Vacation?

Three weeks ago from today my DH started a 2 week "vacation".  I use quotes because we both had pretty long to-do lists.  I always joke that I am either always on vacation or never on vacation.  I, definitely, feel like I need a vacation after my husbands time at home!  So to keep things from being to workie I made a Fun List for the time off.  We got everything except the 3rd lake checked off our fun list.  DH finished his work list...I am still trying to get mine done...never on vacation?

The next couple of blogs I will share bits of our mostly stay-cation.  We did go out a few times but never further than a 45 minute drive.  These will be photo rich blogs...We have a lot of far flung family and my blog has been a great way for them to keep up with our lives.  Very efficient too!

I did some more canning, dehydrating, and giving away of tomatoes.  Finally, I had enough and pulled the plants.  8 hours to plant them ~ 6 hours to clean up the patch. Final Tomato Tally still to come...

I pulled a lot of stuff and my DH hauled it away for me.

As a matter of fact, DH spent a lot of time working with his tractor.  I lovingly call it his Tonka Toy.  It's real name is Agent Orange...when he first got the thing he had a bit of buyers remorse and didn't really want to use it...or get it dirty?  So I called it Secret Agent Orange waiting for his mission...the name stuck and DH got over the getting it dirty thing.  One of the jobs he got done was brush cutting our fields. He does this every couple of years.  We just want to keep the fields, fields.  It is amazing how quickly open land wants to turn to forest here in Maine.

A work and play thing we did was to go down to DH's folks lake place.  They didn't make it up this year so we have been checking on the place and mowing the lawn.  They have a year round house on the land but, we decided to have a sleep over in the old camp part of the property.  It is right down by the water with a view of the lake from the bed.  Pretty sweet!  I packed a picnic dinner and a couple of bottles of wine.  Runa came with us...we left Vern and the Ducks at home!

We had an evening paddle...

A misty morning~~~ I took a swim...very quick swim!

We had a nice old campfire at our place.  We cooked dinner on the fire and ate outside.  We would have had another fire but the weather became hot...in the 80s!  Crazy!

A rare moment when DH grabbed the camera and caught me in the act of having some fun!  He made me this swing at my request last Mother's Day.  It is a wonderful way to release stress and strain.  I find it to be a nice stretch after doing something like digging carrots.

That's enough for today...more to come...I hope to be back tomorrow.  Time now for me to finish the Garden Beet Borscht I am making for dinner.  Until~~~

Beet Borscht Blog

I will begin this blog at the end of the story.  It has been a very busy week!  This past weekend I wanted to do something that felt renewing.  Something besides work, worky, work!  So two things aligned for a perfect bit o relaxation~~~I was gifted a bag of beets and the weather outside for mid November Maine was fantastic!   

So made some borscht and a campfire!

Here is my recipe for Whole Beet Borscht~~WARNING~~I am a by the seat of your pants sort of cook....so this is my tweeted recipe with a happy mistake to boot!  My favorite cookbook (besides the internet) is my old copy of Laurel's Kitchen.  I bought my copy at the co-op in the Seattle U-district when I was 19 years old~~~that would be in 1978!  It was a big purchase at the time for me but one I have never regretted.  The amazing thing is that I still have it after all these years!

My Tweeking of the Original Recipe

I use your average 8 quart pot filled about 1/2 full of water or veggie broth or water with veggie broth powder added

6 medium potatoes cut into chunks

2 medium Onions coarsely chopped

1 bulb of Garlic

Big Splash of Tamari

Heaping Tablespoon of Paprika...here is the "boo-boo"  I grabbed the wrong jar...the chili powder...don't know why I did that the chili powder jar has for years been the one shaped like a dinosaur.   But oh well...now added the paprika and a heaping spoon of dill  weed too.  I let all of that simmer while I prep the beets.

 Garlic is done only one way in my house~~large quantities!

I had a garden "sabbatical" this year (I'll tell you about it sometime) but I did grow my 40 foot double row of Garlic!!

Preparing beets involves cutting off the roots and the top. Then put them in a sauce pan to boil for easy peel removal.  I save the tops to add to the borscht at the end.  If you don't have enough tops or they have been in the bag too long, frozen spinach is a great substitute.

Soup Simmering and Beets Boiling

 Beet Greens and Frozen Spinach

 Peeling Beets is FUN!  Simmer until they are tender.  Then cool them with water.  I give them a bit of a squeeze and slip the skins right off.  Save the peels for excellent compost!

I add the Beets and simmer for another 30 minutes.  Then I smash the soup a bit with a potato masher.  Right at the end I taste and add salt and the juice of one lemon.  Then at the very end I add the greens.  Give it a few minutes.  Then serve with a big dollop of plain yogurt...YUM!

Paired with my Homemade Crackers~~~double YUM~~~Crackers will be another share sometime.

Autumn is coming to an end here in Maine.  It is the time of long cold dark nights.  So it was great to spend an afternoon with a burst of color and heat...speaking of heat...the chili powder is a keeper...we think it was the best borscht ever!