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One Local Summer 2014 – Meal 17

By Sheetar 16 October 2014 13 October 2014

I suppose it’s not even One Local Summer anymore – it’s One Local Fall! Some of my favorite foods are available in the fall. Pumpkins and squash, apples and asian pears! The day the meal was made was rainy and chilly which made for perfect baking and cooking conditions. And yes, I actually used recipes! Usually our One Local Summer meals end up on the wing-it spectrum, somewhat simple, and tend to be basic stuff that doesn’t involve a lot of thinking and prep work. Grilled cheese and soup are still pretty basic, but I needed a bread recipe and hunting around for soup ideas gave me the soup recipe.

A few weeks ago, we were in central PA and picked 160 pounds of apples at my grandparents house. We came out with 4.5 gallons of juice that’s being fermented for hard cider, but we threw in the towel with about 10 lbs of apples remaining since it was getting pretty dark and late and we were dead tired from crushing and pressing all the apples. Husband went back out to sea and I was scratching my head, trying to figure out what to do with the remaining apples. I’m not a huge fan of applesauce, but figured it was the easiest way to use them up. I cut them into chunks, steamed them in batches for 5 minutes, then ran them through the press. That press made SUCH quick work of the apples that I was done in about an hour! I added nothing to the sauce – no sugar or cinnamon or spices – and actually like it a lot as just straight up applesauce with nothing else added. Then came along the bread recipe for Applesauce bread. It’s a basic sandwich bread with the only non-local ingredient being yeast (and flour, kinda, since the one flour imports wheat from the midwest but they’re both still milled at the historic grist mill nearby). I used both blue cheese and a nice alpine style cheese to melt between the slices. The soup is made from delicata squash and leeks for the most part with water instead of broth and a little goat’s milk yogurt. Those “apple croutons” on top are slices of apple sprinkled with maple sugar and crisped up in the oven. I didn’t quite follow the recipe and decided it was easier to leave the skins on the squash and just immersion blender them to pulp which was easier than trying to take the skins off the roasted squash. Add a warm cup of hot cinnamon spice tea, and it was a great meal for a dreary day.

Ingredients:
Flour – Mill at Anselma (Whole Wheat Pastry Flour and Bread Flour)
Applesauce – grandparents house (no sugar added)
Cheese – Birchrun Hills (Blue and Equinox)
Delicata Squash – Jack’s Farm and Charlestown Farm
Butter – Spring Creek Farms
Leeks – North Star Orchard
Apples – North Star Orchard (for apple croutons)
Goat’s Milk Yogurt – Shellbark Hollow
Maple Sugar – Miller’s Maple
Non Local – Olive oil, salt, pepper, sage, tea

Subscription Boxes

Petit Vour September 2014

By Sheetar 15 October 2014 15 October 2014

If I had to put together my own subscription sample box, it would look a lot (if not exactly) like this! After this month’s disappointment with Goodebox, I decided to try Petit Vour for a change of pace. They started out by sending me the September box which was a nice treat! No waiting for the next month’s box, total instant satisfaction. The box costs $15 per month and includes 4-5 products. I will absolutely use everything in this box, and the cruelty-free, vegan products are right in line with what I like to see in the products I use. I’m not a vegan myself, but for health/beauty products, I prefer to use non-petroleum based as much as possible, and by now you know how picky I am about hair care products (no sulfates or silicones). The box, “Beauty & The Box,” was a collaboration between Petit Vour and Logical Harmony, a blog about vegan beauty and lifestyle. Anyway, on to the contents!

Ellovi Tinted Lip Butter – $5 / .07 oz – Full Size product! Only six ingredients, four of which are oils, then Shea Butter and a natural colorant (alkanet root). It doesn’t have much of a scent or flavor which is fine with me because it leaves behind a subtle raspberry colored tint which is great for everyday use. LOVE this to bits, and it’s going right into my bag for use as a daily lip balm (I go through those like wildfire, and this may be my new staple lip balm). The price is reasonable too.
Lily Lolo Mineral Eyeshadow – $12 / 2 grams – Another full size product! The color I received is “Sidewalk” which is a basic matte grey color, great for day or night. What’s even better is the packaging – the inside has a twisty cap that allows you to turn the lid to open or close the sifter. Really handy. I haven’t yet tried this outside of a quick swatch on my hand, but I’m sure I’ll use it since it’s such a great, basic color.
Root Science RS Detox – $50 / 2 oz – Half-size sample, 1 oz. It’s a powder mostly consisting of various clays that you combine with water to make a mask. I gave this a try last night, and it smelled a lot like chamomile tea, very pleasant. I’ll admit that I’m already a big fan of clay masks, and this was no exception. It was a little weird at first that it comes in powder form, but it saves on packaging, and keeps the ingredients fresh until you add water. It left my skin with a nice and tight, clean feeling, and following up with a moisturizer was perfect. It is kind of expensive for a mask, but if you’re using it once a week, it will go a good long way which makes the price more reasonable.
Yarok Leave-In Conditioner – $13.20 / 2 oz – Sample size is 2 oz, but product is available at many sizes. It’s like the people at Petit Vour know me. I’ve got long, super curly, dry hair, and this is JUST what I’ve been looking for! The ingredients are mostly oils in a water base which somehow don’t seem to separate. This is perfect for second-day hair to control frizz and moisturize dry ends. I already gave it a try, and it’s just the right balance of conditioning without being greasy, and smells lemony/herbaly. Honestly, this is going to be a new staple in my hair care routine. I hadn’t found a second-day hair treatment I really liked yet, but this one is perfect.

So, final tally gives me a value of $55.20 by volume! Really an incredible value for the cost of the box, and personally a great value because of the variety of products (lips, makeup, skin, hair) which all suit me perfectly. VERY happy with this box – it’s probably the best subscription box I’ve ever received, EVER – and I can’t wait to see what they put together for October.

Socks

Summer Test Knits

By Sheetar 14 October 2014 10 October 2014

The blog is slowly sliding away from One Local Summer as winter draws ever closer, so I thought I’d fill in some space with knitting and spinning updates! For those of you unfamiliar with knitting, when a designer whips up a new pattern, he/she typically will want to have a friend test knit it to make sure all potential errors are worked out before officially publishing a pattern. It gives the designer another set of eyes on the pattern which can be really helpful. On my end, as a test knitter, it’s really fun to be the first person to have a go at a new knitting pattern and help out a friend at the same time. So, that’s what I did this summer (among other things).

Pattern: Barrel Riders Sock
Designer: Corrine Walcher
Needles: US 1.5 (2.5mm)
Yarn: Aisha Celia Designs Hand-Dyed in “178AA”
–Ravelry Project Link–
I finished these pretty quickly and love the neat detail on the heel as well as the wave pattern on the leg/instep. For the time being, this pattern is a special release just for a yarn club and isn’t available to the public just yet.

Pattern: Clara Barton
Designer: Corrine Walcher
Needles: US 1.5 (2.5mm)
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock Lightweight in unknown Mill Ends colorway
–Ravelry Pattern Link–
Another fun project! I think I knit these in about a week, so they knit up super quickly. The yarn just happened to be a happy match for a sock pattern called Clara Barton, named for the woman who founded the American Red Cross. It was a Mill End I picked up at Rhinebeck a few years ago, and I’m glad I held on to it for just the right pattern. Love that little cross on the heel, and the cable running down the front. Another great design and fun test knit!

Sepia Saturday

Sepia Saturday 249: Coach Rides, Old Transport, Animated Discussion, Cab Drivers

By Sheetar 11 October 2014 7 October 2014

A neat theme this week for Sepia Saturday, and after a little thinking, I decided to go with this image since it’s a bit of a peculiarity in the photo collection. It’s mounted on heavy cardboard with a frame and is about 8″x10″ sized. There’s a very specific date and time, but no details as to who or where! Odd! The back is completely blank so I haven’t posted it here. The vehicle looks like a fire engine with a bell at the back and a tank for holding water perhaps just behind the seat. There are also hooks on the back and sides and even a length of hose lying just above the back wheel. By the looks of it, a building or something made of brick collapsed on top of the vehicle.

So, I set out to various newspaper archives to see what I could find. It was likely in central Pennsylvania, and since I have a date and a pretty specific idea of what happened, it was easy to narrow it down. There was a fire in Johnstown, PA on 17 March 1918 that started around 3am. An article even references the fact that, “A falling wall crushed a $12,000 triple combination truck purchased from the Lafrance concern last summer and felled three firemen who were standing nearby. These men, however, escaped with slight injuries.” The fire truck from the photo, based on the description of the truck, appears to be an exact match to the one from the video below.

The truck, before being crushed by a brick wall, was a 1917 LaFrance triple combination (pump, chemical, hose). So, now we have the where, what, and when, but the why and who are still a mystery. I haven’t been able to find any clear connection to anyone in Johnstown at that time – none of the fire fighters involved, from what I can find, were related, nor were any names of known family friends. If I happen to sort out the puzzle, I’ll be sure to post that here, but in the meantime, there’s a good article below about the fire and the nearly million dollars of damage caused.

One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2014 – Meal 16

By Sheetar 9 October 2014 30 September 2014

Oh yes, it’s crock pot season! The husband is a master of the crock pot and always manages to work up meals that blend perfectly together in that steamy cauldron of good cooking. It’s funny, crock pot meals never tend to look all that appealing, but you can be sure my mouth was watering for the last two hours of cooking because the whole house smelled amazing! Starting with a base of apple cider from our local orchard, husband added a Pork Loin Roast to the pot and topped that with cabbage, apples, onions, a little maple syrup, salt and pepper, and a little dried mustard powder. Such easy prep for such amazing results. By the end of the six hours, the pork had become incredibly tender, the cabbage simmered down, and the apple cider had infused its way into everything. Add to that a little bread (not entirely local, but from a local bakery), a chunk of cheese, and some delicious Hopped Blueberry Mead from a Meadery in New Hampshire, and we had a great fall dinner.

Ingredients:
Pork Loin Roast – Countrytime Farm
Onions – Hoagland Farms
Cabbage – Jack’s Farm
Tomme Mole Cheese – Birchrun Hills
Bread – St. Peter’s Bakery
Cider – North Star Orchard
Apples – Grandparents House (tons of apple trees!)
Mead – Sap House Meadery
Non Local – Vinegar, salt, pepper, mustard powder

One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2014 – Meal 15

By Sheetar 7 October 2014 30 September 2014

And now we’re surpassing the goal of 14 with ease! I think this is the best attempt at cooking Bison Ribs the husband has ever had. They’re a little tricky being much lower in fat and need to be cooked low and slow. The ribs were back ribs and were put in the smoker with apple wood, cooked for about 4 hours resulting in DELICIOUS ribs. On the side we have those popular corn fritters, a grilled peach with melted blue cheese, and a bowl in the back with tomatoes from the garden, a sprig of basil, and some local cheese. The wine is a homemade mead made partially with cherries I picked in Maryland and was a great match to the rest of dinner.

Ingredients:
Bison Ribs – Backyard Bison
Corn – Brogue Hydroponics
Peaches – North Star Orchard
Flour – Mill at Anselma
Peppers – Neighbor’s garden (we share!)
Blue Cheese and Equinox Cheese – Birchrun Hills
Tomatoes – Our Garden
Basil – Our Garden
Non Local – Wine, spices, olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper

Subscription Boxes

Goodebox October 2014

By Sheetar 5 October 2014 6 October 2014

The October Goodebox has arrived! And, it arrived in the first week of the month, on time (even if it shipped September 18th). I’ll start with the good since I was so critical last time. I’m SO, so glad that Goodebox didn’t fall prey to all the pinkwashing going on this month. Besides the fact that I hate the color pink, I’d rather see real progress with breast cancer research and meaningful donations instead of BUY THIS THING BECAUSE IT’S PINK. ALSO, BOOBIES. (When, really, the majority of the profit goes to the company, not to breast cancer research) The monthly product card points out that being mindful of the ingredients in our products is important, saying, “we’d like to remind you all to take your health, and what you put on your body seriously.” Huge kudos for that, because that matters more than buying something that’s pink. Now, that out of the way, I can tell you that this box was a miss for me. I’d gotten accustomed to seeing full-sized products in the boxes, so when I opened this one, I was a little disappointed because all those samples are kinda tiny – the largest is 1/2 of an ounce. It’s silly and superficial, but it was the first thing I thought. Checking around Instagram, it looks like there’s only one product different between the different boxes which is again, disappointing. Why have a huge survey about preferences if everyone gets the same box anyway? There had been a much broader range of products in prior boxes, so it feels like maybe they were rushed to get this out on time (after last month’s shipping issues with Newgistics). I don’t know. I feel like I want to give them another chance because I have been pretty happy with the other boxes and support green/natural products, it’s just that the last two REALLY missed the mark for me and it almost feels like they’ve cheaped out. Anyway, on to the contents!

Jillian Wright Congested Skin Cleanser – 4 oz/$38 – (sample is .5 oz approx, value of $4.75) This smells almost exactly like the Suave Strawberry shampoo which is a good thing! Lathers up nicely, smells really great, but unfortunately isn’t that reasonable in terms of price. Coupon code for 20% off all Jillian Wright products.
Earthwise Beauty Pumpkin & Papaya Seen Organic Face Scrub & Mask – 2 oz / $32 – (sample size is .25 oz, value of $4.00) Smells earthy and sweet. I haven’t tried this yet, but it looks great and is the one product I’m really interested in trying. At $32 for 2oz, it’s really spendy, but would be something I’d splurge on occasionally for a treat for my face. I really love masks and deep scrubs, so this is right up my alley. There’s also a coupon code for 20% off.
Unik Anti-Aging Day Cream – .34 oz / $18 – (per abesmarket.com, 1.69 oz is the full size product at $57.95, so the sample is worth $11.66, not $18) I don’t use day or night creams like this and have no interest in anti-aging products, so this is a wash. I’ll still use the sample because it’s here, and hey why not, but this is just something I’m not interested in. The misleading pricing information from the product card is just the icing on the cake. There is a discount code for 20% off.
Unik Anti-Aging Night Cream – .34 oz / $18 – (per abesmarket.com, 1.69 oz is the full size product at $59.95, so the sample is worth $12.06, not $18) Same as above pretty much. Even with the discount, this is so expensive for a type of product I don’t already use daily, so this is a complete miss for me.
Angel Face Botanicals Lavendar Oil Free Clarifying Serum – 4.3 oz / $48 – (sample size is .5 oz, value of $5.58) This smells really great, and will be fun to try, but isn’t something I include in my day-to-day routine and have no desire to at that price. I did give this a try, and it sinks into my skin quickly without feeling sticky or heavy. There’s a 20% off coupon, but I think I’ll just enjoy the trial size.
Vapour Mesmerize Eye Shimmer or Color – .11 oz – $20 – (sample size is .0096 oz, value of $1.74) This sample is probably the worst one in the box. It looks like someone just cut slices of a full product and put them in little plastic snap boxes. The slice measures 11mm across and 3mm high, which is how I got the sample size. Fine, I’m a nerd, but this is ridiculous. I’ve put a photo of that sample to the right (click to see full-size photo) because it was just that absurd. How am I even supposed to apply that?! The color I received is “Dusk 625” which is a nice color, and the price is decent, but that sample? Seriously, what the hell. No coupon code either.

I added in the value of the samples to see what the box was actually worth as calculated out from the full-size products (Full-Size price divided by Full-Size volume then that number multiplied by the Sample Size). Final total? $39.79, most of which is the two anti-aging creams. Take out the two creams, and the total comes to $16.07. The box costs $18 per month. Goodebox commented on my Instagram post to say, “We thought it might be helpful to share the actual value of the products you received. Angel Face Serum – $10, Vapour Organics Shadow – $3-5, DN Unik Day Cream – $14.98, Night Cream – $14.98, Earthwise Scrub – $4, Jillian Wright Cleanser – $6.33… For a total value of $53.29 (for $18),” but my totals don’t math out the same way. I get that the “sample size” can be sold as a travel size at a higher price per unit than the full size, but that’s a big difference in numbers. I’ll probably still stick in for one more box, but if it does nothing for me, it’ll be my last.

Sepia Saturday

Sepia Saturday 248 – The Little Guy, Package from Home, Magazine Covers

By Sheetar 4 October 2014 4 October 2014

This week was a tough one. The prompt image for this week’s Sepia Saturday is nothing at all like what I have in my collection of family photos, and I’ve really been trying to both stay on theme and use only family photos. It’s helped me a lot to further explore the collection of photos and bring me to some new discoveries, identifications, and even a few connections I might have otherwise missed in terms of genealogy and family history. While this set isn’t of a family member, and it’s a bit of a stretch on the theme, the young boy in the photos was clearly close to my great grandmother, Olga (Powis) Kitko and great grandmother, Jessie (Battin) Powis. Hey, he’s a little guy in a uniform, I’m going to make it work!

Luther Boyd Wagner was born 8 Jan 1916 in Coalport, Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, the second child of Boyd Robinson Wagner and Mary Elizabeth Harris who you may remember from a previous Sepia Saturday post. I was going back through photos to find an image for this prompt, when I realized that the boy in the sailor suit (right, about 1921) matched a young boy in another photo that had names listed on the back (left, Luther & Merle Wagner, about 1917)! I did some quick hunting to find out if Luther Wagner was still around and unfortunately found that he had passed away 27 Nov 1999 in Hollidaysburg, Blair County, PA. Still, his family clearly had a strong connection to mine and it’s interesting to see how long they kept in contact, as children were born, grew up, etc. It’s easy to forget, when doing genealogical research, that the folks who shaped the lives of our ancestors weren’t always blood related, and sometimes ties to friends and neighbors were stronger than the connection to family an ocean away.