Another Day in the Life......

We are still in our cooler spell.  I was a little chilly during my walkabout this morning.

Our work crew just did 4 hours  yesterday and won't be back until Monday when they will paint the garage roof.  They got a lot accomplished in 4 hours.

This all that remains of the monster Elm tree downed by a tornado several years ago.  It was still alive when they began. 

I thinks he has gone as far as he can with it.  I hope it will  die now!

This is what I see from the garden now....used to be almost a solid wall of sapling trees 8 feet tall, brambles, poke weed, and various other weeds.



This is taken from another angle to show the huge amount of clean ground I now have.  I am standing on the west end looking northeast.



I think I will make this the new berry patch so I can keep a closer eye one it than way out back in the orchard proper.  Speaking of berries, I knew I would wait until cooler weather to plant my new 6 little potted Kiowa blackberries so I re-potted them in gallon size pots and have them in afternoon shade until I am ready.

I spent the morning cleaning the garden fence  row and picking my first small harvest besides the green beans from a few days ago.

A few Jalapeno, bell and cheese peppers, onion, volunteer cucumbars and one eggplant. I think there was a handful of green beans.  This new kind will never be planted again.  I am sticking  to Trail of Tears and Fortex.



I am pretty sure the eggplant was  Rosa Bianca and true to the description, no bitterness and was delicious.
Even  my non-veggie eating GD liked it! I just sliced it  tossed  it with salt and when the griddle was hot, rinsed it off, coated the griddle with oil and fried it until tender.  We tossed  parmesan cheese on top to eat.
Unfortunately the  big one came alone and the others are just blooms now. 

I want to try sauteing, yellow squash, onion and a variety of peppers for lunch.  Still no tomatoes but I hear a local neighbor has sweet corn and we may have  to buy some.  My corn is just now filling out.

Late in the afternoon, I made an angel food cake.  I had a surplus of eggs and still have two dozen ahead.

From cooking

The GD and friends went frog gigging last night and only got three.  I have warned  them I will not cook frog legs!!!

The House is Smelling Good! - Cooking

I haven't milked the last few mornings because Willow now has two babies to  nurse.  Once in a while I have to strip out a quarter but didn't this morning.

The calf is about a month younger and is a Jersey/Angus cross bull calf.



The good smell is coming from the mincemeat slowly cooking down.  It has cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg in it and aroma is wonderful.  I used my exact same recipe from 2009 and 2010.  I did use more apples because they were so small.  I made my own candied orange and lemon peel.  I will add just a touch of brandy just before it is finished cooking down.

DIY Mincemeat

Glenda first made in December 2009

Second in November 2010

Third Time October 2012

2 lbs apples (8-10)

l lb dark raisins

½ lb golden raisins

¾ to l cup candied cherries

1 cup grated candied orange peel (I used food processor to grate)

2 cups peaches (used some darkened ones from frig been left too long)

2 oranges peeled – just pulp (no whites or seeds)

l cup sugar

¾ cup raw sugar (because I had it)

1 cup reduced cider (boiled down)

½ to 1 cup apple cider (hard or whatever)

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon cloves

1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg

I ran all through the grinder attachment. Cooked down.

Let ripen at room temp for several days ; then stored in fridge.

2010-I froze; like it better just in fridge. The freezing caused it to

get slimy. Next year will just keep in jars in cool place.

‹Note: I made my own candied orange peel because I couldn't find any in the stores

Hard cider could be replaced with some brandy but I had let some cider get bad.

Reduced cider could be substituted with frozen undiluted apple juice.

See what I mean, I just taste along until I get what I want.

It lasts forever in the fridge without canning. Mine is the 2010 version from the fridge.

I think I have about a gallon; this should keep me and my Sis stocked for two years....maybe.  We love the little mincemeat pies/turnovers.  Our husbands aren't so crazy about them.

The pot is now resting in the kitchen ripening before I jar it up.  I can't resist eating a bite now and then.



Thursday, October 10, 2013

Around 6 AM I put on a pot of pinto beans to  cook.  They were done by the time
I went out to oversee the  nursing process. Willow gets impatient once in  a while and butts the new baby so we don't leave  them unattended yet.  They emptied her nicely so I just turned her out to pasture and came  back to the house.

I had an extra dozen eggs that my Sis brought down to me when she visited.  I wanted to use them up since our girls are now giving us 3-5 daily.  I made an angel food cake,  then used the 12 yolks to bake a Lemony Sponge Cake.  The oven is still hot, so I used  my last frozen pie crust (thawed) to make several of the little turnovers.  I am trying to use up the old mincemeat.  By now it is near lunch time and I took advantage of the hot oven to make a skillet of cornbread.  Whew done baking for some time ............until it is bread time  again.



Sorry about the premature publishing, Kris.  I guess the house smelled good two days.

Clematis are beginning

Thursday May 9, 2013

Milked.

Shower began so nothing outside until late afternoon. 1/8 inch or so.

Trimmed garden fence border, inside and out and east end of garden.

Cleaned out iris and daylily row in garden.

Max is mowing the yard.

Tomorrow:

Plant coleus and spearmint (in clay pot in herb bed.

Plant 4 tomatoes as a trial.

Friday, May 10, 2013

It was cooler this morning, 58° and more shower during the night....up to ¼ inch now. Right now the sun is shining but 70% chance of more rain with a high of 70°. They are tossing around a possible low in 30's and 40's so I won't risk my tomatoes just yet.

We don't think the tree trimmer will be back until Monday so we will make a Mother's Day flower run and pick up a couple of grocery items.

We are coffee people and have been disappointed in out coffee recently. Our favored Yuban isn't what it once was! It also used to be the highest price and is now the lowest....I also see it doesn't say Colombian on the label. I makes me so mad when they change a product. We have tested 8 o'clock, Maxwell house and Dunkin Donuts....not very impressed yet. I think we may buy several smaller cans and do test runs.....silly I know but we do enjoy coffee.

Saturday May ll, 2013

We are having Max's mother for dinner tomorrow so this day was spent baking and cleaning.

I made an angel food cake and then used the yolks for a very yellow lemon flavored sponge cake.

We have samples the lemon one already and it turned out well.

I am making a very tradition southern fried chicken dinner: fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans dressed with toasted almonds, salad. And hot biscuits.

I will make a boiled frosting for the angel food cake.

We bought a flat of fibrous begonias for her gift and I planted her whiskey barrel with them and had enough left to plant the south edge of her patio.

We are in our second day of another and I hope last, cool spell. It is 37° here this morning. They promise all next week will be very warm.

I had a wonderful surprise on Mother's Day. Our KC daughter and her family drove down and had dinner with us.

The orioles have already left us to fly north. I think they didn't stay as long this year. We still just have 2 or 3 hummers.

Pictures

The early clematis are blooming:

This one is Niobe almost buried amidst the Clematis Paniculata  and weeds in the Ramp Bed by the milk parlor.....all in good time....

and Henryi in the back of the cellar  bed.  I still haven't installed a trellis so it will just trail this year.





It has lots of honeybees hovering.
I think I should move some of Barb's iris here.
 


Barb's iris (she was a neighbor who gave them to me)is blooming in the Grass Bed by the cellar.




This is the one growing on the Endless Summer Hydrangea in the Kitchen Window Bed.  I let it get ahead of my trellis just like the Henryi.