Making Memories

We were able to watch the cranberries being harvested last weekend just as I had hoped. We're always heading back home for one celebration or another, but we haven't really been back for more than a day since both sets of parents sold the "big houses" several years ago. We decided it was time to do something about that and headed south to visit family and take in the familiar sights of home.

My father-in-law asked our girls if they would like to see how cranberries were picked when he was a boy, so we headed out to a local bog so he could show us how it was done. Cranberries are either wet-picked (as seen above) or dry-picked. They have motorized machines (similar to a standing lawn mower), that travel over the bogs and pick up the berries today, but years ago they used scoops and literally picked the bogs by hand. His scoop that you see above dates back to the 1940's and he uses it every season to pick 5-6 bushels. It's back-breaking work, but to my 80 year old father-in-law, it's just another day. My girls got in on the action and picked right along with him, and as I was taking pictures, I realized I couldn't focus very well. I was watching a piece of our family history unfold right before my eyes and I was overwhelmed with emotion. It was a perfect day.

After the cranberries are picked, they're placed in burlap sacks so it's easier to carry. The sacks are then dropped onto a screen to help release the vine from the berry.

The screen is placed over large crates that will either be loaded onto trucks and hauled or stacked together to be air-lifted by helicopter.

At this particular bog, they had an antique sorting machine that was made in the previous century. The cranberries are loaded and the remaining vines are removed. Then the cranberries are bounced onto the conveyer for the picker to toss any un-ripened berries into the middle compartment. It was kind of like that scene from I Love Lucy and the chocolates, but we managed to do a decent job.

Here is one of the bushels my father-in-law picked. He had this in his back yard when we arrived and we all bit into the tart, red berries as if they were candy. I'm told he'll give the majority of the berries away to the church folk (he's a retired minister) and friends, and if my mother-in-law isn't quick enough, she'll won't be able to use them to bake her famous cranberry bars.

I'll use mine for decoration and place them in bowls around my home as a sweet reminder of the time we shared together.

Kitchen Love

19th Century English cabinet, Oriental rug, and Benjamin Moore Chelsea Gray walls... what's not to love? I'm drawn to kitchens that look as though they've been around a while.

And a butler's pantry too? Swoon!

Details, details, details. You can still mix a little of today in with the past and make it work.

Thomas Smythe's kitchen is stunning. I would love a black kitchen too.

Open shelving is perfect for showing off a collection, whether it's white ironstone pitchers, English transferware, or these beautiful copper pots.

Images via styleathome.com and houseandhome.com

Going Home

To cranberry country. When I met my husband more than 20 years ago in Boston, little did we know that we both came from the same area in Massachusetts. We grew up in neighboring towns racing our bikes up and down bog roads and breathing in the salt air that is so much a part of who we are. And although we do love living in the woods, we miss those bogs, the scrub pines, and that sweet, salt air.

I can remember the first time we took our children to see the cranberries harvested - all those plump red berries bobbing up and down in the water was a beautiful sight. This weekend, we're heading back home to visit family and say good-bye to my parents who now make their home in Florida nine months out of the year. I'm hoping we'll catch a glimpse of the harvest too.

FYI: The name cranberry derives from "craneberry", first named by early European settlers in America who felt the expanding flower, stem, calyx, and petals resembled the neck, head, and bill of a crane. These tart little berries were served at the very first Thanksgiving and are still part of the Thanksgiving tradition in most U.S. homes today. Cranberries are harvested from mid-September until the end of October. Most of the cranberries are "wet-picked" to be used for juice and sauce, but others are dry-picked and sold to the rest of us to use in our own recipes.

If you'd like to see a few more gorgeous pictures and enjoy a cranberry recipe or two, please visit La Tartine Gourmande.

Clear Out the Clutter

If you were to visit my house, it’s almost always neat and clean. But I secretly long to have everything in my home organized to the nth degree – photos are finally (artfully) arranged in albums, the kitchen closet and pantry are filled with labeled containers, and all I have to do is reach into a file cabinet to find exactly what I’m looking for in less than a minute. All it takes is just one item to be out of place before I consider a room to be messy; I can’t even sit in a room without first making sure it’s neat and tidy. And if I have the house to myself for any length of time, I’ve been known to go on a huge cleaning tear and pull things of closets, drawers, the refrigerator… you get the idea.

I realized years ago that I simply had too much stuff. So the process of elimination began. We donated, boxed, and tossed. Then we took a hard look at our spending. I stopped feeling guilty about having an abundance of Christmas presents under the tree just so my family would have more to open. I promised myself that I would stop buying anything unless I truly needed it. And if I was going to open my wallet, then whatever I bought would be the best quality I could afford so it would last. I had been guilty of over-consuming long enough.

But I still have stuff, and all that stuff needs a place to go. As I was in the market the other day, I picked up the latest issue of Good Housekeeping. This is not a magazine I purchase on a regular basis, but on the cover was a smiling Jamie Lee Curtis holding a feather duster, and I was hooked. Ms. Curtis happens to be one of my favorite people. We share a birthday (although she is seven years older than me), she writes adorable children’s books, she is very funny, and she cleans like a pro to boot! (Not to mention overcoming alcoholism with a great deal of grace.)

In the article, she shares great tips on how to get organized. Like her, and I’m sure many of you, I feel more balanced when things are put in their place. I’m not obsessive, but there must be some semblance of order in the one place I can control that order – home. And although I know that I can’t implement everything I’d like to do (Two of us are proud neat freaks and the other two – aren’t!) she and GH have inspired me to finally reach my organizational goals.

I have already thinned out my collection of books and purchased additional plastic totes for the basement. Several loads of unwanted items have been donated or given away to people who need them. It feels good to let go of the clutter – I think it frees the mind as well as your space.

I still have lots to do, and in the process of living a full life, there will always be something to put away, something that needs my attention. But I don’t plan to let it take over my life either. I will do what works for me and you should do what works for you. And we all should take Jamie’s approach… "I’ve developed an internal Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval, but the seal of approval is my own approval."

Image scanned from Good Housekeeping magazine