Creepy Crawly Critters

Hello, friends.  Pears are still being harvested, and another pear  pie was made.  While throwing a load of clothes in the washing machine one morning, I was surprised by a large fishing spider.  I was able to catch and release it with a critter catcher, which M had gifted us some time back.  I'd separated all the laundry on the floor earlier, and I'm not sure if it was in the hamper, or crawled in while they were on the floor.  Life in the woods!  I guess everybody's looking for a spot to spend the winter.  In preparation for bringing all the houseplants indoors, I washed all the windows.  J assisted, by removing, washing and replacing the screens, which is a huge help. 

 

The next day, all the plants were brought in, with help from J.  It always seems like a jigsaw puzzle, to figure out where they'll all go.  Returning down the path, on a walk with Guinness one evening, we encountered a black racer snake.  Though it was only about 4 feet away, its head was somewhat covered with grass, so I leaned forward to make sure it wasn't a triangular head.  At that, it began shaking its tail, then spun around and raced back towards the creek.  J told me about times, as a kid, when they chased him as he ran from them.  I've always walked away from a snake, but can absolutely see myself running, if it was chasing me.  I'm glad I stood my ground.  I'm not generally scared of snakes, though don't love being surprised by them, and definitely don't want to be chased by them.  Yikes!

They say things come in threes, and the third creepy crawly of the week came the following day, when I encountered a ring-neck snake on our walk.  This was just a tiny guy, though, and I always enjoy seeing them.  I've been meaning to share a story of a critter of another sort, Remarkably Bright Creatures.  It was one of two books I recently enjoyed, and wanted to share, but at the moment, I can't remember the other, ha. We had another work day at the rental house.  We did a few things, but I spent the majority of the day painting, and J spent it pressure-washing.  We're hoping one more day will have us where we want to be, then we can do some things more leisurely.  

A bonus I don't think I've mentioned is a large, old pecan tree, just over the property line, which has many limbs over our property.  Our tenant doesn't gather them, so I picked up any on our side.  As much as we've been there, I've gathered a bowl full this year (the first photo).  The few I've picked up in years past have been good, so I've got high hopes for these.  I saved seed from joe pye weed and golden alexander, which are down at the pond's edge, and from marigolds in the garden.  J dug half of the sweet potatoes.  Though they're a lighter orange than the usual varieties we grow, they're darker than they appear in this pic.  We've had challenges in the past, with various things eating them, but that doesn't appear to be the case this year.  That's a real blessing.  I divided comfrey, and planted divisions under seven trees in our orchard.  Several elephant ears were dug for a neighbor, and I transplanted volunteer solomon's seal from a bad spot behind the chicken pen, to our shade garden.  We've typically had our first frost by now, and are happy to be enjoying the remaining blooms.  I hope you're enjoying these Fall days.

A Change In Plans

Hello, friends.  Last week, I took advantage of a warm day, and bathed Guinness in the outdoor shower, with homemade dog soap.  I'd been waiting for the ground to have a little moisture, and was able to transplant some creeping jenny and thrift onto McNibs and Hickory's resting places.  I wanted something green, other than grass, and hope this will be pretty as it grows.  I went through Swagbucks for two purchases, and used discount codes, receiving 24% & 34% off purchases. Prime sales and coupon codes on Amazon were used for more savings, on things I needed.

The sweet peppers just keep on giving.  I cut up a couple of bags and flash froze them, for future meals.  Celery leaves and small inner stalks were dehydrated.  With cooler weather, and a freezer full of veggies for broth, I began defrosting the bags.  The woodstove is going again, so after bringing the pots up to heat, I transferred them to the woodstove, to finish simmering overnight, then canned the broth.  I gathered pears and persimmons, and sweet potato leaves for smoothies.  In the garden, besides the peppers, I harvested tomatoes. Carrots were dug in the pond garden.  All laundry was dried on the line.  I've been consistently doing the belly fat exercises, mentioned some months back.  Though I initially noticed a change, it was a long way from where I want to be, and wasn't progressing any further.  I changed to her standing version, with weights, which J already had, and can see forward progress again.  I'm sure I won't ever see a perfectly flat belly again, but would love to tone up more.

Well, we had plans of heading to the coast in our skoolie on Friday, to park at a classmate of J's.  He invited us when checking out the skoolie, while J was there for the family reunion.  Early in the week, the forecast began mentioning lots of rain, possible strong winds and heavy flooding.  We determined staying home was a better option for us all. It's been a few weeks since we've gotten any eggs.  Our girls are old, and may be done laying.  "Soup fixings" containers, consisting of bits of leftover this and that, were pulled from the freezer, and incorporated into vegetable soup on a cool day.  We enjoyed zaater on bread with it.  More rain was forecast than what we got last week, but we're grateful to have received 1/2".  We were on the verge of having to switch back to well water.  Though the tanks are far from full, we hope this will keep us going until the next rain.  Wishing you a beautiful week.

Don't Let These Moments Pass

Hello, friends.  On one evening walk, I saw two wild turkeys with five deer, all close together, which I thought was a lovely example of getting along despite differences.  The natural world contains many lessons, if we will take the time to notice.  We didn't get many apples this year, but I turned them into applesauce and canned it, then made a pear pie.  The next day, I canned pear sauce.  Apple and pear peelings were dehydrated, and will be powdered.

On Monday & Friday, I saw a hummingbird at the feeder.  The one on Friday spent some time checking out our fountain.  It moved so fast,  I couldn't tell if it was actually drinking, or just looking.  I'm thinking these were migrating, as I'd only seen one the week before.  I tried a new Fall Harvest cake, made with persimmons and apples, with a few tweaks.  I made it GF, subbed honey for agave, lemon juice for ACV, and pear sauce for apple, as one of the jars didn't seal.  I typed these words as J was eating some, and said it was OK, but wasn't impressed when I tried it.  There wasn't a lot of flavor, and the texture was gummy.  That could very well be because I made it GF, so it may still be worth a try, if you have persimmons.  If I were to make it again, I think I'd toast some walnuts to add in.  

The persimmon seeds were planted along the path, as Guinness and I took a walk, by scuffing up an area, dropping some, and covering with nearby soil and leaves.  Hopefully, some will germinate and grow.  We may never see them fruit, but hopefully they'll be a benefit to others and wildlife.  J got all the winter squash into storage.  I'm a little late getting this post up, because my sister and I headed to Charlotte for a concert yesterday, and spent the night in a tiny house B&B.  The concert was wonderful.  A few of their songs, here, here and here.  In the words of their song, don't let these moments pass.  Be well, friends.

Small Harvests & Putting Food By

Hello, friends.  Last week, I juiced the muscadines in the steam juicer, sweetened it with coconut sugar, and canned it in the steam canner.  I love the steam canner, for the amount of water it saves, and also time (much less water to bring to a boil), which saves propane as well.  It was definitely a worthwhile purchase.  J picked lima beans and green beans, mostly dry for seed, which was our intention.  There were enough fresh lima beans for a meal, which were blanched and frozen.  I just finished a MM raw food cleanse, so couldn't eat the beans last week. 

After delivering soap, I went back to the thrift store that has all $1 clothes.  When I got ready to wash the two flannel shirts I picked up there last time, I noticed one was a cotton/rayon blend.  I guess I just assumed all flannel shirts are cotton.  I really prefer to wear natural fibers, so went by to check for more, and found two thick flannel shirts for J, and a small men's one for myself.  Rayon is created from plant cellulose, but is energy-intensive in it's manufacture and undergoes extensive chemical processing, so is not really what I want to wear.  

I also went by the Dollar Tree, and noticed shrinkflation on cotton swabs.  I thought the package looked smaller, and when I compared it to one I had put back, where the package used to be 300 ct., it's now 225 ct.  After around 6 weeks without any rain, we are finally getting some, a little over 1/2" so far.  Some trees and shrubs appeared to be dying.  I hope they'll be able to recover.  Guinness and I saw this box turtle on a walk one evening.  The next morning, I saw an Eastern black swallowtail caterpillar in the carrot patch.  

All the winter squash have been washed with a vinegar solution, so they're ready to move from the porch into storage now.  The sumac was processed into zaater.  I knew sumac has significant ascorbic acid, which makes the sour taste, but was surprised to find a huge list of health benefits.  For anyone interested in clinical studies on it, here's some info.  That's it for the week.  I've got some out of town trips coming up, so posting may be a bit spotty.  Keep yourself and your loved ones safe.

Happy Fall

Hello, friends.  I recently noticed some fresh lemon balm growth, harvested some, and started a jar of glycerite.  I also started elderberry glycerite, from berries I'd dried.  Both are handy to have during cold and flu season.  We're still on our very hard well water, so we took a load of lights and linens to the laundromat last week, to keep it all from becoming stained with the water.  We brought it home, and dried it on the line.  The rug in the studio needed cleaning, from regular use, and the last months of McNibs life.  It was too stiff to go in any washer (it's polypropylene), so we clamped it to the forklift, and J pressure washed it.  We left it there over the weekend, to dry.  All the rain missed us, but we have high hopes for this week.

I harvested sumac, and gathered persimmons from the ground.  Many were already partially eaten, and were used to check the seeds for a winter forecast.  Have you heard about this Southern winter tradition?  When you cut open the seed, if it looks like a spoon, snow is likely.  If a knife, cutting cold.  A fork portends a mild winter.  It looked to me like the top two, and one other have fork-like tines, and the others, spoons, with possibly a knife or two.   Ha, that covers it all.  We don't necessarily think it's accurate, but it's fun to check anyway.  A couple were tasted, and were very good.  The pulp went to the chickens.  I'll likely make zaater with the sumac.  I've had the sumac "lemonade", but prefer zaater. 

persimmon seeds

In anticipation of bringing in the winter squash, which have been curing on the porch, I wiped down the storage shelves, first with soapy water, and then with straight vinegar.  The potatoes had to be rearranged a bit, to make room for the squash.   J ordered garlic, which arrived last week.  A batch of Kitchen Thyme soap was made.  The basil and thyme essential oils make the house smell herbal.  I took advantage of a less full than usual fridge, and wiped out crispers and cleaned needed areas.   A batch of suet was made for the birds.  We each saw one hummingbird last week, so it appears most are already migrating from the area.  The seasons are changing.  Happy Autumn equinox and first day of astronomical Fall!

Dry Days

Hello, friends.  After a busy week of rental house work, not much got done at home.  It kicked both our butts, but we got it done, and saved several thousand dollars in the process.  We'll be doing more projects in the coming weeks, but the hardest one is thankfully out of the way.  I signed up for an online weekend class some weeks back, which kept me busy most of Saturday and Sunday.  I'm looking forward to a return to more of my normal schedule this week. We got a nice little harvest of muscadines, less than 3#.  Some bronze and some purple.  I haven't decided if I'll make juice or jelly.

The rabbits ate all but three of the cabbage and collards I mentioned last week.  That's the bad news.  I have two glass cloches, and put those in place, along with cutting the bottom out of a juice jug for the third remaining plant.  The good news is there are actually collards or cabbage, maybe both, resprouting from last year's plants, so I'll also try to protect them as jugs become available.  It's like a game, trying to figure out how to outsmart all the critters.  I expect we'll try to use some row cover, but the plants are pretty far apart.   We do have row cover over the patch with our lettuce and chard, close to the house.

From such a rainy start to the summer, we've gotten very dry.  Last week, we had to switch over to well water, which is extremely hard water.  I'm thankful to have running water, even if less than ideal.  There are a few chances of rain this week, and we're ever hopeful.  I harvested tomatoes, peppers, a few figs, pears, pawpaws and winter squash.  The squirrels knock many of the pears to the ground.  Ones I can grab without getting stung, and which are already starting to rot, get thrown to the chickens.  I froze more pear pieces, and dehydrated the peels.  On Saturday night's walk, I saw two wild turkeys in the back field.  I'm always happy to know they're still around.  Keep shining your light, friends.  It's obvious the world can use more of it.

City Traffic & Another Trip Around The Sun

Hello, friends.  Last week, leaves and inner portions of celery were dehydrated, along with pear peelings.  With the pears coming in, there weren't enough yet to make a pie, so I froze what I had.  I'd recently read about adding apple skin powder to baked goods, and thought I might try that with the pears.  If I don't use it, I figure I can always add it to chicken mash.  Last year was the first time we had a good melon year, but we didn't have a repeat this year.  The kajari melons rotted, with all the earlier rain, before we found them, as well as some others.  We've had one edible cantaloupe and one watermelon, though neither was great tasting, and the remaining melons were tasteless.  Chicken food.  There's one more watermelon.  We're hoping it's wonderful.

I turned another canister into a compost crock, and got it listed.  An order for a Berkey stand was painted and packed.  I celebrated another trip around the sun.  We had two gatherings scheduled, to meet others for meals, but both were canceled due to illness.  J & I did go to the first one ourselves, at a restaurant in Raleigh.  Goodness, we'd forgotten how awful traffic is, when we venture into cities.  Actually, it started two towns before Raleigh, and was stop and go for a half hour.  We won't plan that again any time soon.  Some more carrots were harvested for Guinness' dinners.

A week or so ago, I was looking for local little free libraries, to donate books.  None were especially convenient to my usual travels, but what should pop up this week in a group I belong to is a brand new one, just off a road I travel often.  I was happy to see that.  Three nieces have requested cookbooks I offered, and a neighbor took another.  We've got a big project, and some smaller ones to do at our rental house, which we'll start on this week.  The big project will be mostly spent on the roof.  Here's hoping our aging bodies navigate that well and safely.  Joseph picked up lettuce, chard, collard and cabbage seedlings, and we got those planted, as well as an oregano and the remaining three lettuce I started.  Wishing you a great week!

Bonus Day

Hello, friends.  I usually try to keep some notes for the week, and didn't do that, so we'll see what I remember.  I'd recently gotten a couple of canisters, to turn into compost crocks.  I drilled holes in the lid, sized a carbon filter for the lid, did a photo shoot, and listed them in my shop.  I receive emails from one of our state representatives, and it mentioned the website to check for cash owed you.  Though I didn't have any, I found ten entries for the capital credits of the electric co-op I belong to for my parents.  As they've been gone 11 years, we no longer had anything with the listed address, so I called the co-op, and they mailed something that should work.  It's not a huge amount, but will still be nice if it actually goes through.  A pair of leggings with a small hole were mended.  J pointed out this spiderweb one morning.  Isn't it lovely?  The universe tells us we are loved in so many ways.

I was surprised when the phone rang at 6:30 Tuesday morning.  It was the dentist's office, letting me know the hygienist was out that day, and they needed to reschedule my cleaning.  Thinking of it as a bonus day, I made the most of it.  (It takes me ~1.5 hrs. to drive there, and with running an errand or two, that would have been most of a day.) I'd made several loaves of fig bread for J recently, and decided the first thing I'd do is make a couple of GF loaves for me.  A batch of Garden soap was made next.  There were a couple pairs of slippers that have been needing attention.  The first pair needed washing, but as they had a pouf of feathers on top, they needed to be gently hand washed.  After that was done, I worked on a pair of suede slippers.  The suede had gotten badly stained, as I hadn't thought to use protective sealer on them, and pretty much live in them all winter, if I'm not outdoors.  I'd bought a suede cleaning tool with several options, and though they're still not pretty, they're better than they were.  I do intend to spray them before using them again. Though the day was jam packed, I'm sorry to say I've forgotten what the rest of it looked like.  That's why I need notes!  I just know I was tired and happy by the end of the day, which constitutes a good day, in my book.

J found this sweet birds nest, which must have fallen from a tree, on the roof of the skoolie.  The pears have started ripening, and I haven't done a good job of keeping up with them.  Maybe this week I can make a small batch of pear sauce.  The muscadines have also begun ripening, and we've been eating them fresh.  Other than that, the garden produced tomatoes, one eggplant, and a couple of peppers.  I harvested oregano and basil, and am still harvesting figs and pawpaws, though both are on the downswing.  Both figs and pawpaws were shared with my massage therapist.  While in that town, I stopped by my favorite thrift store, which is actually four separate stores.  I found a canister in one, and specifically went to one for flannel shirts, where I happily found two for $1 ea., a significant savings over Goodwill, where current local prices are $4.49 ea.  Before meeting my sister in town, I paid property taxes for our home and businesses, which was early enough to get the discounted price.  The cooler weather and open windows has been most welcome.  Wishing you a lovely week.  

A Skoolie Update

Hello, friends.  Since our first shakedown trip in the skoolie in May, a lot has happened.  Joseph is on several skoolie forums, and learned what a benefit an auxiliary cooling system could be, especially in climbing long elevations, as in our mountains, or driving in high temperatures.  He designed and installed one of these systems in our bus, which as you'll see later in this post, has already come in quite handy.  He created a bypass system for the drinking water, which significantly speeds up flow, so that issue is solved.  He decided he wasn't happy with the wood railings, and replaced them with aluminum ones, on the cargo deck, which you can see in the above pic.

He decided he wasn't happy with the free-standing telescoping ladder, and replaced it with an attached fabricated aluminum one.  He took another shakedown trip the weekend of the 4th, in Pittsboro, and found out the water pump didn't supply enough water pressure to operate the shower when we're boondocking (running on our own systems).  He has since installed a higher capacity water pump.  He also ran out of house battery power overnight, and has since doubled the battery capacity.  He did a mini overnight shakedown at our homestead, to make sure the power supply would last all night, with a/c running on the new battery system, and it did.  He also wanted to make sure there was plenty of power to start the bus, if we were sitting in cold weather or boondocking for days, so he added an additional battery for this.

He fabricated intake louvers to help channel air into the radiator intake (above), to assist in cooling.  He also mounted a louver on the rear engine access door, to help dissipate heat.  He did another shakedown trip to the eastern part of the state, to attend a family reunion.  When he got 25 miles from his destination, he began hearing an unusual noise, and stopped to find the cooling fan hub bearings had failed.  He removed the drive belt, and switched on the auxiliary cooling system, and continued to his destination.  He made it back home on the auxiliary system, by stopping several times to let it cool down, as it's not quite as powerful as the main cooling system.  We're so thankful it got him home, without needing a tow, which would have been quite expensive.  He's since rebuilt the fan hub.  We're now planning another shakedown trip for early Fall.  Let's hope this one goes perfectly, so we can venture farther.  

August Blooms & A Happy Ending

Hello, friends.   Last week, I made cashew parmesan, harvested basil, and made pesto.  As I won't be canning any tomatoes, I want to be sure we have plenty of pesto, so we can continue to have pasta about once a week.  Guinness had a much needed bath, in the outdoor shower, with homemade dog soap.  After the neighbor didn't respond to my messages regarding fruit pickup, I canned figs, and froze pawpaw pulp in muffin tins, for smoothies.  Two new bras were handwashed with homemade soap gel.  A little later than usual, I made my autumn soap, Pumpkin Chai.  It will be ready to wrap August 29th.

In the garden, I harvested tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, probably the last tromboncino, and peppers.  J started cucumbers a couple of weeks ago, and they're looking good.  It's questionable whether they'll have time to bear before first frost, but we thought it was worth a try.  I gathered hazelnuts and wild hickory nuts.  Last year, the majority of hickory nuts weren't good, when I shelled them.  I gathered around a dozen last week to see, and none were good.  Maybe the squirrels leave the bad ones on the ground.  I expect they have a way of knowing; perhaps scent.  I'm still trying new to us recipes that were saved.  Last week, we tried chickpea cucumber feta salad, which we both liked.  I like finding recipes that don't require cooking, for when temps are high.

On Saturday, I heard from the neighbor, and shared figs and pawpaws.  She gave us a Happy Camper sticker for the skoolie.  With the weather turning cooler, J & I enjoyed a lovely pond sit one evening.  We had a rewarding thing happen on Saturday.  While in the garden, I started hearing what sounded like "baa-ing".  I called J, and we determined it probably wasn't in our woods, but he could see a stopped car through the woods.  We walked out to the road, and found a man trying to release a fawn that was stuck in wire fencing across the road.  The man had been there several minutes, and wasn't having any luck, so J asked me to run and get his wire cutters.  A few snips, and it was released.  It did immediately run right into the fence again, so he lifted it up and over, where it quickly ran off.  The sweet thing did have some abrasions on it's leg and belly from the fencing, but J thinks it's old enough to be OK, even if it doesn't reunite with it's Mom.  I realized Sunday evening that I totally forgot about writing a skoolie post.  I'll try to remedy that this week.  Have a good one, friends.

 

Mid-August Days & A New Book

Hello, friends.   I've been noticing and enjoying how the slant and quality of the light is changing in the evenings, as we move towards autumn.  While walking by the solar panel array, I noticed quite a few puffballs.  They're the first mushroom I learned and ate, 20+ years ago.  I harvested a small one, and added it to several store bought mushrooms for a dinner side.  I made on online food purchase, with a 20% off code, and 4% cash back.  Figs and pawpaws were offered to neighbors.  One came by for figs; the other is out of town, and will come for both soon.

Last week, I harvested a cucumbers or two, a few tomatoes, and two peppers from the garden, as well as sweet potato leaves for smoothies.  While gathering flowers for a bouquet, I found some bonus potatoes that the rains had unearthed.  Two were very small, but one was of decent size.  In addition to the changing light, another sign that Fall is on it's way is the goldenrod that has begun blooming.  I wanted to say a big thank you to the friend who sent a card.  You know who you are.

I've shared recipes here before, from Elspeth Hay.  Two that come to mind are whole wheat chocolate chip cookies, and brownies which incorporate winter squash. Both are fantastic.  Last month, her new book came out, Feed Us With Trees.  I'm reading it now, and it's so hopeful about possibilities not usually considered.  It feels like a paradigm-changing work.  

J did another shakedown trip, in the skoolie.  He had a family reunion, in the Eastern part of the state, over the weekend.  I honestly didn't feel I had the bandwidth to be around lots of people right now, and didn't feel it would be the best scenario for Guinness, with him being alone in the bus several hours during the reunion, when he's not been alone in it before.  Besides the reunion on Saturday, J invited classmates who have been interested and following the bus progress on social media, to come by on Friday evening, so I knew there wouldn't be much peaceful time the whole trip.  After our last stressful trip, with McNibs, I thought we could all use a peaceful one, this next time.  So instead, Guinness and I had a lovely, quiet weekend at home.  I was able to delve into some spiritual pursuits, gather a bouquet, and have dinners of things I love, but J not as much.  J did have issues with the bus, but I'll do a separate skoolie post about that soon.  He managed to make it home, but will need to work on a few things before adventuring out again.  May love and light surround you this week.

The Good Wins

Hello, friends.  I hope you've been doing well.  My freezer was at it's limit for bags of veggie scraps.  I was thankful the weather turned to cooler, rainy days for a bit.  The first day, I canned veggie broth.  I'd used the last of our lentils, so canned some of these the second day.  It's so convenient having beans/legumes ready to heat and eat.   I dehydrated the leaves and inner bits of celery, which I grind into a powder, and add to the chicken mash, and also dehydrated bread ends for bread crumbs.  Figs were preserved by dehydrating and canning.  In the garden, I harvested cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, carrots and eggplant.  Elderberries were harvested and dried.

cranefly orchid

As is often the case in life, there has been good and bad recently.  I'll get the bad out of the way first: 

- the kale patch I had made from volunteer plants was mowed.  In fairness, the stretch of mid-90's didn't do them any favors, and they were quite spindly at the time.

-despite planting 40 tomato plants, and replacing several of them early on as needed, there doesn't appear to be enough to can this year.  Plenty of rain has caused some rot and wilt, the leaf-footed bugs pierce them for their juice, which makes a soft spot, then rot.  I'm still finding worms and worm holes... mostly army worms, but the occasional small hornworm too.  

- the deer chomped the top out of my lone surviving roselle hibiscus.

- it's been the most meager harvest I can remember for August.  Some days, there is nothing to harvest.

-out of the five lettuce varieties I started, only one variety germinated, and no parsley did.

Now for the good: 

-we've picked up locally grown peaches, which were wonderful.

- it's been a great fig year.

- I've been able to freeze strips of sweet peppers, which was a goal this year.

- now that J is semi-retired, he's helping some with household tasks, such as laundry and food preserving, which is a blessing.

- J had placed some potatoes in the truck tool box planter in the spring, as back up plants, and harvested those this weekend.  We enjoyed them, along with tromboncino squash, and sweet peppers, which he grilled.

-chanterelle mushrooms have continued to show up.

-it appears we'll have a good winter squash harvest.

- I saved a monarch butterfly from a spider's web.  Looking out the window, I saw it struggling.  I don't usually interfere with nature, but it had only been caught on the tip of one wing.  I knew it would get further entangled, as it struggled to fly.  I figured monarchs could use some help these days.  It made me smile to see it fly up and over the house.  

- while filling the bird feeder, I noticed a new to me flowering plant close by, and found out it's a cranefly orchid.  It's not as showy as many orchids, but I love seeing another native plant on this land, and only yards from the house. 

- I've enjoyed watching the pollinators flock to the Joe Pye weed, golden alexander, and winged sumac.

anole lizard on Joe Pye weed

So, definitely more good than bad.  It was helpful to think about the good and bad, and realize the many things to be grateful for.  This is the first time we've canned whole figs.  I'm not sure how we'll use them, other than to try them in the fig bread I make.  I counted 22 jars of various homemade jams on the shelf, and was determined to get that number down, before canning any more.  If you can whole figs, I'd love to know how you use them.  We expect they'd be good on oatmeal, but that's the main way we plan to use the dehydrated ones, cooked with oatmeal, and we'll try them on salads.  I hope your "good" column outweighs the bad this week.  

Leave-Taking

Guinness & McNibs as puppies

Hello, friends.  I just wanted to give an update, for those who hadn't read my comment in the last post.  McNibs did leave us, on Wednesday night.  It was a sad time, but I'm glad he no longer has to deal with a broken body, and is in a better place.  Last post, I mentioned how Saturday, the day before he got sick, was a good day for him, between eating well, playing with his toy, taking our typical 1/4 mile walk, and seeming in his usual good spirits.  J and I went on our first date of the year that night, to our little local wine bar.  It feels kind of like McNibs gave us a last gift.  Early the next morning, he became ill.

I'm so thankful to have gotten 19 bonus months with him, since his walkabout.  He was a most excellent walking companion, and it'll take some time to get used to him not being near.  Guinness has always done his own thing, not terribly worried with staying close.  The pic at the top is from a post that mentions how he got his name.  If interested, you can read about it here.  

Late July

Hello, friends.  Well, we did get some peaches to enjoy this year.  All but a couple were buggy, but I just cut the bad spots out, and used the rest.  Going through my recipes, I saw one for Peachy Cobbler, which had ingredients we could eat.  Once I prepped the peach portion, and was getting ready to start on the topping, I looked to see what temp I needed to turn the oven to, and realized it was a raw recipe.  I look over ingredients when saving recipes, but don't generally look at the prep instructions, unless it looks especially long or complicated.  We both thought it was good, though different from traditional cobbler.  We had one white peach from a tree our neighbor gave us, and J managed to harvest it Saturday.  We're looking forward to trying it.  I harvested cucumbers, peppers, figs, and tomatoes.  Not many of any of them, but we're thankful for all of it.  

 

I've still been working on going through recipes.  It's not been every day, and might be 30 mins at a time, but besides removing ones with things we can no longer eat, or just no longer sounded good, I had collected recipes over the years for what to do with the bounty of things we were growing, but the plants ended up not making it.  These included rhubarb, olives, and chestnuts.  Vegetables have their own categories... sweet potatoes, summer squash, winter squash, cabbage, eggplant, broccoli & cauliflower, beans, greens, etc.  Sweets... cakes, cookies, other desserts.  Fruits.  Non-sweet baked goods.  Then there were collections for family gatherings we had, for St. Patrick's Day, and hayride ideas.  And DYI recipes, such as ketchup, vegan parmesan, etc.  Though still fairly well organized, I didn't realize how many there actually were.  Several folders and some large accordion folders of them, plus a couple of piles that needed filing.  Whew, it was a lot!  I have been through them now, but still need to do some more organizing and consolidating.  I'll be glad to finish, and move on to other things.

One thing that really helped me work on things I don't usually get to is that J had 8 weeks of PT twice a week.  While he was in town, he'd often pick up groceries, which meant I could stay home, and was very thankful for that.  It finished just before my last post, so I'm getting groceries again.  I gathered another round of elderberries, and dried them.  It's the time of year I can substitute sweet potato leaves for spinach in my smoothies.  At least above ground, the sweet potato plants look quite happy.  Early in the week, I foraged for some chanterelles.  Instead of drying them this time, I tried the Cross Legacy method of putting them in a jar with a paper towel.  They kept great, and were added to potatoes and peppers, for a dinner.  Caprese salad was made with our tomatoes and basil.  Flowers were gathered for a bouquet.

I started seeds of lettuce, collards, kale, chard, and parsley.  I'd neglected the carrot patch the past few weeks, and finally got around to checking on them.  Some looked large enough to harvest, and I pulled a small basket of them.  Most were a bit gnarly, some with two legs.  Other than one I snacked on, I steamed them for the pups dinners, and put the greens in the broth bag.  I'd recently read how wonderful carrots are for dogs, both raw and cooked.  I learned another new thing, which is that hummingbird food straight from the fridge is perfectly fine, and may even be best in hot weather.  Too hot is a problem, and I probably wouldn't give it cold once the weather cools, but that's helpful to know, as I sometimes have a hard time remembering to let it warm on the counter.

I began this post on Saturday, and early Sunday morning, McNibs took a turn for the worse.  It's not likely he'll pull through.  He had a good day on Saturday.  He ate wonderfully, had a good walk, played with his toy, and was his sweet, goofy self.  If you're so inclined, please send him light and love, and wishes for a peaceful passing.  Thank you, friends.

More Decluttering, New Recipes & a Busy Dehydrator

Hello, friends.  Last week, I began laying cardboard down in the enclosed berry patch, and covering it with shredded cardboard and paper.  J has weedeated in there, but it would be nice if it wasn't necessary, and more pleasant to work in, without tall weeds.  I took advantage of a 30% off sale, and 4% cash back, to stock up on regularly used items in the kitchen.  Cucumbers, tomatoes, an eggplant and peppers were harvested from the garden, as well as figs.  I've left the remaining blueberries for the birds.  McNibs loves to eat the dropped apples and pears.  I've grabbed a few before he got to them, and have been cutting them up in their breakfast.  Figs that were not quite ripe have been shared with the pups and chickens, and chickens got the large cucumbers.

praying mantis on elderberry

I began harvesting elderberries, and dehydrated them.  While the dehydrator was going, I threw some GF bread in, for making bread crumbs.  While gathering the elderberries, I noticed a praying mantis on one cluster.  Though the peaches are not quite ripe, and are less than perfect, I've gathered the ones that easily let go, to see if we can enjoy some this year.  I fed many plants with fish emulsion.  It appears ants may have killed the witch hazel we planted last year.  Boo.  I weedeated the enclosed asparagus patch.  I've long wanted our printer out of the bedroom, which sits right next to the window that night air comes through, whenever we're able to have windows open.  Which means on summer days, the paper is constantly getting jammed from excess moisture.  I rearranged some things, and we moved the printer into my studio.  That will hopefully stop the jamming problem.  Another benefit is when I'm working on orders or soap when J is asleep, I can go ahead and print without bothering him.

I've continued going through recipes.  There were hundreds, and I'd say with all the things we can no longer eat, I've shredded a good 3/4 of them.  Besides decluttering, another good thing that came out of going through them was the new recipes tried.  There was Broiled Zucchini and Potatoes with Parmesan Crust, Pasta With Zucchini Cream Sauce, and Green Rice with Grapes and Pecans, a good summer dish.  This last recipe is by Mollie Katzen from The Heart of the Plate.  With the first recipe, I intended to do the vegan parmesan crust, but totally forgot it, and we still thought it was good.  The second recipe is Medical Medium-friendly, by glowingthroughit.  I'm also getting rid of about 2/3 of my cookbooks.  There are yet more recipes to go through, but I'm staying with it.  I've been keeping in mind Swedish death cleaning, and truly don't want to leave this for anyone else to have to deal with.  I plan to keep going, once the recipes are done.  I needed to make space for this year's garlic, so worked on getting last year's prepped and dried.  J helped me finish the prepping.  Much of it needed to be composted at this point, but there were still several trays cut up and put in the dehydrator.  I finished filling the dehydrator up with bread for crumbs and chanterelle mushrooms.  The garlic will be put in the pantry, and ground, when garlic powder is needed. 

I noticed this lizard while exercising in my studio

Believe it or not, we finally strained and bottled our pawpaw wine, after 2.5 years.  J had been assuring me that it would be OK, and indeed it is.  He made wine for several years before we met, so I deferred to his knowledge, as I've had no experience in winemaking.  The descriptions were pretty accurate.  It definitely tastes fruity, with peach most prominent, and I also get pear.  No banana, though, as some say.  I didn't know what to expect, and though it's not what I would have thought, it's good.  It's too sweet to enjoy with dinner, but a small glass, especially during the warmer months, will be nice.  Better late than never!  Wishing you a week of simple joys.