My daughter, who is five now, has been interested lately in helping me in the workshop. This is good because it means I can spend time woodworking without abandoning her all Sunday afternoon, but it also limits the complexity of my work, because a woodworking shop is, obviously, no place for an unattended child. I’ve [...]

When I was in high school (warning: long back story follows; actual upholstery project after the jump) my grandmother gave me an old wingback chair she no longer had room for in her apartment. It had a hideous circa-1960 red and orange floral pattern, but it was a great chair for reading. I took it [...]

This year (2002) we went a little crazy with the canning. Ok, I went a little crazy with the canning. This photo was taken in late October. The inventory includes (in roughly chronological order) strawberry-honey jam, blackberry jam, pickled beets, pie cherries, blueberries, dilled green beans, peach-honey jam, yellow tomato marmalade, catsup, tomato purée (red [...]

In the Chinese Calendar, the New Year, which arrives four to eight weeks after the winter solstice, marks the beginning of spring. (That’s late January to mid Feburary for you Westerners.) That makes sense to us, because in North Carolina, it’s time to plant potatoes, lettuce, greens, onions, peas, and cabbages and their kin. We [...]