Community

When you live in a rural area community is a big deal .  There are a few that are very special to me. Once a month I  make cards with one group... birthday cards, sympathy, get well...whatever but it is time to get together, talk about the community and check in with everyone from here and neighboring towns.  We met one day when someone left a note saying my goat had gotten out and she had it at her farm. A kindness so great , I knew this was someone I wanted to be friends with. She was on her way to make cards and asked if I wanted to join them. Another group is farmgirls . We get together each Monday to share knowledge, can, dry food,  bake, garden, go on field trips together, laugh and bond. We know the struggles of being out here(where closest neighbors are about a mile away) and have helped each other in so many ways.  And last, but surely not least, are my quilting buddies, Threadsisters. We have been getting together for 10-15years.  Once a month we travel to a different friend's home to quilt, crochet, knit, embroider, eat, laugh and share our lives. I laugh now because we used to begin our sewing sessions with a wonderful concoction we called slushies...it was a type of frozen limeade spiked with a bit of booze. Not sure why we stopped that tradition, probably because we didn't get much sewing done. Anyway, the thought makes me smile.   We have become great friends helping each other when sick or after surgeries, sharing children's weddings, housewarmings, family holidays... we are a very special group.  Today, we celebrated the life of one of our own, Betty. She died January 8th.  Betty was born in 1927 and what a gal !  She would share stories of being an editor of a newspaper and the fun she had or the time she had a heart attack and now  had a reason to go to the gym...oh, it wasn't to really exercise but to check out her handsome trainer.  Betty was a kick and we will definitely miss her.

I was late getting dinner on tonight after returning from the city. It was cold out here on the plains. The city was a good twenty degrees higher than out here.  After last night's full dinner of ham and potato salad, and Dude having leftovers for lunch, I wanted to go with something light for dinner. I went with Cabbage Soup. I like to use as much  I have canned or dried from the garden.  Dude actually liked it...thank goodness. It's hard to please a meat and potato man sometimes.

Cabbage Soup

1 small cabbage chopped in small chunks

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 small onion chopped

1 large carrot sliced (or 1/4 to 1/2 cup of dried from the pantry)

3 garlic cloves sliced  (from the fall garden)

1 can of stewed tomatoes

1 small can of green chilies (or 1/2 pint jar canned from pantry)

3 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar

4 cups chicken broth (or 2 quart jars from the pantry)

2 teaspoons of sugar

 2 teaspoons of oregano(dried from the garden)

salt

pepper

pepper flakes

Sauté the onions and garlic in the oil.

Next, just dump everything else in bringing to a boil. Then reduce and simmer for 30 minutes.

Top with fresh parmesan. Enjoy.

  It got down to 12* this morning and it is another chilly night. Time to sit by the fire for a bit.

~Peace