one of my favorite publications

I love magazines and books. I love learning about anything. Every quarter, there is a publication called edible Portland that comes out an it's free in natural food stores or Powell's books. Most major cities have them, edible Seattle, edible Jersey, edible Sarasota. You get the picture. Anyway, every quarter I wait to see what the magazine will have. There are usually a couple of recipes, some local farm adds, information on food events in town and a ton of useful information about agriculture. I highly recommend picking one up.

time off

I've been on vacation to the south. I'm spending time with my brother, his girlfriend, their soon to be son, Gavin and their dog in Nashville along with my mom. Yesterday, on a short but very long road trip we made it to Arkansas. My family is from a small town there and as a child, this is where I took my vacations. In the photo is one of my younger cousins holding a magnolia seed. We had gone to my great grandparents house to find that is was no longer there. We rummaged the property to see if there was anything left. My great grandmother's sugar bowl top was there, in the dirt, with little pink roses painted all over it. It was a very sad moment for our family as we all talked about how often we had been there and what the house had looked like.

seasons change

I know it's not fall yet but it certainly has felt like it lately here in the NW. I've seen trees changing and the weather is a little more crisp. It's my favorite time of year.

coffee roasting

I love doing things myself. I discovered a store very close to my house, Mr. Green Beans. You can buy organic, fair trade and bird friendly green coffee beans and take them home and roast them yourself in a skillet. It's super easy and it's kind of fun. It does get kind of smoky though. www.diycoffeeroasting.com

egg

Yesterday, Daisy laid her first egg!

gloomy day

On the last day of August it's raining. I don't think the girls mind too much though. They've been outside playing.

dahlias

Over the weekend, I went to the Dahlia Festival in Canby, OR with my parents. It was beautiful and overwhelming. I was drawn to all of the orange blooms in different sizes with fringed pedals, smooth pedals and spiked pedals. I placed my order to be delivered in the spring. I am very excited to start a dahlia garden next summer.