Fun Stuff I Made this Holiday Season

I went a little crazy with stuff this Christmas.
I made a lot of presents this year, and I was planning on taking pictures of them but of course I forgot, except for one gift (plus a few other not-gifts). This is the gift I worked the hardest and longest on, and was for a very dear friend of mine who is even more of a Tolkien nerd than I am.

Shiny!

The gift was a hand-written (in fancy Hobbit calligraphy) hand-bound book, whose content was nearly every poem or song from The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring.

DIY: Make a Living Mini Christmas Tree from Pine Branches

Now that February's a-coming and Valentine's Day is on the mind, let's post something about Christmas!
If you don't want a huge tree this coming year or just want a little tree to brighten up an extra corner, this post is for you! Instead of trying to find a tiny tree that isn't really scrawny, arrange some pine branches in a bucket, and with a little trimming you'll have the perfect "tree"!

Of course I didn't get a picture until half of the needles fell off. Oops.

That's what I did this year, and I'll give you a play-by-play of how I did it.
But first, a story!

Back in the Figurative Saddle Again

Hello everybody!
I have decided after way too many months to get back into this blog. Kind of a New Year's resolution of sorts, one could say. Now, I'm not going to try to go back and cover everything that I missed, I'll merely jump back into things like I never left, and try my hardest to keep up and stay on a somewhat regular schedule, but no promises.
I also think that I am going to make this more of a "journal of my life" kinda deal, because I've got a lot more going on than just knitting and farming that I want to share. I'll still stay with my original intentions of crafty and farming stuff, etc., but also add some more fun random stuff because I am a random person. We'll see how it goes.
So hold onto your hot cocoa mugs, because I'm back!

~Mary

Violet Jelly

Jelly made out of flowers? Yes, you heard me right. A small purple flower can be used to make a delicious jelly:

We've had some lovely weather here in Minnesota the past few days, and the back field is full of violets.

They are one of my favorite springtime flowers.

My camera doesn't take very good closeups, so here is a picture I found on the Internet!
Click to go to their page

This is a Common Blue Violet, (you can view the Wikipedia page here) but every violet is edible.

I remembered reading once about how violets are edible and are used to make syrups and jellies, so I searched it up on the amazing Internet and found a recipe, that I revised a little after some trial and error.

The Very First Post

Hello there!
I'm Mary Schaefbauer, the Li'l Hayseed.
I started this blog so I could have somewhere to share my experiences, my thoughts and ideas, my creations, and pretty much anything else I feel like sharing. You can expect knitting, crochet and sewing patterns, updates from our hobby farm, as well as updates from my business, new products and/or promotions, recipes for "wild" foods (as in foods you can find just growing outside) and maybe even just usual foods. You can expect tutorials, there's plenty of fun and useful things that we do here on the farm that I can share with you! I'll also probably post pictures of the things I make, like a sweater or a quilt. And, of course, if you're with me you can expect to see anything interesting I happen to come across.
Hold on to your hats, straw or otherwise, it's going to be a wild ride!