A Busy Bee

 What a busy July it was for us here at Blueberry Barn! Our Russia trip, a big family reunion, two of my siblings staying with us for two whole weeks, and shows performed on cruise ships! I have been a busy little bee finding plenty of work to put my hands to - and lots of fun as well!

Not only had July been a busy month, but it was also the nicest on record in Juneau history. What an amazing blessing it was to be out in the sun so often, and the heat! - it certainly didn't feel like I was living in Alaska. I went swimming so many times I can't even remember them all - and I'm sure you can guess how cold the water is.

When its nice in Juneau, everyone goes a bit crazy and lets certain household chores slip by the way side...so instead of cleaning or tidying up the house one fine day, Quinn and I decided to go flower picking.

But this wasn't just for the beauty of the tall fireweed stalks, oh no! We were going to try our hands at making fireweed honey. You may remember two years ago when we made fireweed syrup - this turned out quite well (for you know I love floral tastes!) and I was excited to try something a little different.


The fireweed is the state flower of Alaska and is so named because it is the first plant to grow after a forest fire. It is also a telltale sign of the end of summer, as once it starts fluffing up with cotton you know autumn is coming along the bend. As I write this the warm sunny days seem to be behind us and have been replaced with colder, wet weather. I sure do hope there are a few sunny days left for us before autumn really sets in! But back to the flower picking...

The recipe we were following called for 50 fireweed flowers, 40 white clover, and 40 purple clover (along with five pounds of sugar - oh my!). With basket in hand we started picking, the wind blowing the tall stalks this way and that in the warm summer wind.

In most places the fireweed flowers are at the top of the stalk, signifying that summer is coming to an end, but there were still quite a few stalks with most of their flowers still blooming. I think they are the prettiest when the stalks are full of blooming pink flowers!

Even though its been sunny, I've tried to keep my skin from getting burnt and rosy (my sun hats have come in handy for this!). My poor fair skin can't take too much sun before I start looking almost as neon as the flowers! Haha!

Reaching towards the bluest sky
Watching ravens fly on by
Up we reach pink, purple, green
A sea of flowers to be seen.

Soon we'll be beat by winter snow
The rain that comes, the winds that blow
Or maybe fire burning bright
To burn the trees and split the night
Fear for us not, for after spring
We'll be here once more, our song to sing.

- Fireweed - 

{From my poetry journal}

Locals of Juneau seeing these photos will know exactly where Quinn and I went to pick our fireweed flowers (it's a favorite spot to photographers for obvious reasons). However, looking at these photos you may never know the truth about this spot - for Quinn is a good photographer. Would you ever guess that this lovely, tranquil spot is in fact not so tranquil? Because in fact, it is not in the middle of nowhere, it is in fact by a busy highway and the Juneau airport.

Even though this lovely field of flowers is sandwiched between the airport and the highway, it's still by far the prettiest fireweed field around so it was fun none the less (even if the honking cars and the loud sounds of planes taking off did take away from the overall mood...haha!). 

It was back to the Barn for us to find some clover and to start cooking!

It seems picking flowers on the side of the road is the theme for today, for we are lucky to have a big purple clover-patch right down the street from the Barn. I've asked Quinn several times if he feels at all embarrassed walking beside me when I'm wearing dresses or dirndls or anything considered peculiar. Thankfully, he's not! I certainly lucked out on marrying a man who likes to wear kilts and pink bunny costumes and therefore doesn't mind me dressing up like a Russian babushka! 

I was recently enchanted by a book of Melissa's called "Drawn From New England" which is about the life of Tasha Tudor (written by her daughter, Bethany Tudor). It had several pages detailing Tasha's early life along with pictures of her in her teens and twenties. I was quite struck by the fact that we had so much in common. In the photos Tasha wore dresses and outfits from centuries past - much as I enjoy doing! I think we would have been good friends. My favorite photo of Tasha showed her posing under a very large rhubarb leaf as a young girl. Our rhubarb has been moved to a new location, so it hasn't gotten quite this big yet, instead I chose a large skunk cabbage leaf so I could emulate the old photograph. What do you think? I think we make quite the pair.

With plenty of purple and white clover I think we were near to cooking up some honey! (I may have added in some rose petals as well, just for the fun of it...)

Cooking with flowers is such a joy - I really should do it more often! Do you, Dear Reader, have any favorite recipes that use edible flowers? Please share them with me below in the comment section - I would love to try them.

The fireweed looked so pretty mixed in with the clover and rose petals that I had Quinn take another picture. It reminds me of little kids making mud pies decorated with wild flowers and having tea parties under big spruce trees (did you ever do this? I know I did!).

My siblings Wesley and Valerie were visiting us and Wesley offered to help with the canning and the honey making. He sure looks fine in front of the stove, I'm sure he will make some lucky girl very happy someday.

And speaking of the honey making: five pounds of sugar doesn't look as scary when mixed with lots of flowers. Of course, you wouldn't want to eat all this honey at once, but a little drizzle on some toast? Why that sounds like heaven to me.

We added water and soon we had a bubbling pot of golden honey. After straining it we started the canning process - which is always a little stressful with so much boiling water in such a tiny kitchen.

Wesley got to take home the biggest jar of honey for all his help, and both he and Quinn got to lick the bowl after all the jars were filled. We'll keep a few jars for ourselves of course, but I think most will be given away as gifts this winter. Fireweed honey will certainly be a welcome memory of summer once the snow starts falling!


Thank you so much Dear Friend for reading along on our adventure. I hope you're having a wonderful week and I look forward to chatting with you again soon!

P.S. - Below you'll see just how big the fireweed stalks can get compared to my height!

Read More

A Doll Post Office

Quite awhile ago I showed you photos, Dear Reader, of a doll Post Office Quinn and I had made for my mother-in-law Melissa as a Valentine's Day present. I had planned to share with you all the particulars of making said Post Office but we were busy and I never got around to it. Until today that is!

Melissa has been enchanted by dolls since she was very young: She was gifted her first Madame Alexander doll as a Christmas present from the local drug store when her presents had not arrived in time by the post. Since then she has been collecting and putting together her own delightful doll house which now resides in a big wardrobe upstairs in her room.

She introduced me to Tasha Tudor and her amazing world of miniature shortly after we first met, and we have been fawning over her dolls ever since!

Tasha made what she called "Sparrow Post" with her young children, where they would send minuscule letters back and forth with the dolls that lived with them. In one of her books, "A Time To Keep" you can see a painting of what one such post office looked like:

The Tasha Tudor website has a tutorial for making a mini post box, but I wanted to make mom something on a bit of a grander scale, and something more similar to another Post Office pictured in a different book of Tasha's:

(Image taken from Tasha's website)

This Post Office was large enough to fit the dolls, which is exactly what I hoped to accomplish! With Quinn helping, we set about to make a pattern and a list of materials. I kidnapped one of the dolls from mom's wardrobe (for size reference) and started work!

I had scoured over Pinterest looking for easy and inexpensive ideas for the Post Office, and had come up with quite a few. I wanted the building to be light and easy to carry, but strong enough to stand the test of time and playing. We chose thick cardboard for the walls and floor and doubled it up with hot glue. I would wallpaper the inside with high-quality wrapping paper with a wainscoting of balsa wood painted white. The floor I was most proud of: large popsicle sticks with the rounded ends cut off stained to look like floor boards. They turned out perfectly!

I wanted the windows to look pretty so I drafted some designs and then went crazy and wanted to have one wall sort of stick out  like a gazebo style window. This was hard to figure out but I love how it turned out in the end! And doesn't the floor look marvelous?!

I made a tall cabinet for the back wall for the dolls to sort mail. I made this out of cardboard and masking tape and then covered it with spackle and paint to give it more wood-like texture. Quinn made the front desk for the Post Office out of extra balsa wood and a little bit of cardboard. Greta of course, was always a big help... 

The project took longer than we thought, and our hope of giving it as a Valentine's Day present turned to hoping to give it as an early Mother's Day present (which we did). 

Wallpapering the walls was rather difficult because the paper was so finicky, but patience prevailed! The last things to do were to spackle the outside of the cardboard walls, paint them, and then install some stonework along the bottom, thanks to Quinn! He likes to make miniature terrain for games he plays with his friends, so he was already an expert at carving rock walls out of foam, lucky me!

Decorating the Post Office was of course the most fun. I made lots of tiny packages and parcels, and found a template online for printing off tiny envelopes! This Post Office would need some mail after all...

By the time we gave mom her belated-Valentine's present, I think the cat had gotten out of the bag about what it was, but I think she was still thrilled. All in all it took us several weeks to finish, but we were by no means working on it every evening so I certainly think we could have made it sooner if we had been less busy. But tell me Dear Reader, what do you think of how it turned out?

To make the front edges look cleaner, I hot-glued some lace to the cardboard (as you could see the edges of the wood paneling and the floor boards and they weren't the prettiest). And let me show you a photo of the lovely rock wall Quinn carved!

He painted it and everything - didn't he do a marvelous job? The trellis idea I got off of Pinterest, and there's also a larger one on the opposite wall:

I think the dolls really love their new Post Office. It must be so nice for them to be able to send packages and presents to all their friends far away, wouldn't you agree?

The Post Master for Tasha's Office was named Augustus Sparrow, a very robust name indeed. In Juneau, ravens are more abundant than sparrows so Melissa has a Postmistress named Miss Minerva Raven. She does a very good job of helping customers and no letter is lost under her watchful eye. 

A large number of pretty stamps, as well as envelopes and greetings cards are available for purchase at the Post Office.  Mail delivery isn't yet available (Miss Raven is currently looking for a quick young robin to take the job, but as of yet none have applied), but the walk is quite short from the doll wardrobe to the Post Office. 

Quinn and I had a grand time making this present for mom, and I hope you are inspired to create something on a smaller scale as well today! I don't yet have a large doll collection of my own, as Melissa does, but I am lucky in the fact that she lets me play with hers whenever I like! 

May you have a wonderful day!

Read More

A Wave of Windswept Roses

One of my favorite stories that I've ever shared with you, Dear Reader, was the Roses blog post posted two years ago. This blog functions almost like a scrapbook for me - its so fun and interesting to look back through the last couple of years and see the changes that have taken place, and the things that still remain the same. One thing that will always stand the test of time is my love for wildflowers, and this last week the Sitka roses were in bloom...

Oh, but to tell the story that happened just several days ago I must start all the way back in January. Yes: Cold, miserable, dark and snowy January - when there's nothing better to do (for Christmas is now past) than to sit inside and wait for Spring to come...and maybe do some sewing. 

A new pattern had come out that I was very excited to try, an apron pattern with big, cozy pockets. Several years before hand I had found an old, stained table cloth for a bargain at a second-hand store and this would be the perfect project to let that amazing floral pattern shine! There was only one problem...Greta didn't like the idea of me being on the floor and not giving her attention (the attention she so rightly deserves - I might add!). 

 ...So of course the most appropriate spot for her was to sit on the nice linen fabric that was so taking all my attention! Oh well, perhaps I could do both? Love on Greta and pin those pockets down at the same time?

That would be a definite no!

(Small note: My goodness! I am so happy I don't have to wear layers and hats like that right now! Oh summer, you have been so terribly missed!)

By some miracle I was eventually able to get the apron all sewed up - despite Greta's 'help'. What do you think of the floral tablecloth pockets? Didn't they turn out fantastic! Well, back to the present day, and it seems like the perfect occasion to wear my treasured apron! Before we traveled off to Russia I wanted to make Rose Water from my favorite wild roses for baking. One of my favorite recipes calls for it, and it's so easy to make!

With my trusty trug in hand, and Greta (now a bit bigger than she was in January) quick on my heels, we went for a walk in the summer sunshine. Over our heads, a bald eagle watched us as we skipped on by, with the calls of the salmon fisherman echoing off of the trees.

Here in this photo you can see the back of the apron. It can tie in the back or in the front - if you don't have need of the pockets. 

This is the same spot we picked rose petals two years ago, and Greta's favorite place to take long walks. Unfortunately for us, the Indian Rhubarb has really taken off this year - making it quite perilous to walk the trails. Indian Rhubarb causes burns on your skin if the juices from the plant get on you and then are exposed to sunlight. I had never experienced it till last week, when Quinn and I went on one of our normal trails only to find it overrun with the stuff! We both got several small burns on our legs, not fun at all! We didn't want a similar experience, so we stayed as far away from the plants as we could, making it even harder to harvest the rose petals.

The wind off of the summer sea whipped about us, and my hair (which I had worn down that day) was flying everywhere! The only one who seemed unbothered by the mighty gusts was Greta, who was often hidden among the dense foliage, no doubt finding fairies and gnomes!

The wind may have been howling, but the sun felt nice on our skin and the view simply took our breath away...

Dodging the windblown Indian Rhubarb and rose thorns, Quinn and I gathered as many rose petals as we could reach.

I had grabbed a dish towel for the bottom of the basket before leaving the Barn and I'm so glad I did! It helped to keep the rose petals in the trug while the wind was blowing - wanting to send all my hard work to hither and yon! 

Thankfully we didn't need too many rose petals for the recipe I was hoping to make, which left time for picking other flowers as well! After all, you can never have too many bouquets in your home, right? 

The lupin is almost all bloomed out now, and because of the harsh gails had been mostly blown away. I was still able to find a few flowers still holding on to all their buds, though. They would make the perfect centerpiece for my bouquet! Irises, sweet pea, and yarrow also made it in, and a pocket full of buttercups should never be passed by.

 The deep blues and purples made this the loveliest bouquet of the summer in my book. I now have it sitting upstairs in the Barn, perfectly placed in my Blue Willow tea pot.

It was time to hurry home, but not before the wind caused more laughter with hair flying all over the place! Quinn can now sympathize with me for he has been growing out his hair as well, and he's now able to put in into a bun (you've heard of 'man buns' right? Haha!).  As I'm sure you can imagine, he is very proud of this (the only unfortunate occurrence so far has been a friend's young child asking him why his voice was so low and then remarking that they thought he was a girl! We were all rather surprised...).

Sorry for the bunny trail - lets move forward!

Upon arriving home I spent quite a long time on the porch sorting through the petals and getting rid of bugs (there were so many!) and other bits that weren't supposed to be there. Then after a quick rinse, I put the petals in a pot, covered them with water and set it on the stove to bubble away.

After the pot had been boiling for a bit (and the petals had turned from bright pink to a very light shade of peach) I turned off the heat and let the water cool for a while. Once it was only slightly warm I lined a sieve with paper towels and poured the rose water through, squeezing every last drop out of the paper towel once that had been done.

What was left was a lovely pink rose water, ready to be used in baking! Since we'll be leaving for Russia, I wanted to make sure it lasted, so I tried something I hadn't done before: freezing! I poured a teaspoon of the rose water into ice cube trays and put them in the freezer for an hour. What came out were perfect little pink colored rose water ice cubes! I put them all in a baggie and now I'll have rose water whenever I want to use it! Do you have any favorite recipes using rose water? Let me know down in the comments! I would love to have other recipes to try!

But of course I couldn't make fresh rose water without making one of my favorite recipes, Earl Gray Scones with Rose Water Icing! I found this particular recipe while searching through Pinterest for something unrelated (isn't that how searching through Pinterest always works?), but I am so happy I found it! I'll share the recipe with you here - and please do tell me if you try it out!

Earl Gray Scones

Adapted from Pinch Me I'm Eating

2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
8 tbsp cold unsalted butter, diced
3 bags of earl gray tea (or about 1 tbsp)

1.) Set oven to 400 degrees F.

2.) Open tea bags and empty them into a food processor (or mortar and pestle if you're old school) and crush them till the tea leaves are a powder.

3.) In a medium sized bowl mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

4.) Add diced butter to dry ingredients, using a pastry cutter to incorporate butter until the mixture resembles sand.

5.) Beat together the egg, heavy cream and vanilla in a small bowl. Add to dry ingredients and mix only until combined.

6.) Pat dough into a ball, flattening it out on counter to be a 9-inch circle, using extra flour for dusting if necessary. Cut into 8 triangles, arrange on baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

7.) Bake for 12-17 minutes, or until scones start to turn a golden brown.

Rose Water Icing

1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1tsp heavy cream
1/2 tsp rose water
1-2 drops red food coloring

1.) Mix all ingredients till smooth, be careful to add a little food coloring at a time to achieve the desired shade of pink.

2.) While scones are still warm from the oven, carefully dip tops into bowl of icing - let excess drip off - and place them on to parchment paper to set.

3.) Once completely cool, store in air tight container. Do not stack scones on top of each other. 

I simply can't tell you how much I love these scones. I usually make a double batch and have them with tea once or twice (or three or four times...) a day. As I'm sure you can imagine, they don't last very long! The scones have such a delicate earl gray flavor, it simply pairs so nicely with the floral taste of the rose water icing. And yes, I promise they taste just as amazing as they look in these photos!

I hope you've enjoyed this walk with me, as well as a peak inside my kitchen! Please let me know if you're in the area and you can stop on by for a scone - or two - and some tea. Until next time Dear Reader! I hope you have a wonderful week!

Read More