Surfing Can Make You SAD

Sorry I've been gone for a week.

It wasn't my intention.  I wanted to post each week day to keep me motivated.

However, the "net" had other plans.

Last week, while surfing for a recipe on how to blanch beet greens, my computer was hacked.

It's never happened to me before, and I hope it will never happen again.

Two very nice fellows at Dell helped me get my computer clean and I ordered a virus software, that was supposed to be here in three to five business days.

WELL,
Let me tell you!

My disk had a long trip.  It went from New Jersey, to Lehigh Valley, PA by way of UPS, who handed it off the The United States Postal Service, who THEN SENT IT TO COLORADO where it saw for four days.  Probably because they couldn't figure out how it got there and who to blame, yada yada.

Anyway, it was supposed to be here the 24th, which it did say in the tracking when I looked it up, and it arrived in my mail box today. Four days late.

But, I was told, that it's not UPS's fault, it's the SHIPPERS fault, because they chose the cheapest way.

So, if they chose the cheapest way, and the USPS now no longer offers a guaranteed delivery, I guess they also don't off people being able to read letters or numbers either to send it half way across the country, when it was already near where it needed to be in the first place.  And, they want yet another raise in January.

What is wrong with this picture?

A clean sink makes me happy

My four-legged

You heard me.  A clean sink makes me happy.

What kind of topic is that?

Well, I'll tell you.

A number of years ago, I didn't have many skills in the housekeeping department.  Oh sure, I knew how to clean, and my house was not and is not a hoard, I call it "lived in".  Growing up, my mother was a stay at home mom and she did everything for us.  We didn't have to do any cleaning or straightening up, only our closets on occasion.

So for years, we didn't have an electric dishwasher, so there was me.  And it seemed that between all the laundry and the dishes, I was always doing both.  So, our sink was not clean, or uncluttered very often.

Then, I found  FlyLady .  She changed my world.

If you have a chaotic home, I would recommend going over to her website and checking out her routines and trying them.  They do work, they do help and you don't get overwhelmed while you are doing them.  She does everything in 15 minute segments, which is very doable, especially if you work a full time job, care for a family and a home.

My life became more manageable.  I was able to deal with the small things because they only took a few minutes a day to get them done.  I began to purge out the "things" I had.  Our home life become calmer and happier.  Plus, the chaos was gone.  Nearly everything had a place.

Now, I'm not saying I have a picture perfect home.  I don't.  I still have a "lived in" home, but its neat, mostly.

BUT, almost any time you come over, you will see, my sink is clean.  I mean clean.  No dishes and no food remnants. I always try to make sure that the kitchen sink is clean before I go to bed and when I leave the house.  You would not believe how much happiness waking up to or coming home to a clean sink can bring.

Give it a try and see if it makes you happy. 

The book that got me interested

I wanted to share today a book I read,
 "animal, vegetable, miracle - a year of food life" by Barbara Kingsolver.

Amazon link to book

I used to have an obsession with books, so when we moved, I purged a large part of my library and really have tried over the past 7 years not to accumulate as many books.  We have no book shelves here, which I am truly in need of now.  But I think this is one of the things that has helped me to not acquire as many books.

Anyway, I read this book in the winter and just loved it.  It helped me to see how truly important it is that each one of us, in our own way, try to support nature, to care for it, so that it will care for us.

Food does travel too far to get to us.

Buying local is important.  It helps the local economy.  It helps the local farmer. 

Does it have to be organic?  No, I don't necessarily think so.  The government places too many rules for small, family farmers to become organic, but if you know your farmer, they don't mind answering the questions you have about their growing practices.  I have noticed that when I ask at the market if they are organic, they will say, "we grow organic but are not certified".  If I really have a specific question, they answer it. 

Now, do I believe everything everyone tells me. "sure it's true, it's on the Internet."

Most times I would say I like to give the benefit of the doubt that they are telling me the truth, and I observe.  You can usually tell when someone is telling you a story just by their actions.

I really enjoyed reading this book and I would encourage you to take a look at it.  Amazon has plenty of used copies and it is even on kindle.  Which, by the way, I do own one.  Thinking that I could have all the books I wanted and no one would have to know.  But, I am sad to say, I've had it three years now and besides a few free books, I think I have three paid books on it.  I like a book!  I like the feel of the binding, the pages, the smell.......  I told you it was an obsession!

Now, where was I going with all this?

This is the book that truly got me interested in having a garden to provide fresh food for our family.  I wanted to see how hard it would be to grow what we like here, with our hilly back yard.  It also made me try our farmers market.  Which, after living here for 7 years, I kept saying I needed to go and never did.  I finally went when I started wanting to make pickles this year and haven't missed a week since.

Read a book on gardening.  Support your local farmer for the things you can't or don't grow. And share your knowledge with someone along the way.

Until next time,
Grow where you are planted!

Learning something new

Everyday, we have the chance, the choice to learn something new.

It doesn't matter if it's something at work, something from our children, something from school or something from nature.  We should all strive to learn new things and to pass "old" knowledge on to our children and grandchildren.

And, if you don't have either of those, I am sure there are friends, neighbors, co-workers, or relatives that may enjoy learning what you know.

My mother, she didn't learn to cook as a girl.

 Her father died when she was a senior in High School and she had to go to work to help her mother take care of the remaining children at home.  Of which two were under 7.  She worked very hard for nearly twenty years before she met my father and married.  All the while she gave her paychecks to her mother, only keeping bus fare and some spending money for the week.  Because she worked outside the house, she didn't have to learn to cook.  Her mother did laundry and such at home and her sisters were the ones that learned to cook from their mother.

She learned to cook by trial and error and only had a few set of meals in her repertoire. Sure, they were healthy, home cooked meals, but she was not adventurous.  She cooked what she knew and that was it.

While I was growing up, I have no clear memory of my mother "teaching" me how to cook.  We weren't really "allowed" in the kitchen.  I was 21 years old, I think, when one of my mother's sisters passed away, and it was then, she instructed me how to make stuffed cabbage to take to my uncles house.  That was all I learned.  Which now, I am sad about.

My mother made the most awesome, homemade baked beans......  I watched her make them dozens of times.  She shared her recipe with me.  I followed the recipe and they were HORRIBLE.  They tasted nothing like hers.  There was something, some way she did one of the many steps that she just instinctively did and didn't think about that didn't get shared with me.  Perhaps it was the brand of beans she used.  Perhaps it was the water where she lived. Perhaps it was just that this was her "recipe" and she had the magic touch that made it hers.

I encourage you to share what you know with someone.  Have them over.  Ask them if there is something that you make that they like and make it with them.  Talk about what you learned while making a recipe your own.  Tell them about how to "taste" something to be sure it's "just right".  Share with them the joy you get when you make the recipe for someone who enjoys it.

Life is about sharing, and learning.  We can keep all of our knowledge to ourselves, hold on to it tight so it doesn't go away.  But, in the end, when you are gone, it's gone as well. 

Today, I shared a recipe for "refrigerator pickles" with a friend.  I had given her some and she asked me if I would teach her my recipe.  I was flattered.  I went to her place, and while I read to her the ingredients, she measured, and we talked and we shared.  And when the brine was cooking on the stove, she went to her recipe box and got out a recipe card and wrote it down.  Word for word just as it was written on my recipe card that I brought with me. (which was actually a 3x5 card)

The recipe is this:

24 hour pickles

2 quarts of water
1 cup of vinegar
3/4 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of salt

Boil and let cool. Put cucumbers, dill and garlic in jar & cover with cooled juice.

Now for my notes: (that the original recipe did not have and I struggled with the first time)

2 quarts is 8 cups of water
Be sure to use white Vinegar
Good to use Kosher salt if you have it.  Some say the iodine in salt makes the pickles soft.
You put the first four ingredients into a pot and bring the pot to a boil.  Stir it occasionally.  Turn the burner off and let the brine cool.  This is the hardest part, waiting.

Use "picklers" if you can get them.  That's what they call them here, some places they are called "Kirby" or canning cucumber.  I usually pick up about 7 to 9 of them. Cut the ends off of them, they say that leaving them on can make them soft as well.  Though, for how good these pickles are, they don't stay around long.

As for the dill, get fresh if you possibly can.  Use the leaves and the flower, if it has it.  If not the leaves are fine and only thin stems, not thick ones.

Garlic.  Use about two cloves, sliced in each jar.

Now, how many jars you ask?  I use the old Tupperware Pickle containers and this recipe makes two of them with some to spare.

My friend used a large, square Rubbermaid container to put hers in.  Then you put the lid on and put them in the refrigerator.

I think the reason why it says to let the brine cool, is because if you are using glass mason jars you never want to put something hot into a cold jar.  It will crack.

Leave them for 24 hours and then EAT!!

They won't last long, but just in case, I have been told eat them within three months.

If you try this recipe, I would love to hear what you thought.

Until next time,
GROW where you are planted.

Hugelkultur --- What?

I have been searching the internet for information on gardening, organically.

Isn't it great to have a computer and internet access?  I was one of those kids who always had my nose in a book, usually from the library.  This is just great, I can go to look up anything at anytime of the day or night!  However, it can suck a lot of time out of my day, so I have to use my online time wisely.

I came across some youtube videos on Hugelkultur.  It's a German word.  It's spelled a few different ways, but all means the same.

I watched about Sepp Holzer.  Very inspiring.  Made me want to book a trip! (I don't like to fly!!)

The Hugelkultur website by Paul Wheaton is very helpful to understand the process of it all.

I have very little flat ground to work with.  We live on a steep hill.  Terracing is not really an option.  There is no way to get land moving equipment up into our back yard, and after putting in our raised bed garden this year, there's got to be a better way!

 But when I looked up Hugelkultur, I thought this could be something I could do that would help me to "grow" a flat area.

I decided where I wanted to put my hugel and what I wanted to plant. Blueberry bushes!


As you can see in this first and second photo, I first put down a layer of cardboard, then we used cut birch we had in our yard from a spring storm. Birch decomposes rather quickly as far as trees go.

 

 

Next, we purchased some straw at a local farmers market and I put a nice layer of that on top of the birch and then I watered a bit.

Next I started to mix peat moss, with locally made compost, PLUS I was able to get some coffee grounds from the local Starbucks.  I then have been mixing 5 gallon pails of it and spreading it across the top of the straw, being sure that I water every other day or so to keep things moist.

In these next two pictures, you can see a bit of the slope I am dealing with in our yard.  This end corner will need to be made deeper as I go so that it will help to level off the slope.

Things I have bought so far were the four bales of straw, peat moss and some mushroom compost to add in to the mix of things.  The peat moss is important because it will help to make the new soil acidic which is what the blueberries like.

I'm very pleased with the progress, though I would like to get another layer of straw on and then a layer of coffee grounds.  I would also like to hope getting in a planting of some peas to help fix some nitrogen into the soil, but I am not sure I will get to do that before the truly cold weather comes.

If you have any thoughts, I'd love to hear them, please leave a comment.
Until next time,
GROW where you are planted.

Something I learned

We haven't always lived here.  We spent 10 years in the Midwest.  Learning to garden there took years.

But I had one gardener friend, JL.  We worked together, and I had many conversations with him about when to plant, what to grow, when to harvest.  He had been gardening/farming there his whole life.  I am sure some days he couldn't understand why I was asking such questions, surely everyone did "this" or "that" at the same time.  He had always lived there.  I had not.

Anyway, I learned a lot from JL.  One thing I learned from his was this.

Every spring, when we would have our first thunderstorm, he would go to his work closet to his calendar and count ahead six months and mark the calendar.  He told me he did this because that was the day the first frost would be, give or take a week.  And usually, he was right.

This year, the six month date, for me, was Tuesday, September 10th.  On September 10th and the 11th this year, we had 90 degree weather, out of no where it came.  No, no frost.

On Monday evening, September 16th, we had our first frost.

Give or take a week.

I think of JL every spring during the first thunderstorm and every fall when the first frost is due.

Do you have someone who mentored you with your gardening?  I'd love to hear your story.

Until next time, grow where you are planted.

scented geranium and regular geranium

It begins with a garden

It begins with a garden. Or I'd like to think it is, now anyway.

I am new to this blogging thing, again, so please bare with me while I try.

I wanted to use this as a place to share the projects we are working on to make our house a home and to improve our yard and garden.

I will try to share something each week day.  Whether it a picture, and update on a project, something I've read, something I've learned.  I figure if I commit to it, I am hoping I will do it. 

This will be today's post.

We bought our home nearly 8 years ago.  It was built in the mid 70's and had one owner, who did nothing with the yard but what had been done when it was done being built.

Our soil is sad, if you want to call it soil.  Usually you can dig, and you hit rock, whether it's pieces in the ground, or a large boulder.

Over the years, we have tried to choose one area a spring to improve and make it look like someone lives here.  Make it look as if someone cared about this house.

That was while I worked full time, and so I had no real energy left to do much of anything at the end of my day.  SO, needless to say, our soil is still very sad.

The builder put about 1 inch of top soil on, birch trees have grown and died here, and still grow here. They are one of my favorite things about this yard and I am so hesitant to allow DH to cut any down that aren't already dead. I redid the natural stone beds they are in once already, a few of them twice.

Don't get me wrong, I like these garden beds, with the rock from the yard, and the birch trees.  There are 6 of them all together, three in the main yard, three in the side yard.  The two pictured above are in the main yard.  The one on top is of my newly done Iris bed.  The Iris plants were my mothers.  My father gave them to me after mom had passed.

 My plan for that bed, next year, is to plant some dill and chives to the back of the trees.

The bottom picture is of another of the beds in the main yard, and that is a bit undecided at the moment.  There are some Iris, a variegated Hosta that we found while out riding our quad, someone had dumped their yard waste in the woods and that was sitting there looking for a home.  You can't really see it, the pole anyway, but this is where I hang our birdfeeder.  I plan to put Sunflowers at the back right of this bed next year.  Plus, I have to think of something else to put there.

Because our yard is a hill, not much of it is usable.  It's hard to mow, which I can't do, and my DH doesn't care to do because it's difficult and he's fallen a few times.  There really isn't a "lawn", though we do have some grass, mostly it is moss, which I like, and weeds, which I don't like.  I can usually keep the "weeds" under control with the weed-whacker, so the grass only needs to be cut twice a month during the growing season.

I look forward to any comment, please be kind.  Until next time, grow where you are planted!