No Regrets Ranch

Greetings Earthlings:

PSA:  Did you know that Facebook can create a Page for your business, blog or address and call it a Community Page?  I only just discovered this recently.

As you are aware, we have called our property No Regrets Ranch and I will tag my personal page with this name when I have something to share of farm/lifestyle interest.

I also have an Instagram page under @Gremlynn1 that I use #noregretsranch and #ppqsponoka, to sort thru entries for our farm and my quilt shop.

It was clicking on the location tag of No Regrets Ranch, on my personal Facebook, that I made the discovery that Facebook set up a Community Page for No Regrets Ranch.  They choose the photos and content for that page.  I couldn't edit anything until I became an Admin for it.  Thankfully, I was able to claim the page they created for me and am now the sole Administrator for it.  Apparently it has been active for well over a year.  I had no idea.

To check out the Official No Regrets Ranch Facebook page you can go to:  https://www.facebook.com/No-Regrets-Ranch-101287754988105/
Here is where I add my content for the page.  It is the Official Page  Copy/paste if it won't take you there.

You can still click on or copy/paste:
https://www.facebook.com/No-Regrets-Ranch-370506267134051/?__tn__=kC-R&eid=ARDrrcbFWu-U5Fx_KE0PAlqi6vtJFqYLeysbuVEotCIC5TViWcaHyYBt1WC2Hkwp79d1sp60cj3W3M0v&hc_ref=ARR6ws-V_AvoUi3gz-CKyWN1JAL1v4d1aVnKTjBD64izhEoW0Dh6ZJdlyYYj8lapW8U&ref=nf_target&fref=tag&__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARBffM6UdjoMiDroNCxhadZ5R2UpvTWk3C2oDlPxcPpv27N8XqJrR1f3vby5tl6IWm-y_RFcdRDm4hBpjjxfbe7JEPiObwg4jtOVzJrt23pvJonbMLXGMneoKLOBcJTMCCVxfHm-rwnqvhIPbsnkg0cUiW14-Rby5-PiwBTD3KpnQC-iZywdGZCrrRJz6S035qjRtrYhaAc4UoFe9-W6Ssjpsy5PyLjXRCkmR7jLZIw2jrS3Qa59P3FvS4PallQE9im332MCoW7w_E4DhxFtQpfMdqLbbG8   to get to the Community Page.

Sure glad I was able to get this sorted out.  I am still trying to figure out a way to merge the two.  Stay tuned on that one!

Things have been rather busy here at our little funny farm lately.  Summer is time the time when the rest of the world heads to the lake or golf course and when we head to the garden and yard.

Main Garden view from the back deck

I enjoy this time of the year immensely but it often difficult for those who don't live a lifestyle such as ours, to fully appreciate that we just can't drop what we're doing for the weekend and get away.  It takes a lot of planning on our part to find help that understands and is able to do what is required out here to maintain the greenhouse.  It can quickly cook up in the extreme heat, if not monitored. 

We have simply come to the realization that we Can get away from October to April, but not from April to October.  And we're good with that.  We do take the occasional day away, but never an over night.  There is simply just too many things that need care and attention and it's a lot of responsibility to leave to someone else to manage.  And it is worse yet to return home to less than ideal circumstances.  Thankfully we love our summers on the farm and are quite happy and content to spend our summer days here.

The garden and greenhouse are both in full production.  Already I have canned up 2 dozen quarts of stewed tomatoes, a canner full of tomato sauce and our first batch of Salsa of the season. This is only the beginning of the tomatoes yet to come.

First batch of Salsa of the season

Jams and jellies are being replenished as berries ripen. 

Strawberry Jam!

Raspberry Jelly

Snow Pea pods are being picked, blanched and frozen and we had our first picking of shelling peas the other day.  Soon there will be evenings spent out on the deck, sitting in the shade, shelling peas and chatting about our day.

Peas to be shelled as the raspberries are being steam juiced for jelly

Baby Peas!  Aren't they just the cutest!?

The raspberries are beginning to flush.  The apples are getting big.  We are enjoying the zucchini on almost a daily basis.  Tomatoes that aren't being canned have been made into Pico de Gallo, Bruschetta and toasted tomato sandwiches. There is sincerely nothing like vine ripened tomatoes!

Bruschetta and garlic oil brushed and toasted sourdough bread for lunch!

The first flush of sweet peppers have been chopped and frozen or dehydrated.  Having both on hand is a great convenience for me for winter meals.

Sweet Peppers ready to be processed

Sweet peppers diced up and ready to be frozen or dehydrated

The herb jars are getting replenished with the newly dehydrated herbs.

Lemon Thyme ready to be dehydrated

First picking of parsley ready to be washed,
cut up and dehydrated

Last night I put Lavender stems and Calendula into the dehydrator to prepare them to be infused into a neutral oil.  This will be added to my homemade tallow soaps, later this fall or winter.

Lavender and Calendula ready for the dehydrator 

Our steers are doing well.  Today I was hanging out the wash when I noticed all three, laid out on the shady side of the wind fence.  It's a rough life with a full belly of all the grass you can eat!  They are looking great!  Obviously very content. 

2020 Boys of Summer:  Quar, Ann, and Tine as named by Maeva

I heard a kerfuffle over in the chicken coop this morning.  The not so little meat birds are beginning to find their voices and were mimicking Russel Crowe, our rooster in the laying flock.  Apparently Himself Did Not like this and tried to assert his dominance by standing between His girls and the chain link fence which divides the two flocks.  When one of the little Roos walks by, he rushes the fence to challenge the interloper.  I guess he's just protecting his interests, but it's cute listening to the new little men assert their voices.  Sadly, their final days will soon be upon us as their harvest date looms closer.

Russel Crowe and his girls.  The meat birds, in behind and to the left,
are the ones we hatched out earlier this spring. 
These are all Russel's offspring.

Our flower pots are sure lack lustre this year.  It has been so cold and damp that they are lacking the heat they need to thrive.  I had a memory come up on facebook and it really drove this point home for us.  I knew they were pretty sad, I just didn't realize just how bad!  We will be composting many of them right away as they are just too depressing to look at any more.  What is normally spilling out of the pots onto the deck and ground by this time of the year, have barely begun to bloom.  It is a sad state for sure. 

Most of the perennials have come back though and they have all bloomed, albeit it late this year.

 Several of our fruit trees are still in a sad state.  Many of last year's super producers are almost completely without leaves this year.  It appears that this has been a common theme for more people than not.  I am to understand that the trees never had a chance to store up for winter during the colder and wetter weather we had last fall.  Then they broke dormancy during the January chinook, followed by 6 weeks of sub arctic weather and a very cold spring.  They all appear to be pliable, which indicates that they are still very much alive, but many are only partly leafed out, even this late in the season.  We'll leave them for this year and hope they reset their internal clocks for next year.  

Isn't this just the saddest Cherry tree ever?

Or this one!  It was a top producer last year. 
This year it won't even leaf out!

The Herbs have been lovely this year.  I made a batch of herbed butter and liked it so much that I had to make another batch.  It is in the freezer in individual pats.  OMGosh!  It is truly amazing!

I gathered and chopped up Garlic scapes, chives, basil, oregano and parsley.

Sauted it all in a tablespoon of grapeseed oil until just bright, not browned.

In the food processor, 1 lb of butter, softened and chopped to tablespoon sized pieces.

Add the cooled herbs to the butter and process until smooth.

Using a small scoop, I scooped individual portions onto parchment paper
 to be frozen, then stored in a large ziplock bag.

I haven't been spending much time in the studio lately, but I have been knitting a bit in the evening.  Things will slow down in the garden in a month or two and I will get all the studio time I am wanting, come winter! 

I did get a day or two out here a while ago when we had a big rain and worked on my scrappy string strips blocks.  I added the side pieces to make them into squares.  This will be another project to be completed at a later date - or when we get a few days of rain!

Scrappy Strips getting side strips.  Will give this a bit of cohesiveness when it's done.

I guess that is all for this entry.  I hope this finds you well.  If you are looking for me, I'll be in the garden or the kitchen!  Enjoy your weekend!

Regards,

Gremlynn

Some Days! Some Years! Some Times! Sheesh!

Greetings Earthings:

Do you ever feel like you just can't catch a break some days?  That was me, yesterday.  Everything I touched seemed to explode in my hands.  Or I'd get started doing something and something else would take my attention away.  Even my Sunday Morning "Prairie Points Quilters Studio" Facebook Video was mysteriously missing.  The heading was there.  The attached video was not.  After several messages and three attempts to upload the video, it finally went - three times, into three different places!  Sheesh, already!  I still got a lot done, but it was through sheer will alone, that got me through it all.  By the time we sat down and put our feet up later that evening, I was glad to see the backside of the day.  Today is definitely going much better.

Is it just me, or does this Summer actually feel like fall already?  We noticed the other night that it was only 10 degrees Celsius.  Only 10 Degrees C and a heavy Dew.  It felt like a fall night.  It is July 6th, for Pete's sake.  I shouldn't be sleeping under a sheet, a cotton throw and a quilt at this time of the year, let alone in my flannel jammies.  I am almost contemplating putting the flannel sheets back onto the bed!

Even the orchard trees and the perennials aren't doing very well this year.  My lily of the Valley is usually up in May, or early June, at the latest.  This year it didn't show until late June.  I was happy to finally see them as they always remind me of my favorite cologne from my childhood.  

My beautiful and highly scented Lily of the Valley.
I remember my favorite cologne from my childhood was Lily of the Valley, by Coty.

Many of our fruit trees have either not leafed out yet, or if they have, they are sparse, at best.  And those that have leafed out, may or may not have flowered.  Go figure?  We had given up on several of them, only to spy a single leaf finally sprouting, two months late!  Some of our biggest producers last year, barely look alive this year.  It will be interesting to see what fruit does come.

This Evans Sour Cherry Tree was one of our biggest producers last year. 
This year, it has only half leafed out and no cherry blossoms. 
We'll leave it to see if it recovers to its former self. 

The Lilacs were late as well this year.  And some were actually not at all.  We have 4 lilac bushes by our back deck.  It is always a treat when they flower all around the same time.  This year it was a treat that they even flowered at all.  Normally the bushes are covered in blossoms.  This year, only 2 really bloomed, but quite lightly.  The third bush had 3 or 4 blooms in total and the fourth bush didn't bloom at all.  I was thankful for what we did get as I did manage to get a few stems steeping in grape seed oil, which I hope to use in a batch or two of soap later this year.  This is only an experiment as I understand that the lilac scent is difficult to capture.  Fingers crossed.

The lilacs were rather lack lustre this year.  Only 2 of our 4 bushes barely bloomed.
A third one had three or 4 blooms and the fourth one didn't bloom at all.

The last of my lilacs made my only bouquet this year.

The evenings it hasn't been raining have found us taking our supper out on the front deck.  With the new peony garden in place and the stone work replaced, it is a beautiful sanctuary to over look.  The sound of the waterfall and stream are lovely.  We have a couple of hummingbirds who are always surprised when we interrupt their supper though, as our table is between the two front yard hummingbird feeders.  They come in and immediately stop, give us a look, then take off again, with what I swear is a "harrumph".  Apparently they don't enjoy our company as much as we enjoy theirs!  The mosquitoes, on the other hand, haven't minded our presence at all!  They are something else this year, for sure.

Home made salsa and guacamole on homemade nachos with our own
Raspberry wine, on the front deck.

The Greenhouse has been doing wonderfully, though.  I doubt that we would get much in the way of peppers, tomatoes or cucumbers, if they were all field grown this year.  The extras of these plants that are out in the garden, are dismal looking at best.  If we don't get some heat this growing season, we'll probably be in for a repeat performance of last year's above ground veggies.  Nadda.  It can be quite disheartening for sure.  We are always thankful that we do have the greenhouse since it always gives us much of the produce we will consume for the coming year. 

Purple Peppers in the greenhouse.

Alicia Craig tomatoes in the greenhouse this year.

The Greenhouse shares its bounty with us every day!

I have become very much a Scrap Quilter in the past few years.  This Stars and Nines pattern was featured in a Fons and Porter Scrap quilting magazine from 2014.  As a shop owner, we often get Sample sheets with 2 1/2"- 3" fabric squares of different lines on them.  These give us an opportunity to see and feel the fabric before ordering a line.    

When I closed the shop, I removed all the samples from the cardboard sheets, trimmed the fabric to 2 1/2" squares, then put them in a box for a future project.  When I saw this pattern, I knew I had a great use for these pieces.  I pieced the quilt a couple of winters ago, then put it in the To Be Quilted Bin.  It's turn came up this year.  

After loading it onto the long arm, I had to contemplate how I was going to quilt it.  I can't do pantographs for love nor money.  Believe me, I have tried time and again without success.  Since I don't have a computer on my Long Arm, it has to be All Me.  I didn't want to an all over meander, so I hauled out my rulers and tried to formulate a plan.  With three different rulers, I was able to get an the all over effect I was looking for.  I am happy with how it turned out.    

I had made this top out of batik scraps a few years ago and decided
it needed it's turn on the long arm.  Quilted entirely with rulers.
I love how it turned out.  A different project for me.

Close up view of my ruler quilting.

Every year we get three young steers to graze down our pastures.  We also supplement them with a grain and mineral feed, as we do also fatten them for a fall harvest.  We grow one animal to share with our immediate family and sell the other 2, as 4 halves, to long term customers.  

We have grown several different breeds over the years, but have decided that we love the temperament and finished product that the Hereford breed gives us.  And every spring, we ask someone to name them.  We have had lots of great names over the years:  Sir Loin, Brisket Brothers, Spider Cow, Super Moo, Larry, Darryl and Darryl, The Three Amigos (Dusty Bottoms, et al) and so on.  This year, our Boys of Summer 2020 have been named Quar, Ann, Tine.  Too Funny!  

In what shouldn't surprise us "2020, you have got to be kidding me, form", we could not get these boys to take to their feed. They wouldn't even look at it.  We have been doing this for over a decade and this was a first for us.  We even contacted an animal nutritionist and she had never heard of this problem either.  Their feed is to them, what a sweet dessert to us - but obviously, way better for them.  They simply preferred the pasture and were not interested in what Papa put in their trough.  After taking them off the pasture and confining them to the corral, they finally had to eat it and figured out that they do actually like it.  Honestly?!  They are finally enjoying their daily ration and come running when Papa calls them for supper. 

2020's Boys of Summer hanging out in the corral:
Quar, Ann, Tine

I am already harvesting herbs from the garden.  I have done a Basil Pesto and have dehydrated chives, as well as made chive infused vinegars.  This time of the year, there is usually one or two things to be done every few days, so it is quite manageable and very enjoyable.  It's nice to replenish what we have used up over the previous year. 

When I make my Pesto, I use a medium sized scoop and freeze it on parchment paper, to be bagged once frozen.  I add it to our Tomato Basil Soup, Pasta sauce or just to eat with bread.  It tastes like spring in the colder months.  I use walnuts or almonds in mine instead of the traditional pine nuts. 

Pesto scooped and ready to freeze.

Pesto Recipe

Chives harvested, washed, chopped and ready for the dehydrator.
The blossoms with be infused into rice and wine vinegars.

Even with all the rain and the cool nights, the garden still seems to be doing okay.  I don't think it is going to set any harvest records this year, but what is finally growing, does seem to be doing all right.  Even our potatoes are patchy this year.  We suspect the soil was still too cold when we planted the seed potatoes in late May.  Many haven't come up, so we suspect that they just rotted in the cold soil.  Thank goodness we planted about twice what we normally do, because it is looking like it will be just an average yield year.  It has been a funny year for the garden, all the way around!

Even with the cold and we weather we are having, the garden is doing okay.

One upside of it being cool and damp is I have finally finished all the cement castings for my Faerie Garden.  I had purchased the different components several years ago, but never really had much of a chance to get them painted and sealed.  This year was the year it finally happened.  Whenever it rained, I would spend the afternoon painting another piece.  I was actually quite surprised when I got them all done.  We put them out in the gazebo one evening and put a sealant on them, then Papa moved them down to the area where I wanted the garden.  Now, if it warms up and our little ones come visit, they can explore and discover this new hidden away area. 

I am finally finishing painting my cement Faerie Garden pieces.

Faerie Garden pieces drying after being sealed.

Faerie Garden pieces ready to be installed.

And that about does it for this installation.  We are forecasted for more rain for this evening so we'll probably have supper inside tonight.  At least it was warmer today than it has been. 

I hope this finds you well and not having "One of Those Days" yourself.  I can do with not having another one for quite a while now.

And if you like, you can check out my new No Regrets Ranch Facebook page.

Until next time,

Gremlynn

Finding Joy in the Chaos

Greetings Earthlings:

As we take another trip around the sun I have heard so many complaints of how "2020 is the Worst Year Ever!"  "I don't think I can take this any more!"  "We're all Going to Die from the Covid!"  "Bill Gates wants to steal our souls!"  "The Whole Country is turning Communist!"  "The Government is going to take everything we've worked for!"  "Revelations People!  Revelations!"  Sheesh!

Social Media is a very powerful tool.  I believe it's original intention was for ease of communication with a much quicker turn-around time.  And I guess that is true.  But there is also a darker side to it that I'm sure we are all very much well aware of.  And we are really getting our brains filled now, unlike any other time in history!

I never really paid much attention to computers or the internet, for that matter, when it first became main stream.  Hubby worked in a field office, so both the computer and the internet became very useful business tools.  They would also became huge time sucks.  Employees would email around jokes and cartoons and solitaire games.  Suddenly there was entertainment at our very fingertips, literally, whenever we wanted it.

Society as a whole embraced the whole concept.  We downloaded games.  We mastered Spider Solitaire and Wheel of Fortune.  Christmas cards began to be replaced by long winded Christmas Annual Reports (I am sorry to say that I bought into the laundry list of accomplishments of the day.  Sorry 'bout that.)  Emails replaced invitations and letters. There was even a program that was full of clip art to allow you to make unique invitations - unfortunately, everyone had the same program!  You no longer had to go to the library to use the encyclopedia for homework!  It was at home on a CD Rom.  This was huge for us as our local library kept short hours and had limited resources.

Along came pagers, bag phones and the modern cell phone.  Suddenly anyone could get ahold of anyone else at any time!  Mom's were happy to keep better track of kids.  Kids could find each other in moments instead of driving around all evening trying to round up a few others to hang out with.  Employees realized that they were suddenly on an electronic leash as the employer could contact them any time, any place and you had to answer the phone since the company was paying for it.

Along the way people bought nicer clothes, more "toys", fancier cars, boss stereo systems that would fill a trunk, moved into "better" neighborhoods, ate out more, got a second job, took "vacations" instead of "trips", and so on.

Mom and Dad are both working and the kids are raising themselves or being entertained by the electronics, that the working parents are buying for the kids, to keep them busy, while Mom and Dad are at work.

Groceries are going up.  Cars get more expensive.  It's easier to eat out than make something at home, or to order in take out.  We can't make coffee at home because we don't have time - we need to get to work, to make more money to buy more things, meals, fuel, clothes, home decor, electronics . . . We need to take a vacation from our lives because we are too busy to have family time, so we work harder, spend more time away, upgrade our i-phone because this one can't do any more upgrades.

We happily go about our busy lives, promising to spend more time, learn new skills, get more connected.  But then, there's only so many hours in the day and Net Flicks is calling. 

And then, the World Shut Down. And suddenly ALL there is is the internet. 

And we get bombarded with conflicting information.  And we have to stay home.  Let this pass.  We can't go out to get a coffee.  We can't go out to pick up take out.  We can't go out to go to work.  And we didn't die.  And we learned how to cook.  We called our family.  We played games with our kids.  We learned a new skill.  We stayed home.

What was to be two weeks suddenly became 3 months.  And we have all managed.  Add in some less than springlike weather, after a difficult winter and you really need to step back and assess the whole situation. 

We thought we needed so much more money to cover our bills, when we realized that since we aren't out every day, running here and running there, picking up this and that, that we don't need quite so much.  Even here, we didn't realize just how much we actually entertain, until we suddenly don't need to go to the grocery store for 6 weeks!  And we aren't going through the toilet paper we used to!  You don't burn any gas when you don't go anywhere.  Which of course is lower now than it has been in decades!

After the first few weeks of decompressing from the busy-ness of life and wrapping our heads around not going anywhere or seeing anyone outside their housemates, many have found new passions.  New ways to entertain themselves.  Suddenly since being home and having their kids at home, many are rediscovering baking.  There is a whole Sourdough movement happening.  With the shortage of yeast and not being able to run out for a loaf of bread, many folks have adopted a very old method of bread baking.  And loving it!

And gardens!  Our local greenhouses report that they have Never in previous years, ever sold out before June 1st.  By this time of the year, they are practically giving product away.  But this year, everyone is interested in gardening again - not just for something to do, but for a bit of food security.  After seeing the craziness of empty grocery store shelves in March and April, many became rightfully concerned about how they were going to feed their families.  Now with time on their hands, people are rediscovering the joy of dirt and seeds.  The joy of growing their own food.

I find it interesting how I would often hear that "I don't have time for that" or "I don't know How you do all you do!"  Now suddenly, everyone I speak to wants to learn more.  How do I bake a loaf of bread?  How do I start a garden?  Should I get chickens?  How do you pressure can your stock?  How do you make stock?  Can you teach me? 

Will this all last?  Will people realize the value of time and re-prioritize their time, once this all comes to pass?  Will they come away with a better understanding of what is truly valuable?  Of what brings them joy?  Will they have jobs to return to?  Will they even care? 

Their kids are sleeping better because they are less stressed.  Mom and Dad aren't exhausted since they aren't trying to cram three days worth of activities into 1.5.  The job that was so stressful, can  amazingly suddenly be done from home or under new conditions.  People aren't forced or shamed into going to work when they are sick.  People aren't pressing their grocery carts up against you to get you to hurry it along.  And no one is in an all fired hurry to go nowhere, fast.

The conspiracy theorists will continue their theories, just as they did in 1999 when the internet was going to shut down the world at the stroke of midnight.  Then in 2012, the Inca calendar ran out of days, so the world was supposed to be ending on December 21.  People cashed in their life's savings and racked up credit card debt since it wasn't going to matter anyways. 

There have been plagues and pandemics since biblical times, including the Black Plague, Bubonic Plague, Eboli and so on.  Up until the mid 1950's many suffered from Polio.  Small Pox dates back to the 1300's.  1820 gave us the Cholera Outbreak.  1920 was the Spanish Flu. 

2020 is just another year in the cycle.  The viruses ran their courses and people got back to the business of life.  This time will be no different.  And the internet and news sources will continue to keep us informed or misinformed of how things are progressing.

It will be interesting to see how the next few months play out as the world opens up for business again.  I, for one, will continue to gather eggs and tend my garden.

Until next time keep staying safe.

Warmest Regards,

Gremlynn

My Typical Day

Greetings Earthlings:

I was recently asked what a “Typical Day” looks like for me.  I had to ponder on this for a while.  My Typical Day is very much very typically Atypical.  I guess a lot of it has to do with: 

A) What needs to be done and 

B) If Papa is home or not.  

It also depends on the season’s tasks required.  Each brings its own set of special activities!

My day typically starts somewhere between 7 and 8:30 a.m., more often than not, around 8:00.  I typically sleep until I wake up, unless an alarm needs to be set for one reason or another.  How early or how late depends on what the previous day’s activities entailed.   My brain still goes 100 mph.  My body, not so much. I need longer rest times after heavy work now.  Something I am still trying to adjust to.  

Our daily routine starts with morning tea together.   During this time, we fill each other in on what plans – a term loosely used in my world – we may have for the day.  

Tea for two

If Papa is planning a Big project – like re-laying the slate stone patio by the pond, cleaning out the chicken coop, or something equally as ugly – my day’s plans tend to get scuttled.  Nobody wants to take on a project like that by themselves and I am happy to assist in whatever way necessary, although I don't think I am often as much help as I think that I am! 

Slate patio needed to be re-installed after being lifted to do a pond liner maintenance.
Not a pleasant job for neither man nor beast!

The slate patio is complete.  We also finished the brick walkway to the
upper pond seating area the same day.  Glad to see those jobs done!
The checker board patio is part of a future project.

If I have an equally big, 2 person task at hand, his plans will get redirected to be able to help me with my project.  If he is home, he will do the morning chores, which includes feeding the steers and opening the chicken coop, greenhouse and high tunnel.  If he has to be away, that may fall to me.  There are no pink jobs or blue jobs at our house.  They are all purple jobs.

Eggs washed and sorted.  Ready to be put in cartons by
whomever should see they need be dealt with.

Once the morning tea and daily plan is brought about, he goes his way and I go mine or we take to a task together, if that is what the day warrants.  We meet at lunch to reassess if plans need to be altered for the afternoon.  We used to meet at coffee time, but we spent more time yarning and less time doing, so we dumped the coffee breaks in favor of a bit longer lunch break and perhaps a late afternoon, pre-dinner beverage on the front deck.

Pre-dinner beverage ready to be enjoyed on the front deck.
The bottle opener was a gift from my grandson in Homage to
my absolute favorite movie!  It's a Major Award!

  Whoever gets into the house first typically makes or starts lunch, which is most typically my soup of the moment and perhaps a sandwich or seasonal salad.  I typically make one or two different soups each week.  This makes the noon meal a quicker reheat and we can get back to whatever we may be doing.

Dill Pickle Soup (recipe in a previous blog) and
egg salad on homemade bread is a typical lunch

Typically, I may have spent the morning in the garden, in the chicken coop, or assisting Papa in one of our many garden areas.  Perhaps I was harvesting whatever needed to be harvested then dealt with.  I may have worked in the greenhouse.  I may also have done housework, baking, canning, or even marathon cooking of freezer meals.  Typically though, after lunch, my afternoon becomes my own to do with, as I desire.

Pressure canner rocking and knocking as it preserves . . .

. . . a batch of Corned Beef.  The jar of garbanzo beans in the middle
was to fill the canner.  No point in running a canner that isn't full!

Corned Beef, fresh from the canner!  Looks amazing!

We tried it for lunch the next day on homemade buns, with Pickled Green Peppers and
cucumbers from the greenhouse.  It did not disappoint.  So good!

And that is when it can get interesting.  It is through my morning chores where I get the inspiration for my afternoon’s activities.  Whether it is to piece or quilt a quilt, design a quilt, write an article, a pattern, letter, or blog, paint, do a photo study of something interesting in the yard, go for a walk with Wilbur, take a bike ride to pick up the mail, make a pitcher of something cold and read a book or magazine, sort thru a project, visit with a customer who had booked a studio visit, teach a lesson, create something with one of my grandchildren and so on, this is always my favorite part of the day.  

My daily activities also heavily hinge on the weather.  If it is rainy or windy or otherwise too miserable, too cold or too hot to go outside (I am a fair weather gardener), my whole day can potentially become a studio day!  Bonus!

Afternoon Studio Project was this Bucket Hat.
I had made it for myself but the crown is too long and the
circumference is too small.  Guess someone else will
get to love it.

If I haven’t made a Crock-pot meal, taken out a premade freezer meal (typically a lasagna or other single dish dinner) or we are having something leftover (always a favorite in our house!), we will typically make dinner together.  Papa is my sous chef as I typically do the meal planning and cooking.  He does like to cook and will occasionally want to make our dinner, but he tends to typically leave this to me.  

In the summer it always involves something from the greenhouse or garden.  We have a standing daily question at our house during the greenhouse season, “Have you eaten your cucumber today?”  Fresh rules!  Currently we are enjoying greenhouse cucumbers, asparagus, spring onions, rhubarb and any perennial herbs.  Add some eggs from our chickens and you have a quick and easy omelette!

The daily picking of Asparagus!

My evening is typically spent with Papa, discussing our daily conquests, sharing a beverage, sitting on the deck or in the gazebo and enjoying each other’s company.  If we happen to be in the house, my evening time is spent doing some sort of hand work – EPP, hand quilting, knitting, embroidery, etc., as we sit with our feet up.  We typically watch a movie on DVD or a YouTube presentation – typically something gardening related – or perhaps listen to a CD.  We don’t have mainstream television in our house – by choice.   

Evening hand work project

Regardless of how my typically atypical day is spent, it never fails that I run out of day before I run out of things to do!

Enjoy your typical day!

Warm regards and until next time,

Gremlynn

Imagine What You Could Do . . .

Greetings Fellow Earthlings:

Imagine what you could do, if you knew you would not fail.

Ponder that for a moment.

Imagine what You could do, If you Knew you would Not fail.



If you Believe that you will fail, you won't be disappointed because you most certainly will.

If you Believe you will succeed in your quest and are willing to do what you need to do to accomplish it, you will.  You don't know what you are capable of until you give it your all.  It may not happen as quickly as you desire, but with perseverance, it eventually will.

We all have the potential to do great things, to be someone's hero, to create a good life, to fulfill a dream.  Fear, then excuses and doubt, are often what keeps us in a place we don't want to be.  This and the choices we make on a daily basis. 

We knew from a young age to get to our desired goal, sacrifices would have to be made along the way.  For us these weren't actually "sacrifices" as we had a goal in sight and were quite willing to forgo immediate gratification for the bigger picture.   Our goal and dream was to live in the country and become self reliant. 

We always told our kids that you don't become a Rocket Scientist by taking Underwater Basket Weaving.  You don't become a Ballerina by studying Taxidermy.  And you don't become Self Reliant by ordering Take Out. 

Whether your dream is to travel, become an expert in your field of interest, grow your own food or become a fashion designer, your lifestyle and frame of thought needs to reflect your goals.  Find a way to make it happen.  It's one thing to dream about something. It's an entirely another thing to Do something about it.

Just Imagine what you could accomplish, if you knew you would not fail.

Around the Yard:

Being a Cat around here is hard work, evidenced by our Smoky, aka "Twitchy", as I caught her napping in the Lilacs.  Ah, to have the life of a cat!  Hee Hee!  But, to be fair, I have witnessed her "go to work".  She along with her sister, Bandit, do a fine job of keeping our place virtually rodent free.  The Twitchy moniker was given, as she will twitch her tail when she's ready to pounce on her prey.  No mole hill, no mouse, no gopher is safe with our girl on duty!  That is, unless she is enjoying a battery recharging, sunbathing, power nap in the lilacs!

Smoky taking a nap.  Do you Mind?

When we received these two girls, 10 years ago, they were mere kittens and more than half feral.  We didn't want them to become pets - we needed them to do a job.  So we left them be, for the most part, while still keeping them fed, watered and sheltered.  They have free access to the garage and yard, but we do lock them in at night as we do have coyotes very close by. 

We laugh how these two "free" cats cost us a small fortune by the time we had them vet checked, spayed, chipped, de-wormed and given their shots.  Over time, they have warmed up to us and us to them.  They have been a wonderful source of entertainment and amusement for two old people and will continue to be so for many years to come I am sure.  They both chatter at us and each has her favorite human to snuggle up to.  It is challenging sometimes to be out in the garden when one or the other suddenly appears and demands a good body massage.  Apparently you really only need one hand to weed.  The other hand is very much free to pet a cat!

Chick Update:

The Baby Chicks have been moved from their first brooder area into their growing pen.  Papa noticed that several of the chicks would Jump Up to See him whenever he went into the brooder area to check on them, refresh their water and add more feed.  It became very apparent that the 18" high wall surrounding them wouldn't keep them contained for much longer.  Moving day came a lot quicker than we had anticipated.

They have lots of space in their new digs. When they get the rest of their Big Bird Feathers, they will be given free access to their private outside yard to run in the grass, eat bugs, scratch in the dirt and do what happy chickens need to do. 

Baby Chicks in their new home.

CAF Snowbird Sighting:

We found out the that the CAF Snowbirds would be flying in our area on the 16th.  It looked, at first glance of their scheduled flight path, that they would go right over our house!  We had our morning tea out in the back pasture, hoping for a fly over, but alas, their path had changed and they were several miles to the east of us.  We were happy to see what we did see, although it looked more like a flock of geese with a vapour plume!  

We were extremely saddened to hear of the crash and the loss of one of the pilots the next morning.  Such a wonderful act of hope and love marked with such tragedy. 

Morning tea waiting for the CAF Snowbirds to fly over.

Greenhouse:

The greenhouse is doing beautifully!  I love to go out there and breath in all the amazing smells.  It is great for your spirits.  Papa has planted much of the garden and has moved out much of the veggie starts from the greenhouse.  By the time the weekend is over, we'll only have Tomatoes, Long English Cucumbers and Sweet Bell Peppers left in here. 

Overview of the greenhouse.

We started these petunias from seed collected last fall.
I didn't expect them to grow, much less bloom as they are a hybrid.
Double Bonus for sure!  I'll collect seeds from these -
assuming they put off any and try again next year.

In the Studio:

I have been out in the studio whenever the mosquitoes decide that I'm going to be a tasty treat or if it's raining out.  This particular project goes to a newly "incubating baby chick", who should be joining his/her family around the end of this month.  I had made a wedding quilt for the parents, and saved back some of the original fabric for baby quilts.  One has already been made for the soon to be big brother when he first "hatched".  Not knowing the gender of the new arrival, I went neutral for the background color, while still using some of the original fabric.  And just an fyi:  should they add a few more baby chicks to their brood at a later date, I'll be able to continue to make a few more baby quilts from the same original wedding quilt fabric. 

Will post a picture of the finished quilt after it has been delivered to its recipient. 

Quilt Under Construction for Baby Under Construction.

In the Kitchen:

My Sourdough starter had gotten rather lack-lustre recently. It was very wet with a lot of hooch on the top.  I did some research and discovered that it was "hungry" and that I hadn't been using it enough.  The suggested solution to my problem, was to retain only a small amount - I saved about 1/4 cup - and to feed it either rye or whole wheat flour and half the water it would normally receive.  I stirred in the hooch (I could have poured it off as well - either was acceptable) and scraped it into a new, clean jar.  

To the 1/4 cup of starter, I added 1/4 cup of Whole Wheat flour and a few tablespoons of water. I stirred this all together and scraped down the sides of the jar.  I then loosely placed a lid (or you could use a towel) over top.  I then set it aside on the counter, after marking the starting point of the starter with a rubber band.  I was so happy to see some growth that very afternoon.  Before bed, I added another 1/4 cup of the W/W flour and a couple more tablespoons of water to the mixture and stirred well.  Imagine my delight to wake up to a fully ripe and happy starter!  I was so excited that I was able to save it.

Rejuvenated starter doubled over night! 

Apparently the Whole Wheat or Rye Flour is best for feeding your starter.  I had been using Unbleached All Purpose.  It was fine for quite a while, but mine spends a lot of time in the fridge (I bake multiple loaves whenever I do use it) so it is better to use a more "nutritious" flour. 

Look at all that bubbly goodness!

The information I found suggested that although completely safe to store your starter in the fridge, it still needs to be fed occasionally in its resting state - I did not know this!  So now I check on it once a week to see how it's doing.  If I see a bit of hooch on top, that means it is hungry and could use a small feed, even if I am just going to put it right back into the fridge.  Because of this, it is also better to have it a bit drier than my first set of instructions expressed.  It doesn't need nearly the water most people give their starters.  Apparently the equal amount of water and flour, is to quickly create bulk.  Since mine isn't used very often, it is better to have it a bit drier, only adding more water when I want a larger amount to bake with.  This way I am only keeping a small amount of starter on hand and making what I will be needing to use a day or two before I need it.  There is so much to learn about this wonderful craft and so many opinions and methods that may or may not work for your particular circumstances.  Who knew!

Hot Sourdough Bread, fresh from the oven!
Look at that Ear!

Since rejuvenating my Sourdough starter, I have also started to bake my bread in a Cast Iron Dutch Oven.  It gives a very different product from the more conventional pan baked method.  This one is the result of a very long bulk rise and a 45 minute Dutch Oven bake.  I am very happy with the results.

World Affairs:

We are doing our best to not let the current state of the world's affairs completely take over our lives and our heads.  In fact, since we've stopped listening to the news about it - it changes moment by moment and there are far too many agendas, opinions and updates to try to keep up with anyways.  We can't tell fact from fiction any more. We have decided that we could let it consume us or we could get on with our lives.  Fear has an incredible way to get a hold of you to the point where it cripples, causes self doubt and makes you question everything around you.  We don't want to live that way. 

Although we aren't reckless by any stretch of the imagination, we are really getting tired with the constant and never ending "changes" of protocol.   We have always washed our hands and faces upon coming home from town.  We don't touch public surfaces intentionally, my purse never sits on the floor, I don't touch public door knobs with my bare hands, and we don't do crowds and so on.  Lids have always been washed, cans wiped down and no child or grandchild of mine will ever drink directly out of a soda can - before or after any of this.  Veggies and fruit were/are always washed before they are peeled or cut into.  Counters have always been wiped down after the groceries were put away and my reusable bags hit the washing machine immediately after being emptied, to be done in the next load.  We have town shoes and farm shoes - mostly because no one wants to go to town with chicken or steer goo on their feet!  We go to town once or less per week and try to do everything in one trip.  Since we rarely, if ever, eat out, that too isn't a risk factor for us - you don't know what that restaurant standards are or if a staff member is sick - I have worked in the restaurant industry and I have seen things.  And if one of us is sick - which is extremely rare - we keep our butts at home!  How did all these things we have always done, suddenly become the "new" rule.  Weren't these things "always the rule" of public health and safety?  They always have been in our home. 

We only really notice the how crazy the world has become is when we do have to go out in it, on the rare occasions that we do.  It is so sad that things have had to come to this.  It's like living in a science fiction movie - and a bad one at that!

I found this the other day and it speaks volumes:

Words to think about

It really is a lovely perspective on things.

As we take another trip around the sun, consider and Imagine what You could accomplish, If you knew you would not fail.

Until next time, Stay Safe.

Warm Regards,

Gremlynn