A Thrifted Treasure & Putting Up the Harvest

Hello, friends.  I received a wonderful surprise last week.  All who attended the virtual meeting of our electric cooperative were entered in a drawing, and I won a $50 electric credit, which will go towards my next bill.  That's a welcome blessing.  I used a $10 credit on a purchase on Prime day.  I fertilized the cultivated blackberries, raspberries & blueberries with comfrey tea, as well as a number of other plants.  Golden paste was made for the pups.  I'd been wanting to do something for our Fedex guy, who we keep pretty busy picking up our orders.  I decided to make hummus, and gave him some with a bag of organic tortilla chips and a thank you note, a homemade version of the snacks I've seen people leave for their delivery people.   He'd said he'd never had hummus when I asked earlier, but would try it.  I hope he liked it.

I'm slowly decluttering as I come across things, and added seven things to the thrift store box.  While in town for groceries, I picked up two library books, including The Kitchen Front, which I've heard great things about.  I bought avocados for .49, a pineapple for $1.49, and picked up two bags of pecans after reading about the coming nut shortage.  I also made quick stops at two thrift stores.  Though I wasn't looking for a chair, when I spotted an antique banker's chair for $20, which was in great shape and still rolled very smoothly, I decided to take it home with me.  I may use it in the new workshop, but most likely, will put one of the studio chairs out there, and keep this one in the studio.  The dried lemon balm and spearmint were put in jars, and added to the pantry.  

The wild blackberries are coming in nicely.  Some years, we don't have rain at the critical time, and they just dry on the vine, but so far, we're getting adequate moisture.  I made a GF berry crostata, with our raspberries, blackberries and last year's frozen blueberries.   Honestly, I don't think I'd bother making another until I can use wheat flour and real butter again.  Another day, I canned blackberries in spiced brandy, with a few raspberries thrown in.   Another bucket of comfrey/nettle tea was made for the garden.  It was started a week or so ago, and had a bunch of banana peels added and some plantain.  The comfrey and nettles topped it up, and it will sit and work for a bit before being used as fertilizer.  A bouquet was cut for the house.  The first chanterelle of the year was harvested.  

I made my first loaf of GF bread, which was seriously unimpressive.  It actually didn't taste bad, but after baking it 30 mins longer than the recipe, it was still wet.   It wasn't ready in time to have with soup, as was planned.  J picked our first two ripe tomatoes.  I made vegetable soup, which used our canned tomatoes and squash, butter beans and cabbage, along with bought produce.  Saturday morning, J & I headed to the crawlspace, and hooked up all the ductwork for the new a/c system.  The a/c was working by the afternoon, just in time for hotter, more humid weather.  One of our neighbors came by, and brought us cucumbers, squash and a cabbage.  We enjoyed one of the cucumbers in a salad, along with one of our tomatoes.  A large bag of lambs quarter was frozen, which will be enough for 6 meals. Orders were cleaned and powder coated on Sunday.  Just as I was finishing up, a neighbor came and asked us over for homemade ice cream.  J & I were both sorry he had to tell him we're not eating dairy.  He showed up a few minutes later,  and asked if we'd come by for watermelon, which I thought was so kind of them.  They have a beautiful log cabin they made themselves from old tobacco barns, with a large porch overlooking a gorgeous creek with huge boulders, and 12 busy hummingbird feeders.  It was a most lovely way to spend a summer's evening.  Wishing you a week of seasonal pleasures of your own.