Canning the Harvest & Frugal Accomplishments

Hello, friends.  Last week, I enjoyed a smoothie for one breakfast, and made vegi scrambles several other days.  Our squash was used in them, and peppers and green olives.  One day I added a few chanterelle mushrooms.  Another day I added a few sprigs of lambs quarter.  It's nice to be expanding my breakfast repertoire.  I harvested and canned cubed pickled beets.  Another day, I canned a mix of purple pole and red noodle beans. The purple beans turn green in boiling water, but the noodle beans hold their color, which is nice.  I originally bought cubed beets from Big Lots, and love them in salads, so thought I'd make my own.  I harvested lavender, cucumbers, zucchini, yellow and tromboncino squash, blueberries, purple pole beans and yard long beans.  The tomatoes are starting to ripen, cherry and the larger ones.  Oh my, you sure can't beat a home grown tomato.  I'm looking forward to having my first tomato sandwich this week.

I gathered eggs, and shredded paper and cardboard.  A pan of egg shells was crushed, and added to the compost bin.  I braided the majority of our red onions.  They're a little wonky, but they should work fine.  I mended 3 pairs of J's pants.  Yogurt was made.  I continue to walk with the pups for exercise.  One night, I made Italian squash with corn, focaccia with our red onion and rosemary, green beans, and cucumbers  in vinegar.  One cucumber got missed when I picked.  It was bigger than we like, so I cut it in half, and gave it to the chickens.  The pups are getting grated veggies every night, a mix which may include squash, cucumbers, apple, carrot and cabbage core. 

 Another hornworm and a few tomato worms were found in the garden, and given to the chickens, as well as lots of Japanese beetles.  Getting little in the way of greens right now, their yolks are paler, but they sure are getting plenty of protein.  I tried a new cabbage slaw.  Laundry was dried on the line.  I found a nickel.  Cucumbers, eggs and beans were shared with a friend.  Many orders were made and powder coated this weekend.  We had a really awful time with powder coating, for some reason.  Doing the same thing I usually do, most turned out splotchy, and had to be redone, one or two more than once.  J even redid some, and they were still splotchy.  We were beginning to think it was a bad batch of paint, but we used a different batch of paint, and still had issues.  We may just need to chalk it up to another 2020 challenge.  I'm seriously hoping we don't have a repeat of the issues the next time I paint.  It's enough work and time, without having to redo them. 

On the way to close up the chickens one evening, J saw a rainbow, and called me out to see.  I love the sense of hope in a rainbow.  This is the first year we've ever had to deal with deer in our garden.  We've been using a product called I Must Garden, recommended by someone who used to work in a garden store.  It seems to be helping.  I dug a few potato plants last week, and was pleased with the harvest.  We hope the remaining plants will match it.  A few of the lettuce have germinated.  We lost power during a storm one night, right at bedtime, so I began reading one of the books on my Kindle.  Wishing you a most lovely week.