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As I go about my business, I constantly find what I think are blog worthy subjects. Sometimes I even come here fully intending to put events or thoughts down in words. Lately though, I get here and just can't seem to even get started. It's probably just that I have been so very busy, and there are so many things I need to attend to. Right now it's the mowing and this messy kitchen. I can't do both of those things, so I am choosing to do neither! I'll just ramble through the last few weeks of my life, hitting the highs and lows. The farthest back I can remember is a few Saturday's ago. It was the day of the GREAT CHICKEN MASSACRE. A friend of ours has a farmer friend who agreed to raise free range chickens for a group of us. Now I have chickens, but just for the eggs. Free range is out of the question here, the dogs would make quick work of those walking, clucking chicken nuggets. Anyway, the farmer showed up about 10 a.m. with 86 Cornish Cross birds. These are the kind you buy from the store, boy do they have a lot more meat than those plain ole chickens we butchered a few years back! We all got right to work, and about four hours later the job was done. Jennifer, displaying finished bird. Diane is to the left skinning, and that is farmer David behind Jen. Look at the meat on that bird! He said they were just seven weeks old. They all weighed 3.5-6 pounds!! Jennifer was very brave and took a bag of legs home. Her plan was to make broth as recommended by the book Nourishing Traditions and Jordin rubin of The Makers Diet. When she got home and pulled them out she just couldn't do it. I thought I had a pic of our fearless leader, Geanine, cutting legs off but don't know where it got to. Anyway, we all learned a lot and had some fun in a strange and rather gory way. And if you need any pointers on the burning of the waste from 86 birds, I'm your woman! I learned the hard way........it took me three and a half hours to burn it all. Did I mention it was really hot, I had just spent 4 hours slaughtering, my back was worn out, and the last thing I felt like doing was tending a fire? But now I know what not to do, next time will be a cinch! Geanine and I have been doing more mega cooking, and I've managed to get some done at home on my own too. It makes life so much easier to pull dh's lunch out of the freezer, or like tonight, when I want to waste time blogging, I'll just pull some Runza's out and pop them in oven to heat up. I've stewed and deboned 8 of my 23 free range chickens, from those I got 10 quarts of shredded meat and 9 quarts of broth. 6 quarts of shredded zuchini and a lot more coming. 20 individual servings of chicken enchiladas, great for quick lunches. i just bought 10 pounds of pinto and cranberry beans that I will cook and freeze over the next few days. More I can't think of right now. A low point was that a young man from our church went home to be with Jesus. His car ran off the road right beside our church and landed in the river below. His uncle had been bringing him and his younger brother to our church since they were babies. He asked the Lord Jesus into his heart only a month and a half ago, and it really showed in his life. He was baptized two weeks before the accident. I know he wouldn't come back here for anything, but he will be missed. Funerals are never any fun, but a Christian funeral is such a healing, blessed experience. It is also a great witness and testimony. Many of his family who were there wern't saved, and I was really praying hard that the Lord would use our pastor's message to pierce their hearts. I have been spending a lot of time working in the yard. I just love the smell and the lighting first thing in the morning! It's the perfect time to weed, prune, water, and talk to the Lord. Yesterday I discovered dozens of soft, bright yellow spiny larva eating my beans! The kids and I spent at least an hour hunting and squishing. That is one thing not mentioned a lot about orgnanic gardening, it involves a lot of bug squashing! Oh, there are sprays, but I usually haven't bothered to buy or make them, or I'm just too lazy to even walk to the other side of the house to find them! So I squish. The wild blackberry vines are loaded right now. I've got some of them in the freezer too, but I need to spend a lot more time picking.
Aria sitting by Red Kuri vines that are taking over the railing.
Aria behind a clump of zuchini. Behind her are more Red Kuri vines. I took this last week, this week that vine has grown so much it's covering most of the lattice! I also have morning glory, cardinal climber and purple hyacinth bean vines twining themselves in the Red Kuri. That is good, because sooner or later the vine borers will win our yearly battle over all squash vines and the other vines will cover up the dying leaves. Here is that same bed at the beginning of June when I first made it............
This is the aerial view off the porch. All the little dark spots are the plants you see up above. Down below are more raised beds. Here is an "after" picture of part of them.
Aria searching for cucumbers that are ready to be picked. Those are green beans around the bottom of the cucumbers. This bed is planted according to the "Square Ft." method, you really pack them in that way. As you can see though, they are really healthy.
This is one of my swimming pool gardens. It is full of parsley which is simple to start from seed. The wire is to keep the nasty bad horrible yucky awful conniving cats from using it for a litter box and digging up my plants. Until all the plants get big I have to do this with every one of my gardens. We have very hard ground up here, so when I make a nice soft raised bed they naturally prefer it! Swallowtail butterfly caterpillars love this plant, every year we find them happily munching away. Now those are some bugs I don't squish! They are very polite guests, and never over eat their welcome.
Last one, I promise! Here is what Steve and I had for breakfast. I started like Jenig and Shayc did, with zuchini, butter and garlic-2 cloves, sometimes more. Then I added a chopped red bell pepper and a few swiss chard stalks and leaves. I absolutely LOOOOOVE swiss chard! Then, when all that is ready, maybe 4 or 5 minutes, I add chopped tomato and a handful of fresh chopped basil. That is stirred in for just a few seconds to warm it, then removed from the heat and fresh parmesan is grated over the top. MMMMMM this is sooo good! That is not white stuff in there by the way, the flash just reflected off the juices. I bet you are thinking that I seem to have found more than enough to say. I did, but you should know this has taken me 4 1/2 hours. I warmed up those Runza's, did the dishes, served the yummiest homemade strawberry ice cream that Geanine made, left over from the 4th, did some more dishes, boiled noodles for tomorrows Summer Salad, got said salad most of the way mixed, rinsed and dried the eggs, and every once in awhile stopped to add a few sentences. Oh, I can't resist, here is My FIL's Summer Salad recipe, one of the first things dh requested I learn to make after we were married. Summer Salad Fix two boxes shell noodles, drain and cool. Add: 2-3 cups mayo 3 cans olives, sliced, or more if you want 5 cans tuna, drained 3 lg. tomatoes chopped in large chunks 3 or 4 TBSP celery seed or more to taste 2 or 3 tsp. garlic powder Salt and pepper to taste You may need to add more mayo (yeah I know, no wonder it's so good, and it is NOT diet food!) especially to the leftovers the next day, the noodles soak up the moisture. It is actually better the second day. All of these measurements are approximate, I just throw it in so I guessed.
OK, I'm really quitting this time. Good night!!
In Christ,
Amy
Deuteronomy8:3b......people need more than bread for their life; real life comes by feeding on every word of the Lord. |
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