New Beginnings

Yes, I am still alive and kicking. I'm amazed that I still have 'followers' after such a long absence from this space.

Basically, over the last nine months, I poured everything I had into a job, but even so, it apparently wasn't enough as I was fired last month-for the first time in my life. I've always been the star, the go-to person, and now, I am experiencing the other end of that spectrum. The only thing I can do is to move on and to learn from my failings, career and social. I've never been good at playing politics, sucking up to people. My emotions are always on my sleeve, which makes me easy to manipulate. Plus, I tend to think the best about people, even those who act like assholes and jerks. I make excuses for them in my mind, and try to block their influence and in doing that, I allow myself to be blindsided. They win influence, I don't. It is the story of losers everywhere, I suppose, that the victor's side of the story is the one recorded in the books. C'est la vie.

So in my quest of self improvement, I've decided to try to lose some weight and become more fit. This process began two and a half years ago when I stopped smoking after 27 years. I gained 30 pounds from that, and I lost that over the following 18 months, but now I am back on my pre-quitting plateau. I vowed to lose 50 pounds in 2010, and I have lost about 10 pounds with half the year gone. My BMI is close to 27, in the overweight range, but luckily under the obese marker. I just pulled out the Wii and weighed to make sure. I just weighed 199.5 pounds with a BMI of 27.8, up from last month by three pounds. That is where feeding your failure leads! Wii Fit states that my ideal weight should be about 157 pounds, which is where I would be if I lost the 50 pounds I intended with my New Year's Resolution. I have 43 pounds to lose in 6 months, 7 pounds a month, 1.75 pounds a week. That should be a safe loss rate and something I should be able to manage with diet and exercise. I've already given up soft drinks this year, and I am working on swapping out saturated fats for unsaturated fats. I don't believe in 'going on a diet', but I do want to make lifestyle changes. I've used a couple of calculators and figured that my Basal Metabolic Rate is about 2200 calories a day. I haven't been counting calories as to what I am consuming, but I will keep a journal for a week or so just to get an idea. If I can keep my intake between 2200 and 2500 calories, I should be able to exercise and burn off at least 1000 calories a day. One mountain bike ride around the 7 mile 'block' burns just over 700 calories and takes about 45 minutes, so I think with some stretching and a few additional minutes, I should be able to hit that 1000 burned goal. In addition, it is summer, and that means gardening-more calories burned. In a few weeks, I'll need to start splitting wood for the winter-more calories gone. So doing the math, If I consume 2500 calories and burn 1000 from exercise and 1000 from seasonal work, then my net caloric intake is 500, which is 1700 less than my BMR. If I ride my bike or exercise 5 times a week and spend 3 hours a day working, that is 8500 calories a week, equaling about 2.5 pounds a week. Of course, that will be the short term weekly goal that I strive for, not a given.

I want to pass along a few websites that I have found refreshingly useful.

http://www.everydayhealth.com/

From this link you can sign up for daily newsletters concerning topics that interest you. I've been receiving the Diet and Nutrition newsletter and it has a lot of informative articles (like choosing cooking oils) as well as a lot of simple, everyday recipes.

http://nutritiondata.self.com/

Nutrition data is just that, but I like this site because it gives you enough information to make balanced choices about food. They feature an Inflammation Factor chart which is helpful if you suffer from allergies or auto-immune disease. Also, there is a glycemic load chart for those who deal with blood sugar issues like diabetes. If you have a few minutes to check this site out, it will be well worth your time.

Moving On

Eleven years ago today, Halloween, we moved onto EarthNSky Farm. The beauty of Autumn was breathtaking, and I recall that I felt like I had died and gone to heaven-I was finally home. The sky was brilliant blue, the wind was crisp, and the leaf color was nothing short of spectacular. Before the moving truck was unloaded, George, our neighbor, came by on his old Ford 9N tractor to introduce himself and to visit. Throughout the years, we've had our ups and downs with George, but generally we get along pretty well, our only disagreement being about the type of fence that should go on the property line. He is our most immediate neighbor and I've learned a lot about homesteading from George and his wife. George taught us how to hunt and field dress a deer. Nancy taught me how to clean the meat and cook it. I recently bought the 12 gallon cast iron pot from him in which I learned to render lard. He's taught me how to raise and catch pigs, how to sight in a rifle, how to take care of horses, how to buck 70 pound alfalfa bales into a barn, and countless other skills. They were with me when I got my first chickens and they gave me my first ducks. Almost all of my current flock of chickens are from his Blue Laced Red Wyandotte rooster. His workmanship is all around me as he built this house from the trees on the land; his rockwork on my hearth is beautiful and everyone who comes into the house compliments the artistry. Over the years, we've been the beneficiary of his various hunting kills, wild goose (which looks and cooks like beefsteak), deer, turkey, and even bear. I'd eat bear again only if I were starving-there are much better meats to put on a plate. But tonight for dinner, I'll be enjoying native trout, caught this past Spring by George up in the Cohutta Wilderness. My son loved to watch George forge knives and other creations. He built wagons and learned to forge metal from Judd Nelson of Foxfire fame. He is a true artist, with skills in metalwork, woodworking, rocklaying, carving and painting. His wife is also an excellent wildlife painter and I have a beautiful walking stick with a carved and painted copperhead snake on the handle.

There have been a few times over the years that George has put up a for sale sign. I've never taken it seriously as he has family here and his wife and sister in law are the daughters of the original land owners, the homestead of which we now occupy. They have roots here. However, they have struggled financially over the years and most recently health issues have surfaced for both of them, making money even more scarce. A few years ago, after George recovered from chemo, his son sent him out to Arkansas on a fishing trip on the White River. George fell in love with the place, and his son bought some land out there. For the last two years, they've bantered the idea of moving to the Ozarks. While I know he would fit in there, he is what I would call a true, modern homesteader, I just could never see it happening, until yesterday when he told us he had a contract and buyer for his house and land. He was going to sell off, pack up the camper, and move to the Ozarks. I'm in shock. I'm trying to see this from their perspective in that it will be cheaper to live there and it will afford them a little financial breathing room.

In addition, there's always that anxiety about who will be buying in. All I know is that they are rather wealthy by local standards, have 3 kids, currently live in Atlanta, and will be using the cabin as a weekend home, a place where the kids can 'run free'. I don't know if they will appreciate the beauty and primitive nature of life out here or whether they will try to bring the city, and all of it's conveniences, with them. I'm sure they will be wonderful people, but it is hard to see the good side of anything when the loss feels so great. It is the first time in eleven years that I have even had a fleeting thought about moving away. I look out the window, and this Halloween is much scarier. The sky is overcast and foreboding. The Autumn leaves are wet and muted. Rock Creek will not be the same without George and Nancy.

First frost and freeze

Tonight we should have our first frost and freeze, and tomorrow we should have a hard freeze. I usually subtract 5 degrees from the predicted Calhoun temps for planning. We haven't gone below 45 yet, and suddenly we are looking at 31 or 32 for tonight and 26 or 27 tomorrow. We skipped the low 40's and thirties altogether!

I just came in from picking the last of the beans and tomatoes. I kept about 4 tomato plants alive and kicking until frost, bringing in the first, and last, green tomatoes just now. I got enough Kentucky Wonder pole beans for a meal. Those beans have been producing since the first week of June! A Wonder indeed!

I wish I had a few more weeks for okra as the plants still have flowers and plenty of life even at 7 feet tall. I'll use up the last peppers with tacos and beans tonight, and I might make some fresh salsa with the last tomatoes. It's all good. I finally grew enough beans to freeze and it should last until next summer...I hope. I'm going to leave the remaining butternuts out there for tonight, and bring them in tomorrow. I've never left anything out after frost, so this is a bit scary for me. I usually use squashes and never have any left to leave out, but this year, I have over 30 pounds of squash in storage already, so the remaining 10 pounds or so is an experiment that should be successful since most folks do leave the squashes until after the first frost.

I still have a 32 ft row of peas, half English and half snow peas, but neither is doing well. I've harvested some English peas, but the snow peas are slow. I have some kale to try, and a few plants of collards, cabbage, broccoli, and yes, Brussels sprouts, but nothing is even close to being ready. I may lose most of it after this weekend.

The springs are still running in the garden making it a mucky mess, and a new one made a small sinkhole(about fist sized) less than a foot away from my Mars Seedless grapevine that is 2 years old. Either those grapes will be extra juicy or the vine will be diseased and die. Time will tell. Anyway, I've been moving the carpet strips around just to be able to walk enough to harvest the beans and such. The amount of water we have this year is amazing.

I also stripped the leaves of my Malabar spinach vine, pulled two radishes, and stripped the leaves of a lemon verbena. All the porch and deck plants are in the greenhouse and ready for winter.

I split a fresh load of dry wood this morning, and we currently have the first fire of the season in the woodstove. My daughter and granddaughter are visiting. Life is good.

Vitamin D and me

I've written before that I thought I was Vitamin D deficient. There were a few symptoms that I had, but nothing too serious, or so I thought. On my own, I started taking fish oil, then switched to cold liver oil because it contained more Vitamin D. I've always craved oily fish and chicken livers and eggs and other foods that are notoriously high in Vitamin D. I eat plenty of dairy and milk, too.

Back in July, I wrote about Vitamin D on my blog. (July 17) It was around that time that I decided to start a trial of taking Vit. D supplements in the form of Cod Liver oil. This page gives a quick overview:

http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/vitamind.asp

I did some reading and discovered that there is quite a controversy over the RDA for Vitamin D. We need more as we get older. The relationship between Vitamin D, cholesterol, and the melanin pigment in our skin is important to understand. Basically, the short story is that the sun's UVB rays turn cholesterol into Vitamin D. Fair skinned people like me whose ancestors are from the far north have very little melanin to block UVB, because north of the Arctic Circle, there is very little UVB making it to the ground and our bodies don't need to block it. However, here in the US, I have the possibility of more sun, more UVB than Finland, and yet I still don't have the melanin to protect me. Because I am so fair, I don't get enough exposure year around to produce enough Vitamin D from my cholesterol.

So anyway, I started taking about 1500 IU's of cod liver oil a day as well as a multivitamin with an additional 400 IU's, and after a few weeks, I could swear that I felt a bit less achy from my arthritis pain. I seemed to have more energy and was more able to think clearly. About that time, I had an appointment with my rheumatologist and I told her of my suspicion that I was Vitamin D deficient. She ordered a test, as well as a test for bone density since I had had a stress fracture a few months prior. The other problem I've had for a few months is gum inflammation. I had my teeth cleaned in March and in early April, my gums started to bleed. There was a lot of blood, not just pink in the sink. I increased my brushing time, rinsed with fluoride washes and tried all kinds of stuff, but still, my gums were bleeding at the drop of a hat. I could also tell that they were receding a bit around my bridge. Things seemed to be changing fast, yet I had no pain or tenderness. I went to the dentist, but he had no answer other than it could be Vitamin D related but usually gum bleeding was gingivitis related. Well, as it turned out, the bloodwork revealed that I was indeed Vitamin D deficient. Very much so, even though I had been taking the Cod Liver Oil. Normal was 31-100 and my result was 14. Some docs think 'normal' should be 20, I've learned, but even with that I was deficient. My first thought was no wonder my arms feel like they are about to break when I do something like unload the washing machine! No wonder the dentist is telling me that I have bone loss and gum inflammation! So, my rheumatologist prescribed a Vitamin D supplement that I take once a week. It is a little blue gel pill of 50,000 IU of Vitamin D. WOW! The RDA is 400 IU and daily supplements are usually up to 2000 IU a day.

I have now taken two of them, the most recent being on Wednesday. Yesterday, Thursday, for the first time since April, my gums did not bleed when I brushed my teeth. Not a speck of blood, when just a few days ago I had to rinse 5 or 6 times just to not taste the blood anymore. Better yet, in the last week, I have had less arthritic issues, less overall aches and pains, and I seem to be more optimistic and more focused in my thinking. I'm now looking forward to seeing how good I will feel in a few months. The best part of this...these little Vitamin D pills were only $6 for a month's supply, 4 pills.

I'm hoping that I will at least be able to reduce my NSAIDS and pain meds, and hopefully, hopefully, I will be one of the lucky ones who might be 'healed' to the point that I would not need expensive biologics like Enbrel that are ruining my liver over time and increasing my chance of getting lymphoma.(I have something like a 40x higher chance of getting lymphoma that those who do not take Enbrel) This morning, I found this UK article, which supports the notion that RA might be curable after all.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-508283/Could-vitamin-D-really-cure-arthritis.html

This article makes a lot of sense as to why elimination diets might work for some and not for others. It mentions alkaline diets where you reduce acid foods, too. Dieting could even work for a while and then not work again. If you are Vitamin D deficient, anything can happen.

I can't believe that this might have been the precipitating factor for a lot of my health issues, for a long time, too. And it seems to have such a simple, and inexpensive solution. I've tried turmeric and milk thistle and other supplements and herbs but the biggest difference in pain relief and general well-being has been with Vitamin D supplementation.

Last year, I went to the ER with a kidney stone. I'd never even had a kidney infection or a bladder infection, and out of the blue I get a kidney stone. Well, I read that Vitamin D deficiency can cause "increased excretion of calcium from renal tubules". If you are going to the doc for bloodwork anyway, get them to check your Vitamin D levels. You might be surprised. It might keep you from getting cancer or even from getting the flu or other viruses.

This page lists some risk groups(including vegetarians) and talks about how certain meds can affect your Vitamin D levels.

http://www.the-vitamin-and-supplement-guide.com/vitaminDdeficiencysymptoms.html

I hope everyone takes a few minutes to read these articles. It just might save your life or prevent you from having osteoporosis or other bone issues later in life.

To Living Life to the Fullest

Thirteen years ago or so, when we lived in the Atlanta suburbs, Jeff C.
entered our lives and we've never been the same. Jeff was a friend and
co-worker of Skyguy's older brother, who is a monk now, but who used
to work for Clyde Beatty Cole Brothers Circus with Jeff. They did
various things, but mostly worked in marketing and advance promotions, traveling from town to town ahead of the circus. Long after Brother Dave left CBCBC, Jeff continued on, and we remained friends with him. He would try to get us into the circus for free when the kids were little. My kids have ridden on elephants and petted ligers and had other really wonderful backstage circus experiences. Once, he not only took our family to Augusta, he took my best friend and her husband as well and put us all up in a really nice hotel. That was the kindness we loved in Jeff, the more the merrier, and the words 'more' and 'merry' definitely described him. Jeff weighed well over 300 pounds and was always the life of any party. He loved to describe himself as a flaming queen. Yes, Jeff was as gay as gay could be, and if you look up homosexual in the dictionary, his picture should be there. As I type this, I hear his voice saying " tell them this, or tell them that-you really should capitalize 'flaming' "... he was quite a character and would love the fact that I am writing this story.

Whenever Jeff would come through town, he would usually take us out to eat in a really nice restaurant. He was of Spanish heritage and he delighted in teaching us about real Spanish cuisine. Once, Jeff came to visit, and instead of taking us to dinner, he decided that he wanted to cook an authentic dinner. He went to Harry's Farmer's Market and came back with enough groceries to feed an army. As he started cooking, he realized that we would have more food than the 5 of us could eat. While he was making the sangria-real sangria, he told me to call some friends over for an impromptu party. He kept cooking and I kept calling the neighbors. We lived in a pretty diverse neighborhood, but even as open minded as people were, watching people meet and get to know Jeff was always entertaining. He had a unique way of making people like him, even the most homophobic individuals. As it turned out, half the neighborhood had dinner with us, and Jeff was the life of the party. The food was great, but the Sangria...oh my god...it was divine. The neighbors got drunk and Skyguy had to walk a few of them home. One guy passed out on our sofa. That Sangria was so good that you would not even know it was alcoholic, until you woke up the next day with a banging sugar hangover. Amazingly, we had some left over, and Jeff suggested that I bottle it and we could open the bottle in two weeks when he came back through town on his way back North. I found one of those fish shaped wine bottles, poured the sangria in-straining out the slices of fruit-and corked the bottle. Jeff left the next day and told us that he would call us in two weeks.

We did not make any plans, nor did a couple of neighbors as they wanted to come by and just hang out with him. He was just so interesting and always had a million stories to tell. You would laugh until you cried. Two weeks went by, and there was no call. Three weeks came and went. We had not heard from Jeff. Finally, on the fourth week, Skyguy's brother called and told us that Jeff had been killed in a car accident on the weekend when he was supposed to be on his way to our house. He was so physically large that he was crushed upon impact with another car and the steering wheel impact caused cardiac failure. The world lost a very special person that day.

So, in honor of Jeff, I've kept that bottle of Sangria all this time. I recall that when we poured it up he made a joke that it would be good in 100 years. I don't have a good place to store the bottle here, and I don't think Jeff would want me to keep it the way I have done. I'm afraid someone will come along, not knowing the bottle's history, and uncork it to see what it is. He would want me to open it, invite some friends over, and have fun. The question is, is it still good? Part of me wants to keep the fish bottle intact, but part of me wants that Sangria. If I knew that the Sangria was vinegar instead of wine, I might keep it in the bottle, but just thinking about how good that
Sangria was, and just knowing how much love Jeff put in it....I want to make a final toast to Jeff.

So I open this dilemma to a vote among those of you who read my blog. Let me know what you think I should do. To the best of my memory, this was made with 7 up, grain alcohol, red wine, rum, sugar, and lots of fruit. I remember lemons, oranges, peaches, and kiwi, and it seems like there was more, but I've forgotten. It was very, very sweet, almost syrupy, and wonderfully smooth. What would you do-open a 13 year old bottle and toast to Jeff, or find a place to store the bottle and keep it in his honor?

Okra and it's Beneficial Slime

Okra. It is an oft maligned vegetable usually associated with the Deep South. I'm growing it, as are most of my friends and neighbors who have gardens. I have the old standby, Clemson Spineless, and a heirloom variety called Lee. Lee's pods are not as heavily ridged as the CS, and the pods are darker green and smoother. I personally think they are less spiny than the Clemson Spineless. Both varieties are doing well in the garden. Did you know that okra historically grew wild on the banks of the Nile River and was one of Cleopatra's favorite foods? Egyptians were the first to cultivate it 1200 years before Christ. By trade, okra became a popular crop across north Africa to Ethiopia, around the Mediterranean Sea, and even as far away as India and the Americas. By 1658, okra made it to Brazil and New Orleans and by 1781, they were growing it in Philadelphia. African slaves used ground okra seeds as a coffee substitute as well as cooked gumbo. Even today, ground okra is used in Africa to make a soup cooked with fish, and okra as a coffee substitute found widespread consumption during the rationing era of WWII. The words okra and gumbo are of African origin, but this easy to grow and useful vegetable is now known around the world by the following names: Okra, Okro, Ochro, Okoro, Quimgombo (Cuba), Quingumbo, Ladies Fingers, Gombo, Kopi Arab, Kacang Bendi, Bhindi (S. Asia), Bendi (Malaysia), Bamia, Bamya or Bamieh (middle east), Gumbo (Southern USA), Quiabo, Quiabos (Portugal and Angola), okura (Japan), qiu kui (Taiwan). Asians, especially the Japanese and Chinese, treasure okra as a fountain of youth.

Okra has hairy spines that are prickly and irritate the skin like fiberglass insulation. The sensation is easily remedied by quickly washing in cold water. The plant has varieties that are burgundy or purple podded and stemmed. Some varieties are dwarfed, but most grow tall, 3 to 6 feet or taller depending on variety and the more you cut the okra the tall the plant gets. It is an 60 day annual that likes hot weather, from the same Mallow family as hollyhock, cotton, and hibiscus. The yellow flowers on the the okra plant are beautiful enough to warrant growing the plant simply for the flowers alone. Ants seem to like the plant, and can often be found on the leaves and flowers. The immature seed pods we call okra are eaten raw, used for soups, pickled and canned, used to thicken stews, breaded and deep-fried, or simply boiled. The pods are cut from the stem when they are about 3 inches long. If they get longer than about 6 inches, the pods become tough and woody, and the pod is not worth eating but will dry nicely for seed. It can also be used to make cordage or paper. When washed or cut, okra releases a sticky, mucilagenous substance with thickening properties. Many people will not eat okra because of this 'slime', but it is this soluble fibrous slime that is extremely healthy for you. If you just can't take the slime, try it deep fried, pickled, or raw. After you cut okra, store it in a paper bag in a warm part of refrigerator, as temperatures below 45 degrees will damage okra. Use within 2 or 3 days at most, or cut it and freeze it. Washing okra will precipitate the sliming process, so do not wash the pods until absolutely necessary. Okra is alkaline in nature, that's why it goes so well with the acid in tomatoes. They balance each other, and I think the acidity helps reduce the sliminess. When canning okra however, recipes must be either pressure canned or acidified for safety.

Okra Nutrition (half-cup cooked okra)

Calories = 25
Dietary Fiber = 2 grams
Total Fat = 0.2 grams (the healthy fatty acid is Omega 6)
Protein = 1.5 grams
Carbohydrates = 5.8 grams
Cholesterol = 0
Vitamin A = 226 IU (5%)
Vitamin C = 13 mg (22%)
Vitamin K = 32 micrograms (40%)
Folic acid = 36.5 micrograms (9%)
Calcium = 62 mg (6%)
Iron = 0.4 mg (1%)
Potassium = 108 mg (3%)
Magnesium = 46 mg(7%)
Manganese 0.2 micrograms (12%)
Phosphorus = 25 mg (3%)
Plus approximately 7% of the RDA of Thiamine and Vitamin B6
With a glycemic load of 2, it is excellent for weight loss due to the lack of fat and the high fiber content.

According to famous nutritionist Sylvia W. Zook, Ph.D., the following benefits of okra should not be overlooked making okra a staple in your 'green pharmacy'.

- The superior fiber found in okra helps to stabilize blood sugar as it curbs the rate at which sugar is absorbed from the intestinal tract.
- Okra's mucilage binds cholesterol and bile acid carrying toxins dumped into it by the filtering liver.
- Okra helps lubricate the large intestines due to its bulk laxative qualities. The okra fiber absorbs water and ensures bulk in stools. This helps prevent and improve constipation. Unlike harsh wheat bran, which can irritate or injure the intestinal tract, okra's mucilage soothes,
and okra facilitates elimination more comfortably by its slippery characteristic.
- Okra fiber is an excellent probiotic for feeding the good bacteria, contributing to the health of the intestinal tract.
- To retain most of okra's nutrients and self-digesting enzymes, it should be cooked as little as possible, e.g. with low heat or lightly
steamed. It can even be eaten raw. However, if one is going to fry it (and it is undeniably delicious prepared that way when rolled in cornmeal and salt), only extra virgin olive oil, or UNREFINED coconut butter is recommended (this is NOT the unhealthy partially hydrogenated product found in processed foods.) Organic ghee used by gourmet chefs, has the oil and flavor of butter without the solids, is also excellent for frying okra (does not burn like butter), and may be obtained from the health food store or made at home.
- Okra is a supreme vegetable for those feeling weak, exhausted, and suffering from depression.
- Okra is used for healing ulcers and to keep joints limber. It helps to neutralize acids, being very alkaline, and provides a temporary protective coating for the digestive tract.
- Okra treats lung inflammation, sore throat, and irritable bowel.
- In India, okra has been used successfully in experimental blood plasma replacements.

The following are anecdotal stories and studies detailing how okra is helpful in eliminating specific ailments. The treatments were found on the web and should be used at your own risk and with common sense.

Acid Reflux and Constipation
A person, suffering from constipation for the past 20 years and recently from acid reflux, started eating 6 pieces of Okra. Since then, has not taken any other medication. Now, his blood sugar has dropped from 135 to 98 and his cholesterol and acid reflux are also under control.

Asthma
Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory. This anti-inflammatory activity may curtail the development of asthma symptoms. A large preliminary study has shown that young children with asthma experience significantly less wheezing if they eat a diet high in Vitamin C. One half cup of okra provides almost 25% of the RDA of Vitamin C.

Atherosclerosis
Diets high in insoluble fiber, such as those containing okra, are associated with protection against heart disease in both men and women, diabetes, cholesterol and obesity.

Cancer
The insoluble fiber found in okra acts as a mild laxative and helps to keep the intestinal tract healthy, decreasing the risk of some forms of cancer, especially colo-rectal cancer.

Capillary fragility
Eating plenty of flavonoid and vitamin C-rich fruits and vegetables such as okra helps to support the structure of capillaries.

Cataracts and Vitamin A support
1/2 cup of cooked okra contains 226 IU of vitamin A. Some studies have reported that eating more foods rich in beta-carotene or vitamin A was associated with a lower risk of cataracts. Vitamin A also helps night vision and of course has anti-oxidant properties, anti-aging nutrients, supports mental health by maintaining brain chemistry, great for healthy skin, helps with blood circulation and liver functions.

Cholesterol
A study (JAMA July 23, 2003) showed that consuming a diet rich in soluble fiber from oats, barley, psyllium, eggplant and okra was as effective as the cholesterol lowering drug Mevacor. Raw okra is a great weapon to lower cholesterol and it also provides some protection against absorption of trans fats.

Depression and Lack of Energy
Okra is a supreme vegetable for those feeling weak, exhausted, and suffering from depression.

Multiple sclerosis (MS)
In one survey, researchers gathered information from nearly 400 people (half with MS) over three years. They found that consumption of vegetable protein, fruit juice, and foods rich in vitamin C, thiamine, riboflavin, calcium, and potassium correlated with a decreased MS risk. Okra is an excellent disease fighter.

Alternative Dialysis type treatments
Take 2 pods of Okra, cut into 3 pieces each, rough crush the pieces, fill glass with water soak the pieces overnight.(do not refrigerate just use bottled or tap water) In the morning before eating,
drink the thick slimy texture, swallow the seeds too. Drink three times a week it clears excess cholesterol and toxins (in bile acids). It removes extra wastes from your blood, does the job of a dialysis machine by helping the kidneys to function properly.

Late Summer Garden Report

I'm still pulling in 5-10 pounds of tomatoes every other day, but blight or magnesium deficiency is taking a toll here. The tomatoes probably have a few more weeks of life. I've got enough tomatoes, juice, and sauce canned, but I think I still need more pizza sauce. I'm thinking of perhaps trying to make some soup as well.

I'm still picking about 2 quarts of green beans a day, freezing most of it now. The Kentucky Wonder pole beans and the Blue Lake bush beans are going crazy, and I expect to still be in beans a month from now. The red field peas that I planted turned out to be half runner types, and the 10x10 area is now about 20x20 and the runners are taking over like kudzu. They've covered my bush cherries, and are threatening the pole beans. I've picked dry pods as I see them, but 98% of the crop is still on the vine. Interestingly, at least to me, the peas look more like what I would call white acre peas than the red field peas I planted. They are small and white. Odd thing.

Round one of sweetcorn was a disaster, so we replanted a short season sweetcorn in mid-summer. We are about a week from eating corn again, but I don't want to count my ears before they are picked. On this farm, anything can happen to corn, and usually does. The Bloody Butcher corn lodged from a downburst in a thunderstorm, but much of it is still alive, even if it is laying over. I decided to leave it alone as when I tried to stand the stalks upright, they broke. I have no clue as to how this will affect pollination. It was planted June 12, so it has a few more weeks as well. My goal for the BB is to get a few ears for seed, one or two ears to roast, and enough to grind for 1 cup of corn meal. It seems like a lot to ask out of what I have in the garden. Can anyone tell me how much corn-how many ears or pounds, does it take to make a cup of corn meal?

I'm nursing along a watermelon(GA Rattlesnake), but it just isn't growing the way I'd like. It is more round than oblong. Another odd thing. I've got squash everywhere, quite a few butternuts still out there(I already harvested 30# or so) as well as acorn squashes. The squash vines are growing on the deer netting, and it looks funny to see acorn squash hanging 8 feet in the air. A few of the hanging squashes have holes bored into them, as if some kind of wasp or squash borer drilled hole in the fruit. I took a few pictures for the blog. The summer squashes are done and gone. Peppers are still producing, and I've canned or dried as much as possible: Anaheims, serranos, banana peppers, poblano(ancho), etc. I've also made homemade salsa, of course. The okra is just starting to really come in strong. I've pickled a few jars of it, and will pickle more. I have taken a liking to pickled okra. Yum! I have sweet potato vines everywhere and expect to get 30-50 pounds of sweet potatoes next month. I never did harvest my Yukon Golds, but yesterday I went out with that intention and found a bunch of new potatoes, beautiful little yellow golf ball sized things. I decided to leave them as seed.

I had to reorganize the shelves and such to make room for everything I've canned so far. I made grape jelly and elderberry jam, elderberry elixir, horehound cough syrup, blackberry jam, fig preserves, and blueberry jam. We harvested over 50 pounds of apples a bit early to keep the deer from getting them, and I've made applesauce and apple chips. I have discovered that if you dehydrate the peelings and mix them with blackberry leaves, blueberry leaves and dried huckleberries and blueberries, it makes a great tea, so I have made a few jars of that to give as gifts. I froze about 5 gallons of blueberries, and gave that many away. We did not have any peaches, pears, cherries, or plums this year, but I still have peaches in the freezer from last year, which was a banner year.

I've planted lettuce for the Fall, but a rabbit mowed it down in one day, so I will have to replant. All the neighbors have noted that the rabbit population is exploding, so it makes me wonder if folks have killed too many snakes or too many coyotes. I have no idea of how a rabbit got inside my garden fence unless the gate was left open just long enough for him to get in, eat my lettuce and my only honeydew melon, and get out. I've also got a few broccoli plants in the ground, some Osaka Purple mustard, several brussel sprouts in the ground, a small patch of kale(I've never tried it so this is a grand experiment in taste) a couple of 15 ft rows of collards, a few cabbage plants, a 32 ft row of intensively planted snowpeas and English peas(both sides of the panel are planted, 16 ft of English peas and 16 ft of snow peas. I have both turnips and turnip greens, and have yet to plant spinach. I also need to decide where I will plant my garlic next year. I need to get busy with all that. I have also replanted carrots, radishes, and beets in my carrot bed. The carrots I planted in the ground did not germinate, but the board trick worked well in the raised bed and the carrot greens are about 5 inches tall.

The herb garden has been very productive this year, too. I've made several batches of pesto and froze that, too. I've harvested enough kitchen herbs like thyme and oregano to fill several quart jars, and I still have herbs drying in the kitchen. You might be a redneck if you hang your herbs to dry on your antler chandelier in the kitchen. :) Of course, I also use window screens and my truck as a drying oven, as well as two dehydrators, which are running right now(more apple chips today, onions tomorrow) Seriously, I've harvested and dried oregano, marjoram, thyme, sage, tarragon, savory, fennel, dill, lemon balm, chocolate mint, peppermint, 3 kinds of basil, nasturtiums, chives, violets, dandelion flowers, passionflowers, and horehound. I dried all but maybe 15 bulbs of garlic, of which I'm using fresh in canning and cooking. The echinacea did well, so I will be able to harvest that in a few years, too. This year, I planted beans in the herb bed to fill the gaps. Next year, we've decided that the herb bed will support chili peppers quite nicely.

The big plan for this Fall is to plant and grow more asparagus. We have decided to plant a 3x50 ft wide row of asparagus crowns as the little patch I have is 10 years old and just isn't enough now that Skyguy has decided he likes asparagus, too. If will take a lot of ground prep and double digging, as well as mulch to make this happen. Earlier this year, I planted a 8x15 area with Jerusalem artichokes-a gift from Rob(thanks again!)-and they are 9 feet tall and beautiful right now. The blooms are awesome. I'm not sure what the protocol is on digging the chokes, but I figure I will give them a few years, like I would asparagus, before I try to dig anything. I'm super psyched about that.

This year's garden has been the largest garden I've ever planted. I've tried to keep something going all the time. I will continue to do that, but I'm afraid that this might be my last big garden for a while. There is no way that I could have this size garden working full time. It saddens me. It is like giving up a part of myself. I guess I've been spoiled after a year at home. We all have to sacrifice I suppose. This is probably my last extensive garden update before I start working full time. :(

Heal Thyself

I am back from the brink of Viral Hell and I refuse to worship the Porcelain God ever again. :) I am healed.

Last Saturday at lunch, quite suddenly, just after I blogged/bragged about my mullein oil cure in fact, I got a headache and felt nauseous. I went outside to try to throw up, but could not. Thinking that I just needed to eat lunch, I went and got some soup from the pantry, and as I reentered the kitchen with the soup, I passed out cold in the floor. Apparently it was the sudden onset of a gastrointestinal virus and I passed out from a fever spike. It's never happened to me before that I can recall, but I have no idea of why I passed out. I did not even see it coming; it was as if someone clobbered me with a wrench: Lights out. Some time went by, I climbed into bed and just laid there. Late that afternoon when Skyguy came home, he took my temperature and it was 103, which is super high for me since my normal is 96.7(thyroid issues). I was really sick for a while. The GI distress started on Sunday morning with diarrhea, but by this time, my temperature had dropped to 99 and hovered between 99 and 100 all week until last night, when it rose to 101. Yesterday morning I decided to called the doctor to make an appointment. They told me that this GI flu is going around and they have one patient who has been fighting it for 16 days. The nurse I spoke with shared that she personally had this wicked virus for 7 days, but did not feel 'well' for two additional weeks. They just told me to stay hydrated-no visit needed. So there I was on Day 5 of a beastly illness with no end in sight. The headaches, fever, and body aches were relentless, as is typical with the flu. I lost 15 pounds and because of the infection I could not take my RA meds for the second week in a row. It was frustrating because I have so much to do, including two doctors appointments and a formal job offer luncheon to attend. The thought of possibly being sick next week was not only depressing, but I knew that would mean missing a third week of my RA meds, and that is a serious thing. Desperate times call for desperate actions.

What kind of medicine woman would I be if I didn't take my own meds, right? To be honest, I was so sick Saturday through Tuesday that I did not even think about anything, let alone meds. After all, I've been brainwashed that the only drugs for flu are Tamiflu and a perhaps a few others that should be taken in the first 48 hours of illness. So it wasn't until my best friend Ava, in a phone call, reminded me that I had just made an elixir for this very illness and I should take it. Recall my blog post from last week where Ava and I canned all day and made and Elderberry Elixir. It looks red in the picture, but it is purple in reality, so much so that it looks like grape juice. So Wednesday morning, with a fever of 99.8, after I hung up from the doctor, I found an eyedropper and dipped into the elixir. It took some serious guts as you must remember that this Elixir is brandy based, and brandy is not exactly what one thinks of five days into a gastrointestinal virus at ten in the morning on an empty stomach. It was akin to the old 'hair of the dog' cure, but I held it down. Two hours later, my fever rose to 100.3, and I took another dose. I took about half a teaspoon of this Elixir every two hours or so, and throughout the afternoon and evening my temperature crept up, but I actually felt better. I did not feel like I had a fever of 101, I felt almost normal last night. It was very, very odd. This morning was Day 6 of the virus and my temp was 97 degrees when I woke up. I got up, poured a cup of Joe, and kissed that pint jar of Elixir next to the coffee pot. I am cured. All day long I've had no fever and no GI symptoms. My temperature has been hovering between 97 and 98, which is still above normal for me, so I have continued the elixir regime, but I feel great.

The short story is that I, the sickly one, the one with a weakened immune system, the one who usually keeps a 24 hour bug for a week, kicked ass on a wickedly evil 7-16 day GI virus. How did that happen?

It happened because of elderberries and the magic of everyday, easily accessible medicines, knowledgebases that are almost lost, but that thankfully, a few souls like Kiva are preserving. I feel such a kinship with this woman; I should hope to have her knowledge if only in my dreams. She is my new hero. I wrote to thank her as I like giving credit where credit is due.
http://bearmedicineherbals.com/

Homemade Pimento Cheese

One of Skyguy's coworkers gave us some little cherry peppers, AKA pimento peppers. I decided I would make some homemade pimento cheese, or as we say in these parts, "perminner cheese", and attempted to google a recipe. Lo and behold, it appears that pimento cheese is a Southern thing. I had no clue. Who would have thunk that and why would that be so? Surely pimentos grow other places in the country, and surely others eat sharp cheese?

http://www.answers.com/topic/pimento

I had to pause and look around the web to try and answer my own questions and found this site which states that Georgia is the only state that really grows pimentos. That is just amazing to me. I have never grown these little peppers because I thought they were sweet peppers and I am a chili lover, but I know tons of people that grow these things in their backyard. Who knew they were pimentos??? Not I. Who know it was a Southern thing? Not I.

I grew up disliking the stuff, even though I LOVE cheese. My folks would spread storebought pimento cheese on their white bread and I would gag. It wasn't until a year or so ago that my friend from LA (Lower Alabama) introduced me to homemade pimento cheese from her grandfather's recipe. It is really simple: sharp cheddar cheese, grated fine, a jar of pimentos, mayo, (I also add a dash of garlic and onion powder), and a dash of tobasco. Oh my...whiz that around in the food processor and it is heavenly.

So now, I have the real peppers, not a jar, and I scour the internet looking for a recipe and cannot find one. How weird is that? So I took the peppers, removed the seeds and the insides --- saved those seed!!! --- and cut the peppers into strips. I threw them in a small frying pan with just a splash of olive oil and some garlic and salt. OH MY GOD, they were to die for!! I can't wait to make real pimento cheese in a bit. I don't think I will need the tobasco as these fresh peppers have just the right amount of heat. I simply cannot wait until next year to grow these peppers!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6877304

I did find this NPR page, which gives a bit of cultural background in the way of stories. Apparently, it is popular in the Philippines and in Hungary, too, or at least they eat something similar.

But yeah, before summer wanes, I want a big tall glass of milk, a homemade perminner cheese samwich, a huge dill pickle, and some tater chips. Good eats.

I keep reminiscing about summers past and wondering why I would eat only cheese (Cheez Whiz was my childhood favorite, but I don't like it now) and not pimento cheese sandwiches. Man, that was crazy.

Food in the Future

My new friend Dave has asked my opinion of the prediction of higher energy and food costs, possible shortages ahead, etc. All I can say is that I believe that to be true with every ounce of my being. I've long believed that we would see much hardship in my lifetime. I've tried to prepare by living simply, learning skills, and being frugal. I grow and preserve what I can, we hunt and fish, and we try to live close to the land. I've tried to learn about native plants and herbs in the event that medicines are scarce or non-available. For a while, I raised dairy goats and learned to make cheese and process milk. We've raised rabbits, pigs, goats, sheep and all manner of critters except cattle. Many people have asked why I don't sell my farm products, and the simple answer is that people will not pay enough to offset costs. I justify my own costs with the knowledge that I know what I am eating, how it was grown or raised, etc. I think I eat healthier than most people, even though I eat a fat-laden diet. I know that I am not poisoning myself with pesticides or herbicides.

The plight of farmers is all over the news. California may have happy cows, but the farmers are going out of business. Equipment costs, testing, transportation, and the cost of growing food for the cows all add up to drive the cost of a gallon of milk through the roof. Patented seed and chemicals have made Monsanto et. al. rich and left farmers poor. The rising price of oil and fuel has put a hurtin' on large agribusiness farmers who need specialized equipment to grow and harvest crops, and on the the truckers who transport the food to the processor and then on to grocery stores.

It is a no-brainer that we are headed for hard times. When I was born, the world population was about 3 billion, the US population was about 180 million, and the population of the county that I grew up in was 114,000. Today, world population is 6.6 billion+, US population is about 300 million+, and Cobb County has about 700,000 people. My local population increased five fold, and the world population doubled. By contrast, natural resources are diminishing, not growing. It is a train wreck that will have a gory outcome, and no one wants to think about it. To make matters worse, I believe there will be people, an elite class, that profit from the suffering of the general population. I believe that the decline has already begun. And no, I don't think it has much to do with politics or any particular politician. It is a global problem that no one is trying in earnest to solve. The only thing I can do is to try to reduce my dependence on utilities and purchased goods and live close to the vest. The Earth cannot afford too many of us living extravagantly, and far too many people in this country live above their means, which in the end will only increase their suffering. We have chosen a home away from city conveniences, a home that is modest and heated only by wood. Our water is from a well, and we protect the well because it is the life-blood of this land. Georgia and Tennessee are already battling over Georgia's claim to a spot on the Tennessee River, and that is child's play compared to western states' battles over water. I think, in my lifetime, we will see wars fought over water rights and development rights for production of electricity. Water rights are already a key issue in solving the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. It is a problem which will only get worse. Yeah, I believe that food shortages are coming.

Midsummer Garden Happenings

It's been a few weeks since I gave a garden update, and now I have to subject you to a really long post. I apologize. I'll try to get some pics up soon.

We've been quite busy around here with the garden, canning, dog training, etc. This past weekend, we also kept our granddaughter. I'm trying to take it easy and follow the doctor's orders, but it is hard. The sutures are gone, but I still have to elevate my foot 50% of the time, 30 minutes for every hour I am up. Worse still, I can't wear normal shoes yet and am still in the surgical shoe. The incision is healing nicely; there's a nice, raised, hard ridge at the site. The pain is really minimal, more in my pinky toe itself than in the joint for whatever reason. At least now I can take a shower, swim, etc. I've haven't done any heavy garden work, mostly picking beans and such. Skyguy has been picking veggies, watering, monitoring for bugs, staking tomatoes, etc. He tilled a patch and planted more okra, too. I'm really quite impressed with his gardening.
Anyway, I just want to ride my bike. I've gained back about 12 pounds of what I lost, and I am not happy about it. I really should have dieted, but dang, when you are laid up, you get bored, and boredom leads to eating!

Bed 1 is a hodgepodge of plants. I did not get cages around my tomatoes early, so they, like kudzu, have sprawled over the bed and they are taking over! I have about 3 romas and a serrano pepper, a poblano pepper, butternut squash, two eggplants and probably something else in that bed that is lost under the vines. At the east end of that bed, there are a few blue lake bean seeds that have not germinated. That raised bed is next to the chicken run, and in the foot wide space between the bed and the run I've planted sorghum which is about 12 feet tall and almost mature. I've already bend some of the canes over into the chicken run to feed the chooks on the fly.

Bed 2 just has dill in it right now after I pulled up and harvested all of the cauliflower that was in it previously. It was not a good year for cauliflower, but I did get a few meals out of it. I'll replant soon.

Bed 3 has a couple of toms, a butternut squash, and blue lake bush beans that are just coming up. There is a tomatillo volunteer and two Anaheim peppers.

There is nothing in bed 4. I'm hoping it will be ready to plant in the Spring.

Bed 5 has one very large and sprawling yellow crookneck squash and some Tendercrop green beans that are just starting to flower.

Bed 6 is empty and won't be planted until late 2010

Now, for the in ground plants:
Peanuts: I only had about 20% germination, but I left them alone hoping to at least get enough nuts to roast for a snack. If I am lucky, I might get enough for one jar of peanut butter. I had hoped to get enough for 4 jars, but a vole or mouse or something ate the nuts. They are just now flowering, so it will be a while before I can use that space.

I have another large crookneck squash in the ground, as well as a zucchini, and all of my squashes, both winter and summer, are doing great. I've been diligently killing squash bug eggs and it is paying off. For winter squashes I have planted butternut and acorn squashes inside and outside the garden fence in various places. I'm hoping to fill up at least one laundry basket of each type. For the summer squashes, we grill them fresh, I freeze some, and I make squash
casseroles and freeze those. I also make squash bread from both zukes and yellow squash-no use wasting the big ones, I just grate them up and then make and freeze the bread. It is a banana bread recipe, but I sub 2 cups of grated squash for the bananas. I make loaf pans and muffins that I can freeze and eat later for breakfast and snack food.

We are starting to get some okra(Dwarf Lee is the variety) and we have just planted Clemson Spineless. Since it is Skyguys's first year in the garden, he wanted to grow what everyone else grows, so we have hybrid corn, a hybrid tomato, and the Clemson Spineless....

The strawberries are going like gangbusters, but they are a bit smaller than I would like. I think they need fertilizer and water. Even so, they are tasty and I'm picking a bit more than a pint a day. All 3 grapevines(Remailly seedless, Catawba, Mars seedless) have multiple clusters of grapes, and I've been picking blueberries for a week now. The blackberries are in the freezer already. It looks to be a good apple year, but I don't see but a few pears and no plums. In hills
around the garden, in addition to the winter squashes, I have a few pickling cukes, a couple of Georgia rattlesnake watermelons, and scads of sweet potatoes. I hope to have a laundry basket of sweet potatoes as well.

I planted a 10x12 patch of small, teeny-tiny red field peas the way my friend James suggested. I scuffed up the ground, hand cast the peas, and covered them with waste hay. The peas came up great, and they still look great. It takes about 100 days for these peas, and I am right at Day 85. Next year, I'll grow more peas and black beans this way.

I've got 3 areas of corn. The first group was sweet corn planted just after Easter. This corn really has not produced, tassled at only 2 feet tall. No one around here that planted corn early has any-it was a bad year for early corn-too much rain early on, I think. We got a few stunted ears which were delicious, but we only got a few meals instead of being able to load the freezer. However, as bad as the early corn was, the late corn was good. I had a beautiful stand of Bloody Butcher corn that was 6ft tall or more until late last week when a summer thunderstorm downburst flattened it. I'm crushed. I tried to stand it backup, but the canes just broke. I planted this corn deeper than usual, about 2 inches deep, just to prevent this problem, but to no avail. I'm hoping that there is enough corn left standing to at least regain my seed. Corn plot #3 is another plot of hybrid, Early and Often, that Skyguy planted in a dog kennel out behind the barn to keep the distance from the other corn and to protect it from the deer. It is doing well- about 2 feet tall now. This is not the first time I've lost corn to thunderstorms and lodging. I've planted deeper, I've hilled up around the plants..I've ruled out rootworms. I just don't know what else to do. Obviously, my garden spot, which is just a few hundred feet downwind of a ridge, is where the storms dump their downbursts. The storms are uplifted by the western side of the ridge, but once the storm crosses the ridge line, the mountain starts to break them up and in the process they dump wind in a downburst or straight lines. The ridge protects us from super cell storms, but this is the downside of it. Skyguy wants to try allowing the corn to grow up through cattle panel placed waste high, but I don't know. It seems rather silly-no one else does it, but, really, I'm ready to try odd things to save the corn. Maybe I should grow it in small plots and put posts on the corners and then run string around it and through it to support the stalks. Maybe growing it in hills would be better. At least with a 3 sisters style arrangement in a hill, I would not get the domino effect of toppling corn like I saw in the block. I'm open for suggestions. Help.

Sunday, I pulled up, peeled, blanched and froze carrots. I julienned some for salads and stirfries, and I used the small ends in some pickled jalapenos for color. I'm going to try and replant the tops, too. I need to now amend the 12 foot long bed and add some soil and in a few weeks I will replant more carrots. There are a few chard plants left in that bed, and I'll cut them back, too. In addition to more carrots, I'll plant some radishes and beets. Also next week, I'll move some cattle panels around and resow some snow peas, turnips, and English peas for the Fall.

Also on Sunday I canned some jalapeno peppers with some carrots. Soon, we will make cucumber pickles. I grew up with a certain kosher dill pickle recipe, but Skyguy wants to experiment to see if we can find something more crisp. We bought one of those Mrs. Wages mixes, and I'll make a pint plain, and then mix and match the ingredients to see what he will like and think works best. Some jars will have grape leaves, some will have garlic, some will have dill heads, some will have dill seed and weed, and some will have all of the above. I already know that the jars with everything in it will be my favorites, but he wasn't raised in a canning/gardening family and he is enjoying the experimentation of it all, so since we have plenty of cukes, why not? Some of the best discoveries in the world were accidents. Viagra did not help the angina of Welsh miners, but hey, we all know what is does help!

Beans...I've got a million beans, but because I was trying to get rid of old seeds, I have a little bit of a lot of things. Some were old and had poor germination, some just did not provide enough plants. Long story shorter, I haven't canned or frozen any beans yet, but we are eating good every night. I did give some away, too. We've planted the equivalent of a 100 ft row or more of blue lake bush beans and they are just now breaking ground so two months from now, I should be able to can beans. I'm still getting beans, but that should wane over the next few weeks. The wax beans are in a lull, the Roma II bush beans are waning, the KY wonder pole beans are hitting stride, the yard long beans are starting to flower, and the Royal Burgundy bush beans will be ready to pick within the week. It's a lot of beans.

And now, the tomatoes....finally, I am starting to get some ripe cherry toms. Some of the Romas are ripening, but only one of the slicing toms is getting ripe and that is Skyguy's Better Boy. However, in a week or so, definitely by two weeks, I will be canning and making tomato products. I expect to be doing that for the next month or so. I've started washing mason jars and getting everything ready. I washed and sterilized the Victorio strainer, a device I use to make the paste and sauces. It's a good thing. I don't even know how many tomato plants I have -more than 50- and probably 60% of them are paste types(Roma, Sausage, Oxheart, etc), 10% are cherry(Super Sweet 100 and Husky Red Cherry), and the rest are slicers/sandwich tomatoes (Brandywines, Caspian pinks, Mortgage Lifter, Abraham Lincoln etc.). I'll be making tomato sauce, tomato paste, tomato juice, V8 juice, pizza sauce, spaghetti sauce, chili base, and a bit of salsa in addition to stewed toms. I still have some salsa from last year, but I might make a bit if I get overrun with peppers. I'd really rather dry the serranos as I use those in guacamole.
Speaking of guacamole, I've started about 7 or 8 avocado trees. I know I won't get avocados here, but hey, they make nice houseplants and I can always hope for a miracle. Who knows what global warming will do, right? There's got to be an upside to it, and if I could grow avocados, I'd be super happy!

It is time to plant and plan for the Fall crops, and I started that Saturday. I planted the following in those little peat pots to be transplanted later:

72 broccoli plants-Green Goliath-a new variety I am trying
25 cabbage plants-Danish Ballhead-seeds are from 2007-yikes
25 Brussel Sprouts-Catskill-it's the last time I'll try growing Brussel Sprouts..I mean it this time.
22 Red onions, with more to be planted in the ground in mid August

Next week, I'll plant Snow peas, English peas, radishes and carrots. The other big job I need to do is to dig potatoes. I have different varieties in multiple places that would amount to about a thirty foot row. I really hope that the Yukon Gold produced well.

Mid August, I'll plant more carrots collards, kale, beets, salad greens, spinach, turnips(both the root and the greens), Osaka purple mustard, and of course the brassicas and plants I sowed today will go to the ground. Neither of us have ever eaten kale, but I'm hoping it will be a green we can harvest all winter. Skyguy is the one who wants all of these Southern greens...I personally don't care for collards or turnips(the greens are okay though), and I like beet greens better than mustard, but we are trying to find things that we can harvest in the winter that we both like and that would be healthy for us. At some point after that, I will sow some Aquadulce Fava beans as a cover crop in the spot where I'll grow corn next year.

A month or so ago, I planted a seed packet of Artichokes. There were 8 seeds in the pack, and I got 7 plants to transplant size. Unfortunately, between the heat, the puppy, the chicken, and just bad luck, I only have one plant left. I'll be sowing more, I think. I've grown fond of artichoke hearts and perennial vegetables are king!

The other major garden venture that we have in the works is a plan to expand the asparagus bed. Now that Skyguy eats it, we need more, so I'll be tilling and double digging an area near the water line to the barn, along the outside of the garden fence-essentially a 50 foot double row. The water line presents a problem in the initial dig-I'll have to be super careful, but it should not hamper the asparagus' growth and the extra mulch feeding in the fall should help insulate the PVC water line from the cold.

So that's the plan!

Baking Day, Part II

My foot is good and swollen tonight after two days of standing in the kitchen baking. Today, I made 3 more pizza crusts, some cheese breadsticks (see picture), a zucchini nut bread and zucchini pecan muffins. I did not get around to making the saltines. The cream cheese pound cake I made is excellent, but the vanilla one is overcooked. I sliced off the crusts and have saved the guts of the cake. I'll freeze it for a special occasion, then make some type of tort dessert, layers of pound cake, berries, and whipped cream.

At any rate, I like batch cooking, especially batch baking. I find that if I know I have 2 dozen muffins, then I don't crave them. By baking my pizza crusts in advance, I can make pizza in less than 30 minutes for a quick dinner. I made my own pizza sauce, too. The bread machine does all the hard work, and in less than 3 hours, I have 5 crusts ready to load up with good food, a head start on 5 dinners. Other big advantages to batch cooking, in addition to simply saving time and for the convenience on a night when you are too tired to cook, is that you can have a ready meal when you are too sick to cook for yourself. I make and can homemade soups just for this purpose. Also, by baking cakes and making casseroles in advance, you just pull something out of the freezer to take to a neighbor's house in the event there is a death or they need help cooking, etc. It's a good thing.

Skyguy and I miscommunicated on dinner this evening. He was being sweet and brought home KFC, but I had already cooked spaghetti sauce with some grated squash added, not to mention the breadsticks. I suppose we will eat that tomorrow for dinner. I haven't had KFC in a while, mainly because we don't eat out much, and secondly because the local KFC has been closed for remodeling after a fire. It just reopened a few weeks ago. It has probably been a year since I ate KFC fried chicken, and maybe it is just me, but it wasn't good. The extra crispy crust wasn't crispy at all, nor did it have the flavor I expected. I don't know what kind of change they've made, but Harlan Sanders would roll over in his grave if he tasted that. My favorite is Church's Chicken, but there isn't a store near here. Bojangles will have to do, because I certainly don't want KFC again. I probably should just start frying it at home. I did pretty good on the last batch, but I just don't fry that much. I do love fried chicken though, and I know that I can do better than the crap we got from KFC tonight.

Skyguy also picked up a couple seed packets of bush beans since we had low germination on the Blue Lake and Contender beans from 2006. I think we have just enough time to get another batch of beans in before frost. We are getting beans, and this morning I finally picked enough to can, but I think I will freeze them instead. Hopefully, in a few months, we will still be eating beans from the Royal Burgundy and the Asparagus beans so I will be able to can the Blue Lakes I will plant tomorrow. Pressure canning is such a pain for me because my stove doesn't get hot enough and because pressure canners scare me. I usually do this on the propane burner outside, just in case of an explosion. I can do 7 quarts at a time, and canning like that, in the heat, just drags on and on. Blanching and freezing is much faster, and I actually have room in the freezer for a few quarts of beans. But, I've been trying to can more and freeze less, so that I can eliminate one of my freezers and save on the power bill and reduce my demand for energy in general. The other day I came across a list of things you can do to save money and energy, and I'd like to pass them on to you.

1. When you buy gasoline, make your purchase at night. At night, temperatures are cooler and that makes gasoline more dense. Since the pumps measure gas by volume, you will actually get more gas—it will be cheaper overall.

2. On long trips, keep your windows closed at high speeds—drag from open windows reduces a car’s fuel efficiency by 10 percent. If your truck gets 15 miles to the gallon, you could get 16.5 miles to the gallon. Over a year's time, the savings add up.

3. Cleaning 100 pounds of junk from your car will get you up to 2 percent more miles per gallon. That is like getting a free tank of gas over the span of a year.

4. If you are going to be baking at 350 degrees, and the oven is not packed full, wrap and bake some potatoes for quick meals, lunches, and snacks. Or, use stale bread to make and freeze garlic toast for those nights when you just want bread with your pork chops or salad. Just as you should run full loads of laundry and dishes, try to fill the oven as well.

Baking Day, part I

Today was Baking Day, and I made a couple of pound cakes, one vanilla and one cream cheese, two dozen squash and almond breakfast muffins, and a couple of pizza crusts. Tomorrow, I'll make more pizza crusts, breadsticks, and maybe some saltines and tortillas. My pizza crusts are like those Boboli crusts you buy in the store, only better. I developed the recipe myself using garlic and herbs. I make the dough in the bread machine, and then roll it out to the pan shape. Sprinkle additional herbs and cheese on it, and you can make breadsticks from the same dough. EASY. I made the cream cheese pound cake in a Bundt pan, and once it cooled, I divided the cake into three sections. Two will be frozen. By dividing the cake, I spread the desserts out over time so that we don't pig out on cake and gain weight. I'm not going to deny myself, because in my opinion, one of the best things about life is good food, but for me, pound cake necessitates moderation, and the easiest way to do that is to divide the cake. I probably should have quartered the cake, but oh well. What was that I was writing the other day about self indulgence? The two pound cakes used a dozen eggs, and I still have a few more dozen to consume. In the next few days, I may try to make an angel food cake and a devil's food cake. Traditionally, they were made together, as the lighter angel food cake uses the egg whites only, and the heavier devil's food cake uses only the yolks. I can use up about 9 eggs making those two cakes, which can also be frozen. As an alternative, I could just make a couple of angel food cakes and cook the yolks for use later in salads or something...yeah, that would be the healthier choice, I think.

Awesome Little Cats

Is there anything better than a couple of young cats for dinner?

Yup, I went fishing today. My stepfather and I first went over to Carter's Lake reregulation dam and tried out luck there with some medium large shad. I'd heard that the stripers were stacked up near the water outlet, but we couldn't cast over there. They were letting a lot of water out and the current was so swift and the bottom so rocky that all we were doing is losing tackle. It was frustrating. Several other fishermen(and women) were catching some drum, but I have always dreamed about stripers (hybrid striped bass)and that's why we were there. So by 11 AM, we packed up and headed to a more peaceful locale, Salacoa Creek Park. It is a county owned park, complete with lake beach and campground. It is a very nice, deep, spring fed lake that looks very clean. At Salacoa, we had the lunch I had packed for us, and then began throwing crickets at the bream. It is just past the full moon, and I think there were a few beds still active. There was a spot right off the dock that produced a fish almost every time the bait hit the water. We must have caught 30 or so between us, throwing them back as they were palm sized bream of varying species. Had we known we would be catching that many, I think I might have saved all of them. At any rate, there was a lull in the action, and when it picked back up, I caught a keeper bream and was walking back to the shore to get my 5 gallon bucket for the bream when my stepfather caught a small catfish on a cricket of all things. I had one line in with cut bait, fishing for cats on the bottom, but wouldn't you know those catfish wanted crickets. At the end of the day, just as a thunderstorm approached, we left with 2 small cats and about 10 average sized bream. It was pouring rain when I got home, and by that time, the bream had died. The cats were still alive, however. To save time, I decided not to clean the bream, instead, I cut them up and fed them to the chickens. It had been about 20 years or so since I cleaned a catfish, and I was a bit out of practice, but finally managed to get 'er done. We had 8 minnows leftover, so they are now happily living in my aquarium, which luckily is set up for goldfish/cold water. All the fish are about the same size. Maybe I will get lucky and they will breed, but I doubt it.

Skyguy has never been fond of freshwater fish due to the size vs. the bones, but his palate is changing. It was only a week or so ago that I mentioned to him that those big river cats were edible, but the best catfish were the small ones. There was no way I could allow myself to fail in the preparation of that fish...I knew if I botched it, he would never try catfish again. Luckily, it was delicious, and we were wishing we had about 10 more of them! Our dinner this evening consisted of the catfish(on the plate 1.5 hours after being in the water), grilled squash with olive oil and garlic brushed on (on the plate 30 minutes after being on a bush), new Red Pontiac potatoes (one day after being plucked from a barrel of dirt), cornbread, made with an egg that was an hour old and sadly, store-bought oil and cornmeal (we will be rectifying that situation hopefully in a few months), coleslaw, made with garden cabbage and carrots, and I made some 'hushpuppy patties' with the leftover batter plus some onions and such(also from the garden). When you pan fry, hushpuppies become hushpatties. :)

I just love to fish, even if I'm only catching little bream. Get about 40 of them, fry them up, and you've got a meal of very sweet meat, even if it is only a few bites per fish. I eat the crispy tails, too, love that! Skyguy never fished or camped as a kid, and he still hasn't caught the fishing bug, but I am hopeful that one day I will have a partner that loves to fish as much as I do. I got him camping, I got him eating Chinese food, I got him loving the country life, I got him growing herbs and veggies, and I'm hoping I can entice him to fish.

Culinary herbs and strawberries

Thought I would show some pictures of Skyguy's herb bed, and my strawberry bed from the start to 'almost finished'. First, the herbs...it will take several years for the beds to really become established, but they are coming along. This past week we pulled up the rocks in the path and put weedblock down. We have put sand in some places, but we need more sand. Once the sand fills in the gaps below the rocks and somewhat locks them in place, we will sweep a mortar mix over the path and wet it down to hold the rocks in place. I envision that happening later in the summer. This has been Skyguy's idea and pet project, but I've been doing most of the weeding and watering. Still, I think it was a great idea, and I really like the atmosphere it imparts to that side of the house. Everyone who comes up to the house raves about it. As we see what herbs we want, we will either sow or transplant, adding to our little culinary herb garden. Since much of what we want are hard to find perennials, I have planted a few beans and other annuals in the beds, just so the space is not wasted. The nasturtiums are starting to bloom and they are really pretty. We put up this little reed fence around the herb bed mainly so that I could let the chickens out. I've started allowing the birds to free range in the afternoon as long as I am home. I want to avoid those dusk and dawn predation hours, and this allows the birds out to find some shade, too. Of course, a chicken can just fly over the fence, but I am hoping that with so many other places to explore, that they will stay out of there. I hope I will hear them flying over the fence and will be able to get them out before too much damage is done. So far, it is working.

At last, the strawberries.... This is the first year for these berries, and I really can not wait until I have some fresh strawberries, some pound cake, and freshly whipped cream smothering it all! I actually made the strawberry bed in 2007, I believe it was, and I spent last year filling it up with waste hay, compost, and the last of my rabbit poop pile. Everything composted nicely, and there are as many earthworms in the top tier as the bottom. If you notice, the wooden posts are taller than the top tier of the bed. This will allow me to cover the entire 6x8 bed with netting to keep the birds away. In addition, I have two whirlygigs(you can only see the posts in the picture, but they both are of ducks flying-wings spin) that will hopefully keep the birds at bay until I need to net them. Anyway, I bought 25 Tristar and 25 Tribute. The Tristar are in the top tier and on the Southern side of the lower tier. The three remaining sides are Tribute. I believe that the Tribute plants are doing better and are more prolific than the Tristar. These are day-neutral berries, so they should produce for a while. I planted them on February 20th, and have been picking off the flowers until this week. Doing that is supposed to encourage runners production instead of fruit production. It allows the plant to develop more roots as well before fruiting. I bought them as crowns, the had no leaves, and for a while they were so small that you could not see them in the mulch. Now, they have spread everywhere! I tried to peg the runners in open spaces. Now that it is June, I have stopped picking off the blooms, and I will give me a light dose of organic fertilizer(mostly kelp) so I will hopefully get some strawberries soon!

Speaking of berries, I noticed that the blackberry bushes are loaded this year. We have a few bushes in the island next to where we park and I think there might be enough on those few bushes for a pie. They are looking good!

Touch the earth, rest your spirit

The lettuce is almost ready to be cut for salads. I am still cutting chard for greens which is lucky because my NZ spinach isn't growing very fast. Yesterday, I cut some beet greens and pulled up 4 beets. Since I have 3 heads of cabbage in the refrigerator, I think I will grate the beets and saute them with some shredded cabbage. That ought to make a nice purple veggie for something different. I also have peas, carrots, yellow squash, cauliflower, chard, beet greens, and broccoli in the fridge. It is a garden bounty! I think I'll put together some shishkabobs with some marinated chicken and the squash, carrots, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower. I'm thinking it will be quick and easy on the grill. I've got some garlic flavored olive oil for 'kabobs.

I've left a few broccoli plants to go to seed. I'll do the same for the cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage. One of my cabbage plants is snail bait, so I think I will collect the seeds from it. It is a nice, big plant, too. I have already pulled up and hung the mustard pods. I have the stems with the pods hanging upside down inside of a paper grocery bag. I can hear the seeds rattling in the bag, so I know this is working. I'll do the same for the rest of the brassicas. I was trying to clean out a few of the raised beds enough to plant some bush beans, but lo and behold, the Brussels sprouts appear to be doing something. There are some marble sized sprouts!! This is the best result ever so far! Most are pea sized, but I think they are actually growing! We've had so much rain that my garlic is done. Usually, it is ready in July, but the stalks are yellowing so I pulled them. They are now curing on the picnic table, AKA Bev's breakroom, next to my little Malabar spinach vine (haven't decided where to move it) and my 7 artichoke plants (there were 8, I guess a bird grabbed one??).

Friday I picked some large leaves from the cabbage plants. I used them to make cabbage rolls. I have a lot of ground venison in the freezer, so I mixed up some meat. I season it, add rice and special ingredients for special dinners and cook it. I used 4 pounds of ground beef, 3 pounds of venison, and 1 pound of ground pork, onions, ketchup, rice, garlic, soy, worchestershire, etc. This time, however, I wasn't thinking-I usually use more venison than beef, but this batch is beef heavy because I got distracted. At any rate, I made 3 batches of meatballs, a meatloaf(with just me and Skyguy, I get 3 meals from a meatloaf), two batches of seasoned meat for stuffing Poblanos, and of course, the cabbage rolls . That's 9+ meals from 8 pounds of meat. One day I will look up all the nutritional data on my meat mixes. The cabbage rolls were okay-a bit tough and chewy because I did not steam them first, but edible. I think I will try this with grape leaves next. I have plenty of those as well. I went out this morning, picked a few dozen leaves, washed them, rolled them, blanched them, and preserved them in brine in a pint jar. Today, I planted a few more okra seeds, as well as a pack of royal burgundy bush beans. I went through all of my seeds last night and I need to continue downsizing. It is still early in the season, so I am going to try to grow some gourds and some pumpkins. I found some Aquadulce Fava beans from 2000 and did a germination test on them. Would you believe that more than half of them germinated??!!?? Wow. So I will use them as a cover crop and chicken feed this winter.

In the meantime, I thought I would share some garden pictures I took yesterday. The first two pictures are related. I've named them, Spot the Butternut and Spot the Cukes. You should probably click on the pics for a larger image if your eyes are like mine. The third image is a skinny image of one of my Brussels sprouts' stalk where you can see the little sprouts beginning to form. The fourth image on the page is of course, my breakroom/workarea . I've been getting a head or two a day from my Cauliflower bed (last picture on the page). I probably should pull up the plants once I harvest the initial head, but I have heard that if you leave it, it will grow small heads after a few months, so I am leaving the plants in the bed. The sixth one I called mixed veggies. In that picture there are potatoes, yellow squash, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and cabbage. I planted the Bloody Butcher Corn directly behind that bed, and you can't see it in this picture, but back where that scrawny looking Brussels sprout is, top center, I have planted a row of okra on the edge of the bed. I wanted a little height to help as a pollen block. As it turned out, the other two varieties of corn did not germinate, so the pollen block is unnecessary, but for the record, there is also okra in this picture, they are only 3 inches tall though. :) Image #5 is one of my yellow squash plants. I have two, one in the ground(picture #5 ) and the one you see in the bed of mixed veggies (picture #6 ). I am experimenting and waging war on squash bugs. The separation is part of the plan.

Yesterday, we cut back some Chinese privet that had become trees. It was starting to shade out my elephant ears and the fig trees. Skyguy cut them back to 6 foot trucks with the chainsaw, and next week, I will be chipping the tops to go to the compost bin. We also mowed this weekend, watered the Paulownias, and messed around in the garden some, staking tomatoes and whatnot. I saved some of the larger branches/trunks from the privet and hopefully I will make a few more trellis' for various things. I think we will also make a ladder, and maybe a rustic table to go between the Adirondack chairs.

This evening, we went back to the lake and paddled. We got an earlier start this time, and we paddled for over an hour, almost constantly. We discovered a few scratches and places on the keel that need work, some sanding, varnish, etc. and Skyguy wants to replace the decks and move the seats, so we decided that this will be the last paddle for a few months until the canoe work is completed and my new bent shaft paddle is completed and when my foot is healed. I hope we will be able to get back on the lake by the first of August. In the meantime, we will be biking more.

I got some sun this weekend, partially from working in the yard in a tank top. Skyguy said my shoulders were already sunburned before we left, but I did not feel it. I put SPF30 on at the lake, but I still burned. I'm so pale. There was no sunscreen when I was growing up other than zinc oxide. I just wore shirts over my bathing suit. As many times as I was sunburned as a kid, it will be a miracle if I die without having skin cancer. If I get skin cancer, it will truly piss me off, because I've never really laid out or tried to tan like some people do, I just burn easily. The best tan I ever had was accidental. It was back in 1981 when I was running over 50 miles a week. I was living in western Arkansas that summer, and it was a scorcher. Even though I ran in the evening, it was well over 100 degrees. I really enjoyed running. If only my joints were not screwed up,,,,it would be great to run again, but it won't ever happen. At this point in my life, it is paddling, pedaling, and tai chi. We won't count the walking and the yard work and the gardening.

Touch the earth, love the earth, honour the earth, her plains, her valleys, her hills, and her seas; rest your spirit in her solitary places. -Henry Beston