend. Endless hours digging in the sand, visits to the arcade & Mario Bros.

“Wherever you go,

go with all your heart.”

~Confucius

Last April, I planned a trip to NYC for Mark & I. Heartfelt choices of museums, Central Park, plays, restaurants, walking & exploring. Sitting in Studio 54 for “Pictures From Home”. Happening upon a  French bakery with the most amazing gf cream puffs & Happy Hour at The Plaza were memorable life moments.

“All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.”

~Martin Buber

The Dutch are my people—not really. But Mark’s & my trip to the Netherlands several springs ago showed me the secret of how gardeners are connected. I explored Amsterdam on my own during the day—museums, shops, photographing architecture. Finding the most quaint neighborhood restaurant where the owner popped in a gluten free cake for our desert. There is no secret for this country’s love of flowers with a flower stand on every corner.

As we caught the train to Leiden, the fields of tulips & daffodils created a mosaic out the window. Our destination was The Keukenhof Garden. My version of Disneyland— tears filled my eyes as we walked through the gate. The seeds of growth came as we explored Des Hague, watched as a young couple married in a historic church, met the most wonderful inn keeper & visited their lush weekly Farmer’s Market, remarking we must come to stay again.

“Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.”

~Matsuo Basho

To travel or not to travel. Some springs are meant for exploring-others are for connecting with your home. Both equally important to our growth.