Gardening and dehydrating

We are beginning to get back to "normal" here .  Half a day on the homestead and working in the city.

Last night was card night. Not playing cards but  rather to make cards.  A bunch of us ladies get together once a month to make greeting cards.  It is a time to be creative and get caught up with what is going on with each other's families and to laugh! You always sleep better after an evening of laughter and friends.  Here was the outcome:

This morning I dried cabbage and made yam chips with the leftover spices of smoky paprika and onion salt.

Garden update: Today was to be hot and windy so I needed to make sure everything was watered. The trees we planted a month ago are doing great (hope you can see it)

Dude rototilled and added compost with goat manure to the front.  I planted varied sunflower seeds today in part of it.

Last year Dude thought the grapes died. I have been babying them every day. Dude said I was wasting my time but my time paid off . Both plants are making a come back (you can see how dry it is here with the cracked soil)

Same with the raspberry. He was going to rototill them under. Glad I saved them.

Books: I finished Anne of Green Gables. I had gotten this book for our granddaughter while she was visiting but she promptly told me her mom had read it to her already and only wanted books on horses. Yuck. I know many girls love horses, books on horses, movies about horse, horse...horses ...horses but I am not one of them! Anywhooo... I decide to read the book myself as a palate cleanser to the recent adult books I have read. It was refreshing despite the fact I want to yell at Anne every now and again to "shut up!"

This weekend I am making champagne jelly... a tradition of jelly I make every year from champagne not drunk over the New Year Holiday and lingering in the pantry.

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Sleep well.

peace, health and happiness

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