Britesea - Living the good life in rural Oregon

[Britesea]

I'm gonna try your idea, GD, for cleaning- I don't have balance problems, but I'm overweight and bending over tends to cut off my air flow- I also have no padding under one knee due to an injury and I can't kneel at all on that side.

For my freezer, I bought some remnants of fabric and sewed up some bags that hold the freezer stuff- each bag is a different color and holds different meats etc- for example the yellow bag has chicken, the red bag has beef, and the blue bag has fish. I haven't finished all of them, but even just having those three makes hunting in there considerably easier. The only thing I wish I had done- I should have bought some webbing tape and sewed on some handles to make it easier to pull a bag out of the freezer.

 

[Denim Deb]

Whereas I don't even have to bend over to have balance problems!

 

[snapshot]

Britesea and gd! Both great ideas!

And I'm glad you are getting your little ones trained to go to bed!!!

 

[Britesea]

Well, the ducks have been putting themselves to bed on their own for about a week now. For a long time, I had one lone duck (shallow end of the gene pool?) that would roam around the yard quacking in a melancholy manner until I would chase her down and put her in the house; but she has finally got on board as well.

This weekend we tried herding them over to the garden for some free ranging time. DS made a portable "duck pergola" out of a pallet and some scrap lumber legs that I can move to where they are; it gives them some shade since there isn't any in the garden, as well as a refuge if they see a hawk. They had such a good time going after the tarragon and thyme! My permanent plantings and the weeds are the only things still growing in the garden now other than a couple of tomato plants which they luckily don't seem interested in. When it was time to bring them back to the yard, I lured them home by dropping a few green peas every few feet. At first only a couple saw the peas and ran up to where they were-- the others just followed the leaders. Then they caught on that there were goodies and they weren't getting any, and they practically climbed over the backs of the ones in front to get the peas! It was such a giggle.
The next morning, DH and I were drinking our morning tea outside and watching them in their yard, when suddenly they presented themselves, as a group, at the gate of the yard and all looked over at me as if to say "We're ready!"

I scored on 11 dozen canning jars this weekend also- 9 dozen quarts and 2 dozen pints- all in excellent condition- $50 for the lot. Then a girlfriend presented me with another case of pint jars because she has decided she doesn't want to can after all. Happiness is a storage shed full of empty canning jars!

I hated to do it, but I had to pay $200 for pest control last week; carpenter ants were getting into the house. I found a small pile of sawdust in the bathroom. I had tried to take care of it myself, but they kept coming back. I haven't seen any new activity this week

My projects today are to clean the oven (ick!) and create menus for the next pay period so I can generate a shopping list. I also have some plantain-infused oil that is ready to make into ointment, and some comfrey/calendula-infused oil for homemade "neosporin". I need to pick some sage and make some deodorant as well. If I have any energy left after that, I have a pile of "family cloths" that need to be zig-zagged around the edges.

Dinner tonight is Oba Shoyu Chicken, basmati rice, and a simple stirfry of kale, onions, peppers and green beans. Last of the watermelon for dessert. That will clean up the last of the produce in the fridge.

 

[~gd]

Well, the ducks have been putting themselves to bed on their own for about a week now. For a long time, I had one lone duck (shallow end of the gene pool?) that would roam around the yard quacking in a melancholy manner until I would chase her down and put her in the house; but she has finally got on board as well.

This weekend we tried herding them over to the garden for some free ranging time. DS made a portable "duck pergola" out of a pallet and some scrap lumber legs that I can move to where they are; it gives them some shade since there isn't any in the garden, as well as a refuge if they see a hawk. They had such a good time going after the tarragon and thyme! My permanent plantings and the weeds are the only things still growing in the garden now other than a couple of tomato plants which they luckily don't seem interested in. When it was time to bring them back to the yard, I lured them home by dropping a few green peas every few feet. At first only a couple saw the peas and ran up to where they were-- the others just followed the leaders. Then they caught on that there were goodies and they weren't getting any, and they practically climbed over the backs of the ones in front to get the peas! It was such a giggle.
The next morning, DH and I were drinking our morning tea outside and watching them in their yard, when suddenly they presented themselves, as a group, at the gate of the yard and all looked over at me as if to say "We're ready!"

I scored on 11 dozen canning jars this weekend also- 9 dozen quarts and 2 dozen pints- all in excellent condition- $50 for the lot. Then a girlfriend presented me with another case of pint jars because she has decided she doesn't want to can after all. Happiness is a storage shed full of empty canning jars!

I hated to do it, but I had to pay $200 for pest control last week; carpenter ants were getting into the house. I found a small pile of sawdust in the bathroom. I had tried to take care of it myself, but they kept coming back. I haven't seen any new activity this week

My projects today are to clean the oven (ick!) and create menus for the next pay period so I can generate a shopping list. I also have some plantain-infused oil that is ready to make into ointment, and some comfrey/calendula-infused oil for homemade "neosporin". I need to pick some sage and make some deodorant as well. If I have any energy left after that, I have a pile of "family cloths" that need to be zig-zagged around the edges.

Dinner tonight is Oba Shoyu Chicken, basmati rice, and a simple stirfry of kale, onions, peppers and green beans. Last of the watermelon for dessert. That will clean up the last of the produce in the fridge.

Keep in mind that carpenter ants are a warning that you have damp wood somewhere Black mold and milldew will grow there unless the moisture is taken care for good. Most lenders will not make a loan on a house with mold because of the health hazzard it carries. Good pest control will warn you, Did yours?

 

[Britesea]

Our Greengage plum is ready for harvesting. We got 3 5-gallon buckets full without risking our necks on the highest steps of the ladder, using the fruit picker. I had the whole family pitting plums last night as we watched an old episode of All Creatures Great and Small. I have two gallon jars making fermented plum brandy, 9 trays of plums drying in the dehydrator, and getting ready to can some whole plums now, although I may make some preserves as well. Unfortunately, the two apple trees didn't do much this year- I think the cold rainy weather while they were blooming prevented the bees from doing their job.

It's definitely turning cooler now- we had to put a blanket on the bed. I need to start cleaning up the garden and putting most of it to bed for winter. I started some kale babies to put out there in a month or so- kale keeps producing through most of the winter with no protection; if I cover it I should be able to harvest all winter long. We are very fond of kale, and the ducks are "just quackers about kale" so I'm planning on about 20+ plants, hoping it will keep the feed bill down.

Speaking of wintering over-- do you think it's too late to plant garlic? I know it's supposed to go into the ground in August.


about the ants- my pest guy told me that although ants are attracted to moisture, it is not always the case when you have ants. He always checks for that and said he did not believe that was a factor in this case; we just live in the middle of the woods, and they view the house as their condo.

 

[Britesea]

Going in to town today. DS has a dentist appt, and we are combining errands to save gas. A friend bagged an elk last week and she gave us the heart and about 6 steaks from the backstrap, so DH baked an extra loaf of his wonderful sourdough whole wheat and seed bread as a thank you- so I'm delivering that to her, plus the grocery store has shrimp on sale and BOGO pork chops. Tuesdays are also the day when a group of my girlfriends meet for coffee- I don't always get into town for that so I'm looking forward to a couple of hours in fun company. Poor DS will just have to put up with it, lol.

I'm down to 1 5-gallon bucket of plums and trying to figure out what to do with them. I'm thinking of making a bunch of plum syrup, but it will have to wait until we get back from town. I canned 7 quarts of whole plums in a light syrup. They look good, but they all floated to the top and I have a 3" gap of just syrup at the bottom. I hate when it does that, and I've never come across a good fix for it. The dried plums are quite sour, which surprised me because I don't detect very much sourness when I eat them fresh. But DH liked them so it's ok. The fermented plum brandy is starting to make bubbles at the edges, so I know things are working there. According the the recipe I'm trying, I need to add a bottle of whiskey in 6 weeks. If I use good whiskey we can try it right away, but if I use cheap whiskey I'll need to let it mellow for a few months.

I finally finished 1/2 of a pair of wool socks I've been knitting for DH. I tried the toe-up method, and now it's taken me so long to finish this one sock I can't remember how many stitches I cast on to start the toe! Time to get out the magnifying glass and count, I guess. Hopefully I can finish the second sock before Christmas, lol. I'm not a very fast knitter, and I can only knit in the evening, and I tend to nod over it a lot.

DH has put in for a week of vacation - first week of October. It's going to be a working holiday, so I'm trying to come up with a list of the various things I'd like to get done before the cold weather starts-- like tarping the compost pile, raking the pine needles up, putting the final touches on the duck yard, putting stuff away that we've allowed to sit out because we're lazy and the weather has been good.

Dinner tonight is BLT Stacked Salads (alternate layers of tomato slices, mozzarella slices, arugula, fresh basil leaves, and crisp bacon, drizzled with oil and wine vinegar), and a Plum Kuchen for dessert. Yummy!

 

[Britesea]

We have our first frost warning tonight. I've given up on the tomatoes- between a late frost, record hail storm, and accidentally leaving the gate open once for the deer to get in, I have lush growth, huge numbers of blossoms, and one small golf ball sized green tomato in the whole row. The kale and onions are the only things growing, and they are both very frost resistant, so all I did to prepare for this possible frost was bring in my rosemary and the baby citrus tree. I have them in a SW facing window, where I hope they will be ok this winter.

The ducks are molting and I have feathers ALL over the yard, lol. I have one definite drake tail feather, and 2 others have that silly drake voice but no curly tail feathers. Never did start any kale seedlings, so I contacted the local greenhouse and she has some "dinosaur kale" that will be ready to transplant in another week. I also spoke to all the local stores about getting trimmings and old veggies and fruit... we shall see. The darlings really seem to prefer the fruits and veggies over their commercial feed.

I picked up an extra gallon of milk this week, so I started a small batch of hard cheese. I have no idea if it will turn out or not, as the curds literally fell apart while I was cooking them. My directions say to cook them until they are the consistency of scrambled eggs, but mine were more like ricotta dissolved in water. *sigh* It may have sat too long after getting a clean break as I needed to finish cleaning the kitchen before I tackled the curds. I got it pressed and now it's sitting in the fridge, salted and wrapped in a clean tea towel.

I got a call from the gal that runs the local community market (or tries to-- it doesn't get that much support from the community yet) asking if I would be willing to come and offer my jewelry and buttons for sale. I figure I might as well; I'm not really in business anymore, but I do have stock I'd like to get rid of. They still have their price tags; maybe if I mark things down to my wholesale price it will garner some interest?

 

[Britesea]

As I thought, the market was not well attended. Luckily, the booth fee is very low- basically 10% of your sales (honor system). Until the market gets well established, they feel this is only fair.
What shocked the H out of me was that I made an $80 sale! I also spoke with an acquaintance there that sells at markets further away. She would like to take a couple of trays of my jewelry to sell at her other markets, for a 10% commission... I'm giving it some serious thought, as I'd like to get these pieces sold and out of my storage.

I came home to find that hubby had gone shooting with a friend, and said friend gave him 4 gallon-sized jars for me. WOOT! I also have several boxes of canning jars that another woman gave me because her mother doesn't can anymore. I haven't had time to count how many there are, they're in off-size boxes, and everything is very dusty. But happiness is extra jars!

I'm feeling a bit under the weather today... got some tummy troubles that are making it hard to get anything done; but I'm at least getting the dishes and the laundry taken care of.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Congrats on moving some of the jewelry AND on getting more jars! Ya can never have to many jars. Hope you feel better soon.