kappydell

Made out an application for homestead tax exemption to take over to county tax place when I renew my vehicle registration. Might as well I will be in the same building and I should save some on property taxes. Dr appointment today, pre-surgical physical so I can get the go ahead for surgery. Tomorrow i will go on a tour of nursing homes to get a better idea which one I will go to if need be. Several found in my area look good. Slowly but surely lining up duckies....

Just wait til he learns about the Hokie Pokey! Probably morph it into the Honkie Pokie or something....He sure has a sharp mind, he is picking things up like a sponge. Time to stop cussin'!

Homesteader, an open stairway will make a wonderful convection warming corridor. The old farmhouse (1896) I rented had only a space heater in the living room, and the stairway took the air up to upstairs the bedrooms nicely. Unfortunately the landlord carpeted over the holes the original owners had cut in the floor (remember those old cast iron grates in the floor? I used to listen at them to the grownups talking after I was supposed to be in bed asleep, LOL). You might try that if you need more warm air upstairs (and dont have a carpet or dont mind putting a hole in one). You just close them with a lever on the side when you don't need the air flow. In our old house we would open the upstairs window closest to the open stairwell and put a fan in the window, blowing air out, as the warmer air rose up the steps. Mostly at night, it cooled things down nicely when the weather was hot.

glad you got it miki! Gaskets can be soooo tight! As soon as you break it in it should work a lot easier. My new (smaller) canner gasket sticks, too.

I did look up every you tube video I could find on this, and it does not look like the veggies would be "over-cooked" to mush any more than with regular canning. I think I will try this....canned veggies not only keep without power, they have their own water (juice) so are a good option for when water supplies are limited. I always use the juice even in commercially canned veggies to make gravy for the same meal or add to the small crock pot with the bones for bone broth. Needless to day I don't have to add any salt - the salt in the juice helps draw out the flavors & minerals from the bones. Of course, when the broth is done cooking I sometimes have to add a little water to CUT the salt, lol. We have eater low salt for so long that many commercial foods are waaaaay to salty now for us. that reminds me I need to order more low salt wylers bouillon....none of the grocery stores around here carry it anymore. Also gotta order some of the ham flavored bouillon powder. The stuff I have stored is starting to have the fat in it go rancid after 8 years storage (yuck). I do want some on hand though, it seasons a pot of plain beans when I have no ham bone very nicely. I just add it in place of any salt the recipe calls for and the ham flavor is a nice bonus. ( I will have to rotate it more religiously though.)

Doing more dehydrating today. Took the bok choy out of dehydrator and jarred it; now have a huge armload of mustard greens to cut up, blanch, dry and powder. Glad I stopped at 6 plants, they are prolific enough for me to handle without getting overloaded. I discovered a litter of 3 kitties in the carpot/shed from the outside mama when I went out with the morning food. Mama is a smart cookie....I had put a tall tote out there with an old wool coat on the bottom for insulation then lined it with a big fluffy (old and holey, too) blanket nice & thick. That is where she chose to have the babies and they are nice and warm in there. She sits on top and snuggles them - she is an excellent mama. I will have to make sure she gets a little extra chow (and keep the water well supplied) so she will have plenty of milk for nursing. Mary & I are putting away the rest of the Christmas decorations today. Tomorrow I have a pre-op meet with my neurologist then a pre-op exam from my internist so she will clear me for surgery. Time to start doing all that stuff that needs doing....getting Mary a list of life insurance companies I have accounts with, dig out my living will and power of attorney, etc, etc (just in case) and pre-make vitamin packets for her to bring me during recovery since most docs do not do much with vitamins except to hand out the occasional multi-vite. In between the to-dos I will keep dehydrating winter veggies as much as I can.

picked 6 bok choy 'heads' (made quite an arm load) and dehydrated it down to a 1 qt jar. Today Im making more powdered mustard greens - those leaves are HUUUUGE (one would feed a couple people, they are that big. Measured one at 16 inches by 11 inches, just the leaf not the stem. 6 plants was plenty. Checked my radishes....picked one....nice & round & red and about the size of a pencil eraser so far. Broccoli is starting to make heads with the warmer days (mmmmmmmm). I will pick a couple of the remaining bok choy and give them to my pastor tonight after mass.....only a couple less to cut up and he will love fresh greens as always. (Yes I know collards are traditional, but bok choy is what is ready... at least it too is green, like money. Maybe it will work to attract good luck, too, LOL)

Now you have me thinking....it would not be necessary to blanch them for a hot pack, just heat them up until hot through, then pack. I gotta go Googling......I know it can be done with meat, no idea on veggies. Fresh & frozen are nearly the same price here, so it would be a good idea for the things that are challenging to grow for uys here.

I dont have a farm either, but pigs do not take much room, and in times past were kept even in town, fed the house scraps "slops" and grown from the purchased piglet to eating size in a year. I think it would be a handy skill in case we get to do some feral hog hunting - I've read that the females are reasonably edible. The real deal clincher was the price. I've never seen a class so reasonable, either. I will have to work hard at rehab after they fix my back to be in good shape for the next class! I just recently found us a target range run by the county that is free for us - just show our hunting licenses - others pay all of $5 a day to use the range. It is one of the better outdoor ones....it has an outhouse!!! Now THAT is living!

Made cookie deliveries today. My doc was delighted with both the cookies and the fresh greens (collards, kale and lots of bok choy) she got as well. She loves bok choy as it turns out, which is good....when the weather warms too much (even a day or two) it will bolt so we have to eat it soon. So she will get more as will my pastor who is Vietnamese and knows darn well what to do with greens of any kind! Any surplus after that I will dehydrate to limp me thru until I can get fresh again. Radishes & lettuce are coming along nicely, so there will be replacement goodies....

From what I have read you just bring yourself. I imagine the observers can video the workshop but the hands on folks would be hard pressed to. You do get meat processing bulletins in a binder along with copious instructions to take home. I don;t know if someone is on call to answer questions, you'd have to ask the instructors. I have done deer so I have some idea, I just want to do hog scraping and cutting with someone the first time. After that Im good. If this upcoming surgery of mine works well hopefully I will be able to stand up enough to manage the butchery next time.

mary just cuts it back with her chain saw. don;t know if that is good or bad, but it works for now. Dont want it getting overly invasive. We have large stands of it along side our country roads if I need more. I was playing with some - it is quite flexible when green and small so might weave nicely. Mary is frustrated by the high heat & humidity killing our tomatoes the last 2 yrs . Here is hoping it works! i did not know it could splinter so I'll be wearing gloves

OMG! I was soooo afraid these people were no longer in business, but they are. Not that it helps me any, I will be in rehab center when they have this class, but I hope it is well attended so they have one in 2021! I soooo want to do this! The price is even right...class participants (watch) $12.00; Workshop Participants (hands on) $35.00 Old South Farm Museum 8570 Manchester Hwy Woodland, GA 31836 706-975-9136 (cell) Hog Killing Time February 01, 2020 Come join us at the Old South Farm Museum & Ag Learning Center in Woodland, Georgia for an Old Fashioned Hog Killing School on Saturday, February 01, 2020. The program will begin around 8:30 a.m. 8:30 a.m. Hog Killing, Scalding & Scraping Class 9:30 a.m. Cutting of Meats Class 9:45 a.m. Demonstrations Chitterlings Cleaning - Casings Scraping Sausage Making Lard Making Cooking Skins 10:0 a.m. Demonstrations Processing Heads Making Brunswick Stew Meat Curing Lye Soap Cracklins Smoking Meats (Smoke House Operation) 12:00 noon - 1:00 p.m. Lunch 1:00 p.m. Continue workshops We have specialist teaching classes at various stations to explain meat processing. Each specialist will repeat demonstrations several times during workshop. Two Groups of Participation Class Participant - (Observer) Attends classes and receives FREE sausage. Workshop Participant (Hands On Experience) Attends classes and receive several bulletins on Sausage Making /Meat Curing AND 10-15 pounds of FREE Pork Products. No Meat Will Be SOLD except sausage. Shady Grove Baptist Church will serve breakfast and lunch at the Museum for a reasonable cost. Pre-Registrants will pick up their paid receipt and get their name tag at the front door of the Museum when they arrive. No receipts will be sent back. Please Call To Confirm If You Wish. Your registration includes touring the Museum. Use the link below to mail with your payment to the Farm Museum. Credit Cards can not be accepted. Registration Deadline: January 27, 2020 PRE-REGISTRATION REQUIRED

Uncovered the garden this morning after two nights of frosts (30 degrees). Didn't cover so much for the mature winter crops, but for the newly sprouting radishes, lettuce, kohlrabi, carrots, turnips & beets planted earlier this month. They did fine! I am already drooling in anticipation of fresh sweet radishes - thinned the first plantings last week. Need to find some more onion sets to put in for fresh scallions.....maybe put in some seeds instead. Pondering how to shade part of the garden for tomatoes & beans that suffer from too much heat. Cost is naturally an issue, but I am sure we will think of something using recycleables.....deliberating whether to weave something out of the bamboo Mary cut down at property edge.....

Uncovered the garden today after 2 nights of hard frost. My mature veggies can handle it but I was concerned about my newly sprouted beets, radishes, lettuce, etc and they did just fine all tucked in nicely. This weekend we are finishing out Christmas cookie baking. Next week we deliver cookies & fresh green veggies to our special recipients. One of our stores (the one in the poor part of town that charges only 10% over their cost) has a great sale on Libbys canned veggies (52 cents)....30 cents a can cheaper than wal-marts regular prices on their Libby's brand (84 cents) !!! M. does not like Great Value veggies (says the veg are older & tougher) so I am buying up as many as I can because prices around here ALWAYS go up in Jan. Good time to restock the stores we have used up this last year. Ditto with stocking up on certain meat specials (turkey & ham, for example). Unfortunately some areas I can only shop in the daytime, while condomized, and this store is in one of those places. Worth the extra trouble to save that much, though. Money is tight, but I'm getting as much as I can...tactical shopping!

Amen. It recently occurred to me just WHY the smartest folks I know have no college education....they didn't need to be taught how to think, they figured it out for themselves! And common sense is not taught in a classroom.

Glad to see there are others who love okra too! I have a recipe for canning tomatoes with okra that is looking really interesting....dont see why I could not can it with green peppers and onions, too....just process for the veggie with the longest time, like any other vegetable mixture. That would be AWESOME! DIY gumbo starter! Southern ratatouille! Call it whatever you like, it still sounds delicious! Right now I am madly drying greens. Mustard, kale, collards, in various combinations depending on what is picking on any particular day. I think I have created several "monsters"....I gave bok choy to a couple folks who never had it before. Now they are hooked, and, of course it is hard to find in the stores. I think I will have to plant lots more next fall, it is that good. It is all I can do to not eat those juicy stems right in the garden, like cherry tomatoes or snap beans, LOL. ( It drives Mary nuts when I eat the stuff on the spot! I get a sigh and "the look") But it is sooooooo good. Thinking of trying more Asian greens next fall too, looking through the asian vegetable seed catalog is inspiring. I never thought of growing my own mung beans for sprouting, but I don't see why not, if they can take our hot summer heat. Why stop with bok choy? The yard long beans were fairly good....thinking of doing more this spring.

Well the MRI went well. Put the washcloth across my eyes BEFORE I slid under the machine and convinced myself that when they moved me it was still "open" above me. (The valium helped a lot.) Now I am ready to go see my neurosurgeon in early Jan. Hopefully it will be all systems go for surgery...will be in the hospital on my birthday (LOL) but from others who have had same surgery it is well worth the pain and long rehab. I have found a rehab facility only 30 min away with excellent ratings and all the features I want (WIFI, cable TV, physical therapy on-site). Marys back is so bad she won't be able to help me with the full body brace or in and out of bed. Fortunately my insurance pays for 180 days, which should be plenty and then some. I am also kicking my nutritional program into high gear, eating high protein, lots of brewers yeast, yogurt, antistress vitamins, etc to be in as good health as possible when the flare goes up. I do not expect the rehab to have bad food, just not as nutrient dense as I am using. So I am also dehydrating my prolific greens from the garden and powdering them. I plan to take them with me so I can stir powdered greens into hot water with some bouillon and at least get some greens that way. I might take the nutritional yeast along, too. I figure I can get cottage cheese & yogurt (though the hospitals do not seem to stock anything fat free or sugar free in the way of yogurt.) Oh yes, I will have to tell then I am allergic to soy. (They look at me like I am crazy when I explain about soy encouraging cancer recurrence...I guess the research is too new or esoteric to filter down to the nutritionists yet, sad to say.) They understand 'allergic' a lot easier. As far as keeping up my protein intake, well, dontcha know I just LOVE milk and cottage cheese! i love my docs, but they miss things, so I keep doing my own research and insist on follow ups. I just read the other day that those haloes I was seeing around lights is a major symptom of glaucoma, but both the neurologist & internist missed it....I went to the eye doc because I KNEW in my gut that something was wrong, thinking cataracts. Surprise! Glaucoma. Sheesh. I read of this type of thing happening over and over to others, too....So I "prep" to keep healthy, I guess you could say.

I am amazed that more folks around here do not grow winter veggies. No bugs to speak of, fewer weeds. But when my pastor sees me coming with a sack full of fresh garden greens his eyes light up! Now picking huge mustard leaves, bok choy, and less huge collards. Kale will come later, but those 4 things will be our backbone. the lettuce I planted is coming up, also the radishes; so I did another planting of more radishes, more lettuce, carrots, kohlrabi, and some cabbages from seed just for fun. There is spinach somewhere in there too. I'm starting to dehydrate and powder greens for the future - I have enough for both fresh eating and dehydrating. That way I can make bouillon & greens soup anytime I want a shot of greens in my diet! Speaking of dehydrating, the okra dehydrates really well though it gets pretty slimy when I blanch it, it gets un-slimy when dehydrated. I made some last week - soak to rehydrate, toss with a little shake and bake and put in oven to crisp up alongside whatever meat you have cooking there. Makes an awesome side dish and is almost as easy as going thru the drive through at the local barbecue restaurant where you can not get fries, but you CAN get breaded fried okra as a side dish. YUM! Once in a while I just gotta have some, lol! Gotta be better for me than fries, at least I like to think so.

Hooray! I can finally start doing things around here again - no lifting restrictions. So Im starting in easy, limiting my lifting to 10-20 lbs for starters and seeing how it goes. As my back surgery looms, I am finding rehab facilities for post surgical care since I will be fairly helpless and Mary cant lift me (and the pets running around would NOT understand not being on my lap or in bed by my side which will be forbidden for the first while). Soo.....I was astounded to find really low ratings for rehab facilities close by, unless for drug or alcohol rehab. Now THOSE there are plenty of. (It figures, but there is good money in that kind of rehab.) But I did find a likely place 30 min away, with the amenities I would want - WIFI, cable TV, food choices, events and activities, one on one physical therapy, etc. My insurance will fund 180 days in such a place, my husband was in one and it was rather nice. This one is much the same. The reviews were especially important to me, and this one I am considering had excellent ones. I want to have everything set up ready as I wont feel like it post surgery, needless to say! Friday I go for another MRI of my neck for my new doc, he wants to see if anything needs straightening there I guess. I went before but my claustrophobia kicked in an I had to reschedule after getting a couple of diazepam to take before the mri. Bad enough that thing being 3 inches from my nose, but strapped down with my head in a clamp was something the claustrophobia could NOT take! Hopefully with the meds I can put a washcloth over my eyes and pretend I am in bed in my CPAP and relax or hopefully doze for that 45 min. Fingers crossed. Choir practice was fun last night. We had no men show up so when we got to the parts where the tenors had solos I sang those (just for giggles) much to the amusement of my fellow singers. I am one of the few that can read music, and I did not want them to struggle trying to count the measures while the "men" sang, so I just did it to make things flow more easily. We were cracking jokes about me being a tenor through soprano voice. Can NOT do those bass parts, but that's OK (lol) it would just confuse things. Have been getting to do solos here and there because I can sing loud, and on key, too. I told them when I signed up...if you need me to do it, I will, no hesitation. I will at least take a shot at it. I like the singing and an in awe of our high soprano, who can sing waaaaay up in the rafters. She sang an awesome "Ave Maria" in Latin lat Sunday. I'm going to miss the music while I am in rehab....maybe Mary & I can dig out my keyboard so I can at least play on that. Don;t know if the place has a piano or not. They do have church services though so I will maybe be able to sing there a bit to keep in practice and all. The winter garden is growing by leaps & bounds. Now picking: HUGE Florida Giant mustard, HUGE Bok Choy, less huge collard greens. I have given some away (no shortage of folks willing to take winter veggies, LOL) to my priest, whose eyes light up when he sees me bringing a white bag from the truck after church. Marys doctor got some too - she had never heard of bok choy, but is now a convert. I dehydrated some mustard greens to make powder, so when I am in the rehab I can make bouillon & greens soup for sipping in the afternoon. I like greens far more than most, and I'm not sure if the meals would have them as often as I like, except they do have a fresh fruit selection on their coffee break cart which is more than most institutional kitchens have. (I'll have to take along my own nutritional yeast as well, I suspect. I'll have Mary bring it in a care package on a visit.) I am assuming I can get cottage cheese to boost my protein uptake for faster healing.

Thanksgiving was a nice QUIET day for a change! Had dinner at our friends' home and watched a TV movie with them before scooting home to take care of the animals. On Wednesday we heard Jack (the Aussie, he seems to like being the outside dog) barking & barking & barking. He alerts to anything out of the ordinary within his visual range both inside & out. Usually he is just barking at the outside cats, who (depending on their temperament) stroll or dash past his pen. Mary went out to get some extension cords to finish up the Christmas display hookup, and looked across the road to our neighbors and saw his dog hanging, apparently from the neck, from his trolley run line, struggling to get free. She shouted at me "Charlie needs help he's choking!" grabbed a wire cutters and we jumped in car (faster than our fastest gaits now days). Fortunately Charlie had a let thru the noose/loop of cable alongside his neck or he would have been dead before we got there. We cut him free, then took him to Walmart to replace the cable we cut. Neighbors were not home. Charlie is a sweet 6 mo old "golden-doodle" and is the size of a german shepherd, but with blond curly fur, like a poodle. He was very good in the car, and very friendly once he calmed down a bit from his panic (which made him super clingy and anxious). Nice dog, we like him, and have overlooked the times he had escaped and come over to visit, but one of the neighborhood walkers (they carry sticks & pepper spray for dogs, apparently they have a fear of them) reported his being loose to animal control and his owners got a $750 ticket for him being loose, no rabies tags, etc even though Mary went over and caught him right away and tied him on his trolley...back story). When we got home the neighbors were looking for him in a panic, and were grateful that he was safe & sound. We gave him the new cable, and Mary talked with them about how they were going to try to work with Charlie more. Well, they have 3 children under 3, both work full time and Charlies spends his time in his kennel (he gets bored and tears up the house, and the Mom was mad when he pooped in his crate (after 10 hours I'd poop there too). When the dad said "why don;t you take him, we cant take care of him properly" Mary immediately accepted. Of course, they are free to come see him anytime, but frankly the kids are too young to even realize the dogs is there or not, and the parents are too busy after work wrangling the todlers to give Charlie the attention he needs & craves. So now we have ANOTHER dog, but what the heck, the more the merrier! Chaarlie is a sweetie, and seems eager to learn & please, so with a little gentle training he will be quite an asset. (Dang! I looked up what those breed cost and I am breathless with shock!) Monday after Thanksgiving we will adopt Charlie, as we agreed to wait until after the holidays to lessen the stress on all the kids, be they canine or human....

that reminds me of the time I scored a huuge hubbard squash (15 lbs) because the clerk (up north) insisted it was a gourd, and gourds were on sale for $1 each. I tried to explain it was really a squash, but she insisted I take the gourd at the sale price. Oh well, I tried.....Several times at that store I ended up explaining the different kinds of squashes and their traits & uses to other shoppers who asked if I knew anything about such things. (Do I ever, LOL). Started small pickings of outer leaves on mustard & bok choy. Other things are not big enough yet, but with judicial cut and come again crops we can make them last all winter. Planted radishes, lettuce & kohlrabi; another row of radishes in next week. Going to keep planting them as long as possible. Our only issues is the deer nibbles on the broccoli. But it is coming back. Pics are from Nov 18 when I started picking the first little bits....

i am always astonished at other folks (including relatives) reactions to stored food. They think they are automatically allowed to have some, like you have to share with the whole class. Lately cars have been stopping while I am picking greens out in the garden, and folks asking how much it would cost to buy some. I tell them we plant enough for us two to get thru the winter only, no extra. Now we have to keep an eye open for poachers, I fear. These are the same folks that won;t grow their own, of course. But relatives....they seem to have a heightened sense of entitlement (of course that is more and more common in these days when public service announcements trumpet that you DESERVE all the freebies you can get your hands on.) Hmmmpf. I'd sure like for someone to explain what people do to DESERVE freebies (excluding breathing, of course). Oh well, I'm doomed to disappointment in that regard, LOL. Makes me want to be a hermit sometimes. The big leaves on the top pic are Florida Giant mustard, and they are huuuuge. Collards beside them, but nowhere as mature yet. Bottom is broccoli & cabbages, and bok choy is the 4th row back. So far we are tentatively picking that mustard & some bok choy but only the large outer stems, so they can regrow all season. I had forgotten how tasty bok choy is...I have to force myself to keep from eating those juicy stems right in the garden! Planted some radishes, lettuce & kohlrabi, all should have time to come up before things get cooler. Today was a rough day otherwise, I forgot about my recent claustrophobia and went for a neck MRI....NOT. Became instantly nauseous, sweating, and panicky right from the get-go, so I had to call my doc to prescribe a couple valium so I can reschedule. I was soooooo upset, mostly angry at myself and feeling foolish. Then on the way home got a flat tire on the truck. Good thing we have tow & tire change service on the truck, got tire changed & will go have the flat one checked (we could find NO puncture anywhere on it, and it is still rather new). They are nitrous filled (what a nuisance) so we have to go to dealer to get them worked on. By that time I was pretty frustrated, so it was nice to help Mary string lights (I am ladder holder & tosser-upper, and call-911 spotter). Christmas decor is going up!

This type of contamination is why they told me during chemo (when my immune system was compromised) no salads, not from the store, not at a restaurant, not any. I have not eaten any pre-cut or packaged fresh veggies since. Not worth the risk, and I am skeptical of how they might be treated or sprayed "to preserve freshness". That is one reason we have a garden, and yes, Mt Rider & Jeepers you are welcome to come eat! Winter veggies are almost ready to pick! We can always use more hands when we drop trees to drag & burn the brushy parts & stack the split parts. We'll just put in another garden, and when the work is done we will all go out on the pontoon boat & fish! Talk about fresh.... I looked at the list, and Marketside is what is sold at Walmart. Kinda glad I tend not to buy that stuff, now

Prices are creeping steadily up here, too. Meat has been going up the most; then the fresh produce. I have had to adjust what fresh produce I purchase now - cabbage and green peppers are more expensive, fresh carrots, onions and potatoes are still reasonable. Salad ingredients are through the roof. Fresh fruit is way up, the cheapest is apples. Canned fruits & veggies have held steady and in some cases are down a little for Thanksgiving but only the basic ones (snap beans, corn, peas, carrots if you can find them). I expect prices to rise in January which is normal, but the size of the hike makes me a little nervous, as the weather messed up many crops. Butter or margarine, and cheese are up more than usual. Dried beans have gone up quite a bit, but unflavored, basic pasta and rice are steady. Mac & cheese is up across the board, Kraft more than house brands, but they are all up. Flour is up, sugar is down a little (for the Christmas baking rush I presume). Bread is through the roof except for basic house brand bread. (Sell-outs are also more common, especially with a good sale.) Rain checks? Senior citizens discounts? They are being discontinued. I am watching the one store that does double coupons - they will only do a certain number of doubling based on how much you spend. But they do have the best meat in town and their sales still have a respectable markdown - the last one was 30% off plus another 10% for vets on veterans day. I miss the food producers' company stores where I used to live, where they sold ugly (mis-cut, non-uniformly shaped meat & produce, or slightly dented cans) food at deep discounts. They don't seem to have those around here. I guess I got spoiled.