News From the Nest, June 15

From the Knit + Crochet Studio

This easy garter stitch dishcloth pattern is the perfect project for new-ish knitters! Working in just one stitch — either all knit or all purl — lets you focus on building even tension, and you end up with something genuinely useful when you’re done. One ball of cotton yarn makes two cloths, and they are sweet little hostess gifts tied up with a bar of nice soap.

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Strawberry season is officially here, and this crochet strawberry pot keychain and charm is the most adorable little summer project to pick up. Tiny stuffed strawberries, leafy vines, and a crocheted pot all come together into a charm you can hang from your keys, your purse, or your rearview mirror — and the pattern is totally free. It’s a sweet companion to all the strawberry content in the kitchen section this week!

If you are new to knitting, you’ve discovered that the choice of needle can be very confusing — so many sizes, materials, and styles. Our deep-dive post on all about knitting needles covers everything from the differences between bamboo, metal, and plastic to when you’d reach for circular needles versus double-pointed ones, plus a free printable needle conversion chart. Bookmark this one — it’s genuinely one of those reference posts you’ll come back to again and again.

From the Kitchen

June means strawberries, and a bubbling strawberry crisp is one of the most satisfying things you can do with a flat of fresh berries. The oven heat coaxes the juice out of the fruit and thickens it into a glossy syrup, all under a buttery oatmeal streusel topping — and the whole recipe comes together with about 15 minutes of hands-on effort. If you’d prefer no oats in your topping, the post also links over to a strawberry crumble!

If you find yourself with more berries than you can eat, our post on how to make strawberry puree walks you through both a fresh and a cooked version, sweetened or plain, so you always have a versatile base ready for desserts, drinks, or baking.

Ready to move beyond fresh-eating season and into the preserving pantry? Our jam and jelly making basics post is the place to start — it covers the key ingredients of any jellied fruit, explains why each one matters, walks through the difference between jam, jelly, preserves, conserves, and marmalade, and covers the basic equipment you need. Think of it as the foundation post before you dive into a specific recipe.

And one of the very best jams to make this time of year, once the plums arrive at markets: our easy no-pectin plum jam. The recipe lets the fruit’s natural flavor take the lead, with an optional sprig of fresh rosemary added as the plums cook down for a subtle, piney note you wouldn’t expect. Full canning instructions are included, along with refrigerator and freezer options if you’re not quite ready to commit to the water bath.

Summer entertaining calls for easy, beautiful appetizers, and this mozzarella bruschetta delivers on both fronts. Fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil are tossed with a lightly garlic-infused olive oil and spooned onto toasted rustic bread — it’s essentially a chopped caprese on a golden, warm base, and it can be prepped ahead for easy entertaining. Once your garden tomatoes hit their stride, this one will be on constant rotation.

Spaghetti all’arrabbiata is the pasta dish that earns its name — arrabbiata literally means “angry” in Italian, and it’s a simple, bold sauce built on San Marzano tomatoes, garlic, and red pepper flakes that brings some serious heat. It’s one of those weeknight dinners that’s on the table fast but tastes like you know what you’re doing, and it pairs beautifully with a simple salad alongside.

Speaking of simple salads, our insalata mista recipe is the Italian mixed green salad that accompanied nearly every meal on our trip to Italy. Crisp greens, fresh tomatoes, thinly sliced cucumbers, carrots, and red onion, dressed with nothing more than good olive oil and red wine vinegar — it’s the kind of salad that makes you realize we way overcomplicate our weeknight greens. Serve it alongside the arrabbiata, and you’ve got yourself a proper Italian summer dinner.

From the Arts + Crafts Studio

If you’ve been throwing single-use plastic wrap and foil in the trash after every use and want a more economical and environmentally friendly option, DIY beeswax food wraps are the answer. Made from cotton fabric and a simple beeswax mixture, they’re reusable, washable, and moldable with the warmth of your hands — and making a batch is a great afternoon project. They also happen to make a really thoughtful handmade gift.

Making your own pillow shams with a flanged edge sounds more intimidating than it is — it really comes down to sewing straight seams and knowing your measurements. The post includes a printable fabric-cutting worksheet that does the math for you for both standard and Euro sizes, plus a tip on using fusible fleece on the front panel to keep that tailored flange from going limp.

This bird bath using waterproofed terra cotta is my kind of summer project — it uses items you likely already have, costs almost nothing, and results in something the birds in your garden will visit all season long. An inverted terra cotta pot makes a sturdy base, and a saucer treated with safe waterproofing sealer becomes the basin. The post also covers several creative stand options, so you can adapt it to whatever you have on hand.

From the Garden

We just spent the weekend brewing and distributing compost tea throughout the garden, and now our plants are happier because of it! If you’re curious what all the fuss is about, our post on what compost tea is and why you want it in your garden explains it all — including the difference between passive tea and actively aerated compost tea and why the latter is so much more effective. We think of it as yogurt for the garden, delivering a concentrated burst of beneficial microbes directly to the soil and foliage.

Once you’re sold on the idea, the companion post on how to build a compost tea brewer walks you through the exact setup we use — including our specific recipe for what goes into the brew and the easy way we distribute it without hauling buckets back and forth all morning. We built our own brewer years ago when we realized how much tea we were going through, and we’ve never looked back. I know it looks gnarly, but trust me! It is liquid gold!

Compost tea feeds your soil, but your best pest management allies are already living in your garden — or would be, if you invited them in. Our post on beneficial insects in the garden covers predators like ladybugs and lacewings, pollinators like bees and butterflies, and parasitoids like the hardworking parasitic wasp, along with practical tips for attracting each group. Reducing chemical use and planting a variety of herbs and flowers goes a long way toward building the kind of garden ecosystem that mostly takes care of itself.

In the Home

A decorator friend helped me take our living room bookshelves from cluttered to cohesive, and our post on tips for decorating bookshelves shares everything she taught us — including the “nothing smaller than a cantaloupe” rule that stung a little, but I *mostly* adhered to it and she was proved absolutely right. The before-and-after photos in the post make it very convincing!

With summer travel season here, our organized travel tips are worth a revisit before you start packing. Built from years of “mega trips” — extended trips of two to three weeks at a time — the post walks through a solid packing system, practical travel habits, and a printable packing checklist to keep you from arriving in Barcelona without your phone charger. Whether you’re heading out for a long weekend or an overseas adventure this summer, the system works!