Andrea

Update:  I made the wine salt, it spent three days in the dehydrator and it is still super sticky.  I don't cook with a lot of salt so I'm not the best judge of the flavor but honestly, I don't think this recipe is worth the effort.  I think you get more wine flavor by marinating your meats directly in the wine or using the wine while making soup stock.  Cool idea, glad I tried it, but I won't be repeating it.

The nasturtium salt is okay and I will be making this as gifts in the future but I think the nasturtium vinegar is the best recipe when I have nasturtiums taking over the yard.  

I freeze our leftover pizza fully cooked in individual serving sizes.  It reheats great in the oven.  

Yes, you can!  In the past I've grown the purple Japanese sweet potatoes for years in large planters.  I haven't had any for the past three years.  Life got in the way of gardening.  

Update on the potato grow bags - I've filled all 10 to the top with soil now and the greens are toppling over and masking the bags!  I planted purple, white, and some russets from the grocery store that were looking at me. Location doesn't seem to have mattered but we haven't had any heat yet.  Looking forward to harvesting in a few more months.  My only concern is the amount of rain we've had leading to scab.  The true test will be on how they hold up during our triple digit heat . . .  

On the esthetics of the grow bags, I'm not super impressed with how they look.  If I have good production, I'll need to find better out of the way locations to plant them next year.  Once I finish reworking my raised bed area, I will probably put them all there next year.  

I also invested in the potato grow bags this year.  I've got 10 planted.  They grow great in my raised beds but the problem is that when I harvest them mid June ish, then it's too hot here to plant anything else in the beds.  So, I've got my grow bags set up around the yard - 4 in full sun, 3 in morning sun/afternoon shade, and 3 in filtered sunlight all day.  We'll see. . .

On 3/6/2022 at 12:53 AM, Midnightmom said:

Wine salt is exactly as it sounds – salt that’s infused with concentrated wine.  It is used as a seasoning and can be used anytime you’d use salt.  

 

WINE SALT – INGREDIENTS

• 750 ml (1 bottle) red wine. 
• 1-1.5 cups of coarse sea salt 

 

WINE SALT – INSTRUCTIONS

1. Simmer wine to reduce.  Watch carefully as it nears the end.  I reduced this to around 1 tablespoon.  It was a neat process the liquid looked like wine until it neared the end when it suddenly changed into a very thick syrup.
2. Pour 1 cup of salt into the pot.  Stir to absorb the wine.  It won’t absorb all of it but if there’s excess wine at the bottom of the pot, stir another half cup in.
3. Spread on a plate (this allows air to circulate) and allow the air to complete the drying process (or put the plate in the dehydrator overnight to speed up the process).  
4. Toss the salt with a spoon every once in a while to prevent clumping/ sticking (it can be broken apart if it does stick).
5. Store in a covered jar.
6. That’s all there is to it!  If the salt doesn’t get completely dry you can continue to use it; if that bothers you, add more salt and it will eventually absorb all of your liquid.

 

 

https://wellpreserved.ca/how-to-make-wine-salt-recipe/

 

Oooh, this sounds great!  I no longer drink wine but I have a full wine cabinet.  It might be time to experiment.

And speaking of salty things, I came across this recipe for Nasturtium Salt:  How to make nasturtium salt & other nasturtium recipes - Stephanie Hafferty (nodighome.com)   I've neglected my garden the past few years due to life challenges and it's become a mess of New Zealand Spinach, Nasturtiums, and chives.  So I'll be making the nasturtium salt in the next few days.  I'll let you know how it turns out!  

Do you have a source for the second statement?  I've lost 6 friends to Covid.  The first 5 before there was a vaccine available.  The 6th was reluctant to take the vaccine because of anti-science, conspiracy memes on facebook.  She is dead now and missed meeting her first grandchild by 5 weeks. 

Fully vaxxed and boosted and proud to be able to help protect those I love by being vaccinated.  Maybe those of you in less populated rural areas don't have as much to worry about but for those of us in urban areas, Covid hit and hit hard.  

If you've done your research (peer-reviewed scientific studies not conspiracy bs like Steve Quayle spouted while he was in the hospital for Covid) then okay.  But if you are doing your research from memes and Coast-to-Coast interviews, please expand your knowledge base.  The lives of those you love may one day depend upon your research.  

Sorry for getting serious in the humor section but Covid isn't funny.  If you want an eye-opener, visit r/HermanCainAward over on reddit.  Covid isn't funny.

I made a huge vat of Chicken Tortilla Soup.  We'll eat it for a few days then it will be packaged into individual servings and put into the freezer.  Soup and salad are our go-to meal.  (I don't can as much since I got my chest freezer. . .) I also finally finished all of the laundry/bedding from having a full house over the Thanksgiving Holiday and did just enough Christmas decorating to make it look festive but I won't be spending a week putting everything away.  

Then, I spent three hours sleeping through 1 1/2 movies on the couch.  At the beginning of the pandemic, I came down with an extremely rare autoimmune condition.  In fact, I missed the first six weeks of quarantine because I was either in bed or being driven up to the ER in the middle of the night (when they weren't busy) for IV hydration.  When I over do things, like I did at Thanksgiving and the weeks leading up to it, I have to take a few days off.  Those days are NOW.  The upside is that my disease has finally taught me how to prioritize and to accept that I cannot possibly do everything that I want to.  It's been a humbling experience. 

Hope you all are well.

Dogmom - I'm so very sorry for your loss.  (((HUGS)))

I've been very, very busy.  We had a great Thanksgiving - full house - all vaxxed and boosted.  It's been a very long while since we've had overnight guests so the two weeks before Thanksgiving were spent cleaning and organizing.  Everything thing went well and we got to meet the parents of dd's long-term boyfriend. (Finally after five years)

Today I returned from the post office (had to mail my Mom's phone charger cord to her that she left) to find that the neighbor's tree trimming service had cut my Mulberry down to the ground.  Not happy and not a darn thing I can do about it.  I don't think we'll be staying in this house long enough for another Mulberry to mature to fruit.  The tree guy pointed to the cement mow strip and told me that he was supposed to cut everything back on that side of the mow strip.  I pointed to the correct mow strip that divides our two yards.  We have a privet problem here - the stuff grows like weeds and the neighbor asked him to cut down all of the privet.  Not sure how you mix up a mulberry and a privet.  I was furious and told him to keep away from my Bay Tree.  

He did offer to replace it but I simply can't deal with it right now.  Grinding out the stump will chew up the sprinkler pipes which dh doesn't have time to fix and why spend money on a tree that I will most likely not ever enjoy the fruits of? So much for my mulberry liquor.  My last batch is in the back of my fridge.  I probably won't share as much this year.  

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Washing the 100+ year old china and crystal for the holidays.  Tomorrow is the silver . . . sigh.  But, this will be MIL's last holiday season so if it makes her happy. . .

I popped into MotherEarth's radio show just now.  This was posted in the chat:

Quote

Please
pray for Mother Earth ..her daughter just messaged me, she had 2
GrandMal seizures, they could not KEEP HER at the hospital as they are
overfilled, sent her home for Gods Sake

The Dollar Store carries the magazine boxes in decorated cardboard.  

Mother - if you are looking for aesthetically pleasing lemon slices for a dinner party, buy fresh.  Otherwise, frozen is just fine. 

I've always used a coffee grinder that I use only for dried veggies, sprouted wheat berries, and herbs.  

Can you guess?!? LOL

Homesteader - I don't like dehydrated celery, it reconstitutes weirdly.  BUT, I dehydrate it and grind it into a powder and it is the bomb in broths and salad dressings.  I also do the same thing with Egyptian Walking Onions.  Onion powder is okay, but green onion powder puts things over the top. 

(I planted 3 celery plants over a decade ago.  They freely reseed themselves EVERYWHERE)

I had my daughter vaccinated at age 12 (13 years ago).  This study just came out:  www.bbc.com/news/health-59148620

Science for the win.  

Quote

The human papillomavirus, or HPV, vaccine is cutting cases of cervical cancer by nearly 90%, the first real-world data shows.

Cancer Research UK described the findings as "historic", and said it showed the vaccine was saving lives.

Nearly all cervical cancers are caused by viruses, and the hope is vaccination could almost eliminate the disease.

The researchers said the success meant those who were vaccinated may need far fewer cervical smear tests too.

Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women around the world, killing more than 300,000 each year.

Almost nine-in-10 deaths are in low and middle income countries where there is little access to cervical cancer screening. The hope is vaccination will have an even bigger impact in those countries than wealthier nations such as the UK.

I'm on my third batch of persimmons.

Do your research, and by research, I mean peer reviewed scientific studies.  Then, and only then, make the decision for yourself.  

We used to have a dehydrating thread but I can't seem to locate it.  These days, I tend to use my dehydrator and freezer more than my canner.  For the next few weeks, I'll be drying gallons upon gallons of sliced persimmons.  These not only make awesome gifts but they are an amazing natural sweetener for my baked oatmeal.   And of course, they make great snacks.  (stock photo)

Instead of O2 absorbers, have you thought about purchasing a vacuum sealer?  I have one like this:

Pump-N-Seal® Food Saver Vacuum Sealer - Fastest vacuum sealer for marinating - Food Saver - Long Term Food Storage

It works great for storing in quart size jars.  I just made some 15 bean soup from a dried bean mix that I sealed in a glass jar 12 years ago.  In fact, this is my preferred way to store bulk dry beans.  I've found that the #10 cans of beans can become impossibly hard, even after freezing and or pressure cooking.  Rice, on the other hand, needs to be eaten within 5 years or it seems to go rancid.  But, my rice in #10 cans that was 15 years old was just fine.   

I'm no longer storing for an army, or for a millenium, but I do try to keep at least a year on hand of most shelf-stable foods.  The vacuum sealer which I bought 20+ years ago still remains one of my favorite methods of storage.  

The Ball Blue Book has an excellent recipe for seasoned ground beef.  It's generic enough that you can add additional spices to flavor it Italian or Mexican upon opening.  I've used it for canning ground turkey as well.  

I simply freeze my citrus whole.  When I need some zest or juice, I pull out a lemon or lime, toss it into the microwave for 20 seconds, and then proceed like I would with a fresh lemon/lime.  I've also made "fresh squeezed" orange juice from frozen oranges.  But, I don't recommend this unless you have a LOT of freezer space.  LOL

For what it's worth, I found canning citrus juice was too much work for the quality of product it produced.  

She needs to check her head space on some of those jars . . .

Masks do work.  Do they work 100%?  No, nothing really works at that level.  But, with proper masks and social distancing, transmission rates can be reduced significantly.  Here are three peer reviewed scientific studies if you are interested:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7883189/

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2776536

https://www.pnas.org/content/118/4/e2014564118

I live in California's Central Valley.  Currently, listed as the 16th most populous county in the state, Stanislaus County has the 4th highest percentage of Covid deaths.

 https://stacker.com/stories/9663/counties-highest-covid-19-death-rate-california

The reason?  I'm guessing it's non-compliance with covid guidelines.   We also have one of the lowest vaccination rates in California.  Last month when our cases sky-rocketed and covid patients needing hospitalization were shipped out of our area to the Bay Area (significantly higher covid compliance guidelines rate), the county reinstated the mask mandate for everyone indoors.  People were okay about following it for about two weeks and then tapered off.  Now?  When I go to the pharmacy to pick up cancer meds for my dying Mother, NO ONE is wearing a mask.  I'm sorry, but if you are a pharmacist putting together prescriptions for sick people, shouldn't you at least attempt to protect those people you are trying to help?  Especially when you live/work in an area with a higher than normal infection and fatality rate?  The mask mandate is still in effect but few are following it.  Personally, if wearing a surgical mask will help the community when I'm popping into a store for a few groceries, it's seems a no brainer to wear one.

I'm not here to debate masks/vaccines, just wanted to throw another viewpoint into the mix.  

Hey out!  Hope life has been treating you well!