~At Home with Doreen Frost~: LIFE ~ and all its happenings

Tuesday, July 22, 2025

LIFE ~ and all its happenings

It is a gorgeous morning here in Vermont. The sun is shining, the dew heavy, the temperature a lovely 64 degrees and the air is crisp. Our Summer thus far has been HOT and RAIN SOAKED. As a result, our world is quite green though the heat has been so intense that the ground quickly dries out....Odd to be sure. As with everyone else in the country ~ our weather is changing.

Goode morning friends. HOW ARE YOU? I have missed visiting with all of you!! I have several reasons for coming back to this blog but one of the top reasons is.... after six lovely years of publishing the gazette, it will be ending with the December 2025 issue. SO this blog will be a way for me to still stay in touch and be social with all of you... NOW....My main reason for ending the gazette is that....in December I will be taking care of our new grandson!!

THEREFORE...come December 2025, I will officially be semi-retired as I will be watching the new wee one at least four days a week.

How gorgeous is our girl ~ she has had that pregnancy GLOW her entire pregnancy and, after NINE years of trying to conceive (Docters, test after test, IVF failures...etc. etc.)..SHE HAS EARNED THE GLOW! She is due in August so we will be meeting this precious little one soon!! Mark and I feel like kids anticipating Christmas as that has been our level of excitement!!

I WILL STILL BE CREATING...on a part time basis of course.... I have spent the last several months carefully planning, figuring out and slowing making decisions as to where to put my focus. I need to create things that are easily planned and that are also portable. For me my BEARS are at the top of that list. I absolutely LOVE making them...they bring me such joy, I feel very confident in making them (especially now that I have made enough in a short time to feel like I am really starting to master them). There isn't a ton of color planning, etc., and they are easy to take with me and work on while the baby naps. I also have something else I am going to start concentrating on which I will share more about in my next post... AND.......I am sure I will still dabble from time to time as that is just how this ADHD brain of mine works (more on this later).

(previous photo....July 17, 2025, Jen, Ben, Jack and BABY Lukacs)

(Photo to the left June 1, 2025, Jen's baby shower :). Ben, Jen, baby Lukacs, Me and Mark.)

LIFE IS GOOD.

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AS I MENTIONED....BEARS are on my Makers LIST...and here are two of my latest. :) They are bigger than I have made in the past. Just a bit taller but their heads and bodies are larger, and they are heftier.

Each one is stuffed with Excelsior (wood wool), wool roving and glass beads. They are hand-dyed, plucked, aged and sanded. They have black, glass, shoe button eyes, tiny red wool hearts and waxed and stitched noses. THEY ALSO HAVE THE SWEETEST PERSONALITIES...it always amazes me how expressive these little creations can be. ANYWAY...Each one has its own wood and paper covered hangtag, made from aged antique images and text. The tags hand from antique ivory satin ribbon.

Each bear sits atop a wooden shaker style box that I have covered in the same antique, and aged paper. Avery's box is oval & Bella's is round.

AVERY has sold ~ Bella is still available. Email me if you are interested in purchasing; Doreen@vermontharvestfolkart.com.

That is all for today my friends ~ until next time, be well. Doreen

2 comments:

Kathy BJuly 22, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Congratulations! This is exciting news. Blessings to you and your family!
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~Me~ Just in case you wanted to put a face with the name :)

I am a mom (of two amazing kids and two precious fur kids), A MIMI (to the most precious little man on the planet) a wife (to a very sweet man who LOVES to play practical jokes..often to my dismay)...Avid Baker, cook, gardener, Artist, rug hooker, punch needler, wool dyer and dabbler (in many different mediums). I also write short stories when they pop into my head :). I believe kindness matters, life is short and in minding one's business. Winter is my FAVORITE season, Christmas is magical and the world has so much more to offer, if we let it :).

~Sourdough Resources~ June 2020

I am SO happy to hear you are interested in joining me on this wonderful Sourdough Bread Baking Journey. There are lots of great websites, blogs, YouTube channels, tutorials and COOKBOOKS out there covering the subject of sourdough. It has grown tremendously in popularity, over the last few months, due to the quarantine which I think is wonderful. I have found this sourdough journey of mine very distracting in such a wonderful way. I am a home body anyway ~ so I guess you might say I had a leg up when it came to staying home and staying safe ~ however, it still had its challenges, changes, hardships and things to figure out. Sourdough gave me a busy and comforting distraction to focus on and truly ~ it helped me settle into all of this. I credit my wool applique to part of this as well and am quite sure it was an equal combination of the two. Baking & stitching = peace of mind in my opinion.

You will want to sift through all the info out there and find what clicks for you however, I will share with you the things (websites, blogs, Instagram and cookbooks) that worked for me and helped to finally, make this sourdough journey work for me. **Of note..I will be posting my journey with tips, tricks and notes on exactly what I did soon** In the meantime, these links are where I started. :)

I believe my success was a combination of all of the links below however, if I had to choose a starting place, to suggest to someone just getting into the "business of sourdough," it would be the wonderful cookbook I've listed below.

Here's my list;

COOKBOOK; Artisan Bread Made Simple by Emilie Raff ~ oh this book is gorgeous. The hard copies are currently sold out right now which is completely understandable, considering how amazing it is (OH THE RECIPES and gorgeous photo's in this book). HOWEVER, you can purchase the digital version, which is what I did, via iBook's, Kindle, etc. :). You can also find Emilie's recipes on her website; The Clever Carrot.https://www.theclevercarrot.com/cookbooks/

ONLINE CLASS ~ Gartar Stitch Farm. This is what got me started on this journey, once again, so it was a huge help in my success. Kat's very laid back so her approach is great. She has an online class that you can pay for or you can follow her instagram and follow along with her free "recipe stories"
https://garturstitchfarmshop.com/collections/shop-1-online-courses/products/everyday-sourghdough-the-online-course-level-one

https://www.instagram.com/katgoldin/?hl=en

SOURDOUGH UNIVERSITY ~ This is tremendously helpful in many ways. Mike is funny and down to earth and breaks things down in a real and manageable way. He also gives fantastic sample schedules for making a loaf of bread which was a huge plus and SO HELFUL. He is also great in helping to figure out all of the math and science behind sourdough. There is a rhythm and timing to this life being called sourdough starter and though it is not difficult, like anything else, there are do's and don'ts and keys to success. https://sourdough-u.teachable.com/

KING ARTHUR FLOUR ~ Sourdough Baking, The Complete Guide. KAF is #1 is all things flour and their starter recipes, schedule and recipes are fantastic!!! You can't go wrong! https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/guides/sourdough

WEBSITES; These are my two of my favorites;

AMY DUSKA OF Little Spoon Farm ~ Another wonderful starter tutorial, schedule and recipes. Amy would be my 2nd choice for a beginner :).https://littlespoonfarm.com/

MOLLY SHEPARD of withmolly.com. Another person that breaks things down simply with an easy to follow tutorial and great recipes..including discard recipes which I find essential as I do not care to throw away my discard after feeding my starter. :). https://withmolly.com/tag/bread-basics/

FOOD52 ~ Like KAF, you can not go wrong with Food52!!! I've not gone through their sourdough tutorial but it comes with a great recommendation from Dianne Yvon :). https://withmolly.com/tag/bread-basics/

I believe that is everything. I hope you'll join in on this fun journey ~ you will LOVE it. Keep me posted and share your journey.

Hugs, Doreen

My Favorite Gingerbread Cookies

**For the holidays, I like to roll these out and cut them with festive cookie cutters. For everyday use ;)..I simply roll the dough into balls, then roll the balls in sugar and bake**
INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup Shortening or Butter (I use butter)
1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Molasses
1/4 cup fresh brewed coffee (can use water if you do not have any coffee on hand)
2 1/2 cups Flour
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
1/4 tsp. Nutmeg
3/4 tsp. Salt
3/4 tsp. Ginger
1/8 tsp. Allspice

Preheat oven to 375* Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the coffee and molasses and mix until well combined. Mix the remaining ingredients and whisk to combine. Stir into wet ingredients. **DO NOT OVER- MIX them once you've added the flour** as it will make the cookies tough. Now..you can simply roll the dough into small balls, roll them in sugar, place on ungreased cookie sheet (I use a baking stone) and bake for 10-12 minutes. OR... Roll out mixture onto a floured board to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut with desired cookie cutter, place on ungreased cookie sheet (or baking stone) and bake for 10-12 minutes until a light golden color (be careful not to over bake). Immediately remove from oven onto a cooling rack. Cool completely. ~Orange Maple Glaze~ In a small bowl stir together 3/4 cup powdered sugar, 1 TBL softened butter, 1 TBL orange juice & 1 TBL maple syrup. Drizzle cooled cookies with glaze and enjoy..YUM