Sourwood Beauty

I went to the botanical garden the other day and was blown away with a row of sourwood trees in beautiful pinks and reds. They blew my mind. Enjoy.

Fall's Best

Every Fall I am taken by the natural beauty in our trees.  This past weekend I saw this tree that was redder than red.   I sat and stared for a long while, appreciating it's beauty.

flora medallion

rebecca's oldest child, anna belle, married recently at the brickhouse. more beautiful images will trickle forth, but, for now, enjoy this one of the floral medallion that we made for her. this medallion hung at my wedding- rebecca made it for me then, and filled it wih dahlias from the dahlia farm. for anna belle, we all pitched in and filled it with flowers from many different friends' farms. we are so lucky to know these wonderful growers, and to know each other.

photographs & words by rinne allen

cooking for the week

I know I am not the only one who juggles many things through the week.  I am always trying to figure out a system to eat all of our fresh vegetables that we get from our CSA box.  Now that there is lots of hearty roots in season and warm comfort meals are what we crave I have started to roast up a pan of vegetables that will last us through the week.

Last week I roasted up a butternut squash, garlic, radishes, sweet potatoes, turnips, and an onion.  It made our dinner planning all week so easy.  Making a quick risotto and throwing in some root vegetables in the end made a quick and comforting meal.  Assembling a soup was quick and we had the built up flavors from the roasting.

All you need to do is toss clean vegetables in some olive oil....salt and pepper them....and put in the oven on 350 degrees for 40 minutes or so.  Your house will smell great!

Dead Sea Grass

When I was at the beach this summer, I admired this washed up dead sea grass by the shore.  Beautiful silver tones in beautiful shapes.

color fields

If you went to art school, you learned about 'color field' paintings.  Well, here's the real thing. study up on monochromatic color fields here.

the Dahlia Farm

I just spent the day out at the Dahlia Farm with a good friend.  It is one of my favorite places to visit and I try to go out every year.  It was probably the last week to see the wonderful blooms and I am so thankful I did.  Enjoy!

roasting pumpkin seeds

Some things just don't change.  Carving pumpkins and eating the seeds go hand in hand and the taste just as good as they did 30 years ago.

Ingredients

Seeds from 1 pumpkin, guts removed

Sea Salt

1 Tbsp Olive Oil

Directions

-Pre- heat oven to 350 degrees

-toss the unwashed pumpkin seeds in the Olive Oil and sprinkle with salt

-Bake for 30-40 minutes or until crispy. 

-Toss the seeds midway. 

-Enjoy outside as the leaves fall.

Big Moon

This week the moon has been big all week.  The other night I caught it with clouds covering and it gave this  mystical glow.