Bounty!

It has been the sunniest and hottest September that I ever remember!  Very grateful for a cold rainy start to October.  Some "dreary" weather is allowing me a bit of time inside away from the bounty of my gardens!   This has been an incredibly busy fall for us.  We took on a lot so we are truly looking forward to winter and enjoying the fruits of our labors!  Here is a bit of what is up on the this place on earth!! 

Firewood has just begun...

A very fine potato harvest despite lots of bugs & blight!

We finished the painting & cork flooring upstairs!  YEAH!  Waiting the 7 days for the sealant to cure, then mop boards, and then the moving back in process! 

 CANNING!!!!

Peppers are just so pretty!

I had an epic day of canning this week. I put up 14 quarts of green beans, 8 pints of spicy dilly carrots, and 23 half pints of my famous eggplant relish all in one day!  It was me at my time management best!  I got up early and headed out to the garden to pull carrots.  I had leftover brine from my pepper pickling so I decided to make a labor intensive carrot pickle for my son who has requested not to receive any holiday gifts from us!  He says that our help with college and medical expenses are enough!  Wow!  I haven't really liked making these carrot pickles in the past but, this year I assure you, there is an extra dollop of love in them! My son loves all things carrot!  

After pulling carrots and collecting fresh dill seeds I headed back to the house to start topping the beans I had picked the day before.  While prepping the beans I had my dishwasher full of jars running through the sanitizing cycle.  I canned the beans first.  It takes about an hour for each batch to pressure can start to finish.  During that time I prepped the carrots that need to be washed, peeled, cut, & blanched.  by the time the first batch of beans were decompressing I had my carrots in a hot water bath.  I did my second batch of beans and some clean up.  At 2PM I took a 30 minute break to eat something and stretch.  Then on to the eggplant!

This a recipe of my own design.  A few years back I grew some eggplants from a packet of seeds that I got for a dime just to give it a try.  Well I ended up with an abundance!  There is only so much eggplant parmesan & ratatouille a family could eat.  Enjoying the flavors of Indian Cuisine and always looking for something to put on my homemade crackers I came up with this recipe....that I happily share with you below!  I finished everything around 6PM.  I did sleep well that night, nothing like a productive day for a restful night of sleep.  Much more to do so I better get cracking!

Eggplant Spread with Indian Flair! ***** 12 – 13 ½ pints ***** Sterilize Jars *****

In a large stockpot add:

1 cup olive oil
4 lb eggplant; chopped into bite size pieces (about 16 cups)

Dry roast in a cast iron skillet until they pop:

2 tablespoons Cumin Seeds
4 tablespoons Fenugreek Seeds

2 tablespoons Mustard Seeds

1 tablespoon Coriander Seed

Add roasted seeds to oil and eggplant ~ cook until eggplant is tender.

½ cup minced fresh ginger~set aside (use mini chopper)

Add garlic to mini chopper 1^st  & chop

10 large cloves garlic; minced
4 tablespoons chili powder
4  teaspoons ground ginger.....................ADD to chopped garlic to form a PASTE
4  teaspoons turmeric

½ cup white vinegar

Now add to Eggplant in the Pot:

3 cups White Vinegar

2 cups sugar

4 Tbls Chili pepper flakes

4 Tbls Pickling Salt

Fresh Ginger

Above Paste

Stir over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until boiling***Grind up mixture with hand held blender

½ inch head space ~ Pressure Can 6lbs for 8 minutes

Gets BETTER with Age! (like me!) 

Deborah Diemer Copyright 2015

☼ Forest & Field Happenings ☼ FEDCO + Canoe

I could call this post forest and far afield happenings!  It has been busy around here the last 4 days!  Friday I went to the FEDCO pre-order sale(...Open to the public this weekend!!) I spent Saturday planting my 10 elderberries to create a hedge in a wettish area, some replacement rhubarb, 3 honeyberries as an experiment, & one Motherwort which has been a helpful herb for me as of late.  I got around to some mulching with buckwheat hulls, my new favorite mulch.  Also, did some raking and prepping beds.  Meanwhile, DH was completing machine maintenance to get ready for the summer of work.

Sunday we took the day off!!!  We took our little canoe to nearby China Lake.  This is a pretty heavily populated lake so it can be busy and noisy.  But, this time of year with the ice just barely off the lake it was pretty quiet.  We had never canoed this lake but have driven by it 100's of times.  It was pretty neat to see the sights from the water.  We took a picnic that we had while floating about.  Spent nearly 4 hours on the lake which we only realize when we came ashore.  The loons made several appearances as well as "singing" their haunting song!

Monday was back to work!  DH had some wood to stack and then he rototilled my gardens for me.  I got my peas planted and some flower seeds in for my beneficial insect garden edges.  early afternoon we took a break in the sun that lasted the rest of the day.  Both of us usually seek the shade but after this long winter the sun was an elixir of pure pleasure!

Today I need to get my onion seedlings in the ground.  I may get some other early seeds planted. So much to do.....!  Spring cleaning, set up my tree house, put away winter clothes, organize my attic....the sewing room my just be in limbo for a bit... well, at least until a rainy day.  I better get cracking!

~~~~~~~~~~~My Lively Life~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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"Be Joyful because it is humanly possible"~~~Wendell Berry

Tomatoes ~ Grateful?

Last night I had a dream...in the dream I woke up to find tomatoes surrounding me in my bed.  The dream is sort of true, I AM surrounded by tomatoes but so far I have managed to keep them out of my bed.  It is the most abundant tomatoe year that I ever remember in my 20+ years of growing vegetables! (unless it is like childbirth and you forget the "pain")  I am grateful but, it is starting to get tedious.  I guess I could let them rot...that is not in my nature.  I have given quite a few away.  The few times I have left the house I always leave with a big bag of tomatoes.  Once winter comes I know I will be really grateful for all this food.  In the meantime I plug away....Sauce, Soup, Salsa, Dehydrating, Sauce, Soup, Salsa, Dehydrating, Sauce, Soup, Salsa, Dehydrating, Sauce, Soup, Salsa......


These are my days~~~

This is what I picked today...guess what I will be doing tomorrow...

Sauce, Soup, Salsa, Dehydrating, Sauce, Soup, Salsa, Dehydrating, Sauce, Soup, Salsa.....

 ~~~

It is my intention, each week, to share something that fills me with Gratitude. 

I write ~~~Gratitude~~~ with the wavy lines to represent the gratitude ENERGY~~~~~! 

I hope you will join me and share your gratitude moments. 

~~~Amen, Blessed Be, Namaste'~~~

☼ Forest & Field Happenings ☼

Bedraggled is the word that best describes me these days.  Working hard and a bit weary as well as grateful for an amazing garden year.  It has been a few years since I have experienced such abundance, so naturally, I have forgotten how much work is involved.  Oh! for those years when things failed and I could just go to the beach!  I could just leave it, I guess, but that is not my nature.  Waste Not Want Not is too ingrained in my psyche. I was very much influenced by Grandparents that came of age during the depression.  I sometime "hear" them urging me on into the night as I process my harvest.  Today, I had a bit of break, a dear friend came over with a nice lunch and helping hands.  She helped pick and I sent most of the pickings home with her.  We both felt fortunate!  She had a trunk full of organic produce and I didn't have to process it, plus, it was nice having company in the garden!  All I had left to deal with was a few cukes and beans....today!

Here is a little tour of today~

 Happy Quackers...my defenses seem to be working...no more duck losses!

 Been working on the Garlic top trimming...a little at a time to save my wrists.

 Waiting until I harvest the onions and leeks before tilling and cover cropping here.

Some wasps mating next to a butterfly.

 Elderberries nearly ready,...good thing I am on my last jar of elderberry syrup!

This stuff is my magic elixir...felt a cold (or allergy?) coming on ~ a few sips ~ CURED!

 Oats & Peas cover crop looking pretty!

Big garden in various states of bedraggled-ness and dishevelment 

Bedraggled

What rhymes with orange, purple, and other
words that have no rhyme?
Oranges rhyme with lemons,
purple with lilac.
Poetry amazes us,
brings us out of our expectancy.
We thought it dull in school,
something like a long sermon in church.
Now we know that
poetry can awaken our senses.

by Marsviking

---Shop News--- ☼ Forest & Field Happenings ☼ ~~~Gratitude~~~

My life is FULL of random abandoned.  Finding time to be here, blogging, is become more and more difficult.  Abundance calls and garden produce waits for no woman!  Right now as I type I am multi tasking.  I have dinner in the oven with a timer set.  Every few minutes I will be running downstairs to attend to things, then back up here to type a few words.  No complaints, it is amazing how much I can write in 5 minutes!  So my dear reader, please, bear with me during this busy time.  I will be here as much as I can.

 Some Days are like this

&

 Some Days are like this 

In Between all that the laundry needs doing, the meals prepared, before I know it all that wood will need to be brought in for the winter. This week I had just a wee bit of stress around all that needs doing.  The best cure for me from that kind of stress is a very productive day.  I am happy to say yesterday was such a day!  Everything in that wheelbarrow has been dealt with!

My sewing room and Etsy office are in disarray with many projects in progress.  Photos need taking, listing need doing, printing, tagging, bookkeeping....etc, etc, etc!  But I am very grateful, this month already I am averaging a more than a sale a day!!!  I counted up my sales in all 4 shops and they equal over 500 since I started with Esty in January 2012, not too shabby.

I had planned another "productive" day to get me further from my mental angst.  All started well with the reconstruction of my kitchen after yesterdays produce palooza ( got everything dealt with from the wheelbarrow...I didn't say I got the kitchen cleaned up...I am not super woman!)...when a very tall young man, who it still amazes me that he is actually, my child, came to me and asked if I would make lunch and watch a soccer game with him.  I hesitated, feeling that welling rush of stress, then he looked at me with doe eyes and said pleeeease.  He will be off to college in 2 weeks.  I enjoy soccer only because he has schooled me to enjoy it.  Without him I will never watch soccer again.  So lunch was cheese, crackers, cucumbers, tomatoes, and my famous eggplant relish.  We huddled together around his laptop and watched Arsenal barely beat Crystal Palace 2-1.  Good thing since the boyo is an Arsenal man.  And yes he is a man and I am his mother.  These moments are more rare than the perfect, purple, bug free, cauliflower.

~~~Gratitude~~~ Bounty! & Beetles?

Summer garden bounty has arrived!  Pretty much everyday there is something to put by for winter and, definitely, plenty to eat NOW! (yes! I grew artichokes again this year~fun!) Mostly freezing and dehydrating at this point.  Not quite enough volume for tomato canning just yet.  Slicing and blanching are the words for these days.  Other tasks continue as well...there is still the continued beetle battle....oh sigh.  I must say I am a bit weary of this particular chore.

Here is today's harvest of insects...some potato beetle too.  It is just getting yucky! I need to get out there each day and gather.  Pretty much collect the same number each time.  So morning or night when the air is a bit cooler I do my duty.  (if you try this in the heat of the day the Japanese Beetles will just fly away)

 Philosophy is needed to get going and finish.  So today I tried to think up beetle gratitudes.  Ok~~~here is what I came up with....  I am grateful I found a caterpillar nest in the hazelnuts while it was still just eggs during my beetle hunt, I may have missed it otherwise.  Japanese Beetles are not as gross to squish by hand as caterpillars.  When you squeeze a Japanese Beetle to death it's guts won't squirt you in the eye...this happens sometimes with large soft bodied potato beetles...seriously yucky!

When a JB falls into your shoe it doesn't bite...just a bit creepy crawly...at least you capture it!

 They are sort of beautiful in their own scarab beetles way~~~

The ducks are still devouring them with delight!

And then there is my Mountain Ash Tree or Rowan, by another name.  The beetles have really done a number on it.  This tree and I go back a bit.  It is the tree that I planted when my son was born.  Rowan was my secret girlhood name.  We had a Mt Ash in the yard where I grew up, I thought the tree had magical powers.  Maybe, I thought my son would love this tree like did as a child.  Well, his path is different than mine, as it should be.  This is my tree.  It has been through a lot.  When we first planted it it was attacked by borers.  After surviving that with my help, it became the favorite meal of a local sapsucker for a few years.   It was so weakened one year is didn't put out any leaves so we cut it to the ground.  From the rootstock  a hardier bush emerged. It did pretty well for a few years and even produced some berries once.  Then the Beetles came.  This year has been rougher than past seasons. The beetles munch on it's leaves and I shake it each night to try and help it out.  I thought this year is was a goner until a week ago.  I looked up one day and saw New Growth!  Nature has it's way!  I hope to live long enough to see the beetles find a balance in their new found ecosystem. In the meantime, I will take heart in the fact that nature is tenacious and resilient!  Like this tree I have had some hard times but new growth is always what comes from those experiences!

Wonder and Beauty Abound! 

Last nights Super Moon 

 ~~~

It is my intention, each week, to share something that fills me with Gratitude. 

I write ~~~Gratitude~~~ with the wavy lines to represent the gratitude ENERGY~~~~~! 

I hope you will join me and share your gratitude moments. 

~~~Amen, Blessed Be, Namaste'~~~