fall colors

photograph by rebecca wood

thanksgiving recipe ideas!

every year around this time we like to round up some of our favorite recipes that are certified crowd pleasers, in case you need some ideas or inspiration for some yummy home-cooked dishes. enjoy!

apple stacks

root vegetable gratin

hot cross buns

warm radish and bean salad

easy apple pie

winter squash and coconut soup

mum buds

photograph by rinne allen

kristen's flower relief

the other day we spent a day with friends, food, flowers. we got to 3 porch farm and got to work.  we harvested, photographed, arranged, and then i decided to do some plaster casts. it had been a while since i had worked with plaster in this way, but it was fun. 

what you will need:
plaster
water
small bucket
clay (to make your mold)
a board
a scrap piece of cloth
screen material
a stir stick
rolling pin
4 paint sticks

directions:
-place your scrap fabric over your board; you may tuck the edges under the board if you wish
-roll out a slab of clay; you want it to be about 1 inch thick
-take your natural ingredients and arrange them onto the clay, texture side down
-carefully roll them into the clay
-when all of the ingredients are equally rolled into clay, carefully remove them
-place 4 paint sticks into the clay to create a border for your piece and act as a barrier for the plaster
-pour some plaster into the bucket; you will need enough to cover your entire piece, so mix more than you need
-add water and slowly stir with a paint stick. this is good to do outside so you don't directly inhale the plaster (or, you may wear a mask)
-add more water until your mixture is the consistency of pancake batter
-let sit for 30 seconds to a minute; it will begin to feel warm
-pour half of the plaster into your mold
-gently place a screen that is cut to the size of your mold on top of the first layer of plaster and tap into plaster with a paint stick.  this helps to get air bubbles out
-pour your second half of plaster and tap again
-let rest and dry for about 30-45 minutes. you want your plaster to feel cool to the touch, so if it is still feeling warm, let rest for 15 minutes longer. (this step may take longer depending on the humidity in the air).
-finally, flip your piece over. I like to use another board to remove the mold
-you now want to let dry out for several days. the water in the plaster will very gradually evaporate and your plaster piece will harden.
-you then may paint it, or leave as is!
 

photographs by rinne allen and words by kristen bach

endless rain

photograph by rebecca wood

soft fall

we don't have so many maples and hickories like up north, so our fall is often more subdued, but no less gorgeous. check out these amazing color palettes! thrilling subtlety.

words and photographs by rebecca wood

echinacea

photograph by rinne allen

your habitat

do you walk? walking's a great way to study your own personal habitat up close. whether in a city, neighborhood or country. it's a good exercise to turn off your phone and just walk and observe the details of beauty all around you. even in the city, you will find beauty here and there as you look for it.

if you are really lucky, you may catch some beautiful, transient sight that no one else might notice or see. it is there, waiting for you…at the end of a gully washer, i went for my typical walk around my neighborhood. no one was out, so i got to enjoy the beauty of these puddles and freshly fallen leaves all to myself.

photographs and words by rebecca wood

fuyu

photograph by rinne allen

seed pods

about a month ago, i snipped this beautiful branch from a golden rain tree in my yard. the pink seed pods are beautiful, even after a month of drying out. helps bring a bit of warmth into this dreary november weather. 

photograph and words by kristin karch

coleus

photograph by rinne allen

hugh's persimmon pop-tarts

Across Georgia this time of year there are persimmon trees everywhere, in full fruit. Their branches literally reach the ground they are so laden. While you most commonly see the native persimmon, you also see a variety of Asian persimmon, ‘Fuyu’, in gardens. A more robust, showy persimmon, the ‘Fuyu’ is a gorgeous specimen. A few years ago, we planted one in our backyard, inspired by a neighbor’s tree down the street. Now the tree yields more fruit than we alone can eat, and so we share it with friends. One of those friends is chef Hugh Acheson, with whom I collaborate regularly, who here shares a persimmon recipe from our recent book, The Broad Fork.

Persimmon Pop-Tarts

Recipe by Hugh Acheson

I never had Pop-Tarts growing up. I still to this day have never eaten a Pop-Tart, except ones I have made myself. So this may or may not be Pop-Tart-like. All I really know is it’s good. 

Makes 4 pop tarts

For the filling: 

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

2 cups finely diced persimmons

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1⁄2 teaspoon pink peppercorns

1⁄4 teaspoon ascorbic or citric acid powder, or 1⁄2 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

For the dough:

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup cold unsalted butter, cubed

2 large eggs

2 tablespoons whole milk

Prepare the filling: 

In a small sauté pan over medium heat, melt the butter until it bubbles and froths and then add the diced persimmons. Continue cooking for about 15 minutes, until the fruit is soft and jamlike. Add the sugar, vinegar, peppercorns, and ascorbic acid, and cook until the filling is almost dry, 2 to 3 more minutes. Remove from the heat and transfer to the refrigerator to chill while you make the dough.

While the filling is chilling, make the dough: 

Combine the flour, sugar, and the salt in a mixing bowl. Cut in the remaining cup of cold butter until the mixture resembles coarse sand. In a small bowl, whisk together 1 egg and the milk. Add this to the flour mixture, and stir until thoroughly combined. Shape the dough into a disk, wrap it in plastic wrap, and chill it in the refrigerator for 1 hour, at least. On a floured surface, roll out the dough with a rolling pin to form a 1⁄4-inch-thick rectangle, continuously dusting the bottom and top of the dough to ensure it doesn’t stick. Cut out 4 rectangles, each roughly 4 x 6 inches. Spoon the filling evenly onto the rectangles, keeping it off-center towards the right side, leaving enough room for the dough to be folded over. Whisk the remaining egg, and lightly brush the right side of the dough with some of this egg wash (reserve the remainder). Fold the left side of the dough over the right, and using a floured fork, crimp the edges to seal them. Make sure that there are no air pockets inside each tart. Place the tarts on a baking sheet and chill in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 325°F. Brush the top of the tarts with the remaining egg wash, and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

recipe by hugh acheson, photographs by rinne allen

zinnia

photograph by rinne allen

elbert county fair

we made our (almost) annual trip to the elbert county fair a few weeks ago...held for over 80 years, this fair seems to set the whirlwind of fall in motion, literally and figuratively...and, there is something about the bright lights and neon colors at fairs that will always bring a smile to my face.

words and photographs by rinne allen

cotton

photograph by rinne allen

3 porch flower social

our friends mandy and steve invited a great group out to their farm last week, to help harvest the last of their flowers before the first frost arrives...

they had set up little work stations for each of us to do some flower arranging, on old bee boxes...buckets of flowers lined the greenhouse that we used as our work area, with more flowers spilling in from outside...

some of our favorite folks came along too: ginny branch, megan fowler of brown parcel press, and susan hable from hable construction. and to make the day even better, it was rebecca's birthday...a great way to spend the day...surrounded by friends, flowers, and creativity!

we all brought vases from our collections to use:

rebecca takes pictures inside the dogtrot:

mandy and steve arrange side by side...

the light inside the greenhouse was a amazing, and rebecca and mandy had also set up different backdrops around the property: a dark one, a blue one, a white one, one with pattern...plus there was a ton of texture from the barn and outbuildings themselves...

afterwards, we shared a great potluck meal and visited as we lunched...it was a great day!

thanks, too, to our friends at Terrain, for writing a little bit about this party in their bulletin!

words and photographs by rinne allen

sun spot shack

photograph by rebecca wood

artist studio: jill biskin

this time last year, i visited the studio of athens-based artist jill biskin on assignment for a magazine article about her work. 

biskin's studio is behind her home, in a separate building that she built a few years ago and designed especially for the work she does. biskin paints for herself and others, and specializes in murals and faux painting, and, in her personal work, egg tempera. i loved seeing all of her old world tools and learning more about her techniques…while i was there, she burnished some silver leaf on a panel that she was preparing. she also rolled out some of her larger canvases, that she has painted over the years for different theatrical productions, many of them from when she worked for years as a scenic painter for the metropolitan opera in new york. 

nowadays, biskin often collaborates with interior designers based in a atlanta and elsewhere on interior spaces that utilize her unique techniques, and she continues to work on her own work as well. jill is another example of the wide range of artists that choose to call athens home.

photographs and words by rinne allen

moonflower vignette

photograph by rinne allen

fall minimalism

we will be sharing more images later in the week from the flower social, held last week at 3 porch farm, but for today, here is a minimalist arrangement form the day…using gathered ingredients…

photographs and words by rinne allen