Island Mama

Somehow I had visions of lots of sparkly glittery pinecones. And yet, somehow, most of our pinecones turned into gnomes and santas. Or reindeer. We had lots of fun.

Supplies:

In progress:

Products:

Meet them all.

Some of this morning’s photos.

We honor Buy Nothing Day today, and we have our own tradition of turning it into Make Something Day. Specifically, Christmas ornaments. The craft will change with the years and skill levels of kids, but the idea remains the same: create some new homemade Christmas ornaments each year to add to our tree. And perhaps to give away.

This year, our theme is decorating pine cones. We have glitter glue, glitter spray paint, a glue gun, some felt and googly eyes and fake hair and pipe cleaners…. should be interesting to see what we end up with.

We had a heavy frost this morning, heaviest I’ve seen in a long time, and we went out for a morning walk around our property to take pictures. Three of us had cameras, and there are distinct and interesting differences in the results.

We’ve established a pleasant pattern here of working outside on Sunday mornings, then making soup for lunch and having an afternoon bonfire if the weather’s appropriate. This week’s soup was Carrot Ginger Lentil. 

Here’s the recipe: 

• 1 1/2 lbs carrots, scrubbed and sliced or shredded
• 1 1/2 cups red lentils
• 1/4 cup ginger, finely chopped (that’s about 2″ of a thick root)
• 6 cups veggie broth

1. Add the lentils and broth to a large soup pot. Bring to a boil.
2. Add carrots and ginger and return to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes, until lentils and carrots are very soft.
3. Using an immersion blender, purée the soup until it is smooth. Add more broth or water to make the consistency you want.

That’s it! Enjoy! Warm, warming, wonderful.  Especially eaten outside at a picnic table beside a fire.