WHERE WE'VE BEEN!
Well, no one could ever accuse us of not making the most out of Summer. We started this blog in March with the intention of writing on a weekly basis, and here it is the end of July and I'm on my third post. Oops! I love Summer, and everything I love to do is at its best in this swampy Southern heat.
For one thing, we have been traveling. Los Angeles, Charleston, Nashville, all up the Carolina coastline--these first few pictures were taken at Huntington Gardens, CA. (Yes, everywhere we go we hit up all the local botanical gardens. That way the Flytrap well never runs dry.)
For another thing, we've been picking fruit and canning everything in sight. First it was harvesting strawberries, then blueberries, then figs from our backyard. Since May, we've made--no joke--three flavors of strawberry jam, strawberry butter, strawberry chamomile syrup, rhubarb syrup and jam, pickled garlic scapes, pickled sweet cherries, dilly beans, peach salsa, grilled corn salsa, tomatillo salsa, curried carrot pickles, caramelized onion relish, blueberry preserves, and lime curd. One particular Saturday shall live on in infamy as "Strawberry Day" and caused a household farmer's market hiatus. It sounds dramatic, and I guess it kind of was, or at least as dramatic as jam-making can be.
Coming up this weekend? Eric's recording tracks for a friend's record, and I'll make the most of my time alone by pickling both jalepeños and beets and working on some crushed tomatoes, too.
And last but certainly not least, we've been actually getting some work done somewhere in there, too! Upcoming posts will detail some of our favorite custom designs from the past few months, plus one day--in a fit of inspiration--we hatched out a new lily-of-the-valley illustration, which has now been transformed into dresses and scarves.
We're starting to gear up for the coming fall and holiday rush, full throttle, so this post is mainly just to say hello (HELLO!) and help me get back on the writing wagon. We have tons of ideas for new Fall designs and blog posts, plus some new scarf colors in the works. But tell us--what has the heat of Summer compelled you to do?
Also in Recently...
HOW TO CHOOSE HOUSEPLANTS
If you want to buy your first few plants and don't know where to start, or if you have had a string of plants that just didn't do well, I hope this will help.
PARSLEY, SAGE, ROSEMARY, & THYME
Our kitchen herb garden and our love of Paul Simon have sprung forth a new design and two new scarf styles.
AN AFTERNOON WITH THE MAKERY
A few weeks ago, I was lucky to spend an afternoon with Joan and Krista Anne from The Makery, and the blog post they wrote has restored some much-needed perspective to my pre-holiday chaos!