Kitties in the Snow

When it REALLY snows here, the poor kitties can't get anywhere until I've shoveled or snow blowed a path for them. Above, Eric wanders down the path to the chicken coop.


Here he attempts to break out of the path - but fails.


So he consoles himself by catching snowflakes with his tongue.

Huckleberry Pie

This pie is a very special treat for my family. I only grow enough garden huckleberries for one or two pies a year. Plus, this pie is very rich so we would get quite fat if we ate it too often.

The huckleberries used in this pie are not the huckleberries commonly found in the Pacific Northwest of the USA, but are a member of the nightshade family and are sometimes sold as garden huckleberries. Yet most garden huckleberry seeds sold seem to produce a fruit that is impossible to eat raw and take a lot of lemon juice to neutralize its alkalinity. The variety I grow came from a friend whose family brought the seeds back from Russia and I believe they are Solanum burbankii, which is also known as Wonderberry. Solanum burbankii produces a fruit that is mild to eat when ripe and cooks up wonderfully into a pie filling that is similar to blueberries.

These garden huckleberries, or Wonderberries, are annuals that reseed very well. The fruit ripens in the late summer and can even stand a very light frost.

Garden Huckleberry Pie Recipe

1 8 oz package cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup cream, whipped
1 graham cracker crust

Cream the cream cheese, powdered
sugar and vanilla together. Fold in
the whipped cream. Spread on the bottom
and the sides of the pie shell.

3 cups huckleberries
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
pinch of salt
1 tblsp lemon juice

Cook the above ingredients over low heat until it
comes to a boil and thickens up. Cool and spread
over the cream cheese layer. Refrigerate.

New Items in 1000 Markets Shop

Today I put quite a few new earrings in my 1000 markets shop:
http://www.1000markets.com/users/twentypoundtabby
including the moon earrings above. 1000 Markets takes Amazon payments, so if you already buy from Amazon, you'll have no trouble making purchases from 1000 Markets.

How I Put Paypal Buttons on my Blog

I've had a few requests for how I learned to put Paypal buttons on my blog. It turns out that it's incredibly easy!
I just followed the instructions in this YouTube video:
Adding Paypal buttons

Selling on Blogger! Orange Red Poppy Flower Earrings

Paypal makes it so easy to sell right off a blog, that I'm going to try it out myself. Here's one of my more popular items - Orange Red Poppy Flower Earrings. This way, if you'd like to buy a pair, but don't want to join Etsy, you can just buy them from here. I've included the shipping in the price.


These dainty, garden inspired earrings remind me of the California Poppies that reseed in my garden, especially the vivid orange red Mikado variety. They are made using glass flower beads that are a mottled Picasso finished orange red with touches of green.


I offer three different ear hooks. One is a nickel free antiqued copper plated lever back and the other two are nickel free pure copper, one large and one small. I make the pure copper hooks myself using 20 gage jewelry grade copper wire and sand the ends down so they are smooth after hardening them.

Until Paypal gives me the option of specifying which country I can ship internationally to, I'll be shipping to USA addresses only.

Orange Red Poppy Flower Earrings
$10.00 Including shipping within the USA

Ear Hook Type

large hook small hook lever back