Late October Days

Hello, friends.   It's now been 2 1/2 weeks since we've gotten an egg from our girls, and J has resorted to buying them.  Most every day, I've given them gifted dry soldier fly larvae, to up their protein, which will hopefully get them out of molt sooner.  I harvested eggplant, a pepper, yellow squash, lettuce, black haw fruit, hickory nuts, swiss chard, and roselle hibiscus for tea.  I spent time weeding and working on a bed with carrots and beets.  There should have been lettuce, but it doesn't appear any germinated.  A full shredder bin was added to the compost bin.  I read about making stevia glycerite.  I've been drying stevia, so will give this a try soon.  Two pears were cut up and cooked with the black haw fruit, then put through the food mill to make sauce.  We had it for dinner, with potatoes and rutabagas, sauteed cabbage and black beans.  I finished it up in oatmeal two mornings, which was very good.  

some of our fall garden, with broccoli, cabbage and collards

 On Tuesday evening, we went and picked up 2 boxes of sweet potatoes, 2# ea. of plums and Bartlett pears, and a pint of molasses.  I charged my phone in the car, during the trip.  My sister sent her family's Christmas lists last week, and I quickly finished shopping for two people and a portion of another's.  My amazon credit, which came through Swagbucks earnings, covered it all.  Vitacost had a 13% off food sale, so I stocked up on our favorite GF pastas, and got a few treats for my husband's stocking.  I made pesto a little different this time.  In addition to gathering basil, I gathered purslane, chickweed, and some leaves of volunteer winter greens.  It turned out good.  It's been really wonderful to be able to harvest basil this late in the season.  We've also really been enjoying our tender lettuce in salads, which I also tried making slightly differently, using dried sour cherries, fresh figs and pumpkin seeds.  It was yummy.  

I was inspired by others online to pull out the fall themed dishes for my husband and I.  I originally collected and used them for our annual hayride family gathering, but we haven't had one since Covid, and I decided we could still be enjoying them.  I did some research into Buy Nothing groups near me.  There are none in my community, and when I tried to join a a nearby community's one, I was told I had to live in that community.  She suggested I start one here, but I definitely don't need to add another thing to my plate.  I ended up composting two jars of snacks that hadn't been eaten in a long time, due to being on a GF and lowfat diet.  J grew some hot peppers this year, which hadn't been eaten.  I decided to can some cowboy candy for gifts.   I collected milkweed pods and dandelion seed heads, and deposited them various places where I'd like to encourage them around the homestead.

After dropping soap off at a gallery, I stopped at a favorite thrift store, and got two pretty wine glasses with amber glass for $1 ea., plus an orchid pot, floral wrapping paper, and a folder to hold sewing instruction notes, all for $1 total.  I recently saw mention of  Sandhills Community Garden online.  I mixed up my usual routine on the way home, which had me going right past the gardens, so I decided to stop and check it out.  I'm so glad I did.  I believe I'll try to share it in a separate post this coming week.   A recent dinner was a dish of our yellow squash and onions, mushrooms and tomatoes, and our chard, and peas.  It's so nice to still be harvesting meals from the garden.  I got all my cold weather clothes down from the attic, and should be able to swap them out this coming week.  A free Amazon Prime movie was enjoyed, and several videos on youtube.  

On Friday, I ran errands in town, and picked up a few things at Big Lots with a 20% coupon, including coconut sugar for $2.80/# vs $4.15, cans of organic chicken soup for .80,  and also stopped at Marshall's, where purchases included jars of raw honey, pink salt, and a just under 5# bag of ww gnocchi marked down to $5 from $7.99.  I had first looked at their regularly priced smaller packs, and they had undesired ingredients, besides being more money.  Small bags of candy and shortbread were bought for little Christmas gifts.  J has been sick for a couple of weeks.  Thankfully, he tested negative for Covid, flu and strep, and was told it was just a virus.  On Saturday, I realized I ended up picking it up, though so far, mine is a lighter version.  We both had a slow weekend, and lots of soup, trying to take care of ourselves.  Hopefully, I'll knock it out quickly.  Many wishes for a healthy and happy week.