Post Sandy

While we haven't directly been affected by the monster storm, Sandy, it's amazing and sad to see such devastation along the eastern seaboard and upper mid-west of the U.S.  How can one ever prepare for such an event?   Each family needs to be ready for several days if not weeks of supplies, and even then ... depending on the emergency, it may not be enough.

I see a few 'holes' in our emergency preparedness that will soon be rectified.  Things we've talked about for over a year.

Our home has been designated as the family meeting place for an emergency .. unless there is a forest fire in our path (God forbid) ... so when planning, I have to keep that in mind supply wise.

We recently installed a wood stove for heat.  Our pantry is stocked.  Extra water supply needs to be addressed.  Alternate cooking devices can tide us over for a few weeks.

Our home is wired for a generator .. which we have yet to purchase.  This would be used just to keep our freezers from thawing and a few lights running inside our home .. but only on a short term basis.  When gas runs out and is not available, we'd be using up our canned goods AND lighting our home with oil lamps and candles.

In an emergency, following the evacuation mandates given by authorities is a must.  Have cash available and a bag ready to grab that contains extra clothes, emergency food, water, etc.  Don't rely on the government to rescue you should  you disobey such orders.

What's your best advice for emergency preparedness?

Green, Ripening, Ripe

We have staging boxes of tomatoes in the cool basement.  They are sorted by color every few days to make quick work when it's time to process a batch.  Later today I'll can more ketchup.   Since the majority of our tomatoes were picked green, this has given a little bit of lee-way on getting them all canned.

Our two rather small apple trees (McIntosh and Haralson) produced seventy-five pounds of organic worm free apples.  The McIntosh were easy pickings for the birds ... and I wasn't vigilant about protecting the crop as I should have been.  Haralsons are a much harder apple and didn't suffer as much damage.

 Three blemish free boxes have been wrapped and stored in the cool of the basement for later use.   The rest have been divided: un-pecked and slightly pecked (by the birds).  At least one more batch of applesauce .. and I'll call it a day.  The peels are fermenting in a crock and will hopefully turn into raw apple cider vinegar.

The gardens are still hanging on.   Onions, garlic and tomatoes pulled.  Still need to harvest carrots, potatoes, summer squash, celery root, pumpkins, cabbage and our second round of raspberries from the ever bearing plants.  Strawberries have rebounded and provide enough for a yogurt topping every few days.  I've only watered the garden once in the past several weeks.  The plants are hanging on with early morning dew and deep roots.

I'm so enjoying the late warmth of summer!  What's being 'put up' from your summer garden?

Summer Is A Busy

time, PERIOD.

The weather was a bit iffy last week and all of our tomatoes were picked as night time temps produced a few frosty mornings.  Ninety-seven percent of our crop was still green.  They are in boxes stored in the cool basement ... and are ripening up nicely.  From our 12'x4' raised bed we harvested 120 pounds of assorted heirlooms planted from seeds saved from last year's harvest; that's free tomatoes!

Speaking of seeds, please take the time to watch this movie, Genetic Roulette, while it's available for free through September 22.  If you are still on the fence about the dangers of GMO crops, this will help push you over the edge.  If you live in California, be sure to get out and vote in the coming election on Prop 37, making it the law to have food labels state if it's made with GMO's.  You can bet that a very HIGH percentage of grocery store items and processed foods contain them.

Oh Shucks

This has been a busy few weeks.  Summer is in full swing with vacationing AND gardening.  The calendar may say September, but I'm not in any hurry for the season to change; it took too long for summer to arrive.

Last weekend we drove to Sandpoint, Idaho with the family and stayed at a dude ranch.  There was some cooking involved as we had cabins with kitchens and shared meals.  This cut down on the expense and was actually fun to cook together and eat our meals outside on a picnic table.

Yesterday my pop and I drove to the local farm to pick 70 ears of corn to store away for winter.

shucked corn waiting to get blanched and frozen

 I think he was transported back to his farm boy days as we traversed through the corn field with our satchels.

Pop .... still a mid west farm boy at heart

The corn was shucked, blanched with some left on the cob and some cut to leave more room in the freezer.  Last year I canned corn and still have enough left to last through this winter.

shucks drying in the shed for winter tamales

There's no denying that autumn is just around the bend; our mornings are crisp ... and the day's are slow to heat.  The gardens are winding down.  Apples are filling out and limbs need propping up.  Raspberries are starting to put on a second crop ... tomatoes are turning red (FINALLY).  Lettuce is bolting, onion tops are flopping over.  And .. I've noticed the hummers have gone with the last of the summer breeze.

Soon ducks will fill the sky with their honking ... then I'll be happy for a rest from gardening and farm girl work.

How is your summer or winter winding down?

Oh Deer!

These two thieves were spied around my garden today.  Last week I mindlessly forgot to put back the deer fence after picking green beans with my grandson, Jacob.  I'm sure this pretty pair had their bellies filled with the juicy green leaves.  

Bambi with ever watchful mama nearby

Friday the moose were on patrol on the old logging road that runs through our property ... right behind one of our gardens.  They were too quick to snap their picture.

Mama stretches out for a snooze

Now that summer is winding down, and 'food' is drying up, the forest critters are visiting our yard more often.  I see that my newly planted grapevine will need to be moved or better protected.  It's an expensive venture to garden in the woods.  Without proper backyard fencing, the animals seem to graze here and there.  Our veggie gardens have some protection with fencing immediately around them, which will have to do as we live in a an area heavily populated with wild creatures.  

Mama deer is extremely relaxed with head resting on ground

I'm sure this mama deer and her fawn have a place they bed down in our yard as I've seen soft impressions under a little low growing fir tree.

Hot Summer Days Are Perfect Weather For ...

making fruit leather.

raspberry, spicy peach, peach fruit leather

If you have an abundance of fruit and need a way to preserve it without heating up the kitchen, you could make a tasty treat for your storage pantry.

All you need is flavorful perfectly ripe fruit.

If the fruit has thick skin, peel it first.  Then chop and place in a pan.  Using a stick blender, puree.  Taste to see if it needs any sweetener.  You can use a little honey or cane sugar.  Barely heat to preserve the enzymes (keep it under 100F).

I added a little cinnamon and cloves to one batch of peach.

If using berries with lots of seeds, pass the puree through a sieve using the back of a spoon.

fruit puree ready, spread thin and it's ready for the shed

Have your cookie sheets lined with lightly oiled parchment paper.  Pour the puree and tilt the pan to help spread the mixture.

Put the pans in a nice warm garden shed (without funky garden chemicals) and leave for a day or two until dry to the touch and a bit leathery feeling.  You could also dry it in the oven on the lowest setting for a few hours.

If you use apples, I think they will need a little more cooking time to turn into a puree.

When leather is very dry, you can roll it up in the parchment paper, or remove and cut with a pizza wheel into strips.  Store loosely in a jar or parchment rolled inside a zip lock bag.

Thrifty Bird Bath

For the past few years I've been looking at and pricing bird baths and haven't wanted to part ways with as much money as most cost ($50-$100) for sturdy concrete ones.  This saucer bird bath was an inexpensive solution to keeping more of my money in my pocketbook.  The top is a plant saucer I picked up at a local nursery.  It's made from glazed pottery and cost about $11.  I had a tree stump in the backyard and added a cut log to give height to the saucer.  It's easy to clean out with the surface being glazed ... and a hand pump hose bib at the back side of our property nearby.  The birds enjoy splashing and drinking and it's fun to watch their antics.  Storing it away for winter is very easy as I only have to put the saucer in the garden shed.

Subsistence Meals

This is how I cook.  I take a look in the garden and see what's ready for the day.  Pick it .. bring it inside .. and fashion it into dinner.  Last night I made Garden Potage or 'stoup' (Rachel Ray's term for thinner than stew and thicker than soup:).  Pulling homemade beef stock from the pantry for the base and adding a little left over rice from a two nights ago, dicing a left over hamburger patty into mince, adding green beans, diced sorrel, diced red potato, onions and fresh herbs.  Served over steamed garden cabbage.  Side salad of thinly sliced cucumber splashed with apple cider vinegar, honey and dill, a glass of fresh farm milk and pan toast.  Hubby paid a nice complement and then commented how he would never complain again about being finicky over the food he's served (He is reading a book about a WWII pilot and I think it must go into detail how people were starving during the war).  No recipe from a book and we probably won't have the same exact thing twice.  I figure it cost 35 cents a serving (for the milk and ingredients used for making the bread).  Three people fed a delicious and nutritious meal for $1.05.  We rarely have leftovers and if we do, you can bet they get re-purposed into another delicious meal.

The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found.

Calvin Trillin

My Garden Is For The Birds

There is a pretty amazing cycle going on in the garden.  It's probably been going on for a long time, but I'm just more in turn with it now. Each morning the birds arrive just around dawn to 'clean' up the beds and plants from bugs and slugs.  Mama and daddy quail arrive with their brood and slip through the wire fence.  Dad sits atop a fence post as lookout while mom ushers the babies in and around the 'breakfast table.'  Then they scurry over to the in ground garden for their dust baths and have a treat eating the raspberries that have fallen to the ground.  Next comes the robins and spotted towhees that eat much bigger bugs.

  The hummingbirds sip nectar from the scarlet runner beans, pollinating them.  When I water, they like to dance in the mist and fly pretty close to say thank you.  My dill is frequented by lady bugs that have kept away the aphids.

 Dragonflies and butterflies are plentiful.  Of course, there are bees and wasps that do most of the heavy pollinating, and from the looks of the tomatoes, have been quite busy.  The 'dance' in the garden is wonderful to watch.

"No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden."-- Thomas Jefferson

A Pickle By Any Other ...

... Name just wouldn't be the same.  I have fond memories from childhood of eating watermelon rind pickles when visiting the farm tables of family in the mid west while on summer vacation.
Today I ventured back in time and made a batch of sweet watermelon rind pickles ... just in time to enjoy when my folks are in town for a visit.  My Pop will think he's back at his boyhood home as I'm sure his mother made these.  The recipe is from the Ball Blue Book of Preserving.  I cut the recipe in half ... getting 6 half-pints.  Do you have a favorite unusual pickle?

Because I Care ...

... I share.

Well, tonight I posted on Face Book a picture of a slice of homemade bread ... bearing a heart shape formed while it was rising.  Now .. if you will remember, my little granddaughter, Rowan, passed away just last month from a heart defect (HLHS) ... and whenever I see a heart in the clouds, or, yes, a loaf of bread, I am reminded of her. When asked if I ever eat store bought bread I replied ...  not since I found out that commercial dough conditioners contain a human protein made from hair swept off the floors of barber shops in China.  It's got a real eww/blec factor .. but go ahead and read.  You might just skip that soft loaf of 'Wonder' bread ... as now you won't 'wonder' what makes it so soft.

My very last visit with Rowan

(Rowan ... you have left a hole in my heart .. but have more than filled my life with wonderful memories of time spent with you.  See you on the other side.  Love, Grammy)

Mid Summer Blooms

Favorite spot to relax

Here's a peak into the garden.  With the recent heat, everything has taken off.

cabbage

tomatoes

Green beans, raspberries, lettuce, herbs, cabbage and peas are getting picked this week.

raspberries

Next week more lettuce will get sowed.

The overwintered plants (geraniums, mint and rosemary) have bounced back in full bloom.

overwintered geraniums

overwintered mint

'Dune' geraniums .. overwintered

Busy weekend with a wedding and church outing.

What's blooming your neck of the woods?

A Day In The Life

onion-dill hamburger buns

... of Mrs. Mac:

 7:00 AM    ~ It's Saturday so I slept in a bit.  Up after the birds this morning.  Got dressed and checked
                     email, FaceBook and my blog.  Said prayers for those needing prayer.

 8:00 AM    ~ Made breakfast for Nathan .... homemade French toast and country sausage patties, with
                      raspberry syrup .. milk, coffee

 9:00 AM    ~ Cleaned out the upright freezer in preparation for the summer 'marathon' of food to be stored.

10:00 AM   ~ Washed a gazillion dishes (just ask my Pop about how dishes multiply in our home;)

sourdough sandwich bread

11:00 AM   ~ Mixed the dough for onion/dill hamburger buns

12:00          ~ Mixed the dough for two loaves sourdough bread

 1:00 PM    ~ Picked herbs for drying, and sugar peas to blanch and freeze

 2:00 PM    ~ Baked hamburger buns

sugar snap peas

 3:00 PM    ~ Baked bread

 4:00 PM    ~ Prepped dinner:  made tossed salad from garden greens and homemade cherry vinaigrette
                     dressing.


 5:00 PM    ~ started campfire to use for cooking dinner

Grandpa Jake's Campfire Cooker .. see link below

 6:00 PM    ~ Cooked chicken and baked beans outdoor


 7:00 PM    ~ Started washing up the dinner dishes. 


 8:00 PM    ~ A little computer time ... then I'm going to sit and knit a dishcloth.


If you think I lead an exciting life, you're wrong ;)    ... My life is very mundane ... but very fulfilling.  Working at home is satisfying and fills my day with meaning.  Taking care of my family is THEE most important job I've every had.

If you'd like to share what a 'day in the life of (YOU) is like, post about a typical day and leave a comment so others (including myself) can visit your blog and peek into your day.

Grandpa Jake's Campfire Cooker

Cherries .. (Not) For the Birds

In an attempt to thwart the birds from eating all of the sour cherries, I've gone to extreme (comical) measures.  One complete spool of thread has been tossed about-over/under .. tin foil streamers that make a crinkly sound at the slightest breeze .. and my not so scary scare crow has been positioned next to the tree.

I'll update you as to how well this works as the cherries are starting to ripen.

If you have any 'bird proof' ideas, please share.

Preserving Herbs

I know it's summer and you have lots of fun things planned, but if you have herbs growing in your garden, don't forget to pick some of them at their peak, bundle .. and then hang to dry.  You will be so glad come winter when you can have your own supply to use for soups and stews.  Today I picked lots of dill .. leaving the smaller growth and any seed heads intact to continue growing.  Dill will reseed itself each year.  Some of the seed heads will be picked later and used when making dill pickles.  I'm off to gather some thyme.