Grapes on our Trellises

These grapes were all planted last year.  Some were new plants, and two were year-old plants.  In the bottom photo, you can tell which are the older plants.

I think I neglected to Blog about our trellis projects.  The top one was inspired by a wall in Walnut Creek. It is thin gauge plastic coated wire and metal loops.  The end is on a metal tensioner to get it taut.   The grape is conforming to the shape nicely.  We just go and tuck the edges around every few days.

The bottom photo is grape plants about every 5 feet.  There are 3 varieties, and I think I planted too many plants.  There is a rose at the beginning and the end, and a mass on encroaching blackberries at the beginning.  I will prune after we eat blackberries.  We made the trellis on two levels, medium and high.  There are metal loops at each fence post, screwed directly into the fence.  It is a continuous loop of metal wire with a metal tenisoner at the beginning on each level.  At the end, the metal just continues from top to bottom.  My thought was that the rose would use that space, but it doesn't seem to get enough sun in that corner.

 

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Crazy Dapple Dandy Pluot

 

This Dapple Dandy Pluot has done extremely well in our front yard.  As you can see, we have a deer issue (hence the wrapped fruit trees).  The tree I am talking about is the one in the back here- the one growing in four different directions and laden with fruit.  It was planted three winters ago bare root, and is leaps and bounds ahead of the other trees planted at the same time.  The trunk is thicker, and it has so much fruit on it. Last year, you could see the deer line just where they can't reach to eat the leaves.

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Golden Raspberries

 

Raspberries are notoriously vigorous, and send shoots out if there is space and a water source.  These here are from one little plant planted last year (mid-summer) on the back side of the fence, in a little spot of dirt that didn't get filled in with concrete.  It gave about 6 berries last fall.

Well, turns out they give twice per year, once on the old growth and then later on the new growth.  And golden raspberries (which these are) are so fragile and delicious- they are a real back yard gardener's delight.  They grow easily, are hard to find in shops (they don't travel well), and give twice per year.  We've gotten about two dozen so far this summer and more are ripening.

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Lego Potty

 

We were playing with Legos, and my almost 2-year old saw I was using a door and green bricks, and yelled, "potty!"

So, of course, we had to make it into a proper Porta Potty, complete with Lego Man.

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Paleo Banana Bread - sweetener free

 

Primally Inspired posted a great recipe for grain-free banana bread, and we tried it and love it.  We made them as regular muffins (small and large) and as muffin tops (thin muffins in a flat baking pan) and like them both ways, but love them flat.  They were cooked more all the way through.  The second favorite choice was as big muffins, and third was as mini muffins.

The best part of these is the consistency- they have very little coconut flour in them, but feel like banana bread.  The kids and adults both loved them (both times).

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More Bike Bucket Bags

I have made this free bicycle bucket bag pattern from Noodlehead a couple of times (here - then modified that one here, then made it again here).

This time, I made two at the same time.  They were meant to be for the boys' bikes, but I cut the fabric so long ago, then didn't stitch them up, then we got other baskets, that now we thought to put these on the big wheels, but haven't done it yet and they are just carrying them around the house with dolls and loveys in them.  I am enjoying not having the cut fabric sitting on my desk!



The first one is made with quilter's cotton on the inside and outside and buckram as the stabilizer.  Again, I had trouble with the top binding laying flat.

The second is also made with quilter's cotton and buckram.  I like how the buckram holds the bag steady in both.  You can also see that I haven't put the snaps on yet to attach it to the bike (or velcro).  I wanted to measure it against where it is going before making the attachment mechanism.

 

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Bike Seat Hinge + bonus review of the xtracycle hooptie

The saga of the perfect bike seating arrangement for the Xtracycle Edgerunner continues.

As you may recall, we recently made the wooden seat in which you see my older son (4.75 years old) sitting.  Then we added bags for the passengers.

Now, as suspected, he was having trouble getting into the seat without hitting his legs.  There just wasn't enough space between the end of the arm rest and the hooptie end/ stoker bar (yes, we don't have the hooptie in use.  Why? You ask.  It is too wide on the wider setting to make me feel like I am riding a narrow bike and on the narrow setting it is too tight on the Yepp seat in back.  Plus, the arm rests give the front passenger enough stability that we don't need it AND we like using the front piece of it as a stoker bar.  Also, it is a bit difficult to get the pieces from the narrow to wide setting and get them on and off - you need to balance both ends in at the same time and push the same amount- it is frustrating to take it on and off.  We kept the ends on because they are light and it will be useful one day.  It is a very cool product- I just prefer it on the narrow setting and it will be great when my kids are a bit bigger).

 

But where was I before that little Hooptie Review?

Ah, yes, leg room on the entry and exit.

We made a hinge on one side.  We chopped the arm rest off and he said it was too short.  So we re-attached it with a hinge which has been for a test ride now and works great (so far).  Plus, he has a sense of ownership for it and can play with it as needed.

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Pickles are Up

 

We did a lot of pickling last year, and cucumber pickles - NY Sours- were the biggest hit (see that link for the info).  So... we were excited to see pickling cucumbers at the Farmer's Market last weekend and had to put up the first pickles of the year.

My batch is in the big glass jar and my preschooler's batch is in the small glass jar next to it.  He wanted to make his own, but just like mine.  They differ in that he cut them up before fermentation, and mine will ferment whole.

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DIY Hemming Curtains - one into two

It has been so light in the little guy's room that he needed some dark curtains.  I didn't have any fabric that was dark enough, so I bought some dark curtains.  The dimensions were right for me to buy one panel and make it into two side by side panels-- if I cut the piece in half and made the very bottom into another top piece with some way to slide the curtain rod inside.

I ended up using some denim strips I had laying around to make a sleeve for the curtain rod.  I had zero extra length to play with, especially after rolling a tiny tiny hem onto each piece.



It turned out okay- the denim was a bit narrow for the job and I need to push that curtain more than I would like to get it open.  Next time, I will measure the width of the existing sleeve and make mine the same ~ allowing for the seam allowance to roll each side under, of course, so you don't have an unfinished side on the edges (even though it is the back).

 

I am very happy with their dark-inducing properties, though.  Sweet dreams, little one!

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Making Butter - Electric Mixer

This guy got it into his head that we needed to make butter from some heavy cream.  I convinced him we didn't need to do it using the raw cream, and that the organic heavy whipping cream from Trader Joe's would work fine.  He conceded and off we went.



He made it at school using marbles and shaking it, and at home we used the mixer with the whipping attachment.

So first it was whipped cream.

Then it got harder and harder and harder.

Then it got soft and a puddle of liquid fell out of it.  My guess is that that is when the butter happened.

So we drained off the liquid and squeezed the butter into a solid shape.

 

Does anyone know what that liquid is called and have any uses for it?  Is it whey?  

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