Fermented Pickles/ Preserved Peaches In Honey/ Preparedness 5.0

 

Wow, 42 last week! 

Fermented Pickles/ Preserved Peaches In Honey/ Preparedness 5.0-

Autumn is in the air! It is finally cooling down what a nice trend! Tomatoes are just turning pink finally!!! What a late start/severe hot weather we've had. It's been interesting seeing what's going on in some of the local grocery stores. We tried to buy some distilled water this weekend and couldn't find any in a very large store. We were told by one of the cashiers that the plastic bottles that the water goes in is made in China and so there's a shortage of them. We went to a Walgreen's pharmacy and found some there, but they were almost out. We were told there that there was a shortage due to labor issues in California with workers. Not enough people in the factories to fill the water bottles. Beef prices have really skyrocketed! Glad that's not something we eat a lot of anyway. I do have three roasts I bought months ago in the freezer. 

I decided to start making some homemade bread soon and will probably stop buying sandwich bread completely. We eat one loaf a week, maybe. Luckily I have a recipe from several years ago that I had made successfully. I did buy some King Arthur flour whole grain dough enhancer. Basically makes it rise a little bit more and is not quite so dense. I'm looking forward to baking some bread and always makes the house smell so great! I saw a dough whisk and decided to buy one, comes with a curved scraper-

Comes with a flexible scraper- 

$7.00 on Amazon

I am still stocking up on a few small things here and there quite like canned veggies. I also found some nice big bags of frozen veggies at Costco. I suspect that over time there will be more shortages of fresh produce so I'm planning ahead. We made a trip Saturday to a place we've gone the last couple of years. It's a rural farmstead store. They have the best pickling cukes! I just couldn't grow enough to use. So I bought a bunch. I did three jars of one with garlic, dill, mustard seeds, black peppercorns. I did one jar with just garlic and dill. I use my fermenting jar with the water lock and three with Mason Tops-

The end of last years, still great! 

We also bought two huge frozen chickens, also local. Last year the ones I bought were almost the size of a small turkey!  Recently I scored some raw local honey in Costco. I decided to try this recipe   Peaches Preserved in Honey Lacto Fermented I may try her Blueberrie recipe next! I took some of our organic peaches out of the fridge, got a clean jar (thrifted) and the honey-

all sliced, cinnamon and peppercorns in the bottom 

I topped off with the Turmeric and added the honey. I had to take a knife down the sides to get it flowing down. I had to add three batches, slowly, about 1 and 1/2 cups, to 1 and a 1/2 Qt jar (about). Now resting and getting bubbles today! 

I also made some pickled red onions-

Slice the onions thins, put in a jar, add a few peppercorns (or diced jalapenos/red pepper flakes), season rice wine vinegar (or apple cider), a little salt, shake well. Great on sandwiches and salads! Let sit for a day or so and it's ready!!! 

Independence Days Challenge

Independence Days Challenge-
It's been cooling off a little bit here, but a few hot days once in a while. Generally the days are getting so much shorter that it's cooling off at night really nicely. Trees locally are getting some color, as is our huge maple tree-

We're getting a little bit of smoke again from California, not much we can do about that. There's also terrible fires now over in the Oregon areas we love. One is nearing an urban area where Dave's nephew lives, he may have to evacuate. I can't believe there are stupid people doing stupid things, like gender reveals involving explosives! Yeah that's a great idea to do in a drought stricken area! My one daughter was smart enough to do a pie reveal. One was supposed to be pink or blue, easy and safe! So anyway, here's what we've been up to lately-

1. Plant Something- 

Not this time of year, too hot/cold. I don't do fall plantings here. Might do some flower bulbs for spring.

2. Harvest Something- 

We just had a really nice harvest of tomatoes! They were late but prolific!!!

Many of these are heading for the freezer. We've also been getting Basil, several kinds of peppers, Kale, Collard greens, lemon cukes (almost done), the last of the blackberries and yellow squash. I'll be the drying some yellow squash for this winter. My BIG Italian peppers haven't turned red yet, but should soon. They're worth the wait! 

Collard greens

Green cabbage coming along slowly, red cabbage never got heads for some reason-

We have our mini-pumpkin patch too, I planted a mixed-seed varieties-

3. Preserve/Store Something-

I finished up the jams, chutneys, from the peaches that we had-

We let the pears ripen inside since they were pretty green over Labor Day weekend, which is when I had hoped to can them. I'll be canning these this weekend-

Will be harvesting our apples next weekend. Didn't have a great crop this year, but I'll decide what to do with those.  I still have plenty of apples in the freezer and canned previously. I may dry some. I have a small, nice food dryer. It's been challenging finding canning supplies and I guess that seem to be a national issue since it's been on the news Washingtonpost Canning Shortage  I was able to find some pint size jars on Amazon, so I did order one box today. Wasn't much more than I would usually pay in the grocery store, although haven't bought jars in a few years. I have tons of Basil and will make pesto to freeze soon. 

4. Manage Reserves- Get a Good Deal/Barter/Stock Up/Prep-

I went out to the Eddie Bauer Outlet on a whim. It's on the outskirts of Boise and found some great deals. I found women's flannel lined jeans, polar fleece lined wind pants (water resistant) and a regular pair of jeans. The warm ones will be handy in winter! They were all $17 each, a real steal,  very expensive (overpriced) originally-

Nice pockets!

So soft and warm 

Cheery flannel!

I got a new HEPA air filter replacement as my previous one died.  It turns out Amazon does not honor the warranties after a certain point, so I contacted the manufacturer directly. Took about 3 weeks, then I got a new one in the mail a few days ago. The other ones have lasted for years and years so I was really shocked it died after 4 months!

I ordered some pasta bowls from Ikea online that were delivered. Even with the shipping I can't find good ones for their prices. My old ones were in bad shape, but they lasted lots of years! 

When I ordered canning jars on Amazon I also bought a Vidalia Chopper/ Dicer-

I like making things like corn relish, but it is so much dicing for big batches! I've decided to make another big batch, for the fridge. I'm running out of canning jars and it should last quite a few months chilled in my 2 Qt. jars.  

5. Eat the Food- Try New Foods/Recipe-

Will be using some of my homemade Chutney that I now that I have some. I posted recently about the BLT sandwich with catfish although I did substitute tilapia for that. Was great with our fresh tomatoes! Also tried the new Mexican dish that I posted about last week-

Cooked down the last of the frozen Rhubarb and made sauce for Dave.

6. Build Community Food Systems-

We supported our local Orchard and farmstead stand by buying our peaches, corn, apples and a few other things. We may go back next weekend to see if we can get some more apples and corn. The local Gala apples were the best I've ever had in my entire life. To say they were crispy was putting it mildly, really juicy and amazing-

7. Recycle/Re-Use-

I did some mending of some clothes, donated some bedding, towels, toys & decor to our local thrift store. I realized I had stashed some new bath towels from last time we went to Ikea, last year. The ones we were using we're getting pretty beat up, so it's nice to be able to get into the hall closet and bring out new ones! Sadly Ikea discontinued their apple green bath towels which I love, sigh. 

8. Skill Up-

I checked out Jamie Oliver's cookbook Ultimate Veg since I've been seeing some of the episodes on PBS. I love his recipes! I'm happy we can still get things from the Library, just can't go in. He has a really great use of spices and different cooking techniques I'm getting familiar with. Will be posting some reviews later as I try some of them-

9. Regenerate What is Lost/Salvage Something-

Last year we added some new fence boards in our backyard after a small dog got in and killed two of our hens.  Dave didn't like the way the new boards stood out from the old.  He borrowed one of  relatives electric pressure washer. We are both pretty shocked about how fast a lot of dirt just came right off the boards. Electric pressure washers don't have the same high pressure as the gas powered ones do, but it did a great job! Clean part of the board on the right- 

Before photo last fall-

River saying high to neighbor kitty Posey

After shot- 

After shot, was really dark before! 

Not perfect but it will weather out anyway. 

After working in my home office/bedroom I realized how dirty our blinds were. When we bought the house the 2 front bedrooms had heavy, wood grain, plastic white blinds. Great for light control, so we added curtains and kept them-

I realized how dirty they were, so I asked Dave to take them down and I could wash them. Turns out they were too long for the tub! So Dave took them out washed them down and rinsed well, let dry. So white now!!!

Drying

So much cleaner! That's it for now! 

Independence Days Challenge- Covid Edition

Independence Days Challenge- Covid Edition-
I thought I'd do some updating of various projects and this list is a good way to organize things! Join in, post on your blog if you like! FYI I didn't invent this list, several other bloggers were doing this for quite a while over the years. Here's the recent Independence Days Challenge- Covid Edition... 

1. Plant Something- We just planted a row of Blue Lake bush green beans, a patch of small mixed pumpkins and several kinds of Italian "frying" peppers on the south side of the house. Used to be a spot for the old shed we tore down. I finally found some of the peppers at a local greenhouse, happy dance! The varieties we planted are Marconi, Giant Marconi and Jimmy Nardello.  The peppers are long, sweet. They're great stuffed, topped with marinara sauce, or add to pasta sauce and freezes well. Great addition to the garden-

Our poor tomatoes have finally perked up with the hotter weather.  I saw that Seed Savers Exchange had free shipping so I bought some Radio Calendula seeds to plant, looks like this, love the spikes! I planted a whole big flower pot full! 

Photo from Seedsavers.org

I finally planted my new flower box Dave built with Basil and some local Calendula-

2. Harvest Something- Eggs, Basil, Chives. Too early for summer veggies yet. 

3. Preserve/Store Something- Two batches of fermented veggies, Sauerkraut and Carrots w/ Ginger and garlic. Froze some meats. I'm going to do an inventory of the freezer soon. I may can some of our frozen apples. 

4. Manage Reserves- Get a Good Deal/Barter/Stock Up/Prep- Bought some seeds with free shipping from Seedsavers.org for next year. Bought some Brats from Costco to freeze, got a great coupon deal for canned cat food. Anya barfs if she eats dry, so the Vet said to switch. We did, little vomiting and she lost weight, which was good! The Vet said dry food has way too many carbs, no wonder. She's also more active!

5. Eat the Food- Try New Foods/Recipe- Ditto fermented goods. Eating some meals from freezer foods. 

6. Build Community Food Systems- Nothing at this time. Hope to sell extra eggs at some point in the late fall/winter, when the new girls start laying. Five chickens in production, look out!!!

7. Recycle/Re-Use- Dave built a cedar planting box from an old planter my daughter was going to throw away. I told how how big big and he built it! All free.  We gave away a tote of leftover river rock from the path prep thru Free Craigslist. The woman is using as border for a community garden! Happy to help with that! 

Dave brought home two boxes from work for the chicks. I start the first week with a laundry basket, then move to a larger box. Next I combine two boxes for a larger space. They'll be outside soon, hopefully in a few weeks, slowly integrating to the flock. Feathering out and weather are the factors.  The shredded bark that was dumped here with our purchased gravel we re-used in the garden for mulch, mostly gravel free. 

8. Skill Up- Still working on the Retrosuburbia book, love it! Learning lots of Australian slang! 

Dave and I did research, he got our new walkway in, looks and works great! 

9. Regenerate What is Lost/Salvage Something- Our flock! We bought our three new chicks, all growing well! 

From the left- Debbie, Sunny and Luna 

I bought a new curtain rod online, the finial was broken off on arrival. Since it was a clean break I decided to glue it back together. Will never show, will touch up if needed-

It's a fun, shabby chic distressed finish-

It's going to replace the too-small rod, isn't wide enough for the new curtains-

My work from home "office"

That gave me the idea to paint an existing rod in our main bedroom. It was black, which was fine. Later I added sheers and a second rod, which is white. I'll take it down and paint it white to match-

Our bedroom is a light gray with white trim, so it will match better. I have tons of paint! No cost update-