GF Tortillas, A New Birdbath & A Trip To The City

Hello, friends.   While walking with the pups last week, I gathered chanterelles, and added them to our sloppy joes that night. Laundry was dried on the line.  Chanterelles gathered later in the week were dried.  Tomato paste was canned, likely the last of the season.  I experimented with doing one canner load of dry canned potatoes, some cut for fries, and others cubed.  They're soaked in water before canning in a pressure canner, and there's enough residual liquid to leave an inch or so in the jars.  It's just that no additional liquid is added, as the typical instructions state.  I researched it, and what convinced me to give it a try was a woman who had gotten lab tests on jars after two years on her shelf, and of course, all was well.  It's said they taste more like fresh than the traditional way of canning, which is what I was curious about.  We tried out a jar of the fries, and honestly couldn't tell any difference from ones that were canned the usual way, so unless the cubed ones are something special, I won't be repeating it.  

New mug from Tom Gray & tea ball from Brightside Gallery NC

On a more positive note, I bought more garbanzo bean flour, and tried the full recipe of GF tortillas that Daisy shared.  They worked great, now that I had all the ingredients.  They're a keeper, and much better than any store bought ones I've tried, not to mention much cheaper.  I'm happy to be able to have tortillas again.  They were used for bean burritos, and The Prudent Homemaker's spanish rice was made as a side, both of which used our tomatoes and onions.  The birdbath/fountain I asked J for was based on a design of bird expert Julie Zickefoose.  We happened to set it up at a time that's normally a lull for bird watching, as there's plenty in the wild for birds to eat at the moment.  There have been many days in the past three weeks when I haven't seen one bird, other than hummingbirds, and the past two suet cakes have gone moldy, where I had been filling the suet feeder every day or two.  In any case, I trust they will return, and began seeing and hearing a few on Friday.  I hope they'll soon find the new birdbath.  It's so pretty, and has the most wonderful, calming sound.

Almost all of the basil was harvested.  Most of it was chopped, and frozen with water in ice cube trays, to add to sauces.  The little bit remaining was made into pesto.  All laundry was dried on the line.  I don't often think to mention much of the usual things we do, such as using homemade soap and deodorant, using cloth napkins, putting kitchen scraps in the broth bag or the compost bin, and shredding paper and thin cardboard for the chicken's nest boxes or compost.  Almost all of the raised beds in the garden have been left to their own devices since spring.  It hasn't been a stellar year in the garden, in many ways.  I cleaned out two of the raised beds for planting, and brought the chickens what I had pulled out.  More beds need to be cleaned out, and amendments added.  I harvested almost all the butternut squash and melons, because the vines had died, not because they were truly ripe.  Another example of how the '23 garden has gone.  During the week, cucumbers, figs, yellow squash, pawpaws and tomatoes were harvested, for which I'm thankful.  J has been asking for fig bread, and some was made for him on Friday, with extra to freeze.  It was such a gorgeous day, and the first day we were able to leave the house open all day.  It's the first time it was cool enough I could think of baking something.  The beginning of cozy season.

Saturday morning, J dug the sweet potatoes, and I gathered them into the wheelbarrow.  We got a somewhat decent harvest, despite some of them having holes chewed in them.  He then mowed the same area of the garden, tilled it, and planted collard seedlings.  He also transplanted volunteer kale seedlings I'd marked in the garden.  I've been meaning to say that we now know four out of seven of the chicks are roosters.  Sigh.  This is the very reason we stopped letting broody hens sit on eggs here, and bought chicks.  Of course, the last time we bought chicks, we were promised two RI Red hens, and they ended up being game birds... one hen and one rooster.  But, by the time we knew the game hen had been sitting on a nest this year, it had been several days, and we didn't have the heart to stop the process at that point.  Stinging nettles were cut back, to encourage another harvest.  A dear friend and I drove to dinner and a concert in Charlotte Saturday.  It's a great little venue, and was a thoroughly lovely evening.  It seemed a perfect way to wind down these last days of summer.  On Sunday, our dinner was totally homegrown, with one of last year's sweet potatoes, last year's frozen collards, and canned crowder peas.  Our onion, garlic, homemade broth and red pepper flakes were used for seasoning, so only the olive oil and salt were not produced here.  It's always a great feeling, when we can accomplish that.  Eat well, friends, and many wishes for a lovely Fall Equinox.