Fresh Garlic

We dug our garlic last week and the bad news is that several of the tops rotted off when we had all of that rain. The good news is that not all of them did! I was able to make two braids and we have quite a bit without tops to use for food and medicine. There are so many things that garlic is good for. It really is a wonderful herb. And, oh so delicious!
I'll try to put a picture of the braids on here as soon as I get them hung up. They are heavy so I need to put something stronger up to securely hold them.
I hope you will think about planting your own garlic plot this fall. It can be as small (or as large!) as you want. Come next summer you will have your very own fresh garlic!
Nancy

Gardening Around the Weather

Wow. That's quite a feat these days, isn't it? We went from severe thunderstorm warnings and tons of rain each day to severe heat warnings and no rain each day. We put things in the ground as we could, thinking that something was better than nothing. I went out at 6:00 this morning to water before the heat really set in. I have to water at the roots because if there is water on the plant when the hot sun hits it, it will scorch the plant. So, I drag the hose around from plant to plant trying to give everything a good drink. This morning I had a ground hornet that kept coming in for an attack. Normally if I wave my hands around a little I can chase them away. Not this morning. If anyone was watching it must have been quite the sight. I would start out by waving my hand a little and telling it to go away. It would volley around me with intensive buzzing so I would step up the waving. When that didn't work I would take off the hat I was wearing and wave it around. He would start darting around me faster and the buzzing would increase. (Was it really louder or was my now-flowing adrenaline making my sense of hearing keener?) Not having any success I would start waving the hand holding the hose. He seemed to enjoy that challenge and stepped up his maneuvering. Now I am in an all-out attack mode. In order to save my life I now know the only thing I have left is to deftly aim a stream of water at him hoping (and praying) for a direct hit. It worked! He's gone! Hooray! Sweet victory!

Unfortunately, I had to repeat that scenario four times. I decided to add some vocabulary to what turned out to be my final counter-attack and just as things were really getting heated up my husband came around the corner of the house and asked what was wrong. "Don't worry," he said, "I'll get him." My hero.

Apparently, after seeing that the reinforcements had arrived, the little kamikaze rethought things, realized he was outdone, and didn't show up again. (Figures, doesn't it?)

Nancy

Eating Natural

People have asked about making the switch to natural and organic foods and I have found the best way to start is to substitute ingredients. Make what you make now so you will be eating what you like (and possibly head off a revolt from less than enthusiastic family members). Use whole grain flour instead of white flour, unrefined sugar, honey or maple syrup in the place of refined sugar, real salt for white, real maple syrup instead of the not real, and so on. Organic produce is easy to find now and isn't much higher in price than conventional. Naturally raised meats and eggs are also easy to find. Once you get started you may want to branch out and make your own bread. Pancakes and waffles from scratch are GREAT as are so many things made at home from real ingredients. After you get started you will find that you are actually spending less on food and, of course, reaping the benefits of good nutrition.
Hope you'll get started! You'll have lots of fun and be eating lots of good food.
Nancy

Celebrate Farming

Spent the weekend at a farming celebration and had such a great time. Draft horse pull, lots of old horse-drawn equipment, and good friends. There was plenty to look at and lots of things to do. We hated to see it end.
Nancy

Company!

My sister and her two daughters were here for a visit last weekend and we enjoyed seing them so much! My niece wanted to learn how to make butter so here she is shaking the cream. Because she was shaking the jar my sister started singing "La Cucaracha". I said, "Well in that case....." and went and got out the sombrero and maracas for her. Great laughs.

Hope you have some wonderful times and laughs today.

Nancy

Farm Stuff

There is more than one way to mow the grass! Above top is our crew hard at work.
The second picture is of a friend's wood cook stove. Isn't it great? It belonged to her husband's grandmother.
We enjoyed the broccoli from our garden night before last. It was a big first for us to have grown our own. There is something about growing your own food that is very satisfying. And when you eat it that fresh right from the garden it so healthy and delicious. Then you add in the fact that it was grown without chemicals and it is a huge thing indeed!

I want to share something with you that I read the other day in a book that I bought at a garage sale. The title is "Recollections of a Pioneer" and it was written by a man that moved to Missouri in 1839 by covered wagon when he was ten years old. In 1849 he, and other boys and men that lived in the area, set out for Califonia to try to find gold. There were many hazards along the way and when they reached California he became ill. Here are his words: " When we got down to Weaver Creek, three emigrants were at work panning out the gold. We stopped and camped and watched them for a long time. That night I was taken sick with the flux. It was a bad place to be sick and I was dreadfully sick, too. They fixed me a sort of pallet under the shade of a big tree, and I lay there night and day for a week and they didn't know whether I would live or die. Trains were constantly arriving and in one of them there was a doctor. He came down to see me and told the boys they must hunt up a cow and give me fresh warm milk. They told me afterwards they found a train in which somebody had foresight enough to bring a cow along, and they got the milk and brought it to me. I drank it and soon recovered."

How about that for REAL milk?! (The flux was also called the "bloody flux". It was dysentery.)

The book was written by J.W. (Watt) Gibson in 1912.

I'll let you know if I find any other gems in it.

Nancy