Coffee and a Day of No Weeding ~ Dehydrating Miner's Lettuce

Thursday evening, to honor my hard work in the garden, Hubby surprised me by not working overtime.  He took me on a ride on the Harley, ate at our favorite steak house (which has special motorcycle parking), and ended the evening with adult beverages on the porch.

Friday I piddle-dinked around, sucked down coffee, moaned and groaned, complained, let out heavy sighs, wished I drank the beer and not the Crown Royal the night before, and contemplated.  I won.  Even though we have weeds to pull, I decided I didn't want to poke my eye out bending over the 4 foot grass and weeding the sweet potatoes.  Hubby volunteered to weed wack it down to where I could easily see the roots, so I took the day off, in hopes for rain.    There was a 50% chance of rain at 10am, and that motivated my decision (although I'm out there at 7am and done by 10am). By the way, the rain arrived, and may arrive again today.

Oh, I had inside work to do, like make a batch of turkey-zucchini meatballs (recipe to come soon) and get them in the freezer.  

I placed an order to restock my dry beans, brazil nuts and other organic items I cannot buy in stores.  Of course, right after I placed the order, I remember one item I forgot.

I had carpets to clean and spot clean, and books to dust and get back on the book shelf.  I have a HUGE load of stuff to take to the thrift store, and lapghans to crochet (for sale).  I now have 4 lapghans on my hook. Yes 4.  I'm a crazy crochet lady lately.  

Why 4?  Well, when I start them, they are just perfect in hot weather on the porch, but when I get about 1/4 of them done, they become indoor projects, with good ol' air conditioning, and a good movie to watch.

We've been visiting our 19 year's place of business, where she just became the Assistant Manager (movie rental business).  We are so proud of her. Although this business is highly unlikely to stay open much longer, she'll have this experience on her resume and higher pay.


Miner's Lettuce was new to the homestead this year.  In looking to winter food stock and preparedness, I decided to dehydrate some of it.

I am grinding up into a powder.  I will be adding it to my breakfast smoothies (or lunch), to soups, stews, eggs, pasta, and what ever else comes to mind.  

Random Tidbits

This was the sunrise a few mornings back.  It was absolutely stunning.  The photo doesn't show the pink it had, but it was beautiful.

Guess who visits me about 7am every morning?  Look closer.  The chickadee was going in his/her nest.  Funny how it goes right in there, so close to me, and while I'm on the porch.  I now talk to the plant before watering it (ha ha!), just to make sure I don't drown it or have it fly out and scare the pants off of me.

Well, it really must be Christmas in July.  I got another green egg.  Hm.  I only have 2 of those chickens in my clan, but I'll be happy to get any from them.

After this year's debacle of a garden (weed fest), Hubby now wants to move to move the garden. No way I am moving it.  Where it's at, it's protected from the farm poison.  A tractor and bush hog are now at the very tippy top of the wish list, but the weather is still to blame.  We just have a lot of costly expenses this year, so it'll have to wait.

We finally sent off the check for Youngest to get her last of the driver's ed done.  She'll get picked up from the house in the car, and do her driving time.  They drop her off too, so it's easy peasy, but costs another $250.00.

Someone remind me I have red raspberries in the freezer on a tray.  I so often flash freeze them, and forget they are in there, ha ha!

I came in from gardening, and found Youngest pilfering through my books on one of the kitchen tables.  I just broke out laughing, but I'm so glad she's doing something other than social media or watching movies.  She helps with housework while I'm outside too.  The books haven't been sorted and put back yet, so my kitchen looks like a messy library, ha ha!

Preparedness ~ Weeding and no rain

I drained another jar of 4 thieves vinegar.  It lasts a year in the fridge, so if I have the ingredients I'm making another jar during this hot, hot summer.  It's a blessing to have during winter when sickness runs rampant, and with one still in school, germs are a plenty.

Un-burying the herb has started.  I'm about to mow down the carrots though.

Upon pulling the tall weeds in the end of the herb garden, I noticed my green onions were killed off for the first time in all the years I had them.

I have about 4-5 left, so this was a sad moment.  That end used to be packed with so many green onions, I'd have to pull some bulbs every two years.  The parsley is dry as a bone and the dirt is like concrete there too.

Spent yesterday morning in the potatoes, and more to weed.  They look terrible. It's very iffy at this point if we'll get much of anything.  The potatoes will most likely have a post of their own soon.  What a mess.

We seriously lack rain.  The grass is bone dry, and even the plantain is starting to die off.  However, we are hearing that the rain is returning possibly late tomorrow and all through the weekend.   My goal is to weed out all the potatoes before it arrives, and hope for the best.

Yesterday, I was down right exhausted, so I made a cup of hot tea using part gingko and part nettle, to restore my energy.  It worked too.  I could actually breath better too.

Homemade Cake Flour ~ Serviceberry Drop Cookies

To make homemade cake flour, simply remove 2 Tbsp. from each cup needed, and  then add 2 Tbsp. of organic non-gmo corn starch.   Sift many times before using.

You can buy organic powdered sugar from health stores.  You need powdered sugar for this recipe.

Serviceberry Drop Cookies
(recipe adapted form "How to Prepare Common Wild Foods" by Darcy Williamson)

1/2 cup organic butter, softened
1 1/3 cups organic powdered sugar
2 farm fresh eggs
1/2 tsp. homemade vanilla
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. cake flour (see instructions at top)
1/2 cup dried serviceberries

Soak dried serviceberries in 1/2 cup boiling water for about 10 minutes.  Drain.

Beat butter until creamy.  Slowly add sugar until it's fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time.  Add vanilla.  Gently add flour, and don't over mix.  Stir in serviceberries.  Drop onto cold cookie sheet, about 4 inches apart (about 1 tsp. size drops).  Bake at 350°F for 10 minutes.  Remove from hot trays and cool on a rack.  Sprinkle with organic powdered sugar.

Serviceberries contain iron, vitamin B2, maganese, copper, biotin and other good stuff.

Note:  Make cookies small.  They spread out and are thin.

Mom picked the berries in the rain, so I took some over to her too.  They are very good.  The season for them is very short, so next year I'll have to raid her berries so I can make a few more new recipes.

Rain ~ Substitute for homemade cream of mushroom soup

The rain that was predicted at 11am, was pushed back to noon.  Then it was pushed to 1pm, and again to 3pm.  I was starting to wonder if we'd even get any (again).  Later I checked it again, and it was once again pushed back to 4pm.   

Our oldest daughter stopped out for a visit, and it sprinkled long enough for her to run from the porch to her car to roll up her windows.  

Mother Nature is really making me work my bum off this season.  Hi-ho-Hi-ho, it's off to water I go.....

While putting my roast in the crocky yesterday morning, I realized I has zero mushroom soup in the freezer.  I tend to have a few cans of organic store bought soup, but there was none to be had.  In desperation (or you could call it creativity), I had one can of organic crimini mushrooms and onions (no shallots either).  I whipped up a batch and it was just as fantastic on our roast as the original mushroom soup recipe I use.

Happy Homemaker Monday

I'm joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom today.  Sunday we fried.  It was 92°F with a heat index of 99°F.  We literally didn't go outside much at all.  Hubby and I hit the garden work first, but it was too hot and humid to be outside.  We even said no to a motorcycle ride to get ice cream.  It was that hot. 

Today, rain is once again in the forecast, and we may actually get some this time.  It's to rain all day, so first on the to-do list is work on the green beans in the garden.  If I can resurrect the second row, we plan to mow down the last two and replant.

On the breakfast plate. . .
Eggs, toast with home canned jam, coffee


The weather outside is . . .
It's hot and humid, and we are praying we finally get rain.


On my reading pile . . .
Herbal books from the library.


On the TV . . .
McCleod's Daughters


On the menu . . .
-organic roast, carrots, potatoes and onion
-stuffed shells, steamed broccoli
-chicken with home canned hot pepper mustard sauce, wild rice and beets
-egg salad sandwiches
-leftovers

On the weekly to-do list . . .
-work in the green beans in the garden
-dishes
-floors
-laundry
-shampoo half of the hallway carpet
-hang the last new curtain in the front room
-wash the front door curtain and wash down window and door
-dinner prep
-make a batch of homemade baking mix
-make homemade taco mix
-work on purging more books


What I am crocheting, knitting, sewing or creating. . .
Two lapghans, another set crocheted ice pop holders, and a knitted dishcloth


New recipe I tried . . .

Whiskey Balls.  They are pretty good too.  I adjusted a recipe from my Maker's Mark cookbook.  I used non-gmo organic chocolate crisp rice cereal, and organic ingredients.  You can't find a non-gmo, organic marshmallow whip, but you can make it homemade.  I found a recipe online at Attainable Sustainable.

Whiskey Balls

1 cup organic non-gmo chocolate chips
7 oz. marshmallow fluff (see recipe link above)
2-3 Tbsp. whiskey
3 cups organic crisp rice cereal
1/2 cup organic coconut
3/4 cup walnuts, finely chopped

Melt chocolate, let cool but not harden.  Mix in the marshmallow and whiskey.  Add remaining ingredients.  Form into 1 inch balls and chill.  I used my large cooking scoop and it worked great.  They were larger, so next time for a larger Christmas crowd, I'll use the smaller and probably get about 5 dozen.

Next on the try it list are some serviceberry recipes.


From the camera . . .

I think my auracanas think it's Christmas in July.  I have gotten one of their eggs since last Christmas.

We had 3 visits in one day from this hummingbird.  It has a red chest.

In one day, a chickadee built a nest in one of my hanging pots.  He paid me a visit this morning too.  


Looking forward to. . .
Rain.

Reality

It's either too hot or too wet, and this is our reality.  This is a small side of the front porch flower bed.  I have trees growing in it, ha ha ha ha!
  

The mailbox flower bed.  Trees are growing there too, ha ha!

If you look close enough, you'll see my roses in that weed field next to the house, and in front of that, across the sidewalk my weed packed herb garden.  I wasn't kidding when I said the weeds were so tall, I could see them out my windows.

Another view of the herb garden.  Even the grass can't be caught up with, nor the trimming.  You should see my vegetable garden.  It looks like we are growing hay out here.

On a good note.  I tried something new this year.  I took 5 geraniums inside over winter, and 3 survived.  Check out this one. . .

The plants I kept out in the living room, near the wood stove over winter, did the best.  Sure saved money on buying annuals.

This my friends is a row of beets.  A very long row, and that is a row of carrots to the left and the horribly looking peas to the right.

Two and a half hours later, I found the beets.  Some are looking really good, while others are a bit small.  I didn't finish the row in that photo either.  

The tomatoes have been resurrected, but are pretty small.  The cut grass has fried up in the sun and sort of made a mulch for them though.

My carrot row.  It's about 40-some feet long.  

After a few feet of weeding, I had to stop and water it.  There was no way the weed were coming out in that dried up dirt.
So yeah, the reality of gardening this year hit our homestead hard.  So hard, there is no way to keep up with it all.  The garlic needs pulled, and everything needs weeded out.  Well, the garlic isn't coming up until we get rain next.

Somewhere in there are 4 rows of green beans that go all the way to the left.  Yeah, I'm about to mow it all down and just buy it this year.  

Just like all the rest of the garden - half didn't make it, some are nice and big with blossoms, and some are dinky.  Some simply fell over after I pulled the weeds.

Here is all that wood from my younger brother.  It was not all unloaded when I took those photos either.  It's stacked 6 feet tall in the first photo too, and I'm starting a second row.