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He walks amid the mist coming in off the lake.
It has cooled now the sun has gone to bed.
I know it is him,
even though I can not see  his face,
can't make out what he is wearing.
I can tell it is him as I know the strength of his arms,
the width of his chest.
I recognize his walk.
How he proudly carries himself.
He is beautiful to watch in motion.
This strong, deeply complex man has me mesmerized.

By Raine Lampert

Spooner Advocate- Springbrook Column March 27, 2014

Good afternoon friends- Happy belated St. Patrick's Day. I hope everyone enjoyed some corn beef and cabbage sometime this week.I have been busy with  things to do in the house, like seed all the  plants for the Community Gardens on the 5 reservations as well as extra for the plant swap I am planning. I think the plant swap will be and of May first part of June. So I hope some other people are out there planting some extras so that they can come to the swap!

Anyone in the Earl area find a black female cat? She was in our car and escaped when we opened the door. This happened the weekend of the pie sale at the Earl Church. If you see a black cat with a little white on her chest, friendly please give me a call as we really miss Feather. Thanks in advance.

Went to the Green Skills Day in Prairie Farm! Learned a lot! Such talented people are out there. I also did a presentation on canning, seems to have gone over well enough! I was happy to have a day to spend with friends and some from my area Susan Kuha and Steve Kozak! Glad you guys made it down and I hope you had fun and learned something! Thank you to all the folks that volunteer their time and put this event together! You have not idea what a great event you guys put on! 

Went to the 11th Annual Indigenous Conference up on the White Earth reservation the weekend of March 13-16th. I presented on the work I do for the Community Gardens on the reservations. It was a great time of learning! Just want to say thank you to all the hard workers that put it together. Want to say a big thank you  to Zach for asking if I would present. It was great to share the vision we have for the different tribes over here. I was honored that you chose me my friend! Thank you to Winona LaDuke and the White Earth Tribe for having us.

Happy Birthday to all the folks born in March!  Happy Birthday goes out to my Aunt Bonnie Lutz-Good, Grandma Diane Cutt, my brother-Lutius Davis, both of my nieces Bailey McAlpine and Cheyenne Horner! I hope each of you have a wonderful day! I sure hope you do something fun and exciting, with friends and family for your birthday. Remember we love you!

Thanks to all that came out and went on the Apostle Island Ice Cave Tour! I heard that everyone had a good time.

I sure have heard a lot about all the visitors that they have had up there visiting. People from all over have been coming over to see them. I heard Brando, MN brought a bus load of people over to see them! Now that is a road trip! 

Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College has their Extension Program Calendar out for the month of Onaabani-giizis (March). March 29- How to bead- Bandolier bag series, room 305 from 10-2 pm, March 29- Youth Ruffle Scarf in room 306 from 10-3 pm, March 30- Winter Games at the College Farm from 10-4, April 2- Beading Circle in room 305 from 5-8pm, April 4 CPR-First Aid in the auditorium from 8:30-4:00 pm. Please give Amber Marlow a call at the college to register for a class, she can be reached at 715-634-4790 ext 156, marlowa@lco.edu or on  Facebook           

 

It has been fun to see some people that I know at the classes at the College. Maria Golden, and Susan Kuha comes to beading class! I like seeing you there!

Have a friend or family member that would be interested in the column? Maybe they live out of town? They can access the column on my blog on Thursdays, at www.twogirlsandagarden.blogspot.com .

 

 If you would like me to put something in the column please  send me your info to P.O. Box 172, Stone Lake, WI 54876-0172.  Did it come in like a roaring beast or what?? 

Dandelion Jelly

Good Morning friends! This morning I got it all together and made Dandelion jelly.
However I am going to start at the beginning so that if you want to make some yummy food out of the so called "weeds" in your yard you will have the recipes! So far we have used the flower and the leaves, both have worked out wonderfully!
So here we go.. first go out and pick dandelions- make sure they are not treated with anything. I also don't used the ones by the road as all the exhaust gets on them Yucko! Wash them. Then the fun begins. For jelly you need the flower heads (the yellow part) for salad  the leaves.

This is what we started with. Mikhaila did go out and get more.

The sorting begins!!  Heads of the flowers in one bowl for jelly and leaves in the other bowl  for salads!

One of many salad bowls!

We ended up with a bag of greens for salads- that bag is almost gone as Mikhaila has been eating salads for every meal!

The beginning of the flower heads that I will need for the jelly. It is slow, kind of boring to do this part. However I want to tell you that IT IS WORTH IT. The finished product is worth it, honey tasting, yummy!!

Here is the meal Mikhaila made with the first salad greens.

Recipe:
Clean your dandelions, separate the heads from stems, also you only really want the yellow flower part. When you have alot done then you will start the process for making the dandelion tea.
I worked with 2 recipes as the one did not tell me the ratio from petals to water for the tea, the second one did.
So 2 heaping cups of dandelions put in a bowl, pour two cups boiling water over them and let them steep for 30 minutes to 24 hours. I did mine for 24 hours and I had enough dandelions done so I did 1 cup of dandelions to 1 cup of boiling water until I had all the flowers steeping.
Then when you have them steeped to your liking,  you will strain the tea from the petals. I put a coffee filter in the bottom of my sieve and strained it that way. The flower petals I put in a separate bowl.
Time to make the jelly! Measure out, and put in a stainless steel pan..
3 cups of dandelion tea
4 1/2 cups sugar
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 box powdered pectin
Add tea, lemon juice, 1 box of pectin and sugar in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil and continue to boil for 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat and fill jars. Once they are all full and capped put them back in fr a hot water bath.
Process in a hot water bath 10 minutes for below 6000 feet
Process in a hot water bath 15 minutes for above 6000 feet

Getting the jars hot and sterilized. After they are filled they will go back in here for a hot water bath.

The jelly starting to boil.

The finished product in the light. It was darker before adding all the ingredients. Next time I will make sure there is less greens from the flower heads. They still turned out good!

I tripled the batch so here are the first ones I processed. I ended up with 10 jelly jars, 1-salsa jar, 2- topping jars ( the ones with carmel or hot fudge) and a tall olive jar. I reuse food jars for our own consumption, the jelly jars can be used for gifts.

Hope you choose to make some great jelly from the "weeds" in your yard. It gives a whole new meaning to eating local and the best thing THEY ARE FREE!!!
Hope your day is just dandy!

Strawberry and rhubarb Jam..... in the making ...

Hello friends....if you are new to my blog welcome, thanks for stopping by!  Today I am linked up with Try It Tuesday over at Jo's Country Junction. I am also linked up with Tip Junkie both of these ladies have great information on their sites so please go visit them.

I am in the kitchen making strawberry and rhubarb jam right now...please come back to see how it goes as well as get the recipe. Do you have a recipe I need to try? Please send it too me,  I love trying new things.

Be back in a little while..
Ok I am back and  have jam that is done! Yahoo! So here we go..

My recipe came out of the Ball Blue Book. Do you have one?? Well they are well worth the price- you can get them in your canning isle at just about any store. I know Walmart carries them. I know you might have recipes that are handed down from friends, family- Grandma! This is my belief on it so take it for what it is worth. If you are new to canning get a book or use recipes that are ok by the State Extension office in your town. Yes there are people that test the recipes out and make sure they are coming out safely! One reason is because some of our food is not as acidic as it use to be- they have changed our food so now you may have to use lemon juice or vinegar to make it more acidic- this depends on what foods you are using- store bought or Heirlooms, Hybrids etc. Too make sure you are not sick from your food start out safe!  Once you get use to canning you can tell what may or may not be a good recipe, you will know how to tweak things. Like this recipe today I put half a cup more strawberries in because I was short on rhubarb- I have to say it is GOOD!

I am a firm believer in putting your clean jars in the canner with water to not only sterilize but to also make sure the jar is hot enough to put your food in. It can be dangerous to put hot food in a cold jar!

I also put the lids in their own hotbath so they are hot when I put them on the jars.

Take the leaves off the rhubarb- I put mine in the compost and then wash the rhubarb. Then just chop it- I do not chop it that small, some people want it all small. I just slice it and so my jams have the pieces floating in them. This is up to you and your preference. I also make chunky applesauce and I use no sugar in it. That is how we eat it. Depending on the apple it may come out more tangy or more smooth. Depends if you use tangy apples or really soft ones. Yes that is sun tea in the back of the picture- it is in off the porch, just has not made it in the frig yet!

We have a slop bucket for the chickens and the pigs.

We compost- the leaves are poisonous on the rhubarb.

Here is what it looks like with the sugar and then you bring it back up to a rolling boil.

Yum! Plus it smells so good!

Hot jars ready for the jam!

Here are the little beauties after they have had their hot bath. These will make great gifts!

Scraped the sides of the pan and put it on the counter...then a leprechaun must have come along and tried some!hmmmm

 The recipe: yields 6 half-pints

2- cups crushes strawberries
2 -cups rhubarb
6 Tablespoons Ball Classic Pectin
1/4 cup lemon juice
5 1/2 cups sugar
Combine strawberries, rhubarb, pectin and lemon juice in a large sauce pot. Bring to a boil over high heat. Add sugar, stirring until dissolved. Return to a rolling boil. Boil hard 1 minute, stirring constantly.Remove from heat, skim foam off the top if necessary. Ladle hot jam into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch from the top of jar. Process for 10 minutes in a boiling water canner.

Hope you had fun and are now ready to make your own jam. Its not too hard and you will really enjoy it when its cold outside!

Fourth Annual Traditional & Green Skills Event- Saturday March 22,1014 in Prairie Farm,Wi!!!

This Saturday!! Hope to see you all there!

Ok I know this is so little and well I can't seem to get it bigger so..... I really want you to have the information so that you can come and really have a fantastic day! All people are welcome! It would be nice to let them know that you are planning on coming for head count. 
So please go to the link Hay River Skills Day That way you can get your own copy of what is happening that day! It will  be awesome and well worth the $10! 
I will see you there as I am a presenter! I am excited as well as a little nervous! =)

Spooner Advocate- Springbrook Column, March 20, 2014

Good afternoon friends- Happy St. Patrick's Day. I hope everyone enjoys some corn beef and cabbage sometime this week.Please be careful out there on the roads as they will get slippery as we get the snow they are predicting. I am really sick of snow and man I just can not wait to get past May! I do have things to do in the house, like seed all the  plants for the Community Gardens on the 5 reservations as well as extra for the plant swap I am planning. I think the plant swap will be and of May first part of June. So I hope some other people are out there planting some extras so that they can come to the swap!

Anyone in the Earl area find a black female cat? She was in our car and escaped when we opened the door. This happened the weekend of the pie sale at the Earl Church. If you see a black cat with a little white on her chest, friendly please give me a call as we really miss Feather. Thanks in advance.

Went to the 11th Annual Indigenous Conference up on the White Earth reservation this last weekend. I presented on the work I do for the Community Gardens on the reservations. It was a great time of learning! Just want to say thank you to all the hard workers that put it together. Want to say a big thank you  to Zach for asking if I would present. It was great to share the vision we have for the different tribes over here. I was honored that you chose me my friend! Thank you to Winona LaDuke and the White Earth Tribe for having us.

Happy Birthday to all the folks born in March!  Happy Birthday goes out to my Aunt Bonnie Lutz-Good, Grandma Diane Cutt, my brother-Lutius Davis, both of my nieces Bailey McAlpine and Cheyenne Horner! I hope each of you have a wonderful day! I sure hope you do something fun and exciting, with friends and family for your birthday. Remember we love you!

Thanks to all that came out and went on the Apostle Island Ice Cave Tour! I heard that everyone had a good time.

I sure have heard a lot about all the visitors that they have had up there visiting. People from all over have been coming over to see them. I heard Brando, MN brought a bus load of people over to see them! Now that is a road trip! 

Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College has their Extension Program Calendar out for the month of Onaabani-giizis (March).March 17th- Happy St. Patrick's Day, March 19-Beading Circle, room 3015 from 5-8 pm, March 19- Bellydancing in the Auditorium from 5:30- 6:30, March 21- Snow Shoe Hike at St. Peters Dome, leave the college at 9 am, March 22 Winter Survival at the College farm from 9-4 pm, March 23- Winter Survival Hands-on at the College farm from 9-3 pm, March 24- Youth in Agriculture at the College Farm from 4-7 pm, All about seeds! Seed starting Basics at the college farm from 5-8 pm. Please give Amber Marlow a call at the college to register for a class, she can be reached at 715-634-4790 ext 156, marlowa@lco.edu or on  Facebook           

 

It has been fun to see some people that I know at the classes at the College. Maria Golden, and Susan Kuha comes to beading class! I like seeing you there!

Have a friend or family member that would be interested in the column? Maybe they live out of town? They can access the column on my blog on Thursdays, at www.twogirlsandagarden.blogspot.com .

 

 If you would like me to put something in the column please contact me at twogirlsandagarden@hotmail.com, or send me your info to P.O. Box 172, Stone Lake, WI 54876-0172.  Did it come in like a roaring beast or what?? 

Spooner Advocate- Springbrook Column- March 13, 2014

Good afternoon friends- How are you liking this weather? I can tell you that I am so happy that the sun is out and things are melting a little. The geese have enjoyed playing in the yard! They say that we will be flooding this spring. I sure hope they are wrong on that! It does help that we are getting some melting now instead of all at once!

A big thanks goes to Wayne and Betty Tripp for helping me out all the time. You both are really the best neighbors I could ever ask to have around!  Sorry about having to borrow the car for various reasons! Also I will bring treats for Jake next time I come over!

Anyone in the Earl area find a black female cat? She was in our car and escaped when we opened the door. This happened the weekend of the pie sale at the Earl Church. If you see a black cat with a little white on her chest, friendly please give me a call as we really miss Feather. Thanks in advance.

Happy Birthday to all the folks born in March!  So far this month has been cold! Happy Birthday goes out to my Aunt Bonnie Lutz-Good, Grandma Diane Cutt, my brother-Lutius Davis, both of my nieces Bailey McAlpine and Cheyenne Horner!I hope each of you have a wonderful day! I sure hope you do something fun and exciting, with friends and family for your birthday. Remember we love you!

Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Commuity College has their Extension Program Calendar out for the month of Onaabani-giizis (March).March 15- Apostle Islands Ice Cave tour, 9-4pm, March 17th- Happy St. Patrick's Day, March 19-Beading Circle, room 3015 from 5-8 pm, March 19- Bellydancing in the Auditorium from 5:30- 6:30, March 21- Snow Shoe Hike at St. Peters Dome, leave the college at 9am, March 22 Winter Survival at the College farm from 9-4 pm, March 23- Winter Survival Hands-on at the College farm from 9-3pm, March 24- Youth in Agriculture at the College Farm from 4-7pm, All about seeds! Seed starting Basics at the college farm from 5-8pm. Please give Amber Marlow a call at the college to register for a class, she can be reached at 715-634-4790 ext 156, marlowa@lco.edu or on  Facebook           

 

It has been fun to see some people that I know at the classes at the College. Maria Golden and Susan Kuha come  to beading class! I like seeing you there!

Have a friend or family member that would be interested in the column? Maybe they live out of town? They can access the column on my blog on Thursdays, at www.twogirlsandagarden.blogspot.com .

 

 If you would like me to put something in the column send me your info to P.O. Box 172, Stone Lake, WI 54876-0172.  Did it come in like a roaring beast or what?? 

Spooner Advocate- Springbrook Column- March 6, 2014

Good afternoon friends- Cold weather is upon us again. Please be careful out there people. It is cold and not something to play around with. I am starting plants and have been getting asked by others if I would start plants for them, the answer is yes I can get things started  but I need to know what people want to plant. Send me a message if you need plants.

A big thanks goes to Wayne and Betty Tripp for helping me out all the time. You both are really the best neighbors I could ever ask to have around!  Sorry about having to borrow the car for various reasons! Also I will bring treats for Jake next time I come over!

Anyone in the Earl area find a black female cat? She was in our car and escaped when we opened the door. This happened the weekend of the pie sale at the Earl Church. If you see a black cat with a little white on her chest, friendly please give me a call as we really miss Feather. Thanks in advance.

Spring workshops being offered at Art Market 63. March 6, from 11-3 A Taste of Stained Glass- Avis Rosenlund, $50.00.March 8, from 1-3 Scherenschnitt (or scissor cut)- Birgit Wolff, $25/30. March 15, from 10-12 Watercolor for Grades 7-10- Marilyn Higgs, $20.00. For a detailed description please go to their website. They have a current calendar up, you can register and ask questions. www.cablehaywardarts.org or give them a call 715-413-0927.

Happy Birthday to all the folks born in March!  So far this month has been cold! Happy Birthday goes out to Bonnie Lutz-Good, Diane Cutt, Lutius Davis! I hope you have all been really good so we get some warmer weather! I sure hope you do something fun and exciting, with friends and family for your birthday. Remember we love you!

 

Have a friend or family member that would be interested in the column? Maybe they live out of town? They can access the column on my blog on Thursdays, at www.twogirlsandagarden.blogspot.com .

 

 If you would like me to put something in the column-  send me your info to P.O. Box 172, Stone Lake, WI 54876-0172.  Did it come in like a roaring beast or what??