kappydell

Saw mu internist today - big hugs all around.  I am flattered that she thinks of us as friends as much as patients.  She had a lot of lab tests run, and had ordered a cat scan of my ascending thoraxic aneurism to see if it was a risk factor for upcoming surgery....not at all, it turned out, it has not changed or grown.  However she ordered an ultrasound of my thyroid, thinks I may have a small goiter.  Hmmm, I wonder if that explains these blasted hot flashes I get constantly.  However she says I can wait until I get thru my back surgery to look into that.  Meanwhile I will ramp up my iodine intake, cant hurt.  She also upped my vitamin D suplementation. No objection to that....new research has upped the max intake level quite a bit and also discovered more things that vit D is "good for"    Rainy here, a low front is sitting atop us and 'watering' us for several days now.  The spring frogs are singing loudly at night, they seem to think it is spring...Good day for napping but instead I sewed some "Please do not pet me, Im working" patches on M's new service dog vest.  One of our dogs, Dodger, (the shepherd-malinois mix) just got certified as a service dog.  He is calm, empathetic, and smart....good lookin, too!  He trained very easily and quickly.  When M gets riled/excited/upset he is right there to help.  He is also excellent for mobility issues.  So I sewed those patches on with pride for our boy!  Mary will take him to the VA for her appointment tomorrow and introduce him to her doc.  Oh yes, I almost forgot....we get to drive to Athens (2 hrs away) for another pre-op briefing this one for the hospital the day after tomorrow (not a lot of lead time there...lol.)

Hello to Ana Pirs and thank you for the mustard greens salad recipe!  My mustard greens in the winter garden are growing like crazy and they are just right for a salad.....MMMMMM

i can resist chiming in here, waaaaaay later......save papaya seeds, dry & grind.  Use as meat tenderizer (sparingly, it works almost too well!!) it also has a slightly peppery flavor.  Since I cant find decent salt-less tenderizer, I make my own.....mix the powder with Mrs Dash.....makes it easier to use because you only need a very small amount (a pinch or two) at a time

Now that bok choy is all dehydrated, the major producers in the garden are collards, mustard and kale.  The cabbage is showing some stress signs, do not know if it got frozen or what, but brown spots on the outer leaves.  Had to explain to Mary that it is a savoy cabbage and it is supposed to look wrinkly, lol.  It is heading up nicely.

We harvested first  broccoli heads today, and pulled a few scallions to go with and took the to a dear friend.  She ;loves broccoli, her husband hates it, but puts up with her cooking it when we get it fresh.  She says the taste between fresh and store-bought is incomparable (no kidding!)  We also cut the first lettuce for her husband, he loves lettuce (she doesn't).  To each their own.  

2nd planting of radishes needs thinning now, also the spinach and the Jersey Wakefield cabbage seedlings.  Kohlrabi is getting its first "adult" leaves - it is coming up slowly but surely.  So tomorrow morning, before the rain hits I will be thinning things before breakfast (and taking the thinnings in for my stir-fried rice, of course).  I think I may put in a row of bunching onions so they will be ready when we have all the scallions out.  Mary's touchy stomach cant do a lot of onions so one or two bunching onions slice up just enough for one person (me) and look prettier than the plain white ones, too. 

I scored some frosting pails from the grocery stores, so I will also be collecting recycling materials to make wicking planters out of them.  That way we can put in determinate tomatoes (growing them in successions) and move the "pots" to less hot areas when the heat comes on this summer.  Ditto for bush string beans.  They both quit bearing once the temps get over 80 degrees....and we have triple digits much of the summer.  So we will want to move them to a more shaded area in the heat of full summer.  I'm trying to get as much of the garden self-producing before I go to hospital to get back fixed.  I'm also dehydrating and powdering greens like crazy, so I have some green powder to shake into my (institutional) food which usually has a dearth of green veggies.  I admit it, I am addicted to greens.....

i eat their bacon, they eat my toast and we both feel smug about sticking to our diet!  

13 hours ago, Midnightmom said:

 

 

 

    

I've noticed it seems to be more used in the South & Southwest....

gather your recipes while you may

lovingly, tenderly store them away

put them in booklets, stack them in piles

organize them in neat little files

while every day the family gets fed

with the old "tried and trues" you keep in your head

(how true)

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!

5 hours ago, Homesteader said:

Can't talk sense to over-educated idiots.  

 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.