Canning Summer's Fruit

I am lucky to live near the fruitful Skagit Valley and a group of folks here did a bulk buy of local blueberries and we each got a 10 lb. box delivered to the island! I had been planning for the arrival of my berries for several weeks and looking up recipes for canning them into syrup. J and I love pancakes, waffles, french toast...all things that require delicious fruit and syrup to go on top. All of the syrup recipes I was finding involved straining out the fruit so you were just left with the syrup at the end (read: throw the fruit away) and I really wanted to eat the fruit too, so I was excited when I found this recipe for a low-sugar berry syrup and topping. J was still guiding a trip, so Morgan and Andrew came up to Blue Moon for a night of canning excitement. We had a blast! It might also have something to do with the fact that we watched Dirty Dancing too (that was a first for Andrew).

So how does one can in an Airstream? Well, due to limited stove space, we realized we needed two stoves. So we fired up the coleman two-burner outside and cooked the blueberry glop out there while the canner got hot on the inside stove. Everything worked out surprisingly well - I couldn't have done it without these two!

My accomplices: Morgan - first-time canner, and Andrew: expert canner extraordinaire = supervisor. 

Three butts in the Airstream kitchen (you can't see Andrew's, he is the photographer).

Now Morgan, when I take this lid off it's gonna get real steamy in here - you ready?

Wahoo, we're canning!

Morgan fills up the jars!

Relaxing while the jars process (wine, Dirty Dancing, Patrick Swayze discussion ensues...)

Look at those beauties!

In a sly move, J returned home from guiding the following day, just in time to taste the product (he approved). He did make me pancakes though so I can't really complain :)

The morning after: what a mess! But all worth it for 10 deliciously full jars of blueberry goodness.

Island Summer in an Airstream

The height of the summer season has kept me outdoors, and rightfully so - with over a month of sunny perfect days in a row! J's gone guiding two back-to-back 6-day trips here in the islands, so it's been just me and the girls in Blue Moon for awhile :) But we've been livin' it up! Solar showers everyday (thank you Sun), and tired, happy dogs.

We've been at the beach nearly everyday, and had many awesome evening gatherings with friends. This is the time of year when we exhaust ourselves having too much fun! For the folks who work out here seasonally, like J, you are even more tired from all the work on top of all the play. So not much to report on the trailer living lifestyle this time, except that we've been outside! And when it's all over each day we crawl into our little silver home and crash, just to do it all again the next day :)

Friends at the beach, waiting for Friday Harbor's fireworks to be over so we can watch the real show across the water - Lopez Island Fireworks!

Beach bonfire and BBQ

Our friends take to the log rolling contest at Roche Harbor on the 4th of July

J and Andrew doing their Naturalist thing even on their day off = whales!

Hope you are enjoying your summer, wherever it may be! 

Our Favorite Airstream Things

We're getting settled in Blue Moon! It has been a crazy transition, and not quite as simple as we had hoped, but I suppose moving never is. After a few weeks though, we've finally found a little rhythm to our Airstream life, and all is well. Here's some of our favorite things...

I made raspberry pancakes for Morgan and Kira on the 4th of July (J had to work)! What's more American than pancakes in a good ole' made-in-Ohio Airstream?!

J added a back to our sofa for lounging.

It is pretty much the best thing ever. The breeze comes in through the double-height windows and it gets the perfect mixture of morning sun and afternoon shade. Maggers and I nap regularly there when we are feeling lazy in the afternoons. Ok, well, she naps on the floor.

Maybe our roll-out pantry is actually the best thing ever. It is such a space-saver! I don't know where all of our dry goods would go without it. I like to bake and it's important to have all the supplies stocked and on-hand to make cookies at all times, just in case. So the pantry is very important.

First thing I baked in our oven: cornbread, and it was delicious :)

We're glad we went for the expensive castors under our big rolling drawers. They roll soooo nicely with added weight in them. J put dividers in and they hold all of our clothes pretty well. We packed away some bulkier winter clothes and jackets and put them further back under the bed while summer's here.

The map-covered storage bin gets a lot of use too. Cookbooks, the laptop, ipod and speakers, and things we use on a daily basis tend to live up there. They're easy to grab and easy to get out of the way when you're done with them.

I got this coatrack from Umbra online and we mounted it to the side of the fridge as you come in the door. We realized pretty quickly it was going to be essential to have a place to hang up coats/keys/bags.

First drinks at the bar - mojitos! Thanks to Andrew for saving this barstool from someone's burn pile and giving us a call. It is already getting a lot of use in our tiny home!

Probably our favorite thing about living in the Airstream is how much time we spend outside. There's a peek-a-boo view across the water from our property and we spend a lot of time sitting up there on the mossy knoll.

And watching island sunsets...

Happy Summer!

Our First Week in an Airstream

Whew, what a week it's been! Moving is always a bit of a process, but this move was a whole different kind! The stress and craziness of racing to finish our silver home in time to haul it up the hill (will it make it??) and then trying to downsize all of our stuff to fit in a much smaller home (will it all fit??) -- has made for a pretty overwhelming week. But this morning we seem a little more settled after J made his amazing waffles for breakfast and I brewed our favorite Lucille's tea. I'm hanging out on our newly-finished lounger/sofa, and the puppies are conked out from a large afternoon at the beach yesterday. Finally a moment to take a deep breath and see exactly how I ended up here...

Last week J busted a move and whipped us up a sofa in a couple of evenings before we moved the trailer. It makes a world of difference to have a comfy place to crash and to store a lot of stuff underneath. The sofa looks pretty smart with my mom's fancy cushions she sewed!

Finishing up the platform

Rubbin' counter tops is serious business! I finished off our beach wood counter tops with this awesome beeswax/mineral oil rub that also made my hands feel great. 

A few hours before we moved the trailer we realized we still had to get our mattress onto the bed frame. I did think about this way back when we were designing the trailer and in theory, I knew it should work...

Ta da! It went in without a hitch!

The trailer, however, required a hitch. We owe our friend Jim Lawrence and his big red truck BIG time for hooking up Blue Moon and taking her across the island and up the mountain to our new home. We knew the van couldn't make the climb and we needed someone with some towing experience. The haul was something of a stress factor for both me and J. We had many a sleepless nights about the complexities of getting Blue up the one mile of steep dirt/gravel road to her new home. Jim, however, knew the road and said it would be no problem. So J greased the bearings, put some air in the tires, and I "buttoned down the hatches" so to speak, and off we went.

And it was no problem! Although I was terrified driving behind her in our van as Blue went flying over every bump in the road, Jim reported that she hauled beautifully. 

And it was a beautiful sight to see her on the road. We left the bay on the first really hot day of summer, and I have never seen so many people swimming in it! It was beautiful weather for moving and we couldn't have asked for a better day.

Here's Jim in our Airstream at the new place. Jim owns property near our old house at the bay and all winter he's been driving by our trailer checking on our progress. We met him and his wife while sailing on the Schooner Adventuress, and he's been very encouraging of our project. His book, Calloused Hands, Hungry Heart helped inspire us to make this change and live small and embrace the island as our home, so we were honored to have him take part in the move. We took all the drawers and everything out of the Airstream for the move since we knew there'd be a lot of bumping around. We were glad we did, and nothing broke. The only incidents were a slightly bent bumper and one of the skylight ceiling caps flew off during the drive. Since I was driving behind, I made a mental note of which field it landed in and went hunting for it later. 

Holy smokes, where will all of our stuff go?!?! Let's just say we are really downsizing our life now. We had done a lot of purging, gifting, and thrift store runs before the move, but ironically, the biggest one happened after the move. It only took a few days to realize that we just aren't going to use that many dishes living in the Airstream, and that I really don't need my bottle collection. Ok, well I kept my favorite bottles :)

Visitors!

A surprising number of people have already visited us up on our mountain and everyone is inspired, including ourselves! Such supportive and amazing friends and family we have! Megan and Michael (above, with J) are also living tiny this summer in small cabins that don't have running water or bathrooms, so this is old hat for them!

Happiness is...friends in our Airstream...and party lights shaped like travel trailers (thanks Michael!)

First morning tea. Our first night of sleep was a little rough - probably for a variety of reasons. But since then, we have been sleeping like logs. Our LED lights only recently arrived, so none of our lights are installed yet. We are still using the multi-colored floor lamp I have had since living in the dorms at college.

Still unpacking and organizing. The dogs seem happy wherever we are, which is such a good lesson for us as we simplify our lives. If only we were as free of our possessions as they are...

Stay tuned for more tiny living shenanigans and adventures, including solar showers, the composting toilet report, and more. Thanks again for reading and for all of the encouragement this last week!