Ashley English's Blog, page 27

And the Winners Are...

The three winners of copies of "Home Dairy" and "Keeping Bees" are (randomly chosen by the random number widget): 1) #27=Stephanie Matlock Allen2) #62=Heather3) #208=Thrift QueenThank you SO MUCH to everyone that entered. You people are truly amazing. Keep on at it. You're making the world a better place. To those of you who one, congratulations! I'll be in touch privately to get your mailing

Happiness

Huxley started giggling about two weeks ago. If you're ever sad, just listen to a baby laugh. Clears up the blues right away. There's a lot of happiness going on Chez English these days. Huxley is a large part of it, naturally. We're also excited about the new books' publication last week, the impending spring, our upcoming trip to Florida to see both sets of grandparents, and a visit this

Naturally Flavored Coffee

Happy Friday, all! My "Small Measures with Ashley" post is up over at Design Sponge. Today I'm sharing my tips for creating naturally flavored coffee. It's easier than you can imagine and delicious beyond compare.Huxley, Hubs and I are headed out today to my mom's place up in Burnsville. The ride, which takes an hour each direction, will be the longest the littlest dude has ridden in a car (which

A Room With A View

This is the wintertime view from Huxley's bedroom. I like thinking of him a bit older, hanging out in his room, doing what boys do, all the while keeping close watch over the chickens, and pining for warmer weather when we can all gather in the garden and toil in the soil.

Homemade Living Giveaway

As a thank you to all of you who continue to show up here, I think a giveaway of today's new books is in order. It's you folks, and the community of readers worldwide committed to learning more about "Homemade Living" topics that made these books possible in the first place. I'm feeling generous, so I'll be giving 3 (!!!) lucky readers copies of both "Home Dairy" and "Keeping Bees." To enter,

On the Radio

It's official! "Home Dairy" and "Keeping Bees" are now fully available in print today! Yee Haw! My "Homemade Living" series now truly feels like a bona fide, certified, truer-that-true, legitimate series, with four books in the line-up. Thank you SO VERY MUCH to everyone involved in their existence, from concept to completion. The very definition of a team effort, this book series was done by all

A Family Affair

The paternal side of my family is rather large. My father was one of 8. My grandmother ('Gran') has 22 grandchildren. I have 4 siblings and 17 cousins. When get-togethers happen up around Philadelphia (where everyone aside from my dad lives), it's a big, noisy, raucous affair. Since we live so far away, though, it doesn't happen as often as I'd like. So, I stay in touch with siblings and cousins

Orange & Vanilla Marmalade

Hi everyone! My "Small Measures with Ashley" post is up over on Design Sponge. This week I provided my recipe for Orange & Vanilla Marmalade. It's some seriously good stuff and is a fabulous means of using up all of the heavenly winter citrus fruits in season right now. What you might not be able to see in the photo above are all the flecks of real vanilla bean peppered throughout the marmalade.

Homemade Living Love

If you'd like to win copies of my books, a few bloggers are giving away copies. Thanks to Deanna over at Crunchy Chicken, who's sponsoring giveaways of both my "Keeping Chickens" and "Canning & Preserving" books, as well as to Tigress, who's got a hot-off-the-press copy of "Home Dairy" to give away. Thanks for the love, ladies!

Gifts Gone "Wild"

Last week I received an e-mail from Susan over at BlaBla Kids, saying she'd love to send Huxley a gift. I was unfamiliar with the brand, so I took a minute to check out their website. I've been contacted many times in the past by companies interested in sending me their products, and, typically, I thank them for their interest and politely turn them down. BlaBla was an exception, however, and one