Removing Tomato Foliage For Ripening, Going Back To A DSLR Camera, Sandi's Blackberry Crumb Cake, A Greek Dinner

Removing Tomato Foliage For Ripening-

It's been HOT here, triple digits! 103 yesterday, 101 today, but a storm blew in this evening. It dropped 20+ degrees in three hours. We just water, water. It 's been a tough year for our tomatoes, they're about a month behind. I had the idea last week to cut back the excess foliage to help them ripen faster. We usually do this in Sept/Oct! There's tons of tomatoes, just mostly green. The good news is it's still August so they should ripen soon! These are the "after" shots, visualize green leaves exploding out of the cages!!! 

Anya

Going Back To A DSLR Camera-

I started using an SLR (Single Lense Reflex) camera when I was young. The last 10 + years I switched to a point and shoot and it works great for a lot of things. Many people use their phone cameras, but I prefer the real thing. There's so much more you can get right, without having to alter the photos later. Dave gave me his 10 + year old D (Digital) SLR recently and I'm getting reacquainted with it. The photos are much more crisp, work SO much better in mixed, natural lighting. Here's a few samples, some with a macro lense- 

Lovely Anya, faster shutter speed helps here

The shot above is a great example, clear with a blurred background! Natural lighting

Grandson River, great in low lighting

Another example, crisp, great detail, low lighting

I'm still using my point and shoot, but will be migrating away from it. You'll be seeing better photos!

Blackberry Crumb Cake-

Our blackberries really loved our wet May/June! Picking lots, freezing some and did some baking this weekend-

More coming

Since we had so many berries I made my favorite Sandi's Blackberry Crumb Cake  FYI, I don't use a food processor, a pastry cutter works fine. Less clean up time! I subbed WW Pastry flour and walnuts instead of pecans. It's moist and slightly crunchy from the topping! You could use raspberries too, the tartness makes the cake-

A Greek Dinner
I stumbled on some recipes lately and thought I'd try these! Nice for summer time, just wish I'd had fresh tomatoes from the garden. Video here - Diane Kochilas Greek Odyssey Video PBS Eggplant recipe- Garlicky Eggplant  Polenta recipe- Ionian Polenta  The sauce was a bit chunkier than hers but still delish! I made an 11" x 13" pan, leftovers were even better! Next time I think I'd roast the eggplant slices to cut down on the olive oil. Just brush with oil til slightly soft. I also reduced the oil in the polenta. I served with Feta cheese, nice, fresh tasting summer meal! It's a keeper!

How To Use Time In Isolation & Independence Days Challenge

From Brenna Quinlan

How To Use Time In Isolation-

UPDATE- Just had an earthquake, we're ok. More later..

We are having a very wet Spring day today! The weatherman was right with lots of intermittent showers today and windy. I cleaned my windows few days ago and now they're all covered with rain, but what can you do-

The rain has been a blessing since since it can dry here and every Spring is different. Our cool weather crops that we planted in the cold frame are barely up and we've only had to water them once in the last several weeks. I put the chickens inside this afternoon because it is just pouring rain. They loved the greens I gave them for a snack! I love having fresh eggs right, especially considering the girls will be 6 years old this next month! Chicks are selling out locally and I'm hoping to get some next month, as I'm sure our local hatchery is trying to keep up. Time will tell, but I think more people are waking up to the REAL idea of FOOD SECURITY. Grow/produce whatever you can. NOW. I might buy some pullets that are 3 months old into the summer, as a last resort. RESILIENCY is showing up, a local cafe turned themselves into a grocery store, since they have a different set of suppliers than regular grocery stores- Sunrise Cafe Shifts Business Model They'll be able to stay in business hopefully and help the community. Smart. A small local Organic nursery/store has opened up appointments for one person at a time to come in and shop alone. YES. Think outside the box. 

My work life right now is VERY dynamic. Last week we got new higher speed internet set up since our old internet was slow. My boss was planning on sending hardware home with me to start working remotely. We cleared off Dave's desk, that he only uses once in a while. I deep cleaned the room as well. Our main computer is in the kitchen and he has a laptop. Space all ready-

Yesterday I was sent home, after working two hours, because our work load is drying up. While there is re-training going on among different staff I am basically in a high-risk group, which my employer is aware of. While I have a healthy immune system I do have respiratory issues and other things that put me into that category. Luckily I'm home (away from viruses) and I am being paid out of my own PTO and extended sick leave. When that runs out, if it gets to that place, the corporation I work for has stated they will be paying staff. Since I work for a huge medical organization at some point this will be over with and life will return to normal. In the meantime I am doing projects at home and taking things one day at a time. I saw this fun Permaculture art and I thought it some great ideas, as well as the one at the top and bottom of this post. Both are by Brenna Quinlan-

Upcoming projects will be- tuning up our bikes, getting them usable to ride again. They've been gathering dust. Start doing Tai Chi again, daily when home, since class is over. My sweet instructor posted classes on Youtube to be able to follow his directions, with the warm ups. Deep cleaning areas of the house, starting to grow Micro Greens, backing up all my blog photos and more. A lot of the general Permaculture ideas tie right in with the Independence Days Challenges that I have posted for years. So I thought I would add this today!

Independence Days Challenge-

1. Plant Something- Cool weather crops, all Non GMO-  Salad Mix, Mammoth Spinach, Baby Romaine, Evergreen Bunching Green Onions. As soon as it dries a bit I've got seed for French Radishes, French Breakfast Radishes, Cherry Belle Radishes, Little Finger Carrots in the ground. We'll either start some summer things by seed, depending on the market, or use starts. Local nurseries are amping up production I think. It's been pretty chilly (25 at night this week) so things are starting pretty slow-

If you think you can't grow food read this transformation 8 Weeks To Victory Veggie Patch From Scratch In A Rental photo below-

2. Harvest Something- Eggs, chives.

3. Preserve/Store Something- Freezing some additional items like butter, breads, flours, odds and ends. Luckily my food pantry closet is well stocked, and freezer with last year's fruits and tomatoes-

4. Manage Reserves- Get a Good Deal/Barter/Stock Up/Prep- I've been doing more creative shopping as some supplies have been running out off and on. When I heard some of the Corona virus news, I bought extra WW pastry flour and veggie seeds as I knew they would fly out of the store. Some staples like sugar are low some of the time. Flour has been in short supply. I've been alternating between some different places and sharing the info with our three adult girls. Luckily we got TP at Costco right before it started running out! One of them is getting set to start growing more food as well. I'm so proud of her! We miss our family, as we are not getting together in person, not worth the risk. We send videos back and forth, a little digital hug.

5. Eat the Food- Try New Foods/Recipe-  Looking more at eating what we have and what's available. New cookie recipe, oh yes! Chocolate Biscuits I was looking for something not too sweet and good for tea and coffee. Simple ingredients. I'll make a quick soup for tonight with something I had on hand-

Will add veggies and make some Farmgirl Fare Cheddar Beer Bread to go with it. Good for a cold rainy day! I use WW pastry flour and add more herbs.

I bought a new cookbook for $3.00, free shipping, on eBay-

 6. Build Community Food Systems- Sharing ideas with our kids. If I can get more chicks I may start  selling eggs again, time will tell. No farmers markets open, not sure if that will change. Atleast I have my farmer's market print-

7. Recycle/Re-Use-  Yes, especially now.  I've had to buy some new things, but got some new sheets on Overstock.com, good prices.  I was down to my last set. No more driving around town for deals. I bought Dave and I new sneakers on Amazon, free shipping. We don't belong to Prime, since I already have plenty of streaming and don't like to pay for a membership. Shipping is usually free anyway if the order is over a certain amount.  Why join? I took our bedroom metal cart and moved it into the living room for storage and set up a charging station. Now I've added gloves, sanitizer and hand wipe clothes to it, for easy access-

8. Skill Up- Learned all about different versions of high speed internet! Learning about simple French cooking.

9. Regenerate What is Lost/Salvage Something- Tore out non-productive garden area of old raspberries. Will plant some cool weather veggies, buy new berries plants (if we can find some). 

Brennaquinlan.com

Torn Trap, Restoring Antique Framed Family Photos, Rehabbing Ikea Trash, The Laying Has Commenced!!!

Torn Trapezoid- 
Well Spring is most definitely here! We had two days with near record high in the upper 60s and yesterday we got a good rain which we needed. Temperatures have dropped back down into the low 50's in the day and 30's at night. Lots of things are coming up in the garden front and back-

Tulips and Asian Poppies

Crocus

I haven't been posting much lately because I've had a really chronic shoulder problem with my right trapezius. It was so inflamed and painful that it was really wearing me out. I was really lucky that I was able to do acupuncture which helped a lot. Since my insurance didn't cover it I used a local acupuncture Co-op that has sliding fee scales. They're also open 7 days a week, just really helpful when you work weekdays So between that and Chiropractic I am about 90% good at this juncture. I've been doing heat/ ice, stretching, Arnica Gel, natural anti-inflammatories as well, so I did a multicultural approach so to speak. I have this happen a year or two ago and I think it's a little bit of overuse from doing so much keyboarding at work but that's a guess. Good news is, I'm on the mend. Then last weekend I god a cough and sore throat, not a good combo, just really wore me out. Cough cold almost gone, just lower energy still. Did my usual Homeopathic remedies, essential oils and stayed home Wednesday from work and rested. It all helped. 

Restoring Antique Framed Family Photos-
When we went to Portland in December for my husband Dave's annual family Christmas party he was able to bring home a couple of framed sets of photos of his father Tony. The frames were really old and the wood was dried out. Some of the pictures were askew and just needed some TLC. I basically took everything apart and here's what I did-

Flaws in the original placement

Wood dried and beat up

I slid the back off both and re-taped with some Scotch Create Acid Free Tape, costs $4.00-

Also found some good info buried under the backing- who was in the photo-

I used dark Old English wood oil and really coated both frames. Let dry and polished.

I washed the glass and put back together, looks much better! Hanging in our front hall instead of in a box somewhere...

Rehabbing Ikea Trash-
A few months ago I bought a few Ikea items online and had them shipped to the house. They're shipping is only $5 when you buy certain items so I was pretty excited at the great deals I got. One of the things I bought with it was a really large vase and it arrived in PIECES. Not only was I shocked that Ikea did such a poor packing job, but the fact that the box was mostly empty, didn't have a lot of packing left me scratching my head. I did send an email for a refund along with photos of the box with all the pieces of the vase inside. They gave me a full refund pretty quickly.  I decided not to re-order since I was afraid the whole thing would happen all over again. I started thinking that there was actually several very clean breaks in the stoneware and that maybe I could glue it back together. My thought was even if it look pretty rough most of the way around I could use it outside on my deck. I could fill with Ivy or something that would camouflage it. So last week I went ahead and glued it all back together. I think it actually came up pretty good! I found this glue that worked great-

I started with the front then did the back, then the handle-

Back

Front, not bad!!!

The Laying Has Commenced!!!
I was really shocked this week when I went out to close up the coop for the evening and found tTWo EGGS! Sadly around the time that two of our hens were killed, by what appeared to be a random local dog, the other two also stop playing. That was probably back in about October. So we have had ZERO eggs since then. Since both of our hens will be 6 years old in a few months I figured they were probably just done. But no!!! This week I had two eggs the first night, two eggs the next night and one egg yesterday. Bless their little feathery hearts, they are back into their laying mode. I assume some of it' the longer, warmer days. It is really nice and I told them how much I appreciate them. I'm planning on getting two or three new pullets (female baby chicks) in late spring/ early summer. We buy ours from a local hatchery a few days old and it always depends on what their supply is. When we first started keeping chickens I made the mistake of buying chicks on spring break which was a huge mistake. They need to be kept inside where it's warm until they feather out and that is always a mess. Not too bad for just a couple of chicks though. So the great news is we do have some fresh eggs again and I am SO grateful. I knew my girls were worth keeping even though I are thought they were retired. Who knew that they were not retired yet? They say that chickens are born with all the eggs they will ever lay and once they're done they're done so apparently mine are not HAHA!

A Little Something About Photos Of Me

Me, in my previous life

A Little Something About Photos Of Me-
I wanted to address something since it just came up and I was pretty surprised, actually. Recent comment here-

Kate said...
I would love to follow you, but, and please don't take this as an insult, it bothers me that you won't put a photo of yourself on your blog/facebook. It's like you want to connect with us, your readers, but you don't *really* want to connect. If I follow you, you'll see *my* face, right? I guess I like to see the person that I'm following and reading. Just something to think about.

I've been blogging for 6 years, reached people all over the planet, and I've never had anyone complain that there wasn't a photo of me on my blog. Or on my new Facebook page. It's never been important to ME what people look like if I'm following their blog/Facebook. I'm there for content. I loved Mama Pea's old photo with a pot on her head and a mug of hot cocoa for instance! Having worked in technology for a very long time I tend to lean towards more privacy, but I know that's a novel concept for some people. I've addressed this before in this blog about why I don't post more photos of my adult children, grand children or other specifics. I know lots of other bloggers like that as well. I know there are a lot of people in the world who let it all hang out through social media and that's their choice. They post everything about everyone with no thought for whether it's appropriate, or permanent. Personally I abhor "tagging" and facial recognition. I mean who needs to know this stuff? Big brother?

There are people who job hunt, for instance, who don't like the data that shows that potential employers will search your Facebook or other social media accounts. Those wacky photos of drunk and disorderly people, body parts hanging out, or worse, may not get them hired and then they wonder why? I've never really posted a photo of myself on this blog for a variety of reasons, mostly because I hate having my photos taken and I am sensitive about my appearance. If someone wants to see photos of me with the expectation that I'm 20 years old and a size one, sorry, not going to happen. There are some people that only want to socialize with people who look like them. Maybe they're from a certain racial/ethnic background, and are only comfortable with people that look similar. Or are the same same size, financial status, wear the same clothes? I could go on.

Anyway if you want to know what I look like click on the Facebook tab on the right side bar ,go to my Facebook page and you will find out! And if you don't like it I guess you can just visualize and use your creative, right sided part of your brain. I do have blue eyes! And for laughs on hating having your photos taken read this hysterical article, all the way to the bottom! Buzzfeed.com Say Cheese
ENJOY!!!

Flour Sack Dresses & Aprons, Rural Life in The 30's and 40's

Flour Sack Dresses & Aprons-
I've been reading up on more vintage style aprons. I knew that old flour sacks were saved before and after the Depression and used for clothing. It explained why some clothes were cut the way they were. They didn't buy yardage, so they had to piece things together. Great photos and info here Angelpig.org and vintage-style new patterns for sale Candleonthehill.

Child's dress

All matchy matchy :)

New Depression Era style from Countryliving

Feed the chickens!

Rural Life in The 30's and 40's-

What a great find here!!! The photographs are in amazing condition, really fascinating look at the past. Easy to read and broken up into sections- Freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com

Cooking on a wood burning cook stove

Making something good, with junior under the table! Looks like a pressure canner on the right of the table

making clothes

growing food