{From Scratch Club Guest Post} Found Kitchen Chalkboard

Those of you following this blog for a while may know that I am a blog contributor over at the amazing and wonderful From Scratch Club blog on a monthly basis. 

Here is a little excerpt from FSC's about page to give you some insight into what the FSC is all about:

"WE ARE {MAKING} FOOD MATTER, TOGETHER

We live within the Capital Region of New York State (Albany, Troy, Schenectady, Saratoga Springs) striving for a sustained connection to our kitchens, our gardens and our communities by inspiring people to jump back into the kitchen, their gardens and food communities as a daily way of life regardless of income, space & time. We host community food swaps, a podcast on iTunes, virtual food-focused book club on Goodreads and lastly, we teach DIY classes around the area. The rest of the month we are here, on the blog, sharing stories, recipes, DIY projects, homesteading tutorials, kitchen tips & tricks and food policy news."

I have been dubbed the FSC Crafter and on a monthly basis I post a crafting project for all of the FSC members and readers to recreate. I try to maintain a utilitarian focus when it comes to the craft projects that I choose to write about, as the men and women of the FSC really like to get stuff done!

This month's post was a project where I showed the readers how to re-purpose an unloved mirror or picture frame and turn it into a chalkboard for the Kitchen. I use my mainly for menu planning! 

Scoot on over to the FSC blog for the complete post and instructions!

My past posts have included:

• Crocheted Face Cloths
• Thrifted Silverware Garden Markers
• A Mug Rug
• Embroidered Jar Lids

I hope you check out my posts over at the FSC Blog and also take a look at the recipes and projects blogged about by other FSC Contributors. The website is a wealth of knowledge! 

HOLLER!

{From Scratch Club Guest Post} Crocheted Face Cloths

Those of you following this blog for a while may know that I am a blog contributor over at the amazing and wonderful From Scratch Club blog on a monthly basis. 

Here is a little excerpt from FSC's about page to give you some insight into what the FSC is all about:

"WE ARE {MAKING} FOOD MATTER, TOGETHER

We live within the Capital Region of New York State (Albany, Troy, Schenectady, Saratoga Springs) striving for a sustained connection to our kitchens, our gardens and our communities by inspiring people to jump back into the kitchen, their gardens and food communities as a daily way of life regardless of income, space & time. We host community food swaps, a podcast on iTunes, virtual food-focused book club on Goodreads and lastly, we teach DIY classes around the area. The rest of the month we are here, on the blog, sharing stories, recipes, DIY projects, homesteading tutorials, kitchen tips & tricks and food policy news."

I have been dubbed the FSC Crafter and on a monthly basis I post a crafting project for all of the FSC members and readers to recreate. I try to maintain a utilitarian focus when it comes to the craft projects that I choose to write about, as the men and women of the FSC really like to get stuff done!

My post for September was instructions for your very own set of Crocheted Face Cloths!

My past posts have included:

• Thrifted Silverware Garden Markers
• A Mug Rug
• Embroidered Jar Lids

I hope you check out my posts over at the FSC Blog and also take a look at the recipes and projects blogged about by other FSC Contributors. The website is a wealth of knowledge! 

HOLLER!

{From Scratch Club} Embroidered Jar Lids

Hiii! 

As you know, I am a new contributor to the From Scratch Club blog. My craft post this month was a pattern for Embroidered Jar Lids for mason jar gifting. Check it out!!

HOLLER!

{From Scratch Club} Food Swap Recap!

I just got back from another successful and amazing Food Swap hosted by the lovely ladies at the From Scratch Club. It was really great seeing some familiar faces from the previous swap like Deanna of Silly Goose Farms blog.

There were really and truly so many great items to swap for tonight. There were farm fresh eggs, curried lentil soup, yogurt, granola, jams and jellies of all kinds, and so many other homemade goodies it was hard to recount. It is just too bad that I only brought 12 items to swap, because I REALLY wanted those eggs, but sadly, the egg-woman did not want to swap for my caramels.

I will share with you everything that I swapped for...

 (yogurt with an orange glaze)

I hope you enjoyed the brief recap. I am a bit under the weather and am going to take a double-dose of nyquil and pass out for hopefully a full night sleep. 

HOLLER!

Thanksgiving Tablescapes

Remember that amazing food swap I went to in September? 

Well, the lovely Christina Davis (host of the swap and founder of the From Scratch Club) asked me to be a contributor on their blog, and assume the role of the "Kitchen Crafter. 

Umm...naturally I said yes. 

I will be  posting over there monthly. My November post discussed the topic of Thanksgiving Tablescapes. 

See Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 over at FSC's blog. 

Like I said, my role will be the kitchen crafter, so I provided the readers of the From Scratch Club with three different patterns that I used to make my Thanksgiving Tablescape. I made a few of the items shown in the montages below, as well as shown in the blog posts over at FSC. See the patterns for the Slubby Linen Table Runner, some Simple Linen Napkins, and Framed Scrapbook Paper Art by clicking on the respective link, as they are saved as PDF files. **Note that the files themselves look really crappy, and I have absolutely no idea why they look so crappy after converting to a PDF, when my original pictures were crystal clear, oh well I guess**.

I thought that I'd share my favorite little montages from the series for you:

I hope that you enjoyed the photos, I soooooo love entertaining and playing hostess, and I think that I am becoming pretty good at it by now!

HOLLER!

I am a Food Swapper*

I am sitting here writing this blog post, and I can say with certainty, excitement, and a full stomach that I am now a Food Swapper. 

(Terrible iPhone pic)

During my daily blog stalk, I was pointed towards the From Scratch Club blog. Naturally, I scoured their website and checked out everything they had to offer, and boy did they have a lot!! 

The From Scratch Club is a group of women in the Capital Region, NY where I live. They focus a lot on homesteading and supporting local farms/businesses. They offer various technique classes like curing bacon, making dairy items, and fermenting. They have a book club. They have a blog. They even have a podcast.

What really intrigued me was their focus on the local community. Not to throw a pity party, but I moved to the area mainly for work and my boyfriend at the time (my husband now). I had a pretty great core group of friends that also congregated here after college, but other those and my coworkers/friends in the area, I didn't really know many people. When my Husband and I decided this is where we planned on settling down and finally bought a house last year, I really wanted to become a member of my new community.

When I learned about their Food Swaps, that are actually 3 miles from my house, I knew I had to just try it out. What did I really have to lose? 

I wanted to make something amazing. I chose to make a few batches of my Salted Caramel Bars and several jars of Apple Cider Syrup per Marisa's blog - Food in Jars. 

Pardon all of the terrible iPhone pictures. My real camera was dead, naturally, and I wanted to take pictures of everything before I dug in, which I promptly did.

I got to the swap and was greeted warmly by several of the swap helpers. Swelpers? I first met Chris at the check-in table, and she gave me a great intro. Then Deanna walked me over to a table and helped me set-up. Seriously, they were so nice.

I was a little nervous to participate in the swap. I read through various blog posts about strategy, best practices, do's and don'ts, etc. The truth is... you don't need to know anything to go to this swap. The coordinator of the swap was Chris and she is a great hostess.


After I set up my area, complete with samples (**A MUSTTTTTTT**), I walked around and checked out everyone's display and did a little tasting. I was so impressed with all of the time, effort, and care that others put into their swap display. Some people went all out!! 

 

This is Chris, the woman in charge of it all. She went over some general FSC housekeeping items, discussed upcoming classes, the current book club reading Handmade Pantry, and other items.

I didn't realize how much more this event was than just a Food Swap. We had plenty of time to mingle with other swappers, talk to the FSC contributors like Deanna and Chris as I mentioned, but the club also arranged for two guest speakers. How awesome!?

The first was a representative from the Schenectady Green Market, she gave us some great history on the market as well as its plans for the future. I have only been to the market once, but I really need to get their every Sunday. There is no excuse!! The second guest speaker was Marty Butts from Small Potatoes. They also had several FREE raffles going on, one of which I was a BIG WINNER. I won a 1 hour consultation with Marty. Marty and I hit it off right off the bat, because he is a lover of all things caramel. It was only fitting than I won the giveaway.

I won't go over all of the rules of the swap, as FSC's website goes over it very well. But, I will say, my salted caramels were quite the hit. So much so, that my swap card was totally completely full, and I even had people sign-up on the back of my card. 

Needless to say, I am very happy that everyone liked what I made. I can proudly say that I swapped all 10 bags of Salted Caramel Bars, all 4 jars of Apple Cider Syrup, and I also swapped the remaining samples of the caramels and the opened sampled jar of apple cider syrup. I totally forgot to keep an Apple Cider Syrup for myself. Wooops. I don't even think that my Husband got the chance to try it.  

Anyway, here is my loot! 

 (Orange and Lemon extracts!)

 (Quince Jelly)

I want to thank everyone so much for making my first swap so successful and enjoyable! You were all so great and had amazing products to offer. I particularly loved the two pretzels that I just devoured while writing this post. I wish I had all of your blogs to link to, but sadly I don't. Leave me a comment or shoot me an e-mail.

ALSO ---- In your Salted Caramel Bar packages you should notice two different types of bars. I've made both kinds before.. one is a softer caramel bar and the other is a harder caramel bar. Which one do you like better???? I, personally, like the softer caramel. what did you think my little guinea pigs??

Overall, I am happy with my display. I would like to beef it up a little more, i.e. no Daisy sourcream container for spoons. 
 

 

Everyone should seriously do a food swap. Just do it. 

HOLLER!