Canning Lessons & Estate Planning

Hello, friends.  Last week, I sowed two rows of peas in the garden, including seeds I saved last year. Every year, I hope I'll have enough to put some up.  Maybe this will be the year.  I soaked dried white beans one morning, which were used for baked beans, with hope that the recipe was tastier than the previous ones, more like traditional baked beans.  This batch was much better, after adding molasses and lemon juice.  A batch of cashew parmesan was made.  And, drum roll... I finally used up the last of the '22 "football" sweet potatoes, and started on the '23's.  I'm happy about that.  All laundry was dried on the line, and I caught up on ironing, which was all the napkins and tablecloths from the holiday gatherings.  The success with the baked beans inspired me to can a batch.  While watching the canner, I hand mended a sweater and a vest.  The chicken's egg production has increased, with the longer days.

We are in the midst of having our wills made.  As suggested, I went by the bank, and made sure J would have access to my accounts in the event of my death, without having to go through the court.  We're looking into what is needed to do the same for our vehicles.  We're late getting to it, though we've been talking about it for years.  It's good to finally be taking care of it, knowing the other person would have an easier time of it, once that time comes.  Recently, dear Annabel unexpectedly lost her husband.  He had taken care of many details for the family in December, almost as if he knew what would come to pass.  While at the bank, I spoke with a woman who has a family member with eczema, which continues to get worse.  I shared a little bit about the Medical Medium with her, and the morning protocol, which has helped me so much.  While there, I dropped off a book at the library and picked up a couple more.  There have been a few days warm enough to open windows, for fresh air in the house.

On Saturday, my sister came over to learn about pressure canning.  She had soaked garbanzo beans and lentils overnight, and brought them, and the jars and lids with her.  With some changes in plans, my niece was able to join us as well.  It was a good day, and also lovely and warm.  We talked a bit about gardening too, when we had lulls in the canning tasks.  All of the jars sealed, so a successful first attempt.  I've been intending to work on using up the whole wheat flour J had bought, knowing it doesn't have a long shelf life, so I made a batch of these chocolate chip cookies for him.  I baked a few of them, with the remaining dough in the fridge for upcoming days.  He was given 3# of sausage from a guy he does a lot of work for.  The beeswax candles in the first photo are some our great-nephew made.  We loved using them for our dinners last week.  I hope love of all kinds surrounds the world this Valentine's Day.

The Price of Groceries

Hello, friends.  When I first read the Medical Medium information about our exposure to heavy metals from multiple places, I'll admit I was skeptical.  I was desperate enough to try, and found that following his protocols for removing them have just about totally healed my eczema.  This week, I read about significant spice contamination here, which I'd not heard.  I do grow and preserve basil, oregano and thyme, which seem the most concerning, but have bought thyme in the past, when homegrown didn't keep up.  I plan to be more diligent in harvesting it this year.  While sweet potatoes were baking for a dinner, I made a blueberry/blackberry pie using our frozen berries, to make good use of the oven.  I printed and filled out a mail in rebate form.  

our first ever mayapple bloom

After painting orders on Monday, I canned the vegetable broth.  Kale was harvested, to go in quinoa kale salad.  One dinner, I made fried potatoes from home canned, with peppers, onions and garlic.  In between thrifting, my sister and I had a lovely lunch out on Wednesday.  The day was beautiful, and we were seated on the patio.  I only thrifted a handful of things, including a cotton nightgown ($1.99), 10 linen napkins ($4), a wineglass which J requested ($1), 2 coordinating wired ribbons perfect for a spring mailbox bow ($3.98), and an office supply that ended up having a missing part (.50).  Though I prefer a physical book, I wasn't sure when I'd be going to town again, so downloaded an ebook from the library.

Thanks to inspiration from April, I've started keeping track of grocery prices this month.  Many years ago, when I was more traditionally employed, I had a budget, which I kept up with well.  Once I became mostly self-employed, that went out the window, as my income was all over the place, rather than being consistent each month.  I know we spend a great deal on groceries right now, mostly due to my following MM guidelines.  I'm able to shop at Harris Teeter once a month, after an appointment (close to an hour away), and can usually get a much better deal there on organic celery (currently $2.99/large stalk; I need one a day), but it currently costs $3.99/ pack at Food Lion, and I use almost two packs a day, to make 16 oz of juice.  So, if only buying from FL, that's basically $240/month.  Yikes!  For several months last year, I upped it to 24 oz a day, so close to $360... in one month!  So, it's definitely a commitment of funds and time, but I'm still so thankful to have found something that actually healed my eczema.  I'd much rather use my time and money for fruits and vegetables than prescription drugs, Dr's visits and procedures.  I'm doing so well, I think I'll soon try dropping back to 12 oz. a day, and see how it goes.  Those prices don't include our usual groceries, or all the other produce needed to follow MM recommendations... lemons, apples, bananas, oranges, cilantro, wild blueberries, aloe.  Thankfully, they're all cheaper than the celery, but expensive enough.  It's wonderful we have a good amount of homegrown foods to add to the mix.

Before we headed to meet friends for dinner and a concert on Saturday, it occurred to me J & I could run by a Harris Teeter before we met, which added 9 mins. to the trip.  We did that, and I bought seven of the celery, plus a few more produce items I was getting low on.  It's a stretch to put all of them in the refrigerator.  I chose the largest ones they had, and they're huge, but they'll do me for over a week.  If I purchased more than that, they'd be turning brown.  Hopefully, these will all be in good shape until they're used.  It's a balancing act, between what there is available, sometimes few to none, and how many will stay in good shape before used.  We were up late, so I moved slowly on Sunday.  It likely being our last cold spell, I wanted to process some of the winter squash in storage.  I gathered all the spaghetti squash and hulless pumpkins, and baked them in succession.  The sp. squash were baked for a short time, and cubed, with the intention of canning this week.  I've not canned it before, and there are differing opinions on it, but I'm going to try it this year.  There's just too much to add to the freezer.  For Easter dinner, I roasted asparagus, carrots and potatoes with herbs.  I hope yours was enjoyable, if you celebrated.  Take care, friends.

A Beautiful State

Hello, friends.  Last Sunday, I left to visit my niece in Asheville.  Between mid-afternoon Sunday to Monday afternoon, we took five hikes, including two to waterfalls.  For scale, look closely at the rocks on the right for people.  We had a lovely time.  North Carolina surely is a beautiful state. I gathered an oak gall and a little bit of usnea on our hikes.  There was lots of usnea, but our hikes were my focus.   After our first hike, we went by the farmer's market, and I picked up a few things for dinner Sunday.  We also did some thrifting, and I brought home a lovely pair of linen shorts.   When I headed towards home Tuesday, I stopped by a nearby discount grocery I'd found online, only it wasn't truly a discount grocery.  Most of their stock was regularly priced, and some was even higher, such as a 2# bag of organic apples for $7.49.  They did have GF chips for $1.49, and I got a couple, but overall, it was a disappointment.  

I'd offered my niece my old juicer, which she was happy to get.  That worked out wonderfully well, as I could make my celery juice each morning while there.  I planned ahead, and was able to stay on the MM recommendations during my visit.  Between the produce I brought, and what was gotten at the market, it was pretty easy.  I prepared smoothies and cut up apples for the drive each way.  On Monday night, my niece suggested a curry house downtown.  I wasn't sure how much I liked curry, but they had two that I could eat, so off we went.  It was delicious!  I'm still thinking about it.  I had a Thai Panang curry, with veggies, coconut milk, lime juice and peanuts.  So good!  I've already found the Panang paste, and plan to attempt to recreate it at home.

Two loads of laundry were hung out to dry outdoors.  The cucumbers have started bearing, and are bountiful.  Several were shared with two neighbors, and some were shared with the owner of the gallery I worked at on Saturday.  I pulled two bags of frozen leftovers to take for my lunch at the gallery, as well as water and fruit.  I tried a MM recipe for Spicy Cucumber Chips, which we liked.  I'm happy to find something to replace the Asian cucumber side I usually make each summer.  There were two store bought onions going bad, so I salvaged what I could, dehydrated it, and added it to the soup mix jar.  I harvested cucumbers, mulberries, black berries, figs, a yellow squash and a small eggplant that something had started chewing on.  We're getting quite dry here, and are very much hoping for the rain in the forecast on Monday.  The chickens are getting a chopped mash each day, and rewarding us with eggs.  I used diluted comfrey tea to feed lots of flowers and landscape plants.  

J harvested the onions that were ready.  They're larger and nicer than previous harvests, which is nice.  He planted two cover crops on currently unused areas of our main and pond gardens.  The cover crops he used were phacelia and buckwheat.  Besides building our soil, both of these will also support pollinators.   After our potatoes had dried on the ground for several days, J & I sized them.  I brought a basket of the smallest ones into the house to can at a future date.  As last year, we spread them out on pine straw in small, medium and large sizes, J limed them, and then placed more pine straw on top.  They're then covered with heavy plastic, and they're within a dog lot which is covered with tin roofing. This system works better for us than anything else we've tried so far.  I used our first tomato in a salad Sunday, but it wasn't very good. J picked up a few Early Girl plants this year.  We're hoping it's because of the heat and dryness, rather than those tomatoes in general not being good.  Either way, they won't go to waste.  

A few weeks ago, we were invited to an outdoor party this past Saturday night.  It was called a Gratitude Fest, and was a small gathering of around 2 dozen.  It was so nice to be out among a gathering of people, some old friends and also meeting some new.  We were treated to live music from an excellent musician, and then danced under the stars for the first time in a long while.  It seemed the quintessential summer night.  I'm grateful for many things, but family, friends and summer nights have to be up close to the top.  Though we'd originally planned our first cookout Memorial Day weekend, we were surprised to find a Carolina wren on a nest in the grill.  Everyone has now flown, so we finally were able to grill over the weekend.  I prepped potatoes and yellow squash with herbs, all from the garden, and made salads using our carrot and the tomato.  Wishing you all the gifts of the season.

Old Friends & Our Garlic Harvest

Hello, friends.  The first of our berries are ripening.  Something chewed on the first blackberry the day after I saw it almost ripe, then the next day, ate all that were larger, ripe or not, a dozen or more.  It looks like deer have been browsing it, and looks like they've snacked on the raspberries nearby too.  M set up his webcam there, to see if we could catch the thief.  On a happy note, they haven't yet found the raspberries by our outdoor shower, so I've managed to harvest some of those.  When I walked across the dam on Sunday, I saw the wild blackberries there had started ripening.  I ended up using my shirt to hold them, as there were more than I could hold in my hands.  The black and raspberries were used in a fruit salad with dinner.  Several of the swiss chard have sprouted.  I harvested flowers and made a bouquet for the house.  The pea plants were pulled up, and given to the chickens, along with bolted lettuce and wild lettuce.  We've had a good bit of clouds and some rain, so the house plants were moved off the porch, to their summer quarters.  A photo shoot was done for the new pumice stones and shaving brushes.  I want to get some more photos of single ones, but for now, they're listed in the shop.  

Several tomato stems broke off when I trained them into the cages, were put in water, and have rooted.  The kiwi were getting rambunctious, since their winter pruning, twining their way up into the blueberries and an apple tree, so I pruned them again.  I think this may be the year we'll pull them all out.  They've been here at least 8 years, and we've got nary a fruit.  They've barely bloomed, and missed it entirely some years, including this year.  We may just be a bit beyond their zone here.  A friend who bought hers when I did, and lives less than a hour away, has some luck with them, but she also lives on a lake, so her microclimate may be more conducive.  I'll review their needs, and ponder if they might be happier elsewhere on this property, before we yank them out.  I'd surely love to produce and enjoy some homegrown kiwi, but some times you just have to throw in the towel. 

Thyme, spearmint and lemon balm were harvested and dried, for culinary use, tea, and soap making.  Bird suet was made.  Broccoli and radishes were harvested.  While at Hallmark, I took advantage of a  B3 G1 free coupon.  While getting groceries last week at the store which overcharged me $10 last month, I wasn't charged correctly on some produce, which made my total $5 less.  I received 5% off on the total, as it was senior's day.  I bought food items online, using a 15% off coupon, mostly GF, and went through Swagbucks for 4% back.  I received $10 credit on amazon, for buying from a small business.  I spent a lovely Saturday with friends at a nearby lake.  A high school friend who now lives in FL was visiting our friend's lake house.  We were treated to a long boat ride.  Spending time with lifelong friends is one of life's true treasures.  I'm sorry about the blurry photo of the heron, but I was afraid I'd scare it if I moved closer.  

Shortly after our friend, M, made us a rack to hold the garlic this weekend, J harvested it.  The rack runs the length of the carport, was mostly built with scrap and recycled lumber, and works so much better than the twine "hammock" we'd been using to hold them to dry.  We had a great harvest, with many large heads.  Just last week, I used the last of our powdered garlic, and we've had to buy a half dozen heads after last years harvest ran out a few weeks ago.  Not too shabby.  I made our favorite black bean burger recipe, tweaking two of the ingredients for my current diet, with happy results.  I also made the Medical Medium Italian potato salad, and was pleased, which was a little surprising, as I'm kind of funny about my potato salad.  The kalamata olives certainly didn't hurt, and I was able to harvest our basil and parsley to use in it.  The annual hand picking of Japanese beetles has commenced, with the chickens receiving the bounty.  They also got the rind and seeds from a honeydew melon.  Wandering through the garden on Sunday at dusk, I dispatched several squash bugs, and saw the first tromboncino and cucumber fruits.  Wishing you a lovely week.

New Recipes & Staying Cool

 

Hello, friends.  A potter friend recently made this tile for me.  Isn't it lovely?  Her address tiles are popular, and each one is unique, based on your interests.  Last week was unseasonably cold, with some nights in the low 40's.  The woodstove was fired up again, the latest we ever remember.  I took advantage of it one of the days, and simmered a gallon of vegi scraps on the woodstove for broth, then froze it as cubes, to use in various recipes.  We hope we're done needing the woodstove for good this season.  Soon I'll start working on getting the houseplants out to their summer quarters.  Homegrown aloe was used in smoothies.  I harvested asparagus, onions, peas, a little spinach and lettuce.  Eggs were gathered, and yogurt was made.

I thought I would share that the eczema protocol I'm doing is from Medical Medium.  If you've not heard of him, he's gotten great acclaim for helping tens of thousands of people.  His recommendations are unconventional, but apparently they work, based on the dozens of stories and before and after photos I've seen people share on his IG page.  Many sharers had been seen by multiple conventional physicians for numerous challenges, without getting any better, and came to him as a last resort, with excellent results.  I made another batch of his Anzac cookies, which I think are yummy.  It's been quite interesting learning a new way of eating.

After a soap delivery, I went by Hallmark, and used a $5 reward and a free card coupon.  I then headed to Harris Teeter, and got mad at myself when I got home, as they had overcharged me $10 on a tin of olive oil, by not giving me the sale price.  I only go by there once a month, after an appointment, but believe I'll have to see customer service next month about it.  The cashier did ring up my organic oranges as conventional, which made up some of the difference.  I received a gifted aloe plant, when I made the soap delivery.  The garden is growing well.  Last week, J hilled the potatoes, planted eggplant from the cold frame, replanted cucumber seeds in spots, cut garlic scapes, and more.  The garden is looking better than ever.  I really ought to take a pic to share.  

After painting orders, I replanted a flower bed that had only one seed germinate. This time, old-fashioned flower mix, a cut flower mix and borage seeds were planted.  J tilled the bed for me.  I'm hoping to have higher germination with a better prepared bed.  Stinging nettles were harvested, and a glycerite was started.  Laundry was hung on the line.  For dinner, I sauteed spinach, and tried a recipe for blackened roasted cauliflower steaks.  J didn't love it.  I may make it again with less or no cayenne,  which was in the blackened spice mix.  In it, I was able to use our oregano, thyme, and garlic powder.  Looks like we're jumping from cool to hot, with temps 90 and above in the forecast.  The a/c unit J ordered in October still hasn't arrived, with the ship date constantly moved back.  He'll try to make our old one limp along until the new one hopefully arrives.  Right now, they're saying early June, though we're not counting on it.  Stay comfortably cool or warm, wherever you are.