Like a trooper

J16 came through her oral surgery well. She was in and out in less than 40 minutes and was home ensconced on the couch by 9 am. She is still quite loopy from the sedation and was laughing and crying at the same time on the way home. But now, she is asleep and will likely be that way for a bit. I'll have to get some food into her before I let her have her pain meds since she isn't to have them on an empty stomach (but couldn't eat or drink after midnight). Fortunately, she is still numb- but I want meds into her before it wears off.

It's kind of nice to have a day to just be a Mom and take care of her. I so rarely get that opportunity now that she's a teen.

A sigh of relief

V had his repeat MRI this morning and then we met again with the neurosurgeon. The news is good. The problematic area of his brain doesn't show any changes on the MRI since the last one a few months ago. The final radiology report isn't in yet, but considering the experience of the neurosurgeon, I trust his judgement on this. So, it looks like V just has some congenital structural abnormalities in his brain and not a tumor. Woo Hoo! We were both breathing easier this afternoon.

After his appointments we drove to Kalona and stopped at Stringtown Grocery, the Amish bulk store. Of course, they were out of the two things I really wanted (oatmeal and currants) but I was able to pick up a few other things we needed (black beans, peppercorns, etc). We also stopped at the cheese factory next door. Sadly, Wednesday is the day they do their cleaning so weren't making cheese today. I always love watching through the windows as the cheese curds are stirred.

Home again, we had lunch at almost 1:30 and both promptly fell asleep. I think we both finally relaxed and we slept until K10 came home from school shortly after 3:30. So, I didn't get anything accomplished today. But, a day of rest can be a good thing.

Tomorrow J16 gets her wisdom teeth out bright and early in the morning. I'm hoping it will go well but the lower ones are pretty impacted already so send positive thoughts her way. We've got yogurt, cottage cheese and applesauce ready for her and she is still requesting homemade pureed veggie soup.

V is in the process of moving his desk into his new workroom this evening so maybe I can get my new freezer installed this week and sort the freezer. One more thing to add onto the list. I've got a list a mile long of things I want to get done in the next few days. Wish me luck.

Early October- it's chilly out there

Well, last night did it. The galeux d'eysines, long bent on world domination, have met their match:

Jack Frost did them in.

Even the eggplant, which were covered, got nipped a bit last night.

We didn't have any wind last night and it frosted much harder than the night before. Amazingly, most of the tomato plants look pretty good. However, I think they're not long for this world since I think cleaning out the garden is on the agenda for the days I have off this week. I'm glad I harvested the pumpkins when I did. Even though some look barely ready, they're starting to get warts on them so I assumed they were ready enough. Time will tell.

Here's the remaining crew. See the pale ones.

Poor things, ripped from the vine so young,

It's time for my usual Monday update on "things". I love the Independence Days Challenge, it helps me keep on track and organize what I've done so I can see my accomplishments week by week toward the goal of being more self sufficient. Not that I have any delusions that we will ever be able to be totally self sufficient, but it's a start.

1. Plant something- only day lilies and iris. I'm STILL waiting on my kiwi plants to arrive.

2. Harvest something- pumpkins, cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplant and peppers. Oh, and some basil. Apples, pears and butternut squash from my parents.

3. Preserve something- froze 3 quarts of diced hot peppers and froze some baba ganoush, that's about it. I've got plans for some pear chutney but the pears need to ripen a bit more for that.

4. Waste not- hmm, not much different here. V has been hard at work in the basement. All the old 2x4s we salvaged are gone. Sheetrock is going up. Behold:

The new, improved well room is done.

or as V calls it- The Room of Wellness!

The door is salvaged from our old house- actually, we discovered it abandoned up in the rafters of the garage when we moved in there 16 years ago and decided it was useful, so we hung onto it. The well room houses the pressure tank and also has room for some storage. We thought about moving the water softener in there but that was more plumbing than we wanted to do, so it will stay in it's closet off to the right.

5. Want not- I can't think of too much. We got a couple jars of jam from my Mom (a spiced peach and a plum). I haven't done too much stocking up on anything I can think of (except for a couple cans of Campbell's soup for child "emergency" meals). I guess I could count seed saving in this category as well. I've got eggplant, cucumber, galeux d'eysines, paprika and anaheim seeds drying at the moment.

6. Build community- the children got gourds from Kathy's on Saturday and I let J16 pick out a bar of goat milk soap they had there, also made by a local artisan. I gave jars of pumpkin butter to my parents and sister when we were down.

7. Eat the food- stuffed peppers last night. And today for lunch I had baba ganoush and tomato slices on a whole wheat pita. I need to figure out how to make my own pita- I've heard it isn't hard. Maybe something else to add onto my list for the weekend. I was also reminded that October is Vegetarian Awareness Month so we will be trying to eat more veggie meals than we already do. We average at least one veg dinner a week, so this month we'll be trying for two or more. And J16 has requested pumpkin soup for Friday. She will be on soft foods for a bit and doesn't want anything with "chunks" that may cause problems so she thought a creamy, pureed soup would be good. It does sound pretty tasty!

I hope you all have a grand and glorious week. The weather here is looking up. No frost advisory for tonight and the rest of the week looks beautiful. I'm glad I've got a few days off coming up.

A bit frosty...

... but not too bad.

We had a bit of frost last night. Not bad, but the pumpkin vines show definite signs of frost.

A few tomato tips and some of the eggplant tips, even though they were covered, are dark and wilted as well. But, most everything looks pretty decent. It was 35 F when I got up shortly after 7 am so I'm not sure how cold it really got. I covered things again tonight but after this it looks like it will warm up to more normal temps.

Maybe I've got a chance at some bell peppers yet.

I'm short timing it at work this week. I've only got two days to work and then I have a few days off. Not that it's going to be a vacation or anything.

Wednesday V has his follow up MRI and meeting with the neurosurgeon to get the final verdict on his head. So, I'm holding my breath a bit.

Thursday, J16 is getting all her wisdom teeth out and Friday I have an appointment in the eye clinic for new contacts.

But, the nice thing is, none of these things will last all day so I should have time to get some projects done around the house. And it looks like the weather will cooperate as well with sunny skies and temps in the 70's. Ahhh, heaven......

Busy day out

J16, K10 and I drove down to the farm to see my parents today. My sister, Julie, was here from Colorado along with her husband. (V stayed home to attend a memorial service for the woman who had been the pastor of the church where he used to work as office manager.) We had a lovely visit. J16 and my BIL, Dave, each brought their violins and played a bit together. Then we went off to Kathy's Pumpkin Patch. Kathy had been Julie's best friend throughout school and now has a wonderful business just a mile from my parent's home. Mom and Dad supply her with their excess garden produce during the summer so it is a win-win for everyone.

It was cool and blustery (temps in the mid 50's and windy) and K10 refused to bring a sweatshirt this morning so we didn't let him do the corn maze like he wanted, but the children did pick out some pretty cool looking gourds.

Maybe some like this for the Goth Garden next year???

After our trip to the pumpkin patch, we headed out into my parent's orchard for a quick harvest.

Mmm, little sugar pears.

I see more pear chutney in the future. YUM!

A few of the apples.

It's a good thing I always have my cloth grocery bags in the car because they came in handy for hauling apples and pears.

I took three of our Galeux d'eysines down but traded for three butternut squash from Mom's garden.

Much less daunting than 15 pound pumpkins!

We made it home just before sunset and headed straight out into the garden. There was time for one last harvest and then we threw sheets over the eggplant and peppers. I'll hope for the best.

Is this the last harvest??

I didn't bother to cover the tomatoes. They are just about done and besides, I don't have that many sheets. With the temps now forecast to dip to 31 F tonight, we also picked a few more galeux d'eysines. Well, more than a few. Eight more to be precise. That brings the harvest total to 26!!! Not bad from two plants, and when you figure that the pumpkins are averaging 15- 17 lbs each (lightest so far- 12, heaviest- 26.8), that's a LOT of squashy goodness (around 400 lbs!). I've now given away 8 and we've eaten/preserved 2 but that means I've still got 16 of these monsters in the shop. So, the offer still stands- if anyone near Iowa City wants one, let me know.

I've got just enough tahini left to make one more big batch of baba ganoush with the eggplant, so that's on the agenda for tomorrow. J16 insisted on picking more peppers. Not that we need more. LOL!! She picked an entire 5 quart pail full. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them. Maybe they'll be destined for compost.....

Oh, and one last thing. I did my research on curcurbits and found that my galeux should be free from cross pollination since I didn't have another species of C. Maxima in the garden. So, if anyone would like seeds, let me know so I can save enough to go around.

What?!!

We have a frost advisory out for tonight into Sunday! Ack! It's not time yet. I've still got things to do before frost. And the tomatoes and peppers are still producing. In fact, the bell peppers have finally started setting fruit. We have had exactly 2 peppers off the humongous plants all summer. Figures....

I13 is off at a camping retreat for church this weekend and J16, K10 and I will be heading down to my parents today since one of my sisters is in state for a few days. So, knowing that I was going to be out of commission today- right before the frost, I was a busy girl yesterday on my day off work. I weeded and planted and picked peppers.

I'm starting to feel a bit like Erin.

That basket holds about half a bushel!

V was off last night taking I13 to camp so J16, K10 and I watched old Dracula movies on TV and guess what I did while I watched? Seeded, diced and froze peppers. I've already got some halves for stuffing in the freezer but had realized that I was out of pre chopped ones that I use a lot in cooking. At least it kept me from eating too much popcorn during the movies. LOL! I only got through two thirds of the basket which gave me three quart freezer bags of diced hot peppers. I'm going to take the rest along today and see if I can pawn them off on my sister and BIL. I'm also going to take along a few pumpkins. My parents want one and hopefully my sister will take one or two. One of my nephews has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and they are trying a "real food" diet with him- no additives or preservatives, and organic since they have heard that it helps. I work in mental health and I've never heard that it helps, but the diet definitely can't hurt!

In all my weeding yesterday (We finally got the day lily and iris plants in the ground over the sand filter), I came across about a billion caterpillars of different varieties. This one was pretty cool:

Not a tomato hornworm but definitely related.

It was huge!

I'm hoping to get home early enough tonight that I can still pick a few eggplant and maybe throw a couple of sheets over the peppers. It look like tonight is a fluke and we should be back to typical temps soon. Of course, it has been a weird year. It is October and I picked cucumbers! Unheard of!

Answering my own question

Why do I do it?

Thanks for all your insights. I wholeheartedly agree with each and every one. I've really been giving this some thought since more than one person has asked me the Why? question over the past few years. Here are my reasons- in no particular order of importance.

1. I was raised this way. I grew up on a farm and even though Dad was a traditional corn and soybeans kind of farmer, we grew much of our own food. We gardened and canned. We had a huge freezer. When I was little, we had a dairy cow and pigs. We got rid of those when Dad got the travel bug. It's hard to take vacations in the summer when you have animals to care for. My parents were also very frugal. The motto I remember was "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without". Being farmers, there wasn't much extra money so I learned at an early age to "make do".

2. Since I mentioned it already- MONEY. Yeah, it may be the root of all evil but it is a necessity in this day and age. V and I have never had much money so we learned early in our relationship to make it count. While I was raised frugal- V comes by it through common sense- a wonderful thing. We learned in our early days of renting that if we sealed up the house well (blankets over the windows in one old house) and turned down the heat, we had much more reasonable heating bills for poor grad students to be able to pay. We also discovered buying in bulk and storing food was a way to keep cost low and keep us fed through lean times. Yup, in grad school we ate lots of lentil burgers and learned other creative ways of stretching our food dollar. Even when we were both in school and rented- I always had a garden and at least canned a few tomatoes.

3. Care for the earth. We only have one planet. I get angry sometimes when I see people being careless or thoughtless. I've always had a connection to the soil- maybe that's part of being a farmer's daughter. Dad, for all he was a farmer, had a great respect for the land. Before it was even "the thing to do" he was careful about how he plowed his fields and always left grass growing in the drainage paths to prevent erosion. He was definitely a pioneer of the "don't treat your soil like dirt" attitude.

4. My children. V and I were "green" before it was cool or even a catch phrase. But after our children came along, we started having more thought to the future and what kind of life and world would our children inherit. We moved out of town, partly for the land and the life but for a large part for the lives of our children. They have so many more opportunities to learn and grow and explore out here.

5. Health- Growing our own food, I think, gives us the best nutrition. I know what is in it and where it came from. Fresh air and hard work are great for body and soul.

6. Food. No doubt about it, like some mentioned- the food just tastes better. There is nothing like the taste of a sun ripened heirloom tomato in July. Also, since I'm preparing it, I don't have to worry so much about food safety. It seems like there have been so many problems with the industrial food system recently but they haven't touched us. Food safety is key. As is food security. Having a pantry and freezer full of food helps me feel more at peace, knowing I could feed us for a while should something happen. Which plays into my next category

7. My Doomer mentality. Not that it interferes with my daily life, but I have this lurking fear that someday the sh*t will hit the fan. Whether it is an economic collapse, pandemic illness, climate change, or even the zombie apocalypse, I sometimes worry that something will happen and it gives me a sense of peace knowing that we could survive out here pretty well.

8. I also like the challenge. Yes, I complain in August when I'm up to my eyeballs in tomatoes, staying up canning til midnight and then having to get up at 5:30 am to go to my paying job. But it is a challenge to see if I can do it all. Seeing how much food we can produce, how local can we go with our diet. I love the challenge of self sufficiency. Maybe that's why one of my favorite TV shows is The Good Neighbors. V got me the DVD set for a gift a few years ago and even the children have fallen in love with it. Ah, to be as self sufficient as Tom and Barbara....

9. Last, but definitely NOT least. I LOVE IT! I wouldn't do all this if I didn't love it. Yes, it would be easier to hire a contractor to finish our basement. Yes, we could buy all our food at the grocery store. But I love the work and the challenge. And the benefits so outweigh the cost that it's not even a contest. I think, and hope that my family loves it too. I'm pretty sure V does or he wouldn't have stuck with me on this crazy journey for so long. The children, well, they're along for the ride and while they sometimes complain about the work- that's their job- to whine but do it anyway. And, the look on their faces when we had our first meal on the deck that we had finished as a family showed how proud they were to have been part of the process.

Thanks for putting up with my ramblings. This has helped me organize my thoughts.