July Harvests and Happenings

Hello, friends.  I hope you've been doing well, since I was last here.   The summer weeks go by quickly.  The niece I often speak about recently walked a portion of the Camino with a friend.  She gifted me the little Spanish bird whistle above.  Guinness is doing well.  His head tilt seems to be gone, and he walks with me every day, other than when it's raining.  There have been just a few days, where partway into our walk, I can tell he's not feeling it, and we turn around and head towards home.  Some mornings, I've been adding a morning walk, usually by myself, to make up for it.  I've now lost 6 lbs.  It's coming off slower than I'd hoped, but I'm pleased to be making steady progress. 

 

With woodstove season behind us, I scrubbed the brick hearth, which is 4' X 8'.  When my ex and I created it, our woodstove and a wood cookstove were back to back on it, the woodstove on the living room side, and the cookstove on the kitchen side.  Once J moved here, we removed the cookstove, and replaced it with an island.  After I cleaned the hearth, J sanded and blacked the woodstove.  Both look much better.  I finished deep cleaning the bedroom, and organized the toiletries and first aid supplies.  I put aside a box to give away.  Speaking of toiletries, for many years I used a Personal Touch razor.  Though I still had packs of replacement razors, bought for $1/pack at the discount store, the razor itself stopped holding the blades in.  I researched, and bought a new type or razor, with good reviews.  Despite myself and J working on it several times, it also would not hold on to the razor.  So, I threw it out, put the extra blades in the giveaway pile, and found a vintage but unopened Personal Touch razor.  In many cases, they really did make things better in the "old days".

In the garden, I've been harvesting blueberries, blackberries, cucumbers, yellow squash, zucchini, tromboncino and Korean zucchini, eggplant, lambs quarter, purslane, arugula, marigold flowers, chard, and finally tomatoes.  I also harvest sweet potato leaves for my breakfast eggs.  Though not a large amount, I'm thinking I may can some tomatoes soon.  It'll probably be two pints, or if I'm lucky three, but every little bit counts, right?  Many of the tomatoes are not thriving, so I'll take what I can get.  As expected, our potato harvest was pitiful.  Something, likely voles, ate most of them.  With a 50' row, we ended up with less than 8#.  We do still have the Amish potato rings J tried this year.  They're still happy looking plants, but haven't bloomed (we planted them fairly late), so we're leaving them alone for now.  I'm harvesting and dehydrating elderberries, as they ripen.  Like much of the country, we had some really hot days, with heat indexes above 100, but they've lowered, and we've gotten some good rain, of which we're thankful.

I've been reading library books and free Prime books, plus one I got from the thrift store for .25.  I went through Swagbucks for several purchases.  Most were just a small amount of cash back, but the best deal was a 40% off Kohls sale with free shipping, plus I got $2.16 cash back from SB.  I also received $10 in Kohls cash, but let that expire, as I didn't see anything else I needed.  There are still repairs needed on both the skoolie and the Bronco, so no trips have yet been planned.  Bread ends were turned into bread crumbs.  Three past their prime bananas were turned into banana bars for J.  Apple zucchini muffins were made with our squash.  We've been keeping our a/c on 78 this summer, but open up at night, any time it's cool enough to do so.  Laundry has been dried on the clothesline.  We had a small amount of our hazelnuts, in the shell, that needed to be cracked.  J took care of it, and they were  vacuum sealed in a jar.  I found that this years' hazelnuts were already gotten by the squirrels, all but the one I found, still intact among the shells on the ground.  As I applied bone sauce to the branches in the spring, it's looking like it doesn't deter squirrels.  It's possible I didn't apply enough, so I plan on applying it again, and give it one more shot.

J worked on tightening up our storm door frame.  You could see daylight, in places around the door, and during the really hot days, you could feel how leaky it was.  When my ex built that corner of the house, it was nowhere near plumb (I now know), so it can be a bit of a challenge in that area.  The door is much better now.  For the first time, the squirrels got into the garlic, drying on a rack in my carport.  So, we set them up in the studio to finish drying, and I braided them and hung them in the basement.  I saw where the squirrels had chewed on one of the drying onions, but it didn't look like much if any was missing, so I'm guessing they went "yuck".  Ha!  I canned up a batch of black & blue jam (mostly blackberries, with blueberries and a few mulberries).  I'd been wanting to take a sewing class, to improve my skills, and recently took one for a quilted potholder.  Though it was meant for beginners, it ended up being one other student and I, both of us having done sewing and quilting in the past.  It was fun.  I may end up going to some of the open houses she holds, where you can bring what you're working on.  I stopped by a thrift store, on the way home from class.  I was happy to find two matching flannel pillowcases pinned together for $1.50, one standard and one queen, which is exactly what we need.  Well, I think that about catches things up for the moment.  Please take good care of yourselves, until next time.

A Skoolie Trip & Life Lately

Hello, friends.  I hope you've been well.  Life has had its ups and downs since I was last here.  We lost J's Mom, which was not entirely unexpected, as she'd been doing poorly for some time.  A positive is we got to see family, and our daughter spent two days with us, before flying home to CO.  Guinness developed nystagmus and head tilt last week, and had a few rough days.  He rallied, unlike when McNibs had the same last year, and in about 48 hours, the nystagmus was gone.  The head tilt remains, with occasional wonky walking, but overall he's adapted well.

I really had doubts at first, but he did so well, we were able to take a skoolie trip, as planned, over the weekend.  He was nervous as we started out, but once we arrived, he settled in, and enjoyed all the new scents we encountered on our walks.  He seemed in great spirits, which made me believe he enjoyed our little adventure too.  We had headed to eastern NC, to visit with one of J's aunts, and attend their town's blueberry festival.  The festival was right in front of her house, so we were able to park there, and walk to view everything.  J had refurbished an older tow dolly, so we had my car to drive, and were able to leave the skoolie at the RV park.  The park was a pretty place, on a lake.  We were parked among the trees, on an end lot, so there were woods on one side of us.  We couldn't have asked for better.  His aunt gifted me one of  many Christmas cacti she had.  The flower color will be a surprise.  I purchased my first treasure on a skoolie trip, while walking around the blueberry festival, a vintage 4 oz. measuring glass.  It measures up to 8 tbs., which I thought would be helpful when measuring liquids.  Instead of trying to measure oil or maple syrup from a large container, by the tablespoon, to pour several tablespoons at a time seems like it should be easier.

The garden has also had its ups and downs.  Between the voles and pill bugs, several potato plants, an eggplant, and most of the new planting of lettuce were killed.  But, we did get 1 1/4" of rain last week, more than in a long while, and we've been able to harvest blackberries, blueberries, lambs quarter, kale, purslane and broccoli.  Broccoli was used in salad and in pad thai.  I intend to freeze the rest.  Berries were used in fruit salads, and frozen.  I tried a new recipe for unbaked blueberry pie, wanting to use up last year's frozen blueberries.  J said it was OK, but not wonderful.  I expect fresh berries would have been much nicer.  Since the rain, there have been many tiny toads and one large one seen, and the bullfrogs have been singing, down at the pond. 

compost system, with newest pile in the foreground

Other recent pursuits have been deep cleaning, sewing and mending, and a lake visit with friends.  Being out on the water always does my heart good.  The chicken flocks are fully combined, and are doing very well, except one of the older hens has had a cough.  I've treated her twice with VetRx, which helps for a few days, but then it comes back, so I figure she may not be around much longer.  We had no eggs for many weeks, but one hen has started laying again.  In a couple of months, we expect to be rolling in eggs.  It appears that four of the younger chickens are roosters, though they should all have been pullets.  The compost system in the chicken yard is working well.  I've made many batches of compost extract, which has been used on all the edibles, and put the compost itself around all the fruit trees, bushes and vines.  

Making a pillow with this thrifted piece of embroidery has been on my to-do list, and was finally accomplished.  For the backing, I used fabric I had dyed with onion skins.  I haven't decided, but think I'll be putting it in the skoolie.  The only significant change I can report on my health so far is better sleep.  During my appointment, it was mentioned that needing to use the bathroom frequently at night can be caused by decreased air flow.  Shortly after the appointment, I learned about nasal dilators, and purchased this one.  I find it comfortable, and barely know it's there.  That's dropped 3-4 nighttime visits to 1-2.  I can't remember how long it's been since I only had to get up once, but it's lovely.  I've lost a couple of pounds, and will continue working on that.  The eczema has good days and bad, but I've just started two new things they recommended at my second appointment, so we'll see how that goes.  I think that about catches everything up.  I will say I've enjoyed the freedom of not worrying about taking pics and coming up with ideas to post lately, so don't expect to go back to posting weekly, but will pop in from time to time, as the inspiration hits me.  I hope you're enjoying these days.  Stay well, friends.

Bucket List Express Has A New Transmission

 

Hello, friends.  The skoolie transmission swap is complete!  While Joseph was at it, he changed some other things as well.  He took it out for the first test drive this morning, and it's running much quieter and easily changing gears.  He continued down the road, to get it inspected while he was out, and it passed just fine.  The only thing is the speedometer isn't working, but that should be a fairly simple fix of splicing a wire.  We'll have to wait until all our chicks are integrated well into the flock, before taking any trips, but at least we can start planning. 

I'm thinking of taking some time off from blogging, until there's something other than the usual day to day to share.  I do hope to keep up with everyone else in blogland.

A Little Rain & Time in the Garden

Hello, friends.  One of the recent changes from my time with the Dr's means I'm able to eat eggs again, which is lovely.  I made my first ever batch of mayo last week, using a recipe from Heather of North Ridge Farm.  It's wonderful, heading into the warm months, knowing I can again make pasta salad, potato salad, egg salad, and deviled eggs, and use it in sandwiches.  I did have a vegan version of potato salad that was pretty good, but lots more work than what I used to make with mayo.  I've been enjoying egg sandwiches and scrambled eggs.  With us both eating eggs again, our girls aren't keeping up with it, so I got a dozen from a neighbor.  She wouldn't let me pay for them, as I recently gave her lettuce.  Come August, we should have more than enough eggs to go around. 

There were patches of Black eyed Susan's and lamb's ears that were growing outside the flower beds.  Each of the beds had holes in them, from moles or some other critters, with little to no plants left in the bed itself, so I assume they ate and moved them around a bit.  I moved the Black eyed Susan's back into the bed, but not before putting a stick with some bone sauce down into the hole.  I hope they'll stay put this time.  Some of the lamb's ears were put back in the bed, and other's were planted under fruit trees.  As they draw pollinators, and provide ground cover against weeds, it should be a good combination.

The weather has been interesting.  There was rain in the forecast several days last week, which ended up not being enough to be measurable, if any.  Very thankfully, on a night with none in the forecast, we got 3/4".  We don't have enough to switch the house back to rainwater, but at least there's some in the tanks now.  Everything is pointing to a dry year, so I'll try to be thankful for well water, no matter how unpleasant it is.  Fruit trees and bushes were fed with compost extract.  I worked on cleaning up the back fence of the garden, where saplings, Virginia creeper, cleavers and catbrier were growing.  There are concord grapes planted along the fence, so this will give them some breathing room again.  

Soaps in the shop sold out, so fresh batches were made this week.  A batch of ketchup was made.  The last of the peppers were transplanted to bigger pots, as well as a parsley, and two cilantros.  Saturday night got down to 36, with patchy frost.  It's a good thing J covered the sweet potato plants with straw. Though we didn't notice any frost here, they probably wouldn't have been happy exposed.  Volunteer marigolds came up in the garden.  I transplanted them to the ends of garden rows.  Plums came up in the twelve apostles patch, and J transplanted them to more appropriate spots.  He moved chips with his tractor, and we spread them out around fruit trees.  The chips are definitely dwindling, but we're so glad to have been given them, and able to put them to good use.  Wishing you a beautiful week.  

Late April Days

Hello, friends.  Last week,  I was delighted to see male rose breasted grosbeaks at the feeder a couple of mornings.  I've seen them here in years past, but it's always a welcome sight, when they migrate through.  We had another cold spell, with lows in the 30's and 40's, early in the week.  While the woodstove was going, the veggie scraps were simmered, and I canned the broth the next day.  I made the decision, until we use up a good bit of the broth, to just directly add the veggie scraps to the compost for now.  We've got plenty of jars, for the moment.  We've been doing the inside/outside game with the seedlings, putting them on the porch during the warm days and nights, and bringing them back in for the cold ones.  We've never had luck with strawberries here, after trying them in strawberry pots, and in a few spots in the garden.  I decided to try transplanting some beneath fruit trees, which is a permaculture concept.  I'm not sure all of the first round made it, as it's been so dry, even with trying to water them.  We did receive the first measurable rain in a long time Saturday night, probably 1/10", with more in the forecast later in the week, so I plan to transplant more.   

J worked on integrating the chicks, over several days last week, with great success.  We figured they were close enough in age, and breathed a sigh of relief, when it worked out.  The smallest ones had been in a large box, in the same coop, so they'd been exposed to each other the whole time.  He pointed out a chick from the original batch, which appears to be a rooster.  Oh well, one should be OK, provided it's not aggressive.  It was warm enough (80's) that the door to their outside yard was opened a few days, and a few of the bigger chicks were beginning to venture outside.  We did lose two more this week, and those were the last of the first batch that were half the size of their "siblings", so we're hoping that's the end of that.  All but the one original chick that arrived looking poorly, from the second batch, seem to be thriving.  They appear to be a much hardier bunch.  

We shared tomato plants and sweet potato slips with one neighbor, and sweet potato slips with another.  The first neighbor brought eggs to share, which we couldn't use, and the other brought us three Fourth of July tomato plants, which we'd never heard of.  It'd be lovely to get some early tomatoes.  J planted sweet potato slips, and I fertilized them with compost extract.  Library books were picked up, while in town.  Golden paste was made for Guinness.  My initial meeting with the Dr's happened this weekend.  They went through a lot of information, during the visit.  I wrote down some of it, but am waiting to receive their typed recommendations, and a link to review the meeting, to wrap my brain around it all.  The info included imbalances found, many supplements that are not supporting me currently, a few that would be helpful to add, and some discussion on diet.  Though the Medical Medium info got me this far, things have been at a standstill for a long time now, and it feels time to be open to other possibilities.  I'll give an update, once I've had time to implement the changes.  Wishing you peace, comfort and support, during these last lovely days of April.

Hot Compost Success & A Bath

Hello, friends.  Last week, I harvested asparagus, lambs quarter, nettles, lettuce, and lemon balm. All but two heads of lettuce were harvested.  With temps around 90 for three days, I was concerned the lettuce would get bitter.  Some were shared with a neighbor, and some with J's business partner.  Several tomato plants were shared with my sister and her family.  Basil seeds were planted.  I strained all the herbal glycerites, and bottled them, other than the lemon balm recently started.

I've been working on using the first pile of wood chips.  Our raised beds are along the fence of the garden.  The garden was a bit of a jungle, so I weed-eated in front of the beds, laid down cardboard which had soaked in water overnight, then laid down the chips, suggestions from the permaculture consultant.  Guinness had his first bath of the year, other than a wipe down with a washcloth.  I used my homestead systems book to turn on the outdoor shower for the season.  I had forgotten to make notes about the hot water valve, so required a little assistance, but have it down for next time.

I made our first successful batch of hot compost.  It stayed in the 130's for three days in a row, and then was time to turn it.  It's remaining at that temp, even after turning and wetting down, which is great.  It's required a bit of a learning curve, with some tweaks along the way.  Earlier batches looked pretty good, but never got that hot, which likely means the weed seeds are still viable.  I learned the heat comes from active microbes.  If they dry out, they die, which is one of our remaining challenges, as we don't have a water source in that area.  The chickens current drinking rainwater is a closed system, and doesn't harvest enough to also use for compost, so J recently bought a tote, to collect rainwater off the new coop section, which should serve that purpose well, once it's set up.  In the meantime, jugs are carried from the house.  

J has done quite a bit of work for a local brewery, and we were offered his spent grains, to use in our compost.  We first picked up one bucket, but last week, picked up two.  This is one of the ingredients that help to heat the compost, plus the chickens will find some as they scratch through the compost.  While in that town, I stopped by the farm & garden store, to pick up more electrolytes for the chickens, and also picked up thyme and oregano plants.  A bit of hand washing was done... sweaters and wool leggings, which were hung on the clothesline to dry.  Cold weather clothes were swapped out for warm weather, in the closet and dresser drawers.  J called me outside at dusk one evening, to see an eagle, perched on the snag in our pond.  That was a first, and a happy surprise.  

Sweet Spring Days

Hello, friends.  What sorts of things have you been up to lately?  I spent several days working out doors last week, which was lovely.  I started filling up 5 gallon buckets, while I'm weeding, and adding it to the compost, which the chickens rummage through.  More of the Amish tomatoes were transplanted into separate cells, as well as several wintersown flowers, including calendula, Hopi red dye amaranth, celosia, and gazania.  The hay fields behind our land are sadly sprayed with herbicides these days.  As they're not fans of "weeds", I've been gathering dandelion seed heads right where our path comes out, bringing them back, and scattering them here and there.  They're pretty, a great early food source for pollinators, good food and medicine for us, excellent for skin, and you can make wine from the flowers.  Really, what's not to like?

There were a few cooler days last week, On those days, I canned lima and pinto beans, to restock our shelves.  A batch of cashew parmesan was made.  I shopped at Harris Teeter, after dropping off a soap delivery, getting the 5% senior discount, and picked up a few things at Dollar Tree.  I wish there was a happier update on the chicks.  We ended up losing 12 of 25, so almost half our flock.  The company finally responded, telling J they had shipped more, this time 20, which arrived three days later, on Saturday.  One looked poorly from the start, and didn't make it through the first night.  We hope to have a better outcome with this batch of chicks.  

If you've been around here a while, you'll have heard I like to thrift our sheets, and enjoy mixing and matching them.  I have bought some new sheet sets from a good brand in the past few years, but they really don't seem to hold up any better than the thrifted ones.  J has a queen sized pillow.  Our bed is a double, so I'm always on the lookout for larger pillowcases for J.  I almost always find king sized pillowcases, and found one last week, so shortened two of them for him on the sewing machine.  I went up in the attic, and J helped me get down my warm weather clothes and our summer sheets.  The first flannel sheets in the Fall are always welcome, but I'm looking forward to sleeping on crisp cotton sheets again.  One of life's simple pleasures, especially when they smell of fresh air and sunshine.

More compost extract was made, and a new round of plants were fertilized.  Once everything has been fertilized once, I plan to start over.  Ideally, I'll get to everything three times, helping to ensure all the good microbes take hold.  The plants I've already fertilized look noticeably healthier, so that's encouraging.  This weekend, I cut back the Virginia creeper and kiwi vines encroaching on the fence and fruit trees.  Little by little, I'm weeding flower beds, and covering them with wood chips.  Our oregano patch in the garden was totally decimated by moles this winter, and only a few sprigs remained of a patch in a mixed herb and flower bed, as the soapwort overran it.  The remaining oregano was transplanted, to a place I hope it will thrive.  Last Fall, I bought what I thought was oregano, but turned out to be marjoram, which turns out I'm not fond of.  Last week, I reported seeing the first hummingbird at the window.  I finally saw one at the feeder a couple times on Sunday.  Such magical creatures.  Wishing you a beautiful week, friends!