Thankful & Frugal Accomplishments

Hello, friends.  Last week, I preserved the hen of the woods mushrooms I foraged.  Besides eating, dehydrating, and canning them, I began a medicinal tincture, as well as this medicinal decoction.  I used what I had on hand, which was some rosehips, frozen elderberries, and dried reishi.  I didn't think to give it a taste before freezing it in an ice cube tray, but will when I remove the cubes from the tray.  Mushroom medicine is pretty powerful.  I'm thankful to be learning more about them.

On Tuesday, we had "zucchini" soup, homemade bread, and a salad.  It being Nov. 20th, it seemed pretty wonderful that the tromboncino squash, and the cucumber in the salad, were fresh, harvested recently in our garden.  Our fresh herbs, and canned tomatoes were also part of the meal.  The last of the fresh squash, cucumbers and eggplant will need to be used soon, but it was so nice while it lasted.  Laundry was hung on the line to dry.  I went through ebates for an order of Christmas presents.  Books and a DVD were requested from the library.  Our shower liners have been bothering me since we changed from a tub to a shower.  There's too much fabric now, and they often billow inward during a shower.  I decided to cut one in half, sewed the raw edges, and it works much better.

so serious lighting the cake

I made butternut squash crumble with our squash for Thanksgiving, as well as one of the free portabellas, and made a plate of raw vegi's to take to my brother's.  We were able to take our granddaughter, S, with us.  She met my niece's boy for the first time, and they had a grand time together.  At home, she helped me make hummus and baked pancakes, and helped her grandfather make her father a birthday cake.  His birthday was Friday, he came for dinner, and they both spent the night.  We had a simple meal of pinto beans, jasmine rice, sweet potatoes, and salad, using homegrown onions, sweet potatoes, and the last of the cucumbers.  There was a rousing game of Apples to Apples after cake and presents.  While she was here, S worked on hand sewing.  She made a dog stuffy from a kit we had given her last Christmas, then decided to make a from scratch ghost stuffy for her Dad.  She seems to be getting the hang of some of the details of sewing, such as knotting the thread.  I was able to mend several items, sitting next to her, helping as needed.  In addition to sewing and cooking, I tried to get her interested in helping with laundry.  She wasn't much interested in anything but helping us at the clothesline, but I'm thinking that's something.  The pups enjoyed her exuberance on our walks. I'm happy that she is mostly willing to try new things.  This visit, she learned she likes fennel, baked pancakes (aka dutch babies) and pomegranate seeds.  I sent her home with a large cup of the seeds.

I dehydrated another batch of sweet potatoes for pup treats, and boiled more small ones to add to their dinners.  Yogurt was made.  After putting fresh straw in the chicken's nest boxes, I gathered sprigs of lemon balm for each of the boxes and the coop floor.  I enjoyed several videos from here, and tried the sweet potato flat bread Sunday morning.  I don't have much experience with flat bread, so I'm not sure if I got it exactly right.  I thought it was decent, but J wasn't impressed.  My stepdaughter is part of the team that helped build the Mars Insight lander, which hopefully will touch down today.  We think that's pretty exciting, and hope to catch it online, around 3:00 EST.  I've been getting ready for the Handmade Holiday show next Saturday.  There's a new product I've been working on, plus the usual soap wrapping.  I've started on holiday cards, and plan to make a pumpkin pie today.  Wishing you a lovely week of seasonal pleasures.