Musings on a Trampoline Up-cycle, a Skirt Conversion and Pasta Sauce

Greetings Fellow Earthlings:

Garden News: 

Last summer was very cold.  So cold and wet that we got zero pumpkins, zero spaghetti squash, maybe 2 or three small zucchinis, perhaps one cantaloupe, no honeydew or water melons.  The tomatoes in the garden were dismal, at best.  As were the bell peppers and pickling cucumbers.  We were thankful to have had our little greenhouse so we could at least harvest the heat loving veggies from there.  And we were very grateful to have had that for my canning and preserving.

We had been discussing (mostly wishing about) covering our main garden for years.  Making it into a huge high tunnel over the whole garden.  But this would have created other issues and the expense was too much to even consider!  So, we just carried on with what we had.  Until, that is, our 10 year old trampoline got a tear in the tarp early last spring.

Unable to repair the tear, I set about to try to find a replacement tarp. 

First of all, did you know that the number of springs is different from one brand to the next, even if the diameter is the same size?  Who knew? 

Then, when I do find a replacement with the same number of springs, the price was over 5 times what we originally had originally paid for the whole trampoline in the first place!  Well.  I love my grand buddies, but that's not happening! 

So, the trampoline was taken apart and we contemplated what to do with it.  The tarp could easily be re-purposed as a shade cloth for the chicken run after I whip stitched the tear.  But what to do with the frame?  What to do?

As we contemplated the miserable and mostly non-existent harvest of the out door, heat loving plants that same summer, we revisited the thoughts of a high tunnel.  And how nice it would be to be able to protect those tender, heat loving plants . . . 

Then suddenly, inspiration hits!  We have a perfectly good 14' trampoline frame.  If split into two halves, the two pieces suddenly become 2, 7' high by 14' wide half circles/arcs.  What if we could use those to make a high tunnel, just for the tender plants? 

What if other people had old trampoline frames hanging around their properties and just wanted them disposed of since they couldn't justify the cost of replacing their tarps as well?

So, I placed an ad on a Buy and Sell site:  "Wanted: Old 14' Trampolines, Will Pick Up".  Within 3 days, we were offered over 5 frames.  I had to pull the ad.  Apparently this is a common issue!  Most of these old trampolines were already frozen in for the winter, so I collected the names and phone numbers to arrange for spring pick ups.

Papa began to put his thoughts onto paper and played with our own trampoline frame in his workshop.  In theory, this would work!  Now, all we needed was the lumber for the end walls/door, the plastic and a place to put it.

The lumber and plastic were the easy part.  He ordered the necessary wood and after deciding how long he wanted this high tunnel to be, he contacted Bob at www.northerngreenhouse.com, and placed his plastic order. 

Now that the snow has finally decided to leave us, we are beginning to collect the old trampolines.  I am so excited at the prospect of having a covered area for the tender, heat loving plants and more room for the root crops in the main garden.

As this needs to run East to West to maximize the South facing sun, we ended up having to put it into the lower pasture.  We needed easy access to water and the house, so Papa decided to move a bit of fence to make this happen.  It's not the first time he had to move rail fencing for a project, hopefully, it will the last.  But somehow, I doubt that too!

Site of the New High Tunnel.
He has the grass removed and is beginning to build the support
walls for the soon to arrive trampoline frames.

Yesterday, while doing a property tour with my trusty companion, I stopped in the greenhouse to check out the progress in there.  Imagine my delight to see tomatoes in flower and mini, baby cucumbers already forming!  Fresh veggies will soon be on our plates again.  Yay!

Tomato blossom!

Itty bitty baby cucumber! Grow, baby grow!

Spinach and Romaine Lettuce growing in a tub!
Can't wait for fresh greens again.  It has been too long!

Also on our walk, we noticed the Pond is starting to thaw out.  No sign of any fish yet as there is still feet of ice to go, but it is melting away around the edges.  One of the cats was down for an ice cold drink!  And I did notice one of our pond plants in the newly iced cleared water, is starting to turn green, so that is a good thing.  You won't ever know what has survived the winter, until the 18" of ice finally melts away! 

Studio News:

I am still actively attempting to make a dent in my scraps collection.  I swear that it multiplies daily! 

My current scrap buster attempt has been sewing strips onto old phone book pages.  These strips are random widths, anywhere from 1" to 2.5" wide, including leftover binding strips. 

I start with a phone book page, cut in half, so My paper happens to be about 5.5" x 8.5".  The actual size really doesn't matter as the point is to use up the fabric strips and make uniform blocks for another project. 

I then lay on two strips, right sides together across the middle of the page.  Make sure your strips are longer than the paper is wide.  You want to be able to cut away some excess fabric when you are done, to make nicely squared up blocks, all the same size.
 
My sewing machine is threaded with 50 weight cotton thread.  The color doesn't matter.  This is a great project for using up partial spools and those partly filled bobbins. 

I have a size 14 sharp needle and my stitch length is set to 1.8.  I have a 1/4" piecing foot on, but your width really doesn't matter much either, since you keep adding strips until your paper is covered.  Some blocks will only have 4 or five strips.  Others may have 8 or more.  Variety is key.  And you want to clean up those strips!

Once the first two pieces are sewn on, I press them open, then keep adding strips and pressing until the paper is completely covered. 

I then turn the blocks over and trim away the excess fabric and remove the paper.  Because it is very thin paper, it pulls away cleanly and neatly.  I did this once with computer paper, with unhappy results - the paper is too heavy to be removed easily. 

These striped blocks will be the beginning of another scrappy themed quilt. 

Did I make a dent in the scraps?  It would appear not.  But it was fun and mindless sewing.  So it's all good!

One pile of scrap strips in random widths and
a pile of Phone book pages, that were cut in half.

Right sides together, sew the strips onto the paper.

Press open.

Keep adding strips . . .

 . . . until the paper is completely covered.

Fabric side down, paper side up, trim away the excess fabric to the same
size as your foundation paper, then remove the paper.

Another finished striped block done!

Another project I recently completed was the transformation of an old, ill fitting pair of jeans into a cute denim skirt.  

I had purchased these jeans several years ago.  I really loved the embellishment detail on the front pockets.  When I tried them on, I thought they fit really well.  That is, they seemed to fit really well. 

It wasn't until later that I discovered I couldn't sit down in them. Every time I sat in these jeans and stood up again, I had to pull them back up.  Every time.  When your job has you going from standing to sitting to standing to sitting, many, many times a day, the constant pulling up of the jeans got really old, really fast.  So, they hung neglected and unworn in my closet for several years.

I was cruising thru Pintrest one day and ended up seeing a denim skirt that had been converted from a pair of jeans.  This piqued my interest right away.  I figured that I had nothing to lose, so I did a quick search on YouTube on how to transform jeans into a skirt.  Voila!  A couple of hours later I am now the proud owner of a sweet little skirt!  Yay!  I would absolutely do this again should I ever need to!

Cute, ill fitting jeans with the inner leg seam opened.

Front of Newly crafted skirt.  So happy with the result.

Back of the altered jeans/skirt. 
Yes, that is a dip on the bottom hem.
I had lots to work with, so why not!

In the Kitchen:

This is a super quick to make pasta sauce that will feed a crew or keep two old people stocked up with left-overs for several days.

Gremlynn's Spaghetti Sauce:

Add the following items in layers, into a 6 quart crock pot and set to low:

1 pound of ground beef, broken up in the bottom of the crock, sprinkled with 1 tsp each of salt and pepper and 2 tsp of worchestershire sauce (omit this step if vegetarian)

1 medium onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 carrot, peeled and diced

1/2 green pepper, seeded and diced

6 or 8 mushrooms, chopped

1 tsp sugar (cuts the acidity of tomato sauce - surprisingly, you will notice it, if you omit it!)

1 handful of dried parsley (about 2 tbsp)

1 handful of dried oregano (about 2 tbsp)

1 tbsp of crushed basil 

Mix the following tomato based ingredients together in a separate bowl and pour over top the layers already in the crock pot:

1 small can of tomato paste

1 litre of stewed tomatoes (or close to if using canned)

1 pint of tomato sauce (or close to, if using canned)

1 can of tomato soup (right out the can, undiluted)

Let simmer away for about 6 hours on low, as it is. 

After about 6 hours, stir and combine everything in the crock pot.  The hamburger (if using) will be a cooked layer on the bottom.  I use a "S" style potato masher to break it all up into smaller chunks.  If you don't care for the texture, just precook it the next time you make this recipe.  It won't make the same solid base that uncooked ground beef makes. 

Cover and leave on low until you are ready to cook your pasta for dinner.

This reheats beautifully!  I usually make spaghetti for 2 nights using this sauce.  On the third night, I'll do up some ravioli, or bow ties, or penne noodles and make a casserole by combining the noodles, the reheated leftover sauce and do a pasta bake.  Sometimes I add spinach for a change.  This is then topped with cheese and baked for 45 minutes at 350 f until casserole is bubbly and cheese melted and brown. 

Or you can freeze the left over sauce in smaller portions, for a quick supper another day.

I also use this sauce as the base for my lasagne, which I will often make after night two, instead of the pasta bake.  I freeze the lasagne unbaked, for another future meal.  

A great and versatile sauce with minimal effort.  My kind of cooking!

Until next time, keep staying safe.

Regards,

Gremlynn

The Old Normal and the New Normal

Greetings Earthlings:

How are you all managing with the self isolation as per the Covid-19 recommendations and guidelines?

I was out in the studio the other day stitching some scraps into strings, onto old phone book pages, while listening to one of my favorite YouTube channels.  

Yet another basket of Scraps! 
I swear they multiply when I'm not paying attention!

Random width strips, sewn onto old phone book pages - for easy paper
removal when done, will net me new scrap blocks for a
future project.  A great simple project while I listen to the radio or
a You Tube Channel.

The presenter was sharing that she had always dreamed of being snowed in and stuck at home for weeks at a time.  In fact, in many of her videos, she would often comment how much this was her one big wish.  A Dream, actually!  And here she is.  Stuck at home.  For weeks at a time.  Unable to go anywhere.  

Then she realized that maybe she really didn't want this dream after all.  She was having difficulty getting about her day.  Difficulty finding any motivation.  It is very different, when you know the situation is temporary and there will be an end in sight. 

She had always been a very patterned person with a strict schedule.  A busy mom, grandmother, full time management level employee, homesteader, a canner, a YouTube content maker.  And yet, here she was, suddenly "living the dream" as it were, yet getting nothing accomplished!

After speaking with a friend, it was decided that perhaps she was experiencing a mild form of depression.  This was nothing she hadn't ever experienced before.  She is not prone to depression.  Never had been.  Her sudden lack of motivation was troubling her as she is usually a whirl wind.  A 100 mph girl, in her normal day to day life.  But suddenly, like everyone else, her everyday normal life as she knew it, was over.  Without warning.

Armed with this new insight, she has firmly decided to take this opportunity to get up and use her time to get at all those "extra back burner" projects accomplished.  The ones that were on the someday list.  She didn't want to look back at this time and regret not putting it to good use.  She has always been a list maker, but has decided to add a deadline to each of the items on the list.  Clean out the shed:  Monday.  Paint the cabinet:  Tuesday afternoon.  Organize and inventory the pantry:  Wednesday morning, and so on.  She is still working from home as her job is an essential service and she does have to go into her office twice a week, but she is becoming much more focused on the tasks at hand.  

This pandemic, obviously, is nothing like a good, old fashioned snowed in for a week blizzard, by any stretch of the imagination.  But, there are some similarities for sure.  For those of you working the front lines, be it medical, essential services and essential retail, I salute you and thank you for your sacrifice.  For those of you able to work from home, it puts your occupation into a different light, for sure.  For the rest of us, business owners, retirees, self employed, those currently in limbo, are you using this time to explore your potential?  Or are you feeling unmotivated or afraid or worried about the future?  The new, new normal. 

I am feeling confident to share, that like every other pandemic, stock market crash, economic depression in the past, things Will eventually get back to "normal".  It's just this "new" normal may or may not have a resemblance to our previous "old" normal.

I am old enough to remember home doctor visits.  They were called house calls back in the day.  During this "old" normal time, I remember getting stitches on the kitchen table as a child and shots at home, as well. They didn't want really sick people sitting in the waiting room at the doctor's office, potentially spreading their germs to the others also waiting there.  I remember if you did have to go in and were really sick, you were immediately put into a separate room - for your own and everyone else's protection.  It has only been since the 1970's and 1980's that the doctor's office waiting rooms got more communal and much busier.  And now, if you can't get an appointment, you are encouraged to use a walk in clinic or visit the emergency room at the hospital.  How did it get to this point?  This "new" normal. 

In the "old" normal, I remember that when you were sick, you knew to stay home until you were well again.  You weren't shamed into going into work or told that if you didn't come in even with a 102 degree F fever and hoarse from coughing, that you would be fired.  Or told that you have taken too many "sick days" this year and couldn't have the time off.  Like now, in the "new" normal. 

We didn't see people with the flu wandering the grocery aisles and coughing up whatnot, picking up items with freshly coughed upon hands, then putting those items back as they were decided against.  Spreading their joy to everyone during their outing.  People just knew to stay home.  Someone would bring chicken soup.  Three to five days later, you felt well enough to go back to work or to school and the entire office or classroom wasn't fighting a recirculating virus/flu for months at a time, like they do in today's normal.  

It was 4 years ago this month that I picked up a virus at a quilt show.  I was tired and run down from just having closed my store, but otherwise healthy.  I was looking very much to going to a quilt show as a viewer and not a vendor or supplier.  It was at this show that someone sneezed on me.  A full on sneeze to my face.  I was shocked to say the least and immediately went to the ladies room to wash up.  Two days later I was feeling rotten.  Five days later I was so terribly sick that we cancelled our much anticipated trip out to the Island for a respite.  I was sick for a year.  An entire year.  To this day, I have not recovered to my former state of health.  Perhaps the sneezer didn't realize she was sick.  I would like to hope so.  That virus and my personal experience with it, has changed my life.  I had always avoided people and public places when I have a cold.  I would hate to make someone else unwell do to my inconsideration.  Unfortunately, not everyone feels the same way.  This too, is a "new" normal. 

We are gone from a society where we weren't expected to be super human, multi tasking, over achievers afraid to lose our jobs if we had to stay home for a few days, every now and then.  People got sick, but it is nothing like now.  The viruses and flues seem to hang around for months on end.


I remember the AIDS crisis of the 1980's very well.  No one knew where it came from.  No one knew how to treat it.  Public opinion and fear were rampant!  People were afraid to use public washrooms for fear of catching it from a toilet seat.  When it became understood, people were educated on how to keep themselves safe, and it has become pretty much non news worthy now.  This will too.  We will "remember when", but we will become better informed and better able to manage it.  In time.

Maybe our "new" normal might actually allow people to properly take care of themselves again for the betterment of all those around them?  

We have become a society so bent on not missing out and having to be busy all the time.  This is a phenomenon of our "new" normal.  Remember staying home?  Remember Saturday night board games?  Sunday drives?  Writing a letter?  Reading a book?  Having a cup of tea with a neighbor on your front step?  These were simple, innocent times for sure.  But they were also a time of Polio, Tuberculosis, Red Measles and Whooping Cough.  The "old" normal didn't have people as mobile as they are now.  You didn't hop a plane to Vegas for the weekend or drive 2 hours to meet friends for dinner.  We are a constantly moving population and have been very carefree with our ability to do so in our "new" normal.  

Every generation and era has experienced a major health, financial and/or social crisis.  We are not immune to this.  After this one, there will be another and then another.  It is how the world works.  This is not a new thing.  But, I do think one of the biggest differences we are experiencing now is science has a better understanding of how a pandemic moves.  This, and they are using our moment by moment attachment to the media, that we keep at our very fingertips, to communicate both informed and misguided information.  And this is also where it can get really tricky.  It is increasingly difficult to sort out the facts from the fiction, as the current information can change within moments.   

Like a "snowed in blizzard", society doesn't know how to handle the sudden change in our day to day lives.  Unlike a snowed in blizzard, this will be longer than the 2 weeks or a month before we can dig ourselves out of it.  

Since we have no control over the situation, we need be mindful and thankful that we have those doing and advising us, in the best way that they can for us all.  We need to listen to them as we navigate our "new" normal.  We also need to be thankful that we could actually still live in a time where we didn't know what was coming or going on, until it was far from too late.

This too, shall pass.  Use your time to the best of your ability.  So when you look back on this, in say 10 years, let be a time when you can say, "I did . . . then",  "I learned how to . . . then", "My loved ones survived the pandemic of '20 because we stayed home" and this is our "new" normal.

Until next time.  Stay home.  Stay safe.  Stay healthy.

Gremlynn

Papa's Big Heart

Good Day All,

"I am still determined to be cheerful and to be happy in whatever situation I may find myself.  For I have also learnt from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions and not upon our circumstances."  Martha Washington

We're managing the whole Self Isolation thing quite well.  It really isn't a far departure from our normal day to day out here.  The only real difference now is, instead of deciding which of us two should go to town this week, we don't have to consider that for the foreseeable future.  It was usually a discussion that went something like this:  "You go."  "No, I went last week.  You go."  "We really should go, we need (insert item here)."  "If it's that important to you, then you go get it."  Yup.  We really are that exciting!

A few days ago, Papa told me that he wanted to make a wooden heart to hang on the fence as a Thank You to all those working on the front lines and to send a message of love for all to see.  I thought, what was a wonderful idea!  So, off he went to his workshop .  Imagine my complete and utter surprise when I he showed me his heart!  It is huge!  I was thinking maybe something like 2 feet by 2 feet.  Kind of like the fence critters he makes and hangs up on our property.  This heart was nothing like any of those!  He used 2 sheets of 1/2" plywood.  He cut out 2 half hearts, that he proceeded to paint red. 

Half of the heart to be mounted. This is 1 sheet of 4 x 8 feet of 1/2" plywood.
He made 2 of these to make a full heart.

And when he said "fence", I had assumed that he meant Our Rail Fence - again, I had a critter thing on the brain.  Nope.  He meant the posts he had put on the neighbor's property that borders Hiway 2.  The place where we had the sign up for the quilt shop many years ago. 

After getting permission from the neighbor to access the property, he now needed to scope out a plan on how to get it out there.  After all, it is still very much winter here in Central Alberta and the snow in the pasture is potentially still very deep. 

So with a sleigh loaded up with 2 x 6's to support his Huge Heart, a ladder, tools and the two, 4' x 8' half heart shapes, we headed out.  His plan was to pull the sleigh up the 45 degree berm, then go along the back of the property, through a gate and out to the posts at the end of the property, next to the hiway .  This sounds really simple, when you say it fast. 

Two half hearts, sitting on a ladder, on top of other assembly items
 required to make the big journey.

It took the two of us old people everything we had, to pull this sleigh up the 45 degree snow covered angle to get to the top of the property.  Okay, that was interesting, but we did it.  Now to traverse the back of the property - through 2 feet of snow that randomly punches through the hard crust, sending a bit of a jolt through the old body.  He took the high road.  I took a lower pathway, along the tree line, where the snow was considerably less punchy. 

Then came the gate.  It was completely snowed through and frozen into place.  With no hope of digging it out or opening it, we picked up the loaded sleigh, while standing on the hard packed snow - hoping it wouldn't break crust - and loaded it over the gate.  He then climbs over and motions to me to do the same.  This Rolly Poly being does Not climb over gates.  I am build for ground travel.  That's how I roll. Low and Slow.  On the ground.  Not Over Fences.  He pulls the sleigh out of the way and tells me that I can do it.  I guess, I've come this far.  Over I go.  That's a first for me.  And now through the pasture, breaking through the snow crust until we get to our final destination.  Putting up the heart was the easy part.  Lots of honks as we hung it up, to send his love out for all to see.  Geez, I love this guy.   

Papa pulling the loaded sleigh to its final destination

Installing Papa's Big Heart

Yours Truly photo for prosperity.  
I still can't believe how big this thing is!
Gotta Love him!

And so, Papa's Big Heart has been installed, for all the world to see.  Sending Much Love!

Later that day - we don't do anything exciting for three weeks, then we have several exciting adventures all on the same day!  Anyways, we had ordered a pig for our freezer, sometime last fall.  As it happens, it was processed and ready for pick up on this same day.  

We also decided that since we were going out anyway, we may as well make an outing of it and head over to the Pik-n-Pak, a Fresh Veggie Store, at Gull Lake.  And since we were going that far, we may as well continue the extra distance and drop off some fresh veggies to our kids and save them a trip out.  We also packed along a few extras from our freezer and pantry to round out the deliveries.  

Sign at the Pik-N-Pak at Gull Lake 

Since this is only about 20 minutes from our home, this is about as local grown as we could ever get, when our own greenhouse isn't in operation in the winter.

I had made the grand buddies each an Easter gift that we decided to deliver as well, since we won't be getting together any time soon.  And we missed giving our daughter her birthday present, also due to the pandemic.  So loaded we were and off to make some front step deliveries.  How Exciting!  It was such a clear, sunny day.  The outing did us both a world of good.  

A Hand Knit Cable Pillow for each of our Grand Buddies as an Easter Gift.
We also included chocolate Eggs in each gift bag, of course!

After the front step deliveries of the care packages, we came home to two huge roasters of pork fat.  This we were needing to render down to lard.  It was mid afternoon and probably could have waited until the next day, but Papa wanted to get it done.  And so, we did.  

One counter top roaster of pig fat, ready to be rendered

And another Large roaster full destined for the oven

We set the temperatures to 250 degrees F to get the fat heated up and melting.  The trick to this process is to Not Cook it.  You want to Melt it.  No browning of the fat or your finished product will have a taste to it.  The goal is to melt, strain and let harden.

Melted, liquid fat poured through a double layer of cheese cloth,
inside a double meshed, metal strainer

Any impurities and chunks are captured in the cheese cloth. 
When the cheese cloth gets full, I dump the catchings into a large freezer bag.
This is saved for the chickens and wild birds.
They go absolutely Crazy for this!  Pure and Simple.

We ended up with two large roasters of rendered lard. 
The first pan is the first one poured and it already setting up.
The further back, black roaster, is the second pan full.

At the end of the evening - probably 6 hours +/- from when we started the process - we ended up with two roasters full of pure lard.  No hydrogenation.  No preservatives.  Nothing but Pure Lard.  From here, we let them cool and set up on the counter over night.  The next morning, they were popped into the freezer for an hour, so they would shrink and pop right out of their pans.  This would be cut up into usable portions and packed away in parchment lined boxes, for easy use when needed.  

Chilled Lard dumped out, ready to be cut into 250 gm portions (1 cup)

And packed into a used meat box, to be stored into the freezer.

And what does one do with Pure Lard?  Lots!  You can use it for cooking, baking, sauteing, really any place you would use butter or another solid fat.  It makes for incredibly flaky pie crusts.  A great fat for popping popcorn and cooking fried potatoes in.  You can also use it in soap making and the list goes on.  And what was Papa's first request after cutting up and boxing all this lard?  Can you bake a pie, please?  What a guy!

And now, into the Studio!  With all of this uninterrupted time we have had recently, I have been getting an amazing amount of quilting done!  After I finished the blue quilt last week, I have since quilted another top that had been sitting in my "to be quilted one day" pile.  

This one is a Double Diamond Rail Fence made from a line of fabric by Moda, called Lilies of the Field, designed by Jan Patek.  I brought this line into the shop several years ago, specifically to make a Lily themed quilt for Papa.  He grows 100's if not 1000's of lilies on our property at No Regrets Ranch.  How could I not make a lily themed quilt?  I have called it Papa's Lilies and it is big enough to be our summer quilt for our queen sized bed.  The top and backing are 100% cotton and the batting is 100% wool.  He was very pleased with the end result.  I am too.   

Papa's Lilies is Queen Sized and destined to be our Summer quilt

And from the left over rail fence blocks, I found some brick red in my scrap bin.  Along with the left over cut offs from the big quilt, I managed to get another 40' x 50" lap quilt for my charity box.  This gets me up to 5 now, I think? 

Another Pieceful Charity Quilt to add to my collection

And with that, this brings me to the end of this week's blog entry.

"Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be."  Abraham Lincoln

Until next time. 

Keep Staying Safe,

Gremlynn