About Tricia

I am Tricia. Momma of nine, homeschooler, artist, foodie and maker of all kinds of things. It's a pleasure to share here our family homesteading adventures, the things we make, and what inspires our days. Read more about my family and work here. Thanks for visiting!

Author Archive | Tricia

Stash Bash

By on March 8, 2012 in crochet, Stash Bash

I’ve never met a crafter without a stash of some kind. This year my goal is to use up all the craft supplies I have spent money on that are taking up mental and physical space in my life.  Join me here every Thursday for a Stash Bash. 

Every since Poppa has been here (unemployed with income) since December, it is really hard to get any projects done.  We have such a huge list of things that needed to get fixed around here and projects that have been waiting for someday to come.  Well, someday is here.  We are now in the middle of a complete remodel of the kitchen, yesterday we began the building of the girls new bedroom furniture, the rearranging of the boys loft and outside we have been pressure cleaning our half mile long drive way, cleaning up the farm and soon we will be putting in a deck behind our house which we have been waiting to do since we came here 5 years ago.

I am taking pictures of the fun remodeling stuff but none of it comes from my stash so…one night I woke up thinking that I wanted to make a purse.  I don’t particularly need one but I guess I was itching to crochet something.  I can’t even remember the last time I crocheted and it felt good.

This is the purse I am making


This is how far I have gotten on it,  the bottom is not coming out square so it will be a little different on the bottom but the top will be the same.



charcoal grey seems to be my color since this past year, all of my house, there are towels and furniture which have gone grey.

in case you missed it, do you see what I am using for a stitch marker?  I know I have a whole package of stitch markers but I am sure that they seemed like something useful to one of my little sprouts so in order to keep with my stash bashing resolution of staying out of the craft store, I used a bobby pin.  It worked just fine.


I am thinking a big pale yellow button would finish it off nicely and I will be lining it with some gray and yellow fabric.  

So what did you get done this week, I can’t wait to see!   I love every one of your projects and hopefully you will join me this week.  Thanks for stopping by this weeks Stash Bash. Below is the linky list for you to add your project. 


Here’s what to do. There are no rules. 
Just use what you have and try to not buy new supplies, unless you need it to complete a project that you are making from stuff you already have in your stash. 
Take a picture of your project or progress and blog about it or post a picture to flickr.
Then come back here on Thursdays and post a link to your post.
Don’t forget to link back to the Stash Bash so others can find us and get encouraged too.
Fair enough?     

P.S.  Its so nice to hear from other stash bashers so if you visit some of the links don’t forget to leave them a quick little comment.


Oh, P.S.  Tomorrow I will be starting the Friday Meatless Meal Share (haven’t finalized the name of the theme yet, any ideas?)  I would love it if you would join me.  Just make your favorite or even a new meatless meal, post it to your blog or take a picture and post to Flickr and then link up tomorrow at the end of my meatless friday post.  Hope to see you tomorrow for a delicious vegetarian meal.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or follow me by email at the top right hand of the screen to have future posts sent to you. Tricia (Crunchy Catholic Momma)

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Strawberry season – Balsamic strawberry jam

By on March 6, 2012 in Preserves, Recipes

I am lucky enough to live in a town full of farms.  Farms where you can find free range eggs, chicken and beef, scores of different types of veggies, corn fields, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries, orange and citrus groves and strawberries.  Right now we are in the middle of strawberry season so I will be slowly making enough strawberry jam to last until next season.    I have posted before about how to make strawberry jam, today I am sharing MY favorite.  I few years ago I saw a dessert of strawberry and balsamic vinegar and knew that the French often add wine to their strawberry jam to make the taste pop so I tried it with balsamic vinegar and I loved it.

This weekend I got a half a flat of local organically grown strawberries and popped them in the fridge to use on baking day.  My back was killing me so I got no baking done but I did put up 14 half pints of yummy jam. You don’t taste the vinegar but to me it deepens the flavor of the strawberries and is amazing on whatever you want to put it on.

Something I have wanted to share.  I have noticed that when some people are cutting their berries for jam, they just slice off the top part completely.

I don’t.  Why? You see that white part which most people cut off, it contains some pectin.

Pectin is what helps jam to set so I want to leave that in.  I just pull off the green leafy part, then with a little knife I cut the stem out.
Chop it up and throw your berries in a bowl.
I ended up with 16 cups of berries (you need to measure how many cups of strawberries you have)
the dark stuff you see in this picture is the balsamic vinegar I just put it in the pot along with the berries and sugar.
This is one of my favorite little vintage jam jars.  I don’t know why but I think its so cute and since I had more jam but not enough to fill one last half pint jar, I pulled it out of the cupboard and sterilized it too
This jam has a more grown up taste but my kids still adore it.
Balsamic strawberry jam
4 cups chopped strawberries
2 cups turbinado sugar (white sugar would work too)
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Put the strawberries, sugar and balsamic vinegar into a pot and cook on medium high.  Mash the berries a little to get the juice out.  Once it is boiling, lower to medium and let cook for about 25-30 minutes until it passes the freezing plate test (drop a little bit on a plate you had in the freezer and if it does not drip and gels up you are done).  Scoop off the foamy stuff at the top and ladle your jam into sterilized jars.  Process in whichever way you use to can preserves.  If you go to the link above to my Nilla Strawberry jam, the instructions to simple water bath canning are included.



If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or follow me by email at the top right hand of the screen to have future posts sent to you. Tricia (Crunchy Catholic Momma)

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