What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

No matter how much you know it's coming, it seems like you are never ready.  There was a freeze warning.  Most of the garden is usually done for the year.  Usually, you have been working so hard at harvesting and preserving that you are more than ready.  But still....you hear that meteorologist and it stops you in your tracks.  Panic steps in.  You race out to the garden to do a quick 'tour' to see if you have missed anything.

Tomatoes - check.  Pumpkins - check.  Sunflowers - check.  Cabbage - check.  Birdhouse gourds - oh noooooo!  I have only harvested a couple ...

I thought it was a 'genius' idea.  When I was canning pumpkin, I was saving a LOT of seed!  I had them drying on a sheet pan.  Wait - I have my dehydrator trays.  I even bought extra dehydrator trays....AND extra liners for the trays.  (The pics are awful, but you get the point.)

 ...but I couldn't be more excited!

Cracker Barrel is re-decorating and getting rid of their wood cookstoves that they use for display.  I saw it on FB, so it has to be true!  LOL

Remember the Pioneer Princess I wanted???  Well, they aren't as big (or as nice, frankly), but I have scored!

I told Hubs about the FB post and that all the Cracker Barrels were selling off the display units.  While I was on a call this morning, he went to the nearby CB to check it out.  I count on him to check out fireboxes ...

Hubs goes to the grocery once a month.  For the last couple months he has noticed that the cleaning section is all but bare.  This month when he came home, he tells me 'it's time for you to make a post about your toilet bowl cleaner'.  So, I guess it's time for another "green cleaning" post.  

For normal day-to-day cleaning in the toilet, I use this cleaner.  This is also great as a glass cleaner!

1 c. distilled white vinegar

1 c. water

1/2 tsp liquid dish soap (or liquid castile soap, which is what I use ...

 A fond memory I have is making apple cider with Pops.  We had a farm market for a few years and made apple cider to sell.  After a week or so with a hand press, Pops 'modified' it and put a motor on it.  Is is so completely unsafe.  It is not grounded and Hubs really needs to re-work it.  But, he has strict marching orders - he is not allowed to replace it.  He can fix what needs fixed, but Pops did it.  I have the press.  It needs to continue to fulfill my need for nostalgia.  It is full ...

Today I was going to start canning pumpkin.  I have all those sugar pie pumpkins in Puddin Pop's Pumpkin Patch....

I went out for my morning garden stroll with the Hubs.  There was an ear of corn on the ground.  I asked Hubs if he had shucked one of the ears there the night before when he was harvesting for dinner and he said 'no'.  *sigh*  I'm not going to be that gardener who loses all their corn to deer and raccoons.  Hubs changed out plans.  He got the four-wheeler and trailer and we started harvesting.  We planted ...

Saturday morning I got up to do all the things - the things that give me joy.  I grabbed my coffee and my harvesting bowls and went out to the garden to see how I was going to spend my day.  It was overwhelming.  I worked at it for a while and finally had to call in reinforcements.  I haven't been feeling well for a few days (fever and angry stomach), so the heat and humidity got to me and I needed help.  Hubs came out and we started harvesting.

Starting at 12:00 there are cayenne peppers, purple beauty ...

I have always been frugal.  My Momma was frugal.  As a single parent (remember, my 'real' father committed suicide a month before I turned 3 and my brother was 6 months old), she scrimped and save where she could.  I'm a member of a couple groups online that are for us frugal friends.  I don't garden to be frugal.  I garden to give me joy.....I need to start with that disclaimer.

I have been in the foodservice industry since 1987.  I have been a broker, sales rep, credit manager, buyer....I have seen all facets.  This is ...

There's more gardening, preserving, etc. going on here right now than quilting, so that's what you are going to see for a bit.

When you were little, did you sing the little ditty "beans, beans, musical fruit - the more you eat, the more you toot"?  That's what I've been singing all day.  Your welcome....again.

This year was new for me in that I tried some new beans.  I tried the Chinese Noodle Beans.  The finally came in like mad.  They are over a foot long and red in color.  We stir fried some with olive ...

 Do I have you singing that song in your head?  Your welcome....LOL

Having been in the food business for so long, I have been blessed to be exposed to some foods and spices that others have not.  There is also the curse about knowing too much about food production, but that isn't what this post is about.

You make deviled eggs.  You sprinkle the top with Paprika.  It's just for looks, right?  Well, there are those, my son in-law included, who are convinced it adds flavor.  Did you know there is such a thing as Smoked Paprika ...

I have IBD.  I know - TMI.  I struggle with 'intestinal health'.  Hubs was told at one point he was going to die within a year....here's the back story:

Hubs was at work and passed out, hitting his head.  He had just eaten a burger from a fast food restaurant.  He was taken to the hospital.  They did a series of tests on him and told him they wanted to put in a pacemaker.  He asked if there was something wrong with his heart.  The doctor said they didn't find anything wrong with his heart, but they couldn ...

Hubs has finally kicked it up a notch with his whoop-de-doo smoker.  His favorite thing to smoke is pork tenderloin and he is getting really good at it!  He was smoking a tenderloin the other day and had to run out for a bit with Welder Son.  As he is pulling out, he calls over to me and says something about a side dish.  Say what??  I thought he was on dinner duty.  I had been out harvesting tomatoes that morning, so I made my favorite salad....

All winter long I dream about a fresh Caprese Salad.  You know the ...

It's harvest season.  I've neglected you because I cannot neglect my harvest.  :)

I have pickled beets, onions, garlic and cucumbers.  I have canned green beans.  I have been seed saving.  I have been trying to preserve as much as possible.  I've even canned potatoes!

So, remember the potato experiment?  First - the castor bean plants.  I'm going to say that was a huge success.  While the chipmunks did get ALL of my garbanzo beans <<grumble grumble>>, they stayed away from my potatoes, as did the mice! I harvested the Yukon golds a few weeks ago, probably too ...

Every morning when I go out to the garden I give thanks.  I thank God for my peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, beans, pumpkins, flowers....I pray over my whole garden.  That's why I call it Coffee with Jesus.  Whether I am watering or just strolling, I give thanks.  I even give thanks for those pesky insects that I battle as a gardener.  Afterall, He had a reason to create them.  Sometimes, I think he created them to keep my humble, because my garden would be amazing without them! 

When my granddaughter (Puddin Pop) comes to visit, we talk about having a tea party with her 'dolls'.  She has Anna, Elsa and many other babies that she still likes to hang out with.  We finally got serious about it and decided we needed to have a tea party.  I invited one of her aunts, her cousin and her Momma and we set a date for our Tea Party.  It was today.

She loves the color pink, so 50 yards of toule later, we had our tent set up.  I set it up between two big trees so we would ...

Macedonian Neighbor's daughter came over yesterday to see my garden.  She was telling me about the 5 gallons of pickles she did this week and various other harvests.  I felt so incompetent.  My green beans have flowers but no beans.  My tomatoes are not ripe.  There I was, again comparing myself to another gardener.  Just stop.  My garden is fine, just not as far along....

We had a few pretty good storms come through this weekend, so I had to go out and check the damage.

The sunflowers out by the pumpkin patch held up pretty well.

A few years ago we bought grapes - Syrah grapes.  We planted them and walked away.  We mowed and weed whipped around them, but that was it.  Last year we finally put up the trellises.  We should have been harvesting grapes.  Homesteading got in the way.

That's the thing about homesteading.  There's always something to do.  There's always something that changes your priority list.  The grapes kept sliding down the list.  We were building chicken barns, goat barns, high tunnels, raised beds...the list just goes on and on.  This year we moved them up on the list ...

Last week was the anniversary of my paternal father's suicide.  It also would have been my step-dad's birthday.  It's always a tough week for me and especially my Momma.  When Pops was alive, I would always have to plan his birthday party as Momma just wasn't feeling it.  I never minded.  I'm usually pretty withdrawn, not in sadness but I get wrapped up in memories.  I was blessed to have a step-dad who loved me as much as, if not more than, any paternal father could  Today I again reflected on how happy he would ...

Did you know....Packed with essential nutrients, beetroots are a great source of fiber, folate (vitamin B9), manganese, potassium, iron, and vitamin C. Beetroots and beetroot juice have been associated with numerous health benefits, including improved blood flow, lower blood pressure, and increased exercise performance.  (This was taken from HealthOnline.)  They even contain moderate amounts of protein.

You know how there are foods that as a kid you just couldn't eat, and then as an adult you love them?  I have always loved pickled beets - even as a kid.  Growing beets is pretty much a given around here.  I ...

We got a nice little rain last night, so there was no need to water the garden.  Today, I just got to stroll.  A garden, whether flower or vegetable, always looks beautiful after a nice rain.  

For Father's Day we had a cookout to celebrate the Hubs.  Three of the six kids were able to come over.  I am very passionate about birthdays, Mother's Day and Father's Day.  Hubs does so much for us and has done so much for us that it is pretty important to me to make sure that he knows how much we ...