Early Dividend Broccoli

Today I got to harvest the first florets from our broccoli plants. They’ve been growing since late August, maybe early September. And they have gotten to be absolutely humongous. I’ve never grown broccoli before, but I didn’t do anything special, except to put them into my favorite Lucky Frog soil. I bought Early Dividend starters at our local organic plants store and I’ve been so happy with these beautiful plants. One of the best things about them is that after the main head is harvested big side flowers will form. Keeping you in broccoli for weeks and weeks. I took some pictures of the raised bed so you can see how big they’ve gotten, next to them I’ve planted garlic, which will be covered with a thick layer of hay by the end of the weekend to protect the bulbs from frost.

Carrot Harvest

I was so excited to harvest my carrots last week. They’ve been growing in our raised garden bed since August,  the tops of the carrots measured more then 2.5 inches across. So I figured they would be huge. I was picturing them at least 10 inches long. So I gripped the super long greens, and pulled with all my might, and almost fell on my but. Out popped beautiful carrots that maxed out at 5 inches long! I felt sooo ridiculous! But once I baked and roasted them, oh my goodness. The flavor was increadable so intensely sweet, and more carrot flavor then I have ever tasted. I can’t wait to try again next year. And the greens made a beautiful arrangement for Thanksgiving.

Holiday Spirit

 

In keeping with the spirit of giving this holiday season, One Loom Studio will donate 10% of every purchase made between November 28 and December 20 to Unicef in an effort to end the famine in Somalia. In addition, you will receive a special card thanking you for your donation.

Happy Holidays from One Loom Studio.

Charlotte Home A Rama Post 6: The Oldfield House By New Old Homes & Design

The beautiful facade was highlighted with window boxes.

The warmest and most unusual of all the houses at this years Home A Rama was The Oldfield House. the layout was much more modern in feel, with less unused space, and more common areas for family to interact. A wonderful design element found within the home, was reused barn wood that framed the large living room space, and was also picked up in the rustic kitchen stools. This house was by far my personal favorite, and had the most in depth interior decoration, thanks to the wonderful shop Nest Furnishing.

American Farmhouse: SQ Feet 3,612
Builder: New Old Homes & Design
Interior Design: Mary Ludemann / Nest Furnishings
Home Design: Robert T. Foster Design Studio
Landscape Design M2 Planning & Design

Beautiful seasonal flowers and creative landscaping made this house a standout.

Rustic and earthy dining room ready for Thanksgiving Dinner.

The large sideboard in the dining room.

The living room and dining room and open to each other.

The living room is rustic with lots of textures and colors.

Large bright rustic kitchen.

I love the extra storage at the end of the island and at the tops of the cabinets.

What an amazing spot for breakfast!

The morning room is right off of the kitchen and looks like a wonderful place to read a book!

There are two of these desks on either side of the hallway, making for a wonderful work area!

I love the use of this small hallway as a work space!

This awesome family room is off the kitchen, but well away from the bedrooms so you wont wake any one up when you decide to watch a movie in the middle of the night.

The screened in porch is really large and pretty.

I really love the industrial lights that can be found throughout the house.

Upstairs Landing

The upstairs landing had storage and opened up to the laundry room and bedrooms.

Prettiest laundry room ever.

The boys room had a wonderful fishing theme, with industrial lights and fishing rod curtain rails.

Beautiful ocean themed guest bedroom.

This is the girls bedroom, and it is one of the sweetest rooms I have been in, in a very long time.

The master bedroom continued the ocean theme.

The most beautiful room in the house was this amazing symmetrical bathroom, with claw foot tub and large white shower.