My VINTAGE AIRSTREAM TRAILER

An Airstream

was listed on Craig's list years and years ago.  I just happened to see the add and called.  It was still available for sale ( it was long before they became so popular) so I loaded up the old Burbanitor with supplies for a few days and made the long, one way trip to pick it up.  I had been looking for one......to have at the farm.  My kids would spend the summers in it, giving them a place to sleep instead of on the hard, cement floor of the living room in our little one bedroom house.

I have fond memories of  silver sided classic Airstream's.  As a kid there was one abandoned near the old turkey sheds that were on the outskirts of town.  We farmed the land all around it and oft times my younger sister and I would go inside on hot sunny afternoons to escape the blistering sun while we waited to change the water in the fields. 

I can still smell the mice and rodents that occupied it, but it offered shelter on a hot day so we didn't mind too much.  

WELCOME TO MY CLASSIC VINTAGE AIRSTREAM

furnished with odd bits and treasures

 gathered over the years

a heavy, solid, ceramic vintage owl lamp serves as a door stop

 COME ON IN.........

  To the right is a comfy chair 

old table cloths and vintage curtains wrap around covering the windows

on the far side of the bed

a small magazine rack covered with an old velvet skirt sits between the bed and the couch

I purchased this vintage lamp for just a couple of dollars at a thrift store years ago

the old couch is covered with a blanket and a beautiful, fringed, tapestry

a small black fridge sits atop of an antique drop leaf table

just lift up the side for a place to eat

the kitchen is to the left

it has orange counter tops

down the hallway, behind the chair, to your left is a couch that makes into a bed 

the old bathroom needs to be remodeled

it is not in working order, for now we just use the 

"outdoor bathroom"

GLAMPING/ OUTDOOR BATH

A cozy place to stay when working on my little organic vegetable farm.


Click here to see my little 1960
Vintage Camp Trailer

Cheery Geraniums on a sunny windowsill

With winter on it's way, I have removed some of the Geraniums from the garden and into the dinning room placing them under a sunny window.

This little wooden drawer filled with bright flowers will bring a breath of summer into my sewing room as I work on projects all winter long.

I keep busy all winter (when I can't be outside playing in the dirt)

making my gypsy bags, recycled clothing,

and of course drawing and oil painting.

click here for a peek at what I am up to

gypsybags-n-rags.blogspot.com

You can find my clothing, bags and other vintage treasures at

GYPSY MAMA'S

located on Hwy 40

 Fort Duchesne, Utah

Green Tomato Jam

Gather the green tomatoes before they begin to ripen.  You want to use firm tomatoes for this recipe.  

 Remove stems, cut in half and remove core from each half.  Cut into quarters and chop fine in a food processor.  Pour into a large colander and let drain until all moisture is removed. 

My friend and neighbor down at the end of the road gave me this recipe.  I made a few adjustments, using 10 cups of tomatoes and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice in each batch.  Process in a hot water bath according to the altitude recommendations of your area.  Do you have a favorite recipe using green tomatoes?  Please share it in the comment section.

OVEN DRIED TOMATOES
Here you will find a recipe for using up all those ripe tomatoes.
I pack them in small containers and store in the freezer.
Thaw and use as needed for soups, sauces, on crusty bread, or whenever sun dried tomatoes are called for in recipes.  Make them to give as Christmas Gifts to friends and neighbors.

Tomato Harvest

It's a busy time of year.  Bringing in the harvest before the frost.  This year I planted all my tomatoes in Roosevelt.  My growing season at the farm in Beryl is just not long enough to get  tomatoes to ripen, (I have to plant them in the green house to get a crop) and with an extra 2-3 months growing season here in Roosevelt I have split my crops between the two places.  Cold crops in Beryl and tender/warm crops in Roosevelt.  However next year, I will plant all my early, prolific, summer squash in Beryl.  The squash bugs here in Roosevelt destroyed my whole crop!  I have never had squash bugs in Beryl, I think I just live so far out in the middle of nowhere they have never been able to find me!

Pulled out the tomato plants by the roots and hung them in the wood shed.

3 or 4 plants are gathered together and hung in a bundle from the rafters of the wood shed

This will protect them from frost and allows the tomatoes to continue ripening on the vines.

Check daily they seem to ripen faster this way. 

I harvested boxes and boxes of green tomatoes off the vines left in the gardens and will be making

Pickled Dill Tomatoes

and Green Tomato Jam

the next few days.

What is your favorite way to use green tomatoes?

WATERMELON RADISHES

Harvested the last of the radish crop this morning.

The Watermelon Radish is one of my favorite radishes to grow.  It produces large radishes if left in the garden until fall.  I plant them in the early spring and begin harvesting in the summer as soon as they reach 1 inch in diameter. They do not become woody or pithy like other radishes.  They are a bit milder than traditional radishes, and the flamboyant color makes them great appetizers,  Slice thinly and top with a dab of cream cheese sprinkled with course sea salt and minced chives.

This radish measured 14 and 1/2 inches in diameter,

about the size of a softball.

A vintage milk glass tea cup placed on the radish helps give you

 an idea of how large these radishes can grow.

Think I'll run back out to the garden, pick some arugula, slather butter on  thin slices of home-made wheat bread, and have a radish sandwich for lunch.

YUMM!

On our Way to the ART FESTIVAL

We loaded up all my art supplies and enough provisions for a couple of weeks. Got up early (as usual) and left at 4:00 a.m. the following morning.

Arrived at the camp grounds late in the afternoon.

Made a lot of stops taking pictures of the beautiful scenery (prior post).

Thankfully there was a camping spot available and my husband

skillfully back "Rosie"into the tiny spot.

Camped by the beautiful Wide Hollow Reservoir

just west of Escalante in the Petrified Forest State Park.
Hundreds of Canadian Geese, spending a few days resting on the pond, serenaded us every night.

Early every morning as I headed out to paint, I had to wait for the wild Turkeys

 to decide which side of the road they wanted to eat from. 

 It reminded me of one of my favorite childhood story books,

"Make way for Ducklings"

A quaint little rock shop along side the road

One day as I was out painting, I discovered a Bear near the campsite

and if one bear isn't enough, I found this one just a short distance from the first,

ironically they are in the same group of rocks!

(look closely, can you find them?)

Painting from morning til dark in the beautiful outdoors, surrounded by some of the most breathtaking scenery on earth.  Conversations with like minded, artistic, eccentric, people and making great friends  (Linda, Lois, Penny, Peggy, Marsha, and Blaine) made for a wonderful week.

The forest service provided many informative discussions and presentations.

I observed demonstrations by renowned Plein Air painters; Brad Holt, Doug Braithwaite,

 and Valerie Orelman.

I bought a book by Edward Abbey

"Desert Solitude" 

at the gift store in the Visitors Center (my dog-eared copy is currently sitting boxed away in a storage unit).  I first read this book years ago as a young girl just out of high school.  I related with the wandering spirit, living in the wild outdoors, and desire of solitude. 

 Kept this book close at hand along with my

 John James Audubon writings and bird books, and the works of  Thoreau.

 I learned so much over the week, generally I have been a studio painter and painting in the great outdoors is different.  The play of light on surfaces is so fleeting, the colors changing right before your eyes, the sun intensifying every hue, and the silence, the silence is full of life, color, beauty and wonder. 

 This experience has opened the door, to the great outdoors, and a new adventure in painting.

  I have a lot of practicing to do, and new techniques to learn, apply, and hopefully master. 

I can hardly wait for next years Festival!

Fall Leaves and Wildflowers

To paraphrase the poet Robert Frost,

"I took the road less traveled by and that has made all the difference....."

The leaves were just beginning to change as I made my way over the mountains of Southern Utah on my way to the Plein Air Escalante Canyon Arts Festival.

I took a few photos through the windshield as we drove through the soft rain.

On the scenic route of Highway 12

we drove through a portion of Bryce Canyon National Park.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. 

                                                     ROBERT FROST