The Skoolie Solar Is Up & Running

 

Hello.  Just stopping in for a quick post.  Joseph hooked up the remainder of the solar system today, and it is now up and running!  I had to climb under the bed to get this pic of the charge controllers running.  You can see the metal lattice shadows from above.  Woohoo!  We're getting there.

Homestead Woes & Blessings

Hello, friends.  Last week, I placed an online order for some needed things, using a coupon code for 20% off, and went through Swagbucks for another 10% cash back.  They then sent a 25% off code, and I placed a food order, again going through Swagbucks for the additional 10%.  It's hard to beat 35% off these days.  Gas prices were $3.39 close to where I was working, but I was happy to fill up for $3.03, closer to home.  I thought the high prices may be due to the US Open, but the following week, the prices remained the same.  We are in serious need of rain, with none forecast soon.  I hope we won't run out of rainwater, but it's a likely possibility.  I've not had luck growing black-eyed susan vine from seed, but there were dozens of little volunteers, where I was working, so I brought home a few to try.  They seem very happy to be out of the gravel, and are already making flower buds, so I'm hopeful.  The above photo is at my workplace.

While working away from home this week, dinners were simple.  One night, I opened jars of our green beans and small potatoes, and sauteed them with garlic.  One of our beets went into apple beet salad, for a side.  Jasmine rice with home canned black beans and salsa were another dinner.  Pasta two ways on other nights, with salads, and previously made black bean burgers another night.  Nothing much has gotten done on the homestead, other than a few minutes of chicken chores, watering plants, and small harvests morning and evening.  I'm thankful for the work, but will be very happy to spend more time here, outdoors and in,  this coming week.  It does look like we're going to have some scorchers, with 97 in the forecast last I heard, so it may still be mostly early morning and late evening outdoors for the most part.

One morning, I found our freezer door open again.  We both feel we're being mindful about closing it, and are wondering if it's somehow opening on it's own, as each time, it's been when it's pretty full.  Sigh.  J is thinking about adding a bungee cord.  Just after finally sitting down Friday, after finishing dinner and outdoor evening chores, a strange noise came from the bathroom.  Running there, I found water pouring out from behind the vanity.  Thankfully, J was there, and got the shut-off valve closed.  Apparently, the hose to our faucet deteriorated and blew out, and is not fixable.  Sigh.  This is the second bathroom faucet that has fallen apart from deterioration (entirely different faucets), in the almost 16 years we've lived there.  We have the oddest water challenges.  

While I was gone at work, J harvested our onions and garlic, which are both curing in my carport.  On Sunday, my first day at home, J dug our potatoes, and we pulled them from the vines, and piled them in a shadier spot, to cure a day or two.  Early in the morning, to beat the heat, I watered a few things, then harvested chard, basil, cucumbers, purslane and the first eggplant.  I turned the basil and purslane into pesto for J, as I'm getting ready to start another cleanse.  Cucumbers were made into spicy cucumber chips, a favorite summertime side dish.  I steamed almost all of the store bought potatoes, some for potato salad, as we'll soon be enjoying our own.  The potatoes look the best they have in many years.  I only noticed a bug hole in one potato, which is amazing, compared to past harvests.  Wishing you a lovely week, and stay cool out there.

Gifts From the Garden & Dear Ones

Hello, friends. Last week, I harvested chard, broccoli, basil, oregano, onions, cabbage, the last of the lettuce, two cucumbers, and some blackberries and mulberries. I saw the first tomato, eggplant and asian cucumbers, which is always exciting. As it won't be much longer before we harvest our garlic, I gathered all but one string of last year's from storage, and began dehydrating it. The house has been quite fragrant! The cabbage recipe I tried last week was good, but when making it, I realized two out of three spices were off-limits, due to J's allergies. I wasn't sure about cardamom, which I don't use often, but found it was related to ginger, when researching it. So, the dish ended up being cabbage and onions with cloves. I do intend to try some with cardamom and turmeric for myself, when I have some leftovers in the future.  My niece gifted me this sweet pot and plant, when I visited.  She made the pot in a recent class, and I love it.

I've been very concerned about McNibs for some time.  He's had a large, unusual mass, in his inguinal area, so you can imagine my thoughts. His holistic vet, who now lives out of state, only comes to the area once a month, and we had to wait two months to get a spot with him. He is wonderful, and obviously beloved by many, but as he's mobile, there's only so much he can do, and recommended I take him to the local vet.  I've mentioned before that McNibs is not cooperative at the vets, ever since something happened when I took him to the emergency vet for his happy tail. So, I had to give him Trazadone before the appointment, enough to do minor things, but to really check him over, with X-rays, biopsies and labwork, they ended up sedating him. In the end, his X-rays and biopsies were all clear  . The vet suggested several possibilities, including an encapsulated lipoma, something to do with an undescended testicle that sometimes shows up in old age, or possibly a hernia. He recommended surgery, but I've decided not to put him through that for now. He still absolutely loves to eat. These days, he's started doing this little prancing thing, in anticipation, when I'm prepping his food. He walks with me every day, and though he's slower (me too), he still does some good sprints several time a week, and took off after a deer Sunday.  He plays with his toys, and gets in the pond &/or creek almost every day.  I'm thinking he's pretty much living his best life, so what reason is there to put him through that? The area doesn't seem to be tender to him. It would be different if he was suffering, so I'm just going to wait and see.

I've spoke of Daisy of Maple Hill 101 several times here.  Last week, I commented on the garden trug in her header, and lo and behold, one arrived here this week.  I can see it getting lots of use in the garden.  Thanks so much, Daisy!  I've figured out why blogger was posting so wonky.  It was set on "HTML view", instead of "compose view", which I must have hit, unbeknownst to me.  But now it's back to normal.  Hooray!  It's the far left icon, if anyone else has that challenge.  The Japanese beetles have begun their emergence.  I managed to collect them one morning, and fed them to the chickens.  I'm shop sitting for a gallery through next Saturday.  This past Saturday was very busy, with a huge amount of people in town for the US Open.  The Open finished on Sunday, so the coming week should be a bit calmer.  This man brings me hope.  Wishing you a most lovely week.

Setting Up the Solar Panels on the Skoolie

 

Since last week, Joseph has worked on fabricating the infrastructure for our solar panels, and installing them on the top of the bus.  Since I took the pic below, all five panels are up.  As usual, he did the vast majority of work.  I helped move materials around a bit.

He's welded the metal stringers that will be holding the panels in place, and will add rivets, two per each side of panel. Then mounting the panels will be done. Electrical connections will be made soon.  The remaining roof space, an approximately 8' X 8" area, will become our luggage rack/deck.  He's already scoped out some bald cypress wood, which should work great for this application.

Gardenias & A Fairy Egg

Hello, friends. I was surprised to see how much there was to harvest, after my time away last week. Almost all the broccoli was ready, and I harvested approx. 9 1/2 lbs. That night, I made broccoli almond soup, then blanched and froze the remainder, in meal-sized portions. There was also bountiful chard to be harvested, as well as all the radishes that hadn't started going to flower. I experimented with the broccoli plants, after reading a tip in This Organic Life. I usually cut the broccoli just below the head, and end up getting some more side shoots, but the tip said to cut down to the last two leaves, for more substantial heads to regrow. We'll see how well that works. There are some recipes from this book I printed to try. Besides the broccoli, chard and radishes, I also harvested a few more peas, foraged chanterelles, lettuce and beets. I let the carrot patch go too long, and pulled all but the two for seed. Our gardenias are blooming, and they smell just heavenly.

For the drive to Asheville, I picked up an audio book at the library. Driving time was 6 hours, and the book was 10, so I finished it while working on packing orders and wrapping soap. Home canned black beans and homegrown onion, garlic, and red pepper flakes were used to make veggie burgers. As of midweek, we hadn't had to use a/c this spring. It's been pretty warm inside some evenings, up to 80 before we can open up, but we usually manage as long as nighttime temps are below 70. It cools down enough that we can close up in the morning, and be reasonably comfortable during the day. Looking at the long range forecast, with several 90 degree days coming, it looks like that may be coming to an end. While shop sitting at a local pottery this week, I finished removing the lace from the nightgown, which I'd started some weeks ago. Though tough to get to while I'm at home, it was the perfect task during down time at the shop. J tried our a/c one evening, which didn't work. He checked it out, and found a bad contactor, ordered one for $12, and fixed it. He's my homestead honey!

I handwashed bras in handmade soap gel and dried them on the line. All other laundry was dried on the line. Rinse water, warm up water, and water from cups were used for flushing. I added the beet greens to the chard bag, and will saute them together. On the way to the garden, I was delighted to spot four of the rose cuttings I potted up after pruning had roots, and one was even blooming! This is the first time I've had rose cuttings take, much less bloom. I'll have to decide good spots to place them. One evening, when I gathered eggs, I found a green "fairy egg" amongst them. As we don't have any newly laying hens, we think it must have been from our older Americauna hen. Blogger has really changed things the past couple of weeks, making it a lot harder for me to post. For example, they now use code for photos, paragraphs and such, among other things. I really hope this is a short-term glitch, though that's probably wishful thinking on my part. Here's to a smooth week for us all.

Lighting & a Propane Tank

The bedroom reading lights are now hooked up. There was a minor glitch. We missed the fact that the lights did not have switches, and the bus was wired for lights with built-in switches. Joseph found remote control bulbs, and switches, which will live on our bedside tables. Problem solved.

He bought a 30 gallon propane tank from a salvaged motorhome. It looked pretty rough, but he cleaned it up and painted it, then installed it under the bus. A stationary tank will be much easier to refill than the little bottles. He told me truck stops have diesel fuel on one side, and propane on the other, for easy refills. I learn something new every day!

A Little Road Trip

Hello, friends. Some weeks ago, I received a letter informing me of a modification they were making to the Kia, to make it less likely to be stolen, which is apparently a thing with my car.  I was surprised they were working, but I was asked if I could bring it in to the dealership on Monday, Memorial Day, which I did. The repair was made for free, and nothing of note was found otherwise, which was lovely to hear about my 14 year old car.

I visited a niece in Asheville. We took lots of walks, did some thrifting, and ate very well. I have to admit, it was so nice to go to a larger city, where menus were clearly marked with gluten-free and vegan items. The first night, we went to a vegan restaurant, which is very popular. Trying to get a reservation a few days prior, we could not get a table earlier than 8:30. The next day, we went to a South African restaurant, where I had a delicious curry. I'd been to this restaurant previously, which is in a lovely old house, during one or two of it's incarnations. There are added porches now. This newest version grows some of their food on site. I'd recommend both of these restaurants, if you're in the Asheville area. The photo above was the house next door to my Airbnb. On my way home, I stopped by a discount store. I was able to find a handful of items, including organic diced tomatoes and olives.

The last of the peas have been picked. We ended up with approx. 5#. I'll be interested to see how many pint canning jars that will fill. I harvested lettuce, broccoli, basil, oregano, mulberries, and broccoli, and J harvested an onion. One night, I used two heads in an American Heart Assoc. broccoli recipe, which I've been making since working in cardiac rehab in the early 80's. It's a simple recipe, sauteeing onions, adding the broccoli (which I steam first), then lemon juice, salt & pepper. It's a favorite. I've made pasta twice, once with our tomato herb sauce, and once with pesto. With the lettuce bolting, we've eaten lots of salads. Hummingbird food was made. I've been very happy to see more hummingbirds this year. Last week, I'd mentioned we had a dove sitting on a nest. While I was gone, J thinks a hawk may have gotten her. She's been missing since Saturday morning, but her nest and eggs are intact. Sigh. A business purchase was made, going through Swagbucks for 5% back, and I used a 20% discount code. That's what I can remember from the week. I hope yours has been a good one, and the week ahead shines on us all.