I recently traded with a friend who had too many tomatoes and no time. Since I had the opposite, it was a perfect match. I made 8 quarts of crushed organic tomatoes and kept half; and two weeks later it was time to start again. I supplemented by buying a few pecks of “seconds” tomatoes [...]
Fall is growing ever nearer. Tonight it was full dark at 8pm; where did the summer go? Not that I’m complaining about the cooler, drier days, you understand. But I can’t remember a summer flying by this fast since I was in grade school and clinging to every passing day before school started up again [...]
We’ve got about 15 pounds of watermelon in the basement right now; what to do with it all?
The watermelon on its own is great, but Sofía loves to crunch on the seeds and I’m not sure how good that is for her. Alternative: watermelon popsicles! The days are long and hot and just perfect for [...]
I have hit my limit with the handmade-ness of the toolshed. I wasn’t happy with how it was coming together; the gaps were too big for my liking (remember the cladding was split not cut, so the logs bowed out and in as well as left and right) and I just wasn’t fully loving its [...]
I got the first bit of cladding done today.
Only the far left log is nailed in place; the others are all loose like puzzle pieces, getting moved and turned this way and that, to see which way they fit best before being trimmed and nailed in place.
My borrowed sawzall really helps trim up the sides [...]
Seven eggs, potatoes and onions and cucumbers from the garden became our first fully home-grown meal tonight (well, almost – I didn’t grow the dill or the lemon for the salad).
Farm-fresh tortilla española and a side of cucumber salad, with (non-home-grown) cherry clafoutis for dessert.
Warning: Lecture.
This is a great part of the reason why I feel so strongly about raising my own animals for meat, eggs, and honey.
Ignorance. The hand-washing syndrome of paying someone else to do your dirty work for you, allowing you to take the lives of the animals that sustain you completely for granted. I believe [...]
So remember back in this post, just about one week ago, when I was pining for both more freezer space and a pressure cooker? Well, lookee what marvelous (free!) finds dropped in my lap in the last few days.
A big, newish chest freezer and a solid-cast-aluminum pressure cooker!
Both need some rehab, of course.
The chest freezer [...]
I had already started my kidney beans soaking for bean salad when I learned there was a pressure cooker/canner up for grabs in my neighborhood (more on that later), so at one in the morning – because I never sleep – I went ahead and made the pickled bean salad I’d planned on.
One pound of [...]
Here’s the harvest from today’s morning trip out to gather eggs (two today!).
Two 5-pound watermelons, one 5-pound Marina di Chioggia winter squash, one two-pound butternut, and of course our own egg. (The second egg came later, so it’s not shown.)
I wouldn’t have harvested the butternut or Chioggia quite yet, but vine borers got their vines [...]