This is how you cook dinner in a Vermont farmhouse. On the left is lentil soup. On top of that is flatbread.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Farmhouse Dinner
This is how you cook dinner in a Vermont farmhouse. On the left is lentil soup. On top of that is flatbread.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
8 Month Recap
A proxy post by Cyrus:
Let me recap the last 8 months around the Patten compound. The last post was about maple sugaring in March. Since then, we built a mud room, installed all new interior doors, a new front door, built (most of) a chicken coop, planted a garden, cut, dragged, split and stacked two years worth of firewood, painted the porch floor and foundation, painted the exterior trim and porch railings, started a rock wall, patched the ceiling holes and just this morning found what I learned is "needle ice" in the yard. Phew! When I write it all out like that, it seems like a lot!
As for non-house related things, Dulcie got sprayed by a skunk twice, I climbed Mt. Marcy with my dad and brother, we sent my parents off to the Caribbean on their sailboat and Kristin started working at Spectrum, where I work.
Here are some pictures we took over the last 8 months:
The chicken coop will be a little drafty until I build the walls. We expect to get our flock in the spring.
The new door lets in lots more light which is nice combined with the opened staircase.
This the needle ice which I originally thought was a sign of a spring in the ground. Apparently this only happens when the ground is above 32 degrees and the air is below. Then moisture in the ground is pushed upward.
When I was building the mud room, I had to insulate the ceiling and wire the inside and outside lights and switches. "How did you get up there?" you ask? Through a small hole. Feel free to print this and make a flip book:
On the docket for 2011: new wood floors, new kitchen, barn, firewood for 2012 (wood should dry for two years if possible), more landscaping and a new couch. Oh, and whatever else might come up.
Let me recap the last 8 months around the Patten compound. The last post was about maple sugaring in March. Since then, we built a mud room, installed all new interior doors, a new front door, built (most of) a chicken coop, planted a garden, cut, dragged, split and stacked two years worth of firewood, painted the porch floor and foundation, painted the exterior trim and porch railings, started a rock wall, patched the ceiling holes and just this morning found what I learned is "needle ice" in the yard. Phew! When I write it all out like that, it seems like a lot!
As for non-house related things, Dulcie got sprayed by a skunk twice, I climbed Mt. Marcy with my dad and brother, we sent my parents off to the Caribbean on their sailboat and Kristin started working at Spectrum, where I work.
Here are some pictures we took over the last 8 months:
The chicken coop will be a little drafty until I build the walls. We expect to get our flock in the spring.
The new door lets in lots more light which is nice combined with the opened staircase.
This the needle ice which I originally thought was a sign of a spring in the ground. Apparently this only happens when the ground is above 32 degrees and the air is below. Then moisture in the ground is pushed upward.
When I was building the mud room, I had to insulate the ceiling and wire the inside and outside lights and switches. "How did you get up there?" you ask? Through a small hole. Feel free to print this and make a flip book:
On the docket for 2011: new wood floors, new kitchen, barn, firewood for 2012 (wood should dry for two years if possible), more landscaping and a new couch. Oh, and whatever else might come up.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Aunt Jemima ain't got nothin' on me!
We made maple syrup!!We had a total of 8 taps that we distributed between 5 maple trees. We had no idea if we would end up with 5 gallons of sap or 5 drops. Honestly, we weren’t even sure all the trees we tapped were maple. Needless to say, we were very excited when some of the trees started dripping sap right when we drilled into them! Turns out they were all maple trees and we ended up with WAY more sap than we knew what to do with.
Cyrus and I attempted our first batch of syrup alone. It was one of my favorite weekends ever. I really felt like I was on vacation, but at my own house. The weather was great, the fire was warm, it was so relaxing and everything was perfect. Unfortunately we ended up with maple sugar candy instead of syrup. We boiled a bit longer than we should have, oops.
Luckily the professionals were there to help with our second weekend of boiling. We learned all the tips of the trade and ended up with the most delicious maple syrup I have ever tasted.
Things I learned about making maple syrup:
1. It takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup.
2. Syrup is ready when it is 217 degrees and begins to sheet on a spatula.
3. Have all of the jars ready to go before you start boiling. Otherwise it's too late and before you know it you have maple candy.
4. Boiling sap is really only fun the first couple of times. After that, it really is just like watching a pot boil.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Woah...What did we get ourselves into?!
We've been talking since the day we moved in about taking down the stairway walls. Our goal was to open up the living room and dining room and also allow for more heat to go upstairs. So last weekend the walls came down. That was the easy part!
The tricky part now is to move light switches that used to be on the dining room wall. (Darrin, want to come for a visit??) Hopefully that will get squared away this weekend and then we can start putting things back together. To be continued...
Another Room Done
I've heard people say they have checked the blog for updates and are tired of seeing that snowman. So am I, I'm ready for Spring! So here it is, finally a new update.
The upstairs bathroom is done! I love when rooms are completely finished. I'm including the before pictures again to refresh your memories and so you can ooh and aah at that lovely sponge paint and awesome light fixture one last time.
The upstairs bathroom is done! I love when rooms are completely finished. I'm including the before pictures again to refresh your memories and so you can ooh and aah at that lovely sponge paint and awesome light fixture one last time.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Winter is Here!
We finally had our first snowfall! We only got about 4 inches but that was enough for me to throw on my snow pants and make the first snowman of the year!
We didn't get enough snow to plow this time. But the plow, and the plower, are ready to go when we really get hit.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Worky Work, Busy Bee
There have been a lot of changes in the Patten household since the last posting, so get comfy, this is going to be a long one. I will start outside and work my way through the house.
Before
During
After!
We have a new driveway!! I knew this had to get done before Winter, but I was NOT excited about it. It was a ton of money and I really didn't think I would even notice a difference. I was completely wrong, I am in love with the new driveway! Before, the driveway was pitted and super steep and a little scary to drive on. Now, it's a smooth as silk!
We're waiting to remodel the kitchen until after everything else is done. It feels like we just finished the Fort Collins kitchen and we aren't ready to jump into another huge project just yet. However, the old oven had to go! This beauty was installed on Friday and it's great. This is my first time having a gas stove and I like it so much better than electric. Our first meal was blueberry pancakes on the stove top griddle, yum!
The most exciting thing we did this week was put a door on the downstairs bathroom. We were functioning with only 1 bathroom, since we had already demoed the upstairs bathroom, and it didn't even have a door, not fun. But, it was well worth the wait because this door turned out to be our favorite thing in the entire house so far.
Since the washer and dryer are monsters we could no longer have a regular door that opened into the room. We thought about making it swing in the hallway, but that didn't seem right either. Our other option was to put in a pocket door, but that would have involved taking down, and then rebuilding the wall, ugh. So, we opted for a sliding door on mounted right onto the wall. LOVE IT! We bought the dutch door at a tag sale in Fort Collins years ago and never used it. I didn't even want to bring it with us when we moved because I didn't think we would ever use. Thank you Cyrus for insisting we bring it! I also painted the walls Willow Green, and Cyrus installed a new light.
Before
Finally, the upstairs bathroom. I did the whole floor by myself while Cyrus was at work. Although I was almost in tears in the middle of the project (mostly because I was starving and couldn't stop for lunch), I am proud of how it came out and I'm thrilled that I didn't lose any fingers using the tile saw. The room is near completion, but still needs some finishing touches. Cyrus needs to move the outlet and light switch above the vanity so we can hang the new mirror and new lights, and we need to install the baseboard, then it's another room DONE.
Next up is Cyrus' office which is the downstairs bedroom. I'm going to paint this week and I have big plans for the floor. Hopefully it comes out as good in real life as it looks in my head.
Before
During
After!
We're waiting to remodel the kitchen until after everything else is done. It feels like we just finished the Fort Collins kitchen and we aren't ready to jump into another huge project just yet. However, the old oven had to go! This beauty was installed on Friday and it's great. This is my first time having a gas stove and I like it so much better than electric. Our first meal was blueberry pancakes on the stove top griddle, yum!
The most exciting thing we did this week was put a door on the downstairs bathroom. We were functioning with only 1 bathroom, since we had already demoed the upstairs bathroom, and it didn't even have a door, not fun. But, it was well worth the wait because this door turned out to be our favorite thing in the entire house so far.
Since the washer and dryer are monsters we could no longer have a regular door that opened into the room. We thought about making it swing in the hallway, but that didn't seem right either. Our other option was to put in a pocket door, but that would have involved taking down, and then rebuilding the wall, ugh. So, we opted for a sliding door on mounted right onto the wall. LOVE IT! We bought the dutch door at a tag sale in Fort Collins years ago and never used it. I didn't even want to bring it with us when we moved because I didn't think we would ever use. Thank you Cyrus for insisting we bring it! I also painted the walls Willow Green, and Cyrus installed a new light.
Before
After
Moving upstairs...my craftroom/guestroom is done, so we are now taking reservations! I took out the window seat and painted the walls and ceiling Vanilla Custard; a soft, buttery, calm color. The floor underneath where the window seat was, is just plywood subfloor which I painted and stenciled.
Finally, the upstairs bathroom. I did the whole floor by myself while Cyrus was at work. Although I was almost in tears in the middle of the project (mostly because I was starving and couldn't stop for lunch), I am proud of how it came out and I'm thrilled that I didn't lose any fingers using the tile saw. The room is near completion, but still needs some finishing touches. Cyrus needs to move the outlet and light switch above the vanity so we can hang the new mirror and new lights, and we need to install the baseboard, then it's another room DONE.
Next up is Cyrus' office which is the downstairs bedroom. I'm going to paint this week and I have big plans for the floor. Hopefully it comes out as good in real life as it looks in my head.
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