Wacky Weather

I woke up to checking the weather yesterday, and saw rain was 60% at 10am and 90% at 1pm.  So, I adjusted my day.  I started by making 3 "cans" of homemade condensed mushroom soup.  Smelled so good too.  I love the smell of shallots cooking in butter.  Mmm.  The "cans" went into the freezer.  By the way, this soup on top of turkey breast, in the crock pot, tastes amazing.

At 11am the rain had not arrived.

At noon, no rain.  At 1:30pm?  No rain.  I chopped up a head of cauliflower to prep for dinner early.  Put that in the fridge and checked the weather again. 

Random-ness ~ Garden

I've noticed, that now that we are down to just 4 people living here, my costs have reduced greatly.  I have reduced my purchases of organic milk, sugar, peanut butter, coffee, and more.  I'll admit, even toilet paper costs reduced.  Our electric bill should be much lower now too.  

Handmade thank you notes went out to a few people.  Hubby said if I thanked everyone at my party, it was not necessary to send another thank you out.  Anyway, I made these by adhering scrap fabric to cardstock, then used a marker to make dashes around it, and on the back I have a stamp that says " Inspired by Life, Created by Hand, One-of-a-kind art created by......."  It's a circle stamp and I sign it.

I'm having trouble with my lavender seedlings.  They came up, but are dying off.  I have tried different amounts of rain water, and put them in a sunny window.  Even so, they drooped over and only few remain.  So delicate to work with.  Not sure I want to order more organic seeds yet.  I want the real plant, but sheesh.

Carpenter Bee Traps

As promised, here is a photo of the carpenter bee traps I use.  They work if your mount them in a place where they do not move (swing in the wind on a hook etc).  It's the only thing I can come up with to cut the bee infestation down.  They 

There is a hole on 3 sides of the wooden box, and the clear container on the side screws to the 4th side.  The bees go into the holes, crawl through tunnels, and then end up into the container.  They can't get out once they get in.  No chemicals involved.

From the Handiwork Journal. . .

. . . finished the set of pot holders and oversized hot pad using the afghan hook.

When it's time to call it quits ~ Habanero Apricot Jelly Recipe Answer

I had one of those days when being in the kitchen just didn't "click" for me.  By the way, our garlic is officially gone now.  We used every last clove.  

Not that I have a lack of outdoor work. But....

I started to make spaghetti, but the unit to cut them was jamming it up. My dough was fine.

Nettle ~ Lemon Balm ~ Allergy Tea and Me

I'll have to start getting outside much earlier to pick nettle.  I was out a 7:30am, but the bees were already awake and swarming.  It appears ants like nettle too.  I salvaged what I could.  Then it was a full workout inside, then back to the garden and flower beds.  I managed to un-bury the raspberry bushes, and clean up the roses out by the roadside.  I brought in a very large tick also.  I had a hat on, and it fell from my hair (also tied up) and onto my shoulder.  Thankfully, I saw it before it attached.  It was very large, and I never get ticks.  I had forgotten to put on my tick oil (won't do that again).

The temperature heated up to 87°F so I

More Random Tidbits

As promised, here is the next book I started to read.  It's an oldie from the shelf that I have had for a while.  Just something I picked up at a used book sale (many years ago).  It's about a wheat farmer in North Dakota in the early 30's.