Busy Times

Yep, we all been busier than a one-eyed cat watching 9 mouse holes around here.  The garden has died down a good bit so I let the pullets in for the last 3 or 4 days to clean up for me and boy, they have been goin' to town!  They have scratched and dug and picked and had the time of their lives eating everything in sight, although they are pretty good to leave most of the larger plants alone like the peas and beans and such.  I'll go out there about twice a day and dig around for them where the dirt is real loose.  They get so excited they jump in and start digging too and pretty soon there are so many of them scratching in my spot I don't have room to dig anymore.  They are not able to dig quite as hard and deep as the big hens so they are not as destructive but they clean up the place good and clear out lots of the bugs and grubs.

The poor little things got in a fire ant bed though and I felt bad but couldn't help but laugh too.  They couldn't resist eating the ants and their eggs but were getting their feet bit from standing in the ants.  So, they would stand there and when the ants started biting, the chicks would start stomping their feet but were too greedy to leave.  If I had had some bluegrass music to play it would have looked like chicken buck dancing!  I laughed until I was cryin' just about and they would finally get enough and then run away and pick the ants off their feet.  Edit:  let me stress that I do NOT think it was funny that the chicks were getting bit, in fact I tried to run them out of the ants, but they insisted on running right back to eat the critters.  But seeing them all stomping their feet like that was funny.

They especially liked the coldframe once I turned some of the soil for them.  It was very loose so they could scratch through it easily and they got it all ready for me to plant now.

Hey, those are some funny looking chickens right there!  Well, somebody dumped these 2 little sweeties down at the end of my drive about a week ago.  Chigger actually found them hiding in the weeds when we walked down to check the mail, so I brought them up to the house and we have been trying to find homes for them.  No luck so far.  Grendal does not tolerate other cats well and I don't want any more in the house anyway, so they have been staying in the Goober Chicken Memorial Pen in the henhouse.  They actually seem to really enjoy it and the chickens don't really seem to mind them either.

And I have actually started on the kitchen in earnest since we about have the outside done!  My cabinet guy came Monday and got his measurements so those are being built now.  Things are slow for those trades right now so he said he should have them ready in 2-3 weeks!  Which means I have really got to get my butt in gear to be ready for them.  Yes, that is corrugated metal roofing going on the wall and it is a dark chocolate color.  I'll explain more about that later.  I know the whole kitchen looks kinda dark in this photo but it's not really.  My appliances are all stainless steel but they reflect the dark of the wall making them appear black too.  It will lighten up and be much more colorful when I am done.  I also got the wiring and ductwork for the range vent done and have closed up that wall and chase.  That is the big grey block on the right.  That is Durock covering that wall as it will get tile and stone over all of it.  You can see the ductwork poking out where the vent goes.  So, things are going but I have so much to do in this one area.  I am really excited about it and anxious to finish though.

The House That Built Me

Well, I'm gonna tell you, it's been a long time coming but the outside of the house is just about done!  I've got to clean the windows and put the last few screens on and install my porch lights and that's about it for the house exterior.  The landscaping is another matter 'cause I know ya'll are all looking at that horrible yard and thinking, "you ain't goin' to leave that like that, are you?"  lol!  Nah, and...I still need to lay the stone around the bottom and pour the planters in front of that awful block down there too, as Allen keeps reminding me.  But the house itself, is done on the outside for the most part.  Well, this half anyway.  God willing there will be another half.
The landscaping that goes back here is going to be awesome.  Where you see the little dots of stepping stones will get flagstone walks and a patio all the way up to the house.  I will most certainly include a water feature of some sort and a fire ring for toasting marshmellies!  Well, I also have to get that dang pickboard off the roof and clean up there a little.


So, that's about it for now.  We've just been working like crazy to get this done and now I'll be working like crazy on the kitchen.  Hopefully I'll have some stuff to post about that soon.  Oh, I have a chicken and garden update too that I'll do soon.

Thanks to all of ya'll that chimed in with the Florida advice.  We are considering things carefully now and leaning heavily towards the Longboat Key and surrounding area.  And stuff coming and going.  Ha!
I hope all ya'll down that way ride out this approaching storm okay also!  Ya'll be safe and I'll see ya'll back here shortly!

Southern Accents Part 2

Okay!!  I am finally back to finish this post on Noccalula Falls.  Aunty was wanting to see the video of the kayakers so I saved this one for ya'll.  There are several versions, amazingly enough, and this is one of the longer ones.  It takes a little bit to load but not horrible.  Or, just Google "Noccalula kayakers" and you will get a number of results, including several You Tube versions.  I think all of the guys were wearing the GoPro helmet cameras and it just about makes me sick to watch when they go over the falls! lol!

So, back to our originally planned broadcast.  These photos are more of the back portion of the park and they contain a few features that are unique to the South.  The house you see above is a great example of a classic "dogtrot" design and is the basis of the design for my house.  Now, I know you are saying, 'your house doesn't look anything like that Annie!'  Well, no it doesn't.  Not yet anyway.  I still hope to add the second part of my house that would allow it to develop into a true dogtrot design.  The existing deck would become the breezeway area with a master bedroom and bath, a library/ office and laundry/ crafts room on the other side.  As we stood inside the breezeway or dogtrot area, you could feel a much more noticeable breeze within than you could standing outside and that is one of the purposes of this design.  When air currents are compressed or force to turn a corner they tend to pick up speed, allowing for more ventilation.  It worked because these type houses were very common before air-conditioning.  It also allowed you to have the cooking area separated, literally, from the sleeping area thus keeping it cooler.  I have gotten a lot of crap over simply wanting this design and that kinda boggles my mind.  Anything from, "but you'll have to walk across that opening in the winter!!!!' (like we live in the Arctic and I might freeze solid in 12 feet) to "why do that when you can just run your air-conditioner?"  Explaining the green aspect of not wanting to run air-conditioning so much just doesn't work on these people so I don't bother. 

Many of you might recognize this contraption as a "bottletree" but for those of you that may have never seen one I'll explain.  The South has been heavily influenced by the African culture due to the import of slaves in colonial times and later and the idea of demons or evil spirits being captured in glass is one of those ideas.  The bottletree is simply the evolution of that idea taken up by white people, I imagine partially just because they are pretty and eclectic, something southerners revel in.  Here are a few lines from a story by Eudora Welty that might explain some: 

Then coming around up the path from the deep cut of the Natchez Trace below was a line of bare crape-myrtle trees with every branch of them ending in a colored bottle, green or blue.

There was no word that fell from Solomon's lips to say what they were for, but Livvie knew that there could be a spell put in trees, and she was familiar from the time she was born with the way bottle trees kept evil spirits from coming into the house - by luring them inside the colored bottles, where they cannot get out again. 

Now, traditionally, blue bottles were considered to be the best for demon capturing but nowadays you see them with all colors.  When I was a kid we didn't see bottle trees too much but they have made a comeback of sorts in the past few years as more Southerners have come to embrace, rather than be embarrassed of our eccentric culture.   The above example is not one of the most imaginative examples of a bottletree but it's not bad.  Much better than the horrible, factory churned, thousands produced in China.  Here, you can see some gorgeous examples of real bottletrees and art working off that idea.  You do have to scroll down the page just a little...

So, back to the gardens... the koi pond was great.  They had planted it well and it was very peaceful.  This shot was taken from inside the covered bridge that spans the pond.

And this was taken just outside the bridge.  I hope to have similar gardens as this one day.  Well, without the covered bridge anyway.  Just regular foot bridges for me.

This is standing at the entrance to the gorge below the falls.  If you look closely you can see the falls way int he background.  I used to love to hike around this area when I was a teenager. In the fall it is really pretty.

The descent is really steep!  and once you get down there it is fairly rigorous hiking in most parts.  Lots of boulders and such to go over and around.  You certainly want to be in somewhat decent shape and not go alone on this hike but it is very scenic and enjoyable.

So, that's my tour of Noccalula Falls; I hope ya'll enjoyed it!  Oh, I don't think I told ya'll how it got it's name?  This area was heavily occupied by native Americans before the white man invasion and Noccalula was the name of the beautiful daughter of a local Cherokee chief.  According to legend she fell in love with a brave and courageous (and unfortunately poor) young man in her tribe but her father promised her in marriage to a chief of a neighboring tribe.  In despair, after her true love was banished, she threw herself off these cliffs to her death rather than marry another man.  I know this sounds like a number of other "legends" of lost loves but this one has some facts to back it up and may actually be true, at least in part.  The plaque at the falls gives a more detailed account.

Southern Accents Part 1

This past weekend we experienced an abnormally cool spell of weather; Sunday morning dawned around 58-59 degrees here!  That is astoundingly cool for August and made for some gorgeous days where it was actually bearable to be outside!  So, I said the heck with yardwork and housework, I needed to go do something.  I called Mama and asked if she wanted to go with us because our destination wasn't too far from her house anyway.  She was game, happily, so we picked her up and headed for Noccalula Falls Park.  This is a 250 acre state park around the Gadsden area in north Alabama.
Some of you might just remember seeing a story back in November about 3 "extreme" kayakers that purposefully went over these falls.  Now, they waited until after a heavy rain so that the pool would be as deep as possible; that is a 90 foot drop and many, many people have drowned in these waters.  I saw the video the guys made and I have to say, I had never seen the waters as high as they were that day.  They were still insane.
I grew up in this general area too, so this place is very familiar to me.  We didn't come here a lot when I was small but as a teenager and young adult it was a popular spot for a lot of us.  You can view the falls and upper part of the park at no cost so we liked that.  And there is a burger joint right across the street so it was all good.  My father lived just down the road from here as a kid and this place was their swimming hole back before it became a park.  That's a heck of a swimming hole!  I had thought that the city had blocked the entrances to the bottom of the falls, due to the number of deaths associated with it but they have not.  In fact, Mama was telling me that they just completed a long hiking trail that starts here and goes southward out of town.  I would like to find out more about that.  We used to hike all around the bottom and down the creek when I was younger.  It's very pretty there but you must be careful not to fall in the creek.

The water was pretty low the day we visited, despite all the rain we've had, so the geese were enjoying the calm waters above the falls.

The back portion of the park contains a recreated pioneer village along with a large "farm" or small zoo, however you want to look at it and botanical gardens.  This is the area you must pay to enter but it's not too much.  I really liked this detail in the outriggers and verge rafter on this old cabin.  I thought that was pretty cool.

This area was quite nice and has wonderful, shaded walking trails all through it.  The upper part, near the actual falls, was rather disappointing though.  They had let the maintenance of that area just go to crap.  When I was young it was full of rose gardens and other flowers etc. but much of that was now sadly neglected.  I'm not sure why.  The majority of the park is very nice though and well kept.  The building in the background here is the new entrance to the park and just in front of that is the boarding for the train that runs through the park.  Of course, the building in the foreground is an old church and small village garden.

There are quite a number of old buildings for the Pioneer Village.  Many of them were moved down from Tennessee.  I thought that was odd.  Were there none here to be had??  I also thought our chicken house looks much better. LOL!

This was the resident llama.  He was pretty friendly and thankfully, didn't spit on us.  You can see that's a very nice barn in the background!  I would love to have something like that!  They had an assortment of normal farm animals too; goats, sheep etc.  They also had several emus, one of which just ran around free! and numerous whitetail deer.

Now, ya'll can correct me on this ID but I think this is a Loblolly Pine??  They are enormous and grow very straight.  I don't have any on my property and I have always been fascinated with them.  I think I just have the average long-leaf pine.

Here is a shot of more of the animals and you can see the ol' llama would just flop down on the ground to graze!  I guess it was easier on him.

Anyway, I have a bunch more photos that contain more examples of our Southern way of life that I think ya'll will enjoy.  I figured it might be better to break it up into 2 posts so your eyes didn't start rolling back in your heads.  The South is a unique area to say the least, as are the people and the next batch of pictures show a bit more of our folklore and ingenuity.

Animal House

Well, I've got a ton of pictures for ya'll today since I have not shown any kind of update or progress on the chickens or garden in some time.  The original batch of hens are doing fine.  Scooter finally broke out of her broody mood and is back in the swing of things.  Sheila is either getting tired of motherhood or got booted out by Prissy because she has been running with the old hens more and leaving Prissy alone with the 6 mutt chicks.  That seems to suit Prissy fine.  Here they are enjoying a half of cantaloupe from the garden.  I ate most of it first and then gave them the rest.  Ramona, the red with the black tail in front, just about jumped up and snatched it away from me.  These chickens are spoiled rotten.  They think any time you come out of the house that you should have some treat for them.

Here is one of my little sweetie pie Speckled Sussex.  They are just the sweetest little things.  They climb all over me when I go see them.  Of course, they think you have treats for them too, but they love to be petted.
I've learned to be careful though because they'll snatch my earrings out given the chance!

Here's a good many of the others.  It is extremely hard to get a good picture of these birds because they are always moving so fast most of them end up blurred.  The reddish ones are the New Hampshires (like Ramona).  The gawky, bloomer-legged one on the far right and the one directly in front are the Partridge Rocks and the one on the right with the long black tail pointed down is one of the Brown Leghorns.  Those things remind me of Allen's pheasants. 

The little mutt chicks are not so little anymore and are all doing fine.  I guess Ms. Prissy and Sheila are pretty good mamas after all.  They've all survived so far and are very active.  I think I have 4 hens and 2 roos with these but I'm not totally sure.

The garden is on it's second wind apparently.  We have had very good harvests of everything this year.  I thought after the black-eyed peas made their crop they would die back but they just rested for a while and are flushing with blooms all over again!  The green beans are all still going strong.  I grew Jade this year, instead of the Blue Lake bush that I normally grow and I will probably stick with these Jade beans.  The package said they were prolific and they were not kidding!

These are my canning tomatoes.  They are finally getting cranked up.  I was a little late getting these in so it's my fault not theirs.  I went through the garden this morning and pruned, weeded and just generally tidied up the whole place.  My cukes have bit the dust and my other tomatoes were looking pretty rough so I pulled all that and a few beans and peas to make it easier to get around between plants.  I also pruned back these tomatoes where they were starting to run across the ground.  They just get too leggy and don't put much effort into fruit if I let them go so they got a good trim.  This should put more energy back into producing fruit and a sturdier base plant.  I have pruned my tomatoes the past couple of years and they will flush back out again to produce more.

The strawberry plants have really grown and become robust so hopefully I will have a good harvest next year.  These plants seem much better suited for this climate than the ones I had before.  On the right of the path is my pepper patch.  They have gotten so big they have fallen over even with staking.  I need to fix that!
The tomatoes you see on the ground are from the plants I pulled.  We picked through those and keep some and will give the rest to the chickens.  The raspberries are starting their second crop this year too!  I believe it will be better than the first one at the beginning of summer.

I have been tidying up along the creek next to the driveway.  It looks SO much better now.  It is very nice to sit down here and listen to the creek.  I have planted a few things and hope to have some real nice areas with the native ferns and things grouped in places.

Chigger loves it when we work down by the creek because it gives her an excuse to play in the water!  She has gotten better about getting in the deep areas.  For a long time she would not wade deep enough to get even her belly wet but now she flops in all the deep spots.

Now here's a frugal idea for ya'll.  Chigger loves to "camp out" on the deck in pretty weather but we did not have a bed for her there.  Well, she commandeered my drop cloth, from when I've been painting on the house, so we decided to find her something.  I found this thickly quilted pillow sham for $1, so bought it as a bed for her.  It's just the right size for her and with the slit in the back (for the pillow) it was easy for me to stuff an old folded sheet inside for a little more padding.  Works great and she seems to like it!

And this is just a gratuitous picture of Grendal.  We have had absolutely fabulous weather today and she enjoyed napping on the deck for some time.  It has turned so mild here that I just couldn't stay inside much either.  In fact, I'm going to go out and watch the meteors in a minute and it is so cool here I may have to wear a jacket!  In August!! 

21 Questions

Okay, so I have some questions for you all if you are inclined to answer them.  I've simply been curious about a few things that have come to my attention lately and would like to know ya'lls experience, if you have any with what I've experienced.
First, this is basically for those of you who blog.  So, of those of you who blog and who keep track of your blog with a Sitemeter of any type, have you noticed a number of hits from Mountain View, California?
If you have, for how long have you been getting these hits?  Did you notice a few days ago that all your other hits blacked out and only Mountain View, California was showing on the sitemeter?  How long did this last if you noticed it?
If you are getting hits from this location, what country do you reside in, if I'm not familiar with your blog?  Also, if you are getting these hits, what do you generally write about on your blog?  Gardening?  Homesteading? etc?

And lastly, if the reader(s) from Mountain View would like to speak up I would like to hear from you!

In A Pickle

For a little bit of a change of pace I thought I'd post a couple of new recipes I tried out this year.  I love pickled food and had been wanting to try refrigerator and fermented pickles for some time now.  I found 2 great recipes and they are super-duper easy.  As you can probably tell, the photo above is the refrigerator pickles.  They came out very tasty (zesty) and crunchy!  So, I used a 1 1/2 quart jar for mine and the amounts I'm going to give you are sized for that, so adjust accordingly to how much you want to make.  The brine is 2 cups of water, 1 3/4 cups white vinegar and 1 1/2 tablespoons pickling salt.  Heat this just enough to dissolve the salt.  Wash your cukes and make sure to clean off the blossom end well.  I put about 3-4 heads of dill, several very small onions, a few cloves of garlic, about 1 teaspoon of mustard seed and about 4 pods of cayenne pepper in the jar and pack the cukes so that the jar was about filled to the shoulder.  Personally, I think cukes about 4 inches and smaller are the best for this type pickle.  Pour the brine over the cukes until they are all covered.  Just put a lid on (no need for hot water bath) and place in the refrigerator.  Wait at least 3 weeks and then enjoy!  After I ate about half of the pickles I added more fresh cukes to the jar.  It's easy to tell the difference between the newly added so you can pick out the older ones until the others season.

Traditionally fermented pickles are just as easy although they have a very different flavor.  I have a 2 gallon crock that I use for making kraut and pickles.  I think any stoneware or glass crock would work.  For these I used about 3-4 lbs of fresh cukes, washed well.  I think slightly larger cukes are better for fermenting too; about 4 inches or larger.  I had some smaller ones in there and they got kinda mushy.  So, place a small handful of clean grape leaves in the bottom of the crock, which has also been cleaned well.  This helps keep the pickles crisp but if you don't have any I think the recipe would still be okay.  I used grape leaves and these didn't come out super crisp anyway.  They are still crunchy like though.  Put your cukes along with 3-4 heads of dill (or same approximate amount of dill seed), 5-6 cloves of garlic and 3/8 cup of pickling salt or sea salt in the crock and then enough filtered spring water to cover the cukes by about an inch.  You must not use chlorinated water.  Weigh the cukes under the brine with a dish or jar and cover with a clean cloth to keep out dust and such.  Place the crock in a cool, dark spot.  I started checking on them after about 2 weeks.  There will be some mold around the edges.  Don't freak.  Just scoop it out and wipe your weight off and the sides of the crock if needed.  Check them every day at this point and skim off the mold.  As long as the pickles stay submerged they will be fine.  Taste them after about 2-3 weeks and when they get to the point you want (depends on the person) just transfer them to a jar in the fridge.  This stops the fermenting process but keeps the good buggies alive and well, which is great for your tummy.  Oh, and the brine will become cloudy so don't freak about that either; it's normal.  These smell absolutely delicious to me while they are fermenting.  They taste good too but are a more traditional dill flavor rather than a kosher dill, in my opinion.  They may be a little salty after just 2 weeks but this diminishes as they ferment more.

Edit:  After refrigerating the fermented pickles they were just as crunchy and crisp as the others.  YUM-OOO!!

Waste Not, Want Not

So, in trying to get back to the Frugality/ Savings theme; I had thought I was finished with food subject but then it occurred to me; I had never gone over frugality of food itself and avoiding waste, which can be a huge cost to a lot of people.  I hope I'm not repeating myself on this one too much but if I am just overlook me.  I did a little research and the results were kinda sickening.  In the US, food is second only to paper products in the amounts of thrown away.  They estimate that for EVERY American there is 400 pounds of food discarded every year.  They also estimate that each family in America wastes between $500-2,000 each year by throwing food away.  This is generally food that was bought but allowed to rot or expire before being used or food that was prepared but thrown out because no one wanted to eat leftovers.  Now, this is a BIG pet peeve of mine; especially when it is an animal product that is being thrown away.  It's bad enough the way most factory farmed animals are raised but then to have their abused bodies just thrown in the trash because somebody didn't want a leftover hamburger......well, let's just say it gets to me a little.  But even if that aspect of it doesn't concern you, the way food prices are skyrocketing, any waste, for any reason, is cause for concern.
Let me relate a little anecdote to illustrate my point.  Allen and I have both worked in other people's houses for years doing repair or remodeling work, both together and on our own.  We have worked for the super rich and the desperately poor.  Now, in the poor's case it was the landlords paying for the repairs etc., as you might expect.  In all of our experiences we always noticed one thing.  If you were in a poor person's house you would almost always find loose change laying around the house; on the floor, on tables, behind appliances, wherever.  I never recall seeing money laying around a wealthy person's house.  And no, I'm not blaming these poor people's total circumstances on a few dimes here and there but there is a significant point to be made.  If you think a little waste here and a little waste there don't matter, you're wrong.  Little bits add up fast and to a greater extent than we might realize.  When you have to throw food away, not only have you wasted your initial investment but you often have to buy a replacement.  And then there is just buying unnecessary things.
I cringe to think I used to buy chicken broth.  I'm almost embarrassed to admit that.  It is SO freaking easy to make chicken broth.  I bake a whole chicken and we eat on that for 2-3 days.  If we get tired of baked chicken I make chicken salad or chicken enchiladas or whatever.  As we eat I save the bones by putting them in a baggy in the fridge.  If it's going to take a while to collect enough or I already have broth made I store the baggy in the freezer and just add to it.  Then when I need broth just pull the bones out and presto!! fresh broth!  Then, in the winter, those used bones get thrown in the wood-burning stove and their ashes get put on the garden.  I try to use every part of any animal that comes into this house.  Fat, broth, scraps go into dog food if we don't eat it.
If we have a glut of some veggie or fruit I freeze, dry or can it if we can't eat it all then.  .  I generally cook so that we don't have tons of leftovers ,but if they are refrigerated promptly, leftovers can last up to a week with no problem.  If you cook just a plain roast or whole chicken one night you can spice it up into something else the next night.  You don't have to eat it the same way every time.  I generally eat most leftovers for lunch the next day anyway and that's a great way to use them if you take your lunch to work.  Or even if you don't!
I think another horrible waste area is where people freeze stuff and it stays in there for years.  If it's ever cleaned out it's thrown away.  I try to rotate my freezer stuff regularly, keeping the oldest stuff up front where I can see it.  It's not terribly hard to do.  For example, I stack all my veggies separated by type.  Like all corn in this stack and all beans over here etc.  Dating the packages is essential as you would guess, and then just pull the older bag off the bottom or put the new on the bottom when you put it up.  I keep all my meats separated too; that way you can easily tell how much of what you have and plan accordingly.  It's easy to work out a system that works for you.  I know I look at things differently and my methods may not make sense to some.  The main thing is just date everything and keep it halfway organized.
Another area some may not think about is recipes.  What I mean is, if you don't have a certain item that is not essential, just substitute what you do have rather than go buy the other.  For instance, I found a fabulous recipe for an apricot cobbler.  Well, I didn't have apricots but had tons of peaches and it was great.  Now, that was a no-brainer but you can get really creative with substitutions.  I mean, I've even read about people substituting large mushrooms for hamburger patties.  Why not?!
I also don't pay a tremendous amount of attention to expiration dates.  Now, I have found, by doing a little reading, that soured milk makes GREAT pancakes or other breads.  One word of caution on that though; I only use organic, non-homogenized and barely pasteurized milk.  I would never try that with the ultra-sterilized, homogenized fake milk crap.  And I mean, soured milk not spoiled rotten, chunky milk.  That gets poured on the garden on the rare occasion I have any.  It usually never gets to that point though!

So, I think that is really about it on the food topic.  I will try to be back soon with another subject for ya'll!!

Two Steps Behind

Oooh, I am just not doing well on keeping up on the posts I'm supposed to be writing.  I have a number of things to write about; I guess I'm just not entirely enthused about it all though.  Well, I mean, I am enthused about what's going on, just not the writing thereof!  I don't know, I guess it's just a combination of being very busy and feeling like no one is particularly interested or paying attention.  Now, before anybody jumps on me!!!...  I know that there are a number of you that do pay close attention and are interested.  I'm just saying how I'm feeling.  Computers are a great way to feel connected to others at times and yet, at other times seem to emphasize just how alone we are.  The conundrum for me is that computers are probably my best bet for interacting with people because I can edit myself.
Then again, maybe it's just about needing some time to chill out and not think.  As you can see from the photo above, the garden is doing very well this year.  I know some parts are really getting smacked by drought this year but we have done very well.  We have only had to water the garden a few times so far.  So, I've been canning, drying, pickling and cooking every spare moment at times and in between painting the house, making pottery, tending chickens and doing regular house chores.  Crap!! no wonder I haven't felt like thinking enough to write an article!!  Ha!!
 I believe it was last Friday that we had an enormous and severe thunderstorm come up after lunch.  I was taking a short nap but woke to the sound of thunder and hail on the windows.  That is NOT what you want to hear when you have a garden full of stuff.  It was a couple of hours before we could really go out and see how much damage there was but in the end we lucked out.  Thankfully, the hail was not very large and didn't last long.  Some of the green beans were kinda beat up, a few broke limbs on the tomato plants and it blew over my cucumber trellis but other than that we did okay.  So, it all goes on.  The peas and corn have about pooped out but now the tomatoes and figs are cranking up.  I also need to get my seeds started for the fall garden.  Dang, there are just not enough hours in the day.  But I do enjoy it really.  It is very satisfying, in a number of ways, to know that we are able to grow these things and provide so much for ourselves without having to depend on the commercial food structure/ depletion cycle.  It is a very real thing.

So, I have a number of great new recipes and such to share and I have not forgotten about the Frugal series I was doing.  I'll be back!!
Hey, one question: is anybody having trouble reading these post because the type seems too small??  For some reason it looks a little small to me but I don't think I've changed anything. ???

Outside The Box

Since some of you seemed to like the tile thing I thought I'd show ya'll how easy it is to do.  Of course, you have to have a kiln to fire them but the process of the tiles is fairly simple and you don't really need any fancy equipment.  I had taken these pictures a while back and had kinda forgotten about them but luckily didn't delete any.
So, first you make your original design and getting it all perfect in every way.  This tile may look a little out of square but I got it straightened up before going further.  Keep in mind that the clay will shrink considerably by the time it makes it through the final firing.  Most clays shrink around 10%.

I threw together this simple box; it's held together with screws because you are going to have to take it apart later.  I sat it on a good flat board and sealed the inside cracks, where it sits on the board, with clay.  I then placed the tile in the box, centering it best I could.  You can kinda wet the back of the tile also, to kinda make it stick to the board.

 I then mixed the plaster that will make the mold.  Plaster hardens through a chemical reaction so when it starts to get warm you know it's about time to pour it.  You must mix plaster with your hand pretty much, so it's easy to tell it's getting warm and getting thicker.  As it starts to thicken slightly just pour over the tile.  You want the plaster to cover the tile by about one inch.  Now, just let it set.  This can take a couple of hours or so.

Now, unscrew the corners on opposite sides and pop the mold out!  You can spray the wood mold with cooking spray or such to facilitate it letting go of the plaster but I didn't have a problem with that.

Then, just pick the clay out of the mold making sure not to jab or break the plaster.  If you can get one edge coming up the tile should just pull on out but you may have to pick parts here and there.  Again, you can spray the tile and everything with cooking spray to make removal easier.

Of course, the original tile is destroyed but now you have a easy way to make bunches of them!!  So, just clean the mold up, straightening the edges etc.  You obviously can't have any undercuts or the tile won't come out!  Plaster holds a lot of water, even after it has set, so you must dry the mold in the oven for a couple of hours or so.  I put mine in my little toaster oven on about 150-200 degrees for a couple or 3 hours.  When it has dried sufficiently it will fell much lighter and well...dry.  Now you can cram clay back in the mold and, in about an hour or so, the dry plaster will suck enough moisture out of the tile to cause it to release on it's own.  Just tap the mold on a table and the tile will pop out!  Repeat as often as you like!  After a good many tiles the mold will begin to loose it's fine details, so if you wanted to make hundreds of tiles it would be best to make several molds.
I dry the tiles on a wire shelf, turning them often to help keep them from warping.  Then just fire like any other pottery.

Loose Ends

We interrupt this regularly scheduled financial posting to show something actually being accomplished on the completion of the house!!!  Yay!!  I thought I had shown this picture in the last post but I had not.  These are the tiles I have been making to cover and protect the ends of the exposed rafter tails on the south side.

And I installed a number of them today!!  Now, some may say, that's about as worthless as teats on a boar-hog but you know what?  I like 'em.  And that's all that matters.  It actually looks better in person because the tiles line up with the dark underside of the roof ridges above them and it creates a nice rhythm.  They all fit pretty well too.  Accounting for how much clay is going to ultimately shrink can sometimes be a pain but I've about got it down.  The ends of the rafters had been sealed well and then I applied a mastic over the whole end and screwed the tile to it.  The screws will hold until the mastic sets.  This should keep the tails from absorbing much moisture through the cut ends and protect the ends from the harshness of the sun, since these are on the south side.  I did miscount somehow and lack 4 to complete the clerestory rafters.  That is easily remedied and will just have to fire one more time to get them done.  So, as soon as these are done I will be completely through with the upper clerestory and can take down all the ladders and pick boards.  It's waaay overdue.

Simple Sunday

Since I haven't posted anything lately about what has actually been going on around here, I thought I'd put up a number of photos that I have taken recently.  The mutt chicks and mamas are doing well and everybody is all still with us.  We did have a close call back about a week ago when either a dog or coyote came into the yard during a rain storm.  We looked and looked and had about given up hope but they all were apparently hiding in amongst the lawnmowers and such and came out after they felt everything was okay.  I'm glad they have such hiding instincts.  I like also that the mamas stick together as a group.  I was afraid each mama would try to go a separate way and the chicks wouldn't know who to go with but they stick together as their own little herd. 

The turban lily actually put out 2 blooms this year!!  Yay! I actually found two more of these plants down the valley a bit back in the spring but when I checked on them later the deer had eaten them.  Maybe next spring I can transplant them up near this one and keep the deer away.

The pure bred chicks are doing very well; growing like weeds!  They are constantly amusing.  On the far left is the Brown Leghorn, in the middle is the Partridge Rock and on the right is the Speckled Sussex.  The Sussex are very sweet but they Leghorn are extremely flighty and never get near you.

This little Partridge Rock is the funniest looking little thing!  It looks like she is wearing bloomers!  And none of them have tail feathers still!  I guess they grow some eventually.

This has been a great year for the garden even though some stuff was a little slow to get started.  I hate to say anything, considering the drought in some areas, but we have had plenty of rain this year.  The corn did not produce as big of ears as last year, so we haven't had much on the cob, but I did manage to cut a good bit off the cobs and freeze for creamed corn.  I've also had virtually no problem with squash bugs, potato beetles or even tomato hormworms; knock on wood.  I think the birds and dragonflies have been doing a superb job of patrolling things this year.

Now, my rhubarb has all bitten the dust, even the one designed to grow here.  I guess they just couldn't take the heat.  I may try again next year with one planted in complete shade.  The asparagus is doing excellent though.  At least in my opinion.  I guess this is good!  I've never seen it grow before so I'm not sure.  I can't wait until next spring when I get to cut just a little!
So, that's the update around here.  Still canning an drying and such.  I have a couple of recipes I want to put up for you soon too.  I hope everyone is having a good weekend too.

Maximum Consumption

I swear!!!  that's why I was gone so long this time!!  But I fought my way out of their clutches and got back here as soon as possible!!  Really....!

LOL!  Anyway, I thought that was the funniest picture but apparently my humor runs way different than most people.  Well, humor, interests, brain patterns...hhhmmmm...my whole being.....well, anyway!!! back to the subject at hand!

So, we did grocery shopping last time and this post will cover other means of food production and saving. Of course, you all know, one of the main things is that I grow as much as I can of what we eat and we preserve as much of that as we can in order to go through the winter without having to buy many veggies and fruits.  Now, I realize that both the growing and preserving takes space and many people don't have much space but I believe you can do quite a lot even with limited area.  A friend of mine swears by the Square Foot gardening method and I would recommend checking out some books on that if you are interested.  I have seen some people do some amazing things just growing veggies in buckets on fire escapes.  You know, it's all what you are willing to do.  Even if you can only grow herbs on your windows sills, that's something.  If you have even a small yard you can grow many things, even mixing some veggies in the flower beds and such so it can be attractive.  I'm fortunate to live where no one can even see my house so I can do as I please.
As far as the garden itself goes, I invest in as many perennial veggies and fruits as I can.  Things that you plant once (and pay for once) and they bear for years.  This was a major reason we started the asparagus bed this year and I have been trying to plant a number of fruit trees or shrubs and get them established.  I add to my herb collection whenever I can and most of these are perennial so once they are established they will come back and you don't have to sow them every year.  Store bought seasonings are fairly pricey these days (at least the good ones) and just growing that can save some decent money.  I save seeds and start my own seedlings and will be doing this even more because I noticed seed prices, for a few things I did buy, were astronomical this year.  I also don't grow anything that we don't absolutely love.  I know some people will grow some stuff just because it's super early or grows fast but to me that's a waste of time, effort and space if I don't much like to eat it.  Having chickens has greatly reduced our need to purchase fertilizers or such to build up this soil.  In fact, between the chicken poo and composting I don't buy any amendments unless they are on a super sale; like that fish emulsion we got for $1 a bottle.  All of our kitchen wastes either go for the chickens to eat or go in the compost pile, so that either saves money on chicken feed or soil feed, so to speak.  My fruit trees are not really producing yet, except for the figs!, so right now we just buy locally.  It's not always cheap exactly but it is better than store bought in price and quality.  Plus, you're supporting local people.  I've said this before, so I guess I'm beating a dead horse, but growing at least part of your own food saves so much in so many ways, I don't see why more people don't do it.  Well, actually I do.  It's hard work and it's usually dirty.
So, as far as preserving the food, the best way is a way in which no further costs are incurred after the initial preservation.  Such as drying or canning as opposed to freezing.  Yes, I do freeze a number of things now because I don't have a pressure canner but I am going to try to remedy that.  I do can what I can now. ??? Got that?  LOL!  Jams, salsas, pickles, preserves, tomatoes, etc. require only a boiling water bath to seal and that is pretty easy.  Every year I try to put up more and more this way and I'm trying to dry more stuff too.  There is an initial start-up cost to canning, unless someone donates all their supplies to you, but the costs work themselves out quickly.  Since my mother and grandmother always canned I have saved a good deal of money on supplies by just using some of their old stuff.  Glass jars never go bad unless they get chipped or cracked and I enjoy using ones I know my Mama used.  You can sometimes find canning jars and other supplies in thrift stores or yard sales and I am always on the look out for such.  I also found out this year that many "dollar stores", as we call them, will have canning lids, pectin and such for drastically lower prices than Wal-Mart or other supposedly cheap stores.  I am going to invest I some of the reusable canning lids too.  They are initially more expensive but can but used over and over and over.  This saves money and resources.  In my experience, home canned products can range anywhere from a few cents per pint, if you grow or get the food free, to $1-2 per pint if you have to buy the food.  Either way it is a savings and a much better product than store bought and almost a zero-mile food.  Water bath canning is extremely easy too, so don't let it intimidate you.  I started with pickles and went from there.  I also usually do all the water bath part on an outside burner so it doesn't heat up the house and cause me to spend more trying to get it cooled back off inside! 
Drying food is super easy and can be done with an electric dryer or one of many types of solar dryers that can be easily built.  You can even dry food on the dash of your vehicle on a hot day!  I either store my dried foods in glass jars or in those vacuum sealed bags.  My Mama gave me her latest copy of Ball's Blue Book for preserving food and I highly recommend it.  It covers everything from canning to freezing and dehydration.  Of course, there are tons of great books on the subject nowadays so there are plenty to choose from if you want one even more extensive.
Meat is another thing you can produce at home at a great savings if you have the land and are zoned for it.  I would like to raise our own pork one day in addition to the chickens we have now.  Adequate pasture is essential though because if you have to buy too much feed to keep the animal up then your costs can skyrocket.  I don't know that chickens are cost effective just for their eggs, unless you can sell some, but I just enjoy having them so much I don't mind and they are hugely better than store bought eggs.  We do buy a half or quarter of a beef once a year from a local farmer and this is always a savings over store bought.  I have signed up for another this fall and, considering what they are predicting beef prices to be because of the corn harvest, this may end up being a tremendous saving this year.  Store bought conventional beef here runs around $10-11/ lb. now; with this drought in corn producing states they expect it to go even higher.  I pay around $5-6/ lb. for pasture raised local beef when I buy a half or so.  It is initially a large chunk to put out but it's paid for and can't go up later in addition to being cheaper to begin with.  I know a lot of people squeal over the cost of such things but you have to look at the big picture and realize a lot of people blow that much money or more, per year, on crap like TV or Starbucks coffee. 
I will say one other thing about storing/ preserving food:  Only put up what you would reasonably use in a year or so.  I know so many people that seem to have developed an obsessive disorder on food, buying and canning so much food that it literally sits and rots on the shelves because there is no way it can be used up before it goes bad.  Or people that buy and freeze enough stuff to fill 2 full-size freezers and it sits in those freezers until it mummifies.  This is a horrifying waste of money in my opinion.  Waste of money on the food, the equipment to store it and the power to keep them running.  I have been trying to keep some detailed records of how much of each product I make each year to know if that was sufficient to last all year or did I run out or not use half of it and such.  I also write the date of canning on each jar lid, that way I know how long it is good for and that lid has been marked on, so once opened I know to not reuse it for canning.

So, I guess that is it for food, unless ya'll know of something I left out.  I think clothes was to be the next subject so I'll be back on that soon!