Spring Has Sprung

Hello, friends.  I took it slow last week, giving myself time to recover.  Though our energy is still not back 100%, J & I are doing well.  Late in the week,  I got together with my sister one day, and went to see a musical my brother was playing the next day with my SIL.  I harvested lemon balm and nettles, and began jars of glycerite with them.  We finished weeding the asparagus, and J has enclosed the newest asparagus bed and berry patch.  The deer were munching on both of these last year, so we wanted them to have some protection this year. He put up deer netting, with white tape, to deter the deer, and hopefully keep the birds from getting tangled.  The first of the asparagus are up.  

berry enclosure

The potatoes and peas are coming up nicely.  Most of the fall garden died over winter.  There appears to be one surviving kale plant, two remaining beets, and several carrots, out of good sized beds.  None of the chard made it.  That's the gardening life.  You just hope for the best.  J moved all the grow bags, to behind the SoulSeeds shop, and planted them with potatoes.  They'll get the rain off the roof there, and not quite as much direct sun as where they'd been.  The potatoes were all planted with pieces with eyes, saved from when we were cooking.  He reused the same soil, as we had such a small harvest last year.  Hopefully, they'll be happier this year.  He mentioned wanting to put some more fruit near the grow bags, so I picked up two Nanking cherries, which we planted.  In the early years on the homestead, there were several sand cherries planted.  They were never especially prolific, so my ex cut them down.  One survived, but it has never fruited again.  Perhaps with these other cherries nearby, we'll get a decent harvest.  

I separated sixteen of the largest pepper seedlings, and transplanted them into individual cells.  Some of the Amish tomatoes are ready, so they'll be up next.  Being I hadn't been eating as much recently, and it's spring, so easier for me to handle all raw food, I went ahead and started the first 3-6-9 cleanse of the year.  I'm happy to report the MM protocol for rheumatoid arthritis has taken care of my symptoms, which is truly a blessing, as the function of my hands had really been affected (ie: couldn't squeeze clothespins or open jars).  I hope the weather is becoming milder, where you live.  Wishing you a beautiful week.  

Summer Canning & A Lettuce Experiment

Hello, friends.  Last week, I canned yellow squash and tomatoes.  Instead of the usual raw pack canning of tomatoes, I tried stewing them for the first time, and canned the juice separately.  I'm thinking stewed should made a nicer sauce.  The time and effort seemed to be approximately the same, but I liked not having to deal with the steaming pot to remove skins, and then the ice bath afterwards.  The recipe I used left the skins on, so I did too.  I've done that with cherry tomatoes used in canning, and they were fine.  Another day, I blanched and froze lambs quarter.  Cucumbers, tomatoes, yellow squash, tromboncino, eggplant, blueberries, a very few blackberries, parsley, oregano, basil, the first green beans and lambs quarter were harvested.  At Aldi, I bought a pineapple for $1.49, which is the cheapest I've seen in a long time.  I keep looking for the .99 pineapples I  read about people finding, but never see any in this area.  If I did, I'd try canning them, as they're doing.  J was given a large bag of local sweet corn, and froze most of it, after enjoying several ears.

I met my sister for a thrifting day, and found a dress to wear to the 70's disco dance party we're going to in August.  It's polyester, with a 70's looking pattern, and flared sleeves.  J had sent me a link for an outfit online, but it was $50, and I refuse to pay that to wear for one night.  The dress should have been $2, but I think ended up being $4 at the thrift store, still a great savings.  I also found J a fleece work vest, which was either $2 or $4, and a scarf for the dance outfit for $1.  We stopped by a produce stand, and I picked up a cantaloupe for $3.  Not a great deal, but cheaper than the stores have been here.  I shared cucumbers with my sister.  After I dropped her back at her car, I shopped at Food Lion, where I found someone had left coupons in the cart, including one for $3 off  $20.

We got rid of our two "extra" roosters, after J listed them online.  A woman and her small son came to pick them up, and though we didn't ask directly, we believe they will be additions to their farm nearby.  Though, in these times, I couldn't begrudge anyone wanting to put food by, I'm hoping they're living their best lives, with a flock of their own.  As the weeks go by, the littlest "RI Red" chicks are appearing to be bantams or some other small breed.  They're definitely not RI Reds.  We lost one of our Americauna hens last week.  She was just sitting near the door to their yard when I went out in the morning, and when I went to check on her a little while later, she was already gone, though she didn't appear to be struggling to breathe or any other signs.  I knew when she let me pet her that she must be pretty sick.  I continue soaking scratch grains overnight for the chickens, and giving them a mixture of banana peels, and whatever else I have that day.  Lately it's been chopped figs, grated cucumber, sometimes chopped tomatoes that have been pecked on by birds.  The day I canned tomatoes, they got all the seeds I had strained out for juice.  J glued one of the legs on the recently thrifted gateleg table, and I stained a small block he had replaced on it.  

Cole slaw was made with our cabbage and carrots, and J had the other cabbage half with potatoes one night.  I dehydrated the cut off tomato tops from canning for suet, and a few mushrooms that needed to be used, to add to the soup mix.  I planted the ends of one celery, and four lettuce in the garden.  Like last year, it doesn't look as though the celery is doing anything, but one lettuce appears to be growing slightly so far.  We have lots of melons and winter squash growing on the vines.  I keep finding various seedlings eaten off.  This week, it was lettuce and nasturtium.  In place of the nasturtium, I transplanted wintersown portulaca.   For the lettuce, we did a project we've been talking about for some time, which is making holes in a large piece of styrofoam for the pots, and floating the pots in our pond.  It supposedly keeps the lettuce cool enough to be happy during the summer, and the water has enough nutrients in it to help them thrive.  I planted four pots to start.  If they do well, we plan to add more.   

I made a peach cobbler for J, with some of the peaches a neighbor gave him, and some flour that needs using, as I'm GF now.  I started another MM cleanse this week, so it seemed a good time to do that.  For the cleanse, I've been able to use kale, tomatoes, herbs, garlic and cucumber from the garden in meals.  We've been able to open up at night, to take advantage of the fresh and cooler air, and got a small amount of rain.  I cleaned the chicken coop, and cut spearmint and southernwood sprigs to place in the coop and nest boxes.  While braiding onions on the porch with the pups, I saw a green snake fall from the roof.  It took me a minute to realize an anole lizard had it in it's mouth.  They battled for two or three minutes before the anole let the snake go.  I figure the snake had probably gone after the anole, and he was having no part of it!  Nature is something to behold.  

We had guests on Sunday.  They appreciated the photos of the garden I shared on social media, and asked if they could come out.  I was gifted a piece of a new to me herb, called papalo.  It's sometimes compared to cilantro, and has a strong scent and taste.  I've got it in water, to see if it will grow roots.  I was also given a bag of worm castings, an excellent gift for a gardener.  Cucumbers and tomatoes were shared.  J sowed carrot seeds.  I did a little bit of weed eating before the battery died.  By the time it was charged, I was onto other things.  J and I do Wordle and the spelling bee it links to pretty much every day, and compare.  As we do the free version of spelling bee, it cuts us off at some point, so I sometimes also do a free version called Free Bee, which does not cut you off.  It's the little things.  Be well, friends.  

Healing & A New Toy

 

Hello, friends.  On Monday, I debated whether to paint orders, but the forecast was for an 80 degree, windy day, so I began cleaning up beds instead.  Two flower beds and a garden bed were finished.  I harvested winter greens, and made a winter salad for J.  It smelled so good, but I'm doing an MM cleanse at the moment.  I had planned to do one soon, but moved it up, in case produce supplies worsen or become too expensive to afford.  This should put me a little farther along the healing path.  Though I still have a little itching on my hands, I'm very encouraged by how well I'm doing.  I've been asked why I don't just go the conventional medical route and be done with it, but I've always been about healing the true cause, rather than just suppressing symptoms.  From the many stories I've seen shared on IG, conventional medicine isn't great at symptom relief for eczema anyway, but so many with far worse (ie: whole body) eczema than I have fully healed themselves on MM protocols, though it often seems to take 2 to 3 years.  I'm already over a year in, and doing the Advanced cleanse again this round, which works so much better for me than the regular cleanse, due to the food choices.   The advanced cleanse has a good tasting smoothie for breakfast, choice of soup or smoothie for lunch, and a half dozen salads or other choices for dinner.  I also see an acupuncturist, and with using food as medicine, acupuncture, and Chinese herbs, I've just about beat it.

vibrant Liver Rescue smoothie for lunch

I used a 20% off code for a business order, and went through Swagbucks for an additional 2%.  A hen started doing poorly, so I separated her, cleaned her poopy butt, and tried giving her electrolytes, but she still died.  She was getting up there in age, but I have an awful track record of keeping sick chickens alive.  It's just so hard for me to tell what's going on when they get sick.  We haven't bought chicks in a few years, and intend to get some soon, as we don't want a repeat of adding more roosters to the flock, with eggs that hatch out here.  Greens were gathered daily for the chickens.  There was a fortuitous walk one morning, when I saw an interesting frog, mottled copper and brown next to our creek, and a red eared slider turtle near our pond.  We dropped off our taxes with the accountant, and received some information which may be helpful in lowering our taxes going forward.  J replaced halogen bulbs with LED's in two spots in the kitchen, to lower electricity usage.

At the grocery store, I took advantage of a coupon for .50 off a can of beans and used a $2 reward.  Looking over the receipt now, I see I wasn't charged for brussels sprouts, which also had a coupon.  When ringing up aloe, he mentioned putting it in as brussels sprouts by mistake, and I said I had gotten those too, but I guess he deleted it.  There was also a coupon for sugar, but it was cheaper to buy another brand.  I enjoyed Ken Burn's Dustbowl documentary recently, and picked up Grapes of Wrath at the library, which I'd never read.  A pan of GF bread ends was turned into bread crumbs.  I bought a used drill press J found through Marketplace for $35, which will be used in making compost crocks, and I've also thought of other uses for it.  It needs a bit of cleaning.  The drill press in J's shop is really heavy duty, and not user friendly for what I need to do, so this will be helpful.  I already have several canisters waiting to be turned into compost crocks, and will soon put it to work. 

"flower" from a poplar

On Saturday, there were events going on at the local potteries, and a neighbor and I went by several of them.  Most of them had a tea event, with tea and wonderful baked goodies, which I couldn't take advantage of,  but I made a small purchase from each of them, as I like to support our local businesses.  Two items will be gifts.  One shop had a planter sale, with a nursery taking part, where I picked up lettuce and cabbage seedlings for $1 ea., and I made sure to pick ones that had multiples in them.  I have lettuce seedlings started, but they're 1/4" high at present, so this will help until they grow.  It was frigid and windy, with intermittent snow flurries, but it looks to be our last really cold spell.  I made a mailbox bow with the perfect roll of shamrock ribbon I got at a thrift store for $1 last year.  I've been meaning to start sprouting again, and started a jar of alfalfa sprouts on Sunday.  I steamed some of our potatoes for dinner, after cutting the eyes to plant.  A bag of frozen strawberries was finished, to use in oatmeal.  Have a lovely week, friends.

The Last Sweet Days of Summer

Hello, friends.  Seeing this monarch caterpillar on some of the milkweed made me smile.  Last week, lemon balm was harvested to finish filling an already started jar of glycerite.  I gathered more stems of dock seed, and dried them for future baking.  Three trays of figs were dehydrated.  I'm thinking of baking fig bars during the cooler months, and came across a healthy, GF recipe I can use.  For several weeks now, I've been gathering hickory nuts as I come across them.  The best place is our driveway, as the vehicles run across them, and take the outer husk off, so each time I go to the mailbox, I gather some.  There are still some from last year I've not used, but they'll last a long time in their shells.

On Tuesday, I canned eggplant.  If I have more eggplant bounty, I intend to make caponata with at least some of it.  On a roll that day, I went ahead and canned up yellow squash too.  It felt good to catch up with those.  I also prepped the noodle beans, some while watching the canner.  All the end bits went into the vegi broth bag, which filled the 4th gallon bag.  Soon I'll need to be canning broth.  On that day, I was on the 9th and final day of an advanced Medical Medium cleanse.  I was worried my energy might be low, because on this final day, only liquids were allowed.  It turns out my energy was great, which has been the case throughout the protocol I've been doing, which tells me I'm on the right track in supporting my health.  My weight has dropped to 100, the lowest I've been in, well... decades, but still a good, healthy weight for my height.  I continue walking daily with the pups for exercise.

On Wednesday, after painting orders, I canned noodle beans, and froze red pepper.  Another day, I cut and dried several sweet peppers.  The ground is still quite dry here, so it has not been a stellar mushroom year.  Still, I found a few more small chanterelles on my walks and dried them too.  A juicer I tried, but didn't work for me, was returned to Amazon.  The tomatoes in the garden are pretty much done, but I'm still harvesting figs, eggplant, cucumbers, peppers, the last pawpaw and noodle beans.  The yellow and tromboncino squash are slowing down, but we're still getting a few of those.  Herbs have been harvested for meals, including basil, oregano and chives.  We enjoyed our watermelon.  I saved the seeds, and harvested our last one.  Our little home goods business has been booming, and we're looking forward to a little break.  Enjoy these last few sweet days of summer, friends.