Happy Fall

Hello, friends.  I recently noticed some fresh lemon balm growth, harvested some, and started a jar of glycerite.  I also started elderberry glycerite, from berries I'd dried.  Both are handy to have during cold and flu season.  We're still on our very hard well water, so we took a load of lights and linens to the laundromat last week, to keep it all from becoming stained with the water.  We brought it home, and dried it on the line.  The rug in the studio needed cleaning, from regular use, and the last months of McNibs life.  It was too stiff to go in any washer (it's polypropylene), so we clamped it to the forklift, and J pressure washed it.  We left it there over the weekend, to dry.  All the rain missed us, but we have high hopes for this week.

I harvested sumac, and gathered persimmons from the ground.  Many were already partially eaten, and were used to check the seeds for a winter forecast.  Have you heard about this Southern winter tradition?  When you cut open the seed, if it looks like a spoon, snow is likely.  If a knife, cutting cold.  A fork portends a mild winter.  It looked to me like the top two, and one other have fork-like tines, and the others, spoons, with possibly a knife or two.   Ha, that covers it all.  We don't necessarily think it's accurate, but it's fun to check anyway.  A couple were tasted, and were very good.  The pulp went to the chickens.  I'll likely make zaater with the sumac.  I've had the sumac "lemonade", but prefer zaater. 

persimmon seeds

In anticipation of bringing in the winter squash, which have been curing on the porch, I wiped down the storage shelves, first with soapy water, and then with straight vinegar.  The potatoes had to be rearranged a bit, to make room for the squash.   J ordered garlic, which arrived last week.  A batch of Kitchen Thyme soap was made.  The basil and thyme essential oils make the house smell herbal.  I took advantage of a less full than usual fridge, and wiped out crispers and cleaned needed areas.   A batch of suet was made for the birds.  We each saw one hummingbird last week, so it appears most are already migrating from the area.  The seasons are changing.  Happy Autumn equinox and first day of astronomical Fall!

Dry Days

Hello, friends.  After a busy week of rental house work, not much got done at home.  It kicked both our butts, but we got it done, and saved several thousand dollars in the process.  We'll be doing more projects in the coming weeks, but the hardest one is thankfully out of the way.  I signed up for an online weekend class some weeks back, which kept me busy most of Saturday and Sunday.  I'm looking forward to a return to more of my normal schedule this week. We got a nice little harvest of muscadines, less than 3#.  Some bronze and some purple.  I haven't decided if I'll make juice or jelly.

The rabbits ate all but three of the cabbage and collards I mentioned last week.  That's the bad news.  I have two glass cloches, and put those in place, along with cutting the bottom out of a juice jug for the third remaining plant.  The good news is there are actually collards or cabbage, maybe both, resprouting from last year's plants, so I'll also try to protect them as jugs become available.  It's like a game, trying to figure out how to outsmart all the critters.  I expect we'll try to use some row cover, but the plants are pretty far apart.   We do have row cover over the patch with our lettuce and chard, close to the house.

From such a rainy start to the summer, we've gotten very dry.  Last week, we had to switch over to well water, which is extremely hard water.  I'm thankful to have running water, even if less than ideal.  There are a few chances of rain this week, and we're ever hopeful.  I harvested tomatoes, peppers, a few figs, pears, pawpaws and winter squash.  The squirrels knock many of the pears to the ground.  Ones I can grab without getting stung, and which are already starting to rot, get thrown to the chickens.  I froze more pear pieces, and dehydrated the peels.  On Saturday night's walk, I saw two wild turkeys in the back field.  I'm always happy to know they're still around.  Keep shining your light, friends.  It's obvious the world can use more of it.

City Traffic & Another Trip Around The Sun

Hello, friends.  Last week, leaves and inner portions of celery were dehydrated, along with pear peelings.  With the pears coming in, there weren't enough yet to make a pie, so I froze what I had.  I'd recently read about adding apple skin powder to baked goods, and thought I might try that with the pears.  If I don't use it, I figure I can always add it to chicken mash.  Last year was the first time we had a good melon year, but we didn't have a repeat this year.  The kajari melons rotted, with all the earlier rain, before we found them, as well as some others.  We've had one edible cantaloupe and one watermelon, though neither was great tasting, and the remaining melons were tasteless.  Chicken food.  There's one more watermelon.  We're hoping it's wonderful.

I turned another canister into a compost crock, and got it listed.  An order for a Berkey stand was painted and packed.  I celebrated another trip around the sun.  We had two gatherings scheduled, to meet others for meals, but both were canceled due to illness.  J & I did go to the first one ourselves, at a restaurant in Raleigh.  Goodness, we'd forgotten how awful traffic is, when we venture into cities.  Actually, it started two towns before Raleigh, and was stop and go for a half hour.  We won't plan that again any time soon.  Some more carrots were harvested for Guinness' dinners.

A week or so ago, I was looking for local little free libraries, to donate books.  None were especially convenient to my usual travels, but what should pop up this week in a group I belong to is a brand new one, just off a road I travel often.  I was happy to see that.  Three nieces have requested cookbooks I offered, and a neighbor took another.  We've got a big project, and some smaller ones to do at our rental house, which we'll start on this week.  The big project will be mostly spent on the roof.  Here's hoping our aging bodies navigate that well and safely.  Joseph picked up lettuce, chard, collard and cabbage seedlings, and we got those planted, as well as an oregano and the remaining three lettuce I started.  Wishing you a great week!

Bonus Day

Hello, friends.  I usually try to keep some notes for the week, and didn't do that, so we'll see what I remember.  I'd recently gotten a couple of canisters, to turn into compost crocks.  I drilled holes in the lid, sized a carbon filter for the lid, did a photo shoot, and listed them in my shop.  I receive emails from one of our state representatives, and it mentioned the website to check for cash owed you.  Though I didn't have any, I found ten entries for the capital credits of the electric co-op I belong to for my parents.  As they've been gone 11 years, we no longer had anything with the listed address, so I called the co-op, and they mailed something that should work.  It's not a huge amount, but will still be nice if it actually goes through.  A pair of leggings with a small hole were mended.  J pointed out this spiderweb one morning.  Isn't it lovely?  The universe tells us we are loved in so many ways.

I was surprised when the phone rang at 6:30 Tuesday morning.  It was the dentist's office, letting me know the hygienist was out that day, and they needed to reschedule my cleaning.  Thinking of it as a bonus day, I made the most of it.  (It takes me ~1.5 hrs. to drive there, and with running an errand or two, that would have been most of a day.) I'd made several loaves of fig bread for J recently, and decided the first thing I'd do is make a couple of GF loaves for me.  A batch of Garden soap was made next.  There were a couple pairs of slippers that have been needing attention.  The first pair needed washing, but as they had a pouf of feathers on top, they needed to be gently hand washed.  After that was done, I worked on a pair of suede slippers.  The suede had gotten badly stained, as I hadn't thought to use protective sealer on them, and pretty much live in them all winter, if I'm not outdoors.  I'd bought a suede cleaning tool with several options, and though they're still not pretty, they're better than they were.  I do intend to spray them before using them again. Though the day was jam packed, I'm sorry to say I've forgotten what the rest of it looked like.  That's why I need notes!  I just know I was tired and happy by the end of the day, which constitutes a good day, in my book.

J found this sweet birds nest, which must have fallen from a tree, on the roof of the skoolie.  The pears have started ripening, and I haven't done a good job of keeping up with them.  Maybe this week I can make a small batch of pear sauce.  The muscadines have also begun ripening, and we've been eating them fresh.  Other than that, the garden produced tomatoes, one eggplant, and a couple of peppers.  I harvested oregano and basil, and am still harvesting figs and pawpaws, though both are on the downswing.  Both figs and pawpaws were shared with my massage therapist.  While in that town, I stopped by my favorite thrift store, which is actually four separate stores.  I found a canister in one, and specifically went to one for flannel shirts, where I happily found two for $1 ea., a significant savings over Goodwill, where current local prices are $4.49 ea.  Before meeting my sister in town, I paid property taxes for our home and businesses, which was early enough to get the discounted price.  The cooler weather and open windows has been most welcome.  Wishing you a lovely week.  

A Skoolie Update

Hello, friends.  Since our first shakedown trip in the skoolie in May, a lot has happened.  Joseph is on several skoolie forums, and learned what a benefit an auxiliary cooling system could be, especially in climbing long elevations, as in our mountains, or driving in high temperatures.  He designed and installed one of these systems in our bus, which as you'll see later in this post, has already come in quite handy.  He created a bypass system for the drinking water, which significantly speeds up flow, so that issue is solved.  He decided he wasn't happy with the wood railings, and replaced them with aluminum ones, on the cargo deck, which you can see in the above pic.

He decided he wasn't happy with the free-standing telescoping ladder, and replaced it with an attached fabricated aluminum one.  He took another shakedown trip the weekend of the 4th, in Pittsboro, and found out the water pump didn't supply enough water pressure to operate the shower when we're boondocking (running on our own systems).  He has since installed a higher capacity water pump.  He also ran out of house battery power overnight, and has since doubled the battery capacity.  He did a mini overnight shakedown at our homestead, to make sure the power supply would last all night, with a/c running on the new battery system, and it did.  He also wanted to make sure there was plenty of power to start the bus, if we were sitting in cold weather or boondocking for days, so he added an additional battery for this.

He fabricated intake louvers to help channel air into the radiator intake (above), to assist in cooling.  He also mounted a louver on the rear engine access door, to help dissipate heat.  He did another shakedown trip to the eastern part of the state, to attend a family reunion.  When he got 25 miles from his destination, he began hearing an unusual noise, and stopped to find the cooling fan hub bearings had failed.  He removed the drive belt, and switched on the auxiliary cooling system, and continued to his destination.  He made it back home on the auxiliary system, by stopping several times to let it cool down, as it's not quite as powerful as the main cooling system.  We're so thankful it got him home, without needing a tow, which would have been quite expensive.  He's since rebuilt the fan hub.  We're now planning another shakedown trip for early Fall.  Let's hope this one goes perfectly, so we can venture farther.  

August Blooms & A Happy Ending

Hello, friends.   Last week, I made cashew parmesan, harvested basil, and made pesto.  As I won't be canning any tomatoes, I want to be sure we have plenty of pesto, so we can continue to have pasta about once a week.  Guinness had a much needed bath, in the outdoor shower, with homemade dog soap.  After the neighbor didn't respond to my messages regarding fruit pickup, I canned figs, and froze pawpaw pulp in muffin tins, for smoothies.  Two new bras were handwashed with homemade soap gel.  A little later than usual, I made my autumn soap, Pumpkin Chai.  It will be ready to wrap August 29th.

In the garden, I harvested tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, probably the last tromboncino, and peppers.  J started cucumbers a couple of weeks ago, and they're looking good.  It's questionable whether they'll have time to bear before first frost, but we thought it was worth a try.  I gathered hazelnuts and wild hickory nuts.  Last year, the majority of hickory nuts weren't good, when I shelled them.  I gathered around a dozen last week to see, and none were good.  Maybe the squirrels leave the bad ones on the ground.  I expect they have a way of knowing; perhaps scent.  I'm still trying new to us recipes that were saved.  Last week, we tried chickpea cucumber feta salad, which we both liked.  I like finding recipes that don't require cooking, for when temps are high.

On Saturday, I heard from the neighbor, and shared figs and pawpaws.  She gave us a Happy Camper sticker for the skoolie.  With the weather turning cooler, J & I enjoyed a lovely pond sit one evening.  We had a rewarding thing happen on Saturday.  While in the garden, I started hearing what sounded like "baa-ing".  I called J, and we determined it probably wasn't in our woods, but he could see a stopped car through the woods.  We walked out to the road, and found a man trying to release a fawn that was stuck in wire fencing across the road.  The man had been there several minutes, and wasn't having any luck, so J asked me to run and get his wire cutters.  A few snips, and it was released.  It did immediately run right into the fence again, so he lifted it up and over, where it quickly ran off.  The sweet thing did have some abrasions on it's leg and belly from the fencing, but J thinks it's old enough to be OK, even if it doesn't reunite with it's Mom.  I realized Sunday evening that I totally forgot about writing a skoolie post.  I'll try to remedy that this week.  Have a good one, friends.

 

Mid-August Days & A New Book

Hello, friends.   I've been noticing and enjoying how the slant and quality of the light is changing in the evenings, as we move towards autumn.  While walking by the solar panel array, I noticed quite a few puffballs.  They're the first mushroom I learned and ate, 20+ years ago.  I harvested a small one, and added it to several store bought mushrooms for a dinner side.  I made on online food purchase, with a 20% off code, and 4% cash back.  Figs and pawpaws were offered to neighbors.  One came by for figs; the other is out of town, and will come for both soon.

Last week, I harvested a cucumbers or two, a few tomatoes, and two peppers from the garden, as well as sweet potato leaves for smoothies.  While gathering flowers for a bouquet, I found some bonus potatoes that the rains had unearthed.  Two were very small, but one was of decent size.  In addition to the changing light, another sign that Fall is on it's way is the goldenrod that has begun blooming.  I wanted to say a big thank you to the friend who sent a card.  You know who you are.

I've shared recipes here before, from Elspeth Hay.  Two that come to mind are whole wheat chocolate chip cookies, and brownies which incorporate winter squash. Both are fantastic.  Last month, her new book came out, Feed Us With Trees.  I'm reading it now, and it's so hopeful about possibilities not usually considered.  It feels like a paradigm-changing work.  

J did another shakedown trip, in the skoolie.  He had a family reunion, in the Eastern part of the state, over the weekend.  I honestly didn't feel I had the bandwidth to be around lots of people right now, and didn't feel it would be the best scenario for Guinness, with him being alone in the bus several hours during the reunion, when he's not been alone in it before.  Besides the reunion on Saturday, J invited classmates who have been interested and following the bus progress on social media, to come by on Friday evening, so I knew there wouldn't be much peaceful time the whole trip.  After our last stressful trip, with McNibs, I thought we could all use a peaceful one, this next time.  So instead, Guinness and I had a lovely, quiet weekend at home.  I was able to delve into some spiritual pursuits, gather a bouquet, and have dinners of things I love, but J not as much.  J did have issues with the bus, but I'll do a separate skoolie post about that soon.  He managed to make it home, but will need to work on a few things before adventuring out again.  May love and light surround you this week.