If you’ve been following our blog since the summer, you’ll know that we grew a lot of pumpkins this year. Or at least we tried to. Some of them didn’t take off, but we eventually had success with seeds we bought and planted in July. You’ll also know that one of my goals with the garden was to make food entirely out of the garden. This Thanksgiving, we’ve been able to accomplish that by roasting pumpkins we harvested in September, puréeing the flesh, and making a pie. Here’s a brief walkthrough of the pumpkins we used, the roasting and puréeing process, and the final product, with pictures of each step.
The Pumpkins
The pumpkins we used were New England Sugar Pies. We bought the seeds from Baker Creek. This variety dates back to the 1860s and is the perfect pumpkin for pie. Baker Creek describes it in the following way: “The noted small sugar pumpkin of New England. The orange fruit weighs 4 to 5 lbs and has fine, sweet flesh superb for pies.” That description is spot-on. Without any added sweetness, the roasted flesh was delightful. It was the perfect pumpkin to use. It was easy to grow, and we’ll certainly grow more of this variety.
New England Sugar Pie PumpkinPumpkins we grew
Roasting & Puréeing
I had never roasted a pumpkin prior to this week, but I approached it similar to how I’ve roasted spaghetti squash. I split each pumpkin in half and scooped out the seeds. I think we could have washed, dried, and roasted the seeds to eat, but I wasn’t interested in that much work this time. With the seeds out, I brushed some oil on the flesh, pierced the skin in a few places to aid in the roasting process and put them in a 400-degree oven for an hour or so. Our house smelled so good during this time.
Pumpkins split in half
To purée them, I let them cool entirely and used a spoon to scoop out the flesh, which was much easier than I anticipated. The flesh then went into our small food processor and was blended until smooth, with water being added as needed. A note for future me: Buy a larger food processor. It took some time, since it had to be done in batches, but it was an easy process in general. In the end, we had more than a quart of pumpkin purée, which was much more than we needed for the pie, so Magz made a pumpkin soup with the excess. It was delicious.
Roasted pumpkinsPumpkin puree
Making a Pie
I love making pies. My grandma is an excellent pie maker, so I think I came by it naturally. I also always make a homemade crust. A few years ago, I found a great pumpkin pie recipe that uses almond milk in place of dairy since Magz can’t have dairy. If you weren’t told it was made with almond milk, you’d never know. I used that recipe again this year, and there was no noticeable difference between the homemade purée and canned pumpkin when it came to mixing and baking other than it needed to cook a bit longer due to additional moisture. The end product was great. Please ignore the divot. That was the result of foil touching it when I was trying to prevent the crust from burning. It was absolutely delicious.
Should I have posted this before Halloween? Yes, most definitely! But I forgot, so here we are, and I think that getting this posted before Thanksgiving is still fair. Fall is still here, even though Black Friday is coming at you like asteroids headed for Smallville.
We made a haunted house from recycled cereal boxes and other sources of repurposed cardboard to transform what could have been trash into a piece of Halloween decor from what we already had! The only materials we had to purchase for this project were acrylic paint and felt. We used Apple Barrel brand paint, which is less than 1 USD at Walmart or less than 3 USD on Amazon for big bottles. We also purchased sheets of felt that were 25 cents a sheet. For the adhesive, we used Tacky Glue for construction and Mod Podge to smooth out seams.
Our inspiration was the Addams Family mansion from the 1992 movie version. We wanted an old, mansard-roofed, Second Empire-style, Victorian-era house to play the role of haunted house. I wish our actual house was a bit more historical. It was built probably in the 1930s, but I question if it is a bit older, from the 1910s, from the style of woodwork. So a nice, old spooky build was just the ticket. We gathered inspiration from Pinterest and set forth to construct the house. We used two Honeycomb cereal boxes glued together, which are a bit taller than the average box. For the roof, we chose cardboard from a 12-pack of Wild Cherry Pepsi cans and some mac n cheese boxes for the roof line. The porch was constructed with a Wegman’s 12-pack of sparkling water. Miscellaneous cardboard scraps supplied the porch beams, door, and shutters.
To paint this, I bought an array of colors to mix custom shades. For realism, weathering and highlights, it is important to mix depth into the shades. If you have ever watched Bob Ross paint, you will know that he is always adding depth to his paintings with colors that exist in the natural scenes, but that your eyes may not recall what the colors on their own actually look like. If you want to paint a sky, you need more than just sky blue. If you are going to paint a tree, you need more than just brown and green.
I put two layers of paint on the pieces, which I painted after they were glued and fully dried. The first layer was necessary to block out the cardboard and the branding, which I could see shining through the matte paint. This was an excellent time to try mixing shades. I was able to try several colors underneath the final layer, which helped me determine the color scheme of moody charcoal, black, and burgundy for the roof and trim. The paint not only adds character but also preserves the pieces under a layer of acrylic. The final touch was a cutout silhouette of Gomez and Morticia in the window.
This project took a lot of drying time, and therefore was a month-long project that was finished a few days before Halloween. Because of this, I did not accomplish all I wanted to do, including moss, more weathering, ghosts, etc. Next year, I plan to add on. In the meantime, I am sharing this to inspire you to craft with trash for the upcoming holiday season. Let’s celebrate sustainability and underconsumption and make those decorations with repurposed materials! It truly is a blast. Happy Crafting!
I was inspired to get crafty by these YouTube creators:
If you missed it, I made a Game of Wool Bingo card for episodes 1-3, because in my opinion, this show should not be taken seriously. I’ve given up watching, interacting with recaps, etc. I’m not going to watch beyond episode 3, and that is because hate-watching is validation in the attention economy of 2025. That got me thinking, what do I wish Game of Wool was instead of what it is? Game of Wool, just like Project Runway, I have notes!
No Kits or Internet Dressing Projects
I don’t want any themed-making kits sold per episode. They have been doing this for the episodes I have watched, each week partnering with a big yarn company, honestly making kits that serve no purpose other than a cash grab. I also don’t want to watch weekly episodes with challenges that create useless items. Useless from a practical and technical standpoint.
Crochet and knit swimwear is dumb. You can’t wear it other than for a photo shoot, which places it in the “internet dressing” category. It’s for a photo. It’s not even practical for a music festival. But it does resemble a “Coachella” look.
A crochet deck chair had potential, but it was not used within the materials provided or the time frame.
A dog sweater with a required hat is not kind or practical for dogs. The sweater is comfortable, but the hat is not comfortable for the dog. Again, it is for a photo. Washability was not discussed either.
The mohair sweater was the only challenge that was the closest to being a useful challenge, for design teamwork and wearability, but they ruined it with the ridiculous time frame.
A couch cover is useless, because I have thought about constructing one for my own couch to stash bust, but it’s just not practical for anything other than a showpiece. Which is how they judged it, so a lot of wool was wasted to make a big, useless swath of fabric.
The fair isle vest misrepresented a heritage craft of the region they were filming in. Why not just film a historical film set in the Renaissance, and put the actresses in Victorian corsets without a chemise, tight-laced? Same level of idiocy to be flashy!
This Game of Wool presents everything that late-stage capitalism is in relation to crafting and hobbies, thanks to greed, social media, and the attention economy. The British farmers could use the income; how about sourcing locally? What about sustainability and slow fashion? Yeah, 12-hour challenges do not represent anything but hustle culture. Girl boss, slay!
How Would I Fix It?
Real experts, not these two ladies.
Either all amateurs or all expert contestants. Pick a lane. Either be the Bake-Off or be Project Runway and offer a CFDA mentorship kind of prize.
Bring in a real mentor to help in the wool barn.
Take them on field trips to see wool being processed, dyed, and spun. Same with flax for linen.
Tell the story of why textiles matter and why fair trade for the animals, farmers, and ethical standards matter.
Explain why local matters for the economy and the ecology of the region.
Teach the history of cottage industries.
Teach the history of how knitting has changed the world, such as the development of textile machinery and the creation of the binary code. Essentially, fill in the gap of what Sci Show failed to do.
Set real challenges that teach, showcase the skill of the fiber artists, and show innovation.
Do a challenge that involves unravelling sweaters for yarn and teach the world about this amazing, sustainable possibility.
Task the fiber artists to design patterns, and explore what goes into design and proper pattern writing, because it is a technical skill.
Make things that will be auctioned off for charity.
Bring in people as guest judges who will bring professional connections and opportunities for the fiber artists.
Set realistic deadlines, and slow down the pace of the show. Follow a timeline like Mind of a Chef that explores moments of cooking over an entire season.
Let the makers make, unencumbered by the pace of the internet. Take note from Bernadette Banner and other makers out there that celebrate true craftsmanship and sustainability in the heyday of microplastics.
I’m tired of this show discounting a skill that has been tossed aside as a Grandma hobby since the Industrial Revolution. In these weird and wacky times, slow fashion and an appreciation of craftsmanship are in short supply in the media. This show had such potential! But they are truly chasing the money over integrity.
I’m continuing my exploration of what is commonly grown in our state of Pennsylvania. Last week, I wrote about the state’s native plants and what we have growing on our property. This week, I’m looking at the commercial crops that are most prominent in the state and if they are native to North America or were brought here during European Expansion. I ultimately want to learn if the origins of Pennsylvania’s most commonly-grown crops align with where most of the state’s immigrants came from during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.
Like Magz, I majored in history, and even though I don’t work in history, I still love it. I also approach a lot of things in life from a historian’s perspective and try to ask questions to dig deeper into topics. The gardening offseason seems like a great time to dive into these sorts of topics. Eventually, I want to look at all the vegetables we grew in the garden in 2025 and learn when they arrived in North America if they aren’t native to the continent.
What Does Pennsylvania Grow?
With this question, I’m not talking about what people grow in their personal gardens. I’m talking about the crops that are commercially grown and contribute to the state’s agricultural sector. Pennsylvania plays a prominent role in the agriculture of the United States, equating to just over $9 billion in 2024. That ranked 23rd in the country.
The majority of what’s grown in the state won’t surprise most people. There are a lot of cereal grains (wheat, oats, barley, and sorghum) as well as corn. These are largely grown on a commercial scale and are used to feed animals, as Pennsylvania is a large producer of dairy products. But there are also some surprising crops that you may not associate with the state and a lot of vegetables that are sold throughout the country and world.
Here are Pennsylvania’s most common crops, along with where they originated:
Crop
Native/Non-Native
Origin Location
Corn
Native
Wheat
Imported
Fertile Crescent
Oat
Imported
Fertile Crescent
Barley
Imported
Fertile Crescent
Sorghum
Imported
Sudan
Soybeans
Imported
East Asia
Tobacco
Native
Sunflower
Native
Potatoes
Imported
South America
Sweet Potatoes
Imported
South America
Apples
Imported
Central Asia
Pumpkins
Native
Peaches
Imported
China
Mushrooms
Native
Rye
Imported
Fertile Crescent
Blueberries
Native
Cherries
Imported
Fertile Crescent
Those crops aren’t in any particular order, but they do make up the bulk of what’s grown commercially in the state. It’s difficult to know exactly when immigration to the United States peaked, but most people think of the 19th and early 20th centuries as a key time period because that’s when large groups of Europeans arrived. They brought with them their cultures, foods, and seeds in an effort to keep a semblance of their home alive with them. It’s now why we grow so many different vegetables, both commercially and in home gardens.
Again, these aren’t in any order, but the countries are:
France
Netherlands
Sweden
Britain
Germany
Wales
Northern Ireland (aka Scots-Irish or Ulster Scots)
Ireland
If you compare the crops and where they originated with the countries that contributed the most immigrants, you won’t see any connections. On the surface, that is shocking and may lead to the question, “How did those plants/seeds get to the United States?” It requires taking the research to a deeper level, which taught me a few things.
Plants Arrived From Asia Via Europe
It was decades after European immigrants came to the United States that people from Asia, including the Middle East, immigrated in large quantities. And by that time period, the majority of what we grow commercially in Pennsylvania was already established. Instead, these plants were “obtained” by Europeans via colonization and trade and brought back to Europe where they were planted. In some cases, new varieties were established through adaptation that allowed these plants to thrive in different soil conditions and climates.
Ignorance of Where Our Food Comes From
It’s my belief that because of how history gets told in the West certain aspects are conveniently forgotten. In history, we were always taught that popular history is told by the winners/victors/privileged. You usually have to look to find firsthand accounts from the losers of a battle or war or from an underprivileged person. I think this holds true for the history of what we eat. In the United States, we were taught from a young age that Europeans brought their food, including plants and seeds, with them. But there was never a mention or discussion of whether those plants were native to Europe.
It took me until at least high school to realize that the Silk Road, British East India Trading Company, and Dutch East India Trading Company played key roles in transporting ingredients and plants across the globe. Sometimes, that happened through legitimate trade. Other times, it was less legitimate and more forceful. Either way, crops like cereal grains, cherries, soybeans, and peaches all came from the fertile crescent, Central Asia, and East Asia. Meanwhile, the Spanish brought potatoes and sweet potatoes back from Central and South America as a result of the inquisition. Learning this was a reminder to always go one level deeper when researching. I used to do that all the time when taking history classes, but it’s easy to get out of the habit if you aren’t being forced to.
Immigration Always Has & Always Will Play a Key Role in the American Identity
The United States is at a weird, and frankly, sad place in time. While immigrants have always been treated unfairly, including by other immigrant groups, we’re at a crossroads. Immigrants, including those legally in the country, are being rounded up and deported to places that aren’t their home. This is in spite of us being told that only those with criminal records would be subjected to arrest and deportation. Another lie. Forgotten is all the positive impact that immigrants have on communities and the economy, including how we grow our food. We’ve already seen the struggle to produce food at the same level as a result.
For some reason, there is a group of Americans who forgot how the country was started and the fact that immigrants and foreign-born people have always comprised a large part of our population. Unless a person is 100 percent Native American, everyone is in the United States because of immigration. Whether it was pre-Revolutionary War or the 20th century following the brutal genocides in Africa, Europe, and Asia, people have always been welcomed here with open arms. I’m concerned that we’re forgetting that.
American culture is weird. We want to say it’s a melting pot, but that’s not true. It’s better than a melting pot. A melting pot implies that people lose their personal identity and assimilate into each one common culture. What we’ve always had is an ability for people groups to maintain their uniqueness while pushing toward a common goal. Whether it was the millions of Europeans who came over during the 19th and early 20th centuries or the recent movement of those from the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia, everyone has played a key role in shaping and honing what we know as American culture. The culture isn’t set in stone, but is instead one that is always changing and being refined. When we lose sight of that, we become isolationist, nationalistic, and the antithesis of what the nation was founded as.
Very little of what we consume or partake in as Americans is uniquely American. Sure, we’ve refined a lot of the seeds and plants to better serve our needs, but the majority didn’t originate here. And new foods and seeds coming to the country haven’t stopped. I listen to a podcast called Seeds and Their People, where the hosts talk to farmers and gardeners and discuss the origin stories of them as people and their seeds. Recently, they’ve had Palestinian refugees on their podcast who’ve been in the United States since the war in Gaza broke out in 2023. Regardless of where you fall on the Israel-Palestine debate, there are a lot of people whose lives have been completely altered by decisions that never considered their opinions. These farmers have been able to get seeds native to Palestine to plant in America. That may seem like a small thing, but those seeds represent their culture and help them feel at home. We should never lose sight of that.
This post really expanded from what I originally set out to write. I thought that I’d just look at where our state’s most common crops originated. It morphed into a deeper conversation of the importance of immigration to American culture and how we get our food.
One year ago, we adopted Mia from a local rabbit rescue. We knew life would change, but we didn’t consider how much we would change and grow from this experience. These are my reflections on how our little house bunny, Mia, has shaped us in our first year together.
Awareness
Today, I accidentally scared Mia. I came downstairs from working out, with music playing on my phone, distracted and not considering the little bunny, snoozing in a deep sleep. As soon as I looked up from my phone, I was highly aware of what my blissful ignorance hath wrought: ears standing tall, eyes wide, and body tense, ready to run at the slightest hint of danger. Before Mia, I was aware of what startled me, but with Mia and her own sensitive ears, it has challenged me to approach life with an even gentler touch. Today was a day I forgot, but with each passing month, these moments of unawareness are decreasing. Getting used to how aware Mia is of her surroundings was intimidating at first. I remember feeling on edge those first weeks, feeling like I was unable to relax – scared to scare Mia – a bit impossible of a standard!
I’ve learned to be quiet, internally and externally. The desire for quiet, for the little prey animal in our midst, has become a craving for quiet coming from a place inside me. What felt like a burden at first has become a blessing, because the awareness of the sound level, the peaceful environment I wish to create for Mia, has become a goal I desire for my own needs. The awareness of the quiet and the peace is something that I need, that Kyle needs. It’s healthier for us, but in this distracted and noise-polluted world, I don’t know if my awareness was going to attune to this again without Mia.
Structure
Mia has a schedule, possibly wearing a little watch somewhere under all that fur. She hops to her dinner spot around 5 pm, and waits for her breakfast starting at 8 am. She knows what time we should go to bed, with a precision I wish I could stick to. I’m not blessed with a sense of schedule. I tend to drift off course, but Mia is teaching me structure, and her needs are reminding me how comforting a schedule can be. Taking care of her is teaching me more about what I actually need to take care of myself in a healthier way. How is this little bunny so wise, so intuitive? The promise to care for her, every day, is a responsibility that I thought would feel heavy and burdensome, but instead, it is a way I have rediscovered purposeful living. I am grateful.
Letting Go
Detachment from physical things is the hardest lesson I’ve had to learn from living with Mia. Mia loves to chew my stuff. She has chewed holes in sentimental blankets, she has forever changed favorite pieces of furniture, and she will take a chunk out of newly made pieces fresh from my workroom. She doesn’t discriminate from store-bought items either – brand new overalls, my phone case, my Nalgene bottle. This has stressed me out. Mia has chewed the couch, a brand new coffee table hand-built by Kyle, the freshly painted baseboards, slippers, and I’m sure there will be more. I’ve gone through the stages of grief. I’ve had moments of intense frustration and questioning it all. But when I committed to adopting Mia, I told myself that I would remember that people are more important than things, and in this case, people and little furry members of the family.
The Floor is Great
I love sitting on the floor. I have always loved sitting on the floor; it grounds my mind – no pun intended. But dating and spending time at future in-law houses and not wanting to be weird, renting with worn wood floors, and moving into adulthood with busy schedules, changed my life from a cozy floor sitter to work chairs and collapsing into couches at the end of the day. Or sitting at my sewing table in a chair with bad posture. I stopped sitting on the floor. But with a rabbit, they like and need you to be on their level. I believe it is essential for bonding with your rabbit. At the beginning, it was hard. It felt unnatural after a decade of not being on the floor. The floor felt hard, unwelcoming. Even with carpet. But after a few months, I felt comfortable. My hips and back hurt less when I spend time on the floor. A year later, I am back to being a floor dweller. Without Mia, would I have ever gone back? I don’t know, but wow, my body feels more comfortable, younger even.
Slow Down, Be Present
The final thing that my rabbit soulmate has taught me this year is to be present and slow down. Mia is already four; she has an estimated lifespan of 12 years, which is not a lot of time when you really care about someone. I don’t want to miss any more moments with her. Kyle and I celebrated 9 years of marriage this year, 11 years together. Time feels like it is flying, and I want to be more present in my relationship with him. My mom and my stepdad are also getting older, and I want to be more present. Mia is teaching me that. Where I can, when I can make the choice to pause what I am doing to spend time with her, and I challenge myself to do so. That has been a challenge. I tend to hyperfixate on projects, which burn me out, but a difficult bad habit to break.
This year, I have created less, but I am feeling the balance being restored to my life. Without Mia hopping over to spend time with me, who knows if I would be shifting my perspective to a healthier state of mind? I can feel my mind and body feeling less stressed. Mia naps a lot, and that is another piece of the slowing-down puzzle that I am learning to accept without guilt. Rest is important. Rest is necessary. Slowing down is good for us. But we resist, because it’s tough to go against the grain. Rest is seen as lazy, even though our bodies and minds get burnt out. Living with Mia is helping me reset those misconceptions and take better care of myself.
Final Thoughts
I would 100% recommend adopting a rabbit if you have been thinking about it. Adopt any pet, actually, or volunteer at a local animal shelter. Do your research and get involved; it will change your life for the better. Animals are so calming. Mia has helped me open up again, in ways I thought I was closed off for good. It’s helped me understand my neurodivergence, my sensitivity, my trauma. She just gets me. She listens, she is there. She has become a best friend, and don’t we all need more of that in our lives? And what about Mia? Well, I’m honored that we got to provide her with her furever home. She has a big space to zoomie around, endless hay, and pets. She gets to watch TV, explore the couch, and have all her toys and treats to herself. She is the center of attention and trusts us. It’s amazing to know a prey animal trusts you. It challenges you to be the best person you can be.
As a knitter, a crocheter, and a fan of shows such as Bake Off and Project Runway, I am hate watching Game of Wool. Yes, it is that mediocre. It’s frankly, shocking how unlikeable the judges are portrayed, and how blatantly the production is profiting off the design kits, while not openly compensating the designers. It’s been a disappointment for sure. So here’s a bingo card to make your watch through a bit more fun!
Late October marked one year of having our pet rabbit Mia. As her gotcha day anniversary arrived and passed, I did a lot of thinking about what it’s been like to have her for a year and considered putting those thoughts into a blog post. Simultaneously, and funny enough, Magz was having the same thoughts. We’re unable to co-write a post, so we’re both going to share our reflections without discussing them with each other beforehand. It’ll be fun to see what reflections are the same and which ones are different.
Introducing Mia
Magz has written about Mia in quite a few posts since we adopted her, but if you’re new to the blog, or it’s been awhile since we’ve talked about her, she is a Harlequin rabbit. She recently turned four years old but was three when we adopted her from Erie Area Rabbit Society (E.A.R.S.). They are the region’s only rabbit-exclusive animal shelter and are 100 percent no-kill, so if someone surrenders a rabbit or they find an abandoned one, they rescue it and take care of it (including its medical needs) until it gets adopted. While they are a non-profit, they receive no public funding and instead rely on the generosity of others to continue to operate.
Prior to visiting E.A.R.S. and meeting Mia for the first time, I had never petted a rabbit before. I’ve always found them cute, but just never had the chance to be close to one. Magz, meanwhile, had a pet rabbit growing up and knew how to interact with them. We went to E.A.R.S. on the second day of a short three-day trip to Erie last fall and got to meet Mia that day during some one-on-one time. She was one of two rabbits we got that time with, and she was a lot different from the other. She was more interested in exploring the space than being close with us but would come around for pets every few minutes. Initially, she wasn’t our top pick, but after coming home and discussing it for a while, we decided to adopt her.
Reflecting on Year 1
Mia has been the first pet we’ve had together, so it felt really monumental adopting her. And in our first year with her, she has become a member of our family. People always say that pets are members of their family, and in the best circumstances, it’s true. We make plans around her and are always looking for ways to improve things for her – toys, treats, and her diet. But I don’t want it to seem as though it’s been a perfect experience every day. When we first adopted her, we kept her in her x-pen the entire time until she got used to us and the house. It’s a 60″x60″ pen, so it’s plenty big enough and larger than she was used to before adoption, but within a few months, she showed that she wanted to spend more time with us. Unfortunately, we didn’t recognize that at first and thought she was just being grumpy, which rabbits are known for, so we didn’t make changes right away.
There was also a time when she was beginning to display early symptoms of going into GI Stasis, which is basically when a rabbit’s gut health and bacteria become imbalanced. It causes gas build-up and bloating, and if not addressed, is fatal. I noticed it because she wasn’t eating like normal, and rabbits eat all the time because their digestive system is constantly working. We were able to get some gas drops in her, and she lived, but it was very traumatic as a first-time bun owner. It led to me being hyper-focused on her eating habits and noticing when something just seems off about her. Still, we stuck with it and a wonderful relationship has developed and flourished.
Lessons Learned
Rabbits are both fragile and tough as nails. Rabbits are fragile in that they generally don’t like to be picked up and should only be picked up when necessary. Their legs and back to be supported, and not doing this can lead to spinal injuries. We still haven’t picked Mia up. At the same time, though, she runs into things periodically, gets underfoot, and seems to be fine with hay getting much closer to her eye than I ever would be.
You need to pay attention to them. Rabbits need to be monitored to make sure they’re healthy and doing okay. Because they’re prey animals, they don’t cry or show that they’re injured or sick. Instead, you need to watch them to notice any abnormalities in their behavior that would indicate sickness or injury.
Rabbits don’t make noise, but they aren’t quiet. I was shocked to learn how noisy rabbits can be even though they don’t bark or meow. Mia is constantly making noises by foraging through her hay, chomping on her lettuce, chewing her pellets, digging at everything, and chewing on cardboard. Even her hops make noise. If she wasn’t around, the lack of noise would be deafening.
Rabbits are very intelligent, especially emotionally. Mia knows when we’re feeling sad. She recognizes those emotions and will hop over to us and comfort us. She also loves doing puzzles, and there are rabbits on YouTube that navigate through mazes. They’re very smart, and Mia is smarter than most dogs I’ve been around.
Need stimulation. Rabbits want some type of attention and stimulation most of the time. It’s part of the reason we do puzzles and stacking cups with her. If it isn’t a puzzle or other type of mental stimulation, she wants to be right by us and getting attention from us.
Best qualities of cats and dogs. Dogs and cats are (by far) the most popular pets in America. Rabbits have the best qualities of both. They want to be around you and will show you affection, similar to dogs, but they also like their own space and don’t bark, like cats. Rabbits can be litter-trained (Mia is), but their litter doesn’t smell. It’s all very natural because they’re herbivores.
Simply Put, Rabbits Make Great Pets
Rabbits are great pets. They’re affectionate, but like their own space. They’re quiet, but still make noise as they move about. They’re unbelievably intelligent and want to learn. And I think humans can learn a lot from rabbits. Rabbits are gentle creatures. Sure, they can nip at you occasionally, but they aren’t aggressive. Instead, they are passive. They require you to be more gentle than you need to be with other pets. They also have sensitive ears, so you need to be aware of how loud you’re being. It leads to a more peaceful and gentle environment.
Reflecting on our year with Mia has helped me to realize that humans should be more like rabbits, especially in our relationship with the Lord. Mia depends on Magz and I for everything. She needs us to get her food each day and to change her hay pan. She was born at E.A.R.S., so if she ever got outside, she wouldn’t know how to survive in the wild. We should want that relationship with God. He wants us to depend on Him for everything, yet we quickly become self-reliant and believe that we’re providing everything we have. We also should be meek. In Matthew 5:5, Jesus spoke the following: “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” Being meek simply means being humble and gentle. I also think it means being quiet, listening more, and being slow to speak. Mia may not exhibit humility, but she’s got the listening and quietness down. I want to be more like her and less like an aggressive and loud dog.
If you would like a pet but aren’t sold on what animal you’d like, I recommend that you go to a rabbit society like E.A.R.S. and spend some time around bunnies. Experience their unique personalities and how much love they have to give. Rabbits are excellent pets, but they shouldn’t be treated like a second-rate pet compared to cats and dogs. They’re wonderful creatures who deserve love and respect. Having Mia has forever changed my life, and I think a lot of lives would be improved if they gave rabbits a try. And remember, if you are interested, adopt from a reputable shelter. Don’t buy from a pet store or Agway.
This is a story of a winding road. It is not just passion that makes us try new and difficult things, but also the desire to fit in. Sometimes the road is bumpy, and bumpier still than we expected.
Last winter, I began a journey; at the time, I did not realize how technical this would be, and oh, how I miss the naive wonder of that time. I started my quest to make socks. The sock does not appear technical from the outside. It is a tube of knit fabric which we slip on our feet, most every day. Due to the Industrial Revolution, socks can be knit by machine with ease and speed. This has suspended our connection to the technology that first developed the sock—hand knitting.
In our modern day, socks are affordable and accessible. They are for sale everywhere in a myriad of textures, weights, and styles. We have socks for athleticism, socks for leisure, socks for style. They are boring, mundane Christmas gifts of childhood, and puppets with googly eyes. But what does it take to make a sock by hand?
I gave this a shot last year, and it challenged me! I cataloged my experience in Socks, A Journey, and Socks: An Update, where I began knitting socks flat on straight needles and three months later gave circular knitting a try. My first flat knit socks were made top down, in a tube style that negates the heel flap and requires sewing the sock into a tube. They are loose in fit but warm and great socks to wear around the house. My advanced tries, knitting in the round and turning the heel, were more of an adventure. My tension was tight, and my heel flap a nightmare, unable to be duplicated into a second sock, for how off script my technique became. I didn’t grasp the why of what I was doing and therefore messed up the pattern.
This summer, I went to a local yarn shop where I began my journey to sock more traditionally. I picked up a pair of small-gauge double-pointed needles and sock sock-making kit with proper sock yarn of wool and nylon, to do it “properly” and oh my, did this bomb. The toe-up pattern, new to me from my previous projects that were cuff down, pushed me far out of my depth. I sank instead of swimming. The four double-pointed needles and my uncoordinated hands created tension and laddering in the knit, which looks exactly as it sounds. I tried three times to knit a few centimeters before the stitches fell off the needles, the sock falling off with the stitches. In desperation, as the needles were 29 USD and the sock kit 29 USD, I was feeling very silly and wasteful purchasing new needles and new yarn that I couldn’t do anything with.
So I pivoted to my trusty straight needles until I saw my mom later that weekend, and she lent me a pair of small-gauge, small-circumference needles to finish the sock. Still baffled by the heel flap and the vague instructions on the pattern, I tried German short rows for shaping the heel. In a fortnight, I completed the first of the two socks. I cast off and handed it to Kyle to try on, and the size was all wrong. I tried to frog it back into a skein of yarn, but the splitty yarn tangled, ripped, and became a ball of knots. It was over, and I was furious with myself for wasting time, money, resources, and, honestly, hurting my eyes squinting to see my tiny stitches for almost two weeks to accomplish nothing.
Socks are madness. And maybe I should stop beating myself up about my failure when socks are one of the hardest things to make by hand. I am an overachiever and a perfectionist, so this type of failure cuts me deep. I obsess, I rage, and I fall apart in the madness of learning something that may take years to execute once, not even perfectly. But you know what? I have made good socks before! Comfortable, almost perfect for what I was looking to achieve, socks. But I rejected them as being good because I was embarrassed at how I made them. I didn’t follow the right techniques, I used the “wrong” yarn, and I didn’t turn the heel.
Sometimes I have major imposter syndrome as a knitter. I feel like a fraud because I don’t use the exact same patterns, same tools, same yarn as everyone else on the internet. But why is that a bad thing? I’ve listened to other knitters in podcasts discuss how the sameness of knitting is making it boring. Apparently, at Rhinebeck or other knitting events, it is easy to see the same sweater throughout the sea of people, and that is a new thing. Listening to knitters, who have been knitting long before 2020, when I really started knitting consistently, knitters used to do their own thing. Yarn suggestions in patterns were exactly that – a suggestion.
People were designing more and experimenting instead of knitting in the homogenized way we see today, which is one of the ways I feel like an outsider. I don’t want to knit the same things as everyone else, but I also want to be good at the craft, and it leaves me in this push-and-pull tension. It became clear to me, though, that my search to “fit in” with the proper sock kit and the expensive needles didn’t make me a better maker. It was honestly a bit of a handicap. So I guess my takeaway is to be yourself?
I don’t want to stagnate in my skills, but if I can find my own technique to make socks and other garments with the “non-standard” tools and yarn, then is it really stagnation or just getting creative with where my skill level is at? I’ve been pondering this a lot and have more thoughts on this from both the point of view of a knitter and a sewist. But that will have to wait for next time.
In last week’s post, I wrote about changes that we’re making to our garden for 2026, which are largely the result of the chameleon plant spreading in one of our garden beds. The chameleon plant is an invasive species that is native to Southeast Asia, and once it gets established in an area, it’s very difficult to kill. Learning about this plant led me to become more curious about other invasive species and, more importantly, Pennsylvania’s native plants.
Native plants are important to an area’s ecosystem because they keep the natural environment in a delicate balance. Native plants are adapted to the local soil and growing conditions. In the case of Pennsylvania, they’re also frost-resistant and can handle periods of drought and excess moisture. Native plants also provide food for birds and pollinators. They require little maintenance once they are established and are vital to the region’s biodiversity.
Pennsylvania’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) website says that there are roughly 2,100 native plants species in the Commonwealth. By the year 2000, five percent of the state’s native plant species had been eliminated and another 25 percent were at risk of going extinct. Meanwhile, at the turn of the century, there were 1,300 non-native plant species, which represented 37 percent of the state’s total plant species. And the sad part is that this number has only grown since 2000 as more invasive species are added to people’s gardens.
I have been interested in native plant species without realizing it for a long time. I spent a lot of time outside and in the woods growing up, and I also did a lot of hiking and mountain biking from middle school through college. Spending that much time in nature allows you to recognize plants that you regularly see even if you aren’t looking for them. Plants like Mountain Laurel and Elderberry bushes stand out. Trees also begin to be recognizable as bark and leaf characteristics start to become familiar.
In middle school, two things happened that began to increase my interest in nature and native plants. The first was a middle school science project that required finding Pennsylvania tree species and documenting their leaves. The second was borrowing a book on edible plant species. This came after going on a week-long backpacking trip and seeing Wild Carrot and berry bushes along the trail. It sparked my interest and I began foraging for wild edibles around my dad’s house.
I’ve written about this in previous posts, but I’m passionate about stopping the destruction of nature and the environment. We’ve made a lot of decisions over the past few centuries that have destroyed thousands of acres of forests and native grassland in the name of progress. We’ve stripped the soil of its nutrients, cut down millions of trees, and polluted our waterways. Some have been working hard to reverse this trend, but there will always be “leaders” who are willing to sacrifice the environment for financial growth.
Long-Term Project
This is the start of a long-term research project where I learn about our state’s native plants and how we can have more of them on our property. Our goal is to have our yard become a Certified Wildlife Habitat, which requires having native plants that create safe and beneficial environments for local wildlife. By learning about Pennsylvania’s native plants, we can identify any that are already on our property and learn about others that would thrive so that we can introduce them in the future. I was hoping that my research would lead to me learning about native vegetables that the Native Americans grew, but I only found the well-known Three Sisters of squash, corn, and beans.
Many of the other vegetables we grow were introduced after Europeans arrived. Because of that, a follow-up article will be coming that researches what people groups introduced specific vegetables and if the vegetables that are typically grown in Pennsylvania originally came from the most common immigrant groups who came to the state. For now, though, here are the commonwealth’s native plants.
Pennsylvania’s Native Plants
Trees
Shrubs
Ferns
Perennials/Vines
Alternate-Leaved Pagoda
American Hazlenut
Bloodroot
Alumroot
Black Birch
Arrowwood
Christmas Fern
Beardtongue
Black Gum
Beaked Hazlenut
Cinnamon Fern
Bee Balm
Chestnut Oak
Big Bluestem
False Solomon’s Seal
Black Cohosh
Eastern Hemlock
Black Chokeberry
Lady Fern
Black-Eyed Susan
Eastern Red Cedar
Black Willow
May Apple
Blue Cohosh
Eastern White Pine
Blackhawk
Ostrich Fern
Boneset
Green Ash
Buttonbush
Partridge Berry
Butterfly Weed
Hackberry
Chokeberry
Riverbank Wild Rye
Cardinal Flower
Hop Hornbeam
Highbush Blueberry
Royal Fern
Dutchman’s Breeches
Hornbeam
Indian Grass
Stonecrop
Foam Flower
Mockernut Hickory
Little Bluestem
Virginia Wild Rye
Garden Phlox
Pin Oak
Lowbush Blueberry
White Goldenrod
Golden Ragwort
Quaking Aspen
Maple-Leaved Viburnum
Zigzag Goldenrod
Goldenrod
Red Bud
Mountain Laurel
Great Blue Labelia
Red Maple
New Jersey Tea
Great Solomon’s Seal
Red Oak
Ninebark
Jacob’s Ladder
River Birch
Pinxter Flower
Joe Pye Weed
Sassafras
Purple Lovegrass
Marsh Marigold
Service Berry
Red Elderberry
Milkweed
Sugar Maple
Red Osier Dogwood
Monkey Flower
Sycamore
Rose Bay
New England Aster
Tulip Poplar
Silky Dogwood
New York Ironweed
White Ash
Silky Willow
Oxeye Sunflower
White Oak
Smooth Alder
Sneezeweed
Wild Plum
Spice Bush
Sundrops
Sweetfern
Tall Meadow Rue
Switch Grass
Trumpet Creeper Vine
Wild Hydrangea
Turtlehead
Winterberry
Virginia Bluebells
Witch Hazel
Virginia Creeper Vine
White Snakeroot
White Wood Aster
Wild Blue Phlox
Wild Columbine
Wild Geranium
Wild Ginger
Wild Sweet William
When I walk around our property and look at the plants and trees, we have few, if any, native plants. It’s clear that the previous owner(s) were not focused on native plants and healthy biodiversity. In addition to the chameleon plants, we have Snowberry bushes, some type of dwarf Holly Bush, and an ornamental tree. While the Snowberry is native to the United States, it is not native to Pennsylvania. Holly is another plant that can be native to the U.S., but because there are a bunch of varieties, including dwarf ones that have been bred to restrict size, most aren’t native. That’s the case with the one in front of our house. Finally, we have one tree on our property at this time. It’s a short, ornamental tree that is certainly not native.
When we bought our house, there were woody shrubs on one side of the house as well as one crab apple tree and an out-of-control lilac bush in the strip of land between the sidewalk and road. They were planted by the borough years ago, but they were partially dead and hadn’t been pruned or maintained in years. We took those down earlier this year.
We have no other trees or plants on the property other than the ones we planted in the spring and what we had in the garden. Our neighbors have done an excellent job of planting beautiful trees and flowers, with the majority of the trees and perennial plants being native. When I look out our windows, I see a couple of poplar trees, several hazelnut trees, and multiple berry bushes. Elsewhere around us, we can see a lot of evergreen trees and many oak and maple trees. Pennsylvania has a lot of trees, and it’s easy to see a variety of native species by keeping your eyes open as you walk or drive around.
Are any of Pennsylvania’s native plants native to where you’re from? What are your thoughts on native vs. invasive species?
Did you know that you can find daily highs and lows in a database to use for temperature blankets? I didn’t either until a year ago. (Yes, this project post is long overdue.)
I learned this from the lovely Toni Lipsey of TLYarnCrafts, which saved me when I spontaneously decided to make a temperature project last year for Christmas…after Thanksgiving.
I am a last-minute Christmas gift maker, along with many people out there. I am not special or organized, but I’d like to change the second one. Anyways!
What is a temperature blanket?
It is a fiber-based project, knit or crocheted, whose color palette and sometimes its pattern are determined by the daily weather of a specific location over a certain time span. I thought you had to track every day, but you do not, which is amazing because you can make this project on a whim. Although the actual work time will be longer than you may expect, it was for me.
It’s a fantastic stash-busting project or a way to use colorful yarn you may not put together in the same project. You can do whatever you want, and that is what makes this project such a special one. Your color changes will be different depending on what date range you choose and where you live.
It’s like a fiber fingerprint of a certain time, a memory, crafted into fabric.
The traditional date range is a year of weather, usually highs, which is what I did with my first project, but you can do whatever you want, and isn’t that amazing? You can do lows, weather patterns, etc. I had the idea of honoring a family member’s birthday by researching the temperature on their birthday every year since they were born. It truly is a free-form, fascinating way to engage with crafting and nature!
Materials, Temperatures Recorded, and Yardage
I chose to stash-bust my backlog of half-used acrylic skeins for a random color palette, but it can be whatever you like. You can use wool, cotton, or alpaca. You can plan an entire color palette that is unique to your design sensibility. I think an ombre in the same color family would be lovely if you can find the yarn swatches to do this. I think that with the right design eye, this usually random-looking project can look exquisitely planned out.
I believe the most important part of the project is getting the data recorded down into a spreadsheet or notebook, whatever fits your crafting style, so that you can see what temperature ranges are the most common and therefore which ranges will be the most common through the piece. I had a really tough time deciding this, and in hindsight, I wish I had tallied how many of each I had before knitting, because for one color, I almost ran out! It would have been so much easier to have swapped the colors I was using according to the yardage I had instead of choosing at random. I think that is why crafting practice and crafting community are so vital to this work, because sometimes you don’t know until you try, and sharing our experiences informs the greater knowledge for us all.
For my temperature data, I am an analog gal, so I recorded my temperature highs in a notebook and checked off each day as I went to keep track of my progress. I highly suggest doing this in some capacity because otherwise, you are going to have to count rows, and checking off progress in a spreadsheet or notebook is just quicker.
If you are a beginner knitter or crocheter, might I also recommend Caron or Big Twist acrylic yarn for this project? The value for yardage and lack of splitting of these yarns make a huge difference for a first crafting experience, so that this project easily transforms from a skein of yarn to a lovely blanket made with your own hands.
Would you make a temperature blanket? Have you ever tried to make one before? Did you enjoy your experience?
One Rabbit Riot 
