fresh from frajil farms.

Goodbye Gracie.

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 22:58:00 -0500

Almost 13 years ago Gracie arrived—a feisty little thing who stormed out of her crate and announced herself as the Queen of Frajil Farms. She remained tiny but grew the presence of a lion, bossy and sometimes ill-tempered. On any given morning, you could find her at the top of the stairs with Sadie, our large German Shepherd, and Harry and Houdini, our two black cats, waiting at the bedroom door for permission to pass. Over the years we all accommodated her eccentricities. Dinner was at 5. We knew never to pick her up—to let her come to us. Then she was so loving and purred so loudly you might have thought her a tiger. But Gracie had lots of health problems and today she used the last of her nine lives. Today we said goodbye to Gracie and we will miss her terribly.

Merry Merry 2013!

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 07:21:00 -0500

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! The inspiration for this collage comes from the beautiful textured green wrapping paper handmade by Sterling and her Dad. I save every scrap.

Every holiday there are the things we repeat always trying to add something new. The cookies (far left) above are called Robin’s Speculatius Cookies, (maybe should be spelled with a “k”) named for Remy’s nursery school teacher. Since it was more than 30 years ago, that makes them a tradition. The thumbprint cookies are from my grandmother with addition of chopped pistachios and raspberry jam we made this summer. And on the right was our favorite dinner from the holiday—short ribs with parsnip purée and horseradish (from the new Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, sauteed broccoli raab, potato latkes (my recipe can be found in The Story of Hanukkah), and braised red cabbage. The parsnips were dug from the garden that morning and the red cabbage also from this year. Sterling wrote another beautiful letter to Santa and we included her cookies and the meringue mushrooms we made. We included them on Santa’s dish and they soon became Rainer’s favorite once she figured out they were actually sweet. They remained a successful bribe, a necessity with a two and half year old, throughout the entire holiday. Below the letter are home-made matzos and challah, indescribably good, and both recipes from Baking with Julia, now out-of-print. I figured out how to make the challah into the shape of a grape cluster, festive looking and serve as tasty little rolls. And the hand knit hats! The pattern was adapted from the patterns from Purl Soho. Remy, Sterling, and Rainer are wearing their new hats while sledding at Frajil Farms in the fresh snow. How lucky that we got two snow storms to keep Frajil Farms blanketed in white.We decorated cookies, opened presents, and ate too many sweets. Below are our kids and their kids.

Sterling saved the day with her beautiful card. I am awed by her attention to detail. We are the red house in the middle.

So Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year from the entire gang at Frajil Farms! Here’s to a peaceful, productive and healthy new year!

Happy Hanukkah!

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 08:39:00 -0500

Have a wonderful Hanukkah! PEACE, LOVE & LIGHT!
from all of us at Frajil Farms

wise words

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 14:33:00 -0500

I found this tiny little logo inside an old book I picked up from the dump published during World War II. It was a response to the Nazis burning of books. Love the line, the angry eagle clutching his book, and the banner.

Stuffed!

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 23:17:00 -0500

Hoping everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

artwork by Sterling

This was not the turkey we served for Thanksgiving. I visited these turkeys so often while getting my eggs at Julie’s Happy Hens, that when I was leaving this turkey hen jumped on my car. She must have known the holiday was right around the corner. Her boyfriend tom was looking up from the ground. Did you know that when the tom’s are pursuing the hens, their wattles get very red and their heads very blue? Quite a sight!Our garden is now on the “winter side of autumn.” Most of it has been put to bed for the winter.This year we are trying a floating row cover tunnel to see just how long we can keep those greens coming. It’s the end of November and we are still having fresh salads. There is a bit of kale and a few straggling Brussels sprouts left above ground. Buried under hay, are carrots and parsnips fresh for the digging. They were the last addition to the turkey soup pot.

the summer side of autumn...

Thu, 25 Oct 2012 18:59:00 -0400

…as Frank so eloquently described September. It’s the beginning of cool nights that turn into warm sunny days. Time to take advantage of those remaining days that you can still sit outside and relax. The cocktail for this small late afternoon gathering was the Lazy Lover. Sadie is the only one left at this party.LAZY LOVER

1½ oz. Cachaça
½ oz. Benedictine
½ oz. agave nectar
1 oz. fresh lime juice
1 cup Green Chartreuse
½ fresh jalapeno, cut into thin wheels

Put the jalapeño wheels in a small saucepan. Add the Chartreuse and bring to a boil. Remove from heat, remove jalapeño and allow to cool.
Pour ½ oz of infusion (there will be left overs for another time) and the other ingredients into a mixing glass. Shake with ice and strain into a martini glass.

The garden has peaked. It is a mad rush to get everything picked and processed for the winter. The ugly cucumbers became bread n’ butter pickles while the pretty picklers are now garlic dills in a big jar in the fridge. Our peach tree ripened practically in one day so along with many delicious upside down peach cakes, we canned peach rum jam and peach ginger jam. We even had enough to freeze some for winter smoothies. The tomatoes {on the top right} are Principe Borghese {like a very small plum}—delicious dried and packed in olive oil or roasted with garlic and frozen to be tossed later with pasta. Frank has made quarts of tomato sauce which we try to coordinate with the day I make Minestrone {see recipe below}. All goes into the freezer. We have enough basil pesto and arugula pesto to take us straight through to next summer. Which is important because no matter what, the grandchildren will always eat basil pesto and sometimes that is all they will eat. The extra zucchinis became Zucchini, Leek and Potato Soup as well as little loaves of Zucchini Bread. We froze beans, cauliflower, broccoli, and edamame. All summer we picked and froze raspberries. And even with the many bottles of raspberry infused vodka that Frank had been making, we had so many in the freezer that we made raspberry jam to free up some freezer space. We tried a new recipe from Chez Panisse of raspberries in brandy {above bottom right}. Amazing on ice cream.

This was an easy Kale and Cannellini Bean Soup with chicken stock, garlic, onions, beans and kale. I mashed some of the beans to thicken the soup. But what made it especially good were the slices of toasted Ciabatta basted with olive oil, smeared with roasted garlic literally squeezed onto the bread and topped with roasted Romano tomatoes.

We had an exceptionally good crop of Tuscan Kale and it is still standing though a bit picked over.

From a garden project I worked on, our Minestrone Soup recipe

and tomatoes with recipe for drying the Principe Borgheses.

The Power of Design!

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 21:55:00 -0400

As you enter my town this spectacular hand-lettered sign sits for all to see. And if this wasn’t wonderful enough, there is one just like it as bold and bright on your way out of town. Both are the fine craftsmanship of Bonnie Miller. Great work Bonnie!

This slight adjustment to the Romney sign speaks volumes, encompassing exactly what this candidate represents. The brainchild of designer Christian Schwartz, who I am also proud to say is my nephew, claims others have come up with this same formula. Whatever! It is brilliant.

And to this I add: http://www.romneytaxplan.com

I joined Authors & Illustrators for Children. org. Anything we can do to help. If you are interested click on this website http://www.aiforc.org/whatyoucando.html

Just to follow up on the previous Obama post—The White House sent a wonderful package to Sterling after she sent her letter to Obama. What a great lesson she learned about speaking her mind. If only she could vote!

Picture This!

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 23:19:00 -0400

I was honored to have two pieces chosen for Picture This! at the Danforth Museum of Art’s second annual juried exhibition showcasing new and original artwork created by picture book illustrators. Selected works will be exhibited in the Children’s Gallery, from September 9 - November 4, 2012. It is a must-see! And when you go, notice how all the art is hung eye level for our audience, the kids!

At the opening, I had the opportunity to meet my fellow illustrators and the juror, Carol Goldenberg, an award winning children’s book designer. The Danforth Museum is such a special place. I was especially pleased to have been included again this year.

As it was also the Jewish New Year, the Danforth had my Rosh Hashanah book, Even Higher for sale. Because of that I was able to meet Doreen Smith, a Danforth docent and wonderful woman. Here we were talking about her 11 day old grand nephew for whom I was signing the book.

Below are the two pieces of art chosen for the show, each quite different from the other. I loved the juror’s choices. There was such diversity in the whole show.

Here in The Story of Esther (Holiday House, 2011) the maidens prepare themselves to meet the King. From the Christmas Tree Farm, (Holiday House, 2006) families pick their trees for the holidays.

My participation in last year’s Picture This! resulted in my solo exhibition of The Story of Hanukkah original art. http://www.danforthmuseum.org/jillweber.html

New Work!

Fri, 14 Sep 2012 22:09:00 -0400

Besides growing most of our own produce, we are committed to grass fed meats, organically raised chicken, fresh eggs and shopping locally to support our neighborhood farms. So how happy was I when I was asked to do the cover for Shannon Hayes’ new book, Long Way On a Little. http://www.shannonhayes.info/works.htm

This job was also an opportunity for me to combine what I have been learning in photoshop with traditional illustration. To create the look of an old-fashioned sign, I painted the wood and the frame separately. The illustrations for both the top and bottom were also painted separately which was a good thing as the bottom panel went through some changes. Layering the wood, then the top and bottom illustrations followed by the frame. The illustration above was also done in layers first painting the background and adding the barn and animals after. The banner was added to pull the two sections together. I hand lettered the title which then led to the designer’s request for hand lettering all of the chapter titles along with some spot art. Very satisfying indeed.

Dear Obama...

Sat, 04 Aug 2012 00:08:00 -0400

Since Sterling (just 6) has learned to read and write, she writes all the time—sometimes an illustrated poem, notes and letters and even an illustrated version of our family tree, entitled “For a family, From a Kid”. She has her own drawing table set up with supplies in my studio so she often disappears to draw or write. During her last visit, she wrote these letters to President Obama.

And then Sterling remembered we had a sheet of sticky jewels so she came back with this letter.

We looked up the address of the White House and wrote my letter to accompany Sterling’s.

“Dear President Obama,

Our six year-old granddaughter was visiting us and overheard our joy when we learned of the Supreme Court decision to uphold the constitutionality of Obama Care. A discussion ensued and shortly after Sterling reappeared with two letters she had written to you. Having just learned how to read and write, she is an avid writer. I promised I would send them to you with her hope that you will respond.

Of course, I explained to Sterling that you are terribly busy. She suggested we send a present for your family. Enclosed are two books, Smart About the Presidents and Smart About the First Ladies. These books were the combined effort of me and three other illustrators, but I was the artist and author for both your page and Mrs. Obama’s page along with both covers. We hope you enjoy them.

We thank you so much for the wonderful job you have done and hope from the very bottom of our hearts that you will remain our president for four more years.”

This was such a fun assignment because we were supposed to be fourth graders writing and illustrating our school report.

We enclosed all of the letters and books and now Sterling is patiently awaiting her response. Even if she doesn’t hear back, we will still vote for him!

The Garden, one month later...

Sun, 15 Jul 2012 13:56:00 -0400

It amazes me every year how fast the garden grows in just one month. We have been eating salad for months from the cold frame, which is now home for a stand of sunflowers and a few lettuce plants I am letting go to seed. As plants emerge, I thin out the rows making room for more growth. Every thinning from radishes to broccoli raab go into our salads. My greens list include Asian greens, spinach, baby romaine, a provencal meslun mix, beet green thinnings, arugula, and swiss chard thinnings. I plant new greens every few weeks to keep fresh greens coming all summer.

We have been eating Asian greens and bok choy sauteed with ginger. Arugula salads with garlic anchovy dressing adapted from Silver Palette. I tried a recipe for chick peas and wilted arugula salad from Mark Bittman that was delicious. And today we are having arugula and pistachio pesto. Some goes on pasta and some goes in the freezer. I am picking Swiss chard and broccoli raab. Peas, snap peas, and snow peas are past and all the vines have been pulled and tossed on the compost heap just in time for the cucumbers that are starting to trail. That last picking of peas will garnish the pasta. First batch of basil pesto is already in the freezer along with frozen raspberries from this year’s banner crop. Frank is making batches of raspberry vodka and we tried a recipe from Chez Panisse with raspberries in cognac for a winter treat.

At the beginning of July the garlic bulb sends forth its seed pod, the delicious garlic scape. I have just run out of garlic and we don’t harvest the garlic until end of July. So these scapes make a tasty substitute. We made garlic pesto served on pasta. We also separated the curly part of the stems to chop up for cooking, saving the seed pods in oil. The garlic flavors the oil, but the pods make a beautiful garnish not to mention how pretty they are in the jar.This was my sink after washing greens. The tiny beet leaves have totally colored the water.Clematis on the left and a volunteer stand of breadseed poppies. I forgot how much I loved them, so quickly ordered seeds and began a row. You can use these seeds for baking.

Mother's Day to Memorial Day

Sat, 14 Jul 2012 15:12:00 -0400

Thinking I was deleting a photo, I deleted the whole post which I learned today is irretrievable. But what I do remember was the fantastic Mother’s day dinner Frank made me with lamb shanks—the lamb a gift from my brother’s flock. And the fabulous cocktail we had before dinner called the Martinez. Dating before Prohibition, this classic cocktail is the precursor to the Martini. Combine 2 full jiggers of Dolin Sweet Vermouth, 1 full jigger of Plymouth Gin, 1 stirring spoon of Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur, with 5 dashes of Bitter Truth Orange Bitters. Garnish with 1 Luxardo Maraschino cherry. Divine.
Dessert was fresh cut rhubarb compote over ice cream. To make the compote cut rhubarb stalks into 1/2 inch pieces and cover with sugar. I use 3/4 cup of sugar to 4 cups of rhubarb. Let it sit for an hour or so and the sugar draws out the juices. Cook over low heat until sugar is dissolved and the rhubarb breaks down. The fresher the rhubarb, the faster it will cook. Pour over a strainer and gather the juice. Cook this down till reduced by half and it is syrupy. Add the rhubarb and you are done. For those winter months, I fill up freezer bags with fresh cut rhubarb and freeze. Frank makes a rhubarb sauce to go with pork tenderloin that is amazing!Above on the left are flats of seedlings for the tender plants like tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, celery and lots of annuals. We start them indoors bringing them out on sunny warm days. There next home is the cold frame to get them ready to live outdoors in their final destination —the ground. On the right is our rhubarb plant in full regalia. We are eating fresh lettuce and spinach from the garden and finishing up what was started in the cold frame (see below). Winter was so mild, spinach and lettuce from the fall came back. I gathered some of the volunteers and replanted them. This is the inside of the cold frame planted with spinach and lettuce in the fall. By March everything was coming back to life and ready to eat in April.

Below is a view of the garden as of the first week in June.

growing a garden book

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 22:32:00 -0400

Sadly my Book Arts class has ended, but I was able to combine my love of gardening with new love for book making in the final project. Essentially this is an accordion book with lots of little side trips. I found some old books at our town dump and used the outside cover as well as the end sheets and some interior pages to tell the story of the garden at Frajil Farms.The front panel folds down with a pop up of garden rows, followed by a seed catalogue insert.The middle panel includes seeds and a wheel that turns to show how the plant grows.

The next section includes my favorite tools, a few vegetables and some radish seeds. Below is the garden plot. This ends the front side.

The back of the accordion are seed packets with removable vegetables and flowers.

Signs of Spring

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 21:00:00 -0400

Everywhere I go, I hear cardinals singing to each other. And tonight the peepers are out. It’s impossible not to be obsessed with every little hint of new green and the promise of everything in bloom. The first to flower is the witch hazel tree. The blooms are sparse but lovely nonetheless. The forsythia is forced. Above is the before and after. You can begin picking as early as January and guaranteed fresh blooms about every two weeks. The pussy willows are a new discovery poached from the roadside. The snowdrops are all over the gardens, but I couldn’t resist potting one little plant for indoors. The cold frame is already full of baby spinach and lettuce ready to pick. Fresh salads are the dearest this time of year, full of memories of abundance last fall. Newly dug parsnips are so sweet from overwintering in the garden. It’s spring and we begin again.

Proud teacher

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 18:17:00 -0500

For the last few years I have been teaching illustration. I am very proud of my Children’s Book Class at The New Hampshire Institute of Art. In 15 weeks, my students complete a storyboard, 32-page dummy, 3 full color spreads with text and a full color wrap around cover.Two of my students, Ryan Haywood and Ken Duquet, have been accepted into the 2011 Society of Illustrator’s Student Competition. I feel just like a proud parent. Below are the winning choices as well as some student work from previous semesters.

©nate owens

I love to wrap!

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 14:17:50 -0500

My first job in high school was at a pharmacy at Christmas time. Among my many responsibilities, wrapping was my very favorite. I was let go after I wrapped a prescription. The present below on the left is a repainted clementine box filled with baby gifts. The next a 30th birthday gift for my nephew, a wedding present based on their birch theme replicating their cake, a Christmas box of cocktail makings and the last for a bridal shower.The gift below was for a seventh anniversary present incorporating both old and new traditions of copper and wool. Inside the wool is a copper tray.

Harry & Houdini

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 22:47:00 -0500

I am beginning a project about cats, so decided to combine my sketches from the one into another accordion book. Can’t stop making books!

Fox Facts

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 11:02:00 -0500

Another wonderful thing about teaching is I can take a class virtually for free. So this semester I am taking Book Arts taught by Mary Goldthwaite-Gagne. This class had done exactly what I had hoped—to inspire me to go back into my studio to experiment a bit before I jump into the next project.

The assignment was to include a visit to the library for research and inspiration to then include into an accordion book. I chose foxes and the “m” format and decided to make mine two sided. The orange paper was the creation of Remy and Sterling who made their own wrapping paper this year. I painted an orange wash over it to make the fox color. The decorative paper was also wrapping paper I couldn’t part with. The collaged foxes are made from tracing paper washed with acrylics a la Eric Carle. I gathered my fox facts and went to town.

some close-ups of some of the panelsThis shows the two sides of the book when folded.

I shared with Mary a book artist and print maker I have loved for years, Antonio Frasconi. Look what she just sent me! I love it when the stars are aligned. http://www.exeter.edu/news_and_events/news_events_12019.aspx

Adam & Eve

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 23:33:40 -0500

The New Hampshire Institute of Art presents the 10th Annual Minumental Exhibition featuring a selection of Institute alumni, student, faculty and staff artwork from all disciplines. All artwork is no larger than 2” x 2” x 2”. The maximum price allowed is $44.95. The show is at the Amherst Street Gallery in Manchester until February 20th.

I fashioned these in the old style of Norman LaLiberté using acrylics, oil pastels and a wood burner. I am happy to say I had a buyer before the show even began. Thank you Ed, for cutting all the wood for me. Excuse the photo, as it came straight off my phone.

Happy New Year!

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:34:00 -0500

It’s hard to believe what we all accomplish in the month of December. No wonder we are all exhausted at the onset of the new year. We had a great holiday this year and hope that all of you did too!

Pots of amarylis and paperwhites, Frank’s preserved Meyer lemons and a little kitten I knit for Rainer.

I love to wrap! Pomander balls make everything smell delicious.

On top of the cabinet are little white lights stuffed in canning jars, the idea courtesy of our friend Phyllis. The tree is covered in a collection of red ornaments and other little finds. I used to bake cookies for the tree, but after the dog ate the bottom two thirds leaving sad little strings behind, we stay away from edible ornaments. I had also made cookie gift tags which made for another impossible task of remembering of what went to who.

Christmas eve we spent the afternoon making cookies so Sterling could pick her favorite for Santa.It is amazing that Santa always finds his way to Frajil Farms!Sterling and her new doll.

Rainer having a private moment to herself. Photos courtesy of her mom, photographer Orianna Riley.

Of course we cooked a big dinner. Standing rib roast courtesy of Frank.

Roasted Brussels sprouts with grapes adapted from Whole Living Thanksgiving issue. They are so good and ridiculously easy, we keep making them. Usually we pick Brussel sprouts straight from the garden, but crop failure sent us to the farm stand this year.Fresh baked challah and noodle pudding (kugel), sweet and creamy.

Charlotte, Jack and Jen making more cookies for New Years Eve which happens also to be our anniversary. No one quite made it to midnight, but almost!