The WE2's

Prepping up the rest of the elderberries. They're in my stock pot simmering...for 45 minutes. Then into the pressure canner they'll go. Check the price of Elderberry juice online and I was astounded at the price these places are selling this for! WOW Hubby is working on current client's needs and she's tickled pink. Probably mentioned this before, but single women really are prey to shady workers with little to no skill and no work ethic. She was going to pay him some in advance and he said "Nope...that's not the way I do things." Imagine her surprise! LOL It's very warm and humid in our neck of the woods and he's now working outside on her screened porch. The supports were rotted out (it's a raised porch) so he's had to undo all the "slobber" someone else put over the rotting wood and re-construct the framing and supports with new wood....would like to "konk" some of them! Her latch fell off her front gate...again, someone just put in some small wood screws. He'll save her front porch for last....it's a mess. Lots of termite damage and dangerous. She's had the premises treated so his work should be safe for a long time, but she should still have it checked periodically to make sure those nasty critters don't try to come back.

Pulled the Elderberries out of the frig, gave them a good boil, strained them through my linen cloth, jarred them up in quarts...got 7 with an extra qt and a half pt that's going to the frig. I'll finish the rest of them tomorrow. Couldn't get enough water in my pressure canner to water bath quarts so just pressured them for the 10 minutes that they called for water bath. I just pressure can the juice, nothing added, not even sugar. That way I can make syrup or jelly when I want. Wanna see?

Dwarf Elder image...the leaves are the most important thing in identifying any tree or bush...then the blooms, then the fruit/berry.

Love making tortillas...you can wrap just about anything in them for a meal!

I cover my jar with a towel, tip it into a bowl to keep it draining well, and then set it in the back corner of my kitchen counter. I don't have any trouble with them greening up unless I want them to...then I remove the towel and set them in my kitchen window.

I think we'd be okay with the seeds we've set back, the food we've set back until we could put seeds in our containers etc., and grow a garden...sprouts would be a must for us to give us some additional nutrition etc.

Not sure, but check out "dwarf elder"...I don't think they're edible.

Went last night to a friends farm and picked wild Elderberries, so I spent most of today picking them and bagging them and getting them in the frig. Tomorrow we'll need to take them to the big freezer at the homestead. I don't wash them and sort them out until I'm ready to make my Elderberry juice. Seven bags full...wanna see?

Survived a frightening thunder storm last night! All three of us! And that's just what it was...thunder, lightening, wind and a bit of rain. Took out our power about 11:00 pm, so we were out for a couple of hours. No a/c ... started getting a bit dewey so it was no covers ala mode until the power came back on. Abby was beside herself, and for the first time in her life she puddled on one of the rugs that's down between the livingroom and kitchen. The storm came so quickly and the power went down almost immediately, that I didn't have time to give her anything...and by the time it would have taken effect, the storm would probably have been gone :-( This was a VERY noisy one anyway so I'm not sure anything would have helped her. We even jumped nearly out of bed when we heard three huge "booms" (like a shotgun right under our window) about a half hour after the power went out. Never have figured out what those were??? I don't think it was transformers. The crews were out today hauling tree limbs from just south of us, so I figure it was the wind and limbs that took out the power. Hubby said there were limbs down in other areas too as he went to work this morning.

SWEET SUCCESS! After a couple of failed attempts I finally succeeded in making my own yogurt from Gossner's shelf stable milk, instant dry milk and a starter from a store bought yogurt. The next batch I used my own starter and so now every few days I just make a new quart and we're off to the races with our own homemade yogurt! We love it over our granola...which reminds me I'll need to make a new batch in a week or so. I'll just use the oven for this batch though. Just easier to keep track of it and not take so long. Having the ability to make for ourselves is important for us in a life changing event. Everybody's talking about the shortages of green beans and peas...even the $Tree store didn't have them...figure that! Guess we'll start keeping an eye out at other places and maybe stock up on more.

Hubby finished the work for step mum...seems funny to call her that since she's only 5 years older than myself but she now has some terrific looking walls, the old "scar" where there was once a window a/c in the wall is now gone, all new vinyl plank flooring in her bedroom and bath, all new window blinds, new picture hung, new electrical receptacle covers done, her bedroom furniture is put back together, the bathroom door re-hung and she's got her house back! He finished mowing today at the homestead and I jarred up eight pints of banana peppers and not so hot green peppers while he did that. He took Abby-girl for a nice walk when he got home and she needed it...cabin fever! Tuesday I jarred up 8 pints of sweet pickles. Hubby doesn't eat pickles but our friends gifted us with a bunch of really sweet "deli" cucumbers (can't remember their name) but they're long and have a very dark, smooth skin. They are beautiful! I followed a canning book's recipe that didn't call for pickle crisp...shouldn't have...they beautiful, taste wonderful but they aren't crisp so I can't give her any. Guess they're ALL MINE! Got the truck back Wednesday so we now have two vehicles... He'll start his next work project Sunday. She needs numerous railings removed from the stairwell from her store up to her apartment removed so she can get furniture etc., moved out. Then he'll start some ceiling work on her new home. She's turning this one bedroom into a "prayer" room...that will be so nice...and I'll bet I'll be joining her periodically! She's got quite a bit or work that needs to be done, but the ceiling must be done before she can move anything into that room. Step mum said "I'll be so glad when you all can get moved into your homestead...but I'm so very glad he was able to help me". Ya just gotta do whatcha gotta do. Many of you here know how difficult it is for a single woman to get work done and not be taken for a ride...been there done that! Other friend that had back surgery is doing very well. We went out for a birthday part for him and some other friends, and hubby was able to carry their 5 gallon water jugs into the garage for them and put one in their kitchen. just checked on them a bit ago and her sons are coming this weekend to take care of some of the things they need done. We'll probably play hooky tomorrow!

But it's better when the crow does it's number into the palm of one's hand! $$$

Just household stuff for the most part. Did jar up a couple half pints of butter and they're in the frig. They keep longer that way and don't take on frig smells. Also got all the household stuff done up Monday except a load of clothes yesterday...so Abby and I are just hanging out! Sure glad it's Friday. The truck is in the shop and the re-man tranny is on order and he said we should have it back by Monday or Tuesday. We had to pay for the tranny up front and then we'll pay for the rest when it's finished. That's always a sore spot for us because the van ended up costing almost 1000$ more than the estimate! But we must have the truck. With the cost of pickup trucks these days you just can't afford to go out a buy a new one or even a late model one...and if you buy something cheaper you'll probably end up spending that much on it. At least with this truck we know what we've put in it. Hubby still has another day or so of work on step mum's house...laying down the laminate flooring and getting inside the closet was a bugger for him. She deducted the 50$ for the grain mill from his check so it's easier for us. Those things are quite costly so we really did get a bargain. It's been used once and is still in the box. From what we can find online, new it costs about 200$. I'm sure we'll find it handy for grinding different types of grains once we get moved. Hopefully we won't get any rain for a day or so, we need to mow at the homestead big time. Abby's little yard here needs it again...guess it's well fertilized??? LOL

Been BUSY...but what's new? Got all the tomatoes we bought either dehydrated or in the freezer for when I'm ready to tackle the rest of them. The candy onions are sliced and vacuum sealed in the freezer. Went to a birthday party get-together last night for our friend who's moving to Mississippi. We're sure going to miss her. I hope her expectations aren't too high about being able to spend time with her grand sons. But even so, she makes friends very quickly and will soon fill her life again, just like she did here and they'll enjoy her just as we did. Hubby's finishing up his work for my step mum. She's clearing things out (she's a minimalist) and sends us her "remains" of what she cooks and finds is way too much for one. She'll have to learn that since she seldom freezer banks any food. Hubby's got the drywall work done, most of the painting done and will start laying a new laminate floor in her bedroom and a vinyl in the bathroom. Went to look at another job for my other old friend who retiring and selling her shop etc., and moving into a little house she bought. He'll do the work she's needing to get done, as soon as he's finished with step mum's. The bad news was that one evening last week, about a half mile from here, the trans went out on the truck. So...we now have a mortgage on this house so he can get his work vehicle back in operation. So, he's driving my van...thankfully it's running good and get half way decent gas mileage...since she lives about 35 miles away! Thankful for the work! Took a little trip to our favorite state park and all three of us took a nice work. Abby and I really needed to work off the "cabin fever" from last week!

Perhaps a nice glass of wine over frozen fruit would be enjoyable?