Random Tidbits ~ Dehydrated Organic Ginger ~ Poison Ivy Remedies ~ Garden Treasures

Remember the organic ginger I dehydrated?  Well, I recently made a cup of hot tea using it with my tea infuser.  You could use a disposable or reusable tea bag too.  Anyway, the infused color is different from using freshly grated ginger, but the taste was pretty close to using fresh, just not as strong.  I'll be drying more when I find it available.
  

An "I told you so" moment - the dead tree along the drive dropped some large branches in the middle of the driveway.  Recent storms were the cause.  I've been after Hubby to get that tree down.  It's one of those big jobs we need to do, and there always seems to be an reason not to do it.  Yesterday, the reason was, that we need our chainsaw blades sharpened.  Not to mention it was 90°, and so humid I changed clothes twice.  We even stopped working in the garden by noon.


Now two more of us have poison ivy due to Hubby spreading it (and not listening to me on how to get rid of it more quickly).  Now that he feels badly, he is finally using the apple cider vinegar.  Today, we are trying jewelweed (a friend gave me some, I don't have access to it on my property), and if that doesn't dry it up, we'll try milk weed to see if that will work better.  We have milk weed growing wild here.  I'll be sure to update which one worked.  I can always try my aloe plant too.

Look what my garden gave to me?  I'm so excited.   Although, it is a long process to go out there and dig up all the rotten ones, I found a few good ones.  I have many more to dig up yet.

Two and  a half hours later, I brought in one cabbage, a handful of beets and more onions (although the onions are rather small from the wettest part of the garden, and many had rotted).  It's slow going, but getting done, and I'm finding treasures along the way.

Look what I found on my shelves.  Ha!  I haven't even finished the current book I'm reading (Hemingway).  Reading is halted until the wood is restocked for winter.

This year has been a "bug" year.  Yesterday orb weavers were busy everywhere. One took up home directly out my back patio door and one could walk right through the web had that big spider not been in it.  Hubby took down the web, and the spider went swinging in the wind, directly at me.  Oh, he thought that was so funny.  Then while watering flowers on the porch, this praying mantis went flying into the porch, at one of the girls (twice).  It finally took residence on the outside roof of the porch, but it appeared to be saying "I'm watching you." 

I got one more larger cupboard cleaned out and reorganized.  There are a few more spaces and areas I will work on during rainy days or hot/humid days.  I had to laugh at our 16 year-old yesterday.  She was busy bee-bopping around the kitchen making herself dinner.  "Mom I am loving these spices and herbs!  I love the way I can find them now!  I put another turntable in another cupboard and just need one more single one.  It really helped clean up the spaces and not waste space in the process.  It's just one of those jobs that I never had time for.