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News from the Nest, March 18

Happy Day!

It sure feels like Spring has sprung, though dear old Winter isn’t giving up without a fight. Our yard is a profusion of pink and bright spring green, with a few splashes of yellow thrown in for balance. But, after a week of lovely, spring-like temps, the low will fall to 39° F (4° C) tonight. I’m fine with it, but I am hesitant to put my little seedling outside quite yet.

As my husband says, I got a ‘bee in my bonnet’ Saturday morning. After walking with my mom, I stopped by Home Depot and filled the trunk of my SUV with 20.5 cubic feet of peat, topsoil, and cow manure. I decided then and there to pull the perennials out of my flower garden, amend and build up my flower garden, and replant the perennials. Last year, my flower garden was disappointing, at best. It is at the lowest part of our yard, and the soil just stayed too damp. Many of my Dahlia tubers rotted before they even got going. Fingers crossed that adding 20.5 cubic feet of goodness and building it up slightly higher will help. But as all gardeners know, gardening is never done…it is an ongoing process.

My improvised indoor greenhouse is going strong! These little babies are chomping to get out in the sun.

Finally, speaking of babies!!!!

Look at these little nuggets of floof!!! One of these little girls is our sweet Elsa! Terry and I will trek back down to get her next week! Happy Easter to us!

puppies

New on the Blog

I have a new, fun two-part project and a new, yummy recipe for you today!

First, the projects!

A pack of wildflower seeds and two cheap frames from the dollar store are all you need to purchase to make seed paper! You can use the seed paper for your own correspondence, make cards to give as gifts, use the paper for gift tags, or wrap your handknit washcloths. Truly, there are many great opportunities to use your handmade seed paper.

This first post teaches you how to make seed paper with a step-by-step illustrated tutorial.

Seed paper with thistle.

This second post shows you how to use your seed paper to make Wildflower Seed Paper Cards.

Seed paper cards.

Then, the Recipe!

If you bake sourdough, you are like me, always looking for ways to use your discard. Enter these Cheesy and Crunchy Sourdough Discard Crackers! They are super easy to make: 10 minutes of active prep time, 30 minutes in the fridge, and 15-20 minutes in the oven. The only downside is that they are dangerously yummy. Bake several batches and give them to your favorite people!

Cheese Sourdough Crackers.

From the Knit Studio

A friend’s mom gave me several of these hand-knit washcloths during the dark days of Covid. I asked her for the pattern, which she readily shared, and then I shared the pattern, which I named after her, on the blog. Little did I know this was already a well-known pattern! I still call it the Bridget Knit Dishcloth in honor of her kindness. It’s a great pattern for new knitters or experienced knitters who need a mindless project in front of the TV or the car.

From the Kitchen

Our recipes today have a decidedly ‘spring’ feel to them! Enjoy.

  • This curry salad dressing recipe is one of our all-time favorite salad dressings. It is perfect with a simple bowl of greens or a heartier salad. Just a little bit of this dressing adds a unique and delightful taste profile to your salad, and it will quickly become one of your go-to dressings.
Pouring Curry Salad Dressing over Salad Greens
  • Like a gougères recipe or a pão de queijo recipe (Brazilian cheese puffs), this Gruyère Cheese Puff Recipe is based on a simple choux pastry recipe, using flour, eggs, water, and butter. Substituting tapioca flour for wheat flour results in a gluten-free choux pastry (essentially what Brazilian cheese puffs are), elevated with Gruyère cheese and chives for these delightful and easy-to-make cheese puffs. These treats are perfect anytime, but especially for brunch or luncheon.
Cheese puffs.
  • This simple carrot bread recipe is similar to carrot cake but healthier with less sugar. But you’ll never miss the sugar in this moist and flavorful quick bread.
Sliced Carrot Bread on a colling rack with fresh carrots in the background.
  • If you are looking for a more decadent carrot cake, this is the Best Ever Cake Recipe we’ve ever had, and we love our carrot cake!
Carrot Cake

From the Arts + Crafts Studio

More Spring-y crafts are coming at you!

  • This is a quick and easy way to make moss balls for spring or anytime home decor. I keep mine out year-round.
Moss ball in a white urn with a silver bowl fo ferns and moss.
  • Here are some more ‘mossy’ ideas if you’d like to bring that gorgeous green into your home and table decor. You’ll notice my Grandma’s milk glass urns are busy in my home.
  • Using (mostly) household items, you can whip up a chemical-free dye recipe to decorate eggs this Easter. After you’ve hardboiled and cooled your eggs, soak them in one of these homemade solutions to achieve a variety of hues. Here are five of the best ways to naturally dye Easter eggs.
Easter Eggs dyed with natural ingredients

In the Garden

As you plan your vegetable garden this spring, consider what plants will help each other thrive!

  • Keep tomatoes away from your potatoes, but surround them with herbs! Learn which plants are some of the best Potato Companion Plants.
Potato plants with hand.
  • Learn the top 10 onion companion plants and how their interactions help your garden thrive. We’ll also cover the vegetables, herbs, and flowers you should keep away from your onions to prevent stunting growth and spreading diseases.
GArden plot growing onions.
  • Why are tomatoes and alliums are great Carrot Companion Plants, but dill is not? Learn the ten best plants to accompany your carrots in the garden and, as importantly, which ones to avoid.
Carrots growing in the soil.
  • If you previously printed our companion planting printable, make sure to grab the new one, which is two pages and includes companion plants for ten common garden vegetables. I updated it this week; you can find it in the Subscriber Library. Remember, your super secret password is at the bottom of every Monday’s News from the Nest.
Companion Planting Guide

In the Home

Organized Drawers and Cupboards
showing tools and procedures for wall stenciling

Word of the Day

A Fluffle is a group of wild rabbits! How great is that word?! But, heads up, don’t confuse it with fluffer, which I almost did! I knew it was ‘fluff’ something, so when I typed it into the Googler at 6 a.m. today, ‘fluffer’ came up first, I was jolted awake rather quickly 🫨Those two words are way too close in spelling for comfort.

Did you Miss Last Week’s Newsletter?

Not to worry; you can catch up here.

Some Fun Finds + a Few Favorites

Some of these links may be Amazon affiliate links and I may earn a small commission from the sale of these products to help defray the costs of operating this site, but the price you are charged is not affected. You can see my full disclosure policy here.

A lovely, lightweight woven throw in gorgeous colors.

If you need to fill a space on a wall.

I’m looking for a blanket basket or chest. I’m still pondering, but this looks promising.

This is a cool floating wall shelf that also has a drawer! Perfect for beside a bed.

I bought this plant light for my kitchen herbs, and it’s doing its job perfectly! I wanted something as unobtrusive as possible, which would give enough light for more than one plant. I’m still looking for two more herbs to add to my parsley. There’s a timer to have it on for 6, 12 or 16 hours.

parsley growing under grow light.

FYI: A Simple Way to Help This Blog

The easiest way you can help Nourish and Nestle thrive and grow is to rate and comment on our specific recipes and projects. Google looks at your ratings and comments as validation that our content is useful. If you’ve made and enjoyed one of our recipes or projects, commenting on the recipe or project page gives it credibility.

Well, friends, that’s it for the day! I’m off to have breakfast with friends I made when I worked at Williams-Sonoma eight years ago! I am trying to get a bunch of work done before Elsa arrives, as I know my days will be defined by potty training for the near future.

Have a great day and I’ll ‘see’ you next week!

Signature of Lynn

Thanks for making my day by SHARING!!

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4 Comments

  1. Hi, I really want to try your recipe for carrot bread. My
    husband loves carrot cake and this would be a nice alternative. It sounds yummy.

    1. Hi Gwendolyn,

      I’m pretty sure your husband will enjoy it as much as we do! Please pop back in and let me know after you’ve made it.

      Hugs,

  2. Hi Norrine..I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed this weeks newsletter! For sure it’s one of the best ones I receive. The seed paper really intrigued me. I have two rolls of seed paper that I bought in Thailand last year. I haven’t even used either one yet. One is a pretty shade of light pink and the other a very light baby blue. They not only put seeds in theirs, but also small petals of flowers. I had considered using it for wrapping paper, but instead I may cut it into note cards and see if I can flatten it out. Maybe a light misting of water would help with that. I see an experiment coming..lol..Your curry dressing has inspired me to make for Easter! I also really liked your moss balls, but not sure what I have that I could put them in. The puppies are adorable! How could you pick “just one”? Looking forward to your next newsletter! Thanks so much for an enjoyable morning read!

    1. Thanks so much, Colleen! I love getting mail from readers, especially when it says such nice things! 🥰

      The idea of putting flower petals in the seed paper is a great idea! Wish I had thought of that, too. It would be very easy to accomplish. Do be careful with the water…you don’t want those seeds to sprout.

      And you will enjoy that Curry Dressing! A little goes a long way…we enjoy most often just over fresh spinach…with nothing else.

      The moss balls could go anywhere, in a bowl, vase, urn, or just loose on a table.

      And I can’t wait to share more pics of Elsa once we get her home. My only fear is overdoing it! 🐶

      Thanks again for your kind comments. I’m so lucky to have found this little gig of mine to keep me busy and engaged. And I get to ‘meet’ some of the nicest people. 🥰🥰🥰🥰

      Many hugs and wishes for a great day.

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